7,241 research outputs found

    Tandem, triple and quadruple junction polymer solar cells

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    Monolithic zirconia and digital impression: case report

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    The aim of this study is to present a clinical case of a full arch prosthetic rehabilitation on natural teeth, combining both digital work-flow and monolithic zirconi

    Blessing or Curse? The Rise of Tourism-Led Growth in Europe's Southern Periphery

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    Despite being one of the world's major internationally traded services, tourism remains neglected within debates on European integration and growth models. We highlight the rise of tourism-led growth in southern Europe and argue that the process of European integration has been a double-edged sword, simultaneously incentivizing and forcing southern European economies to reap their comparative advantage in tourism. While European integration has created the preconditions for the expansion of intra-European tourism, monetary integration pre-empts macroeconomic management. Since the eurozone crisis, internal devaluation and fiscal austerity have suppressed the domestic growth drivers, inducing these governments towards an export-led growth strategy. We document the emergence of unprecedented tourism-related current account surpluses in southern Europe, driven strongly by tourism imports from the EMU core countries and the UK. Thus, while different export-led growth strategies now coexist in the EMU, southern Europe's excessive reliance on international tourism for growth comes with severe pitfalls.Introduction I The Political Economy of European Economic and Monetary Integration II International Tourism as an Export-Led Growth Strategy III How European Integration Has Underpinned the Expansion of Tourism IV The Rise of Tourism-Led Growth in Southern Europe after the Crisis Conclusion: Tourism-Led Growth in the European Political Economy Acknowledgements Supporting Information Reference

    Governing through Non‐Enforcement: Regulatory Forbearance as Industrial Policy in Advanced Economies

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    Political economy scholarship generally assumes that governments are interested in enforcing economic regulations. Cases of non-enforcement are predominantly studied in the context of developing countries and are chiefly associated with states’ deficient institutional capacity. This article casts doubts on these assumptions by showing how governments in advanced democracies manipulate the regulatory regime and generate selective non-enforcement of economic regulations to shape markets at their discretion. We argue that regulatory forbearance becomes an attractive form of industrial policy when governments are prevented from intervening discretionally in markets due to legal obstacles, which they cannot overcome; or when the productive structure of the country makes alternative forms of intervention unviable. Drawing on the study of tax non-enforcement in two most-different cases of strong and weak state capacity such as Germany and Italy, the article theorizes three techniques through which governments manipulate regulatory regimes: legal and organizational sabotage and shirking. By shedding light on the economic logic of forbearance, the article points at non-enforcement as an overlooked mode of regulatory governance and suggests the need to inquire further into governments’ strategic agency behind regulatory regimes.1 Introduction 2 Non-enforcement in the literature 3 The economic logic of forbearance 4 Governments' incentives to pursue economic forbearance 5 Forbearance through the strategic manipulation of regulatory regimes 6 Logic of case selection 7 Forbearance in action 8 Concluding discussion Acknowledgements Reference

    Germany Is Likely to Shift Toward Wage Restraint as Inflation Concerns Mount

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    Rising inflation has put pressure on social partners across Europe to adjust real wages to meet rising living costs. Yet, concerns have also been raised about the risk of a ‘wage-price spiral’ developing if wages rise excessively. Donato Di Carlo and Martin Höpner assess wage-setting in Germany, finding evidence that the country is likely to shift toward wage restraint in the coming years. If other eurozone countries are unwilling – or unable – to mimic Germany’s wage moderation, distortion of real exchange rates in the eurozone could follow, posing a threat to the single currency

    Tourism in Southern Europe: Potential and Perils

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    The return of tourists to southern Europe’s squeezed resorts is not an unmixed blessing

    Energy and economic analysis of a residential Solar Organic Rankine plant

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    To answer the actual energy, water, economic, social and environmental challenges, renewable, distributed power plants need to be developed. Among renewables, solar tri-generative power plants can be a solution where there is big low temperature heating/cooling demand and small electricity demand, like many residential and industrial utilities. In this case, solar thermal plants can produce thermal energy with low cost and high efficiency. The higher temperature heat not needed by the user can be exploited via Organic Rankine Cycle to produce electrical energy and desalinized water via reverse osmosis. The present paper analyses, via TRNSYS simulation, a system composed of 50 m2 of CPC solar thermal collectors, 3 m3 of thermal storage, a synthetic heat transfer fluid, 3 kWe ORC, 8 kWth absorber, 200 l/h direct reverse osmosis desalination device. The system is able to produce power, heating/cooling and fresh water needs for a residential house. Although system’s components are well known technologies, the integration to a efficient and economic working system is still a challenge. Global energy and economic analyses have been performed. Low temperature heating/cooling terminals allow to increase not only the use of thermal energy but also the ORCand absorber efficiency. ORC-Absorber configuration and relative fluids and temperatures are central. Government support and/or cost reduction of 30% are necessary to have positive NPV and acceptable PBT and IR

