Russia–Ukraine Conflict, Commodities and Stock Market: A Quantile VAR Analysis

The Russia–Ukrainian war, which began in 2014 and exploded with the invasion of the Russian army on 24 February 2022, has profoundly destabilized the political, economic and financial balance of Europe and beyond. To the humanitarian emergency associated with every war has been added the deep crisis generated by the strong energy and food dependence that many European countries, and not only European, have developed over decades on Ukraine (especially for wheat) and Russia (especially for natural gas). The aim of this article is to verify the existence of a link between the performance of the Eurostoxx index and the price of wheat futures and TTF natural gas, from 25 February 2019 to 28 September 2023. Through a quantile VAR analysis, a link is sought between the Eurostoxx 50 index, and wheat and TTF gas futures prices. Furthermore, the analysis intends to understand whether the presence of such relationship only manifested itself following the war events, or whether it was already present in the market. The analysis carried out also shows that the relationship between the stock market and raw material prices was present even before the conflict

Identità e diritti delle donne. Per una cittadinanza di genere nella formazione

The gender gap that traverses the planet is one of the most blatant democratic failures, and it is no longer an additional or accessory issue but one that is crucial to the wellbeing of both men and women. The strategies of intervention mapped out in international programmes (gender mainstreaming and empowerment) underscore the commitment and the responsibilities of educational processes. The aim of the book is to stimulate reflection on the role of education in the establishment of gender identities and in fostering the human rights of women in contemporary society. With a view to an interdisciplinary feminist and feminine analysis, which is essential to the development and interweaving of gender issues and points of educational interest, the question is posed as to whether a new sensitivity and a more widespread gender culture could successfully trigger daily practices of gender-oriented education

The Impact of Spatial Separation on Married Migrants’ Health in Italy

Family separation due to migration is a life-changing event that can completely transform family structure and dynamics. Studies have mainly focussed on the emotional and psychological consequences of long-distance parenthood within transnational practices, while empirical evidence on the effects of transnational conjugality is still lacking. Based on data from the Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens (SCIF) survey conducted by the Italian National Institute of Statistics - Istat, we studied the role of transnational conjugality on the self-reported health of married immigrants living in Italy. In addition, we examined specific situations that can lead to deeper health disadvantages for married immigrants living in transnational conjugality. Our results show that the negative effect on health of living a transnational parenthood is stronger for those immigrants that are not only living apart from their children but also are geographically separated from their spouses. Moreover, the effect of not living with a partner in Italy on selfperceived health is negative for immigrants who were not working, which seems to indicate a greater health disadvantage that is activated when immigrants are not able to economically achieve the goals of the migratory projec

Early interspecific interference in the wheat/faba bean (Triticum aestivum/ Vicia faba ssp. minor) and rapeseed/squarrosum clover (Brassica napus var. oleifera/Trifolium squarrosum) intercrops

Most of research on intercrops evaluate performances and interference between species on the basis of final yield, while little knowledge is available on the interference in early stages and at the root level, at least for cultivated intercrops. In fact, in the few studies on this subject species are often combined minding at experimental needs ( e.g. common substrate, temperature and water requirements, easy root separation) more than at their actual use in the farm. The present work evaluates interspecific interference during early developmental stages for two intercrops of agricultural interest: soft wheat-faba bean and rapeseed-squarrosum clover. Improving this knowledge would help intercrop growth modelling and rational cultivation. The experiments were carried out on soft wheat ( Triticum aestivum ), faba bean ( Vicia faba var. minor ), rapeseed ( Brassica napus var. oleifera ) and squarrosum clover ( Trifolium squarrosum ), germinated and grown until 32 days after sowing (DAS) as one-species stands or as wheat/faba bean and rapeseed/squarrosum clover intercrops, with different densities and proportions for the two species in each couple. Germination was studied in controlled-temperature chamber, plantlet growth was studied on pots in the greenhouse. During germination no interspecific interference was observed for both wheat/faba bean and rapeseed/squarrosum clover intercrops. During plantlet growth, interspecific interference occurred in both intercrops causing variations in whole plant and root dry matter accumulation. In the wheat/faba bean intercrop each species suffered from the competitive effect of the companion species and faba bean was the dominant species when present in lower proportion than wheat. The unexpectedly high aggressivity of faba bean may be explained either with the greater seed size that could have represented an initial advantage within the short duration of the experiment or with the competition towards wheat for substrate N which is not usual in the open field for a N fixing species. In the rapeseed/squarrosum clover intercrop, rapeseed was facilitated by squarrosum clover, while squarrosum clover suffered from the competitive effect of rapeseed, which was the dominant species. The resource use efficiency of intercrops as compared to that of one-species crops was lower in the wheat/faba bean couple, not much different in the rapeseed/squarrosum clover one. In both couples, the best performance was observed when the ratio of the dominant species was lower than that of the companion species (number of plants in the ratio 1:3)

Approaches for Modelling User’s Acceptance of Innovative Transportation Technologies and Systems

