967 research outputs found
On Convergence across Transition Economies’ Financial Markets: the Role of Creditor Rights
Although twenty years have elapsed since the beginning of transition, Eastern European and Central Asian countries are still characterized by remarkably heterogeneous levels of economic development. In the light of the established causal relationship between finance and growth, we perform an absolute and conditional convergence analysis with reference to credit markets’ development to understand whether the lack of convergence in economic performances may also be a side - effect of persistently diversified financial architectures in these transition economies. Our investigation highlights: (i) the occurrence of absolute and conditional convergence; (ii) the existence of appreciable intra - distribution dynamics in the convergence process; and that, when conditioning for cross - country measures of the legal protection of creditors’ rights, (iii) the bankruptcy laws and their enforcement strongly boost credit markets’ average period growth rates.convergence, financial market development, investor protection, rule of law.
Deterrence, Incapacitation and Enforcement Design. Evidence from Traffic Enforcement in Italy
We investigate the deterrent effect on driving behavior due to the introduction of Demerit Point System in Italy. In addition, we measure the incapacitation effect on fatal accidents. Our findings highlight the high potential of the penalty system in reducing road fatalities through deterrence and incapacitation. Despite this, its aggregate effectiveness in Italy ultimately depended on the consistency of the enforcement design. We then suggest several policy options to increase road safety through a credible enforcement.deterrence, incapacitation, law enforcement, road safety
Analysis of attractor distances in Random Boolean Networks
We study the properties of the distance between attractors in Random Boolean
Networks, a prominent model of genetic regulatory networks. We define three
distance measures, upon which attractor distance matrices are constructed and
their main statistic parameters are computed. The experimental analysis shows
that ordered networks have a very clustered set of attractors, while chaotic
networks' attractors are scattered; critical networks show, instead, a pattern
with characteristics of both ordered and chaotic networks.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures. Presented at WIRN 2010 - Italian workshop on
neural networks, May 2010. To appear in a volume published by IOS Pres
Examining green production and its role within the competitive strategy of manufacturers
Purpose: This paper reviews current literature and contributes a set of findings that capture the current state-of-the-art of the topic of green production.
Design/methodology/approach: A literature review to capture, classify and summarize the main body of knowledge on green production and, translate this into a form that is readily accessible to researchers and practitioners in the more mainstream operations management community.
Findings: The existing knowledge base is somewhat fragmented. This is a relatively unexplored topic within mainstream operations management research and one which could provide rich opportunities for further exploration.
Originality/value: This paper sets out to review current literature, from a more conventional production operations perspective, and contributes a set of findings that capture the current state-of-the-art of this topic
On the nature of the Herbig B[e] star binary system V921 Scorpii: Discovery of a close companion and relation to the large-scale bipolar nebula
Belonging to the group of B[e] stars, V921 Scorpii is associated with a
strong infrared excess and permitted and forbidden line emission, indicating
the presence of low- and high-density circumstellar gas and dust. Many aspects
of V921 Sco and other B[e] stars still remain mysterious, including their
evolutionary state and the physical conditions resulting in the class-defining
characteristics. In this paper, we employ VLTI/AMBER spectro-interferometry in
order to reconstruct high-resolution (lambda/2B=0.0013") model-independent
interferometric images for three wavelength bands around 1.65, 2.0, and 2.3
micrometer. In our images, we discover a close (25.0+/-0.8 milliarcsecond,
corresponding to 29+/-0.9 AU at 1.15 kpc) companion around V921 Sco. Between
two epochs in 2008 and 2009, we measure orbital motion of 7 degrees, implying
an orbital period of about 35 years (for a circular orbit). Around the primary
star, we detect a disk-like structure with indications for a radial temperature
gradient. The polar axis of this AU-scale disk is aligned with the
arcminute-scale bipolar nebula in which V921 Sco is embedded. Using
Magellan/IMACS imaging, we detect multi-layered arc-shaped sub-structure in the
nebula, suggesting episodic outflow activity from the system with a period of
about 25 years, roughly matching the estimated orbital period of the companion.
