A Benchmarking Index to Compare High-performing Computing Systems

An index to compare supercomputers is proposed in the study. This index is based on the concept of technical efficiency and is developed adopting a non-parametric technique, e.g. Data Envelopment Analysis. The index is used to calculate the technical efficiency of 500 high-performing computing systems listed in the TOP500 supercomputers database. Finally, statistical analysis is performed to assess the weight that some supercomputers characteristics have on their efficiency

A Partner Qualification Framework to Support Research and Innovation in Technology-Intensive Industries

In modern economies, where markets and technology are changing rapidly, innovation partnerships are among the major strategic choices for companies to create competitive long term advantages. Especially in high-tech sectors, companies are encouraged to leverage on external sources of knowledge in their R&D activities. Although the number of studies investigating the topic of R&D collaboration from different perspectives has increased over time, the problem of partner selection still lacks comprehensive analyses and operational frameworks to drive innovation alliances to success. In order to address such a gap and to overcome the aforementioned limits this thesis provides a systematic literature review on the R&D partner selection problem and proposes a quantitative and DEA-based decision- making framework to support organizations in identifying, qualifying and selecting the most suitable partners for technological innovation. The framework has been developed together with the innovation department of a large enterprise in the transportation industry, and it has been validated on relevant case-studies of industrial relevance addressing both emerging and mature technologies. Advantages and limitations of the proposed approach in innovation management research and practice are highlighted and discussed

Productivity changes of the renewable energy installed capacity: An empirical study relating to 31 European countries between 2002 and 2011

The objective of this study is to analyze productivity changes of renewable energy installed capacity in a sample of European countries from 2002 to 2011. Productivity changes reflect both technical efficiency change (how far the average country is from the best practice frontier) and technological change (shift in the best-practice frontier). This article analyses these two sources of productivity change using yearly data from the Electricity Industry in 31 European countries. A non-parametric approach is implemented to generate measurements of efficiency and technological changes. In particular, Data Envelopment Analysis and the Malmquist index total factor productivity are adopted to calculate technical efficiencies and split specific contributions to the global productivity change due into pure technical efficiency and technological changes. The results show that the total productivity of installed power generation capacity was unsteady from 2002 to 2011, and technological change contributed to the improvement of productivity. In particular, on average efficiency remained almost stable, while productivity grew at a rate of about 6%. Changes in productivity reflect to what extent main and auto electricity producers in the European countries have adopted technological change and were able to adapt to changes and availability of financial subsidies

Neutralization of IL-17 rescues amyloid-β-induced neuroinflammation and memory impairment

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common neurodegenerative disease characterized by a neuroinflammatory state and to date, there is no cure and its treatment represents a large unmet clinical need. The involvement of T helper 17 cells in the pathogenesis of AD-related neuroinflammation has been reported in several studies, however the role of the main cytokine, IL-17, has not been well addressed. Herein, we investigate the effects of IL-17 neutralizing antibody (IL-17Ab) injected by intracerebroventricular (ICV) or intranasal (IN) routes on amyloid-β-induced neuroinflammation and memory impairment in mice

A dynamic efficiency analysis of the European renewable energy capacity between 2002 and 2011

This study analyses efficiency changes of renewable energy installed capacity in a sample of European countries between 2002 and 2011. The non-parametric DEA window analysis technique and yearly data from the electricity industry in 31 European countries are used to compute dynamic measurements of efficiency. The results show that these countries had different exploitation trends of their installed renewable energy plants capacity, and only a small number of them was able to fully take advantage of their plant capacity and achieve and maintain high efficiency rates over the period under examination