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To provide a detailed investigation about methods commonly used for the computation of high‐frequency electromagnetic fields in the vicinity of obstacles that can reflect or diffract them. This is useful to create an elementary block that can be used to evaluate with a high accuracy the propagation of high‐frequency electromagnetic waves in real urban environment.

The approach is based on a realistic application of the asymptotic theory of the uniform theory of diffraction. Therefore, the effect of material roughness and its electromagnetic properties on the reflection are taken into account.

Provides information about the mechanisms involved in electromagnetic field propagation in urban environment, and the relative importance of each one.

In urban environment the buildings obviously have finite dimensions. The diffraction equations examined in the paper are strictly valid only in the case of infinite wedges; therefore, the behaviour of real building edges has not been taken rigorously into account.

A source of information for researchers interested in the development of a simulator for the electromagnetic propagation in urban environment.

This paper is aimed at providing to researchers, in a more comprehensive way, all information needed for the study of electromagnetic propagation in an environment containing many close scatterers.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the enrolment at university and the subsequent possible dropout as a piece of the school-to-work transition and ask whether it improves or worsens the labour market outcomes a few years after graduation from the high school.

The analysis exploits data from the upper secondary graduate survey by ISTAT on a cohort of high school graduates and investigates the effect of dropping out four years after graduation. The labour market outcomes of university dropouts are compared to the outcomes of high school graduates who never enrolled at university. A propensity score matching approach is applied. The model is also estimated on the subsamples of males and females.

The findings show that spending a period at university and leaving it before completion makes the transition to work substantially more difficult. Both the probability of being NEET and getting a bad job increase in the case of dropout, while no relevant effect is found on earnings. Moreover, the impact of university dropout tends to be more harmful the longer the spell from enrolment to dropping out. Separate estimates by gender point out that females appear to be relatively more affected in the case of dropping out without a fallback plan.

While the existing studies in the literature on the school-to-work transition mostly focus on the determinants of the dropout, this paper investigates whether and how the employment outcomes are affected by dropping out in Italy. Moreover, university dropouts are compared to high school graduates with no university experience, rather than to university graduates. Finally, evidence on the mechanisms driving the effect of dropping out is provided, by considering timing and motivations for dropping out.

1. En guise d’introduction.‐ 2. Droit du tra vail, droit social et (des)ordre international.‐ 3. Droit du tra vail, droit social, légalité et droits sociaux.‐ 4. Droit du travail, droit social, légalité et correction des inégalités.‐ 5. Quelques mots á propos du rôle du Droit dutravail.‐ 6. Réflexions (supplémentaires) sur le droit du tra vail: les domaines possibles de spéculation théorique et de re cher che appliquée.‐ 7. En matière des orientations générales du droit du travail á l’époque contemporaine. ‐ 8. Le défi de la mondialisation.‐ 9. èour un modèle économique et so cial européen.‐ 10. A propos de Constitution européenne et ..... alentours.‐ 11. Le traitement juridique de la ques tion économique et sociale en Eu rope.‐ 12. Le mythe de la li bre concurrence.‐ 13. Quelques conclusions, pas conclusives.‐

Research on the association between individual characteristics of undergraduate students, drop-out and delayed graduation is still evolving. Therefore, further evidence is required. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

This paper reports on an empirical study examining the relationship between students’ individual characteristics and delayed graduation. The analysis is based on a sample of 1,167 students who have registered on and have completed a full-time undergraduate programme in Italy. Using a Probit model, the findings document the individual, background and environmental indicators that play a role in explaining delayed graduation.

The study observes that students who commute to university perform better than those residing on campus. Other factors increasing the probability of completing the undergraduate programme on time include individual characteristics (e.g. gender and age), student background (family income, education), institutional environment (teaching and research quality) and student satisfaction. Finally, some policy implications are discussed.

A direct policy implication of these findings is that supporting academic staff in order to enhance their performance in both research and teaching has a positive effect on the performance of the students.

This paper contributes to the debate on the impact of institutional quality on students’ performance, aiming to address the question of balance between teaching and research orientation.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse some of the spectrum management policy implications of an evolving set of wireless technologies. Specially, deployment of heterogeneous networks (HetNets) as part of the rollout of long-term evolution networks and their expected use as the heart of next-generation services raises the question as to whether such networks should lead to any spectrum management policy changes.

The paper describes the use and variety of HetNets when using licensed and unlicensed or commons spectrum.

The paper demonstrates that there is little need to change current spectrum licensing regimes to deal with these networks in a licensed spectrum. However, it also shows that the deployment of HetNets other than WiFi in an unlicensed spectrum creates an information asymmetry, which means that spectrum regulators will find assessment of spectrum demand more difficult. The paper also highlights the problem facing spectrum regulators when there is a potential for interference to unlicensed services which are widely deployed but have no right to protection from interference.

Spectrum regulators will need to understand the extent to which an unlicensed spectrum is being used by mobile network operators to deliver wireless broadband services. This understanding is needed to be able to address potential interference with other services using an unlicensed spectrum and to be able to forecast spectrum demand.

The development of technologies that are designed to be used by existing mobile network operators for the delivery of wireless broadband services using an unlicensed spectrum creates novel regulatory challenges. This paper reviews some of these.

The purpose of this paper is to provide health professionals with novel psychoactive substances (NPS) clients with up to date information relating to the background, clinical pharmacology and, when possible, clinical management for each of these categories.

