PURPLE OCEAN STRATEGY: HOW TO SUPPORT SMEs RECOVERY

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La corporate governance delle banche italiane: è tutto oro quello che luccica?

Per l’Agenda 2030 delle Nazioni Unite sullo sviluppo sostenibile (2015) l’adozione delle best practices di corporate governance (CG) è un fattore chiave di comportamenti sostenibili delle imprese al fine di accrescere ricchezza e resilienza dei sistemi economici mondiali. In aggiunta, l’approccio ESG (environmental, social, governance) sta assumendo crescente importanza nella gestione delle imprese italiane. E tuttavia, l’adesione ai principi del Codice di CG da parte delle imprese italiane quotate sembra essere più formale che effettivo in varie aree, generando comportamenti di box-ticking e box-checking ai principi del Codice (quelli più facilmente applicabili e verificabili), rispettivamente da parte di operatori e di supervisori. Questo studio contribuisce a evidenziare il gap tra compliance effettiva vs formale su un campione di società finanziarie italiane quotate, considerate “campioni” nella CG

how country affects the capital structure choice literature review and criticism

Recent international financial research finds that not only firm- and industry-specific determinants, but also country-specific factors influence a firm's capital structure. The paper's aim is twofold. Firstly, it proposes a systematic view of the international studies on country effect since 2000, by highlighting both similarities and differences in terms of tested hypotheses, country-level determinants, expected relationships. The main outcome is a complete framework of the country characteristics, which mostly affect the capital structure choice as well as their respective theoretical rationale. Secondly, based on the above review, some areas of potential development in empirical testing will be identified, regarding test design, sample selection, dependent variable measurement, statistical methodology: the paper's objective is to critically discuss the state of the art in this field, to hopefully improve the empirical testing of country effect on leverage in further research

productivity competitiveness and territories of the italian medium sized companies

The medium-sized firms (MEs) are the cutting-edge of the Italian manufacturing sector. They have a crucial role in influencing the behavior of the local systems whose they are part (2/3 of the total firms are located in industrial districts). This study investigates the drivers of Italian MEs' productivity, a fundamental aspect for assessing their ability to compete successfully. The classical approach (i.e. TFP) in measuring productivity is inapplicable to MEs, whose business model is characterized by: i) specialized production at the leading technological edge; ii) organization based on vertical and horizontal supply chains, where the major players are small companies, specialized on single production phase; iii) marketing strategy focused on market niches, which are created/dominated thanks to product differentiation and continuous innovation and where MEs impose premium prices. The empirical evidence shows that: i) the RTS are not constant, but decreasing and size and productivity are inversely related; ii) the quality of the workforce is the major driver of productivity: companies that employ a low-salary workforce are less productive than those that use more skilled and costlier workers; iii) territories matter: knowledge-intensive service firms as well as infrastructures and managerial skills have a positive impact on productivity

Smart textile for respiratory monitoring and thoraco-abdominal motion pattern evaluation

The use of wearable systems for monitoring vital parameters has gained wide popularity in several medical fields. The focus of the present study is the experimental assessment of a smart textile based on 12 fiber Bragg grating sensors for breathing monitoring and thoraco‐abdominal motion pattern analysis. The feasibility of the smart textile for monitoring several temporal respiratory parameters (ie, breath‐by‐breath respiratory period, breathing frequency, duration of inspiratory and expiratory phases), volume variations of the whole chest wall and of its compartments is performed on 8 healthy male volunteers. Values gathered by the textile are compared to the data obtained by a motion analysis system, used as the reference instrument. Good agreement between the 2 systems on both respiratory period (bias of 0.01 seconds), breathing frequency (bias of −0.02 breaths/min) and tidal volume (bias of 0.09 L) values is demonstrated. Smart textile shows good performance in the monitoring of thoraco‐abdominal pattern and its variation, as well

Alginate Microsponges as a Scaffold for Delivery of a Therapeutic Peptide against Rheumatoid Arthritis

