Recession is pushing the public bodies to modify their action aimed to support SMEs access to credit. This may be an opportunity to streamline the forms of support and redefine the functioning of instruments such as the Central Guarantee Fund for SMEs. Also local authorities can play a...

After the downgrading by Moody’s of the rating assigned to Italy, can credit guarantees Consortia continue to be risk mitigators tools? The UniCredit group experience has led to an internal rating specific to Mutual associations, which allows the bank to identify on an objective basis the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the drivers influencing the risk of default on mutual guaranteed loans. The authors aim to verify whether default is influenced by the specific business policies of mutual guarantee institutions (MGIs) and to recommend guidelines for...

Recent research developments focused on Climate Change issue aimed at achieving Kyoto targets. In this context, an innovative methodology (officially recognized by WEC in 2009) is proposed to mitigate Global Warming by artificially enhancing earth’s Albedo. Such a methodology allows to...

The optimization of optical properties of buildings’ envelope and urban paving represents an important research field for reducing the urban heat island effect. The overheating of a surface exposed to sunlight can be reduced by improving solar reflectance. In this sense, several studies have...

We propose an approach to extend the standard framework of dynamic games to settings with multi-product firms. Our approach applies to industries with a large number of products offered by a small number of firms.

Solar reflectance of buildings’ envelope and urban paving represents an important optic-energetic property for the characterization of building energy performance for cooling and to reduce the urban heat island effect. Together with the emissivity, it represents the main feature contributing...

In this paper the problem of the optimal management of an electrical power system is discussed. The production of hydroelectric energy is associated to that produced by steam plants in order to provide for a given load diagram. An economic dispatching is carried out, also taking into account the...

This paper presents some of main types of interferences that overhead EHV and UHV lines produce on the environment. Particularly, it considers the radio interference, the audible noise, the electromagnetic fields at ground and the interferences with nearby plants, showing the connection between...

The installation and operation of continuous particulate emission monitors in industrial processes has become well developed and common practice in industrial stacks and ducts over the past 30 years, reflecting regulatory monitoring requirements. Continuous emissions monitoring equipment is...