No Expo Network: a failed mobilization in a post-political frame

In 2015 Milan hosted the Universal Exposition with the theme ‘Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life’. Even if characterized by various scandals and problems, the edition was narrated by the mainstream media as a political and economic success. Critical voices were almost completely obscured by favorable propaganda and the ideas of development and the future proposed by the Expo rhetoric was presented as inevitable, configuring ‘the best of all possible worlds’ in a more general post-political frame. In this profile I first present the main characteristics of the No Expo Network, e.g. the actors that composed it and the main critiques that they advanced. I will then focus on the reasons for its defeat, which is then contextualized in relation to the election of the Chief Executive Officer of Expo 2015 as new Mayor of Milan. Here, we can see the continuation and structural strengthening of the neoliberal politics of Expo2015 beyond the mega event itself.     

Conspiracy theories and social movements studies: A research agenda

It is surprising to note the scarcity of contributions in social movement literature related to so-called conspiracy theories. A considerable amount of the work on these topics has been produced in political science, history, media studies, social psychology and other disciplines. These accounts have often adopted a stigmatizing approach, looking at conspiracy theories as forms of pathologies (whether psychological, social or political). Moving from such a perspective to a constructivist one, I argue that conspiracy theories should represent an object of interest for social movement scholars: conspiracies supporters go into the streets to highlight their issues, protest against authority, propose alternative lifestyles and often claim to look for a better/different society. Applying the social movements toolkit can allow to better understand this phenomenon and apply critical perspectives in a more effective manner. On the basis of this premise, the first part of this article reviews the existing literature on conspiracy theories, also identifying the main lacunae; the second part outlines some possible research questions and lines of inquiry, moving beyond the classical theories in the field of social movement studies. The paper also introduces a number of new concepts, such as conspiracy mobilizations and conspiracy coalitions.     

Leveraging global sources of knowledge for business model innovation

This article explores the concept of leveraging global knowledge for business model innovation, whereby knowledge is transferred across space and firm boundaries for the reconfiguration of an incumbent firm's business model. Considering the implications of an ever-increasing fragmentation of global value chains and the associated dispersion of global knowledge sources, we propose that supply chain partners at foreign locations can provide valuable knowledge that incumbents can leverage to change their business model. Integrating insights from global supply chain, business model, and organizational learning literature, we theorize and empirically test how different organizational capabilities enable firms to acquire knowledge from foreign partners, integrate external with internal knowledge, transform knowledge through experimentation, and finally apply global knowledge in the form of business model innovation. We conclude with suggestions for future research.     

Ridge regression versus ols by pitman's closeness under quadratic and fisher's loss

The existence of values of the ridge parameter such that ridge regression is preferable to OLS by the Pitman nearness criterion under both the quadratic and the Fisher's loss is shown. Preference regions of the two estimators under the above loss functions are found. An upper bound for the value of the Pitman's measure of closeness, independent of a deterministic or stochastic choice of the ridge parameter, is given.     

Gender role identity in a sample of Italian male homosexuals

Gender role is a multifactorial concept, as gender-related attitudes, behaviors, and personality are partially autonomous. The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalent gender role identity in a sample of male homosexuals. One hundred male homosexuals and 50 male heterosexuals matched for age and sex, have been assessed with the Italian version of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1974). Statistically significant differences have been found between the two groups at the dimensions "Masculine" (z = 1.963; p = 0.001) and "Androgyny" (z = 2.367; p < 0.0001). The results obtained from the present study tend to confirm that homosexuals view themselves as adrogynous individuals, sharing both features of masculine and feminine gender roles.     

Lipid peroxidation and the aging process

Consistent evidence supports the hypothesis that a progressive accumulation of oxidative damage to important cellular molecules is a fundamental mechanism involved in most senescence-associated alterations. Oxidative damage occurs when free radicals produced within an organism are not completely destroyed by the appropriate endogenous defense systems. Because lipids are a major component of living organisms and probably the first easy target of free radicals once they are produced, lipid peroxidation might play an important role in initiating and/or mediating some aspects of the aging process. It has been widely demonstrated that there is an age-associated increase in the steady-state concentrations of lipid peroxidation products. However, establishing the involvement of this phenomenon in the pathogenesis of the aging process has not been an easy task. The recent development of more reliable techniques to measure lipid peroxidation, together with more well-defined animal models of aging, should be of great help in future studies in this field. The current evidence for the presence and importance of lipid peroxidation in the aging process is discussed in this review.     

Top Management Team Internationalization and Firm-level Internationalization: The Moderating Effects of Home-region Institutional Diversity and Firm Global Focus

The factors that determine firms' levels of internationalization remain a focal area of international business research. Within this research stream, studies building on the upper echelons theory have investigated the influence of the demographic characteristics of the top management team (TMT) on firms' international expansion. However, the literature to date has overlooked the TMT's overall degree of internationalization as a key driver of firm-level internationalization. In our paper, we argue that by having self-selected into careers abroad, foreign TMT members by definition have a higher cognitive tolerance of foreignness than domestic TMT members do. We theorize that foreign TMT members' higher cognitive tolerance for foreignness enhances the overall TMT's level of international attention and international trust, thereby facilitating strategic decisions that favor firm-level internationalization. Additionally, we propose two key contingencies that attenuate this relationship: the institutional diversity of the firm's home region and the firm's global focus. Analysis of Fortune Global 500 firms supports the hypothesized relationship between TMT internationalization and firm-level internationalization, as well as the two moderation effects.