Effetti della riforma PAC 2014- 2020 sulle aziende risicole italiane

The paper investigates the medium-term impacts of the 2014-2020 CAP reform in the Italian rice sector, ana- lyzing farm\u2019s structural characteristics and profitability. Using FADN data, first pillar payments and their con- tribution to income were computed and compared be- fore reform (2012) and in 2019 (at the end of the inter- nal convergence). The data calculated for the 165 farms in the FADN sample were reported to the universe, and show that the support for rice will fall from 979 to 746 \u20ac/hectare and 230 million to 176 million overall, with a 24% loss. However, rice farms will keep a higher sup- port, compared to other arable crops farms. The effect of greening obligations on rice farms was also estimated, even if they are largely exempted by the diversification requirements and ecological focus areas

Scanning Electron Microscopy in the Study of Campylobacter Pylori Associated Gastritis

The close association between Campylobacter pylori (CP), gastritis and peptic ulcer is now well established. Moreover increasing evidence has been collected of a major etiological role of CP in type B chronic gastritis. For this reason, searching for CP is essential in all patients with upper gastrointestinal symptoms. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is a most reliable technique for studying the distribution of microorganisms and their relationship to the gastric mucosal surface. The aim of this paper is to compare SEM to other routine methods of detection for CP, such as Giemsa staining on histological sections and Urease Microtiter Test (MT) on fresh tissue and to investigate the surface morphology of gastric mucosa colonized by CP and to correlate it with the histopathological picture. Thirty-seven biopsies taken from the gastric body and the antrum of 22 patients were used for each type of determination. The different parameters were graded semiquantitatively. Histology showed a normal mucosa in 4 cases, chronic superficial gastritis in 12 and chronic atrophic gastritis in 21 cases. SEM was more sensitive than histology and Urease MT in detecting Campylobacter pylori. This is due to the patchy distribution of this bacterium on gastric mucosa. For this reason SEM should always be performed when routine tests are negative. The presence of CP correlated significantly (p \u3c 0.001, Spearman Rank Correlation Test) with the neutrophilic infiltrate, thus with the activity of the gastritis. The CP associated gastritis has no distinctive surface features other than the presence of the bacterium SEM morphology of surface gastric mucous cells suggests that CP does not damage the lining epithelium directly. Neutrophils and inflammatory mediators could be involved in the production of the mucosal lesions

Farm succession at a crossroads: The interaction among farm characteristics, labour market conditions, and gender and birth order effects

Farm succession is a relevant issue, as it is related to rural and youth migration, sustainability and the ageing of the agricultural sector. Understanding the factors behind the willingness of potential successors to take over the family business is crucial for farm continuity. We examine the factors affecting children's likelihood of carrying on the family business in a sample of 216 potential heirs of Italian horticultural farms. Using local labour market conditions (income gap and employment rate) and surrounding context variables (population density), we plug the farm labour migration/occupational choice theory into farm succession analysis. This approach allows us to treat child succession as the opposite of the choice to migrate out of the farm sector. While farm labour migration theory predicts linear negative effects of labour market/contextual variables on farm transfer, we find that the income gap, employment rates and population density exert both negative and positive effects on child succession, according to their intensity. The pro-succession effects we find suggest that, despite potential threats, the proximity to wealthy areas may represent an opportunity for farm continuity and thriving. We also examine explicitly the effect of child characteristics (gender and birth order), finding that male and first-born potential successors are more likely to take over the family farm, in accordance with results from previous firm succession studies. This finding suggests a persistence of traditional normative beliefs in the agricultural sector

Farmland Use Transitions After the CAP Greening: a Preliminary Analysis Using Markov Chains Approach

This paper represents a preliminary attempt to evaluate ex-post impact of the CAP greening payment on farmland use changes, testing by a Markov Chain approach whether farmland use transitions dynamics changed after the introduction of this new policy instrument. Unlike previous contributions, relying on ex-ante simulations, this analysis is based on the actual behaviour of farmers over the period immediately after the last CAP reform. Such ex-post assessment was based on real georeferenced data on farmland allocation, collected in the Lombardy Region, in Northern Italy, over the period 2011-2016. As the current CAP has recently entered in force (in 2015), the present analysis covers the \ufb01rst two years of implementation of the new rules along with the previous four years. Results are in line with previous ex-ante simulations in the same region, detecting a deep discontinuity for those farmland uses characterised by monoculture before the introduction of the greening. They show a signi\ufb01cant discontinuity of farmland use transitions in the reference area after the introduction of greening rules, pointing to a decrease in maize monoculture, in favour of other cereals and legume crops like soybean and alfalfa. Unlike some critical opinions that see current greening rules as a \u201clow pro\ufb01le\u201d compromise, the present analysis points to a strong e\ufb00ect of such rules on regions with high-intensity agriculture

