Gonad development and reproduction in the monoecious species Chlorophthalmus agassizi (Actinopterygii: Aulopiformes: Chlorophthalmidae) from the Sardinian Waters (Central-Western Mediterranean)

Background. The shortnose greeneye, Chlorophthalmus agassizi Bonaparte, 1840, is a species with a circumglobal distribution and is among the most abundant commercial fishes in some Mediterranean areas. The knowledge of the biology and ecology of this species is poor and geographically limited, then the aim of this study is to provide a contribution to the knowledge on the reproductive biology of this monoecious deep-sea fish in Sardinian waters. Materials and Methods. In this paper the morphology and the development of the gonads, the mean size at maturity, the monthly evolution in the percent frequency of the maturity stages, and of the indices related to reproduction of the shortnose greeneye were examined. Individuals were caught by trawls, between 270 and 504 m of depth in the Sardinian seas. Results. The ovarian pattern is of an asynchronous type, characterized by releasing of eggs in successive batches. Seven stages of development for the ovary and four for the testis were identified on the basis of macroscopic and histological features. The female portion is the most evident component and shows a later maturation than the male portion. The spawning period is unique and takes place from May to September. Conclusion. The identification of spawning period and the adopted reproductive strategy is essential to obtain a better understanding of its biology and a good management of its fisheries

The macrozoobenthic community of the Santa Gilla lagoon (southern Sardinia, Italy)

1 - Macrozoobenthos is one of the most significant communities of hydrobionts for assessing the ecological state of a water body. In spite of its importance, only few data concerning the macrobenthic community of Santa Gilla lagoon are available; 2 - Santa Gilla is one of the most important wetlands in Sardinia. The aim of this study is to give data on species composition of its macrozoobenthic community; 3 - Sampling has been carried out in 2010-2011 in July, October, January and April, in three stations located along a salinity gradient and the main environmental parameters were measured; 4 - A total of 13031 specimens belonging to 92 taxonomic groups and 5 main phyla (Anellida, Mollusca, Arthropoda, Cnidaria and Nemertea) were found. Among them, 52 different taxa were collected and pointed out for the first time in Santa Gilla lagoon in this work. 5 - Finally, seasonal and space differences were observed in the abundance values of the main taxonomic groups and in the diversity indices values

Navigating a global pandemic crisis through marketing agility: evidence from Italian B2B firms

Purpose This study aims to explore the impact of marketing agility on the business-to-business (B2B) firms' capacity to address unexpected events such as the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, examining how they reshape their strategies during the different stages of a crisis. Design/methodology/approach This study follows a theory-building approach and performs an in-depth exploratory multiple-case study in the context of 16 Italian firms operating in the B2B sector. Findings The study develops an event-sequence-based framework and illustrates how agile marketing strategies empower B2B firms to cope with a crisis across three crucial moments: the event phase, the response management phase and the investigation phase. Originality/value This paper contributes to a better understanding of marketing agility in the context of crisis management by showing the agile marketing strategies that B2B firms adopt during the different stages of a crisis. This work provides a useful foundation to assist managers in coping with market uncertainty. It suggests practical guidelines to make more informed strategic and operational marketing decisions, increasing a firm's capacity to act in today's fast-moving, complex times

Open Voucher and the Tourist Season in Sardinia

In the year 2004 Portale Sardegna, an Italian online tour operator, launched a new product, Open Voucher (OV), with the bold objective of prolonging the tourist season on the island. The idea was conceptually simple: to create a Sardinian tourist product capable of attracting travelers to the island during the low season, while the implementation was quite difficult. Open Voucher attempted this de-seasonalization through the development of an Internet-enabled network of affiliated hotels providing availability of rooms year round and offering their product through the Open Voucher platform at a low, fixed rate. In the years ranging from 2004 to 2006, Open Voucher showed good traction in the marketplace, but in 2007 it began to record falling bookings and deteriorating results. What was happening? Had the leadership team defined the strategy to launch Open Voucher properly? Was it even possible to re-launch the Open Voucher product

Re-visiting the nutrition of dairy sheep grazing Mediterranean pastures

In the light of recent findings in sheep nutrition and behaviour, the diets of grazing dairy sheep should be based on forages encompassing a variety of complementary nutritional values and containing moderate levels of complementary plant secondary metabolites, until recently regarded as "anti-nutritional". In lactating sheep, pastures of tannin-containing legumes like sulla (Hedysarum coronarium) and chicory (Cichorium intybus) can be integrated with annual grasses for establishing sustainable artificial pastures under rainfed conditions. Diets based on these forages, while ensuring high milking performance, can mitigate the unbalance of CP to energy ratio of grazing sheep. By grazing sulla and annual or Italian ryegrass (50:50 by area) as spatially conterminal monocultures or in timely sequence (complementary grazing) sheep eat more and perform better than by grazing the ryegrass pasture only. Concentrate supplementation of lactating sheep should be preferably based on fibrous sources (soyhulls or beet pulps), particularly from mid-lactation onwards and when supplementation levels are high. Milk urea concentration is confirmedly a useful monitoring tool to balance protein nutrition and curb the waste of N at animal and system level

Addressing the societal challenges in organizations: the conceptualization of mindfulness capability for social justice

Social inequalities are partly caused by habitual organizational practices. In this vein, to overcome those, organizations now need to develop new organizational capabilities aimed at enhancing their attention towards societal issues. In our study, we apply the theory of mindfulness to explain how it may help organizations overcome habitual organizing that fuels social inequalities. Guided by the microfoundational perspective of organizational capability, we conceptualize individual characteristics, processes, and structures that collectively form mindfulness capability for social justice. We perceive it as an organizational capability that reflects the extent to which an organization possesses a collective social justice awareness, i.e., awareness of the impact on social justice in society through its organizational practices. We argue that, when adopted by organizations, mindfulness, by increasing the awareness of the organizational impact on society, helps notice, examine, and question the correctness of taken-for-granted organizational practices. From our perspective, this new capability will lead to changes in organizational practices that fuel social inequalities. Our study contributes to the literature on sustainable organizational development and mindfulness research in organizations. Managerial implications and future research directions are also discussed

Effect of different pastures on CLA content in milk and sheep cheese

It is known that milk composition included conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is affected by animal feeding system (Cabiddu et al., 2001). In Sardinia dairy sheep feeding is mainly based on pastures. Most of them are characterised by self-regenerating species, like annual ryegrass (Lolium rigidum Gaudin) and burr medic (Medicago polymorpha L.). Non conventional species belonging to the Compositae family such as (Chrysanthemum coronarium L.) seem interesting for sheep feeding when other herbages decrease in quality (late spring- early summer). It was observed that C. coronarium establishes rapidly, can be grazed early in the growing season and persist where other pasture species may disappear; for these reasons it can be considered a valuable source of food. Moreover a preliminary study with dairy sheep fed fresh forage of C. coronarium showed relatively high levels of CLA in milk (Molle G. pers. com.) The aim of the present work was to study the influence of different pastures on milk composition, with particular reference to CLA and its precursors