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The present study aims to detect the main internal and external determinants that influence corporate environmental disclosure practices. The empirical methodology consists of the development and use of an environmental disclosure dictionary specifically designed to examine corporate annual reports, in a fixed effect panel data econometric model, and in a difference-in-differences analysis. The sample analyzed includes those firms belonging to the Euro Stoxx 50 index, whose annual reports have been examined over the 2010 – 2019 time period. The main results show the existence of a non-linear relationship between firm size and environmental disclosure, whilst other firm-specific variables do not seem to have a significant impact on disclosure. Furthermore, it emerges that the French Law 2015-992 on energy transition for sustainable growth and the Paris accords have contributed to increasing the levels of corporate environmental disclosure. Such analysis shows that national and international regulatory interventions can play an important role to increase firm transparency with reference to environmental matters.

We investigate whether the regulatory improvements made in the aftermath of the global financial crisis have been effective in limiting bank downward window dressing by means of repos in the United States. We find that a strict application of the Basel III regulation wipes out incentives to engage in window dressing to bolster the level of leverage Tier 1 ratio at quarter-end. We also show that the persistency of window dressing is related to the computation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation assessment base, which motivates banks to engage in window dressing to reduce the deposit insurance premium.

During the past decades a number of sequence stratigraphy studies illustrated how, during Quaternary, interaction between sea level changes and sediment supply controlled the depositional evolution along continental margins, giving a cyclic signature to the sedimentary infilling. However, as both deposition and erosion are processes ultimately controlled by balance between environmental energy and sedimentary influx, also the oceanographic regime takes part in controlling the sedimentary growth along the continental margin. This is exactly what occurs on physiographic settings as islands offshore areas, where bottom currents can be very energetic. In the western Sicily offshore, southwards of Egadi Islands, the sea floor is characterized by depositional and erosional features formed under a variety of sedimentary processes and offers opportunity to investigate as sea level change and oceanographic regime combine each other to control depositional evolution. In this area, located along the clockwise flow of the Levantine Intermediate Water around the western Sicily margin, the sea floor morphology is very irregular as consequence of isolated reliefs and narrow submarine valleys, such as the Marettimo Valley which separates Favignana and Marettimo islands. We analysed and interpreted a grid of high-resolution (1 kJ Sparker) seismic reflection profiles integrated with multibeam bathy-morphologic data of selected areas; a 270 cm long gravity core has been also collected for sedimentology and biostratigraphy. The sedimentary succession accommodated along the eastern flank of the Marettimo Valley shows two different seismic units: unit A displays reflection-free seismic facies and thin, low- amplitude, inclined reflectors with downlap terminations onto the lower boundary, and erosional truncation at the upper boundary; these seismic facies are referable to oblique-tangential clinoforms and show a wedge-shaped external geometry. Unit B shows continuous, parallel, slightly concave reflectors and, towards the central sector of the Valley, continuous, sub-horizontal reflectors that form a deposit having a very broad low-mounded geometry; lateral transition in between concave and sub-horizontal reflectors is characterized by channelized erosional truncations. The two seismic units can be interpreted as the sedimentary response of different depositional processes: unit A accumulated by progradation of shallow-water deposits during eustatic forced-regression; unit B is referable to contourite drifts deposited by bottom currents through the Marettimo Valley. This unusual interbedding of very shallow water contouritic and shelf margin deposits derives from enhanced sedimentary dynamics during sea-level fall and lowstand stages when, as consequence of decreased water depth of the Marettimo Valley, bottom currents accelerated scouring channelized erosional surfaces; in the same time, deposition of forced regression across the shelf margin buried contourite drifts.

