From the Apennines to the Alps: recent range expansion of the crested porcupine Hystrix cristata L., 1758 (Mammalia: Rodentia: Hystricidae) in Italy

In the last few decades, the crested porcupine (Hystrix cristata L., 1758) showed a marked range expansion in Italy. Published and unpublished material was collected to reconstruct this phenomenon. Data were gathered by means of: (i) specific papers on crested porcupine distribution and more generic books and articles, (ii) expert collaboration in various Italian regions and (iii) information from the national Vertebrates mailing list. Until the 1970s, H. cristata was only present in Central and Southern Italy, mostly in the western part. Since 1978, the porcupine has been protected by Italian national law. The species first crossed the Apennines from the Tyrrhenian coast to the Marche, where the expansion to the north may have begun, and then reached the northernmost regions. An analysis of the potential distribution of the species was performed in a species distribution modeling framework (Maxent). The model suggested a high suitability of most of the Central and Southern Italian Peninsula for H. cristata, including the two major islands. Northern Italy proved suitable for the species' establishment only in some central and western areas of the Po Valley. The core areas of the Apennines and of the Alps, as well as some areas characterized by low annual rainfall, were predicted as unsuitable. Historical and social factors related to the progressive urbanization and the consequent abandonment of the traditional land use in mountain landscapes probably helped the re-expansion of forests and uncultivated fields. Three introduced populations have been detected in Sardinia, Liguria and the province of Varese. In order to make the data collected easily consultable and to give people the opportunity to contribute to a continuous updating of the distributional map of the species, a web page dedicated to H. cristata was set up, in the framework of an open-source wildlife mapping project. © 2013 Unione Zoologica Italiana

Le dinamiche coopetitive nell’ambito delle imprese multibusiness: un caso studio esplicativo

La letteratura economico-manageriale ha ampiamente esplorato l’efficacia della strategia di diversificazione (Benito-Osorio et al., 2012; Palich et al., 2000; Picone e Dagnino, 2016; Wan et al., 2011). In questo dibattito - che affonda le sue radici nei pioneristici contributi di Ansoff (1957), Chandler (1962) e Rumelt (1974) -, si inseriscono anche gli studi sulle relazioni di cooperazione e competizione tra le divisioni di un’impresa diversificata (o multibusiness). Se, da un lato, la cooperazione tra le divisioni di un’impresa multibusiness è da considerarsi una condizione indispensabile per l’emergere delle sinergie potenziali e latenti, dall’altro lato, le divisioni competono sovente fra di loro per l’assegnazione di maggiori risorse (in particolare quelle finanziarie) rispetto alle altre divisioni (Hill et al., 1992). La coesistenza di relazioni competitive e cooperative fra le divisioni appare di estremo interesse in una prospettiva economico-gestionale, soprattutto quando le divisioni in competizione si trovano a dover condividere risorse tangibili e intangibili, come avviene nelle imprese che hanno implementato una strategia di diversificazione correlata (Wan et al., 2011) e, anche in misura anche maggiore, nel caso di intra-industry diversification (Li e Greenwood, 2004; Zahavi e Lavie, 2013). Gli studi esistenti su coopetition (Bengtsson e Kock, 2014; Czakon et al., 2014a) mostrano come, al di là della convenzionale dicotomia competizione-cooperazione (Luo, 2007), la contestuale coesistenza di comportamenti competitivi e cooperativi fra attori (ossia la coopetizione), consente il perseguimento di una serie di vantaggi per entrambi gli attori (Brandenburger e Nalebuff, 1996), anche in termini di stimolo e di attivazione di processi innovativi (Gnyawali e Park, 2009). Tuttavia, gli studi su coopetition si sono principalmente focalizzati sulle relazioni interimpresa (Ritala et al., 2009) e al momento il tema delle relazioni coopetitive tra divisioni di imprese multibusiness risulta scarsamente investigato (Bengtsson e Raza-Ullah, 2016). Inoltre, si rileva che i pochi studi esplorativi su coopetition a livello intraimpresa mostrano anche risultati parzialmente contraddittori (Luo, 2005). Alla luce del contributo di Czakon et al. (2014b), si potrebbe argomentare che i risultati contrastanti sulla relazione tra coopetition e performance sono da attribuire al “paradosso interno” che caratterizza la relazione coopetitiva stessa. Dunque, per poter comprendere come si può gestire la coopetition all’interno di un’impresa multibusiness, occorre indagare le tensioni cooperative e competitive che emergono tra le divisioni e le attività dell’impresa (Le Roy e Fernandez, 2015; Raza-Ullah et al., 2014; Seran et al., 2016). In effetti, identificare le fonti delle tensioni cooperative e competitive e discutere i meccanismi di gestione può essere di supporto ai manager per comprendere in qual modo ciascuna divisione dovrebbe agire (Le Roy e Czakon, 2016; Le Roy e Fernandez, 2015). Pertanto, questo lavoro si pone l’obiettivo di indirizzare e rispondere alla seguente domanda di ricerca: in che modo le imprese multibusiness gestiscono le simultanee tensioni cooperative e competitive che sussistono tra le divisioni

