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PurposeThis study aims to examine and understand the impact of reverse logistics adoption on firms' digitalization and collaboration activities. Specifically, leveraging the knowledge-based view, this study examines how adopting sustainable logistic practices (reverse logistics) prepares firms to embrace digitalization and encourages them to collaborate with other organizations.Design/methodology/approachThe study used longitudinal survey data from two waves (2017 and 2019) from the Mannheim Centre for European Economic Research. The authors used the negative binomial regression analyses to test the impact of reverse logistics adoption on the digitalization and inter-organizational collaboration dependent count variables.FindingsThe study's findings highlight the usefulness of reverse logistics in enabling digitalization and inter-organizational collaboration. The results show that the firms investing in sustainable supply chains will be better positioned to nurture digitalization and inter-organizational collaboration.Practical implicationsFor resource-bound managers, this study provides an important insight into prioritizing activities by highlighting how reverse logistics can facilitate digitalization and collaboration. The study demonstrates that the knowledge generated by reverse logistics adoption can be an essential pillar and enabler toward achieving firms' digitalization and collaboration goals.Originality/valueThe study is among the first to examine the effect of reverse logistics adoption on firm activities that are not strictly associated with the circular economy (digitalization and collaboration). Utilizing the knowledge-based view, this study reports on the additional benefits of reverse logistics implementation previously not discussed in the literature.

Productivity is among the most popular and useful measures to control a firm's performance. It is usually defined as a ratio between a firm's final outputs and its inputs. Such a definition for productivity does not allow an accurate assessment of those organizational units operating in the early stages of the new product development process, whose outputs are distant from a firm's final ones. This article focuses on the organizational units operating on product design and engineering activities, considered a key competitive advantage source. Indeed, such units oversee major responsibilities in developing new products and improving existing ones. Therefore, monitoring product design and engineering units’ productivity is of pivotal importance, especially for firms whose business model heavily relies on new or continuously improved products. However, research on the productivity of product design and engineering units has been underdeveloped, and previous studies have called for research on the topic. Hence, this article outlines the features of product design and engineering activities, describing their similarities and differences with respect to research and development activities and to service activities. Consequently, it presents methodological insights to assess product design and engineering productivity and their illustrative implementation in Leonardo SpA, a global company in the Aerospace and Defence sector. Finally, the article outlines the theoretical and managerial implications of the study.

Background and Aims Despite recent approvals for new drugs to treat adults with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, there are only two approved advanced treatment options [infliximab and adalimumab] for children with inflammatory bowel disease [IBD]. There are many potential new therapies being developed for adult and paediatric IBD. Moreover, regulatory agencies in both the European Union and USA have processes in place to support the early planning and initiation of paediatric studies. Nevertheless, unacceptable delays in approvals for use of drugs in children persist, with an average 7-year gap, or longer, between authorization of new IBD drugs for adults and children. Methods A 2-day virtual meeting was held during April 14–15, 2021 for multi-stakeholders [clinical academics, patient community, pharmaceutical companies and regulators] to discuss their perspectives on paediatric drug development for IBD. Results The multi-stakeholder group presented, discussed and proposed actions to achieve expediting the approval of new drugs in development for paediatric IBD. Conclusions Collaborative action points for all stakeholders are required to make progress and facilitate new drug development for children with IBD.

This paper presents a numerical and analytical study on single-storey cross-laminated timber (CLT) shear-walls with openings subjected to lateral loads. The main objective was to investigate the location and distribution of maximum values of axial and shear forces in relevant wall sections. The influence of parameters such as wall geometry (different sizes of wall openings, door openings, lintel/parapet lengths and heights, wall thickness) and different stiffness levels of mechanical anchors for CLT wall connection with floor/foundation were studied. Finite element (FE) parametric analyses were performed on a set of single-storey CLT shear-walls with door and window openings and were compared with analytical models for determination of internal forces. The importance of wall connections’ flexibility was identified, as the distribution of internal forces in walls with rigid and flexible anchors were considerably different. The obtained outcomes of this study provide a solid base for the next step, an experimental investigation of in-plane internal force distribution in CLT walls with openings, which will serve for further development of numerical, analytical and design approaches.

