Does the innovation-orientation lead to retail industry growth? Empirical evidence from patent analysis

Competitiveness and complexity in the retail industry are increasing due to rapid technological changes and diffusion. Patent analysis is largely used in innovation studies to assess and monitor technological changes in different sectors. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive view of the innovative forces affecting the retailing sector, by focusing on the evaluation of innovation levels through the classification and analysis of patented innovations. The findings show that retailers might shift to more innovation-oriented strategies in order to propose innovative consumer solutions, due to the support of the technology advancements highlighted by the strong patent track record. Our study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence of critical areas for innovation in retailing and by offering bibliometric and patent analytical methods measures relative to the innovative forces affecting retailing, which might push the sector to be increasingly an innovation-oriented one. Finally, the high level of property rights (defined by the huge amount of patents) pushes retailers to invest more on acquiring patented technologies to achieve advantages over competitors or to adopt novel management practices as substitutes for patents

What inspires young people to study physics? Results from the WG1 interviews survey

The talk will focus on the main results of an Interview based Survey of 1st Year University Physics Students, carried out within Working Group 1 (WG1) of the HOPE project. Among the HOPE activities, 112 interviews have been conducted in 16 universities, in order to investigate in some depth the factors that inspire young people to study physics and to identify possible critical factors which can produce the dropping out.The individual interviews have been carried out on a selection of students who had previously answered the WG1 Questionnaire on the inspirational factors, led by Gareth Jones from the Imperial College, London. In the talk, we will show how the interviews helped us to unpack the main results achieved with the questionnaire survey. In particular, we will present a comprehensive picture of \u201ccuriosity\u201d which turned out to be the predominant motivating factor and we will show how the interviews can throw extra light on reasons for comparatively low scores for factors like (i) enhancing employment prospects, (ii) effect of physics teacher, (iii) scientists in the family

Student interviews on inspirational and drop-out factors progress report (Sub-Group WG1-B)

Progress report on the survey on inspirational and drop-out factors we carried out, within the activities of WG1, through individual interviews to physics students. In particular, we present: 1) the research groups involved in the survey and in the data analysis; 2) the sample; 3) the research questions; 4) the quantitative and qualitative research methods of data analysis we are designing; 4) the preliminary analysis and the problematic issues we are dealing with; 5) discussion, implications and future plans

Alcohol consumption and employment: a cross-sectional study of office workers and unemployed people

Background. Alcohol is a psychoactive substance with toxic and addictive properties. Biomarkers like GGT, AST, ALT and MCV are influenced by excessive ethanol consumption. Alcohol consumption represents a health risk and it has been linked to unemployment. The aim of this study how working status predict alcohol consumption through a cross sectional study comparing alcohol-related biomarkers levels in office workers and unemployed people. Methods. This study includes 157 office workers and 157 unemployed people, who were recruited from January to December 2018. A propensity score matching procedure was applied to obtain two homogenous groups in terms of age and gender. A non- parametric analysis was performed on serum biomarkers that are generally altered by alcohol consumption. Logistic regression models were designed to evaluate how working status predict abnormal biomarker levels related with alcohol consumption. Results. No differences in median biomarker values were found between groups. Lo- gistic regression analysis showed that office work is a negative predictor of pathological biomarker levels. Office workers had a significant relation with the levels of GGT (OR 0.48; 95% CI [0.28-0.84]), AST (OR 0.42; 95% CI [0.22-0.78]), ALT (OR 0.39; 95% CI [0.23-0.66]), and MCV (OR 0.37; 95% CI [0.19-0.70]). Conclusion. Office workers had lower absolute frequencies of pathological values of alcohol consumption biomarkers, after matching for age and gender compared with unemployed people. In addition, a significant negative association between office work is a negative predictor of biomarker levels of alcohol consumption. These results showed that work is an important determinant of health and that can represent a benefit for workers in terms of reducing the risk of consuming alcohol

General Relativistic Dynamics of Irrotational Dust: Cosmological Implications

The non--linear dynamics of cosmological perturbations of an irrotational collisionless fluid is analyzed within General Relativity. Relativistic and Newtonian solutions are compared, stressing the different role of boundary conditions in the two theories. Cosmological implications of relativistic effects, already present at second order in perturbation theory, are studied and the dynamical role of the magnetic part of the Weyl tensor is elucidated.Comment: 12 pages , DFPD 93/A/6

A Plant Bioreactor for the Synthesis of Carbon Nanotube Bionic Nanocomposites

Bionic composites are an emerging class of materials produced exploiting living organisms as reactors to include synthetic functional materials in their native and highly performing structures. In this work, single wall carboxylated carbon nanotubes (SWCNT-COOH) were incorporated within the roots of living plants of Arabidopsis thaliana. This biogenic synthetic route produced a bionic composite material made of root components and SWCNT-COOH. The synthesis was possible exploiting the transport processes existing in the plant roots. Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) measurements showed that SWCNT-COOH entered the vascular bundles of A. thaliana roots localizing within xylem vessels. SWCNT-COOH preserved their electrical properties when embedded inside the root matrix, both at a microscopic level and a macroscopic level, and did not significantly affect the mechanical properties of A. thaliana roots

