177,075 research outputs found
The Impact of Corporate Governance on the Market Value of Financial Institutions - Empirical Evidences from Italy
No full textThis paper analyses how the quality of the corporate governance system impacts on the market value of the financial institutions listed on the Italian Stock Exchange. Implementing a good corporate governance is costly, therefore verifying whether the investment is worth its cost is a relevant issue. Despite the central role that financial institutions play in the real economy, there are few studies that focus specifically on the financial industry; filling this gap in literature is especially relevant to Italy, where the enterprises are highly dependent on the banking system for their financing needs. The first step of the present study is the assessment of the corporate governance quality of the sample companies through the Corporate Governance Index (CGI). CGI is a scoring model that analyses four different macro-areas of governance: Board, Compensation, Shareholders’ and Stakeholders’ Rights, and Disclosure. A Cross-sectional data regression is then used to study the relationship between the corporate governance quality and the market value of financial institutions. The analysis, using 2010 data, proves that there is a positive and statistically significant correlation between corporate governance and performance: this finding supports the hypothesis that governance creates value for companies and that investments to implement effective governance systems give net positive benefit and should therefore be pursued. Hence financial institutions should be encouraged to improve their corporate governance systems
Acoustic analysis of blast waves produced by rapid phase transition of LNG released on water
No full textMassive offshore and onshore storage of fuel have led the international community to raise questions about the hazards on the surrounding installations and people. Among the possible accidental scenarios when cryogenic gas as liquefied natural gas (LNG) is spilled on water at a very fast rate, the phenomenon of rapid phase transition (RPT) may occur: large amounts of energy are released during phase transition which can generate explosions. The related consequences should be added to the possible consequences of fire in terms of flash fire, fireball, pool fire. and vapour cloud explosion for confined and congested geometry Surrounding the release point. In this paper, the analysis of RPT of LNG has been Studied from the point of view of blast wave production, through ab initio acoustic analysis for monopole source. Maximum overpressures, as calculated at the source point and along the blast pathway are compared with results of large scale experiments. Safety distances are given for the sake of comparison with threshold distances reported in the open literature. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Explosion Scenarios Due to Rapid Phase Transition of Liquefied Natural Gas Released from Offshore Receiving Terminals and Sea Carriers
No full textExplosion Scenarios Due to Rapid Phase Transition of Liquefied Natural Gas Released from Offshore Receiving Terminals and Sea Carrier
Temperature control of Lithium-ion battery packs under high- current abuse conditions
No full textLi-ion batteries are being widely used as power sources in a continuously increasing number of applications (from portable devices to electric vehicles and even more complex systems). Nonetheless these components are still characterized by serious concerns connected with their safety and stability, which often hinder their more widespread use. In particular, their operation is strictly dependent on their temperature which derives from the balance between the heat internally produced during operation and that dissipated towards the external environment. Beyond certain temperatures a thermal runaway can occur with possible dangerous events, such as fires and explosions. In the present paper, 3D simulations have been carried out to investigate the cooling efficiency of an air flow, under different operating conditions, on a cylindrical Li-ion cell located in a whole battery pack. Under the investigated configurations, it was found that, beyond a minimum value of the passing air velocity, it is possible to keep the cell within safe conditions, thus preventing a thermal runaway
Blast waves produced by rapid phase transition of LNG on water
No full textMassive offshore and onshore storage of LNG have addressed the public concerns on all possible hazards on people and other installations either onshore or on ship. A discussion on blast waves produced by rapid phase transition of LNG on water covers risks related to the release of large amount of LNG; possible accidental scenarios; the phenomenon of Rapid Phase Transition (RPT); use of an acoustic model to define explosion pressure and total energy produced by the RPT of LNG; significant impacts to public safety and property from accidental spills; and acoustic evaluation of pressure wave produced by the rapid phase transition of LNG released accidentally on water. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 42nd Loss Prevention Symposium (New Orleans, LA 4/6-10/2008)
Quale filiera dell'automotive nel Mezzogiorno?
