Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do Major Financial Crises Provide Information on Sovereign Risk to the Rest of the World? A Look at Credit Default Swap Markets

The financial innovations of the late 1990s have led to the emergence of a significant number of new instruments, in particular in the market for hedging credit risk. This paper, based on an original dataset of transactions and quotes, looks at credit default swaps drawn on sovereign countries. The study of the credit default swap market around major financial crises leads to several results: Markets' consideration of ratings around the world changes dramatically after major financial crises, even for those countries that are not in crisis. While ratings seem suddenly to matter more, pricing uncertainty increases as well. Thus large financial crises appear to create strong information uncertainty, rather than resolve previous uncertainty. After a major crisis event, there is significant ‘flight-to-quality’ that is accompanied by a strong relative rise of demand for sovereign credit protection. We also document the extra-significance of transaction data compared to quote data in an OTC market. Overall, sovereign ratings appear to be the pricing tool of last resort when crises disturb markets.
Writing blah, blah, blah: lecturers’ approaches and challenges in supporting international students

The increase in numbers of international students who have English as a second language (ESL) and are studying in English-medium universities has renewed the emphasis of English language development in higher education, particularly concerning academic writing. Much of the discussion has concentrated on developing best practices in providing support via Language and Academic Support (LAS) programs. However, the main challenge in recent years has focused on integrating disciplinary and language learning. What has been largely missing from the discussion are the views of lecturers and students regarding the strategies they use to develop academic writing in the discipline. This paper addresses this issue. The analysis reveals that academic writing within the disciplines is largely an individual endeavor for both lecturers and their students. Lecturers focus on explaining what skills students are required to demonstrate in their assignments, but students are more concerned with understanding how they can develop these skills. The implications are discussed concerning the development of a whole institutional approach for integrating language and disciplinary teaching.
The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

: Globally the manufacturing sector is recognized as a key driver of economic development. Kenya’s manufacturing sector is no exception with a contribution of 10% to gross domestic product from 2008 to 2014. In the 2017-2019 time period, however, the contribution deteriorated to 8.4%, 7.7% and 7.54% respectively, suggesting a possible premature de-industrialization. If this trend persists , Kenya’s goal of achieving a robust manufacturing sector through the Big Four Agenda may not be achieved. While the government has implemented strategies and interventions to boost the sector, these do not seem to reverse the trend. Against this backdrop, we explore how social capital as a readily available resource can be tapped to enhance performance among the micro, small and medium manufacturing enterprises. The study employs relevant theories namely social capital theory, resource-based view, and dynamic capability, among others. The sample includes 384 ventures from a population of 61,931 licensed manufacturing businesses operating within Nairobi City County. Findings indicate that social capital positively and significantly predicted the performance of micro, small and medium manufacturing enterprises. No moderating effect was found in the link between social capital, operating environment and performance. The study recommends that management and policy interventions harness more and diverse networks to enable firms better manage changes within the operating environment without adverse impact on performance.
The crystal structure of (Fe4Cr4Ni)9C4

Abstract(Fe4Cr4Ni)9C4 is a metal carbide mineral formed by combination of Fe, Cr and Ni with C. It occurs in a chromite deposit in the Luobusha ophiolite, Tibet. Based on the determination of its crystal structure, the empirical formula is (Fe4.12Cr3.84Ni0.96)8.92C3. 70 and the simplified formula is (Fe4Cr4Ni)4C9. The mineral is hexagonal with a = 1.38392(2) nm, c = 0.44690(9) nm, pace group P63 m c, Z=6 and the calculated specific gravity Dx = 7.089 g/cm3. Fe, Cr and Ni occupy different crystallographic sites and their coordination numbers are approximately 12, forming an alternate stacking sequence of flat and puckered layers along the c axis. Some metallic atoms have a defect structure. The interatomic distances of Fe, Cr and Ni are 0.2525-0.2666 nm, and the distances between Fe, Cr, Ni and C are 0.1893-0.2169 nm. The coordination number of carbon is 6. It occurs in interstices of the metallic atoms Fe, Cr and Ni to form trigonalprismatically coordinated polyhedra. These coordination polyhedra are linked with each other via shared corners or shared edges into a new type of metal carbide structure.
Modeled dependence of wind and waves on ocean temperature in tropical cyclones

A coupled ocean‐atmosphere‐wave model is used to investigate the sensitivity of surface wind speed and significant wave height to ocean temperature for idealized tropical cyclones (TCs). More intense and larger TCs, with higher waves, form when ocean temperature is increased. The maximum significant wave height increases more than the maximum wind speed for TCs up to hurricane force wind. However, above hurricane force wind the change in maximum wind speed is similar or greater than the change in maximum significant wave height. This can be explained by the wind drag coefficient decreasing as wind speed exceeds hurricane force wind, so that the growth of waves is dampened. The areal footprint of wave height grows considerably more than the maximum as ocean temperature is increased. This suggests a large increase in the surface area of damaging waves generated by TCs may be the dominant impact of a future warmer ocean.
Characterizing the surface radiation budget over the Tibetan Plateau with ground‐measured, reanalysis, and remote sensing data sets: 1. Methodology

