173,909 research outputs found
On Grounding Arithmetic
No full textPhilosophy of mathematics of last fifty years has been dominated by
the metaontological stance according to which one fundamental problem of
the ontology of mathematical theories is the existence of mathematical objects
and the related epistemic access to them. But during the last ten years another
fecund and promising metaphysical framework has been developed: the key
idea (which goes back to Aristotle) is that the main problem of metaphysics is
about the relation of grounding among various levels of reality. Although this
approach should be relevant for almost all the metaphysical questions, however,
there are few attempts to extend these intuitions to the debate in philosophy
of mathematics. The aim of this, preliminary, work is analysing some possible
outcomes of the grounding approach in metaphysics of mathematics
Robustness against parametric noise of nonideal holonomic gates
No full textHolonomic gates for quantum computation are commonly considered to be robust against certain kinds of parametric noise, the cause of this robustness being the geometric character of the transformation achieved in the adiabatic limit. On the other hand, the effects of decoherence are expected to become more and more relevant when the adiabatic limit is approached. Starting from the system described by Florio [Phys. Rev. A 73, 022327 (2006)], here we discuss the behavior of nonideal holonomic gates at finite operational time, i.e., long before the adiabatic limit is reached. We have considered several models of parametric noise and studied the robustness of finite-time gates. The results obtained suggest that the finite-time gates present some effects of cancellation of the perturbations introduced by the noise which mimic the geometrical cancellation effect of standard holonomic gates. Nevertheless, a careful analysis of the results leads to the conclusion that these effects are related to a dynamical instead of a geometrical featur
Corrigendum: “3D - Navigated percutaneous screw fixation of pelvic ring injuries - a pilot study” (Injury (2020) 51(S3) (S28–S33), (S0020138320306069), (10.1016/j.injury.2020.07.025))
No full textthe authors regret < exchange of first author's name with her surname: michela is the name, florio is the surname>. the authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused
Activation of protein kinase C in neutrophil cytoplasts. Localization of protein substrates and possibles relationship with stimulus-response coupling.
No full textAbstractTreatment of enucleated, granule-free neutrophil cytoplasts with the protein kinase C activator phorbol 12O-myristate-13-acetate (PMA) causes an increased -32P-incorporation into a variety of polypeptides. Permeabilization of PMA-stimulated, 32P-labeled cytoplasts by 0.01% digitonin fully releases the majority of these phosphorylated proteins. A statistically significant correlation is found between the extent of PMA-induced activation of generation of Superoxide anion (O−2) and the phosphorylation of a cytosolic polypeptide with an apparent Mr, of 46000, whose -32P-labeling is also enhanced by the treatment of cytoplasts with 1-oleyl-2-acetylglycerol, the Ca2+ ionophore ionomycin or latex beads. Furthermore, treatment of cytoplasts with the protein kinase C inhibitor trifluoperazine markedly inhibits the 32P-labeling of proteins in the 40000 Mr range, including the 46 kDa polypeptide, and almost totally abolishes the activation of O−2 production by PMA
Grandi e piccole imprese nel Centro-Nord e nel Mezzogiorno: un modello empirico dell’impatto occupazionale nel lungo periodo
No full textQuesto lavoro presenta una verifica dell'ipotesi formulata in Florio (1991, 1996) secondo cui le relazioni fra grandi e piccole imprese sono la risultante di due forze opposte. Da un lato le grandi imprese possono agire come propulsori di sviluppo locale secondo modelli di propagazione ben studiati dal punto di vista teorico ed empirico. D'altro canto le stesse grandi imprese, soprattutto in settori e contesti ambientali deboli, possono avere effetti di spiazzamento dell'offerta locale in particolare attraverso il reclutamento come dipendenti di potenziali piccoli imprenditori. Quale delle due forze prevalga non può essere detto in generale, ma va esaminato in diversi periodi, settori, contesti regionali. Il tema ha particolare rilevanza nel caso italiano sotto il profilo delle politiche pubbliche, in particolare del ruolo che le politiche di sviluppo regionale e per l'occupazione dovrebbero assegnare alle grandi imprese, anche in considerazione dei processi di ristrutturazione che le coinvolgono (Giunta, 1997). Fra queste politiche in Italia, ad esempio, vi sono i contratti di programma con i quali lo Stato sussidia grandi progetti industriali in aree depresse (Florio, Giunta, 1998). Il presente testo non intende rispondere in modo definitivo alla questione proposta, ma suggerisce una metodologia che potrà essere ulteriormente sviluppata. Per lo svolgimento dell'analisi è stata costruita una base-dati che comprende dati censuari e dati Inps a base provinciale. In particolare i dati dei censimenti sono stati raccolti dal 1951 al 1991, con una copertura quindi pari a mezzo secolo di storia economica nazionale, aggiornando e migliorando un analogo esercizio presentato in Florio (1991). Il lavoro è strutturato come segue: a) una prima sezione presenta alcune considerazioni suggerite dall'esame dei dati; b) la seconda sezione presenta un modello empirico; c) nella terza sezione sono esposti i risultati. In appendice, sono riportati per esteso i dati provinciali utilizzati. Gli autori saranno lieti di fornire tale base-dati su dischetto ad altri ricercatori che desiderino verificare o estendere l'analisi
Lessons learnt and directions for future research on risk and risk management in diverse settings
No full textThis chapter aims at underlining some key messages as well as the lessons learnt from the research contributions offered in the book on risks and risk management in diverse, unique settings. It also suggests directions for future research, which shall consider multiple perspectives
Impairment losses and changes in the composition of CGUs: Anything new after the storm?
