Stakeholder capitalism, corporate governance and firm value

We consider the advantages and disadvantages of stakeholder-oriented firms that are concerned with employees and suppliers as well as shareholders compared to shareholder-oriented firms. Societies with stakeholder-oriented firms have higher prices, lower output, and can have greater firm value than shareholder-oriented societies. In some circumstances, firms may voluntarily choose to be stakeholder-oriented because this increases their value. Consumers that prefer to buy from stakeholder firms can also enforce a stakeholder society. With globalization entry by stakeholder firms is relatively more attractive than entry by shareholder firms for all societies. JEL Classification: D02, D21, G34, L13, L2

A timeline for massive star-forming regions via combined observation of o-H2_2D+^+ and N2_2D+^+

Context: In cold and dense gas prior to the formation of young stellar objects, heavy molecular species (including CO) are accreted onto dust grains. Under these conditions H$_3^+$ and its deuterated isotopologues become more abundant, enhancing the deuterium fraction of molecules such as N$_2$H$^+$ that are formed via ion-neutral reactions. Because this process is extremely temperature sensitive, the abundance of these species is likely linked to the evolutionary stage of the source. Aims: We investigate how the abundances of o-H$_2$D$^+$ and N$_2$D$^+$ vary with evolution in high-mass clumps. Methods: We observed with APEX the ground-state transitions of o-H$_2$D$^+$ near 372 GHz, and N$_2$D$^+$(3-2) near 231 GHz for three massive clumps in different evolutionary stages. The sources were selected within the G351.77-0.51 complex to minimise the variation of initial chemical conditions, and to remove distance effects. We modelled their dust continuum emission to estimate their physical properties, and also modelled their spectra under the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium to calculate beam-averaged abundances. Results: We find an anticorrelation between the abundance of o-H$_2$D$^+$ and that of N$_2$D$^+$, with the former decreasing and the latter increasing with evolution. With the new observations we are also able to provide a qualitative upper limit to the age of the youngest clump of about 10$^5$ yr, comparable to its current free-fall time. Conclusions: We can explain the evolution of the two tracers with simple considerations on the chemical formation paths, depletion of heavy elements, and evaporation from the grains. We therefore propose that the joint observation and the relative abundance of o-H$_2$D$^+$ and N$_2$D$^+$ can act as an efficient tracer of the evolutionary stages of the star-formation process

ATLASGAL-selected massive clumps in the inner Galaxy: I. CO depletion and isotopic ratios

In the low-mass regime, it is found that the gas-phase abundances of C-bearing molecules in cold starless cores rapidly decrease with increasing density, as the molecules form mantles on dust grains. We study CO depletion in 102 massive clumps selected from the ATLASGAL 870 micron survey, and investigate its correlation with evolutionary stage and with the physical parameters of the sources. Moreover, we study the gradients in [12C]/[13C] and [18O]/[17O] isotopic ratios across the inner Galaxy, and the virial stability of the clumps. We use low-J emission lines of CO isotopologues and the dust continuum emission to infer the depletion factor fD. RATRAN one-dimensional models were also used to determine fD and to investigate the presence of depletion above a density threshold. The isotopic ratios and optical depth were derived with a Bayesian approach. We find a significant number of clumps with a large fD, up to ~20. Larger values are found for colder clumps, thus for earlier evolutionary phases. For massive clumps in the earliest stages of evolution we estimate the radius of the region where CO depletion is important to be a few tenths of a pc. Clumps are found with total masses derived from dust continuum emission up to ~20 times higher than the virial mass, especially among the less evolved sources. These large values may in part be explained by the presence of depletion: if the CO emission comes mainly from the low-density outer layers, the molecules may be subthermally excited, leading to an overestimate of the dust masses. CO depletion in high-mass clumps seems to behave as in the low-mass regime, with less evolved clumps showing larger values for the depletion than their more evolved counterparts, and increasing for denser sources. The C and O isotopic ratios are consistent with previous determinations, and show a large intrinsic scatter.Comment: 20 pages, 17 figures, 38 pages of online material (tables and figures

ATLASGAL-selected massive clumps in the inner Galaxy: VI. Kinetic temperature and spatial density measured with formaldehyde

We aim to directly determine the kinetic temperature and spatial density with formaldehyde for the $\sim$100 brightest ATLASGAL-selected clumps at 870 $\mu$m representing various evolutionary stages of high-mass star formation. Ten transitions ($J$ = 3-2 and 4-3) of ortho- and para-H$_2$CO near 211, 218, 225, and 291 GHz were observed with the APEX 12 m telescope. Using non-LTE models with RADEX, we derive the gas kinetic temperature and spatial density using the measured p-H$_2$CO 3$_{21}$-2$_{20}$/3$_{03}$-2$_{02}$, 4$_{22}$-3$_{21}$/4$_{04}$-3$_{03}$, and 4$_{04}$-3$_{03}$/3$_{03}$-2$_{02}$ ratios. The gas kinetic temperatures derived from the p-H$_2$CO 3$_{21}$-2$_{20}$/3$_{03}$-2$_{02}$ and 4$_{22}$-3$_{21}$/4$_{04}$-3$_{03}$ line ratios are high, ranging from 43 to $>$300 K with an unweighted average of 91 $\pm$ 4 K. Deduced $T_{\rm kin}$ values from the $J$ = 3-2 and 4-3 transitions are similar. Spatial densities of the gas derived from the p-H$_2$CO 4$_{04}$-3$_{03}$/3$_{03}$-2$_{02}$ line ratios yield 0.6-8.3 $\times$ 10$^6$ cm$^{-3}$ with an unweighted average of 1.5 ($\pm$0.1) $\times$ 10$^6$ cm$^{-3}$. A comparison of kinetic temperatures derived from p-H$_2$CO, NH$_3$, and the dust emission indicates that p-H$_2$CO traces a distinctly higher temperature than the NH$_3$ (2,2)/(1,1) transitions and the dust, tracing heated gas more directly associated with the star formation process. The H$_2$CO linewidths are found to be correlated with bolometric luminosity and increase with the evolutionary stage of the clumps, which suggests that higher luminosities tend to be associated with a more turbulent molecular medium. It seems that the spatial densities measured with H$_2$CO do not vary significantly with the evolutionary stage of the clumps. However, averaged gas kinetic temperatures derived from H$_2$CO increase with time through the evolution of the clumps.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

