Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
P12.4 CHARACTERISTICS OF RUC VERTICAL WIND PROFILES NEAR SUPERCELLS

Distinguishing tornadic supercell environments from those associated with nontornadic supercells is among the most daunting challenges currently facing severe storms forecasters. In this paper we present preliminary results of a study of characteristics of nontornadic and tornadic supercell hodographs derived from 40-km Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) analyses. One motivation for this study is the relatively recent availability of hourly conditions from analysis systems that initialize numerical weather prediction models (e.g., the RUC, which has been used herein). Although analyses are sensitive to the accuracy of short-term forecasts made by a numerical model, there are some advantages to using model analysis data. The primary advantage is the superior temporal and spatial resolution compared to that of the upper-air observing network, which permits the comparison of model analysis profiles obtained from the same storm-relative (s-r) location in space and time from case to case. Thus, the troublesome issue of defining what constitutes a suitable “proximity” sounding is somewhat circumvented. The availability of thermodynamic and wind profile information at a large number of grid points and times also facilitates the assembly of a large number of cases in far less time than if only observed soundings within relatively close proximity to an event were acceptable. We also are motivated by the need for a comparison of hodograph characteristics between tornadic and nontornadic supercell environments over the entire troposphere. Several investigators have examined mean wind profiles associated with tornadic supercells (e.g., Darkow 1969; Maddox 1976; Darkow and McCann 1977; Kerr and Darkow 1996), but these have not yet been systematically compared to mean wind profiles associated with nontornadic supercells. Some other studies have compared tornadic and nontornadic wind profile characteristics (e.g., Brooks et al. 1994a; Rasumussen and Blanchard 1998; Thompson 1998), but only at a few levels, and only for a relatively limited number of parameters. It will be shown that hodograph differences are most apparent below 1 km. Furthermore, differences between the vertical wind profiles of tornadic and nontornadic supercells above 1 km are generally not statistically signifi-
Corporate governance and risk disclosures: An empirical study of listed companies in Kenya

This paper examines the relationships between corporate governance variables and the extent of risk disclosures among listed companies in Kenya. The study aims to empirically examine the relationship between corporate governance variables and risk disclosures in 48 listed non-financial companies in Kenya. Content analysis of annual reports for the period 2010-2016 was used to measure the level of risk disclosures and compute the risk disclosure index for each company studied. The relationships between variables were analysed using panel data analysis. The findings show that the percentage of non-executive directors, ownership dispersion, percentage of foreign ownership, women in boards affected significantly the level of risk disclosures in the studied companies. Additionally, the control variables, firm’s size and firm’s profitability also significantly affected the level of risk disclosures. It can be concluded that the agency theory and the signalling theory can be used to explain the risk disclosure behaviours of listed firms in Kenya. It is recommended that companies should strengthen their corporate governance mechanisms in order to deal with risks facing them. Key words: Risk disclosures, corporate governance, agency theory, signalling theory, non-financial sectors.
What Inventories Tell Us about Aggregate Fluctuations

We estimate a DSGE model with (S,s) inventory policies. We find that (i) taking inventories into account can significantly improve the empirical fit of DSGE models in matching the standard business-cycle moments (in addition to explaining inventory fluctuations); (ii) (S,s) inventory policies can significantly amplify aggregate output fluctuations, in contrast to the findings of the recent general-equilibrium inventory literature; and (iii) aggregate demand shocks become more important than technology shocks in explaining the business cycle once inventories are incorporated into the model. An independent contribution of our paper is that we develop a solution method for analytically solving (S,s) inventory policies in general-equilibrium models with heterogeneous firms and a large aggregate state space, and we illustrate how standard log-linearization methods can be used to solve various versions of our inventory model, generate impulse response functions, and estimate the model’s deep structural parameters.
PARKINSON’S DISEASE PATIENTS

