The palette of the Macchia Italian artist Giovanni Fattori in the second half of the xixth century

Giovanni Fattori (Livorno 1825–Firenze 1908) is the most representative artist of the Macchiaioli's current, an early group of Italian plein-air artists, whose work anticipates, in the xixth century, that of their younger contemporaries, the French Impressionists. The study, performed by a multidisciplinary team made up of scientists and conservators, presents the results of the scientific characterization carried out on a group of 10 paintings made by Fattori between 1854 and 1893 and shows the way he used complex mixtures of a large variety of traditional and synthetic pigments, ranging from lead white, found pure and also extended with calcium carbonate, natural barite and gypsum to zinc white, from red ochre to cinnabar and vermilion, from yellow ochre and Naples yellow to chrome yellow, cadmium yellow and zinc yellow, combined with many other ones reported in details. This paper highlights the evolution of his painting technique during a time of great technological and social innovations and puts forward some hypothesis on his awareness about manufactured pigments, i.e. tube paints recently introduced into the artists’ circles. The wide range of pigments and their different quality among the same synthetic products suggest that the artist used all the available materials, and that picking out the pigments he retained the early xixth century artists techniques, such as the use of mineral earths and Prussian blue, similarly to his contemporary Italian artists Federico Zandomeneghi and Telemaco Signorini, but he also experimented new and peculiar pigment mixtures in the making of “colored darks” and an innovative use of the grounds in the final composition, that are also distinctive features of the French Impressionists. This work is aimed at contributing to overcome the lack of a comprehensive overview on the widespread historical and scientific data collected up to now on the Italian paintings in the xixth century, which has been severely underestimated with respect to previous art movements.     

Knowledge management in SME networks

The objective of this paper is to investigate the role of knowledge management (KM) in networks participated by small firms. To achieve this objective, the literature on KM in small firms has been reviewed. A research question has been defined and addressed through a questionnaire survey conducted in a small firms network. The findings indicate that the surveyed companies perceive the strategic value of KM and adopt several systems even if its adoption is constrained by a number of barriers. The results suggest that firms investigated need to adopt advanced KM systems to manage knowledge more effectively at network level. The evidences also indicate that the surveyed firms are willing to adopt a platform supporting the sharing and exchange of knowledge in the network with a positive impact on innovation processes and the exploitation of market opportunities. The paper outlines some managerial implications as well as avenues for further research.     

Coordinating innovation projects with high tech suppliers through contracts

This paper investigates the supply chain (SC) management and innovation strategies with the purpose to identify: 1) which commercial contracts are suitable to coordinate SC innovation projects; 2) which motivations push SC members to adopt contracts to pursue innovation projects; and 3) how contractual clauses differ in different stages of the innovation process. A comparative case study among five High Tech (HT) companies in the Netherlands uncovers the motivations for adopting certain contracts over others. The findings illustrate that contracts discussed in the literature (sales-rebate, buy back, revenue sharing, etc.) successfully work for commercial agreements but not at all for coordinating joint innovation projects. Motivations for adopting these contracts do not limit to general company characteristics but also stretch from historical reasons to future strategies. The findings help HT companies to setting up the basis of a contract to coordinate joint innovation projects within SCs.     

Control over noxious events and choice

Three experiments are reported assessing whether rats prefer controllable over uncontrollable aversive shock. In Experiment 1, subjects chose between escapable and inescapable shock while relative shock duration varied parametrically. In Experiment 2, subjects again chose between escapable and inescapable shock, but duration was held constant and equal. The final experiment gave subjects a choice between avoidable and unavoidable shock under several signaling conditions. Choice behavior proved sensitive to relative shock duration and to predictability of shock but not to controllability of shock.     

Does shock modifiability contribute to preference for signaled shock?

The central question asked was whether differential shock modification occurs (posturally induced differences in shock contact time) under signaled and unsignaled conditions using scrambled shock. Shock modifiability was tested with two different shock sources, intensities, and scrambling units by measuring the duration of time subjects were in contact with shock. Subjects were then given a choice between the signaled and unsignaled conditions. Results showed that differential modification of shock contact time did not occur between signaled and unsignaled conditions with any shock source, intensity, or scrambler unit. In addition, subjects preferred the signaled condition. It was concluded that experiments using scrambled shock are not confounded by posturally induced differences in shock contact time.     

Contexts for writing,writing in context

The role of context variables is emphasized in recent research on writing, from which a great variety of meanings of the word ‘context’ emerges. The aim of this paper is to investigate some aspects of the identification of context variables in writing research by focusing on three main functions of context:

1. context as a condition for communication, i.e. the ground the writer creates in order to communicate with the reader
2. context as task environment, i.e. the situational variables (task objectives, motivational aspects, media, etc.) which can influence the writing process and/or product
3. context as an interactive framework, i.e. context as constituted by what people are doing, as well as by when and where they are doing it.

     

Thoracoabdominal breathing motion pattern and coordination of professional ballet dancers

Ballet training includes exercises of high and moderate intensities, which require breathing control for a good performance. This study describes the thoracoabdominal motion of professional dancers and compares the breathing patterns between professional dancers and non-dancers. Participants of this study were four male and four female (30.33 ± 4.64 years) professional dancers and four male and four female (22.75 ± 1.49 years) non-dancers. The participants executed two breathing manoeuvres while sitting motionless: quiet breathing (QB) and vital capacity (VC). The 3D coordinates of 32 retro-reflective markers positioned on the trunk were used to calculate the volume of the superior thorax, inferior thorax and abdomen. Principal component analysis was applied in the volume variation of each trunk compartment to search for dominant independent variables in a breathing motion pattern. The correlation coefficient was calculated to verify the coordination between the compartments during the breathing manoeuvres. A predominance of the superior thorax or abdomen movement was found in both groups. The professional ballet dancers have an efficient breathing pattern and maintain the same breathing pattern in QB and VC manoeuvres. On the other hand, the non-dancers group showed relevant changes of the breathing pattern to respond to a greater breathing effort, like in VC.     

Does Europe perform too little corporate R&D? A comparison of EU and non-EU corporate R&D performance

This paper examines whether there are significant differences in private R&D investment performance between the EU and the US and, if so, why. The study is based on data from the 2008 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard. The investigation assesses the effects of three very distinct factors that can determine the relative size of the overall R&D intensities of the two economies: these are the influence of sector composition (structural effect) vis-à-vis the intensity of R&D in each sector (intrinsic effect) and company demographics. The paper finds that the lower overall corporate R&D intensity for the EU is the result of sector specialisation (structural effect) - the US has a stronger sectoral specialisation in the high R&D intensity (especially ICT-related) sectors than the EU does, and also has a much larger population of R&D investing firms within these sectors. Since aggregate R&D indicators are so closely dependent on industrial structures, many of the debates and claims about differences in comparative R&D performance are in effect about industrial structure rather than sectoral R&D performance. These have complex policy implications that are discussed in the closing section.