2,289 research outputs found
Un’analisi delle relazioni tra la struttura finanziaria e il costo del capitale nelle aziende del distretto cartario lucchese. Alcune evidenze empiriche
No full textLa creazione di valore economico, come noto, è condizione per la sopravvivenza e lo sviluppo delle unità aziendali operanti nei diversi contesti economici. Lo studio dell’attitudine delle aziende a creare valore presuppone l’osservazione della redditività e del costo delle fonti di finanziamento. Ragionando secondo la logica del coeteris paribus, appare evidente come il valore creato da qualsiasi unità produttiva cresca al diminuire del costo del capitale investito. Il costo del capitale, peraltro, è una grandezza che risulta influenzata dall’agire composito di alcune variabili, tra cui, in primis, quelle riferibili al rischio operativo e finanziario. A parità di rendimento del capitale, dunque, i suddetti rischi costituiscono le principali leve (driver) su cui agire allo scopo di contenere il costo del capitale e, quindi, di massimizzare il valore dell’azienda.
Il presente lavoro si basa sull’analisi del secondo driver di valore citato, ossia il rischio finanziario. Con esclusivo riferimento all’aspetto sopra delineato, la ricerca mira ad individuare gli effetti della politica finanziaria sul costo del capitale. A tale scopo, è stata condotta un’indagine empirica su un campione di aziende appartenenti al distretto cartario lucchese (cartiere e cartotecniche, che operano per la realizzazione di carta tissue) con riguardo ai periodi amministrativi del triennio 2004-2006. Dai bilanci riclassificati e dalle informazioni acquisite, sottoponendo specifici questionari alle aziende campionate, sono state determinate le variabili necessarie per la stima del costo medio ponderato del capitale, ottenuto, per quanto attiene al costo del capitale proprio, mediante l’impiego del Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM).
I risultati della ricerca sono stati utilizzati per osservare le variazioni sia del costo delle singole fonti di finanziamento (capitale proprio e capitale di debito) sia del rapporto tra ciascuna delle suddette fonti di finanziamento e il capitale investito, al variare del rapporto di leverage. In termini più generali, dunque, l’indagine condotta mira a delineare alcune conclusioni relative alla variabilità del costo medio ponderato del capitale (nel linguaggio anglosassone WACC) in relazione al mutamento della struttura finanziaria
"The love that made hell, paradise." Ouida re-writing the Paolo and Francesca theme in Held in Bondage
No full textThe bestselling Victorian author Ouida reveals in her novels, and, in particular, Held in Bondage, an extraordinary knowledge od Dante, by using characters and themes from the Commedia. The Paolo and Francesca theme actually constitutes part of the plot of the novel and is to be found in many of her other works, short stories and non-fiction writing
Plant Derived Natural Products against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus: Antibiofilm Activity and Molecular Mechanisms
No full textBacteria are social organisms able to build complex structures, such as biofilms, that are highly organized surface-associated communities of microorganisms, encased within a self- produced extracellular matrix. Biofilm is commonly associated with many health problems since its formation increases resistance to antibiotics and antimicrobial agents, as in the case of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, two human pathogens causing major concern. P. aeruginosa is responsible for severe nosocomial infections, the most frequent of which is ventilator-associated pneumonia, while S. aureus causes several problems, like skin infections, septic arthritis, and endocarditis, to name just a few. Literature data suggest that natural products from plants, bacteria, fungi, and marine organisms have proven to be effective as anti-biofilm agents, inhibiting the formation of the polymer matrix, suppressing cell adhesion and attachment, and decreasing the virulence factors’ production, thereby blocking the quorum sensing network. Here, we focus on plant derived chemicals, and provide an updated literature review on the anti-biofilm properties of terpenes, flavonoids, alkaloids, and phenolic compounds. Moreover, whenever information is available, we also report the mechanisms of actio
Phytochemical Investigation of Myrcianthes cisplatensis: Structural Characterization of New p-Coumaroyl Alkylphloroglucinols and Antimicrobial Evaluation Against Staphylococcus aureus
No full textSpecies of Myrtaceae Juss., the ninth largest family of flowering plants, are a valuable source of bioactive specialized metabolites. A leading position belongs to phloroglucinol derivatives, thanks to their unusual structural features and biological and pharmacological properties. Myrcianthes cisplatensis (Cambess.) O. Berg, a common tree on the banks of rivers and streams of Uruguay, southern Brazil, and northern Argentina, with aromatic leaves, is known as a diuretic, febrifuge, tonic, and good remedy for lung and bronchial diseases. Despite knowledge about traditional use, few data on its phytochemical properties have been reported in the literature. The methanol extract of M. cisplatensis, grown in Arizona, USA, was first partitioned between dichloromethane and water and then with ethyl acetate. The enriched fractions were evaluated using a broth microdilution assay against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213 and 43300 (methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA)). The potential antimicrobial activity seemed to increase in the dichloromethane extract, with a MIC value of 16 μg/mL against both strains. Following a bio-guided approach, chromatographic techniques allowed for isolating three coumarin derivatives, namely endoperoxide G3, catechin, and quercitrin, and four new p-coumaroyl alkylphloroglucinol glucosides, named p-coumaroylmyrciacommulone A-D. Their structures were characterized through spectroscopic techniques: 2D-NMR experiments (HSQC, HMBC, and HSQC-TOCSY) and spectrometric analyses (HR-MS). The antimicrobial assessment of pure compounds against S. aureus ATCC 29213 and ATCC 43300 demonstrated the best activity for p-coumaroylmyrciacommulone C and D with the growth inhibition of 50% at 32 μg/mL against both strains of S. aureus
Genetic Analysis of Growth in Performance Tested Young Bulls accounting for Indirect Genetic Effects.