The gradual penetration of new transport modes and/or new technologies (advanced information systems, automotive technologies, etc.) requires effective theoretical paradigms able to interpret and model transportation system users’ propensity to purchase and use them. Along with the traditional approaches mainly based on random utility theory, it is a common opinion that numerous nonquantitative variables (such as psychological factors, attitudes, perceptions, etc.) may affect users’ behaviors. Different traditional approaches and more advanced ones (e.g. hybrid choice model (HCM) with latent variables, theory of planned behaviour, regret theory, prospect theory, etc.) may be identified and properly applied in the literature. In particular, the chapter will focus on the hybrid choice modeling with latent variables, aiming to incorporate users’ perceptions, attitudes and concerns in order to model the user’s propensity to use and the willingness to buy a new technology. The methodology overview and the results of the application at real data are discussed

Accounting for attitudes and perceptions influencing users' willingness to purchase Electric Vehicles through a Hybrid Choice Modeling approach based on Analytic Hierarchy Process

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COMBINING TRANSLATION READTHROUGH INDUCING DRUGS AND NONSENSE MEDIATED DECAY PATWHAY INHIBITION TO THE CFTR RESCUE IN CYSTIC FIBROSIS CELL MODEL SYSTEM

Nonsense mutations affect 10% of patients with cystic fibrosis and produce a premature termination codon in CFTR (Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator) mRNA causing early termination of translation and leading to lack of CFTR function. A potential therapy for nonsense mutations provides the use of small molecules able to overcome the premature stop codon (PTC) by a readthrough mechanism that lead to synthesis a complete CFTR protein. Despite the good results obtained from this approach, TRIDs efficiency is considerably reduced by the poor amount of target transcript, that is the mRNA containing the PTC. The readthrough, indeed, does not occur on the totality of target transcripts because of their degradation due to the nonsense mediated decay pathway (NMD). This pathway provides the degradation of mRNA harboring premature stop codon to prevent the production of altered polypeptides. In contrast, the activity of this pathway interferes with the effectiveness of the readthrough drugs, limiting the mRNA concentration of the target protein. Thus, a promising strategy for nonsense mutation treatment is a combined use of readthrough agents and factors that attenuate the nonsense mRNA decay. By silencing the UPF1 mRNA/protein, the activity of the NMD pathway was reduced, in FRT cells CFTR W1282X. Alternatively, caffeine was used as specific inhibitor of the UPF1 activity, to increase the efficiency of readthrough molecules (NV848 and NV914) in FRT cells CFTRW1282X cells. In both cases, the combined treatment: NV848 or NV914/caffeine and NV848 or NV914/UPF1siRNA caused an increase of CFTRW1282X mRNA level followed by the rescue of the CFTR expression and functionality. However, unexpectedly, despite the higher CFTRW1282X mRNA level in caffeine treated samples, both expression and functionality CFTR rescue resulted slightly lower than the recovery achieved by UPF1 silencing. Our results indicate that modulation of NMD pathway, although still to be optimized, could be a promising approach in order to increase TRIDs effects in presence of stop mutations

Litter as a source of habitat islands on deepwater muddy bottoms

Certain types of marine litter, usually considered as pollutants, may also be a resource, serving as artificial reefs on sedimentary bottoms. In order to study this aspect, marine debris was collected by bottom trawl from muddy bottoms (depths of 45-700m) in the waters around the Maltese islands, during July 2005. The associated fauna was identified and quantified. Litter was found to support a higher abundance of organisms than the surrounding sediment, but a lower species richness. However, the suite of epifaunal species on the debris was different from the infauna of the surrounding substratum. Thus litter was found to increase the overall biodiversity of particular areas.peer-reviewe

Competition between intrinsic and extrinsic effects in the quenching of the superconducting state in FeSeTe thin films

We report the first experimental observation of the quenching of the superconducting state in current-voltage characteristics of an iron-based superconductor, namely, in FeSeTe thin films. Based on available theoretical models, our analysis suggests the presence of an intrinsic flux-flow electronic instability along with non-negligible extrinsic thermal effects. The coexistence and competition of these two mechanisms classify the observed instability as halfway between those of low-temperature and of high-temperature superconductors, where thermal effects are respectively largely negligible or predominant.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, fixed typo

Natives’ and immigrants’ fertility intentions in Europe: the role of employment

In several European countries, births to immigrant women represent more than 10% of all births; however, there is evidence showing that in the aftermath of the Great Recession migrants’ fertility might have fallen more pronouncedly among migrants than natives. With this study, we aim to provide further evidence about the employment/fertility link among migrants by focusing on the relationship between employment and fertility intentions - instead of the behaviours. In fact, most research on migrant fertility has focused on childbearing behaviours, disregarding the ideational dimensions represented by attitudes and intentions, which are of primary importance to complete the picture through a better understanding of the normative side of fertility. We do this relying on data from the European Social Survey and focusing on two years, 2004 and 2010, which allows us focussing on whether and how the financial crisis started in 2008 (the so-called Great Recession) may have modified the link between employment and fertility intentions. Scrutinising the fertility intentions of migrants with different employment status across Europe, we aim to shed light on dynamics around migrants’ childbearing in the host country