I costi e i benefici socio-economici connessi all’adozione del Global Service in ambito stradale. Il caso della Strada a Grande Comunicazione FI - PI - LI

Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) analyses benefits to the society coming from a specific management or infrastructural project, in order to evaluate its economic sustainability; more precisely, the main purpose of CBA is to appraise the real contribution to the overall social welfare of a public investment. This paper, on the basis of an accurate analysis of the main Italian and foreign experiences in this field, aims to investigate the nature of the socio-economic costs and benefits connected to a public body’s choice of adopting Performance-Based Road Management and Maintenance Contracts (i.e. Global Service contracts, as they are called in Italy). More precisely, the opportunity of outsourcing to a specialized firm all typical road sector services, that are not part of a public administration core business, but are still part of those activities usually carried out by in-house labour, leading to a virtuous circle. Its most significant results are an efficiency increase in the road network, a decrease in the administrative costs of the public body (through an optimization of the public body human resources’ use and the decrease of bargaining costs with input providers), a greater certainty on balance sheet results, leading to a minimized financial risk. On the other hand, the main economic costs are recognizable in the fixed fee paid for outsourcing road services, in the public administration workforce’s training costs, aimed at acquiring the needed skills to deal with the new management tool, and in employment costs that may arise as a consequence of misalignments between labour demand and supply in the area taken in consideration. In short, together with a close qualitative observation of benefits and costs connected to the choice of Global Service contracts, the present paper offers a quantitative assessment of these variables with reference to the motorway Firenze - Pisa - Livorno (FI-PI-LI)Performance-Based Road Management and Maintenance Contracts (Global Service), CostBenefit Analysis (CBA), Motorway Firenze - Pisa - Livorno (FI-PI-LI).

A network of sex and competition: the promiscuous mating system of an invasive weevil.

Invasive alien pest insect species represent a major threat for agriculture and biodiversity. Because chemical treatments employed to contrast such pests elicit serious environmental and human health problems, a great effort is currently directed to develop long term and environmentally friendly biological control strategies. However, the successful application of some promising techniques, such as the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), requires a deep knowledge of the pest basic biology. Here, we argue that understanding pest sexual biology using a social network approach can significantly improve the performance of control strategies. For example, SIT may benefit from understanding how individuals interact and how males accede to reproduction, in order to target the most reproductively active and polygamic males. In this paper we studied the socio-sexual networks of the Asian red palm weevil (RPW) Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, a worldwide invader which is causing heavy economic impacts on several palm species. We found that the RPW has a highly promiscuous mating system, characterized by forced interruptions of pair copulations by additional males. The social network is highly non-random nor regular: few males almost monopolize reproduction, behaving as key-players in the network of matings. Additionally, males have a stable pattern of sexual behaviour over time. We use RPW social network as a case study to direct the development of management techniques such as SIT strateg

Guidelines for the monitoring of Rosalia alpina

Rosalia alpina (Linnaeus, 1758) is a large longhorn beetle (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) which is protected by the Habitats Directive and which typically inhabits beech forests characterised by the presence of mature, dead (or moribund) and sun-exposed trees. A revision of the current knowledge on systematics, ecology and conservation of R. alpina is reported. The research was carried out as part of the LIFE MIPP project which aims to find a standard monitoring method for saproxylic beetles protected in Europe. For monitoring this species, different methods were tested and compared in two areas of the Apennines, utilising wild trees, logs and tripods (artificially built with beech woods), all potentially suitable for the reproduction of the species. Even if all methods succeeded in the survey of the target species, these results showed that the use of wild trees outperformed other methods. Indeed, the use of wild trees allowed more adults to be observed and required less intensive labour. However, monitoring the rosalia longicorn on wild trees has the main disadvantage that they can hardly be considered “standard sampling units”, as each tree may be differently attractive to adults. Our results demonstrated that the most important factors influencing the attraction of single trunks were wood volume, sun-exposure and decay stage. Based on the results obtained during the project LIFE MIPP, as well as on a literature review, a standard monitoring method for R. alpina was developed

Physico-Chemical Features of Undoped and Fe/Cu-Doped Na0.67MnO2-Layered Cathodes for Sodium Batteries

Na0.67MnO2 (NMO) stands out among the layered cathode materials used for sodium batteries due to its high-capacity values, low cost, and environmental friendliness. Unfortunately, many drawbacks arise during cycling, but nanostructure tailoring and doping can help to mitigate them. Our aim was to synthesize undoped and Cu- or Fe-doped NMO samples via the sol-gel route, with a different cooling step to room temperature, i.e., in a natural way or via quenching. The formation of a mixture of polymorphs was observed, as well as differences in the external morphology of the powders' grains. The use of spectroscopic techniques, Mössbauer spectroscopy for the Fe-doped samples and Electron paramagnetic resonance, allowed us to gain insights into the oxidation states of transition metals and to make suggestions about the magnetic ordering, as well as on the possible presence of magnetic impurities. Cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic cycling results were interpreted on the basis of the spectroscopic data: the introduction of substituents, in general, worsens the capacity values, due to the decrease in the P2 amount and the introduction of structural distortions. The structural stability of the samples in air as a function of time was also analyzed via X-ray diffraction, demonstrating the positive effect of Cu presence

