Water pollution in wastewater treatment plants: An efficiency analysis with undesirable output

The environmental efficiency of 96 Tuscan (Italian) wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is investigated taking into account the quality of the outgoing water in terms of pollutant. In this regard, the presence of the residual nitrogen in the outgoing treated water is considered as undesirable output. The efficiency analysis is performed by applying a novel integrated Analytic Hierarchy Process/Non-radial Directional Distance Function (AHP/NDDF) approach, combining the benefits of the two techniques. Similarly to the standard NDDF approach, the suggested model allows to include simultaneously inputs, desirable and undesirable outputs and not to overestimate the efficiency scores. At the same time, the AHP inclusion gives the possibility to directly take into account the decision maker preferences in the weighting system and to encompass some existing directional distance function models as special cases.The obtained results are then used to identify the efficiency explanatory variables: among them, the facilities' capacity, the percentage of wastewater discharged by the industrial and agricultural activities and the level of compliance with the pollutant concentration threshold set by the legislator have a significant impact on the WWTP performance. The integrated performance assessment allows the water authorities to combine the WWTP efficiency together with the environmental sustainability issue and it has the potential for further promising environmental inspections

IPO a ondate: Cluster temporali o cluster locali?

This paper investigates the relation between the success of initial public offerings in a given region and the subsequent volume of IPOs in the same region. We find that a high local performance of IPOs is able to trigger a local IPO wave due to private firms’ attempt to exploit the favorable local market conditions. Results are robust to the definition of local IPO success, which is addressed using several measures such as the average regional underpricing or the excess demand for newly issued securities. Empirical findings show that the well-documented temporal IPO waves are indeed local IPO waves

Family firm local involvement and the Local Home Bias phenomenon

Research has documented that most of retail and institutional investors exhibit a strong preference for stocks issued by nearby listed firms (i.e. Local Home Bias). This phenomenon shapes corporate market value and the cost of funding. In this paper, we investigate whether the Local Home Bias is enhanced in family firms as a consequence of their symbiotic connection with the local community. Using a dataset of 2,951 Italian firm-year observations (1,481 are family firms) over the period 1999e2011, we find that Local Home Bias is not a widespread phenomenon and mainly occurs in founding family firms where the founder serves as CEO. The Local Home Bias is absent in non-family firms or in family firms where the owner has acquired control through a market transaction. Overall, results suggest that locally committed family firms trigger investor preference for local stocks and, in doing so, exploit the dedicated local clientele which shrinks the cost of funding. Ultimately, we argue the social contributions of family firms to the local community could even have opportunistic traits and a non-trivial economic effect

Enhancing societal resilience against disasters: engaging the public VIA social technologies

Purpose – The research aims to discuss the importance of introduction of ICTs in the concept of societal resilience building and analyze e-tools engaging the public in safety enhancement. Methodology – The authors of this paper analyzed scientific literature to identify the main elements of societal resilience building, to distinguish the areas in which social technologies could be applied for the purposes of enhancing resilience. Empirical study was focused on the search and content analysis of global, EU, Lithuanian national and local e-tools created to inform the public about imminent and/or actual disasters and emergencies, communicate data among civil protection authorities, and collect from and disseminate among society disaster related information. Findings – Contemporary disaster management is increasingly orienting on preventive activities based on inclusion of society. Evolving the concept of societal resilience focuses on enhancing abilities of communities or society to resist, absorb, accommodate and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner. Consequently, resilience moves from a passive technical concept, relevant to resistance of infrastructures, to a socially active process, supporting the phase of risk prevention. Therefore, it should be present in all phases, from risk prevention to emergency management. In the Internet enabled society, information and communication technologies (ICTs) could foster building of the capacity of resilience in urban and regional complex systems by informing, warning and directing people for correct actions in case of disasters. There is a number of e-tools designed for exchange of information at different levels (global, EU, national, local, organizational), serving for different tasks of pre-, during or/and post-disaster management. Those could be grouped by their purposes to the following ones: e-tools for warning of communities at risk, based on broadcasting; WebGIS-based crowdsourcing platforms to collect and update user generated content; Open-source ICT platforms Oriented on Public awareness on natural disasters; ICTs for civil protection planning, decision making for response, recovery and allocation of resources in case of disasters. The most oriented on public engagement are broadcasting and crowdsourcing based ICT tools. However, the empirical research revealed that use of such kind of social technologies by Lithuanians remains relatively vague in terms of public activity: crowdsourcing platforms are mostly uploaded with small-scale problems of everyday life character, and use of the broadcasting services among citizens is not popular enough yet, and some organizational and technological barriers worsen situation even more. This could point to an assumption that Lithuanian society does not percept disasters as real threats for their lives, health, property or environment. Research limitations – The current research is not sophisticated with the comparative analysis of experiences of foreign countries in application of broadcasting and crowdsourcing based technologies for increasing societal resilience. Such analysis could be useful for development of effective means for enhancing public awareness on disasters, consequently – for building safety culture in Lithuania by application of social technologies. Therefore, investigation of good praxis could be considered as a relevant topic for further research. [...

