Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Is illiquidity risk priced? The case of the Polish medium-size emerging stock market

This paper explicitly tests the hypothesis that illiquidity risk is not priced in the Polish medium-size emerging stock market. To address this issue, we employ a liquidity-adjusted capital asset pricing model which explains how asset prices are affected by illiquidity risk and commonality in liquidity. The model takes into consideration various sources of illiquidity risk. In contrast to previous studies for the U.S. developed stock market, our empirical results indicate no reason to reject the research hypothesis that illiquidity risk is not priced in the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
Identifying evidence for past mining and metallurgy from a record of metal contamination preserved in an ombrotrophic mire near Leadhills, SW Scotland, UK

This study presents a new 3600-year record of past metal contamination from a bog located close to the Leadhills and Wanlockhead orefield of southwest Scotland. A peat core, collected from Toddle Moss, was radiocarbon (14C) dated and analysed for trace metal concentrations (by EMMA) and lead isotopes (by ICP-MS) to reconstruct the atmospheric deposition history of trace metal contamination, in particular, lead. The results show good agreement with documented historical and archaeological records of mining and metallurgy in the region: the peak in metal mining during the 18th century, the decline of lead mining during the Anglo-Scottish war and lead smelting during the early medieval period. There may also have been earlier workings during the Late Bronze and Iron Ages indicated by slight increases in lead concentrations, the Pb/Ti ratio and a shift in 206Pb/207Pb ratios, which compare favourably to the signatures of a galena ore from Leadhills and Wanlockhead. In contrast to other records across Europe, no sizeable lead enrichment was recorded during the Roman Iron Age, suggesting that the orefield was not a significant part of the Roman lead extraction industry in Britain. These findings add to the various strands of archaeological evidence that hint at an early lead extraction and metallurgical industry based in southern Scotland. The results also provide further evidence for specific regional variations in the evolution of mining and metallurgy and an associated contamination signal during prehistoric and Roman times across Europe.
Unipotent representations and reductive dual pairs over finite fields

Consider the representation correspondence for a reductive dual pair (G 1 , G 2 ) over a finite field. We consider the question of how the correspondence behaves for unipotent representations. In the special case of cuspidal unipotent representations, and a certain fundamental situation, that of «first occurrence», the representation correspondence takes a cuspidal unipotent representation of G 1 to one of G 2 . This should serve as a fundamental case in studying the correspondence in general over both finite and local fields
Macrofinancial Developments in Ukraine, Russia and Turkey from an Austrian Financial Stability Perspective

Austrian banks have early taken advantage of Austria’s geographical proximity to the Central, Eastern and Southeastern European (CESEE) economies and expanded into the region over the past two decades. CESEE has been the key growth market for Austrian banks, which benefited strongly from the catching-up process in financial services. Having steadily reinforced their foreign business focus on the CESEE region, Austrian banks operated 63 fully consolidated retail-oriented subsidiaries in 18 countries in CESEE with total assets of EUR 265 billion at year-end 2013. Compared with other Western European banks, Austrian banks are among the biggest players, holding a market share of about 20% in CESEE, while Italian, French and German banks hold shares of 17%, 15% and 11%, respectively. Austrian banks’ claims are largest on the Czech Republic, Croatia, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Hungary. Turkey is also among the largest obligors when the estimated total exposure of Austrian banks in domestic and foreign ownership is taken into consideration.2 The aggregate exposure to CESEE has grown moderately since 2009, but there have been large differences in how exposures to individual countries developed. While Austrian banks’ foreign claims on Ukraine have decreased markMacrofinancial Developments in Ukraine, russia and turkey from an austrian Financial stability Perspective
Financial Development and Growth: A Re-Examination using a Panel Granger Causality Test

