The Role of Boundary Organizations in Collaborations between Incumbent Firms and Start-ups: Exploring Innovation Opportunities in Fashion-Tech

This paper investigates how boundary organizations enable and assist collaborations between incumbent firms and start-ups. This particular type of inter-organizational collaborations is puzzling, in that on the surface they are potentially fruitful for both parties, yet difficult to build and manage, and frequently result in a fiasco. Through a field study of an open innovation programme involving a former venture accelerator, an established global company in the fashion industry, and a group of high-tech start-ups, this paper illustrates three boundary-spanning processes through which boundary organizations enable and assist collaborations across organizational as well as disciplinary boundaries: (i) cross-domain framing work, (ii) misaligned translation work, and (iii) collective orchestration work. Our analysis also delineate the implications of such processes for the collaborating firms which, in turn, facilitate the execution of experimental collaboration projects, and lead to the emergence of new business opportunities. Our findings promote a dynamic, processual view of the morphing role of boundary organizations in inter-organizational collaborations, and have implications for theory and future research on boundary organizations, collaboration processes between incumbent firms and start- ups, and the emerging role of accelerators in open innovation

Building a local climate reference dataset: application to the Abruzzo region (Central Italy), 1930–2019

Reliable secular time series of essential climatic variables are a fundamental element for the assessment of vulnerability, impact and adaptation to climate change. Here, we implement a readily portable procedure for building an upgradable long‐term homogeneous climate dataset using monthly and daily observations of temperature and precipitation over a given area of interest, exemplified here with Abruzzo, a region in Central Italy characterized by complex orography. We process the dataset according to a preliminary ranking of stations based on data quantity and quality, and we exploit the Climatol algorithm for inhomogeneity correction. The corrected time series show trends in broad agreement with external databases (CRU, Berkeley Earth, E‐OBS), and highlight the importance of relying on a local network for a better representation of gradients and variability over the territory. We estimate that maximum (TX) and minimum temperature (TN) increased by ~1.6 and ~2.2°C/century, respectively, over the period 1930–2019, while in the recent decades 1980–2019 we found an accelerated trend of ~5.7 and ~3.9°C/century. Precipitation (RR) decreased by ~10%/century in 1930–2019, while it has been increasing at a rate of ~26%/century in 1980–2019. The Köppen–Geiger climate classification is sensitive to the increase of precipitation in the recent decades, which is attributable to decreased summer precipitation overcompensated by more rain in late spring and early autumn. The cold climate types are retreating upwards along the slopes of the mountain ranges. Over the period 1980–2019, extreme values are also displaying significant trends. Every 2 years, there is one less frost day (TN 25°C) in the Apennines area, while there is one more tropical night (TN >20°C) in the Adriatic coastal area. Precipitation extremes are increasing, especially along the coast, with rain accumulated in the rainiest days increasing at a rate of 1–2%/year

The IMPACT study: early loss of skeletal muscle mass in advanced pancreatic cancer patients

Abstract Background Pancreatic cancer (PC) patients have multiple risk factors for sarcopenia and loss of skeletal muscle mass (LSMM), which may cause greater treatment toxicities, reduced response to cancer therapy, prolonged hospitalization, impaired quality of life, and worse prognosis. Methods This is a retrospective study on advanced PC patients treated at the Department of Oncology of Udine, Italy, from January 2012 to November 2017. Among 162 patients who received chemotherapy, 94 consecutive patients with an available computed tomography (CT) scan were retrospectively analyzed. The primary objective of our study was to explore if an early LSMM ≥ 10% (measured at first radiological evaluation and compared with baseline) and/or baseline sarcopenia may impact prognosis. Baseline sarcopenia was defined according to Prado's criteria. Skeletal muscle area was measured as cross‐sectional areas (cm2) using CT scan data through the Picture archiving and communication system (PACS) image system. Results In the whole cohort, 48% of patients were ≤70 years old, and 50% had metastatic disease. At baseline, 73% of patients had sarcopenia, and 16% presented a visceral fat area ≥ 44 cm2/m2. Overall, 21% experienced an early LSMM ≥ 10%. Approximately 33% of sarcopenic patients at baseline and ~35% of patients with early LSMM ≥ 10% had a body mass index > 25 kg/m2. Of note, 71% of patients were evaluated by a nutritionist, and 56% received a dietary supplementation (oral and/or parenteral). After a median follow‐up of 30.44 months, median overall survival (OS) was 11.28 months, whereas median progression‐free survival (PFS) was 5.72 months. By multivariate analysis, early LSMM ≥ 10% was significantly associated with worse OS [hazard ratio (HR): 2.16; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.23–3.78; P = 0.007] and PFS (HR: 2.31; 95% CI 1.30–4.09; P = 0.004). Moreover, an exploratory analysis showed that inflammatory indexes, such as neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio variation, impact early LSMM ≥ 10% (odds ratio 1.31, 95% CI 1.06–1.61, P = 0.010). Conclusions Early LSMM ≥ 10% has a negative prognostic role in advanced PC patients. Further prospective investigations are needed to confirm these preliminary data

