Search

The aim of this study is to investigate the role of board independence on environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and the moderating role of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) committee on the relationship between these variables. The sample includes 2,925 companies from 18 industries and 38 countries for the period of 2002–2020. To test our hypotheses, we developed a regression model based on the panel data dependence technique. The results confirm that the establishment of a CSR committee within the board moderates the relationship between board independence and ESG performance. A CSR committee acts as a booster into enhancing the effectiveness of the board as a corporate governance mechanism. This article contributes to the academic literature evidencing the importance of establishing a sub-committee within the board of directors delegated to CSR issues. It provides also interesting insights for companies and policy makers for formulating future guidelines on corporate governance.

The recent economic literature has largely investigated sustainability in the provision of public utilities, highlighting the role of governance models in the determination of economic results. Little attention however has been devoted to the social and environmental dimensions of sustainability. In Italy, a long‐lasting debate on governance structures in the water sector has been fuelled by scholars and policymakers for more than 30 years, whereas the first (and unique) experiment involving the return of full public management in water provision is taking place in the city of Naples. The present work analyses this peculiar case study, aiming to assess the effects of a major governance shift that occurred in the early 2010s—that is, decorporatisation—in terms of economic, social and environmental sustainability. We resort to a bundle of qualitative and quantitative techniques to address the research question and our exploratory results suggest that decorporatisation was overall beneficial: Although little changed in terms of economic sustainability, the social and environmental dimensions benefitted from the shift in governance.

The SORGENTINA-RF project aims at developing a 14 MeV fusion neutron source featuring an emission rate in the order of 5–7 × 1013 s−1. The plant relies on a metallic water-cooled rotating target and a deuterium (50%) and tritium (50%) ion beam. Beyond the main focus of medical radioisotope production, the source may represent a multi-purpose neutron facility by implementing a series of neutron-based techniques. Among the different engineering and technological issues to be addressed, the production of incondensable gases and corrosion product into the rotating target deserves a dedicated investigation. In this study, a preliminary analysis is carried out, considering the general layout of the target and the present choice of the target material.

After several decades, the political and academic debate on water governance is still dominated by arguments about whether private sector involvement increases both efficiency and the level of investment within the industry. These arguments could appear reductive, especially in a context like Italy, which is dominated by public and mixed-ownership water utilities. The aim of this paper is to analyze how the socio-economic context and stakeholders' interests can influence the relationship between ownership structure and water utilities' sustainability performances. Analyzing six case studies, this research shows that the institutional context may influence both the water governance and utilities’ performance. The theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Future nuclear fusion reactors will produce radioactive waste containing both activation products and Tritium. Since Tritium can potentially be removed from the reactor components, activation products in the materials directly exposed to neutrons are the main source of the radioactive inventory. Activated structures have to be replaced during the operation of future fusion power plants. Moreover, decommissioning will generate activated metals and concrete, requiring treatment and conditioning which, in turn, will generate secondary waste. Significant portions of the waste from maintenance and decommissioning are expected to not meet clearance or low level waste requirements, therefore some underground disposal might be required. To partially address such an issue, strategies are already considered for reducing the amounts of activated waste by adopting recycling, interim storage, and clearance. These imply detailed qualitative and quantitative knowledge of radionuclides occurring in the materials involved, making it pivotal to implement appropriate measurement techniques. Radionuclides with significant impact in the long-term management of activation waste include nuclides hard to measure, given their little-to-none emission of gamma radiation. Those decaying by electron capture are traditionally detected by destructive characterization techniques, either mass spectroscopy or Liquid Scintillation Counting. Given the potential amount of fusion waste produced, non-destructive characterization techniques are preferred since they may require less time and efforts. Here the performance of solid state detectors, for the spectrometry of the X ray counterpart of the Auger electrons and for traditional γ spectrometry, is investigated in terms of the measurement time necessary to collect a statistically significant quantification limit, as a function of the radionuclides activity concentration. An approximated deterministic model is suggested and applied to the case of the future ITER fusion reactor, providing evidence that most of the activation products can be quantified within minutes, and a few hours are needed to quantify the occurrence of the hard to measure radionuclides by means of X spectrometry.

