87,168 research outputs found
Regional Income Inequality and Convergence Processes in the EU-25
No full textThe paper investigates income inequality and convergence among the EU-25 countries and their regions at NUTS 3 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) level during the period 1995-2002. We measure the level of income inequality and its decomposition distinguishing the between and within country inequality as the components of the overall income inequality of EU-25, EU-15 and the new member states (NMS) of the EU recent enlargement in May 2004. In order to assess the inequality in living standards GDP in purchasing power standards (PPS) is used. In the empirical analysis of the convergence processes we consider the effects of interactions among neighbouring regions implementing spatial econometrics techniques. The estimation results are sensitive to the control for national effects. While the EU-25 and the EU-15 experienced a slow but significant process of absolute convergence there is no evidence found for regional convergence when national effects are considered. In the NMS the process of conditional convergence across regions even turns out to be significantly negative. This indicates that there were some divergence tendencies in the NMS during the period of 1995 – 2002.
La pressatura a membrana per preservare la qualità dei vini
No full textLe moderne presse a membrana mostrano due limiti importanti: la discontinuita dell’impiego e il deflusso del mosto nella stessa direzione della forza esercitata che ostacola in parte l’estrazione e impone tempi lunghi di lavoro.
Una recente proposta ancora in fase di sperimentazione presenta tutte le caratteristiche per superare questi limiti e rendere il sistema di pressatura a membrana più pratico ed efficiente nel rispetto della qualità dei prodotti lavorati.
Il prototipo è costituito da due unità poste in sequenza: la prima di sgrondo/pressatura, per ottenere mosti di prima qualità, la seconda di pressatura continua a vite, per estrarre efficacemente la frazione residua di minore pregio
La prima componente, caratterizzata da due membrane elastiche e da due superfici di sgrondo, è interna ad un serbatoio verticale, in cui il prodotto viene caricato dall’alto lateralmente per essere sgrondato, pressato e spinto nella parte basale dove la seconda componente, costituita da una coclea e da una forata cilindrica esterna, provvederà al suo completo esaurimento. Le prime indicazioni operative confermano la validità del progetto per la qualità dei mosti estratti e per la migliore gestione del lavor
PROPRIETA' REOLOGICHE DI FLUIDI ALIMENTARI NEWTONIANI
No full textThe rheological behaviour vs. temperature of some italian food liquids has been determined using a capillary viscometer built on purpose. The products used were trebbiano wine, merlot wine, pilsen beer, orange juice (100%), skim milk, fat milk, soave grape must, maize oil and soybean oil. All these liquids exhibited newtonian flow.
Temperature had a pronunced effect on viscosity. The magnitude of the viscosity decreased with increase in temperature. The Arrhenius model described well the effect of temperature on the viscosity with an average determination coefficient R2 of 0.987 and activation energies from 14100 to 20500 J/mol
SULLA VALUTAZIONE DELLE PROPRIETA' REOLOGICHE DI FLUIDI ALIMENTRI PSEUDOPLASTICI
No full textA rapid and simple method to obtain the flow behaviour index and consistency index of food fluids with pseudoplastic flow was developed. This method was compared with the more traditional approach that use the Rabinowitch correction.
The comparison was made by using a capillary viscometer assembled on purpose and by testing four different pseudoplastic food fluids: tomato, peach, pear and apricot purees. The difference on the results between the two methods was negligible.
The rheological behaviour vs. temperature of the four pseudoplastic food fluids was also determined. The temperature had a pronunced effect on the consistency index, but not on the flow behaviour index. The magnitude of the consistency index decreased with increase in temperature and the Arrhenius model described well this effect with the average determination coefficient R2 of 0.979
The check problem of food thermal processes: A mathematical solution
No full textTo calculate the sterilizing value U, and hence, the microbial lethality F in thermal processes of the canned food, starting from the knowledge of heating time B, a mathematical modeling was carried out. Therefore it’s useful to verify the desired microbial destruction (check problem) and it was obtained by reversing the mathematical approach carried out in a previous work [23] for the design problem, namely to calculate the retort heating time B, starting from a desired lethality F and, hence from the fh/U parameter. A comparison between the predicted fh/U, related to the lethality F calculated with the mathematical model of the present work and the desired Stumbo’s values of fh/U, provided the following statistical indices: a mean relative error MRE=1.18±2.11%, a mean absolute error MAE=1.61±11.7 and a determination coefficient R2=0.991, better than ANN models. The mathematical procedure, quickly usable also with a spreadsheet, replaces the 57 Stumbo’s tables and 18512 data sets in the Ball formula method
Commentary: Improved Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformation Obliteration With 3-Dimensional Rotational Digital Subtraction Angiography for Radiosurgical Planning: A Retrospective Cohort Study
No full textBackground: Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) is well-established. Radiographic advantages exist for 3-dimensional rotational digital subtraction angiography (3DRA) over 2-dimensional digital subtraction angiography (2D DSA) in delineating AVM nidus structure for SRS treatment planning. However, currently there is limited to no data directly comparing 2D DSA versus 3DRA in terms of patient outcomes.
