Search

Doctoral graduates represent the pinnacle of education. While the importance of increasing their number has been recognised by the Italian government and there has been a huge increase in the number of publicly funded PhD scholarships, doctoral graduates still struggle in the labour market to find employment commensurate with their skills and competencies. It is against this backdrop that the role of migration becomes crucial. Exploiting Italian microdata at the census level, this study aims to investigate how human capital migration, occurring at different ‘times’ of individual's life and across different regions, could mitigate the potential education–job mismatch, which is measured here from a multidimensional perspective by looking at overeducation, overskilling and satisfaction. Our findings reveal some positive effects of migration on reducing this mismatch. Moreover, the study highlights two relevant gaps, the first between domestic and foreign workers and the second between genders.

Background and Objectives: Increasing attention is being paid to the coagulation disorders associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Bleeding accounts for 3–6% of COVID-19 patient deaths, and is often a forgotten part of the disease. The bleeding risk is enhanced by several factors, including spontaneous heparin-induced thrombocytopenia, thrombocytopenia, the hyperfibrinolytic state, the consumption of coagulation factors, and thromboprophylaxis with anticoagulants. This study aims to assess the efficacy and safety of TAE in the management of bleeding in COVID-19 patients. Materials and Methods: This multicenter retrospective study analyzes data from COVID-19 patients subjected to transcatheter arterial embolization for the management of bleeding from February 2020 to January 2023. Results: Transcatheter arterial embolization was performed in 73 COVID-19 patients for acute non-neurovascular bleeding during the study interval (February 2020–January 2023). Coagulopathy was observed in forty-four (60.3%) patients. The primary cause of bleeding was spontaneous soft tissue hematoma (63%). A 100% technical success rate was recorded; six cases of rebleeding resulted in a 91.8% clinical success rate. No cases of non-target embolization were observed. Complications were recorded in 13 (17.8%) patients. The efficacy and safety endpoints did not differ significantly between the coagulopathy and non-coagulopathy groups. Conclusions: Transcatheter Arterial Embolization (TAE) is an effective, safe and potentially life-saving option for the management of acute non-neurovascular bleeding in COVID-19 patients. This approach is effective and safe even in the subgroup of COVID-19 patients with coagulopathy.

Today, coal is responsible for 40% of annual CO2 emissions. At the same time, global warming causes climate changes accompanied with catastrophic meteorological phenomena all over the world. After the 2015 Paris Agriment many countries set ambitious energy policy to reduce the annual greenhouse gas emission. The 2021 UN Climate Change Conference, COP26 - Glasgow, ended with the adoption of a less stringent resolution than some anticipated: countries only agreed to “phase down” rather than “phase out” coal. Is possible the realization of the Paris Agreement after COP-26? For achieving this ambitious targets in such conditions, the support of the multi-disciplinary scientific knowledge is needed. Since 2002 a series of SDEWES Conferences were founded. This paper presents an overview of published researches in special issues of leading journals dedicated to the series SDEWES Conferences, including also the papers in current special issue presented on Conferences held in 2020: 2nd LA SDEWES Conference - Buenos Aires, 1st AP SDEWES Conference - Gold Coast, 4th SEE SDEWES Conference - Sarajevo and 15th SDEWES Conference - Cologne. The focus is on five main fields: (1) energy system analysis ; (2) energy savings in the building sector ; (3) district heating ; (4) electrification of transport and (5) water-energy nexus. Undoubtedly, the researches presented in this special issue as well as in previous ones, will contribute to the achievement of the goals of the Paris Agreement in difficult conditions after COP26.

In line with internationally defined goals of sustainable development, European agricultural policies today have a far-sighted vision for rural areas. Using a case study approach, this paper explores how receptive rural farms in Sicily are to a long-term vision of development. The study focuses on three key factors of a long-term vision, that is, digitalisation, innovation and sustainability, to examine not only whether farms have invested in these areas but also how they perceive their role in the post-pandemic era. Empirical results provide insights into the concentration of farms in the central inland areas of Sicily without any real long-term vision of development. Nevertheless, the analysis also shows that some ofthem do have a positive attitude to change.

The increase in the energy demands of residential neighborhoods constitutes a huge challenge to be faced. A viable option lies in the insertion of both renewable energy production systems and cogeneration units within urban territories. On-site production allows for the satisfaction of the heating and electrical demands of end-users and favors the distribution of produced energy within the neighborhood, especially under the regulatory framework of energy communities. This paper proposes a tool to model heating and electricity networks integrated with cogeneration units and PV panels installed in urban areas. The tool accounts for the following possibilities: (i) energy flow management and power sizes of both heating and electric networks, and (ii) evaluation of the electricity sharing configurations arising within energy communities. To better clarify the capability of the tool in supporting energy analysts and decision-makers, a densely populated area in Southern Italy is proposed as a case study. Regarding thermal distribution, results demonstrated that it is better to plan pipelines extended up to 300 m to take full advantage of the insertion of the CHP in the areas. Different considerations apply to the electrical distribution; here, an energy community extended over a geographical area with a radius of around 100 m is sufficient to guarantee an almost fully connected grid and obtain in any case exceeding production to be released to the centralized network.

