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BackgroundThe increased use of the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) to investigate cognitive dysfunctions in schizophrenia fostered interest in its sensitivity in the context of family studies. As various measures of the same cognitive domains may have different power to distinguish between unaffected relatives of patients and controls, the relative sensitivity of MCCB tests for relative–control differences has to be established. We compared MCCB scores of 852 outpatients with schizophrenia (SCZ) with those of 342 unaffected relatives (REL) and a normative Italian sample of 774 healthy subjects (HCS). We examined familial aggregation of cognitive impairment by investigating within-family prediction of MCCB scores based on probands’ scores.MethodsMultivariate analysis of variance was used to analyze group differences in adjusted MCCB scores. Weighted least-squares analysis was used to investigate whether probands’ MCCB scores predicted REL neurocognitive performance.ResultsSCZ were significantly impaired on all MCCB domains. REL had intermediate scores between SCZ and HCS, showing a similar pattern of impairment, except for social cognition. Proband's scores significantly predicted REL MCCB scores on all domains except for visual learning.ConclusionsIn a large sample of stable patients with schizophrenia, living in the community, and in their unaffected relatives, MCCB demonstrated sensitivity to cognitive deficits in both groups. Our findings of significant within-family prediction of MCCB scores might reflect disease-related genetic or environmental factors.

This paper deals with the development of a numerical model, based on the Finite Element (FE) theory for the prediction of the squeal frequency of a railway disc brake. The analytical background has been discussed and presented, as well as the most efficient methods for evaluating the system stability; the attention has been paid particularly to the complex eigenvalues method, which has been adopted within this paper to investigate the railway disc brake system. Numerical results have been compared with measurements from experimental tests in order to validate the proposed numerical approach. At the end of this work, a sensitivity analysis, aimed at understanding the effects of some physical parameters influencing the stability of the brake system and the squeal propensity, has been carried out.

Obiettivo del presente contributo è fornire una analisi dell’evoluzione del concetto di sostenibilità nell’ambito degli studi manageriali di matrice sistemica con particolare riferimento al filone di studi che può ricondursi all’approccio sistemico vitale (asv).. Il concetto di sostenibilità, introdotto nel 1987 dal Rapporto “Our Common Future”, ha assunto, nel tempo, un ruolo centrale nella definizione delle scelte di governo, non solo delle istituzioni ma anche delle organizzazioni imprenditoriali e sociali. Adottare un’ottica di sostenibilità, infatti, significa, per il decisore, valutare le possibili alternative che emergono dalle rappresentazioni di vincoli e regole dei contesti di natura economico, sociale e ambientale in cui ciascuna organizzazione vive ed opera. Tanto premesso, i tradizionali approcci alla sostenibilità si sono spesso concentrati sull’affrontare ed esaminare tematiche riconducibili ad uno o più dei tre citati contesti in maniera separata , senza considerare le interdipendenze che, invece, tra tali contesti esistono. Ciò ha portato, in molti casi, alla definizione di linee strategiche e prassi operative che hanno tralasciato i possibili effetti che una mancanza di visione sistemica implica. Nella consapevolezza di tali limiti, il contributo traccia gli avanzamenti che il pensiero sistemico, e in particolare l’approccio sistemico vitale, ha fornito allo studio del concetto di sostenibilità, con specifico riferimento agli effetti sinergici che emergono dall’interazione e contemporanea considerazione delle istanze che provengono da ciascuno degli ambiti della sostenibilità, così come definiti da Elkington nellla triple bottom line.

The increasing attention in the field of value management is highlighting multiple challenges for researchers and practitioners. Building on previous managerial contributions, the paper aims to define a possible path for combining the conceptual contributions related to value in exchange, value in use, and value in context in a common framework to improve understanding of emerging social and economic dynamics under the interpretative lens provided by studies on ecosystems. Based on previous managerial contributions in the tourism management domain, the study identifies a set of variables related to the three conceptualizations of value with reference to the case of Airbnb. These variables are the host’s price per night (€), host position in the Airbnb ranking, previous evaluations of the host, average number of a host’s guests, availability of the host’s photographs, total number of services provided by the host, physical accessibility of the host (travel distance from the airport), and number of languages spoken by the host. Combining qualitative and quantitative approaches, the impact of the identified variables and users’ evaluation is investigated via structural equation modeling.

