1,721,254 research outputs found
E. Righi s/m R. Rahn pour souvenir d'amitié
No full textDedikationssilhouette nach rechts von E. Righi, gewidmet Johann Rudolf Rahn (1841-1912)Anonyme/r Künstler/inHandschriftliche Widmung unterhalb des Porträts "E. Righi s[eine]m R. Rahn pour souvenir d'amitié
Campaign Spending and Rents in a Probabilistic Voting Model
Full text linkHow the levels of corruption and embezzlement of a political system are influenced by electoral campaigns? How rent extraction can be reduced with anti-corruption policies? We answer these questions in the context of a probabilistic voting model characterized by the absence of political pressure groups and by the presence of ideological voters whose preferences can be manipulated by political candidates through campaign spending. Our main innovation is the introduction of an analysis of candidates’ campaign choices in the literature on the agency costs of political delegation. Moreover, we contribute to the literature establishing a direct link between campaign expenditures and the utility of the voters. We find that campaigning choices are orthogonal to decisions about rent extractions and that candidates always invest a significative amount of their resources of their expected rents in advertisements. As the electoral competition itself does not suffices to reach an efficient outcome, we then study how welfare policies can reduce the inefficiencies of the electoral competition. We show that limitations of campaign expenditures are, in absence of lobbies, always welfare decreasing for voters. Indeed, our main policy suggestion is to introduce an anti-corruption, i.e. a policy that reduces the ability of candidates to extract rents by abating the incentives to rent accumulation. We show that the introduction of such tax can make the citizens better off. Surprisingly, it may also make the candidates better off if the policy is not sufficiently funded. Finally, we establish the conditions under which a policy of this kind can achieve the popular support required for an effective implementation and we show that these conditions are difficult to achieve in countries with large income inequalities
Much ado about making money: The impact of disclosure, news and rumors over the formation of security market prices over time
Full text linkThis article develops an agent-based model of security market pricing process, capable to capture main stylised facts. It features a collective market pricing mechanism based upon evolving heterogenous expectations that incorporate signals of security issuer fundamental performance over time. Distinctive signaling sources on this performance correspond to institutional mechanisms of information diffusion. These sources differ by duration effect (temporary, persistent, and permanent), confidence, and diffusion degree among investors over space and time. Under full and immediate diffusion and balanced reaction by all the investors, the value of these sources should be consistently and timely integrated by the market price process, implying efficient pricing. By relaxing these quite heroic conditions, we assess the impact of distinctive information sources over market price dynamics, through financial systemic properties such as market price volatility, exuberance and errancy, as well as market liquidity. Our simulation analysis shows that transient information shocks can have permanent effects through mismatching reactions and self-reinforcing feedbacks, involving mispricing in both value and timing relative to the efficient market price series. This mispricing depends on both the information diffusion process and the ongoing information confidence mood among investors over space and time. We illustrate our results through paradigmatic cases of stochastic news, before generalising them to autocorrelated news. Our results are further corroborated by robustness checks over the parameter space
Enhancing the resilience of social infrastructures: issues on agents, artefacts and processes. Proceedings of the 2016 Modena Workshop
Full text linkIn the social sciences domain, the term 'resilience' is usually associated to a wide set of changes that affect people and their communities. In particular, both the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005–2015 and the Sendai Framework explicitly focus on the way in which communities face both natural and man-made hazards. To this respect, both material and non-material infrastructures play a critical role, hence deserving a specific focus when assessing local communities' level of resilience. Among them, this paper focuses on: health services, social services, government (according to a multi-level perspective, from the national to the local level), communication infrastructure (i.e. specific tools to interconnect all aforementioned networks). Firstly, this paper discusses some of the most important issues and theoretical frameworks that should be addressed in the analysis of the processes of enhancing the resilience of social infrastructures. Secondly, the discussion that took place in a workshop promoted in May 2016 as the outcome of a one-year dialogue across a group of EU researchers is returned. The debate moves from some theoretical perspectives on resilience and it eventually returns some case studies and real experiences, such as the actions of local governments and the role of risk communication
