Designing circular supply chains in start-up companies: evidence from Italian fashion and construction start-ups

PurposeThe theory of complex adaptive systems (CASs) represents an interesting perspective to study the characteristics of circular supply chains (CSCs). In this regard, the current literature lacks evidence regarding coordination and integration mechanisms, characteristics of the environment and emerging system properties of CSCs. This paper aims to fill this gap and focuses on how and why companies design (i.e. configure and coordinate) their CSCs and what value these design choices help to create across different industries.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use a multiple case study approach and analyze data collected from a sample of five sustainable start-ups operating in the fashion and construction industries in Italy to better understand how these companies design (i.e. configure and coordinate) their CSCs.FindingsResults reveal that in the two industries under investigation, the design of CSCs built around open and closed-loop logic is triggered by the intention to solve a negative sustainability impact. The sustainability impact determines whether the value is restored within the same supply chain, in another, or inside or outside the same industry. Interestingly, start-ups appear to coordinate other CSC actors with three leading roles: (1) orchestrator, (2) integrated orchestrator and (3) circular manufacturer. The coordination role of the start-ups differs in each supply chain configuration based on the level of vertical integration of manufacturing activities.Originality/valueFrom a theoretical perspective, the authors' results expand previous supply chain management (SCM) literature by presenting an empirical analysis of the configuration and coordination of CSCs, and discussing the drivers for creating such circularity from a CAS perspective. From a managerial perspective, the authors offer a practical experience to entrepreneurs on how to transform circular and sustainable business model aspirations into CSC practices

Net zero energy buildings: Expense or investment?

Abstract With the objective of reducing the heavy consumption of building sector, sustainable policies around the world promote, for the future, the construction of zero-energy or nearly zero-energy buildings. Higher investment in efficient technologies for energy saving and exploitation of renewables, however, can cause doubts about the real convenience of these "new generation" buildings. Based on the analysis of a case study under development, this paper demonstrates that a zero-energy building represents an affordable investment cost, especially if integrated with photovoltaics

Effect of a high forage: Concentrate ratio on milk yield, blood parameters and oxidative status in lactating cows

A feeding strategy that requires a forage: concentrate ratio equal to 70: 30, with at least five different herbs in the forage and the use of silages prohibited, has recently been introduced in Italy. Despite the benefits in terms of human health (lower ω6: ω3 ratio, higher conjugated linoleic acid level) of the obtained milk, little information regarding the possible effects on cows' health is available. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of such a feeding strategy in dairy cows (90 days in milk at the beginning of the trial) on milk yield and composition, and blood metabolic profile, including the evaluation of oxidative stress. The proposed feeding strategy, compared with a semi-intensive strategy, resulted in an improvement of animal oxidative status (lower levels of reactive oxygen metabolites, higher levels of antioxidant potential and anti-reactive oxygen metabolites) and a significant increase of milk urea only in the first part of the trial. No differences in milk yield and composition were detected throughout the trial

The Costs, Quality, and Scalability of Blended Learning in Postgraduate Management Education

With its combination of online and face-to-face interaction, blended learning is increasingly being employed in postgraduate education. To date, most empirical research on the topic has focused on the design and relative effectiveness of online versus in-person learning. Meanwhile, any exploration of the costs of its delivery has often been neglected. In this study, we propose a framework to assess the costs and cost-effectiveness of alternative designs of blended postgraduate programs, and then empirically apply it to an innovative blended Master of Business Administration (MBA) course as compared with similar MBAs taught at the same institution, with the differences lying in their proportions of online content and the intensity of their use. We applied the Community of Inquiry framework to show that the program with the most intensive use of online learning is also the most effective in terms of student cognitive gain. However, it is not the most cost-effective when compared to other, less online-intensive alternatives. We also found that this result depends on the scalability constraints imposed by the design of the programs. The implications of the scalability versus the quality versus the costs of blended education are then discussed

Digital Servitization and Firm Performance: Technology Intensity Approach

Digital servitization provides radical changes in the offer of products from manufacturing firms. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of digital servitization on manufacturing firm performance and demonstrate the role of technology intensity, product-related services, and digital solutions in different industry sectors. This research collected data from 240 manufacturing firms from the Republic of Serbia under the European manufacturing survey from 2018. Multivariate regression analysis was used to test the impact of product-related services and digital solutions on manufacturing firm performance according to technology intensity. The findings show that the impact of digital servitization is more significant with the higher technology intensity level of the industry sector. Furthermore, the results show that Data-based services based on Big Data Analysis have the highest impact on manufacturing firm performance in all categories of technology intensity. Moreover, results from the fixed panel regression show production managers which combination of product-related services along with digital solutions make the highest financial performance according to the technology intensity of the firm

