84 research outputs found
Socioeconomic inequality in non-communicable diseases in Europe between 2004 and 2015: evidence from the SHARE survey
No full textBackground
The scope of this work was to investigate socioeconomic inequalities among European adults aged 50 or older in chronic diseases and behavioural risk factors for these diseases, namely, smoking habits, obesity and physical inactivity, between 2004 and 2015.
Methods
Data for this study were drawn from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement (SHARE) in Europe, which is a panel database of microdata on health, socioeconomic status and social and family networks of people aged 50 years or older, covering most of the European Union. The predicted number of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) was used to estimate the concentration index and to find the contributions of determinants to socioeconomic inequalities in chronic diseases.
Results
The inequality disfavoured the poor in both years, but the effect was stable from 2004 (C = −0.071) to 2015 (C = −0.081). Inequality was shown to be attributed mostly to physical inactivity and obesity and this contribution increased during the study period. Among socioeconomic status (SES) determinants, education and marital status were the most concentrated in both years, while physical inactivity and obesity were the most concentrated behavioural risk factors in both years.
Conclusions
To prevent chronic diseases, health policy should aim not only to improve individual health behaviours in the population, but also to reduce socioeconomic inequality. Our study suggests promoting a healthy lifestyle in the most disadvantaged socioeconomic classes as a strategy to improve the health conditions of the whole population
Demographic aspects of aging
No full textPopulation aging is occurring in almost all developed countries, albeit with differences in timing and intensity. This unprecedented phenomenon is evident not only in the change in the population age structure, but also in the impressive increase in the average length of life. After describing past, current, and future population trends, this contribution presents theories explaining the reasons for this long-term process that is completely reshaping the age structure of the population. It also describes the inequalities in aging (focusing in particular on the differences by gender, education, and cause of death), and introduces some measures of the individual health and economic consequences of population aging. The conclusions mention the main consequences of an aging society (e.g., problems related to the costs of health and pension programs for old people), and of an increase in individual life span (e.g., the effects on the well-being and life-styles of individuals, and on the social and economic lives of older people and their families)
Closed tank pneumatic press application to improve Sauvignon Blanc wine quality and nutraceutical properties
No full textThe machines used in the winemaking process directly affect the quality of wine and its nutraceutical properties. Grapes’ pressing is a very important step in winemaking as it may promote the presence and/or absence of enzymatic processes on the must, leading to the creation of different products in terms of chemical composition, starting from the same grapes. The aim of the study was to compare two different pressing systems of Sauvignon Blanc grapes using an innovative pneumatic discontinuous closed tank press in two operating modes: the traditional pressing mode in presence of oxygen and the inert pressing mode, performed through grapes pressing under inert gas with nitrogen recovery. Chemical composition of musts and wines was analysed. Pressing under inert atmosphere caused an increase in total polyphenols; total acidity values in musts raised up denoting a very favourable environment for the development of the aromatic component of the future wine. The absorbance measured at 420 nm, an index of total browning reaction of foods, was significantly lower in the wine coming from inert pressing. Principal component analysis application allowed extracting composite quality indicators of must for evaluating the effectiveness of the inert pressing procedure. Results are encouraging and open up new research prospective with the aim of applying innovative techniques to improve the quality of the final product
A new wireless device for real-time mechanical impact evaluation in a citrus packing line
No full textPostharvest operations of fresh fruits in packing lines are potential cause of bruising and damage with remarkable consequences for fruit quality and marketability. Different types of impact recording devices (the so-called electronic fruits or pseudo fruits) have been developed in the last thirty years with the aim of measuring the magnitude of the impacts experienced by fruits during postharvest operations. The aim of this study was to develop and test a novel wireless instrumented sphere in order to study the critical points in a citrus packing line, real-time measuring the impacts suffered by fruits during processing. The non-commercial device was based on a MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) sensor node with sensing range from ±1 g to ± 400 g (g = 9.8 m s-2), a Ferroelectric RAM (FRAM) memory, a Radio Frequency (RF) transmitter, a microcontroller, a 75 mAh lithium battery. The sensor node was positioned inside a plastic ellipsoidic case with a total weight of 100 g in order to represent the cv. Tardivo di Ciaculli mandarin. A FR receiver allowed the real-time transmission of the measured data. The tests were performed in the “Consorzio del Mandarino Tardivo di Ciaculli” packing line (Palermo, Italy). Total acceleration values, representing the stresses suffered by the fruit inside the packing line, were studied using a variance component model. The results showed that in most of the measurements, total acceleration remained below 20 g but between the brushing and the waxing machine, considerably higher values were obtained, up to 80 g. In particular, waxing was identified as the most critical operation based on the impact magnitude transmitted to the fruit. Our system proved to be effective for performing the online assessment of the accelerations experienced by the fruits, immediately visualizing them with the opportunity of promptly deciding where to intervene to guarantee fruits’ quality in postharvest operations
