scholarly journals ASSESSING THE INNOVATIVE PERFORMANCE OF ITALIAN SMEs

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Marseguerra ◽  
Daniela Bragoli ◽  
Flavia Cortelezzi
Keyword(s):  
Economic Effect ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Agglomeration Economies ◽  
Innovative Performance ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
Innovative Capability ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Key Questions

This article aims at assessing the innovative performance of Italian SMEs through the analysis of the many dimensions which together define firms’ innovative capability. The European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) classifies Italy as a moderate innovator. However, when disaggregating the data, it is possible to observe that Italy performs below the European average, when considering Innovation Enablers (e.g. Human Resources, R&D and Financial Support) and Firms’ Innovation Activities, and above the European average, when focusing on the the Output of innovation, i.e. its economic effect on exports and sales. Thus, it seems that Italian SMEs have been able to exploit agglomeration economies, due to the fruitful activity of industrial districts, and have been the actors of a success story, which combines growth and innovation. Finally, the article identifies and briefly examines three key questions: the impact of capital structure on innovation, the role of public funding in addressing R&D strategies and the potential benefit of the cooperation between firms and universities.

scholarly journals Interphotoreceptor coupling: an evolutionary perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Cangiano ◽  
Sabrina Asteriti
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Electrical Coupling ◽  
Physiological Role ◽  
Cellular Processes ◽  
Contact Points ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Impact

AbstractIn the vertebrate retina, signals generated by cones of different spectral preference and by highly sensitive rod photoreceptors interact at various levels to extract salient visual information. The first opportunity for such interaction is offered by electrical coupling of the photoreceptors themselves, which is mediated by gap junctions located at the contact points of specialised cellular processes: synaptic terminals, telodendria and radial fins. Here, we examine the evolutionary pressures for and against interphotoreceptor coupling, which are likely to have shaped how coupling is deployed in different species. The impact of coupling on signal to noise ratio, spatial acuity, contrast sensitivity, absolute and increment threshold, retinal signal flow and colour discrimination is discussed while emphasising available data from a variety of vertebrate models spanning from lampreys to primates. We highlight the many gaps in our knowledge, persisting discrepancies in the literature, as well as some major unanswered questions on the actual extent and physiological role of cone-cone, rod-cone and rod-rod communication. Lastly, we point toward limited but intriguing evidence suggestive of the ancestral form of coupling among ciliary photoreceptors.

Marriage and Sexual Relations in the New Testament World

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Loader
Keyword(s):  
Roman Society ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The Social ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Many ◽  
Marital Sex ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Common Understanding

After a brief overview of the social context and role of marriage and sexuality in Jewish and Greco-Roman cultures, the chapter traces the impact of the Genesis creation narratives, positively and negatively, on how marriage and sexuality were seen both in the present and in depictions of hope for the future. Discussion of pre-marital sex, incest, intermarriage, polygyny, divorce, adultery, and passions follows. It then turns to Jesus’ reported response to divorce, arguing that the prohibition sayings should be read as assuming that sexual intercourse both effects permanent union and severs previous unions, thus making divorce after adultery mandatory, the common understanding and legal requirement in both Jewish and Greco-Roman society of the time. It concludes by noting both the positive appreciation of sex and marriage, grounded in belief that they are God’s creation, and the many dire warnings against sexual wrongdoing, including adulterous attitudes and uncontrolled passions.

The Oxford Handbook of Hope

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Made In

The Oxford Handbook of Hope provides a comprehensive overview of current knowledge regarding the science and practice of hope. Hope has long been a topic of interest to philosophers and the general public, but it was only in recent decades that hope became a focus of psychological science. Rick Snyder defined hope as a cognitive trait that helps individuals to identify and pursue goals and consists of two components: pathways, the perceived capacity to identify strategies necessary to achieve goals, and agency, the willpower or motivation to pursue those pathways to achieve goals. Hope has become one of most robust and promising topics in the burgeoning field of positive psychology. This book reviews the progress that has been made in the past 25 years regarding the origins and influence of hope. Topics covered include current theoretical perspectives on how best to define hope and how it is distinct from related constructs, current best practices for measuring and quantifying hope, interventions and strategies for promoting hope across different settings and the lifespan, the impact that hope has on many dimensions and domains of physical and mental health, and the many ways and contexts in which hope promotes resilience and positive functioning. Experts in the field both review what is currently known about the role of hope in different domains and identify topics and questions that can help to guide the next decade of research. The handbook concludes with a collaborative vision on the future directions of the science of hope.

