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1
Salata, Stefano, Elisabetta Peccol, and Oscar Borsato. "A Framework to Evaluate Land Take Control Policy Efficiency in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy." Sustainability 11, no. 22 (November 14, 2019): 6406. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su11226406.
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The development of effective policies against land take should be based on a deep knowledge of the specific land use dynamics and their determinants in a regional context. To this end, the traditional quantitative land use change analyses need to be integrated with a more accurate spatial and qualitative evaluation of the effects of the land use zoning of municipal land development plans and of the connected supplementary regulations (e.g., local building regulations). Land take limitation policies in Italy are largely based on the definition of quantitative thresholds for new development zones, while ignoring all those undeveloped zones that have been assigned building rights codes by plans of which the knowledge could largely impact policies. This paper attempted to define a conceptual framework of analysis which integrates a land use change assessment with an analysis in a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment of the spatial distribution of normative zones. The method was tested on the Friuli Venezia Giulia region (north-east Italy)—a territory that has experienced rapid growth in recent decades—by analyzing the spatial impact of the recently promulgated regional laws on land take control, the explicit and specific purpose of which was to limit commercial and industrial land use in the whole region. The soil sealing data were analyzed by performing a cross-comparison with the building rights permissions data, thus achieving a comprehensive evaluation of the past and predicted land take for commercial and industrial uses. Results demonstrated that the expected land take will exceed the past urbanization rate, highlighting a substantial inefficacy of the promulgated regional laws in promoting local land take control. The main innovations of this study relate to the definition of a newer qualitative methodology for framing an efficient decision-making supporting system, while helping to achieve the long-term sustainability of policies.
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Verheul, Ingrid, Martin Carree, and Enrico Santarelli. "Regional Opportunities and Policy Initiatives for New Venture Creation." International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship 27, no. 5 (September 22, 2009): 608–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0266242609338757.
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This article investigates the determinants of new venture creation across industries and locations for 103 Italian provinces between 1997 and 2003. Allowing for differences in regional opportunities across industries, we investigate the impact of a range of factors, including policy initiatives, on new firm formation in manufacturing, retailing and wholesaling, hotels and restaurants. Our results show that regions with industrial districts are characterized by higher start-up rates in manufacturing and that wage costs deter entry in this industry. Firm entry in commercial sectors appears to be higher in large cities and areas with strong economic progress. For hotels and restaurants we find that tourism positively influences new firm formation. We do not find a significant effect of recently introduced regional laws promoting new firm formation in Italy.
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Esposito de Vita, Gabriella, and Stefania Ragozino. "Natural Commercial Centers: Regeneration Opportunities and Urban Challenges." Advanced Engineering Forum 11 (June 2014): 392–401. http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/aef.11.392.
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In the history of European cities, public spaces always played a pivotal role, representing key places for developing social interactions and for enhancing the sense of community. Squares, commercial streets, market places as well as traditional retail and art-and-crafts areas can be considered the core of the city. The social, economic and demographic crisis and the loss of cultural identity has affected the capacity of attraction of local small retailers, giving the floor to the aggressive strategies of suburban shopping malls, centers, arcades or precinct, forming a complex of shops, movie theaters, restaurants and food courts with interconnecting walkways [. Typical expressions of a globalized economy, the different categories of suburban shopping mall have transformed behaviors and paths at a large scale [. One consequences can be identified in the loss of traditional commercial activities within the city centre, producing a situation of urban decline, mirrored by the impoverishment of public spaces [[. This paper suggests that, by activating the existing cultural and socio-economic capital it is possible to undertake a successful regeneration process based on a participative approach and on public and private integrated tools. By focussing on the experience of the Centri Commerciali Naturali (Natural Commercial Centres) established in Italy as partnership between Municipalities, cultural operators, public services providers and associations of shops owners to exploit the commercial activities in the historical centers the ongoing research is oriented to explore successful experiences of private-public partnership to be implemented in a regeneration process of areas traditionally dedicated to retail and art-and-craft small enterprises. The paper discusses the potentiality and the criticism of the NCC as engine for the redevelopment and regeneration of the inner city abandoned retail areas. In so doing, the experience developed in Campania (Southern Italy) will be analyzed in order to show how the activation of the social capital within the framework of the CCN could contribute in renovating the traditional commercial identity of the area, supporting the public spaces regeneration process. This paper aspires to offer useful insights to all those policy makers, city managers and planners who seek to revitalise traditional market areas in European city centres.
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Potì, Bianca, and Marco Cioppi. "Trends in Collaborative Research in Italy–the Role of Public Laboratories and Policy Implications." Industry and Higher Education 10, no. 5 (October 1996): 305–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/095042229601000507.
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Through the findings of a set of case studies of public research laboratories in Italy, this paper examines the extent to which the political objective of improved integration of public scientific research into the social system in Italy has been achieved. Two findings are highlighted: (1) the objective has only partially been achieved because of barriers within the public institution responsible for the management of these research programmes (especially the culturally defensive position of the academic community against the development of closer and stronger links with industry); (2) there is a continuing conflict between the priorities of the quality and the transferability of research. In practice, the degree of success in the transfer of results seems to be dependent on the particular mix of professional competencies, collaborations with external researchers, and the quality of the links with industry in the laboratory conducting the research programme. The authors consider the ways in which (and the extents to which) laboratories are adapting their working methods in the context of the need to achieve better relationships with industry. They also examine the degree of success in transferring research results into commercial applications. In conclusion, they suggest policy measures to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public-sector research programmes.
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Patalano, Rosario. "Carlo Antonio Broggia, a money doctor "in adverse circumstances"." HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY, no. 2 (March 2021): 9–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.3280/spe2020-002002.
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The debate on monetary reform in the Italian Enlightenment Age was initiated by Carlo Antonio Broggia, a ‘self-taught' Neapolitan merchant, who in 1743 pub-lished the Treatise on taxes, money, and the policy of public health, the main trea-tise on the subject published in Italy before Galiani's Della Moneta and the Nea-politan abbot himself recognized its importance, considering Broggia the first to promote om Italy the study of a very useful and noble science. Broggia proposed a complex monetary stabilization program, basing it on a detailed theoretical analysis, breaking with the tradition of the monetary writers, who throughout the seventeenth century, prompted by the serious disorders besetting the Viceroyalty, had dealt with technical issues, without the will or the ability to produce an organic analytical contribution. In his Treatise, the Neapolitan merchant tackles the prob-lem of the stability of a bimetallic monetary system, troubled by the continuous modification of the commercial relationship between gold and silver, resorting pre-cisely to the maneuver of tariffs (i.e. of imaginary money), in order to sterilize the fluctuations of the bimetallic ratio. Despite the high level of Broggia's contribution, his advice was not accepted and in the Kingdom of Naples the monetary stabiliza-tion policy failed completely. As a money doctor ante litteram Broggia acted in adverse circumstances openly opposing the policy of some ministers. Remaining unheard, he addressed the prince and public opinion directly, suffering the most drastic consequences. However, his ideas spread widely and were also welcomed by intellectuals such as Muratori who played a decisive role in the renewal of Ital-ian culture in the mid-eighteenth century.
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Yastrebov, A. O. "Peter the Great's Venetian Policy and the Prut Campaign." MGIMO Review of International Relations 14, no. 6 (December 29, 2021): 172–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.24833/2071-8160-2021-6-81-172-190.
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Russia's regular contacts with the Republic of Venice on the eve of the RussianTurkish war 1710-1713 resumed after almost a ten-year break. Before Sultan Ahmed III declared war, the Tsar sent two letters to the doge. They can be interpreted as a call to Venice to recognize the intermediate results of the Northern War and as an appeal to the republic's orthodox subjects to join Russia in the impending conflict. This episode is scarcely covered in Russian and international historiography. The connection of the envoys with the Prut campaign is also not covered in the literature. Therefore, it seems necessary to establish a connection between the two events, especially in changes in Russian foreign policy towards Venice.In March 1711, a Russian consul was sent to Venice to build support and attract volunteers for the opening theater of military operations in the Balkans. It is no coincidence that Dmitry Bozis became the first Russian consul in Italy. Being a prominent representative of the Greek community of the capital, he successfully extended his influence not only to the local Greeks but also to the Slavs of Dalmatia, who wanted to serve the Russian Tsar and fight the Turks. The outcome of the Prut campaign did not affect the consulate's work and the trade mission. Agents of the Russian government, who had commercial orders, were sent to Venice, and successfully fulfilled their mission. One of them was Count Savva Raguzinsky, an outstanding diplomat and successful commercial agent. His activities were relatively peaceful, although they still included political monitoring and legal intelligence.The resumption of bilateral relations caused by the Prut operation positively affected Russian-Venetian relations. Since the departure of the consul Bozis and the diplomatic agent Caretta, who had the authority to create a second Balkan "front" in the rear of the Sultan, after July 12, 1711, the Russian mission transformed into a commercial agency with broad diplomatic powers. These changes open a new, fruitful period in the history of bilateral relations between Russia and Venice.
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Nicoli, Matteo, Francesco Gracceva, Daniele Lerede, and Laura Savoldi. "Can We Rely on Open-Source Energy System Optimization Models? The TEMOA-Italy Case Study." Energies 15, no. 18 (September 6, 2022): 6505. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/en15186505.