The surface radiation budget (SRB) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) greatly influences local climate, climate extremes (e.g., drought, flood) in China, and the East Asian monsoon. However, current estimates of SRB from models and satellite data are subject to large errors, and ground‐measured data sets within this region are rather limited over the TP. Our objective is to determine the SRB over the TP by integrating information from three sources: (1) four ground‐measured data sets from AsiaFlux, ChinaFLUX, GAME/Tibet, and CAMP/Tibet; (2) four reanalysis data sets from Climate Forecast System Reanalysis, Modern‐Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, ERA‐Interim, and Japanese 25‐year Reanalysis; and (3) two remote sensing data sets, Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment Surface Radiation Budget and International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project FD. This study, the first of a two‐paper series, presents the methodology. Individual radiation components of reanalysis and remote sensing data set were first validated using ground‐measured data from 1997 to 2007; then, a linear regression method was applied to generate the fused data from July 1983 to December 2007. The cross‐validation results indicate that the monthly mean root‐mean‐square errors (RMSEs) of fused downward shortwave irradiance and albedo are 15.1 W m−2 and 0.05, respectively; the RMSEs of the downward and upward longwave fluxes are 13.3 and 8.4 W m−2, respectively; and the RMSE of all‐wave net radiation is as low as 18.9 W m−2. Compared to nine sites with long‐term observation of downward shortwave irradiance, the fused data represent the decadal variations with higher correlation than using individual products, suggesting the potential for application of the fused data sets in climatic and environmental research.
The Structural and Sedimentological Controls on the Reoccupation of Quaternary Incised Valleys, Belize Southern Lagoon

A grid of high-resolution single-channel seismic data from the Belize southern lagoon has documented the development of several generations of stacked late Pleistocene (400 ka-Holocene) incised-valley fills. A feedback mechanism between tectonics, reefal buildups, and incised-valley location is apparent in the data. Incised valleys are recognized as medium- to high-amplitude reflections that truncate reflections produced by older strata on the seismic data. The Holocene valley fills in the Belize southern lagoon contain three seismic facies units (from bottom to top): (1) a basal unit characterized by moderately high-amplitude, chaotic reflections, or progradational patterns, that downlap onto the valley floor; (2) a middle unit characterized by continuous, horizontal, near-transparent reflections that drape the basal unit and onlap the valley walls; and (3) an upper unit that consists predominantly of transparent to low-amplitude, low-angle downlapping reflections. The middle and upper units are separated by an erosional surface. Based on core evidence and seismic facies analysis, the basal, middle, and upper seismic and sedimentary facies units are interpreted as fluvial and carbonate sands, estuarine muds, and marine sands and muds, respectively. The erosional surface separating the upper and middle units is interpreted to be a ravinement surface that marks the transition from brackish estuarine conditions to open-marine conditions. Faulting decreases and reefal buildups increase upsection. The oldest valleys mimic structural trends and flow through areas currently occupied by extensive carbonate reefs. Rapid, high-amplitude late Pleistocene sea level rises may have led to wides pread reef development, creating a template that subsequent incisions (reoccupation valleys) followed, regardless of structural trends. The intimate relationship among tectonics, sea level change, carbonate reef buildups, and incised-valley reoccupation serves as a model for understanding ancient, tropical mixed-carbonate-siliciclastic systems. Accelerator mass spectrometer 14C dates of sediment core samples (marine gastropods, marine mollusks, barnacles, worm tubes, peat, and oysters) indicate all the sediment cored (1-4 m) in this study is Holocene in age (between 4740 ±60 and 11,230 ±90 14C age). This radiocarbon dating consistently links the erosional surface between the upper and middle units with the intersection of the regional sea level curve (nonmarine/marine boundary).
Drilling-constrained 3D gravity interpretation