scholarly journals Prospects for innovation performance on European level

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 100-114
Author(s):  
Nuša Erman
Keyword(s):  
Public Funding ◽  
Innovation Performance ◽  
European Level ◽  
Community Innovation Survey ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
Enterprise Level ◽  
Future Direction ◽  
Innovation Indicators

Abstract In 2004, the European Commission implemented the Decision No 1608/2003/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the production and development of Community statistics on innovation. This triggered the awareness of the role of innovation and R&D on national and European level and thus the opportunity to step towards in-depth monitoring innovation performance through various indicators. The paper aims to investigate the trends in the selected innovation indicators (i.e., public funding, expenditures and innovation activities, types of innovation and products introduced, hampered innovation activities) to outline the development direction on the enterprise level using the Community innovation survey data for the 2002–2016 period. Using the basic time series analysis, the paper evaluates the progress according to the European Strategy on research and innovation. Furthermore, using the autocorrelation and autoregression methods, the paper also outlines the future direction in innovation performance on European level.

scholarly journals PERFORMING (IN)JUSTICE: THE CONTENTIOUS POLITICS OF DIGITALLY MEDIATED VISUALS

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Lewis ◽  
Helen Berents ◽  
David Myles ◽  
Earvin Charles Cabalquinto ◽  
Ariadna Matamoros Fernández ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hybrid Methods ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Internet Studies ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Sexual Racism ◽  
The Many ◽  
Justice Movements ◽  
Media And Communication ◽  
Key Questions

This panel considers sociopolitical contentions as being increasingly visually mediated and brings together a transdisciplinary group of researchers to reflect on the complex ways digitally mediated visuals construct, sustain and perform (in)justice. To do this, panelists reflect on the many forms and political textures digitally mediated visuals can assume (online and offline), and considers the specific role of digital affordances and platform politics in sustaining these practices. Panelists address key questions: 1) how do digitally mediated visuals enact forms of (in)justice?; 2) what potentials or limitations do digitally mediated visuals generate for scholars wishing to understand broader sociopolitical contentions?; and 3) what conceptual and methodological tools should (Internet) scholars employ to study the contentious politics of digitally mediated visuals (and with what ethical implications)? Drawing from media and communication, international relations, cultural studies and discourse theory, panelists address a variety of sociopolitical topics across platforms (WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter) and territories, including: US black justice movements, sexual racism in Latin America and Southeast Asia, conflicts over representations of death in the Middle East, and transnational movements for trans rights activism. Panelists engage with Internet research to investigate the contentious politics of digitally mediated visuals by drawing on several perspectives to challenge hegemonic conceptions, Western biases and dominant discourses. They also mobilize qualitative or hybrid methods to track the trajectories of digitally mediated visuals to understand their biographies and sociopolitical productiveness in the context of their emergence, methods particularly interesting for Internet studies considering ongoing critiques against big data approaches.

scholarly journals Fostering Czech firms? innovation performance through efficient cooperation

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 671-700
Author(s):  
Viktor Prokop ◽  
Michaela Kotkova Striteska ◽  
Jan Stejskal
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Manufacturing Firms ◽  
Innovation Systems ◽  
Innovation Performance ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
The Impact

