A Comparison among the director networks in the main listed companies in France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on director interlocks by illustrating and analysing the interlocking directorships among the Italian, French, German, UK and US listed Blue Chips. The comparison of the five countries considered shows that two national models stand out. On the one hand a model made of a high number of companies linked to each other through a small number of shared directors who serve on several company boards at the time (France, Germany, and Italy). On the other hand, in the UK much fewer companies are connected to each other essentially through directors who have no more than two board positions at the time. A case in between is represented by the US, where a high number of companies are connected to each other just like Germany, France, and Italy. However, just like the UK, such connections are made through directors who tend to have just two board positions at the time, a sign that, differently from Italy, Germany, and France, the UK and US networks might not be functional to systemic collusion.corporate governance, interlocking directorships, antitrust, competition, social network analysis (SNA), exploratory data analysis (EDA), empirical corporate finance

A novel geo-statistical approach for transport infrastructure network monitoring by persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI)

Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) is an Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technique based on a multi-temporal interferogram analysis of SAR images. The aim of the technique is to extract long-term high phase stability benchmarks of coherent point targets, namely Persistent Scatterers (PS). In the last decades, several approaches have been developed to obtain PSI point targets, proving their viability for applications to transport infrastructure monitoring and surveillance. However, SAR satellites can only detect displacements in the Line-of-Sight (LoS), with reference to the specific orbit-related incident angle. This work proposes a novel geo-statistical approach to ease post-processing of large datasets of PSs resulting from the application of the PSI algorithms over an area of interest. The approach aims at correcting the component of the displacement collected from the acquisition geometry of the sensor

Health monitoring of masonry arch bridges by integration of GPR and InSAR techniques

Approximately 70,000 masonry arch bridge spans (brick and stone) are reported to exist in the United Kingdom with in excess of tens of thousands throughout Europe. A good portion of these bridges is still operational and form part of the road and rail network systems in many countries. However, a great majority of these structures require desperate repair and maintenance [1]. Non-destructive testing (NDT) methods such as ground penetrating radar (GPR), 3D laser scanning, accelerometer sensors and thermal cameras amongst many others have been used to assess and monitor such structures in the past few years [2]. However, research has proven that stand-alone or integrated use of ground-based techniques may not represent a definitive solution to some major structural issues, such as scour and differential settlements [3], as these require continuous monitoring and data collection on long-term basis. To that extent, use of satellite data-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry (InSAR) has proven to be effective in measuring displacements of infrastructure [4] [5] and natural terrain [6] over longer periods of observation. Within this context, the paper presents a new integrated monitoring approach including use of the GPR and the InSAR techniques to an historic masonry arch bridge - the Old Aylesford Bridge in Kent, UK – a 13th century bridge, crossing the river Medway. Main objectives of the research were: (1) to prove the viability of low-frequency and high-frequency GPR systems in providing structural detailing of the bridge deck at different depths and resolutions; (2) to be able to measure structural displacements with a millimetre accuracy caused by the seasonal variation of the water level in the river and the river bed soil expansions. Results have proven the viability of the above process to form the basis for an integrated health monitoring mechanism

Persistent scatterer SAR interferometry (PSI) for airport runways monitoring

In the last decades, monitoring the regional-scale deformation of international airports has become a priority, in order to ensure the highest operational security and safety standards. Within this context, among the most innovative and suitable techniques for transport infrastructures monitoring purpose, Persistent Scatterer SAR Interferometry (PSI) technology has proven to be an effective technique to investigate ground deformations [1-3]. However, the application of PSI to effectively and continuously monitor settlement in airports is an open challenge. In this study, a long time-series analysis of a high-resolution COSMO-Skymed satellite image-stack, acquired from September 2011 to October 2019, was collected and processed by PSI technique to retrieve the mean deformation velocity and time series of surface deformation of the runways of Leonardo Da Vinci-International Airport. The mean PS velocity information is compared to the ground-based levelling-data, collected on the runway using a total station, in order to validate and increase the feasibility of the monitoring processing. Finally, various Deformation maps using the Natural Neighbor Geostatistical interpolation algorithm [4], were created and demonstrated a maximum subsidence rate is up to 15.3 mm/yr during the investigated period. The results confirmed the well-known major down-lifting phenomenon over an area, which has undergone routine maintenance. Results have demonstrated the viability of integrating InSAR and topographical in-situ survey methods, paving the way to future implementations in prioritizing maintenance activities and helping for decision-making to have a comprehensive and inclusive information data system for the investigation of survey sites. The research is supported by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research under the National Project “Extended resilience analysis of transport networks (EXTRA TN): Towards a simultaneously space, aerial and ground sensed infrastructure for risks prevention”, PRIN 2017, Prot. 20179BP4S

Chanalyzer : a computational geometry approach for the analysis of protein channel shape and dynamics

Morphological analysis of protein channels is a key step for a thorough understanding of their biological function and mechanism. In this respect, molecular dynamics (MD) is a very powerful tool, enabling the description of relevant biological events at the atomic level, which might elude experimental observations, and pointing to the molecular determinants thereof. In this work, we present a computational geometry-based approach for the characterization of the shape and dynamics of biological ion channels or pores to be used in combination with MD trajectories. This technique relies on the earliest works of Edelsbrunner and on the NanoShaper software, which makes use of the alpha shape theory to build the solvent-excluded surface of a molecular system in an aqueous solution. In this framework, a channel can be simply defined as a cavity with two entrances on the opposite sides of a molecule. Morphological characterization, which includes identification of the main axis, the corresponding local radius, and the detailed description of the global shape of the cavity, is integrated with a physico-chemical description of the surface facing the pore lumen. Remarkably, the possible existence or temporary appearance of fenestrations from the channel interior towards the outer lipid matrix is also accounted for. As a test case, we applied the present approach to the analysis of an engineered protein channel, the mechanosensitive channel of large conductance

Down-Regulation of SOX2 Underlies the Inhibitory Effects of the Triphenylmethane Gentian Violet on Melanoma Cell Self-Renewal and Survival

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A Comparison among the director networks in the main listed companies in France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on director interlocks by illustrating and analysing the interlocking directorships among the Italian, French, German, UK and US listed Blue Chips. The comparison of the five countries considered shows that two national models stand out. On the one hand a model made of a high number of companies linked to each other through a small number of shared directors who serve on several company boards at the time (France, Germany, and Italy). On the other hand, in the UK much fewer companies are connected to each other essentially through directors who have no more than two board positions at the time. A case in between is represented by the US, where a high number of companies are connected to each other just like Germany, France, and Italy. However, just like the UK, such connections are made through directors who tend to have just two board positions at the time, a sign that, differently from Italy, Germany, and France, the UK and US networks might not be functional to systemic collusion