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Scholars and politicians have always fiercely debated on the role of government in the economy. This has shaped the legal frameworks governing the relationship between markets and governments. A key element of these legal frameworks is the antitrust legislation and the focus of this paper is the most remarkable difference between US and EU: State Aid. It is virtually non existent in the former while explicit policy in the latter. While in Europe it became an important issue in the light of the building of a single European market, it has not been a key issue for US antitrust basically because of historical reasons. More specifically, this discussion paper analyzes the impact on regulation of network industries played by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) with its Altmark decision (July 24th 2003), which defined the conditions so that a compensation for public services is not considered state aid. The analysis address specifically on the fourth condition which applies whenever the undertaking is not chosen in a public procurement: compensation needs to be determined by benchmarking the operations of the public service provider against market determined standards. In the last part of this paper we briefly present a case study on the postal sector, where risks for State Aid legislation infringement are likely to arise if universal service cost burdens are to be compensated through public subsidies. We also present a possible way forward that needs to researched to address this issue.

α-Methylnaphthalene (AMN) is the primary reference bicyclic aromatic compound of diesel, and it is commonly used as a component of diesel, kerosene and jet-fuel surrogates formulated to describe real fuel combustion kinetics. However, few experimental data on neat AMN combustion are available in the literature. This work provides the first measurements of laminar flame speed profiles of AMN/air mixtures at 1 bar varying the initial temperature from 425 to 484 K, and equivalence ratio (φ) between 0.8 and 1.35 paving the way for the kinetic study of AMN combustion chemistry at high temperatures (>1800 K). The experimental data obtained in a spherical reactor are compared with kinetic model simulations. Specifically, the AMN kinetics is implemented from its analogous monocyclic aromatic compound, i.e., toluene, through the analogy and rate rule approach. This method allows to develop kinetic mechanisms of large species from the kinetics of smaller ones characterized by analogous chemical features, namely the aromaticity and the methyl functionality in the case of toluene and AMN. In doing so, it is possible to overcome the need of high-level electronic structure calculations for the evaluation of rate constants, as their computational cost increases exponentially with the number of heavy atoms of the selected species. To assess the validity of this approach, ab initio calculations are performed to derive the rate constants of the H-atom abstraction reactions by H, OH and CH 3 radicals from both toluene and AMN. The kinetic model obtained satisfactorily agrees with the measured laminar flame speed profiles. Sensitivity and flux analyses are performed to investigate similarities and differences between the main reaction channels of toluene and AMN combustion, with the former leading to ∼6 cm/s faster flame speed at almost identical conditions (P=1 bar, T∼425 K), as evidenced by both kinetic model simulations and experimental findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A combined experimental and kinetic modeling study is presented to improve the understanding of the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from neat cyclopentene and cyclopentene/acetylene mixtures. High-pressure experiments are conducted for the first time over a temperature range covering 930–1650 K using a single-pulse shock tube coupled to gas chromatography/gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/GC–MS) techniques. Several updates and inclusions, mainly regarding the reactions involving C 5 molecules and radicals, are made in our on-going PAH kinetic model, which shows satisfactory predictive performances for the speciation measurements obtained in the current work and in the literature. On the basis of the experimental observations and modeling analyses, the reaction pathways active during the pyrolysis of cyclopentene are illustrated and the effects of acetylene addition as co-reactant on the PAH chemistry are assessed. In all of the cases investigated, it is noted that the cyclopentadienyl radical largely participate in the formation of mono-aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene and styrene) and PAHs (indene, naphthalene and phenanthrene). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to identify a simplified rapid screening and linkage-to-care model for HCV among PWUD. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study stems from a collaborative project bringing together two local Italian Centers for Drug Addiction and the Hepatology-Infectious Diseases Department of Lazzaro Spallanzani. A research physician analyzed the available medical records seeking to identify HCV and HIV infected patients in care in the addiction centers. Between March 2018 and January 2020 subjects were selected from among a cohort of 720 PWUD in the two Centers' care. The study comprises three steps: first, screening for HCVAb; second, the linkage to care; third, clinical assessment to treatment. The research physician recruited patients for the first two steps directly in their local addiction center. The third step was conducted in the Spallanzani. The characteristics of those subjects who adhered to the three-step study program were then compared to those of the non-adhering PWUD. RESULTS: 194 were known HCVAb positive patients. Of the 505 PWUD in the care of the two Centers eligible for screening, 364 were enrolled in the study. 144 resulted HCVAb positive. 269 were tested for HCVRNA. 101 underwent a full assessment. 