La convenienza economica alla coltivazione di OGM in Italia: un’analisi sul campione della rete italiana di contabilità agricola (RICA)

The present paper examines the economic convenience of the cultivation of GMOs in Italy. In particular, a simulation was conducted on the effects of the adoption of GM corn for specialized Italian farms, through the comparison of the gross margin of GM and conventional maize. Results obtained on the sample of farms belonging to the Italian farm accountancy data network (FADN), in the 2013-2015 period, show that the gross margin obtainable with the use of GM corn is, on average, higher than that obtained with the use of the conventional one. Results obtained on the sample grouped according to the utilized agricultural area, show that bigger farms could benefit more from the cultivation of GM corn. Moreover, specialized farms located in traditional areas show the highest advantage from the cultivation of GM corn

Osservatorio sulla componentistica automotive italiana 2017

La filiera automotive italiana vive un momento di crescita e sviluppo, che conferma il trend positivo avviato negli ultimi anni. Tuttavia, l’industria automotive globale è al centro di profondi cambiamenti che potrebbero portare all’affermarsi di scenari futuri dominati da veicoli a motorizzazioni alternative, auto a guida autonoma, o città riorganizzate sulla base di nuovi paradigmi di mobilità. Le imprese italiane della componentistica potrebbero rappresentare il futuro dell’industria della mobilità in Italia, ma le sfide da vincere sono numerose. Il volume Osservatorio sulla componentistica automotive italiana 2017 è stato realizzato con il duplice obiettivo di approfondire punti di forza e debolezza delle imprese italiane, e di collocarli nel quadro complessivo di opportunità e minacce che emergono dagli sviluppi dell’industria a livello internazionale

Hundreds of variants clustered in genomic loci and biological pathways affect human height

Most common human traits and diseases have a polygenic pattern of inheritance: DNA sequence variants at many genetic loci influence the phenotype. Genome-wide association (GWA) studies have identified more than 600 variants associated with human traits, but these typically explain small fractions of phenotypic variation, raising questions about the use of further studies. Here, using 183,727 individuals, we show that hundreds of genetic variants, in at least 180 loci, influence adult height, a highly heritable and classic polygenic trait. The large number of loci reveals patterns with important implications for genetic studies of common human diseases and traits. First, the 180 loci are not random, but instead are enriched for genes that are connected in biological pathways (P = 0.016) and that underlie skeletal growth defects (P < 0.001). Second, the likely causal gene is often located near the most strongly associated variant: in 13 of 21 loci containing a known skeletal growth gene, that gene was closest to the associated variant. Third, at least 19 loci have multiple independently associated variants, suggesting that allelic heterogeneity is a frequent feature of polygenic traits, that comprehensive explorations of already-discovered loci should discover additional variants and that an appreciable fraction of associated loci may have been identified. Fourth, associated variants are enriched for likely functional effects on genes, being over-represented among variants that alter amino-acid structure of proteins and expression levels of nearby genes. Our data explain approximately 10% of the phenotypic variation in height, and we estimate that unidentified common variants of similar effect sizes would increase this figure to approximately 16% of phenotypic variation (approximately 20% of heritable variation). Although additional approaches are needed to dissect the genetic architecture of polygenic human traits fully, our findings indicate that GWA studies can identify large numbers of loci that implicate biologically relevant genes and pathways.

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

Goal Ambiguity in Public Organizations: A Systematic Literature Review

In the literature on the public-private organizations is well known that public organizations have more ambiguous elements than private ones, such as ideology and objectives, that negatively influence the enthusiasm (Brunsson, 1986), motivation and performance of public employees (Pandey &amp; Raney, 2006), as well as organizational performance (Chun &amp; Raney, 2005). The close relationship with performance led many public administration scholars to deepen the concept of goal ambiguity in public management. However, given the lack of a univocal conceptualization of the phenomenon, the present work aims to contextualize goal ambiguity in the public administration, carrying out a systematic literature review. The results bring out goal ambiguity methods of measurement, its antecedents and consequences and the relationship between goal ambiguity and performance. From a theoretical point of view, the study allows systematizing the contributions on goal ambiguity, while from a practical point of view, a thorough knowledge of the concept allows public managers and policy-makers to obtain valuable information for the achievement of good organizational performance

Sustainable Value Co-Creation and Digital Health: The Case of Trentino eHealth Ecosystem

This paper aims to develop a theoretical framework based on recent service theories, such as service-dominant logic and service science, and on the concept of service ecosystems. The identification of the main elements of service ecosystems allows for pinpointing the main drivers for sustainable value co-creation, which is intended as the creation in the long run of new service solutions set up with and for end-users to guarantee a better service for the whole society. Given the high interactivity required in the relationship between players involved in digital health services, we decided to apply the developed framework to eHealth, to re-read the eHealth sector as a service ecosystem. The model is tested through a case study represented by digital healthcare in the Autonomous Province of Trento, which represents a best practice in this sector. The results confirm the presence of the main elements of the service ecosystem (actors, resource integration, technology, institutions) in the eHealth sector and show how their integration favours the creation of new resources, new uses of technology and new institutions that produce innovation and sustainable value co-creation. The originality of the work lies in the reconceptualization of the digital health sector from a new perspective based on the assumptions of service-dominant logic, that allow us to analyze the eHealth ecosystem in a holistic and system view

Verso il viable service ecosystem L’integrazione tra il sistema vitale e l’ecosistema di servizio

L’originalità del lavoro consiste nel proporre un framework innovativo, inteso come modello di business più adeguato alla sopravvivenza del sistema impresa, che scaturisce dall’integrazione dell’Approccio Sistemico Vitale e della Service Dominant Logic. L’unione delle due teorie consente la rilettura della value co-creation in ottica sistemica e propone una visione di lungo raggio della co-creazione, intesa come soluzione all’emersione di scenari complessi da contrastar