No full textHERStory Makers 2023: Francesca Fotheringham
No full textFrancesca Fotheringham is a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Edinburgh studying educational psychology with a focus on neurodiversity. She took part in HERStory Makers 2023.What is HERStory Makers?HERStory Makers is a social media competition for female-identifying early career researchers to share their research, their career journeys, and to inspire the next generation. Winners are selected by public vote. HERStory Makers is also part of EXPLORATHON, Scotland's contribution to European Researchers' Night.In 2022-23, EXPLORATHON Francescasupported by the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council [grant number EP/X020762/1].Author contributions to contentFrancesca conceived, planned, and recorded the video content. Kirsty Ross edited the video content to insert HERStory Maker credits, added subtitles, and reduce video length to below Twitter/X limit of 2 mins and 20 secs.</p
Medicina illuminata. La Biblioteca Lancisiana di Roma
No full textL'articolo presenta i codici miniati della Biblioteca Lancisiana di Roma. La prima parte, del coautore, è dedicata alla Biblioteca. La seconda parte, di F. Manzari, tratta dei manoscritti miniati, costituiti da due codici con le opere di Avicenna e dal Liber fraternitatis della Confraternita dell'Ospedale di Santo Spirito in Sassia a Roma.The article introduces the illuminated manuscripts of the Biblioteca Lancisiana in Rome. The first part of the article, by the co-author, is dedicated to the Library. The second part, by Francesca Manzari, illustrates the manuscipts; these are two manuscripts with the works of Avicenna and the Liber fraternitatis of the Confraternity of the Hospital of Santo Spirito in Sassia in Rome
A DH-Leavened Musicological Toolbox
No full textGraduate-level training in music research methodologies tends to ignore digital humanities work and overlook the use of digital tools created in support of new forms of reading. Training instead focuses on source material in the student’s area of interest. This material includes secondary and primary (archival) resources, as well as information resources, such as: monuments of music and critical editions; indexes; bibliographies and thematic catalogs; dictionaries and encyclopedias; digital libraries of scores or editions; and databases of period-specific newspapers or journals. Graduate students taking research methods courses already have a toolbox built from their experiences as musicians and students of music, including the ability to read and interpret music notation, to understand theoretical and analytical concepts in music, as well as a command of music history, including the canon of musical works.
Digital humanities has become a major area of academic endeavor at the “interface of technological development, epistemological change and methodological concerns." An important characteristic of digital humanities research has been its interdisciplinarity. We argue that graduate training in musicology needs to include coverage of methodologies applied by digital humanists in support of new forms of reading, not only to broaden the canon of research topics in musicology, but also to build common ground with researchers of other disciplines. We propose that librarians are well positioned to provide this expertise and training
A Twitter Case Study for Assessing Digital Sound
No full textAcademic and cultural heritage institutions around the world have made measurable strides in the development of digital sound archives oriented towards research and access, but their impact on scholarship and society has been little studied. Traditionally, impact has been measured by citations; yet these are problematic metrics for non-traditional outputs like sound recordings. Social media data provide a promising avenue of investigation for measuring scholarly as well as societal impact. Twitter in particular has been shown to provide a high number of references for cultural and research outputs in all disciplines. This study analyzes Twitter references pertaining to the collections of five digital sound archives: British Library Sounds, Europeana Sounds, the Internet Archive Audio Archive, PennSound and UbuWeb. Using text analysis methods to identify high frequency events and trends, and labeling them with a rubric designed for measuring the impact of digital heritage resources, this study provides preliminary insights on user values as they relate to digital sound collections. Despite the limitations of using social media data, the evidence gathered in this case study characterizes aspects of the use of digital sound collections, and may point to future priorities for the digital preservation of sound.Peer reviewe
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