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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how business-to-business (B2B) companies operating in durable goods use digital communications after the COVID-19 outbreak. In particular, this paper focuses on the objectives of these digital communication tools for the marketing strategies of B2B white goods firms. Design/methodology/approach: As the research objective is explorative, the authors conducted a qualitative analysis by collecting 13 semi-structured interviews with B2B marketing professionals working for white goods firms in Italy. Primary data was triangulated with secondary data about the white goods industry, such as sector reports. Findings: The findings of this paper show an acceleration in the adoption of digital communication tools among B2B firms after COVID-19. The authors also discuss the effects in the use of such tools both in the short and long term. Originality/value: This paper attempts to contribute to the B2B marketing literature by providing an original analysis of the consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak focusing on the use of digital communication tools among white goods firms. It also provides managerial implications for firms operating in B2B. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, policymakers and practitioners relied exclusively on survey and census data to design and plan for assistive interventions; now, social media offer a timely and cost-effective way to reach out to populations otherwise unobserved. This study was designed to address the needs of a non-for-profit organisation to reach out to the young unemployed individuals in Italy with educational and job opportunities via communication channels that are more likely to appeal to younger generations. To this extend, we developed an ad-hoc Facebook application which administers questionnaires while gathering data about the Likes on Facebook Pages. Then, we developed a machine learning framework that successfully predicts the unemployment status of an unseen individual (.74 AUC). However, blindly delegating to the machine learning model the communication intervention may lead to digital discrimination on the basis of socio-demographic characteristics. Here, we propose a framework that aims to optimising both for the prediction performance as well as the most adequate fairness metric. Our framework is based on an adaptive threshold for gender, while we show that it can be expanded for other socio-demographic attributes and generalised for other interventions of assistive character. We present a doubly cross-validated setting that achieves out-of-sample stability and generalisability of results. We compare the behaviour of models that infer on different sets of data and provide an indepth discussion on the most predictive features, demonstrating that the "fairness through unawareness" approach does not suffice to achieve a fair classification since sensitive demographic information can be inferred not only via other sociodemographic attributes but also from behavioural digital patterns. Finally, we thoroughly assess the behaviour of the adaptive threshold approach and provide an in-depth discussion on the advantages but also the implications of such models offering actionable insights. Our results show that careful assessment of fairness metrics should be considered, primarily when AI models are employed for policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the personal protective equipment (PPE) industry managed supply chain and business relationships disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the adoption of digital and social media during the period of crisis management. Design/methodology/approach: The methodology used is qualitative based on 14 interviews with 11 PPE firms operating in Italy, the first Western country that implemented a national lockdown during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. Findings: Findings suggest that although most PPE companies in Italy have been slow in implementing digital transformation, digital technologies and communication enhanced existing assets and capabilities creating new customer value during the COVID-19 outbreak. The pandemic has increased the relevance of social media as an effective tool in the business-to-business (B2B) context to provide updated information and training, as well as to reinforce and personalize business relationships, weakened by the lack of physical contacts during the lockdown. Moreover, highly interdependent buyer–supplier relations can increase supply chain resilience to disruptions in mutually dependent relationships/partnerships. Research limitations/implications: By analyzing the main issues encountered during the pandemic and the digital strategies adopted by PPE companies, this study seeks to extend B2B literature on supply chain disruption management and digitalization. The limitations refer to the study's generalizability as a limited number of firms are analyzed. Practical implications: Implications for B2B companies and policymakers are provided with the extent of managing supply chain disruptions during emergency situations such as COVID-19 pandemic, when collaboration between different actors involved become essential. Originality/value: No previous studies have analyzed how PPE firms used digital and social media in managing disruption in supply chain and business relationships. Therefore, the present study contributes to extend the B2B literature by analyzing the related effects during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The outbreak of novel coronavirus infection that originated in 2020 resulted