Tax Compliance and Civic Engagement in Italy: the role of Economic Inequality and Social Trust

openIn Italy Economic Inequality is constantly growing, Tax Evasion keeps being an issue and Social Distrust is a feature of modern societies. In the present thesis Tax Compliance and related factors were investigated with two questionnaires. The aim of the studies was to answer those questions: - does Economic Inequality affects taxation attitudes? -Moreover, Do citizens trust fewer of other and do not want to participate in the community?In Italy Economic Inequality is constantly growing, Tax Evasion keeps being an issue and Social Mistrust is a feature of modern societies. In the present thesis Tax Compliance and related factors were investigated with two questionnaires. The aim of the studies was to answer those questions: - does Economic Inequality affects taxation attitudes? -Moreover, Do citizens trust fewer of other and do not want to participate in the community

welfare of broiler chickens

Broiler chickens have been selected for their rapid growth rate as well as for high carcass yields, with particular regard to the breast, and reared in intensive systems at high stocking density ranging from 30 to 40 kg live weight/m2. These conditions lead to a worsening of the welfare status of birds. In Europe a specific directive for the protection of broiler chickens has been recently approved whereas in Italy there is not yet any regulation. The EU directive lays down minimum rules for the protection of chickens kept for meat production and gives indications on management practices with particular focus on stocking density, light regimen and air quality, training and guidance for people dealing with chickens, as well as monitoring plans for holding and slaughterhouse. In this review the rearing factors influencing the welfare conditions of birds are described and detailed information on the effects of stocking density, light regimen, litter characteristic and air quality (ammonia, carbon dioxide, humidity, dust) are provided. Moreover, the main health implications of poor welfare conditions of the birds, such as contact dermatitis, metabolic, skeletal and muscular disorders are considered. The behavioural repertoire, including scratching, dust bathing, ground pecking, wing flapping, locomotor activity, along with factors that might impair these aspects, are discussed. Lastly, farm animal welfare assessment through physiological and behavioural indicators is described with particular emphasis on the "Unitary Welfare Index," a tool that considers a wide range of indicators, including productive traits, in order to audit and compare the welfare status of chickens kept in different farms

Effect of sequential feeding on nitrogen excretion, productivity, and meat quality of broiler chickens

The aim of this trial was to investigate the effect of a 24-h cycle sequential feeding program on nitrogen excretion, incidence of foot pad lesions, productive performance, quality traits, and chemical composition of broiler chicken breast meat. In total, 1,320 one-day-old male Cobb 700 chicks were split into 2 groups of 6 replicates each. From 1 to 10 d of age, all of the chickens received the same prestarter diet (ME 3,058 kcal/kg; CP 226 g/kg). The control group (CON) received 1 of 3 diets for 24-h cycles: starter (ME 3,162 kcal/kg; CP 205 g/kg), grower (ME 3,224 kcal/kg; CP 192 g/kg), and finisher diets (ME 3,242 kcal/kg; CP 184 g/kg) from d 11 to 18, 19 to 38, and 39 to 44 of age, respectively. The sequential feeding group (SF) received the same diets as the CON birds for half of the day, and then low-protein and isoenergetic diets for the remaining half of the day. Birds submitted to the SF program showed better utilization of dietary nitrogen compared with the CON birds (45.0 vs. 46.1% of N excreted/N ingested, respectively; P < 0.05), and consequently the SF birds had lower nitrogen excretion compared with the CON birds (24.8 vs. 25.9 N g/kg of BW, respectively; P < 0.01). The SF birds exhibited a significantly lower incidence (7 vs. 13%) of foot pad lesions and consumed 70 g of feed/bird more than the CON birds. The SF birds also had a significantly higher feed conversion rate compared with that of the CON birds (1.84 vs. 1.78, respectively). The SF breast meat exhibited a significantly lower ultimate pH, a higher cook loss, and a lower lipid content compared with the values found for the CON group. The SF approach in poultry husbandry had positive repercussions on environmental and animal welfare aspects, but adversely affected feed efficiency, and altered some meat traits (mainly pH and cook loss)

Effect of dietary supplementation of lysophospholipids on productive performance, nutrient digestibility and carcass quality traits of broiler chickens

An experiment was carried out to evaluate productive performance, nutrient digestibility and carcass quality traits of broiler chickens fed diets supplemented with an exogenous emulsifier based on lysophospholipids prepared by enzymatic conversion of soy lecithin. One thousand seven-hundred and fifty-five one-day-old male Ross 308 chicks were randomly divided into three experimental groups of nine replications each: control group (CON) fed a corn–soybean basal diet, and two groups fed CON diet supplemented with constant (1 kg/ton) or variable (1–1.5 kg/ton) level of emulsifier (CONST and VARI, respectively). At the end of the trial (42 d), birds receiving the emulsifier had a statistically significant (p < 0.05) lower feed conversion rate compared to the control. Body weight and daily weight gain were only slightly influenced by lysophospholipids supplementation, while mortality and feed intake resulted similar among the groups. No statistically significant effect of the emulsifier was observed on nutrient digestibility as well as slaughtering yields, skin pigmentation and incidence of foot pad dermatitis. The results obtained in this study suggest that the use of an emulsifier based on lysophospholipids improves feed efficiency while showed limited effect on carcass quality traits

In vivo RNA editing of point mutations via RNA-guided adenosine deaminases.

We present in vivo sequence-specific RNA base editing via adenosine deaminases acting on RNA (ADAR) enzymes with associated ADAR guide RNAs (adRNAs). To achieve this, we systematically engineered adRNAs to harness ADARs, and comprehensively evaluated the specificity and activity of the toolsets in vitro and in vivo via two mouse models of human disease. We anticipate that this platform will enable tunable and reversible engineering of cellular RNAs for diverse applications

Dialects and linguistic identity of Italian speakers in Bozen

This paper focuses on the variety of Italian spoken in Bozen (South Tyrol, Italy) by Italian L1 speakers. Due to the peculiar multilingual situation of South Tyrol, Italian speakers are concentrated in the big towns of this area (e.g. Bozen), whereas the majority of Tyrolean people speak German or German dialects. Leaving apart the interaction problems between the two speaking groups, this work focuses on Italian community settled in Bozen by emphasizing the composition of their linguistic repertoire, and the differences among the districts of the town, also in terms of linguistic identity.For this purpose, the few data actually at disposal on this linguistic variety will be analyzed, in order to highlight the presence and use of Italo-Romance dialects by Italian speakers. A field work on this variety has never been carried on before, thus all previous statements were based only on aprioristic assumption (i.e. they were not data-driven). Without data of sort, scholars assumed the absence of spoken Romance dialects in the variety of Italian spoken in Bozen, basing on the belief that Italian speakers were not originally settled in this town.Arguing against those previous assumptions, this paper will show how dialects constitute a central part of Italian linguistic identity in the multilingual setting of South Tyrol, as it emerges from a collection of expressions collected in the so-called “Slang of Bozen”, and from speakers’ linguistic perceptions recorded during face-to-face interviews. The results of this study point out that a large number of dialects are used inside the family, and sometimes also for informal communication, whereas some words and expressions are more largely used as part of a we-code characteristic of the Italians of Bozen

“Zeta” di frontiera: confronto tra giovani bolzanini italofoni e germanofoni

Dans le contexte sociolinguistique particulier du Tyrol septentrional, l’acquisition et l’enseignement d’une langue différente de la L1 sont liés à divers facteurs: l’autre langue (allemande ou italien) est apprise comme L2 dès l’entrée à l’école, mais pour beaucoup d’élèves, elle est une sorte de LS, puisqu’il y a peu d’occasions de contact avec l’autre groupe linguistique, et encore moins de possibilités d’employer réellement la variété apprise. Le groupe linguistique italien s’en plaint régulièrement, puisque la variété standard de l’allemand apprise à l’école n’est pas celle employée par les locuteurs d’allemand en Tyrol septentrional, qui parlent diverses variétés/dialectes du bavarois du sud. Ce répertoire linguistique se complique encore par les dynamiques complexes entre langues majoritaires et minoritaires. La variation sociolinguistique est très intéressante quand on observe quelque petit trait comme par exemple la variation dans la production d’un seul phonème par le même locuteur ou entre groupes de locuteurs. Dans cette étude, la micro-variation dans la réalisation des affriquées dentales de l’italien /ts dz/ sera envisagée par rapport aux variables sociolinguistiques telles que l’âge ou le sexe. Qui plus est, cette variation chez les locuteurs de l’italien L1 se trouve en parallèle avec les locuteurs de l’allemand, ainsi ouvrant le débat sur le rôle non seulement de l’enseignement mais aussi du contact lorsqu’on travaille sur un trait phonétique spécifique de la langue cible.In the particular sociolinguistic context of South Tyrol, acquiring and teaching a language different from the L1 are linked to different factors: the other language (i.e., German or Italian) is taught as L2 since the beginning of school, but, on the other hand, for many pupils this “other” language becomes a sort of LS, since there are very few occasions of contact with the other linguistic group, and even fewer possibilities to actually use the variety learned. This is a typical complaint within the Italian linguistic group, since the standard variety of German learned in school is not the one used by the German speakers of South Tyrol, who speak different varieties/dialects of Southern Bavarian. This linguistic repertoire is also complicated by the not-so-easy dynamics between majority and minority languages. The sociolinguistic variation is even more interesting when observing some little aspects of linguistic production, as e.g. the variation in the production of a single phone by the same speaker or between groups of speakers. In this study, the micro-variation in the realization of Italian dental affricates /ts dz/ will thus be considered with respect to sociolinguistic variables such as speaker’s age or sex. More interestingly, this variation among Italian L1 speakers will establish a parallel with German speakers, thus questioning the role not only of teaching but also of contact when developing some peculiar phonetic features of the target language.Nel peculiare contesto sociolinguistico offerto dall’Alto Adige/Südtirol, l’apprendimento della lingua “altra” rispetto alla propria L1 si trova a dover fare i conti con due fattori: da un lato l’altra lingua (tedesco o italiano) viene insegnata come L2 fin dalle elementari, dall’altro per molti alunni questa lingua “altra” rischia di diventare una vera e propria LS, date le scarse occasioni non solo di contatto con l’altro gruppo linguistico quanto di uso della varietà di lingua appresa. Ciò è particolarmente avvertito dalla comunità italofona, dal momento che l’insegnamento del tedesco standard (Hochdeutsch) impartito nelle scuole italiane si scontra con l’effettivo uso da parte della comunità linguistica germanofona di varietà di tedesco ascrivibili al bavarese meridionale. Il complesso repertorio linguistico risulta inoltre complicata dalle dinamiche di maggioranza-minoranza linguistica. La situazione sociolinguistica diventa però più interessante qualora si vada a osservare anche micro-aspetti della produzione linguistica, quale appunto può essere considerata la variazione all’interno dello stesso parlante e tra parlanti diversi nella pronuncia di un singolo fono. In questo studio si intende pertanto proporre proprio una analisi di micro-variazione sulla pronuncia delle affricate dentali italiane /ts dz/, due fonemi sulla cui realizzazione non incide tanto l’idea di una “norma” non pienamente specificata quanto aspetti sociolinguistici diversi legati, ad esempio, all’età e al genere del parlante, nonché alle sue origini. Cosa ancora più interessante, questa stessa variazione trova un parallelo interessante anche nelle produzioni dei germanofoni, offrendosi dunque come implicita riflessione sul ruolo svolto non solo dalla scuola ma anche dal contatto linguistico nello sviluppo di alcune peculiarità fonetiche nella L2

Gesti delle mani e analisi linguistica: prospettive per gli studi in L1 e LS

oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/1666The work presents an overview of the studies concerning speech and gestures, by focusing in particular on hand gestures and linguistic acquisition in first and foreigner languages. After a discussion on hand gestures classification, several studies will be explored in order to highlight the main research topics, to discuss open problems and to trace possible further paths in the analysis of multimodal communication