1,721,119 research outputs found
L'insostenibile leggerezza dei Bund tedeschi nell'area Euro
No full textLa letteratura economica e quella dei principali organismi internazionali sui tassi di rendimento dei debiti sovrani dell’area euro non sembra aver preso in considerazione il tema in un ottica di intermediazione finanziaria, sul terreno suo proprio. In questo articolo si tenta di colmare questa lacuna con analisi quantitative e di scenario incentrata sui quattro maggiori paesi dell’area Euro (Germania, Italia, Francia e Spagna).
Le specificazioni adottate sono basate su una interazione tra effetti di breve periodo (modelli alla Capm di un ipotetico fondo di investimenti in titoli sovrani) e determinanti di medio lungo periodo legate ai fondamentali macro (debito e deficit su PIL).
Il fitting migliore rispetto ai modelli consensus deriva da Beta variabili di portafoglio che simulano i comportamenti divergenti tra tassi tedeschi e italiani, spagnoli e francesi (gli spread), non escludendo l’impatto dei fondamentali alla BCE in un’ottica di medio periodo. Dalle simulazioni, per la fine dell’anno in corso e in prospettiva per il 2014, sembrano emergere alcuni
interrogativi in merito alla efficacia delle misure di riequilibrio economico-finanziario suggerite dalla letteratura e/o dagli organismi internazionali nell’area euro: un rialzo dei tassi dei Bund tedeschi accoppiato ad un riallineamento delle politiche di bilancio simili quelle realizzate nei passati anni da Italia e Spagna ed in corso in Francia sembrerebbero, dalle proiezioni, implicare effetti di progressivo superamento dell’attuale stasi, da una parte, e di riduzione del rischio di break up dell’aera euro, dall'altra.Both the economic literature and the International Organizations Report’s on the sovereign debts yield’s in the Euro Area do not seem to have covered the issue on the asset allocation specific ground. This paper attempts to fill this gap with naïve quantitative analyses and scenario’s projections, focusing on the four major Eurozone countries (Germany, Italy, France and Spain). The approaches adopted are centered on the interactions between short-term behaviors (CAPM type models for a hypothetical fund investments in sovereign bonds) and medium- long behaviors linked to the macro fundamentals (debt and deficit on GDP). To some extent, the results fit better than obtained from current models (consensus models): portfolio time-varying Beta’s captures the divergent behaviors of the rates between Germany, Italy, France and Spain coupled with the impact of single countries macro-fundamentals. The various scenarios prospects covering the end of 2013 and the beginning of the 2014 exclude a realignment of South Countries spreads without a substantial increase of German rates (roughly speaking, the same rates of the Treasury Bills). Furthermore, 200 basis points spread between Italian Bond and benchmark Deutschland Bond is foreseeable only by (literature’s counterintuitive) measures to comprise Germany debt and deficit, similar to those adopted by Italy and Spain, and in progress in France. In all et all and finally, the results suggest a focus on the risks due to the effect of a dramatic reduction German bonds price, i.e. the risks that the asset purchases of German bonds (today a sort of safe haven and insurance for the other bonds of the euro area) may to shrink due to some shock/expectations changes of a big international investor and subsequent domino effects
Ghetti e campi. La produzione istituzionale di marginalità abitativa nelle campagne siciliane
No full textFare ricerca qualitativa con persone disabili: possibili sfide e benefici
No full textA partire dal confronto di tre ricerche empiriche, questo contributo si pone l’obiettivo di riflettere sulle principali sfide metodologiche ed etiche connesse alla conduzione di ricerche qualitative che prevedono la partecipazione delle persone disabili. Più in particolare, i tre casi studio sono stati selezionati strategicamente, ovvero sulla base dell’utilizzo di tecniche di ricerca qualitativa che implicano un grado crescente di coinvolgimento delle persone con diverse forme di disabilità (fisica, mentale e relazionale). Le autrici discutono, a partire da esempi tratti dalle ricerche presentate, di come la partecipazione alla ricerca da parte di persone con caratteristiche ed esperienze differenti comporti sfide metodologiche ed etiche specifiche. Se colte dai ricercatori, queste sfide offrono la possibilità non solo di ampliare la conoscenza di contesti sociali poco esplorati, ma anche di contribuire alla promozione del benessere e dell’autoaffermazione delle persone disabili
Coupled VEM–BEM Approach for Isotropic Damage Modelling in Composite Materials
No full textNumerical prediction of composite damage behaviour at the microscopic level is still a challenging engineering issue for the analysis and design of modern materials. In this work, we document the application of a recently developed numerical technique based on the coupling between the Virtual Element Method (VEM) and the Boundary Element Method (BEM) within the framework of continuum damage mechanics (CDM) to model the in-plane damage evolution characteristics of composite materials. BEM is a widely adopted and efficient numerical technique that reduces the problem dimensionality due to its underlying formulation. It substantially simplifies the pre-processing stage and decreases the computational effort without affecting the solution's accuracy. VEM is a recent generalization to general polygonal mesh elements of the Finite Element Method that ensures noticeable simplification in the data preparation stage of the analysis, notably for computational micro-mechanics problems, whose analysis domain often features complex geometries. The numerical technique has been applied to artificial microstructures, representing the transverse section of composite material with stiffer circular-shaped inclusions embedded in a softer matrix. BEM is used to model the inclusions that are supposed to behave within the linear elastic range, while VEM is used to model the surrounding matrix material, developing nonlinear behaviours. Numerical results are reported and discussed to validate the proposed method
Virtual element method for computational homogenization of composite and heterogeneous materials
Full text linkIn this study, a two-dimensional multi-region framework, based on the use of the Virtual Element Method (VEM), is developed for computational materials homogenization and applied to different classes of widely employed heterogeneous materials. The VEM has recently emerged as a powerful generalisation of the Finite Element Method capable of dealing with very general polygonal mesh elements, including non-convex or highly distorted elements. Such features are appealing for the treatment of problems whose analysis domains present complex or statistical morphological features, which would generally require careful and time-consuming mesh/data preparation and regularization. In this work, the lowest-order VEM for two-dimensional elastostatics is employed for the homogenization of polycrystalline materials and unidirectional fibre-reinforced composites. In both cases, artificial micro-morphologies are usually generated resorting to automatic algorithms aimed at approximating/reproducing the statistical microscopic features of real materials. In such a context, the likely presence of morphological irregularities, and subsequent mesh distortions, usually requires caution and the employment of sophisticated mesh regularization procedures. The study demonstrates how the inherent features of the VEM can be conveniently exploited for such classes of problems, as the method allows the relaxation of the requirements on the mesh quality, yet providing accurate numerical results
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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