Scritti in onore di Pellegrino Capaldo

La qualità dei servizi è stata riconosciuta come un rilevante aspetto caratterizzante la performance dell’azienda pubblica, analogamente alla capacità di operare secondo criteri di efficienza e nel rispetto dei vincoli di bilancio. Sebbene sia possibile riscontrare alcuni significativi casi di adozione di politiche di customer satisfaction nelle amministrazioni pubbliche italiane, a tutt’oggi il tema presenta significative criticità, specialmente in ordine agli aspetti metodologici e agli strumenti operativi che consentano di integrare dette politiche nel sistema di programmazione e controllo delle aziende che erogano tali servizi. Il presente lavoro adotta una diversa prospettiva di analisi del miglioramento della performance in ottica di “customer satisfaction”, rispetto a quella tradizionalmente utilizzata, specie con riferimento al settore pubblico. Piuttosto che focalizzare soltanto l’interazione tra “cliente/utente” esterno all’amministrazione pubblica e unità direttamente preposte all’erogazione dei servizi, in questa sede si propone di una chiave di lettura di tipo interistituzionale. Tale prospettiva è volta a comprendere le criticità e i generatori di prestazione connessi allo svolgimento dei processi gestionali da cui deriva il conseguimento di “prodotti” dell’attività amministrativa a beneficio dei “clienti/utenti” interni ed esterni, rispetto all’amministrazione pubblica. La rappresentazione della “catena del valore” alla luce della quale sia possibile esplicitare le responsabilità e i connessi indicatori di performance volti a collegare in sequenza diverse unità di “back-office” nel settore pubblico, ai fini del miglioramento del servizio all’utenza finale, costituisce un momento fondamentale per internalizzare nella pubblica amministrazione gli stimoli provenienti dalle tradizionali indagini di “customer satisfaction” e tradurli in concreti miglioramenti ai processi gestionali e ai connessi “prodotti” dell’attività amministrativa

Top Management Evaluation in Italian Food & Beverage Industry

The standard ISO 9001: 2015 “Quality Management System. Requirements” states that the success of a company’s quality certification system is closely linked to the quality of its top management. The aim of the present work is to develop a model of top management quality evaluation useful for the ends of this certification. The model is calibrated for the Italian Food & Beverage Industry and it follows a multidisciplinary approach. The evaluation model is formed by two parts. In the first, the quality of top management is associated with an estimate of the probability of default and the related average expected life of a company in the Italian Food & Beverage Industry. These parameters are calculated using an original, easy-to-apply methodology that is especially useful for small and medium-sized companies that do not have an official rating. The second part of the model provides a system to estimate the quality of top managers' management styles based on seven qualitative organizational variables, which are then summarized by the attribution of a score ranging from 1 to 10. The judgments formulated in the two parts of the model must be considered as a system to arrive at an integrated final evaluation

Paris: The slightly altered, slightly metamorphosed CM that bridges the gap between CMs and Cos

A fresh, 1.3 kilo stone was found in Paris. It is a CM chondrite with metal, Fe-sulfide, FeS-rich PCPs and relict mesostasis and is ~3.0 ± 0.1. Petrographic and oxygen isotope evidence indicates that it has affinities with the CO chondrites

[18F]ZCDD083: a PFKFB3-targeted PET tracer for atherosclerotic plaque imaging

Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society. Funding We thank the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie ITNEuropean Joint Doctorate MOGLYNET (grant agreement No. 675527).Peer reviewedPostprin

Presentations of children to emergency departments across Europe and the COVID-19 pandemic : A multinational observational study

