The Florence transit point: a feasibility study

This papers illustrates a feasibility study aimed at: analysing the actual city logistics in the Limited Traffic Area of Florence; evaluating to what extent the Transit Point solution could optimize parcel delivery and its repercussions on traffic flow in the historic centre of Florence; identifying a suitable location for Transit Point infrastructures, and examining economic and normative aspects of the proposal. Particular attention has been given to assessing the economic sustainability of the Transit Point, under the hypothesis that areas, infrastructures and vehicles will be publicly financed, and that the Transit Point will have to find the resources to remunerate the new company through the reduction of vehicles and workers. A model for corporate governance for the Transit Point has also been proposed, in addition to a model of planning and control for proper accountability. The study demonstrates that the realization of the Transit Point would allow for: a reduction in traffic congestion in the historic centre; attainment of a positive EBIT through public financing of the structures; a continuance of the service without changing transport or remuneration costs; an improvement of the working conditions

Mini-Stern Trial: A randomised trial comparing mini-sternotomy to full median sternotomy for aortic valve replacement

Objective Aortic valve replacement (AVR) can be performed either through full median sternotomy (FS) or upper mini-sternotomy (MS). The Mini-Stern trial aimed to establish whether MS leads to quicker postoperative recovery and shorter hospital stay after first-time isolated AVR. Methods This pragmatic, open-label, parallel RCT compared MS with FS for first-time isolated AVR in two UK NHS hospitals. Primary endpoints were duration of postoperative hospital stay and the time to fitness for discharge from hospital after AVR, analysed in the intent-to-treat population. Results In this RCT, 222 patients were recruited and randomised (118 MS, 104 FS). Compared to FS patients, MS patients had longer hospital stay (mean 9.5 vs. 8.6 days) and took longer to achieve fitness for discharge home (mean 8.5 vs. 7.5 days). Adjusting for valve type, sex and surgeon, hazard ratios (HR) from Cox models did not show a statistically significant effect of MS (relative to FS) on either hospital stay (HR 0.874, 95% CI 0.668-1.143, p-value 0.3246) or time to fitness for discharge (HR 0.907, 95% CI 0.688-1.197, p-value 0.4914). During mean follow up of 760 days (MS:745 and FS:777 days), 12 (10%) MS and 7 (7%) FS patients died (HR 1.871, 95% CI 0.723-4.844, p-value 0.1966). Average extra cost for MS was £1,714, during the first 12 months after AVR. Conclusions Compared to FS for AVR, MS did not result in shorter hospital stay, faster recovery or improved survival and was not cost-effective. MS approach is not superior to FS for performing AVR

Corporate Social Responsibility: Readings and Cases in a Global Context

Book Review pubblicato sulla rivista European Accounting Revie

The effect of fair value accounting on firm public debt–evidence from business combinations under common control

We analyze the choice allowed to parent firms under IFRS of how to account for a business combination under common control (BCUCC), and provide evidence on the motivation to select fair values and the economic implications of this choice. A BCUCC is a merger of two firms owned by the same parent. Under IFRS, parent firms can use the acquisition method (fair values) to record the BCUCC or use assets' historical cost. We show that parents are likely to choose fair values when they desire to increase the transparency of their financial reports and when they likely need to raise capital. Using propensity-score matching, we find that firms that used fair values are more likely to issue new public debt following the transaction. We also find that the cost of issuing new debt for these firms is 55 basis points lower than that of comparable firms that did not do BCUCCs. Our results suggest that using fair values in BCUCCs can increase transparency and lower firms' cost of debt

Organizational structure and earnings quality of private and public firms

We examine how heterogeneity in organizational structure affects private firm earnings quality in the European Union. Organizational structure refers to whether the firm is organized as a single legal entity (standalone) or as a business group. Private firms can be organized either way, while public firms are de facto groups. Even though private firms are not affected by market forces, we show that private business groups face greater stakeholder pressure for earnings quality than do standalone firms, while standalone firms have stronger tax minimization incentives. Due to these differences in nonmarket forces, private business groups have higher earnings quality than standalone firms. This heterogeneity among private firms is an important unexplored factor in the study of private firms, affecting the comparison between public and private firm earnings quality. We find that overall, public firms have higher earnings quality than private firms but this relation reverses when we control for nonmarket forces by examining business groups only

Multicolor, large-area fluorescence sensing through oligothiophene-self- assembled monolayers

We present a new strategy to realize self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on quartz and silicon with a multicolour fluorescence pattern starting from a single, proton sensitive oligothiophene dye exposed at a defined pH. Fine tuning of the SAMs emission color over the entire visible range, including white, is demonstrated. Finally, integration of SAMs in patterned thin layer cells (TLCs) is exploited to demonstrate cation sensing potential in real devices. Keyword