Carbon monoxide concentrations evaluated by traffic noise data in urban areas

It is shown that variations in carbon monoxide concentrations can be evaluated by measuring environmental noise, wind velocity and vertical Thermal stability. The results can be justified on the basis of the theory of the street canyon effect. The methodology proposed was verified in two Italian cities with different characteristics: Milan and Ravenna

Probability density functions of photochemicals over a coastal area of Northern Italy

The present paper surveys the findings of experimental studies and analyses of statistical probability density functions (PDFs) applied to air pollutant concentrations to provide an interpretation of the ground-level distributions of photochemical oxidants in the coastal area of Ravenna (Italy). The atmospheric pollution data set was collected from the local environmental monitoring network for the period 1978-1989. Results suggest that the statistical distribution of surface ozone, once normalised over the solar radiation PDF for the whole measurement period, follows a log-normal law as found for other pollutants. Although the Weibull distribution also offers a good fit of the experimental data, the area’s meteorological features seem to favour the former distribution once the statistical index estimates have been analysed. Local transport phenomena are discussed to explain the data tail trends

Ab initio thermal expansion and thermoelastic properties of ringwoodite (\u3b3-Mg2SiO4) at mantle transition zone conditions

Thermal convection in the Earth\u2019s mantle is driven by lateral variations in temperature and density which are substantially controlled by the local volume thermal expansion of the constituent mineral phases. Ringwoodite is a major component of the lower mantle transition zone, but its thermal expansivity and thermoelastic properties are still affected by large uncertainties. Ambient thermal expansion coefficient (\u3b1_V0), for instance, can vary as much as 100% according to different experimental investigations available from the literature. In this work, we perform ab initio density functional theory calculations of vibrational properties of spinel-structured Mg2SiO4 ringwoodite in order to provide reliable thermophysical data up to mantle transition zone conditions. Temperature- and pressure-dependent thermal expansivity has been obtained by phonon dispersion calculations in the framework of quasi-harmonic approximation (QHA) up to 25 GPa and 2000 K. Theoretical analysis of vibrational spectra reveals that accurate prediction of IR and silent modes, along with their relative mode Gr\ufcneisen parameters, is crucial to define thermal expansivity. A six-parameter analytical function is able to reproduce ab initio values fairly well in the whole investigated P-T range, i.e. \u3b1_V (P,T) = (1.6033\ub710-5 + 8.839\ub710-9 T + 11.586\ub710-3 T-1 \u2013 6.055 T-2 + 804.31 T-3)\ub7exp-(\u20132.52\ub710-2 P), with temperature in Kelvin and pressure in Gigapascal. Ab initio static and isothermal bulk moduli have been derived for ringwoodite along with their P, T and cross derivatives, i.e. K_0 = 184.3 GPa, K_(T,300K) = 176.6 GPa; K_0^' = 4.13, K_(T,300K)^' = 4.16; (\u3016 02K\u3017_T/ 02T)_P = -0.0233 GPa/K and (\u3016 02^2 K\u3017_T/ 02P 02T)_0= 1.0\ub710-4 K-1. Computed thermal expansivity and thermoelastic properties supports the evidence that QHA performs remarkably well for Mg2SiO4 ringwoodite up to mantle transition zone temperatures. Since volume thermal expansion of ringwoodite is strongly pressure-dependent and its pressure dependence becomes more marked with the increasing temperature, internally-consistent assessments and empirical extrapolation of thermoelastic data to deep mantle conditions should be taken with care to avoid inaccurate or spurious predictions in phase equilibrium and mantle convection numerical modelling

The ALTCRISS project on board the International Space Station

The Altcriss project aims to perform a long term survey of the radiation environment on board the International Space Station. Measurements are being performed with active and passive devices in different locations and orientations of the Russian segment of the station. The goal is to perform a detailed evaluation of the differences in particle fluence and nuclear composition due to different shielding material and attitude of the station. The Sileye-3/Alteino detector is used to identify nuclei up to Iron in the energy range above 60 MeV/n. Several passive dosimeters (TLDs, CR39) are also placed in the same location of Sileye-3 detector. Polyethylene shielding is periodically interposed in front of the detectors to evaluate the effectiveness of shielding on the nuclear component of the cosmic radiation. The project was submitted to ESA in reply to the AO in the Life and Physical Science of 2004 and data taking began in December 2005. Dosimeters and data cards are rotated every six months: up to now three launches of dosimeters and data cards have been performed and have been returned with the end of expedition 12 and 13.Comment: Accepted for publication on Advances in Space Research http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2007.04.03

Seasonal budgets of ozone and oxidant precursors in an industrial coastal area of northern Italy

The seasonal budgets and evolution of photochemical oxidants reported for greater Ravenna's urban-industrial area in the present study were calculated using the combined data from on-site systematic surveys (1978-1989) and from the monitoring network of the local environmental authorities. The notable differences in the concentrations of ozone and nitrogen oxides depended on season, and meteorological variables showed a marked correlation to the seasonal budget of trace constituents. The weak local circulation, the land-sea breeze system, and high solar radiation in summer, which may persist at length because of the anticyclonic conditions, can produce episodes of intense photochemical reactions. In winter, by contrast, low solar radiation and the absence of the breeze system results in very different evolutions of both pollutant concentrations and their seasonal budget