in the immediate closure of all Italian school services for several months. Children who attend ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care) services have particularly suffered from not being able to take advantage of consolidated distance learning models specifically designed for them. The main priority was to re-establish the bond between them and the teachers so that the educational path they embarked on did not disappear from their daily lives. To this end, LEADs (Distance Educational Links) have been established in Italy, a new relational modality involving children, teachers, and families, who could rely exclusively on communication through digital devices. The research presented here explored what happened during the first lockdown phase, corresponding to the start of LEADs, and during the resumption of the school in presence. The study aimed to detect and record reactions, experiences, and changes in children, families, and teachers, with attention to new pedagogical and social practices and a main focus on the unprecedented use of technology as the primary tool to maintain the bond. IT devices revealed new potential as relational and educational resources, making them indispensable during emergencies, not only for basic communication but also for recreating the setting in which bonding occurs and is built. Bonding was possible even at a distance because technology supported it. The unprecedented involvement of families as educational partners, the rethinking of teachers' roles, and close collaboration among colleagues emerged as equally significant results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Festival of Sant'Efisio has been carried out for centuries in Sardinia, Italy, to honor a vow made to the Saint after a plague in the seventeenth century. As a result of the global health crisis in 2020, the Festival was performed mainly through social media. Studying this event under such conditions accentuated the inherent complexity of interpreting ethnographic data from religious festivals, in which the body, emotions, and participation play a fundamental role. Emphasizing the hybridity of online and offline worlds, we reflect on how fieldwork has been transformed by COVID-19 through a reflexive account of the methodological challenges of online festival ethnography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 has forced governments to impose a lockdown, and many people have suddenly found themselves having to reduce their social relations drastically. Given the exceptional nature of similar situations, only a few studies have investigated the negative psychological effects of forced social isolation and how they can be mitigated in a real context. In the present study, we investigated whether the amount of digital communication technology use for virtual meetings (i.e., voice and video calls, online board games and multiplayer video games, or watching movies in party mode) during the lockdown promoted the perception of social support, which in itself mitigated the psychological effects of the lockdown in Italy. Data were collected in March 2020 (N = 465), during the lockdown imposed to reduce the COVID-19 spread. The results indicated that the amount of digital technology use reduced feelings of loneliness, anger/irritability, and boredom and increased belongingness via the perception of social support. The present study supported the positive role of digital technologies in maintaining meaningful social relationships even during an extreme situation such as a lockdown. Implications such as the need to reduce the digital divide and possible consequences of the ongoing pandemic are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: COVID-19; social isolation; social support; digital technology; negative affect EN COVID-19 social isolation social support digital technology negative affect 1 3 3 05/29/21 20210526 NES 210526 Due to a clerical error, the values for the amount of technology use for business/school motives before the lockdown were reported incorrectly in Table 2 and Table 3. [Extracted from the article]

Contemporary European cities have become so large and complex that is extremely difficult, especially in times of economic crisis, to set up for them a top-down type of project. Cities can respond in a more efficient way to the inevitable ongoing change by continuously mutating, through a process of collective awareness about their real-time status. This condition can be achieved through a plethora of bottom-up, shared actions that are codesigned and implemented, and belong to a process that encompasses what is transient and temporary, what is ad-hoc and what relates to the digital sphere. Faced with this challenging premise, design comes into play and, by operating on services, events and analogical and digital communications, it can operate as a discipline that can mediate between continuous urban mutation and the need to govern it through an appropriate shape. In this article, the authors focus on the role of design within the processes of mutation that are occurring within several urban areas in Italy, where a culture of design is prevailing over grand projects of modern-day "urban mysticism". This study will closely examine the type of events that form a process rather than its possible product. As such, they can adapt easily to a logic of continuous mutation that is feather-light, sustainable and engenders participation, both when design is their pretext (such as in the design weeks) and when design is the instrument to give events substance and a tangible form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents findings from an empirical study