96 patients started antiviral therapy with DAA. Patients who refused first step screening were older patients and mainly heroin users; in the second step, almost all the HIV/HCV co-infected patients agreed to a viremia test; in the third step all the HIV/HCV co-infected patients refused HCV treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests an onsite specialist approach conducted directly in the addiction centers themselves starting from screening; it can bring the goal of HCV PWUD microelimination closer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foods for Special Medical Purposes (FSMPs) are formulated to support the nutritional needs of subjects with impaired capacity to ingest, digest or absorb ordinary food or nutrients. Polglumyt® is a proprietary highly purified, high quality glycogen obtained from mussels. Here we report the results of a single-center, single dose, open label, single arm study carried out to investigate acceptance (i.e. gastrointestinal tolerance and palatability), metabolic profile and safety of a low osmolarity, high-density energy Polglumyt®-based drink (the investigational product, IP) as a novel FSMP. Twelve healthy subjects received a single oral administration of the IP under fasting conditions. The study endpoints were: changes in gastrointestinal system tolerability at 3 h, 6 h and 24 h after IP intake; IP palatability evaluation; metabolic evaluation through the kinetic profile of circulating glucose, insulin and C-peptide from 0 h to 6 h after IP intake and changes from baseline in circulating triglycerides at 3 h and 6 h after IP intake. The IP showed a good gastrointestinal tolerability and an acceptable palatability. The IP did not affect the physiological glycemic profile and the triglycerides levels 6 h after the intake. The IP was well tolerated by study subjects, with no or minor adverse events. The study results encourage additional clinical investigations on the IP as a novel FSMP in patients with impaired digestion or gastrointestinal absorption, unable to assume an ordinary diet, e.g. patients undergoing invasive gastrointestinal surgery, elderly or oncological patients, even with certain metabolic disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dimethyl Carbonate (DMC) is a carbonate ester that can be produced in an environment-friendly way from methanol and CO 2. DMC is one of the main components of the flammable electrolyte used in Li-ion batteries, and it can also be used as a diesel fuel additive. Studying the combustion chemistry of DMC can therefore improve the use of biofuels and help developing safer Li-ion batteries. The combustion chemistry of DMC has been investigated in a limited number of studies. The aim of this study was to complement the scarce data available for DMC combustion in the literature. Laminar flame speeds at 318 K, 363 K, and 463 K were measured for various equivalence ratios (ranging from 0.7 to 1.5) in a spherical vessel, greatly extending the range of conditions investigated. Shock tubes were used to measure time histories of CO and H 2 O using tunable laser absorption for the first time for DMC. Characteristic reaction times were also measured through OH* emission. Shock-tube spectroscopic measurements were performed under dilute conditions, at three equivalence ratios (fuel-lean, stoichiometric, and fuel-rich) between 1260 and 1660 K near 1.3 ± 0.2 atm, and under pyrolysis conditions (98%+dilution) ranging from 1230 to 2500 K near 1.3 ± 0.2 atm. Laminar flame speed experiments were performed around atmospheric pressure. Detailed kinetics models from the literature were compared to the data, and it was found that none are capable of predicting the data over the entire range of conditions investigated. A numerical analysis was performed with the most accurate model, underlining the need to revisit at least 3 key reactions involving DMC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benzene and toluene were pyrolyzed under highly argon-diluted conditions at a nominal pressure of 20 bar in a single-pulse shock tube coupled to gas chromatography/gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/GC–MS) diagnostics. Concentration evolutions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) intermediates were measured in a temperature range of 1100–1800 K by analyzing the post-shock gas mixtures. Different PAH speciation behaviors, regarding types, concentrations and formation temperature windows, were observed in the two reaction systems. A kinetic model was proposed to predict and interpret the measurements. Through a combination of experimental and modeling efforts, PAH formation patterns from species pools of benzene and toluene pyrolysis were illustrated. In both cases, channels leading to PAHs basically originate from the respective fuel radicals, phenyl and benzyl. Due to the higher thermal stability of benzene, the production of phenyl, and thus most PAH species, occur in higher temperature windows, in comparison to the case of toluene. In benzene pyrolysis, benzyne participates in the formation of crucial PAH species such as naphthalene and acenaphthylene. Phenyl self-recombination takes considerable carbon flux into biphenyl, which serves as an important intermediate leading to acenaphthylene through hydrogen loss and ring closure. The resonantly-stabilized benzyl is abundant in toluene pyrolysis, and its decomposition further produces other resonantly-stabilized radicals such as fulvenallenyl and propargyl. Barrierless addition reactions among these radicals are found to be important sources of PAHs. Fuel-specific pathways have pronounced effects on PAH speciation behaviors, particularly at lower temperatures where fuel depletion is not completed within the reaction time of 4.0 ms. Contributions from the commonly existing Hydrogen-Abstraction-Carbon-Addition (HACA) routes increase with the temperature in both cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treatment of chronic HCV infection with direct acting antivirals can achieve high rates of sustained viral response in persons with HIV. In the perspective of HCV elimination in this population, high rates of HCV detection will be needed. We evaluated the unawareness of HCV infection in 2927 persons newly diagnosed with HIV during 2004–2015 in Rome, Italy. Two-hundred-fifty persons (8.5%) were anti-HCV positive. The proportion of HCV-unaware individuals at the time of HIV diagnosis was 58.0% (145/250), without significant variations over time, 17.2% showed an advanced fibrosis stage. The absence of previous HIV testing was significantly associated with HCV unawareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]