1,720,980 research outputs found
How Do Macro-Financial Factors Influence Asset Classes’ Performance? An Empirical Analysis
Full text linkAsset class returns are strongly influenced by macro-financial factors such as economic growth, inflation, and market volatility. This study empirically examines these relationships by analyzing monthly data from January 1979 to August 2024 across four major asset classes and six composite indicators derived from fifteen macro-financial variables. We calculate the average excess return of each asset class first by conditioning solely on the direction of macro-factor changes, and subsequently by considering both the direction and initial levels of these factors. Two main findings emerge. First, variations in the six macro-financial factors are statistically significant drivers of the excess returns across the four major asset classes analyzed. Second, these relationships are state-dependent, as they vary with the initial conditions of the factors. These results have relevant implications for macrobased tactical asset allocation, as they demonstrate that relying solely on changes in macro-financial factors without accounting for the levels from which these changes
originate may lead to misleading conclusions. For example, both equities and high yield bonds tend to underperform their unconditional historical average annualized return when inflation increases from high levels, while they generate positive excess returns when inflation rises from low levels, which do not necessitate anti-inflationary measures from central banks. Our findings underscore the importance of incorporating initial macro-financial conditions to bolster the effectiveness of
macro-based tactical asset allocation strategies
Tipologie standard e customizzazione [Standard types and customization]
No full textIl saggio presenta riflessioni sulla necessità di sviluppare un nuovo concetto di qualità nella filiera dei materiali per le costruzioni quando si passa da tipologie di prodotti codificati (standard) a qualità di sistemi che consentono di ottenere diversi livelli di qualità in ogni progetto specifico (customizzati). Partendo dall'evidente superamento del concetto di "prodotto standard", si discute su cosa significhi l'omologazione delle prestazioni di determinate produzioni ove queste non si riferiscano tanto alle caratteristiche tecniche costantemente raggiunte da prodotti, quanto a quelle di "sistemi di prodotti" con i quali si può ottenere un'ampia gamma di soluzioni dal punto di vista delle prestazioni offerte, con diversi livelli di qualità a seconda delle richieste.
In un primo passaggio del testo ci si sofferma su soluzioni complesse che richiedono di orientarsi in maniera specifica per scegliere soluzioni adatte ai casi specifici, ma che fanno anche intravedere nuove possibilità applicative, potendo contare ugualmente su adeguate garanzie di qualità. Sono presentati esempi di casi realizzati in tal senso.
In un ulteriore passaggio si ragiona su cosa possa significare “livello di prestazione noto” in produzioni che seguono un processo di qualità puntando all'industrializzazione della costruzione per ottenere architetture molto diverse tra di loro assicurando prestazioni certificate. Si introduce quindi il nuovo concetto di "qualità progettabile", mostrando esempi di applicazione in interventi di nuova costruzione, ampliamento e riqualificazione.
In ultimo, si tratta di "kit" di componenti, con esempi di “sistemi” di strati o parti che possono essere o meno presenti o modificarsi per tipo o spessore in funzione dei requisiti richiesti, determinando diversi livelli di qualità in ogni progetto dal punto di vista morfologico, del funzionamento ambientale, del rapporto con il contesto o altro. Il testo si chiude con una riflessione conclusiva sulle limitazioni che si pongono per determinare e certificare i livelli di qualità raggiunti da "kit" formati con soluzioni diverse rispetto a quelle testate dalle aziende su propri modelli, con importanti considerazioni sul rapporto tra innovazione e know-how aziendale.This essay reflects on the need for developing a new concept of quality in the construction materials supply chain when moving from coded (standard) product types to quality systems allowing different levels of quality in each (customized) project. Getting over the concept of "standard product", the work discusses about what standardizing the performance means when these do not refer so much to the typical technical characteristics of a product, but to those of "product systems" enabling a wide range of solutions, with different levels of quality according to the demands. The work initially dwells on complex solutions that require a specific orientation in order to choose solutions fit for specific cases, which also provide a glimpse on new application chances, without compromise on quality. Case studies are illustrated. Then, the meaning of "known performance level" in productions that follow a quality process aiming at the construction industrialization to achieve very different architectures ensuring certified performance, is investigated. The new concept of "designable quality" is also discussed through applications in new construction, expansion and redevelopment works. Finally, "kits" of components are dealt with through examples of "systems" of layers or parts that may or may not be present or modified by type or thickness according to the requirements, resulting into different levels of quality in each project from the morphological point of view, environmental functioning, relationship with the context or other. The essay closes with a reflection on the limitations that arise to determine and certify the quality levels achieved by "kits" formed with different solutions than those tested by companies on their own models, with important considerations on the relationship between innovation and company know-how
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
Chi ha paura di Little Black Sambo? Censura e letteratura per l'infanzia
No full textIl saggio tratta il tema della censura nella letteratura per l'infanzia in lingua inglese, con particolare riferimento a un'opera del 1899, The Story of Little Black Sambo di Helen Bannerman, che nei paesi anglo-sassoni è diventato simbolo della censura
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
«Antonius Maximus Monachorum». Testi e immagini di Antonio eremita nel Basso Medioevo
No full text––––
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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