Lopinavir/ritonavir + tenofovir Dual Therapy versus Lopinavir/ritonavir-Based Triple Therapy in HIV-Infected Antiretroviral Naïve Subjects: The Kalead Study

Purpose: With reference to the clinical need for simple, potent and safe antiretroviral regimens, Lopinavir/ ritonavir + tenofovir (LPV/r+TDF) two-drug initial regimen was studied for efficacy and safety in HIV-infected patients. Methods: Kalead was a prospective, randomized, open-label, 72-week trial comparing LPV/r+TDF versus LPV/r+ two (non-TDF) NRTIs in HIV-infected adults with HIV-RNA >400 copies/mL and any CD4 count. Primary endpoint was the proportion of subjects with HIV-RNA <50 copies/mL at week 72. Results: 152 subjects were randomized. Eleven (15.3%) subjects in the dual therapy arm and seven (8.8%) in the triple therapy arm who did not achieve HIV-RNA <50 copies/mL at least twice prior to and including week 24 were discontinued per protocol (p=0.21). Overall discontinuations were 41.7% and 43.8% in the dual therapy and triple therapyarms. At week 72, 51.4% and 52.5% of subjects in the dual therapy and triple therapy arms had HIV-RNA <50 copies/mL (p=0.89, ITT, NC=F). In an on-treatment analysis, 87.2% and 93.0% of subjects in the dual therapy and triple therapy arms had a HIV-RNA <50 copies/mL (p=0.47). Over 72 weeks of therapy, mean CD4 count increases were greater in the dual therapy arm (+332 cells/mm3 vs +234 cells/mm3, p=0.01). Adherence, overall incidence of adverse events, drugrelated adverse events, and Grade I-IV laboratory abnormalities were comparable between the two arms. Conclusions: A two-drug regimen of LPV/r+TDF suggests sufficient safety and efficacy warranting further investigation. However, high discontinuation rate and study design limitations restrict overall interpretation

Ecology and conservation of the Mediterranean trout in the central Apennines (Italy)

The Mediterranean brown trout (Salmo trutta complex) is one of the freshwater fish species complex at greater risk of extinction in the Mediterranean area. The introduction of alien invasive species and their interaction with the native fauna represent some of the major threats to the survival of this species. Currently, the genetic variability of the Mediterranean trout (Salmo trutta complex) is being compromised by the introgressive hybridization with the Atlantic trout (Salmo trutta Linnaeus, 1758). Therefore, it is necessary to gain further knowledge on genetic and demographic characteristics of Mediterranean trout populations, that, combined with environmental and angling data, will allow to undertake sound conservation strategies. The aims of the present study were to analyze: i) the demographic characteristics of the Mediterranean trout in seven central Apennine river basins where native populations are threatened by stocking with the domestic trout of north Atlantic origin; ii) the influence of both environmental parameters and different fishery management strategies on the status of native trout populations. The project focuses on 14 sites included in the Natura 2000 EU wide network of nature protection areas, established under the 1992 Habitat Directive. A total of 25 watercourses were investigated for a total of 32 sampling sites. A census of the fish fauna was carried out by electrofishing at each sampling location. Fish and environmental data were collected in spring and autumn 2014. The results obtained in the present research allowed us to detect the presence of three residual Mediterranean trout populations with a high degree of genetic integrity in the study area. The native trout populations were characterized by higher abundances and higher adult density values. Well-structured native populations with higher legal-size specimens density and poor body conditions in terms of relative weight were observed in the no-fishing areas, probably due to the presence of intraspecific competition phenomena. The environmental analysis confirmed the key role played by the geological characteristics of the central Apennines in shaping the introgression levels observed in the wild trout populations, while the recovery of the water quality appears decisive in the development of management strategies aimed at their conservation