© 2008 Elsevier. All rights reserved. In addition to tremors, akinesia, and rigidity, Parkinson’s disease is characterized by frontal cognitive dysfunction. The Stroop test is often used to assess the frontal lobe functions of neurological patients [1]. It consists of three tasks presented in a fixed order: word reading; color naming; and incongruent colornaming of color words, such as the word red printed in green ink. Stroop interference is elicited by showing that it takes significantly longer to name the color of a word in the color-word task than it does to name the same color in the color-naming task [2]. Because the process of reading words is automatic, subjects must overcome such a response when the word and color in which the word is printed are mismatched. Brück et al [3] found that as L-dopa uptake in the area of the medial frontal cortex and the anterior cingulate in PD patients increased, Stroop interference decreased. Moreover, they also identified decreased striatal L-dopa uptake in PD patients, indicating that dopamine depletion may account for the difficulties PD patients had suppressing the naming of the words. In addition, late-onset PD patients showed augmented Stroop interference [4]. Brown and Marsden [5] argued that PD patients had a reduced ability to uphold task goals in working memory, such as naming the ink color. This was because it was found that PD patients exhibited Stroop interference when no external cues were provided to remind subjects to name the ink color. Similarly, Janvin et al [6] found that poor performance on the color-word test was predictive of later development of dementia in PD patients, suggesting Received: Mar 29, 2007 Accepted: Oct 23, 2007 Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Dr Chiou-Lian Lai, Department of Neurology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, 100 Shih-Chuan 1st Road, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan. E-mail: cllai@cc.kmu. edu.tw COGNITIVE AND MOTOR COMPONENTS OF RESPONSE SPEED IN THE STROOP TEST IN PARKINSON’S DISEASE PATIENTS
Volatility Contagion and Market Integration across major Coal Markets: A Diagonal BEKK GARCH approach

The present study attempts to meaningfully add to the existing strand of literature on coal market predictability by examining the level of market integration across three major coal export markets. Using a tri-variate diagonal BEKK GARCH framework, the study investigates the own-volatility persistence and cross-volatility contagion effects among European, Australian, and South African coal markets. The results validate the presence of strong volatility contagion among the three markets, indicating a high level of market integration. The contagion effect is observed to be heterogeneous across market pairs. Further, while the study finds convincing evidence for volatility clustering, the EGARCH results fail to affirm the presence of leverage effect among the returns series. In short, the study unveiled complex dynamics in the coal markets’ price generation mechanism that necessitates active portfolio management. As such, besides having significant policy implications, the study’s findings would be of pertinent interest to financial practitioners and investors who seek to diversify their portfolio through investments in global commodity markets.
Spatial and Temporal Variations in Water Quality and Land Use in a Semi-Arid Catchment in Bolivia

Increasing pressures caused by human activities pose a major threat to water availability and quality worldwide. Water resources have been declining in many catchments during recent decades. This study investigated patterns of river water quality status in a peri-urban/rural catchment in Bolivia in relation to land use during a 26 year period. Satellite images were used to determine changes in land use. To assess water quality, data in the dry season from former studies (1991–2014), complemented with newly collected data (2017), were analysed using the National Sanitation Foundation-Water Quality Index method and the Implicit Pollution Index method. The highest rates of relative increase in land use area were observed for forest, urban, and peri-urban areas, whereas relative decreases were observed for water infiltration zones, bare soil, shrubland, and grassland areas. The water quality indices revealed clear water quality deterioration over time, and from catchment headwaters to outlet. Statistical analyses revealed a significant relationship between decreasing water quality and urban expansion. These results demonstrate the need for an effective control programme, preferably based on water quality index approaches as in the present study and including continuous monitoring of runoff water, mitigation of pollution, and water quality restoration, in order to achieve proper water management and quality.
Towards Characterizing the High-dimensional Bias of Kernel-based Particle Inference Algorithms

Particle-based inference algorithm is a promising method to efficiently generate samples for an intractable target distribution by iteratively updating a set of particles. As a noticeable example, Stein variational gradient descent (SVGD) provides a deterministic and computationally efficient update, but it is known to underestimate the variance in high dimensions, the mechanism of which is poorly understood. In this work we explore a connection between SVGD and MMD-based inference algorithm via Stein’s lemma. By comparing the two update rules, we identify the source of bias in SVGD as a combination of high variance and deterministic bias, and empirically demonstrate that the removal of either factors leads to accurate estimation. In addition, for learning high-dimensional Gaussian target, we analytically derive the converged variance for both algorithms, and confirm that only SVGD suffers from the curse of dimensionality.
Directed Technical Change, Environmental Sustainability, and Population Growth

Population growth has two potentially counteracting effects on pollution emissions:(i) more people implies more production and thereby more emissions, and (ii) more people implies a larger research capacity which might reduce the emission intensity of production, depending on the direction of research. This paper investigates how to achieve a given climate goal in the presence of these two effects. A growth model featuring both directed technical change and population growth is developed. The model allows for simultaneous research in polluting and non-polluting technologies. Both analytical and numerical results indicate that population growth is a burden on the environment, even when all research efforts are directed toward non-polluting technologies. Thus research subsidies alone cannot ensure environmental sustainability. Instead, the analysis shows that environmental sustainability requires pollution taxes and/or population control policies.
Comparison of Caudal Bupivacaine Alone with Dexmedetomidine as an Adjuvant with Bupivacaine for Post Operative Analgesia in Paediatric Patient Undergoing Inguinal Region Surgeries

