The role of individual social responsibility and corporate social responsibility in the tax fraud war: a comparison between the priorities of Italian and Romanian consumers

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and fiscal responsibility have become a hot topic of debate in recent years. Many studies have investigated CSR and tax avoidance; however, such studies have overlooked countries' tax cultures and fiscal responsibility from a historical perspective and have not addressed how these elements affect current tax avoidance practices. Using a questionnaire, that was administered to a sample of Italian and Romanian respondents, and inferential techniques (Mann–Whitney-test and correlation-test) the paper tries to understand the aspects that be useful in the future development and implementation of more robust fiscal ISR and CSR processes. Our results reveal similarities and differences between the relevance of certain aspects between countries, identifying tax culture as a distinctive element from a geographical point of view. Despite the considerable differences, we found a strong demand for greater transparency of the company with administrations and communities and desire for the development of initiatives to spread a responsible tax culture

Optimization of Heliostat Field in a Thermal Solar Power Plant with an Unfired Closed Joule-Brayton Cycle

Abstract In the last decades, concentrating solar power (CSP) has been gaining increasing attention as a sustainable technology for producing electricity. Nowadays, in the world, 483.6 MWs are produced by CSP plants of which 457 MW are already in commercial stage, whereas the other 430 MWs are under construction. In this paper, a solar tower with an unfired closed Joule-Brayton cycle of 10 MW peak power, located in Seville, is analyzed. The cycle, that employs only atmospheric air, without fuel consumption, relies on the possibility to vary the mean density of the air flowing in the plant. By using an auxiliary compressor and a bleed valve, a variable mass flow rate can be obtained so to keep the temperature at turbine inlet constant. On the other hand, in the concentrated solar plant, the number of installed heliostats can reflect towards the receiver the nominal thermal power, even with reduced values of the DNI. With the increase of the radiation, when the thermal energy flux achieves the limit tolerable by the receiver, a part of heliostats is defocused. On the contrary, in the presence of transients, due, for example, to clouds or in case of low solar radiation, the mirrors will be all, or in part, oriented towards the receiver face, so to keep constant the receiver outlet air temperature at the design value. Both the above mentioned control systems, without any fuel addition, act with the common goal of maintaining constant the air temperature at turbine inlet. However, they intervene at different times: at rated power, heliostats work, while the air flow rate is kept constant at the maximum value; when the nominal conditions are no longer achievable (the DNI values are insufficient), the adjustment is performed through the modulation of the pressure base control system, focusing the entire surface of the mirrors on the receiver. The analysis shows how the interaction between these systems influences the number and size of heliostats to be installed in the solar field. The study of the state of art has demonstrated that, in tower systems currently in operation, without storage, a solar multiple of 1.3 is generally used; our contribution shows how, with the air density control system, this value may be reduced, with consequent benefit on the heliostats cost. The numerical tests have been carried out by using the WINDELSOL software to optimize the heliostat field configuration and the THERMOFLOW, for the thermodynamic analysis

Pericardium of the frog, Rana esculenta, is morphologically designed as a lymphatic space

The importance of the pericardium and the pericardial fluid (PF) in the control of cardiac function has emerged over the past few years. Despite the acknowledgment that amphibians are exposed to both dehydration and excessive water accumulation, nothing is known about their pericardial structure and the morphological basis of the PF formation. We have studied the parietal pericardium (PP) morphology in Rana esculenta by electron microscopy. SEM images of the inner surface, which lines the pericardial cavity, revealed the presence of large vesicles and many small circular openings. TEM observations showed that the PP is made up of an inner mesothelial lining, often constituted by two layers of very flat cells lying on a basal membrane and of regularly oriented collagen bundles. The PP outer surface is lined by a layer of flat cells, without a basal membrane. The mesothelial cells had overlapping boundaries with complex intercellular connections and a rich pool of caveolae opened in the direction of both the pericardial cavity and intercellular spaces. These cells indicate an intense intracellular and/or intercellular transfer of fluids and substances. The intraperitoneal injection of the idromineral hormone, Val5-ANG II, induced PP modifications, particularly evident at the level of the structures involved in the transmesothelial traffic. These lymphatic-like traits suggest that the frog PP represents a large lymphatic sac, subject to paracrine-endocrine remodeling, which can actively adjust the PF, influencing the composition and volume of the myocardial interstitial fluid. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc

Exploiting tumour addiction with a serine and glycine-free diet.