Portable neutron generators are one of the most widespread sources of fast neutrons for different applications, from activation analysis to quantitative estimation of fissile and fertile materials in radioactive waste packages. New techniques based on these devices have been developed for homeland security, e.g. neutron interrogations of packages suspected of containing substances such as explosives. When using portable generators determination of radiation protection quantities is affected by a series of boundary conditions that could differ from an experimental set-up to another, and Radiation Protection Experts cannot assess operator exposure without the aid of time-expensive Monte Carlo simulations. As it is impossible to foresee all kind of scenarios involving such applications, and time is often a critical variable, safety assessment requires faster, even if less accurate, tools for exposure evaluation. In this article experimental measurements of dose rates in a real scenario involving a D-T neutron generator are considered, to validate the Monte Carlo model developed. Consequently, it was possible to demonstrate that the calibration factor at 14 MeV for a neutron dosimeter provides conservative dose estimates and to propose a stand-alone, fast, and easy-to-use calculation tool which is usable on field by the Radiation Protection Expert without full Monte Carlo calculations.

Characterization of a 90 kCi (3330 TBq), semi-industrial, cobalt-60 gamma irradiator was performed by commissioning dosimetry and in-situ dose mapping experiments with Ceric-cerous and Fricke dosimetry systems. Commissioning dosimetry was carried out to determine dose distribution pattern of absorbed dose in the irradiation cell and products. To determine maximum and minimum absorbed dose, overdose ratio and dwell time of the tote boxes, homogeneous dummy product (rice husk) with a bulk density of 0.13 g/cm 3 were used in the box positions of irradiation chamber. The regions of minimum absorbed dose of the tote boxes were observed in the lower zones of middle plane and maximum absorbed doses were found in the middle position of front plane. Moreover, as a part of dose mapping, dose rates in the wall positions and some selective strategic positions were also measured to carry out multiple irradiation program simultaneously, especially for low dose research irradiation program. In most of the cases, Monte Carlo simulation data, using Monte Carlo N-Particle eXtended code version MCNPX 2.7., were found to be in congruence with experimental values obtained from Ceric-cerous and Fricke dosimetry; however, in close proximity positions from the source, the dose rate variation between chemical dosimetry and MCNP was higher than distant positions.

Recent updates of the E.U. Basic Safety Standards, stated in the Council Directive 2013/59/EURATOM, are focusing on risks related to radon gas concentration inside dwellings and working places, as well as radioactivity of building materials. In particular, the new E.U. Basic Safety Standards are based on last recommendations from the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), and from the World Health Organization (WHO), which consider that radon issues, and external irradiation from building material, as topic aspects to population’s health. Further, ICRP Publication 126, by using bio-kinetics models for estimating the effects of radon intakes, has drastically reduced the reference level for radon concentration in dwellings and working places. Radon issues have recently gained particular attention due to current orientations in constructing buildings with energy consumptions lower and lower. Radon gas emerges from the ground, penetrates building’s basements, and accumulates itself into the indoor air, being breathed by people. Taking care of windows’ airtightness allows the radon concentration to build up, in some cases beyond reference levels, together with other chemical pollutants, i.e. combustion residues and solvents. On considering that Council Directive 2013/59 EURATOM has to be transposed into law by each EU Member State by February 2018, it is recommended that radon issues have to be considered during the design phase of the building construction, particularly for NZEB applications. Further, external irradiation from building materials, i.e. tuff, marbles, tiles, pozzolana, coal ashes and so on, may be a reason of concern also. This paper describes radiation protection issues focusing on public and domestic environments, where people are supposed to spend a considerable amount of time. About radon, real measurements are shown, both in domestic and working scenarios. Dealing with external irradiation due to building materials, calculations and simulations have been performed and results are presented.

