Search

“Composizione-Superficie Lunare” (1965) is an artwork of the Italian artist Giulio Turcato (Mantua, 1912- Rome, 1995). This painting, inspired by moon travels, was created on a polyurethane foam support, material experimentalized by some other contemporary artists in the late 1960′s. In the present paper the organic and inorganic materials used as binders, fillers and pigments, as well as the support itself, have been investigated by means of a multi-analytical approach based on the application of Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy Energy-Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (ESEM–EDX), Micro-Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (µ-ATR–FTIR), High Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled with Diode Array Dectector and tandem Mass Spectrometry (HPLC–DAD, LC–MS/MS), Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography and Evolved Gas Analysis coupled with Mass Spectrometry (Py-GC/MS, multi-shot Py-GC/MS and EGA–MS). The plethora of analytical techniques available allowed to provide for the first time a full characterization of the different materials used in “Composizione-Superficie Lunare” and of a Turcato's painting. The polyurethane foam artwork was painted using synthetic inorganic and organic pigments, such as methyl violet and manganese violet, dispersed in polyvinyl acetate as medium. The study was fundamental for establishing the original materials and aesthetics of the artwork as well as assessing the degradation state of the painting materials and of the polyurethane foam support. The results collected, crucial for planning an effective restoration campaign, highlight the importance of the contribution of analytical chemistry to cultural heritage.

The Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB) introduces changes in capital requirements as a consequence of changes in the calculation of risk weighted assets (RWAs), as agreed in the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. This report performs an ex-ante assessment of the benefits of this new legislative proposal and is included as an annex to the Impact Assessment of the Capital Requirement Regulation II (CRR II).The analysis is conducted by estimating the required variation in banks’ capital following the implementation of the legislative changes by using econometric and statistical techniques. The estimated capital requirements are then used to feed a simulation model of losses originating from the banking sector in the event of a banking crisis. Results of the crisis simulation before and after the introduction of the legislative changes are compared to arrive at an estimation of the impacts. Benefits are measured as reduction in banks’ losses that need to be absorbed by different stakeholders, starting from shareholders and including the whole loss absorption cascade and financial safety net (i.e. bail-in and resolution funds). The main conclusions are:1. If one ignores the leverage ratio (LR) requirement and only focusses on the impact of the FRTB, results are the following:a. When assuming banks’ capital equal to the minimum capital requirement (MCR), the implementation of the FRTB implies higher capitalization levels/needs due to higher RWAs. The estimated reduction in potential public finance contingent liabilities from the banking sector in case of a crisis similar to the last one is of 15%. b. However, when considering the excess capital buffers which the vast majority of banks have set aside over the last few years, the implementation of the FRTB does not imply additional capital needs to meet the increased requirements and does not reduce potential contingent liabilities from the banking sector compared to the status quo. In fact, if buffers are n