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Energy system models have become crucial to assess the effectiveness of possible energy policies in pursuing the declared environmental objectives. Among bottom-up models, the tools most widely used by researchers and institutions to perform scenario analyses and policy evaluations rely on commercial software and closed databases, limiting the transparency of the studies. The purpose of this work is to demonstrate that open-source tools, relying on open databases, can be used as a valid alternative to commercial tools, getting equivalent results not only for simple case studies as done so far, but also for complex (national, regional, or multi-regional) reference energy systems. Working on the already available open TEMOA optimization framework, a bottom-up technology-rich model is developed here for the Italian reference energy system on an extended TEMOA version, comparable in detail and complexity to the equivalent TIMES framework. The accuracy of the novel TEMOA-Italy model in a business-as-usual scenario is assessed, showing that the average relative differences with respect to the consolidated TIMES-Italy results are in the order of few percent. The open-source model, available on Github, is now ready for the test and implementation of new optimization paradigms, which was not possible in the TIMES framework.
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Chen, Yibing, Yong Shi, Xianhua Wei, and Lingling Zhang. "HOW DOES CREDIT PORTFOLIO DIVERSIFICATION AFFECT BANKS’ RETURN AND RISK? EVIDENCE FROM CHINESE LISTED COMMERCIAL BANKS." Technological and Economic Development of Economy 20, no. 2 (June 27, 2014): 332–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.3846/20294913.2014.915246.
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Does diversification of credit portfolio indeed lead to increased performance and reduced risk of banks as traditional portfolio theory suggests? This paper investigates empirically the effects of diversification on the Chinese banks’ return and risk from the aspect of sector. Panel data on 16 Chinese listed commercial banks during the 2007–2011 period is used for the study. We construct a new diversification measure, taking systematic risk of different sectors into consideration by weighting them with their betas and compare the results with those of more conventional measure HHI. We find that sectorial diversification is associated with reduced return and also decreased risk at the same time, which however, contradicts existing findings in developed countries such as Italy and Germany, and also in emerging economies such as Brazil and Argentina. Our analysis also provides important implication for regulators and policy makers of the banks in emerging markets.
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Knobloch, Roberto. "Archaeological Jobs and Legislation in Italy a Quarter of a Century after the Valletta Convention." European Journal of Archaeology 22, no. 2 (March 19, 2019): 269–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2019.1.
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This article focuses on the development of preventive and commercial archaeology in Europe during the last thirty years by examining the case of Italy. This country has a mixed public-private system, where the law establishes that the State manages all archaeological activities, although archaeological services are provided mainly by private individuals or companies and funded by private developers. This framework leads to a mismatch between law and practice, which impedes the development of professional archaeology and the full implementation of the Valletta principles. The issue is examined from an historical perspective, from the 1970s to the present day, and is augmented by a brief analysis of the current trends in cultural heritage policy. The study concentrates on the regulatory elements of archaeological activities, since these legal matters are generally overlooked by scholars.
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WRIGHT, O. J. "BRITISH REPRESENTATIVES AND THE SURVEILLANCE OF ITALIAN AFFAIRS, 1860–70*." Historical Journal 51, no. 3 (September 2008): 669–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0018246x08006961.
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ABSTRACTDuring the nineteenth century the British consular service was often dismissed as an organization with purely commercial responsibilities. A succession of governments and diplomats insisted upon this notion, despite the fact that at certain times both relied very much on consular officials for information on foreign affairs. This dependence was especially evident in Italy during the decade after 1860, when British leaders had lent their moral and diplomatic support to the creation of the modern Italian state against considerable international opposition. During this period their desire not to see the achievement undone led them to maintain a close watch on Italian affairs. The contribution made in this area by the consular service, and the manner in which it was reorganized in response to Italian unification, show how such a role could take priority over its other functions. Although this state of affairs was no doubt exceptional on account of the remarkable level of British interest in the Unification of Italy, it nonetheless provides a clear demonstration of how the organization could be used under certain circumstances. The extent to which British consuls were used to monitor affairs in post-unification Italy also encourages reflection upon the widespread view that British foreign policy rejected interventionism in favour of isolation from European affairs during the 1860s.
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Bonasia, Anna, Giulia Conversa, Corrado Lazzizera, Giuseppe Gambacorta, and Antonio Elia. "Morpho-Biometrical, Nutritional and Phytochemical Characterization of Carrot Landraces from Puglia Region (Southern Italy)." Sustainability 13, no. 7 (April 2, 2021): 3940. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13073940.
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The explorations as a part of the regional BiodiverSO Programme of vegetable genetic resource rescue revealed that in the arenili (sandy shores) of “Salterns of Margherita di Savoia” (SMS), a coastal landscape area of Puglia region (southern Italy), along the commercial genotypes of small rooting species, landraces are still cultivated. The morpho-biometrical, nutritional and phytochemical properties of two carrot landraces (“Carota a punta lunga” and “Carota a punta tonda”) and a commercial carrot hybrid (“Presto”) collected from the SMS area are examined. The study highlighted that the pedological conditions of the arenili of the SMS area are the main driving force in controlling the nutritional and nutraceutical characteristics of carrot, conferring to genotypes grown in this area a high profile in comparison with literature data. In the site of cultivation of arenili, a large variability in the morpho-qualitative traits emerged among carrot genotypes. “Carota a punta tonda” stands for a promising genotype being very rich in phenols (209.8 mg kg−1 fw) (mainly di-caffeic acid derivative and chlorogenic acid), ß-carotene (21,512 µg 100 g−1 fw), and high antioxidative proprieties. “Carota a punta tonda” could be considered as a healthy product for consumers and also amenable to selection for breeding purpose. Increasing the knowledge about nutritional and nutraceutical properties of local landraces may push the preference of consumers beyond the local community and, at the same time, farmers can be stimulated to continue their cultivation. Thus, the promotion of their on-farm/in situ conservation (cultivation) could represent an efficient strategy for agro-biodiversity preservation.
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Mergel, Thomas. "Americanization, European Styles or National Codes? The Culture of Election Campaigning in Western Europe, 1945–1990." East Central Europe 36, no. 2 (2009): 254–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/187633009x411520.
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AbstractThe culture of election campaigning in postwar Western Europe allegedly has been shaped by a process of Americanization. In terms of political communication, Americanization has four distinct features: proximity of political marketing to commercial marketing, personalization and professionalization of campaigns, and media centered strategies. Based on an analyses of some European cultures of electioneering – Germany, Great Britain, and Italy – the main thesis of the paper is that the shared features are only to a smaller degree the results of American influences, but rather parallel trends due to structural commonalities like being medialized democracies in welfare and consumer societies, politically shaped by the Cold War context. The 1980s, however, meant a threshold: private media have risen across Europe and policy issues from the “new social movements” were pressured into the policy agenda. Although this has furthered the “Americanization” of European electioneering styles, at the same time several European elections point to an increased Europeanization of electioneering. On the whole, however, different national political cultures continue to modify and change American and European influences, creating local variations of campaigning.
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Rainville, Anne. "From whence the knowledge came: Heterogeneity of innovation procurement across Europe." Journal of Public Procurement 16, no. 4 (March 1, 2016): 463–504. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jopp-16-04-2016-b003.
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To induce innovation in the public sector, Directive 2014/24/EU encourages internal and external consultation during the procurement process. However, little is known regarding the prominence of these practices. Determining the extent of knowledge sourcing in innovation procurement across 28 European countries, this paper presents an institutional cluster analysis, examining heterogeneity across knowledge sourcing activities, procurement areas, and tender innovation outcomes for 1,505 public procurers from 2008-2010. Building upon existing taxonomies, three types of procuring agencies are identified: Large collaborative agencies practicing public procurement of innovation (31%); supplier-focused pre-commercial procurers (20%); and direct procurers at the municipal level (49%). Validation supports this heterogeneity, using innovation outcomes and policy drivers. At the country level, Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and Poland are most represented in respective clusters. Findings enable predictions regarding impacts on agencies and innovation from the new public procurement directive's translation into national law by Member States.
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Maulsby, Lucy M. "Giustizia Fascista." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 73, no. 3 (September 1, 2014): 312–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jsah.2014.73.3.312.
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Designed by the architect most closely associated with fascism, Marcello Piacentini, the Palace of Justice was the largest building constructed in Milan in the interwar period. Piacentini intended that the building, with its extensive decorative program, would assert the state’s authority in Milan, the commercial and financial center of Italy and the birthplace of fascism, and serve as a permanent monument to the legal system that structured the fascist state. In Giustizia Fascista: The Representation of Fascist Justice in Marcello Piacentini’s Palace of Justice, Milan, 1932–1940, Lucy M. Maulsby examines the controversy surrounding the decorative program, which ultimately involved government officials at the highest levels, and argues that the building evinces a genuine uncertainty about how to translate fascist policy into a cultural program. The continued use of this building as the setting for the nation’s legal dramas raises questions about how and to what extent these symbols continue to embody the notion of justice in Italian society and culture today.