L'Italia come modello per l'Europa e per il mondo nelle politiche sanitarie per il trattamento dell'epatite cronica da HCV

The World Health Organization foresees the elimination of HCV infection by 2030. In light of this and the curre nt, nearly worldwide, restriction in direct-acting agents (DAA) accessibility due to their high price, we aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of two alternative DAA treatment policies: Policy 1 (universal): treat all patients, regardless of the fibrosis stage; Policy 2 (prioritized): treat only priori tized patients and delay treatment of the remaining patients until reaching stage F3. T he model was based on patient’s data from the PITER cohort. We demonstrated that extending HC V treatment of patients in any fibrosis stage improves health outcomes and is cost-effective

Economic consequences of investing in anti-HCV antiviral treatment from the Italian NHS perspective : a real-world-based analysis of PITER data

OBJECTIVE: We estimated the cost consequence of Italian National Health System (NHS) investment in direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy according to hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment access policies in Italy. METHODS: A multistate, 20-year time horizon Markov model of HCV liver disease progression was developed. Fibrosis stage, age and genotype distributions were derived from the Italian Platform for the Study of Viral Hepatitis Therapies (PITER) cohort. The treatment efficacy, disease progression probabilities and direct costs in each health state were obtained from the literature. The break-even point in time (BPT) was defined as the period of time required for the cumulative costs saved to recover the Italian NHS investment in DAA treatment. Three different PITER enrolment periods, which covered the full DAA access evolution in Italy, were considered. RESULTS: The disease stages of 2657 patients who consecutively underwent DAA therapy from January 2015 to December 2017 at 30 PITER clinical centres were standardized for 1000 patients. The investment in DAAs was considered to equal €25 million, €15 million, and €9 million in 2015, 2016, and 2017, respectively. For patients treated in 2015, the BPT was not achieved, because of the disease severity of the treated patients and high DAA prices. For 2016 and 2017, the estimated BPTs were 6.6 and 6.2 years, respectively. The total cost savings after 20 years were €50.13 and €55.50 million for 1000 patients treated in 2016 and 2017, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study may be a useful tool for public decision makers to understand how HCV clinical and epidemiological profiles influence the economic burden of HCV

Potentialities of Web 2.0 and new challenges for destinations: insights from Italy

Web 2.0 influences the relationship between supply and demand even in the tourism sector, forcing those who manage destinations (DMOs) to review the ways in which they enhance a territory’s assets. As an exploratory contribution, this paper aims to answer two research questions: are the daily activities on social networks able to influence the marketing approach of DMOs and in what ways and to what extent can the daily activities on social networks enhance the brand equity of destinations? We will achieve this goal by analysing the digital marketing activities of one of the top Italian destinations (case study method). This paper shows that Web 2.0 offers many opportunities for value creation and promotion, but it also presents important challenges

Crowdfunding as a resource in business start-up processes

Crowdfunding (CF) represents a new tool to support either entrepreneurial or non-for profit projects. This new phenomenon has received an increasing attention by academic scholars, mostly focussed on understanding the main features of CF. The goal of this paper is to explore more in depth the nature and relevance of CF in terms of resource access and development through the analysis of participation of start-up firms to more than one CF project, including both equity (ECF) and non-equity (NCF) crowdfunding. To achieve this objective this paper adopts as conceptual framework the resource interaction approach developed within the IMP perspective. This preliminary analysis shows that CF represents at first a contingent opportunity to be exploited in the start-up initial dynamic stages, then it emerges as a viable resource - however complex to be managed - more carefully assessed and used also thanks to learning processes and increasing commitment by start-up entrepreneurs, within a growing integrated CF orientation. CF campaigns allow also for interacting with experts providing useful technical feedback, for mapping potential markets, segments and customers and more importantly to gain brand and product visibility and reputation

The relationship between brand constructs and motivational patterns in crowdfunding decisions

Crowdfunding (CF) platforms are emerging as new source of resources to support either business or not-for-profit entrepreneurial projects. This phenomenon has received increasing attention by academic scholars. One of the most important existing streams of literature is the one of backers’ motivations. To the best of our knowledge, no study has so far considered the possible role of brand constructs in backers’ funding decisions. This is due to the typical CF setting, where project proponents usually don’t have a strong brand to rely on and backers have no significant reason to feel emotionally connected to a given CF platform. However, the scenario is changing: companies and other organizations seem to be increasingly intrigued by the idea of using CF as a marketing tool. We aim to deepen our understanding of this very recent phenomenon by analyzing a special empirical setting, which is the one of CF platforms created by Universities to fund (above all) their scientific research projects. These projects have mostly to do with the progress and well-being of society, so we should expect more of other-oriented reasons for funding. Nevertheless, since all the stakeholders of a given University (starting from students) could have strong reasons to conceive themselves as “in-groups” we expect this can affect the CF intention (as a brand supportive behavior) as well as the reasons behind it