Fragmentation and Wholeness in Virginia Woolf’s The Waves

Virginia Woolf’s seventh novel,The Waves,first published by the Hogarth Press in 1931,is widely regarded as her most experimental piece of writing.The complex and elusive structure of the work,the least representational among Woolf’s novels,challenges the reader’s assumptions about the inner and the outer world.In the absence of a substantial story,of a convincing plot and well-defined characters,the reader is called upon to search for a deeper coherence and more profound meanings.Indeed,in The Waves the modernist writer strives for a fresh way of expressing a vision of wholeness in a broken world.The present article attempts to reread Woolf’s self-conscious novel in the double perspective of separation and reunion,of dispersal and recomposition.A close reading of selected passages will show how the poetics of fragmentation and the poetics of wholeness coexist in Woolf’s narrative,pervading the imagery and the symbols of the text.In more than one sense,the dialectic between division and unity,fragmentation and wholeness can be identified as the structuring force of the novel;most tellingly,this textual dynamism is reflected in the oscillatory motion of the waves,continuously breaking and merging.

Stock Market Reaction to Yearly Earnings Announcements for Firms in Financial Distress:Evidences from Italy

The purpose of this paper is to feed the debate regarding investor’s reaction to relevant financial information releases as yearly earnings announcements(EAs)with a specific focus on financial distressed firms.Using the event study methodology and adopting two well-known tests in the literature,we analyzed Italian listed companies in the period of 2008-2016,to detect whether there is a market reaction to EAs releases for firms in financial distress,adopting as a measure of financial distress the presence in the audit report of a going concern opinion(GCO).In the Italian legislation,the GCO must be communicated immediately to the market and this can be done before,simultaneously or after EAs.The achieved results shed light on the negative impact of EAs of distressed firms receiving a GCO.On the other hand,the possibility that negative abnormal returns are mainly due to the GCO release cannot be neglected.Hence,through additional tests,we found that effects of EAs are more persistent and significant than GCOs,in accordance with the prevailing literature,which sees,on average,EAs predominant information for investors.Our study is pioneering in disentangling possible effects of confounding events for the Italian stock market.The EAs superior effect confirms the dynamics characterizing weak and small equity markets as Italy where,before GCOs releases,some relevant and more precise information(such as earnings magnitude)is often held by shareholders because of the high percentage of family firms and/or concentrated ownership,demonstrating also the weakness of auditor profession if compared with other developed countries.

Relationship between maternal pathology and infant social withdrawal: Analysis of a 268-outpatient population

Objective: Sustained withdrawal is a sign of infant distress and may be determined by extreme conditions like organic pathology or relationship problems. The Alarm Distress Baby Scale is the best instrument to identify withdrawal in infants between 2 and 24 months of age. The aim of this study was to assess the association between infant social withdrawal behavior and maternal pathology in the perinatal period. Method: The target sample of the study was 134 mother-child couples examined at the Policlinico Agostino Gemelli General Pediatric Outpatient Clinic and Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic, in Rome. We analyzed the relationship between withdrawal behavior and psychological and organic prenatal/postnatal pathology, using the Chi Square exact test. Results: When the mother suffers from both organic and psychological pathologies in the perinatal period, the risk of withdrawal is increased: the probability of infant withdrawal behavior is increased by maternal organic postnatal pathology by 14 times, by maternal psychological postnatal pathology by 9 times, and by maternal psychological postnatal depression, measured by Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, by almost 4 times. Conclusion: Increased or sustained withdrawal reactions can be observed in unsatisfactory mother-child interaction. Maternal risk factors should be strictly considered in the pediatric clinical evaluation.

Interpretation of Gastronomic Traditions within Tourism

This article presents a current EU project on the interpretation of Gastronomic European cultural heritage.Europe’s cultural heritage is highly diverse.This is by no means limited to museums,theatres,or castles;gastronomic traditions are also part of Europe’s cultural heritage.As an essential part of the collective European memory,it is essential to preserve this diversity.From an economic perspective,the preservation of cultural heritage is a crucial task for the future.Within the EU,more than 300,000 people work in the cultural heritage sector;in addition,there are about 7.8 million jobs in the EU that correlate indirectly with cultural heritage(e.g.,tourism).How could gastronomic traditions be used to support a sustainable tourisms development?

Sensitivity and Specificity of a Short Questionnaire to Screen Frailty in the Community-Dwelling Older Population

Introduction. Frailty represents a major risk factor for death and Use of Hospital Services (UHS) among older adults. A simple tool to detect frailty might permit stratification of the community-dwelling older population according to the risk of negative outcomes. The present study aims at determining the sensitivity and specificity in predicting mortality and UHS of the Short Functional Geriatric Evaluation (SFGE), a short questionnaire to screen for frailty in community-dwelling older citizens. Methods. The study is a secondary analysis of all the data collected through an observational longitudinal cohort study carried out in Lazio region (Italy). The SFGE is compared with the Functional Geriatric Evaluation (FGE) questionnaire to define sensitivity and specificity for mortality and for UHS during the first year following its administration. Results. The SFGE classifies 36.3% of the respondents as frail and shows a sensitivity of 90.4% and a specificity of 78.3% compared to the FGE (area under the ROC: 0.928;CL95%: 0.910 - 0.947;p-value Conclusion. The SFGE identifies as frail a larger portion of the enrolled population than the FGE. Those people so identified show a high rate of UHS. Because of its easy and quick administration, it can be considered a useful primary screening tool but it must be followed up with a more extensive assessment of those identified as frail. The small time needed to fill in the tool and the possibility of administering it by telephone makes the SFGE a useful tool to screen for frailty and to plan the provision of care services at both individual and population level.

Impact of the Community-Based Active Monitoring Program on the Long Term Care Services Use and In-Patient Admissions of the Over-74 Population

Introduction: Social isolation increases in the over-74 population and it is a risk factor for death and Long Term Care (LTC) use. In order to prevent the negative consequences of social isolation on this population community interventions focused on strengthening the social network should be intensified. The aim of this paper is to describe the impact on health care use of a Community-based pro-Active Monitoring Program (CAMP) providing phone monitoring to all the clients and home visits according to the individual’s needs. Methodology: In order to provide an evaluation of the program outcomes, the rates of clients’ hospitalization and admissions to Long Term Care facilities during 2011 have been assessed. The observed rates have been compared with expected ones calculated on available information for similar population. A cost-analysis has been also carried out to analyze the program sustainability. Results: The studied sample is made up by 1408 over-74 citizens followed up during 2011 in Rome (Italy) by CAMP. The cumulative observation time was 1362 p/y;61 individuals died during 2011 (death rate 4.3%). The hospital admission rate observed among CAMP’s clients was 254‰ (357/1408;CL95% ± 91‰), lower than the 282‰ reported for the over-74 population of Rome. This translates into 39 averted hospitalization. The LTC admission rate is also reduced among CAMP’s clients (9/1,408, 6.6‰ CL95% ± 0.8‰ vs. 9.7‰ reported for a comparable sample);it translates into 4 averted LTC admissions. The averted cost ranged between 47,153 € and 220,117 € according to the range of services used by the clients, which translates into a percentage of estimated cost reduction on yearly basis ranged between 3% and 12.5% of the whole cost of services used by the studied population. Discussion: The paper suggests the capacity of CAMP to reduce both the over-74 hospitalization rate and use of LTC. Cost analysis also indicates a cost reduction as a consequence of the CAMP implementation. Further studies including a control group and a detailed cost-benefit analysis are needed to check the program sustainability on larger population.