The Contribution of Universities to Growth: Empirical Evidence for Italy

New entrepreneurial ventures may represent a viable and effective mechanism to transform academic knowledge into regional economic growth. We test this notion for the Italian provinces between 2001 and 2006. We evaluate three outputs of academic activities: teaching, research and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) activities management. New ventures may be able to transform the mentioned outputs into improved economic performance. The findings show that the effects of academic outputs on provincial economic growth (all sectors) are appreciable when they are associated with sustained entrepreneurial activities in the province. It suggests that academic inquiry may provide new ventures with valuable commercial opportunities overseen by established companies.

Institutional Change and Academic Patenting: French Universities and the Innovation Act of the 1999.

Recent empirical work in the field of university-industry technology transfer has stressed the importance of IPR-related reforms and university patenting has major forces behind the success of US high-tech industry. European policy-makers have been tempted to explain the poorer technological performance of their countries with the lower propensity of their academic institutions to get engaged in patenting and commercializing their research results. As a consequence, a number of measures have been taken to promote academic awareness of IPRs, as part of more comprehensive policies in favour of academic commercialization and entrepreneurship. This paper explores university patenting, and the related policies, in France. We provide evidence that university patenting in that countries has been underestimated by policy-makers’ perceptions: French academic scientists are in fact responsible for no less than 3% of patents by French inventors at the European Patent Office. However, only 10% of academic-invented patents are owned by domestic universities, with the remainder assigned both to firms and to Public Research Organizations (PROs). We then explore the impact of the Innovation Act, passed in France in 1999. We find that the Act has significantly increased the likelihood an academic patent to be assigned to a university rather than to a business company. We also find, that the opening of a technology transfer office in a university appears to have a stronger and more significant impact than the Act on the decision of universities to retain IPRs over their scientists’ discoveries.

The Contribution of Universities to Growth: Empirical Evidence for Italy

New entrepreneurial ventures may represent a viable and effective mechanism to transform academic knowledge into regional economic growth. We test this notion for the Italian provinces between 2001 and 2006. We evaluate three outputs of academic activities: teaching, research and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) activities management. New ventures may be able to transform the mentioned outputs into improved economic performance. The findings show that the effects of academic outputs on provincial economic growth (all sectors) are appreciable when they are associated with sustained entrepreneurial activities in the province. It suggests that academic inquiry may provide new ventures with valuable commercial opportunities overseen by established companies

DIRITTO E MEMORIA STORICA NELL'ESPERIENZA GIURIDICA COMPARATA: IL DIFFICILE BILANCIAMENTO TRA TUTELA DELLA DIGNITÀ DELLE VITTIME, LIBERTÀ DI MANIFESTAZIONE DEL PENSIERO, PROTEZIONE DELLA DEMOCRAZIA.

This PhD dissertation deals with the study of the legislative measures that concerns story and memory. Since the beginning of the nineties, in fact, the idea of \u201chistorical memory\u201d has become a recurrent theme of public debate in a different EU countries and many Parliaments have adopted measures direct to redress the crimes committed in the past, specially in 20th century by repressive regimes. This phenomenon is particularly noticeable in France Spain and Italy. In the first two cases, Parliaments have introduce a duty of remembrance for the tragedies of the past, while in Spain the issue is approached from the perspective of a subjective right to the recognition of the memories of victims and their families. Near these type of interventions (generally called memorial laws) several EU countries have also adopted acts direct to the criminalize the Holocaust denial. In all cases these acts have known a lot of critics because they contrast with important constitutional principles: pluralism, freedom of speech, freedom of teach. But these acts regards events that have had a profound influence on the development of human dignity and on the birth of the constitutional system after the II\ub0 WW. In this point of view, the aim of this thesis is weigh the possibility for these type of interventions to received admission in democratic and pluralistic societies

Changing of the guard : structural change and corporate science in the semiconductor industry

This article documents a structural change in the production of science in the U.S. semiconductor industry over almost three decades. We observe a change in scientific productivity over time, where smaller firms publish more articles per dollar in R&D. Moreover, our results show a positive relationship between the value of intangibles and scientific publications, driven by basic research results. These effects are especially strong among Fabless ‘design’ firms and among firms in the post-PC era of semiconductor manufacturing, in line with a premium for smaller firms which invest in science in times of structural technological change

Corporate science in the patent system : an analysis of the semiconductor technology

