Effectiveness of benralizumab in severe eosinophilic asthma: Distinct sub-phenotypes of response identified by cluster analysis.

Background: Benralizumab is effective in severe eosinophilic asthma (SEA), but suboptimal responses are observed in some patients. Although several factors have been associated with benralizumab response, no cluster analysis has yet been undertaken to identify different responsiveness sub-phenotypes. Objective: To identify SEA sub-phenotypes with differential responsiveness to benralizumab. Methods: One hundred and five patients diagnosed with SEA who had completed 6 months of benralizumab treatment were included in a hierarchical cluster analysis based on a set of clinical variables that can be easily collected in routine practice (age, age at disease onset, disease length, allergen sensitization status, blood eosinophil count, IgE levels, FEV1% predicted, nasal polyposis, bronchiectasis). Results: Four clusters were identified: Clusters 2 and 3 included patients with high levels of both IgE and eosinophils (type-2 biomarkers high), whereas Clusters 1 and 4 included patients with only one type-2 biomarker at a high level: IgE in Cluster 1 and eosinophils in Cluster 4. Clusters 2 and 3 (both type-2 biomarkers high) showed the highest response rate to benralizumab in terms of elimination of exacerbations (79% and 80% respectively) compared to Clusters 1 and 4 (52% and 60% respectively). When super-response (the absence of exacerbation without oral corticosteroid use) was assessed, Cluster 2, including patients with more preserved lung function than the other clusters, but comparable exacerbation rate, oral corticosteroid use and symptom severity, was the most responsive cluster (87.5% of patients). Conclusions: Our cluster analysis identified benralizumab differential response sub-phenotypes in SEA, with the potential of improving disease treatment and precision management

How young people perceive environmental issues, react to ecological concerns and commit themselves to sustainable behaviours

Environmental issues have gained widespread prominence, contributing to growing environmental awareness and positive action for the environment. Young people have participated in global green movements that call on policy makers to consider environmental protection as a priority on their agendas. This paper aims to investigate young people's awareness of the dangerous effects of climate change and subsequent pro-environmental actions through an online survey of 2,041 high school students. Data analysis is conducted using Classification Trees and Random Forest to identify sustainable behaviours. The results show that the younger generation has a strong awareness of environmental conditions and is, in part, engaged by adopting best ecological practices and actively caring for the environment

UN'INDAGINE SU ALCUNE AREE DI DIFFICOLTA' NELL'INSEGNAMENTO DELLA LINGUA INGLESE

Il volume mira ad individuare alcune aree di debolezza nel teaching e nel learning dell’inglese rilevabili nell’insegnamento negli Istituti di secondo grado di Bari e Provincia. L’indagine è volta a riscontrare debolezze tanto di natura metodologica quanto strutturale e a tale scopo è stato predisposto un questionario di valutazione che consente una misurazione affidabile dei dati richiesti. Il volume include una sezione metodologica ed esplicativa sulla costruzione dei questionari per le indagini conoscitive nel contesto dell’apprendimento della lingua inglese e per la msiurazione delle variabili psicologiche. Dai risultati dello studio emerge un quadro innovativo per quanto riguarda i processi di interazione e di integrazione; i dati ottenuti meriterebbero approfondimenti ulteriori su scala regionale e/o nazionale

Prime riflessioni su composizione e disuguaglianza nella distribuzione della ricchezza delle famiglie in Puglia e in Italia nel 2012

