Individual and Collective Reputation: Lessons from the Wine Market

The concept of reputation has been used in every field of economic research, given its capacity to affect the outcome of all economic and financial transactions. The theoretical debate on reputation is very rich, but the mechanisms of reputation building have not been explored enough from the empirical viewpoint. In this paper we investigate the determinants of firm reputation taking into consideration the interactions between individual and collective reputation. This paper is one of the first attempts to provide robust evidence on the determinants of firm reputation using a large set of controls applied to a database not affected by self-selection bias. In fact, we constructed a new database containing the universe of wineries located in four regions of the North-West of Italy with an established national reputation and focus on the determinants of the “jump” from national to international reputation. Our research confirms the prediction of the theoretical literature and shows the positive effect of firm age, size, investments and producer’s intrinsic motivations, and of collective reputation on individual firm reputation. Cooperatives seem to decrease their reputation when the number of associated members rises, due to free-riding and traceability problems. In contrast with previous research, relying on well-known external consultants does not acquire any outside reputation. Finally, by comparing the regression results on the determinants of national and international reputation it emerges the relevance of the mechanisms of the evaluation process: the higher proximity to the wineries of a national observer permits a better and more technical knowledge of the quality provided, allowing small niche producers with very low productivity to emerge and be known. For the same reason, the national classification system (i.e. the DOCG system) exerts a significant effect only on the international reputation of wineries, but not on the national one where the effect of collective reputation (i.e. the reputation of single denominations like Barolo) seems to prevail.reputation, credibility, asymmetric information, quality standards, Industrial Organization, L14, L15,

Inside the black box of collective reputation

The literature on collective reputation is still in its infancy. Despite the existence of a (limited) number of valuable theoretical works studying the process of collective reputation building, there is still no comprehensive analysis of this concept. In addition, due to data limitation, there are no empirical studies testing the determinants of group reputation. This work intends to provide a comprehensive analysis of reputational equilibria within coalitions of agents. In order to do so, we design a static and dynamic (over 30 years) study on the universe of coalitions of companies, within the wine market, looking at the role exerted by the characteristics of the coalition itself (its age and size), the rules set and the actions put forward by the group of agents in order to reach and maintain a certain level of collective reputation, and the context in which they operate. Results shed new lights into this ubiquitous phenomenon.reputation, collective reputation, asymmetric information, quality standards, wine.

Carotid artery stenting: an update

In patients with carotid disease, the purpose of carotid artery revascularization is stroke prevention. For >50 years, carotid endarterectomy has been considered the standard treatment for severe asymptomatic and symptomatic carotid stenoses. Carotid artery stenting (CAS) has emerged in the last 15 years as minimally invasive alternative to surgery. However, the value of the endovascular approach in the management of carotid disease patients remains highly controversial. The aims of this review are to elucidate the current role of CAS, to describe the major technology advancements in the field, and to speculate about the future of this therap

Tungsten and Titanium Oxide Thin Films Obtained by the Sol-Gel Process as Electrodes in Electrochromic Devices

In this work, WO3 and TiO2 thin films have been obtained by the sol-gel spin coating method. The as-deposited samples were annealed at different annealing temperatures in the range between 100°C and 500°C. Micro-Raman spectroscopy confirmed that WO3 thin films annealed at 100°C and 300°C are amorphous while the crystallization process occurred at 500°C as established by the typical Raman modes of γ-WO3. Amorphous thin films of TiO2 have been obtained using annealing at 100°C and 300°C. The crystalline phase of the anatase-TiO2 has been obtained after the thermal treatment conducted at 500°C. The electrochromic devices were characterized by cyclic voltammetry and UV–Vis–NIR spectroscopy and it has been shown that the best configurations of the electrochromic devices studied in this work can be obtained by using the WO3 thin films amorphous, which means annealed at 100°C and 300°C, and TiO2 thin films crystalline, that is annealed at 500°C. The higher coloration efficiency values in the visible region (λ = 550 nm) and in the near-infrared region (λ = 1020 nm) support the idea that such devices could be used in order to control the light flux but also heat flux. It means that such electrochromic devices can be usefully employed as smart windows promoting energy and economic savings

Study and micro-Raman characterization of pigments present on majolicas of historical and artistic interest from Gerace, Italy