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Gallo, Mariano, and Rosa Anna La La Rocca. "The Impact of High-Speed Rail Systems on Tourist Attractiveness in Italy: Regression Models and Numerical Results." Sustainability 14, no. 21 (October 25, 2022): 13818. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su142113818.
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This paper evaluates the impact of high-speed rail systems on tourist attractiveness in Italy. The analysis is carried out with reference to provincial capitals, only some of which are served by high-speed railway lines. To achieve this objective, two multiple linear regression models were specified and calibrated, which relate arrivals and presences in accommodation facilities to several factors that could influence the tourist destination: cultural, historical, and monumental heritage, commercial activities, recreational activities, accessibility, etc. Both models showed that the availability of high-speed railway services is an important factor in the choice of tourist destination, being, moreover, the only accessibility variable found to be significant; furthermore, the elasticity of tourist demand to this factor was significant too.
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Marinello, Samuele, Francesco Lolli, and Rita Gamberini. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Emergency on Local Vehicular Traffic and Its Consequences for the Environment: The Case of the City of Reggio Emilia (Italy)." Sustainability 13, no. 1 (December 24, 2020): 118. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13010118.
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The COVID-19 health emergency has imposed the need to limit and/or stop non-essential economic and commercial activities and movement of people. The objective of this work is to report an assessment of the change in vehicle flows and in air quality of a specific study area in the north of Italy, comparing the periods February–May 2020 and February–May 2019. Circulating vehicles have been measured at nine characteristic points of the local road network of the city of Reggio Emilia (Italy), while atmospheric pollutant concentrations have been analysed using data extracted from the regional air quality monitoring network. The results highlight a rapid decline in the number of vehicles circulating in 2020 (with values of up to −82%). This has contributed to a reduction in air concentrations of pollutants, in particular for NO2 and CO (over 30% and over 22%, respectively). On the other hand, O3 has increased (by about +13%), but this is expected. Finally, the particulate matter grew (about 30%), with a behaviour similar to the whole regional territory. The empirical findings of this study provide some indications and useful information to assist in understanding the effects of traffic blocking in urban areas on air quality.
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Geremia, Nicholas, Pierluigi Brugnaro, Maria Solinas, Claudio Scarparo, and Sandro Panese. "Candida auris as an Emergent Public Health Problem: A Current Update on European Outbreaks and Cases." Healthcare 11, no. 3 (February 2, 2023): 425. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11030425.
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Candida auris is considered to be an emerging fungal pathogen and is related to high mortality rates, persistent candidemia, inconsistencies in susceptibility testing results and misidentification by available commercial identification systems. Multidrug-resistant (MDR) and pandrug-resistant (PDR) strains are increasingly detected. In Europe, hospital outbreaks caused by C. auris have been reported in the United Kingdom (UK), Italy and Spain; however, several cases have been sporadically detected in all European countries. C. auris is difficult to control despite enhanced control measures due to its ability to survive for a long time in environments and colonize patients for prolonged periods. An adequate laboratory diagnostic capacity and national surveillance are fundamental to rapidly detect new C. auris cases and to apply the correct measures to circumscribe them and prevent their spread. Our narrative review aims to highlight the primary C. auris outbreaks and case reports that have occurred in Europe.
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Iacono-Manno, Carmelo Marcello, Marco Fargetta, Roberto Barbera, Alberto Falzone, Giuseppe Andronico, Salvatore Monforte, Annamaria Muoio, et al. "The Sicilian Grid Infrastructure for High Performance Computing." International Journal of Distributed Systems and Technologies 1, no. 1 (January 2010): 40–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/jdst.2010090803.
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The conjugation of High Performance Computing (HPC) and Grid paradigm with applications based on commercial software is one among the major challenges of today e-Infrastructures. Several research communities from either industry or academia need to run high parallel applications based on licensed software over hundreds of CPU cores; a satisfactory fulfillment of such requests is one of the keys for the penetration of this computing paradigm into the industry world and sustainability of Grid infrastructures. This problem has been tackled in the context of the PI2S2 project that created a regional e-Infrastructure in Sicily, the first in Italy over a regional area. Present article will describe the features added in order to integrate an HPC facility into the PI2S2 Grid infrastructure, the adoption of the InifiniBand low-latency net connection, the gLite middleware extended to support MPI/MPI2 jobs, the newly developed license server and the specific scheduling policy adopted. Moreover, it will show the results of some relevant use cases belonging to Computer Fluid-Dynamics (Fluent, OpenFOAM), Chemistry (GAMESS), Astro-Physics (Flash) and Bio-Informatics (ClustalW)).
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Zarbà, Carla, Salvatore Bracco, Biagio Pecorino, Gioacchino Pappalardo, Gaetano Chinnici, and Mario D’Amico. "Supporting Agri-Food SMEs in Italy in the Post-COVID-19 Context: From Horizon 2020 to Horizon Europe." Sustainability 14, no. 13 (June 22, 2022): 7615. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su14137615.
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In recent decades, European policy has targeted specific measures towards SMEs. The recently concluded Horizon 2020 Programme, under the Europe 2020 Strategy, has provided economic support to stimulate competitiveness and boost the economy of member states by focusing on innovation. The SME Instrument, through a structure of multiple calls, constituted the vehicle for SMEs to access the funds made available by the European Union with disruptive innovation proposals. The initial structure of the SME Instrument, developed in phases and along the lines of the US Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Programme, was afterwards simplified in the design of its successor, the EIC Accelerator Pilot. The success of the above mentioned economic instruments led the European institutions to develop a new instrument, the EIC Accelerator, supported by the current Horizon Europe programme. After outlining the main features of this transition and the novelties introduced, this paper aims to ascertain the extent to which SMEs in the agri-food sector in Italy have had the ability and opportunity to intercept funds by measuring participation in the SME Instrument. Furthermore, it intends to verify which type of firms in the agri-food sector, divided into agricultural and industrial enterprises, intercepted more of the examined funds, and which organisational phase, productive or commercial, the enterprises have been oriented towards, also giving relevancy to the specific objects of the winning projects.
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Rossouw, Jannie. "Private shareholding: An analysis of an eclectic group of central banks." South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences 19, no. 1 (March 2, 2016): 150–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajems.v19i1.1329.
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Although the title seems to be a contradictio in terminis, this paper identifies a small, eclectic number of central banks with private shareholders about which little has been published. It is shown that only the central banks of Belgium, Greece, Italy, Japan, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States (US) Federal Reserve allow shareholding other than by the government of the respective countries, although not in all instances by the general public. This paper considers private shareholding in this eclectic group of central banks, despite the trend of nationalising central banks that commenced in 1935. Private shareholding is defined as shareholding in a central bank by any party other than the respective government or governments (e.g. the European Central Bank) where the central bank is located.Large differences in the classes of shareholders of these eclectic central banks and differences in their approaches to dividend payments are highlighted in the paper. The conclusions reached are, firstly, that investment only in the shares of the central banks of Belgium and Greece (albeit only for residents in the latter instance) can be regarded as growth investments. Secondly, shareholding in the Italian central bank has been used to recapitalise ailing commercial banks. Thirdly, shareholders play no role in the formulation and implementation of monetary policy. Lastly, the shareholding structure of these banks contributes to improved governance in the case of the central banks of Belgium, Greece, Italy, South Africa, Switzerland and Turkey, but no evidence can be found that central banks with shareholders in any way outperform central banks without shareholders.
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Spasiano, Danilo, Andrea Petrella, and Vito Lacedra. "Chemical Destabilization of Fresh and Spent Cutting Oil Emulsions: Differences between an Ecofriendly and Two Commercial Synthetic Lubricants." Sustainability 12, no. 14 (July 15, 2020): 5697. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12145697.
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The aim of this study was to evaluate if eco-friendly lubricants had an additional advantage over conventional synthetic lubricants in terms of emulsion treatment of metalworking wastewater. To these purpose, two fresh commercial synthetic cutting oil emulsions were compared with an emulsion obtained from a new cutting oil produced from the reuse of slaughtering waste (CADT-605 from Kimya Srl, Bari, Italy). The breaking of the fresh emulsions was carried out with the addition of small amounts of sulfuric acid (2–20 mL/L) followed by pH neutralization by means of calcium hydroxide. During the two-step treatments, COD, BOD5 and non-ionic surfactant (NIS) concentrations were monitored in the aqueous phase. The results demonstrated that the best results were obtained with the emulsion produced with the bio-based lubricant. In addition, this cutting oil was tested in a metalworking plant within 30 days and the resulting spent emulsion was treated with the proposed process. In all the cases, the treatment led to a drastic decrease of the COD, BOD5 and NIS contents that allow the discharge of resulting aqueous phase in sewers or in surface water bodies, together with the other wastewater produced by the plant, in agreement with the Italian regulation.
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Leoni, Valeria, Davide Pedrali, Marco Zuccolo, Alessia Rodari, Luca Giupponi, and Annamaria Giorgi. "The Importance of Technical Support in the Return of Traditional Crops in the Alps: The Case of Rye in Camonica Valley." Sustainability 13, no. 24 (December 14, 2021): 13818. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su132413818.
