The Italian Entrepreneurial Crisis During COVID-19. Investments in Algeria as a Possible International Opportunity for the Relaunch of our Companies.

The world economy is severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Italy is certainly one of the most affected countries in terms of health with over 35,000 victims to date and with a decrease of 12.8% of GDP in the 2nd quarter of 2020, mainly caused by the temporary closure or bankruptcy of many companies during the lockdown period. To restart, Italian entrepreneurs cannot rely only on current government aid which is not going to be immediately available, nor on the Recovery Fund granted by the EU which will probably become effective from mid-2021. The restart must take place immediately and, to do so, it is also necessary to aim at obtaining possible financing and profit from investment opportunities offered by the developing countries that are interested in foreign know-how. Among the opportunities offered by the international present context it is worth considering the possibility of investing in one of the most active countries in the Maghreb area, namely Algeria which is undoubtedly one of the most interesting markets for Italian investments in the coming years, due to various factors: its excellent bilateral relations with Italy, both economic and commercial, the geographical proximity and the common Mediterranean view, the cooperation on security and terrorism and the huge funding agreed by the two governments to encourage the creation of mixed start-ups on the Algerian territory. The research carried out started from the analysis of macroeconomic data, analyzing the business climate of the Maghreb territory with particular attention to the international economic development policies in the area, which could represent a chance to relaunch Italian companies. Afterwards, while in no way pretending to be exhaustive, the research, supported by the data collected from the questionnaire submitted to the main Italian operators in the area, highlighted their difficulties in doing business in recent years, and supplied a possible indication of the opportunities to be seized and the threats to be minimized on the territory by future Italian investors

The Single Port Window.

International trade remains truly the engine of the world economy. Its growth follows the trends of economic indicators. Trade facilitation is now more important than ever for the development and trade competitiveness of developing countries. Given the needs of global supply chains and international logistics networks, it is essential that border crossings take place quickly and in a predictable manner. The single port window aims to guarantee high reliability in import and export procedures, while reducing the time it takes for goods to pass through the port. It manages the physical, administrative, commercial and customs follow-up of the goods, allowing the dematerialized accomplishment of customs and fiscal administrative formalities related to port operations. The concept of Single Window for Foreign Trade finds all its importance in the search for optimization of logistics and formalities of Foreign Trade. It is not insignificant that the development of this modality is today the main concern of economies which are banking on the exponential growth of their foreign trade

Perceptions Regarding Distance Learning in Higher Education, Smoothing the Transition.

This paper presents the perceptions on distance learning approaches, assessed through an online survey, using experimental design of ideas (Mind Genomics). Students and professors of higher education institutions who had not yet experienced distance learning before COVID-19 pandemic period participated in the study. The participants belong to the universities located in Mediterranean basin, e.g., Albania, Italy, Morocco, Algeria and few African countries. Results suggest that distance learning will shift many of the responsibilities formerly on the professors to those of the students. The data suggests the need for emotional support during this transition, specifically to maintain interaction among students and professor as well as among students themselves in distance learning platforms as in traditional classrooms. The study shows that the effectiveness and the interactivity of this new paradigm are very important and any further developments of distance learning should provide strong support for these components. The position of the professor is indispensable as the guide to the entire process, suggesting that at least at the time of this writing (2020) distance learning approach is perceived only to be an intermittent complementary path to in-person interactions

An experimental evaluation of robot-stopping approaches for improving fluency in collaborative robotics

This paper explores and experimentally compares the effectiveness of robot-stopping approaches based on the speed and separation monitoring for improving fluency in collaborative robotics. In the compared approaches, a supervisory controller checks the distance between the bounding volumes enclosing human operator and robot and prevents potential collisions by determining the robot's stop time and triggering a stop trajectory if necessary. The methods are tested on a Franka Emika robot with 7 degrees of freedom, involving 27 volunteer participants, who are asked to walk along assigned paths to cyclically intrude the robot workspace, while the manipulator is working. The experimental results show that scaling online the dynamic safety zones is beneficial for improving fluency of human-robot collaboration, showing significant statistical differences with respect to alternative approaches

Smooth-rough asymmetric PLGA structure made of dip coating membrane and electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds meant to be used for guided tissue regeneration of periodontium

A surgical procedure for the repair of damaged periodontal tissue is Guided Tissue Regeneration (GTR), which involves the use of a barrier membrane to prevent soft tissue ingrowth and create a space for slow regeneration of periodontium and bone. GTR membrane should have pores able to facilitate the diffusion of fluids, oxygen, nutrients, and bioactive substances for cell growth, but also be impermeable to epithelial cells or gingival fibroblasts, which could overpopulate the defect space and inhibit infiltration and activity of bone-forming cells. In this paper, a bilayer PLGA membrane was realized by coupling the dip coating and electrospinning techniques. The rough layer of the double-sided structure was electrospun on the previously prepared smooth dip-coated membrane. A rotating drum collector at two rotating speeds was used to generate different fibers orientation. The bilayer membrane with different superimposed surfaces was successfully fabricated and characterized from a morphological, physicochemical, and the mechanical point of view. Performed analyses revealed that the membrane possesses suitable properties, especially from mechanical point of view, for its possible use as a scaffold for the GTR of periodontum. A high fiber alignment and improved mechanical properties with respect to available GTR membranes characterized the product resulting from this study

Potential of Cellulose-Based Superabsorbent Hydrogels as Water Reservoir in Agriculture

The present work deals with the development of a biodegradable superabsorbent hydrogel, based on cellulose derivatives, for the optimization of water resources in agriculture, horticulture and, more in general, for instilling a wiser and savvier approach to water consumption. The sorption capability of the proposed hydrogel was firstly assessed, with specific regard to two variables that might play a key role in the soil environment, that is, ionic strength and pH. Moreover, a preliminary evaluation of the hydrogel potential as water reservoir in agriculture was performed by using the hydrogel in experimental greenhouses, for the cultivation of tomatoes. The soil-water retention curve, in the presence of different hydrogel amounts, was also analysed. The preliminary results showed that the material allowed an efficient storage and sustained release of water to the soil and the plant roots. Although further investigations should be performed to completely characterize the interaction between the hydrogel and the soil, such findings suggest that the envisaged use of the hydrogel on a large scale might have a revolutionary impact on the optimization of water resources management in agriculture

Towards Complex Tissues Replication: Multilayer Scaffold Integrating Biomimetic Nanohydroxyapatite/Chitosan Composites

This study explores an approach to design and prepare a multilayer scaffold mimicking interstratified natural tissue. This multilayer construct, composed of chitosan matrices with graded nanohydroxyapatite concentrations, was achieved through an in situ biomineralization process applied to individual layers. Three distinct precursor concentrations were considered, resulting in 10, 20, and 30 wt% nanohydroxyapatite content in each layer. The resulting chitosan/nanohydroxyapatite (Cs/n-HAp) scaffolds, created via freeze-drying, exhibited nanohydroxyapatite nucleation, homogeneous distribution, improved mechanical properties, and good cytocompatibility. The cytocompatibility analysis revealed that the Cs/n-HAp layers presented cell proliferation similar to the control in pure Cs for the samples with 10% n-HAp, indicating good cytocompatibility at this concentration, while no induction of apoptotic death pathways was demonstrated up to a 20 wt% n-Hap concentration. Successful multilayer assembly of Cs and Cs/n-HAp layers highlighted that the proposed approach represents a promising strategy for mimicking multifaceted tissues, such as osteochondral ones