M\uf6ssbauer spectroscopy of a monolayer of single molecule magnets

The use of single molecule magnets (SMMs) as cornerstone elements in spintronics and quantum computing applications demands that magnetic bistability is retained when molecules are interfaced with solid conducting surfaces. Here, we employ synchrotron M\uf6ssbauer spectroscopy to investigate a monolayer of a tetrairon(III) (Fe4) SMM chemically grafted on a gold substrate. At low temperature and zero magnetic field, we observe the magnetic pattern of the Fe4 molecule, indicating slow spin fluctuations compared to the M\uf6ssbauer timescale. Significant structural deformations of the magnetic core, induced by the interaction with the substrate, as predicted by ab initio molecular dynamics, are also observed. However, the effects of the modifications occurring at the individual iron sites partially compensate each other, so that slow magnetic relaxation is retained on the surface. Interestingly, these deformations escaped detection by conventional synchrotron-based techniques, like X-ray magnetic circular dichroism, thus highlighting the power of synchrotron M\uf6ssbauer spectroscopy for the investigation of hybrid interfaces

Toward a better definition of EPCAM deletions in Lynch Syndrome: Report of new variants in Italy and the associated molecular phenotype

BackgroundInherited epimutations of Mismatch Repair (MMR) genes are responsible for Lynch Syndrome (LS) in a small, but well defined, subset of patients. Methylation of the MSH2 promoter consequent to the deletion of the upstream EPCAM gene is found in about 1%-3% of the LS patients and represents a classical secondary, constitutional and tissue-specific epimutation. Several different EPCAM deletions have been reported worldwide, for the most part representing private variants caused by an Alu-mediated recombination.Methods712 patients with suspected LS were tested for MMR mutation in our Institute. EPCAM deletions were detected by multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) and then defined by Long-Range polymerase chain reaction (PCR)/Sanger sequencing. A comprehensive molecular characterization of colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues was carried out by immunohistochemistry of MMR proteins, Microsatellite Instability (MSI) assay, methylation specific MLPA and transcript analyses. In addition, somatic deletions and/or variants were investigated by MLPA and next generation sequencing (NGS).ResultsAn EPCAM deletion was found in five unrelated probands in Italy: variants c.556-490_*8438del and c.858+1193_*5826del are novel; c.859-1430_*2033del and c.859-670_*530del were previously reported. All probands were affected by CRC at young age; tumors showed MSI and abnormal MSH2/MSH6 proteins expression. MSH2 promoter methylation, as well as aberrant in-frame or out-of-frame EPCAM/MSH2 fusion transcripts, were detected in CRCs and normal mucosae.ConclusionAn EPCAM deletion was the causative variant in about 2% of our institutional series of 224 LS patients, consistent with previously estimated frequencies. Early age and multiple CRCs was the main clinical feature of this subset of patients

Evaluation of Coaguchek®Pro II coagulation testing device performance to assess direct oral anticoagulant action. The DOAC-CHECK study

Direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) measurement is recommended in specific conditions. A point-of-care testing should be used in emergency to qualitatively rule out relevant DOAC concentrations. The DOAC-CHECK Study aims to evaluate whether the use of CoaguChek® Pro II (Roche Diagnostics International Ltd, Rotkreuz, Switzerland) coagulation testing device can provide reliable information in patients treated with DOAC. The study was carried out in two FCSA (Italian Federation of Thrombosis Centers) centers. We choose 3 different concentration thresholds for our analysis (30, 50 and 100 ng/mL) and by ROC curves the ideal cut-off point was selected to be the one that yielded a sensitivity of at least 95% associated with the highest possible specificity. 512 patients were enrolled. For Edoxaban and Rivaroxaban, both CoaguChek® Pro II prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) tests showed a sensitivity >95% corresponding to satisfying specificity values; negative predictive values resulted in the range 90-100%. At variance, CoaguChek® Pro II PT and aPTT tests did not seem to be useful for identifying Apixaban and Dabigatran concentrations higher than the pre-defined thresholds. Our results suggest that CoaguChek® Pro II coagulation testing device can be used to qualitatively identify relevant concentrations of Edoxaban or Rivaroxaban, but not of Apixaban or Dabigatran