The world of NPS is complex and diverse, including a range of different molecules such as: psychedelic phenethylamines; synthetic cannabinoids, cathinone derivatives; novel stimulants; synthetic opiates/opioids; tryptamine derivatives; phencyclidine-like dissociatives; piperazines; GABA-A/GABA-B receptor agonists; a range of prescribing medications; psychactive plants/herbs; and a large series of performance and image-enhancing drugs. These molecules are sought by users for their psychactive effects.

The NPS categorization and classification provided here is an attempt to identify and better understand some of these substances. Given the vast range of medical and psychopathological issues associated with the NPS described it is crucial for health professionals to be aware of the effects and toxicity of NPS. The EU-MADNESS project aims to both better understand the pharmacology of the available/forthcoming NPS and to disseminate the most current NPS-related information to practising and training health professionals.

Further studies are required to identify a range of evidence-based, NPS-focused, clinical management and treatment strategies.

The rapid pace of change in the NPS online market constitutes a major challenge to the provision of current and reliable scientific knowledge on these substances.

The present review will provide an overview of the clinical and pharmacological issues related to a few hundred NPS.

The purpose of this research paper is to discuss the evolution in business models (BM) of one key player (Netflix) in the French online streaming video services market.

The paper is based on a qualitative approach (Netflix case study based on secondary data) to reduce the gap between theory and business practice.

Through technological convergence, the movie and video industry has seen dramatic changes in the means of consumption, forcing the traditional media players to evolve and adapt their strategy and BM to face new entrants (mainly IT companies). Coopetitive practices have been developed in spite of a fierce competition in the French market with impact on BM. Netflix is representative of this evolution.

This qualitative research is based on a case study. The results of a single case study cannot be used to make generalizations. Certainly, this paper represents only a first step. Further research is required in this field.

The originality of this paper is to expand the understanding of BMs by including various strategic and marketing perspectives and analyze the impact of coopetitive practices on the BM of one key player: Netflix.

The motivation for a firm to operate overseas can vary significantly among smaller firms. The reasons why firms internationalise, rather than remain in the domestic market, vary depending upon: their industry, their home country, their managers’ perceptions and decision-making orientation. Companies are influenced by different motivations to reach foreign markets and use different strategies including different entry modes. These motivations can be internal or external, reactive or proactive. This chapter begins by focusing on how different motivations of firms can influence their success in foreign markets from a generic perspective. The authors then present a case study of Brazilian small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the shoe industry, a traditional, low-technology sector, which play an important role in the Brazilian economy. The shoe industry changed significantly over time, until the 1970s had little international experience, in the 1990s was impacted by new Asian market competition, illustrating with firm examples taken from interviews, how SMEs have had to evolve and change their international strategic approaches and motivations over time. The authors conclude with perspectives on SME specificities. Understanding what motivates shoe firms to go abroad and their internationalisation behaviour allows us to provide some suggestions to SME managers in their process of expansion into international markets.

This study aims to present metaGraphos, a crowdsourcing system that aids in the transcription and semantic enhancement of scanned documents by using a pool of volunteers or people willing to participate in exchange for a financial reward.

The metaGraphos can be used in circumstances where optical character recognition fails to produce satisfactory results, semantic tagging or assigning thematic headings to texts is considered necessary or even when ground-truth data has to be collected in raw form.

The system automatically provides a Web-based interface comprising a static HTML page and JavaScript code that displays the scanned images of the document, coupled with the corresponding incomplete texts side by side, allowing users to correct or complete the texts in parallel.

By assisting the parallel transcription and the semantic enhancement of difficult scanned documents, the system further reveals the hidden cultural wealth and aids in knowledge dissemination, a fact that contributes significantly to the academic-scientific dialog and feedback.

Individual researchers, libraries and organizations in general may benefit from the system because it is cost-effective, practical and simple to set up client–server architecture that provides a reliable way to transcribe texts or revise transcriptions on a large scale.

The aim of this study is to examine the bioactive properties of lactobacilli‐fermented B‐vitamin soymilk, namely the in‐vitro antihypertensive property and bioconversion of isoflavone glucosides to aglycones.

Lactobacillus acidophilus BT 1088, L. fermentum BT 8219, L. acidophilus FTDC 8633 and L. gasseri FTDC 8131 were investigated for their bioactive potential and enhanced bioconversion of isoflavones in soymilk supplemented with individual B‐vitamins at a concentration of 1 mg/L.

The supplementation of thiamine, riboflavin, niacinamide, calcium pantothenate, biotin and folic acid enhanced the ACE‐inhibitory activity of lactobacilli in soymilk accompanied by a lower IC₅₀ value compared to the control (P<0.05). The β‐glucosidase specific activity of lactobacilli was also enhanced on supplementation of B‐vitamins, leading to increased bioconversion of isoflavones in soymilk. The concentration of genistein was decreased, accompanied by an increased concentration of genistein on fermentation in the presence of thiamine, niacinamide, biotin, calcium pantothenate and folic acid. Additionally, the supplementation of niacinamide, calcium pantothenate, biotin and folic acid also led to lower concentrations of malonyl daidzin, indicating increased hydrolysis of malonyl daidzin to daidzin. Results from the present study indicated that the supplementation of B‐vitamins could enhance the bioactive potential and bioconversion of isoflavones in lactobacilli‐fermented soymilk.

This work has shown that the supplementation of B‐vitamins in lactobacilli fermented soymilk has exerted in vitro ACE‐inhibitory activity and increased the accumulation of bioactive isoflavone aglycones. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first evaluation reporting on such aspects.