Purpose In the previous decade, a substantial amount of research has been undertaken to measure the digitalized supply chain (DSC) performance. This paper aims to present a systematic literature review on DSC performance measurement metrics to apprehend current practices, recognize gaps and advocate future research itineraries. Design/methodology/approach To guarantee a replicable, rigorous and transparent research process, the authors used a systematic literature review methodology to synthesize the research. A combination of 25 keywords was used to obtain 248 scientific studies in the first step. The balance scorecard (BSC) model was used to categorize 299 gathered performance metrics into 4 BSC perspectives. Findings The review highlighted the need for qualitative performance measuring metrics for DSC. During the review, only one study was identified that primarily focused on developing performance metrics for DSC. Additionally, the review identified that metrics related to internal and financial perspectives received the most attention while the “growth and learning” perspective received the least attention. The review also identified that external partners, such as distributors and suppliers, were virtually ignored in previous literature. Originality/value Although numerous literature reviews have been conducted in the past on the performance measuring metrics for supply chain management, no literature review aiming to synthesize the measuring metrics for DSC has yet been undertaken.

Serum samples from eight participants during the XV winter-over at Concordia base (Antarctic expedition) collected at defined time points, including predeparture, constituted the key substrates for a specific metabolomics study. To ascertain acute changes and chronic adaptation to hypoxia, the metabolic profiles of the serum samples were analyzed using NMR spectroscopy, with principal components analysis (PCA) followed by partial least squares and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analyses (PLS-DA and OPLS-DA) used as supervised classification methods. Multivariate data analyses clearly highlighted an adaptation period characterized by an increase in the levels of circulating glutamine and lipids, mobilized to supply the body energy needs. At the same time, a reduction in the circulating levels of glutamate and N-acetyl glycoproteins, stress condition indicators, and proinflammatory markers were also found in the NMR data investigation. Subsequent pathway analysis showed possible perturbations in metabolic processes, potentially related to the physiological adaptation, predominantly found by comparing the baseline (at sea level, before mission onset), the base arrival, and the mission ending collected values.

Megaprojects require substantial R&D activities involving many different organisations. Megaprojects are therefore an ideal setting for Open Innovation (OI), which favours risk-sharing, enables trustful collaboration, and facilitates the development of breakthrough innovations. OI has been widely studied at the organisational level, however far less attention has been paid at the individual level, including the motivations, costs and benefits perceived by the people involved in the innovation process. This paper aims to address this gap by studying the micro-foundations of OI in megaprojects and focusing on the experiences of people involved in university-industry co-supervised Ph.D. projects. The paper provides two original contributions. Firstly, it contributes to the micro-foundations literature, by analysing the experience of university and industrial supervisors and Ph.D. students involved in megaprojects. Secondly, it expands the OI literature by describing how the interpersonal interactions and the intentional knowledge spillovers promote innovation outside the original boundaries of the Ph.D. project.

Adequate management of intellectual property (IP) is critical to sustaining competitive advantage and managing outbound open innovation (OI), which describes the inside-out flows of knowledge and technology. This article presents an IP strategic framework comprising the following strategies: a ‘defensive’ strategy, aimed at avoiding knowledge spillovers and building barriers to competition; a ‘collaborative’ strategy, aimed at collaborating with other organizations and entering new markets; and an ‘impromptu’ strategy, which describes firms protecting their IP without a clear purpose. We investigate the relationships of such IP strategies with outbound OI and innovation performance in 158 Italian firms. Most of them declared an impromptu IP strategy. We found that not having any IP protection strategy can be a barrier to outbound OI and that firms with a defensive IP strategy embraced outbound OI more than those declaring a collaborative IP strategy. Finally, firms with collaborative IP strategies outperformed those with defensive strategies.

Una review sulle scienze OMICHE nella gestione del paziente con sindrome dell’apnea ostruttiva del sonno.La sindrome da apnea ostruttiva nel sonno (OSA) è una condizione caratterizzata dalla presenza di completo o parziale collasso delle vie aeree superiori durante il sonno, con conseguente frammentazione del sonno associata a rapidi episodi di ipossia intermittente (IH) e attivazione del sistema nervoso simpatico e dello stress ossidativo. L’OSA è associata ad un ampio spettro di patologie cardiovascolari, metaboliche, neurocognitive e comorbidità che appaiono particolarmente evidenti nei pazienti obesi, interessando entrambi i sessi in modo diverso e variando la gravità a seconda del sesso e dell’età. Negli ultimi anni, gli studi sull’OSA sono aumentati considerevolmente, ma nella pratica clinica, si tratta ancora di una malattia altamente sottodiagnosticata. Ad oggi, il gold standard per la diagnosi di OSA è la polisonnografia notturna (PSG). Tuttavia, poiché non è adatto ad un gran numero di pazienti, anche l’Home Sleep Test (HST) è un metodo diagnostico accettato. Attualmente, l’obiettivo principale della ricerca è quello di identificare metodi non invasivi per ottenere un sistema di screening altamente predittivo e non invasivo per questa categoria di soggetti. I lavori più recenti indicano che la ricerca in questo campo ha compiuto progressi significativi nell’identificazione di possibili biomarcatori in OSA, utilizzando approcci OMICI, in particolare nel campo della proteomica e della metabolomica. In questa review, analizziamo una lista di questi biomarcatori presenti in letteratura.Obstructive sleep apnaea (OSA) syndrome is a condition characterised by the presence of complete or partial collapse of the upper airways during sleep, resulting in fragmentation of sleep associated with rapid episodes of intermittent hypoxia (IH), activation of the sympathetic nervous system and oxidative stress. OSA is associated with a broad spectrum of cardiovascular, metabolic and neurocognitive comorbidities that appear to be particularly evident in obese patients, while affecting both sexes in a different manner and varying in severity according to gender and age. In recent years, studies on OSA have increased considerably, but in clinical practice, it is still a highly underdiagnosed disease. To date, the gold standard for the diagnosis of OSA is nocturnal polysomnography (PSG). However, since it is not well suited for a large number of patients, the Home Sleep Test (HST) is also an accepted diagnostic method. Currently, the major aim of research is to identify non-invasive methods to achieve a highly predictive, non-invasive screening system for these subjects. The most recent reports indicate that research in this field has made significant progress in identifying possible biomarkers in OSA, using -OMIC approaches, particularly in the fields of proteomics and metabolomics. In this review, we analyse these OMIC biomarkers found in the literature.

PurposeDespite the multiple calls for research on the dark side of open innovation, very few studies have approached the topic so far. This study aims to analyse successful and unsuccessful open innovation projects.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses thematic analysis to describe the factors determining their (un)success. The researchers interviewed 27 managers and owners in the manufacturing sector. Then, the respondents were asked to discuss one successful and one unsuccessful open innovation project to explore the differences in triggers and setbacks, focusing on the causes that determined the failures.FindingsFindings show that many interviewees are reluctant to identify failure cases, which somewhat explains the paucity of studies on the topic, and others do so when the failure is recognised by a third party (such as a public institution not granting funds to the project). This study discussed how this phenomenon is linked with the paradoxical relation between innovation success and failure. It is also found that triggers and setbacks determining the project's (un)success are markedly differently based on the technological intensity of the firm. Implications for scholars and practitioners are also drawn.Originality/valueThis study provides a balanced view between open innovation successes and failures to offer informative recommendations to practitioners. Furthermore, it contributes to filling the scarcity of studies related to risks and failures of open innovation projects. This gap has been addressed by studying the factors that determine the success and unsuccess of an open innovation project.

While many COVID-related innovations have been profitable, others were not even conceived to bear revenues but were driven by other motivations. To what extent “traditional” profit-oriented motivations coexisted with other motivations (such as corporate social responsibility and marketing) remains largely under-investigated. Similarly, while many studies emphasized that inter-organizational collaborations enabled COVID-related innovation projects, how these collaborations intertwined with the motivations to innovate is unknown. This article fills the literature gaps by exploring the motivations underlying COVID-related innovations, the role of inter-organizational collaboration, and their relationship with innovation novelty. We studied 18 Italian COVID-19-related innovations developed during the initial pandemic phase. We considered two industrial motivations based on the exploration-exploitation dichotomy and two institutional motivations (corporate social responsibility and marketing). Using the crisp set Qualitative Comparative Analysis, we found that institutional motivations have driven most radical and incremental innovation projects. However, they were not sufficient conditions for them. We observed that radical innovations were supported by either transversal alliances, involving horizontal collaboration and R&D institutions, or by vertical alliances, where a supplier-customer collaboration aimed to explore new business opportunities while benefiting from the favorable contingent marketing effects. Incremental innovations often occurred without industrial motivations, supported by either vertical or horizontal collaboration.

