2,208 research outputs found
Heterologous Matrix Metalloproteinase Gene Promoter Activity Allows In Vivo Real-time Imaging of Bleomycin-Induced Lung Fibrosis in Transiently Transgenized Mice
No full textIdiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a very common interstitial lung disease derived from chronic inflammatory insults, characterized by massive scar tissue deposition that causes the progressive loss of lung function and subsequent death for respiratory failure.Bleomycin is used as the standard agent to induce experimental pulmonary fibrosis in animal models for the study of its pathogenesis. However, to visualize the establishment of lung fibrosis after treatment, the animal sacrifice is necessary. Thus, the aim of this study was to avoid this limitation by using an innovative approach based on a double bleomycin treatment protocol, along with the in vivo images analysis of bleomycintreated mice. A reporter gene construct, containing the luciferase open reading frame under the matrix metalloproteinase-1 promoter control region, was tested on doublebleomycin-treated mice to investigate, in real time, the correlation between bleomycin treatment, inflammation, tissue remodeling and fibrosis. Bioluminescence emitted by the lungs of bleomycin-treated mice, corroborated by fluorescent molecular tomography, successfully allowed real time monitoring of fibrosis establishment. The reporter gene technology experienced in this work could represent an advanced functional approach for real time non-invasive assessment of disease evolution during therapy, in a reliable and translational living animal model.Fil: Stellari, Fabio Franco. Chiese Farmaceutici; ItaliaFil: Ruscitti, Francesca. Chiese Farmaceutici; ItaliaFil: Pompilio, Daniela. Chiese Farmaceutici; ItaliaFil: Ravanetti, Francesca. Università di Parma. Dipartimento di Scienze Medico Veterinarie; ItaliaFil: Tebaldi, Giulia. Università di Parma. Dipartimento di Scienze Medico Veterinarie; ItaliaFil: Macchi, Francesca. Università di Parma. Dipartimento di Scienze Medico Veterinarie; ItaliaFil: Verna, Andrea Elizabeth. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Buenos Aires Sur. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Chiese Farmaceutici; ItaliaFil: Villetti, Gino. Chiese Farmaceutici; ItaliaFil: Donofrio, Gaetano. Università di Parma. Dipartimento di Scienze Medico Veterinarie
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Insurtech: nuove opportunità e sfide per il settore assicurativo con blockchain e smart contracts
No full textLa blockchain rappresenta una tecnologia di portata innovativa con grandissime potenzialità di sviluppo in molteplici contesti, dal banking, al capital market, all’insurance. L’innovazione tecnologica rappresenta uno dei principali driver del cambiamento per il settore assicurativo. L’utilizzo di smart contracts basati su blockchain presentano il vantaggio di semplificare la riconciliazione dei dati, migliorare l’accuratezza delle informazioni e ridurre il tempo necessario per la loro esecuzione, garantendo trasparenza, guadagni in termini di efficienza e diminuzione dei costi lungo la catena del valore. Nonostante i potenziali benefici, il settore assicurativo non ha ancora pienamente esplorato tutte le potenzialità della blockchain. Questo studio offre una panoramica delle InsurTech, esaminando i casi d’uso basati su blockchain e smart contracts nel settore assicurativo, per comprendere le applicazioni attualmente sviluppate
Gender diversity and financial and environmental performance in SMEs: a systematic literature review
No full textSmall and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent the most widespread business model so their environmental impact cannot be overlooked. The topic of sustainability in SMEs, current and well-debated in literature, has been investigated from different perspectives. Some studies have looked at the benefits and barriers related to the adoption of sustainable production policies, others the relationship with corporate performance, and still others the drivers of sustainability. The latter studies find founders/chief executive officer‘s (CEO) proactivity and sensitivity to environmental issues as important drivers of the business sustainable development process. However, limited are the studies that analyze the role and potential of the whole board of directors on SMEs‘ not only financial but also sustainable performance. This study provides a systematic literature review (SLR) to understand the main strands of research that investigated the relationship between board diversity and financial and sustainable performance. The results show that several studies have found a relationship between board diversity and financial performance, while there are still limited studies that analyze the relationship between board diversity and sustainable performance. This study not only provides a valuable knowledge base for the academic community on what has been addressed on the topic to date but also provides important new research directions, stimulating scientific contributions that analyze diversity on Boards in its several forms (ethnicity, gender, age, culture, religion) to understand which of these most stimulates SME sustainability
The Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Corporate Governance: The Board of Directors’ Response
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic poses a threat to the global economy, leading to the risk of a systemic crisis with devastating global economic impacts.
