An Empirical Analysis on Board Monitoring Role and Loan Portfolio Quality Measurement in Banks

This paper aims to analyze the effectiveness of the board monitoring role on specific loan portfolio quality measures in banks (default rate, recovery rate and provisioning rate). We use a sample comprises a totality of Italian-based banks, listed at Borsa Italiana SpA in 2006-2008 and a number of accounting proxies to express the loan portfolio quality of a bank. The results of the analysis show an overall weakness of the board role (expressed by Independents and Audit Committee on board) in monitoring loan portfolio quality of the bank, with the subsequent damage of the interests of stakeholders. A positive contribution of board monitoring, even if partial, is highlighted in two cases: Independents seems improve recovery rate, while the Audit committee enhances provisioning rate in banks. With reference to default rate, a total negative effect of board monitoring is reported. On the base of these results, some managerial implications are proposed

Lixiviaçao cloridrica de rochas fosfaticas com recuperaçao de terras-raras: estudo de caso - Angico dos Dias

International audienc

Lixiviaçao cloridrica de rochas fosfaticas com recuperaçao de terras-raras: estudo de caso - Angico dos Dias

International audienc

Water sports could contribute to the translocation of ranaviruses

6 páginas, 2 figuras.Ranaviruses have been identifed as the cause of explosive disease outbreaks in amphibians worldwide and can be transmitted between hosts both via direct and indirect contact, in which humans might contribute to the translocation of contaminated material. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible role of water sports in the human translocation of ranavirus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), and B. salamandrivorans (Bsal). A total of 234 boats were sampled during the spring Spanish Canoe Championship which took place in Pontillón de Castro, a reservoir with a history of ranavirosis, in May 2017. Boats were tested for the presence of ranavirus and Batrachochytrium spp. DNA, using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction techniques (qPCR). A total of 22 swabs (22/234, 9.40%) yielded qPCR-positive results for Ranavirus DNA while Bd or Bsal were not detected in any of the samples. We provide the frst evidence that human-related water sports could be a source of ranavirus contamination, providing justifcation for public disinfecting stations in key areas where human trafc from water sports is high.Tis study was partially funded by the Principado de Asturias, PCTI 2018–2020 (GRUPIN: IDI2018-000237) and FEDER. We thank Benjamin Rabanal from the Laboratorio de Técnicas Instrumentales, University of León, for Batrachochytrium spp. PCR analysis, and Frank Pasmans’ Lab for kindly providing Bd and Bsal DNA controls

Water sports could contribute to the translocation of ranaviruses

Abstract Ranaviruses have been identified as the cause of explosive disease outbreaks in amphibians worldwide and can be transmitted between hosts both via direct and indirect contact, in which humans might contribute to the translocation of contaminated material. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible role of water sports in the human translocation of ranavirus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), and B. salamandrivorans (Bsal). A total of 234 boats were sampled during the spring Spanish Canoe Championship which took place in Pontillón de Castro, a reservoir with a history of ranavirosis, in May 2017. Boats were tested for the presence of ranavirus and Batrachochytrium spp. DNA, using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction techniques (qPCR). A total of 22 swabs (22/234, 9.40%) yielded qPCR-positive results for Ranavirus DNA while Bd or Bsal were not detected in any of the samples. We provide the first evidence that human-related water sports could be a source of ranavirus contamination, providing justification for public disinfecting stations in key areas where human traffic from water sports is high

Parole and probation in a prison nation

I spent six weeks in July/August 2001 teaching summer school at Northern Kentucky University, and learning, at first hand as often as possible, something about criminal justice in this corner of the United States. Although Kentucky-based, the nearest urban centre was Cincinnati, just across the state border, and I had most contact with criminal justice people in Ohio. I was not doing systematic research, and all I assembled was a patchwork of impressions, lacking in comprehensiveness – but supplemented by reading newspapers and books that are not easily accessed in Britain. One of them, by Wall Street journalist Joseph Hallinan (2001), characterises America as a “Prison Nation”, because it imprisons (on average) 600 per 100,000 people, and because it is now building prisons to galvanise flagging rural economies as much as to combat crime in a coherent and effective way. With only 126 per 100,000 in prison, England and Wales is clearly not in the same league. However, with the highest prison population in Europe – the daily rate passed 70,000 in March 2002 – there can be no room for complacency, especially when reputable Sunday Times columnists suggest that we should emulate America: “perhaps the time has come to tolerate the idea of zero tolerance and build the jails to make it work” (Marrin, 2002). I offer these impressions to others who are also working to understand what it takes to keep criminal justice decent, and prison populations low