The impact of IT governance wisdom on board decision-making: A perspective of the philosophy of The Art of War

Board decision-making is a complex process. It is represented by reasoning for choosing the most suitable alternative within a series of options for the operation of the corporation. In practice, strategic decision-making is an important function of the board of directors, especially in the information age. Although there are various determinants of the board for carrying out decision-making, there has been little research concerning the impact of information technology (IT) governance wisdom on board decision-making. This study seeks to investigate the origin of IT governance and analyze IT governance wisdom from the perspective of the philosophical thinking of The Art of War. The analysis indicates that the concept of IT governance must have been produced no earlier than the late 1990s, highly likely at the beginning of the 21st century. In addition, this study presents the results of qualitative field research of a Chinese information and communication technology (ICT) company which indicates that it has an important meaning in explaining IT governance wisdom might have a significant influence on board decision-making. In summary, the importance of information governance wisdom in the decision-making process of the board of directors is also a reflection of intelligent management while considering the interests of shareholders in the digital era

Allium oporinanthum (Alliaceae), una nueva especie del Mediterráneo noroccidental

A new species Allium oporinanthum is described from some localities of the NW Mediterranean área. The new species belongs to A. sect. Codonoprasum and is usually localized on limestone in shady rocky places. It is an autumnal species with a tetraploid chromosome number (2n = 32). Its old origin and its taxonomic relationships are examined too.Se describe Allium oporinanthum de varias localidades del Mediterráneo noroccidental. La nueva especie pertenece a la sección Codonoprasum y normalmente se localiza en las rocas calizas umbrosas. Se trata de una especie otoñal con un número cromosomático tretraploide (2n = 32). Además se examina su posible origen y afinidades taxonómicas

Osservazioni Citotassonomiche Su Scilla Barbacaprae, Endemismo Cirenaico, E Sue Affinita' Con Scilla Villosa

RIASSUNTOViene analizzato il cariotipo di Scilla barba caprae, specie endemica di Derna (Cirenaica settentrionale). Il risultato di questa indagine, effettuata su bulbi coltivati nell'Orto Botanico di Catania, e stato il rinvenimento di un corredo cromosomico diploide: z = 2n = 2x = 14 = 2L + 2M1 + 2M2 + 2M3S3 + 2M4 + 2S1 + 2S2.La comparazione fra Scilla barba-caprae e Scilla villosa, che e la specie tassonomicamente piu vicina, ha permesso di evidenziare numerose differenze riguardanti sia il cariotipo che il fenotipo, che consentono di separare le due entita a livello specifico.In particolare il cariotipo di Scilla villosa (2n = 20) differisce da quello fondamentale 2n= 16, relativo alle entita appartenenti al ciclo di Scilla peruviana, per avere in piu quattro cromosomi, mentre quello di Scilla barba-caprae (2n = 14) ne differisce per avere due cromosomi in meno e per la presenza della coppia 2M3S3 formatasi in seguito a fenomeni di traslocazione + delezione

A model of interaction between the financial sector and the energy sector: the hypothesis of energy currency

Through an overview of developments in finance and in the energy sector, this work represents an analysis of the relationship of their trends. It is carried out through an interdisciplinary approach. From the original physical currency to electronic payment methods, digital currency is becoming a new concept. It’s still a fiat money which is only as good as the organization that issues it. Because Bitcoin is not issued by any central bank, there is no centralized management of the country; there is a great risk of losing control. Finance is not entirely a virtual economy. So, currency development trends must return to intrinsic value. There is the possibility for the energy currency also for its stability. As an energy currency, it is not necessary to print, not to apply the exchange rate, no corresponding pollution, and even better it will help to alleviate the existing environmental problem facing the challenges of global environmental degradation. The international unit of energy can be seen as the unit of energy money because of its intrinsic value. As stated by Scott, there are good reasons to consider energy as a potential currency. If the future integrates energy into the financial system and becomes a means of payment, it will not only eliminate the risk of currency depreciation, but also optimize energy saving and use to achieve environmental protection. The emphasis is given to the integration of the financial sector with the energy one. The aim is to develop a parametric numerical model able to foresee the possibility of combining finance and energy, allowing a sustainable development. This allows us to analyze the pros and cons of the existing energy cryptocurrencies. The last step consists in identifying the main characteristics that this cryptocurrency must have in order to achieve the desired results

L'analisi dell'efficienza nell'ambito dell'approccio FDH. Un'estensione e un'applicazione per gli ospedali di zona.

This work deals with the non-parametic analysis of efficiency. We propose an extension of the Free Disposal Hull (FDH) approach in order to allow for the presence of input or output slacks in measuring technical efficiency. These slacks are weighted according to the gap between the input (or output) vector of an inefficient produce and the input (or output) vector of the respective dominating observation. Applying both the original and the corrected FDH (FDH-C) to the Italian zone hospitals suggests that consistent and systematic differences in the efficiency scores can be actually obtained. As a consequence of these changes in the efficiency scores, the application of FDH-C can lead to substantial alterations of the efficiency ranking obtained with the traditional FDH, implying that the algorithm here proposed has some practical relevance. Finally, there actually are cases in which an inefficient producer is dominated by different observations in FDH and FDH-C

Techninių rašysenos tyrimo konsultantų veiklos ypatumai civiliniame ir baudžiamoje procese Italijoje

