Characteristics of Italian art restoration firms and factors influencing their adoption of laser technology

Given the limited number of studies on this topic, the aim of this study is to better understand the characteristics of art restoration firms in Italy, with particular reference to their use of innovative technologies such as laser technology. The paper is supported by a survey conducted in a sample of 100 companies. The factors that have led firms to adopt or resist the adoption of the laser were identified and analysed. The results show that the main determinants of laser adoption are collaborative activities between the firms and universities and specific requests made by public institutions to use this technology.

The Representation of Virtual Reality in Education

Students' opinions about the opportunities and the implications of VR in instruction were investigated by administering a questionnaire to humanities and engineering undergraduates. The questionnaire invited participants to rate a series of statements concerning motivation and emotion, skills, cognitive styles, benefits and learning outcomes associated with the use of VR in education. The representation which emerged was internally consistent and articulated into specific dimensions. It was not affected by gender, by the previous use of VR software, or by the knowledge of the main topics concerning the introduction of IT in instruction. Also the direct participation in a training session based on an immersive VR experience did not influence such a representation, which was partially modulated by the kind of course attended by students.     

The economic impact of technological and organizational innovations. A firm-level analysis

By using firm-level data provided by the last round of the (Italian) Community Innovation Survey (CIS4) this paper explores (in a manufacturing-services comparative framework) the relationship between technological and non-technological innovations and their impact on firms’ performances. The empirical evidence presented shows that including the organizational dimension of innovation provides a much more comprehensive picture of the variegated universe of innovation in both macro-sectors. Four distinct innovation modes have been identified on the basis of the ways firms combine technological and non-technological innovations. These different modes of innovation are present and relevant in both manufacturing and service sectors and have been found to have a differentiated impact on firms’ performances. Strategies characterized by the joint introduction of product, process and organizational innovations have been found to give to both manufacturing and service firms a clear competitive advantage vis à vis both non-innovating firms and firms with a narrow approach to innovation. A few significant differences between services and manufacturing firms in the relevance and economic impact of different types of innovation strategies have also been found.     

Adaptability and Grit: Foundations for Their Joint Contribution to Students' Academic and Nonacademic Outcomes

Adaptability (adjustment to new and uncertain situations) and grit (perseverance and passion for long-term goals) both sustain students, but their joint contribution has never been explored, and recent studies propose they could compose a single factor. In this study we aim to test whether (i) they actually belong to a single overarching factor as recently posited by the Triarchic Model of Grit and (ii) they have specific effects on different outcomes. We show that, in a sample of 602 students (11–18 years old), perseverance of effort, consistency of interests (the two facets of grit), and adaptability are distinct factors, that uniquely contribute to the outcomes considered (academic self-efficacy, achievement emotions, learning goals, self-regulated learning, achievement, and life satisfaction). Perseverance resulted as the strongest predictor, followed by adaptability and consistency. Conscientiousness was positively related to all three. We conclude that adaptability and grit are two separate but correlated factors that can promote a host of positive outcomes.     

Crowd science: The organization of scientific research in open collaborative projects

A growing amount of scientific research is done in an open collaborative fashion, in projects sometimes referred to as “crowd science”, “citizen science”, or “networked science”. This paper seeks to gain a more systematic understanding of crowd science and to provide scholars with a conceptual framework and an agenda for future research. First, we briefly present three case examples that span different fields of science and illustrate the heterogeneity concerning what crowd science projects do and how they are organized. Second, we identify two fundamental elements that characterize crowd science projects – open participation and open sharing of intermediate inputs – and distinguish crowd science from other knowledge production regimes such as innovation contests or traditional “Mertonian” science. Third, we explore potential knowledge-related and motivational benefits that crowd science offers over alternative organizational modes, and potential challenges it is likely to face. Drawing on prior research on the organization of problem solving, we also consider for what kinds of tasks particular benefits or challenges are likely to be most pronounced. We conclude by outlining an agenda for future research and by discussing implications for funding agencies and policy makers.     

