The Human Development Index in Historical Perspective: Italy from Political Unification to the Present Day

The aim of this research is to provide a long run estimate of the Human Development Index (HDI) for Italy. To this purpose we have reconstructed Italian historical series relative to life expectancy, literacy rate, school enrolment rates and income. All the series presented are the result of a study which has produced, starting from primary sources, original series disaggregated to the regional level. The possibility of having, for Italy, a basis of comparison with the main developed countries has permitted us to show that, even though there has been significant progress in the values of the single variables, the country has not appreciably improved its position in the world ranking. This seems to be due, in large part, to the trend of the education variables that displays values decidedly distant from those of the main industrialized countries. As far as regional trends are concerned, we can observe a slow process of alignment of the values of the Southern regions to the values of the other Italian regions for levels of education and longevity, while income levels for the 1990s still remain quite distant.

Environmental NMR: Fast-field-cycling Relaxometry

Fast-field-cycling (FFC) NMR relaxometry deals with the variation of the spin–lattice relaxation times (T1) in a complex system, as the strength of the applied magnetic field is changed. Information about molecular dynamics can be achieved. Until now, only model theories for FFC NMR relaxometry have been developed for polymer and material sciences. Just a few applications have been performed in the environmental sciences. These mainly deal with soil porosity, rock permeability, biomass transformations, and natural organic matter dynamics. Further, FFC NMR relaxometry can also be applied to monitor the environmental fate of contaminants, to understand the dynamics of nutrients at the soil–plant interface, and to evaluate reaction mechanisms in heterogeneous catalysis for the development of green reactions. This article summarizes the advances of the technique in environmental investigations and describes the tools used to monitor dynamics of organic and inorganic molecules in environmental compartments

Effetto del polimorfismo della Stearoil CoA Desaturasi sulla composizione in acidi grassi del latte di bovine di razza Frisona

La composizione degli acidi grassi, del latte bovino, è il risultato della combinazione di fattori esogeni ed endogeni. I primi sono caratterizzati dal tipo di alimentazione e dal sistema di gestione aziendale condotti dall’allevatore. Quelli endogeni, invece, dipendono dall’attività degli enzimi lipogenici attivi a livello della ghiandola mammaria. La Stearoil CoA-Desaturasi (SCD) è uno degli enzimi chiave del metabolismo lipidico; la sua attività è quella di inserire un doppio legame in posizione cis-.9 in un largo spettro di acidi grassi a media e lunga catena. Nella specie bovina, sono state individuate due forme del gene scd. Le differenze tra una forma e l’altra sono dovute a tre polimorfismi puntiformi (SNP), localizzati a livello del quinto esone. I tre SNP sono ereditati insieme, pertanto vanno a costituire due aplotipi distinti. Solo il terzo dei tre polimorfismi comporta la sostituzione di un aminoacido nella sequenza peptidica, precisamente una valina con un’alanina in posizione “293”. L’aplotipo che codifica per l’aminoacido valina è detto tipo V mentre quello che codifica per l’alanina è detto tipo A. In questo lavoro sono stati genotipizzati 297 vacche di razza Frisona Italiana, applicando la metodologia SSCP (Single Strand Conformational Polymorphism). I risultati hanno rilevato una maggiore diffusione del tipo A sul tipo V (57% contro 43%) nella popolazione testata. I tre genotipi rilevati (AA, AV, VV) sono stati messi in relazione con la composizione in acidi grassi del latte e con i rapporti acidi grassi cis-.9 monoinsaturi/saturi. Questi rapporti sono stati utilizzati, perché rappresentano un valido sistema per valutare l’attività desaturasica a livello della ghiandola mammaria. Il latte prodotto dalle vacche con il tipo A del gene scd mostra un più alto valore del rapporto acido miristoleico/acido miristico e un maggior contenuto di acido oleico e acidi grassi monoinsaturi totali, rispetto al tipo V. Il contenuto di CLA nel latte varia tra 0.15 e 0.82 g/100g di grasso, ma il polimorfismo SCD non ha mostrato un effetto significativo di variabilità. I dati emersi rivelano che il genotipo SCD non è l’unico fattore genetico che contribuisce a definire la composizione in acidi grassi del latte, ma può essere considerata una delle cause della variazione del grasso nel latte

An experimental study for the characterisation of gas/liquid flow splitting at T-junctions

In two-phase gas/liquid flow, the phenomenon of maldistribution of the phases occurring downstream of a splitting T-junction has been the topic of investigation of several authors. The negative consequences of this maldistribution on the operation of downstream unit have often led to the conclusion that T-junctions in two-phase pipelines are to be avoided. However, the large degree of segregation of the phases obtained at the outlets of a T-junction for certain flow rates and geometries, has encouraged Industry and researchers to exploit this simple device as a partial phases separator. In this work, experiments and interpretations are carried out in two experimental rigs, one with a horizontal main pipe (0.127 ID) and the other with a vertical main pipe (0-076). These consist of measurement of the split characteristic and, in the case of horizontal annular flow, of film thickness. Comparison with predictive models is carried out for the horizontal geometry. For the vertical main pipe experiments, interpretation and semi-empirical correlations are proposed to fit a large database including the present data and previous findings