In interpretation of gravity surveys, it is essential to exploit all the information available from drill holes in order to reduce the ambiguity. Accordingly, a new modelling and inversion methodology has been developed to expedite joint geological/geophysical interpretation of gravity data. The key features of the approach are the enforcement of drill constraints (pierce points) and the imposition of density bounds on geological formations and basement. 3D density models are constructed from close-packed vertical rectangular prisms with internal contacts. Prism tops honour topography, so that terrain effects are modelled, not ‘corrected’. Detailed local models can be embedded in regional models to permit fitting of full free-air data, not residual gravity. The geological sense of models is preserved during inversion: the shape and density of homogeneous geological units are adjusted iteratively, subject to the drilling and density constraints. The methodology is illustrated using data from an advanced exploration project in South Australia. Integrated interpretation of a drilled area has been undertaken in four stages. The first stage entailed construction of a ‘regional’ density model, satisfying gridded gravity data on a coarse mesh over a large area centred on the drill grid. Next, a local density model was created on a fine mesh for the drill grid area, based on drill intercepts and density logs. Thirdly, the detailed density model was inserted into the regional model. Finally, constrained inversion was performed, to adjust the local starting model until a fit to the free-air gravity data was achieved.
The Effects of Mixed-Race Households on Residential Segregation

This paper investigates how household-scale racial mixing affects measurements of neighborhood-scale racial segregation. This topic is increasingly important as mixed-race households are becoming more common across the United States. Specifically, our research asks two questions: What is the sensitivity of neighborhood racial segregation measures to levels of household-scale racial mixing? And what is the relationship between neighborhood racial diversity and the presence of mixed-race households? We answer these questions with an analysis that uses confidential long-form data from the 1990 U.S. census. These data provide information on household racial composition at the tract level. The results show that racial mixing within households has meaningful effects on measurements of neighborhood segregation, suggesting that patterns of mixed-race household formation and residential location condition understandings of neighborhood segregation dynamics. We demonstrate that mixed-race households are a disproportionate source of neighborhood diversity in the least racially plural neighborhoods. This article also reflects on the complications that mixed-race households pose for the interpretations of neighborhood-scale segregation and cautions against drawing conclusions about residential desegregation based on racial mixing in households.
Semi‐Automated Registration Of Close‐Range Hyperspectral Scans Using Oriented Digital Camera Imagery And A 3d Model

Diverse applications can benefit from the integration of data acquired by a new generation of close‐range imaging sensors with high‐resolution three‐dimensional (3D) geometric data. However, such integration requires increased automation and efficiency of image‐data registration to guarantee adoption by users beyond the geomatics community. This paper presents a semi‐automated method for registering terrestrial panoramic hyperspectral imagery with lidar models and conventional digital photography. The method relies on finding corresponding points between images acquired in significantly different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, from different viewpoints, and with different spatial resolution and geometric projections. Optimisation of the scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) operator was required to ensure a sufficient number of homologous points, as well as a routine for eliminating false matches. A band selection routine maximises the number of points found while minimising the input data for SIFT. Three‐dimensional object coordinates were derived in the lidar model and used as control points in a bundle block adjustment to determine the hyperspectral exterior orientation and intrinsic camera parameters. The method developed was applied to two datasets with different characteristics, and the results indicate that the proposed method is a time‐saving alternative to manual approaches.
Interstratified Illite-Smectite: A Review of Contributions of TEM Data to Crystal Chemical Relations and Reaction Mechanisms

The advent of modern transmission electron microscopes has revolutionized the classic field of clay mineralogy. Its application to the study of dioctahedral phyllosilicates, illite-smectite in particular, in the past two decades has contributed much of our understanding of the crystal chemical relations and the smectite to illite reaction mechanisms. These contributions are summarized in the following five areas. first, there are only 3 discrete clay minerals in a prograde sequence from smectite to regularly interstratified R1 I-S to illite with increasing diagenetic/metamorphic grade. These observations are in contrast to the conventionally accepted continuous sequence as determined by X-ray diffraction. Reasons for such a contrast are discussed. Second, the 1M polytype is not an intermediate between 1Md for smectite-rich I-S and 2M1 for mature illite of diagenetic/metamorphic grade. Rather, the 1M polytype has a different composition than either 1 Md or 2M1, i.e., it is Mg rich as compared to 1Md or 2M1 polytypes. Third, smectite, interstratified I-S, and illite may form from fluids at the same time over a temperature (depth) composition gradient, without one being necessarily preceded by another. Fourth, the smectite to illite reaction mechanism is via dissolution of reactants, transport of dissolved chemical ions, and crystallization of products. Different mechanisms, such as layer-by-layer replacement (or sometimes called solid-state transformation), may be different variations of the same mechanism, e.g., the layer-by-layer replacement mechanism may operate at the atomic scale, whereas dissolution-crystallization may be over dimensions of pore space or greater. finally, TEM data have made important contributions in providing evidence that are inconsistent with the fundamental particle theory, suggesting that natural, interstratified I-S sequences are not accumulations of fundamental particles.
Identifying moraine surfaces with similar histories using lichen size distributions and the u2 statistic, southeast iceland