In this paper we investigate the causal relationship between financial development and economic growth. We use an innovative econometric method which is based on a panel test of the Granger non causality hypothesis. We implement various tests with a sample of 63 industrial and developing countries over the 1960-1995 and 1960-2000 periods. We use three standard indicators of financial development. The results provide support for a robust causality relationship from economic growth to the financial development. On the contrary, the non causality hypothesis from financial development indicators to economic growth can not be rejected in most of the cases. However, these results only imply that, if such a relationship exists, it can not be easily identified in a simply bi-variate Granger causality test.
The new Basel high-latitude field star survey of the Galaxy - V. The metallicity distributions in the inner-Galaxy fields SA 107 and NGC 6171

We discuss star count and three-color data for the two inner-Galaxy elds SA 107 and NGC 6171 observed in the new Basel RGU high-latitude eld star survey. Our analysis is based on the structural models of the Galactic population components that were derived from the previous studies of seven elds mainly in the outer Galaxy (Buser et al. 1998, 1999, hereafter Papers I and II, respectively). Apart from the canonical structural parameters, we here explore some of the special conditions prevailing in the transition region from high to low latitudes approaching the Galactic bulge, such as interstellar reddening, preponderant sampling of giants, and pos- sible large-scale radial metallicity gradients. We show that the data are consistent on a high condence level with a model incorporating an old-thin disk with local mean metallicityh(M=H)i = 0:13 0:21 dex at galactocentric distance R 7:3 kpc and radial abundance gradient @(M=H)=@x = 0:078 0:016 dex/kpc, and a thick disk with mean metallicityh(M=H)i = 0:730:15 dex and vertical metallicity gradient@(M=H)=@z = 0:070:03 dex/kpc. Any radial gradient of the thick disk is shown to be marginal, 0 @(M=H)=@x 0:02 dex/kpc. For the inner halo, we nd a gradient-less metal-weak component with mean metallicity h(M=H)i 1:8 0:3 dex but also evidence of a { possibly localized { metal-rich component havingh(M=H)i = 1:0 0:2 dex. These results provide an important further step toward a comprehensive and detailed mapping of the larger-scale density and metallicity structures of the Galaxy, to be derived from the full-survey data in 14 elds.
Capacity Expansion Games with Application to Competition in Power Generation Investments

We consider competitive capacity investment for a duopoly of two distinct producers. The producers are exposed to stochastically fluctuating costs and interact through aggregate supply. Capacity expansion is irreversible and modeled in terms of timing strategies characterized through threshold rules. Because the impact of changing costs on the producers is asymmetric, we are led to a nonzero-sum timing game describing the transitions among the discrete investment stages. Working in a continuous-time diffusion framework, we characterize and analyze the resulting Nash equilibrium and game values. Our analysis quantifies the dynamic competition effects and yields insight into dynamic preemption and over-investment in a general asymmetric setting. A case-study considering the impact of fluctuating emission costs on power producers investing in nuclear and coal-fired plants is also presented.
Secrets of Brainwave Harmonics – Revealed

Exposure to binaural beats in an environment of restricted stimulation coupled with a guidance process can safely provide access to and experiences in many propitious states of consciousness. This method requires a unique combination of well-understood psycho-physiological inductive techniques with the addition of a refined binaural-beat technology. Binaural beats provide potential consciousnessaltering information to the brain’s reticular activating system. The reticular activating system in turn interprets and reacts to this information by stimulating the thalamus and cortex thereby altering arousal states, attentional focus, and the level of awareness, i.e., the elements of consciousness itself. This effective binaural-beat process offers a wide variety of beneficial applications and vehicle for the exploration of expanded states of consciousness.
A VERY DEEP CHANDRA OBSERVATION OF A1795: THE COLD FRONT AND COOLING WAKE

