Measuring financial well-being in Europe using a fuzzy set approach

Purpose – This paper aims to apply a multidimensional approach to assessing the financial well-being of European countries. Design/methodology/approach – Financial well-being is a very complex phenomenon to measure because it is composed of different dimensions. Therefore, this paper uses a multidimensional and fuzzy methodology to assess financial well-being in Europe. The financial well-being fuzzy indicator was calculated using European Quality of Life Survey data. Findings – Financial well-being is heterogeneous across European countries. This evidence is confirmed both at the level of overall financial well-being and at the level of sub-indices. The degree of financial wellbeing is not directly related to wealth as traditionally measured (i.e. GDP), but shows some correspondence with socio-economic characteristics of the population and with governance and cultural elements of a country. Practical implications – Understanding financial well-being could help financial institutions to transition from a one-size-fits-all approach to a more tailored approach when they provide financial services and could help policy makers to consider financial well-being when they decide how and where to allocate public spending. Originality/value – To the best of authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to employ a fuzzy methodology for the analysis of financial well-being in Europe. Keywords Financial well-being, Dimensions of financial well-being, Multidimensional and fuzzy set approach, Europe Paper type Research pape

Post-transcriptional regulation of HTLV gene expression: Rex to the rescue

Human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) and other members of the Deltaretrovirus genus code for a regulatory protein named Rex that binds to the Rex-responsive element present on viral mRNAs. Rex rescues viral mRNAs from complete splicing or degradation and guides them to the cytoplasm for translation. The activity of Rex is essential for expression of viral transcripts coding for the virion components and thus represents a potential target for virus eradication. We present an overview of the functional properties of the HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 Rex proteins (Rex-1 and Rex-2), outline mechanisms controlling Rex function, and discuss similarities and differences in the sequences of Rex coded by HTLV-1, -2, -3, and -4 that may influence their molecular anatomy and functional properties

Volcano monitoring and early warning on Mt Etna, Italy, using volcanic tremor – Methods and technical aspects

Recent activity on Mt Etna was characterized by 25 lava fountains occurred on Mt Etna in 2011 and the first semester of 2012. In summer 2012 volcanic activity in a milder form was noticed within the Bocca Nuova crater, before it came to an essential halt in August 2012. Together with previous unrests (e. g., in 2007-08) these events offer rich material for testing automatic data processing and alert issue in the context of volcano monitoring. Our presentation focuses on the seismic background radiation – volcanic tremor – which has a key role in the surveillance of Mt Etna. From 2006 on a multi-station alert system exploiting STA/LTA ratios, has been established in the INGV operative centre of Catania. Besides, also the frequency content has been found to change correspondingly to the type of volcanic activity, and can thus be exploited for warning purposes. We apply Self Organizing Maps and Fuzzy Clustering which offer an efficient way to visualize signal characteristics and its development with time. These techniques allow to identify early stages of eruptive events and automatically flag a critical status before this becomes evident in conventional monitoring techniques. Changes of tremor characteristics are related to the position of the source of the signal. Given the dense seismic network we can base the location of the sources on distribution of the amplitudes across the network. The locations proved to be extremely useful for warning throughout both a flank eruption in 2008 as well as the 2011 lava fountains. During all these episodes a clear migration of tremor sources towards the eruptive centres was revealed in advance. The location of the sources completes the picture of an imminent volcanic unrest and corroborates early warnings flagged by the changes of signal characteristics. Automatic real time data processing poses high demands on computational efficiency, robustness of the methods and stability of data acquisition. The amplitude based multi-station approach is not sensitive to the failure of single stations and therefore offers a good stability. On the other hand, the single station approach, exploiting unsupervised classification techniques, limits logistic efforts, as only one or few key stations are necessary. A common characteristics of both strategies is their robustness to disturbances (undesired transients like earthquakes, noise, short gaps in the continuous data flow). False alarms were not encountered so far. A critical issue it the reliability of data storage and access. Therefore, a specific hardware cluster architecture has been proposed for failover protection, including a Storage Area Network system. We present concepts of the software architectures which allow easy data access following predefined user policies. We also envisage the integration of seismic data and those originating from other scientific fields (e. g., volcano imagery, geochemistry, deformation, gravity, magneto-telluric). This will facilitate cross-checking of evidences encountered from the single data streams, in particular allow their immediate verification with respect to ground truth

