The Role of Admission Documents on the Pricing of UK Fixed Priced IPOs

Using text sentiment analysis, we investigate the impact of the length of prospectuses on IPO pricing for a sample of UK Fixed Priced IPOs between 2004 and 2012 and show more information in the prospectus improves price accuracy as longer admission documents exhibit higher offer price and less underpricing. We explain the effect on the offer price as the consequence of the “pilot fishing” stage which seems to characterize a lot of UK IPOs

Treatment options for vasomotor symptoms in menopause: focus on desvenlafaxine.

Vasomotor symptoms (VMS), including hot flashes and night sweats, occur in as many as 68.5% of women as a result of menopause. While the median duration of these symptoms is 4 years, approximately 10% of women continue to experience VMS as many as 12 years after their final menstrual period. As such, VMS have a significant impact on the quality of life and overall physical health of women experiencing VMS, leading to their pursuance of treatment to alleviate these symptoms. Management of VMS includes lifestyle modifications, some herbal and vitamin supplements, hormonal therapies including estrogen and tibolone, and nonhormonal therapies including clonidine, gabapentin, and some of the serotonin and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors. The latter agents, including desvenlafaxine, have been the focus of increased research as more is discovered about the roles of serotonin and norepinephrine in the thermoregulatory control system. This review will include an overview of VMS as they relate to menopause. It will discuss the risk factors for VMS as well as the proposed pathophysiology behind their occurrence. The variety of treatment options for VMS will be discussed. Focus will be given to the role of desvenlafaxine as a treatment option for VMS management

Object-oriented Programming Laws for Annotated Java Programs

Object-oriented programming laws have been proposed in the context of languages that are not combined with a behavioral interface specification language (BISL). The strong dependence between source-code and interface specifications may cause a number of difficulties when transforming programs. In this paper we introduce a set of programming laws for object-oriented languages like Java combined with the Java Modeling Language (JML). The set of laws deals with object-oriented features taking into account their specifications. Some laws deal only with features of the specification language. These laws constitute a set of small transformations for the development of more elaborate ones like refactorings

On the Morphology of Nanostructured TiO2 for Energy Applications: The Shape of the Ubiquitous Nanomaterial

Nanostructured titania is one of the most commonly encountered constituents of nanotechnology devices for use in energy-related applications, due to its intrinsic functional properties as a semiconductor and to other favorable characteristics such as ease of production, low toxicity and chemical stability, among others. Notwithstanding this diffusion, the quest for improved understanding of the physical and chemical mechanisms governing the material properties and thus its performance in devices is still active, as testified by the large number of dedicated papers that continue to be published. In this framework, we consider and analyze here the effects of the material morphology and structure in determining the energy transport phenomena as cross-cutting properties in some of the most important nanophase titania applications in the energy field, namely photovoltaic conversion, hydrogen generation by photoelectrochemical water splitting and thermal management by nanofluids. For these applications, charge transport, light transport (or propagation) and thermal transport are limiting factors for the attainable performances, whose dependence on the material structural properties is reviewed here on its own. This work aims to fill the gap existing among the many studies dealing with the separate applications in the hope of stimulating novel cross-fertilization approaches in this research field

Perspectives of application for nanoparticles prepared by CO2 laser pyrolysis: from ceramic nanocomposites to nanofluids

Nanoparticles are one of the main ingredients for the realization of a wide range of nanostructured materials and devices with potential applications in several research areas and industrial sectors, hence their synthesis is a critical step in the development of nanotechnologies. Here we report on the preparation of several types of nanoparticles by laser pyrolysis of gas phase or vapour phase precursors, a very flexible and scalable synthesis route. A critical insight is given into the perspectives of practical applications of these nanoparticles in a number of fields ranging from the fabrication of ceramic nanocomposites to wear resistant coatings, from fluorophores for bio-imaging to nanofluids for efficient thermal management, from nanocoatings for cultural heritage preservation to the realization of a new class of inks for ink-jet printing applications

Study of impulsive stimulated raman scattering effects using the femtosecond pump–probe z-scan technique

Impulsive stimulated Raman scattering (ISRS) is a nonlinear pump–probe spectroscopy technique particularly suitable to study vibrational intermolecular and intramolecular modes in complex systems. For the latter, recent studies of ISRS microscopy with low-energy laser sources have attracted attention for investigation of photosensitive or biological samples. Following this stream of interest, in this paper, we report an investigation on the relationship between femtosecond ISRS data and pump–probe Z-scan measurements, showing that the latter technique is capable of capturing the Kerr nonlinearities induced by the molecular vibrational modes. To this aim, firstly, spectrally filtered and Raman-induced Kerr ISRS signals were simultaneously acquired to determine the sample nonlinear response and to establish the reference data for the Z-scan analysis. Then, by adopting a suitable experimental arrangement to avoid thermo-optical effects, we were able to unambiguously observe the Raman-induced effects in Z-scan measurements, thus obtaining a consistent picture between ISRS and Z-scan for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. Practical applications of the proposed method include calibrated measurements of the contribution of the internal (Raman) and external molecular modes to the nonlinear refractive index

