“ATENƏ del CNR” Award

People vulnerability to landslide: risky behaviors and dangerous conditions by gender and age

Paola Salvati (CNR-IRPI): The landslides with fatal outcomes that occurred in Italy in the 50-years period considered in the study caused victims in different ways depending on their sex.

By analyzing the circumstances, conditions and dynamics of deaths caused by landslides, we found a different tendency to risk taking and a different degree of exposure for males and females. The statistical analysis of the data used to identify a possible relationship between deaths depending on sex showed that the number of males dying by landslides are significantly higher compared to females.

Thanks to the data present in the "Catalogue of landslide and flood events that caused direct damage to the population" and through information by indirect sources (such as testimonies, publications, newspaper articles) a dataset was constructed which allowed us to determine to what extent the deaths depended on sex, age, circumstances and dynamics of the event (place and time of the event, but also the behavior of the victims).

Our research highlights that landslide deaths occur most frequently outdoors (along roads) and primarily involve male drivers or passengers movingin vehicles during daylight hours. It is interesting to note that male death is prevalent even though the number of registered male and female drivers is equal. On the contrary, women mostly loose their lives in closed environments.

With the aim of taking into account the demographic and socio-cultural changes that have occurred over time, we have applied a statistical approach by carrying out a diachronic and longitudinal temporal analysis  which splits the available data into three overlapping 30-year data-subsets, comparing the deaths by landslides with those expected for each period according to general population census data.

This research provides significant data and useful information for the study of the risk and vulnerability of the population and will help in the discussion about efficient preparation and mitigation actions that must take carefully into consideration the different degree of exposure to landslides depending on the gender.

“ATENƏ del CNR” Award

Frailty and the risk of infection-related hospitalizations in older age: Differences by sex

Marianna Noale (CNR-IN): We already knew that hormones play an important role in the immune system of young people and adults and that women, thanks to the action of estrogen, are favored in the production of antibodies compared to men. But does this difference between males and females persist even into older age? Does it have an impact on the risk of infection-related hospitalizations?

According to our results, yes. Elderly men, in fact, show greater vulnerability to infections induced by frailty than elderly women. By frailty we mean a condition of reduced functional physiological reserve associated with an increased risk of negative events (disability, hospitalization, institutionalization, mortality) typical for elderly people which, by exacerbating the alterations of the immune system, establishes a state of mild chronic inflammation, called inflammaging. Older women, on the contrary, seem to benefit from a sort of "immunological reserve" also influenced by the number of pregnancies. As a consequence, fragile women with multiple pregnancies are less exposed to the risk of infection-related hospitalizations.

These results give us important indications, both at a clinical level with the need to think about prevention and treatment measures that take into consideration the variable of sex but also the history of the individual person. They also provide further perspectives to take into consideration the demographic changes we are experiencing, such as aging populations and the reduction in the number of children per woman.

The study we presented involved approximately 3,000 people aged 65 and above, who were followed for 10 years through various follow-ups.

Our study considered data from the Veneto Anziani Project (Pro.V.A.), an epidemiological study that involved approximately 3,000 people aged 65 and above, followed for 10 years through various follow-ups. The analysis was developed as part of the "Finalized Health Research Call 2017, Veneto Region", on which we worked as the Neuroscience Institute of the CNR together with various other institutes (the Geriatrics group of the University of Padua, the Regional Epidemiological Service of the Veneto and the National Study Center on Health and Gender Medicine).

“ATENƏ del CNR” Award

Board diversity and performance in a masculine, aged and glocal supply chain: new empirical evidence

Giuseppe Calabrese (CNR-IRCRES): Is diversity an added value for companies? To answer this question, we assessed how the different composition of boards of directors and executives has an impact on the financial sustainability and profitability of companies in the automotive sector, which is historically characterized by the very high presence of men throughout the entire supply chain.

Our results show that female representation on boards has a robust positive effect on firm performance in terms of profitability and firm risk, especially in the context of complex firms. The other two dimensions considered, i.e., age and nationality, seem to play a less clear role.

These results are based on a very large data set, built from the bottom up on 1,538 companies operating in the Italian automotive supply chain (which includes a variety of players in electronics, engineering, mechanics, textiles...), representing one of the most relevant supply chains in Europe.

The study is part of a broad worldwide debate in research and management on the relationship between board diversity and performance. We do not know to what extent at the company level, especially among first and second level suppliers, exists awareness about the weight that diversity has on company results, but certainly the data on female representation on boards of directors and executives is growing compared to the past.

This type of study will also be valuable for investigating how the composition of management can help address the challenges that arise in the productive world in terms of technologies and skills.

The study was born within a concluded project, SVEGLIE, and brings together the two main expertise of our Institute, CNR-IRCRES, namely that of industrial economics and that of the sociology of innovation.