Abstract. Moraine ridges are commonly used to identify past glacier ice margins and so infer glacier mass balance changes in response to climatic variability. However, differences in the form of past ice margins and post‐depositional modification of moraine surfaces can complicate these geomorphic records. As a result, simple relationships, such as distance from current ice margin, or linear alignments, may not necessarily indicate moraines deposited contemporaneously. These disturbances can also modify the size distribution of lichen populations, providing a distinctive signature for surfaces with similar histories and a means of identifying contemporaneous moraine surfaces. In this paper, statistical analysis of lichen size distributions is used to identify moraine surfaces with similar histories from complex suites of Little Ice Age moraine fragments in the proglacial areas of Skálafellsjökull (including Sultartungnajökull) and Heinabergsjökull, southeast Iceland. The analysis is based on a novel use of the goodness‐of‐fit statistic, Watson's U2 which provides a measure of ‘closeness’ between two sample distributions. Moraine fragments with similar histories are identified using cluster analysis of the U2 closeness values. The spatial pattern of the clustered moraines suggests three distinct phases of moraine deposition at Skálafellsjökull and Heinabergsjökull, four phases at Sultartungnajökull and a digitate planform margin at Heinabergsjökull. These spatial patterns are corroborated with tephrochronology. The success of the U2 statistical analysis in identifying surfaces with similar histories using lichen size distributions suggests that the technique may be useful in augmenting lichenometric surface dating as well as differentiating between other surfaces that support lichen populations, such as rock avalanche deposits.
Increasing anthropogenic nitrogen inputs and riverine DIN exports from the Changjiang River basin under changing human pressures

In this paper, we estimate the inputs of nitrogen (N) and exports of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) from the Changjiang River to the estuary for the period 1970–2003, by using the global NEWS‐DIN model. Modeled DIN yields range from 260 kg N km−2 yr−1 in 1970 to 895 kg N km−2 yr−1 in 2003, with an increasing trend. The study demonstrated a varied contribution of different N inputs to river DIN yields during the period 1970–2003. Chemical fertilizer and manure together contributed about half of the river DIN yields, while atmospheric N deposition contributed an average of 21% of DIN yields in the period 1970–2003. Biological N fixation contributed 40% of DIN yields in 1970, but substantially decreased to 13% in 2003. Point sewage N input also showed a decreasing trend in contribution to DIN yields, with an average of 8% over the whole period. We also discuss possible future trajectories of DIN export based on the Global NEWS implementation of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment scenarios. Our result indicates that anthropogenically enhanced N inputs dominate and will continue to dominate river DIN yields under changing human pressures in the basin. Therefore, nitrogen pollution is and will continue to be a great challenge to China.
Skart : A skewness-and autoregression-adjusted batch-means procedure for simulation analysis Dedicated to the Memory of

We discuss Skart, an automated batch-means procedure for constructing a skewness-and autore-gression-adjusted confidence interval (CI) for the steady-state mean of a simulation output process in either discrete time (i.e., observation-based statistics) or continuous time (i.e., time-persistent statistics). Skart is a sequential procedure designed to deliver a CI that satisfies user-specified requirements concerning not only the CI's coverage probability but also the absolute or relative precision provided by its half-length. Skart exploits separate adjustments to the half-length of the classical batch-means CI to account for the effects on the distribution of the underlying Student's t-statistic arising from skewness (nonnormality) and autocorrelation of the batch means. The skew-ness adjustment is based on a modified Cornish-Fisher expansion for the classical batch-means t-statistic, and the autocorrelation adjustment is based on a first-order autoregressive approximation to the batch-means autocorrelation function. Skart also delivers a point estimator for the mean that is approximately free of initialization bias. The duration of the associated warm-up period is based on iteratively applying von Neumann's randomness test to spaced batch means with progressively increasing batch sizes and interbatch spacer sizes. In extensive experimentation, Skart compared favorably with ABATCH, ASAP3, the Heidelberger-Welch procedure, the Law-Carson procedure, SBatch, and WASSP.
Bio-optical drifters: scales of variability of chlorophyll and fluorescence

Both the California Current System and the Antarctic Polar Front are characterized by mesoscale variability and meandering jets. These meanders lead to regions of strong vertical motion, on the order of several tens of meters per day. To study physical and biological scales of variability in these two systems, near-surface drifters were released in these two environments; twenty-six in the California Current and five in the Polar Front. Each drifter was equipped with a spectroradiometer to measure upwelled radiance at the SeaWiFS wavelengths as well as at 683 nm. A temperature system was also included. Data were relayed to shore via satellite. These data were converted into biological quantities, including chlorophyll and an apparent quantum yield of fluorescence. Decorrelation time scales were calculated and compared with corresponding statistics of the physical environment. Time scales for all variables increased as the drifters moved from nearshore to offshore. The scales associated with temperature and chlorophyll were similar nearshore, but increased more rapidly offshore for temperature. This suggests that the processes regulating the distribution of temperature and chlorophyll are similar in the nearshore region and significantly differ offshore.