The Impact of Firm and Industry Characteristics on Small Firms' Capital Structure: Evidence from Dutch Panel Data

We investigate small firms’ capital structure, employing a proprietary database containing financial statements of Dutch small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from 2003 to 2005. We find that the capital structure decision of Dutch SMEs is consistent with the pecking order theory: SMEs use profits to reduce their debt level, and growing firms increase their debt position since they need more funds. Furthermore, we document that profits reduce in particular short term debt, whereas growth increases long term debt. This implies that when internal funds are depleted, long term debt is next in the pecking order. We also find evidence for the maturity matching principle in SME capital structure: long term assets are financed with long term debt, while short term assets are financed with short tem debt. This implies that the maturity structure of debt is an instrument for lenders to deal with problems of asymmetric information. Finally, we find that SME capital structure varies across industries but firm characteristics are more important than industry characteristics.Capital Structure;SMEs;pecking order theory;trade-off theory

The dawn and rise of antimony use in the southern Caucasus

Antimony (Sb) was utilised over several millennia as the prime material to opacify or decolour glass and glazes, as well as an accompanying element in copper (Cu) alloys. Metallic antimony objects are rare, and mostly confined to Chalcolithic Central Italy and to the first millennia BCE in the southern Caucasus. The innovation of antimony use in metallurgy seems to be confined to the southern Caucasus, and the invention of it might be even more specifically situated in the Great Caucasus. Preexisting knowledge of mining set the pathway for the initial stage of antimonial copper alloys in the first half of the third millennium BCE and for metallic antimony ornaments in the second half of the third millennium BCE. However, the first major expansion of antimony in the metallurgy of the Racha-Lechkumi district in the southern Caucasus (present-day Georgia) started around 1700 BCE, while its spreading in glassmaking occurred in the Late Bronze Age (LBA). Explanations that place antimony adoption within its broader social context are favoured over those that consider material or geological properties in isolation. A recurring theme is the importance of comparative analysis, both geographically and between the different pyrotechnologies, including the precious metals and glass industries, to explore how social, political, climatic and economic conditions affected adoption and innovation patterns. All these factors are considered to explain why the extraction of antimony blossomed in the Late Bronze Age in the southern Caucasus and to reconstruct a framework of exploitation, distribution/trade and use of antimony in the Caucasus and its neighbouring regions in the south and east.Classical & Mediterranean Archaeolog

Interpreting elements and isotopes in glass: a review

Substantial databases of elemental and isotopic analyses of ancient glass exist and are used to investigate raw material origin, trade, exchange, and processes such as mixing and recycling. However, the chemistry of archaeological glass may be challenging to the untrained. The paper provides structured information on the origin of chemical elements and their isotopes in ancient glass. It details some of the functions of individual elements in the glass and from which raw material(s) or process(es) they originate.Material Culture Studie

A 'match-no match' numerical and graphical kernel density approach to interpreting lead isotope signatures of ancient artefacts

A new method for interpreting lead isotope ratios of artefacts is presented: a numerical and graphical 'match-no match' with possible raw materials. By calculating the definite integral under the kernel density estimate plot of different mining districts, using open-access software and legacy data, the relative probability that an object is made of an ore is indicated. A match with the reference data set may indicate the true origin, while no match indicates an unknown origin, that is, not present in the data set of mineral resources. Likewise, the composite or recycled nature of artefacts can be investigated in a probabilistic manner.Material Culture Studie

Technology and provenance study of Levantine plant ash glass using Sr-Nd isotope analysis

Book description: The products of Byzantine glass-making workshops are found throughout the whole of the Mediterranean area and were also distributed into regions far beyond the borders of the Empire. Research into glass production and distribution in Byzantium has made enormous progress, especially in the last years. Thanks to state of the art scientific methods and a number of recent discoveries, it is not only possible today to identify centres of raw glass production, but also to trace additional trade routes to secondary workshops. Furthermore, the results of this research have revealed details of the formulas used in glass production, the source of the raw products and the technologies employed. The current state of this research was the subject of discussion at an international workshop hosted in January 2008 by the "Byzantine Archaeology Mainz". Contributions to this conference dealt with a geographical area between North Afrcia, the Balkans, Asia Minor and the Near East. The focal point of the workshop was formed on the one hand by results of scientific analyses of glass and on the other hand by studies of regionally-specific expressions of Byzantine forms of glass. Thus research into Byzantine glass manufacture has once again produced highly interesting findings and permitted an insight into the diverse possibilities of modern analytical methods

Analytical studies of post-Medieval glass bottle marks from excavations at Kazan Kremlin (Russia)

© 2017 Elsevier LtdArchaeological excavations of the Kazan Kremlin, a UNESCO World Heritage site, revealed stamped glass bottles dated from the second quarter of the 18th to the 19th centuries ACE. Two stamps have the exact date of 1822 and 1884. Most of the glass stamps in our dataset are clearly of Russian origin. All artifacts are lime–rich plant ash glasses, with low soda content. Their chemical composition indicates the use of similar recipe with various sources of glass cullet and straw ash for their manufacture, with the possible addition of wood ash and other components

Transformative copper metallurgy in Chalcolithic Cyprus: a reappraisal

Archaeology of the Near Eas

Reconstructing Regional Trajectories: the Provenance and Distribution of Archaic to Hellenistic Ceramics in Central Pisidia (South-west Turkey)

Material Culture Studie