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Multifunctional agriculture could be strategic for the recovery of some mountain areas of the Alps, and traditional crops like cereals generated study cases that triggered processes of development, such as rye in Camonica Valley (Northern Italy). However, farmers are often newcomers, and the specificities of low input agriculture make the training in agriculture fundamental. The impact of public workshops/seminars (organized by the Ge.S.Di.Mont. Research Centre of the University of Milan in Camonica Valley) on cereal cultivation between 2016 and 2021 was investigated. Moreover, rye produced in Camonica Valley was analyzed. The results show an increase in participation and a wider use of the streaming service. The percentage of participants not from an agricultural background had always remained about 50%, but decreased to 15.17% ± 5.07 in 2021, in contrast to the increase of professionals in agriculture and forestry. This is probably due to the accreditation of training activities for agronomists and foresters, and to the start of specific training projects regarding cereals. Samples of rye produced in Camonica Valley following the period of training activities were phytochemically/nutritionally characterized and compared to commercial rye. Locally produced rye proved to be comparable to the commercial one; however it showed a remarkable unevenness in secondary metabolite content and productivity, due to environmental differences and diverse agro-techniques.
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Croce, Antonello Ignazio, Giuseppe Musolino, Corrado Rindone, and Antonino Vitetta. "Route and Path Choices of Freight Vehicles: A Case Study with Floating Car Data." Sustainability 12, no. 20 (October 16, 2020): 8557. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12208557.
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According to the literature, the path choice decision process of a user of a (road) transport network, named path choice problem (PCP), is composed of two levels/models: the definition of perceived alternative paths (choice set) and the choice of one path in the path choice set. The path choice probability can be estimated with two models: a choice model of the path choice set and a choice model of a path (Mansky paradigm). In this research, the paper’s contribution concerns two elements: extension of the PCP paradigm (two-level models) consolidated in the literature to the route choice decision process (vehicle routing problem (VRP)) and identification of common elements in the PCP and VRP concerning the criteria in the two decision levels and the procedure for route and path selection and choice. The experiment concerns the comparison of observed routes with simulated and optimized routes of commercial vehicles to analyse the level of similarity and coverage. The observed routes are extracted from floating car data (FCD) from commercial vehicles travelling inside a study area inside the Calabria Region (Southern Italy). The comparison is executed in terms of similarity of the sequences of nodes visited between observed routes and simulated/optimized routes.
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Beghè, Deborah, Cristiana Giordano, Benedetto Pizzo, Veronica Lolli, Augusta Caligiani, Francesca Bonzanini, Monica Anichini, et al. "Characterization of Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) through the Morphoanatomical and Lipid Profile of Seeds for the Valorisation of Italian Accessions." Sustainability 14, no. 22 (November 9, 2022): 14780. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su142214780.
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Pomegranate produces fruit with high nutritional value. Of particular interest is the woody part of the seed, which influences consumer acceptability and is rich in bioactive components. The aim of this study was to morphoanatomically and biochemically characterize the tegmen of local and commercial pomegranates grown in Italy. SEM and a texturometer were used for morphoanatomical and hardness analysis, respectively, and gravimetric and Soxhlet extraction, as well as a GS-MS instrument, were used for chemical analysis. In addition to the classic morphometric parameters, we described, for the first time, the bundles on pomegranate tegmen, identifying four forms (FAN, TREE, COMB and RAMIFIED); local cultivars showed a higher variability compared to the commercial cultivars. Lignin content showed no correlation with seed strength. We developed a new hierarchical model in which geometric parameters and the resistant volume of the lignified tissue can explain the variability in hardness observed in the tests. Quantitative differences were observed in total lipids and unsaponifiable fractions; in particular, all oils were rich in unsaturated fatty acids. We propose that bundles form as a novel trait for characterization and a new hierarchical model to evaluate the hardness of seeds. The content of fatty acids and other biocompounds in pomegranate seeds can promote their valorization as a resource rather than a waste product.
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Minuto, Francesco Demetrio, Andrea Lanzini, Lorenzo Giannuzzo, and Romano Borchiellini. "Digital Platforms for Renewable Energy Communities Projects: An Overview." International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning 17, no. 7 (November 30, 2022): 2007–13. http://dx.doi.org/10.18280/ijsdp.170701.
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The European Union energy policy agenda of achieving the transition to carbon neutrality has been established by an important legislative package called "Clean Energy for all Europeans". A novel approach introduced was to put the citizen at the center of the energy transition. On one side, by powering his freedom of action and, on the other side, by asking him an exceptional engagement in energy consumption reduction activities and in participating in the investments for new distributed Renewable Energy Sources (RES) power plants. The Renewable Energy Communities (REC) is the policy framework used to implement this strategy introduced by the Renewable Energy Directive Recast (RED II). In particular, RECs promote citizen’s active role by encouraging energy consumption reduction and energy demand flexibility while reducing the Not In My Bachyard (NIMBY) effect towards RES. Each member state is transposing the RED II directive, adapting it to national legislation and energy transition strategy. Pioneers countries like Italy have already started the experimentation of this framework and developing the first pilot projects. The citizens’ interest and their will to participate in REC projects indicate the need for supporting tools guiding them along all the project development stages: “design”, “creation”, and “operation”. This work presents three categories of supporting digital tools and platforms required to develop REC projects: Commercial, EU Founded and Freeware. We analyzed 30 tools, evaluating the services provided in each of the different stages of REC project implementation.
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Minuto, Francesco Demetrio, Andrea Lanzini, Lorenzo Giannuzzo, and Romano Borchiellini. "Digital platforms for Renewable Energy Communities projects: an overview." IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1106, no. 1 (November 1, 2022): 012007. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1106/1/012007.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract The European Union energy policy agenda of achieving the transition to carbon neutrality has been established by an important legislative package called “Clean Energy for all Europeans”. A novel approach introduced was to put the citizen at the center of the energy transition. On one side, by powering his freedom of action and, on the other side, by asking him an exceptional engagement in energy consumption reduction activities and in participating in the investments for new distributed Renewable Energy Sources (RES) power plants. The Renewable Energy Communities (REC) is the policy framework used to implement this strategy introduced by the Renewable Energy Directive Recast (RED II). In particular, RECs promote citizen’s active role by encouraging energy consumption reduction and energy demand flexibility while reducing the Not In My Bachyard (NIMBY) effect towards RES. Each member state is transposing the RED II directive, adapting it to national legislation and energy transition strategy. Pioneers countries like Italy have already started the experimentation of this framework and developing the first pilot projects. The citizens’ interest and their will to participate in REC projects indicate the need for supporting tools guiding them along all the project development stages: “design”, “creation”, and “operation”. This work presents three categories of supporting digital tools and platforms required to develop REC projects: Commercial, EU Founded and Freeware. We analyzed 30 tools, evaluating the services provided in each of the different stages of REC project implementation.
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Fortelli, Alberto, Alessandro Fedele, Giuseppe De Natale, Fabio Matano, Marco Sacchi, Claudia Troise, and Renato Somma. "Analysis of Sea Storm Events in the Mediterranean Sea: The Case Study of 28 December 2020 Sea Storm in the Gulf of Naples, Italy." Applied Sciences 11, no. 23 (December 3, 2021): 11460. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/app112311460.
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The coastline of the Gulf of Naples, Italy, is characterized by a series of infrastructures of strategic importance, including touristic and commercial ports between Pozzuoli to Sorrento, main roads, railways, and urban areas. Furthermore, the Gulf of Naples hosts an intense traffic of touristic and commercial maritime routes. The risk associated with extreme marine events is hence very significant over this marine and coastal area. On 28 December 2020, the Gulf of Naples was hit by an extreme sea storm, with severe consequences. This study focuses on the waterfront area of Via Partenope, where the waves overrun the roadway, causing massive damage on coastal seawall, road edges, and touristic structures (primarily restaurants). Based on the analysis of the meteorological evolution of the sea storm and its effects on the waterfront, we suggest that reflective processes induced on the sea waves by the tuff cliffs at the base of Castel dell’Ovo had an impact in enhancing the local-scale waves magnitude. This caused in turn severe flooding of the roadway and produced widespread damage along the coast. The analysis of the event of 28 December 2020, also suggests the need of an effective mitigation policy in the management of coastal issues induced by extreme sea storm events. Wind-based analysis and prediction of the sea wave conditions are currently discussed in the literature; however, critical information on wave height is often missing or not sufficient for reliable forecasting. In order to improve our ability to forecast the effects of sea storm events on the coastline, it is necessary to analyze all the components of the coastal wave system, including wave diffraction and reflection phenomena and the tidal change. Our results suggest in fact that only an integrated approach to the analysis of all the physical and anthropic components of coastal system may provide a correct base of information for the stakeholders to address coastal zone planning and protection.
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Cavallo, Alessandro, and Giovanna Antonella Dino. "Extractive Waste as a Resource: Quartz, Feldspars, and Rare Earth Elements from Gneiss Quarries of the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola Province (Piedmont, Northern Italy)." Sustainability 14, no. 8 (April 11, 2022): 4536. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su14084536.