Coopetition Strategy and Entrepreneurial Opportunities: Advantages from Multilevel Analyses

The study aims to provide a set of insights concerning the benefits associated with applying a multilevel perspective to the investigation of the link between coopetition strategies and entrepreneurial opportunities. We emphasize that a firm capability to recognize, form, and exploit business opportunities is strictly connected to its coopetitive strategy. In order to fully understand the potential of coopetitive strategies, the focus has to be not just on the examination of the single coopetitive relationship, but also on the micro-foundations underlying such strategies: i.e. the role covered by entrepreneurs’ or CEOs’ personal traits, heuristics, and previous experiences. We also suggest the need to extend the scope of coopetition strategy beyond the dyadic level. We should take into account the coopetitive alliance portfolio level and the business ecosystem level

Deceptive meaning of oxygen uptake measured at the anaerobic threshold in patients with systolic heart failure and atrial fibrillation

BACKGROUND: Oxygen uptake at the anaerobic threshold (VO2AT), a submaximal exercise-derived variable, independent of patients' motivation, is a marker of outcome in heart failure (HF). However, previous evidence of VO2AT values paradoxically higher in HF patients with permanent atrial fibrillation (AF) than in those with sinus rhythm (SR) raised uncertainties. DESIGN: We tested the prognostic role of VO2AT in a large cohort of systolic HF patients, focusing on possible differences between SR and AF. METHODS: Altogether 2976 HF patients (2578 with SR and 398 with AF) were prospectively followed. Besides a clinical examination, each patient underwent a maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET). RESULTS: The follow-up was analysed for up to 1500 days. Cardiovascular death or urgent cardiac transplantation occurred in 303 patients (250 (9.6%) patients with SR and 53 (13.3%) patients with AF, p = 0.023). In the entire population, multivariate analysis including peak oxygen uptake (VO2) showed a prognostic capacity (C-index) similar to that obtained including VO2AT (0.76 vs 0.72). Also, left ventricular ejection fraction, ventilation vs carbon dioxide production slope, β-blocker and digoxin therapy proved to be significant prognostic indexes. The receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves analysis showed that the best predictive VO2AT cut-off for the SR group was 11.7 ml/kg/min, while it was 12.8 ml/kg/min for the AF group. CONCLUSIONS: VO2AT, a submaximal CPET-derived parameter, is reliable for long-term cardiovascular mortality prognostication in stable systolic HF. However, different VO2AT cut-off values between SR and AF HF patients should be adopted.BACKGROUND: Oxygen uptake at the anaerobic threshold (VO2AT), a submaximal exercise-derived variable, independent of patients' motivation, is a marker of outcome in heart failure (HF). However, previous evidence of VO2AT values paradoxically higher in HF patients with permanent atrial fibrillation (AF) than in those with sinus rhythm (SR) raised uncertainties. DESIGN: We tested the prognostic role of VO2AT in a large cohort of systolic HF patients, focusing on possible differences between SR and AF. METHODS: Altogether 2976 HF patients (2578 with SR and 398 with AF) were prospectively followed. Besides a clinical examination, each patient underwent a maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET). RESULTS: The follow-up was analysed for up to 1500 days. Cardiovascular death or urgent cardiac transplantation occurred in 303 patients (250 (9.6%) patients with SR and 53 (13.3%) patients with AF, p = 0.023). In the entire population, multivariate analysis including peak oxygen uptake (VO2) showed a prognostic capacity (C-index) similar to that obtained including VO2AT (0.76 vs 0.72). Also, left ventricular ejection fraction, ventilation vs carbon dioxide production slope, β-blocker and digoxin therapy proved to be significant prognostic indexes. The receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves analysis showed that the best predictive VO2AT cut-off for the SR group was 11.7 ml/kg/min, while it was 12.8 ml/kg/min for the AF group. CONCLUSIONS: VO2AT, a submaximal CPET-derived parameter, is reliable for long-term cardiovascular mortality prognostication in stable systolic HF. However, different VO2AT cut-off values between SR and AF HF patients should be adopte