Automatic Color Inspection for Colored Wires in Electric Cables

In this paper, an automatic optical inspection system for checking the sequence of colored wires in electric cable is presented. The system is able to inspect cables with flat connectors differing in the type and number of wires. This variability is managed in an automatic way by means of a self-learning subsystem and does not require manual input from the operator or loading new data to the machine. The system is coupled to a connector crimping machine and once the model of a correct cable is learned, it can automatically inspect each cable assembled by the machine. The main contributions of this paper are: (i) the self-learning system; (ii) a robust segmentation algorithm for extracting wires from images even if they are strongly bent and partially overlapped; (iii) a color recognition algorithm able to cope with highlights and different finishing of the wire insulation. We report the system evaluation over a period of several months during the actual production of large batches of different cables; tests demonstrated a high level of accuracy and the absence of false negatives, which is a key point in order to guarantee defect-free productions

Challenging Goliath. Informal Unionism and Digital Platforms in the Food Delivery Sector. The Case of Riders Union Bologna

The growth of digital platforms in many industries attracted the attention of scholars and activists alike. A number of studies, in disciplines such as management, emphasized the role of digital technology in transforming market logics and described platforms as the harbingers of a more democratic organization of economic activities. The more platforms became relevant in intermediating between clients and providers of services and goods, the more conflicts related to working conditions rose, calling for a critical approach to the so-called platform economy. The most recent debate focused on the connection between the rise of platforms and the effects of neoliberalism in relaxing employment regulations and in pushing an increasing number of individuals towards "gig" types of jobs. We deal with these tensions and consider the emerging forms of organization and strategies of workers' movements. We focus on the food delivery sector and on the most popular informal workers' movement in Italy: Riders Union Bologna (Rub). The aim of the paper is to investigate the factors that stimulated the rise of informal unionism in food delivery, and to pinpoint the reasons motivating specific struggling and organizing strategies among platform workers

Challenging Goliath. Informal Unionism and Digital Platforms in the Food Delivery Sector. The Case of Riders Union Bologna

The growth of digital platforms in many industries attracted the attention of scholars and activists alike. A number of studies, in disciplines such as management, emphasized the role of digital technology in transforming market logics and described platforms as the harbingers of a more democratic organization of economic activities. The more platforms became relevant in intermediating between clients and providers of services and goods, the more conflicts related to working conditions rose, calling for a critical approach to the so-called platform economy. The most recent debate focused on the connection between the rise of platforms and the effects of neoliberalism in relaxing employment regulations and in pushing an increasing number of individuals towards "gig" types of jobs. We deal with these tensions and consider the emerging forms of organization and strategies of workers' movements. We focus on the food delivery sector and on the most popular informal workers' movement in Italy: Riders Union Bologna (Rub). The aim of the paper is to investigate the factors that stimulated the rise of informal unionism in food delivery, and to pinpoint the reasons motivating specific struggling and organizing strategies among platform workers

Communities of consumption and Made in Italy

The interest towards the role of user communities in innovation has grown among scholars and practitioners. Research has explored the role of communities in high‐tech and medium‐tech industries with a focus on innovation in the functional dimension of products. Less attention has been devoted to user communities' contribution in industries such as fashion, where innovation is much more related to communication and aesthetics. This paper provides a preliminary set of concepts and working hypotheses regarding the contribution of communities to the non‐functional dimension of product innovation in low‐tech industries and to the relationship between user involvement in brand communities and their incentives to contribute to innovation both tangible and intangible. The paper discusses two case studies of Made in Italy enterprises that refer to communities for their innovation strategies

U potrazi za plijenom: pojava psine lisice, Alopias vulpinus (Bonnaterre, 1788) u sjevernom Jadranu i njegove interakcije s ribarstvom

The common thresher shark, Alopias vulpinus, has shown a marked decline in abundance in the Mediterranean Sea. Through the analysis of long-term fishery time series (1966–2013), this study highlights that an important driver of the presence of A. vulpinus in the northern Adriatic Sea, one of the most exploited basins of the Mediterranean, is the abundance of its prey, the sardine Sardina pilchardus. From 1997-2013, an annual average of 14 thresher sharks was landed at Chioggia (Italy), the main fish market in the area, mainly from July to October. More than 75% of the landed thresher sharks were sexually immature, with some specimens weighing less than 10 kg, indicating that a high proportion of the catch was composed of small young and newborn individuals. These results support the occurrence of a nursery area in the northern Adriatic Sea, highlighting the need for proper management of A. vulpinus catch in this area.Zabilježen je značajan pad zastupljenosti psa lisice, Alopias vulpinus, u Sredozemnom moru. Analizom dugoročnog vremenskog niza podataka u ribarstvu (1966-2013), ovo istraživanje pokazuje da je važan pokretač prisutnosti A. vulpinus, u sjevernom Jadranu kao jednom od najiskorištenijih bazena na Sredozemlju, obilje njegova plijena srdele, Sardina pilchardus. U razdoblju 1997.-2013. godišnji prosjek ulova psine lisice je iznosio 14 primjeraka donesenih na glavnu ribarnicu u mjestu Chioggia (Italija) i to poglavito od srpnja do listopada. Više od 75% primjeraka ulovljenog psa lisice bili su spolno nezreli, od kojih su neki primjerci imali manje od 10 kg, što ukazuje da je visok udio ulova bio sastavljen od malih nedoraslih jedniki i mlađi. Ovi rezultati podupiru pojavu rastilišta u sjevernom Jadranu, ujedno naglašavajući potrebu pravilnog upravljanja ulovom A. vulpinus u ovom području