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The growing demand for raw materials requires the optimization of extractive processes and innovative approaches, such as the recovery of quarrying and processing waste. Waste materials from gneiss (ranging from blocks up to residual sludge) used as dimension stone (Beola and Serizzo from Piedmont, northern Italy) were characterized for chemistry, mineralogy, and petrography: quartz and feldspars (plagioclase and K-feldspar) are the most abundant minerals, followed by micas (biotite and minor muscovite) and traces of chlorite and epidote (allanite). Quartz and feldspars could be reused in the industrial minerals sector, especially in the ceramics industry; depending on the purity requirements of the raw materials, some mica separation treatments may be required. The most critical issues relate to the small grain size and the relative abundance of mica in some commercial varieties. The presence of allanite opens new possibilities for the recovery of rare earth elements (REE, critical raw materials).
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Sabaydash, Marina Vladislavovna. "Retrospective analysis of the USSR sea trade ports operation in conditions of new economic policy (1921-1928)." Vestnik of Astrakhan State Technical University. Series: Economics 2020, no. 1 (March 31, 2020): 78–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.24143/2073-5537-2020-1-78-90.
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The article highlights the specific features of implementing the new economic policy in the seaports of the USSR. The general laws of economic development of the commercial sea ports during the NEP period have been formulated. Statistical data on port capacity from the UK, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the USA, and France were used for the first time, and an assessment of the economic development of domestic sea ports was made in comparison with the above countries. It was stated that the drop in cargo turnover of the Soviet ports in relation to 1913 was the most significant, and the post-war restoration was slower in comparison with European ports, with the railway and inland water transport of the USSR. It was proved that the decrease in port turnover in the USSR was a consequence of a decrease in the foreign trade volume and short sea shipping. Maintaining the state monopoly of foreign trade, which in the NEP period transformed into the state capitalism, negatively affected outward and inward trade. The intensity of coastal shipping service grew slowly due to the low specialization of the regions. The seaport management system was studied; its centralization and similarity with the port management system of the Russian Empire were stated. There have been presented the study results of property relations in seaports. It was determined that the landowners in the ports were state departments represented by central ministries (people's commissariats), the owners of other property were state and sectorial governmental bodies, joint-stock companies with a predominance of state ownership. Sea trade ports were funded from the budget of the People's Commissariat of Communication Means. Port financing was ten times less than financing of railways and several times less than inland water transport financing
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Cerasi, Laura. "Empires ancient and modern: strength, modernity and power in imperial ideology from the Liberal period to Fascism." Modern Italy 19, no. 4 (November 2014): 421–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13532944.2014.968116.
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This article examines the image of Empire developed in public discourse in Italy during the late Liberal period and Fascism by placing it in the context of representations of the British Empire, with which Italian imperial ambitions were compared. There is a continuity in seeing the British Empire as the expression of industrial and commercial modernity and its resultant strength, but what in the Liberal period was seen as an unparalleled superiority became under Fascism a supremacy acquired in a particular period but now exhibiting signs of decline, which Fascism should contest and surpass. Admiration of the British was mixed with disparagement: key figures expressed a competitive resentment towards Britain and its dominant international position, seeing it as the epitome of ‘modern’ imperial power against which Fascism was destined to be measured. In the 1930s signs of the British Empire's decline were sought, developing the idea in Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire that British domination would also rise and fall, and announcing the replacement of the ‘British order’, founded on commercial modernity and the strength of money and capital, by Fascism's new civilisation, with its authentic heritage of imperial romanità. This competitiveness towards Britain, which historiography has principally seen as a component of foreign policy (as was clear over Ethiopia), has additional significance when seen as an element of political culture that relates to the concept of the State. The autonomy and strength of the State were an important feature of Fascism's self-representation and of its legal culture, and in this light the possession of an empire came to be seen as an essential aspect of statehood and power.
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Frigione, Mariaenrica, Gabriele Marini, and Maurizio Pinna. "A Thermal Analysis-Based Approach to Identify Different Waste Macroplastics in Beach Litter: The Case Study of Aquatina di Frigole NATURA 2000 Site (IT9150003, Italy)." Sustainability 13, no. 6 (March 14, 2021): 3186. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13063186.
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The dispersion of commercial plastics in the marine environments is a major threat to biodiversity and ecosystem services of the last decades. The lower density of the plastics with respect to marine water density determines their floating, transferring, and accumulation in sandy beaches. Sandy beaches represent a natural sink ecosystem for marine plastics, where the latter are fragmented and photo-degraded in relation to the kind of polymer. Here, we propose an accurate and cost-effective method, the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), to identify different polymers from plastic samples collected on the Aquatina di Frigole beach (Apulia Region, Southeast of Italy), included in the NATURA 2000 Site coded as IT9150003. Our results reveal the exclusive presence of thermoplastic polymers in the beach plastic samples, mostly belonging to the polyolefin family. They appear to be remnants of larger plastic fragments, which could impact biodiversity and ecosystem services such as beach recreation activities and tourism.
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Caiazza, Rosa, and Tiziana Volpe. "Interaction despite of diversity: is it possible?" Journal of Management Development 34, no. 6 (June 8, 2015): 743–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jmd-10-2013-0131.
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Purpose – Italy is traditionally one of Egypt’s main trading partners, ranking first both as import and export partner. However, Italian firms face several cultural problems in Egypt. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of cross-cultural differences faced by Italian firms’ operating in Egypt. The investigation of cross-cultural differences is facilitated by the examination of interaction between Italian and Egyptian culture using Hofstede and GLOBE’s cultural attributes and dimensions. Design/methodology/approach – The qualitative analysis has been conducted through face to face interviews of individuals working for Italian firms operating in Egypt. These interviews were structured to specifically identify the impact of cultural differences on the interaction between Italian and Egyptian firms. Findings – The results show that Italy is one of the most important commercial partners of Egypt. However, cultural diversity results in Italian small and medium enterprises facing risks when operating in Egypt. Cultural distance is a problem for Italian firms investing in Egypt. Thus, interaction between Italian and Egyptian firms requires a common understanding of cultural diversity. Italian firms must develop an understanding of Egyptian culture if they are to avoid cultural clash. Egyptian policy-makers must adopt policies that open national culture to international interactions. Research limitations/implications – The paper is based on a sub-set of the cultural attributes identified in Hofstede and GLOBE’s study. The results presented in this paper may be complimented through a future quantitative analysis, evaluating the relationship between religious values and other cultural dimensions. Originality/value – This paper provides an insight into the interaction between Italian and Egyptian culture. It contributes to the extant literature by filling a gap in the existing literature on cross-cultural diversity and interaction between Europe and Middle East.
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Cavallo, Alessandro, and Giovanna Antonella Dino. "The Bargiolina, a Striking Historical Stone from Monte Bracco (Piedmont, NW Italy) and a Possible Source of Industrial Minerals." Sustainability 11, no. 16 (August 8, 2019): 4293. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su11164293.
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The Bargiolina quartzite from Monte Bracco (western Alps, northern Italy) represents one of the most important historical ornamental stones of the Piedmont region. Known and used since the prehistoric age as substituting material for chert, it was celebrated by Leonardo da Vinci, and exploited at least since the XIII century, peaking in the XX century. It was extensively used in the construction of basilicas and noble palaces by famous architects of Piedmontese Baroque, for internal and external stone cladding. There are four main commercial and chromatic varieties, and the main technical feature is the regular schistosity, to obtain very thin natural split slabs. The different varieties have a homogeneous mineralogical composition and microstructure: A fine and homeoblastic grain size, and a granular—lepidoblastic texture, with regularly spaced schistose domains. The main rock-forming minerals are quartz, phengite, small amounts of K-feldspar and traces of plagioclase and chlorite. The yield rate of quarries is about 20%, and the poor exploitation planning of the past led to only partly exploited quarry benches, with a very poor residual yield. The large amount of quartz-rich quarry waste and the presence of kaolin-rich gneisses suggests the potential for novel applications in the field of industrial minerals.
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Pushkar, Svetlana. "The Effect of Regional Priority Points on the Performance of LEED 2009 Certified Buildings in Turkey, Spain, and Italy." Sustainability 10, no. 10 (September 20, 2018): 3364. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su10103364.
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Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) has five basic categories: Sustainable sites (SS), Water Efficiency (WE), Energy and Atmosphere (EA), Materials and Resources (MR), and Indoor Environmental Quality (EQ). Additionally, in LEED 2009, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) introduced regional priority (RP) points to adapt LEED to the local conditions of foreign countries. However, the appropriateness of the RP points stated for the Mediterranean basin has not yet been evaluated. Thus, we studied the similarities and differences in performances of LEED 2009 Commercial Interiors (CI) and LEED 2009 Core and Shell Development (C&S) Gold certified projects in Turkey, Spain, and Italy. We revealed that the categories without RP points, SS, MR, and EQ, performed similarly in all three countries, thereby signaling the correctness of CI and C&S applications in the Mediterranean basin. However, the categories with RP points, WE and EA, performed differently. It can be suggested that the following RP points would be beneficial for all three countries: (i) in the MR category, RP points that initiate decreases in virgin construction material; (ii) in the WE category, RP points that encourage water saving; and (iii) in the EA category, RP points that encourage using renewable energies.
