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The aim of the study is to identify main failure phenomena and to evaluate reparation costs, reparation time, loss of profit and their relationship with power plant and faulty components age. In this work, several machinery breakdowns occurred in thermal power plants fed by solid biomass, biodiesel, biogas and municipal solid waste, have been investigated. In the period between 2004 and 2012, 23 faults have been analyzed.

Each fault has been classified considering: power plant technical specifications, type of damage, reparation cost, reparation time and loss of profit (when data are available). The whole data have been, therefore, compared to find out significant information.

It has been pointed out that relevant property damages are mainly caused by old components failure. In addition, the loss of profit is generally much higher than the property damage (six times on average basis).

The study provides useful information that can be of interest for personnel of energy utilities, banks and insurance companies in managing power plants risks and in planning the availability of energy services.

The purpose of this perspective paper is to investigate the role of robots in tourism’s contribution to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

With a deep analysis of the 17 SDGs and their 169 targets, the authors provide an interpretation on both the positive and negative impacts of robots in tourism towards the achievement of the SDG.

For several SDGs, the positive impact of robots in tourism is evident, whereas for others, it can be debated as the adoption of robots can lead to both positive and negative impacts, mostly dependent on how robots will be used. In particular, robots can provide a decent work environment for tourism and hospitality (TH) employees (SDG 8) who perform dangerous tasks while decreasing the consumption of resources (SDGs 2, 6, 7, 12, 13) due to their contribution to a company’s effectiveness and efficiency. In the meantime, robots have some impacts on the environment, both in terms of the use of resources (their manufacturing relies on rare Earth materials and robots are energy demanding) and output, especially for the management of toxic waste (e.g. batteries).

The main limitation of this perspective paper is the lack of empirical measurement of the effects of robots in tourism on the achievement of the SDGs. However, it is a necessary exploration as a foundation for future research.

This perspective paper may be useful for robot manufacturers in identifying the positive and negative aspects of robots when designing sustainable robots (in terms of energy efficiency, management of the end-of-life of components, etc.) to conform to the expectations of the SDGs. It can be useful to TH companies when their managers evaluate whether to adopt robots in service operations or not.

This contribution discusses the social implications in adopting robots in TH, specifically in terms of new opportunities for employment and in the substitution of humans in dirty, dull and dangerous tasks. It helps policymakers adopt the best policies for fostering the use of robots in TH with an eye to the environmental and social ramifications of robots.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this perspective paper is one of the first studies to investigate the role that robots can play in achieving the SDGs by TH companies.

本文旨在研究机器人在旅游业对实现永续发展目标(SDGs)的贡献。

从 17 个 SDGs及其 169 个目标深入分析后, 本文从正反两面向解释机器人在旅游业中对实现SDGs的影响。

机器人总体对旅游是有正面影响的, 但对少数SDGs可能衍生负面影响。机器人可为执行高风险任务的员工(SDGs)提供安全的工作环境, 也能因其效率使公司减少资源消耗(SDGs 2、6、7、12、13)。但无论在资源使用(制造仰赖土料及能源)或废弃物 (例电池)的管理, 机器人对环境有一定的风险。

本文是少数研究机器人在旅游和酒店业实现SDGs所扮演的角色。

本文缺乏旅游机器人对实现SDGs的实证测量, 但本研究可为未来研究奠定基础。

据SDG设计机器人时, 本文从能源效率和组件报废等角度, 为制造商点出机器人的正反面影响。当经理需评估是否在服务中采用机器人时, 本文也可提供方向。

本文在促进旅游和酒店业使用机器人的同时, 也讨论它们的社会影响, 特别是提供就业机会, 及代替高风险工作的员工。

El propósito de este artículo de perspectiva es investigar el papel de los robots en la contribución del turismo al logro de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS).

Los autores aportan una interpretación sobre los impactos, tanto positivos como negativos de los robots en el turismo hacia el logro de los ODS sobre un profundo análisis de los 17 ODS y sus 169 metas.

Para varios ODS, el impacto positivo de los robots en el turismo es evidente, mientras que para otros puede debatirse, ya que la adopción de robots puede generar impactos tanto positivos como negativos, dependiendo principalmente de cómo se utilicen. En particular, los robots pueden proporcionar un entorno de trabajo digno para los empleados de turismo y hostelería (ODS 8) que realizan tareas peligrosas, al tiempo que reducen el consumo de recursos (ODS 2, 6, 7, 12, 13) debido a su contribución a la eficacia y eficiencia de una empresa turística. De igual forma, los robots tienen algunos impactos en el medio ambiente, tanto en términos de uso de recursos (su fabricación se basa en materiales de tierras raras y los robots demandan energía) como de producción, especialmente para la gestión de desechos tóxicos (p. ej., baterías).

