Search results for "Lever"
showing 10 items of 191 documents
Asset Tangibility, information asymmetries and intangibles as determinants of family firms leverage
2022
Using a sample of Spanish tourism small and medium-sized firms, we have tested the impact of family control, publicly-available information and tangibility on financial structure, providing a multi-theoretical model that incorporates contributions from the classical theory of finance, inspired by agency theory, the behavioural theory of the firm and strategic theory. The results point to the need to jointly consider the effects of information transmission practices, asset investment decisions and ownership structures on debt capacity. The results show how family control is associated with propensity to take on debt, so that the desire to maintain social control and socioemotional wealth pre…
Electromechanical characterization of a bimorph piezo for Energy Harvesting applications in road infrastructures
2012
Piezoelectric materials can be used as a means of transforming ambient vibrations into electrical energy that can be stored and used to power other devices. With the recent surge of micro scale devices, piezoelectric power generation can provide a convenient alternative to traditional power sources used to operate certain types of sensors/actuators, telemetry, and MEMS devices. However, the energy produced by these materials is, in many cases, far too small to directly power an electrical device. In the present study, piezoelectric devices will be investigated and experimentally tested to determine each of their abilities to transform ambient vibration into electrical energy. Tested piezoel…
Determinants of Consumer's Buying Behavior for digital products in Trade Fair
2019
The purpose of this study is to examine the factors which have an effect on the intention to shop digital products at the India International Trade Fair. The study comprises both qualitative and quantitative analysis of the buying behaviour of consumers who visit trade fair. For this, a sample of 160 respondents has been taken by using non-random convenience sampling method. The key factors, i.e., value for money (price and quality), brand awareness and service utility were identified and analysed through the use of factor analysis. Findings point out that value for money and brand awareness are the most important variables that influence decision of consumers to shop at trade fair. The stu…
Effect of degradation on the structural behaviour of an existing cantilever reinforced concrete bridge in Southern Italy
2021
The performance of cantilever reinforced concrete bridges is fundamental topic in assessment and retrofit of Italian infrastructures, because the static scheme of the so-called “Gerber bridges” was very popular between 50’s and 70’s of XX Century. Many of them present severe damage due to the drainage of the deck waters inside the joint and to the consequent degradation of Gerber saddles. Furthermore, the state of corrosion of the reinforcements together with the actual degree of freedom of internal constraints, often partially blocked due to degradation and subsequent maintenance over time, modify the structural behaviour and the performance both in terms of service and ultimate limit stat…
DELAMINAZIONE INTERLAMINARE DI COMPOSITI CFRP AL VARIARE DELLE CONDIZIONI DI CURA DELLA MATRICE
2012
In questo lavoro si è condotto uno studio sperimentale del comportamento a delaminazione interlaminare in Modo I di laminati compositi unidirezionali in fibra di carbonio e matrice epossidica (CFRP), al variare delle condizioni di cura della matrice. Tutti i sistemi analizzati hanno utilizzato lo stesso tessuto e lo stesso monomero epossidico DGEBA. Variando il processo di cura (cura termica o mediante radiazioni), gli agenti di cura (ammine o anidridi per i sistemi curati termicamente), e l’impiego di additivi tenacizzanti (es. il PES per i sistemi irradiati), è stato possibile controllare e modificare sia il grado di adesione fibra/matrice, che il grado di fragilità della matrice (monitor…
The Role of Labour and Associated EU Liberalization Challenges: Insights from the Port Sector
2013
An influential argument holds that labour unions are not likely to succeed in their objectives through current European decision-making processes. In addition, the European Union has extensive leverage to introduce negative integration due to asymmetries towards liberalization in the treaties. Given such arguments it is of interest to study a case, where attempts of EU liberalization reform have failed and labour unions claim this is their victory. An in-depth analysis of the decision-making process of the proposal for a Port Directive highlights that labour unions are most influential when they are able to exploit the division of industry interests to resoundingly oppose policy change. Mor…
Thickness measurement of soft thin films on periodically patterned magnetic substrates by phase difference magnetic force microscopy
2013
The need for accurate measurement of the thickness of soft thin films is continuously encouraging the development of techniques suitable for this purpose. We propose a method through which the thickness of the film is deduced from the quantitative measurement of the contrast in the phase images of the sample surface acquired by magnetic force microscopy, provided that the film is deposited on a periodically patterned magnetic substrate. The technique is demonstrated by means of magnetic substrates obtained from standard floppy disks. Colonies of Staphylococcus aureus adherent to such substrates were used to obtain soft layers with limited lateral (a levy microns) and vertical (hundreds of n…
Cross-Commodity Spot Price Modeling with Stochastic Volatility and Leverage For Energy Markets
2013
Spot prices in energy markets exhibit special features, such as price spikes, mean reversion, stochastic volatility, inverse leverage effect, and dependencies between the commodities. In this paper a multivariate stochastic volatility model is introduced which captures these features. The second-order structure and stationarity of the model are analyzed in detail. A simulation method for Monte Carlo generation of price paths is introduced and a numerical example is presented.
Sustainable Development and Assurance of Corporate Social Responsibility Reports Published by Ibex-35 Companies
2012
Spain is the world's leading country as regards corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting (KPMG, 2011). In addition, Spain is taking new initiatives with regard to environmental policy, sustainable development, and stakeholder engagement in accordance with Law 2/2011.This is why we choose Spain as the setting to analyze whether the determinants for external assurance posited by existing literature (industry, size, profitability, leverage) have an impact on the decision of companies to assure their CSR reports. Our study is a pioneer in the sense that it investigates the possible links between the auditor of the annual report and the provider of assurance. The results of this study ind…
The Staminal Lever Mechanism in Salvia L. (Lamiaceae) - a Review
2003
Abstract: The genus Salvia encompasses about 900 species distributed world-wide. It is characterized by the famous staminal lever mechanism of the flower which is one of the best known examples of a nototribic pollination mechanism. We hypothesize that structure and functioning of the staminal levers play a major role as key structures in speciation. To cope with the complex evolutionary processes involved, a number of different methodological approaches are needed. The present paper summarizes the literature referring to structural and functional diversity, breeding systems, systematics and evolution in Salvia.