AbstractIn this work, pigments of majolicas made between the sixteenth century and eighteenth century from Gerace have been characterized by micro-Raman spectroscopy. Majolica, known also as pottery, was originally used to identify all objects made from clay materials. In this work, ten samples were analyzed: two vases, six majolica fragments made in Gerace, one vase of uncertain origin (probably Gerace or Caltagirone) and one vase of Venetian origin. The Raman spectroscopic analysis allowed to identify most of the pigments present on the studied cultural heritage pottery above described. Pigments white, yellow, orange, red, blue, and green have been characterized and their attribution allowed to divide the artwork made in Gerace with those made wherever. Graphical Abstrac

Memory and knowledge. The castle of Belmonte in Calabria

[EN] A small A small village located in Italy on the Calabrian Tyrrhenian coast, Belmonte Calabro has its historic center with a typical medieval urban structure that has remained almost unchanged over the centuries and is characterized by the presence of the ruins of a castle and its surrounding environments whose. The planimetry succeeds to be identified because it is bordered by a wall, only partially preserved, pronounced by towers and marked by a road that, in its main points still existing, follows its development. The castle, built on the hill’s top of a tuff nature, in an elevated position respect to the urban core, had a plan with a roughly quadrangular shape with four imposing square towers. Of particular note is its curtain wall that originally had four doors, which opened in correspondence at the four cardinal points. In addition to having suffered several collapses in many parts of its structure due to the various earthquakes that occurred over time, as well as various looting and the siege by the French artillery dating back to the early 1800s, the castle is currently subjected to degrading actions due to the attack of biological type, which manifests itself with a widespread presence of patinas, as well as those due to a thick weed vegetation that affects many of the surfaces of its structure. The study aims to provide a useful contribution to reconstructing the profile of the original structure of the ancient castle. To obtain, therefore, more information about it, a specific survey plan was developed to characterize its constituent materials and also its state of preservation. To this end, in correspondence of structural parts still intact, samples were collected that were analyzed and characterized in the laboratory by Raman Spectroscopy.Gattuso, C.; Castriota, M.; Gattuso, P.; Saggio, F. (2020). Memoria e conoscenza. Il castello di Belmonte in Calabria. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1193-1200. https://doi.org/10.4995/FORTMED2020.2020.11486OCS1193120

Different spectroscopic behavior of coupled and freestanding monolayer graphene deposited by CVD on Cu foil

The growth of graphene on copper foil has been performed, following the well-known low-pressure chemical vapor (LP-CVD) procedure. The as-deposited monolayer graphene clearly exhibits two different coupling behaviors with the metal substrate, as demonstrated by visual microscopic investigation and by other experimental techniques, like Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and micro-Raman spectroscopy. The single graphene sheet shows both large areas where it is coupled to the metal substrate and others where it exhibits freestanding-like characteristics. This phenomenology appears to be related to oxidation of the copper surface. In addition, we demonstrate the possibility to induce a variation of the coupling state by visible-light irradiation above a proper power threshold. The resulting change of the coupling with the metal substrate is associated to a local variation of the work function. Applications in high-performance electronic devices can be suitably tailored by optical methods and, in principle, by any local probe producing "hot spots" such as Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) tips and electron beams.</p

Spatio-Temporal Brain Mapping of Motion-Onset VEPs Combined with fMRI and Retinotopic Maps

Neuroimaging studies have identified several motion-sensitive visual areas in the human brain, but the time course of their activation cannot be measured with these techniques. In the present study, we combined electrophysiological and neuroimaging methods (including retinotopic brain mapping) to determine the spatio-temporal profile of motion-onset visual evoked potentials for slow and fast motion stimuli and to localize its neural generators. We found that cortical activity initiates in the primary visual area (V1) for slow stimuli, peaking 100 ms after the onset of motion. Subsequently, activity in the mid-temporal motion-sensitive areas, MT+, peaked at 120 ms, followed by peaks in activity in the more dorsal area, V3A, at 160 ms and the lateral occipital complex at 180 ms. Approximately 250 ms after stimulus onset, activity fast motion stimuli was predominant in area V6 along the parieto-occipital sulcus. Finally, at 350 ms (100 ms after the motion offset) brain activity was visible again in area V1. For fast motion stimuli, the spatio-temporal brain pattern was similar, except that the first activity was detected at 70 ms in area MT+. Comparing functional magnetic resonance data for slow vs. fast motion, we found signs of slow-fast motion stimulus topography along the posterior brain in at least three cortical regions (MT+, V3A and LOR)