These circumstances have put a strain on corporate governance systems, which have had to address major new problems and challenges. This
chapter aims to investigate the board’s reaction to the COVID-19, by providing an overview of the actions taken at the corporate governance
level in the first phase of the pandemic.We first look at the actions taken by companies to support corporate governance; second, we examine the
strategic actions implemented by companies; and finally, we investigate the actions taken by the board that had financial impacts on firms. In
order to achieve our goal, we used the methodology of framing analysis. In particular, this study investigated the content of press releases
of Italian FTSE MIB (Financial Times Stock Exchange – Milan Stock Exchange Index) companies. Our findings show that the corporate governance
of the examined firms has implemented cost reduction actions, carrying out action plans aimed to mitigate the financial impacts related to COVID-19. Regarding changes to top management remuneration policies, some companies have updated their short- and medium-term strategy
or developed a new shareholder remuneration policy. In addition, most of the analyzed firms have put in place initiatives to actively support
the country’s efforts to overcome the current emergency by providing means and resources. The analysis of corporate press releases
revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic challenged corporate survival.
As such, our contribution has practical implications by providing an overview of the actions taken by corporate governance to respond to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, our study can serve as a support tool for firms in the process of defining actions and strategies to respond to
crisis events, especially if they affect the whole economic system
The impact of blockchain on smes’ sustainability. The case of an apulian wine company
No full textThe Italian business system, characterized mostly by the presence of SMEs, makes interesting the analysis of the tools that promote their growth, including through investments in new digital technologies. Among these, the blockchain has the potential to ensure greater transparency of business processes, supporting their competitiveness and sustainability. SMEs show an attitude of closure towards the digitization process, very often neglecting the benefits both in terms of economic-financial performance and improving competitiveness and corporate sustainability. In light of the limited theoretical contributions on the subject, this study aims to analyze the relationship between sustainability and digital technologies in SMEs, analyzing a case study operating in the wine sector. The results show an increasing attention of SMEs to digital innovation, recognizing their potential advantages in terms of improving corporate sustainability policies
Sustainability in banks’ corporate governance systems. What evidence from the European Banking System?
No full textThe corporate governance of banks, including management structures, employee relations and executive remuneration, plays a fundamental role in ensuring
the inclusion of social and environmental considerations in the decision making process. Many Supervisory Authorities are starting to focus on this
important issue. Indeed, as the OECD Corporate Governance principles stated, «the board is not only accountable to the company and its shareholders but
also has a duty to act in their best interests. Boards are expected to take due regard of, and deal fairly with, other stakeholder interests including those of
employees, creditors, customers, suppliers and local communities. Observance of environmental and social standards is relevant in this context»
(G20/OECD, 2015). Recently, the High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance, in its final report, stated that the composition of executive and supervisory
governing bodies is the key lever for aligning businesses more closely with long-term and sustainability perspectives. Business success hinges on executive
and non-executive supervisory directors understanding sustainability. In line with these considerations, this paper aims to explore the level of integration of sustainability strategies and considerations in the banks’ corporate governance systems.
drivers and being able to translate the risks and opportunities into their business
models. Moreover, financial sector supervisory authorities should assess
whether members of governing bodies are able to anticipate longer-term risks
and sustainability challenges and whether they take account of sustainability
considerations as part of their decisions processes
Big data and artificial intelligence for health system sustainability: The case of Veneto Region
No full textThis paper investigates the digitalization challenges facing the Italian healthcare system. The aim of the paper is to support healthcare organizations as they take advantage of the potential of big data and artificial intelligence (AI) to promote sustainable healthcare systems.