In 2015, Wienhofena et al. stated that “Big Data is a collection of large data sets with a great diversity of types so that it becomes difficult to process by using state-of-the-art data processing approaches or traditional data processing platforms” (pag. 1). Recognizing the validity of this definition and its implications for all social, economic, and environmental domains, it is possible affirm that Big Data can be considered a disruptive change in the way in which individuals, organisations and whole ecosystems perceive the world and react to their stimuli and dynamics (Chai and Shih, 2017; Swan, 2013). Following these reflections, the paper focuses the attention on the healthcare domain with the aim to: 1] provide a general overview of the key concepts on which Big Data are based in the light of health management perspectives and 2] trace possible advancements in knowledge for the management of Big Data in the healthcare domain. Adopting a systems view, a multiple case studies based on four different scenarios is proposed as approach for investigating the contribution of Big Data in increasing the effectiveness of healthcare management.

Il volume riporta il carteggio inedito (83 lettere che i due amici si scambiano fra il 1947 e il 1974) fra Luigi Meneghello, uno dei più significativi e originali scrittori del secondo Novecento, e Licisco Magagnato, direttore del Museo di Castelvecchio di Verona e figura che ha sempre con grande tensione etica cercato di coniugare il suo impego culturale con l’azione politica. Le lettere, dense di riferimenti a libri, persone, alla cronaca italiana e internazionale, alle esperienze personali, professionali, di ricerca e di scrittura, confermano il ruolo di interlocutore privilegiato che Magagnato (il “Franco” dei romanzi I piccoli maestri e Bau-sète! di Meneghello) ha rivestito per l’amico che dal 1947, dopo la comune esperienza nella Resistenza e nel Partito d’Azione, era “dispatriato” in Inghilterra. Le lettere sono state annotate dai due curatori (quelle di Magagnato da E. Napione, quelle di Meneghello da F. Caputo) e accompagnate da due saggi introduttivi (F. Caputo, "Scusa le chiacchiere, pretesto per stare un po' insieme da lontano". Le lettere di Luigi Meneghello a Licisco Magagnato; E. Napione, "Sento di esistere e rimando sempre di dirlo". Cultura e politica nelle lettere di Licisco Magagnato) che ricostruiscono gli snodi più significativi della corrispondenza (per Meneghello l’impatto con l’Inghilterra, il ‘concepimento’ di Libera nos a malo, la pubblicazione e la ricezione dei Piccoli maestri, il rapporto con Bassani e Feltrinelli).

Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi are widely recognized as among the most impactful scholars in the field of knowledge management. Not surprisingly for us, one of their recent works, published in Harvard Business Review in 2011, was listed as a contribution about ‘Ethics’. It was titled “The Big Idea: The Wise Leader” and the incipit sentence was as follows: “In an era when discontinuity is the only constant, the ability to lead wisely has nearly vanished. All the knowledge in the world did not prevent the collapse of the global financial system three years ago or stop institutions like Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual from failing.” Hence, what Nonaka and Takeuchi considered ‘big’ was the idea of embedding leaders with a wisdom that was clearly long lacking. The impact of their message has been probably lower than that of their previous works. In fact, in the subsequent years, attention has been increasingly put on the challenge of managing ever bigger among of data; accordingly, the topic of ‘Big Data’ is attracting increasing interest. Just one year later, in 2012, Andrew McAfee and Brynjolfsson, discussing about Big Data as a ‘Management Revolution” and envisioning “Smart leaders across industries” dealing with this revolution, argued that: “as with any other major change in business, the challenges of becoming a big data–enabled organization can be enormous and require hands-on – or in some cases hands-off – leadership.” (McAfee and Brynjolfsson, 2012: 62). We would put the accent on the “hands-off” word, as we recognize and deeply agree not only on the revolutionary impact of Big Data on management but manly on the necessity to change the “decision making culture” of organizations (McAfee and Brynjolfsson, 2012: 61). Hence, discussion shifts again on different requirements, like a change in ‘culture’ and in the management ‘style’, that do not currently appear adequately embedded into the knowledge management framework, especially considering major trend like that of ‘Big Data’. Undoubtedly, data management represents one of the most relevant challenges both for decision makers and researchers interested in the governance of social and economic dynamics (Yew Wong & Aspinwall, 2005; Espejo & Reyes, 2011; Barile & Saviano, 2011; Chen et al., 2013). Fast progresses in Computer Science are increasing opportunities to acquire and manage big amounts of data in really short time. Of course, although requiring appropriate techniques and tools (Maimon & Rokach, 2005; Carayannis et al., 2006a, 2006b; Hey et al., 2009; Del Giudice et al., 2016), almost any disciplinary domain has an interest in the use of data that are at the basis of information and knowledge management (Beer, 1979; Espejo, 1996; Carayannis, 1999, 2010; Del Giudice et al., 2012; Di Nauta et al., 2015; Caputo et al. 2016; Caputo & Walletzký, 2017). However, it seems that this increasing focus on producing new data (i.e. the means) is attracting more interest than solving the problems (the goals) (Linoff & Berry, 2011): new data are produced to explain other data, giving rise to a circular dynamic that may not help solving the problems (Boyd & Crawford, 2012). The capability of humans to solve problems appears constantly improved despite the evidence of big failures in facing the most relevant humans’ issues. This situation is well synthesized by Schumacher who, analyzing the ‘problem of production’ in the modern era, argued that “the changes of the last twenty-five years, both in the quantity and in the quality of man’s industrial processes, have produced an entirely new situation – a situation resulting not from our failures but from what we thought were our greatest successes” (Schumacher, 2010: 6). This is the reality of our ever-smarter knowledge society. In this context of reflection, we wonder: Given the complex nature of the main issues to face on our planet, are ever-bigger amount of data and ever-smarter technologies what we only need? Would managing big data really help to better solve complex humans’ problems? Acknowledging the increasing relevance of managing big data, this paper does not neglect their importance as well as the value of ‘smart’ technologies to efficiently manage them. However, given the emblematic evidence highlighted by Nonaka and Takeuchi about the uselessness of all the knowledge available in the world to prevent the last collapse of the global financial system, the aim of this work is to stimulate reflections upon the kind of knowledge that is required to first prevent and then solve the big issues of humanity, i.e. complex issues for which decision makers seem to lack the support of useful information (Barile, 2009b).

International audience; This paper presents the results of the Eurographics 2019 SHape Retrieval Contest track on online gesture recognition. The goal of this contest was to test state-of-the-art methods that can be used to online detect command gestures from hands' movements tracking on a basic benchmark where simple gestures are performed interleaving them with other actions. Unlike previous contests and benchmarks on trajectory-based gesture recognition, we proposed an online gesture recognition task, not providing pre-segmented gestures, but asking the participants to find gestures within recorded trajectories. The results submitted by the participants show that an online detection and recognition of sets of very simple gestures from 3D trajectories captured with a cheap sensor can be effectively performed. The best methods proposed could be, therefore, directly exploited to design effective gesture-based interfaces to be used in different contexts, from Virtual and Mixed reality applications to the remote control of home devices.

The main topic of the paper is the definition of the optimal design of an aeronautical seat, in terms of maximization of occupants’ safety level and of prediction capability of a FE/MB coupled numerical procedure, based on TNO Madymo® MB software and LSTC LS-Dyna® FE software. The proposed numerical procedure can support the physical prototype development and the experimental phase of the current design approach by using design of experiments methods. In particular, the paper deals with the simulation of an experimental seat sled test against the aircraft front fuselage bulkhead (Figure 1). The FE model has been analysed by using LSTC-LsDyna® code; the multibody model has been analysed by considering TNO-Madymo code.Parameters evaluated during the tests are the acceleration of the head, with the relative calculation of HIC, and the loads transmitted to the lower limbs of the dummy. To approach the development phase, it may result very effective to take into account previous experiences, before entering the cumbersome development of the detailed finite element model. The implementation of simplified multibody (MB) structural models, together with design of experiment (DOE) may simplify the definition of the crashworthy scenario for a new seat. Though the adoption of an integrated MB and DOE approach will not eliminate the need for a detailed FE impact model and its experimental validation, it will surely help in identifying the most sensitive parameters to be complying with the applicable regulation (from the numerical simulation point of view) and in reducing the number of tests needed to reach the certification requirements. The paper presents the initial attempt in applying such development strategy, highlighting the importance of previous experience and how to take advantage from it through dedicated self- developed computer tools.

