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The purpose of this study is to analyze the natural gas sector in Italy, with a specific focus on the regulatory framework, the development of infrastructures and the supply and demand balance.

The research has been developed by applying qualitative and quantitative methodologies. In particular, a review and a qualitative analysis have been proposed to analyze the regulatory framework and the development of infrastructure, whereas the consumption trend is quantitatively examined by means of the decomposition analysis.

This study highlights how the legislation is complete and in line with European Union (EU) prescriptions, and how the infrastructure is quite well-developed, even though many expected developments are on hold due to the current market conditions. The supply and demand balance highlights a decreasing trend of the consumption owing to the aggressive development of renewables and permanence of a weak economic growth. Finally, the decomposition analysis of total and sectorial natural gas demand has emphasized that the increase of energy intensity can be considered responsible for a large share of consumption between 1995 and 2014.

The paper details the status of the natural gas sector in Italy, which is one of the largest consumers of natural gas within the EU. Despite its importance, the Italian natural gas sector has not been subjected to extensive research, and this paper represents a first attempt to provide an overview of the sector.

The purpose of this paper is to carry out a numerical investigation to study laminar convection flow of Al₂O₃-water nanofluids within a three-dimensional rectangular section channel asymmetrically heated.

A three-dimensional model of the channel is designed and simulated by using Comsol Multiphysics. The finite elements method is used to perform the numerical simulation. A variety of cases are taken into account by considering Reynolds numbers ranging from 250 up to 1,000, concentration between 0 and 6 per cent, particle dimension of 20, 40 and 60 nm and inlet temperature equal to 293.15 and 320 K. A constant heat flux of 1,000 W/m² is imposed on the top surface of the channel.

The results demonstrate that nanofluids guarantee improved thermal performances with respect to the base fluid, as shown by the augmented Nusselt number. On the other hand, pressure drop shows a noticeable increase; therefore, an entropy generation analysis is developed to establish optimal conditions for the system under investigation.

The originality of this work consists in the analysis of a three-dimensional asymmetric heated channel with nanofluids in laminar convection. The present work would be beneficial to improve the design of devices with particular focus on solar thermal panel.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of ligament shape on radiative behavior, with a specific focus on the inter-dependence among porosity, ligament shape and radiative characteristics.

Using Surface Evolver to generate a base structure and then coherently modifying it, the model presented in this paper aims to tackle these challenges in an improved fashion, all the while making it possible to systematically assess the influence of ligament shape on radiation heat transfer in foams, focussing on the porosity-dependence of ligament shape.

It is found that the prediction of numerical models, at constant size and specific surface of the cells, is strongly affected by the dependence of ligament shape on the porosity.

The above said dependence has, therefore, to be accounted for in robust modeling of radiation in foams with a wider range of porosities.

The radiative behavior of metal foams has been studied in literature using analytical, numerical and experimental approaches. However, only few researches focussed their attention on the assessment of the relevance of specific micro-structural (i.e. sub-cell size) characteristics.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of gender diversity on corporate cash holdings by scrutinizing different positions covered by female board directors.

The paper examines a sample of Italian listed companies between 2006 and 2015. Fixed-effects regressions are employed as the base empirical methodology. In addition, because the link between corporate governance variables and cash may suffer from endogeneity issues, the study employs several tests to control for this potential problem.

The empirical findings demonstrate that the relationship between gender diversity and cash holdings depends on the role of female directors on the boards. Specifically, the evidence shows that women in monitoring functions, ruled by independent directors and female chairs, led to a decrease in cash reserves. Conversely, companies managed by female CEOs have larger cash holdings.

The paper refers to Italian listed companies only and does not analyze whether and how the financial crisis has affected the link between female directors and cash reserves.

The study provides insights for the diverse effects of female directors on cash management decision and contributes to the debate on gender diversity capabilities for improving firm financial flexibility.

This paper is the first empirical study to attempt to disentangle the effect of gender diversity on cash holdings. It sheds light on the consequences of appointing female directors on cash policies and explores the Italian context after the introduction of the gender quotas law.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of social isolation of minors with a parent or grandparent suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and to determine whether the psychological support offered by an Italian no-profit association helped them to manage stress.

Methodology: This study followed a qualitative research design. The participants responded to in-depth interviews that were processed with inductive thematic analysis.

Findings: Five themes emerged: feedback on the psychological intervention; learning and changes after the intervention; discourses on illness and death in the family; experiences and difficulties during the lockdown and suggestions for other peers who might face the same situation.

Social Implications: Psychological support is necessary for these minors, and it helped them to manage both the stress of living with ALS and the limitations of social relationships during the pandemic. It showed the importance of authentic and honest communication about illness and death that allowed minors to manage anxiety and fear. Positive reinterpretation of these experiences by transforming them into opportunities was also revealed.

Originality: Studies on families with ALS patients are numerous, but studies on children of these patients are still rare, and no study has investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these children. This research investigated a topic that has not been covered previously and it also provided the opportunity to know how these children, preadolescents and adolescents living in an already complex environment, have experienced lockdown and restrictions. The study also enriched the literature on this important issue.

Research on natural convection in open channels is very extensive due to its role in many engineering applications such as thermal control of electronic systems. In this paper, a parametric analysis is carried out in order to add knowledge of heat transfer in air natural convection for a symmetrically heated vertical parallel plate channel with a central auxiliary heated or adiabatic plate. The two‐dimensional steady‐state problem is solved by means of the stream function–vorticity approach and the numerical solution is carried out by means of the control volume method. Results are obtained for both a heated and unheated auxiliary plate, for a Rayleigh number in the range 10³–10⁶, for a ratio of the auxiliary plate height to the channel plate height equal to 0, 0.5 and 1 and for a ratio of the channel length to the channel gap in the range 5–15. Correlations for maximum wall temperatures and average channel Nusselt numbers are proposed.