Feasibility of a photovoltaic-thermoelectric generator: performance analysis and simulation results

This paper describes a theoretical approach to evaluate the performance of a hybrid solar system made with photovoltaic cells and thermoelectric (TE) modules. After a brief treatment of the integrated system, energy conversion and performance parameters are evaluated through numerical simulations depending on the global radiation and temperature distribution obtained by the Joint Research Center of the European Commission and of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The contribution of TE module to total energy seems significant in southern European towns and less substantial when the locations considered are very distant from the equator and show the possibility of using TE devices for energy production

Androgens and Hypertension in Men and Women: a Unifying View.

This review was designed to revaluate the androgen role on the mechanisms of hypertension and cardiovascular risks in both men and women. Sex steroids are involved in the regulation of blood pressure, but pathophysiological mechanism is not well understood. Androgens have an important effect on metabolism, adipose and endothelial cell function, and cardiovascular risk in both men and women. A focal point in this contest is represented by the possible gender-specific regulation of different tissues and in particular of the adipose cell. Available data confirm that androgen deficiency is linked to increased prevalence of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. Adipocyte dysfunction seems to be the main involved mechanism. Androgen replacement reduces inflammation state in man, protecting by metabolic syndrome progression. In women, androgen excess has been considered as promoting factor of cardiovascular risk. However, recent data suggest that excessive androgen production has little effect per se in inducing hypertension in young women of reproductive age. Also in postmenopausal women, data on relative androgen excess and hypertension are missing, while adrenal androgen deficiency has been associated to increased mortality. RECENT FINDINGS: Molecular mechanisms linking androgen dysregulation to hypertension are almost Unknown, but they seem to be related to increased visceral fat, promoting a chronic inflammatory state through different mechanisms. One of these may involve the recruitment and over-activation of NF-kB, a ubiquitous transcription factor also expressed in adipose cells, where it may cause the production of cytokines and other immune factors. The NF-kB signalling pathway may also influence brown adipogenesis leading to the preferential enlargement of visceral adipocytes. Chronic inflammation and adipocyte dysfunction may alter endothelial function leading to hypertension. Both in men and in women, particularly in the post-menopausal period, hypoandrogenism seems to be a major determinant of the increased prevalence of hypertension. The relationship between androgen signalling and NF-kB might explain the pathophysiological mechanism leading to the development of endothelium dysfunction and hypertension

A Business Model View of Strategy

We argue that while the business model construct may not be entirely new, it can still provide a novel lens, complementary to Resource Based View and Market Positioning, to develop new theoretical insights in strategy. We propose that the consideration of interdependencies among the activities of a business model provides such a lens. We show that by starting strategy development with interdependencies among activities, we can: (1) develop new insights on how to build superior strategies; and (2) explain company performance variance especially when heterogeneity in resources and capabilities is not strong and barriers to imitation are weak. Overall, we propose that a promising research avenue for the business model literature is to integrate complexity theory with demand‐side and supply side theories of strategy to generate more nuanced insights on what activities to connect and how to develop superior interdependencies among activities that can form the basis of superior strategies

The Role of Industry Dynamics in the Persistence of First Mover Advantages

We advance first mover advantages literature by adding novel insights into the conditions that affect the persistence of first mover profitability and market share. We investigate the role of two industry dynamics — market growth and technological discontinuity — and we argue that they will negatively affect the persistence of first mover performance. We test our hypotheses in the context of the European mobile communications industry, by estimating System GMM models on a longitudinal panel of 65 companies in 19 markets, over the period 1998–2008. Model estimations confirm that industry dynamics affect the persistence of first mover advantages. For instance, we find robust empirical evidence that technological discontinuity is detrimental to both first movers’ market share and profitability

Entry-timing strategies: The road ahead

We argue that, despite significant progress, the extant entry timing literature still suffers from several shortcomings and, in particular, it fails to integrate into a coherent and integrative framework the latest findings from contiguous management literature streams. We propose that entry timing literature can be significantly enriched and its predictive power enhanced by incorporating insights from institutional theory, industry life-cycle, categorical dynamics, and by further elaborating on the implications of these theories for the firms' entry timing decisions. Our review also suggests that our understanding of early movers advantages can be improved by considering more explicitly the strategies and business models pursued by later entrants

Size/Age Models for Monitoring of the Pink Sea Fan Eunicella verrucosa (Cnidaria: Alcyonacea) and a Case Study Application

The pink sea fan Eunicella verrucosa is a habitat-forming octocoral living in the East Atlantic and in the Mediterranean Sea where, under proper circumstances, it can form large populations known as coral forests. Although these coral forests represent vulnerable marine ecosystems of great importance, these habitats are still poorly known, and their monitoring is almost non-existent to date. For this reason, we compared two dierent models to infer the age of E. verrucosa based on nondestructive measurements of the colonies’ size, in order to highlight strengths and weaknesses of the existing tools for a potential application in long-term monitoring. We also applied the two models on a case-study population recently found in the northwest Mediterranean Sea. Our results showed which model was more reliable from a biological point of view, considering both its structure and the results obtained on the case study. However, this model uses solely the height of the colonies as proxy to infer the age, while the total branch fan surface area could represent a more appropriate biometric parameter to monitor the size and the growth of E. verrucosa

Shared exposures or management fashions? Drivers of cross-industry convergence of textual risk disclosures

We contribute to the study of systemic risk, by introducing quantitative measures for the convergence in the attention of decision-makers across industries, and for its contextual antecedents. Our analysis is based on textual data (10-K reports from Securities and Exchange Commission of insurers and banks, 2006-2018), giving a snapshot of decision-makers priorities and contexts. First, we theoretically connect systemic risk with the context of decision making through the lens of the Attention-Based View of the firm. Second, through strategic management theory, we establish a framework for antecedents of convergence in attention, and therefore, systemic risk. These antecedents include common trends in the macro environment, threat of substitution, and management fashions. Third, we combine the theoretical framework with machine learning tools to create quantitative measures of convergence in attention and its antecedents. Finally, based on regression and sensitivity analyses, we identify the dominant antecedent of inter-industry systemic risk. We show that shared risk management fashions largely drive convergence in attention. This finding underlines the need for responses to systemic risk engaging a wide range of stakeholders through inclusive governance and raises the spectre of a type of systemic risk being induced by shared legitimacy concerns

Product Technology Imitation Over the Product Diffusion Cycle: Which Companies and Product Innovations do Competitors Imitate More Quickly?

We contribute to the imitation literature by shedding light on product imitation dynamics over the market evolution, a hitherto-overlooked level of analysis. First, we introduce product diffusion within a more integrative theory of product imitation. Second, we investigate the time to imitation of a new product technology: our baseline hypothesis is that the time to imitation decreases as the product diffusion in the market increases. Third, we extend our prediction by differentiating by the type of innovator—i.e., the market leader and a member of the same strategic group—and by the type of product technology—i.e., functionality-defining technologies and substitute technologies. We hypothesize that, over the product diffusion cycle, product technologies launched by market leaders are copied more quickly than ones launched by non-market leader firms; product technologies launched by members of a focal firm's own strategic group are copied more quickly than ones launched by outsiders; and substitute technologies are copied more quickly than functionality-defining technologies. We test our hypotheses in the context of the UK mobile phone industry, by exploiting a unique database on twenty-two product innovations introduced by thirteen mobile handset manufacturers between 1997 and 2008. The model estimations provide support for most of our hypotheses