Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Long-run and Causal Relationship among Financial Development, Openness and Economic Growth in Bangladesh: An ARDL Bound Testing and Granger Causality Approach

This study examines the long run and causal relationship between economic growth, financial development and openness in Bangladesh by using autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bound testing approach of cointegration and error-correction based Granger causality model. ARDL bounds test approach for cointegration is run with Microfit software; ADF, PP unit root tests are carried out with STATA12 software and Granger causality test (VEC model) is done with Eviews9 software. The bounds F-test for cointegration test yields evidence of a long-run relationship between economic growth, financial development and openness. The results show that the long-run estimates of gross domestic product with respect to financial development and trade openness are positive at 1% significant level. So an increase in domestic credit to private sector and foreign trade to GDP ratio results in an increase in gross domestic product in the long-run. The cumulative sum and cumulative sum of squares tests show that the estimated parameters are stable for the sample period. A causal relationship is found from openness (foreign trade) to financial development and financial development (domestic credit to private sector) to gross domestic product. Keywords : Economic growth, financial development, trade openness, Bangladesh.
Wealth Effects of Convertible Bond Issues - Further Evidence of Agency Costs and Managerial Entrenchment

There is still some ambiguity about the company’s motivation for using the hybrid finance instrument of convertible bonds. Although manifold theoretical approaches provide varying assumptions about the rationale behind the issuance of convertible bonds, the empirical evidence about the major issuance reasons and the subsequent wealth impacts for the issuer remains mixed. The purpose of our study is to evaluate the relevance of these various theoretical approaches to explain empirically the motivation and characteristics of a company when issuing convertible debt and the resulting wealth effects for the company’s shareholders.
On the Quantification of Eigenvalue Curve Veering: A Veering Index

Eigenvalue curve veering is a phenomenon that has found relevance and application in a variety of structural dynamic problems ranging from localization and stability studies to material property determination. Contemporary metrics for quantifying veering can be ambiguous and difficult to interpret. This manuscript derives three normalized indices in an effort to reconcile the deficit; two of these quantify the physical conditions which produce the behavior while the third provides a definitive measure of the overall intensity of the effect. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the application of the methods, which are expected to form a basis for the development of advanced analytical tools.
DYNAMIC ASSET ALLOCATION BY VOLATILITY FORECASTING

6 ABBREVIATIONS . 7 INTRODUCTION . 8 1. DYNAMIC ASSET ALLOCATION. A LITERATURE REVIEW . 11 1.1. Asset Allocation . 11 1.1.1. The Modern Portfolio Theory. 12 1.1.2. Asset Allocation Strategies . 14 1.1.3. The Importance of Asset Allocation . 15 1.2. Dynamic Asset Allocation Approach . 16 1.3. Dynamic Asset Allocation Strategies . 18 1.3. 1. Portfolio Insurance Strategies . 20 1.3. 2. Rainbow Option Strategies . 21 1.3. 3. Shortfall Risk-Based Strategies . 22 2. VOLATILITY MODELLING AND FORECASTING. A LITERATURE REVIEW . 26 2.1. Stylized Facts of Financial Asset Returns . 26 2.2. Naïve Forecasting Models . 29 2.2.1. Simple Moving Average . 29 2.2.2. Exponentially Weighted Moving Average . 29 2.3. Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity Models . 30 2.3. 1. ARCH . 30 2.3. 2. GARCH . 31 2.3. 3. EGARCH and QGARCH . 32 2.3. 4. GJR-GARCH and TGARCH . 33
Chapter 5 Chemical sediments associated with Neoproterozoic glaciation: iron formation, cap carbonate, barite and phosphorite