We present a new analysis of very deep Chandra observations of the galaxy cluster A1795. Utilizing nearly 750 ks of net ACIS imaging, we are able to resolve the thermodynamic structure of the intracluster medium (ICM) on length scales of ∼1 kpc near the cool core. We find several previously unresolved structures, including a high pressure feature to the north of the Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG) that appears to arise from the bulk motion of A1795's cool core. To the south of the cool core, we find low temperature (), diffuse ICM gas extending for distances of spatially coincident with previously identified filaments of Hα emission. Gas at similar temperatures is also detected in adjacent regions without any Hα emission. The X-ray gas coincident with the Hα filament has been measured to be cooling spectroscopically at a rate of , consistent with measurements of the star formation rate in this region as inferred from ultraviolet (UV) observations, suggesting that the star formation in this filament as inferred by its Hα and UV emission can trace its origin to the rapid cooling of dense, X-ray emitting gas. The Hα filament is not a unique site of cooler ICM, however, as ICM at similar temperatures and even higher metallicities not cospatial with Hα emission is observed just to the west of the Hα filament, suggesting that it may have been uplifted by A1795's central active galaxy. Further simulations of cool core sloshing and active galactic nucleus feedback operating in concert with one another will be necessary to understand how such a dynamic cool core region may have originated and why the Hα emission is so localized with respect to the cool X-ray gas.
Promoting Latrine Use : Midline Findings from a Randomized Evaluation of a Community Mobilization Campaign in Bhadrak , Orissa

A subset of the Millennium Development Goals reflect the world’s collective hope and resolve to reverse a particularly pernicious, pervasive, and persistent set of problems in much of the developing world: high rates of diarrhea (the number one killer of small children), insufficient water and sanitation services, and seemingly unsafe, inadequate, and myopic behaviors. How can we change this? In a previous paper, we described a randomized, community-level sanitation intervention in rural Orissa, India to gain insight into household-level decisions to build and use individual household latrines and to examine health impacts of sanitation improvements. This paper reports on the results of the campaign. Our data show that the sanitation campaign had a substantial impact on latrine adoption and use. Using a difference-in-differences estimator, we find that the intervention increased latrine uptake by about 30%. This increase in latrine ownership, in turn, may have reduced child diarrhea, although these results are less robust to different model specifications. Taken together, these results highlight the importance of understanding the motivators of household decisions in designing and implementing health and development interventions.
PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF GENERALIZED SELECTION COMBINING IN ARBITRARILY CORRELATED NAKAGAMI FADING CHANNELS

Mobile communication technologies have grown significantly in recent years. In order to satisfy the increasing number of users and their ever increasing requirements, there have been continuous enhancements in present-day wireless standards. With the proliferation of these standards, use of conventional techniques for improving receiver performance becomes very complex. Hence, the design and analysis of low complexity suboptimal techniques, which are comparable to optimal techniques on performance basis and consume less power, has received tremendous interest in a research community. Along these lines this thesis analyzes a suboptimal diversity combining system called generalized selection combining (GSC). In this thesis, we develop an analytical framework for error rate analysis of the GSC technique in a correlated Nakagami fading environment. We derive the moment generating function of the output SNR of a GSC system and, using the moment generating function, the bit error rate of the system is derived. We show that our developed analytical expressions converge to the results presented in literature for the special cases of independent identically distributed GSC with Rayleigh and Nakagami fading, and maximal ratio combining with IID Nakagami fading. Finally, the analytical equations are plotted, verified and compared with the results from system simulations.
Low N Fertilizer Application and Intercropping Increases N Concentration in Pea (Pisum sativum L.) Grains