Procedure  After applying standard monitors, general anaesthesia was induced with inhalation of sevoflurane in oxygen via face mask.  An intravenous cannula was placed and fluid therapy was standardarized.  After securing the tube in place the patients were placed in the lateral decubitus position and a single dose caudal block was performed using a 23g needle and standard loss of resistance technique.  No other narcotics, analgesics, or sedatives were administered intra-operatively. Standard monitoring was used during anaesthesia and surgery.  Heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP), and oxygen saturation (SPO2) were recorded.  After extubation the patients were transferred to the post anaesthesia care unit (PACU) and were monitored for vital signs (heart rate, non invasive blood pressure, and saturation of peripheral oxygen).
A fiscal perspective on nominal GDP targeting

This paper studies fiscal policy in a model with nominal GDP (NGDP) targeting. We find that adopting this regime makes standard fiscal policy rules, whereby distortionary tax rates are designed to respond to real economic activity, dependent on the behavior of inflation instead. In particular, if inflation declines following a negative demand shock, then the fiscal policy rules with NGDP targeting call for higher tax rates concurrently with the fall in output. Second, we show that the government spending multiplier and the tax multipliers with NGDP targeting are lower than the multipliers under inflation targeting and a Taylor rule. In this respect, the degree to which monetary policy can manage the economy to achieve the nominal GDP target is crucial for the results.
Microwear patterns on the teeth of northern high latitude hadrosaurs with comments on microwear patterns in hadrosaurs as a function of latitude and seasonal ecological constraints

Dental microwear studies have value in qualitatively addressing patterns of food use in both extinct and extant vertebrates. This study has examined dental microwear patterns on the teeth of Campanian/Maastrichtian hadrosaurs from northern Alaska to western Texas. The primary parameters examined were the incidence of pitting and the orientation of linear features on the occlusal surfaces of the teeth. The results of the examination have shown similar patterns of tooth wear independent of geographic location. Thus it may be that hadrosaurs all along western North America were consuming food items with similar hardness. The dominant food consumed by hadrosaurs is considered to be conifers, although it is unlikely that conifers constituted the entire diet of the high latitude forms given the constraints imposed by a highly seasonal annual cycle. Further, given the similarity of food items consumed along such a large latitudinal gradient, combined with the deciduous nature of the food items in Alaska, it seems likely that northern hadrosaurs reduced their metabolic rates during the winter months, in a manner similar to many modern terrestrial Arctic vertebrates. This reduction in metabolic rate during the winter months may have been facilitated if these animals were inertial homeotherms (i.e., of a low surface: mass ratio) or ectotherms rather than full endotherms. Anthony R. Fiorillo. Museum of Nature and Science, P.O. Box 151469, Dallas, TX 75315 tfiorillo@natureandscience.org
Deciphering the Manufacturing Production Space in Global City-Regions of Developing Countries—a Case of Pearl River Delta, China

In the context of economic globalization, the manufacturing production space in the global city-regions of developing countries have presented significant spatial characteristics, attracting attention to the problems of intensive and sustainable development of production space. Taking global city-region in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) as an example, manufacturing production space based on remote sensing (RS) technology and point of interest (POI) data extraction was more precise and continuous, which had more advantages for further analysis of spatial characteristics and influencing factors in multi-scale, and precise policy recommendations. The results show that: (1) under different scales, the distribution characteristics of manufacturing production space and the agglomeration characteristics of spatial form are different. It is not simply extensive agglomeration or diffusion that can accurately explain its diversified spatial characteristics. Meanwhile, for the local manufacturing production space optimization control, the local government should apply advanced experience according to local conditions instead of simply and roughly promotion or containment. (2) Influencing factors show a strong positive correlation with the urbanization rate, the number of foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises and gross industrial production, and which shows a weak negative correlation with fixed asset investment and the employment population. In conclusion, the spatial characteristics of manufacturing production space in global city-regions in developing countries is significantly different from that in Western countries, and its influencing factors have similarities and differences. Therefore, when conducting multi-scale space optimization and sustainable regulation, the government should consider more about the actual multi-scale spatial characteristics of manufacturing production space and its influencing factors instead of copy the Western experience.
Informed Citizen Panels on the Swiss Electricity Mix 2035: Longer-Term Evolution of Citizen Preferences and Affect in Two Cities