Abstract Orthochemical sediments associated with Neoproterozoic glaciation have prominence beyond their volumetric proportions because of the insights they provide on the nature of glaciation and the records they hold of the environment in which they were precipitated. Synglacial Fe formations are mineralogically simple (haematite jaspilite), and their trace element spectra resemble modern seawater, with a weaker hydrothermal signature than Archaean–Palaeoproterozoic Fe formations. Lithofacies associations implicate subglacial meltwater plumes as the agents of Fe(II) oxidation, and temporal oscillations in the plume flux as the cause of alternating Fe- and Mn-oxide deposits. Most if not all Neoproterozoic examples belong to the older Cryogenian (Sturtian) glaciation. Older and younger Cryogenian (Marinoan) cap carbonates are distinct. Only the younger have well-developed transgressive cap dolostones, which were laid down during the rise in global mean sea level resulting from ice-sheet meltdown. Marinoan cap dolostones have a suite of unusual sedimentary structures, indicating abnormal palaeoenvironmental conditions during their deposition. Assuming the meltdown of ice-sheets was rapid, cap dolostones were deposited from surface waters dominated by buoyant glacial meltwater, within and beneath which microbial activity probably catalysed dolomite nucleation. Former aragonite seafloor cement (crystal fans) found in deeper water limestone above Marinoan cap dolostones indicates carbonate oversaturation at depth, implying extreme concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon. Barite is associated with a number of Marinoan cap dolostones, either as digitate seafloor cement associated with Fe-dolomite at the top of the cap dolostone, or as early diagenetic void-filling cement associated with tepee or tepee-like breccias. Seafloor barite marks a redoxcline in the water column across which euxinic Ba-rich waters upwelled, causing simultaneous barite titration and Fe(III) reduction. Phosphatic stromatolites, shrub-like structures and coated grains are associated with a glacioisostatically induced exposure surface on a cap dolostone in the NE of the West African craton, but this appears to be a singular occurrence of phosphorite formed during a Neoproterozoic deglaciation.
Preparation of Cu Doped TiO2 Photo-catalyst by Microwave Hydrothermal Method and Study on Its Photo-catalytic Activity

The Cu doped TiO2 photo-catalyst TiO2-Cu was prepared by microwave hydrothermal method(MHM) and its photo-catalytic degradation activity in the microwave radiation and ultraviolet irradiation (MW-UV) was investigated. The best conditions of preparing TiO2-Cu were obtained by optimizing the reactive condition. The structure of TiO2-Cu was characterized by IR, XRD, SEM, AFM, RS and FS. The results showed that the MHM preparation of TiO2-Cu had the structural characteristics of small particle size and lower fluorescence intensity which could effectively inhibit the recombination of photo-generated electron hole, thereby the TiO2-Cu had higher photo-catalytic degradation activity. The methyl orange was almost degraded completely when the TiO2-Cu prepared with the optimum condition was used to degrade methyl orange for 50 min under MW-UV.
Efficient Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks with Multiple Sessions

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are subject to node failures because of limited energy and link unreliability which makes the design of routing protocols in such networks a challenging task. The multipath routing scheme is an optimal alternative to address this problem which splits the traffic across multiple paths instead of routing all the traffic along a single path. However, using more paths introduces more contentions which degrade energy efficiency. The problem becomes even more difficult in the scenario of multiple sessions since different source-destination pairs may pass the same link which makes the flow distribution of each link uncertain. Our goal is to minimize the energy cost and provide the robust transmission by choosing the optimal paths. We first study the problem from a theoretical standpoint by mapping it to the multi-commodity network design problem. Since it is hard to build a global addressing scheme due to the great number of sensor nodes, we propose a Distributed Energy Efficient Routing protocol (D2ER). In D2ER, we employ the transportation method which can optimize the flow distribution with minimal energy consumption. Simulation results demonstrate that our optimal algorithm can save energy drastically. Copyright © 2014 IFSA Publishing, S. L.
Appointed vs. Elected Governors: Evidence from Russia

This paper is based on the Master Thesis prepared at NES in 2007 in the framework of the research project “Incentives of politicians and bureaucrats in a federation” under the supervision of prof. Ekaterina Zhuravskaya (NES) and prof. Andrei Bremzen (NES). The research was supported by Ford Foundation, World Bank, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The author would like to thank her advisors for their immense support and insightful guidance, express gratitude to Daniel Aleksandrov, Stanislav Anatolyev, Irina Denisova, Sergei Guriev, Leonid Polischuk, Victor Popov, Konstantin Sonin, Anton Suvorov for their useful advice and criticism and would also like to thank Ekaterina Borisova, Denis Chetverikov, Alexander Dubniakov, Andrei Liscovich, Antonina Sorokina for their important comments.
Phenolic compounds from Pamotrema dilatatum growing in Lam Dong province