An expert is a natural person with an appropriate knowledge in a specific field that may be used by a court in cases requiring specific knowledge. In Italy, the expert institution, governed by the Code of Civil and Criminal Procedure, is divided into experts (ex officio technical consultants) and party experts (technical consultants of the parties). An ex officio expert is granted the status of a court assistant, while party experts are granted the status of technical defenders, integrating the advocates work. Legal norms provide for certain norms of the relationship between an ex officio expert and party experts, which follow the principles of adversarial and transparency. Such reports allow the ex officio expert to integrate his own research and deduction with the observations and reservations of the expert parties, in an effort to achieve objectivity

Rapid decline of fasting glucose in HCV diabetic patients treated with direct-acting antiviral agents

Association between HCV infection and diabetes has been widely postulated. Little is known about the impact of direct acting antiviral agents (DAAs) on glycemic control. Aim of our study was to evaluate the glycemic control modifications in a case series of HCV+ diabetic population receiving DAAs. We retrospectively evaluated 149 HCV+ patients in two different institutions affiliated to the Sapienza University: Policlinico Umberto I of Rome and Ospedale Santa Maria Goretti of Latina. We were able to identify 29 patients with T2DM (19% of total population) who were receiving different IFN-free regimens. During-treatment fasting glucose values were available for 21 patients and analysis showed a statistically significant reduction (p=0,007), the reduction mean value was -52,86 mg/dl. An A1C value during treatment (week 4 or week 8 or week 12) was available for 10 patients and the analysis showed a statistically significant reduction (p=0,021) with a reduction mean value of -1,95%. 6 patients (23%) needed to reduce hypoglycemic drugs, 8 of 10 patients showed reduction of A1C, 14 of 21 patients (67%) showed reduced FG during treatment. FG and A1C reductions values were independent from which DAA was present in the regimen, HCV genotype, BMI and HIV status. In order to avoid hypoglycemic events, diabetic patients undergoing DAAs should be closely monitorized for reduction of hypoglycemic drugs. Furthermore, diabetes could be considered, in our opinion, as an element to prioritize treatment in those patients with no apparent liver disease

Whole-brain functional imaging to highlight differences between the diurnal and nocturnal neuronal activity in zebrafish larvae

Most living organisms show highly conserved physiological changes following a 24-hour cycle which goes by the name of circadian rhythm. Among experimental models, the effects of light-dark cycle have been recently investigated in the larval zebrafish. Owing to its small size and transparency, this vertebrate enables optical access to the entire brain. Indeed, the combination of this organism with light-sheet imaging grants high spatio-temporal resolution volumetric recording of neuronal activity. This imaging technique, in its multiphoton variant, allows functional investigations without unwanted visual stimulation. Here, we employed a custom two-photon light-sheet microscope to study whole-brain differences in neuronal activity between diurnal and nocturnal periods in larval zebrafish. We describe for the first time an activity increase in the low frequency domain of the pretectum and a frequency-localised activity decrease of the anterior rhombencephalic turning region during the nocturnal period. Moreover, our data confirm a nocturnal reduction in habenular activity. Furthermore, whole-brain detrended fluctuation analysis revealed a nocturnal decrease in the self-affinity of the neuronal signals in parts of the dorsal thalamus and the medulla oblongata. Our data show that whole-brain nonlinear light-sheet imaging represents a useful tool to investigate circadian rhythm effects on neuronal activity.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure

Hodgkin's lymphoma: post- autologous transplantation consolidation therapy

A first-line chemotherapy program based on the ABVD regimen is currently considered the golden standard by most hematologists, being able to achieve a cure without any need of subsequent therapies in >70% of patients with advanced-stage Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). To increase this percentage, efforts in recent decades focused on the development of new therapeutic strategies. A first major effort was the introduction of the BEACOPP chemotherapy regimen, which is able to increase the response rate and to reduce the need of salvage therapies. However, this result did not demonstrate an advantage in terms of overall survival compared to ABVD, mainly due to an excess of non lymphoma-related events in the follow-up phase. Here we describe three clinical cases of young HL patients who had relapsed/refractory disease after the induction chemotherapy. These three clinical cases provide practical and real world evidence in favor of the use of BV in monotherapy as consolidation treatment after autologous stem cells transplantation in patients with relapsed/refractory HL

Effects of excitation light polarization on fluorescence emission in two-photon light-sheet microscopy

Light-sheet microscopy (LSM) is a powerful imaging technique that uses a planar illumination oriented orthogonally to the detection axis. Two-photon (2P) LSM is a variant of LSM that exploits the 2P absorption effect for sample excitation. The light polarization state plays a significant, and often overlooked, role in 2P absorption processes. The scope of this work is to test whether using different polarization states for excitation light can affect the detected signal levels in 2P LSM imaging of typical biological samples with a spatially unordered dye population. Supported by a theoretical model, we compared the fluorescence signals obtained using different polarization states with various fluorophores (fluorescein, EGFP and GCaMP6s) and different samples (liquid solution and fixed or living zebrafish larvae). In all conditions, in agreement with our theoretical expectations, linear polarization oriented parallel to the detection plane provided the largest signal levels, while perpendicularly-oriented polarization gave low fluorescence signal with the biological samples, but a large signal for the fluorescein solution. Finally, circular polarization generally provided lower signal levels. These results highlight the importance of controlling the light polarization state in 2P LSM of biological samples. Furthermore, this characterization represents a useful guide to choose the best light polarization state when maximization of signal levels is needed, e.g. in high-speed 2P LSM.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures. Version of the manuscript accepted for publication on Biomedical Optics Expres