No full textThe rationale of the paper is that the current financial crisis, which has deeply affected the economic situation and future forecasts, may also impact on the results of the impairment test procedure and on the quality of disclosure on intangibles and impairment test. Moreover, companies may be incentivized to increase the size of their CGUs, so that the amount of possible goodwill impairment is mitigated by surplus assets.
Our research answers to the following questions, with regard to the companies included in the Italian FTSE MIB.
a) What are the results of the impairment test procedure in 2008, compared to previous years?
b) Are there any differences in disclosure in 2008, compared to the previous year?
c) Have CGUs changed from 2007 to 2008? That being the case, can we put forward implications on the “real” reasons for the change? That is to say, are there economic reasons for the change, or is the change related to earnings management purposes?
We run a specific analysis on goodwill, since the “volatility” of its value is normally greater than the one of other assets. Moreover, we separately examine banks and insurance companies (B&ICs), both because the financial crisis hit their financials severely and they are under strict control by their Regulatory Bodies. In other words, they seem an interesting field of research under both the evaluation and the disclosure perspective of analysis.
The results of this preliminary research demonstrate an increased level of impairment losses in 2008, more evident for B&ICs. Companies which record impairment losses disclose more information and present a weaker economic situation than the control group.
Such results suggest further developments of the research, both in terms of evaluation and disclosure issues
Public enterprises, policy adoption and planning: three welfare propositions
No full textPublic enterprises are production units of goods or services under government control. In spite of wide privatizations in the last two decades, public provision in this form can be observed in many countries and sectors, particularly in education, health, transport, energy and environment. This paper uses social Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) theory to explore the rationale for public enterprises. Three welfare propositions arise from CBA theory in a general equilibrium setting: (1) Under symmetric information and benevolent government, public provision is socially beneficial if: (a) there is a well defined production plan for some goods; (b) optimal policy and socially desirable projects are selected in such a way as to pass a social cost-benefit test at shadow prices; (c) production can never be shut down for some socially desirable goods and optimal procurement is equivalent to public production. (2) Under not (fully) benevolent government, and asymmetric information: (a) sub-optimal policy adoption leads to inconsistency in project selection; (b) the allocation of property rights will also be distorted, as privatization or government ownership are signals fixed by the government; (c) public provision and public procurement will be no more equivalent, because fo differences in information costs. (3) If the social planner is not fully benevolent, but cannot profit from policy design: (a) shadow prices are still sufficient statistics for the evaluating changes of the public plan; (b) public enterprises will be welfare superior to privately-owned enterprises (POEs) when the rents of the planner related to public ownership are less than the rents of the private providers under procurement, and shadow prices must be used to compare the outcomes. The message of the paper points to the overall quality of institutions as a pre-condition for socially desirable public enterprises as this environment provides policy-makers with the correct incentives to design and implement meaningful policies even when public administrators adopt sub-optimal plans. Hence, the building of a sound quality of institutions should be primarily focused on those mechanisms that select policies. Institutions should constrain self-interested policy-makers from disrupting the welfare signals for policy adoption as well as for project appraisal
«Would you say that the price you pay for electricity is fair?» : consumers' satisfaction and utility reforms in the EU15
No full textThe research question addressed by this paper is a simple one: are European consumers happy with the price
they pay for electricity supply services after two decades of reforms? We focus on self-assessed consumers'
satisfaction as reported in three waves of the Eurobarometer surveys, 2000–2002–2004, conditioning on a
set of indicators of public ownership and liberalisation across the EU-15. After controlling for individual and
country characteristics, we find that consumers are happier with the prices they pay when in their country
there are both public ownership and liberalisation. We discuss this findin
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