Il presente contributo si pone l’obiettivo di studiare la disuguaglianza nella distribuzione della ricchezza delle famiglie pugliesi e italiane nell’anno 2012, nonché di indagare, attraverso l’analisi delle singole componenti della ricchezza, sulle possibili determinanti di tale variabilità. I dati provengono dall’Indagine sui Bilanci delle Famiglie italiane 2012, una rilevazione campionaria condotta dalla Banca d’Italia con cadenza biennale. Il campione coinvolge 8.151 famiglie italiane, di cui 516 pugliesi. Benché siano disponibili anche i dati disaggregati per componente familiare, ai fini del presente lavoro si prenderanno in considerazione le famiglie e, in particolare, la distribuzione della ricchezza nel complesso e scomposta in attività reali, attività finanziarie e passività finanziarie. Applicando la metodologia di scomposizione moltiplicativa del rapporto di concentrazione di Gini proposta da Kakwani nel 1977 e da Shorrocks nel 1982 ed utilizzata, successivamente, da vari autori per la scomposizione per fonti dell’indice di concentrazione del reddito totale (Lerman e Yitzhaki, 1985 e Jedrzejczak, 2008), l’analisi dei dati sulla ricchezza complessiva e sulle componenti che la determinano, come anticipato, consentirà di accertare il contributo apportato da ciascuna componente alla concentrazione della ricchezza complessiva. Nel paragrafo 2 verranno illustrati i risultati dell’analisi esplorativa condotta sul sottoinsieme delle sole famiglie pugliesi e italiane che possiedono ciascuna delle tre componenti della ricchezza nonché ricchezza totale positiva attraverso i principali indicatori sintetici: le incidenze percentuali, i valori medi e i rapporti di concentrazione di Gini. Nel paragrafo 3, applicando la metodologia di scomposizione del rapporto di concentrazione della ricchezza totale innanzi citata, i suddetti indicatori verranno nuovamente calcolati considerando tutte le famiglie del campione, anche quelle per le quali le diverse componenti della ricchezza e la ricchezza totale sono pari a zero o negative, e saranno inoltre calcolati per ciascuna componente le quote sulla ricchezza totale e gli indici di correlazione tra la singola componente della ricchezza e la ricchezza totale, sì da pervenire alla determinazione del contributo di ciascuna componente al rapporto di concentrazione della ricchezza totale. Nel paragrafo 4 verranno illustrate sinteticamente le principali conclusioni

L’approccio modellistico per una programmazione più efficace dei processi amministrativi: il caso della mortalità da Covid-19

: La gestione della recente esperienza della pandemia ha evidenziato la necessità di accelerare il cambiamento culturale in atto nella pubblica amministrazione e di fondare il processo decisionale sulla conoscenza e analisi dei fenomeni attraverso dati affidabili e tempestivi. Il presente lavoro intende dare un contributo in tal senso, evidenziando l’importanza di utilizzare i dati, che solitamente vengono rilevati per finalità amministrative, per supportare anche la programmazione strategica. In particolare, ricostruita in formato elettronico la serie dei decessi nel comune di Bari dal 2010 ad oggi partendo dalle denunce di morte, l’approccio classico di analisi delle serie storiche, con l’individuazione delle singole componenti, ha consentito di sviluppare un modello che potrà essere utilizzato in maniera funzionale ai processi organizzativi interni, conservando la sua validità anche cambiando la tipologia di dati in input

Students¶ experience with distance learning during Covid 19 pandemic in Southern Italy. Una esperienza di didattica a distanza in alcuni studenti del Sud Italia durante la pandemia Covid 19

Approximately two years after the Covid19 pandemic, researchers are interested in assessing its impact on society, mental health, and education. To ensure continuity of instruction, students participated in classes from home. While the technical problems were somehow manageable, the deterioration of mental health was undoubtedly more difficult to cope with and, likely, had traumatic effects on many young people. With a survey of 1,887 high school students in the city of Bari (Italy) we aimed to investigate relevant aspects of social well-being, mental health, and relationships between distance learning and student performance. The results showed that students maintained their performance in distance learning despite suffering from psychological weakness, restlessness and anxiety. This could have interesting implications for school administrators and students

The link between CSR and CFP in the financial sector. A literature review (1995-2017)

The paper proposes a systematic-narrative literature review, as a new study in the scenario of the literature on the linkage between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Financial Performance (CFP) in financial sector. Based on a hand-collected dataset regarding remarkable studies published from 1995 to the first half of 2017, the study reviews and codes 39 relevant papers investigating the topic. Then, the study realizes, first, an exploratory analysis of the papers in the sample, with descriptive synthesis of principal evidences; secondly, a statistical analysis, with evidence from quantitative results reported in the selected papers, that are considered as observations of the relationship between the CFP and CSP (Corporate Social Performance). The variability of the estimates is investigated by means of the inferential statistical techniques. Both descriptive and inferential analyses show that CSR is linked to financial performance and, in particular, that CSR has a positive influence on financial performance