Introduction: Only chemical study on the lichen Parmotrema dilatatum was found so far in the world. The lichen Parmotrema dilatatum widely distributed in Lam Dong province, Vietnam has been studied about the isolation and elucidation of several metabolites. Methods: Phytochemical study on the polar fractions of this lichen was carried out by using various chromatographic methods including thin-layer chromatography and normal phase silica gel chromatography. Results: Eight phenolic compounds were isolated. The chemical structures of isolated compounds were unambiguously elucidated by NMR spectroscopy and comparison with the data in the literature. These are 8'-O-methylsalazinic acid, salazinic acid, 8'-O-methylprotocetraric acid, diffractaic acid, lecanorin, lecanoric acid, isolecanoric acid, and diorcinolic acid. Conclusion: Among them, 8'-O-methylsalazinic acid was found as a new natural product.
Mahua Oil, an Ayurvedic Product Demonstrated Permeation Enhancing Attribute in Topical Gel Formulations

The current study aims at examining the role of Mahua Oil (MO) as a permeation enhancing agents in gel formulation. Employing, erythromycin stearate, triethanolamine, ethanol, MO, DMSO, and water; two different gel formulations were fabricated. One formulation comprise of MO whereas the other contained DMSO as the permeation enhancer. Both the formulations were characterized in terms of viscosity, pH, extrudability, spreadability, skin irritability test, drug content, in vitro drug diffusion, and accelerated stability studies. The evaluation of formulation F2, which contain the MO, exhibited pH of 5.92, viscosity of 4090 cps, spreadability of 3.88 g.cm/sec, drug content of 98.11%, in vitro drug release of 95.64%, along with good extrudability. The accelerated stability study expressed no substantial alteration and skin irritation test showed no significant signs and symptoms. MO was relatively non-toxic, chemically inert, economic, widely availability, biodegradable, and demonstrate analogous attributes as compared to that of synthetic permeation enhancers. Therefore, a move towards utilizing excipients of natural origin represents a novel approach in formulating gel products in the future.
EAP Treatment Impact on Presenteeism and Absenteeism: Implications for Return on Investment

SUMMARY This article reports data on increased work productivity resulting from the employee assistance program (EAP) treatment of employees. Participants (N = 155) had various psychiatric diagnoses and were seen in individual counseling by network clinicians. Measures of “presenteeism,” absenteeism, and degree of problem resolution were obtained from members' ratings. The results indicated that 80% of costs associated with lost productivity was associated with presenteeism, with absenteeism accounting for the remainder. Characteristics associated with lost productivity were energy level, concentration, and work quantity/quality. A return on investment (ROI) calculated using these data in a typical EAP indicated that for every dollar spent for the program, there is an expected return of between $5.17 and $6.47.
SUBGRIDDING TECHNIQUE FOR THE GEODESIC FDTD ALGORITHM

This work presents a two-dimensional (2D) subgrid technique for the geodesic flnite difierent time-domain (FDTD) algorithm, which is applied to solve global extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic (EM) wave propagation problems in the Earth- ionosphere system. The new technology provides arbitrarily locale resolution to study flner structure without disturb the global grid structure. Combined with the subgrid technique, the new geodesic FDTD algorithm can solve EM propagation problems in speciflc locale regions without extra computational burden. Based on the original geodesic FDTD formulations, the 2D subgrid technique is developed, and its computational stable relation is derived and analyzed. Then, possible three-dimensional (3D) subgrid structure is proposed. Finally, potential applications for the subgrid technique are suggested.
Occupational Attainment and Earnings Among Immigrant Groups: Evidence from New Zealand