Many articles in the open innovation literature studied the link between intellectual property protection mechanisms and openness, obtaining contrasting results. This paper bridges the literature on protection mechanisms and the one on intellectual property strategy. It leverages three high-level intellectual property strategies—defensive, collaborative and impromptu—recently defined in the literature to identify how they entail different intellectual property protection mechanisms and approaches to outbound open innovation. The article advances that defensive, collaborative and impromptu are characterizing factors of intellectual property strategies. An exploratory analysis of 73 manufacturing firms allowed identifying five intellectual property strategies: defensive, purposely defensive, collaborative, developing impromptu and impromptu. The article describes their differences in intellectual property protection mechanisms and outbound open innovation. Furthermore, a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis identifies the optimal combination of formal, semiformal and informal intellectual property protection mechanisms to nurture outbound open innovation. The results are discussed in view of the extant literature, and implications for scholars and practitioners are presented.

The case of a 6-year-old boy with sternal swelling finally diagnosed as sternal osteomyelitis is described.

This study explores how individuals obtain knowledge, perceive information sources, behave,and form opinions while facing a pandemic at an early stage. We develop a conceptual modellinking the predictors of individuals' knowledge with people's behavior and opinions. The modelis empirically tested through a large-scale global survey of 15,552 respondents from 126 nationalities. Our results indicate that relying on one source of information does not lead to favourable behavior towards curbing the pandemic. Furthermore, we need to educate people and control misinformation spread on policy and social network platforms to curb emergencies collectively.

The Prion Protein (PrP) is mostly known for its role in prion diseases, where its misfolding and aggregation can cause fatal neurodegenerative conditions such as the bovine spongiform encephalopathy and human Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. Physiologically, PrP is involved in several processes including adhesion, proliferation, differentiation and angiogenesis, but the molecular mechanisms behind its role remain unclear. PrP, due to its well-described structure, is known to be able to regulate copper homeostasis; however, copper dyshomeostasis can lead to developmental defects. We investigated PrP-dependent regulation of copper homeostasis in human endothelial cells (HUVEC) using an RNA-interference protocol. PrP knockdown did not influence cell viability in silenced HUVEC (PrPKD) compared to control cells, but significantly increased PrPKD HUVEC cells sensitivity to cytotoxic copper concentrations. A reduction of PrPKD cells reductase activity and copper ions transport capacity was observed. Furthermore, PrPKD-derived spheroids exhibited altered morphogenesis and their derived cells showed a decreased vitality 24 and 48 hours after seeding. PrPKD spheroid-derived cells also showed disrupted tubulogenesis in terms of decreased coverage area, tubule length and total nodes number on matrigel, preserving unaltered VEGF receptors expression levels. Our results highlight PrP physiological role in cellular copper homeostasis and in the angiogenesis of endothelial cells.

The case of a child with basal left recurrent pneumonia is described. A localized bronchomalacia due to a vascular ring was eventually diagnosed.

Copper (Cu) dyshomeostasis plays a pivotal role in several neuropathologies, such as Parkinson’s disease (PD). Metal accumulation in the central nervous system (CNS) could result in loss-of-function of proteins involved in Cu metabolism and redox cycling, generating reactive oxygen species (ROS). Moreover, neurodegenerative disorders imply the presence of an excess of misfolded proteins known to lead to neuronal damage. In PD, Cu accumulates in the brain, binds α-synuclein, and initiates its aggregation. We assessed the correlation between neuronal differentiation, Cu homeostasis regulation, and α-synuclein phosphorylation. At this purpose, we used differentiated SHSY5Y neuroblastoma cells to reproduce some of the characteristics of the dopaminergic neurons. Here, we reported that differentiated cells expressed a significantly higher amount of a copper transporter protein 1 (CTR1), increasing the copper uptake. Cells also showed a significantly more phosphorylated form of α-synuclein, further increased by copper treatment, without modifications in α-synuclein levels. This effect depended on the upregulation of the polo-like kinase 2 (PLK2), whereas the levels of the relative protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) remained unvaried. No changes in the oxidative state of the cells were identified. The Cu dependent alteration of α-synuclein phosphorylation pattern might potentially offer new opportunities for clinical intervention.

Index de les obres ressenyades: GAZIEL, En las trincheras. El reportero que mejor narró la primera Guerra Mundial.