CLOSING-IN BEHAVIOUR IN MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT: UN DEFICIT ESECUTIVO

This study explored Closing-in behavior (CIB), the tendency in figure copying to draw very close to or on top of the model, in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The files of 154 people diagnosed with MCI were reviewed and CIB was identified in 21% of cases. Two approaches were used to explore CIB. First, we capitalized on the diverse cognitive profiles within MCI, subdividing the overall sample into people with and without memory deficits. The frequency of CIB was significantly higher in multidomain non-amnestic MCI than in multidomain amnestic MCI, suggesting that CIB is not associated with specific memory impairment. Second, we assessed the cognitive correlates of CIB, by selecting patients with MCI who completed a battery of executive, visuo-constructional and memory tasks. Sub-groups of patients with and without CIB showed a similar overall severity of cognitive decline and comparable performance in visuo-constructional and memory tasks, but those with CIB were slightly but significantly more impaired on executive function tasks. The study provides evidence against memory-based accounts of CIB, and supports recent suggestions that executive impairments are the dominant cognitive correlate of this clinical sign

Il paesaggio rurale: memoria e sviluppo. Torino, aprile 2004. La multifunzionalità dell’agricoltura

The rural landscape is a scenery divided among aesthetic, environmental and functional expectations, and productive needs that are often contrasting. It is also, today, part of a cyclical process of transformation making it a yet more complex space. The complexity of its nature is ingrained in the thousand faces reflected within the landscapes of modern agriculture through their unification and contrast, through their neglect at once dangerous and promising of their marginal areas and through their traditional agrarian techniques slowly developed by a collective project. To undertake a dialogue about development and tradition, to trace an ideal line of demarcation between transformation and conservation, between a replanning of the rural landscape and its preservation, is a problem that raises many questions with regard to both the methodologies to be employed and the contents of said methodologies. In light of the most recent political and cultural tendencies of the national and international community, the answers to such questions must be sought in agriculture’s multifunctionality, as a turning point for the configuration of a new regulatory model for rural landscapes. Such multifunctionality is necessary to put the concept of a sustainable rural development in a concrete form.Once this concept has been made clear we must remind ourselves of the necessity for a projectual action which is aware of the needs of the rural landscape. Such projectual action should detach itself from a unified distribution of both territorial interventions and financial resources. It should instead create a system connecting the organization of the landscape itself to its needs, incrementing in such way its synergy and potentialities.

Configuration challenges for the “Made in Italy” Agri-food Industry

The paper presents the results of an exploratory investigation on the approaches to e-commerce strategies by firms in the agrifood sector, with a focus on Italian small and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs). The article tries to assess the fit between online sales configurators (OSCs) that enable product customization and the habits of Italian online buyers. The study elaborates the empirical results of two data collection efforts: (i) the first effort is to collect data on the food configurators’ capabilities deployed by a sample of 105 active OSCs and (ii) the second effort is to collect data on the characteristics of the e-commerce websites from a sample of 522 Italian SMEs. Matching the results of the two analyses with existing literature on Italian customers' requirements while shopping for food online, the study provides insights on the opportunities offered by mass-customization delivered via OSCs to food SMEs, especially in terms of customer experience (CE) innovation

Supervivencia de una pequeña población trasladada de Procolobus kirkii en la isla de Pemba

A survey to evaluate the distribution of Procolobus kirkii on Pemba island (Tanzania) was conducted, 20 years after they had been translocated from Zanzibar in the Ngezi forest park. A team of both expert and trained observers, guided by the authors, censused 68.3 linear km of forest, corresponding to an estimated area of 3.5 km2 (63.6%) of the protected Ngezi forested area of 5.5 km2. Nineteen groups of Cercopithecus aethiops were observed, with a total of 166 animals and an estimated density of 47.43 individuals per km2, and only one troop of Procolobus kirkii. Supplemented by interviewing the local people we obtained an estimate of 15–30 P. kirkii, including a small troop outside the protected area. This small population survived but did not increase, possibly due to adverse relations with humans.Se realizó un estudio para evaluar la distribución de Procolobus kirkii en la isla de Pemba (Tanzania), veinte años después de que fuera trasladada desde Zanzíbar al Parque Ngezi. Un equipo de observadores expertos y entrenados, guiados por los autores, efectuó un censo a lo largo de 68,3 km lineales de bosque, correspondiente a un área estimada de 3,5 km2 (63,6%) del área protegida del bosque de Ngezi de 5,5 km2. Se observaron 19 grupos de Cercopithecus aethiops, con un total de 166 animales y una densidad estimada de 47,43 individuos/km2, y sólo un grupo de Procolobus kirkii. Complementando los datos con entrevistas a la población local se obtuvo una estimación de 15–30 ejemplares de P. kirkii, incluyendo un pequeño grupo localizado fuera del área protegida. Este pequeño grupo sobrevivía pero no se incrementaba en número, posiblemente debido a las relaciones adversas con los humanos