For a successful transition to low-carbon electricity supply, public support is essential. Citizen preferences are best understood in the process of informed citizen panels, where citizens are informed about the pros and cons of various electricity technologies and spend time reflecting on the trade-offs. We investigated how information about electricity technologies and their sustainability impacts can change citizens’ preferences and affect for the complete Swiss electricity mix 2035. The citizens received information as factsheets and, during workshops, discussed in groups and built their preferred electricity mix using an interactive tool. The informed citizen panel (N = 33) in the Swiss city of Geneva showed high support for domestic renewable technologies and end-use efficiency, as well as low support for net electricity import, natural gas, and nuclear power. Preferences and affect for unfamiliar technologies changed after receiving information and remained stable even in the longer term four weeks after. Preferences and affect for already familiar technologies, like hydropower, barely changed. The same procedure in the two Swiss cities of Geneva and Zurich (N = 46) enabled the identification of robust support for renewable technologies and efficiency with only minor context-specific differences.
Preparation , composition and microbiological and rheological properties of functional processed cheese supplemented with rice bran

The utilization of the underutilized rice bran (RB) in the development of a functional processed cheese product containing fiber and bioactive phytochemicals found in RB was investigated. Rice bran was found to contain 841.33 mg total phenols/100 g and the following phenols were identified, catachin, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, vanillic acid, qumaric acid, ferulic acid, cinnamic acid and chyrisin. The effect of adding 2, 4 and 6 % RB on the chemical composition, microbiological, texture profile, colour attributes, oxidative stability of cheese fat, meltability, oiling off and sensory properties of processed cheese spreads (PCS) were determined. Generally, addition of 4 and 6% rice bran slightly and significantly changed most the studied characters. Thus the colour became more darker, oiling off and hardness increased while the meltability decreased. On the other hand, no significant differences were found between processed cheese containing 2% RB and control. The Addition of RB would add several bioactive compounds such as bioactive phenolic compound and fiber improving the nutritive value and health impact of the product. It is recommended to add 2% RB in PCS formulation as a novel product with better nutritive than the classic product. In the mean time it would give a feasible way for the utilization of rice bran and to decrease the cost of processed production.
Attentive Sequential Neural Processes

Sequential Neural Processes (SNP) is a new class of models that temporally extends Neural Processes (NP) and can meta-learn a sequence of stochastic processes. This learned function however under-fits the provided contexts as is also the case in NP. Applying attention to the contexts resolves this in NP but simply extending this to SNP and applying attention on a buffer of context history is sub-optimal as our findings show. In this paper, we propose Attentive Sequential Neural Processes (ASNP) which resolves the under-fitting in SNP by introducing a novel imaginary context, modeled as a latent variable, over which the attention can then be applied. We evaluate our model on 1D Gaussian Processes regression and 2D moving MNIST/CelebA regression. We apply ASNP to implement Attentive Temporal-GQN and further evaluate on the moving CelebA task.
The Effect of Corporate Governance Mechanisms on Firms’ Financial Performance: Evidence from Selected Commercial Banks in Ethiopia

Corporate governance has become subject to the development agenda of most developed and developing countries economy, due to the fact that corporate governance structure of a firm has critical impact on its financial performance. Corporate governance mechanisms emerge to tackle agency problems in ensuring that shareholders’ funds are not expropriated or wasted on unprofitable activities. The results of most research studies reveal that, well governed firms have been noted to have higher firm performance than poor governed firms. However, there are different researchers who opposed this idea as they have found mixed results on the relationships between different variables of corporate governance and financial performance. Research studies on this issue in developing countries; especially in Ethiopia remained an ignored area from empirical research. Thus, this study examined the effect of corporate governance mechanisms on firms’ financial performance on the selected commercial banks in Ethiopia by taking a sample of 6 commercial banks starting from the year 2003 up to 2009. This study used return on asset, return on equity and operating profit margin as dependent variables to measure financial performance of commercial banks and board size, board independence, frequency of board meetings, chief executive officer duality, audit committee and board ownership as independent variables to express quantitatively corporate governance mechanisms. In addition, firm size, financial leverage and firm growth rate were used as control variables, which are specific to commercial banks and general to the economy as a whole. The researcher used both correlation analysis and pooled panel data regression models of cross-sectional and time series data for analysis. The results provide evidence that board size is negatively and significantly related with all the three indicators of financial performance- return on asset return on equity and operating profit margin. Audit committee and financial performance indicators-return on asset and return on equity is negative and statistically significant, but it is not significant with operating profit margin. Board independence, chief executive officer duality and board ownership are positively and significantly related with all the three financial performance indicators. However, frequency of board meetings is not statistically significant with all the three financial performance indicators. Keywords: Corporate Governance Mechanisms, Agency Problem, Firms’ Financial Performance and Commercial Banks. DOI : 10.7176/RJFA/10-19-03 Publication date :October 31 st 2019