evaluation of a centralised collection of clinical data (Service) within cancer screening programmes in Piedmont based on a hubspoke model and its impact on process indicators.assessment of an organisational intervention, through a non-controlled pre-post design.organised screening programmes within the Piedmont Region, divided into 9 departments.clinical data (extracted from medical charts for mammography screening and from excision histology reports for cervical screening) obtained through the Service were quantified and their completeness was assessed. The Service impact on the detection rate (DR) was evaluated, comparing the DR pre- (2005-2008) and post-Service (2009- 2012) within breast screening; the DR was computed through histological diagnosis made during colposcopy (pre-Service method) or through the worst diagnosis between the latter and that reported from excision histology (post-Service method) within cervical screening (data available for department 1, year 2013). Some hints on human resources employed in pre- and post-Service periods were reported.within mammography screening, the Service obtained 53.1% of extra-department medical charts and 45.8% of extra-region ones; the percentage of missing diagnoses changed from 5.5% (pre- Service) to 3.7% (post-Service). The age standardised DR for malignant tumours in the post-Service period is 1.3 times the DR of the pre-Service period per 1,000 screening tests. Within cervical screening, 51.7% of histological reports was recorded. Crude DR for high-grade lesions changed from 3.9 (pre-Service) to 4.7 (post-Service) per 1,000 screened women. The system centralisation did not imply an increase in the dedicated personnel.the Service is an operational core which coordinates the collection of clinical data, impacting on process indicators without an increase in human resources at departmental level.

This paper provides evidence on the impact of European Banking Union (BU) and the associated Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) on the risk disclosure practices of European banks. The onset of BU and the associated rules are considered as an exogenous shock that provides the setting for a natural experiment to analyze the effects of the new supervisory arrangements on bank risk disclosure practices. A Difference-in-Differences approach is adopted, building evidence from the disclosure practices of systemically important banks supervised by the European Central Bank (ECB) and other banks supervised by national regulators over the period 2012–2017. The main findings are that bank risk disclosure increased overall following BU but there was a weakening of disclosure by SSM-supervised banks relative to banks supervised by national authorities. We also find that the overall positive effect of the BU on bank disclosure is stronger for less profitable banks and in the most troubled economies of the Eurozone (GIPSI countries), while the negative effect on centrally supervised banks is stronger if bank CEOs act also as chairmen (CEO duality). We interpret these findings in light of the fact that the new institutional arrangements for bank supervision under which the ECB relies on local supervisors to collect the information necessary to act gives rise to inefficiencies with respect to the speed and completeness of the information flow between SSM supervised banks and the ECB, which are reflected in bank disclosure practices.

Risk disclosure is a crucial factor in enhancing the efficiency of financial markets and promoting financial stability. This paper proposes a methodological tool to analyze credit risk disclosure in bank financial reports, based on the content analysis framework. The authors also uses this methodology to carry out an empirical study on a small sample of large Italian banks. The paper provides preliminary empirical evidence that banks differ in their credit risk disclosure, even though they are subject to homogeneous regulatory and accounting requirements. Furthermore, by carrying out a correlation-based network analysis, the paper provides preliminary evidence on the existence of a relationship between credit risk disclosure, bank size, and business model. The existing literature has not provided any methodological tool to analyze qualitative and quantitative profiles of bank credit risk disclosure. In order to fill this gap, we propose an original research methodology to investigate bank credit risk reporting. While previous contributions have examined related aspects adopting automated content analysis techniques, this paper proposes an original and non-automated content analysis approach. Our research has several regulatory and strategic implications and lays the foundation for further research in banking, finance, and accounting.

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the market risk disclosure practices of large Italian banks. The contribution provides insights on the way banks should provide information about market risk. The problem related to the asymmetric information between banks from one side, and investors and stakeholders on the other, represents a crucial issue that requires further considerations by scholars and regulators.Design/methodology/approachThis contribution adopts a mixed methodological approach to analyse both qualitative and quantitative profiles of market risk disclosure in banking. This paper analyses the most important documents Italian banks are required to prepare for risk disclosure purposes, namely the management commentary, the Basel Pillar 3 disclosure report and the notes.FindingsThe results show that banks do not fully exploit the potentialities of management commentary and Pillar 3 disclosure report. Various areas of information overlapping between the different financial reports worsen the overall comprehensibility and relevance of bank risk reporting.Practical implicationsThe reduction of the information overlapping, the careful choice of the location of the information and more appropriate use of the management commentary to provide qualitative information about market risk strategies represent crucial areas of improvement banks and regulators should take into account.Originality/valueProviding an in-depth analysis of the market risk disclosure practices of a sample of large Italian banks, this paper detects the main drawbacks of their market risk reporting and provides useful recommendations to improve it.