Both the development of innovative processes in the management of health care activities and the introduction of healthcare forecasting systems are valuable
resources for clinical and care activities and enable a more efficient use of inputs in essential-level care delivery. By examining an innovative project developed by the Regional Social Health Agency (ARSS) of Veneto, this study analyses the impact of big data and AI on the sustainability of a healthcare system. In order to answer the research question, we used a case study methodology. We conducted semi-structured interviews with key members of the organizational group involved in the case. The results show that the implementation of AI algorithms based on big data in healthcare both improves the interpretation and processing of data, and reduces the time frame necessary for clinical processes, having a positive effect on sustainability
The integration of sustainability in corporate governance systems: an innovative framework applied to the European systematically important banks
No full textThe growing interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues is the result of a cultural path that sees banks react to market changes and become protagonists of an increasingly sustainable future. Based on these considerations, this paper intends to investigate the level of integration of sustainability issues in banks’ corporate governance systems. We carry out an exploratory analysis on all European systematically important banks during the period 2015–2019. By adopting the content analysis approach, we develop a novel governance score based on a research model made up of 40 items. We name the score: “Bank’s governance ESG (Environmental Social Governance) integrated index”. The main results of our study reveal not only growing awareness of banks to integrate sustainability in their corporate governance, but also a strong heterogeneity in their corporate behaviours and large rooms for improvement. Indeed, we find that just over half of the surveyed banks pay really attention to the integration of sustainability issues in their business and governance processes. This contribution is especially driven by the banks’ boards of directors, whose size and composition contribute positively to overall sustainable performance. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study that investigates the level of integration of ESG factors in the banking sector, developing a quantitative score ranging from 0 to 100%. This study differs from previous studies in that it develops an “Bank’s governance ESG integrated index”, which considers the areas of corporate governance that have the greatest impact on the implementation of sustainable practices in banks. Our research is limited to investigating the level of integration of ESG factors for listed banks over a 5-year period. In fact, our time horizon is represented by the four-year period 2015–2019. This research has practical implications. First, investors more attentive on sustainability issues could identify and select the banks that best implement ESG criteria in their corporate governance systems. Second, our research model could be adopted by banks as a “diagnostic tool” to carry out a self-assessment process and identify possible room for improvement
Big Data and Artificial Intelligence to Support Risk Management: A Systematic Literature Review
No full textThe corporate downfalls of the early 2000s, the global financial crisis of the last years, and the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed companies into making efforts to improve Risk Management (RM) practices (PwC,2020). RM covers different applications and technological fields, involves both business and operational aspects, and affects all sectors at various levels and with different magnitudes. From an Information Technology (IT) perspective, RM can have dual value (Sanford & Moosa,2015): (1) operational RM and (2) data availability to applications, digital services, and lines of business. This last aspect is perhaps the most critical, especially today in the era of big data (BD), where application tasks are increasingly data intensive (Martínez-Rojas et al.,2018). For this reason, it is becoming increasingly important to invest in data to model cross-cutting RM solutions and strategies that find the right support in infrastructure (Dicuonzoet al.,2019; Sundhararajan et al.,2018).The increase in the quantity and quality of data stored or accessible by companies,the growing value of data, and the spread of national and international regulations require companies to manage data and information (Fenz & Neubauer,2018). On the one hand, from the perspective of RM, the concept of“data availability”translates into data accessibility and usability by IT systems or“data-intensive”tasks, such as those of BD analytics or artificial intelligence (AI) (Sanford & Moosa,2015). On the other hand, the concept of“integrity”should be understood as a guarantee that information does not undergo changes or deletions as a result of errors or voluntary actions, but also as a result of malfunctions or damage of technological systems(Müller et al.,2018). In this case, the combination with RM is even stronger because data protection results in the mitigation of risks associated with accessing or using data improperly (Guha,2018).Digital innovation has not only brought new technologies such as the Cloud, theInternet of Things (IoT), machine learning, or AI to the market but has also centralized the importance of data to business managers (Ivanov et al.,2018;Wamba et al.,2015).From an infrastructure point of view, storage unites the various individual aspects of a company’s digital transformation. It