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Minghini, Marco, Alessandro Sarretta, and Maurizio Napolitano. "OpenStreetMap Contribution to Local Data Ecosystems in COVID-19 Times: Experiences and Reflections from the Italian Case." Data 7, no. 4 (March 31, 2022): 39. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/data7040039.
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Data and digital technologies have been at the core of the societal response to COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. This work focuses on the specific contribution of the OpenStreetMap (OSM) project to address the early stage of the COVID-19 crisis (approximately from February to May 2020) in Italy. Several activities initiated by the Italian OSM community are described, including: mapping ‘red zones’ (the first municipalities affected by the emergency); updating OSM pharmacies based on the authoritative dataset from the Ministry of Health; adding information on delivery services of commercial activities during COVID-19 times; publishing web maps to offer COVID-19-specific information at the local level; and developing software tools to help collect new data. Those initiatives are analysed from a data ecosystem perspective, identifying the actors, data and data flows involved, and reflecting on the enablers and barriers for their success from a technical, organisational and legal point of view. The OSM project itself is then assessed in the wider European policy context, in particular against the objectives of the recent European strategy for data, highlighting opportunities and challenges for scaling successful approaches such as those to fight COVID-19 from the local to the national and European scales.
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Nicolosi, Vittorio, Maria Augeri, Mauro D’Apuzzo, Azzurra Evangelisti, and Daniela Santilli. "A Probabilistic Approach to the Evaluation of Seismic Resilience in Road Asset Management." International Journal of Disaster Risk Science 13, no. 1 (February 2022): 114–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13753-022-00395-5.
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AbstractRoad networks are classified as critical infrastructure systems. Their loss of functionality not only hinders residential and commercial activities, but also compromises evacuation and rescue after disasters. Dealing with risks to key strategic objectives is not new to asset management, and risk management is considered one of the core elements of asset management. Risk analysis has recently focused on understanding and designing strategies for resilience, especially in the case of seismic events that present a significant hazard to highway transportation networks. Following a review of risk and resilience concepts and metrics, an innovative methodology to stochastically assess the economic resources needed to restore damaged infrastructures, one that is a relevant and complementary element within a wider resilience-based framework, is proposed. The original methodology is based on collecting and analyzing ex post reconstruction and hazard data and was calibrated on data measured during the earthquake that struck central Italy in 2016 and collected in the following recovery phase. Although further improvements are needed, the proposed approach can be used effectively by road managers to provide useful information in developing seismic retrofitting plans.
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Sabaydash, Marina Vladislavovna. "Retrospective analysis of commercial sea ports operation during first five-year plans and their role in USSR economic industrialization (1928-1940)." Vestnik of Astrakhan State Technical University. Series: Economics 2020, no. 4 (December 30, 2020): 83–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.24143/2073-5537-2020-4-83-97.
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The article highlights the general regularities of the economic development of commercial sea ports in the USSR and defines their role in industrialization of the country. For the first time there has been carried out a comparative analysis of sea port cargo turnover dynamics in relation to the ports of Great Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the USA and France. The rates of port cargo turnover growth are investigated in comparison with the rates of industrial production growth, the volume of railway and inland water transport. The changes in the main cargo flows connected to the industrialization of the economy in all sea basins of the USSR have been studied. The dynamics of different types of cargo transshipment has been investigated. There has been stated the increasing rate of coastal cargo transshipment against the significant decrease in the export-import cargo transshipment due to the policy of self-reliance. The structure of foreign commercial cargos has been studied, a significant excess of exports over imports has been revealed. It has been found that the high growth rates of cargo turnover in the Soviet ports were due to the increase in the volume of oil cargo transshipment in the ports of the Caspian Sea. There have been calculated the average age and deadweight of Soviet ships in 1939, compared to the similar average international parameters and figures of the previous years. It was determined how the port's technical characteristics and lack of funding influenced these parameters. Investments to the seaports were hundreds of times less than investments to heavy industry and railway transport, and dozens of times less in inland waterways, since the seaports were not the priority objects in the program of economic industrialization. As a result, plans were not fulfilled, ships were idling in the ports, and labor productivity was low. It has been inferred that the activity of seaports during the first five-year plans was not profitable. There have been studied the specific features of the state system of seaports management during the first five-year plans.
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Mileti, Antonio, Daniele Arduini, Gordon Watson, and Adriana Giangrande. "Blockchain Traceability in Trading Biomasses Obtained with an Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture." Sustainability 15, no. 1 (December 31, 2022): 767. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su15010767.
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This study explores the application and critical issues related to the implementation of blockchain technology (BT) to the aquaculture sector, in order to understand the possibilities of improving the relationship with the supply chain and the end consumer, with a view to a sustainability for the marine environment and circular economy. Starting from considerations of commercial and political challenges related to credibility and fairness for all parties involved—from producers, to retailers, to end consumers—the procedure adopted was applied to the case of an Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture project, developed in the sea of Taranto (Italy). Furthermore, it considered two different end markets: the food market for farmed fish and the ornamental fish market for marine aquariums. The results of the study confirm that although the implementation of BT by industries and producers of marine species has the potential to lead to successful sustainability solutions, such adoption is feasible over time only if all actors in the supply chain, from aquaculture companies, to retailers, to consumers, are actively and consciously involved and can access common benefits.
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Tonolo, Sara. "Adoption v. Surrogacy: New Perspectives on the Parental Projects of Same-Sex Couples." Italian Review of International and Comparative Law 1, no. 1 (October 15, 2021): 132–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/27725650-01010007.
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Abstract In Italy all forms of surrogacy are forbidden, whether it be traditional or gestational, commercial or altruistic. Act n. 40 of 19/2/2004, entitled “Rules about medically-assisted reproduction”, introduces a prohibition on employing gametes from donors, and specifically incriminates not only intermediary agencies and clinics practising surrogacy, but also the intended parents and the surrogate mother too. Other penal consequences are provided by the Criminal Code about the registration of a birth certificate where parents are the intended ones, as provided by the lex loci actus (art. 567 of the Italian Criminal Code, concerning the false representation or concealment of status). Apart from the mentioned criminal problems, several aspects of private international law are involved. In the cases where national rules forbid the transcription of birth certificates for public policy reasons, specifically the prohibition of surrogacy, Italian Judges often seek solutions to enforce the status filiationis. In this case, the Italian Supreme Court intervenes in the debate, allowing the recognition of a foreign adoption order related to a procedure of surrogate motherhood in favour of a same-sex couple. Focusing on the recent evolution of the notion of international public policy the Supreme Court affirms that the inherent adoptive parental status acquired by a homogenitorial couple is not contrary to international public policy, when the effects of the act from which this status derives are not incompatible with the limits that cannot be exceeded constituted by the founding principles of the relational choices between intended parents and child (Article 2 of the Constitution, Article 8 ECHR), by the Best interest of the child as codified in the Italian Law 219/2012, by the principle of non-discrimination, by the principle of solidarity that is the basis of social parenting. Splitting the problem of the surrogacy, underlying the adoption order to recognize in this case, and narrowing the public policy exception, is highly evident the risk to suggest to same-sex couples to realize their parental projects putting in place the surrogacy within the legal systems where contemporary it is possible to carry out the adoption of the child born as a result of this procedure.
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Buonomo, Bernardo, Maria Rita Golia, Oronzio Manca, and Segio Nardini. "A Numerical Study on an Integrated Solar Chimney with Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage in Various Arrangements." International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning 17, no. 6 (October 21, 2022): 1693–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.18280/ijsdp.170601.
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The paper presents a two-dimensional numerical investigation of a solar chimney combined with an absorbing capacity wall in a building’s south façade. The analysis was carried out in Aversa (Italy), in July and December, from sunrise to sunset. The chimney is made up of a converging channel, a vertical absorbing wall, and a two-degree angled glass plate. It is 5.0 m tall, while the height of the channel is 4.0 m, with an inlet of 0.34 m and an outlet portion of 0.20 m. A phase change material with metal foam makes up the thermal energy storage system. Four possible configurations are investigated to identify the ideal hybrid system arrangement in terms of thermal performance; the commercial code Ansys-Fluent is used to solve the problem. The results of the thermal energy storage system with metal foam and PCM are provided in terms of liquid fractions, stored energy, and stream function fields, while the ones of the wall temperature distributions in the channel are reported. Thermal and fluid dynamics behaviours are so evaluated to have some useful indications to improve the system.
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Tosi, L., and G. Beccari. "A New Race, 704, of Plasmopara helianthi Pathogen of Sunflower Downy Mildew in Italy." Plant Disease 91, no. 4 (April 2007): 463. http://dx.doi.org/10.1094/pdis-91-4-0463b.