of repertoires of contention and communication engaged during anti-austerity protests by the Indignados in Spain, the precarious generation in Italy, and the Aganaktismenoi in Greece. Drawing on 60 semi-structured interviews with activists and independent media producers involved in the 2011 wave of contention, we bring together social movement and communications theoretical frameworks to present a comparative critical analysis of digital protest media imaginaries. After examining the different socio-political and protest media contexts of the three countries translocally, our critical analysis emphasizes the emergence of three different imaginaries: in Spain the digital protest media imaginary was technopolitical, grounded in the politics and political economies of communication technologies emerging from the free culture movement; in Italy this imaginary was techno-fragmented, lacking cohesion, and failed to bring together old and new protest media logics; and finally in Greece it was technopragmatic, envisioned according to practical objectives that reflected the diverse politics and desires of media makers rather than the strictly technological or political affordances of the digital media forms and platforms. This research reveals how pivotal the temporal and geographical dimensions are when analyzed using theoretical perspectives from both communications and social movement research; moreover it emphasizes the importance of studying translocal digital protest media imaginaries as they shape movement repertoires of contention and communication; both elements are crucial to better understanding the challenges, limitations, successes and opportunities for digital protest media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the design and implementation of an educational testbed developed for a course on industrial communication networks at the Engineering Faculty, University of Catania. The aim is to realize a platform capable of emulating various network configurations, thus enabling students to find out by themselves through practical experiments how different design choices, parameter settings, network configurations, and algorithms impact on the overall network performance. The test-bed comprises a number of basic components (hosts, routers, and access points) implemented on nodes equipped with operating systems and open source software, which together make up a modular system. Each router can be loaded with data flows and monitored over preestablished time windows so as to evaluate its performance in a wide range of operating conditions. The wireless part makes it possible to configure environments with different levels of noise and bandwidth utilization so as to emulate a broad spectrum of real operating environments. The testbed can be used via remote access through a web interface that not only allows the operating conditions to be configured but also permits real-time monitoring. Students can configure the testbed on the basis of the network they are studying and can measure its performance for evaluation purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of digital terrestrial broadcasting all over Europe requires a complete and challenging replanning of in-place analog systems. However, an abrupt migration of resources (transmitters and frequencies) from analog to digital networks cannot be accomplished because the analog services must be preserved temporarily. Hence, a multiobjective problem arises, in which several networks sharing a common set of resources have to be designed. This problem is referred to as the network packing problem. In Italy, this problem is particularly challenging because of a large number of transmitters, orographical features, and strict requirements imposed by Italian law. In this paper, we report our experience in developing solution methods at the major Italian broadcaster Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI S.p.A.). We propose a two-stage heuristic. In the first stage, emission powers are assigned to each network separately. In the second stage, frequencies are assigned to all networks so as to minimize the loss from mutual interference. A software tool incorporating our methodology is currently in use at RAI to help discover and select high-quality alternatives for the deployment of digital equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on conferences and conventions in 2005 related to digital communication in different parts of the world. Some of the conference listed were MAPE 2005, IEEE International Symposium on Microwave, Antenna, Propagation and EMC Technologies for Wireless Communications on 8-12 August at Beijing, China,QSH1NE 2005, 2nd International Conference on Quality of Service in Heterogeneous Wired/Wireless Networks on 22-24 August at Orlando,Florida,LANOMS 2005, 4th Latin American Network Operations and Management Symposium on 29-31 August at Porto Alegre, Brazil,MC-SS 2005, 5th international Workshop on Multi-Carrier Spread Spectrum on 14-17 September at Germany,BMW 2005, IEEE Bandwidth Management Workshop on 3-6 October at Canada, DRCN 2005, 5th International Workshop on Design of Reliable Communication Networks on 16-19 October at island of Ischia, Italy and HONET 2005, on High Capacity Optical Networks and Enabling Technologies on 19-21 December at Islamabad, Pakistan.

Reports on the first ESF/PESC Exploratory Workshop on Mobile Ad Hoc Networking held in October 2002 in Monterosso al Mare, Italy. Workshop's aim of investigating technical issues, potentialities and market perspective of the mobile ad hoc network MANET paradigm; Future impact of the technology in European research and real life; MANET features.