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Aimac), Rome, Italy; 6Alleanza Contro il Cancro, Rome, Italy; 7SC Haematology, IRCCS Istituto Tumori "Giovanni Paolo II", Bari, Italy; 8Rehabilitation Medicine Unit, Strategic Health Services Department, Istituto Nazionale Tumori-IRCCS Fondazione G. Pascale, Naples, Italy; 9Department of Oncology and Molecular Medicine, Italian National Institute of Health (ISS), Rome, Italy; 10Evaluative Epidemiology Unit, Department of Research, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori di Milano, Milano, Italy; 11DOPO Clinic, Department of Pediatric Haematology/Oncology, IRCCS Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Genoa, Italy; 12Department of Oncology and Hemato-Oncology, University of Milan, Milan, Italy; 13Applied Research Division for Cognitive and Psychological Science, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy; 14Psychology Unit, IRCCS Regina Elena Cancer Institute, Rome, Italy; 15Medical Oncology Unit, Umberto I Hospital, Department of Oncology, RAO, Siracusa, ItalyCorrespondence: Luigino Dal Maso, Epidemiologia Oncologica, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico di Aviano (CRO) IRCCS, Via Franco Gallini 2, Aviano (PN), 33081, Italy, Tel +39 0434 659354, Email [email protected] Paolo Tralongo, Medical Oncology Unit, Umberto I Hospital, Department of Oncology, RAO, Via Giuseppe Testaferrata 1, Siracusa, 96100, Italy, Tel +39 0931 724 464, Email [email protected] A multidisciplinary panel of experts and cancer patients developed a position paper to highlight recent evidence on "cancer cure" (ie, the possibility of achieving the same life expectancy as the general population) and discuss the consequences of this concept on follow-up and rehabilitation strategies. The aim is to inform clinicians, patients, and health-care policy makers about strategies of survivorship care for cured cancer patients and consequences impacting patient lives, spurring public health authorities and research organizations to implement resources to the purpose. Two identifiable, measurable, and reproducible indicators of cancer cure are presented. Cure fraction (CF) is > 60% for breast and prostate cancer patients, > 50% for colorectal cancer patients, and > 70% for patients with melanoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, and cancers of corpus uteri, testis (> 90%), and thyroid. CF was > 65% for patients diagnosed at ages 15– 44 years and 30% for those aged 65– 74 years. Time-to-cure was consistently < 1 year for thyroid and testicular cancer patients and < 10 years for patients with colorectal and cervical cancers, melanoma, and Hodgkin lymphoma. The working group agrees that the evidence allows risk stratification of cancer patients and implementation of personalized care models for timely diagnosis, as well as treatment of possible cancer relapses or related long-term complications, and preventive measures aimed at maintaining health status of cured patients. These aspects should be integrated to produce an appropriate follow-up program and survivorship care plan(s), avoiding stigma and supporting return to work, to a reproductive life, and full rehabilitation. The "right to be forgotten" law, adopted to date only in a few European countries, may contribute to these efforts for cured patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identification of parameters that can quantitatively describe the different characteristics of urban morphology is fundamental to studying urban ventilation and microclimate at the local level and developing parameterizations of the dynamic effect of an urban area in mesoscale models. This paper proposes a methodology to calculate four morphological parameters, namely mean height, aspect ratio, sky view factor, and plan area ratio, of five cities located in southern (Bari and Lecce), central (Naples and Rome), and northern (Milan) Italy. The calculation is performed using the Geographical Information System (GIS), starting from morphological and land use data collected and analyzed in shapefiles. The proposed methodology, which can be replicated in other cities, also presents in detail the procedure followed to properly build input data to calculate the sky view factor using the UMEP GIS tool. The results show a gradual increase in the plan area index, λp, and mean building height, H ¯ , moving from the south to the north of Italy. Maximum values of λp and H ¯ are obtained in the regions of Milan, Rome, and Naples, where the highest spatially-averaged values are also found, i.e., λp = 0.22, H ¯ = 10.9 m in Milan; λp = 0.19, H ¯ = 12.7 m in Rome; λp = 0.20, H ¯ = 12 m in Naples. Furthermore, for all the cities investigated, areas characterized by the Corine Land Cover class as "continuous urban fabric" are those with medium sky view factor SVF values (around 0.6–0.7) and λp values (around 0.3) typical of intermediate/compact cities. The methodology employed here for calculating morphological parameters using GIS proves to be replicable in different urban contexts. This opens to a better classification of cities in local climate zones (LCZ), as shown for the Lecce region, useful for urban heat island (UHI) studies and to the development of parameterizations of the urban effects in global and regional climate models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the variation in building thermal energy demand for different indoor air set-point temperature and presents an economic analysis comparing the cost of a heating generation system based on an air-to-water heat pump and a gas boiler. Dynamic simulations were performed considering three different residential building characteristics of the Italian building stock placed in different Italian municipalities: Milan, Rome and Naples. An economic