Archaeobotanical interpretation of a Middle Bronze Age (1914-1641 cal BC) cave site in south-western Sardinia (Italy)

The Monte Meana karst cave is located in the Sulcis region, 5 km far from Santadi (SW Sardinia, Italy). The cave opens at 168 meters on the south-western side of Meana Mt. and the Murrecci river flows below. From the Middle Neolithic to the Middle Bronze age the cave has been inhabited. In the 1960s an alabaster quarry destroyed several archaeological strata. In the northern side of the cave, a small opening, here called ‘grottino’, was discovered under 1.50 m. of quarry's debris. Within it, an undamaged stratigraphy 1 m. depth and a sequence of four layers has been excavated in a 4mq area. At the top, a sandy layer, originated by quarrying activity, was also identified. Below, a dark brown deposit of 15-20 cm of thickness, characterized by several archaeological remains as pottery fragments, obsidian, copper slags, burnt bones, shells and a large amount of charcoals and carbonized seeds, has been investigated as well. In the underlying layers no archaeological remains have been found. The dark brown deposit (SU22) was protected and sealed by a recent sandy layer thus its sediment was uncontaminated. This fact has represented a lucky opportunity to identify some palaeoenvironmental features. Therefore, palynological and carpological analysis and characterization of palynofacies have been performed. The results bear out the presence of an open area around the site that included herbaceous plants and shrublands. Different agriculture practices as cereals and legumes cultivations are attested as well. The limited presence of pollen grains that are representative of arboreal plants during Middle Bronze Age is probably climate induced and linked to anthropic activities: for example, deforestation, burning for the cultivation of cereal crops, and the development of grazing areas

Proteasome stress sensitizes malignant pleural mesothelioma cells to bortezomib-induced apoptosis

Abstract Based on promising results in preclinical models, clinical trials have been performed to evaluate the efficacy of the first-in-class proteasome inhibitor bortezomib towards malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), an aggressive cancer arising from the mesothelium of the serous cavities following exposure to asbestos. Unexpectedly, only minimal therapeutic benefits were observed, thus implicating that MPM harbors inherent resistance mechanisms. Identifying the molecular bases of this primary resistance is crucial to develop novel pharmacologic strategies aimed at increasing the vulnerability of MPM to bortezomib. Therefore, we assessed a panel of four human MPM lines with different sensitivity to bortezomib, for functional proteasome activity and levels of free and polymerized ubiquitin. We found that highly sensitive MPM lines display lower proteasome activity than more bortezomib-resistant clones, suggesting that reduced proteasomal capacity might contribute to the intrinsic susceptibility of mesothelioma cells to proteasome inhibitors-induced apoptosis. Moreover, MPM equipped with fewer active proteasomes accumulated polyubiquitinated proteins, at the expense of free ubiquitin, a condition known as proteasome stress, which lowers the cellular apoptotic threshold and sensitizes mesothelioma cells to bortezomib-induced toxicity as shown herein. Taken together, our data suggest that an unfavorable load-versus-capacity balance represents a critical determinant of primary apoptotic sensitivity to bortezomib in MPM

Exploring the role of accounting history following the adoption of Ifrs in Europe. The Case of Italy.

The mandatory adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), enforced by Regulation (EC) No. 1606/2002, may be particularly upsetting in the European countries with strong traditions of accounting theory and regulation. This paper presents an investigation that stresses the importance of previous accounting solutions which were developed nationally to face the challenge of adopting an exogenously developed set of international accounting standards, such as IFRS, in the current EU setting. The research focuses on Italy and reviews the \u201cpatrimonial\u201d accounting approach developed in the 1880s by Fabio Besta (1845-1922), an Italian scholar who is unanimously considered to be the initiator of the modern accounting theory in Italy. His approach was in use in Italy until the 1970s, after which the approach of another scholar, Gino Zappa (1879-1960), has been followed. Fabio Besta shifted from a personalistic to a materialistic (or nonpersonalistic) theory of accounts. He put forward new ideas quite similar in many respects to the modern Anglo- American theoretical approaches to accounting (Zambon, 2001; Vigan\uf2 and Mattessich, 2007). The \u201cpatrimonial\u201d accounting theory focuses on the firm\u2019s wealth, as reflected in the balance sheet, and on its valuation. It evokes the so-called \u201casset and liability view\u201d, which is the approach used by several standardsetting bodies, e.g. FASB and IASB, to develop conceptual frameworks (Johnson, 2004). Such an approach defines the objective of financial statements as providing information on the firm\u2019s financial position interpreted as the firm\u2019s wealth. Assets and liabilities are defined as resources and obligations and are regarded to be the primary indicators of the wealth of a firm. Revenues and expenses are indirectly defined in terms of changes in assets and liabilities (Sprouse and Moonitz, 1962). Accordingly, income measures the increase or decrease in the firm\u2019s wealth (FASB, 1976). This paper begins with an analysis of Besta\u2019s theory, and then proceeds to compare Besta\u2019s theory with the IFRS conceptual framework and measurement criteria, showing several similarities. In particular, it emerges that both approaches are built on the same theoretical foundations, namely the \u201cpatrimonial\u201d accounting perspective and the atominstic-reductionist view of the firm\u2019s wealth. In conclusion, this study appraises anew Fabio Besta\u2019s thought in the age of IFRS. His theoretical perspectives might help to understand better and thereby more effectively evaluate the present accounting context, such to possibly favour a better contribution from contemporary accounting researchers in the new international scenario where accounting standards have been developing

La misurazione della qualit\ue0 dell'informazione contabile e l'introduzione degli IAS/IFRS in Europa