Corporate scientific publications are often presented as a strategic means for firms to create prior art with the objective to prevent others from patenting related inventions. This presumes that corporate publications enter the pool of prior art which is relevant to judge the novelty of patent applications at the patent office and that corporate science has the power to block patent applications. This paper analyses for the first time whether the presumed mechanism behind corporate publications as a means to preempt patents works. With focus on the semiconductor technology our results show that scientific publications by corporations challenge the novelty of patent applications at the European Patent Office (EPO) significantly more than other pieces of prior art. Detailed information from the EPO patent examination procedure allows us to show that corporate publications threaten the novelty of patent applications if combined with other pieces of prior art like patents (rather than as standalone documents). This supports the view that corporate scientific publishing can be an effective means for firms to protect their freedom to operate if used as a complementary part of a firms’ overall IP protection strategy as proposed by scholars in the field of law and management science

Quality of donkey bresaola

Nutritional and organoleptic properties were evaluated in bresaola of cow and don- key meat and, moreover, was made a comparison between these two products. The cured products were made from semitendinosus muscle taken from 8 female donkeys and 8 cows. Donkey bresaola showed lower SFA percentage (P<0.05) and higher PUFA content (P<0.01) with higher fatty acids ω 3 (P<0.01) than beef bresaola. Donkey bresaola showed higher content of protein (P<0.01) and essential amminoacids (P<0.05) than beef bresaola. No differences were found for sensorial properties. Our in- vestigation demonstrates the possibility of trasforming donkey meat into a product similar to that of beef with a high nutritional value

Consumers' expectations and acceptability for low saturated fat 'salami'

Nutritional properties of meat and meat products are becoming very important in purchasing behaviour, because consumers are even more concerned about healthiness. The present study aimed to examine the influence of health information on the expected and informed acceptability of salami. Traditional salami and two low saturated fat salami produced with partial or total substitution of pork backfat with extra virgin oil were evaluated.; Results: Perceived acceptability was the lowest in salami with total animal fat substitution. In both low saturated fat salami, expected acceptability was significantly higher than perceived acceptability, while in traditional salami it was lower. Consumers completely assimilated their liking in the direction of expectations for salami with partial animal fat substitution, whereas incomplete assimilation was observed for salami with total animal fat substitution. The results also revealed that some sociodemographic characteristics discriminate consumer clusters from each other.; Conclusion: The present study highlights that nutritional information is not enough to satisfy consumers' expectations if the product is not sensorily acceptable. Findings about the relevance of information and consumers' segmentation could have important implications for policy makers and the meat product industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.; © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry

Nutritional Profile of Donkey and Horse Meat: Effect of Muscle and Aging Time

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of 14-day vacuum aging on the nutritional composition of donkey and horse meat. Longissimus Dorsi (LD), Semimebranosus (SM), and Rectus Femoris (RF), Semitendinosus (ST) muscles were sampled from each left carcass of 12 donkeys and 12 horses, respectively. Each muscle was divided into three sections, vacuum packaged, and stored at 2 °C for different aging times (1, 6, and 14 days). Fatty acids, amino acids, and cholesterol content were determined. SM exhibited higher levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) both in donkey and horse, whereas LD evidenced higher saturated (SFA) and monounsaturated (MUFA) fatty acids and lower cholesterol content in horse after 1, 6, and 14 days of storage. An aging effect was found only in donkey meat with higher saturated fatty acids and lower PUFA content at the end of the aging period. The highest value of essential amino acids has been displayed in SM an LD muscles from horse and donkey, respectively. Our results highlighted that equine meat, due to an excellent nutritional profile, represents a healthy alternative to traditionally consumed red meat. A different aging method could be used in donkey meat to preserve the high PUFA content

Solution Structure and Intermolecular Interactions of the Third Metal-binding Domain of ATP7A, the Menkes Disease Protein

The third metal-binding domain of the human Menkes protein (MNK3), a copper(I)-transporting ATPase, has been expressed in Escherichia coli and characterized in solution. The solution structure of MNK3, its copper(I)-binding properties, and its interaction with the physiological partner, HAH1, have been studied. MNK3 is the domain most dissimilar in structure from the other domains of the Menkes protein. This is reflected in a significant rearrangement of the last strand of the four-stranded beta-sheet when compared with the other known homologous proteins or protein domains. MNK3 is also peculiar with respect to its interaction with the copper(I) ion, as it was found to be a comparatively weak binder. Copper(I) transfer from metal-loaded HAH1 was observed experimentally, but the metal distribution was shifted toward binding by HAH1. This is at variance with what is observed for the other Menkes domains