What is the redshift of the gamma- ray BL Lac source S4 0954+65?

High signal-to-noise ratio spectroscopic observations of the BL Lac object S4 0954+65 at the alleged redshift z = 0.367 are presented. This source was detected at gamma frequencies by MAGIC (TeV) and FERMI (GeV) telescopes during a remarkable outburst that occurred in February 2015, making the determination of its distance particularly relevant for our understanding of the properties of the Extragalactic Background Light. Contrary to previous reports on the redshift, we found that the optical spectrum is featureless at an equivalent width limit of \sim 0.1 Ang. A critical analysis of the existing observations indicates that the redshift is still unknown. Based on the new data we estimate a lower limit to the redshift at z \geq 0.45.Comment: Minor comment and accepted for publication in Astronomical Journa

Novel schedule for treatment of inflammatory breast cancer

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is the most aggressive form of this tumor, with the clinical and biological characteristics of a rapidly proliferating disease. This tumor is always diagnosed at advanced stages, atleast stage IIIB (locally advanced), so its management requires an integrated multidisciplinary approach with a systemic therapy followed by surgery and radiation therapy. Patients with IBC usually have a worse prognosis but the achievement of a pathologic complete response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy may have good rates of overall survival. We present the case of a 47 year old women with IBC, luminal B and with high proliferative index; she was successfully treated with a sequential schedule of chemotherapy (anthracyclines dose-dense/carboplatin+ taxane/Cyclophosphamide Methotrexate Fluorouracil), hormone-therapy, complementary radiotherapy and finally surgery until the achievement of a complete clinical and pathological response. Luminal B inflammatory breast cancer with high proliferation index can benefit from sequential schedules of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and hormonal treatment and this can result in pathological complete response

Using virtual environments to improve the realism of choice experiments: a case study about coastal erosion management

Choice experiment surveys are commonly used to assess the general public's willingness to pay for different levels of environmental quality. However, respondents need to understand what they are valuing or they will make potentially wrong assumptions based on different experiences and frames of reference. Three-dimensional computer generated models or Virtual Environments (VE) have so far seen little use in economics research, probably due to the complexity and cost of developing and delivering them to study participants. The few studies that have used them find that VE are superior to static image presentations in helping people evaluate complex data. For this study we developed virtual environments for a choice experiment about coastal erosion management using free, easy-to-use software and Google Earth© satellite imagery and presented these to respondents as video tours. Our results indicate that the VE treatment reduced choice error, reduced left-right bias and improved respondent engagement and retention when compared with static images. There were also differences in WTP between the two groups

Perceived risks of mountain landslides in Italy: stated choices for subjective risk reductions

Mountain landslides have occurred in countries such as Italy regularly throughout recorded history, often resulting in fatalities. Because of this, policies that would reduce landslide fatality risk need to be carefully formulated. As a first step in the exploration of preferences for these risk-reducing policies, we examine public perceptions of risk for landslides and related events. Subjective probabilities for others who might die in a landslide, as well as one’s own subjective probability of death, are elicited for a sample of visitors and residents of a region in Italy prone to landslides. We present one portion of the sample with scientific information and allow them to update their risk estimate if they so choose, allowing the role of such information to be tested. The subjective probabilities are then used to construct risk-related attributes in a pivot-design version of a conventional stated choice model. Larger risk changes as departures from the baseline risk are found to be significant in explaining choices

Consumer switching in retail electricity markets: Is price all that matters?

We model consumer switching in retail electricity markets in New Zealand to identify important determinants of switching and estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for six non-price attributes of electricity services, namely, call waiting time, length of fixed rate contract, renewable energy, loyalty rewards, supplier ownership, and supplier type. The results provide important insights into residential consumer switching, which inform policy and enable suppliers to differentiate their products. The analysis is based on 2688 choice responses generated using an online choice experiment administered to a sample of 224 residential bill-payers. A latent class model is used to distinguish important determinants of switching and preference heterogeneity. We find that non-price attributes of electricity services are significant determinants of consumer switching. Three latent classes with distinct preferences for the attributes are identified. The first class (40%) is mainly concerned about power bills and would switch supplier to save at least NZ$125 per year in power bills, ceteris paribus. This value mainly captures the status quo effect or preference for incumbent traditional suppliers. The second class (46$135 per year less than traditional suppliers for a 50% chance of attracting customers. The third class (14%) consists of captive and loyal customers who are unlikely to switch supplier for any realistic power bill savings

