Does Market Transparency Matter? a Case Study

We analyse a change in the degree of transparency of MTS, the electronic inter-dealer market for Italian Government bonds, namely the July 1997 move to the anonymity of quotes. Our evidence supports the hypothesis that a decrease in transparency makes liquidity traders worse-off, whereas large/informed traders find it less costly to execute block trades. The evidence is also consistent with the “waiting game” hypothesis of Foster and Viswanathan (1996): under anonymity, traders tend to delay their trades in an attempt to acquire information through the order flow. From a public welfare perspective, our results indicate that the move to anonymity has been accompanied by an increase in market liquidity and by a reduction in volatility, a phenomenon that is also partly explained by the growth in Italy’s prospects for early participation in the EMU. The speed of information aggregation on MTS increases, as shown by an improvement of the MTS lead over the futures market. In a European perspective, the current organisation and performance of MTS place the market in a competitive position with respect to other sovereign bond markets and may contribute to their integration under the single currency.Electronic trading, market efficiency

Le Varietà di olive sarde suscettibili di trasformazione per olive da mensa: nota 2.: caratteristiche e attitudini della cv. « Sivigliana »

A research has been carried in the 1975 and 1977 on the « Sivigliana » cv. olives from Sassari, by control the technological and marketing characteristic and behaviour during the preparation of table olives by emploing the lacting fermentation. The results obtained have revealed the excellent charactcristics of size and the favorable ratio of pulpe/stone. Some reserve is expressed in relation to their sugar content. The processing test have confirmed that is possible to destine the « Sivigliana» cv. olives from Sassari at the trasformation for the table

Balanced Biochemical Reactions: A New Approach to Unify Chemical and Biochemical Thermodynamics

A novel procedure is presented which, by balancing elements and electric charge of biochemical reactions which occur at constant pH and pMg, allows assessing the thermodynamics properties of reaction ΔrG′0, ΔrH′0, ΔrS′0 and the change in binding of hydrogen and magnesium ions of these reactions. This procedure of general applicability avoids the complex calculations required by the use of the Legendre transformed thermodynamic properties of formation ΔfG′0, ΔfH′0 and ΔfS′0 hitherto considered an obligatory prerequisite to deal with the thermodynamics of biochemical reactions. As a consequence, the term “conditional” is proposed in substitution of “Legendre transformed” to indicate these thermodynamics properties. It is also shown that the thermodynamic potential G is fully adequate to give a criterion of spontaneous chemical change for all biochemical reactions and then that the use of the Legendre transformed G′ is unnecessary. The procedure proposed can be applied to any biochemical reaction, making possible to re-unify the two worlds of chemical and biochemical thermodynamics, which so far have been treated separately

Studio di alcune caratteristiche compositive di oli extra vergini di oliva sardi in relazione all'origine geografica

Percent trygliceride composition, total carotenoids and chlorophylles and the main quality parameters of 110 extra-virgin oils of the five most important Sardinian production places have been inspected. Statistical analysis of data revealed that some of the above cited components- can serve as discriminant factors to exactly define the origin of the oil, while others do not. Moreover, the POO/PPO rate can help to characterize the oils of the island. Su 110 oli extra vergini di oliva provenienti dalle cinque principali zone di produzione della Sardegna sono stati determinati la composizione percentuale in trigliceridi, il contenuto di caroteni e clorofille totali e alcuni parametri primari della qualità. L'elaborazione statistica dei risultati ottenuti ha permesso di individuare la presenza di alcuni componenti, che fungono da discriminanti in funzione della zona di provenienza degli oli. Altri componenti, invece, si mostrano comuni all'intera produzione sarda. Inoltre, il valore del rapporto POO/PPO, per la sua costanza, puo aiutare a caratterizzare gli oli prodotti nell'isola

Pedotechniques strategies to improve soil resilience against the impact of irrigation by municipal wastewater: using zeolitized tuffs as soil amendments

A research was started aiming at evaluating the possible use of natural zeolites as exchange conditioners to improve and make durable the soil resilience against the adverse effects of the use of anomalous wastewater, for irrigation purposes. To satisfy such aims, two zeolitized tuffs (ZTs), viz. a Neapolitan yellow tuff (NYT) and a clinoptilolite bearing tuff (ZCL), were tested as pedotechnical materials to improve soil resilience against the impact of treatment by a ‘dirty’ municipal wastewater (DMW)

The Role of Gender Diversity on Tax Aggressiveness and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Italian Listed Companies

The paper aims to examine the moderating role of gender diversity within a corporate board on the relationship between tax aggressiveness and a firm's corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach. This analysis was conducted using a set of indicators of financial statements of 168 Italian listed firms between 2011 and 2018. In addition, the sustainability reports of the same companies were observed. To perform the analysis a logit regression model is used. This paper shows different empirical results. First, this study notes that there is not a direct relationship between tax aggressiveness and CSR reporting. Second, gender diversity in a board of directors increases the orientation of companies to CSR disclosure, but does not have an impact on the relationship between tax aggressiveness and CSR disclosure. Instead, CEO gender has a positive influence on the relationship between corporate tax planning and CSR reporting in accordance with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards. This study emphasizes the key role of gender diversity in the growth of the CSR approach and the reputation of companies. Therefore, governments and policymakers of major countries should promote gender diversity in corporate decision-making bodies, which contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Valorizzazione tecnologica di specie da frutto tipiche dell'ambiente mediterraneo

Technological exploitation of Sardinian tree fruit biodiversity could be a valid mean to relaunch a strategic division, which is now in a weak position. The present work deals with two studies, which are included in a more detailed Interreg II research project aimed to maximise storage and processing technologies of tree fruits of local cultivars. La valorizzazione tecnologica della biodiversità frutticola della Sardegna potrebbe costituire un sicuro mezzo di rilancio di un comparto strategico, ma al momento privo di vigore. Nel presente lavoro sono riportati due esempi di sperimentazione, nell'ambito di un più ampio ventaglio di ricerche, relative ad un progetto Interreg II, riguardanti l'ottimizzazione delle tecnologie di conservazione e trasformazione di frutti di varietà locali

The bone marrow niche landscape: a journey through aging, extrinsic and intrinsic stressors in the haemopoietic milieu

Inflammation and its effects in the bone marrow microenvironment represent a paradigmatic condition in which the hematopoietic niche and the immune systems, thought to properly sustain blood cell production and distinguish between friend and foe, can actively sustain a corrupted neighborhood within a chronic aberrant inflamed state. The bone marrow niche hijacks the physiologic hematopoiesis. The interactions between the hematopoietic stem cells and the niche in the bone marrow are critical determinants of quiescence. We examined several approaches to confront the available evidence; three key points emerged, pointing to the chronic inflammation process, especially the chronic infection and systemic inflammatory states, as leading causes of hematopoietic stem cell depletion. Clonal hematopoiesis, defined as a relative expansion of individual clones, is caused by somatic alterations in essential hematopoietic genes, which increase stem cell fitness. Moreover, terminal differentiation plays a significant role in progenitor loss and inflammatory signaling, promoting clonal selection and clonal hematopoiesis conditions. Specific myeloid malignancies as paradigmatic examples are discussed as a condition associated with inflammation, including the 5q-syndrome, Philadelphia negative myeloproliferative neoplasms, and chronic myeloid leukemia. Aging with increased fitness and hematopoietic stem cell attrition, extrinsic stress, enhanced stressor-specific fitness, and intrinsic defect across the hematopoietic process represent the route for novel insights in defective hematopoiesis. The discussion in this review also points out that the hematopoietic niches' inflammatory stimulation may affect differentiation patterns and the function of downstream cells