CDF Collaboration: et al., The mass of the W boson, a mediator of the weak force between elementary particles, is tightly constrained by the symmetries of the standard model of particle physics. The Higgs boson was the last missing component of the model. After observation of the Higgs boson, a measurement of the W boson mass provides a stringent test of the model. We measure the W boson mass, MW, using data corresponding to 8.8 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected in proton-antiproton collisions at a 1.96 tera–electron volt center-of-mass energy with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. A sample of approximately 4 million W boson candidates is used to obtain MW=80,433.5±6.4stat±6.9syst=80,433.5±9.4 MeV/c2, the precision of which exceeds that of all previous measurements combined (stat, statistical uncertainty; syst, systematic uncertainty; MeV, mega–electron volts; c, speed of light in a vacuum). This measurement is in significant tension with the standard model expectation., This work was supported by the US Department of Energy and National Science Foundation; the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare; the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan; the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; the National Science Council of the Republic of China; the Swiss National Science Foundation; the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Germany; the National Research Foundation of Korea; the Science and Technology Facilities Council and the Royal Society, UK; the Russian Foundation for Basic Research; the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, and Programa Consolider-Ingenio 2010, Spain; the Slovak R&D Agency; the Academy of Finland; and the Australian Research Council (ARC).

The purpose of this bicentric case series was to report the safety, efficacy, and clinical outcome of transcatheter embolization in pulmonary artery pseudoaneurysms (PAPAs). Between January 2016 and June 2021, eight patients with PAPA were subjected to transcatheter embolization. The total number of patients was eight, of which five were female, with a mean age of 62 ± 14 years (average ± standard deviation). Etiology was traumatic in 2/8 cases and iatrogenic in 6/8 cases (after positioning a Swan-Ganz catheter in 5/6 cases and a temporary pacemaker in the latter case). In a single case, the PAPA was incidentally discovered during a routine X-ray, in the remaining 7 cases, the procedure was performed in emergency settings. PAPA embolization was performed using detachable coils alone in 3 cases; coils and glue in 1 case; coils, glue, and vascular plug in 1 case; coils and non-adhesive liquid embolic agents (Onyx and Squid respectively) in 2 cases; and non-adhesive liquid embolic agent alone (Onyx) in 1 case. No peri-procedural or post-procedural complications were recorded. Both the technical and clinical success rates were 100.0%. In conclusion, endovascular embolization is a technically feasible and safe therapeutic option for patients with PAPAs.

Background and Objectives: Transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) is part of the daily practice of most interventional radiologists worldwide. The ideal liquid embolic agent is far from being identified. Non-adhesive liquid embolic agents (NALEA) harden from the outside to the inside, resulting in deep penetration, known as “magma-like” progression, which permits a more distal embolization with good control of the embolic material. This multicenter retrospective cohort study aims to assess the efficacy, feasibility and safety of transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) with ethylene-vinyl alcohol (EVOH)-based NALEAs (Onyx and Squid) in acute bleeding outside of the neurovascular area. Materials and Methods: This study is a multicenter analysis of retrospectively collected data of consecutive patients who had undergone, from January 2015 to December 2022, transcatheter arterial embolization with non-adhesive EVOH-based agents in the setting of acute non-neurovascular bleeding. Results: Fifty-three patients underwent transcatheter arterial embolization for acute non-neurovascular bleeding. Eight (15.1%) procedures were performed in patients with coagulopathy. The most used concentration of EVOH-based NALEAs was 34 (i.e., 8%), with a mean dose of 0.5 (±0.3) mL. The mean CT-to-groin time, the mean procedure time, the mean CT-to-embolization time and the mean fluoroscopy time were 22.9 (±12.4) min, 27.5 (±7) min, 50.3 (±13.1) min and 7.5 (±2.8) min, respectively. Technical success was achieved in all cases with a 96.2% clinical success rate. Complications were recorded in six (11.3%) patients. No statistically significant differences were observed between the group of patients with coagulopathy and the group of patients without coagulopathy in terms of efficacy and safety endpoints. Conclusions: Transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) performed with non-adhesive EVOH-based embolic agents is an effective, feasible and safe strategy for the management of acute non-neurovascular bleeding, even in the subgroup of patients with coagulopathy.

While interactions between neural crest and placode cells are critical for the proper formation of the trigeminal ganglion, the mechanisms underlying this process remain largely uncharacterized. Here, we show that the microRNA-(miR)203, whose epigenetic repression is required for neural crest migration, is reactivated in coalescing and condensing trigeminal ganglion cells. Overexpression of miR-203 induces ectopic coalescence of neural crest cells and increases ganglion size. Reciprocally, loss of miR-203 function in placode, but not neural crest, cells perturbs trigeminal ganglion condensation. Demonstrating intercellular communication, overexpression of miR-203 in the neural crestin vitroorin vivorepresses a miR-responsive sensor in placode cells. Moreover, neural crest-secreted extracellular vesicles (EVs), visualized using pHluorin-CD63 vector, become incorporated into the cytoplasm of placode cells. Finally, RT-PCR analysis shows that small EVs isolated from condensing trigeminal ganglia are selectively loaded with miR-203. Together, our findings reveal a critical role in vivo for neural crest-placode communication mediated by sEVs and their selective microRNA cargo for proper trigeminal ganglion formation.SIGNIFICANCE STRATEMENTCellular communication during early development plays a critical role. In this study, we demonstrate a unique role for a microRNA in cell-cell communication between the neural crest (NC) and placode cells (PC) during trigeminal ganglia (TG) formation. By utilizing loss and gain of function experiments in vivo, we demonstrate a requirement for miR-203 during cellular condensation to form the TG. We revealed that NC produces extracellular vesicles, selectively carrying miR-203, which is then taken up by the PC and regulates a sensor vector exclusively expressed in the placode. Taken together, our findings reveal a critical role in TG condensation for miR-203, produced by post-migratory NC and taken up by PC via extracellular vesicles.