The aim of this paper is to examine whether and to what extent bank capital requirements and liquidity standards influence the level of bank stability. Our approach is that both capital and liquidity affect lending growth, which in turn affects bank stability. We construct a panel dataset on a sample of 2,054 commercial banks from 117 developed and developing countries during the 2000–16 period. By applying a two-stage least squares (2SLS) empirical methodology, our findings show that capital and liquidity have a negative direct impact on the level of bank stability. However, this influence is counteracted by an indirect positive effect through the increased level of credit. Our results are not homogeneous across legal and institutional environments. In particular, we provide evidence on more relevant relationships in countries with higher level of protection of creditor rights and lower restrictions on non-traditional banking activities. Our empirical findings are robust to different specifications of the empirical model and to potential endogeneity problems.

Objectives Mini-puberty is the physiological and transient activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis occurring during the first months after birth. In preterm infants, the hormonal surge is more pronounced and longer-lasting than in at-term-peers. To date, only few cases of vaginal bleeding in the setting of an exaggerated mini-puberty have been reported. Case presentation At the corrected age of 3 months, an ex-very-preterm girl presented with breast enlargement and recurrent vaginal bleeding. A remarkable increase in gonadotropins and estradiol levels was detected, while pelvic ultrasound highlighted a large right ovarian cyst. As brain and pituitary MRI showed negative findings, an exaggerated mini-puberty was suspected and no additional investigations were undertaken. The subsequent progressive regression of clinical, biochemical and sonographic findings confirmed the diagnosis. Conclusions Although exaggerated mini-puberty of infancy in ex-preterm girls is a rare event, it is important to raise knowledge of this para-physiological condition in order to avoid unnecessary investigations and treatment.

This paper analyses the impact of the Banking Union on European bank credit risk. Specifically, we investigate the effect that the establishment of the Single Supervisory Mechanism has had on the credit risk of the banks it supervises in comparison to financial institutions that are still supervised by National Supervisory Authorities. We analyse a sample of 746 European banks over the period 2011–2018, by means of a difference-in-differences methodology. We provide empirical evidence that Single Supervisory Mechanism supervised banks reduced credit risk exposure compared to banks supervised by National Supervisory Authorities, suggesting that the Banking Union has successfully reduced the riskiness of the European banking sector. Our results passed a battery of robustness tests that support the reliability of our analysis. Our contribution sheds light on the benefits of centralised versus decentralised supervision, on the effectiveness of the current supervisory system in Europe, and on its impact on European bank risk.

PURPOSE: While overexercise is commonly described in patients who experience anorexia nervosa (AN), it represents a condition still underestimated, especially in the paediatric population.METHOD: The present study aims at assessing the possible associations between levels of physical activity (PA) and clinical features, endocrinological data and psychopathological traits in a sample of 244 female adolescents hospitalised for AN subdivided into two groups according to PA levels (high PA vs. no/low PA). The two groups were compared through multivariate analyses, while multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine whether physical activity predict specific outcomes.RESULTS: No significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of last Body Mass Index (BMI) before illness, BMI at admission and disease duration, while a difference emerged in delta BMI(rapidity of weight loss), significantly higher in high-PA group (p=0.021). Significant differences were observed in Free triiodothyronine- (p

The present study aims at supplying a more in-depth picture of the generation of environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs) from phenol (PhOH) on ZnO/SiO2 systems, by exploring the properties of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) with different intrinsic defectivity grown on highly porous silica with a spherical (ZnO/SiO2-S) and wormlike morphology (ZnO/SiO2-W). In detail, besides an extensive structural, morphological, and surface investigation, the occurrence of inequivalent defect centers in the samples was tracked by photoluminescence (PL) experiments, which unveiled, for ZnO/SiO2-W, intense blue emissions possibly involving radiative recombination from Zni excited levels to the valence band or to VZn levels. Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectra corroborated these results and revealed a remarkably different behavior of the samples in the EPFR formation model reaction. In fact, upon PhOH contact, the ESR spectrum of ZnO/SiO2-S showed the exclusive presence of a weak isotropic signal ascribable to a PhenOo EPFR. Instead, for ZnO/SiO2-W, intense features associated with oxygen species in proximity of VO +, VZn -, and (VZn -)2 - centers dominate the spectra, while a minor contribution of the PhenOo radical can be discovered only by signal simulation. These outcomes definitively envisage a role of the intrinsic defectivity of ZnO NPs on the final yield and stability of EPFR generation, with VO + and VZn - defects possibly involved in dissociative adsorption or oxidation processes at the oxide surface. Although this work focuses on ZnO, it is expected to foster a critical re-examination and integration of important results on other metal oxide/silica systems already reported in the literature, offering the chance to better evaluate the dependence of EPFR generation on the oxide defects chemistry.