analysis was carried out considering the gas and electricity prices related to the years 2019–2022 provided by Italian Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and Environment (ARERA). The analysis showed the competitiveness of the heat pump compared with the gas boiler as a heating generation system in terms of annual costs for heating in almost all the scenarios considered and also showed an important reduction in building thermal energy demand if the set-point temperature was reduced, even by 1 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the question of whether commercial, peer-to-peer accommodation platforms (Airbnb, in particular) and hotels are in fierce competition with each other with the possible presence of substitution threats, and compares the time series of the occupancy values across two supplier types. Design/methodology/approach: The cities of Milan and Rome are used as case studies for this analysis. To assess the extent of synchronization, the series of Airbnb and hotels are transformed into a series of symbols that render their rhythmic behavior, and a mutual information metric is used to measure the effect. Findings: The results show that Airbnb hosts and hotels have different seasonal patterns. The diverse occupancy trends support the absence of direct competition between Airbnb and hotels. The findings are consistent in the two analyzed cities (Milan and Rome). Interestingly, there are higher similarities between seasonal occupancy series of Airbnb listings in Milan and Rome, on one side, and hotels in Milan and Rome, on the other, than between Airbnb and hotels in the same city. Research limitations/implications: The findings show a progressive de-synchronization (within mutual information) among the five groups of Airbnb hosts triggered by the rising professionalization degree. This result suggests the existence of a partial different business model for multi-listing hosts. Practical implications: The study illustrates an absence of any substitution threat between Airbnb and hotels in both cities. This could have important consequences, especially for the pricing and revenue management policy. In fact, the higher the substitution threat, the higher the attention that Airbnb entrepreneurs should pay to the pricing strategy implemented by hotels, and vice versa. Originality/value: This study sheds new light on the competition threat between Airbnb and hotels. In this study, hotels and Airbnb hosts appear as two very separate markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the travel industry high-speed trains and airlines are increasingly competing for passengers, and the diffusion of price optimization based on real time demand fluctuations poses new challenges in the analysis of price competition between operators. This paper presents an analysis of how different competitors simultaneously adjust their prices in the short run. The empirical model accounts for dynamic price variations, exploring both intramodal and intermodal price competition. The results, based on 12,506 price observations, show that intermodal competition presents some kind of asymmetric behaviour, with airlines reacting more than trains to competitors' price changes. The paper concludes with the implications of this heterogeneous behaviour for the tourism and travel industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the role consideration of the alternatives plays in mode choice models. On the Rome-Milan corridor, in Italy, where seven alternative modes of transport are available, we administered a stated choice (SC) experiment. Responses to supplementary questions on consideration of the different modes of transport and the presence of thresholds for the travel time attribute indicate travellers are less likely to consider the slower modes. Two model specifications, in which consideration for the slower alternatives is measured using both sets of supplementary questions, are proposed and contrasted against a model which assumes all alternatives are considered. Our results suggests that some of the unobserved preference heterogeneity could potentially be due to consideration effects. Accounting for consideration of alternatives also has direct impacts on choice probabilities, parameter estimates and willingness-to-pay measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a comprehensive assessment of a dynamical downscaling of ERA5 Reanalysis recently performed over Italy through the COSMO-CLM model at a convection-permitting scale (0.02°) over the period 1989–2020. Results are analysed against several independent observational datasets and reanalysis products. The capability of the downscaling to realistically represent the climatology for 2 m temperature and precipitation is analysed over the whole peninsula and subdomains. Hourly precipitation patterns, orography effects, and urban climate dynamics are also investigated, highlighting the weaknesses and strengths of the convection-permitting model. In particular, gains in performances are achieved in mountainous areas where the climate characteristics are correctly represented, as are the hourly precipitation characteristics. Losses in performances occur in coastal and flat areas of the Italian peninsula, where the convection-permitting model performance does not seem to be satisfactory, as opposed to complex orographic areas. The adopted urban parameterisation is demonstrated to simulate heat detection for two Italian cities: Rome and Milan. Finally, a subset of extreme climate indicators is evaluated, finding: (i) a region-dependent response, (ii) a notable performance of the convection-permitting model over mountainous areas and (iii) discrepancies in the South, Central and Insular subdomains. Climate indicators detect extreme events at a