Conflicts, integration, hybridization of subcultures: An ecological approach to the case of queercore

This paper investigates the case study of queercore, providing a socio-historical analysis of its subcultural production, in the terms of what Michel Foucault has called archaeology of knowledge (1969). In particular, we will focus on: the self-definition of the movement; the conflicts between the two merged worlds of punk and queer culture; the \u201cinternal-subcultural\u201d conflicts between both queercore and punk, and between queercore and gay\lesbian music culture; the political aspects of differentiation. In the conclusion, we will offer an innovative theoretical proposal about the interpretation of subcultures in ecological and semiotic terms, combining the contribution of the American sociologist Andrew Abbot and of the Russian semiologist Jurij Michajlovi\u10d Lotma

Which form of venture capital is most supportive of innovation?

Although there seems to be consensus in the literature that venture capital investors increase the innovation output of their portfolio companies, there is little evidence about how investor type (governmental vs. private) and transaction structure (syndicated vs. non-syndicated) moderate this impact. Using a sample of 865 young biotech and pharmaceutical companies from seven European countries, we investigate which form of venture capital is most supportive of innovation. Our results suggest that in companies financed by syndicates and by private venture capital investors, the innovation output increases significantly faster than in non-venture-backed companies. The most supportive form is a heterogeneous syndicate (i.e., consisting of both types of venture capital investors) led by a private investor

The value added by government venture capital funds compared with independent venture capital funds

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Riappropriazioni territoriali e (in)visibilità dei corpi negli spazi pubblici. Un'etnografia di tre pratiche effimere.

This thesis is the result of a doctoral Research that aims to reflect on the relationship of mutual constitution of bodies and urban spaces. In this regard, it investigates the articulation of daily and widespread conflicts developed around the different uses of the public spaces. In particular, unplanned and unforeseen activities and disciplines show and question the discourse on the body in public, concerning how it can appear, be moved, presented and performed, in a normativity that assembles different layers, moving from legislative production to daily interactions. Parkour, slacklining, and buskers are ludic, expressive, and artistic activities realized in numerous sites in the city. The practitioners of these three disciplines always perform in close proximity to other activities and, in the co-presence, they highlight rhythms, aesthetics, atmospheres, and functions of the space. In the practice, a re-appropriation is enacted, subtracting places to the planned and scalar uses, and creating alternatives to the functionalist consideration. Starting from the performance emerges the possibilities to open and change, both materially and symbolically the social and spatial environment, both for the practitioners and, at large, for their publics. For this generative and transformative ability, the disciplines are read as political practices, with a theoretical account of the connection between political radicality and temporary effects of the activities, summarized in the idea of "ephemeral" practices. This work consists in an ethnography, realized with a 14-month participant observation with the communities of practices of the three chosen disciplines, realized starting from Padua, and developed following the traces of the participants, in their activities and moves between different cities, mainly (but not exclusively) in Northern Italy. The fieldwork was realized through the production and collection of visual materials, photos and videos realized during the observations, in the contexts of the Research, both by me and by the participants. In addition to the (written, and visual) fieldwork notes, the ethnography includes also narrative interviews and documental research. Through a territoriological approach, focused on underlining the territorialization of the urban space, that constitutes in the traces of boundaries and thresholds, access criteria and behavioral norms realized in the public spaces. The urban space is realized in the ephemeral practices in a plurality of modalities: starting from the choose of the specific spots in which enact the performances; the events in which are constructed the meaning of the places; the individual and collective movements in the same city and beyond it; the way in which from the practice are created imaginaries to represent the enacted spatiality and, at the opposite, the way in which predefined and popular imaginaries territorialized the activities; the diverse and numerous modalities of control and surveillance. The body emerges as a pivotal element in these dynamics. On the bodies, both dispositives of control and domain, and tactical practices of resistance are founded. An account of the corporeity is drawn by the forces and the patterns that cross and embrace the urban space, as well as a new understanding of the public space starting from the embodied activities that lived it. Starting from the ephemeral practices, it is possible to deepen the understanding of the process in which the publicness of the spaces can be considered as the product of a struggle, created between territories, bodies, and visibility regimes, as the daily conflicts in the urban space suggest, in the continuous challenge of boundaries and norms

The impact of government-supported participative loans on the growth of entrepreneurial ventures

We study the employment and sales growth of entrepreneurial ventures that have received a governmentsponsored participative loan (PL), a hybrid form of financing between debt and equity. We use propensity-score matching (PSM) and instrumental variable analysis (2SLS) to study a sample of 512 entrepreneurial Ventures that received a PL from a Spanish government agency between 2005 and 2011. We find evidence that PLs significantly boosted their beneficiaries’ employment and sales. In the two years following loan issuance, a 1-million-Euro PL generated an increase in average employment of between 12.1 (PSM) and 14.7 (2SLS) units and an increase in sales of between 1.09 and 1.97 million Euro relative to the average for the two years prior to loan issuance. The effect is larger for high-tech, young and small entrepreneurial ventures and for those that received a PL during the global financial crisis. The effect on growth is significant and stable, and PLs increase their beneficiaries’ annual growth by 10.6% for employment and by 18.0% for sales. We do not find evidence of industry or regional spillovers, nor do we find differences in the probability of survival of PL beneficiaries after we control for their characteristics.We are grateful to two anonymous referees and to the associate editor Maria Savona for the constructive comments. We acknowledge financial assistance from the Spanish Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness (ECO2014-55674-R)