Sustainability has become one of the key hubs around which the actions conducted by international economic operators revolve. This new perspective, perhaps better defined as “requirement”, given its specific weight in the global context, needs analysis of firms’ behaviours with regard to sustainability disclosure and the corporate governance (CG) mechanisms influencing the information released. Board of directors and CSR committee are critical CG mechanisms in that sense. This paper aims at investigating the relationship between specifics board characteristics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure. More specifically, the study investigates the relation between board independence and CSR disclosure, and how this relationship is moderated by the presence of a CSR committee. The analysis has been conducted on a sample of 119 Italian non-financial listed companies. The results obtained, using OLS regression method, show the existence of a positive and significant relationship between board independence and CSR disclosure. Moreover, the findings reveal that the presence of a CSR committee positively moderates the previous relationship, showing the complementary role played by board independence and CSR committee. These results have critical implications for boards, managers, regulators, and policymakers operating to define better corporate governance mechanisms, highlighting the importance of the joint effect of board independence and CSR committee in improving firms’ CSR disclosure practices. Our study also has relevant implications for researchers, evidencing the need to study the complementary effects of different CG mechanisms, rather than the single effect, on influencing CSR disclosure.

Companies worldwide increasingly engaged in corporate social responsibility disclosure, particularly corporate environmental disclosure (CED) has gained increasing importance since the 1980s. Reporting environmental performance has become a fundamental corporate governance mechanism to improve relationship with stakeholders, enhancing companies’ image, consensus, trust and social legitimacy, particularly in a period of great change like this, where people are demonstrating a very high attention to environmental issues, due to different phenomena, like the pandemic emergency of COVID-19, the sustainable capitalism, etc.. The importance of CED has been enormously amplified in the last decades since the development of the Internet and social media (SM) as universal interaction tools useful for stakeholder engagement. Through SM stakeholder can easily ask for information, express and share requests, organize and coordinate interventions. Indeed, SM have become an important source of institutional pressure for firms and board of directors. They acts as a resonance chamber for stakeholder opinions, in which institutional pressure grows and is continuously transmitted from society to firm, influencing the firm legitimacy and the directors’ reputation. The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between board independence and CED, deepening the moderating role of stakeholder e-engagement through Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. The effectiveness of the board of directors as a monitoring mechanism is crucial to corporate transparency, especially in an institutional environment where other corporate governance mechanisms fail to guarantee stakeholder rights. We analyse a sample of 218 firm-year observations related to Italian non-financial listed companies for the period 2017-2018 and found that board independence and stakeholder e-engagement positively influence CED, whereas institutional pressure due to stakeholder e-engagement through SM play an important role on independent directors’ preferences and imply that external directors better consider the interest of external stakeholders, stimulating the company’s environmental disclosure.

Since 2013, the Council Directive 2013/51/Euratom has been regulating the content of radioactive substances in water intended for human consumption. However, mineral waters are exempted from this regulation, including self-bottled springs waters, where higher radon concentration are expected. Therefore, a systematic survey has been conducted on all the 33 mineral spring waters of Lazio (a region of Central Italy) in order to assess if such waters, when self-bottled, may be of concern for public health. Waters have been sampled in two different ways to evaluate the impact of bottling on radon concentration. Water sampling was possible for 20 different spring waters, with 6 samples for each one. The results show that 2 (10%) of measured mineral spring waters returned radon concentrations higher than 100 Bq L−1, i.e., the parametric value established by the Council Directive. These results, if confirmed by other surveys involving a higher number of mineral spring waters, would suggest regulating also these waters, especially in countries like Italy for which: (i) mineral water consumption is significant; (ii) mineral concession owners generally allow the consumers to fill bottles and containers, intended for transport and subsequent consumption, directly from public fountains or from fountains within the plant; (iii) the consumers’ habit of drinking self-bottled mineral water is widespread.