detailed scale, becoming an important tool for turning climate data into information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of heat pump technology in the tertiary sector can lead to a reduction in greenhouse emissions and enhanced exploitation of renewable energy sources, including solar energy. The present paper investigates the potentiality of an energy system equipped with photovoltaic thermal (PV) hybrid solar collectors, a storage tanks for the heat source and a heat pump for the space heating of a small office located in three different European cities. The behaviour of the heat pump according to the heat taken from the photovoltaic panels and stored in the tank has been analysed. An energy analysis was performed according to the efficiency of the heat pump and then the thermodynamic parameters of the system were evaluated. The analytical model of each subsystem of the thermal plant was developed in Matlab where hourly simulation during the period of heating season were performed. Therefore, a comparison between the results obtained for Rome, Milan and Cracow provided the heating energy demand covering rate for each of the cities in different subsystem efficiency conditions. When thermal and electrical efficiency of PVT are set respectively to 0.6 and 0.15 and the efficiency of storage unit heat exchanger is considered equal to 0.9 the heating demand covered for Rome is 70%, for Milan is 62%, while for Cracow is 47%. Those values show a good potential for supporting heat-pump based PV-T heating systems. • A novel combined PV-T heat pump system for supporting building heating is proposed. • A mathematical model of the system is developed. • The system performance is studied for three different locations: Cracow, Milan and Rome. • The system heating efficiency is the highest in Rome, while the lowest in Cracow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, the interplay between economic inequality, international migration, and urban transformation has raised awareness about segregation and its social implications on a global and European scale. As cities become home to diverse populations with various backgrounds including social, racial, ethnic, and cultural, the proximity of these groups becomes more pronounced. This article explores the residential segregation of four Asian immigrant groups in three major Italian cities: Milan, Rome, and Naples. Using data from the 2011 Italian General Population Census and employing an areal weighted interpolation procedure, the study measures segregation using both traditional two-group indices and multi-group indices that account for the complexities of contemporary societies. The results indicate a north–south disparity, with Naples exhibiting the highest levels of residential segregation. Among the analysed immigrant groups, Bangladeshis and Chinese tended to be more self-segregated, while Filipinos and Sri Lankans were relatively more dispersed. This research underscores the necessity for a nuanced understanding of segregation dynamics and the adoption of appropriate approaches to address the challenges and opportunities presented by the coexistence of diverse groups in urban areas. By contributing to the existing literature on residential segregation in Southern Europe, this study sheds light on the spatial patterns and social dynamics of different ethnic groups in Italian cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Air pollution is one of the main concerns for the health of European citizens, and cities are currently striving to accomplish EU air pollution regulation. The 2020 COVID-19 lockdown measures can be seen as an unintended but effective experiment to assess the impact of traffic restriction policies on air pollution. Our objective was to estimate the impact of the lockdown measures on NO2 concentrations and health in the two largest Italian cities. Methods: NO2 concentration datasets were built using data deriving from a 1-month citizen science monitoring campaign that took place in Milan and Rome just before the Italian lockdown period. Annual mean NO2 concentrations were estimated for a lockdown scenario (Scenario 1) and a scenario without lockdown (Scenario 2), by applying city-specific annual adjustment factors to the 1-month data. The latter were estimated deriving data from Air Quality Network stations and by applying a machine learning approach. NO2 spatial distribution was estimated at a neighbourhood scale by applying Land Use Random Forest models for the two scenarios. Finally, the impact of lockdown on health was estimated by subtracting attributable deaths for Scenario 1 and those for Scenario 2, both estimated by applying literature-based dose–response function on the counterfactual concentrations of 10 μg/m3. Results: The Land Use Random Forest models were able to capture 41–42% of the total NO2 variability. Passing from Scenario 2 (annual NO2 without lockdown) to Scenario 1 (annual NO2 with lockdown), the population-weighted exposure to NO2 for Milan and Rome decreased by 15.1% and 15.3% on an annual basis. Considering the 10 μg/m3 counterfactual, prevented deaths were respectively 213 and 604. Conclusions: Our results show that the lockdown had a beneficial impact on air quality and human health. However, compliance with the current EU legal limit is not enough to avoid a high number of NO2 attributable deaths. This contribution reaffirms the potentiality of the citizen science approach and calls for more ambitious traffic calming policies and a re-evaluation of the legal annual limit value for NO2 for the protection of human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the acoustic environment worldwide, entailing relevant reductions of equivalent noise levels (LAeq) during this exceptional period. In the context of