The Role of Intra-articular Surgery in the Management of Mandibular Condylar Head Fractures
No full textThe screening evaluation of environmental odors: a new dispersion modelling-based tool
Full text linkOdor pollution is the biggest source of complaints from citizens concerning environmental issues after noise. Often, the need for corrective actions is evaluated through simulations performed with atmospheric dispersion models. To save resources, air pollution control institutions perform a first-level odor impact assessment, for screening purposes. This is often based on Gaussian dispersion models (GDM), which does not need high computational power. However, their outputs tend to be conservative regarding the analyzed situation, rather than representative of the real in-site conditions. Hence, regulations and guidelines adopted at an institutional level for authorization/control purposes are based on Lagrangian particle dispersion models (LPDM). These models grant a more accurate simulation of the pollutants’ dispersion even if they are more demanding regarding both technical skills and computing power. The present study aims to increase the accuracy of screening odor impact assessment by identifying the correlation function of the outputs derived from the two simulation models. The case study is placed in northern Italy, where a single-point source, with various stack heights, was considered. The case study is placed in northern Italy, where a single-point source, with various stack heights, was considered. The obtained correlation functions allow the practitioner to have a more accurate first-level odor impact assessment, to save time for training, and to reduce the site-specific meteorological data before proceeding with the simulation. The identified functions could allow institutions to estimate the results that would have been forecasted with the application of the more complex LPDM, applying, however, the much simpler GDM. This solution grants an accurate tool which can be used to address citizens’ concerns while saving workforce and technical resources. Limitations are related to the specificity of the method regarding type sources, orography, and meteorological conditions. Comparison with other screening tools is also presented and discussed. Graphical Abstract: (Figure presented.
Voluntary play increases cooperation in the presence of punishment: a lab in the field experiment
No full textProblems of cooperation have often been simplified as the choice between defection and cooperation, although in many empirical situations it is also possible to walk away from the interaction. We present the results of two lab-in-the-field experiments with a diverse pool of subjects who play optional and compulsory public goods games both with and without punishment. We find that the most important institution to foster cooperation is punishment, which is more effective in a compulsory game. In contrast to Rand and Nowak (Nat Commun 2(1):1–7, 2011), we find that loners are not responsible for anti-social punishment, which is mostly imputable to low-contributors (free-riders). Loners neither totally free-ride nor they significantly punish cooperators (or other types of players): they simply avoid all forms of participation whenever possible
Reflexivity reduces pro-sociality but only among strategic subjects
Full text linkIs pro-sociality a natural impulse or the result of a self-controlled behavior? The literature is not quite univocal on the cognitive mechanisms behind this key feature of observed human behavior. We investigate this issue in a lab in the field experiment with participants selected among the general adult population in Italy. We test prosociality with a Distribution game (or three player dictator game), reflexive versus impulsive behavior with an extended version of the Cognitive Reflection Test and strategic reasoning with the guessing game. In the latter, we request to participants to provide also a motivation of the choice they made in the game. We find two important results: first, that there is a positive relationship between pro-sociality and strategic reasoning. Second, reflexivity reduces pro-sociality but only among strategic subjects. Our results support the intuitive view of pro-sociality: naive individuals that do not control their impulses behave pro-socially, while among strategic subjects the ability to suppress the pro-social impulse is achieved by those subjects making a more selfcontrolled and reflexive choice
Carbon and nitrogen distribution in the sediments of lagoon of Ravenna (Italy)
No full textThe distribution and the origin of carbon and nitrogen in sediments of an Italian lagoon - located north-east of Ravenna town - were investigated. From 1957 to 1976, the lagoon had been affected by a strong industrial pollution due to an important petrochemical complex. At present, industrial and domestic waste waters undergo a treatment process before being discharged into the lagoon. Sediment samples from 10 locations throughout the lagoon were analysed, in order to document the spatial and vertical distribution of C and N. Data show a very strong variability (organic carbon content varies between 8.9% and 0.14%) and the highest values were found in the immediate vicinity of the industrial discharge. Sediment organic matter shows allochthonous origin in proximity of industrial discharge and autochthonous origin in the remaining areas
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