Trust and prosocial behaviour in a process of state capacity building: the case of the Palestinian territories

This paper contributes to the literature by conducting the first empirical investigation into the determinants of prosocial behaviour in the Palestinian territories, with a focus on the role of trust and institutions. Drawing on a unique dataset collected through the administration of a questionnaire to a representative sample of the population of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, we have found that institutional trust is the strongest predictor of prosociality. This result suggests that, in collectivist societies with low levels of generalized trust, the lack of citizens’ confidence in the fairness and efficiency of public institutions may compromise social order. The strengthening of institutional trust may also reinforce prosocial behaviour in individualist societies, where a decline in generalized trust has been documented by empirical studie

Finite groups with large abelian quotients

A finite group is weakly-top if the order of every abelian section is bounded by the order of the abelianization. In particular, it is top if equality is not achieved by any proper abelian section. In this article, we prove that every weakly-top group is the direct product of weakly-top $p$-groups, but there exist weakly-top groups of arbitrarily large nilpotency class. Furthermore, we show that the properties of being weakly-top and top are invariant under isoclinism. Some generalizations concerning solvable and nilpotent quotients are also considered.Comment: 6 page

A subexponential bound on the cardinality of abelian quotients in finite transitive groups

We show that, for every transitive group $G$ of degree $n\ge 2$, the largest abelian quotient of $G$ has cardinality at most $4^{n/\sqrt{\log_2 n}}$. This gives a positive answer to a 1989 outstanding question of L\'aszl\'o Kov\'acs and Cheryl Praeger.Comment: 4 pages, Revised argument in section 3 (results unchanged

Estimates of the Laplacian Spectrum and Bounds of Topological Invariants for Riemannian Manifolds with Boundary

AbstractWe set out to obtain estimates of the Laplacian Spectrum of Riemannian manifolds with non-empty boundary. This was achieved using standard doubled manifold techniques. In simple terms, we pasted two copies of the same manifold along their common boundary thereby obtaining a Riemannian manifold with empty boundary and with a C0−metric. This made it possible to adapt some estimates of the spectrum dependent on the volume or genus of the manifold as calculated in recent years by several authors. In order to extend further estimates that depend on the curvature, it is necessary to regularize the metric of the doubled manifold so that the new metric is isometric to that of each copy and such that the curvature has a finite lower bound. Controlling the curvature in this way also makes estimates of topological invariants available

Differential Expression of CRH, UCN, CRHR1 and CRHR2 in Eutopic and Ectopic Endometrium of Women with Endometriosis.

Endometriosis is considered as a benign aseptic inflammatory disease, characterised by the presence of ectopic endometrium-like tissue. Its symptoms (mostly pain and infertility) are reported as constant stressors. Corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) and urocortin (UCN) are neuropeptides, strongly related to stress and inflammation. The effects of CRH and UCN are mediated through CRHR1 and CRHR2 receptors which are implicated in several reproductive functions acting as inflammatory components. However, the involvement of these molecules to endometriosis remains unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the expression of CRHR1 and CRHR2 in endometriotic sites and to compare the expression of CRHR1 and CRHR2 in eutopic endometrium of endometriotic women to that of healthy women. We further compared the expression of CRH, UCN, CRHR1 and CRHR2 in ectopic endometrium to that in eutopic endometrium of women with endometriosis. Endometrial biopsy specimens were taken from healthy women (10 patients) and endometrial and endometriotic biopsy specimens were taken from women with endometriosis (16 patients). Τhe expression of CRH, UCN, CRHR1, and CRHR2 was tested via RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. This study shows for the first time that CRH and UCN receptor subtypes CRHR1β and CRHR2α are expressed in endometriotic sites and that they are more strongly expressed (p<0.01) in eutopic endometrium of women with endometriosis compared to healthy women endometrium at the mRNA and protein level. CRH, UCN, CRHR1 and CRHR2 mRNA were also more highly expressed in ectopic rather than eutopic endometrium (CRH, UCN, CRHR2α: p<0.01, CRHR1β: p<0.05) and protein (CRH and UCN: p<0.05, CRHR1 and CRHR2: p<0.01) in women with endometriosis. These data indicate that CRH and UCN might play an immunoregulatory role in endometriotic sites by affecting reproductive functions such as decidualization and implantation of women with endometriosis

Business model innovation and digital technology: The perspective of incumbent Italian small and medium-sized firms

The aim of the article was to conduct an explorative study on the relationship between business model innovation and digital technologies in incumbent small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

l efficacia del customer relationship management nei mercati dei servizi tecnologici il caso di una media impresa italiana

L'analisi dell'efficacia dei sistemi CRM e un tema ancora fortemente dibattuto ed oggetto di numerosi studi nelle discipline di management (Elmuti et al., 2009; Perna-Baraldi, 2014). In tal senso, risulta interessante verificare le ragioni per cui numerosi progetti CRM intrapresi da imprese – soprattutto quelle operanti in mercati business-to-business e focalizzate sulla fornitura di servizi tecnologici piu o meno complessi – non generino benefici attesi e, quindi, falliscano successivamente o addirittura durante la fase implementativa. Il principale obiettivo del presente lavoro e quello di comprendere i fattori e le dimensioni che impattano sul livello di efficacia del CRM. Gli autori sono interessati, in modo particolare, ad investigare il complesso rapporto tra efficacia del CRM ed aspettative che le imprese manifestano circa il raggiungimento di benefici tangibili durante le fasi di gestione del cliente. Metodologicamente gli autori fanno riferimento all'uso del caso di studio qualitativo come strategia di ricerca. Nello specifico viene proposto il caso del gruppo Loccioni, impresa operante nel settore della produzione e fornitura di macchine di collaudo e servizi integrati ad alto contenuto tecnologico. L'azienda si caratterizza per aver avviato un processo di implementazione di un software CRM che ha comportato sensibili effetti a livello organizzativo e strategico. Inoltre, interessante notare come l'uso del sistema abbia a sua volta generato effetti inaspettati, non sempre prevedibili e variabili rispetto le diverse tipologie di relazioni aziendali. Lo studio propone diversi tipi di contributi. Dal lato empirico, il caso evidenzia ed illustra le problematiche relative al miglioramento di processi gestionali legati alla implementazione ed uso del CRM in un settore abbastanza particolare come quello della fornitura di servizi altamente tecnologici. Dal punto di vista teorico, si vuole contribuire nel marketing b2b e dei servizi riguardo al tema della efficacia di azioni di marketing in contesti di mercato altamente complessi

Fairness and the unselfish demand for redistribution by taxpayers and welfare recipients

We illustrate how the desire to live in a fair society that rewards individual effort and hard work triggers an unselfish though rational demand for redistribution. This leads the well off to prefer higher taxes and the poor to reject extreme progressivity. We then provide evidence of these behaviors using a nationally representative survey from Italy. Our empirical analysis confirms that a stronger aversion to unfair distributive outcomes is associated with a higher support for redistribution by individuals with high income and to a lower demand for redistribution by those with low income