Search Results (9)

Wastewater surveillance has proven to be a cost-effective, non-invasive method for monitoring the spread and evolution of SARS-CoV-2, yet its value during today’s low-incidence phase is still being defined. Between August 2023 and July 2024, 42 composite wastewater samples were collected in Perugia, Italy and analyzed using RT-qPCR and whole-genome sequencing to identify circulating SARS-CoV-2 lineages. In parallel, clinical samples (respiratory tract samples) were collected and analyzed, allowing for direct comparisons to confirm the robustness of the wastewater findings. The sewage viral loads ranged from 8.9 × 10⁵ to 4.9 × 10⁷ genome copies inhabitant⁻¹ day⁻¹, outlining two modest community waves (September–December 2023 and May–July 2024). Sequencing resolved 403 Omicron lineages and revealed three successive subvariant phases: (i) XBB.* dominance (August–October 2023), when late-Omicron XBB subvariants (mainly EG.5.* and XBB.1.5) accounted for almost all genomes; (ii) a BA.2.86/JN surge (November 2023–March 2024), during which the BA.2.86 subvariant, driven mainly by its JN descendants (especially JN.1), rapidly displaced XBB.* and peaked at 89% in February 2024; and (iii) KP.* takeover (April–July 2024), with JN.1-derived KP subvariants rising steadily and KP.3 reaching 81% by July 2024, thereby becoming the dominant lineage. Comparisons of data from wastewater and clinical surveillance demonstrated how the former presented a much higher diversity of circulating viral lineages. Importantly, some subvariants (including BA.2.86*) were detected in wastewater weeks to months prior to clinical identification, and for longer periods. Taken together, the obtained data validated wastewater surveillance as an effective early warning system, especially during periods of low infection prevalence and/or limited molecular testing efforts. This methodology can thus complement clinical surveillance by offering valuable insights into viral dynamics at the community level and enhancing pandemic preparedness. Full article

This paper covers the trend of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) of corporate control in Italy. The expansion of international acquisitions in the last decades changed the corporate structure of industries and business organizations. The common understanding regards the suspicious transfer of control of companies to a foreign owner. However, the reasons seem ungrounded, and the evidence is conflicting. This paper aims to disentangle this view and offer a more objective assessment. The research uses a dataset comprised of 446 cross-border deals of foreign companies targeting Italian business enterprises over the period 2005–2015 and their performance over the period 2013–2022. The case of Italy is of interest because of the number of foreign acquisitions in the years that comprised the great financial crisis (2007–2008) and the sovereign debt crisis (2010–2011). Foreigners’ takeover of Italian companies followed multiple strategies and produced international synergies. The article concludes with implications and considerations for further research. Full article

Initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions represent important opportunities for investors to exit and harvest their entrepreneurial success. Some firms are acquired shortly after their initial public offerings. This exit strategy is known as a double exit. In addition, issuing firms may choose to reincorporate in Delaware during their IPOs. In this study, we use hand-collected data from 1993 to 2020 to investigate whether and to what extent Delaware reincorporation may affect the M&As in the post-IPO stage. We use a Cox proportional hazard model to test the relation between Delaware reincorporation and the likelihood of being acquired for our sample IPOs. Recognizing that Delaware reincorporation is not a random decision, we adopt a Heckman switching regression method to estimate the relation between Delaware reincorporation and takeover premiums and announcement returns. We report that IPO firms choosing to reincorporate in Delaware experience a higher likelihood of being acquired compared to those IPO firms choosing to remain incorporated in their home states. We further document that IPO firms choosing to reincorporate in Delaware receive lower premiums in acquisitions, and experience lower abnormal returns on announcements. Full article

Automation transparency offers a promising way for users to understand the uncertainty of automated driving systems (ADS) and to calibrate their trust in them. However, not all levels of information may be necessary to achieve transparency. In this study, we conceptualized the transparency of the automotive human–machine interfaces (HMIs) in three levels, using driving scenarios comprised of two degrees of urgency to evaluate drivers’ trust and reliance on a highly automated driving system. The dependent measures included non-driving related task (NDRT) performance and visual attention, before and after viewing the interface, along with the drivers’ takeover performance, subjective trust, and workload. The results of the simulated experiment indicated that participants interacting with an SAT level 1 + 3 (system’s action and projection) and level 1 + 2 + 3 (system’s action, reasoning, and projection) HMI trusted and relied on the ADS more than did those using the baseline SAT level 1 (system’s action) HMI. The low-urgency scenario was associated with higher trust and reliance, and the drivers’ visual attention and NDRT performance improved after viewing the HMI, but not statistically significantly. The findings verified the positive role of the SAT model regarding human trust in the ADS, especially in regards to projection information in time-sensitive situations, and these results have implications for the design of automotive HMIs based on the SAT model to facilitate the human–ADS relationship. Full article