Poverty work program: poverty reduction in Nigeria in the last decade

The report consists of four chapters. Chapter one profiles the trends in growth, household consumption, and poverty rates at the national level between 2004 and 2013. Descriptive statistics of consumption and selected poverty indexes are presented and a profile of the characteristics of the poor is given. The chapter concludes with an analysis of nonmonetary indicators. Chapter two unpackages the national level data into subnational results (six zones) and shows the high and increasing divide of socioeconomic indicators. Chapter three uses descriptive and econometric technics to identify the drivers of this divide. Chapter four concludes and provides a road map for policy action to effectively address this divide

A Unified Design Theory for Class-E Resonant DC–DC Converter Topologies

Resonant and quasi-resonant dc-dc converters have been introduced to increase the operating frequency of switching power converters, with advantages in terms of performance, cost, and/or size. In this paper, we focus on class-E resonant topologies, and we show that about twenty different architectures proposed in the last three decades can be reduced to two basic topologies, allowing the extension to all these resonant converters of an exact and straightforward design procedure that has been recently proposed. This represents an important breakthrough with respect to the state of the art, where class-E circuit analysis is always based on strong simplifying assumptions, and the final circuit design is achieved by means of numerical simulations. The potentialities of the proposed exact methodology are highlighted by realistic circuit-level simulations, where the desired waveforms are obtained in one single step without the need of a time-consuming iterative trial-and-error process

Digitization in the Market for Entrepreneurial Finance: Innovative Business Models and New Financing Channels

Digitization creates new financial channels that complement traditional intermediaries, but may raise concerns over fraud, cybersecurity, or bubbles. Artificial intelligence and machine learning change the way in which traditional investors work. This special issue focuses on economic, cultural, and regulatory determinants of fintech development, and on the new forms of information production and processing engendered by digital entrepreneurial finance. We provide a general overview of digitization in the market for entrepreneurial finance, illustrate how the different articles in the special issue contribute to advance our knowledge, and identify promising avenues for research

Se non qui, dove? Città, giovani e appartenenze

Se non qui, dove? Città, giovani e appartenenze propone una riflessione ben fondata sulla letteratura delle scienze sociali sul rapporto tra i giovani e la città, nella considerazione che i primi dovrebbero trovare nella seconda lo spazio per eccellenza dove mettere alla prova la propria capacità di agire nel mondo. Gli autori discutono anche i limiti di questa capacità, ancora di più in un momento storico avverso, quello corrispondente alla crisi pandemica, caratterizzato dal distanziamento sociale e dalle inedite e molteplici limitazioni nella fruizione dei luoghi urbani. Se non qui, dove? si snoda attraverso vignette etnografiche, come un volume pop- up, su alcuni luoghi iconici della città di Cagliari: la stazione, la scuola, l’università, la piazza della movida, gli spazi interstiziali tra un luogo e un altro, la spiaggia cittadina sul mare. Ogni capitolo è tuttavia non soltanto l’espressione della freschezza di quei luoghi nel vissuto giovanile, nella concretezza e materialità del caso cagliaritano che il ricco ma teriale documentale ed etnografico (anche visuale), permette di ricostruire. È anche e soprattutto il punto di partenza per problematizzare il posto dei giovani nella città: la criticità dei processi di appartenenza appare il quid da cui partire per ripensare la convivenza tra le generazioni

An Analytical Approach for the Design of Class-E Resonant DC-DC Converters

We present a new approach to design resonant dc-dc converters, that allows us to achieve both a more accurate implementation and a simpler architecture, by reducing the number of required passive components. The approach is applied to a class-E topology, and it is based on the analytic solution of the system of differential equations regulating the converter evolution. Our technique is also capable of taking into account the most important circuit nonidealities. This represents an important breakthrough with respect to the state of the art, where class-E circuit analysis is based on strong simplifying assumptions, and the final circuit design is achieved by means of numerical simulations after many time-consuming parametric sweeps. The developed methodology is dimensionless, and the achieved design curves can be denormalized to easily get the desired circuit design. Measurements on two different prototypes confirm an extremely high adherence to the developed mathematical approach.We present a new approach to design resonant dc-dc converters, that allows us to achieve both a more accurate implementation and a simpler architecture, by reducing the number of required passive components. The approach is applied to a class-E topology, and it is based on the analytic solution of the system of differential equations regulating the converter evolution. Our technique is also capable of taking into account the most important circuit nonidealities. This represents an important breakthrough with respect to the state of the art, where class-E circuit analysis is based on strong simplifying assumptions, and the final circuit design is achieved by means of numerical simulations after many time-consuming parametric sweeps. The developed methodology is dimensionless, and the achieved design curves can be denormalized to easily get the desired circuit design. Measurements on two different prototypes confirm an extremely high adherence to the developed mathematical approach