Analysis of health care and actual needs of patients with psoriasis: a survey on the Italian population

Background: Over recent years the public health system has shown increasing interest in patients' views for use as guideline criteria in evaluating the quality of assistance above all for those patients with chronic diseases. Hence the interest in psoriasis, which is a chronic disease frequently associated with diabetes mellitus, hypertension, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases. The aims of our study were to describe clinic characteristics of patients with psoriasis, the quality of the assistance perceived by patients arrived at outpatients clinics and the information received, in order to identify areas in Italy requiring improvement. Methods: 1954 patients, aged between 18 and 85 years, were consecutively enrolled at outpatients clinics across 21 Italian provinces over the period December 2004 - January 2006. A standardized questionnaire was developed in collaboration with an Italian Association of Psoriatic Patients ( A. DI. PSO) and tested in a pilot study. The questionnaire was divided into three sections: the first section included social, demographic and individual variables; the second concerned the quality of the assistance perceived by the patients at public dermatologic clinics and the third focused on the need of information requirements of patients with psoriasis. The chi(2) test was used to estimate the association between the categorical variables under study. Kruskal-Wallis test was applied to the interval and ordinal variables. Results: The presence of psoriatic arthritis was reported in 26.0% of patients. Associated chronic diseases included depression (15.4%), hypertension (13.3%), obesity (8.9%) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (7.3%). The study highlighted the need of improvements of health care services at public dermatologic clinics especially in overcoming architectonic barriers and reducing appointment wait-times, particularly in South Italy. However, patients reported a positive relationship with Health System employers due to the confidentiality. This positive impression was confirmed by the observation that dermatologists were considered the best source of information about therapies on psoriasis. Conclusion: Our study allowed to identify critical aspects which could be tackled through initiatives with the aim of improving these emerged needs

The core population and kinematics of a massive clump at early stages: an ALMA view

High-mass star formation theories make distinct predictions on the properties of the prestellar seeds of high-mass stars. Observations of the early stages of high-mass star formation can provide crucial constraints, but they are challenging and scarce. We investigate the properties of the prestellar core population embedded in the high-mass clump AGAL014.492-00.139, and we study the kinematics at the clump and the clump-to-core scales. We have analysed an extensive dataset acquired with the ALMA interferometer. Applying a dendrogram analysis to the Band o-$\rm H_2D^+$ data, we identified 22 cores. We have fitted their average spectra in local-thermodinamic-equilibrium conditions, and we analysed their continuum emission at $0.8 \, \rm mm$. The cores have transonic to mildly supersonic turbulence levels and appear mostly low-mass, with $M_\mathrm{core}< 30 \, \rm M_\odot$. Furthermore, we have analysed Band 3 observations of the $\rm N_2H^+$ (1-0) transition, which traces the large scale gas kinematics. Using a friend-of-friend algorithm, we identify four main velocity coherent structures, all of which are associated with prestellar and protostellar cores. One of them presents a filament-like structure, and our observations could be consistent with mass accretion towards one of the protostars. In this case, we estimate a mass accretion rate of $\dot{M}_\mathrm{acc}\approx 2 \times 10^{-4} \rm \, M_\odot \, yr^{-1}$. Our results support a clump-fed accretion scenario in the targeted source. The cores in prestellar stage are essentially low-mass, and they appear subvirial and gravitationally bound, unless further support is available for instance due to magnetic fields.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Emergence of pseudogap from short-range spin-correlations in electron doped cuprates

Electron interactions are pivotal for defining the electronic structure of quantum materials. In particular, the strong electron Coulomb repulsion is considered the keystone for describing the emergence of exotic and/or ordered phases of quantum matter as disparate as high-temperature superconductivity and charge- or magnetic-order. However, a comprehensive understanding of fundamental electronic properties of quantum materials is often complicated by the appearance of an enigmatic partial suppression of low-energy electronic states, known as the pseudogap. Here we take advantage of ultrafast angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to unveil the temperature evolution of the low-energy density of states in the electron-doped cuprate Nd$_{\text{2-x}}$Ce$_{\text{x}}$CuO$_{\text{4}}$, an emblematic system where the pseudogap intertwines with magnetic degrees of freedom. By photoexciting the electronic system across the pseudogap onset temperature T*, we report the direct relation between the momentum-resolved pseudogap spectral features and the spin-correlation length with an unprecedented sensitivity. This transient approach, corroborated by mean field model calculations, allows us to establish the pseudogap in electron-doped cuprates as a precursor to the incipient antiferromagnetic order even when long-range antiferromagnetic correlations are not established, as in the case of optimal doping.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure