Safari nella giungla dei salari. Nel Mezzogiorno si lavora di meno?

The Italian debate on the wage differentials between Northern and Southern Italy has recently moved its research focus from "what is the dimension of the gap" to "how the gap can be measured - what kind of data are needed". Some authors argue that the use of administrative data, based on firm declarations, may yield biased results in the comparative analysis af wage differentials. The point is that the behaviour of Southern firms lead to overestimate the daily wages: firms underreport the number of working days in order to achieve two targets: 1) increase the level of the daily wage in order to the above the minimum contractual wage; 2) reduce the social security contributions and thereby the Labor cost, calculated on the basis of daily wages. The aim of this paper is to test empirically these propositions, using a large employer-employee linked longitudinal panel drawn from the national social security archives (Inps). We find that full-time Southern employees work fewer than Northern employees. If we look at full-time stayers - workers employed by the same firm during all year - we find that among them the number of working days - for the same number of paid months - is much lower for Southern employees. These results confirm the hypothesis that the wage gap expressed in daily or monthly pay from Inps data, is seriously underestimated. Is there a solution? Our proposal is abstract from any consideration about firm behaviour and measure the wage differential only on "stayers" who report al least 287 working days. For these workers the problem of incorrect reporting is minimal.

Local factors and small firms of non-EU immigrants

WP 14/2012; Our paper analyzes the characteristics of micro firms managed by immigrant entrepreneurs in Italy. We process ISTAT data on individual businesses at province level, in order to understand if the foreign entrepreneurial rate is determined by local factors or by the ethnic characteristic of the firm. The descriptive analysis of the phenomenon suggests that there are different entrepreneurial rates, and that the ethnic, the economic activity and the geographic location of the company could play a major role in determining those differences. The results of the econometric exercise show the importance of local factors at province level, such as unemployment rate, province openness to immigrants, age of local population

La popolazione scolastica e le forze lavoro nei prossimi 10 anni in Piemonte

La popolazione scolastica e le forze lavoro nei prossimi 10 anni in Piemonte- Indice #4- Capitolo 1. La popolazione scolastica nei prossimi 10 anni #6- Capitolo 2. La popolazione attiva #2

Membrane stress is coupled to a rapid translational control of gene expression in chlorpromazine-treated cells

Chlorpromazine (CPZ) is a small permeable cationic amphiphilic molecule that inserts into membrane bilayers and binds to anionic lipids such as poly-phosphoinositides (PIs). Since PIs play important roles in many cellular processes, including signaling and membrane trafficking pathways, it has been proposed that CPZ affects cellular growth functions by preventing the recruitment of proteins with specific PI-binding domains. In this study, we have investigated the biological effects of CPZ in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We screened a collection of approximately 4,800 gene knockout mutants, and found that mutants defective in membrane trafficking between the late-Golgi and endosomal compartments are highly sensitive to CPZ. Microscopy and transport analyses revealed that CPZ affects membrane structure of organelles, blocks membrane transport and activates the unfolded protein response (UPR). In addition, CPZ-treatment induces phosphorylation of the translation initiation factor (eIF2α), which reduces the general rate of protein synthesis and stimulates the production of Gcn4p, a major transcription factor that is activated in response to environmental stresses. Altogether, our results reveal that membrane stress within the cells rapidly activates an important gene expression program, which is followed by a general inhibition of protein synthesis. Remarkably, the increase of phosphorylated eIF2α and protein synthesis inhibition were also detected in CPZ-treated NIH-3T3 fibroblasts, suggesting the existence of a conserved mechanism of translational regulation that operates during a membrane stres

Risk assessment of the occurrence of black aspergilli on grapes grown in an alpine region under a climate change scenario

Members of the Aspergillus section Nigri, also known as black aspergilli, are responsible for the ochratoxin A (OTA) and fumonisins contamination of wine. The presence of black aspergilli in vineyards has been investigated extensively in warm climates, in which the incidence of these aspergilli on grapes and levels of OTA contamination of wines are commonly high. However, a detailed description of black aspergilli populations is needed in wine-producing cool regions to establish a baseline in view of the strengthening of temperature increase and in case of summer rainfall decrease. With this in mind, we isolated and characterized black aspergilli from grapes grown in an alpine region in Northern Italy (Trentino) during a 3-year sampling. Black aspergilli were isolated from around 10% of the grape berries and most of the isolates were classified as A. niger, A. tubingensis and A. uvarum. A. carbonarius was isolated only once. OTA production was detected only in the A. carbonarius isolate and in one A. niger. Most of A. niger isolates were able to produce fumonisins. The presence of mycotoxins biosynthesis genes was assessed in A. niger isolates. An15g07920, a polyketide synthase (PKS) gene involved in OTA biosynthesis, was detected by PCR only in the single ochratoxigenic isolate. This strong correlation was not observed for anfum1, anfum6 and anfum8, three genes included in the A. niger fumonisin biosynthesis gene cluster, which were detected in different A. niger isolates not able to produce fumonisins. Projections of mean daily temperatures and monthly rainfall indicate that the presence of black aspergilli on grapes grown in vineyards of these valleys will probably increase in the futur

Transcriptional addiction in cancer cells is mediated by YAP/TAZ through BRD4

Cancer cells rely on dysregulated gene expression. This establishes specific transcriptional addictions that may be therapeutically exploited. Yet, the mechanisms that are ultimately responsible for these addictions are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the transcriptional dependencies of transformed cells to the transcription factors YAP and TAZ. YAP/TAZ physically engage the general coactivator bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4), dictating the genome-wide association of BRD4 to chromatin. YAP/TAZ flag a large set of enhancers with super-enhancer-like functional properties. YAP/TAZ-bound enhancers mediate the recruitment of BRD4 and RNA polymerase II at YAP/TAZ-regulated promoters, boosting the expression of a host of growth-regulating genes. Treatment with small-molecule inhibitors of BRD4 blunts YAP/TAZ pro-tumorigenic activity in several cell or tissue contexts, causes the regression of pre-established, YAP/TAZ-addicted neoplastic lesions and reverts drug resistance. This work sheds light on essential mediators, mechanisms and genome-wide regulatory elements that are responsible for transcriptional addiction in cancer and lays the groundwork for a rational use of BET inhibitors according to YAP/TAZ biology

Production of Λ6^{6}_{\Lambda}H and Λ7^{7}_{\Lambda}H with the (Kstop−^{-}_{stop},π+\pi^+) reaction

The production of neutron rich $\Lambda$-hypernuclei via the ($K^-_stop$,$\pi^+$) reaction has been studied using data collected with the FINUDA spectrometer at the DA$\Phi$NE $\phi$-factory (LNF). The analysis of the inclusive $\pi^+$ momentum spectra is presented and an upper limit for the production of $^6_\Lambda$H and $^7_\Lambda$H from $^6$Li and $^7$Li, is assessed for the first time.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in PL