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The recent changes of the European Common Agricultural Policy and the market needs of oleaginous crops for energy purposes caused a renewed increase of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) cultivation in Italy. During 2006, surveys on approximately 92 ha of Umbrian (central Italy) sunflower fields were carried out for monitoring distribution and race variability of the pathogen. Twelve fields planted with commercial hybrids were surveyed. Downy mildew was only observed in five fields, with 2 to 3% of disease incidence. Systemic mildewed plants showed stunting, leaf chlorosis, and sporulation on the underside of leaf surface. Pathogen inocula were directly recovered from infected leaves by brushing the fungal structures or after infected leaves were incubated in a humid chamber at 18 to 20°C in the dark for 24 to 48 h. After increasing initial inocula on the suscpetible cv. Ala, race identification of four isolates was determined by the reaction of three standard sets of nine differential sunflower lines using a triplet code (3). Thirty to forty pregerminated seeds for each differential line (three replicates per line) were inoculated by the whole-seedling immersion technique (1). After 12 days, plants were maintained at 20°C and 100% relative humidity for 24 to 48 h to enhance pathogen sporulation and evaluate for susceptible (sporulation on cotyledons and/or first true leaves) or resistance (absence of sporulation or weak sporulation only on cotyledons) reactions. Inoculation tests were performed twice. The isolates were also evaluated for their sensitivity to metalaxyl-M (Apron XL 31.8%) used at the Italian registered rate (1.05 g of a.i. per kg of seed). Treated and untreated seeds of cv. Ala (50 seeds per pot with three replicates) were sown into pots filled with a sterilized sandy-loam mixture (1:1, vol/vol). Five days after sowing, soil drench inoculation was performed by spreading over the pots (80 ml per pot) a zoosporangia suspension (1 to 2 × 104 zoosporangia per ml) of each isolate. Disease incidence (DI) was determined by counting the number of uninfected and infected plants (sporulation on cotyledons and/or true leaves). Hypocotyls of plants that seemed uninfected were cut into sections (2 to 3 cm long) and placed in a humid chamber to allow pathogen sporulation. The experiments were performed twice. Three isolates were characterized as race 700 and one as a mixture of races 700 and 704. Race 700 is more widespread in Italy, whereas race 704 was reported in France in 2002 (2). All Plasmopara helianthi isolates produced 84 to 89% infection on plants from untreated seeds, whereas DI from fungicide treated seeds was significantly lower (8 to 17%). To our knowledge, this is the first report of race 704 in Italy. All field isolates were also metalaxyl-M sensitive as already reported in other European countries (4). References: (1) T. J. Gulya et al. Helia 14:11, 1991. (2) E. Mestries. Oleoscope 83:13, 2005. (3) M. L. Molinero et al. Plant Dis. 86:736, 2002. (4) M. L. Molinero et al. Plant Dis. 87:749, 2003.
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Pellegrini, Giustina, Maria Carmela Annosi, Francesco Contò, and Mariantonietta Fiore. "What Are the Conflicting Tensions in an Italian Cooperative and How Do Members Manage Them? Business Goals’, Integrated Management, and Reduction of Waste within a Fruit and Vegetables Supply Chain." Sustainability 12, no. 7 (April 10, 2020): 3050. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12073050.
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Social enterprise is a model of hybrid organization driven by the need to generate positive externalities by reinvesting their surplus for social and environmental objectives. One of the biggest problems arising from joining financial goals with social goals is the presence of increasing tensions between the members and stakeholders involved. Nevertheless, there has not been enough focus on how managers, employees, and stakeholders respond to the tensions caused by contradictions and how they try to reach a balance between financial, environmental, and social goals. Therefore, the present study is aimed at investigating how members of an agricultural cooperative in the Apulia region (Italy) try to join the organizational forms of business and social values, namely, the sustainable practices related to CO2 emission reduction, resource use efficiency, and food waste mitigation. Additionally, the study goes further and explores whether and how these contradictory pressures are solved. Starting from the sensemaking approach, the study carried out an inductive case study through the use of a multiple case study design and in-depth interviews. The findings highlight the following two novel aspects: (1) Managers prefer to adopt a cumulative mitigating hybridization approach and (2) a weak integration can be noticed between social and commercial dimensions, originating from a lack of holistic perspective and poor interorganizational communication.
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Di Stefano, Francesco, Alessandro Torresani, Elisa M. Farella, Roberto Pierdicca, Fabio Menna, and Fabio Remondino. "3D Surveying of Underground Built Heritage: Opportunities and Challenges of Mobile Technologies." Sustainability 13, no. 23 (November 30, 2021): 13289. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su132313289.
Full textAbstract:
Among the existing Cultural Heritage settings, Underground Built Heritage (UBH) represents a peculiar case. The scarce or lack of knowledge and documentation of these spaces frequently limits their proper management, exploitation, and valorization. When mapping these environments for documentation purposes, the primary need is to achieve a complete, reliable, and adequate representation of the built spaces and their geometry. Terrestrial laser scanners were widely employed for this task, although the procedure is generally time-consuming and often lacks color information. Mobile Mapping Systems (MMSs) are nowadays fascinating and promising technologies for mapping underground structures, speeding up acquisition times. In this paper, mapping experiences (with two commercial tools and an in-house prototype) in UBH settings are presented, testing the different handheld mobile solutions to guarantee an accurate and reliable 3D digitization. Tests were performed in the selected case study of Camerano Caves (Italy), characterized by volumetric complexity, poor lighting conditions, and difficult accessibility. The aim of this research activity is not only to show the differences in the technological instruments used for 3D surveying, but rather to argue over the pros and cons of the systems, providing the community with best practices and rules for 3D data collection with handheld mobile systems. The experiments deliver promising results when compared with TLS data.
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Khanna, Rita, Yuri Konyukhov, Dmitry Zinoveev, Kalidoss Jayasankar, Igor Burmistrov, Maksim Kravchenko, and Partha S. Mukherjee. "Red Mud as a Secondary Resource of Low-Grade Iron: A Global Perspective." Sustainability 14, no. 3 (January 23, 2022): 1258. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su14031258.
Full textAbstract:
Managing red mud (RM), a solid waste byproduct of the alumina recovery process, is a serious ecological and environmental issue. With ~150 million tons/year of RM being generated globally, nearly 4.6 billion tons of RM are presently stored in vast waste reserves. RM can be a valuable resource of metals, minor elements, and rare earth elements. The suitability of RM as a low-grade iron resource was assessed in this study. The utilization of RM as a material resource in several commercial, industrial operations was briefly reviewed. Key features of iron recovery techniques, such as magnetic separation, carbothermal reduction, smelting reduction, acid leaching, and hydrothermal techniques were presented. RMs from different parts of the globe including India, China, Greece, Italy, France, and Russia were examined for their iron recovery potential. Data on RM composition, iron recovery, techniques, and yields was presented. The composition range of RMs examined were: Fe2O3: 28.3–63.2 wt.%; Al2O3: 6.9–26.53 wt.%; SiO2: 2.3–22.0 wt.%; Na2O: 0.27–13.44 wt.%; CaO: 0.26–23.8 wt.%; Al2O3/SiO2: 0.3–4.6. Even with a high alumina content and high Al2O3/SiO2 ratios, it was possible to recover iron in all cases, showing the significant potential of RM as a secondary resource of low-grade iron.
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Stival, Carlo Antonio, Raul Berto, Pierluigi Morano, and Paolo Rosato. "Reuse of Vernacular Architecture in Minor Alpine Settlements: A Multi-Attribute Model for Sustainability Appraisal." Sustainability 12, no. 16 (August 13, 2020): 6562. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12166562.
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In the marginal areas of the Alps, there is a huge built heritage expressed by local communities, resulting in an architectural model that is sustainable in terms of its material use, resource exploitation, and landscape coherence. Although buildings in these small settlements have been largely protected from transformation, currently this heritage is largely underused. Thus, it is desirable to consider reuse and enhancement actions that can combine both economic viability and the protection of historic, cultural and architectural values. This paper presents a multi-attribute model for the evaluation of sustainability in reuse projects concerning traditional buildings in the Italian Alpine settlements. For the appraisal of sustainability, the model uses relevant parameters aggregated into three macro-indicators. The model was calibrated by an expert panel and tested on reuse projects in Sauris, in north-eastern Italy, where residential building type is characterized by specific techniques that are expressions of community traditions. The main results show that the attributes aggregation function is predominantly andness in all nodes. A short range in sustainability assessment is a predictable result, as the buildings used for the model’s application give a common judgment in some attributes. Finally, activities for widespread hospitality generate a greater expected return compared to commercial services.
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Sardaro, Ruggiero, Nicola Faccilongo, Francesco Contò, and Piermichele La Sala. "Adaption Actions to Cope with Climate Change: Evidence from Farmers’ Preferences on an Agrobiodiversity Conservation Programme in the Mediterranean Area." Sustainability 13, no. 11 (May 26, 2021): 5977. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13115977.
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The paper investigates the attitude of farmers to participate in an on-farm conservation programme based on the cultivation of vine landraces in Apulia, southern Italy, in place of the current commercial varieties, as an adaptation strategy to climate changes. The results, based on choice experiments and assessed through a latent class model, highlight a general interest of the regional farmers toward the biodiversity-based adaptation programme for coping with climate change. In particular, three classes of respondents were identified: (i) farmers operating on the whole regional territory and willing to cultivate up to 50% of their farm area with up to two landraces and compensation in line with the aid set by the regional rural programme; (ii) winegrowers of the intensive rural areas and willing to cultivate up to 25% of their farm with up to two landraces and a compensation greater than 200% compared to the aid of the regional rural programme; (iii) farmers operating in the intermediate rural areas and willing to cultivate up to 50% of their farm with up to three landraces and a compensation greater than 50% compared to the aid of the regional rural programme. Policymakers should calibrate adaption actions depending on rural areas, since economic, social, cultural, behavioural and cognitive barriers, as well as structural characteristics of farms, impact the farmers’ attitudes toward measures aimed at coping with climate change.
