The Impact of the Bologna Process on Graduation: New Evidence from Italy

Research in Higher Education - Between 2001 and 2005, higher education in Italy went through a considerable process of reform according to the Bologna Process. This paper evaluates the effects of...     

Intercultural practices and inclusive education in Europe: can migration be a resource for individual and societal development?

European Journal of Psychology of Education - This is an introductory paper to the special section “Multilingual learning and social inclusion of children: The development of educational...     

Network effects in technology acceptance: Laboratory experimental evidence

This research analyzes network effects in technology acceptance. The hypothesis is that the size of the user network affects technology acceptance. Even today, empirical measurement of network effects is challenging and there is a lack of experimental evidence. In order to investigate and measure the relationship between network size (number of adopters) and user acceptance, technology acceptance research needs to broaden its scope and approaches. To overcome this limitation we reproduce a particular type of technology acceptance process in a laboratory experiment, controlling for user network size and testing its influence on user perceptions and, ultimately, on acceptance decisions. We measured user perceptions and analyzed the data using consolidated and tested technology acceptance models. The results confirm our hypothesis, showing a significant effect of user network size on user perceptions. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of our approach and findings.     

Control-based Connection Admission Control and Downlink Congestion Control procedures for satellite networks

This paper focuses on the resource management procedures for a geostationary (GEO) satellite system. The objective of these procedures is the efficient exploitation of the link resources, while assuring the agreed Quality of Service to the traffic entering the satellite network. The main novelties are (i) the integration between Connection Admission Control and Downlink Congestion Control procedures, and (ii) the original adaptation of Kalman filtering theory to cope with these procedures. The proposed solution is validated by simulations.     

Crowdfunding as Donations to Entrepreneurial Firms

The bulk of today's (“preorder-,” “reward-,” “gift-,” and “donation-based”) crowdfunding raises funds for small, private entrepreneurial ventures without granting funders private claims to the projects’ income or the ability to guarantee the realization and delivery of project outcomes. We theorize and show empirically – via a mixed-method approach applied to a representative and remarkably informative case – that the payoff structure for crowdfunders, akin to a public good contribution problem, leads to the tangible value of main project outputs exerting little influence on contributions to crowdfunding. This then raises the question of which funder motivations fund seekers may have to address to crowdfund their projects. We demonstrate the especially large role of non-pecuniary motivations and pinpoint three particular motivations that profit-seeking entrepreneurs may stimulate to be financed through crowdfunding. The findings hold important implications for entrepreneurs’ crowdfunding strategies, platform design, and our understanding of how this funding institution works in general. The study also adds to emerging research on the implications of the public good nature of crowdfunding.     

Innovation and Employment: a Reinvestigation using Revised Pavitt classes

The relationship between innovation and employment is addressed in this article through a model and empirical test at industry level for eight European countries in 1994-2004. We investigate this relationship for manufacturing and services and propose a Revised Pavitt taxonomy (covering both of them) in order to identify specific patterns of technological change and job creation and loss. The contrasting effects of strategies of technological or cost competitiveness are investigated using innovation variables from CIS2 and CIS3. Together with demand, wages and industry dynamics, they account for changes in employees and hours worked. The diversity in these relations across industries is also explored; when the model is applied to each Revised Pavitt class, different mechanisms of technological change and effects on jobs emerge.     

Prevalence of illicit drug use among the Italian athlete population with special attention on drugs of abuse: a 10-year review

The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of illicit drugs use among young adults, in particular elite athletes. This study considers the data obtained from anti-doping analyses performed on nearly 100,000 urine samples from 2000 to 2009 by the World Anti-Doping Agency accredited Italian Anti-Doping Laboratory. The percentage of adverse analytical findings varies on a yearly basis, but it is in the range 1.0-1.8% (not considering atypical findings, such as an altered endogenous steroid profile). Among positive results, there is a high prevalence of stimulants and drugs of abuse. The drug of abuse found most frequently is the tetrahydrocannabinol (cannabis) metabolite, accounting for 0.2-0.4% of the total samples analysed (18% of the positive results). The second most frequently encountered drug is cocaine, as detected from cocaine metabolites, accounting for 0.1% of the total samples analysed (7% of positive results). Other stimulants found included amphetamines, ephedrines, carphedon, modafinil, and anorexic compounds. No amphetamine-like designer drugs were detected. These data are indicative of the widespread prevalence of cocaine and cannabis use among the young adult population. However, due to the particular population studied, it must be considered an underestimation of the phenomenon among elite athletes with respect to the general population.     

Modelling the joint torques and loadings during squatting at the Smith machine

An analytical biomechanical model was developed to establish the relevant properties of the Smith squat exercise, and the main differences from the free barbell squat. The Smith squat may be largely patterned to modulate the distributions of muscle activities and joint loadings. For a given value of the included knee angle (θ(knee)), bending the trunk forward, moving the feet forward in front of the knees, and displacing the weight distribution towards the forefoot emphasizes hip and lumbosacral torques, while also reducing knee torque and compressive tibiofemoral and patellofemoral forces (and vice versa). The tibiofemoral shear force φ(t) displays more complex trends that strongly depend on θ(knee). Notably, for 180° ≥ θ(knee) ≥ 130°, φ(t) and cruciate ligament strain forces can be suppressed by selecting proper pairs of ankle and hip angles. Loading of the posterior cruciate ligament increases (decreases) in the range 180° ≥ θ(knee) ≥ 150° (θ(knee) ≤ 130°) with knee extension, bending the trunk forward, and moving the feet forward in front of the knees. In the range 150° > θ(knee) > 130°, the behaviour changes depending on the foot weight distribution. The conditions for the development of anterior cruciate ligament strain forces are explained. This work enables careful use of the Smith squat in strengthening and rehabilitation programmes.     

A driver model of a two-man bobsleigh

Up to now, the optimization of structural parameters affecting the performance of a bobsleigh has been carried out mainly on the basis of athletes’ feedback, thus leading to a series of small modifications without univocal guidelines. Even though on-track tests represent a basic step for the final tuning of the sled, experimentation does not seem to represent an appropriate tool to objectively determine the influence of such structural parameters on the overall performance. In fact, their effect can easily be masked by driving errors, changes in the ice surface conditions and temperature thus requiring repeated tests for achieving statistical evidence. For this reason, numerical analysis, carried out with a 3D model of the bobsled, turns out to be a privileged instrument to optimize bob design although limitations in the sled model (e.g. ice friction properties that still have to be fully understood) may affect the obtained results. However, such tool is able to provide useful indications only if a correct driver model is implemented. This work focuses on the development of a numerical model of a bobsleigh driver that aims at reproducing the driving behaviour of real-world cup drivers and is basically made up of two steps: the identification of the trajectory that allows minimizing run time and the determination of the driver’s inputs to exactly follow that trajectory. For comparison purposes, the simulated driver’s inputs are compared with recorded ones on Cesana Pariol Olympic track.