Sharing Economy: The Relationship between Airbnb, the Accommodation Industry and New Tourist Flows. The Case of Bologna Metropolitan Area (Italy)

The aim of this paper is to assess the relationship between tourist accommodations managed through sharing-economy portals and the tourist facilities professionally managed (typically hotels) in terms of direct and indirect competition. Moreover, the analysis of the turnover associated with different kinds of facilities bookable on Airbnb, the most widely used sharing-economy portal for tourism, allow to assess the ratio of “core sharing” (the sharing-economy in its proper meaning) in Airbnb business and to estimate new tourist flows brought about by the portal. The analysis has been carried out for the metropolitan area of Bologna (Italy) in the years 2015-18.This work shows that only 20% of the turnover recorded by Airbnb in Bologna metro area can be associated to “pure” sharing-economy, meanwhile the remaining 80% have various levels of professional management that, in many cases (though not all), undermine the peer-to-peer nature of the relationship established between the parties involved (peer-to-peer relationship is a must of proper sharing-economy). Of this 80% of turnover, while 44% is associated with facilities that can be considered in direct competition with hotels, 36% is made by tourist accommodations that, to a various degrees, play indirect competition with hotels, thus activating new tourist flows towards Bologna metro area

Hair and faecal cortisol level\u2019s variations during the training in Schutzhund dogs

The aim of this study was to determine the cortisol levels in Schutzhund dogs during training, in order to highlight a relationship between different work programmes and adrenocortical activity. Fifteen Schutzhund dogs (12 males and 3 females) were used: six dogs with the highest level of training (title IPO-3,group IPO-3), and nine animals without title IPO (group IPO-0). Animals ofthe two groups followed two different training programmes. The programme followed by IPO-3 dogs consisted of a period of intense work for each section (section A - tracking phase, section B - obedience phase and section C - protection phase; period 1) and a period of reduction in the intensity of the training (period 2). On the other hand, IPO-0 dogs underwenta constant work intensity throughout the experiment. The faeces and hair cortisol content was measured by RIA. In all dogs the exercise induced a significant increase of faecal cortisol concentrations as compared with the levels at rest; the faecal levels of this hormone were higher in IPO-3 than in IPO-0 dogs both on days when animals were not doing physical activity and on days of work, indicating a greater exercise-related adrenocortical stimulation. Training intensity induced a modification in faecal cortisol concentrations while these were not affected by the type of work (Sections A, B and C). Correlation between hair and faecal cortisol levels was also checked; haircortisol levels correlated positively with those observed in faeces

A clinical-biological risk stratification model for resected gastric cancer: prognostic impact of Her2, Fhit, and APC expression status

BackgroundTo obtain a prognostic stratification model for resected gastric cancer patients.Patients and methodsClinicopathological and molecular data (expression of Cdx2, Apc, \u3b2-catenin, E-cadherin, Fhit, p53, and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (Her2); HER2 and TOPO2A gene copy number; PIK3CA mutations; microsatellite instability) were correlated to cancer-specific/overall survival (CSS/OS) using a Cox model. Individual patient probability (IPP) was estimated by logistic equation. A continuous score to identify risk-classes was derived according to the model ratios.ResultsTwo-hundred eight patients were studied (median follow-up 20 months). At multivariate analysis, sex, stage, margins, location, nodes, Apc, and Fhit were independent predictors for CSS; the same factors (and age and Her2, except Fhit) predicted OS. Multivariate model predicted IPP with high prognostic accuracy (0.90 for CSS; 0.91 for OS). A two-class model significantly separated low- and high-risk patients for CSS (23.4% and 85.6%, P < 0.0001) and OS (21.4% and 82.0%, P < 0.0001). A three-class model differentiated low-, intermediate-, and high-risk patients for CSS (6.3%, 35.3%, and 88.0%, P < 0.0001) and OS (6.1%, 34.6%, and 86.5%, P < 0.0001).ConclusionsA risk classification system comprising the immunohistochemical expression of three proteins (Apc, Fhit, and Her2) and five clinicopathological parameters (stage, resected nodes, margins, location, and sex) accurately separates the resected gastric cancer patients into three classes of risk

Il sistema agro-alimentare dell’Emilia-Romagna, Rapporto 2014

Il Rapporto 2014 sul Sistema Agroalimentare dell'Emilia-Romagna rappresenta un importante contributo alla conoscenza di un settore fondamentale dell'economia regionale, un utile strumento per gli operatori e una guida per le politiche degli enti locali. Il Rapporto si apre con due capitoli che descrivono da un lato, lo scenario internazionale e, dall'altro le politiche comunitarie e nazionali, per il settore agroalimentare, che modificano lo scenario nel quale gli operatori saranno chiamati a muoversi dal 2014 al 2020. I principali cambiamenti congiunturali del sistema agroalimentare regionale occupano la parte central del Rapporto, con Quattro capitol dedicati all'agricoltura. Successivamente vengono affrontati gli altri aspetti rilevanti del sistema agro-alimentare regionale partendo dall'industria alimentare, con le dinamiche congiunturali e alcuni approfondimenti strutturali dell'occupazione