the LIFE+ DYNAMAP project, two wireless acoustic sensor networks were deployed in Milan and Rome. Taking advantage of the built-in identification of anomalous noise events (ANE) in the sensors, this work analyses the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown in both urban and suburban acoustic environments from January to June 2020, considering the distribution of ANEs and the intermittency ratio (IR) as an indicator of the impact of noise on population. The results show statistically significant increments of ANEs in Rome during the lockdown, mainly on weekends, and especially at night, despite the significant decrease in salient events. Differently, ANEs decrease during the lockdown in Milan, mostly at daytime, as a result of population confinement. Although the IR increases in several urban locations, most sensed locations show a relevant decrease in IR during the confinement, which represents a noteworthy reduction of the negative impact of noise in the population of both cities. During the post-lockdown period, all the scores start to return to those observed in the pre-lockdown, but still remaining higher than in 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ventilation systems are necessary to ensure a good indoor air quality, especially in buildings characterized by high energy performance. An all-air system could be more flexible than radiant systems that need to be combined with other systems to provide fresh air and control latent loads. In this work, a multi-zone all-air system has been compared with a radiant floor integrated with mechanical controlled ventilation and an isothermal dehumidifier. All the systems have been modeled in TRNSYS considering a residential building and three different locations (Helsinki, Milan and Rome). The comparison has been performed in terms of both indoor conditions and energy consumption. The results outline that the two systems are able to maintain the desired indoor conditions. For the energy consumption, an air-to-water heat pump and all the auxiliaries have been considered. Under the same indoor conditions, in heating the electrical energy consumption of the all-air system is lower than that of the radiant floor (−19% in Helsinki, −32% in Milan and −74% in Rome); also in cooling the electrical energy consumed by the all-air system is lower in Milan and Rome (−14% and −29% respectively), whereas in Helsinki the difference is less than 5%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The arrival of a new operator on the Italian high-speed railway (HSR) market, its maintanance and its market share made Italian open access experience one of the most successful liberalization models in the HSR sector. Researchers noticed that since the entry of the new operator, expansion of Italian HSR market is mostly due to the presence of this new operator. The aim of this article is to establish whether there were some other characteristics of the Italian HSR market that may explain this success even if it may be in opposition with what theory commonly suggests about competition in HSR markets. This research tries to do a complementary analysis by making a comparison with another successful HSR market that is not already liberalized: the French HSR market. After retracing supply, demand and markets maturity of Rome–Milan and Paris–Marseille lines, results reveal that supply and demand evolutions in both markets were very similar, if not identical after the commissioning of HSR. It suggests that liberalization may not be the only explanation of the significant evolution of Italian HSR market but that the opening of new infrastructures may also lead to positive trends that remain until markets reach a high level of maturity. This maturity understood as the residual capacity of the network and partially determined by infrastructure improvement seems to be another variable that had influenced the success of NTV. Indeed, before liberalization, Italian HSR network was far from saturation that allowed new entrant to capture important market shares. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic noise is presently considered one of the main pollutants in urban and suburban areas. Several recent technological advances have allowed a step forward in the dynamic computation of road-traffic noise levels by means of a Wireless Acoustic Sensor Network (WASN) through the collection of measurements in real-operation environments. In the framework of the LIFE DYNAMAP project, two WASNs have been deployed in two pilot areas: one in the city of Milan, as an urban environment, and another around the city of Rome in a suburban location. For a correct evaluation of the noise level generated by road infrastructures, all Anomalous Noise Events (ANE) unrelated to regular road-traffic noise (e.g., sirens, horns, speech, etc.) should be removed before updating corresponding noise maps. This work presents the production and analysis of a real-operation environmental audio database collected through the 19-node WASN of a suburban area. A total of 156 h and 20 min of labeled audio data has been obtained differentiating among road-traffic noise and ANEs (classified in 16 subcategories). After delimiting their boundaries manually, the acoustic salience of the ANE samples is automatically computed as a contextual Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) together with its impact on the A-weighted equivalent level ( Δ L A e q ). The analysis of the real-operation WASN-based environmental database is evaluated with these metrics, and we conclude that the 19 locations of the network present substantial differences in the occurrences of the subcategories of ANE, with a clear predominance of the noise of sirens, trains, and thunder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]