Strategic missions and policy opportunities for State-owned enterprises

This IIPP policy brief looks at the system of State-owned enterprises in Italy, highlighting the policy opportunity to exploit their full potential through coordinated mission-oriented strategies

Metrological characterization of a vision-based system for relative pose measurements with fiducial marker mapping for spacecrafts

An improved approach for the measurement of the relative pose between a target and a chaser spacecraft is presented. The selected method is based on a single camera, which can be mounted on the chaser, and a plurality of fiducial markers, which can be mounted on the external surface of the target. The measurement procedure comprises of a closed-form solution of the Perspective from n Points (PnP) problem, a RANdom SAmple Consensus (RANSAC) procedure, a non-linear local optimization and a global Bundle Adjustment refinement of the marker map and relative poses. A metrological characterization of the measurement system is performed using an experimental set-up that can impose rotations combined with a linear translation and can measure them. The rotation and position measurement errors are calculated with reference instrumentations and their uncertainties are evaluated by the Monte Carlo method. The experimental laboratory tests highlight the significant improvements provided by the Bundle Adjustment refinement. Moreover, a set of possible influencing physical parameters are defined and their correlations with the rotation and position errors and uncertainties are analyzed. Using both numerical quantitative correlation coefficients and qualitative graphical representations, the most significant parameters for the final measurement errors and uncertainties are determined. The obtained results give clear indications and advice for the design of future measurement systems and for the selection of the marker positioning on a satellite surface

Socializing the risks and rewards of public investments: economic, policy, and legal issues

We develop a framework for analyzing the role of public agencies in making high-risk investments along the innovation chain and ask how both the risks of innovation and the rewards can be shared between public and private actors. We build on a new approach to innovation policy, which we call market co-creating and shaping, in which the state is not only fixing markets but actively co-creating them. We also look at the legal institutions that determine (and are determined by) the relationship between public and private actors. Policy measures to institutionalize rewards in a way that promote more equitable public–private partnerships can be understood as attempts to mediate asymmetric power relations, tensions and conflicting views among multiple stakeholders, as well as building a shared notion of the value and legitimacy of the role of the state. We conclude by outlining analytical and policy implications and identifying avenues for future research

The Occurrence of Seedlessness in Higher Plants; Insights on Roles and Mechanisms of Parthenocarpy

Parthenocarpy in a broad sense includes those processes that allow the production of seedless fruits. Such fruits are favorable to growers, because they are set independently of successful pollination, and to processors and consumers, because they are easier to deal with and to eat. Seedless fruits however represent a biological paradox because they do not contribute to offspring production. In this work, the occurrence of parthenocarpy in Angiosperms was investigated by conducting a bibliographic survey. We distinguished monospermic (single seeded) from plurispermic (multiseeded) species and wild from cultivated taxa. Out of 96 seedless taxa, 66% belonged to plurispermic species. Of these, cultivated species were represented six times higher than wild species, suggesting a selective pressure for parthenocarpy during domestication and breeding. In monospermic taxa, wild and cultivated species were similarly represented. The occurrence of parthenocarpy in wild species suggests that seedlessness may have an adaptive role. In monospermic species, seedless fruits are proposed to reduce seed predation through deceptive mechanisms. In plurispermic fruit species, parthenocarpy may exert an adaptive advantage under suboptimal pollination regimes, when too few embryos are formed to support fruit growth. In this situation, parthenocarpy offers the opportunity to accomplish the production and dispersal of few seeds, thus representing a selective advantage. Approximately 20 sources of seedlessness have been described in tomato. Excluding the EMS induced mutation parthenocarpic fruit (pat), the parthenocarpic phenotype always emerged in biparental populations derived from wide crosses between cultivated tomato and wild relatives. Following a theory postulated for apomictic species, we argument that wide hybridization could also be the force driving parthenocarpy, following the disruption of synchrony in time and space of reproductive developmental events, from sporogenesis to fruit development. The high occurrence of polyploidy among parthenocarpic species supported this suggestion. Other commonalities between apomixis and parthenocarpy emerged from genetic and molecular studies of the two phenomena. Such insights may improve the understanding of the mechanisms underlying these two reproductive variants of great importance to modern breeding

Color Mutations Alter the Biochemical Composition in the San Marzano Tomato Fruit

San Marzano (SM) is a traditional Italian landrace characterized by red elongated fruits, originating in the province of Naples (Italy) and cultivated worldwide. Three mutations, yellow flesh (r), green flesh (gf) and colorless fruit epidermis (y) were introduced into SM by backcross and the resulting introgression lines (ILs) produced the expected yellow, brown and pink fruit variants. In addition, ILs carrying double combinations of those mutations were obtained. The six ILs plus the SM reference were analyzed for volatile (VOC), non-polar (NP) and polar (P) metabolites. Sixty-eight VOCs were identified, and several differences evidenced in the ILs; overall gf showed epistasis over r and y and r over y. Analysis of the NP component identified 54 metabolites; variation in early carotenoids (up to lycopene) and chlorophylls characterized respectively the ILs containing r and gf. In addition, compounds belonging to the quinone and xanthophyll classes were present in genotypes carrying the r mutation at levels higher than SM. Finally, the analysis of 129 P metabolites evidenced different levels of vitamins, amino acids, lipids and phenylpropanoids in the ILs. A correlation network approach was used to investigate metabolite–metabolite relationships in the mutant lines. Altogether these differences potentially modified the hedonistic and nutritional value of the berry. In summary, single and combined mutations in gf, r and y generated interesting visual and compositional diversity in the SM landrace, while maintaining its original typolog

The dominant allele Aft induces a shift from flavonol to anthocyanin production in response to UV-B radiation in tomato fruit

The introgression of the A ft allele into domesticated tomato induced a shift from flavonol to anthocyanin production in response to UV-B radiation, while the hp - 1 allele negatively influenced the response of flavonoid biosynthesis to UV-B. Introgression of the dominant allele Anthocyanin fruit (Aft) from Solanum chilense induces anthocyanin accumulation in the peel of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) fruit. UV-B radiation can influence plant secondary metabolism regulating the expression of several genes, among which those involved in flavonoid biosynthesis. Here, we investigated whether post-harvest UV-B treatment could up-regulate flavonoid production in tomato fruits and whether the Aft allele could affect flavonoid biosynthesis under UV-B radiation. Mature green fruits of an anthocyanin-rich tomato mutant line (SA206) and of its wild-type reference, cv. Roma, were daily subjected to post-harvest UV-B treatment until full ripening. Up-regulation of CHS and CHI transcription by UV-B treatment induced flavonoid accumulation in the peel of cv. Roma. Conversely, UV-B decreased the total flavonoid content and CHS transcript levels in the SA206 peel. SA206 being a double mutant containing also hp-1 allele, we investigated also the behavior of hp-1 fruit. The decreased peel flavonoid accumulation and gene transcription in response to UV-B suggest that hp-1 allele is involved in the marked down-regulation of the flavonoid biosynthesis observed in SA206 fruit. Interestingly, in SA206, UV-B radiation promoted the synthesis of delphinidin, petunidin, and malvidin by increasing F3'5'H and DFR transcription, but it decreased rutin production, suggesting a switch from flavonols to anthocyanins. Finally, although UV-B radiation does not reach the inner fruit tissues, it down-regulated flavonoid biosynthesis in the flesh of both genotypes. This study provides, for the first time, evidence that the presence of the functional Aft allele, under UV-B radiation, redirects flavonoid synthesis towards anthocyanin production and suggests that the hp-1 allele negatively influences the response of flavonoid biosynthesis to UV-B