Risk disclosure in banking is particularly important for the efficacy of market discipline, the assessment of bank performance, the efficiency of the financial market, and the overall stability of the financial system. The European banking union and the financial crisis have enhanced the strategic role of credit risk disclosure in banking. The topic of this chapter is the evaluation of credit risk disclosure practices in banks’ annual financial reporting. The empirical research is conducted on a sample of ten large Italian banks. The authors employ content analysis and provide a hybrid scoring model for the assessment of credit risk disclosure. The chapter provides empirical findings which reveal significant differences between banks’ credit risk reporting practices, even though they are subject to similar regulatory and accounting frameworks.

Risk disclosure has strategic importance for the efficiency of financial markets and overall financial stability. It plays a pivotal role in strengthening market discipline and building trust to improve relationships with stakeholders in banking. Risk reporting has taken a growing importance in banking over the last years. The topic of this paper is derivative reporting in banking. The authors employ content analysis to conduct an empirical study on a sample of large European banks. The authors propose a hybrid scoring model for the assessment of derivative disclosure in banking institutions. The methodology employed in this research is able to capture a considerable amount of information because it combines the characteristics of a quantitative and qualitative analysis. The paper provides evidences that banks differ in their derivative reporting, even though they are subject to similar regulatory requirements and accounting standards. This empirical analysis shows that there is room to improve various aspects of derivatives disclosure in banking and poses some questions that researchers may develop with further empirical analysis. The paper also discusses the potential policy implications of the research findings for practitioners, bank regulators, and accounting standard setters.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the qualitative and quantitative profiles of the disclosure of credit risk in banking institutions. The authors employ content analysis to conduct an empirical study on a sample of large Italian banks. The sample represents approximately 60% of the Italian banking industry in terms of total assets.

Market risk reporting in banking has assumed such importance during the last decade. The purpose of this paper is to provide a methodology to evaluate the qualitative and quantitative profiles of the market risk disclosure in banking. We propose a hybrid methodology to assess whether or not banks are able to provide a satisfactory degree of information about the market risks they are exposed to. In this paper, we conduct an empirical research of market risk disclosure on a sample of four global systemically important European banks. The paper provides evidences that banks differ in their market risk reporting models, even though they are subject to similar regulatory requirements and accounting standards. The paper also generates some useful insights for further research.

Rechargeable sodium-ion batteries are becoming a viable alternative to lithium-based technology in energy storage strategies, due to the wide abundance of sodium raw material. In the past decade, this has generated a boom of research interest in such systems. Notwithstanding the large number of research papers concerning sodium-ion battery electrodes, the development of a low-cost, well-performing anode material remains the largest obstacle to overcome. Although the well-known anatase, one of the allotropic forms of natural TiO2, was recently proposed for such applications, the material generally suffers from reduced cyclability and limited power, due to kinetic drawbacks and to its poor charge transport properties. A systematic approach in the morphological tuning of the anatase nanocrystals is needed, to optimize its structural features toward the electrochemical properties and to promote the material interaction with the conductive network and the electrolyte. Aiming to face with these issues, we were able to obtain a fine tuning of the nanoparticle morphology and to expose the most favorable nanocrystal facets to the electrolyte and to the conductive wrapping agent (graphene), thus overcoming the intrinsic limits of anatase transport properties. The result is a TiO2-based composite electrode able to deliver an outstandingly stability over cycles (150 mA h g(-1) for more than 600 cycles in the 1.5-0.1 V potential range) never achieved with such a low content of carbonaceous substrate (5%). Moreover, it has been demonstrated for the first time than these outstanding performances are not simply related to the overall surface area of the different morphologies but have to be directly related to the peculiar surface characteristics of the crystals.