Objective: To investigate whether the use of 3DRA over 2D DSA in radiosurgical treatment planning for AVMs associates with improved clinical outcomes.
Methods: All AVM patients treated with SRS at our institution between the years 2000 and 2018 were identified. Primary outcomes were obliteration rates and time to obliteration (TTO); secondary outcomes included rates of post-SRS hemorrhage, salvage therapy, and symptomatic radionecrosis. A minimum of 12 mo of follow-up imaging/angiogram post-SRS was required, or alternatively evidence of obliteration on angiogram prior to 12 mo post-SRS. Single predictor and multivariable Cox regression and logistic regression models were constructed to test for association between radiographic, clinical, and treatment factors with outcomes.
Results: A total of 75 patients were included. Total 17 patients received 3DRA and 58 patients received 2D DSA, with a median follow-up of 3.29 yr. The 3DRA is significantly associated with improved TTO on single predictor (HR 2.87, 1.29-6.12; P = .0109) and multivariable analysis (HR 2.448, 1.076-5.750; P = .0330) and increased odds of achieving obliteration by 3 yr post-SRS on single predictor analysis (OR 6.044, 1.405-26.009; P = .0157).
Conclusion: The 3DRA over 2D DSA in SRS treatment planning for AVMs may result in improved TTO and 3-yr obliteration rates. Further investigation and prospective study are warranted
Recensione del testo Montuschi F., Gli equilibri dell’amore. Cura di sé e identità personale. EDB, Bologna, 2014, pp.140
No full text“Uno dei grandi meriti di Montuschi è di aver smitizzato il tema dell’accettazione e della rassegnazione; di aver collocato la questione della disabilità in una prospettiva realistica, progettuale, di superamento e di sfida, senza demagogie e populismi, nell’intento di rendere chiare le variabili che intervengono in una situazione complessa e rispetto alle quali l’intervento educativo può essere dirimente” (Caldin, 2014, in M. Corsi, La ricerca Pedagogica in Italia. Tra innovazione e internazionalizzazione, Pensa Multimedia, Lecce, p. 151). Così Roberta Caldin sintetizza il grande contributo che Ferdinando. Montuschi ha dato nel suo assiduo lavoro durante e dopo la sua carriera universitaria, in particolare come pedagogista speciale. Anche in questo testo uno dei noccioli cui ruota intorno il discorso del testo “Gli equilibri dell’amore. Cura di sé e identità personale” è quello dell’accettazione in un’ottica di promozione. Non si parla di disabilità in questo caso, ma dell’importanza che la formazione della propria persona ha nella costruzione dei rapporti sociali
Rete a servizio dell’inclusione lavorativa di persone con disabilità. “Nuove” forme per un mediatore strategico.
No full textIl contesto lavorativo in cui pensare, progettare e realizzare inserimenti di persone con disabilità può incidere sul successo o meno dell’inclusione lavorativa? Se sì, in che modo? Quanto conosciamo i contesti aziendali che, oggi, danno la loro disponibilità per l’inserimento lavorativo delle persone con disabilità? A partire dal significato dell’essere adulti oggi e dall’importanza del lavoro di ciascuno – comprese le persone con disabilità – il contributo si prefigge di proporre una riflessione circa il senso del lavoro nello sviluppo dell’uomo occidentale contemporaneo e circa i cambiamenti che possono emergere da questa opportunità.
Affrontare il tema del lavoro per le persone con disabilità significa anche, però, mettere in evidenza la distanza e le criticità esistenti tra queste due realtà che – ancora troppo spesso – risultano di fatto essere due mondi che dialogano con difficoltà. Eppure, a livello di letteratura di riferimento, è indubbio come il contesto lavorativo favorisca l’emergere di abilità integranti, grazie alle quali le persone hanno la possibilità di acquisire maggiore autonomia e autodeterminazione e di possedere, anche al di fuori del contesto lavorativo, i giusti mezzi per usufruire dei servizi che offre la comunità (Soresi, Nota, 2007).