Water scarcity in many regions of the world and the global demographic growth make the desalination of seawater and/or brackish an effective solution to meet the growing demand for freshwater. Nowadays, reverse osmosis has the largest share of the global installed desalination capacity. The impelling need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been pushing the search for sustainable technologies to produce the electricity needed to power reverse osmosis plants. Among solar technologies, little attention has been paid to the possibility of powering reverse osmosis with electricity from the dish-Stirling concentrator. To fill this knowledge gap, this paper assesses the energy-saving potential of a reverse osmosis plant coupled with a cogenerative dish-Stirling concentrator on a small island in the Mediterranean Sea. A model of the integrated systems was developed based on data measured on a real dish-Stirling concentrator, and variation of the energy consumption of the reverse osmosis plant with the temperature of the feedwater solution was also accounted for. Hourly simulations showed that almost 36% of the annual water demand could be covered by driving the plant using electricity from the concentrator, and the solar fraction of the electricity consumed by the reverse osmosis plant accounted for 57%. Finally, the analysis revealed that only a 1% decrease in solar fraction resulted when the heat recovered from the concentrator is not used for the feedwater preheating.

Thermal grids are well-established technologies that can cover the thermal demands of buildings in a more sustainable way. The lower operating temperature will allow not only for the integration of heat produced by thermal renewable energy sources but also for the storage of surplus electricity from the grid using power to heat technologies. To ensure a wider diffusion of this technology, it is important to propose a method for the cost allocation among producers connected to the grid. In this regard, this paper proposes Exergoeconomics as a possible solution. To show the capabilities of the method, some operating scenarios are compared for a cluster of five buildings in the tertiary sector interconnected by a thermal grid, where heat is produced by a cogeneration unit, heat pumps, and an industrial process. Thanks to the exergy and exergoeconomic unit costs, insights into the cost formation process of the heat consumed by users are provided. Results indicated that the substitution of the cogeneration plant with a centralized heat pump and waste heat could reduce the unit exergy cost of the heat supplied to the users. In addition, the analysis revealed a great sensitivity of the heat unit cost to the price of the waste heat recovered from the industrial process.

Variable-speed packaged rooftop units have been increasingly adopted in the commercial sector. If not properly maintained, the fouling of heat exchangers and the improper refrigerant charge could increase energy consumption. In this work, the response of variable-speed rooftop units to evaporator fouling is investigated based on experiments on a variable-speed 17.5 kW rooftop unit. A novel testing procedure is proposed, aimed at covering a broad range of operating conditions by a reduced number of tests. Two opposite cases were investigated: (i) even in presence of fouling, the controller can restore the required cooling capacity, and (ii) the intensity of the fouling does not allow the controller to restore the cooling capacity. While in the former case an increase in the indoor fan rotating speed is observed, with no variations in the evaporating pressure and the inlet temperature of cooled air, in the latter one the mismatch between the cooling load and the capacity induces a deviation of the indoor air condition from the setpoint. A regression model is proposed to quantify these deviations. Experimental results showed that in a faulty scenario, the maximum cooling capacity deliverable could decrease up to 15-20 %, and the indoor fan consumption increased up to 40%. In case of heavy faults involving cooling capacity shortage, a 2.3 °C deviation from the indoor setpoint temperature was estimated by the proposed regression model.

Variable-speed reversible heat pumps are increasingly adopted for space heating and cooling in residential and tertiary sectors. It is recognized that these systems will play a key role in medium- and small-scale 4th generation district heating and cooling networks. Indeed, with the high penetration of intermittent renewable energy sources, such technology could help reduce issues related to the surplus of electricity from renewable energy sources by converting it into heat or cold. To reliably assess the benefits achievable in these emerging applications, it is necessary to develop models which can simulate not only the steady-state operation but also the dynamic response of the system with various boundary conditions (e.g., users’ demand, environmental conditions, etc.). However, heat pump operation is usually assessed by highly simplified models, which consider a Coefficient of Performance value available from the producer at fixed rating condition (eventually corrected to account for off-design operation), being the electrical modelling and embedded controls usually omitted. This paper aims at filling this knowledge gap. Starting with a reversible heat pump operating in cooling mode, this paper developed an integrated thermodynamic and electrical modeling, while considering details on refrigerant circuits, electrical motor, and embedded control. Results showed that the model can simulate the transient and steady-state operation of variable-speed chillers coupled to an induction motor, and the chilled water temperature set-point was duly maintained. Results give a full insight into the electrical and thermodynamic aspects while accounting for the effects of the inertia of the hydronic circuit on the COP of an air-cooled. Results present a faster 2% settling time for low values of inertia that serves the hydraulic system with a high overshot for water temperature.

In line with internationally defined goals of sustainable development, European agricultural policies today have a far-sighted vision for rural areas. Using a case study approach, this paper explores how receptive rural farms in Sicily are to a long-term vision of development. The study focuses on three key factors of a long-term vision, that is, digitalisation, innovation and sustainability, to examine not only whether farms have invested in these areas but also how they perceive their role in the post-pandemic era. Empirical results provide insights into the concentration of farms in the central inland areas of Sicily without any real long-term vision of development. Nevertheless, the analysis also shows that some of them do have a positive attitude to change.

Introduction: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic value of positron emission computed tomography-cone beam computed tomography (PET/CT-CBCT) fusion guided percutaneous biopsy, targeted to the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) and minimum standardized uptake value (SUVmin) of large lung lesions. Materials and Methods: Inside a larger cohort of PET/CT-CBCT guided percutaneous lung biopsies, 10 patients with large pulmonary lesions (diameter > 30 mm) were selected retrospectively. These patients have been subjected to double biopsy sampling respectively in the SUVmax area and in the SUVmin area of the lesion. Technical success has been calculated. For each sample, the percentage of neoplastic, inflammatory, and fibrotic cells was reported. Furthermore, the possibility of performing immunohistochemical or molecular biology investigations to specifically define the biomolecular tumor profile was analyzed. Results: Nine lesions were found to be malignant, one benign (inflammation). Technical success was 100% (10/10) in the SUVmax samples and 70% (7/10) in the SUVmin samples ( P-value: .21). In the first group, higher percentages of neoplastic cells were found at pathologic evaluation, while in the second group areas of inflammation and fibrosis were more represented. The biomolecular profile was obtained in 100% of cases (9/9) of the first group, while in the second group only in 33.3% of cases (2/6), with a statistically significant difference between the 2 groups ( P-value: .011). Conclusion: A correlation between the standardized uptake value value and the technical success of the biopsy sample has been identified. PET/CT-CBCT guidance allows to target the biopsy in the areas of the tumor which are richer in neoplastic cells, thus obtaining more useful information for the planning of patient-tailored cancer treatments.

