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To evaluate the corrosion performance and nano‐mechanical behaviour of a brass substrate covered by different thick SiO₂ layers deposited by means of plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) technique.

The comparison between laboratory and “industrial” objects revealed a very good corrosion behaviour and good mechanical performance of both of them: in particular it was possible to modulate the surface treatment to solve various problems from the industrial point of view.

It was possible to reduce the Cu migration into the SiO₂ coating during the PECVD deposition at a negligible level and to control it by the deposition; further, the nano‐indentation tests revealed the great utility of the coating annealing in obtaining a significant improvement of the mechanical properties of the coated objects.

Even if some industrial problems were solved (minimization of the presence of the coating defects and transparency of the coatings), some on the layer hardness (anti‐wear behaviour of the industrial objects) has to be better investigated and possibly solved.

The work reports a deposition process that is carried out industrially over a two year period.

This research reports a PECVD process realized on industrial objects: the originality is in the reached corrosion and mechanical performances that made it possible to realize a satisfactory industrial deposition.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how aesthetic features can be the basis for a virtuous chain that leads to social and economic development.

The aesthetic characteristics of a destination are an important attractive feature. More than that, they can be considered a key determinant for economic and social growth. A conceptual support to this idea is presented here by following a line which links beauty to creativity, innovation and socio-economic development.

A purely qualitative and logical-deductive line shows how beauty, creativity and innovation are connected in a chain that leads to socio-economic well-being.

This paper is conceptual in nature. The authors intend to use these considerations as a basis for future research.

This paper contributes to the literature on destination governance highlighting a number of factors that are often underestimated.

Looks at the first 100 years of Italian cinema examining its role in Italy’s recent history. Provides a bibliography of major film directors, Italian cinema sources, reference works, histories, themes, theory and criticism and articles in journals.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the enrolment at university and the subsequent possible dropout as a piece of the school-to-work transition and ask whether it improves or worsens the labour market outcomes a few years after graduation from the high school.

The analysis exploits data from the upper secondary graduate survey by ISTAT on a cohort of high school graduates and investigates the effect of dropping out four years after graduation. The labour market outcomes of university dropouts are compared to the outcomes of high school graduates who never enrolled at university. A propensity score matching approach is applied. The model is also estimated on the subsamples of males and females.

The findings show that spending a period at university and leaving it before completion makes the transition to work substantially more difficult. Both the probability of being NEET and getting a bad job increase in the case of dropout, while no relevant effect is found on earnings. Moreover, the impact of university dropout tends to be more harmful the longer the spell from enrolment to dropping out. Separate estimates by gender point out that females appear to be relatively more affected in the case of dropping out without a fallback plan.

While the existing studies in the literature on the school-to-work transition mostly focus on the determinants of the dropout, this paper investigates whether and how the employment outcomes are affected by dropping out in Italy. Moreover, university dropouts are compared to high school graduates with no university experience, rather than to university graduates. Finally, evidence on the mechanisms driving the effect of dropping out is provided, by considering timing and motivations for dropping out.

The purpose of this paper is to identify three key areas where autistic people may find themselves impacted through COVID-19, namely, education; employment; and anxiety.

This paper provides some views based on the extensive experience of using immersive technologies for the utilisation and application with autistic groups during COVID-19.

This paper offers some examples of immersive technology application that might be helpful for practitioners, services and others to consider in overcoming possible challenges faced by people with autism.

This opinion piece offers expert insights to the role immersive technologies and virtual reality might play during COVID-19 in the lives of autistic groups.

The purpose of this study is to explore the possibility of enhancing the tribological and electrochemical performances of alumina coating using monoclinic zirconia addition and post-heat treatment.

Al₂O₃ and Al₂O₃-ZrO₂ coatings were deposited on plain steel by flame-wire spraying. The influence of zirconia addition and post-treatment (900? for two hours) on phase composition and mechanical, tribological and electrochemical behaviors was investigated. Sliding dry tests were performed using a ball-on-disc test rig with WC-Co as the counter body. Polarization and impedance electrochemical responses were conducted under a 3.5 Wt.% NaCl solution.

