Cross‐border acquisitions by sovereign wealth funds: A legitimacy‐based view

Research SummaryDrawing on institutional economics and the legitimacy-based view of political risk, we investigate the factors determining the realization of cross-border investments by sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), whose investments often suffer from a lack of legitimacy in host countries. Using matching models on all the realized and potential investments, we find that investments are more likely to materialize when the SWF home country and the host country enjoy cordial political relations or are involved in a trade agreement. Contrary to the theoretical predictions, SWF politicization does not per se represent an impediment to the realization of investments. Rather, it has a negative effect on the likelihood of an investment's realization only in the presence of trade agreements.Managerial SummaryA recent trend in the global economy is the increasing cross-border investment activity undertaken by sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), large investment vehicles where financial and political goals often co-exist. On the grounds of possible financial or political destabilization, SWFs' cross-border investments attract scrutiny and suspicion in host countries, hindering their realization. We analyze SWF- and country-level factors that may determine the successful realization of SWFs' cross-border acquisitions. We suggest that managers ex ante select target firms and host countries by considering their fund's governance and degree of independence from home-country politics in interaction with bilateral (home-host country) political and economic relations, so as to secure legitimacy for their investments and maximize the chances that cross-border investment strategies may materialize

Enhancing fluency and productivity in human-robot collaboration through online scaling of dynamic safety zones

Industrial collaborative robotics is promising for manufacturing activities where the presence of a robot alongside a human operator can improve operator’s working conditions, flexibility, and productivity. A collaborative robotic application has to guarantee not only safety of the human operator, but also fluency in the collaboration, as well as performance in terms of productivity and task time. In this paper, we present an approach to enhance fluency and productivity in human-robot collaboration through online scaling of dynamic safety zones. A supervisory controller runs online safety checks between bounding volumes enclosing robot and human to identify possible collision dangers. To optimize the sizes of safety zones enclosing the manipulator, the method minimizes the time of potential stop trajectories considering the robot dynamics and its torque constraints, and leverages the directed speed of the robot parts with respect to the human. Simulations and experimental tests on a seven-degree-of-freedom robotic arm verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach, and collaborative fluency metrics show the benefits of the method with respect to existing approaches

Guidance for interpretation of CBD categories on introduction pathways

Technical note prepared by IUCN for the European Commission. This note has been drafted by a team of experts under the supervision of IUCN within the framework of the contract No 07.0202/2016/739524/SER/ENV.D.2 “Technical and Scientific support in relation to the Implementation of Regulation 1143/2014 on Invasive Alien Species”

Exploring the international connectivity of Chinese inventors in the pharmaceutical industry

This paper explores the integration of emerging countries into the global system of innovation, as a channel for their technological catch-up. Using data on the innovative activity in the Chinese pharmaceutical industry, we analyze the geographic dispersion of inventor networks linked to China, as a function of the characteristics of the innovative actors that coordinate their inventive work

A Tracked Mobile Robotic Lab for Monitoring the Plants Volume and Health

9noPrecision agriculture has been increasingly recognized for its potential ability to improve agricultural productivity, reduce production cost, and minimize damage to the environment. In this work, the current stage of our research in developing a mobile platform equipped with different sensors for orchard monitoring and sensing is presented. In particular, the mobile platform is conceived to monitor and assess both the geometric and volumetric conditions as well as the health state of the canopy. To do so, different sensors have been integrated and efficient data-processing algorithms implemented for a reliable crop monitoring. Experimental tests have been performed allowing to obtain both a precise volume reconstruction of several plants and an NDVI mapping suitable for vegetation state evaluations.openopenopenBietresato, M; Carabin, G; D’Auria, D; Gallo, R; Gasparetto, A.; Ristorto, G; Mazzetto, F; Vidoni, R; Scalera, L.Bietresato, M; Carabin, G; D’Auria, D; Gallo, R; Gasparetto, Alessandro; Ristorto, G; Mazzetto, F; Vidoni, R; Scalera, Lorenz

Osservazioni sulla mortalita di ircinia spinosula (schmidt) ed ircinia sp. (porifera, demospongiae) nell’insenatura della strea di porto cesareo

EnA long-term investigation (1994-1996) was carried out on two species of Ircinia, I. spinosula and Ircinia sp., coexisting in a Mediterranean coastal basin (Porto Cesareo, South-Western Apulia). During 1994 both species were affected by a disease which caused a decrease of their density. In I. spinosula the maximum decrement was observed in January 1996 (about 27%), while, in the same period Ircinia sp. was almost completely disappeared from the investigated area. In July1996 a successive slow restarting of the two species was observed. SEM observations of the skeleton of damaged specimens showed a decay of spongine fibres. Even though these ones were frequently broken, they did not show grooves in their external surface, nor they seemed excavated inside. Tissue reparation processes were observed; they seemed to consist in the isolation of affected areas, permitting a recovery and regeneration of many specimens.ItE’ stato condotto un monitoraggio temporale (1994-1996) su due specie del genere Ircinia, I. spinosula e Ircinia sp,, coesistenti in un bacino costiero mediterraneo (Porto Cesareo, Puglia Sud-Occidentale). Ne1 1994 entrambe le specie sono state colpite da una malattia che ha provocato un decremento della loro densita. In I. spinosula il decremento massimo è stato osservato in gennaio 1996 (circa il27%), mentre nello stesso periodo Ircinia sp è quasi del tutto scomparsa dall’area d’indagine. Nel luglio 1996 è stata osservata una successiva e lenta ripresa delle due specie. Le indagini ultrastrutturali (SEM) hanno permesso di osservare che in entrambe le specie lo scheletro degli esemplari danneggiati presentava una trama discontinua con le fibre di spongina frequentemente spezzate. Sebbene tali fibre risultassero sfaldate non apparivano mai erose al loro interno. Sono stati osservati, inoltre, probabili meccanismi di riparo dei tessuti; tali meccanismi, consistenti nell'isolamento delle aree affette da malattia, sono probabilmente alla base dei processi di ripresa e di rigenerazione di molti esemplari