Saving with a social impact: Evidence from trento province

In this paper, we investigate the determinants of investing, focusing on its potential social impact. In particular, we consider whether there is room for expanding impact investing through social savings. The increasing trend in the demand for social finance makes the topic of unique interest, particularly when data on preferences for social saving can be collected at the individual level. We investigate the determinants and drivers of saving with a social goal running a survey conducted in Trentino-Alto Adige in which respondents are asked to allocate their portfolio to possible social investments. In line with the evidence collected in the Netherlands by Riedl and Smeets (2014), our results show a strong preference for a lower return, with the condition that the return is invested in a community programme, and little interest in the monetary return of the investment. Respondents are either inclined to put their entire portfolio into saving for the community or not to invest at all. This result suggests that there is a consistent demand, only partially accommodated by the supply, for financial products investing in the community, rather than for a monetary return

Insights on a methanation catalyst aging process: Aging characterization and kinetic study

Power to gas systems is one of the most interesting long-term energy storage solutions. As a result of the high exothermicity of the CO2 methanation reaction, the catalyst in the methanation subsystem is subjected to thermal stress. Therefore, the performance of a commercial Ni/Al2O3 catalyst was investigated over a series of 100 hour-long tests and in-process relevant conditions, i.e. 5 bar from 270 to 500 °C. Different characterization techniques were employed to determine the mechanism of the observed performance loss (N2 physisorption, XRD, TPO). The TPO analysis excluded carbon deposition as a possible cause of catalyst aging. The BET analysis evidenced a severe reduction in the total surface area for the catalyst samples tested at higher temperatures. Furthermore, a direct correlation was found between the catalyst activity decline and the drop of the catalyst specific surface. In order to correctly design a reliable methanation reactor, it is essential to have a kinetic model that includes also the aging kinetics. For this purpose, the second set of experiments was carried out, in order to determine the intrinsic kinetics of the catalyst. The kinetic parameters were identified by using nonlinear regression analysis. Finally, a power-law aging model was proposed to consider the performance loss in time

Nested Dynamics of Metropolitan Processes and Policies: Turin

BACKGROUND PAPERS FOR THE METROPOLITAN STUDY: 3 -- The project "Nested Dynamics of Metropolitan Processes and Policies" was initiated by the Regional and urban Development Group at IIASA in 1983 and work on this collaborative study started the same year. This Series of contributions represents "entry tickets" to the Project, i.e., initial statements by authors from individual metropolitan regions that are participating in the Project's network. The aim of these papers is threefold. First, to provide some background information describing the processes of change within four principal subsystems: population, housing, economy, and transportation. Second, to identify major trends and crucial policy issues which are to constitute a focus for the subsequent analytical and modeling work. Third, to facilitate comparative studies of development paths among these regions and the dynamic interdependencies between the above subsystems. The background information contained in this paper pertains to the Turin metropolitan region

Rapid determination of anti-estrogens by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry in urine: Method validation and application to real samples

AbstractA fast screening protocol was developed for the simultaneous determination of nine anti-estrogenic agents (aminoglutethimide, anastrozole, clomiphene, drostanolone, formestane, letrozole, mesterolone, tamoxifen, testolactone) plus five of their metabolites in human urine. After an enzymatic hydrolysis, these compounds can be extracted simultaneously from urine with a simple liquid–liquid extraction at alkaline conditions. The analytes were subsequently analyzed by fast-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (fast-GC/MS) after derivatization. The use of a short column, high-flow carrier gas velocity and fast temperature ramping produced an efficient separation of all analytes in about 4min, allowing a processing rate of 10samples/h. The present analytical method was validated according to UNI EN ISO/IEC 17025 guidelines for qualitative methods. The range of investigated parameters included the limit of detection, selectivity, linearity, repeatability, robustness and extraction efficiency. High MS-sampling rate, using a benchtop quadrupole mass analyzer, resulted in accurate peak shape definition under both scan and selected ion monitoring modes, and high sensitivity in the latter mode. Therefore, the performances of the method are comparable to the ones obtainable from traditional GC/MS analysis. The method was successfully tested on real samples arising from clinical treatments of hospitalized patients and could profitably be used for clinical studies on anti-estrogenic drug administration

Impact of Power-to-Gas on distribution systems with large renewable energy penetration

The exploitation of the Power-to-Gas (PtG) technology can properly support the distribution system operation in case of large penetration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES). This paper addresses the impact of the PtG operation on the electrical distribution systems. A novel model of the PtG plant has been created to be representative of the entire process chain, as well as to be compatible with network calculations. The structure of the model with the corresponding parameters has been defined and validated on the basis of measurements gathered on a real plant. The PtG impact on the distribution systems has then been simulated on two network models representing a rural and a semi-urban environment, respectively. The testing has been carried out by defining a set of cases that contain critical situations for the distribution network, caused by RES plant placement. The objectives of the introduction of PtG are the reduction of the reverse power flow, as well as the reduction of the overcurrent and overvoltage issues in the distribution system. The results obtained from annual simulations lead to considerable reduction (from 78 to 100%) of the reverse power flow with respect to the base case, and to alleviating (or even solving) the overcurrent and overvoltage problems of the networks. These results indicate PtG as a possible solution for guaranteeing a smooth transition towards decarbonized energy systems. The capacity factors of the PtG plants largely vary depending on the network topology, the RES penetration, the number of the PtG plants and their sizes. From the test cases, the performance in a rural network (where the minimum capacity factor is about 50%) resulted better than in a semi-urban network (where the capacity factor values range between 21% and 60%)

Gender: An Important Factor in the Implementation of Services for Juvenile Offenders

The Child Welfare League of America (2003) reported that between 1980 and 2000 the arrest rate for boys declined by 11% but increased for girls by 35%. A well tested case management approach being applied more commonly in juvenile justice is the Risk-Needs-Responsivity (RNR) approach, which suggests that interventions and services should be commensurate with ones level of risk and specific dynamic risk factors (criminogenic needs). The RNR model tends to be seen as gender-neutral , based on assumption that it works equally well with both sexes. Few studies have examined whether gender differences exist in the effectiveness of RNR-type case planning. Vitopoulos et al., (2012) examined possible RNR differences between justice-involved boys and girls using the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI). Across all of the criminogenic need areas (e.g. antisocial attitudes, peer affiliations), only the personality domain was significantly different by gender, such that more girls than boys seemed to have a problem inthis area. They did not find any gender differences in the matching of services to needs identified; however, a higher match between clinician-recommended needs and assigned treatment services (service-to-needs match) predicted a decrease in boys\u27 re-offending but not in girls\u27 reoffending. Given the paucity of research, we are left to question the applicability of some RNR principles or the quality of their implementation for girl offenders. Using the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk for Youth (SAVRY)) in three probation officies to measure both risk level and dynamic risk factors (criminogenic needs), we examined whether within a large sample of youth there were gender differences in the (a) criminogenic needs identified, (b) ability of probation officers (POs) to match services to needs in their case planning and (c) the association of the serve-need match to recidivism