Our study supports the hypothesis that the B[e] phenomenon is related to
dynamical interaction in a close binary system.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, accepted by The Astrophysical Journal Letter
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Service providers and firm performance: investigating the non-linear effect of dependence
PurposeServitized manufacturers can leverage close relationships with external providers of product-related services to mobilize value creation and improve the responsiveness of their offerings to customer needs. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the economic link between the relational embeddedness of external service providers, as arising from the key dimension of dependence, and firm performance.Design/methodology/approachThe study evaluates financial statement data pertaining to 190 dyadic relationships of servitized manufacturers with service providers operating in downstream channels and accounting for more than 10 per cent of their revenue.FindingsThe results indicate that service providers’ dependence has an inverted U-shaped relationship with manufacturers’ return-on-assets (ROA), via non-linear effects on return-on-sales and asset turnover. The results therefore suggest that the observed U-shaped relationship for ROA is driven by diminishing returns of dependence in terms of both differentiation ability and operational efficiency.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research could examine other dimensions of embeddedness, as well as contingency factors that may influence the embeddedness–performance relationship.Practical implicationsThe study conclusions suggest that managers of servitized firms should foster the embeddedness of external service providers, but they should also be careful to maintain an adequate level of dependence to maximize benefits and minimize liabilities.Originality/valueThe study adds to the limited research delving into inter-firm relationships between servitized manufacturers and external service providers. It empirically demonstrates the economic effects of service providers’ dependence-based embeddedness, challenging the general assumption about a monotonic positive effect of relational embeddedness.</jats:sec
The L1157-B1 astrochemical laboratory: testing the origin of DCN
L1157-B1 is the brightest shocked region of the large-scale molecular
outflow, considered the prototype of chemically rich outflows, being the ideal
laboratory to study how shocks affect the molecular gas. Several deuterated
molecules have been previously detected with the IRAM 30m, most of them formed
on grain mantles and then released into the gas phase due to the shock. We aim
to observationally investigate the role of the different chemical processes at
work that lead to formation the of DCN and test the predictions of the chemical
models for its formation. We performed high-angular resolution observations
with NOEMA of the DCN(2-1) and H13CN(2-1) lines to compute the deuterated
fraction, Dfrac(HCN). We detected emission of DCN(2-1) and H13CN(2-1) arising
from L1157-B1 shock. Dfrac(HCN) is ~4x10 and given the uncertainties, we
did not find significant variations across the bow-shock. Contrary to HDCO,
whose emission delineates the region of impact between the jet and the ambient
material, DCN is more widespread and not limited to the impact region. This is
consistent with the idea that gas-phase chemistry is playing a major role in
the deuteration of HCN in the head of the bow-shock, where HDCO is undetected
as it is a product of grain-surface chemistry. The spectra of DCN and H13CN
match the spectral signature of the outflow cavity walls, suggesting that their
emission result from shocked gas. The analysis of the time dependent gas-grain
chemical model UCL-CHEM coupled with a C-type shock model shows that the
observed Dfrac(HCN) is reached during the post-shock phase, matching the
dynamical timescale of the shock. Our results indicate that the presence of DCN
in L1157-B1 is a combination of gas-phase chemistry that produces the
widespread DCN emission, dominating in the head of the bow-shock, and
sputtering from grain mantles toward the jet impact region.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 7 pages, 5 Figures, 1 Tabl
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Examining the influence of service additions on manufacturing firms’ bankruptcy likelihood
By evaluating secondary data from 74 bankrupt manufacturers and 199 matched non-bankrupt competitors, this study investigates the relationship of manufacturers' service offerings to their survival. While showing that the number of services offered is not significantly associated with bankruptcy likelihood, the results suggest that greater numbers of product-related and product-unrelated service offerings do reduce bankruptcy likelihood when properly complemented by firm-level contextual factors. Offering more product-related services causes bankruptcy likelihood to decrease for those companies that have a sufficiently diversified product business. In turn, companies with sufficient slack resources can expect bankruptcy likelihood to be reduced from the offering of more product-unrelated services. In contrast, companies should not expect that successful product sales performance will increase their chances of survival by focusing on product-dependent services. In light of these findings, this study challenges the notion from conceptual literature that additional services per se increase the chances of firm survival; it extends prior empirical studies in uncovering critical firm-level context effects; and it proposes portfolio theory as a theoretical foundation to examine manufacturers' service expansions.This is the author accepted manuscript. It is currently under an indefinite embargo pending publication by Elsevier
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