Social media are an important growth opportunity for firms, especially small‐sized ones operating in peripheral and lagging regions. In this paper, we investigate not only whether firms are able to take this opportunity, but also if they are able to face the challenge of adopting social media at a professional level to obtain a significant economic impact, measured in terms of exporting activities. Exploring the Italian case, our empirical study indicates that smaller firms in lagging areas are more likely to adopt social media but at the same time less likely to use them at a professional level. This reflects poor strategic targets of social media adoption and lower probabilities of entering international markets. Los medios sociales son una oportunidad de crecimiento importante para las empresas, especialmente las de pequeno tamano que operan en regiones perifericas y atrasadas. En este articulo se investiga no solo si las empresas son capaces de aprovechar esta oportunidad, sino tambien si son capaces de afrontar el reto de adoptar los medios sociales a un nivel profesional para obtener un impacto economico significativo, medido en terminos de actividades de exportacion. Mediante el examen del caso de Italia, este estudio empirico senala que las empresas mas pequenas de las zonas atrasadas son mas propensas a adoptar los medios sociales, pero al mismo tiempo son menos propensas a utilizarlos a un nivel profesional. Esto refleja la escasez de objetivos estrategicos de la adopcion de los medios sociales y las menores probabilidades de entrar en los mercados internacionales. ソーシャルメディアは、企業にとって重要な成長の機会であるが、特に周辺地域や発展の遅れている地域で事業を行っている小規模企業にとって重要である。本稿では、企業がこの機会を利用できるかどうかだけでなく、重要な経済的影響を得るために専門的なレベルでソーシャルメディアを採用するという課題に企業が直面できるかどうかについても、輸出の業績で評価し、検討する。イタリアの事例を検証した今回の実証研究から、遅れている地域の小規模企業はソーシャルメディアを採用する確率が高いが、専門的なレベルでソーシャルメディアを利用する確率が低いことも示される。これは、ソーシャルメディアを採用するうえでの戦略目標が弱く、国際市場に参入できる可能性が低いことを反映している。

Spatial economic studies traditionally exploit areal data at the regional or sub-regional level. More recently, scholars have started to exploit spatial data of a different nature and, at the same time, extend the fields of application in economics. Specifically, this special issue contributes to the spatial economic literature by providing empirical evidence on a wide range of phenomena (socio-economic deprivation, land price volatility, electoral competition, real estate market, firm survival and tourism economics) and exploiting data at the municipality, firm, house and even individual level. At the same time, it tackles some of the methodological issues faced by the above-mentioned analyses.

A relationship between the gut microbiome and alcohol use disorder has been suggested. Excessive alcohol use produces changes in the fecal microbiome and metabolome in both rodents and humans. Yet, these changes can be observed only in a subgroup of the studied populations, and reversal does not always occur after abstinence. We aimed to analyze fecal microbial composition and function in a translationally relevant baboon model of chronic heavy drinking that also meets binge criteria (drinking too much, too fast, and too often), i.e., alcohol ~1 g/kg and blood alcohol levels (BALs) ≥ 0.08 g/dL in a 2-hour period, daily, for years. We compared three groups of male baboons (Papio anubis): L = Long-term alcohol drinking group (12.1 years); S = Short-term alcohol drinking group (2.7 years); and C = Control group, drinking a non-alcoholic reinforcer (Tang®) (8.2 years). Fecal collection took place during 3 days of Drinking (D), followed by a short period (3 days) of Abstinence (A). Fecal microbial alpha- and beta-diversity were significantly lower in L vs. S and C (p’s Streptococcus genus showed a relative increase in L vs. S and C (p’s p p

Background: This study is focused on Internal Iliac Artery (IIA) embolization in patients undergoing Endovascular Aneurysm Repair (EVAR). Our aims were: to establish the feasibility of the procedure; to assess the presence of endoleak (EL) and increase in the size of the sac at follow-up; to define the need for reintervention; and to evaluate mortality rate. Methods: In this retrospective single-center study, EVAR-treated patients with an embolization of IIA were chosen. Coils and vascular plug were used as embolizing agents. Results: A total of 49 participants were enrolled in the study (48 men and one woman) with a median age of 76 ± 12 years. Patients had no early EL in 87.75% of cases, 8.16% had type 1a EL, 2.04% type 1b EL, and 2.04% type 2 EL, with a comprehensive technical success of 95.91%. In the follow-up, at 1 month 72.22% remained without EL, at 6 months 70.97%, and at 1 year 81.48%. In the same period, the trend of type 1 EL was 5.56% (1 month), 3.23% (6 months), and 0% (1 year). For EL type 2: 22.22% at 1 month, 25.81% at 6 months, and 16.7% at 1 year. The overall mortality was 35.58% and the re-intervention rate was 16.33%. Conclusions: IIA embolization is a feasible and safe procedure. The presence of EL is not superior to EVAR procedures that do not involve embolization.

