A Review and Analysis of Traffic Data Sources

Transportation is essential for economic and social development, and vehicle flow data can be used for safety monitoring, pollution analysis, and traffic flow management. Unfortunately, traffic management and control centres do not always comply with codified standards, making it difficult to obtain up-To-date data. This paper analyses open traffic datasets and Italian public traffic data sources available online, providing a knowledge base for transportation managers and researchers. Open traffic datasets are dimensionality-reduced and clustered. An event with 209,135 visitors is used to benchmark the public data sources, the time series of traffic flows are decomposed and a regression tree is used to identify different periods. The results suggest that the available Italian sensor grid is not fine enough to identify all incoming and outgoing traffic, more infrastructure investments are required or the available measurements should be coupled with other evaluation approaches capable of extending the punctual data through mathematical means

Cost-benefit evaluation of investment in natural gas distribution

Investment in the distribution of natural gas must be assessed by combining a technical analysis of the investment and an assessment of the social costs and benefits, to evaluate the impact of the project on social welfare in monetary terms. This paper describes how such an analysis can be conducted, by developing a methodology for the evaluation of investment in the distribution of natural gas. Once the net social benefit (NSB) of the investment has been evaluated, it is also important to assess the degree of reliability of such an estimate. This assessment can be conducted through two types of tests: sensitivity analysis and risk analysis. The critical variables are identified in sensitivity analysis as those that have a significant impact on the predicted outcome when they change. To address any uncertainties in the critical variables, a risk analysis quantifies the probability that the NSB is less than that estimated when using modal values for the critical variables. This type of analysis, combined with a technical evaluation, can be effectively used to assess the social consequences of an investment

Distributed renewable energy generation: a critical review based on the three pillars of sustainability

Reducing emissions responsible for the climate change is recognized as a strategic goal at European and global level. A higher deployment of renewable energy sources is considered as essential for a low-carbon transition, towards a more sustainable energy system. The 2030 Framework for Climate and Energy sets out the European Union target for 2030 of at least 27% for the share of renewable energy consumption. A high share of renewables requires a new flexible and integrated electricity system to ensure grid stability and match supply and demand. The advances in technologies for renewable electricity and heating production, efficient storage solutions, and advanced ICT allow flexible electrical infrastructures: distributed renewable energy generation is now widely recognized as the main pathway towards an effective integration of discontinuous sources into the energy system. The discussion on renewable energy sources introduction in the energy system has long been focused on technical, economic and policy issues, but the transition to a distributed renewable energy generation approach demands a change of perspective, considering a multi-sectoral sustainability view and the need for multi-stakeholder action. Purpose of this research is reviewing the more recent scientific papers on the distributed renewable energy generation approach, focusing on how all the three key sustainability dimensions, environmental, economic and social, are evaluated and managed in a multi-criteria perspective. The sustainability indicators suggested in literature are classified and discussed to build up an up-to-date and comprehensive set of sustainability related criteria, suitable for future research applications and for supporting decision making processes

Logistic regression for criteria weight elicitation in PROMETHEE-based ranking methods

For a PROMETHEE II method used to rank concurrent alternatives both preference functions and weights are required, and if the weights are unknown, they can be elicited by leveraging present or past partial rankings. If the known partial ranking is incorrect, the eliciting methods are ineffective. In this paper a logistic regression method for weight elicitation is proposed to tackle this scenario. An experiment is carried out to compare the logistic regression method performance against a state-of-the-art linear weight elicitation method, proving the validity of the proposed methodology

First Report of 'Candidatus Phytoplasma phoenicium' on Almond in Southern Italy

In spring 2017, phytoplasma suspected symptoms were reported on 25% of 15-year-old almond plants, cultivars Filippo Ceo and Genco grafted onto GF677, in a commercial orchard (20 ha) located at Grottaglie, Apulia (southeast Italy). Among the symptoms, development of many axillary buds with small and yellowish leaves, and witches' brooms developing from the trunk, were the most frequent, followed by leaf rosetting, proliferation of slender shoots, tree decline, and dieback