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Cerreta, Maria, Eleonora Giovene di Girasole, Giuliano Poli, and Stefania Regalbuto. "Operationalizing the Circular City Model for Naples’ City-Port: A Hybrid Development Strategy." Sustainability 12, no. 7 (April 7, 2020): 2927. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12072927.
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The city-port context involves a decisive reality for the economic development of territories and nations, capable of significantly influencing the conditions of well-being and quality of life, and of making the Circular City Model (CCM) operational, preserving and enhancing seas and marine resources in a sustainable way. This can be achieved through the construction of appropriate production and consumption models, with attention to relations with the urban and territorial system. This paper presents an adaptive decision-making process for Naples (Italy) commercial port’s development strategies, aimed at re-establishing a sustainable city-port relationship and making Circular Economy (CE) principles operative. The approach has aimed at implementing a CCM by operationalizing European recommendations provided within both the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework—specifically focusing on goals 9, 11 and 12—and the Maritime Spatial Planning European Directive 2014/89, to face conflicts about the overlapping areas of the city-port through multidimensional evaluations’ principles and tools. In this perspective, a four-step methodological framework has been structured applying a place-based approach with mixed evaluation methods, eliciting soft and hard knowledge domains, which have been expressed and assessed by a core set of Sustainability Indicators (SI), linked to SDGs. The contribution outcomes have been centred on the assessment of three design alternatives for the East Naples port and the development of a hybrid regeneration scenario consistent with CE and sustainability principles. The structured decision-making process has allowed us to test how an adaptive approach can expand the knowledge base underpinning policy design and decisions to achieve better outcomes and cultivate a broad civic and technical engagement, that can enhance the legitimacy and transparency of policies.
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Koppelaar, Rembrandt, Antonino Marvuglia, Lisanne Havinga, Jelena Brajković, and Benedetto Rugani. "Is Agent-Based Simulation a Valid Tool for Studying the Impact of Nature-Based Solutions on Local Economy? A Case Study of Four European Cities." Sustainability 13, no. 13 (July 4, 2021): 7466. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13137466.
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Implementing nature-based solutions (NBSs) in cities, such as urban forests, can have multiple effects on the quality of life of inhabitants, acting on the mitigation of climate change, and in some cases also enhancing citizens’ social life and the transformation of customer patterns in commercial activities. Assessing this latter effect is the aim of this paper. An agent-based model (ABM) was used to assess change in commercial activities by small and midsize companies in retail due to the development of parks. The paper focuses on the potential capacity of NBS green spaces to boost retail companies’ business volumes, thus increasing their revenues, and at the same time create a pleasant feeling of space usability for the population. The type of NBS is not specified but generalized into large green spaces. The simulation contains two types of agents: (1) residents and (2) shop owners. Factors that attract new retail shops to be established in an area are simplified, based on attractor points, which identify areas such as large green spaces within and around which shops can form. The simulations provided insights on the number of retail shops that can be sustained based on the purchasing behavior of citizens that walk in parks. Four European cities were explored: Szeged (Hungary), Alcalá de Henares (Spain), Çankaya Municipality (Turkey) and Milan (Italy). The model allowed analyzing the indirect economic benefit of NBSs (i.e., large green spaces in this case) on a neighborhood’s economic structure. More precisely, the presence of green parks in the model boosted the visits of customers to local small shops located within and around them, such as cafés and kiosks, allowing for the emergence of 5–6 retail shops (on average, for about 800 walking citizens) in the case of Szeged and an average 12–14 retail shops for a simulated population of 2900 persons that walk in parks in the case of Milan. Overall, results from this modeling exercise can be considered representative for large urban green areas usually visited by a substantial number of citizens. However, their pertinence to support for local policies for NBS implementation and other decision-making related activities of socioeconomic nature is hampered by the low representativeness of source data used for the simulations.
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Pane, A., S. L. Cosentino, V. Copani, and S. O. Cacciola. "First Report of Southern Blight Caused by Sclerotium rolfsii on Hemp (Cannabis sativa) in Sicily and Southern Italy." Plant Disease 91, no. 5 (May 2007): 636. http://dx.doi.org/10.1094/pdis-91-5-0636a.
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Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.), family Cannabaceae, is an annual herbaceous plant that is 1.5 to 4.0 m tall and native to the Caucasus Region, northern India, and Iran. It is cultivated in warm to temperate regions worldwide for its fiber, oil, and psychoactive substances. In Europe, commercial plantings have decreased from 52,872 ha in 1989 to 18,716 ha in 2005. Recently however, cultivation of hemp as a natural fiber species has been encouraged by European Union policy (2). During the summer of 2003, patches of dead plants were observed in test plots of 12 monoecious and dioecious hemp cultivars (Beniko, Epsylon 68, Felina 34, Ferimon, Fedora 17, Futura 75, Bialobrzeskie, Dioica 88, Fibranova, Tiborszallasi, Lovrin, and Carmagnola) in an experimental field near Catania (eastern Sicily) previously planted to artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.). Plots were irrigated with a drip irrigation system. Symptoms were first detected in July with day/night temperatures between 35 and 26°C. Infected plants showed a dark brown-to-tan discoloration of the stem near the soil line. As disease progressed, the rot extended down to the crown and taproot, foliage became yellow, and the entire plant eventually collapsed. An extensive white, cottony mycelium and numerous spherical tan-to-dark brown sclerotia (0.5 to 4.0 mm in diameter) developed externally on infected tissues and soil. As much as 60% of the plants were affected in a single plot. Monoecious cultivars that had been planted earlier escaped the disease. Isolations from diseased tissues were performed by plating symptomatic tissues previously disinfected for 1 min in 1% NaOCl and rinsed in sterile water on acidified potato dextrose agar (pH 4.5). Isolations consistently yielded a fungus whose characters corresponded to Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. (teleomorph Athelia rolfsii (Curzi) Tu & Kimbrough). Pathogenicity of two isolates obtained from infected plants was confirmed by inoculating 120-day-old hemp plants grown in individual pots. Twenty plants for each of the above listed cultivars (10 plants for each isolate) were inoculated by applying toothpick tips (5 mm) colonized by S. rolfsii to the lower part of the stem. Ten noninoculated plants served as controls. Plants were kept in a greenhouse with temperatures between 26 and 32°C and 95% relative humidity. High soil moisture was maintained with frequent watering. All inoculated plants showed blight and basal stem rot after 2 weeks, irrespective of the cultivar. By the third week, plants began to dry up and mycelium and sclerotia developed on the crown. Noninoculated controls remained symptomless. S. rolfsii was reisolated from inoculated plants. Although S. rolfsii has been reported on hemp in India since the 1930s (3), to our knowledge, this is the first report of southern blight caused by this fungus on C. sativa in Sicily and southern Italy. Residues of artichoke, a very susceptible host of S. rolfsii (1), might have been the source of inoculum for this outbreak on hemp. Most likely, high summer temperatures and overirrigation exacerbated the disease severity. References: (1) C. Cariddi and R. Lops. La Difesa delle Piante 19(1):27, 1996. (2) S. L. Cosentino et al. Agroindustria 2:137, 2003. (3) G. P. Hector. Ann. Rep. Dep. Agric. Bengal 35, 1931.
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Pozza, Luca, Anna Degli Esposti, Alessandra Bonoli, Diego Talledo, Luca Barbaresi, Giovanni Semprini, and Marco Savoia. "Multidisciplinary Performance Assessment of an Eco-Sustainable RC-Framed Skin for the Integrated Upgrading of Existing Buildings." Sustainability 13, no. 16 (August 17, 2021): 9225. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13169225.
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Recent earthquakes have highlighted a general inadequacy of the existing building stock in Italy and the need to address this critical issue by increasing its structural resilience. At the same time, the problem of energy consumption in existing residential and commercial buildings is increasingly significant and incompatible with the environmental targets set by governments. Considering all the aforementioned aspects, the seismic upgrading of existing buildings, based on the use of an eco-friendly and sustainable technology, has become more and more relevant and different intervention approaches have been developed. This paper aims to provide a multidisciplinary approach for the performance assessment of an eco-friendly and sustainable RC-framed skin for integrated refurbishment of existing buildings. A preliminary description of such skin technology is provided with particular attention to the simultaneous improvement of structural (e.g., seismic) and non-structural (e.g., energy, acoustic) performances and to issues concerning the limitation of invasiveness and interruption of use of the building. Technological details and in situ installation phases are described with special regard to connection and interaction with the existing building. Procedures for the assessment of upgraded building performances, in terms of seismic capacity and thermo-hygrometric and acoustic performances, are defined and applied to a selected basic cell structure. The feasibility and sustainability of the proposed upgrading intervention is finally investigated by means of a holistic Life Cycle Assessment for environmental impact and Life Cycle Cost for an economic evaluation. Finally, results from a multidisciplinary performance assessment are critically discussed by relating the performance aspects to the technological and installation issues.