La trasformazione digitale delle imprese: strumenti attuali e prospettive future (capitolo 5)

Italy is facing a structural decline in the productive sectors that have been the engine of growth in recent years. The emergence and/or development of other economic activities that could reverse this situation have not been observed to date. Industrial policy is sustaining the production system, reconciling economic and socio-environmental conditions, of which the sustainability of technical progress is particularly important. The recent pandemic has rendered this scenario more complex because it has accelerated the contraction of manufacturing and the spending power of individuals and families. The advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution has affected the European and Italian production systems in very different ways. There is still no consensus on when the Fourth Industrial Revolution began or whether it entirely overlaps with the Industry 4.0 paradigm. This concerns the factory of the future, based on the adoption of intelligent production and the result of enabling and operational technologies. Some of the objectives of Industry 4.0 are: to achieve productivity gains, encourage the formation of collaborative working systems and optimise the inter-organisational relationships of industrial eco-systems. The digitalisation processes imply that the system adopts the individual rules, since the knowledge embedded in the technology is dogmatic in nature. This necessarily implies a very high degree of acceptance, adherence and conformity of individual processes to those required by the general rules. The risks associated with the pervasive nature of digitalisation and interconnection processes also produce negative effects, including the strengthening of concentration without centralisation, both for processes and products. Digitalisation is also profoundly changing the job market. Indeed, advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning also generate automation of the production process through the introduction of robots that function, learn and react like humans, to the extent that they can replace them. Given the inadequacy of their skills, less skilled workers could have less incentive to improve. The increasing use of information technologies in the labour market, the possibility to automate a growing range of tasks and the opportunity to provide skills through online platforms have different economic and social implications for users. Consequently, differentiated approaches are required. New digital technologies create new professions and new ways to deliver skills to the market, while online platforms bring about major changes, especially in certain sectors, thus facilitating self-employment. Digital platforms reorganise a wide range of markets, employment relationships and contracts, and create and capture value (Kenney and Zysman, 2016). This then raises questions about the social protection and rights of employees, as well as their ability to access and afford the necessary education and training. Indeed, if the proportion of workers whose main activity is carried out on online platforms were to increase, the relationship between workers and employers would become more fluid, reducing involvement of the entrepreneur in training policies and human contact. The contributions in this volume focus on all these aspects of digitalisation. The book brings together the results of investigations by researchers from different Italian universities within the project “The Digitalisation of Firms. New perspectives in the era of Industry 4.0” at the University of Foggia. The aim is to analyse how technology, innovation and digitalisation have changed the various economic sectors, with a particular focus on Italy where the institutional factor still plays a highly significant role

Do young people really engage in sustainable behaviors in their lifestyles?

In recent years, environmental problems have become a serious issue worldwide due to the increasing damage caused by climate change. People’s environmental awareness has grown, and public opinion is now demanding effective action from governments. Young people around the world are playing an important role in this, with the Fridays For Future movement, calling on policymakers to make environmental protection one of their political priorities. Through a survey of 1,975 high school students, this paper aims to contribute to the study of young people’s sustainable behaviors and their awareness to take effective action against environmental degradation, to explore their concerns and opinions about environmental issues, and to find out what ecological practices they are willing to adopt in their daily lives. Data analysis is conducted using tree-based methods to examine the sustainable behaviors and define the key practices that constitute them. The results of classification tree show that sustainable behaviors impact lifestyles, whether through less demanding actions such as turning off the faucet or appliances, or willingness to work as a volunteer, among others. The Random Forest provides us with a ranked list of sustainable behaviors that young people engage in to reduce and stop environmental degradation. The results of this study may be of interest to policy makers who need to plan educational pathways for students from elementary school to university, as environmental culture must be a cornerstone of our society