MULTIVARIABLE PREDICTIVE CONTROL OF A THERMAL POWER PLANT

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Does the future of a farm depend on its neighbourhood? Evidence on intra-family succession among fruit and vegetable farms in Italy

The transfer of farm activity over time occurs through different pathways, among which the more frequent is intra-family farm succession. Thus, better information on farm succession determinants is crucial for understanding farm succession and informing appropriate sectoral policies. To date, substantial research has focused on the effect of farm, farmer and potential heir features on farm succession, while the role played by socio-economic conditions around a farm has been relatively less examined. Building on previous contributions, the present paper considers farm succession as the opposite of labour migration out of the agricultural sector. Thus, the effect of the labour market and surrounding conditions (LMSC) around a farm on its succession probability is explored. The aim of this paper is therefore to explore whether and to what extent the inclusion of LMSC variables may contribute to a better understanding of farm succession. Using data from a sample of 266 fruit and vegetable farms (gathered for informative purposes by a producers\u2019 organization consortium), empirical evidence that LMSC variables play an important role in explaining the succession probability in these types of farms is provided. Specifically, the results show that (i) including LMSC variables in a farm succession analysis increases the explanatory power and robustness of the model estimates; (ii) LMSC variables have a non-linear effect on succession; and (iii) some explanatory variables (farmer education and farm age, specialization and dimension) are significant across various specifications, while other variables (farmer age, territorial location and distance of a farm from its producer organization) change their sign and/or significance when LMSC variables are included in the model. As a consequence, our findings suggest that LMSC variables should be included in farm succession and labour market analysis to provide a better estimate of farm succession probability

Prevention of antigen-induced bronchial hyperreactivity and airway inflammation in sensitized guinea-pigs by tacrolimus.

We examined the effect of the immunosuppressive agent, tacrolimus (FK506), on antigen-induced bronchial hyperreactivity to acetylcholine and leukocyte infiltration into the airways of ovalbumin-challenged guinea-pigs. Subcutaneous injection of 0.5 mg/kg of FK506, 1 h before and 5 h after intra-nasal antigen challenge prevented bronchial hyperreactivity to aerosolized acetylcholine, eosinophilia in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid and bronchial tissue and the invasion of the bronchial wall by CD4+ T-lymphocytes. FK506 also suppressed ovalbumin-induced increase in the number of leukocytes adhering to the pulmonary vascular endothelium and expressing alpha4-integrins. Inhibition by FK506 of antigen-induced bronchial hyperreactivity in sensitized guinea-pigs may thus relate to its ability to prevent the emergence of important inflammatory components of airway inflammation, such as eosinophil accumulation, as well as CD4+ T-lymphocyte infiltration into the bronchial tissue

On the complexity of strongly connected components in directed hypergraphs

We study the complexity of some algorithmic problems on directed hypergraphs and their strongly connected components (SCCs). The main contribution is an almost linear time algorithm computing the terminal strongly connected components (i.e. SCCs which do not reach any components but themselves). "Almost linear" here means that the complexity of the algorithm is linear in the size of the hypergraph up to a factor alpha(n), where alpha is the inverse of Ackermann function, and n is the number of vertices. Our motivation to study this problem arises from a recent application of directed hypergraphs to computational tropical geometry. We also discuss the problem of computing all SCCs. We establish a superlinear lower bound on the size of the transitive reduction of the reachability relation in directed hypergraphs, showing that it is combinatorially more complex than in directed graphs. Besides, we prove a linear time reduction from the well-studied problem of finding all minimal sets among a given family to the problem of computing the SCCs. Only subquadratic time algorithms are known for the former problem. These results strongly suggest that the problem of computing the SCCs is harder in directed hypergraphs than in directed graphs.Comment: v1: 32 pages, 7 figures; v2: revised version, 34 pages, 7 figure