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a dramatic change in cellular physiology during development and metastasis, which requires coordination between cell signaling, adhesion, and membrane protrusions. These processes all involve dynamic changes in the plasma membrane; yet, how membrane lipid content regulates membrane function during EMT remains incompletely understood. By screening for differential expression of lipid-modifying genes over the course of EMT in the avian neural crest, we have identified the ceramide-producing enzyme neutral sphingomyelinase 2 (nSMase2) as a critical regulator of a developmental EMT. nSMase2 expression begins at the onset of EMT, and in vivo knockdown experiments demonstrate that nSMase2 is necessary for neural crest migration. We find that nSMase2 promotes Wnt and BMP signaling and is required to activate the mesenchymal gene expression program. Mechanistically, we show that nSMase2-dependent ceramide production is necessary for and sufficient to up-regulate endocytosis and is required for Wnt co-receptor internalization. Finally, inhibition of endocytosis in the neural crest mimics the loss of migration and Wnt signaling observed following nSMase2 knockdown. Our results support a model in which nSMase2 is expressed at the onset of neural crest EMT to produce ceramide and facilitate receptor-mediated endocytosis of Wnt and BMP signaling complexes, thereby activating promigratory gene expression. These results highlight the critical role of plasma membrane lipid metabolism in regulating transcriptional changes during developmental EMT programs.

The increasing share of renewable energy sources in energy systems will lead to unpredictable moments of surplus/deficit in energy production. To address this issue, users with heat pumps can provide support to power grid operators through flexible unit operation achieved via Demand Response programs. For buildings connected to low-temperature heating networks with ensured third-party access, further room for flexibility can be explored by investigating the production of surplus heat that can be sold to the network. A key aspect lies in the identification of the energy pricing options that could encourage such flexible operation of a heat pump by “thermal prosumers”. To this aim, the present study investigates the impact of ad hoc variations in the electricity purchasing price through discounts or penalties included in the “network cost” component of the price on cost-effective operation of a heat pump connected to the thermal network. To discuss the effects of different pricing options in terms of increased flexibility, an office building located in Italy and equipped with a high-temperature heat pump is adopted as the case study. A heuristic profit-oriented management strategy of the heat pump is assumed, and dynamic simulations are performed. The results indicate that at current electricity prices, the heat pump operation is profitable both when supplying the heat to meet the building’s requirements and when producing surplus heat for sale to the thermal network. In addition, it is revealed that the penalties applied to the electricity purchasing price are effective in encouraging changes in the heat pump operation strategy, reducing its average production (the building increasingly relying on buying heat from the network) and the associated electricity consumption by 46.0% and 79.7% in the “light” and “severe” local power deficit scenarios, respectively.

Following the 2015 Paris Agreement and other agreements which have been signed after, sustainable energy development is becoming the major goal in many countries. EU have set the targets to reduce the annual greenhouse gas emission by 40% in 2030 and 80% for 2050 compared with 1990 levels. For achieving this ambitious energy policy, three major technological changes are available: energy savings on the demand side, efficiency improvements in the energy production, and replacement of fossil fuels by various sources of renewable energy. Also, for realization cited three major technological changes the support of the multi-disciplinary scientific knowledge is needed. Therefore, from the beginning of the 21st century, since 2002, a series of Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) Conferences were founded. This paper presents an overview of published researches in special issues of leading journals dedicated to the series SDEWES Conferences, including also the papers in current special issue. The focus is on five main fields: (1) energy policy and analysis of smart energy systems; (2) energy savings in the building sector; (3) co/polygeneration - integrated heating, cooling and electricity systems and district heating; (4) biomass for energy; and (5) measurement of energo-environmental sustainability of processes and systems. Researchers are focused on the development of methods, policies and technologies for both efficient production of energy, mainly from renewable sources, and consumption in industry, buildings and transport. Undoubtedly, the researches presented in the papers in this special issue as well as in previous ones, dedicated to SDEWES conferences, will contribute to the promotion of sustainable development and thus to the achievement of the goals of the Paris Agreement.

BACKGROUND: Ghrelin may influence several alcohol-related behaviors in animals and humans by modulating central and/or peripheral biological pathways. The aim of this exploratory analysis was to investigate associations between ghrelin administration and the human circulating metabolome during alcohol exposure in non-treatment seeking, heavy drinking individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD). METHODS: We used serum samples from a randomized, crossover, double-blind, placebo-controlled human laboratory study with intravenous (IV) ghrelin or placebo infusion in two experiments. A loading dose (3 μg/kg) was followed by continuous infusion (16.9 ng/kg/min) of acyl-ghrelin or placebo during each session. The first experiment included an IV alcohol self-administration (IV-ASA) session, and the second experiment included an IV alcohol clamp (IV-AC) session, both under the counterbalanced infusion of ghrelin or placebo. Serum metabolite profiles were analyzed from repeated blood samples collected during each session. RESULTS: In both experiments, ghrelin infusion was associated with altered serum metabolite profile, specifically with significantly increased levels of cortisol (IV-ASA q-value = 0.0003, and IV-AC q < 0.0001), corticosterone (IV-ASA q = 0.0202, and IV-AC q

BMP signaling plays iterative roles during vertebrate neural crest development from induction through craniofacial morphogenesis. However, far less is known about the role of BMP activity in cranial neural crest epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and delamination. By measuring canonical BMP signaling activity as a function of time from specification through early migration of avian midbrain neural crest cells, we found elevated BMP signaling during delamination stages. Moreover, inhibition of canonical BMP activity via a dominant negative mutant Type I BMP receptor showed that BMP signaling is required for neural crest migration from the midbrain, independent from an effect on EMT and delamination. Transcriptome profiling on control compared to BMP-inhibited cranial neural crest cells identified novel BMP targets during neural crest delamination and early migration including targets of the Notch pathway that are upregulated following BMP inhibition. These results suggest potential crosstalk between the BMP and Notch pathways in early migrating cranial neural crest and provide novel insight into mechanisms regulated by BMP signaling during early craniofacial development.