La crescente internazionalizzazione dei mercati, tra cui quelli finanziari, ha indotto la Commissione europea ad avviare un incisivo processo di convergenza delle norme di redazione dei bilanci che si \ue8 concluso con l'introduzione degli IAS/IFRS nell'ordinamento giuridico comunitario. In questo nuovo scenario economico \ue8 quindi maturata la necessit\ue0 di utilizzare un linguaggio contabile comune per la redazione dei bilanci d'esercizio e consolidati delle imprese, con l'obiettivo di produrre un'informativa economico-finanziaria che sia accurata, attendibile e comparabile a livello internazionale. Oltre cento paesi hanno adottato questi standard, tuttavia, alla rapida diffusione delle nuove regole contabili, in particolare nel contesto europeo, non si accompagna la piena consapevolezza delle reali conseguenze che l'adozione generalizzata di queste norme generer\ue0 sulla qualit\ue0 dell'informazione economico-finanziaria. Partendo da questa considerazione, il presente studio illustra alcuni strumenti di misurazione della qualit\ue0 contabile, ampiamente utilizzati nella letteratura internazional

Investigating the effects of the EU mandatory adoption of IFRS on accounting quality: evidence from Italy

The European Community Regulation No. 1606/2002 required all EU listed companies to prepare their consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS as from 1 January 2005. This paper studies the impact of the IFRS mandatory adoption in a typical code-law European country such as Italy. It aims to investigate how and whether the accounting information quality changes following IFRS implementation. The focus is on value relevance which is considered as one of the basic attributes of accounting quality. An empirical analysis is performed on a sample of 960 firm-year observations concerning Italian listed companies observed from 2002 to 2007. Results confirm the expected overall increase in the value relevance under IFRS. The research also documents changes in Italy\u2019s country-specific factors in the period surrounding IFRS adoption that may contribute to an improvement in accounting quality. Such a concern is consistent with previous literature supporting the idea that accounting quality does not depend only on the high quality of accounting standards, but it is also a function of the country\u2019s complex institutional setting

Dall\u2019armonizzazione alla standardizzazione contabile: il recepimento degli standard contabili internazionali IAS/IFRS

L\u2019accresciuta internazionalizzazione delle imprese e la progressiva globalizzazione dei mercati, compresi quelli finanziari, hanno contribuito a rendere sempre pi\uf9 evidente l\u2019importanza del ricordo a un linguaggio contabile condiviso, atti a produrre bilanci con una migliore comparabilit\ue0 a livello internazionale. Il presente contributo analizza l\u2019orientamento a tal fine seguito dall\u2019Unione Europea verso l\u2019adozione degli IAS/IFRS emanati dallo IASB

Enterprise risk management e valore di mercato delle imprese in Italia. Alcune evidenze empiriche

L’Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) costituisce un nuovo paradigma di Risk Management caratterizzato da una visione del rischio che considera l’impresa nel suo complesso. La presente ricerca si propone di fornire un contributo all’attuale dibattito internazionale sui vantaggi derivanti dall’adozione di un programma di ERM, valutando l’impatto dell’adozione di un sistema di ERM sui valori di mercato delle aziende italiane quotate non finanziarie. La ricerca si avvale, per il suo sviluppo, dell’analisi della value relevance dell’informativa di bilancio. Con il termine value relevance si intende il grado di associazione tra i prezzi, o i rendimenti, dei titoli azionari quotati nei mercati borsistici e i valori contabili. Attraverso un campione di 137 imprese, si valuta se la presenza di un programma di ERM da parte delle aziende italiane migliori la value relevance dell’informativa di bilancio da queste prodotta e quindi, indirettamente, anche i loro valori di mercato

Enterprise risk management e valore di mercato delle imprese in Italia. Alcune evidenze empiriche

L\u2019Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) costituisce un nuovo paradigma di Risk Management caratterizzato da una visione del rischio che considera l\u2019impresa nel suo complesso. La presente ricerca si propone di fornire un contributo all\u2019attuale dibattito internazionale sui vantaggi derivanti dall\u2019adozione di un programma di ERM, valutando l\u2019impatto dell\u2019adozione di un sistema di ERM sui valori di mercato delle aziende italiane quotate non finanziarie. La ricerca si avvale, per il suo sviluppo, dell\u2019analisi della value relevance dell\u2019informativa di bilancio. Con il termine value relevance si intende il grado di associazione tra i prezzi, o i rendimenti, dei titoli azionari quotati nei mercati borsistici e i valori contabili. Attraverso un campione di 137 imprese, si valuta se la presenza di un programma di ERM da parte delle aziende italiane migliori la value relevance dell\u2019informativa di bilancio da queste prodotta e quindi, indirettamente, anche i loro valori di mercato

Earnings management, timely loss recognition and value relevance in Europe following the IFRS mandatory adoption: evidence from Italian listed companies

Following the recent EU Regulation introducing the mandatory adoption of IFRS in Europe, this study examines accounting quality in Italy from 2002 to 2007. An empirical analysis is carried out by using consolidated financial statement data and stock prices information from a sample of 552 firm-year observations concerning a cohort of 92 Italian non-financial companies listed on the Italian Stock Exchange. Accounting quality is investigated by focusing on three dimensions, namely: a) earnings management, expressed as both earnings smoothing and managing earnings towards a target; b) timely loss recognition; c) value relevance. Each dimension is evaluated by using appropriate metrics introduced in previous literature. Relevant changes in the measurements deriving from these metrics, evaluated by contrasting results obtained for firms operating in the pre-adoption period (i.e., from 2002 to 2004) with those of firms operating in the post-adoption one (i.e., from 2005 to 2007), are interpreted as changes of accounting quality in Italy. Research findings are mixed. They may be particularly useful for investors, regulators and the institutions involved in the accounting harmonization process, since they provide early evidence of the impact of the IFRS mandatory adoption at country level