Understanding cancer metabolism is key to unveil the Achilles’ heel of cancer cells and provide novel therapeutic interventions for patients. While the rerouting of metabolic pathways during development1 or cancer transformation and progression2, 3, 4 has been extensively characterised, the exact dynamic of these events, their distribution and frequency in the different tumour types, and the correlation with genetic background remain largely unknown. In a recent article published in Nature, Karen Vousden’s team assesses the effect of serine and glycine dietary restriction in autochthonous mouse tumour models driven by different oncogenes (Maddocks et al, 2017)5, leading to potential area of therapeutic intervention

Antiepileptic Drugs and Suicide: A Systematic Review of Adverse Effects

&lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Background:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; Since the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) report on antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) and suicide risk was released (2008), several studies have been published on this controversial relationship. This systematic review (SR) gives an updated approach to this health issue. &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Summary:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; We searched 6 databases. We ultimately included 11 publications: 4 cohort studies, 1 case-crossover study, 2 community case-control studies, and 4 SRs. Overall, 1 SR described studies already included; 3 studies reported a 2- to 4-fold overall increase in risk; 1 study reported an increased risk of suicide among epilepsy patients on AEDs with high risk of depression; 1study showed a protective effect among epilepsy patients; 2 studies were conducted with patients with bipolar disorder (1 showed a protective effect, whereas the other showed a 3-fold increase in risk of suicide), and the other 3 studies reported results for single AEDs. Several biases affected the published results. &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Key Messages:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; There is no clear evidence of an association between the use of AEDs and an increased risk of suicide because of the heterogeneity in the studies at the clinical and methodological level. A future study should cover all indications for use, retrieve information from a healthcare database, and include a defined set of covariates to avoid bias.</jats:p

Body composition study by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry in familial partial lipodystrophy: finding new tools for an objective evaluation (vol 4, pg 40, 2012)

Rio de Janeiro & Catholic Univ, Inst Estadual Diabet & Endocrinol, Metab Unit, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilUniv Fed Rio de Janeiro, Dept Nutrol, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Div Endocrinol, São Paulo, SP, BrazilInst Estadual Diabet & Endocrinol, BR-20211340 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Div Endocrinol, São Paulo, SP, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Financial Reporting in European Football Teams: A Disclosure Analysis of Player Registrations

Purpose – This paper critically analyses sustainable reporting and transparent valuation of the impairment test application (IAS 36) on intangible assets (IAS 38) in football clubs that prepare financial statements in accordance with IAS/IFRS. Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines the financial statements of 13 companies listed on the STOXX Europe Football Index for a five-year period (from 2012 to 2016), following a three-step procedure. It focuses on the governing guidelines’ implementation relating to the UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations (in September 2009), which was subsequently implemented in 2011/2012. Findings – The research reveals some interesting and some controversial findings. Several football clubs exhibit a low level of disclosure and others a high one. Therefore, this study focuses on specific areas that primarily relate to economic and financial communication, as financial statements need to provide contextual disclosure. Simultaneously, the information disclosed to investors underlines the need for sustainable financing and social decision-making. Research limitations/implications – The first limitation of the study regards the sample size; the number of observations is rather small given the exclusion of Turkish and Polish teams due to non-integral application of IAS/IFRS principles as well as other small-sized companies that do not fit the required company profile. The second limitation is that the players’ registration figures are analysed as aggregate values from a club-level perspective. Originality/value – The study pioneers constructive criticism in relation to financial documentation and reporting produced by football companies. IAS/IFRS require further development in order to adapt typologies of specific sustainable business models for all the companies in the football industry

CONcreTEXT @ EVALITA2020: The Concreteness in Context Task

Focus of the CONcreTEXT task is conceptual concreteness: systems were solicited to compute a value expressing to what extent target concepts are concrete (i.e., more or less perceptually salient) within a given context of occurrence. To these ends, we have developed a new dataset which was annotated with concreteness ratings and used as gold standard in the evaluation of systems. Four teams participated in this first edition of the task, with a total of 15 runs submitted.Interestingly, these works extend information on conceptual concreteness available in existing (non contextual) norms derived from human judgments with new knowledge from recently developed neural architectures, in much the same multidisciplinary spirit whereby the CONcreTEXT task was organized

BAG3 protein regulates stress- induced apoptosis in normal and neoplastic leukocytes

Co-chaperone proteins that share the Bcl-2-associated athanogene (BAG) domain are characterized by their interaction with a variety of partners, such as heat shock proteins (Hsp), steroid hormone receptors, Bcl-2, Raf-1 and others, involved in regulating protein folding and a number of cellular processes, including proliferation and apoptosis. Among BAG family members there is BAG3, also known as CAIR-1 or Bis. BAG3 forms a complex with Hsp70,1,2,4,6 a protein able to modulate apoptosis by interfering with cytochrome c release, apoptosome assembly and other events in the death process. In addition, BAG3 polypeptide binds to phospholipase C-g (PLC-g)4 or Bcl-2 protein.3,5 Due to such interaction with more than one apoptosis-modulating factor, BAG3 can participate in apoptosis regulation. Indeed, its hyperexpression can decrease apoptosis induced via Bax or Fas in the human epithelial cell line HeLa3 or by IL-3 deprivation in the murine hematopoietic cell line 32D.5 Furthermore, we recently showed that BAG3 downmodulation enhances the apoptotic response to chemotherapy in human primary B chronic lymphocytic leukemia cell