Electronic Commerce in Agriculture and Agribusiness: the Case of Emilia-Romagna (Italy)

Despite the expectations of the benefits of this tool, the adoption of Electronic Commerce(EC) by small and medium firms of the agro-food sector in Italy is still not frequent, however, the understanding of opportunities it could create and how they can be exploited remains a relevant issue. This study, carried out in the Emilia -Romagna region during 2002, illustrates the results of a survey of 208 firms at all stages of the agro-food chain aimed at understanding the use of the Internet and the strategies adopted for EC implementation. The results show a low level of implementation of the instrument and a limited variety of adoption strategies. Agro-food firms actually invest very little in EC focusing their efforts on the Internet as promotion tool, while web-based direct selling is confined to market niches. The view that the Internet would reverse the disadvantages of small firms appears by now non realistic, even if interesting opportunities for further development are still present.E-commerce, agribusiness, Emilia-Romagna (Italy)

Great tit (Parus major) breeding in fire-prone oak woods: differential effects of post-fire conditions on reproductive stages

Wildfires negatively affect the overall reproductive success of several woodland avian species, but there is scarce information about which stages of the nesting cycle are specifically affected. We conducted a 3-year study to identify the effects of fire on the reproductive parameters of the great tit (Parus major) and the survival of its nests at different stages of the nesting cycle. We recorded the occupancy rate, clutch and brood size, hatching, fledging and nesting success in nest boxes placed on study plots with different post-fire age. By examining the post-fire succession, we analysed the survival of eggs and nestlings under predation risks. As the forest matured after a wildfire, tits occupied more nest boxes and laid more eggs that suffered less predation than in earlier successional stages. Although the incubation fate improved at each step of succession, the conditions to fully raise nestlings seemed to be suitable only in the oldest woods. Our findings indicate that the population dynamics of a reputed generalist avian species may be affected by fire. Furthermore, the effects of wildfires on stage-specific reproductive parameters show that an avian species that inhabits woodlands regains its full productivity only when its habitat has completely recovered from fire

Diurnal habitat suitability for a Mediterranean steppeland bird, identified by Ecological Niche Factor Analysis

Context. The negative effects of agricultural intensification and policies, use of pesticides, fertilisers and mechanised harvesting on several populations of pseudo-steppe birds have increasingly required more detailed and effective habitat suitability models. Distribution models of farmland species are prone to incur recordings of false absence data. Ecological Niche Factor Analysis (ENFA) allows identification of environmental predictors of species distribution by using presence data only. Aims. We quantified the diurnal habitat preferences and niche width of one steppe species, the stone curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus), with unfavourable conservations status in a Mediterranean area and reclassified a map with respect to habitat suitability classes according to the resulting distribution model. Methods. Ecological Niche Factor Analysis was used with GIS cartography customised with habitat and anthropogenic variables recorded during field surveys carried out in four study plots (~500 ha) and at different spatial scales. Key results. The stone curlew selected areas with low vegetation cover, such as fields following artichoke harvesting and tillage, close to rural buildings and unpaved roads. In contrast, the stone curlew avoided areas with high vegetation cover and areas highly disturbed by human-induced fires. The occurrence of natural vegetation was neither preferred nor avoided. The most robust model was based on a large-scale analysis (200mfrom the bird location points), according to which the optimal area for stone curlew distribution during its breeding season was restricted to 1% of the entire study area. Conclusions. Two uncorrelated factors, ‘marginality’ and ‘tolerance’, described the stone curlew’s niche in the area. The first index indicated selection for habitats that were marginal with respect to those available in the area, whereas the second indicated a species with a medium–wide environmental niche. In particular, the stone curlew occupied a much more restricted niche (low tolerance) in relation to individual variables. The use of customised databases at a large scale of analysis was found to more effectively reveal ecological requirements of this marginal and specialised species. Implications. Our results allowed us to indicate practical land management actions for the stone curlew, such as prevention of human-induced fires and increase of pastoral activities. Our results indicated a potentially positive role of littledisturbed service roads along rural buildings in stone curlew distribution, which warrants further research. In addition, studies are needed to verify the presence of an ecological trap in artichoke fields, their preferred habitat. As we showed for the stone curlew, niche analyses conducted at a large scale using customised databases could greatly improve habitat suitability models of farmland species

Nest aggregation and reproductive synchrony promote Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni seasonal fitness

Several factors promote coloniality by enhancing the fitness of colony members. In birds, spatial proximity among nests, breeder abundance and reproductive synchrony have been proposed as primary factors responsible for enhanced colonial defence and foraging success, which, in turn, enhance reproductive success. Whether these factors function synergistically or antagonistically remains, however, an open question due to the absence of an integrated analysis of their effects on fitness. We studied a large population of the Lesser Kestrel, Falco naumanni, a facultative colonial species, breeding in colonies of different sizes in their typical pseudo-steppe habitat. We quantified both the singular and interactive effects of nest distance, breeder abundance and reproductive synchrony on kestrel fitness measured as the time to survival of eggs to hatching and nestlings to fledging. Egg survival increased as reproductive stages became more synchronous with the timing of colony breeding, whereas nestling survival benefited from a higher synchrony with most nests in the entire population. Nestling survival was also positively affected by the interaction between nest distance and breeder abundance. Our results suggest that the presence of additional breeders in the colony is not sufficient per se, to trigger colonial advantages, but instead, that synchronised reproduction among multiple breeding pairs nesting in close spatial proximity is necessary to realise those benefits. Our findings provide a novel perspective for future investigations that explore the mechanisms underlying fitness variation among Lesser Kestrel colonies and group-living species in genera