The Prognostic Value of Pyrosequencing-Detected MGMT Promoter Hypermethylation in Newly Diagnosed Patients with Glioblastoma

O6-methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase (MGMT) has emerged as a relevant predictor of therapeutic response and good prognosis in patients with glioblastoma (GBM). Transcriptionally active MGMT rapidly removes the alkyl adducts, preventing the formation of cross-links and thereby causing resistance to alkylating drugs. Studies with pyrosequencing (PSQ) showed that this technique has a higher reproducibility and sensitivity than other techniques. However, the definition of a prognostically relevant threshold for the percentage of MGMT methylation remains one of the most critical issues in the use of PSQ analysis. The aim of this study was to define the cut-off value correlated with good favourable prognostic outcomes. We retrospectively analyzed 51 patients (33 males, 18 females) with GBM who underwent surgery or biopsy. The Receiver Operating Characteristics analysis showed that the best possible criteria for PSQ-detected percentage of MGMT methylation that predicted progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 19% and 13%, respectively. Patients with ≤19% of PSQ-detected MGMT had a shorter PFS (HR: 0.24, &lt; 0.01); those ones with ≤13% had a shorter OS (HR: 0.33, &lt; 0.05). Our study reinforces the importance of MGMT in the management of GBM patients, but future studies with larger sample sizes are warranted to confirm our findings

The On-Site Analysis of the Cherenkov Telescope Array

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory will be one of the largest ground-based very high-energy gamma-ray observatories. The On-Site Analysis will be the first CTA scientific analysis of data acquired from the array of telescopes, in both northern and southern sites. The On-Site Analysis will have two pipelines: the Level-A pipeline (also known as Real-Time Analysis, RTA) and the level-B one. The RTA performs data quality monitoring and must be able to issue automated alerts on variable and transient astrophysical sources within 30 seconds from the last acquired Cherenkov event that contributes to the alert, with a sensitivity not worse than the one achieved by the final pipeline by more than a factor of 3. The Level-B Analysis has a better sensitivity (not be worse than the final one by a factor of 2) and the results should be available within 10 hours from the acquisition of the data: for this reason this analysis could be performed at the end of an observation or next morning. The latency (in particular for the RTA) and the sensitivity requirements are challenging because of the large data rate, a few GByte/s. The remote connection to the CTA candidate site with a rather limited network bandwidth makes the issue of the exported data size extremely critical and prevents any kind of processing in real-time of the data outside the site of the telescopes. For these reasons the analysis will be performed on-site with infrastructures co-located with the telescopes, with limited electrical power availability and with a reduced possibility of human intervention. This means, for example, that the on-site hardware infrastructure should have low-power consumption. A substantial effort towards the optimization of high-throughput computing service is envisioned to provide hardware and software solutions with high-throughput, low-power consumption at a low-cost.Comment: In Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2015), The Hague, The Netherlands. All CTA contributions at arXiv:1508.0589

Increasing Clinical Virulence in Two Decades of the Italian HIV Epidemic

The recent origin and great evolutionary potential of HIV imply that the virulence of the virus might still be changing, which could greatly affect the future of the pandemic. However, previous studies of time trends of HIV virulence have yielded conflicting results. Here we used an established methodology to assess time trends in the severity (virulence) of untreated HIV infections in a large Italian cohort. We characterized clinical virulence by the decline slope of the CD4 count (n = 1423 patients) and the viral setpoint (n = 785 patients) in untreated patients with sufficient data points. We used linear regression models to detect correlations between the date of diagnosis (ranging 1984–2006) and the virulence markers, controlling for gender, exposure category, age, and CD4 count at entry. The decline slope of the CD4 count and the viral setpoint displayed highly significant correlation with the date of diagnosis pointing in the direction of increasing virulence. A detailed analysis of riskgroups revealed that the epidemics of intravenous drug users started with an apparently less virulent virus, but experienced the strongest trend towards steeper CD4 decline among the major exposure categories. While our study did not allow us to exclude the effect of potential time trends in host factors, our findings are consistent with the hypothesis of increasing HIV virulence. Importantly, the use of an established methodology allowed for a comparison with earlier results, which confirmed that genuine differences exist in the time trends of HIV virulence between different epidemics. We thus conclude that there is not a single global trend of HIV virulence, and results obtained in one epidemic cannot be extrapolated to others. Comparison of discordant patterns between riskgroups and epidemics hints at a converging trend, which might indicate that an optimal level of virulence might exist for the virus