Quality evaluation of grapes for mechanical harvest using vis NIR spectroscopy
No full textMechanical harvest of grapes is one of the operations that mostly influence the quality of the future wine. The shaking frequency of the harvesting machine is usually adjusted on the basis of the grape berry characteristics in order to limit grape juice production that is a potential cause of uncontrolled fermentations. These evaluations usually require time, personnel and laboratory analyses. The introduction of a vis NIR system to rapidly and reliably evaluate the berry properties in field before mechanical harvest could be a good alternative. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of applying vis NIR spectroscopy as a non-destructive technique on grapes cv. Syrah and Chardonnay to predict pedicel detachment force, pH and total soluble solids before mechanical harvest. The spectral acquisitions were performed using a portable vis NIR device (600-1000 nm). An Ordinary Least Square evaluation was applied to assess vis NIR prediction ability on grapes. The system gave excellent performance in predicting pH for both varieties (R 2 = 0.99), also confirmed by the indicators SECV/M and Bias/M respectively equal to 0.024 and 0.014 for cv. Syrah and 0.002 and -0.009 for Chardonnay. The vis NIR device showed satisfactory prediction ability even regarding total soluble solids (R 2 = 0.997 for Syrah and 0.9935 for Chardonnay) with SECV/M = 0.090, Bias/M = 0.071 for cv. Syrah and SECV/M = 0.00, Bias/M = -0.002 for Chardonnay. However, the results showed the low vis NIR ability to predict detachment force for Chardonnay grapes (R 2 = 0.85, SECV/M = 1.008; Bias/M = -0.834), and an acceptable one for Syrah grapes (R 2 = 0.87; SECV/M = 0.362; Bias/M = -0.109). Since detachment force has an enormous importance in grapes mechanical harvest, the possibility of applying vis NIR spectroscopy in field before harvest is very encouraging for cv. Syrah (red grapes) and needs to be improved for cv. Chardonnay (white grapes)
European Union commitment towards RES market penetration: From the first legislative acts to the publication of the recent guidelines on State aid 2014/2020
No full textAbstract During the last three decades, the European Union (EU) commitment towards the Renewable Energy Sources (RES) market penetration has been very complex, involving several aspects pertaining to the economic and political action of Member States. This paper seeks to overview the historical development of the legislative EU framework, including a description of the main financial programmes established and managed by the EU Directorates General. Moreover, the work will proceed with the picture of some Investment Funds, ad hoc created for RES undertakings, and managed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) in collaboration with the EU or other foreign Bank Institutes. The delicate matter of State aid is discussed, paying particular attention to the transition from 1999 to the recent EU Guidelines (2014/2020), as these wider scopes could lead to an effective and well functioning European Energy Single Market. Focusing the attention on three case-studies, we have produced final remarks on the correct functioning of the EU political framework, giving attention to important improvements needed at infrastructural level. The EU awareness of the power grid limits, that are currently recorded in Europe has lead to further reforms of the legislation, as shown by the new EU Guidelines that will probably support Member States in dealing with the infrastructure challenge
The photovoltaic growth in the European Union requires stronger RES support
No full textSince the adoption of the EU Directive, 2001/77/EC, the production of electricity from renewable energy sources has progressed. Apart from the indicative target proposed by the Directive, actually no other tools of policy monitoring exist. To fill this gap, we propose a dynamic method able to capture this multidimensional phenomenon, providing an assessment tool to measure the technical efficiency performances of EU countries in the photovoltaic sector (1996–2010). Results show how technical efficiencies of countries are, from one hand, due to problems belonging to the economic and political contexts in which they operate, on the other hand driven by specific political support schemes adopted. By taking into consideration the EU interest for a common system focused on a harmonized support schemes framework, our findings suggest the necessity of a further strengthening on the monitoring tools to be used, in order to suitably assess the different faces of the political arrangements that need to be considered to this scope
Measures of Efficiency in the Environmental Context
No full textIl concetto di efficienza ambientale è di estrema importanza per i policymakers nel raggiungimento dello sviluppo sostenibile. Inoltre, la conoscenza del proprio “livello di eco-efficienzaâ€� può essere importante nell’attivitàdi programmazione per il progresso di un Paese. In questo lavoro suggeriamo un metodo, da noi denominato “context-dependent eco-efficiency DEAâ€� che, basandosi sulla metodologia DEA, permette di ottenere una misurazione dell’efficienza ambientale delle unitàanalizzate, anche in presenza di output indesiderabili. Il ricorso a tale modello permette, nel contempo, di valutare i livelli di efficienza e di tenere conto del contesto in cui l’unitàopera e che la caratterizza. Il metodo è qui impiegato per analizzare l’eco-efficienza dipendente dal contesto delle regioni europee sulla base di indicatori ambientali raccolti dal data set Eurostat
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