Integrating Aerial Base Stations for sustainable urban mobile networks

The extensive densification of mobile networks is increasing the network energy consumption and leading to remarkable economical and sustainability concerns. At the same time, regulatory and physical constraints, especially in urban environments, may limit the network expansion and the free installation of Base Stations (BSs). In this context, High Altitude Platform Stations (HAPSs) are emerging as a promising solution to host aerial BSs that can provide additional capacity over a wide geographical area, to offload the on-ground mobile network and support a sustainable transition towards the 6G era. This paper investigates the potential of HAPS offloading to reduce the energy demand from the grid and the operational cost of mobile networks. Our results highlight the effectiveness of HAPS offloading in reducing the size of the RE supply that is required to achieve grid energy reduction on the terrestrial network, thus enhancing the feasibility of a sustainable evolution towards 6G networks. Different allocation strategies are designed and analyzed under several configuration settings, to dynamically adapt the HAPS capacity to the traffic variability in space and over time. A fine tuning of the strategy settings is proved effective in trading off physical constraints, operational cost, sustainability goals, and Quality of Service

A Viewing Angle - Kinetic Luminosity Unification Scheme For BL Lacertae Objects

We propose a unified classification for BL Lac objects (BLs), focusing on the synchrotron peak frequency of the spectral energy distribution. The unification scheme is based on the angle Theta that describes the orientation of the relativistic jet and on the electron kinetic luminosity Lambda of the jet. We assume that Lambda scales with the size of the jet r in a self-similar fashion (Lambda propto r^2), as supported by observational data. The jets are self-similar in geometry and have the same pressure and median magnetic field at the inlet, independent of size. The self-similarity is broken for the highest energy electrons, which radiate mainly at high frequencies, since for large sources they suffer more severe radiative energy losses over a given fraction of the jet length. We calculate the optically thin synchrotron spectrum using an accelerating inner jet model based on simple relativistic gas dynamics and show that it can fit the observed infrared to X-ray spectrum of PKS 2155--304. We couple the accelerating jet model to the unification scheme and compare the results to complete samples of BLs. The negative apparent evolution of X-ray selected BLs is explained as a result of positive evolution of the jet electron kinetic luminosity $\Lambda_{kin}$. We review observational arguments in favor of the existence of scaled-down accretion disks and broad emission-line regions in BLs. The proposed unification scheme can explain the lack of observed broad emission lines in X-ray selected BLs, as well as the existence of those lines preferentially in luminous radio-selected BLs. Finally, we review observational arguments that suggest the extension of this unification scheme to all blazars.Comment: 32 pages, 8 figures, to be published in the ApJ (Oct 20, 1998

Low- and intermediate-beta, 352-MHz superconducting half-wave resonators for high power hadron acceleration

Two prototypes of superconducting, 352 MHz coaxial half-wave resonators with β=0.17 and β=0.31 have been designed, constructed, and tested at INFN-LNL, in the framework of the SPES and EURISOL DS projects. Main features of these double-wall, 2-gap structures are compactness, mechanical stability, and easy installation in different kinds of cryostats. Their acceleration capabilities are similar to the ones of Spoke resonators with similar β. These cavities are being developed for acceleration of high power hadron beams in the 5–100  MeV/u energy range

Ecosystem services' values and improved revenue collection for regional protected areas.

The management of conservation areas is a costly enterprise, especially vulnerable to budget cutting when austerity measures are being considered. Optimal spatial taxation dictates that tax-payers contribute proportionally to the benefits they receive. This paper provides a framework to derive spatially varied benefit estimates for ecosystem services produced in Natura 2000 protected areas of Lombardy (Italy). These may be used as a framework for spatially optimised taxation to improve the efficiency of public funding. In the process we used non-market valuation techniques, as well as benefit functions’ transfer