In the frame of the MICADO H2020 project, a passive and active neutron measurement system is being developed to estimate the nuclear material mass inside legacy waste drums of low and intermediate radioactivity levels. Monte-Carlo simulations have been performed to design a new modular and transportable neutron system, with the main objective to reach a good tradeoff between the performances in passive mode, i.e. neutron coincidence counting, and in active interrogation mode with the Differential Die-away Technique. Different designs are compared, which mainly differ in their moderation materials, graphite and polyethylene . This parametric study allowed us to define a prototype taking into account practical constraints in view of its final implementation in a wide range of in-situ locations and nuclear facilities. The total neutron detection efficiency of the prototype is 6.75%, as calculated for an empty drum, i.e. without waste matrix. The detection limit in terms of nuclear material equivalent mass have also been estimated based on assumptions for a homogeneous distribution of nuclear materials inside the drum, filled with four types of matrices covering the range of nuclear waste drums defined in the frame of the project. The most favorable matrix is made of stainless steel in passive mode and of polyethylene in active mode, with an apparent density of 0.7 g cm − 3 and 0.1 g cm − 3 , respectively. The calculated mass detection limits are respectively 68 mg of 240 Pu, 62 mg of 235 U and 39 mg of 239 Pu. The most penalizing matrix is made of polyethylene with an apparent density of 0.7 g cm − 3 , which leads to a mass detection limit of 519 mg of 240 Pu in passive mode, and 564 mg of 235 U or 349 mg of 239 Pu in active mode. Measurement time is 30 min for both passive and active modes. Next steps will be a complete investigation of matrix effects based on intensive Monte-Carlo calculations and an experimental design to figure out the appropriate corrections. Experiments will also be conducted at CEA Cadarache Nuclear Measurement Laboratory with the construction and the assembly of the neutron system prototype, and the measurement of mock-up drums filled with different matrices.

An extensive use of Monte Carlo simulations led to the identification of a Thermo Scientific MP320 neutron generator MCNPX input deck. Such input deck is currently utilized at ENEA Casaccia Research Center for optimizing all the techniques and applications involving the device, in particular for explosives and drugs detection by fast neutrons. The working model of the generator was obtained thanks to a detailed representation of the MP320 internal components, and to the potentialities offered by the MCNPX code. Validation of the model was obtained by comparing simulated results vs. manufacturer's data, and vs. experimental tests. The aim of this work is explaining all the steps that led to those results, suggesting a procedure that might be extended to different models of neutron generators. © 2016 Elsevier B.V.

A photodiode-based inexpensive detector working as counter and spectrometer for alpha particles , named Alphaino , is described and analyzed in depth. Prior to detector construction, Monte Carlo simulations by means of MCNPX ver. 2.7.0 code have been carried out to select the most suitable sensitive element for the intended applications. The detector has been tested for low-rate alpha-particle counting and spectroscopy , demonstrating a maximum achievable count rate of 4 ⋅ 1 0 3 s−1, with an energy resolution corresponding to a Full Width Half Maximum of 160 keV over the entire energy range of measured alpha, namely 4 − 6 . 5 MeV, the intrinsic efficiency being 100%. Alphaino can be used for fast and qualitative analyses to radionuclides identification, and quantitative analyses when radionuclides monitored are characterized by well distinguished energy lines in spectra. Its applications will include 222 Rn progeny monitoring by mechanical air sampling on a millipore filter, and disposable applications to qualitative measuring of potentially alpha-contaminated liquids (containing plutonium isotopes) by a droplet put on the photodiode itself, for a quick and cheap evaluation prior to initiate proper chemical treatments to classical alpha spectrometry by electrodeposition . Alphaino is completely open-source. The repository for the project is available on GITHUB at https://github.com/bemxgm/Radon-Monitor .

The aim of the paper is to investigate the relationship between ownership concentration and the degree of comply-or-explain disclosure regarding the composition and functioning of boards of directors, also considering the moderating role played by family ownership. The study is conducted on a sample of 227 Italian non-financial listed companies. The results reveal a negative relationship between ownership concentration and the degree of comply-or-explain disclosure. Moreover, this relationship is stronger in companies having a family firm as a dominant shareholder. The paper contributes to previous studies on the degree of adherence to corporate governance code by investigating both the comply aspect and the explanations provided in cases of non-compliance. Moreover, the study contributes to previous research on the relationship between ownership structure and disclosure by considering the moderating role played by shareholder identity.