X-ray diffraction measurements revealed an increase in the a-Al₂O₃ phase after heat treatment. Sliding dry tests showed that the abrasive wear mechanism was predominant for all coatings, leading to a good correlation between hardness and wear rates. However, the friction behavior had an opposite trend: the higher the hardness, the higher the coefficient of friction. The addition of zirconia significantly affected the corrosion resistance, which was more positive than the heat treatment effect.

Post-treatment showed beneficial effects on the wear and corrosion performance of alumina-based coatings, with a particularly noticeable improvement for the coating containing 30 Wt.% ZrO₂. These improvements were more pronounced for the Al₂O₃-ZrO₂ coating than the pure alumina Al₂O₃ coating.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-05-2024-0190/

This paper aims to contribute to the debate over the desirability of introducing an accrual-based accounting system in the public sector by examining whether accrual-based accounting information is superior to cash-based information in the context of public sector entities.

This paper applies a quantitative research method to assess the degree of smoothness and relevance of the accrual components of income recorded by 302 entities of the Italian National Health Service (INHS) over the period 2014–2020.

The analysis reveals that net income is smoother than cash flows as a summary measure of economic results and that accounting for accruals improves the predictability of future cash flows. However, the authors' novel disaggregation of accrual accounts reveals that those accounts that contribute the most to making income smoother than cash flows – noncurrent assets and liabilities – are also those that contribute the least to predicting future cash flows.

The disaggregation of accrual accounts allows to identify the sources of the informational benefits of accrual accounting, and to document the existence of an informational “trade-off” between smoothness and relevance in the context of public sector entities.

The purpose of this paper is to address a project for lighting an old town in Italy. Its originality lies in the holistic approach that aims to fulfil several objectives. One is to reduce energy consumption by using efficient lamps and advanced control systems; the second one is to make the network viable and useful for many purposes by integrating ICT devices; the third one is to provide a new identity to the older part of the city by using new technologies and design concepts; while the last one is to ensure street and pedestrian safety according to codes and standards.

The plan of the city of Bagheria and the stock of luminaires of the city are analysed. A multidisciplinary approach has been adopted in order to: analyse the existing lighting infrastructure highlighting critical areas; design a new displacement and select typologies of luminaries able to provide proper light quality and distribution; propose an aesthetic solution and technical design for relevant historical building; and to include in the design process the concept of a new multifunctional pole. Together with an analysis of social benefits, an assessment of economic costs and benefits are discussed.

The project allows good energy savings, meets the standard requirements and gives a relevant and strategic improvement in social and environmental management of the city.

The work provides an example of integrated design of street lighting infrastructures for urban renovation in old cities in degraded environments.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of a comprehensive global database on volcanic unrest (WOVOdat) as a resource to improve eruption forecasts, hazard evaluation and mitigation actions.

WOVOdat is a centralized database that hosts multi-parameter monitoring data sets from unrest and eruption episodes of volcanoes worldwide. Its online interface (https://wovodat.org/) allows interactive data analysis and comparison between volcanoes and eruption styles, which is needed during volcanic crises, as well as to perform basic research on pre-eruption processes, teaching and outreach.

WOVOdat aims to standardize and organize the myriad of monitoring data types at the global scale. Users can compare changes during a crisis to past unrest episodes, and estimate probabilities of outcomes using evidence-based statistics. WOVOdat will be to volcanology as an epidemiological database is to medicine.

The success of eruption forecast relies on data completeness, and thus requires the willingness of observatories, governments and researchers to share data across the volcano community.

WOVOdat is a unique resource that can be studied to understand the causes of volcanic unrest and to improve eruption forecasting.

WOVOdat is the only compilation of standardized and multi-parameter volcano unrest data from around the world, and it is freely and easily accessible through an online interface.