Sustainable intensification of pulses needs reduced input of nitrogen (N) fertilizer with enhanced crop nutritional quality and yield. Therefore, increasing N harvest in grains (sink organs) by improving N remobilization is of key importance. Previous research has shown that a lower dose of N fertilizer effectively increases the rate of N remobilization, while intercropping improves the grain N concentration in pea (Pisum sativum L.). However, it is unknown whether intercropping can facilitate this N fertilizer effect to increase N remobilization, and thereby enhance the N harvest index (NHI). In this study, we determined N allocation among different organs of pea plants, N translocation from leaf and stem tissues to pods, N2 fixation, N utilization efficiency, and NHI of pea plants grown alone or intercropped with maize (Zea mays L.) with different N fertilization treatments in a field experiment in northwestern China from 2012 to 2014. A base application of 90 kg N ha−1 at sowing and top-dress application of 45 kg N ha−1 at flowering integrated with maize–pea intercropping increased N allocation to pod tissues, N translocation to grains, and NHI of pea plants. Compared with the application of 90 kg N ha−1 at sowing and 135 kg N ha−1 top-dressed at flowering, reducing the top-dress application of N fertilizer to 45 kg N ha−1 increased N allocation to intercropped pea plants by 8%. Similarly, N translocation to grains from leaf and stem tissues was increased by 37.9 and 43.2%, respectively, enhancing the NHI by 40.1%. A positive correlation between N2 fixation and NHI was observed, implying that N2 fixation improves N concentration in grain sinks. Thus, our data show that growing pulses in an intercropping system with reduced N fertilization are essential for maximizing N translocation, improving nutritional quality, and preventing the loss of N through leaching, thereby avoiding potential groundwater contamination.
Phytoremediation of cadmium and nickel using Vetiveria zizanioides

Phytoremediation is a well known heavy metals remediation technique for contaminatedsoils and water. The present study was aimed to evaluate the uptake and dry weightresponse of vetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanioides L.) subjected to different levels of cadmium(Cd) (0, 3, 6 and 12 mg/kg soil) and nickel (Ni) (0, 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg soil) stress. Theexperiment was conducted in pots using a completely randomized design with fourreplications for three months. Concentration of Ni and Cd was determined using atomicabsorption spectrophotometer. The dried weight of aerial and underground parts of Vetivergrass individuals at the end of the experiment were used to compare plant weight responseto different stresses. Statistical analysis was performed using version 18 of SPSS softwareand analysis of variance (ANOVA) and mean comparisons were completed through Tukeymethod. No restrictions on Cd uptake was observed in root and shoot of Vetiver grass, butin the case of Ni, its concentration in shoots of vetiver grass decreased with higher metallevels.The highest transfer factor (TF) among Ni treatments was observed at the lowestconcentration (50 mg/L) and the highest TF among Cd treatments was observed at thehighest concentration (12 mg/L). Results revealed that Ni and Cd had a significant (p<0.05)positive effect on shoot and root dry weight of Vetiver grass. Our results suggest capabilityof this plant for use in phytoextraction of Ni and phytostabilisation of Cd contaminatedsoils.
Occurrence of Black Scurf Disease of Potato in Multan (Punjab) Alongwith Its in vitro Chemical and Biotic Elicitor Mediated Management

Black scurf disease of potato, caused by fungus Rhizoctonia solani, is the most common and one of the oldest diseases of potato affecting stem and stolons. In recent years, the disease is reportedly present in the fields of potato in Pakistan especially in Punjab. Survey of different locations viz. Narangaabad, Band Bosan, Kaian Pur, Kotla Abdul-Fateh and Dhillun was conducted to assess the prevalence of disease in Multan region. Maximum disease incidence and severity of 95.00% and 3.1 rating, was recorded in Kotla Abdul-Fateh respectively. Sclerotial pieces showing characteristic symptoms of black scurf were detached from tuber surface and the fungus was isolated on potato dextrose agar medium. For in-vitro chemical and biotic elicitor testing, three different fungicides viz., Monceren, Topsin-M, and Triton were evaluated using poisoned food technique and antagonistic effect of two accessions of Triochoderma spp . viz. Trichoderma harzianum and Trichoderma viridae was determined against the sensitivity of fungus. Triton was found to be superior at all concentrations in inhibiting the radial mycelial growth of the fungus followed by Topsin-M and Monceren. Satisfactory results were obtained by the antagonistic effect of Trichoderma harzinaum and Trichoderma viridae with 70.00% and 66.00% respectively under in-vitro conditions. Although the fungicide chemistries exclusively control the fungus yet the evaluation of bioagents also remained prolific towards antagonism against Rhizoctonia solani . These investigations provide fresh information on the current status of black scurf disease of potato in fields of Multan and regarding the biochemical management against Rhizoctonia solani under in-vitro conditions and serve as a guide for the future prospects against this holistic disease.
Analysis of Drought Characteristics in Xilingol Grassland of Northern China Based on SPEI and Its Impact on Vegetation