Este artículo de perspectiva es uno de los primeros estudios que investigan el papel que pueden desempeñar los robots en el logro de los ODS por parte de las empresas de turismo y hostelería.

La principal limitación de este artículo de perspectiva es la falta de medición empírica de los efectos de los robots en el turismo en el logro de los ODS. Sin embargo, es una exploración necesaria como base para futuras investigaciones.

Este artículo de perspectiva puede ser útil para que los fabricantes de robots identifiquen los aspectos positivos y negativos al diseñar robots sostenibles (en términos de eficiencia energética, gestión del final de la vida útil de los componentes, etc.) y así cumplir con las expectativas de los ODS. Puede ser útil para las empresas de turismo y hostelería cuando sus gerentes evalúan, si adoptar o no robots en las operaciones de servicio

Esta contribución discute las implicaciones sociales en la adopción de robots en el turismo y la hostelería, específicamente en términos de nuevas oportunidades de empleo, y en la sustitución de humanos en tareas rutinarias, aburridas o peligrosas. Ayuda a los responsables políticos a adoptar mejores políticas para fomentar el uso de robots en el turismo y la hostelería teniendo en cuenta las ramificaciones ambientales y sociales de éstos.

This research aims to explore whether or how organizations adopt people analytics (PA), its value and potential socio-technical factors that can enable or hinder PA projects by disrupting and reshaping human resource management. We do this by focusing on the Italian context.

We conduct a scoping review of data collected between 2018 and 2022 via Google Alerts (GA), a content change detection and notification service that is gaining popularity in scholarly research.

Our findings suggest that the diffusion of PA applications in Italy, especially those of a descriptive nature, is growing. Most of the existing PA applications are positioned in a positive technocratic light, envisioning the value of PA for both employees and organizations. The value for the latter appears to be direct, while the value for employees is realized through organizational initiatives. The findings also suggest that while enablers can vary between PA application types, the barriers, especially technological and environmental, are generic for both descriptive and predictive/prescriptive PA applications.

Theoretically, we propose a framework for analyzing PA applications, their values, enablers and barriers. Methodologically, we present and describe in detail a novel approach, drawing on GA that can be used to study PA in specific contexts. Practically, our study serves as a helpful point of reference for managers planning or implementing PA in Italy, for benchmarking PA in Italy over time and for comparative international studies.

In the past decade, more than 700 million people are affected by some kind of disability or handicap. In this context, the research interest in assistive robotics is growing up. For people with mobility impairments, daily life operations, as dressing or feeding, require the assistance of dedicated people; thus, the use of devices providing independent mobility can have a large impact on improving their life quality. The purpose of this paper is to present the development of a robotic system aimed at assisting people with this kind of severe motion disabilities by providing a certain level of autonomy.

The system is based on a hierarchical architecture where, at the top level, the user generates simple and high-level commands by resorting to a graphical user interface operated via a P300-based brain computer interface. These commands are ultimately converted into joint and Cartesian space tasks for the robotic system that are then handled by the robot motion control algorithm resorting to a set-based task priority inverse kinematic strategy. The overall architecture is realized by integrating control and perception software modules developed in the robots and systems environment with the BCI2000 framework, used to operate the brain–computer interfaces (BCI) device.

The effectiveness of the proposed architecture is validated through experiments where a user generates commands, via an Emotiv Epoc+ BCI, to perform assistive tasks that are executed by a Kinova MOVO robot, i.e. an omnidirectional mobile robotic platform equipped with two lightweight seven degrees of freedoms manipulators.

The P300 paradigm has been successfully integrated with a control architecture that allows us to command a complex robotic system to perform daily life operations. The user defines high-level commands via the BCI, letting all the low-level tasks, for example, safety-related tasks, to be handled by the system in a completely autonomous manner.

This paper offers an approach for outlining the main dimensions surrounding clusters in three areas of knowledge: economic geography, strategic management and operations management, the first being considered its natural field of knowledge.

The work was developed using the citation analysis technique as applied to a database of 627 articles and 22,980 citations, taken from 15 important journals in the areas selected.

The results proved that the theoretical and conceptual bases are unique to each of the areas studied and that they have few topics in common between them. They are complementary, however, and this facilitates their reconciliation.

