Dinamica delle relazioni intersettoriali tra piccole e medie imprese: il caso del Nord Sardegna

This study aims to identify limits and possibilities in developing an organizational model based on inter-organizational and cross sectorial relations between SME. We consider this model is able to promote innovative paths for the development of Sardinia’s SME. The work is divided into three parts. The first focuses on the analysis of dominant organizational theories and approaches to the study of inter-organizational relationships: the aim is to reconstruct the theoretical origins of the concept of “network”. The second analyzes the concept of network, examining the main structural network characteristics, advantages and limitations. In the third part, an empirical investigation - explanatory in purpose – is carried on by adopting the methodology of qualitative research. Our aim is to verify “what idea and what network model” is has been developing in the North of Sardinia. Two the objects of our research: SMEs, belonging to important sectors in the Sardinian economy (in particular, tourism, agriculture, craft); the first stage of developing of inter-organizational and cross sectorial relationships among their. The sample was identified according to non-probabilistic sampling technique, while the research was conducted by using semi-structured interviews to the owners or managers of the selected companies. The survey results confirm that the network represents a valid tool for Sardinian SMEs development and growth

Effetto dell’estrazione a basso impatto ossidativo sulla capacità antiossidante <i>in vitro</i> e sulla qualità di oli extra-vergini di oliva della Sardegna

Milling technology has a great effect on the quality of olive oils. This paper was aimed to compare the differences in quality between two Sardinian extra virgin monovarietal oils obtained with a traditional and with a low oxidative stress technology. Peroxide value and acidity were lower in oils extracted with a low oxidative stress, which resulted in up to 114% higher total phenol content, with respect to oils obtained with the traditional technology. The low oxidative stress technology, moreover, permitted them to have significantly higher values of antioxidant activity, which is to be ascribed to the higher phenol content

Derivation of multivariate indices of milk composition, coagulation properties, and individual cheese yield in dairy sheep

Milk composition and its technological properties are traits of interest for the dairy sheep industry because almost all milk produced is processed into cheese. However, several variables define milk technological properties and a complex correlation pattern exists among them. In the present work, we measured milk composition, coagulation properties, and individual cheese yields in a sample of 991 Sarda breed ewes in 47 flocks. The work aimed to study the correlation pattern among measured variables and to obtain new synthetic indicators of milk composition and cheese-making properties. Multivariate factor analysis was carried out on individual measures of milk coagulation parameters; cheese yield; fat, protein, and lactose percentages; somatic cell score; casein percentage; NaCl content; pH; and freezing point. Four factors that were able to explain about 76% of the original variance were extracted. They were clearly interpretable: the first was associated with composition and cheese yield, the second with udder health status, the third with coagulation, and the fourth with curd characteristics. Factor scores were then analyzed by using a mixed linear model that included the fixed effect of parity, lambing month, and lactation stage, and the random effect of flock-test date. The patterns of factor scores along lactation stages were coherent with their technical meaning. A relevant effect of flock-test date was detected, especially on the 2 factors related to milk coagulation properties. Results of the present study suggest the existence of a simpler latent structure that regulates relationships between variables defining milk composition and coagulation properties in sheep. Heritability estimates for the 4 extracted factors were from low to moderate, suggesting potential use of these new variables as breeding goals

Participatory multi-criteria decision analysis for prioritizing impacts in environmental and social impact assessments

Environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) can be an extremely useful tool for identifying and evaluating the repercussions of a wide range of initiatives. Typically when the project and its impacts are highly complex, an ESIA can detect a large number of issues that need to be prioritized so that they can be effectively and efficiently addressed. This article presents a mixed-methodology proposal for impact prioritization in ESIA, divided into four phases: (1) creation of the stakeholders’ platform; (2) identification and assessment of impacts; (3) impact categorization; and (4) impact assessment and prioritization using multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). This procedure was applied as an ex-post evaluation of a golf-based tourism project in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula (Huelva, Spain), but can also potentially be used to conduct ex-ante assessments. The main contribution of the study is in the design and testing of a parsimonious procedure, which condenses a large amount of qualitative information into relatively simple operations using MCDA. The process is grounded in the constructivist social impact assessment (SIA) paradigm through stakeholder evaluation of impacts and criteria.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [CSO2012.32493] and the Council of Innovation, Science and Enterprise of the Junta de Andalucía (Andalusian Regional Government) [SEJ2397]

Stir bar sorptive extraction coupled with GC/MS applied to honey: optimization of method and comparative study with headspace extraction techniques

The stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) techniques, coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, were successfully applied to the study of Eucalyptus honey’s for the determination of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). An optimization of the extraction method was carried out and the variables, NaCl concentration (used as matrix modifier), and the concentration of honey solution were studied targeting the whole VOCs composition. After the evaluation of the experiments, the best condition for the extraction of honey volatile components was 2 mol/L of NaCl and the more concentrated honey solution (0.5 g of honey per mL of water). Additionally, the results were compared with those obtained by two headspace (HS) techniques, namely solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and dynamic headspace (DHS). SBSE volatiles differ qualitatively and quantitatively from those obtained by the SPME and DHS methods. In any event, the chemical composition of Eucalyptus honey volatiles extracted by all three techniques shows the presence of some typical floral markers. Our results confirm a general trend reported in the literature, which show the higher sensitivity of SBSE in the extraction of less volatile compounds in comparison with HS methods

Monitoring raw cork TCA content in Sardinian woodlands

The studies on stopper contamination by TCA have focused on manufacturing phase and on relations between the wine and the cork. Less numerous are the forest and environmental monitoring research useful to evaluate whether different management models of the cork stands may have an influence on the process

Variations in hydrological connectivity of Australian semiarid landscapes indicate abrupt changes in rainfall-use efficiency of vegetation

[1] Dryland vegetation frequently shows self‐organized spatial patterns as mosaic‐like structures of sources (bare areas) and sinks (vegetation patches) of water runoff and sediments with variable interconnection. Good examples are banded landscapes displayed by Mulga in semiarid Australia, where the spatial organization of vegetation optimizes the redistribution and use of water (and other scarce resources) at the landscape scale. Disturbances can disrupt the spatial distribution of vegetation causing a substantial loss of water by increasing landscape hydrological connectivity and consequently, affecting ecosystem function (e.g., decreasing the rainfall‐use efficiency of the landscape). We analyze (i) connectivity trends obtained from coupled analysis of remotely sensed vegetation patterns and terrain elevations in several Mulga landscapes subjected to different levels of disturbance, and (ii) the rainfall‐use efficiency of these landscapes, exploring the relationship between rainfall and remotely sensed Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. Our analyses indicate that small reductions in the fractional cover of vegetation near a particular threshold can cause abrupt changes in ecosystem function, driven by large nonlinear increases in the length of the connected flowpaths. In addition, simulations with simple vegetation‐thinning algorithms show that these nonlinear changes are especially sensitive to the type of disturbance, suggesting that the amount of alterations that an ecosystem can absorb and still remain functional largely depends on disturbance type. In fact, selective thinning of the vegetation patches from their edges can cause a higher impact on the landscape hydrological connectivity than spatially random disturbances. These results highlight surface connectivity patterns as practical indicators for monitoring landscape health

Veille Internet / Documentation gratuite en ligne. Thème : microfinance et intermédiation

Since 2007, the world economy and population have been facing a series interrelated economic, social and environmental crisis. The severity of the current crisis is aggravated by the ?convergence of temporality? between the long-term environmental degradation brought about by industrial capitalism on the one hand, and on the other hand, and the short-term objectives of valorization set by finance capital