Quadruple Helix and firms’ performance: an empirical verification in Europe

The emerging relationships connecting organizations are the condition on which innovation is founded nowadays, so it is pivotal to achieve a vaster comprehension of the phenomenon through the exploitation of new dynamics and the exploration of new trajectories. In line with the Quadruple Helix (QE) approach, it seems reasonable to expect that the different environments in which firms operate would highlight the expectations of the various market governance systems, which firms must comply with in order to gain social legitimacy and improve their capacity for survival. To determine whether the Quadruple Helix model has an effect on the firms’ profitability, the authors employed the classification analysis method (Classification And Regression Trees). The sample is composed by 4215 manufacturing firms located in science parks. In our empirical model, the variable “citizen” classifies businesses with high Return On Investment in the best way. This shows that in science parks “the fourth helix” (citizen) has an important role in classifying the firms with the highest performance. Moreover, the majority of firms that attribute high importance to the collaboration with private financial institutions in order to finance innovations have a high ROI. In addition, firms with high economic performance in the model of the quadruple helix generate product innovation.     

The role of openness in explaining innovation performance in a regional context

We investigate the role of search strategy in shaping firms’ innovation performance. Firms use a wide range of external actors and sources to help them achieve and sustain innovation. In particular, the extension (breadth) and the relevance (depth) of such sources determine firms’ ability to extract and exploit knowledge and new ideas and, thus, to be innovative. Using a sample of firms in a regional context active in R&D, we built separate measures of breadth and depth for local (on a regional scale) and global (outside the regional context) search. This allows us to investigate whether localized or global knowledge spillovers are in place. We find that a wider set of partners increases coordination costs, while greater depth in search strategies contributes to innovation. We find that a more diversified search strategy at the local level (greater breadth of search) results in significant payoffs in terms of innovation, while diversifying the partnership with Italian partners has a smaller, although still positive, effect. In contrast, the benefits of depth of innovation are greatest at the global level. In addition, a broader set of information sources for R&D projects has a significant positive effect on innovation. Finally, firms that resort to R&D subsidies are less innovative.     

HPLC-DAD determination of mepivacaine in cerebrospinal fluid from a fatal case

A fatal case involving mepivacaine-induced epidural anesthesia is described. The pathological findings were typical of cardiac shock from ischemic origin. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was obtained several hours after death and mepivacaine was identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Its concentration was determined by high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD). Extraction from CSF was performed by deproteinization with acetonitrile. The mepivacaine concentration in the sample was 264 microg/mL. Concentrations of mepivacaine in CSF following epidural anesthesia are not reported in literature to our knowledge. This is the first reported case of death in which the mepivacaine concentration in CSF has been determined.     

Perineal‐Vaginal Injuries in Children: Accident or Abuse?

Abstract: A large number of conditions have been mistaken for abuse. Differentiating accidental injuries from inflicted injuries is important in the management of injured children. In this work, the authors describe two cases of accidental perineal‐vaginal injury in children. In case 1, a 4‐year‐old girl suffered a vaginal tear caused by violent stretching during play; in case 2, a 3‐year‐old girl had minor lacerations of labia minora and majora. The intervention of a multi‐specialist team including a forensic pathologist and forensic psychiatrist was the key factor in being able to exclude abuse by third parties in the described cases.. This leads to the appropriate recommendations to be adopted in the forensic medicine setting.     

Two Fatal Cases of Hidden Pneumonia in Young People*

Abstract: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a severe lung disease characterized by inflammation of the lung parenchyma leading to impaired gas exchange. This condition is often lethal, usually requiring mechanical ventilation and admission to an intensive care unit. We present two fatal cases of hidden pneumonia in young people and discuss the pathophysiological mechanism of ARDS with reference to the histological pattern. A complete forensic approach by means of autopsy and histological, immunohistochemical, and microbiological, examination was carried out. In both cases the cause of death was cardio‐respiratory failure following an acute bilateral pneumonia with diffuse alveolar damage and ARDS associated with sepsis and disseminated intravascular coagulation. Our cases suggest on one side the importance of an early diagnosis to avoid unexpected death while on the other that the diagnosis of ARDS has to be confirmed on the basis of a careful postmortem examination and a complete microscopy and microbiological study.     

The effects of biased technological change on total factor productivity: empirical evidence from a sample of OECD countries

Technological change is far from neutral. The empirical analysis of the rate and direction of technological change in a significant sample of 12 major OECD countries in the years 1970–2003 confirms the strong bias of new technologies. The paper implements a novel methodology to identify and disentangle the effects of the direction of technological change upon total factor productivity (TFP) and shows how the introduction of new and biased technologies affects the actual levels of TFP according to the relative local endowments. The empirical evidence confirms that the introduction of biased technologies enhances TFP when its direction matches the characteristics of local factor markets so that locally abundant inputs become more productive. When the direction of technological change favours the intensive use of production factors that are locally scarce, the actual increase of TFP is reduced.     

Self‐harm Risk Among Adolescents and the Phenomenon of the “Blue Whale Challenge”: Case Series and Review of the Literature

The “Blue Whale Challenge” is a dangerous Internet phenomenon. As per media reports, it involves a series of life‐threatening tasks imposed by a “curator” to “players,” who must fulfill the whole list, and it ends with the suicide of the player. The authors report the data of five suspected cases of “Blue Whales” managed from January 2016 to December 2017 by the staff of a unit (the “Bambi Unit” of the Pediatric Hospital “Regina Margherita” of Turin, Italy) that is dedicated to the evaluation of suspected abused children. Then, they analyzed this data in the light of the literature regarding self‐harm. This comparison highlights the role of the Internet in the spreading of self‐harm behavior among vulnerable adolescents who are characterized by epidemiological, psychological, psychiatric, social, and cultural risk factors. In conclusion, the authors suggest a multidisciplinary and specialized approach in the evaluation of adolescents who committed self‐harm activities.     

Seeking rents in the shadow of Coase

In this paper, we study a two-stage rent-seeking game. In the first stage, contestants compete à-la-Tullock; in the second stage, the winner can resell the rent à-la-Coase. We consider a complete information Tullock game in which the contestants have different valuations for the rent. The analysis focuses on the ex ante effects of a secondary market on efforts, payoffs, rent-dissipation and rent-misallocation. We show that the secondary market, while correcting possible misallocations, may exacerbate rent dissipation. In some situations, the increase in rent dissipation more than offsets the allocative advantage, so that a secondary market might reduce welfare. We further show how the effect of ex post tradeability on welfare depends on the parties’ bargaining power and valuations of the rent, also considering the case of endogenous bargaining power.     

Being Part of the Family: Social and Working Conditions of Female Migrant Care Workers in Italy

This paper will present a study examining the social and working conditions of immigrant women who work in the family and the field of elderly people's assistance in private houses in Italy. The research will focus on categories such as social class, “race”, and gender, variables that stratify and naturalize the inequalities inbred in the social relations between immigrant caregivers and the families they work for. I will seek to illustrate through these perspectives how an affective and family life of their own is denied to these care workers. I will further investigate how the relationship between the care worker's body and the elderly care receiver's body becomes structured and characterized each time differently on the basis of gender. Moreover, I will take a closer look at the relationship of the female worker with her own body and disease, and also at the relationship of the care worker with death and money.