Online financial and demographic education for workers: experimental evidence from an Italian pension fund

This study experimentally tests a low-cost, Internet-based, online literacy intervention program implemented with the largest employer-based pension fund in Italy. This program, called Financial Education and Planning for a Long Life included: 1) an online instructional video on financial, and demographic, (survival) literacy; 2) an experimental design to evaluate the impact of the online videoprogram on financial and demographic literacy, as well as and on short-term behavioral changes in behavior; and 3) a follow-up to assess the impact of the intervention program on subsequent choices of available investment lines in the Italian pension fund. Finlife was designed as a low-cost and, scalable approach aimed at increasing financial and demographic survival literacy, which is consistent with a ‘nudge’ philosophy. Based on the findings, Finlife significantly increased the financial and demographic survival literacy of the participants, and “nudged” them to actively pursue more information and becoming more active in financial decisions

LUMIO, a Lunar Meteoroid Impacts Observer

Accurate models of the distribution of meteoroids in the Earth-Moon system are needed to predict impacts with space equipment and for safe space exploration. The Moon\u27s lack of atmosphere allows for observation of meteoroid impacts: understanding meteoroids is important for studying asteroids, comets, and near-Earth objects. The Lunar Meteoroid Impacts Observer (LUMIO) is a CubeSat mission designed to detect and characterize meteoroid impacts on the far side of the Moon. It can detect small meteoroids too faint for Earth-based observations. LUMIO operates in a Halo orbit at Earth-Moon L2 using the LUMIO-Cam, an optical instrument detecting visible light flashes. The mission is developed under ESA\u27s General Support Technology Program Fly Element. This work highlights the technical challenges and innovative solutions for the LUMIO platform, designed to meet scientific experiment requirements. The satellite will perform a transfer through a Weak Stability Boundary (WSB) trajectory to reach its final orbit. During nominal operations, LUMIO will detect meteoroids for half the lunar month when the Moon is not completely illuminated. The remaining time will be dedicated to station keeping, orbit determination, and optical navigation using an innovative approach. LUMIO features high-reliability technologies to ensure mission success despite mass, volume, power, and cost constraints

Contemporary urologic minilaparoscopy : indications, techniques, and surgical outcomes in a multi-institutional European cohort

OBJECTIVES: To provide an analytical overview of contemporary indications, techniques, and outcomes of urologic minilaparoscopy (ML) in multiple European centers. METHODS: Data of patients who had undergone a minilaparoscopic urologic procedure at nine European institutions between 2009 and 2012 were retrospectively gathered. Surgical procedures were classified as upper or lower urinary tract and as ablative or extirpative and reconstructive. The main surgical outcome parameters were analyzed and relevant operative data related to the surgical technique were recorded. RESULTS: Overall, 192 patients (mean age 45.25±17.8 years) were included in the analysis. Most of them were nonobese (mean body mass index [BMI] 24.7±3.6?kg/m(2)) at low estimated surgical risk (mean American Society of Anesthesiologists [ASA] 1.69±0.68). Indications for surgery were mostly nononcologic (132 cases, 68.8%). Most of the procedures were done in the upper urinary tract (133 cases, 69.2%) and were mostly with a reconstructive intent (109 cases, 56.7%). Overall operative time was 132.7±52.3 minutes with an estimated blood loss of 60.9±47.6?mL while the mean hospital stay was 5±2.1 days. Most of the postoperative complications were low Clavien grade (1 and 2), with only one (0.5%) grade 3 and one (0.5%) grade 4 complications recorded. CONCLUSIONS: A broad range of common procedures can be safely and effectively performed with ML techniques. By duplicating the principles of standard laparoscopy, but potentially offering less surgical scar and trauma, ML can be regarded as a viable option when looking for a virtually "scarless" surgery

Alteration of Smell and Taste in Asymptomatic and Symptomatic COVID-19 Patients in Sicily, Italy.

Objectives: Alteration of smell and taste has been reported in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The incidence and clinical-symptomatic manifestation of COVID-19 is different between northern and southern Italy. This study aims to evaluate the onset of alteration of smell and taste in asymptomatic and symptomatic patients in Sicily (extreme south of Italy). Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was performed on asymptomatic and symptomatic COVID-19 patients tested for severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) from May 1 to May 15, 2020. A questionnaire was used for evaluating the prevalence of smell and taste disorders in COVID-19 patients before performing nasopharyngeal swab. Results: Of the total 292 patients, 242 (83.2%) were negative for SARS-CoV-2 and 50 were positive (16.8%). Twenty-six of the 50 (52%) SARS-CoV-2 positive patients reported smell/taste disorders. Twenty-eight of the 50 (57.1%) SARS-CoV-2 positive patients were hospitalized (group A), and 22 (42.9%) were nonhospitalized (group B). The mean age in group A and group B was 45.4 ± 13.7 years and 57.0 ± 15.0, respectively ( P = .007). The symptoms reported by hospitalized patients were fever (71.4%), cough (64.2%), fatigue (82.1%), and dyspnea (100%), while in nonhospitalized patients, the most reported symptoms were sore throat (72.7%), rhinorrhea (77.2%), and altered smell (81.8%). Anosmia/hyposmia reported in group A and group B was 28.5% and 81.8%, respectively ( P = .001). Conclusion: These preliminary results indicate that the majority of SARS-Cov-2 positive patients in southern Italy did not require hospitalization and presented with milder symptoms or no symptoms and the alterations in smell and taste occurred

Molecular mechanisms of cell death: recommendations of the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death 2018.

Over the past decade, the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death (NCCD) has formulated guidelines for the definition and interpretation of cell death from morphological, biochemical, and functional perspectives. Since the field continues to expand and novel mechanisms that orchestrate multiple cell death pathways are unveiled, we propose an updated classification of cell death subroutines focusing on mechanistic and essential (as opposed to correlative and dispensable) aspects of the process. As we provide molecularly oriented definitions of terms including intrinsic apoptosis, extrinsic apoptosis, mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT)-driven necrosis, necroptosis, ferroptosis, pyroptosis, parthanatos, entotic cell death, NETotic cell death, lysosome-dependent cell death, autophagy-dependent cell death, immunogenic cell death, cellular senescence, and mitotic catastrophe, we discuss the utility of neologisms that refer to highly specialized instances of these processes. The mission of the NCCD is to provide a widely accepted nomenclature on cell death in support of the continued development of the field

La banca digitale: implicazioni e sfide per le funzioni di controllo

L'articolo analizza le implicazioni e le criticità per le funzioni di controllo di una banca (risk management, compliance e auditing) derivanti dalla crescente digitalizzazione dell'attività bancarie e dei canali distributivi. L'articolo non ha natura empirica ma affronta un tema dibattuto anche nell'attività di supervisione sulle banche

Le implicazioni degli IAS-IFRS per il credit risk management delle banche

No abstract availabl

Prestiti bancari, rating interni e modelli VaR: quale autonomiadi pricing per le unità operative?

Il lavoro passa in rassegna le implicazioni dei moderni modelli VaR per il rischio di credito in termini di pricing e di autonomie operativ