Effect of different doses of cracked whole soybean on milk fatty acid composition in buffalo

In order to improve the health characteristics of buffalo milk and Mozzarella, the effect of two concentrates differing in linoleic acid (LA) content on milk fatty acid (FA) composition was con- sidered. Dietary LA supplementation, in fact, is the most effec- tive strategy to increase milk content of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which has potentially positive effects on human health. Thirty-two buffaloes were randomly allotted in two groups: exper- imental (EG) and control (CG). During the first period (P1, from 26 to 82 days in milk) EG fed a total mixed ratio (TMR) composed by barley silage, alfalfa and grass hay, maize meal and 3 kg of a concentrate composed by 30% cracked whole soybean (WS) and 70% horse bean (HB), which provided 12.6 g/kg DM of LA. During the second period, (P2, from 97 to 152 days in milk), the experi- mental concentrate was 70/30 WS/HB that provided 25.4 g/kg DM of LA. During both periods CG fed a diet based on the same for- age than EG and a concentrate composed by maize meal, soybean meal, and cotton seeds (7.2 g/kg DM of LA). Individual milk sam- ples were weekly collected and data of milk FA composition were analysed by a repeated measures model. At the end of each peri- od, milk from each group was separately processed and six Mozzarella cheese for group were sampled. During P1, LA con- tent of milk from EG was significantly higher than milk from CG (1.85 vs. 1.52% of TL), whereas CLA and vaccenic acid (VA) con- tent did not differ between groups. During P2, the LA content in EG milk was more than two times higher than that in CG milk (3.91 vs. 1.59% of TL). Also CLA (0.59% of TL vs. 0.38% of TL for EG and GC respectively) and VA (1.67%of TL vs. 1.25% of TL for EG and CG, respectively) milk content significantly differed between groups. Oleic acid (OA) content significantly differed between treatments, being higher in milk from EG (+17%). Interestingly, differences were observed also in the substrate/product ratio related to stearoil-CoA desaturase enzyme (SCD). This enzyme acts either on C18:0, that is con- verted in OA, and on C14:0, C16:0 and VA, which are converted in cis9 unsaturated FA. Results suggested a higher affinity of SCD for C18:0. The desaturation index of C18:0, in fact, was more than ten times higher than that of other substrates. The FA com- position of mozzarella reflected that observed in milk, confirm- ing that cheesemaking did not affect the transfer of FA from milk to cheese

TRIIAL national reports Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, The Netherlands

Recent constitutional and legislative changes in several member states are questioning core features of EU rule of law. For the first time ever, the EU institutions have proposed activation of the preventive mechanism in Article 7 TEU against Poland and Hungary, and the European Commission has launched the rule of law conditionality mechanism against Hungary. The jurisprudence of the CJEU finding numerous violations of judicial independence and fundamental rights undermining the rule of law in Europe is growing at a fast pace. Moreover, many preliminary references show the willingness of national courts to engage in judicial dialogue with the CJEU, relying on it to provide harmonised standards and guidelines on the rule of law. However, the future of such interactions is undermined by recent decisions of supreme and constitutional courts limiting the rights of domestic courts to use the preliminary reference procedure and prohibiting their obligation to give effect to EU law based on a tendentious understanding of national constitutional identity. In this context, the TRIIAL project has embarked on an ambitious research quest, which resulted in the present Edited Working Paper. It consists of nine country reports which cover the most relevant issues concerning judicial independence, impartiality, accountability, mutual trust and the rule of law in the jurisdictions of the project partners: Belgium, the Netherlands, Hungary, Romania, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Spain and Slovenia. The country reports primarily build on case law identified and analysed during the TRIIAL project and published in the CJC database. They outline the current state of affairs and challenges the member states face in the topics covered by TRIIAL exposing and analysing specific pressing issues, especially ones that are not yet covered in other reports such as the European Commission’s Rule of Law report.

Private Regulation, Freedom of Expression and Journalism: Towards a European approach?

The increasing role of electronic media in news and, more generally, in content production is changing the scope and boundaries of the journalism profession and the instruments deployed to regulate the activity. Historically, journalism has primarily been self-regulated. The limits of public legislation, mainly driven by the constitutional constraints posed by the freedom of expression, have created different models of national private regulatory regimes across Europe. Media regulation is a multilevel architecture and national legal systems still play a primary role in designing rules concerning news production. Self-regulation reflects national approaches and varies according to legal and social regulatory cultures. Within the private sphere, different forms of regulation have been implemented reflecting the changing balance between the profession, the industries and the new players which have emerged after the Web revolution. The development of new media poses the following important challenges to that regulatory framework: the criteria to be used to define journalism; the distinction and the boundaries between professional and non-professional journalism; the distinction between commercial and social/not for profit content production. This essay will examine these challenges looking at practice and litigation in European countries, identifying the different conflicting interests generating this litigation and the (private) regulatory responses. It will explore the differences between professional and industry regulation both within and across media: looking at the national and European or transnational regulatory scope of these regimes