Opening the black box: How staff training and development may affect the innovation of enterprises

We describe a research on the interplay that appears to exist in companies between Human Resource Management and innovation. This complex, multicomponent, non-linear and dynamic interplay is often viewed as a "black box". To help open the black box, we outline both a theoretical framework and preliminary empirical data. We view innovation as an organization-level property, favored by the organization's self-perception as a knowledge engine. Therefore, we devised a protocol to study the companies' strategies for training and development and their innovation profile. The protocol consisted in a questionnaire with 100 closed questions, suitable for companies which rely mostly on an inner training and development service. The questionnaire was administered to a sample of Italian firms from the Food & beverages and Fashion markets. The results show that certain facets of training and development are indeed correlated to innovation. Finally, we discuss the results

Habitat- and density-dependent demography of a colonial raptor in Mediterranean agro-ecosystems

Agricultural intensification is considered the major cause of decline in farmland bird populations, especially in the Mediterranean region. Food shortage increased by the interaction between agricultural intensification and density-dependent mechanisms could influence the population dynamics of colonial birds. Weused demographic data on lesser kestrels (Falco naumanni), a key species of Mediterranean pseudo-steppes, to understand the importance of land-use changes and density-dependent mechanisms in the light of its fluctuating conservation status in the Western Palearctic. Our analysis indicated an important influence of land uses (artichokes, arable and grassland fields) and colony size on kestrel survival rates. The strong habitat effect revealed the unsuitability of intensive arable lands with respect to extensive grasslands for lesser kestrels. Notably, artichokes, a winterintensive crop, proved to be a high-quality habitat as they were associated with survival values equal to those of grassland. This is likely due to prey availability and reveals that non-traditional crops may provide suitable habitats for lesser kestrels. Information theory gave strong support to the negative influence of colony size on fecundity, albeit a small one, for its positive effect on survival probability. The estimated population growth rate was negative for all three habitats, indicating a decline over time and urging conservation actions in all of the areas studied. This decline was much higher in colonies surrounded by arable fields. In sensitivity analyses, λ indicated that adult survival was the parameter with the greatest effect on population growth, followed by survival of fledglings and fecundity. Our study showed howthe costs and benefits of group living interact with agricultural intensification to drive species demography. In addition, we integrated significant information on one of the largest lesser kestrel populations to fine tune the most effective conservation strategy to prevent the collapse of the species in a relevant part of its range

Vibro-acoustic response of a turboprop cabin with innovative sidewall viscoelastic treatment

In recent years, it's considerably grown the market demand for increasingly performing and comfortable aircrafts as a new mandatory design target. Among the determining factors for the internal comfort, are included the noise and vibrations, the source of which is detected mainly in the propulsion unit especially in the case of turboprop category: the most significant component of the noise perceived inside a cabin is undoubtedly the blade-passage load exerted by the propeller. Recently were therefore tested techniques, both active and passive, of vibration emission reduction and sound absorption, however the goal remains to find solutions by extremely low-weight and easy to apply on the real mock-up. As known, a damping treatment is typically used to reduce noise coming from fuselage structure vibration under acoustic loading excitation. In such research context, the vibro-acoustic performance of the viscoelastic material for replacing the conventional interior blanket of the fuselage sidewall have been investigated for the well-known higher dissipation capacity and energy storage. Starting from experimental tests by means of different measurement techniques carried out on an innovative foam sample, the dynamic parameters were estimated according to identify suitably the material performance database for further finite element analysis on a turboprop fuselage model. The outcomes achieved have emphasized a significant role of the viscoelastic foam than the standard blanket with respect to the internal sound pressure levels abatement as well as the thermal insulation. The developed foam prototype is also easily integrable with an outer layer ensuring a fully removable embedded solution for the maintenance inspections

Food for flight: pre-migratory dynamics of the Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni.

Capsule The post-reproductive stage of Lesser Kestrel is crucial for migratory fuelling and survival. Aims To describe the summer pre-migratory ecology of the Lesser Kestrel in Sicily and review existing data in Southern Europe. Methods We identified the main summer roosts and then made roost counts every ten days from 2010 to 2012. We used case-sensitive modelling procedures to detect biases in counts (generalized linear mixed models), assess the annual population trends from 2005 to 2012 (TRends and Indices for Monitoring); and to model habitat preferences (generalized linear model). We sampled pellets to describe the birds’ diet during the peak month prior to migration. Results We discovered five roosts in Sicily with numbers of Lesser Kestrels varying annually (mean ±sd: 2112±387; min–max: 1797–2544). Counts at the main roost were not biased by meteorological conditions and showed an August peak followed by persistent decline through October. Less urbanized and heterogeneous agricultural areas with large cereal fields were the most significant habitats preferred during summer. Within this landscape, Lesser Kestrels prey on seasonally high concentrations of the small cricket Grylloderes brunneri. Conclusion Arable land not fragmented by agricultural intensification supports habitat rich with Orthopterans and attracts a large number of Lesser Kestrels fuelling before migration. Conservation of such pre-migratory habitats is as vital as conservation of breeding areas