Non-Performing Loans for Italian Companies: When Time Matters. An Empirical Research on Estimating Probability to Default and Loss Given Default

Within bank activities, which is normally defined as the joint exercise of savings collection and credit supply, risk-taking is natural, as in many human activities. Among risks related to credit intermediation, credit risk assumes particular importance. It is most simply defined as the potential that a bank borrower or counterparty fails to fulfil correctly at maturity the pecuniary obligations assumed as principal and interest. Whenever this happens, a loan is non-performing. Among the main risk components, the Probability of Default (PD) and the Loss Given Default (LGD) have been the subject of greater interest for research. In this paper, logit model is used to predict both components. Financial ratios are used to estimate the PD. Time of recovery and presence of collateral are used as covariates of the LGD. Here, we confirm that the main driver of economic losses is the bureaucratically encumbered recovery system and the related legal environment. The long time required by Italian bureaucratic procedures, simply put, seems to lower dramatically the chance of recovery from defaulting counterparties

Levels of processing: the evolution of a framework

Although the levels of processing framework have evolved over its nearly 40 years of existence, the essence of the idea has not changed from the original. The original article published in 1972 suggests that in the encoding stage of a stimulus, there is a series of processing hierarchies ranging from the shallowest level (perceptual processing-the subject initially perceives the physical and sensory characteristics of the stimulus) to the deepest level (semantic processing-related to pattern recognition and extraction of meaning). The depth processing is associated with high levels of retention and long-term memory traces. After extensive research and criticism, the authors added several concepts that aided in a better understanding of levels of processing framework and the items that subjects can recall such as transfer-appropriate processing and robust encoding. However, there are still some gaps in this framework that call for new scientific investigations, ranging from experimental paradigms with lists of words with healthy or pathological conditions subject to neuroimaging studies to confirm, refute or improve the framework. The aim of this article is to review the publications (articles and book chapters) dating from the original article to the present day to better understand the mnemonic process in terms of levels of processing and to highlight some of its contributions.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)UNIFESPSciEL

Filtration performance of ultrathin electrospun cellulose acetate filters doped with TiO₂ and activated charcoal

Air filters are crucial components of a building ventilation system that contribute to improving indoor air quality, but they are typically associated with relatively high pressure drops. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effect of additives on ultrathin electrospun filters, the pressure drop, and the particle removal efficiency of uniformly charged particles. The fibres were electrospun under optimised conditions that resulted in a fast-fabricating process due to the properties of the cellulose acetate solution. Different ultrathin electrospun fibre filters based on cellulose acetate (CA) were fabricated: a pure CA electrospun fibre filter, two filters based on CA fibres separately doped with activated charcoal (AC) and titanium dioxide (TiO2), respectively, and a composite filter where the two additives, AC and TiO2, were embedded between two CA fibres layers. The ultrathin filters exhibited a low pressure drop of between 63.0 and 63.8 Pa at a face velocity of 0.8 m s−1. The filtration performance of uniformly charged particles showed a removal efficiency above 70% for particle sizes between 0.3 and 0.5 μm for all filters, rising above 90% for larger particles between 1 and 10 μm, which translates to the average sizes of pollens and other allergenic contaminant particles. Due to the positive impact on the fibre morphology caused by the additives, the composite filter showed the highest filtration performance among the produced filters, reaching 82.3% removal efficiency towards smaller particles and a removal of up to 100% for particle sizes between 5 and 10 μm. Furthermore, cellulose acetate itself is not a source of microparticles and is fully biodegradable compared to other polymers commonly used for filters. These ultrathin electrospun filters are expected to be practical in applications for better building environments

Electrospun Nanofibre Air Filters for Particles and Gaseous Pollutants

Nanofibre filters may offer new properties not available in commercial fibre filters. These include a higher surface area and the ability to include novel materials within the fibres. In addition the small size allows potential gains in performance due to the slip-flow phenomenon in which normal gas viscosity does not apply to objects smaller than the mean free path of the gas. We tested the properties of novel electrospun fibre filters generated from polyvinyl alcohol solutions, optionally embedded with nano-grains of photocatalytic TiO2 and activated charcoal. The tested materials exhibited pressure drops in the range of 195 Pa to 2693 Pa for a face velocity of 5.3 cm/s and a removal efficiency greater than 97% for 12–480 nm particles. Basis weights for the filters ranged from 16.6 to 67.6 g/m2 and specific surface areas ranged from 1.4 to 17.4 m2/g. Reactivity towards volatile organic compounds (VOCs) was achieved by irradiating the photocatalytic filters with ultraviolet light. It is necessary to solve the problems connected to the absorbance of VOCs and further reduce the resistance to airflow in order for these filters to achieve widespread use. The incorporation of reactive air filtration into building ventilation systems will contribute to improved indoor air quality

Traumatic Isolated Intramural Duodenal Hematoma Causing Intestinal Obstruction

A 21-year-old man was admitted 36 hours after a blunt abdominal trauma occurred during a sporting competition. He complained of colic epigastric abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. He was hemodynamically stable; blood counts and metabolic panel were normal. Abdominal CT showed an intestinal obstruction caused by an 8 × 6 × 11 cm hematoma on the right lateral duodenal wall without signs of active bleedin

The supernova remnant SN 1006 as a Galactic particle accelerator

The origin of cosmic rays is a pivotal open issue of high-energy astrophysics. Supernova remnants are strong candidates to be the Galactic factory of cosmic rays, their blast waves being powerful particle accelerators. However, super nova remnants can power the observed flux of cosmic rays only if they transfer a significant fraction of their kinetic energy to the accelerated particles, but conclusive evidence for such efficient acceleration is still lacking. In this sce nario, the shock energy channeled to cosmic rays should induce a higher post shock density than that predicted by standard shock conditions. Here we show this effect, and probe its dependence on the orientation of the ambient magnetic field, by analyzing deep X-ray observations of the Galactic remnant of SN 1006. By comparing our results with state-of-the-art models, we con clude that SN 1006 is an efficient source of cosmic rays and obtain an obser vational support for the quasi-parallel acceleration mechanism