    Implant survival and success rates in patients with risk factors: results from a long-term retrospective study with a 10 to 18 years follow-up

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    OBJECTIVE: Risk factors for implant therapy are represented by all general and local conditions that through various mechanisms can increase either short-term and long-term failure risk. The aim of this study is to assess the implant survival and implant success rates with single and multiple risk factors. PATIENTS AND METHODS: To address the research purpose, a retrospective cohort study was designed and implemented, including a sample of 225 patients with a total of 871 implants placed. The following risk factors were considered: smoking, bruxism, bone augmentation procedures and the presence of load risk (implants with crown/implant relation > 0.8; angulation > 25°; presence of cantilever). Follow-up ranged from 10 years to 18 years (average follow-up 13.6 years). Failures were subdivided into short-term failures, before the prosthetic phase, and long-term failures, after definitive prosthesis. The success criteria published by Albrektsson and Zarb were adopted. A Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to calculate hazard ratio, with a statistically significant p-value <0.05. RESULTS: Out of the 871 implants placed, 138 did not meet the success criteria, (success rate 84.16%), sixty (43.47%) were classified as "early failure" and seventy-eight as "late failure" (56.53%). A total of 70 dental implants were removed, with a survival rate of 91.96%. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of a single risk factor does not imply a marked increase of failure risk. Among the analyzed factors, the one that proved to be the most dangerous was bruxism, even when presented as the only risk factor. Bruxism with load risk proved to be the most dangerous association (success rate 69.23%) and could be included among the absolute contraindications for implant treatment

    A randomized clinical trial about presence of pathogenic microflora and risk of peri-implantitis: comparison of two different types of implant-abutment connections

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    OBJECTIVE: The aim of this in vivo study was to evaluate two different types of implant-abutment connections: screwed connection and cemented connection, analyzing peri-implant bacteria microflora as well as other clinical parameters. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty implants were selected, inserted in 20 patients, 10 with a screwed implant-abutment connection (Group 1) and 10 with a cemented implant-abutment connection (Group 2). The peri-implant microflora was collected, after at least 360 days from the prosthetic rehabilitation, using paper points inserted in peri-implant sulcus for 30 s. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) Real-time analyzed the presence of 9 bacteria periodontal-pathogens and Candida albicans. RESULTS: Our findings showed that bacteria colonized all Groups analyzed, the average bacterial count was 3.7 E +08 (±1.19) in Group 1, compared to 2.1 E +08 (±0.16) in Group 2; no statistically significant differences were observed (p>0.0.5). In Group 1, however, bacterial colonization of peri-implant sulci was over the pathogenic threshold for 5 bacteria, indicating a high-risk of peri-implantitis. Also in Group 2, results showed a microflora composed by all bacteria analyzed but, in this case, bacterial colonization of peri-implant sulci was over the pathogenic threshold for only 1 bacterium, indicating a lower risk of peri-implantitis. Moreover, clinical parameters (PPD > 3 mm and m SBI > 0) confirmed a greater risk of peri-implantitis in Group 1 compared to Group 2 (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that, also after only 360 days, implants with screwed connection showed a higher risk of peri-implantitis that implants with cemented connection

    Corrosion behavior of dental implants immersed into human saliva: Preliminary results of an in vitro study

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    Over the years, dif- ferent implant surfaces have been used to try to maximize bone to implant contact. The aim of this study was to compare levels of metallic ions and particles dissolution collected from two dif- ferent dental implants surfaces immersed into human saliva. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 60 den- tal implants were tested. Group A: sanded with aluminium oxide medium grade particles and ac- id-etched; Group B: micro-sanded with calcium phosphate powders and acid-etched. Forty im- plants were immersed in 20 ml of human saliva, twenty, as a control, in sterile saline solution. ICP-MS was performed to detect any metallic ions released from dental implants at T0, on day 1 (T1), on day 3 (T2), after one week (T3), on day 14 (T4), after 3 months (T5) and after 6 months (T6). RESULTS: Dissolution of metallic particles of titanium and nickel, absent in human saliva (T0), were found after one week (T3) for Group B and after 3 months (T5) for Group A. Vanadium was already detected in small concentrations in either group after 1 day, with an exponential growth for Group B. CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary results reported signi cant values of Ti, Ni and V released by Group B, showing for the rst time statistically signi cant values of vanadium
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