An Assessment of Telecommunications Regulation Performance in the European Union

We assess the performance of National Regulatory Authorities across 16 EU countries regarding economic regulation in telecommunications sector, by constructing a so-called Composite Regulatory Performance Indicator for regulatory aspects such as effectiveness of the national regulatory system, effectiveness of the dispute settlement body, general market access conditions and application of remedies in markets for narrowband voice, mobile, broadband and business services. This composite indicator is the output measure used in the DEA non-parametric approach. The computation of efficiency scores allows to rank the NRAs and to detect some room for improvement in terms of efficiency gains for each national authority.technical efficiency; DEA; telecommunications; regulated industries; National Regulatory Authorities; European Union.

Investment in Next Generation Networks and the Role of Regulation: A Real Option Approach

The current regulatory debate in the telecommunications industry in Europe and elsewhere is dominated by the issue of if and how to regulate next generation networks (NGN) which operators plan to roll out in the near future. The crucial issue is whether an extension of current regulatory obligations onto future networks would hamper the investment by large European operators. The paper applies a real option model to explain the investment decision in next generation networks. One important result of the model is that regulation affects the investment decision only in the initial period when uncertainty is still very high. The real option model has been calibrated with parameters drawn from real data for a new entrant and from educated estimates for an established operator. Four different regulatory regimes and their impact on the timing of the investments have been simulated: a temporary regulatory holiday is shown to be an effective regulatory tool in order to induce immediate investments.real options; telecommunication; regulated industries; Next Generation Networks.

Tirocinio, qualità della formazione, attori di processo

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Simultaneous Interpreting from German into Italian: the Importance of Preparation on a Selection of Cultural Items

According to the AIIC, the forwarding of preparation material to interpreters prior to simultaneous interpreting (SI) is a contractual term, as it enables interpreters to fully harness their expertise and provide a better service. Yet, despite being largely acknowledged as a fundamental support tool and a helpful resource by professional interpreters and students alike, preparation has been the subject of a limited number of experimental studies. This study aims to examine the importance of preparation for the SI of speeches including a number of cultural items, in order to both underline the importance of previous knowledge for achieving a higher level of proficiency in SI and to raise awareness in speakers and event managers about the need to provide interpreters with all the relevant documents

The Egyptian Diaspora in Milan

This report is the final output of the research carried out in the frame of the project The Aging African Diaspora: Perspectives from Lombardia (TAAD, funded by Fondazione Cariplo): fieldwork spanned between February 2019 and October 2021 and focussed on notions of aging and well-being within the Egyptian community in Milan. […] At first glance, Egyptians in Milan may appear to lack visibility in the city, because they do not dwell in a precise geographical place (contrary to, for example, Chinatown) and because they are divided by socio-cultural, economic, and religious differences. One of the main dividing lines is the period of immigration into the country, which separates those who came before 2000 and those who migrated after that date. The post-2000 generation appears to be characterized by the tendency to fall in and out of the job market and thus of the legal permission to stay in the country. Moreover, the younger members of the community are surrounded by a more hostile and Islamophobic environment after 9/11. Due to this internal stratification, the community shows different stances vis à vis aging processes and practices of care targeting elderly people. This report illustrates the multifaceted meanings attached to the notion of aging, country, house, return, and future, and how coordinates such as generation, class, gender, and religion (Muslim/Copts) articulate with such concepts.illustrato

“I wish I did not understand Arabic!” Living as a black migrant in contemporary Tunisia

After the fall of former dictator Ben Ali in 2011, questions of race have come to the forefront in Tunisia, along with the quests for equality for ethnic minorities. Several associations and TV programs began tackling the everyday reality of social discrimination and violent attacks suffered by Black Tunisians and Black Foreign Nationals. Their discourse, however, tends to borrow the concept of human rights and values from the West, and rests ideologically and linguistically on American models―Martin Luther King―, French words―racisme―, and on an idea of race which risks to conflate Blacks’ categories and to overlook different historical trajectories behind every actor. Addressing life histories of Black sub-Saharan new comers in the Southern region of Mednine allowed me to question racial concepts in Southern Tunisia by drawing comparisons with the other biggest group of Blacks who were present on the same territory: Black slave descendants. This paper suggests that Blackness in this region is an ascription from the outside, and does not confine in one trait, that is, colour. It points at a conceptualization of race where racial prejudices are constructed, and come at play with other coordinates: lineage, Arab ethnocentrism, institutional and legal positioning, and the status of outsiders

Convergence of adaptive stochastic collocation with finite elements

We consider an elliptic partial differential equation with a random diffusion parameter discretized by a stochastic collocation method in the parameter domain and a finite element method in the spatial domain. We prove for the first time convergence of a stochastic collocation algorithm which adaptively enriches the parameter space as well as refines the finite element meshes

Convergence of adaptive stochastic collocation with finite elements

We consider an elliptic partial differential equation with a random diffusion parameter discretized by a stochastic collocation method in the parameter domain and a finite element method in the spatial domain. We prove convergence of an adaptive algorithm which adaptively enriches the parameter space as well as refines the finite element meshes

Public Services Efficiency Provision in Italian Regions: a Non-Parametric Analysis

We measure the performance of public spending in Italian regions regarding the provision of public services, by constructing a so-called total regional performance indicator for strategic sectors such as general administration, energy, water and sewage, solid waste, and transports for 2001. This composite indicator is then the output measure selected to assess expenditure efficiency for the Italian regions, using the non-parametric DEA approach. The computation of efficiency scores allows to rank the regions and to detect some room for improvement in terms of efficiency gains at the regional level

An Assessment of Telecommunications Regulation Performance in the European Union

We assess the performance of National Regulatory Authorities across 16 EU countries regarding economic regulation in telecommunications sector, by constructing a so-called Composite Regulatory Performance Indicator for regulatory aspects such as effectiveness of the national regulatory system, effectiveness of the dispute settlement body, general market access conditions and application of remedies in markets for narrowband voice, mobile, broadband and business services. This composite indicator is the output measure used in the DEA non-parametric approach. The computation of efficiency scores allows to rank the NRAs and to detect some room for improvement in terms of efficiency gains for each national authority