Research background: The business climate development and the stage of innovation systems? transformation are very similar in many Central and Eastern European countries, making it necessary to study these specific economies. These economies are at a different level of transformation, and their governments are trying to support the development of a knowledge-based economy, the creation of innovation systems, and collaboration among different types of entities. These governments need feedback in the form of research into the impacts of public funding on innovation activities through the influence of basic research and cooperation-based resources in individual countries. Purpose of the article: This paper focuses on the examination of (i) the influence of national and European subsidies on innovation performance in manufacturing firms in the Czech Republic and (ii) impacts of knowledge- and cooperation-based resources on innovation activities in Czech manufacturing. Methods: The latest available data from the Community Innovation Survey was used for analyses realized by different regression models. The proposed research models were gradually created to verify the influence of pro-innovation factors (expenditures on in-house and external R&D and on the acquisition of external tangible and intangible sources, cooperation with different partners and innovation) and public (national and/or European) funding of firms? innovation performance within the Czech manufacturing industry. Findings and value added: The results have showed that there is a need to focus on direct and indirect effects of selected innovation determinants; we have also identified the crucial role of cooperation (specifically with government, public, or private research institutes) as a mediating variable within innovation processes. The results have also evidenced that public funding affects the efficiency of knowledge- and cooperation-based resources and amplifies the impact on firms? innovation performance differently. Whereas subsidies from national budgets do not significantly influence the innovation performance of Czech manufacturing firms, European subsidies, on the other hand, significantly increase firms? innovation performance. A long-term contribution of this paper is the significant completion of the theory of policy implications that may be applicable in a broad international context beyond the borders of the Czech Republic. This study significantly contributes to the ongoing discussion about (i) the significance of public financial subsidies from both national and European funds and (ii) the effects of cooperation and R&D on firms? innovation performance within ?catching-up? in Central and Eastern Europe. 

Conflicts and Consistencies in Creativity Research and Teaching

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 363-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mareike B. Wieth ◽  
Andrea P. Francis
Keyword(s):  
Domain Knowledge ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Creativity Research ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
Everyday Creativity ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Impact

The interdisciplinary topic of creativity is both fascinating and controversial. In this review, we begin by highlighting the many ways that researchers conceptualize and define creativity, focusing in particular on the difference between everyday creativity and creativity associated with exceptional breakthroughs in thinking. In addition, we discuss the role of divergent and convergent creativity and the role that domain knowledge plays in creativity. Furthermore, we highlight how specific factors such as individual differences and time of day influence creativity. We conclude by discussing the impact of current educational practices on creativity in psychology classrooms.

Investor reaction to R&D investment

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-147
Author(s):  
Xin Li ◽  
Tienan Wang
Keyword(s):  
Stock Price ◽  
New Product ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
Development Capacity ◽  
The Impact ◽  
D Investment ◽  
Investor Reaction ◽  
Positive Effect

Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of research and development (R&D) investment on firms’ stock price from the perspective of investors. Design/methodology/approach Building on signaling theory, the authors propose that R&D investment sends important signals to the investment community regarding future growth, which in turn impacts investor reaction to such investment. Findings Using a sample of listed pharmaceutical firms in China from 2007 to 2011, the authors find that R&D investment has a positive effect on firms’ stock price, indicating that investors have a positive reaction to R&D investment signals. Further, the authors find that the signaling role of new product announcements mediates this relationship between R&D investment and investor reaction. Originality/value The authors also find that the signaling role of development capacity (DC) has a moderating effect on the relationship between innovation activities (i.e. R&D investment and new product announcements) and investor reaction, such that DC strengthens the positive effect of R&D and new product announcements on investors.

Dialectical tensions in the narrative discourse of Donald J. Trump and Pope Francis

Leadership ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph M Deye ◽  
Gail T Fairhurst
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
New York Times ◽  
Narrative Discourse ◽  
Dialectical Tensions ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
The World ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Impact

Reacting to the impact of Pope Francis and President Donald J. Trump on the world stage, New York Times essayist, Austen Ivereigh, asked the question, “Is Pope Francis the Anti-Trump?” He concluded that the answer is not an obvious one. Using qualitative methods, this study explores this question through the dialectical tensions and management strategies present in the narratives evoked in the many speeches and tweets of Pope Francis and President Trump. The dialectical tensions found in this study include: truth–post–truth, popular–elite, and unity–disunity. Their management by these two leaders is very different, with Trump responding in a much more unilateral fashion than Francis. The implications of these findings for the study of post-truth leadership are discussed, especially regarding the role of narrative and social media.

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