Il ruolo delle diverse tipologie di informazione su internet

Examining board: Prof. Fabrizio Cafaggi (Supervisor)-EUI ; Prof. Giovanni Sartor, Marie Curie Professor at EUI ; Prof. Giovanni Comandé, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa ; Prof. José-Luis Pinar Manas, San Pablo-CEU University, MadridDefence date: 9 October 2007First made available online: 19 July 2021L’utilizzo della rete Internet quale mezzo per la commercializzazione di beni e/o di servizi ha richiesto un ripensamento da parte dell’operatore del diritto circa le regole che si applicano alla fase propedeutica alla stipulazione del contratto, dovuto soprattutto alle nuove forme di interazione disponibili per l’utente telematico, che possono portare a nuove condizioni di squilibrio di potere contrattuale fra le parti contraenti. Il momento in cui tali ipotesi possono prospettarsi è in particolare la fase pre-contrattuale, che si estende, nell’ambito telematico, fin dallo svolgimento dell’attività promozionale da parte del prestatore dei servizi della società dell’informazione. L’estensione della fase pre-contrattuale si colloca, infatti, in un processo di contrattualizzazione dell’informazione pre-contrattuale che trova un ulteriore giustificazione tecnica sulla base del mezzo di comunicazione utilizzato, giacché quest’ultimo consente un’immediata e diretta interazione fra i potenziali contraenti, tanto da rendere sempre più raro il momento dedicato alle trattative. Lo strumento prescelto dal legislatore europeo - sulla scia della legislazione consumeristica - per ovviare alle possibili ipotesi di squilibrio contrattuale è stato quello di imporre un dovere di informazione nei confronti della parte contrattuale in condizione di svantaggio, così da consentire a tale soggetto di poter giungere ad una decisione informata in merito alla conclusione del contratto. Il legislatore, tuttavia, ha riunito in un unico strumento dedicato al 'contratto telematico' (la direttiva n. 2000/31/CE sul commercio elettronico) una serie di obblighi informativi che non soltanto differiscono dal tradizionale 'information paradigm' - poiché non legati esclusivamente allo status di consumatore dell’utente telematico - ma individuano anche obiettivi di tutela fra loro diversificati, andando a coprire le ipotesi di lesione della sfera privata dell’utente, la necessità di trasparenza del contratto, ed infine l’educazione dell’utente rispetto al nuovo mezzo di comunicazione da questi prescelto per la contrattazione. L’analisi di queste tre ipotesi proposte dal legislatore comunitario appare dunque interessante sia per valutare la coerenza dello stesso paradigma informativo rispetto a rapporti che non contemplano solo ed esclusivamente il consumatore, sia per comprendere se esso abbia la possibilità di essere efficacemente utilizzato anche per la tutela di interessi che tradizionalmente non sono contemplati nella sua sfera di applicazione

Transnational collective actions for cross-border data protection violations

First published online: 16 September 2020With the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal, online surveillance clearly showed its negative effects. However, few individuals were able to recover any damages from the data protection violation that occurred. The EU General Data Protection Regulation contains legal tools to coordinate the interests of data subjects together in the case of infringements that occur across member states of the European Union, not only at the national level (Article 80), but potentially at the transnational level, as implied by Article 81. However, only a reform addressing the rules applicable to the standing of associations and non-governmental organisations in transnational claims as well as those concerning jurisdiction and international lis pendens would allow EU citizens to take full advantage of this opportunity

The rights of people with disabilities in EU consumer law

Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), regarding equal recognition before the law, affirms that States Parties are obliged to recognize that ‘persons with disabilities enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all aspects of life’. This right implicitly provides for the possibility for people with disabilities to act as consumers and, consequently, for the possibility to enjoy freely the goods and services available in the internal market. However, the legislation in force at the European Union (EU) level does not always consider the needs of people with disabilities, excluding them from the definition of the average consumer, and including them in the more general one of ‘vulnerable groups’. This chapter will identify the current legislative framework applicable to people with disabilities as consumers and the type of adaptations available, showing the main challenge of reconciling freedom of contract with equality in access to the market

Protection of minors online : available regulatory approaches

Is version of EUI RSCAS WP; 2011/15If the second half of the 20th century saw the flourishing of a wide range of new technologies, the 21st century is the time in which such technologies become ubiquitous. In particular, the Internet, originally designed as a system of communication for military services in case of default of radio systems, is now the most widespread technology globally, providing the easiest and cheapest way to connect users from different parts of the world. Needless to say, the most prominent users of interchangeable devices for the interactive use of the Internet are minors, either during their childhood or their teenage years. The widening of this new class of users, on the one hand, is a trigger for public policy to “revitalise agendas of informal education, health and lifestyle advice, and civic participation”, but, on the other hand, it multiplies the difficulties of policymakers, who have become more and more concerned about the risks and perils that minors face during their online surfing activities. This paper will try to address the regulatory solutions put forward for the different types of risk that minors can encounter online, analyzing their scope and potential flaws in order to provide a set of criteria that could be taken into account in the drafting process of such policies