The innovation literature on operations-based organisations describes the positive effect of Open Innovation (OI) on productivity. However, a systemic overview of how OI directly and indirectly impacts productivity is missing, particularly for project-based organisations. Hence, the article aims to fill this gap by providing a systemic representation of how OI enhances project-based organisations' productivity. The article focuses on the construction ecosystem since construction is an exemplary project-based industry and is known for its widespread and longstanding poor productivity. In particular, we investigated how OI is adopted and how OI can enhance productivity in the construction ecosystem. We conducted twenty semi-structured interviews with experts involved in OI construction projects in the UK. This paper makes three academic contributions. First, it provides an account of the most relevant causes for poor productivity in construction. Second, it consolidates primary and secondary data in a novel cognitive map providing a systemic representation of how OI enhances productivity in construction. The validity of the map goes beyond the boundaries of the construction ecosystem, being supported by several cross-sectorial references. Third, the paper offers six strategies that leverage OI to address the specific causes of low productivity in construction.

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of a policy mix between general innovation policies and environmental policies in fostering the adoption of global warming-related eco-innovations both in the short term and long term. Focusing on process eco-innovations, we investigate whether the combined impact of general innovation and environmental policy instruments, which we term a cross-instrumental policy mix, is greater than their individual impact. We examined data from the Mannheim Innovation Panel on German firms, investigating both cross-sectional data from 2015 and longitudinal data from two waves of the survey conducted in 2009 and 2015. We apply two models, based respectively on a matching analysis and a panel analysis. We find that cross-instrumental policy mix has a stronger positive effect on process eco-innovations than the impact of general innovation policy instruments alone, both in the short and long term. In contrast, although we expected the greater impact of a cross-instrumental policy mix relative to environmental policy instruments, this argument is not supported by our empirical results. Our study offers policy implications concerning the coordination of innovation and environmental policies in achieving an optimal policy mix.

Despite the popularity of reverse logistics in literature, the effect of different collaboration types on the likelihood to introduce reverse logistics innovation has been under-investigated. Hence, this article explores the impact of domestic collaboration with competitors, customers, suppliers, research institutions, and the breadth of collaboration on a firm's reverse logistics innovation. Four hypotheses - grounded on institutional, resource dependence, and absorptive capacity theories – are tested through generalized structural equation modelling analyses on a longitudinal sample of German firms. The results show a positive impact of vertical collaboration, horizontal collaboration, and collaboration with research institutions on the likelihood to introduce reverse logistics innovation. In contrast, collaboration breadth has a negative impact on reverse logistics, an unexpected and surprising result for the innovation management literature. The article offers recommendations to practitioners as to which partners are more likely to increase the odds of introducing reverse logistics innovation and demonstrates that – to such an aim - firms should select a limited number of partners, identifying the ones that suit their needs the most.

Patients undergoing colon resection are often concerned about their functional outcomes after surgery. The primary aim of this prospective, multicentric study was to assess the intestinal activity and health-related quality-of-life (HRQL) after ileocecal valve removal. The secondary aim was to evaluate any vitamin B12 deficiency. The study included patients undergoing right colectomy, extended right colectomy and ileocecal resection for either neoplastic or benign disease. Selected items of GIQLI and EORTC QLQ-CR29 questionnaires were used to investigate intestinal activity and HRQL before and after surgery. Blood samples for vitamin B12 level were collected before and during the follow-up period. The empirical rule effect size (ERES) method was used to explain the clinical effect of statistical results. Linear mixed effect (LME) model for longitudinal data was applied to detect the most important parameters affecting the total score. A total of 158 patients were considered. Applying the ERES method, the analysis of both questionnaires showed clinically and statistically significant improvement of HRQL at the end of the follow-up period. Applying the LME model, worsening of HRQL was correlated with female gender and ileum length when using GIQLI questionnaire, and with female gender, open approach, and advanced cancer stage when using the EORTC QLQ-CR29 questionnaire. No significant deficiency in vitamin B12 levels was observed regardless of the length of surgical specimen. In our series, no deterioration of HRQL and no vitamin B12 deficiency were found during the follow-up period. Nevertheless, warning patients about potential changes in bowel habits is mandatory. In our series, no deterioration of HRQL and no vitamin B12 deficiency were found during the follow-up period. Nevertheless, warning patients about potential changes in bowel habits is mandatory.