1,037 research outputs found
Temporary job protection and productivity growth in EU economies
No full textThe present study examines cross-national and sectoral differences in Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in fourteen European countries and ten sectors from 1995 to 2007. The main aim is to ascertain the role of employment protection of temporary contracts on TFP by estimating their effects with a “difference-in-difference” approach. Results show that deregulation of temporary contracts negatively influences the growth rates of TFP in European economies and that, within sectoral analysis, the role of this liberalisation is greater in industries where firms are more used to opening short-term positions. By contrast, in our observation period, restrictions on regular jobs do not cause significant effects on TFP, whereas limited regulation of product markets and higher R&D expenses positively affect efficiency growth.productivity, labour regulation.
Design of next generation snow gun fans
No full textMost of the skiing resorts normally use snow guns to ensure a suitable amount of artificial snow on ski tracks. The main component of a snow gun are a fan used to move the air and an atomizer to inject droplets of water in the main flow. Issues with these devices are (i) power requirements, between 10 and 30 kW for a single device (a complete track needing up to 100 snow guns) and (ii) acoustic emissions, typically above 80 dB due to the rotational speed comprised between 1500 and 3600 rpm. The paper describes the development of a family of next-generation snow gun to cover a wide range of applications. The design process is based on a methodology that combines Eulerian analysis, RANS computations and experiments
Learning Curve and Wind Power
No full textThis study explores the reasons why countries have chosen subsidies to green electricity instead of implementing the more common Pigouvian tax on polluting emissions. I focus on the learning by doing effects from the production of wind power on the cost of future production as a justification for the observed policies. In doing so, I present two models that differ in the way I introduce learning. Under reasonable parameter values, the price paid to a firm for the energy produced from wind power is heterogeneous, and varies among the firms that produce energy from wind power according to the index of productivity of the firm itself. The suggested strategies of this research differ from the main price-driven schemes adopted by EU members; by comparing such results with European Union policy, the paper show that EU policy is not optimal.learning by doing, environmental policy, Pigouvian taxes, subsidies.
The role of computational methods in the development of an aero-acoustic design methodology: application to a family of large industrial fans
No full textLarge-signal device simulation in time- and frequency-domain: a comparison
No full textThe aim of this paper is to compare the most common time- and frequency-domain numerical techniques for the determination of the steady-state solution in the physics-based simulation of a semiconductor device driven by a time-periodic generator. The shooting and harmonic balance (HB) techniques are applied to the solution of the discretized drift-diffusion device model coupled to the external circuit embedding the semiconductor device, thus providing a fully nonlinear mixed mode simulation. The comparison highlights the strong and weak points of the two approaches, basically showing that the time-domain solution is more robust with respect to the initial condition, while the HB solution provides a more rapid convergence once the initial datum is close enough to the solution itsel
Evaluating Discrete Dynamic Strategies in Affine Models
No full textWe consider the problem of measuring the performance of a dynamic strategy, rebalanced at a discrete set of dates, whose objective is that of replicating a claim in an incomplete market driven by a general multi-dimensional affine process. The main purpose of the paper is to propose a method to efficiently compute the expected value and variance of the hedging error of the strategy. Representing the pay-off the claim as an inverse Laplace transform, we are able to get semi-explicit formulas for strategies satisfying a certain property. The result is quite general and can be applied to a very rich class of models and strategies, including Delta hedging. We provide illustrations for the cases of interest rate models and Heston's stochastic volatility model.
Tourism Flows in Italy: The Role of Local Public Policies Toward Disability
No full textWhile a large literature has stressed the role of infrastructures and tourism facilities for disabled people provided by the private sector in enhancing tourism flows, this paper explores, using data on Italian provinces, the relationship between tourism flows and local public expenditure in welfare policies for the disabled as a proxy for the commitment of local public authorities and communities to the well-being of the weakest people. The results show positive and significant effects on tourism and are confirmed when we broaden the analysis to other target groups, namely the elderly and the entire set of eligible recipients of welfare policies. In addition, where an airport station is available, such a positive relationship appears even more intense. These findings suggest how public policies for the social inclusion of disabled people may have beneficial effects beyond the targets, including the tourism sector
Performance of a common-rail diesel engine fuelled with rapeseed and waste cooking oils
No full textThe EU energy strategy for 2020 forces scientists and industries to develop new generation of bio-fuels and increase the use of the ones available nowadays. Straight vegetable oils (SVO) and waste cooking oils (WCO) could represent an interesting alternative fuel for Diesel engines, representing a good solution in some niches sectors (i.e., public transportation, hybrid or marine propulsion, etc.). As a matter of fact the use of SVO as fuel do not requires large production plants as in the case of biodiesel, thus it can be used in a large number of countries without requiring new costs. On the other hand SVO has some shortcomings due to the different characteristics comparing with the gasoil fuel. Main differences are related to its smaller heating value, a different density, and a larger viscosity, and this may provoke some problems to the injection system and power loss in a Diesel engine. Aim of this work is to analyse the behaviour of a Diesel engine in automotive configuration when fuelled with SVO and WCO, to study the feasibility of use them in small public transport hybrid vehicles. To this aim a series of bench tests are performed; results are here presented. Tests are performed using a turbocharged, four stroke, four cylinders, water cooled, common-rail multijet Diesel engine operating on Diesel fuel, rapeseed oil (RO) and waste cooking oil (WCO) are presented. The influence of fuel used on engine power, specific consumption, efficiency, and exhaust opacity, are compared with those obtained fuelling with Diesel fuel
A comparative analysis of different business ethics in the perspective of the Common Good
No full textThe paper concerns the connection between different tipologies of business ethics (kantian, utilitarian, aristotelic) and the alternative vision of economic development, company’s organizational and managerial context together with interest in Common Good more or less associated to profit to which they have given rise. In this comparison virtue ethics stands out for its capacity of creating, specially through the business virtue of generosity, social capital so precious to economic development at every level, for its capability of increasing people’s well-being, and for its capacity to make the production of relational goods (among which Common Good), on which people’s happiness depends, easier. Gift’s paradigm recovery can also be helpful to prevent other financial and economic crisis like the actual one which has had, like less striking but deepest cause, the triumph of avarice’s vice on the virtues of giving (generosity and justice).Business Ethics, Gift’s Economy, Generosity, Charity, Mercy, Social Capital, Relational Goods, Common Good
A note on the author citation and typification of Cineraria aurantiaca Hoppe (Tephroseris integrifolia subsp. aurantiaca; Asteraceae)
No full textBartolucci, Fabrizio, Villani, Mariacristina, Galasso, Gabriele (2021): A note on the author citation and typification of Cineraria aurantiaca Hoppe (Tephroseris integrifolia subsp. aurantiaca; Asteraceae). Phytotaxa 512 (4): 297-299, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.512.4.6, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.512.4.
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