No full textThis article offers an analysis of the main features of the automobile sector in Southern Italy, and particularly of the industries allied to car manufacturing linked to Fiat Auto. Historically, the dependence of Southern factories on those producing components within Turin allied industries has represented a strict limit to the growth of an auto-qualified allied sector and to the set-up of an automotive supply chain in the Mezzogiorno. Such limits, although nowadays vehicle production is mostly concentrated in the Mezzogiorno factories, still remain, while a large part of components production is concentrated in Northern regions, specifically the highest value added production and most export-oriented. In turn, components production enterprises in the South of Italy regions, besides substantially depending on national or foreign enterprises that have their decision making offices elsewhere, report a very low export-propensity, have single-client relationships with Fiat, and few feedbacks on R&D activities. If we consider that suppliers carry out the 70% of a vehicle as for projecting and producing, and that they are going to play a more relevant role as for innovation, given the general relevance of car sector in the Mezzogiorno, we suggest that certain means of sustainability could be useful, within a wider context of industrial policies: for instance, these policies could consider these enterprises and local ones too, within the perspective of a new programme agreement able to really promote the set-up of an automotive supply chain in the Mezzogiorno
La RMN nella valutazione diagnostica delle neoplasie della base della lingua e dell'ipofaringe
No full textBubbico Luciano, Bandiera G., Campodonico F., Greco A., Guerrini R., Santarelli M., La RMN nella valutazione diagnostica delle neoplasie della base della lingua e dell'ipofaringe, in "Medicina moderna", 1990. Isfol OA: Article. Il presente articolo considera le capacità della RMN nel valutare le neoplasie della base della lingua e dell'ipofaringe.article. il presente articolo considera le capacità della rmn nel valutare le neoplasie della base della lingua e dell'ipofaringe. la rmn nella valutazione diagnostica delle neoplasie della base della lingua e dell'ipofaringe g. bandiera luciano bubbico f. campodonico a. greco r. guerrini m. santarell
Comparative analysis of calculation methods of pressure drops for two-phase flow through pipelines
No full textDespite the importance of an adequate and correct sizing of emergency relief systems, a high level of uncertainty is still present when two-phase liquid-vapor flow can establish. In such a case, no single correlation is presently generally applicable to calculate the pressure drop through a relief pipeline in a wide range of relief conditions. In the present paper a large number of new experimental data have been produced and compared with two of the most widely known and adopted calculation methods: the Friedel model and the classical Lockhart-Martinelli model. They belong to either of the two main groups of prediction models, the homogeneous and non-homogeneous models. The results provide useful insights in their accuracy and range of applicability, and are expected to be of help in the correct sizing of these fundamental safety systems. © 2015 Taylor & Francis Group
Radiografiat. Indagine nazionale della Fiom-Cgil sugli stabilimenti Italiani dei gruppi FCA e CNH Industrial
No full textI dati contenuti in questa indagine sono stati rilevati nel mese di aprile e in parte nella prima metà del mese di maggio di quest’anno (2014) in occasione di incontri territoriali con i responsabili di categoria della Fiom e i delegati degli stabilimenti dei Gruppi Fca e Cnh I.
L’indagine è organizzata in modo piuttosto schematico in 8 parti. Nella prima abbiamo pensato di riprendere alcuni dati essenziali
sul mercato dell’auto in Italia e in Europa
al fine di conoscere il posizionamento del Gruppo Fiat; in questo ambito abbiamo anche ricostruito l’andamento delle produzioni Fiat in Italia e all’estero e il peso
della spesa in R&S da parte del Gruppo, un tema quest’ultimo ripreso sommariamente nella seconda parte dell’indagine e in modo meno sistematico nelle parti successive. Nella seconda parte l’analisi è stata dedicata agli stabilimenti di assemblaggio auto (esclusi quelli del cosiddetto segmento del lusso) e veicoli commerciali; nella terza parte oggetto d’indagine sono stati gli stabilimenti di motori e cambi, nella loro diversa appartenenza
a Fca e Cnh Industrial; nella quarta parte l’analisi ha interessato gli stabilimenti del Gruppo Cnh I (macchine movimento terra, macchine agricole, macchine speciali, veicoli commerciali medi e pesanti); nella quinta parte gli stabilimenti Ferrari e Maserati; nella sesta parte gli stabilimenti Magneti Marelli; nella settima parte le rimanenti unità di Teksid e Comau, le unità di gestione ricambi (Fiat part and service) di None e Volvera
e l’unità di Arese per le attività dei servizi
pre e post vendita (Customer service centre
di Arese); nell’ottava parte sono contenute, infine, alcune considerazioni – da non intendersi come conclusioni – finalizzate a evidenziare alcune tendenze e alcune criticità emerse, oltre quelle più note, nel corso della mappatura. In quest’ultima parte è contenuto anche un quadro riepilogativo dei livelli occupazionali per singolo stabilimento e della forza lavoro complessivamente interessata dal ricorso ad ammortizzatori sociali (cigs, cigo, cig in deroga e contratti di solidarietà) alla fine del primo trimestre 2014
Preliminary methodology for the assessment of the global impact of a production site: a theoretical framework
No full textA new methodology for the assessment of the impact of an industrial installation on the surrounding environment will be here presented. Differently from previous approaches, where only specific aspects of the problem are taken into consideration, all the main issues characterizing the interaction between the plant and the territory have been here addressed. They range from continuous wastes emission, to accident occurrence, to intrinsic production plant aspects. The characteristics of the surrounding environment are also properly considered. The resulting comprehensive procedure and the set of component parameters are illustrate
- …
