Employability of graduates and development of competencies: mind the gap and mind the step! Empirical evidence for Italy

education; competencies; employability

Direct and Indirect Complementarity between Workplace Reorganization and New Technology

We link survey and balance sheet data to investigate the extent of complementarity between the introduction of new technology and changes in workplace practices. Across all firms, we find that new technology is complementary with higher work intensity. Similarly, changes in work techniques yield diffuse complementarity gains, particularly in firms undergoing extensive restructuring. Changes in work organization yield, on average, complementarity gains in terms of productivity growth. Substitutability between new technology and specific workplace changes is sometimes found, consistently with the presence of costs associated to learning functions or resistance to changes.workplace practices, ICT investments, complementarity.

Combustion of lignin-rich residues with coal in a pilot-scale bubbling fluidized bed reactor

The deployment and the exploitation of bioethanol as automotive fuel became more and more relevant to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases and to limit the dependence on countries supplying fossil fuels. However, the production of second-generation bioethanol, i.e. using lignocellulosic biomass or scraps of agricultural crops as feedstock, generates a waste stream consisting of lignin-rich residues whose fate has to be found (1-2). This work aims at investigating the combustion of lignin-rich residues (in the following simply called lignin), coming from a second-generation bioethanol production plant, with coal in a pilot-scale bubbling fluidized bed combustor (FBC). The pilot-scale 200kWth FBC schematically shown in Fig. 1 basically consist of a AISI 310 stainless steel fluidization circular column (370 mm ID for 5.05 m and 700 mm ID for 1.85m in the upper part of freeboard), a continuous over-bed feeding system, two cyclones for flue gas de-dusting, a propane premixed burner for the start-up and different heat removal devices located along the fluidization column. On-line gas analyzers (ABB AO2020) measured flue gas composition sampled at the exhaust. Fuels were the lignin-rich residue, a bituminous coal and wood chips. Silica sand (0.8-1.2mm) was used as bed material. An experimental campaign was carried out to study gaseous and particulate emissions and thermal regimes during the co-combustion of different mixtures of coal-lignin varying the percentage of lignin fed with coal, the bed temperature, the excess air and the fluidization velocity. Figure 2 reports the main results in terms of normalized emissions of NO, SO2, particulate and carbon in particulate as a function of the O2 concentration measured at the exhaust obtained during the steady state operation of the pilot-scale FBC. A large part of the investigated experimental conditions regarded the operation using a mixture lignin-coal at 30%w in lignin. Experiments with coal, with a mixture at 40%w in lignin and with a mixture coal-wood chips at 20%w in wood chips were carried out for comparison. The analysis of the experimental results mainly highlights that: 1) the gaseous emissions do not significantly change with respect to coal or to reference biomass-coal mixture at least until the mixture content of lignin is 30-40%w; 2) the particulate emissions increase with the percentage of residues content, but, at the same, the carbon content is significantly reduced. Bottom bed particles were analyzed at the end of each experiments highlighting the absence of agglomerates but a significant enrichment of metals like Fe, Mg, Na, Ca and K coming from lignin ash when the FBC was operated for long time and at high temperature. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Unlocking the Power of Late-Evening Snacks: Practical Ready-to-Prescribe Chart Menu for Patients with Cirrhosis

: The efficacy of the late-evening snack (LES) has been extensively studied due to the impact of the longest intermeal duration occurring at night in patients with cirrhosis. While actual clinical guidelines on nutrition in chronic liver disease recommend an LES, no specific nutritional compositions have been reported by the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) and the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN). Late-evening snacks vary greatly among studies, including natural foods and/or nutritional supplements, yet oral supplements still need to fully meet the LES's nutritional composition. In addition, many hepatologists need to gain experience in nutritional approaches and have access to registered dieticians who can help them manage patients with liver disease. Therefore, this review study aims to summarise evidence regarding using LESs and the mechanisms behind long starvation in patients with cirrhosis. It also provides a practical nutritional guide with several LES options based on common natural foods tailored to special patients' nutritional requirements and geographical backgrounds. In preventing accelerated starvation and related protein malnutrition and sarcopenia in patients with cirrhosis, the nutritional composition of LESs is essential. The proper and straightforward application of the LES's rational nutrition is an advantage to cirrhotic patients and should be carried out by healthcare professionals to enhance the overall liver function and nutritional status of patients with cirrhosis

