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Lo scritto si propone di descrivere come le aziende italiane approcciano un mercato con alta distanza culturale come la Cina. In particolare, se e come hanno cambiato il loro modello di business per affrontare la sfida cinese. Le tipologie di collaborazione e di cooperazione esistenti tra gli attori lungo la catena del valore d’impresa saranno il focus dell'analisi. Il lavoro è basato su una ricerca quali-quantitativa che indaga un insieme d’imprese italiane che operano in diversi settori industriali. Le tesi sostenute sono le seguenti: efficacia e performance di mercato aumentano con la localizzazione della strategia d’impresa; efficacia e performance di mercato aumentano con l’aumentare del numero e la profondità delle relazioni lungo la supply chain aziendale.//// The paper aims to describe how Italian companies face a market with high cultural distance as China. In particular, if and how they have changed their business model to face the Chinese challenge. The types of collaboration and cooperation between actors along the value chain will be the focus of the analysis. The work is based on a quali-quantitative research that investigates a group of Italian firms operating in different industries. The hypothesis of the research are as follows: efficiency and market performance increases with the localization of business strategy, market performance and efficiency increases with the number and depth of relationships along the supply chain.

Sloshing of fluids with a free surface contained in liquid storage tanks is numerically simulated by an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian formulation. The fluid is considered viscous and Newtonian, while the flow is assumed laminar and incompressible. A partitioned and distributed computational code is employed, which solves three instances each time step: (i) the determination of the fluid state, given by the Navier–Stokes equations, (ii) the displacement of the free surface, and (iii) the update of the position of the internal nodes of the mesh, that is deformed as a consequence of the free surface displacement. The purpose of the work is verifying the applicability of the method to sloshing problems with known solutions, as well as the resolution of some practical examples. Numerical examples include validations against analytical solutions, where the wave period and damping rate are well captured, comparisons with reference results from other authors and a sample of sloshing induced by seismic actions.

Background The risks/benefits balance of hormone replacement therapy is controversial. Information can influence consumers' knowledge and behavior; research findings about hormone replacement therapy are uncertain and the messages provided by the media are of poor quality and incomplete, preventing a fully informed decision making process. We therefore felt that an explicit, rigorous and structured assessment of the information needs on this issue was urgent and we opted for the organisation of a national consensus conference (CC) to assess the current status of the quality of information on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and re-visit recent research findings on its risks/benefits. Methods We chose a structured approach based on the traditional CC method combined with a structured preparatory work supervised by an organising committee (OC) and a scientific board (SB). The OC and SB chose the members of the CC's jury and appointed three multidisciplinary working groups (MWG) which were asked to review clinical issues and different aspects of the quality of information. Before the CC, the three MWGs carried out: a literature review on the risk/benefit profile of HRT and two surveys on the quality of information on lay press and booklets targeted to women. A population survey on women's knowledge, attitude and practice was also carried out. The jury received the documents in advance, listened the presentations during the two-day meeting of the CCs, met immediately after in a closed-door meeting and prepared the final document. Participants were researchers, clinicians, journalists as well as consumers' representatives. Results Key messages in the CC's deliberation were: a) women need to be fully informed about the transient nature of menopausal symptoms, about HRT risks and benefits and about the availability of non-pharmacological interventions; b) HRT is not recommended to prevent menopausal symptoms; c) the term "HRT" is misleading and "post menopausal hormone therapy" should be the preferred definition. Conclusion This CC led to the identification of specific information drawbacks. Women are exposed to messages that are often partial, non evidence-based nor transparently developed. The structured and participative methodology of this CC allowed a multidisciplinary perspective and a substantial lay people input.

The aim of the study was to investigate major vascular injury during laparoscopic cholecystectomy, which is a rare but potentially lethal complication if not recognized and treated swiftly, usually secondary to placement of the Veress needle or trocar. We report on our experience with a 35-year-old woman presenting an aortic laceration of the anterior wall and a puncture wound penetrating the anterior wall of the inferior vena cava. Repair of the injuries was done using a 5-0 Prolene suture mounted on pledgets. In addition, it was necessary to suture three mesenteric vascular injuries in the posterior peritoneum with Vicryl 2-0. The estimated blood loss was 1300 cc. The patient did well and was discharged on postoperative day 13. The distal abdominal aorta, inferior vena cava and large pelvic vessels are particularly prone to injury during laparoscopic cholecystectomy. In most cases, the vascular defect can be closed by direct suturing. Rarely is it necessary to reconstruct the injured vessel with an alloplastic prosthetic patch or a prosthetic implant.