A novel hybrid nanofiller, SiO2@POSS, where the silica nanoparticles (NPs) and the POSS belong to the same functional structure, has been synthesized by grafting different loadings of OctaMethacrylPOSS onto silanized commercial SiO2, using a surface reaction mediated by dicumylperoxide (DCP). The peroxide, besides anchoring the nanocages onto the silica surface, ensures the presence of methacryl functionalities in the final structure, which are still available for cross-linking reactions with a polymer host. The hybrid SiO2@POSS NPs were used to prepare, by ex situ blending, SBR nanocomposites. The dynamic-mechanical analysis performed on the cured SBR/SiO2@ POSS composites indicated that the presence of POSS induces a remarkable increase of modulus either at low or at high strain, and a considerable decrease of hysteresis. This has been associated with the peculiar hybrid structure of the SiO2@POSS filler, in which silica NP aggregates are partially interconnected and surrounded by a thin shell of POSS nanounits which, thanks to their high number of reactive functionalities, promote the formation of "sticky regions'' among the silica aggregates and, consequently, a tight filler network wherein rubber is immobilized. This grants a relevant reinforcement and increased hysteretic properties, suggesting SiO2@POSS as a promising filler system for decreasing the energy loss under strain and for leading to a potential reduction of filler utilization in rubber composite formulations.

The sensing behavior of pyramidal (PY), prismatic hexagonal (EP) and hexagonal rod-like (ER) ZnO micro and sub-microparticles, has been compared with that of commercial ZnO (ZnO®) particles having nanometric size and uneven shape. The performances have been firstly related to the predominance of specific crystal surfaces and then, more in depth, to the paramagnetic defects in ZnO ( and ), detected by Electron Spin Resonance (ESR), in order to associate the particles morphology with the defects amount and reactivity and, in turn, with a particular sensing mechanism. The results showed that the sensing behavior of ZnO® containing irregular nanoparticles is essentially related to the alternate formation and filling of oxygen vacancies during the gas pulse (oxygen vacancy mechanism), while that of ER and EP crystals does not seem to directly involve the defects. In particular, the sensing properties of shape controlled ZnO particles are mainly attributed to the ability of (0001) exposed surfaces in favoring a far better chemisorption of negatively charged oxygen species, then available for the reactions with the reducing gas (i.e. ionosorption mechanism). The outcomes and the approach adopted in this study may positively contribute to the debate still existing between the oxygen vacancy and ionosorption models by giving indications on the predominance of a specific sensing mechanism in shape controlled ZnO.

The aim of this paper is to study the possibility to obtain an efficient downconverting waveguide which combines the quantum cutting properties of Tb3+/Yb3+ codoped materials with the optical sensitizing effects provided by silver doping. The preparation of 70SiO2–30HfO2 glass and glass-ceramic waveguides by sol-gel route, followed by Ag doping by immersion in molten salt bath is reported. The films were subsequently annealed in air to induce the migration and/or aggregation of the metal ions. Results of compositional and optical characterization are given, providing evidence for the successful introduction of Ag in the films, while the photoluminescence emission is strongly dependent on the annealing conditions. These films could find potential applications as downshifting layers to increase the efficiency of PV solar cells.

We comprehensively explored the photocatalytic properties, in H2 production by methanol photosteam reforming, of anatase nanocrystals with nearly rectangular (RC), rhombic (R), and nanobar (NB) shapes having exposed {001}, {101}, and {010} surfaces. The aim was to relate the reactivity both to the type of crystal facets and to the photogenerated defects. The electron spin resonance (ESR) spectra reveal that the amount of Ti3+ (electron traps) is parallel to the H2 evolution rate and becomes a maximum for the RC nanocrystals, which display the highest area of {001} surfaces and the lowest {101} area but also involve a significant area of {010} facets. This points out that the H2 production cannot be related only to the envisaged reducing {101} facets, but that the {010} facets also play a key role. We suggest that the contiguous {001}, {101}, and {010} facets form a highly effective "surface heterojunction" within a RC nanoparticle which drives the electrons photogenerated on {001} facets not just toward the {101} but also to the {010} facets, while the holes are driven toward the {001} facets. This transfer improves the charge separation, thus boosting the photoefficiency of RC nanocrystals compared to that of NB and R nanocrystals. The ESR spectra performed after ultraviolet excitation in the presence of MeOH show the partial annihilation of the Ti3+ features, mainly for highly reactive RC nanocrystals. Because H2 production involves an electron transfer to the proton, a relevant role in H+ photoreduction of the Ti3+ centers present on the exposed {010} and {101} surfaces is suggested. These findings underline the importance of determining the relationship between the photogenerated defects and the exposed crystal surfaces to optimize the photocatalytic properties of anatase nanocrystals. (Figure Presented).