This research is based on the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) which represent the drought and vegetation condition on land. Take the linear regression method and Pearson correlation analysis to study the spatial and temporal evolution of SPEI and NDVI and the drought effect on vegetation. The results show that (1) during 1961–2015, SPEI values at different time scales showed a downward trend; SPEI-12 has a mutation in 1997 and the SPEI value significantly decreased after this year. (2) During 2000–2015, the annual growing season SPEI has an obvious upward trend in time and the apparent wetting spatially. (3) In the recent 16 years, the growing season NDVI showed an upward trend and more than 80% of the total area’s vegetation increased in Xilingol. (4) Vegetation coverage in Xilingol grew better in humid years and opposite in arid years. SPEI and NDVI had a significant positive correlation; 98% of the region showed positive correlation, indicating that meteorological drought affects vegetation growth more in arid and semiarid region. (5) The effect of drought on vegetation has lag effect, and the responses of different grassland types to different scales of drought were different.
The Anglo-Australian Planet Search. XXV. A Candidate Massive Saturn Analog Orbiting HD 30177

We report the discovery of a second long-period giant planet orbiting HD 30177, a star previously known to host a massive Jupiter analog (HD 30177b: a = 3.8 ± 0.1 au, m sin i = 9.7 ± 0.5 MJup). HD 30177c can be regarded as a massive Saturn analog in this system, with a = 9.9 ± 1.0 au and m sin i = 7.6 ± 3.1 MJup. The formal best-fit solution slightly favors a closer-in planet at a ∼ 7 au, but detailed n-body dynamical simulations show that configuration to be unstable. A shallow local minimum of longer period, lower eccentricity solutions was found to be dynamically stable, and hence we adopt the longer period in this work. The proposed ∼32 year orbit remains incomplete; further monitoring of this and other stars is necessary to reveal the population of distant gas giant planets with orbital separations a ∼ 10 au, analogous to that of Saturn.
Free convection in liquid gallium

Free convection in liquid metals is of significant practical interest to the crystal-growing community since the adverse effects of convective instabilities in the melt phase can be frozen into the solid product. Here, we present the results of a combined numerical and experimental study of steady convective flows in a sample of liquid gallium which is heated at one end and cooled at the other. Experimental measurements of temperature distributions in the flow are compared with the standard Hadley-cell solution and with the numerical results obtained from a two-dimensional model. Excellent quantitative agreement is found between all three for low Grashof numbers but a systematic divergence between the results is seen as this parameter is increased.
Growth and Production of Mussels Mytilus edulis from Two Populations

Gompertz growth curves for Mytilus edulis (L.) from two populations were derived from size-class analysis. By the incorporation of time and temperature as day-degrees, and of the results of length/dry weight regressions, estimates were made of seasonal changes in weight, and of fecundity as mantle weight loss on spawning. The results agreed well with independent estimates of growth made by integrating the results of physiological measurements of energy balance. Differences between production estimates for individual mussels at the two sites are discussed and related to various physiological differences, chiefly the seasonal pattern of the efficiency of absorption of energy from the ingested ration. Somatic production is shown to be similarly dependent on temperature in both populations, but seasonally abnormal temperatures and a reduced quality of available food at one site caused a marked reduction in the production of gametes.
Learning about one's relative position and subjective well-being

In this article we show evidence which suggests that changes in an individual's relative position affects his subjective well-being (SWB). In this sense, our findings are in line with those who argue that a felicity function should take into account both absolute and relative position. Our results are based on a simple experimental design to discuss whether learning about one's relative position affects SWB. Additionally, using nonexperimental data we find a significant association between SWB and relative wage.