The sample base, despite considering fairly influential periodicals in the areas of knowledge selected, can be considered to be a limitation.

Common themes and different areas of knowledge surrounding the cluster concept were identified; despite being considered “common”, a more detailed examination of their content reveals very different, but certainly complementary emphases, which makes it possible to reconcile the areas of knowledge.

In recent decades there has been a tendency towards a “standardization” in the consumer habits of people living in countries with advanced economic development. This has been caused both by the change in the products available and in lifestyles and by the “power” acquired by modern distribution channels (large retail distribution). Apart from this development, however, there has been increasing interest, particularly in the last ten years, in dietary, health and hygiene products characterized by high quality production and content, which may or may not be closely connected with the history and/or culture of the territory. In order, therefore, to understand the mechanisms that regulate the consumer market of organic produce better, a survey was carried out to define the use, purchase and sensitivity to the price of these products in relation to the preferences expressed by consumers as regards the benefits associated with the consumption.

This paper investigates the marketing and pricing policies for traditional and organic fruit and vegetable products of large food retailers in four European countries by means of a survey of 47 stores, including all major food retail chains. Data have been analysed to investigate what determines the presence of organic products, the extent to which the price mark‐up between traditional and organic products depends on the inherent quality of organic products rather than on the amount of extra service and information often associated with these products, and the importance of country location within the single European market in determining the characteristics of the retail outlets. The results of the econometric analysis indicate that the size, location and overall quality of the outlet, and the degree of product information and customer service are the variables which best predict the choice to sell organic products. Also, the results indicate that almost half of the price mark‐up between traditional and organic products is explained by store characteristics and the amount of extra service and information provided with these products.

This paper aims to draw on a family business perspective to explore the historic accounting records of an Italian liquorice juice business. The applicability of the three-circle model of family business systems to such an historic context is examined.

Using archival records, the Cassa accounting book of the business is studied. Its transactions are examined to distinguish family and business items over the period from 1875 to 1920.

Through an analysis of the accounting records, the family, ownership and business systems are shown to overlap more than typically expected in a contemporary setting.

Contemporary literature suggests the three-circle model of a family business is relatively static, but it has not been applied to an historic context. This study suggests that the model can be applied in historic studies, but it is not static over time with its elements needing refinement.

This work aims to assess the potential of a Bio-District as a model for applying the circular economy concerning the waste scope. It aims to understand the capability of organic farms to manage waste with a circular perspective, starting with the use of indicators that directly or indirectly impact the waste scope.

This study is based on previous work that identified and systematised the circular indicators of the agri-food sector within a dashboard. With this research as a basis, the indicators within the waste scope in the dashboard were extracted. Cross-linked indicators with an indirect connection to the waste scope were also systematised and tested in a case study. Primary and secondary data were used for the study. The primary data came from a semi-structured interview, and the secondary data were from official databases.

The work highlights two important results. The first allows the definition of a subclassification of indicators by product and organisation, extracting those with a cross-linked characteristic concerning the waste scope. Secondly, the indicators' application shows the farm's circular and waste valorisation potential within the Bio-District. The study also made it possible to test a new indicator, the “Potential Energy Biomass Recovery”, to measure the farm's potential to produce energy from waste.

This research proposes a new circular economy approach to evaluate waste management in the agri-food sector.

This paper aims to clarify how organizations manage their participation in networks to share and jointly create knowledge but also risk unwanted knowledge spillovers at the same time. As formal governance, trust and observation are less applicable in informal networks, the authors need to understand how members address the need to protect knowledge by informal practices. The study aims to investigate how the application of knowledge protection practices affects knowledge sharing in networks. The insights are relevant for organizational and network management to control knowledge risks but harvest the benefits of network engagement.

The authors opted for an exploratory study based on 60 semi-structured interviews with members of 10 networks. In two rounds, network managers, representatives and members of the networks were interviewed. The second round of interviews was used to validate the intermediate findings. The data were complemented by documentary analysis, including network descriptions.

Through analyzing and building on the theory of psychological contracts, two informal practices of knowledge protection were found in networks of organizations: exclude crucial topics and share on selected topics and exclude details and share a selected level of detail. The authors explored how these two practices are enacted in networks of organizations with psychological contracts.

Counter to intuition that the protection of knowledge can be strengthened only at the expense of knowledge sharing and vice versa, networks benefitted from more focused and increased knowledge sharing while reducing the risk of losing competitive knowledge by performing these knowledge protection practices.