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This chapter analyses and discusses local government health promotion in Norway.

Institutional theory indicates that political and administrative jurisdictions are path dependent in their policy formation and implementation. By using data from different sources this assumption is analysed and discussed according to health promotion in Norwegian municipalities. The main methodology is cross tabulations, bivariate correlations and regression is carried out to supplement analyses.

Municipalities are path dependent in their health promotion policies. They acknowledge and prioritize health behaviour independent of experienced socio-economic challenges, municipal capacity as size and income, and local government political profile. Competence devoted to health promotion can create changes in policies.

The rhetoric on determinants and social determinants in particular is new in Norway. Rhetoric on, and interventions, that highlight the social determinants of health need to be coordinated.

The chapter presents new knowledge on Norwegian local government health promotion and how this is implemented in relation to the challenges experienced.

Although it is widely acknowledged that health care delivery systems are complex adaptive systems, there are gaps in understanding the application of systems engineering approaches to systems analysis and redesign in the health care domain. Commonly employed methods, such as statistical analysis of risk factors and outcomes, are simply not adequate to robustly characterize all system requirements and facilitate reliable design of complex care delivery systems. This is especially apparent in institutional-level systems, such as patient safety programs that must mitigate the risk of infections and other complications that can occur in virtually any setting providing direct and indirect patient care. The case example presented here illustrates the application of various system engineering methods to identify requirements and intervention candidates for a critical patient safety problem known as failure to rescue. Detailed descriptions of the analysis methods and their application are presented along with specific analysis artifacts related to the failure to rescue case study. Given the prevalence of complex systems in health care, this practical and effective approach provides an important example of how systems engineering methods can effectively address the shortcomings in current health care analysis and design, where complex systems are increasingly prevalent.

“It should also be noted that the objective of convergence and equal distribution, including across under-performing areas, can hinder efforts to generate growth. Contrariwise, the objective of competitiveness can exacerbate regional and social inequalities, by targeting efforts on zones of excellence where projects achieve greater returns (dynamic major cities, higher levels of general education, the most advanced projects, infrastructures with the heaviest traffic, and so on). If cohesion policy and the Lisbon Strategy come into conflict, it must be borne in mind that the former, for the moment, is founded on a rather more solid legal foundation than the latter” European Commission (2005, p. 9)Adaptation of Cohesion Policy to the Enlarged Europe and the Lisbon and Gothenburg Objectives.

This chapter discusses the development of tourism in peripheral areas, prompted by the “National Strategy for Inner Areas” developed by the Italian National Government. The strategy, backed by policymakers, business owners, local communities, and environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), aims to stop demographic decline by boosting sustainable tourism practices. A case study of Valle D'aosta examines the problems and their solution in the implementation of the strategy. It discusses how to make strategy implementation less complex and whether sustainable tourism is possible in such areas – whether it is an oxymoron, or whether it is a utopia that is worth pursuing.

The unequal distribution of economic activities, transposed in economic, social and territorial disparities is the general characteristic of the European economy. Gaps increased in the context of European Union (EU) enlargement towards Eastern and Central Europe and of the economic crisis, thus bringing new differentiations among member states’ economies. The main aim of the chapter is to emphasise the centre-periphery differentiations in the European economy, by using a composite index of peripherality, in order to better understand the determinants of growth and convergence in Central and Eastern European countries and to reach normative conclusions for increasing Cohesion Policy (CP) effectiveness. The first part of the chapter provides a short overview of the main theories and models of the peripherality analysis and the relationships between the centre and the periphery, in order to find out how this analysis relates to the research in the field. The second part provides a comparative analysis of the evolution of European economies during 2003–2014, in order to find out whether the EU enlargement process stabilised the EU core-periphery pattern or, on the contrary, the process of core-periphery structural convergence occurred. The third part includes the suggested model of analysis (methodology, data, and main results) from a multidisciplinary perspective, underlining the centre-periphery differentiations on the two axes, North–South and West–East. The results have been interpreted in conclusions, with a focus on their relevance for the European CP challenges.

In this chapter, starting from a general overview of the problems linked to ‘symbolic consumption’ we will investigate the satisfaction of city users. We will then focus on tourist consumption, examining the impact of place identity on its fruition by the public. The focus will be on people's perception of an urban place and how this perception may interact with the symbolic dimension underlying both place identity and its consumption. Such a dimension is not strictly connected to the practical utility of the goods but to their ability to produce values and symbols for the establishment of personal identity. The data collected during an empirical survey regarding people's perception of the Navigli area of Milan have been used to develop this analysis.

Learners with autism require specialized education and supports to ensure acquisition and mastery of various communication skills. This is particularly true for individuals whose disability significantly impacts their language development. Without functional communication, these individuals often engage in severe behavior, have reduced self-determination, and experience diminished quality of life. Accordingly, researchers in special education and related fields have sought ways to improve the communication skills of learners with autism who need specialized language and communication interventions. Although the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is well-established in the empirical literature and has helped countless individuals learn to communicate, the method known as facilitated communication (FC; which also is being called “supported typing” and “rapid prompting method”) has become increasingly popular in recent years. Few methods in special education have been as thoroughly discredited as FC and perhaps none are as dangerous. This chapter contrasts the thoroughly debunked FC and its pseudoscientific characteristics with those underpinning PECS. A brief historical account of each method is provided along with key scientific and pseudoscientific features that distinguish science from pseudoscience. Ultimately, our intent is to further clarify how FC is not an augmentative or alternative communication method and why PECS is.

The new standard ISO 45001 is expected to give a significant boost to the growth of the number of companies that have adopted and certified an occupational health and safety (OHS) management system. The structure of the new standard reflects the Annex SL, thus facilitating the organizations in aligning and integrating their management systems. The requirements of the standard lead companies, across the Deming Cycle, to the continual improvement of OHS performance starting from the essential process of leadership and commitment, through the implementation of the key processes of planning (context analysis, risk assessment, operational planning, and control), of the support processes (communication and participation, competence and awareness of resources, and documentation management) and, finally, the processes of performance evaluation (monitoring, auditing, and management review). The advantages are a full control of compliance obligations, a significant reduction in the injury indexes, a reduction in the associated costs, and an improvement in corporate image.