Tra i possibili strumenti di dialogo tra mondo del lavoro e disabilità ve ne sono alcuni con caratteristiche che fanno la differenza nella realtà odierna e spesso, anziché organizzare un Progetto di Vita, tenderebbero a proporre una serie di programmi che vengono solitamente ridotti a semplici tecniche dove tutti sono autorizzati ad intervenire e, in molti casi, non esiste una regia che ne sottolinei il senso e la finalità (Lepri, 2011). Si tratta di veri e propri mediatori. Alcuni di questi mediatori hanno indubbiamente assunto una valenza emblematica nel periodo pandemico che stiamo vivendo e la loro capacità o meno di agire ha determinato la riduzione o meno di vere e proprie cause di disabilitazione. Quando hanno avuto successo hanno permesso che nel lavoro entrasse il concetto di abilitazione, con l’intento di aiutare la persona a fare uso delle proprie doti e capacità, acquisendo stima di sé (Zappaterra, 2012).
Presentando i dati emersi da interviste semistrutturate a testimoni privilegiati attraverso una ricerca sviluppata tra il settembre 2019 e l’ottobre 2020, in questo contributo verranno esposte le valenze pedagogiche di alcuni di questi mediatori tra cui: responsabile dei processi di inserimento delle persone con disabilità, la rete, la collaborazione pubblico-privato
A mathematical solution for food thermal process design
No full textA new mathematical procedure was developed to correlate g (the difference between the retort and the coldest point temperatures in canned food at the end of the heating process), fh/U (the ratio of the heating rate index to the sterilizing value), z (the temperature change required for the thermal destruction curve to traverse one log cycle) and Jcc (the cooling lag factor). These are the four heat penetration parameters of 57 Stumbo's tables (18,513 datasets) in canned food. The quantities fh/U, z and Jcc are input variables to determine the g values, which is used in Ball's formula to calculate the heating process time B at constant retort temperature. The new procedure was based on three equations; the first was obtained by the inversion of the function that expresses the process lethality, F, and hence the fh/U parameter. However, the inversion was possible for a sub-domain of the function. The inverse function g = g(fh/U, z, Jcc ) was then extended to the entire domain (10°C ≤ z ≤111°C , fh/U ≥ 0.3 and 0.4 ≤ Jcc ≤ 2 ) using two polynomials (second and third equation) obtained with articulated multiple regressions starting from the Stumbo's datasets. A comparison between the calculated value of g and desired Stumbo's values of g provided the following values: a determination coefficient R2=0.9999, a mean relative error MRE=0.85±0.91% and a mean absolute error MAE=0.06°±0.09°C (0.11°±0.16°F). The results obtained by applying the mathematical procedure of this work, namely the g values using the three equations and the process time B using Ball's formula, closely followed the process time calculated from tabulated Stumbo's g values (root mean square of absolute errors RMS=0.393 min, average absolute error=0.259 min with a standard deviation SD=0.296 min). The high accuracy and simplicity of the procedure proposed here, make it useful in the development of mathematical algorithms for calculating and controlling, by computer, of food thermal processes. These algorithms replace the 57 look-up tables and 18,513 data sets needed in the Stumbo formula method. As such, this work offers a computerized formula method as an alternative to existing computerized numerical methods for this purpose
Exergetic analysis and exergy loss reduction in the milk pasteurization for Italian cheese production
No full textThe cheese industry has high energy consumption, and improvements to plant efficiency may lead to a reduction of its environmental impact. A survey on a sample of small-medium Italian cheese factories was carried out in order to assess the efficiency of heat recovery of the milk pasteurization equipment for the cheese production. Then, an exergetic analysis to calculate the related exergy loss was carried out together with a cost-benefit analysis to identify the optimized value of the heat efficiency. The exergy loss reduction was determined throughout an exergy analysis that takes into account this last value and the comparison with the previous exergy losses. Finally, the feasibility and the consequent additional reduction of exergy losses were verified, if a cogeneration heat and power (CHP) combined to the pasteurization equipment is assumed. Results show a current heat recovery efficiency of 93.2% in the Italian cheese factories; a close connection between the exergetic losses and the efficiency of the heat recovery exchanger; the optimized recovery efficiency equal to 97.3% obtained from the cost-benefit analysis; a related important exergetic loss reduction of −45% in the heat exchangers, as a second result of the exergetic analysis; a similar reduction of the exergy loss (−42%) of the whole system, as a third result of the exergetic analysis; a total exergy loss reduction of 22.9 kJ kg−1milk, which corresponds to a lower environmental impact due to CO2 reduction; a further reduction of the exergy loss of −10% when the cogeneration heat and power CHP are used
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