This paper concerns the prediction of career success among migrants. We focus specifically on the role of occupation as a mediating variable between the predictor variables education and time since migration, and the dependent variable career success as denoted by occupational status, linked to earnings. Following a review of the literature specifically focused on occupation, we apply Ordered Probit analysis to a sample of over 37,900 employed males surveyed in New Zealand. New Zealand provides an interesting case, as a country where migrants from diverse ethnic groups comprise a significant part of the population. We focus on the occupational attainment of immigrants and the native-born populations and provide evidence on the mediating effect of occupational attainment on earnings. Our analyses show the interplay of factors leading to occupational attainment: for example, education level is of greatest importance, and much of its effect on earnings is through occupational attainment; different immigrant groups have differentiable outcomes, and years of experience in the host country enable gradual occupational advancement. This is the first application of this analysis to New Zealand data. Our results highlight the significant mediating role of occupational attainment in explaining earnings across immigrant and native-born groups.
Investigation of Photocatalytic Activity of (ZnO/TiO 2 ) Modified by β-Cyclodextrin in Photodecoloration of Rhodamine B under Visible Light Irradiation

This paper explains an enhanced photocatalytic activity of (ZnO/TiO2) modified by β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) through photodecoloration of Rhodamine B (RhB) dye in aqueous solution under visible light irradiation (60 W mercury lamp). The phase structures and the optical property of (ZnO/TiO2) and (ZnO/TiO2-β-CD) were characterized by XRD and UV-DRS analyses. The effects of various operational parameters like concentration of RhB dye, amount of catalysts, irradiation time, initial pH and ratio of (ZnO/TiO2) have been studied. The maximum removal was obtained at basic pH (pH=12). The kinetic data follows first order reaction. The photocatalytic efficiency of (ZnO/TiO2-β-CD) is compared with (ZnO/TiO2), bare ZnO and bare TiO2. A suitable catalytic as well as inclusion reaction mechanism for (ZnO/TiO2-β-CD) has been established.
Robust Estimation of Some Nonregular Parameters

This paper develops optimal estimation of a potentially nondifferentiable functional Ð“(I²) of a regular parameter I², when Ð“ satisfies certain conditions. Primary examples are min or max functionals that frequently appear in the analysis of partially identified models. This paper investigates both the average risk approach and the minimax approach. The average risk approach considers average local asymptotic risk with a weight function I over I²-q(I²) for a fixed location-scale equivariant map q, and the minimax approach searches for a robust decision that minimizes the local asymptotic maximal risk. In both approaches, optimal decisions are proposed. Certainly, the average risk approach is preferable to the minimax approach when one has fairly accurate information of I²-q(I²). When one does not, one may ask whether the average risk decision with a certain weight function I is as robust as the minimax decision. This paper specifies conditions for Ð“ such that the answer is negative. This paper discusses some results from Monte Carlo simulation studies.
Can Bank be a Cause of Contagion during the Global Financial Crisis

This paper examines whether the bank can be a cause of contagion during the global financial crisis. This paper utilizes a Dynamic Conditional Correlation Model to examine the financial contagion phenomenon following the recent financial crisis. This model, which is already developed by Engle (2002) as a novel specification of multivariate models’ conditional correlations, allows tracking the correlation progress between two assets. Our sample consists of six developed countries, including the American market where the crisis started. Data frequencies are on a weekly basis reflecting between the period January 2006 and December 2011. Overall, the empirical evidence indicates that the past return shocks emanating from the banking sector have a significant impact not only on aggregate stock markets, but also on their prices, suggesting that bank can be a major source of contagion during the crisis.
Numerical solution of fractional derivative equations in mechanics: advances and problems