The quest for biocompatible drug-delivery devices that could be able to open new administration routes is at the frontier of biomedical research. In this contribution, porous polysaccharide-based microsponges based on crosslinked alginate polymers were developed and characterized by optical spectroscopy and nanoscopic microscopy techniques. We show that macropores with a size distribution ranging from 50 to 120 nm enabled efficient loading and delivery of a therapeutic peptide (CIGB814), presently under a phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Alginate microsponges showed 80% loading capacity and sustained peptide release over a few hours through a diffusional mechanism favored by partial erosion of the polymer scaffold. The edible and biocompatible nature of alginate polymers open promising perspectives for developing a new generation of polysaccharide-based carriers for the controlled delivery of peptide drugs, exploiting alternative routes with respect to intravenous administration

Residential occupations and human burials at Negro Muerto 3 Site (Negro River Valley, Norpatagonia)

En este trabajo se presentan los resultados del estudio del conjunto arqueológico del sitio Negro Muerto 3, ubicado en el sector norte de la cuenca media del río Negro (provincia de Río Negro, Argentina). En el marco de actividades de rescate arqueológico se obtuvieron restos óseos humanos (NMI=12), artefactos líticos, restos faunísticos y alfarería. Se definió un mínimo de dos ocupaciones residenciales (fechadas entre 900 y 1.300 años Cal. AP) y una ocupación vinculada con actividades mortuorias (para el único entierro datado se obtuvo una edad de 950 años Cal. AP). Las características de la tecnología lítica (producción y uso expeditivo de artefactos confeccionados sobre rocas locales) y el patrón de explotación de los recursos (consumo de bajo número de vertebrados grandes y medianos, y de una alta diversidad de especies menores de hábitats acuáticos y/o ribereños) son congruentes con lo observado en sitios similares de la misma cuenca. Entre los aspectos más destacables y novedosos del sitio debe mencionarse el registro de Zea mays en tártaro dental, con una edad probable de 950 años Cal. AP. La presencia de esta especie doméstica fue interpretada como producto de su ingreso al área desde sectores occidentales de Norpatagonia y no como resultado de su cultivo en el ámbito local.This paper presents the results of the study of Negro Muerto 3, located in the northern sector of the middle basin of the Negro River (Río Negro province, Argentina). This site is located on the left bank of the Negro river valley, Northern Patagonia, Argentina. In the frame of preventive archaeology tasks, human remains (MNI=12), lithics, faunal remains, and pottery sherds were recovered. Based on the materials analysis a minimun of two residential occupations were defined (dated between ca. 900 and 1300 cal. years BP), and one occupation associated to mortuary practices (the only dated skeleton gave an age of ca. 950 cal. years BP). The main trends observed on the base of lithic technology analysis (production and use of expedient tools made on local raw material” por “use of expedient tools on local raw material), and faunal remains analysis (exploitation of low number of big and middle sized vertebrates, and exploitation of a high diversity of small sized riparian/aquatic fauna) are similar to those observed at other archaeological sites of the area. One of the highligts of this paper is the record of Zea mays in dental calculus, with a probable age of ca. 950 cal. years BP. The presence of this domestic species was interpreted as a result of its importation from Northwestern Patagonia, and not as a result of its local cultivation.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Residential occupations and human burials at negro muerto 3 site (Negro River Valley, Norpatagonia)