High intensity cyclotrons for neutrino physics

In recent years, the interest in high intensity proton beams in excess of several milli-Amperes has risen. Potential applications are in neutrino physics, materials and energy research, and isotope production. Continuous wave proton beams of five to ten milli-Amperes are now in reach due to advances in accelerator technology and through improved understanding of the beam dynamics. As an example application, we present the proposed IsoDAR experiment, a search for so-called sterile neutrinos and non-standard interaction using the KamLAND detector located in Japan. We present updated sensitivities for this experiment and describe in detail the design of the high intensity proton driver that uses several novel ideas. These are: accelerating H2+ instead of protons, directly injecting beam into the cyclotron via a Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ), and carefully matching the beam to achieve so-called vortex motion. The preliminary design holds up well in PIC simulation studies and the injector system is now being constructed, to be commissioned with a 1 MeV test cyclotron

Health benefits of olive oil and by-products and possible innovative applications for industrial processes

In the last few years, the production of olive oil has incredibly increased due to its beneficial properties on human health. On the other hand, the amount of waste and by-products derived from the olive oil industry has increased as well, prompting the development of new fields of research aiming to reduce disposal costs and valorize bioactive compounds from the viewpoint of the green economy. Interestingly, olive oil and by-products contain numerous molecules, including phenols, exhibiting pleiotropic effects in both in vitro and in vivo studies. This review aims to describe the more recent studies focusing to identify and describe the potential roles and the new applications of extracts isolated from wastes and by-products or specific compounds, such as hydroxytyrosol (HT) and oleuropein. Extracts or bioactive molecules from olive oil and by-products have been proposed as a food additive, to produce biofuel, for animal feeding, and to create new matrices in bioremediation protocols. Moreover, bio-compounds have been described to have numerous beneficial effects on human health as they reduce the risk of developing certain chronic diseases. Despite the already published studies, more research is necessary to valorize bioactive compounds in olive oil and by-products, as well as their potential use to improve human health and green applications in different industrial processes. Keywords: extra virgin olive oil, by-products, olive leaf extract, bioactive compounds, human health, and industrial applicatio

Multispacer sequence typing of Coxiella burnetii from milk and hard tick samples from ruminant farms in Lebanon

his study was carried out to detect and characterize Coxiella burnetii in ruminant milk samples and in different tick species from seropositive farms in four Lebanese regions. Milk and tick samples were screened for C. burnetii presence by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) targeting IS1111 region followed by multispacer sequence typing (MST). The overall positive percentages of 9.6% (27/282) and 95.45% (84/88) for C. burnetii were recorded in ruminant milk and tick samples, respectively. In detail, the C. burnetii DNA was recorded in 52/54 (96.3%) of Rhipicephalus annulatus, 20/21 (95.24%) of Rhipicephalus turanicus, 6/6 (100%) of Hyalomma anatolicum, 5/6 (83.3%) of Rhipicephalus sanguineus and 1/1 of Rhipicephalus bursa. After genotyping of some IS1111-positive samples (17/111), different MST genotypes were identified. Out of 15 positive ticks, 10 were infected with MST2 genotype, 4 were infected with MST7 genotype and 1 was infected with MST57. Moreover, genotypes MST20 and MST58 were found in one cow and one goat milk samples, respectively. The present study confirmed the high genetic diversity of C. burnetii in Lebanon