Numerical solution of fractional derivative equations in mechanics: advances and problems Wen Chen1, Hongguang Sun1 Summary This report is to make a survey on the numerical techniques for fractional derivative equations in mechanical and physical fields, including numerical integration of fractional time derivative and emerging approximation strategies for fractional space derivative equations. The perplexing issues are highlighted, while the encouraging progresses are summarized. We also point out some emerging techniques which will shape the future of the numerical solution of fractional derivative equations. The frequency scaling power law of fractional order appears universal in physical behaviors of complex solids, fluids and soft matter (e.g., polymers, colloids, emulsions, foams, biomaterials, rock layers, sediments, plastics, glass, rubber, oil, soil, DNA) and is considered “anomalous” compared with those of the ideal solids and fluids, in that the various gradient laws of physics, mechanics and chemistry (e.g., Fickian diffusion, Fourier heat conduction, Darcy’s law) are broken. The particular examples are viscous dampers in seismic isolation of buildings, anomalous diffusions in porous media and turbulence, power law dissipation of medical ultrasonic imaging, inelastic dissipative vibration of polymers and soil, just to mention a few. The standard mathematical modeling approach using integer-order timespace derivatives can not accurately reflect fractional power law, while the fractional derivatives are instead found an irreplaceable modeling approach [1]. For example, anomalous diffusion equation of fractional derivatives has been recognized as a master equation in nature for multidisciplinary applications (e.g., transport, relaxation, heat conduction) and is stated as [2]
Image-Based Methods for Interaction with Head-Worn Worker-Assistance Systems

In this paper, a mobile assistance-system is described which supports users in performing manual working tasks in the context of assembling complex products. The assistance system contains a head-worn display for the visualization of information relevant for the workflow as well as a video camera to acquire the scene. This paper is focused on the interaction of the user with this system and describes work in progress and initial results from an industrial application scenario. We present image-based methods for robust recognition of static and dynamic hand gestures in realtime. These methods are used for an intuitive interaction with the assistance-system. The segmentation of the hand based on color information builds the basis of feature extraction for static and dynamic gestures. For the static gestures, the activation of particular sensitive regions in the camera image by the user’s hand is used for interaction. An HMM classifier is used to extract dynamic gestures depending on motion parameters determined based on the optical flow in the camera image.
Interactive comment on “ MAMAP – a new spectrometer system for column-averaged methane and carbon dioxide observations from aircraft : instrument description and performance assessment ”

in-situ local point measurements from micro sites. ->What do you mean by micro-sties. Are there in-situ macro-sites ? for these scenes the CH4 and CO2 column retrieval precisions are typically about 1% ->This manuscript only deals with CO2/Ch4 ratios and not with simultaneous CH4 and Co2 column observations. You should make this point very clear. The measurements by the MAMAP sensor enable estimates of anthropogenic, biogenic and geological emissions of localized intense CH4 and CO2 sources ->. could enable. Introduction: This arises in part because of the difficulty in estimating the highly variable natural and anthropogenic atmospheric source emissions in space and time -> This arises in part because of the difficulty in estimating the highly spatially and temporally variable natural and anthropogenic atmospheric source emissions. Up to now, flux estimates of CH4 and CO2 in current global. -> Up to now, flux estimates of CH4 and CO2 based on current global. on precise atmospheric in-situ. -> on precise and accurate atmospheric in-situ . of the surface observation site network. ->. of the surface observation network. The footprint of the Tanso-FTS instrument is 10 km. -> The footprint of the Tanso-FTS instrument has a diameter of 10 km. as they combine range with high spatial resolution. ->. as they combine coverage with high spatial resolution. Until recently, few airborne instruments have had the capability of measuring CH4 atmospheric columns with the high spatial resolutions. -> Until recently, few airborne
Saturation and negative temperature coefficient of electrical resistivity in liquid iron-sulfur alloys at high densities from first-principles calculations

We report results on electronic transport properties of liquid Fe-S alloys at conditions of planetary cores, computed by first-principle techniques in the Kubo-Greenwood formalism. We describe a combined effect of resistivity saturation due to temperature, compression, and chemistry by comparing the electron mean free path from the Drude response of optical conductivity to the mean interatomic distance. At high compression and high sulfur concentration the Ioffe-Regel condition is satisfied, and the temperature coefficient of resistivity changes sign from positive to negative. We show that this happens due to a decrease of the $d$-density of states at the Fermi level in response to thermal broadening.