Innovation and the environmental Kuznets curve: the case of CO, NMVOCs and SOx in the Italian regions

The paper explores the relationship between per capita income and three air pollutants, CO, NMVOCs and SOx, using a novel dataset based on the Italian regions. Given the central role of technological progress in long-term environmental problems, we empirically investigate the influence of innovation on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). The estimation results validate the EKC hypothesis for the three air pollutants considered. Furthermore, the influence of innovation on the inverted-U-shaped curve identified by the theoretical literature is empirically confirmed too.Air pollutants, Environmental Kuznets Curve, Italian regions, Technological Progress.

Pigouvian Tax, Abatement Policies and Uncertainty on the Environment

The paper examines the effects of environmental uncertainty on Pigouvian tax and abatement policy used, either separately or contemporaneously, to counteract pollution. We discuss uncertainty in three aspects: environmental quality, pollution effect and the impact of abatement. For each case we determine the conditions ensuring that uncertainty increases the size of public intervention and provide an economic interpretation and some parallelisms with other risk problems. The last part of the paper generalizes some of our results to the case of N-th order risk changes.Pigouvian tax, Abatement policies, Environment, Uncertainty, Bivariate utility

Liana Millu’s Concentration Camp Novel

Liana Millu (1914-2005) was an Italian Jew deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1944. She survived and became a writer. This article is focused on analyzing her major work: Il fumo di Birkenau (1947). In contrast to the trend of other memoirs of the same period, Millu knowingly wrote a novel characterised by an evident literary vocation. The writer’s autobiographical events are always kept in the background as well as the narration. We find instead six women’s stories developing a significant dramatic intensity. The article explores poetics, genesis and temporal structure of the novel but also some developments of relevant topics such as the process of dehumanisation, the particular status of women in camps and a legend about motherhood, both in Millu’s text and in another Italian memoir from Birkenau

Effect of pharmacological treatment on cardiac biomarkers in patients with acute coronary syndrome of non–ST segment elevation with Type-2 diabetes

The acute coronary syndrome is a consequence of coronary artery disease. Creatine Kinase MB is a cardiac biochemical marker used in the diagnosis and risk stratification of patients. The diabetes is a pathology associated to acute coronary syndrome non–ST segment elevation that change the cardiac conditions, in this sense, our objective was to evaluate the modifications of cardiac biomarkers values in diabetic patients. Materials and methods: A retrospective study included 155 patients of both sexes, ages ranging from 31 to 92 years old, admitted to the coronary unit of the “Reina Fabiola†Clinic, Córdoba, Argentina was performed in the period 2014-2015. Body mass index, time consultation pain, plasmatic Creatine Kinase isoenzyme MB activity and Troponin I levels were measured. The patients were stratified into two groups: without cardiovascular risk pathologies (Control group), n = 7; and with only type II diabetes, n = 64 treated with therapeutic doses of metformin (n= 37), and glibenclamide plus glizipide (n= 27). Results: cTnI levels were lower in both pharmacological treatments at 12 hrs when the values in control reach the highest. Similarly, CK-MB activity was lower at 8 hrs in both treatments; however at 12 hrs these values were lower only with metformin but not in glibenclamide plus glizipide treatment. These results could be showing an interaction between diabetes and pharmacological treatment upon the biomarkers values. Conclusion: The use of hypoglycemic drugs and the glycometabolic state are conditions that could modify CK-MB and cTnI release/clearance balance at 8 and 12 hrs after admission to the coronary unit.Fil: Joison, Agustín Néstor. Universidad Catolica de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas; ArgentinaFil: Baiardi, Gustavo Carlos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas; Argentin

Consumption and Precautionary Saving: An Empirical Analysis under Both Financial and Environmental Risks

This paper studies the empirical relationship between consumption and saving under two different sources of uncertainty: financial risk and environmental risk. The analysis is carried out using time series data for six advanced economies in the period 1965-2007. The results support the theoretical conclusions that both financial risk alone and the interaction between financial and environmental risks affect consumption. Moreover, we suggest a solution to some shortcomings which concern the empirical analysis performed with one-argument utility functions. Finally, we provide new estimates of indexes of relative risk aversion and relative prudence, and relative preference of environmental quality.Consumption, Precautionary Saving, Financial Risk, Environmental Risk, Prudence, Relative Risk Aversion, Uncertainty

Tra virtuosismo e truffa: l’arte del falsario

The history of artistic forgery boasts rather old origins and numerous facets. On this occasion, some emblematic cases between the Cinquecento and the present day (from the Sleeping Cupid of Michelangelo to the ‘Modiglianis’ that hit the headlines only some decades ago) will be taken into account, along with the activity of some great forgers who lived between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Gifted with notable technical ability and virtuosic stylistic “mobility”, some of these realized true masterpieces in meeting the requests of a growing market of Italian and foreign collectors. Above all others, one should mention the names of Egisto Rossi (1824-1899), falsifier of Old Masters’ drawings, and that of Icilio Federico Joni (nicknamed Paicap; 1866-1946), who specialized in counterfeiting fondo oro paintings by the Sienese School and was the leader of the city’s forgers