Il fenomeno dell’esternalizzazione in sanità rappresenta un tema di interesse diffuso alla luce dei sempre più stringenti vincoli imposti dalla scarsità di risorse per la gestione dei processi di pubblico interesse. In tale prospettiva, il lavorodescrive brevemente le principali forme di collaborazione tra pubblico e privato per l’esternalizzazione in sanità al fine di evidenziare la molteplicità di variabili e dinamiche su cui il fenomeno dell’esternalizzazione si fonda. Finalità del lavoro è di fornire un quadro di sintesi dei possibili percorsi per la realizzazione dei processi di esternalizzazione in sanità attraverso la collaborazione tra pubblico e privato.

Purpose – The paper aims to enrich conceptual frameworks of Service Dominant Logic, Service Science, and Network and Systems Theory by integrating their pillars in a common interpretative approach and providing a tool to support a better understanding of service functioning as well as design in Service Systems. Design/Methodology/approach – The paper proposes an integrated literature review in order to link Service Dominant Logic, Service Science, and Network and Systems Theory in a common trans-disciplinary conceptual framework. Building upon this, the practical approach of recommender system and the modelling functionalities of IBM Bluemix are used to define an application overview of service design. Finally, theoretical and empirical reflections herein are developed within the context of Smart City Findings – The paper proposes a multi-dimensional constructive tool for service and systems analysis in order to better understand the interactions among users, services, and infrastructures in a shared environment. Research limitations/implications – The paper combines the pillars on which the Naples forum on Service is based providing an example about the building of a multi-dimensional constructive tool able to support both researchers and practioners interested in service design and management. Model and design approach herein require to be tested through widen empirical studies Practical implications – We have deployed the proposed framework in IBM Bluemix, which is a real-world shared environment. This finding outlines the effective interactions between users, services, and infrastructures, which indicate that more alternatives and outcomes can be obtained by designing service and systems interactions. Therefore, for researchers and practitioners, this paper implicates that designing the services and related interactions is a critical lever in service and system design and manage Originality/value – The paper contributes to the state of knowledge in the domains of Service Dominant Logic, Service Science, as well as Network and Systems Theory providing an effective application of a shared conceptual framework. Both theoretical and practical contributions can be used to build an effective application of multi- and trans- disciplinary models in order to better design and manage service systems.

Various epidemiological and biological evaluations and the recent publication of the DSM-V (diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders) has imposed on the scientific community a period of reflection on the diagnosis and treatment of what in the DSM-IV was defined as "addiction". To date, the term "addiction" has been replaced by the DSM-5, because there is no global scientific consensus that has unequivocally characterized its clinical characteristics. This, we will talk about substance/alcohol use disorders (SUDs/AUDs) and disorders related to behavioral alterations (DBA) that can generate organic diseases, mental disorders, and social problems. In the first psychotic episode 40-70% of subjects meet the criteria of a SUDs/AUDs, excluding tobacco dependence. Substances can not only be the cause of a psychotic onset, but they can also disrupt a psychotic picture or interfere with drug therapy. The pharmacodynamic profiles of many substances are able to provoke the phenomenology of the main psychotic symptoms in a way that can be superimposed onto those presented by psychotic subjects without a history of SUDs/AUDs. The Department of Addictions (DAs) must not be absorbed by or incorporated into the Departments of Mental Health (DMH), with which, however, precise operational cooperation protocols will have to be defined and maintained, but it will have to maintain its own autonomy and independent connotation. Addiction Medicine is a discipline that brings together elements of public health, prevention, internal medicine, clinical pharmacology, neurology, and even psychiatry. The inclusion of the DAs in those of DMH refers purely to a problem of pathology that has to do with lifestyle, choices, and behaviors. These, over time, show their dysfunctionality and only then do related problems emerge. Moreover, epidemiological, social, and clinical motivations impose the creation of alcohological teams dedicated to alcohol-related activities. The collaboration with self-help-groups (SHGs) is mandatory. The action of SHGs is accredited in numerous international recommendations both on the basis of consensus and evidence in the literature.