Visual tracking of small animals in cluttered natural environments using a freely moving camera

Image-based tracking of animals in their natural habitats can provide rich behavioural data, but is very challenging due to complex and dynamic background and target appearances. We present an effective method to recover the positions of terrestrial animals in cluttered environments from video sequences filmed using a freely moving monocular camera. The method uses residual motion cues to detect the targets and is thus robust to different lighting conditions and requires no a-priori appearance model of the animal or environment. The detection is globally optimised based on an inference problem formulation using factor graphs. This handles ambiguities such as occlusions and intersections and provides automatic initialisation. Furthermore, this formulation allows a seamless integration of occasional user input for the most difficult situations, so that the effect of a few manual position estimates are smoothly distributed over long sequences. Testing our system against a benchmark dataset featuring small targets in natural scenes, we obtain 96% accuracy for fully automated tracking. We also demonstrate reliable tracking in a new data set that includes different targets (insects, vertebrates or artificial objects) in a variety of environments (desert, jungle, meadows, urban) using different imaging devices (day / night vision cameras, smart phones) and modalities (stationary, hand-held, drone operated)

Validation of the CAchexia SCOre (CASCO). Staging cancer patients: The use of miniCASCO as a simplified tool

The CAchexia SCOre (CASCO) was described as a tool for the staging of cachectic cancer patients. The aim of this study is to show the metric properties of CASCO in order to classify cachectic cancer patients into three different groups, which are associated with a numerical scoring. The final aim was to clinically validate CASCO for its use in the classification of cachectic cancer patients in clinical practice. We carried out a case -control study that enrolled prospectively 186 cancer patients and 95 age-matched controls. The score includes five components: (1) body weight loss and composition, (2) inflammation/metabolic disturbances/immunosuppression, (3) physical performance, (4) anorexia, and (5) quality of life. The present study provides clinical validation for the use of the score. In order to show the metric properties of CASCO, three different groups of cachectic cancer patients were established according to the results obtained with the statistical approach used: mild cachexia (15 â\u89¤ Ã\u97 â\u89¤ 28), moderate cachexia (29 â\u89¤ Ã\u97 â\u89¤ 46), and severe cachexia (47 â\u89¤ Ã\u97 â\u89¤ 100). In addition, a simplified version of CASCO, MiniCASCO (MCASCO), was also presented and it contributes as a valid and easy-to-use tool for cachexia staging. Significant statistically correlations were found between CASCO and other validated indexes such as Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) and the subjective diagnosis of cachexia by specialized oncologists. A very significant estimated correlation between CASCO and MCASCO was found that suggests that MCASCO might constitute an easy and valid tool for the staging of the cachectic cancer patients. CASCO and MCASCO provide a new tool for the quantitative staging of cachectic cancer patients with a clear advantage over previous classifications

Transthyretin Promotes Axon Growth via Regulation of Microtubule Dynamics and Tubulin Acetylation

Transthyretin (TTR), a plasma and cerebrospinal fluid protein, increases axon growth and organelle transport in sensory neurons. While neurons extend their axons, the microtubule (MT) cytoskeleton is crucial for the segregation of functional compartments and axonal outgrowth. Herein, we investigated whether TTR promotes axon elongation by modulating MT dynamics. We found that TTR KO mice have an intrinsic increase in dynamic MTs and reduced levels of acetylated a-tubulin in peripheral axons. In addition, they failed to modulate MT dynamics in response to sciatic nerve injury, leading to decreased regenerative capacity. Importantly, restoring acetylated a-tubulin levels of TTR KO dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons using an HDAC6 inhibitor is sufficient to completely revert defective MT dynamics and neurite outgrowth. In summary, our results reveal a new role for TTR in the modulation of MT dynamics by regulating a-tubulin acetylation via modulation of the acetylase ATAT1, and suggest that this activity underlies TTR neuritogenic function.This work was supported by: FEDER – Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional funds through the COMPETE 2020 – Operacional Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Portugal 2020, and by Portuguese funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia/Ministério da Ciéncia, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior in the framework of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028336 (PTDC/MED-NEU/28336/2017); Norte-01-0145-FEDER-000008 – Porto Neurosciences and Neurologic Disease Research Initiative at I3S, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through FEDER; and Thompson Family Foundation (TFFI) award, RO1AG050658 (NIH/National Institute on Aging) and R21NS120076 (NIH/NINDS) awards to FB, and a PRIN-2017FJC3-004 (MIUR) to MEP. TM is supported by the Deutsche Forshcunggemeinschaft (EXC 2145 SyNergy – ID 390857198; TRR 274/1 2020 – ID 408885537). JE is a FCT fellow (SFRH/BD/116343/2016). MAL is an FCT Investigator (IF/00902/2015)