The Mt. Etna data mining software

Mt. Etna is permanently active requiring a continuous data acquisition a multidisciplinary monitoring system where huge data masses accumulate and pose severe difficulties of interpretation. Therefore the INGV staff has developed a number of software tools for data mining, aiming at identifying structures in the data which can be related to the volcanic activity and furnish criteria for the definition of alert systems. We tackle the problem by applying methods of clustering and classification. We identify data groups by defining a measure of similarity or distance. Data groups may assume various shapes, once forming convex clouds once complex concave bodies. The tool “KKAanalysis” is a basket of clustering methods and forms the backbone of the tremor-based automatic alarm system of INGV-OE. It exploits both SOM and Fuzzy Clustering. Besides seismic data the concept has been applied to petrochemic data as well as in a combined analysis of gas-emission data and seismic data. The software “DBSCAN” focuses on density-based clustering that allows discovering clusters with arbitrary shape. Here, clusters are defined as dense regions of objects in the data space separated by regions of low density. In DBSCAN a cluster grows guaranteeing that the density within a group of objects exceeds some threshold. In the context of volcano monitoring the method is particularly promising in the recognition of ash particles as they have a rather irregular shape. The “MOTIF” software allows identifying typical wave forms in time series. It overcomes shortages of methods like cross- correlation, which entail a high computational effort. MOTIF on the other hand can recognize non-similarity of two patterns on a small number of data points without going through the whole length of the data vectors. The development includes modules for feature extraction and post-processing verifying the validity of the results obtained by the classifiers.PublishedNicolosi (Catania, Italy)2V. Dinamiche di unrest e scenari pre-eruttiviope

Ultrasound B-lines for detection of late lung fibrosis in breast cancer patients after radiation therapy

Background and purpose. Radiation therapy (RT) for breast cancer after conservative surgery can be life-saving but remains associated with significant late side effects, including lung fibrosis, detected by chest CT. Aim of this study was to assess whether lung ultrasound (LUS) may detect late lung fibrosis through the biomarker of B-lines. Materials and methods. We evaluated 30 women (median age 67 years, range 46-80 years) about 3-8 years after RT (follow up 38-101 months, median 58 months) for left (n = 12) or right (n = 18) breast cancer (stage 1, n = 24; stage 2, n = 6), treated with total dose 40.5 – 50.00 Gy with/without boost dose). In all, both treated and contralateral hemithorax were evaluated. LUS was performed and B-lines evaluated with a 28-region antero-lateral scan, from second to fifth intercostal spaces, along the mid-axillary, anterior axillary, mid-clavicular, and arasternal lines. In each space, the B-lines were counted from 0 = black lung to 10 = white lung. The sum of B-lines in all spaces generated the B-line score of each hemithorax. Results. Median B-line score was higher in the irradiated site than in the contralateral control hemithorax (9, 1st-3rd quartiles: 2-23 vs 3, 1st-3rd quartiles: 1-4; P median value of 2.7 Gy) were associated with more B-lines when compared to lower doses (< 2.7 Gy): 9 vs 5, p < 0.001. Conclusion. RT in female breast cancer survivors is associated with increase in B-lines in the targeted hemithorax, likely due to lung fibrosis, and related to the lung mean dose. LUS can provide a simple “echo-marker” of lung fibrosis.