Anthropometry and body composition of female handball players according to competitive level or the playing position

Abstract

Anthropometry and body composition were investigated in 43 female handball players from the Italian championships, grouped according to their competitive level (elite vs. sub-elite) or their playing position [goalkeeper (n = 7), back (n = 14), wing (n = 18), or pivot (n = 4)]. The anthropometry consisted of several circumferences, lengths, widths, and skinfold measurement at six sites; the regional and total body compositions were assessed by means of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). One-way ANOVA was used for statistical analysis, with a Bonferroni post-hoc test where needed. The results showed that elite players have significantly lower percentages of fat and higher bone mineral content than sub-elite as well as a clear tendency to accrue more lean mass, especially in upper limbs. Overall, the physical characteristics and body composition of handball players in Italy compared unfavourably with those in other countries, suggesting a need for improved selection and training. When playing position was included in the analysis of the whole group of handball players (n = 43) significant differences were found between the stature, mass, body mass index (BMI), several skinfolds, circumferences and lengths, and total body mineral mass, lean mass and fat mass of players in different positions. Post-hoc analysis suggests that players on the wing and in goalkeeper positions differed most from one another. These findings confirm and expand on previous data about the presence of anthropometric differences within playing positions in handball.     

Windows into Children’s Thinking: A Guide to Storytelling and Dramatization

Telling and dramatizing stories is an increasingly popular addition to the preschool curriculum, largely due to the attention this activity has received through the writings of Vivian Paley (Bad guys don’t have birthdays: fantasy play at four. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1988; The boy who would be a helicopter: the uses of storytelling in the kindergarten. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1990; A child’s work: the importance of fantasy play. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2004). While the writings of Paley and others (Cooper, When stories come to school: telling, writing, and performing stories in the early childhood classroom. Teachers & Writers Collaborative, New York, 1993; Engel 1999) focus on the social and cognitive outcomes children experience as a result of storytelling, less has been written about the process of writing and dramatizing stories with young children. This article discusses procedures and considerations that enhance storytelling with preschool children, including effective prompts for encouraging children’s creativity, potential trouble spots such as aggression in stories, and ways that storytelling can enhance home-school relationships.     

An extention of the school moral atmosphere construct, and its association with aggressive behaviours in secondary school

The first aim of this research is to introduce and to validate the new concept of School Normative Context, that revisits the concept of School Moral Atmosphere studied by Brugman and his colleagues through the SMAQ (1999) and validated also in the Italian context (Mancini & Fruggeri, 2005). The School Normative Context entails two new aspects: The first one concerns the interactive dimension of each specific school context and the second one concerns the perception of responsibility (internal vs, external) in the implementation of the norm. The second aim is to study the relation among adolescents perception of School Normative Context, adolescents’ orientation towards social rules and their aggressive behaviours against classmates at school. 268 students (mean age 17,01) attending three Italian high schools of three different educational levels (Lyceum, technical and professional) participated in this research. They filled a questionnaire composed of three parts: School Normative Context Questionnaire (SNC), Normative Orientation Scale (NOS) and Aggression Scale (Orpinas, Frankowski, 2001). School Normative Context has shown an acceptable degree of conceptual and predictive validity. The research has shown that the School Normative Context has an influence on the aggressive behaviours against classmates. Furthermore, it is a mediating factor between the adolescents’ orientation towards social norms and their aggressive behaviours at school.     

Stretching of DNA confined in nanochannels with charged walls

There is currently a growing interest in control of stretching of DNA inside nanoconfined regions due to the possibility to analyze and manipulate single biomolecules for applications such as DNA mapping and barcoding, which are based on stretching the DNA in a linear fashion. In the present work, we couple Finite Element Methods and Monte Carlo simulations in order to study the conformation of DNA molecules confined in nanofluidic channels with neutral and charged walls. We find that the electrostatic forces become more and more important when lowering the ionic strength of the solution. The influence of the nanochannel cross section geometry is also studied by evaluating the DNA elongation in square, rectangular, and triangular channels. We demonstrate that coupling electrostatically interacting walls with a triangular geometry is an efficient way to stretch DNA molecules at the scale of hundreds of nanometers. The paper reports experimental observations of λ-DNA molecules in poly(dimethylsiloxane) nanochannels filled with solutions of different ionic strength. The results are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions, confirming the crucial role of the electrostatic repulsion of the constraining walls on the molecule stretching.