represents the technological layer through which to distribute the data, making it available according to the speed and performance ideal for each type of business. Storage-related planning could be a risk for companies riding the wave of BD or AI:“data-intensive”tasks require adequate infrastructural support, but its programming may be insufficient for the most advanced workloads, resulting in operational risk resulting from data availability.On the other hand, overestimated planning involves risks, from economic to system management (Müller et al.,2018).The intelligence of machine learning technologies helps you better manage the risks of data availability because it allows you to predict storage capacity and performance needs, and even model and upgrade hardware systems accordingly.In this context, RM becomes an element of value. The basic principle is the elimination of manual operations, which is now possible thanks to technologies that enable companies to collect and analyze data from any source, of any size and nature, and anywhere. The challenge for businesses is not in data storage but in data’s availability, accessibility, and usability in order to be evaluated and exploited at multiple levels, by multiple people, with increasingly advanced tools, services, and applications (Martínez-Rojas et al.,2018).In light of these considerations, this work aims to fuel the already existing, but still underdeveloped, debate on the implementation of AI and BD by companies as tools to support RM, offering a systemization of the state of the art and orienting academics toward this issue. The analysis, therefore, aims to investigate the advantages of adopting new technologies in RM systems, identifying the main applications and benefits that can come from the application of AI and BD. It is intended, therefore, to provide an integrated cognitive framework of what has been developed so far by the literature, in order to highlight the possible evolution of studies in the field.In particular, we want to answer the following research question:RQ:What are the main issues that animate the scientific debate on artificial intelligence and big data as a tool to support risk management?We develop a literature review over the period 2010–2020. Our main findings underline that AI applications and exploiting the information potential of the large120G. Dicuonzo et al.
amount of data managed by companies are becoming increasingly popular (Vostrikov et al.,2019). AI is among the main tools to support the RM function(Chen et al.,2012), allowing more effective RM (Hirsch,2018) and ensuring maximum reactivity and flexibility to anticipate unexpected events (Amaye et al.,2016; Engelseth & Wang,2018).This chapter is structured as follows: Section 2 outlines the methodology used;Section 3 outlines the main findings emerging from the literature review. Finally,Section4 contains the conclusions of the wor
Process Digitalization and Sustainability. Evidence from Utilities Industry in Europe and USA
No full textIn recent years, the business models of companies have undergone significant changes. These transformations are fueled by the increasingly domineering advent of technological innovation.
New technologies affect most sectors of the economy with significant impacts on industrial processes. The development of devices capable of transmitting and processing huge amounts of data in a timely manner promotes the efficiency of production processes and greater precision. In line with these considerations, the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies could be considered the tool capable of promoting the sustainability of business processes. The protection of the ecosystem, the satisfaction of the present and future needs of the community, as well as the continuous evolution of the production and industrial process have led to a radical transformation of the competitive business environment.
The issue of pollution and climate change is radically transforming the relationship between businesses and the environment, pushing them towards the implementation of strategies that affect the social, economic and social environmental problems in which they operate. Furthermore, in support of the adoption of sustainable behaviours, there are also new European regulations that increasingly encourage the integration of environmentally friendly policies.
Since environmental sustainability is one of the main drivers of competitiveness and innovation to date, this work aims to study the relationship between technological innovation and sustainability.
In order to achieve our goal, a regression model for the panel data will be estimated considering a time horizon of 5 years. The analysis will be conducted with reference to a sample of listed companies operating in the public services sector in Europe and the United States.
In our document we will use a multiple regression analysis to test the relationship between sustainability and digitalization of processes.
Since there is a productive synergy between Industry 4.0 and environmentally sustainable production, we expect to find greater sustainability in companies that use the digitalization of their industrial processes.
Today many studies focus on sustainability, while there is still little research explaining the relationship between digital innovation and sustainability. This study aims to fill this gap by offering an empirical analysis of the national and international context. The contribution has practical implications, as it provides market operators with information on how environmental sustainability issues will be affected by the adoption of new digital technologies
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