Voluntary disclosure and corporate governance variables are considered important mechanisms for the reduction of the information asymmetries and conflicts of interest potentially arising between competing parties of the firms. This paper aims at investigating the relationship between board independence and quality of voluntary financial disclosure and how previous relationship is moderated by the level of ownership concentration. The analysis has been conducted on a sample of Italian non-financial listed companies and the results show that there is a significant positive relationship between board independence and the quality of voluntary financial disclosure. Moreover, our findings reveal that ownership concentration plays a relevant moderating role in that relationship, highlighting the necessity to consider the interaction effects of different governance mechanisms when studying corporate governance effectiveness

In Italy, debate over management forms of water utilities has continued for about thirty years, with legislation that periodically oscillates between the involvement of the private sector and keeping water management in public hands. Political and scientific discourse has focused considerable attention on ownership structure, following the ideological dichotomy of “public or private” rather than on models of governance, management, and performance. The literature finds divergent conclusions, which highlights the key role of country's institutional context in identifying the best management forms. The present work aims at providing policy and regulatory implications of decorporatization in Italy following the 2011 popular referendum through a case study of the first of its kind involving the ABC utility based in Naples. In particular, the role of primary stakeholders in the process is highlighted.

In the last decades, the phenomenon of separation between ownership and control has attracted the most attention from researchers and professionals. Indeed, proprietary concentration can play an asymmetrical role in helping to influence corporate performance, whereby large shareholders can use their power both to expropriate wealth due to minority shareholders and to benefit minority shareholders, controlling the discretion of the management. However, there is still a lack of research that has integrated and systematized the empirical research carried out on the relationship between proprietary concentration and company performance given that there is still no convergence of results regarding the sign and the form of this relationship. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to present the results of a systematic review of the literature on the subject, proposing a possible innovative interpretation of the relationship mentioned above that takes into account additional interaction variables linked to the institutional structures of the countries in which the investigated companies operate

A radon chamber based on a single radium-226 source has been realized at “Sapienza” University of Rome. It allows radon measurement systems calibration at different radon air-concentration values. The design of the chamber required the solution of a set of differential equations deriving from a fluid dynamic Eulerian approach. The practical realization was carried out by developing a tailored microprocessor-managed hydraulic circuit. A set of experimental measurements has been carried out demonstrating both the tightness of the chamber and the capability of establishing and maintaining different radon concentrations.

The aim of the paper is to analyse the interaction effect corruption play in the relation between ownership structure and firm performance. This paper analyses whether and how the Corruption Perception Index affects the relationship between corporate performance and ownership structure in 2,035 firms operating in eight European countries (Denmark, Sweden, Germany, France, Finland, The Netherland, Italy, and Spain) during 2010-2017 period (10,915 firm year observations). Our findings show that level of corruption perceived by investors is relevant to the relationship between ownership concentration and firm performance. This result suggests that institutional context variables should be taken into consideration from corporate governance scholars in their empirical investigations. The contribution of the paper is twofold: first, our results evidence the relevant role played by the interaction effects between firm-level and country-level variables; second, it suggests important managerial and policy implications related to the interaction between internal and external corporate governance mechanisms.

The increasing of terror menace in recent years led the international community to enhance the efforts to minimize threats to people in everyday life by developing devices, techniques, and procedures targeted to improve the collective security. In this framework the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) developed a new device to improve CBRNe resilience, the Neutron Active Interrogation system (NAI). It has been conceived and optimized to identify transuranic-based Radioactive Dispersal Devices potentially hidden in packages, envisaging its utilization in field applications. NAI is based on the detection of neutrons from induced fission on small amount, of the order of a few grams, of fissile material. The device exploits a portable neutron generator based on d-t fusion reaction, a polyethylene structure for reducing the neutron energy in order to maximize the fission cross-section, and an array of 3He proportional counters. Fissile material detection is made using the Differential Die-Away time Analysis (DDAA), an active neutron technique based on the difference among the die-away times of fast interrogation neutrons and prompt fission neutrons induced by thermal neutrons in the moderating system. The original experimental setup was tested on the field during the live demo open to the public at the EDEN Project Demonstration occurred in September 2015 at ENEA Frascati Research Centre in Rome. Since then, the setup has been modified to improve the device detection capabilities. NAI performances have been tested within different environmental conditions, e.g. open field geometry vs. bunker-like geometry, to study the effects of scattering phenomena. The optimized configuration here presented is transportable, lightweight, and able to detect 2 grams of 235U contained in a salt of depleted uranium in real time, independently from the measurement environmental conditions.