Campagna oceanografica Anomcity_2016

Le attività scientifiche realizzate nell’ambito di questa campagna si inseriscono all’interno di programmi internazionali e nazionali condotti per il monitoraggio dei mari europei. Nello specifico si fa riferimento ai progetti Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD; Direttiva 2008/56 EC), Water Framework Directive (WFD; Direttiva 2000/60 EC) e al progetto bandiera RITMARE (SP4 - Pianificazione dello spazio marittimo: Ambiente di mare profondo). Parte delle direttive e il progetto succitati sono finalizzati allo studio di fenomeni di impatto antropico in ambiente marino superficiale e profondo e all'individuazione di azioni specifiche in grado di limitare e ridurre l’impatto antropogenico a livelli sostenibili per l’ecosistema marino. Oltre allo studio dei contaminanti prioritari, tra cui metalli pesanti e composti organici (IPA, PCB, pesticidi, etc.), le direttive MSFD e WFD prevedono lo studio di una nuova classe di contaminanti definiti “emergenti” perché risultanti principalmente dall'impiego di tecnologie e materiali innovativi, e dall'ampia diffusione di alcune sostanze nel campo della chimica, della farmacologia e della cosmoceutica. Il progetto RITMARE dedica parte delle attività di ricerca allo studio degli effetti del marine litter, ovvero all’impatto di macro- e micro-plastiche di origine antropica in ambiente marino superficiale e profondo. Nello specifico, il progetto prevede: i) lo studio della distribuzione geografica delle micro-plastiche e le possibili zone di concentrazione in aree marine specifiche per effetto della circolazione oceanica; ii) l’impatto di tali detriti sull’ecosistema, in termini di interazione con le funzioni vitali degli organismi (soffocamenti per ingestione, riduzione di capacità funzionali specifiche, ecc.) e di rilascio di contaminanti con fenomeni di bioaccumulo/biomagnificazione nelle reti trofiche marine. Negli ultimi anni, il gruppo di biogeochimica dell’IAMC-CNR ha realizzato una serie di campagne oceanografiche (Anomcity_2012, 2013, 2014, 2015) finalizzate allo studio dei processi di contaminazione da metalli pesanti e contaminanti organici a scala di bacino e sottobacino nel Mediterraneo occidentale. I risultati hanno permesso di individuare sorgenti di impatto, pathways di distribuzione e sorte dei diversi contaminanti nelle varie aree investigate (Bonsignore et al., 2013, 2015; Sprovieri et al., 2011, 2013; Salvagio Manta et al., 2016; Oliveri et al., 2016) nonché i cosiddetti “inventari” delle diverse tipologie di inquinati sulla base dello studio di carote di sedimento per cui è stata eseguita una datazione sulla base dei radionuclidi di Cs e Pb (dati non pubblicati). La Campagna Anomcity_2016 è stata incentrata su due obiettivi: 1. ampliamento dello stato di conoscenze sulla distribuzione in acqua di mare (fase disciolta) di un numero selezionato di contaminanti emergenti in aree marino-costiere del Mediterraneo impattate dall’attività antropica; 2. stima di abbondanza e distribuzione delle microplastiche in aree geografiche selezionate dal progetto RITMARE, considerando i processi di trasporto nell’ambiente, e di specie target come potenziali bioindicatori di accumulo di marine litter e analisi dei potenziali effetti di trasferimento sulla rete trofica. Per quanto concerne lo studio dei contaminanti emergenti, questa campagna ha rappresentato una delle primissime esperienze a scala internazionale dedicata a tale tipologia di indagine nel Mar Mediterraneo

Management of psoriatic arthritis: a consensus opinion by expert rheumatologists

Background: Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic inflammatory musculoskeletal disease involving several articular and extra-articular structures. Despite the important progresses recently made in all of the aspects of this disease, its management is still burdened by unresolved issues. The aim of this exercise was to provide a set of statements that may be helpful for the management of PsA. Methods: A group of 38 Italian rheumatologists with recognized expertise in PsA selected and addressed the following four topics: "early PsA," "axial-PsA," "extra-articular manifestations and comorbidities," "therapeutic goals." Relevant articles from the literature (2016-2022) were selected by the experts based on a PubMed search. A number of statements for each topic were elaborated. Results: Ninety-four articles were selected and evaluated, 68 out of the 1,114 yielded by the literature search and 26 added by the Authors. Each of the four topic was subdivided in themes as follows: transition from psoriasis to PsA, imaging vs. CASPAR criteria in early diagnosis, early treatment for "early PsA"; axial-PsA vs. axialspondyloarthritis, diagnosis, clinical evaluation, treatment, standard radiography vs. magnetic resonance imaging for "axial PsA"; influence of inflammatory bowel disease on the therapeutic choice, cardiovascular comorbidity, bone damage, risk of infection for "comorbidities and extra-articular manifestations"; target and tools, treat-to-target strategy, role of imaging for "therapeutic goals." The final document consisted of 49 statements. Discussion: The final product of this exercise is a set of statements concerning the main issues of PsA management offering an expert opinion for some unmet needs of this complex disease