En este trabajo se presentan los resultados del estudio del conjunto arqueológico del sitio Negro Muerto 3, ubicado en el sector norte de la cuenca media del río Negro (provincia de Río Negro, Argentina). En el marco de actividades de rescate arqueológico se obtuvieron restos óseos humanos (NMI=12), artefactos líticos, restos faunísticos y alfarería. Se definió un mínimo de dos ocupaciones residenciales (fechadas entre 900 y 1300 años Cal. AP) y una ocupación vinculada con actividades mortuorias (para el único entierro datado se obtuvo una edad de 950 años Cal. AP). Las características de la tecnología lítica (producción, uso expeditivo y descarte de artefactos confeccionados sobre rocas locales) y el patrón de explotación de los recursos (explotación de bajo número de vertebrados grandes y medianos, y de una alta diversidad de especies menores de hábitats acuáticos y/o ribereños) son congruentes con lo observado en sitios similares de la misma cuenca. Entre los aspectos más destacables y novedosos del sitio debe mencionarse el registro de Zea mays en tártaro dental, con una edad probable de 950 años AP. La presencia de esta especie doméstica fue interpretada como producto de su ingreso al área desde sectores occidentales de Norpatagonia y no como resultado de su cultivo en el ámbito local.This paper presents the results of the study of Negro Muerto 3, located in the northern sector of the middle basin of the Negro River (Río Negro province, Argentina). This site is located on the left bank of the Negro river valley, Northern Patagonia, Argentina. In the frame of preventive archaeology tasks, human remains (MNI=12), lithics, faunal remains, and pottery sherds were recovered. Based on the materials analysis a minimun of two residential occupations were defined (dated between ca. 900 and 1300 cal. years BP), and one occupation associated to mortuary practices (the only dated skeleton gave an age of ca. 950 cal. years BP). The main trends observed on the base of lithic technology analysis (production and use of expedient tools made on local raw material” por “use of expedient tools on local raw material), and faunal remains analysis (exploitation of low number of big and middle sized vertebrates, and exploitation of a high diversity of small sized riparian/aquatic fauna) are similar to those observed at other archaeological sites of the area. One of the highligts of this paper is the record of Zea mays in dental calculus, with a probable age of ca. 950 cal. years BP. The presence of this domestic species was interpreted as a result of its importation from Northwestern Patagonia, and not as a result of its local cultivation.Fil: Prates, Luciano Raúl. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; ArgentinaFil: Serna, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; ArgentinaFil: Mange, Emiliano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; ArgentinaFil: Lopez, María Laura. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Romano, Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; ArgentinaFil: Di Lorenzo, Maitén Irma. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Diversidad Cultural y Procesos de Cambio. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigaciones en Diversidad Cultural y Procesos de Cambio; ArgentinaFil: Saghessi, Daniela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; ArgentinaFil: González Venanzi, Lucio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Secretaría de Industria y Minería. Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Provincia de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja; Argentin

Superinfections caused by carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales in hospitalized patients with COVID-19: a multicentre observational study from Italy (CREVID Study)

Objectives To describe clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 patients who developed secondary infections due to carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE). Methods Retrospective observational study including COVID-19 patients admitted to 12 Italian hospitals from March to December 2020 who developed a superinfection by CRE. Superinfection was defined as the occurrence of documented bacterial infection >48 h from admission. Patients with polymicrobial infections were excluded. Demographic, clinical characteristics and outcome were collected. Isolates were classified as KPC, metallo-beta-lactamase (MBL) and OXA-48-producing CRE. A Cox regression analysis was performed to identify factors independently associated with 30 day mortality. Results Overall, 123 patients (median age 66 years, IQR 59-75) were included. The majority of infections occurred in the ICU (81, 65.9%), while 42 (34.1%) in medical wards. The most common types of infection were bloodstream infections (BSI) (n = 64, 52%), followed by urinary-tract infections (UTI) (n = 28, 22.8%), hospital-acquired/ventilator-associated pneumonia (HAP/VAP) (n = 28, 22.8%), intra-abdominal infections (n = 2, 1.6%) and skin infections (n = 1, 0.8%). Sixty-three (51.2%) infections were caused by KPC-, 54 (43.9%) by MBL-, and 6 (4.8%) by OXA-48-producing CRE. Thirty-day mortality was 33.3% (41/123). On Cox regression analysis, HAP/VAP compared with UTI (HR 7.23, 95% CI 2.09-24.97, P = 0.004), BSI compared with UTI (HR 3.96, 95% CI, 1.33-11.77, P = 0.004), lymphopenia on admission (HR 3, 95% CI 1.44-6.26, P = 0.003) and age (HR 1.05, 95% CI 1.02-1.08, P = 0.002) were predictors of 30 day mortality. Conclusions Superinfections by CRE were associated with high risk of 30 day mortality in patients with COVID-19. HAP/VAP was the strongest predictor of death in these patients