Prepectoral breast reconstruction: an ideal approach to bilateral risk-reducing mastectomy

Background: Bilateral risk-reducing mastectomy (BRRM) has increased its popularity in the last years because of its aim to minimise the chances of developing breast cancer in high-risk patients. Women undergoing this procedure must be considered highly demanding patients given the need to combine aesthetical, functional and preventive desires. This study aims to present the authors’ experience in performing BRRM followed by single-stage prepectoral reconstruction (PPBR) with implant completely covered by acellular dermal matrix (ADM) and to report indications, surgical techniques, functional and aesthetic results. Methods: A single-centre prospective data collection was carried out from January 2017 to January 2021 of patients at high risk of developing breast cancer undergoing BRRM and immediate PPBR with ADM. Patients were subdivided into two groups according to the breast shape: Group A had small and medium size breasts and Group B had large and ptotic breasts. Oncological and surgical outcomes were collected. Satisfaction with reconstruction and related quality of life were evaluated through the BREAST-Q questionnaire. Results: A total of twenty-three patients met the inclusion criteria. Seventeen patients were included in group A and six patients in group B. Average follow-up was 18.4 months. Minor complications occurred in four breasts: one seroma, one hematoma and two cases of wound dehiscence. Capsular contracture was not observed. All patients were satisfed with the fnal result according to the post-operative BREAST-Q questionnaire. Conclusions: Immediate prepectoral breast reconstruction could represent the ideal reconstruction option after BRRM and should be offered to all women that fulfl the inclusion criteria

An Attempt at Creating Total Theatre. Scene del potere by Domenico Guaccero

When approaching Scene del potere – ‘azione scenica’ conceived and developed by Domenico Guaccero over the span of nearly a decade (1961–1968) and staged for the first and only time on 30 December 1968 at Palermo’s Teatro Biondo – there is a high risk of being overwhelmed by the preparatory materials alone. The bulk of the textual and scenic-dramaturgical preliminary materials that leads from the first draft, tentatively titled Il potere, to the 1965 Scene del potere and its Palermo debut, is of a multifold entity. Its amount of sources, formative elements and programmatic intent is both fascinating and confusing in its labyrinthine combinations. Let it suffice to point out that the textual and scenic-dramaturgical preparatory materials consist of more than one hundred pages of handwritten and typed notes, summaries, sketches, drawings, newspaper and magazine clippings. The Fondo Domenico Guaccero also preserves letters regarding the inception and outcomes of the project, a ‘skeleton’ score of the preliminary draft Il potere and a handwritten copy of 1968’s final score of Scene del potere. Among these sources we can also find a photocopy of the score with side-notes by Egisto Macchi. It is therefore no wonder that the essays written on Scene del potere have mainly focused on the groundwork and on the composer’s programmatic intent. Given such considerations, the present article aims at offering an in-depth examination of Scene del potere, seen not as its initiatory process but observed in its completion: the final version of 1968. Through a detailed study of the score, it is possible to determine whether and how the composer’s programmatic intent found its fulfilment in the ultimate outcome of his work

p53 status identifies triple negative breast cancer patients who do not respond to adjuvant chemotherapy

Genomic analysis and protein expression assimilate triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) with basal-like breast tumors. TNBCs, however, have proved to encompass also tumors with normal-like phenotype and known to have favorable prognosis and to respond to chemotherapy. In a recent paper, we have provided evidence that p53 status is able to subdivide TNBCs into two distinct subgroups with different outcome, and consistent with basal- and normal-like phenotypes. Based on this finding, we explored the contribution of p53 status in predicting the response to adjuvant CMF or CMF followed doxorubicin chemotherapy of a group of TNBC patients. Results indicated that TNBC patients with a p53-positive tumor had a shorter relapse-free and overall survival than patients carrying a p53-negative TNBC, corroborating our hypothesis about the relationship between TNBC phenotype (basal-like versus normal-like) and p53 status as predictor of response to antracycline/CMF-based chemotherapy