The distribution of molecules between the gas and solid phase during star and planet formation determines the trajectory of gas and grain surface chemistry, as well as the delivery of elements to nascent planets. This distribution is primarily set by the binding energies of different molecules to water ice surfaces. We computationally estimated the binding energies of 10 astrochemically relevant P-bearing species on water surfaces. We also validate our method for 20 species with known binding energies. We used Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations (M06-2X/aug-cc-pVDZ) to calculate the energetics of molecules and water-molecule clusters (1–3 H2O molecules) and from this determined the binding energy by comparing the complex and the separate molecule and cluster energies. We also explore whether these estimates can be improved by first calibrating our computational method using experimentally measured binding energies. Using the 20 reference molecules we find that the 2H2O cluster size yields the best binding energy estimates and that the application of a calibration to the data may improve the results for some classes of molecules, including more-refractory species. Based on these calculations we find that small P-bearing molecules such as PH3, PN, PO, HPO, PO2, and POOH are relatively volatile and should desorb prior or concomitantly with water ice, while H2PO, HPO2, PO3, and PO2OH can strongly bind to any hydroxylated surface and will likely remain on the interstellar grains surface past the desorption of water ice. The depletion of P carriers on grains constitutes a pathway for the inclusion of phosphorous molecules in planets and planetesimals.

Benzonitrile (c-C6H5CN) has been recently detected in cold and dense regions of the interstellar medium, where it has been used as a signpost of a rich aromatic organic chemistry that might lead to the production of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. One possible origin of this benzonitrile is interstellar ice chemistry involving benzene (c-C6H6) and nitrile molecules (organic molecules containing the −C≡N group). We have addressed the plausibility of this c-C6H5CN formation pathway through laboratory experiments using our new setup SPACE TIGER. The SPACE TIGER experimental setup is designed to explore the physics and chemistry of interstellar ice mantles using laser-based ice processing and product detection methods. We have found that c-C6H5CN is formed upon irradiation of c-C6H6:CH3CN binary ice mixtures with 2 keV electrons and Lyα photons at low temperatures (4−10 K). Formation of c-C6H5CN was also observed when c-C6H6 and CH3CN were embedded in a CO ice matrix, but it was efficiently quenched in a H2O ice matrix. The results presented in this work imply that interstellar ice chemistry involving benzene and nitrile molecules could contribute to the formation of the observed benzonitrile only if these species are present on top of the ice mantles or embedded in the CO-rich ice layer, instead of being mixed into the H2O-rich ice layer.

The paper proposes a new version of spatial shift-share decomposition to improve on the various approaches to conventional shift-share analysis found in the literature. The novelty of our proposal is that it enables researchers to assess spatial competitiveness effects controlling for the influence of industrial specialization at both regional and neighborhood level. This new version is applied to inbound tourism in Italian regions and enables us to identify the best and worst performers. Our empirical results identify favorable scenarios in some areas of the country, such as Sardinia as well as regional advantage in a sizeable number of well-known destinations.

The increasing freshwater demand is pushing the development and adoption of desalination technologies. In this framework, electrodialysis has a consolidated role in brackish water desalination, but to make it competitive with other technologies for the desalination of more concentrated solutions (e.g., seawater), the specific energy consumption should be reduced. Exergy analysis provides a useful tool for determining the contribution of each thermodynamic inefficiencies on the process efficiency and the specific energy consumption. In this regard, this paper presents an exergy analysis of the electrodialysis process. A 1-D model is used for evaluating the performance of industrial-scale systems, consisting of a single or a double-stage configuration, and fed by brackish water, concentrated brackish water, or seawater. The analysis is devoted to quantifying the effects of irreversibility sources, focusing especially on the non-ideal membrane behavior. Results highlight that the ohmic resistance of solutions and membranes along with undesired transport phenomena play a major role. More specifically, passing from an “ideal” to a “real” process, the maximum value of the exergy efficiency decreases by about 6% in the case of brackish water and 16% in the case of seawater. Besides, results reveal that the water permeability of membranes is detrimental to the exergy efficiency, leading to an 8% reduction in the case of seawater desalination. The development of improved membranes with low resistances slightly enhances the exergy efficiency with negligible influence on the performance of the system. The adoption of the double-stage strongly reduces the specific exergy consumption, and in the second stage, the exergy destruction due to uncontrolled mixing phenomena becomes more important than the one caused by the membrane resistance. The results shed a light on the main actions to be undertaken by industries and engineers for improving the performance of electrodialysis systems.

The chapter focuses on the role of big data in developing firms’ international e-commerce. We explore the effect of three different types of big data approaches on the probability of firms entering international markets via web sales. Specifically, we consider the following approaches: (a) use of big data managed by internal firm staff; (b) use of big data managed by specialised consulting firms; and (c) use of big data jointly managed by internal firm staff and specialised consultant firms. Applying qualitative data models on a large sample of Italian firms (about 18,900 firms), we find that the use of big data managed by internal staff or by specialised consulting firms is positively associated with the development of international e-commerce, but with important differences in relation to the firm size.

Recent regional studies have taken a micro-founded perspective to uncover the influence of the external environment on the firm-level innovative performance. Despite the marked spatial disparities, there is a general lack of recent evidence on Italian regional innovation from a micro perspective. This paper fills this gap in the evidence base by estimating regional Knowledge Production Functions using Italian micro-data collected in the Community Innovation Survey. In particular, here we focus on the regional differences in the relationship between innovative inputs and outputs and on the ability of firms to absorb external knowledge. This analysis allows us to outline different regional innovative profiles in Italy.

