“Can you tell me about the future?” A narrative of the goal-setting process in family business

By relying on the taxonomy introduced by Kotlar and De Massis (2013), the present study proposes to investigate the dynamics and the set of goals perceived by the family members strategic for the future growth of their family business. Using an interview approach, the researchers recorded the professional stories of 15 family firm owners and managers. Through the interpretation of the narrative material emerged that the interviewees never mentioned the role that family-centred non-economic goals (i.e., ‘family harmony’, the ‘family social status’ and ‘the family identity’) plays in the performance of the family firms. Contrary, non-family non-economic goals, such as innovation and internationalisation, are considered two keys growth drivers. In particular, if both innovation and internationalisation have equal importance amongst the current goals, internationalisation assumes a greater importance in relation to the future goals of growth.   Keywords: Goal setting process; Family business; Growth Strategy; Narrative analysi

Evaluation of Emission Factors for New Technology S. I. Euro 4 Cars

This research attempted to analyze the environmental impact of two available non-conventional vehicle technologies, highlighting the benefits in terms of emissions and fuel consumption reduction with respect to conventional vehicles. Moreover, tests were compared with predicted emissions of the conventional gasoline technology provided by the kinematic model developed. Results show that cold start strongly affects the emissions of CO, THC and NOX, which become very low during hot driving cycle. The existing emission model cannot be used to obtain a satisfactory prediction for hybrid car. But it could be proved that KEM emission model allows us to predict emission factor for conventional car and compressed natural gas. However, it is concluded that new experimental campaign with new technological cars might be interesting for future model developments

Problemi di apprendimento di tre perifrasi fra spagnolo e italiano. Osservazioni acquisizionali e proposte pedagogiche.

Il contributo prende in considerazione alcuni problemi acquisizionali particolarmente ostici e persistenti nel processo di apprendimento dell’italiano da parte di discenti ispanofoni. Sono noti, in letteratura, i fenomeni di transfer additivo e persistente di strutture perifrastiche spagnole non presenti in italiano. È il caso di "andare/venire + gerundio", strutture “gemelle” di "ir/venir + gerundio": contemplate e frequenti, in spagnolo, in contesti diafasici anche bassi e trascurati, tali perifrasi, in italiano standard e neo standard, hanno perso molto “spazio” d’uso, e sono oggi relegate a varietà diafasiche molto alte della lingua. Per "estar + gerundio" e "stare + gerundio" – la terza coppia di perifrasi considerate in questo studio –, notiamo invece, in italiano, severe restrizioni aspettuali: "estar + gerundio" esprime sia l’aspetto progressivo che quello continuativo, mentre "stare + gerundio" si è specializzata solo nell’aspetto progressivo. Ne conseguono fenomeni di transfer spagnolo-italiano tipici, ben rintracciabili in realizzazioni come "*sono stato lavorando tutta la notte". L’interpretazione psicolinguistica di tali problemi acquisizionali è basata sulla difficoltà di individuazione delle prove che possano permettere la ristrutturazione dell’interlingua: in questi tre casi sono prove negative indirette, ovvero la non apparenza delle strutture in determinati contesti o incongruenza con determinati valori aspettuali. Per lenire i problemi di transfer additivo delle tre perifrasi, in questo lavoro, dopo aver approfondito gli aspetti psicolinguistici di cui sopra, considereremo se e come le grammatiche pedagogiche di italiano per stranieri – in particolar modo ispanofoni – trattano queste discrepanze fra le due lingue. Proporremo infine alcuni accorgimenti pedagogici che possono essere utili per aiutare i discenti ispanofoni ad analizzare correttamente l’input italiano, così da lenire l’interferenza negativa fra le due lingue

on road measurement of co2 vehicle emissions under alternative forms of intersection control

Abstract The environmental impact of road intersection operations, and in particular of alternative types of traffic control, has received increasing attention in recent years as a factor to be considered in addition to efficiency and safety. The purpose of this study is to provide experimental evidence about this issue based on direct measurement of CO2 emissions produced by a vehicle under traffic signal versus roundabout control. Carbon Dioxide was chosen as specific target of the analysis because of its important contribution to the "greenhouse effect". Using data collected with a Portable Emission Measurement System (PEMS) installed on a test car, a before-and-after analysis was conducted on an intersection where a roundabout has replaced a traffic signal. A total of 396 trips were carried out by two drivers in different traffic conditions and in opposite directions along a designated route. Using statistical methods, the existence of significant differences in CO2 emissions in relation to the type of intersection control was investigated based on the collected data, also considering the effect of other explanatory variables and focusing in particular on peak traffic conditions. More precisely, the effect of the type of control has been characterized using descriptive statistics and permutation tests applied to the entire data set, while an analysis based on binary logistic regression has been performed with specific reference to trips carried out under peak traffic conditions. The results of these analyses support the conclusion that converting a signal-controlled intersection to a roundabout may lead to a decrease in CO2 emissions

Effects of caspofungin against Candida guilliermondii and Candida parapsilosis.

The in vitro activity of caspofungin (CAS) was investigated against 28 yeast isolates belonging to Candida albicans (n = 5), Candida guilliermondii (n = 10), and Candida parapsilosis (n = 13). CAS MICs obtained by broth dilution and Etest methods clearly showed a rank order of susceptibility to the echinocandin compound with C. albicans > C. parapsilosis > C. guilliermondii. Similarly, time-kill assays performed on selected isolates showed that CAS was fungistatic against C. albicans and C. parapsilosis, while it did not exert any activity against C. guilliermondii. In a murine model of systemic candidiasis, CAS given at doses as low as 1 mg/kg of body weight/day was effective at reducing the kidney burden of mice infected with either C. albicans or C. guilliermondii isolates. Depending on the isolate tested, mice infected with C. parapsilosis responded to CAS given at 1 and/or 5 mg/kg/day. However, the overall CFU reduction for C. guilliermondii and C. parapsilosis was approximately 100-fold less than that for C. albicans. Our study shows that CAS was active in experimental systemic candidiasis due to C. guilliermondii and C. parapsilosis, but this activity required relatively high drug dosages

"Can you tell me about the future?" A narrative of the goal-setting process in family business

By relying on the taxonomy introduced by Kotlar and De Massis (2013), the present study proposes to investigate the dynamics and the set of goals perceived by the family members strategic for the future growth of their family business. Using an interview approach, the researchers recorded the professional stories of 15 family firm owners and managers. Through the interpretation of the narrative material emerged that the interviewees never mentioned the role that family-centred non-economic goals (i.e., 'family harmony', the 'family social status' and 'the family identity') plays in the performance of the family firms. Contrary, non-family non-economic goals, such as innovation and internationalisation, are considered two keys growth drivers. In particular, if both innovation and internationalisation have equal importance amongst the current goals, internationalisation assumes a greater importance in relation to the future goals of growth. Keywords: Goal setting process; Family business; Growth Strategy; Narrative analysi