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Nijman et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Background During the initial phase of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, reduced numbers of acutely ill or injured children presented to emergency departments (EDs). Concerns were raised about the potential for delayed and more severe presentations and an increase in diagnoses such as diabetic ketoacidosis and mental health issues. This multinational observational study aimed to study the number of children presenting to EDs across Europe during the early COVID-19 pandemic and factors influencing this and to investigate changes in severity of illness and diagnoses. Methods and findings Routine health data were extracted retrospectively from electronic patient records of children aged 18 years and under, presenting to 38 EDs in 16 European countries for the period January 2018 to May 2020, using predefined and standardized data domains. Observed and predicted numbers of ED attendances were calculated for the period February 2020 to May 2020. Poisson models and incidence rate ratios (IRRs), using predicted counts for each site as offset to adjust for case-mix differences, were used to compare age groups, diagnoses, and outcomes. Reductions in pediatric ED attendances, hospital admissions, and high triage urgencies were seen in all participating sites. ED attendances were relatively higher in countries with lower SARS-CoV-2 prevalence (IRR 2.26, 95% CI 1.90 to 2.70, p < 0.001) and in children aged <12 months (12 to <24 months IRR 0.86, 95% CI 0.84 to 0.89; 2 to <5 years IRR 0.80, 95% CI 0.78 to 0.82; 5 to <12 years IRR 0.68, 95% CI 0.67 to 0.70; 12 to 18 years IRR 0.72, 95% CI 0.70 to 0.74; versus age <12 months as reference group, p < 0.001). The lowering of pediatric intensive care admissions was not as great as that of general admissions (IRR 1.30, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.45, p < 0.001). Lower triage urgencies were reduced more than higher triage urgencies (urgent triage IRR 1.10, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.12; emergent and very urgent triage IRR 1.53, 95% CI 1.49 to 1.57; versus nonurgent triage category, p < 0.001). Reductions were highest and sustained throughout the study period for children with communicable infectious diseases. The main limitation was the retrospective nature of the study, using routine clinical data from a wide range of European hospitals and health systems. Conclusions Reductions in ED attendances were seen across Europe during the first COVID-19 lockdown period. More severely ill children continued to attend hospital more frequently compared to those with minor injuries and illnesses, although absolute numbers fell.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Are Consumers Aware of Sustainability Aspects Related to Edible Insects? Results from a Study Involving 14 Countries

[EN]In recent years, edible insects have been suggested as an alternative food that is more sustainable compared with other sources of animal protein. However, knowledge about the sustainability aspects associated with this source of food may play a role in convincing consumers to adopt insects as part of their diet. In this context, the present study investigated the level of knowledge about the sustainability of edible insects in a group of people originating from 14 countries, with some naturally entomophagous and others not. To measure the knowledge, 11 items were selected and the scores obtained were tested with statistical tools (t-test for independent samples, analysis of variance—ANOVA) to search for differences according to sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics, geographical origin, and consumption habits of edible insects. The obtained results showed that, in general, knowledge is moderate, with the values of the average scores for the 11 items investigated ranging from 0.23 ± 0.99 to 0.66 ± 1.02, on a scale ranging from −2 (=very low knowledge) to 2 (=very high knowledge). The highest scores were found for items relating to the lower use of animal feed and lower emission of greenhouse gases required for the production of insects compared with beef. When investigating the differences between groups of participants, significant differences were generally found, revealing a trend for higher knowledge among males and young adults, for participants residing in urban areas and in countries such as Spain, Mexico, and Poland, and for participants with higher education levels and higher incomes. When testing the influence of consumption variables on the level of knowledge, the results showed a higher knowledge for participants who had already consumed insects or are willing to consume them. Finally, it was observed that higher knowledge was found for participants whose motivation to consume insects related to curiosity, a wish to preserve the planet, the gastronomic characteristics of insects, and their nutritional value. In conclusion, these results clearly indicate a very marked influence of a number of variables on the knowledge about the sustainability of edible insects, and this may be helpful to delineate strategies to effectively raise knowledge and eventually increase the willingness to consider insects as a more sustainable alternative to partially replace other protein foods, even in countries where this is a not a traditional practice.SIThis work was funded by the CERNAS Research Centre (Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Portugal) in the ambit of the project EISuFood (Ref. CERNAS-IPV/2020/003). We also received funding from the FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology (Portugal) through projects Ref. UIDB/00681/2020, UIDB/05507/2020, and UIDB/007421/2020. The APC was funded by FCT through projects Ref. UIDB/00681/2020, UIDB/05507/2020, and UIDB/007421/2020.This work was supported by the FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. Furthermore, we would like to thank the CERNAS, CIDEI, and UCISA:E Research Centers and the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu for their support. This research was developed in the ambit of project “EISuFood—Edible Insects as Sustainable Food”, with Reference CERNAS-IPV/2020/003

Synthesis, radio-synthesis and in vitro evaluation of terminally fluorinated derivatives of HU-210 and HU-211 as novel candidate PET tracers

We thank the EPSRC National Mass Spectrometry Service Centre (Swansea, UK), for performing HRMS analyses.Peer reviewedPostprin

Protection of Sinorhizobium against Host Cysteine-Rich Antimicrobial Peptides Is Critical for Symbiosis

A bacterial membrane protein, BacA, protects Sinorhizobium meliloti against the antimicrobial activity of host peptides, enabling the peptides to induce bacterial persistence rather than bacterial death