Measurements of downwelling shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) irradiance were carried out on an oceanographic buoy close to the island of Lampedusa (Italy), in the central Mediterranean Sea. Irradiance measurements on the buoy were acquired at high time resolution together with the radiometer pitch and roll angles. The measurements carried out during 2016 have been compared with ground-based observations made at the Lampedusa Atmospheric Observatory, about 15 km northeast of the buoy. The radiometers were compared before and after deployment on the buoy and are traceable to the World Radiometric Reference scale. The SW measurements were corrected for the thermal offset. A small bias (measurements over the sea are smaller than on land) of about −2 W m−2 is found in the daily mean SW, and a moderate bias of +6.2 W m−2 (irradiance over the sea is larger than on land) is found in the LW. Similar biases are found when instantaneous measurements obtained with horizontal radiometers, clean domes, and cloud-free conditions are selected, suggesting that impacts of the moving platform and poor dome cleaning are minor at this site. The effect of the mean tilt angle was also investigated. Deviations in the hourly mean SW irradiance are on the order of 20% for a mean offset of 4° with respect to the solar zenith angle; the effect of tilt angle on LW irradiance appears to be negligible. Radiative transfer calculations show that the observed biases may be ascribed to the differences in the instrument altitude (through radiation absorption, scattering, and emission by the atmospheric constituents in the lowest atmospheric layers) and in the SW surface albedo.

Summary Background and aims NUTrition Risk in the Critically ill (NUTRIC score) and modified Nutric score (mNUTRIC score) have been validated as screening tool for quantifying risk of adverse outcome in patients admitted in intensive care department. They differ for the measurement of IL-6 levels. In patients with COVID-19 disease the inflammatory response plays a crucial role leading to cytochine storm responsible of multiple organ damage. In this population, levels of IL-6 have been measured as indicator of inflammatory status. Aim of the study is to compare prognostic performance of both scores in predicting ICU mortality between patients with COVID-19 disease. Methods A single centre, retrospective, cohort study on patients admitted in ICU with confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 was performed. Prognostic performance of NUTRIC score and mNUTRIC score were assessed and compared for discriminative abilities for ICU-mortality. Results 43 patients were enrolled, age 64 (55; 70), BMI 28 ± 4. Mean NUTRIC score was 2.5 ± 1, mNUTRIC was 2.6 ± 1.1. Mortality was 39.5%, all patients had low nutritional risk according to both scores (≤5 and ≤ 4 for NUTRIC and mNUTRIC score respectively). The discriminative ability of Nutric Score for ICU mortality was 0.675 (95% CI: 0.524–0.825), while that of mNutric score was 0.655 (0.513–0.861), p = 0.667. Conclusions Prognostic performance of Nutric score and mNutric score is comparable, but the discriminative ability is low even in patients with high inflammatory status as in COVID-19 affected population. These scores may not be appropriate in patients with COVID-19 for the determination of nutritional risk.

To enable learning on edge devices with fast convergence and low memory, we present a novel backpropagation-free optimization algorithm dubbed Target Projection Stochastic Gradient Descent (tpSGD). tpSGD generalizes direct random target projection to work with arbitrary loss functions and extends target projection for training recurrent neural networks (RNNs) in addition to feedforward networks. tpSGD uses layer-wise stochastic gradient descent (SGD) and local targets generated via random projections of the labels to train the network layer-by-layer with only forward passes. tpSGD doesn't require retaining gradients during optimization, greatly reducing memory allocation compared to SGD backpropagation (BP) methods that require multiple instances of the entire neural network weights, input/output, and intermediate results. Our method performs comparably to BP gradient-descent within 5% accuracy on relatively shallow networks of fully connected layers, convolutional layers, and recurrent layers. tpSGD also outperforms other state-of-the-art gradient-free algorithms in shallow models consisting of multi-layer perceptrons, convolutional neural networks (CNNs), and RNNs with competitive accuracy and less memory and time. We evaluate the performance of tpSGD in training deep neural networks (e.g. VGG) and extend the approach to multi-layer RNNs. These experiments highlight new research directions related to optimized layer-based adaptor training for domain-shift using tpSGD at the edge.

(1) Background: The aim of this review was to determine the state of clinical practice in the role of the combined approach of embolization and ablation in patients with secondary liver lesions greater than 3 cm who are not candidates for surgery, and to study its safety and efficacy. (2) Methods: Two reviewers conducted the literature search independently. Eight articles on the combined approach of embolization and ablation in secondary liver lesions were selected. (3) Results: The studies were published between 2009 and 2020. Two studies were prospective in design. The sample size was < 100 patients for all studies. All studies demonstrated the safety of the combined approach based on the low complication rate. Some studies lamented non-uniform systemic chemotherapy regimens and the variability in the sequence of embolization and ablation. (4) Conclusions: This review presents the combined approach of ablation and embolization in liver lesions greater than 3 cm as a safe therapeutic procedure with positive effects on patient survival. Prospective and multicentric studies are needed to further evaluate its efficacy.

With the advent of technologies such as ion array detectors and high energy permanent magnet materials, there is renewed interest in the unique focusing properties of the cycloidal mass analyzer and its ability to enable small, high-resolution, and high-sensitivity instruments. However, most literature dealing with the design of cycloidal mass analyzers assumes a single channel detector because at the time of those publications, compatible multichannel detectors were not available. This manuscript introduces and discusses considerations and a procedure for designing cycloidal mass analyzers coupled with focal plane ion array detectors. To arrive at a set of relevant design considerations, we first review the unique focusing properties of the cycloidal mass analyzer and then present calculations detailing how the dimensions and position of the focal plane array detector relative to the ion source determine the possible mass ranges and resolutions of a cycloidal mass analyzer. We present derivations and calculations used to determine the volume of homogeneous electric and magnetic fields needed to contain the ion trajectories and explore the relationship between electric and magnetic field homogeneity on resolving power using finite element analysis (FEA) simulations. A set of equations relating the electric field homogeneity to the geometry of the electric sector electrodes was developed by fitting homogeneity values from 78 different FEA models. Finally, a sequence of steps is suggested for designing a cycloidal mass analyzer employing an array detector.