This paper investigates the relationship between individual cultural orientation and information system individual impact in the Court of Naples. The findings show that flexibility and discretion within courts are successful factors for implementing information systems at individual level. This study contributes to the literature on information system and organizational culture in different ways. First, we corroborate the findings that flexible organizations are a more fertile ground for Information and Communication Technologies implementation and the success of information systems or to materialize the contribution of these systems to improving individual performance. Moreover, we investigate the relationship between individual cultural orientation and information system individual impact in a specific sector of Public Administration, i.e. judicial system, that has received less attention by scholars compared to other public sectors.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to assess the degree of disclosure about compliance with corporate governance code and the explanations provided by Italian firms and second, to analyze the relationships between this disclosure and different variables of ownership structure.Design/methodology/approachThe sample was composed of 75 non-financial companies listed in Italy in 2016. Content analysis of the corporate governance statement and ordinary least squares (OLS) multiple regression models were used to test the hypotheses.FindingsCompanies tended to comply with the corporate governance code and to disclose this information, but when they decided to not comply, they did not provide adequate explanations. Findings revealed a negative relation between ownership concentration and the disclosure analyzed. Results also highlight that a more equal distribution of shares among larger shareholders is beneficial for disclosure. Moreover, the presence of a dominant financial shareholder at a high level of ownership concentration creates inefficiency of the degree of adherence to the comply-or-explain principle.Originality/valueThis study examines in depth the underexplored issue of “explanation” and exceeds the issue of ownership concentration, which has already been examined extensively, raising the issues of counterweight power and shareholders’ identities, which remain underexplored. In this way, results presented contribute to explaining some causes of the diverse findings that research has found about the relationship between ownership concentration and voluntary disclosure, demonstrating the importance of counterweight power and largest shareholder’s identity. Consequently, when self-regulating initiatives are designed and implemented, legislators, regulators and managers should not ignore the characteristics of the firms’ ownership structure.

This paper investigates the relationship between ownership concentration and human capital disclosure in sustainability report, using both the agency theory and the proprietary costs theory . The findings show a negative relationship between ownership concentration and the level of human capital disclosure. The results also reveal that the association between ownership concentration and human capital disclosure is stronger for companies characterized by higher proprietary costs. This study contributes to the literature on human capital disclosure in different ways. First, we develop a wider human capital disclosure index, that could be utilized in future studies, and use this index to investigate the information released in the sustainability report. Moreover, this is the first study, to the best of our knowledge, examining the role of proprietary costs as a potential explanatory determinant, in conjunction with ownership structure, of human capital disclosure released in sustainability report.

Research on the effect of ownership structure on firm performance shows no convergent evidence concerning the sign and form of the above-mentioned relationship. Similarly, there is no homogeneous evidence documenting family ownership concentration is always positively or negatively correlated with firm value, or irrelevant. This paper analyses whether and how the de facto investor protection provided by the judicial system affects the relationship between corporate performance and ownership structure in 1314 firms operating in four European countries (Germany, France, Italy, and Spain) over a five-year period, 2010–2014. Moreover, we analyse whether judicial system efficiency influences if and how family firms in the controlling coalition collude for expropriating minority shareholders. Our findings show that the level of shareholder protection, derived from judicial efficiency, is relevant to the relationship between ownership structure and firm performance, thus corroborating literature in that institutional contexts matter in explaining such relations. The results suggest the need for more efficient external mechanisms of corporate governance to facilitate investment in equity capital, thus decreasing the country risk perceived by investors.

In the frame of Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear defense European activities, the ENEA, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, is proposing the Neutron Active Interrogation system (NAI), a device designed to find transuranic-based Radioactive Dispersal Devices hidden inside suspected packages. It is based on Differential Die-Away time Analysis, an active neutron technique targeted in revealing the presence of fissile material through detection of induced fission neutrons. Several Monte Carlo simulations, carried out by MCNPX code, and the development of ad-hoc design methods, have led to the realization of a first prototype based on a 14 MeV d–t neutron generator coupled with a tailored moderating structure, and an array of helium-3 neutron detectors. The complete system is characterized by easy transportability, light weight, and real-time response. First results have shown device's capability to detect gram quantities of fissile materials. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.