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

The Role of Boundary Organizations in Collaborations between Incumbent Firms and Start-ups

This paper investigates how boundary organizations enable and assist collaborations between incumbent firms and start-ups. This particular type of inter-organizational collaborations is puzzling, in that on the surface they are potentially fruitful for both parties, yet difficult to build and manage, and frequently result in a fiasco. Through a field study on an open innovation programme involving a former venture accelerator, an established leader company in the fashion industry, and a group of high-tech start-ups, this paper illustrates three processes through which boundary organizations enable and assist collaborations at the boundary between incumbent firms and start-ups, across organizational as well as disciplinary boundaries: (i) cross-domain framing work, (ii) misaligned translation work, and (iii) collective orchestration work. Our analysis also delineates the implications of such processes for the collaborating firms which, in turn, facilitate the execution of experimental collaboration projects, and lead to the emergence of new business opportunities. Our findings promote a dynamic, processual view of the morphing role of boundary organizations in inter-organizational collaborations, and have implications for theory and future research on boundary organizations, collaboration processes between incumbent firms and start-ups, and the emerging role of accelerators in open innovation

Are We Correctly Using Discharge Coefficients for Side Weirs? Insights from a Numerical Investigation

A key issue in the design of side weirs is the experimental assessment of the discharge coefficient. This can be determined by laboratory measurements of discharge and water depths at the up- and downstream ends of the weir by using De Marchi’s approach, consisting in the solution of the 1D dynamic equation of spatially varied steady flow with non-uniform discharge, under the assumption of energy conservation. This study originates from a recent alarming proliferation of works that evaluate the discharge coefficient for side weirs without clearly explaining the experimental methodology and/or even incorrectly applying modelling approaches, thus generating possible misinterpretations of the results. In this context, the present paper aims to highlight the effects of using oversimplified and/or heterogenous models (relying on different assumptions) for the experimental determination of the discharge coefficient for side weirs. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis is performed to detect the most influencing hydraulic and geometric parameters on each considered model. The overall results clearly indicate the wrongness of using or building not homogeneous discharge coefficient datasets to obtain and/or compare predictive experimental discharge coefficient formulas. We finally show how neural networks could provide a possible solution to these heterogeneity issues

Experimental analysis on sediment transport phenomena in channels equipped with inclined side weirs

Side weirs are particular structures used in hydraulic engineering for flow control in rivers and channels. In movable bed situations, the lateral discharge withdrawal can influence sediment transport processes causing an unexpected functioning of the weir; due to the possible changes in bed morphology, sediments from the main channel can be diverted in the evacuation channel as well. This paper summarizes the results of experimental analyses carried out to study these interactions for inclined weirs, under different hydraulic and geometric conditions. The results show the influence of weir’s length and inclination of the crest on the pattern of deposition and erosion zones in the main channel. The analysis of the experimental observations also confirm the validity of the De Marchi’s approach for modelling the behavior of inclined side weirs on movable beds. In addition, the predictive capability of a numerical method for estimating the diverted solid discharge from side weirs is tested. The comparison of observed and predicted sediment discharges outflowing from the lateral structure indicates the reliability of the tested method also for inclined side weirs