A Staphylococcus aureus coinfection on a COVID-19 pneumonia in a breast cancer patient

Introduction: Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19), due to severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2), comprises a broad spectrum of clinical presentation ranging from flu-like syndrome to organ failure. The risk of coinfections is high and responsible for a worse prognosis, mainly in the case of bacterial involvement and in the presence of particular comorbidity. We present the clinical, laboratory, radiologic characteristic along with therapeutic management of a patient with COVID-19 and Staphylococcus aureus coinfection. Case Presentation: A 55-year-old Caucasian woman was admitted to our hospital due to a two-day history of fever and acute dyspnea with severe respiratory failure worsened after the administration of atezolizumab and nab-paclitaxel. Her medical history comprehended a triple negative, BRCA1-related, PD-L1 positive right breast cancer with multiple bone metastasis, causing bone marrow infiltration-related severe pancytopenia. Her physical examination revealed scattered wheezes, rales, and bilateral dry crackles in the middle and lower lung fields and lower limb paresis. The body mass index was 30 kg/m2 and arterial blood gas evaluation revealed a stage III acute respiratory distress syndrome. Microbiological specimens revealed a Staphylococcus aureus positivity from endotracheal aspirate. The chest computed tomography (CT) scan showed the presence of large areas of parenchymal consolidation and aerial broncho-gram, bilateral “ground glass” areas reaching the highest extension on the upper and middle zones. The high clinical and radiological suspicion of COVID-19 along with the negative result of nasopharyngeal specimen make necessary an endotracheal aspirate resulting positive for SARS-CoV2. Patient started an antimicrobial treatment and lopinavir-ritonavir plus hydroxy-chloroquine but, unfortunately, died five days after hospital admission. Conclusion: The high risk of mortality of our patient was due to viral-bacterial coinfection, advanced cancer status with active immunotherapy. This case highlights the need for a prompt clinical, laboratory, and radiological evaluation to allow a correct diagnosis and start a specific therapy

FisicaMente: supporting first-year students in transferring mathematical skills and knowledge to a physical context.

Research in physics education shows that students often enter university-level physics courses lacking the prerequisite mathematics skills and knowledge and/or the ability to apply them in a physical context. To analyze these difficulties and provide students with effective feedback, we have designed two multiple-choice tests, inspired by current research in physics education and in cognitive psychology, and starting from a taxonomy of the most frequent errors made by students. We assessed the tests’ content reliability and discriminatory power both globally and at the single-item level. The tests were administered to first-year students enrolled in Science and Engineering courses

Parameters optimization applying Monte Carlo methods and Evolutionary Algorithms. Enforcement to a trajectory tracking controller in non-linear systems.

[EN] In this work, a closed-loop control strategy is proposed. It allows tracking optimal profiles for a fed-batch bioprocess. The main advantage of this approach is that the control actions are computed from a linear equations system without linearizing the mathematical model, which allows working in any range. In addition, three techniques are developed to tune the controller. First, a completely probabilistic method, Monte Carlo. Second, a methodology based on Genetic Algorithms, an evolutionary optimization technique. Third, a Hybrid Algorithm, combining above algorithms advantages. Here, the objective function is to find the controller parameters that minimize the trajectory tracking total error. The controller performance is evaluated through simulations under normal operations conditions and parametric uncertainty, using the obtained controller parameters.[ES] En este trabajo se propone una estrategia de control en lazo cerrado para el seguimiento de perfiles óptimos previamente definidos para un bioproceso fed-batch. La mayor ventaja de este enfoque es que las acciones de control se calculan resolviendo un sistema de ecuaciones lineales, sin tener que linealizar el modelo matemático, lo que permite trabajar en cualquier rango. Además, se plantean tres técnicas para la sintonización de los parámetros del controlador diseñado. Primero se propone un método de Monte Carlo, el cual es un método probabilístico. En segundo lugar, se presenta una metodología basada en Algoritmos Genéticos, una técnica evolutiva de optimización. La tercera alternativa es el desarrollo de un Algoritmo Híbrido, diseñado a partir de la combinación de los dos métodos anteriores. En todos los casos, el objetivo es encontrar los parámetros del controlador que minimicen el error total de seguimiento de trayectorias. El desempeño del controlador se evalúa a través de simulaciones en condiciones normales de operación y frente a incertidumbre paramétrica, empleando los parámetros del controlador obtenidos.Este trabajo ha sido realizado con el apoyo del Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) y del Instituto de Ingeniería Química (IIQ) de la Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Se agradece la colaboración del Dr. Ing. Francisco Rossomando en la implementación del controlador PID neuronal.Fernández, C.; Pantano, N.; Godoy, S.; Serrano, E.; Scaglia, G. (2018). Optimización de Parámetros Utilizando los Métodos de Monte Carlo y Algoritmos Evolutivos. Aplicación a un Controlador de Seguimiento de Trayectoria en Sistemas no Lineales. Revista Iberoamericana de Automática e Informática. 16(1):89-99. doi:10.4995/riai.2018.8796SWORD899916