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This article presents an empowerment model (EM) to be used by service users in human service organizations (HSOs). The EM is a structure for service user input to be integrated within the HSO at various administrative levels through a four‐step sequential process. The article fills a distinct void in the literature as there are numerous accounts about the importance of empowerment, but few on processes that need to be defined to operationalize the concept. Implications are directed toward administrators as they need to take leadership in implementing the EM in order to deliver more efficient and relevant services to their clients.

In this chapter I discuss judicial contributions to Italian penality. I look at the penal incentives produced by interactions between judicial and political classes, and ask whether judges and prosecutors have been forces for punitiveness or moderation. I discuss the relevance of the Italian case for broader analyses of Western penality.

My chapter offers a political-sociological account of judicial contributions to punishment. I analyse the penal incentives created by different national institutional set-ups, specifically addressing judicial contributions to penality using a framework developed by Joachim Savelsberg and Nicola Lacey. The framework examines judicial structure in the institutional context looking at the penal implications of bureaucratisation of the judiciary and the capacity for co-ordination between judges and politicians. I include judicial legitimacy as an additional dimension in this framework.

I conclude that the Italian judiciary have been forces for punitiveness and moderation. Their contributions can be systematised by looking at the waxing and waning of judicial legitimacy, and the consequent expansion and contraction of judicial powers. I claim that judicial legitimacy is also relevant to other (‘non-Italian’) analyses of judicial contributions to contemporary Western penality.

By adding legitimacy to investigations of judicial contributions to penality I provide an organising principle with which to analyse the penal role of Italian judicial actors. I thus allow Italy to be kept in conversation with existing comparative models, without assuming that it either conforms to the models entirely, or that the models should otherwise be eschewed. I use the Italian case to demonstrate the relevance of legitimacy when analysing judicial contributions to Western penality, arguing that changing legitimacy affects the terms and effect of interaction between judicial and political classes.

Purpose – Stemming from extant literature on consumer brand narratives and the rising quest for consumption authenticity, the chapter aims at merging these two streams of knowledge. How can brand authenticity be defined and narrated? To what extent do companies and consumers interact? What are the consequences for branding?

Methodology – The chapter is case-based, and illustrates the branding strategy of l’Occitane en Provence, a company producing toiletries with a strong Mediterranean rooting. Data were collected through multisited ethnographic fieldwork in Paris and Manosque, Haute Provence. Depth and short interviews with customers and managers of l’Occitane were complemented by extensive observation and secondary data. The comprehensive dataset was analyzed consistently with interpretive research tenets.

Findings – Data document (i) five dimensions of brand authenticity contextualized to l’Occitane Mediterranean brand; (ii) the different branding strategies made possible to companies by the varied combination of these five dimensions; and (iii) the distinct profiles of brand consumers according to the specific authentic narrative each of them is more receptive to.

Practical implications – Implications for authentic brand narratives are drawn. I argue that when companies adopt a narrative approach to branding they can establish a stronger dialogue with customers and defend their competitive advantage more effectively. Actually, each brand narrative cannot be easily imitated by competitors since its imitation would turn out as a fake, unauthentic tale for the market.

Originality of the chapter – The chapter contributes to the fields of branding and authenticity, by extending the notion and understanding of consumption authenticity to brands.

The purpose of this study was to provide contemporary scientific knowledge on the functionality of edible lipids, sources, health benefits, and a special emphasis on different encapsulation strategies to enhance their dietary application and boost the market value.

Novel technologies overcoming these issues are in great demand. Given that, several novel encapsulation techniques have been established aiming at most of the aspects of functional lipids. In addition, these techniques have been designed to enhance the storage stability and controlled release of lipids in food systems.

Plant and marine oils are one of the richest sources of functional lipids but are attached with limitations. Currently, alternative sources, such as different types of algae and microorganisms are gaining attention in terms of sustainable production systems. Advances in various encapsulation techniques have helped to overcome the dispersibility and stability problems of lipids encapsulation. Refinement in physicochemical interaction, colloidal dispersion and core-shell modules between wall and core matrix protect dietary lipids during processing have been implemented. Liposomes, micro/nanoemulsions and micro/nanocapsules are found most suitable for food application by improving the fatty acid profile, stability and sensorial properties.

Functional lipids offer numerous health benefits (i.e., simple health-promoting properties to complex disease preventive and curative effects). However, these functional lipids are associated with several disadvantages, such as region-specific availability, vulnerability to oxidation depending on the level of unsaturation, degradation/hydrolysis on processing, low bioavailability, confined storage stability, and others.