An R&D perspective on international trade and sustainable development.

Research and Development (R&D) is the common denominator of innovation and technological progress, supporting sustainable development and economic growth. In light of the availability of new datasets and innovative indicators, in this work, we introduce a novel perspective to analyse the international trade of goods through the lenses of the nexus R&D-industrial activities of countries. We propose two new indices, RDE and RDI, summarizing the R&D content of countries' export and import baskets-respectively-and investigate their evolution in time, during the period 1995-2017, and space. We demonstrate the potential of these indices to shed new light on the evolution of R&D choices and trade, innovation, and development. In fact, compared to standard measures of countries' development and economic growth (e.g., the Human Development Index among the others tested), these indices provide complementary information. In particular, tracing the trajectories of countries along the RDE-HDI plane, different dynamics appear for countries with increased HDI, which we speculate can be reasoned with countries' availability of natural resources. Eventually, we identify two insightful applications of the indices to investigate further countries' environmental performances as related to their role in international trade.

Measuring node centrality when local and global measures overlap.

Centrality metrics aim to identify the most relevant nodes in a network. In the literature, a broad set of metrics exists, measuring either local or global centrality characteristics. Nevertheless, when networks exhibit a high spectral gap, the usual global centrality measures typically do not add significant information with respect to the degree, i.e., the simplest local metric. To extract different information from this class of networks, we propose the use of the Generalized Economic Complexity index (GENEPY). Despite its original definition within the economic field, the GENEPY can be easily applied and interpreted on a wide range of networks, characterized by high spectral gap, including monopartite and bipartite network systems. Tests on synthetic and real-world networks show that the GENEPY can shed light about the node centrality, carrying information generally poorly correlated with the node number of direct connections (node degree).

Effect of flotation and vegetal fining agents on the aromatic characteristics of Malvasia del Lazio (Vitis vinifera L.) wine.

BACKGROUND: Flotation is a process to reduce the must turbidity after grape pressing. The use of fining agents to reduce the polyphenol content is essential for white wine, but their impact on volatile compounds must be considered. Malvasia del Lazio juice (Vitis vinifera L.) was treated before flotation with animal gelatin (GEL), legume protein plus chitin (LEGCHIT), and legume protein plus yeast extract (LEGYEAST). The clarification efficiency, total polyphenols, and total proteins were determined in the grape must before and after flotation, as well as the volatile composition and sensory characteristics of the resulting wines. RESULTS: The LEGCHIT trial was the most efficient, it being the fastest and achieving the lowest turbidity values. The GEL trial was the slowest, showing grape must turbidity values similar to LEGYEAST but also the highest total protein content. The vegetal protein treatments caused a decrease in the concentration of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with respect to gelatin, which resulted in a reduction of aroma intensity, particularly for fruity and floral notes, but also for green notes. Furthermore, LEGCHIT wines were appreciated by panelists for their greater body and reduced astringency perception. CONCLUSION: The use of legume protein combined with chitin as a fining agent for flotation is advantageous in terms of clarification efficiency for grape must. Furthermore, the wines obtained showed high perceived global quality, even though a higher loss (38% and 27% respectively for LEGYEAST and LEGCHIT) of VOCs occurred when compared with gelatin. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

[Dual atrioventricular nodal pathways: physiology, arrhythmic findings, and electrocardiographic manifestations]. / Doppia via nodale: basi fisiologiche, risvolti aritmologici ed espressioni elettrocardiografiche.

The atrioventricular (AV) node is an anatomically well-defined structure, conveniently housed in the triangle of Koch. There are two distinct atrial impulse approaches to the AV node, one of which (in the anterior portion of triangle of Koch) has a faster conduction, while the other one (in the posterior portion) has a slower conduction. However, it is not said that such a conductive duality translates into any arrhythmic phenomena. Actually, these arrhythmias are due to an imbalance of the two pathways electrophysiological properties, which does not always exist. In the presence of such an imbalance, the dual AV nodal physiology is, however, the substrate for various arrhythmias and curious electrocardiographic behaviors. Often the fast pathway is characterized by a relatively long refractory period. In contrast, the slow approach is often characterized by shorter refractoriness.The unbalanced refractoriness of the two nodal pathways constitutes the prerequisite for the most common form of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia: the AV nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT). In subjects prone to this type of arrhythmia, during sinus rhythm, nodal conduction usually occurs from the anterior approach (fast pathway). However, a premature atrial beat may find this pathway refractory and cross the AV node through the posterior approach (slow pathway), resulting in a sudden prolongation of the AV conduction time ("jump"). This allows the impulse, once it reaches the common end, to excitate the fast pathway in a retrograde direction and to return backwards to the atrium, thus triggering a circus movement that can result in a "slow-fast" AVNRT. More rarely, an AVNRT can take place in an opposite direction of the reentrant impulse ("fast-slow" variety of AVNRT). A paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia may seldom occur with a regularly alternating RR cycle, if the reentrant mechanism involves retrogradely an accessory AV pathway and, in anterograde direction, a fast and a slow AV nodal pathway, alternately. Among the mechanisms underlying the total RR irregularity during atrial fibrillation, there is probably also the possibility that the AV node may offer to the atrial impulses two distinct pathways to reach the His bundle. Not too rarely, a dual AV nodal physiology can occur during sinus rhythm, through unexpected and sudden changes in the AV conduction time, so that two distinct PR families can be observed. It is likely that the presence of dual AV nodal pathways can facilitate or promote a Wenckebach conduction mechanism at nodal site.

The eastern part of the Fertile Crescent concealed an unexpected route of olive (Olea europaea L.) differentiation.

Background and Aims: Olive is considered a native plant of the eastern side of the Mediterranean basin, from where it should have spread westward along the Mediterranean shores, while little is known about its diffusion in the eastern direction. Methods: Genetic diversity levels and population genetic structure of a wide set of olive ecotypes and varieties collected from several provinces of Iran, representing a high percentage of the entire olive resources present in the area, was screened with 49 chloroplast and ten nuclear simple sequence repeat markers, and coupled with archaeo-botanical and historical data on Mediterranean olive varieties. Approximate Bayesian Computation was applied to define the demographic history of olives including Iranian germplasm, and species distribution modelling was performed to understand the impact of the Late Quaternary on olive distribution. Key Results: The results of the present study demonstrated that: (1) the climatic conditions of the last glacial maximum had an important role on the actual olive distribution, (2) all Iranian olive samples had the same maternal inheritance as Mediterranean cultivars, and (3) the nuclear gene flow from the Mediterranean basin to the Iranian plateau was almost absent, as well as the contribution of subspecies cuspidata to the diversity of Iranian olives. Conclusions: Based on this evidence, a new scenario for the origin and distribution of this important fruit crop has been traced. The evaluation of olive trees growing in the eastern part of the Levant highlighted a new perspective on the spread and distribution of olive, suggesting two routes of olive differentiation, one westward, spreading along the Mediterranean basin, and another moving towards the east and reaching the Iranian plateau before its domestication.

Giant bladder stone in a natural mummy of the early 19th century.

We present a case of a giant bladder stone, 7.5 cm in diameter, found in the pelvis of a 19th-century natural mummy from Borgo Cerreto (central Italy). We used microchemical energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy analysis and x-ray diffraction to define the mineral composition of the stone and obtain information about its internal structure. Chemical analysis showed a mixed composition. The internal layers contained mostly ammonium acid urate, whereas the external layers were composed of magnesium ammonium phosphate (struvite). Our research suggests a metabolic origin for the calculosis, with superimposed infection.