Natural Volterra Runge-Kutta methods

A very general class of Runge-Kutta methods for Volterra integral equations of the second kind is analyzed. Order and stage order conditions are derived for methods of order p and stage order q = p up to the order four. We also investigate stability properties of these methods with respect to the basic and the convolution test equations. The systematic search for A- and V0-stable methods is described and examples of highly stable methods are presented up to the order p = 4 and stage order q = 4

An experimental study for the characterisation of gas/liquid flow splitting at T-junctions

In two-phase gas/liquid flow, the phenomenon of maldistribution of the phases occurring downstream of a splitting T-junction has been the topic of investigation of several authors. The negative consequences of this maldistribution on the operation of downstream unit have often led to the conclusion that T-junctions in two-phase pipelines are to be avoided. However, the large degree of segregation of the phases obtained at the outlets of a T-junction for certain flow rates and geometries, has encouraged Industry and researchers to exploit this simple device as a partial phases separator. In this work, experiments and interpretations are carried out in two experimental rigs, one with a horizontal main pipe (0.127 ID) and the other with a vertical main pipe (0-076). These consist of measurement of the split characteristic and, in the case of horizontal annular flow, of film thickness. Comparison with predictive models is carried out for the horizontal geometry. For the vertical main pipe experiments, interpretation and semi-empirical correlations are proposed to fit a large database including the present data and previous findings

Progettazione e realizzazione di un data warehouse per una azienda agroalimentare

In questo lavoro di tesi viene mostrato come, a partire dai requisiti di analisi del cliente, viene progettato e realizzato un sistema di data warehouse e di business intelligence. Successivamente ad una introduzione utile alla comprensione dei concetti fondamentali del caso aziendale vengono descritti gli strumenti utilizzati, le attività di progettazione e implementazione del data warehouse, soffermandosi sul processo di elaborazione dei dati in ingresso e sulla rappresentazione grafica delle informazioni offerta agli utent

Low Mortality and Key Aspects of Delivery of Care for End-Stage Renal Disease in Italy

End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is a global health problem. There are differences in mortality among patients with ESRD amid industrialized countries that may be related to their respective systems of delivery of care. A nationwide survey was completed in Italy, a country with low mortality rate for ESRD patients, in order to help understand key aspects of ESRD delivery of care that contribute to mortality. Survey responses were obtained and analyzed from 131 of 575 dialysis centers (23%), covering data from 13,170 dialysis patients in 2006. The mortality rate was 11.2% and the prevalence of diabetes-associated kidney disease was 21%. Of the patients, 88% were on hemodialysis and 12% were on peritoneal dialysis. Most patients were in the age range of 65–75 years (66.7%), were seen by a nephrologist at CKD stage 3, and began dialysis at mean estimated GFR of 9.6 ml/min/1.73 m2. AV fistulae were the prevailing form of vascular access (83%) and were most frequently placed by a nephrologist (61.2%). In 98% of the dialysis centers, a nephrologist was present during dialysis sessions. The following may explain the low mortality for ESRD patients in Italy: low prevalence of diabetes, high use of AV fistulae, delivery of care by nephrologists beginning in pre-ESRD stages, their involvement in placement of dialysis vascular access, and their physical presence requirement during dialysis sessions. These findings portray key aspects of the contemporary delivery of care for Italian dialysis patients and provide a platform for international comparison of healthcare systems for ESRD

Cholesterol and fatty acids oxidation in meat from three muscles of Massese suckling lambs slaughtered at different weights

Eighteen Massese male lambs fed mainly with maternal milk were slaughtered at 11, 14 and 17 kg. Samples of Longissimus dorsi (LD), Triceps brachii (TB) and Semimembranosus (Sm) muscles were collected. Total intramus- cular lipids were extracted by means of a mix- ture of chloroform methanol 2/1. Cholesterol content and its oxidation product (COP) were determined by a gas chromatography appara- tus equipped with an apolar 30 m column. Fatty acid oxidation was evaluated by means of thio- barbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) extracting the sample with aqueous acidic solution. The effect of slaughter weight on oxi- dation of intramuscular lipids was found only in TB muscles. In this muscle the cholesterol content showed a decreasing trend, while the content of COPs significantly increased with the age of animals. Among the COPs, the 7- ketocholesterol and 7β-hydroxycholesterol were the most abundant, followed by α- and β- epoxy-cholesterol and cholestan-triol. The con- tent of TBARS did not vary owing to a similar fatty acid composition of intramuscular fat across weight of slaughter. In any case, the val- ues of TBARS did not reach the threshold of the detection of off-flavour in meat