Design and operation of a femtosecond micro-CARS experimental apparatus

La spettroscopia Raman consente di misurare mappe vibrazionali di campioni con alta risoluzione spaziale, utili per l’identificazione di composti chimici senza l’utilizzo di marcatori. In generale però, le tecniche di Raman spontaneo soffrono di alcuni svantaggi, principalmente dovuti ai bassi livelli di segnale e alla eventuale presenza di segnali di fluorescenza, che possono limitarne l’applicabilità. Per contro, le tecniche di Raman coerente, come ad esempio la diffusione Raman Anti-Stokes coerente (CARS), sfruttando la nonlinearità dell’interazione tra luce di sonda e campione, permettono di superare i limiti sopra descritti, e per questa ragione sono ampiamente utilizzate nonostante la maggior complessità e il costo dell’apparato sperimentale. D’altronde, negli ultimi venti anni, la grande diffusione di oscillatori laser a impulsi ultracorti e la disponibilità di fibre a cristalli fotonici per la generazione di luce bianca coerente hanno facilitato lo sviluppo di microscopi CARS a bassa energia di eccitazione e tempi di acquisizione brevi, che sono di particolare utilità in campo biologico e biomedico. In questo rapporto tecnico, dopo un breve richiamo alle caratteristiche della spettroscopia CARS al femtosecondo, viene descritto il microspettrometro CARS realizzato nel C. R. Casaccia nell’ambito di un progetto ENEA inter-dipartimentale. Inoltre, vengono riportati e discussi i risultati sperimentali ottenuti durante i primi due anni di operatività del sistema.Raman spectroscopy allows the measurement of vibrational maps of samples with high spatial resolution, useful for the identification of chemical compounds without the use of labels. In general, however, spontaneous Raman techniques suffer from some disadvantages, mainly due to low signal levels and the possible presence of fluorescence signals, which can limit their applicability. On the other hand, coherent Raman techniques, such as Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS), exploiting the nonlinearity of the interaction between probe and sample light, permit to overcome the limits described above, and for this reason they are widely used despite the greater complexity and cost of the experimental apparatus. On the other hand, in the last twenty years, the great diffusion of ultrashort pulse laser oscillators and the availability of photonic crystal fibers for the generation of coherent white light have facilitated the development of CARS microscopes with low excitation energy and short acquisition times, which are particularly useful in the biological and biomedical fields. In this technical report, after a brief reference to the characteristics of the femtosecond CARS spectroscopy, the CARS microspectrometer made in C. R. Casaccia in the framework of an inter-departmental ENEA project is described. Furthermore, the experimental results obtained during the first two years of operation of the system are reported and discussed

Toward Gas-Phase Thermometry Using Pure-Rotational Impulsive Stimulated Raman Scattering Spectroscopy with a Low-Energy Femtosecond Oscillator

Femtosecond coherent Raman techniques have significant diagnostic value for the sensitive and non-intrusive measurement of temperature, pressure, and composition of gas mixtures. Due to the low density of samples, however, such measurements make use of high-energy amplified laser sources, with unwieldy and costly experimental setups. In this paper, we demonstrate an experimental setup equipped with a low-energy and low-average-power femtosecond oscillator allowing measurement of the pure-rotational spectrum of nitrogen down to atmospheric pressure using impulsive stimulated Raman scattering. Using a simplified model to analyze the experimental data we were able to derive the gas temperature with reasonable accuracy

Welcome on board: A note on gender quotas regulation in Europe

Using a diff-in-diff approach, we compare the impact on board and directors’ characteristics of mandatory vs advisory regulations on gender quotas in corporate boards. We focus on the experience of three European countries: France and Italy (mandatory regime) vs UK (advisory regime). Our results show that while the percentage of Women on Boards (WoB) generally increases after the introduction of the regulation, this effect is stronger in mandatory regimes. We also find that the quality of the board, measured by several indicators such as size, busyness, qualifications, independence, generally improves more in mandatory regimes. Finally, we also document that gender quotas have had no effect on the likelihood of appointing female executives and board chairwomen in either regime

Agroprospecting of Biowastes: Globe Artichoke (Cynara scolymus L. Cultivar Tema, Asteraceae) as Potential Source of Bioactive Compounds

Artichokes (Cynara scolymus L.) are valuable foods, thanks to their health benefits, but they generate significant waste during their production, harvesting, and processing, which poses sustainability issues. This study applied an agroprospecting approach to convert Tema artichoke biowaste (TB) into valuable resources, starting from a global perspective of the production chain to the targeted applications based on chemical and biological analysis. The major TB was identified in the outer bracts of the immature flower heads, which were collected throughout the harvesting season, extracted, and analyzed. The most abundant compounds were phenolic acids including chlorogenic acid and caffeoylquinic derivatives. Among flavonoids, cynaroside was the most abundant compound. Multivariate analysis distinguished batches by collection period, explaining 77.7% of the variance, with most compounds increasing in concentration later in the harvest season. Subsequently, TB extracts were analyzed for their potential in wound healing and anti-aging properties. Fibroblasts were used to assess the effect of selected extracts on cell migration through a scratch wound assay and on cellular senescence induced by etoposide. The results show a significant decrease in senescence-associated beta-galactosidase activity, gamma H2AX nuclear accumulation, and both p53 and p21 protein levels. Overall, this study ascribes relevant anti-skin aging effects to TB, thus increasing its industrial value in cosmeceutical and nutraceutical applications