Accounting, management and accountability in times of crisis: lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the themes emerging from the first studies exploring accounting, accountability and management practices during the COVID-19 pandemic and coming from a diversity of experiences, across countries, organizations and individuals. In so doing, the paper gives an overview of the most recent findings about the role of accounting and accountability in times of crisis that are hosted in this special issue of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ). Design/methodology/approach The paper draws together and identifies emerging themes related to the current COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on accounting, accountability and management practices and considershowthestudiesinthisissueextendone’sknowledgeofaccountingandcontributetoaccounting research. Findings –Three emerging themes are drawn and their contribution to accounting scholarship is discussed. The first theme deals with the role of accounting and numbers in supporting governmental responses to COVID-19. The second theme considers accounting practices used to make exceptional decisions at the organizational level in times of crisis. The third theme addresses a relevant frontier of research into accounting and inequalities. Practical implications In considering the diverse contributions of this special issue, the paper points out how uncertainty and change can impact the design, use and understanding of accounting, management and accountability practices and can be accepted by scholars and practitioners as part of such practices. Originality/value This paper provides a timely and comprehensive picture of the first reflections and research findings on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on one’s interpretation of accounting, accountability and management practices

On the mechanism of Gold/NHC compounds binding to DNA G-quadruplexes: combined metadynamics and biophysical methods

The binding modes and free‐energy landscape of two AuI/N‐heterocyclic carbene complexes interacting with G‐quadruplexes, namely a human telomeric (hTelo) and a promoter sequence (C‐KIT1), are studied here for the first time by metadynamics. The theoretical results are validated by FRET DNA melting assays and provide an accurate estimate of the absolute gold complex/DNA binding free energy. This advanced in silico approach is valuable to achieve rational drug design of selective G4 binders

Survival of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients in Northern Italy: A Population-Based Cohort Study by the ITA-COVID-19 Network

Introduction: COVID-19 case fatality rate in hospitalized patients varies across countries and studies. Reliable estimates, specific for age, sex, and comorbidities, are needed to monitor the epidemic, to compare the outcome in different settings, and to correctly design trials for COVID-19 interventions. The aim of this study was to provide population-based survival curves of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.Materials and Methods: A cohort study was conducted in three areas of Northern Italy, heavily affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection (Lombardy and Veneto Regions, and Reggio Emilia province), using a loco-regional COVID-19 surveillance system, linked to hospital discharge databases. We included all patients testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA by RT-PCR on nasopharyngeal/throat swab samples who were hospitalized from 21 February to 21 April 2020. Kaplan-Meier survival estimates were calculated at 14 and 30 days for death in any setting, stratifying by age, sex, and the Charlson Index.Results: Overall, 42,926 hospitalized COVID-19 patients were identified. Patients' median age was 69 years (IQR: 57-79), 62.6% were males, and 6.0% had a Charlson Index >= 3. Survival curves showed that 22.0% (95% CI 21.6-22.4) of patients died within 14 days and 27.6% (95% CI 27.2-28.1) within 30 days from hospitalization. Survival was higher in younger patients and in females. The negative impact of comorbidities on survival was more pronounced in younger age groups.Conclusion: The high fatality rate observed in the study (28% at 30 days) suggests that studies should focus on death as primary endpoint during a follow-up of at least one month

Mechanisms of irreversible aquaporin-10 inhibition by organogold compounds studied by combined biophysical methods and atomistic simulations

The inhibition of glycerol permeation via human aquaporin-10 (hAQP10) by organometallic gold complexes has been studied by stopped-flow fluorescence spectroscopy, and its mechanism has been described using molecular modelling and atomistic simulations. The most effective hAQP10 inhibitors are cyclometalated Au(III) C^N compounds known to efficiently react with cysteine residues leading to the formation of irreversible C–S bonds. Functional assays also demonstrate the irreversibility of the binding to hAQP10 by the organometallic complexes. The obtained computational results by metadynamics show that the local arylation of Cys209 in hAQP10 by one of the gold inhibitors is mapped into a global change of the overall free energy of glycerol translocation across the channel. Our study further pinpoints the need to understand the mechanism of glycerol and small molecule permeation as a combination of local structural motifs and global pore conformational changes, which are taking place on the scale of the translocation process and whose study, therefore, require sophisticated molecular dynamics strategies

Water planning and management in the Cornia river plain by means of the gis-integrated freewat platform

Coastal aquifer, Cornia valley, Tuscany, Managed Aquifer Recharge, FREEWAT platform