In this paper we present Hyper-Dimensional Reconfigurable Analytics at the Tactical Edge (HyDRATE) using low-SWaP embedded hardware that can perform real-time reconfiguration at the edge leveraging non-MAC (free of floating-point MultiplyACcumulate operations) deep neural nets (DNN) combined with hyperdimensional (HD) computing accelerators. We describe the algorithm, trained quantized model generation, and simulated performance of a feature extractor free of multiply-accumulates feeding a hyperdimensional logic-based classifier. Then we show how performance increases with the number of hyperdimensions. We describe the realized low-SWaP FPGA hardware and embedded software system compared to traditional DNNs and detail the implemented hardware accelerators. We discuss the measured system latency and power, noise robustness due to use of learnable quantization and HD computing, actual versus simulated system performance for a video activity classification task and demonstration of reconfiguration on this same dataset. We show that reconfigurability in the field is achieved by retraining only the feed-forward HD classifier without gradient descent backpropagation (gradient-free), using few-shot learning of new classes at the edge. Initial work performed used LRCN DNN and is currently extended to use Two-stream DNN with improved performance., 9 pages, 15 figures. Will be presented in Embedded Vision Workshop at CVPR2022

Objective: We compared the early and mid-term outcomes of polytetrafluoroethylene covered stents (CSs) vs bare metal stents (BMSs) used in the kissing conformation for the reconstruction of the aortic bifurcation in aortoiliac obstructive disease. Methods: A multicenter cohort registry (2015-2019) collected data from 1306 patients who had undergone endovascular treatment of aortoiliac arterial obstructive disease. Only patients who had received bilateral iliac kissing stents for TransAtlantic Inter-Society Consensus (TASC) class C and D lesions were included in the present analysis. The 30-day outcomes, mid-term primary patency, and limb salvage rates were compared between the CSs and BMSs in matched patient cohorts after propensity score matching. The follow-up results were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier curves. Cox proportional hazards models were used to identify the predictors of primary patency. Results: A total of 336 patients were treated with kissing stents, 201 with CSs (60%) and 135 with BMSs (40%). In the unmatched cohort, patients receiving CSs were more likely to have critical limb ischemia (41% vs 30%; P = .038), complex iliac lesions, such as TASC D (90% vs 56%; P < .01), and iliac occlusions (59% vs 44%; P < .01). After propensity score matching, 220 patients were selected (110 with CSs and 110 with BMSs), without differences in the clinical presentation (critical limb ischemia, 41% vs 33%; P = .167), or anatomic complexity (TASC D, 66% vs 60%, P = .21; iliac occlusion, 48% vs 49%, P = .89). The 30-day mortality was 0%. The early medical (unmatched, 5% vs 4%, P = 1.00; matched, 5% vs 4%, P = .75) and surgical (unmatched, 5% vs 5%, P = 1.00; matched, 5% vs 3%, P = .72) complication rates were similar between the CSs and BMSs. However, the CSs resulted in a lower risk of intraoperative iliac rupture (0% vs 3.5%; P = .013) and greater ankle-brachial index improvement (0.43 ± 0.22 vs 0.36 ± 0.24; P = .02). At 36 months, the overall primary patency (92% ± 7% vs 92% ± 8%; P = .38), secondary patency (98% ± 3% vs 98% ± 4%; P = .50), and limb salvage (93% ± 9% vs 97% ± 5%; P = .20) rates were similar. In cases of moderate to severe iliac calcification, the CSs showed better results in the matched cohort (100% vs 89% ± 9%; P = .048). On multivariate analysis, CS use (hazard ratio [HR], 1.67; P = .45) did not significantly affect primary patency, but older age (HR, 0.93; P = .03) and kissing stent diameter ≥8 mm (HR, 0.25; P = .03) were significantly associated. Conclusion: In the present multicenter study, the use of kissing stents for the treatment of the aortic bifurcation provided good early and mid-term results. CSs were preferred for more complex lesions, were protective from iliac rupture, and allowed for greater ankle-brachial index improvement. The 3-year patency rates were similar between the CSs and BMSs. However, CSs showed improved results in the case of moderate to severe calcification.

We present the first results of the Fermilab Muon g-2 Experiment for the positive muon magnetic anomaly $a_\mu \equiv (g_\mu-2)/2$. The anomaly is determined from the precision measurements of two angular frequencies. Intensity variation of high-energy positrons from muon decays directly encodes the difference frequency $\omega_a$ between the spin-precession and cyclotron frequencies for polarized muons in a magnetic storage ring. The storage ring magnetic field is measured using nuclear magnetic resonance probes calibrated in terms of the equivalent proton spin precession frequency ${\tilde{\omega}'^{}_p}$ in a spherical water sample at 34.7$^{\circ}$C. The ratio $\omega_a / {\tilde{\omega}'^{}_p}$, together with known fundamental constants, determines $a_\mu({\rm FNAL}) = 116\,592\,040(54)\times 10^{-11}$ (0.46\,ppm). The result is 3.3 standard deviations greater than the standard model prediction and is in excellent agreement with the previous Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) E821 measurement. After combination with previous measurements of both $\mu^+$ and $\mu^-$, the new experimental average of $a_\mu({\rm Exp}) = 116\,592\,061(41)\times 10^{-11}$ (0.35\,ppm) increases the tension between experiment and theory to 4.2 standard deviations, Comment: 10 pages; 4 figures