Currently, a significant gap exists between academic and industrial research in automated driving development. Despite this, there is common sense that cooperative control approaches in automated vehicles will surpass the previously favored takeover paradigm in most driving situations due to enhanced driving performance and user experience. Yet, the application of these concepts in real driving situations remains unclear, and a holistic approach to driving cooperation is missing. Existing research has primarily focused on testing specific interaction scenarios and implementations. To address this gap and offer a contemporary perspective on designing human–vehicle cooperation in automated driving, we have developed a three-part taxonomy with the help of an extensive literature review. The taxonomy broadens the notion of driving cooperation towards a holistic and application-oriented view by encompassing (1) the “Cooperation Use Case”, (2) the “Cooperation Frame”, and (3) the “Human–Machine Interface”. We validate the taxonomy by categorizing related literature and providing a detailed analysis of an exemplar paper. The proposed taxonomy offers designers and researchers a concise overview of the current state of driver cooperation and insights for future work. Further, the taxonomy can guide automotive HMI designers in ideation, communication, comparison, and reflection of cooperative driving interfaces. Full article

This paper develops a dynamic model of tender offers in which there is trading on the target’s shares during the takeover, and bidders can freeze out target shareholders (compulsorily acquire remaining shares not tendered at the bid price), features that prevail on almost all takeovers. We show that trading allows for the entry of arbitrageurs with large blocks of shares who can hold out a freezeout—a threat that forces the bidder to offer a high preemptive bid. There is also a positive relationship between the takeover premium and arbitrageurs’ accumulation of shares before the takeover announcement, and the less liquid the target stock, the stronger this relationship is. Moreover, freezeouts eliminate the free-rider problem, but front-end loaded bids, such as two-tiered and partial offers, do not benefit bidders because arbitrageurs can undo any potential benefit and eliminate the coerciveness of these offers. Similarly, the takeover premium is also largely unrelated to the bidder’s ability to dilute the target’s shareholders after the acquisition, also due to potential arbitrage activity. Full article

Higher levels of automated driving may offer the possibility to sleep in the driver’s seat in the car, and it is foreseeable that drivers will voluntarily or involuntarily fall asleep when they do not need to drive. Post-sleep performance impairments due to sleep inertia, a brief period of impaired cognitive performance after waking up, is a potential safety issue when drivers need to take over and drive manually. The present study assessed whether sleep inertia has an effect on driving and cognitive performance after different sleep durations. A driving simulator study with n = 13 participants was conducted. Driving and cognitive performance were analyzed after waking up from a 10–20 min sleep, a 30–60 min sleep, and after resting without sleep. The study’s results indicate that a short sleep duration does not reliably prevent sleep inertia. After the 10–20 min sleep, cognitive performance upon waking up was decreased, but the sleep inertia impairment faded within 15 min. Although the driving parameters showed no significant difference between the conditions, participants subjectively felt more tired after both sleep durations compared to resting. The small sample size of 13 participants, tested in a within-design, may have prevented medium and small effects from becoming significant. In our study, take-over was offered without time pressure, and take-over times ranged from 3.15 min to 4.09 min after the alarm bell, with a mean value of 3.56 min in both sleeping conditions. The results suggest that daytime naps without previous sleep deprivation result in mild and short-term impairments. Further research is recommended to understand the severity of impairments caused by different intensities of sleep inertia. Full article

This study sets out to explore the impacts of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict on worldwide financial markets by considering a large array of national currencies, precious metals and fuel, agricultural commodities and cryptocurrencies. Estimations span the period since the Russian invasion until the takeover of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. Optimal portfolios are constructed for separate categories of financial assets for different levels of risk-aversion by investors. The Chinese yuan, gold, corn, soybeans, sugar and Bitcoin prove to be safe haven investments while the Japanese yen, natural gas, wheat and the combination of Bitcoin and Ethereum offer profit opportunities for risk-seekers. Notably, the agricultural commodities’ portfolio is the best performing while the cryptocurrency portfolio generates the worst risk-return trade-off. National currencies could act as safe havens in the place of gold when all types of assets can be combined. Natural gas is revealed to be the most reliable profit generator. Overall, high risk appetite does not result in large improvement in portfolios’ returns. This study sheds light on investors’ optimal decision-making during elevated geopolitical uncertainties and provides a compass for improving welfare. Full article

This paper examined the effect of two selling processes in the UK market: takeover offers and schemes of arrangement. The latter is argued to allow a bidder to acquire a target company more cheaply and easily because schemes provide a lower threshold of the target company’s shares before “squeeze-out” procedures may be used. To address potential self-selection bias arising from bidders’ ability to choose their acquisition method, the propensity score matching methodology was applied to 803 takeovers of listed-target firms from 1995–2018. The results showed that the scheme of arrangement significantly reduces the target shareholders’ gain relative to the takeover offer. Full article