254 research outputs found
The dividend and share repurchase policies of Canadian firms: empirical evidence based on an alternative research design
We empirically investigate dividend and share repurchase policies of Canadian firms. Our analysis contains two features that are uncommon in finance, while they are encountered in other fields of science. First, we use standard, simultaneous and nested logit models. The non-standard logit models are often used in recreational economics and marketing. By examining different model specifications, we test alternative descriptions of the behavior of decision-makers. Second, we use questionnaire data on firm characteristics. Collecting data by questionnaires is hardly ever done in finance, while it is the mainstream approach in sociology and organization. We have sent a questionnaire to the 500 largest non-financial Canadian companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, of which 191 usable responses were returned. Our results are consistent with a structure in which the company first decides whether it wants to pay out cash to its shareholders or not. In the second stage the firm decides on the form of the payout: dividends, share repurchases or both. Payout is determined by free cash flow. The choice for dividends and repurchases depends on behavioral and tax preferences. Furthermore, the payout is less likely to be dividends if the company has executive stock option plans. Finally, we find evidence for the Brennan and Thakor (1990) model. According to this model the existence of asymmetric information amongst outsiders is associated with a preference for dividend payments over share repurchases
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Dynamic Target Choice Model In Multi-Fisheries
This study estimates the harvestersâ dynamic target fishery choice by building an empirical model incorporating dynamic quota use with the insight from a theoretical model. The harvestersâ behavior, which purposes to maximize seasonal profit under constraints of the regulations, are theoretically modeled and solved using a dynamic optimization method. The solution motivates us to incorporate the dynamic quota use in a simple discrete choice model to estimate the harvestersâ choice. Choice behavior of fisheries has been analyzed using a discrete choice models.
The application of this model is implemented with an offshore fleet in Alaskan groundfish fishery, which has appropriate feature to apply the model such as multiple target choices and individual quota. The result indicates that the dynamic variable, quota use, adjusts the incentive to catch pollock for revenue, and it largely lessened the avoidance behavior. We run a simulation of a policy alternative that opens fishing season earlier using the parameter estimates and evaluate the potential effect of the policy on bycatch reduction induced by the change in harvestersâ fishery choice behavior.
The Lost Tribes of Charmonium
To illustrate the campaign to extend our knowledge of the charmonium
spectrum, I focus on a puzzling new state, .
Studying the influence of open-charm channels on charmonium properties leads us
to propose a new charmonium spectroscopy: additional discrete charmonium levels
that can be discovered as narrow resonances of charmed and anticharmed mesons.
I call attention to open issues for theory and experiment.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, uses espcrc2.sty (included); presented at BEACH
2004, 28 June - 3 July, IIT/Chicag
Io'S Atmospheric Freeze-Out Dynamics In The Presence Of A Non-Condensable Species
One dimensional direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) simulations are used to examine the effect of a trace non-condensable species on the freeze-out dynamics of Io's sulfur dioxide sublimation atmosphere during eclipse and egress. Due to finite ballistic times, essentially no collapse occurs during the first 10 minutes of eclipse at altitudes above similar to 100 km, and hence immediately after ingress auroral emission morphology above 100 km should resemble that of the immediate pre-eclipse state. In the absence of a non-condensable species the sublimation SO2 atmosphere will freeze-out (collapse) during eclipse as the surface temperature drops. However, rapid collapse is prevented by the presence of even a small amount of a perfect non-condensable species due to the formation of a static diffusion layer several mean free paths thick near the surface. The higher the non-condensable mole fraction, the longer the collapse time. The effect of a weakly condensable gas species (non-zero sticking/reaction coefficient) was examined since real gas species may not be perfectly non-condensable at realistic surface temperatures. It is found that even a small sticking coefficient dramatically reduces the effect of the diffusion layer on the dynamics. If the sticking coefficient of the non-condensable exceeds similar to 0.25 the collapse dynamics are effectively the same as if there was no non-condensable present. This sensitivity results because the loss of non-condensable to the surface reduces the effective diffusion layer size and the formation of an effective diffusion layer requires that the layer be stationary which does not occur if the surface is a sink. As the surface temperature increases during egress from eclipse the sublimating SO2 gas pushes the non-condensable diffusion layer up to higher altitudes once it becomes dense enough to be collisional. This vertical species stratification should alter the auroral emissions after egress.Aerospace Engineerin
Dirac fermions and flat bands in the ideal kagome metal FeSn.
A kagome lattice of 3d transition metal ions is a versatile platform for correlated topological phases hosting symmetry-protected electronic excitations and magnetic ground states. However, the paradigmatic states of the idealized two-dimensional kagome lattice-Dirac fermions and flat bands-have not been simultaneously observed. Here, we use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and de Haas-van Alphen quantum oscillations to reveal coexisting surface and bulk Dirac fermions as well as flat bands in the antiferromagnetic kagome metal FeSn, which has spatially decoupled kagome planes. Our band structure calculations and matrix element simulations demonstrate that the bulk Dirac bands arise from in-plane localized Fe-3d orbitals, and evidence that the coexisting Dirac surface state realizes a rare example of fully spin-polarized two-dimensional Dirac fermions due to spin-layer locking in FeSn. The prospect to harness these prototypical excitations in a kagome lattice is a frontier of great promise at the confluence of topology, magnetism and strongly correlated physics
Planet Hunters. V. A Confirmed Jupiter-Size Planet in the Habitable Zone and 42 Planet Candidates from the Kepler Archive Data
We report the latest Planet Hunter results, including PH2 b, a Jupiter-size
(R_PL = 10.12 \pm 0.56 R_E) planet orbiting in the habitable zone of a
solar-type star. PH2 b was elevated from candidate status when a series of
false positive tests yielded a 99.9% confidence level that transit events
detected around the star KIC 12735740 had a planetary origin. Planet Hunter
volunteers have also discovered 42 new planet candidates in the Kepler public
archive data, of which 33 have at least three transits recorded. Most of these
transit candidates have orbital periods longer than 100 days and 20 are
potentially located in the habitable zones of their host stars. Nine candidates
were detected with only two transit events and the prospective periods are
longer than 400 days. The photometric models suggest that these objects have
radii that range between Neptune to Jupiter. These detections nearly double the
number of gas giant planet candidates orbiting at habitable zone distances. We
conducted spectroscopic observations for nine of the brighter targets to
improve the stellar parameters and we obtained adaptive optics imaging for four
of the stars to search for blended background or foreground stars that could
confuse our photometric modeling. We present an iterative analysis method to
derive the stellar and planet properties and uncertainties by combining the
available spectroscopic parameters, stellar evolution models, and transiting
light curve parameters, weighted by the measurement errors. Planet Hunters is a
citizen science project that crowd-sources the assessment of NASA Kepler light
curves. The discovery of these 43 planet candidates demonstrates the success of
citizen scientists at identifying planet candidates, even in longer period
orbits with only two or three transit events.Comment: 35 pages, 11 figures, 6 tables, accepted and published on ApJ ApJ,
776, 1
Top-ology
Extended version of an article on top-quark physics, to appear in the May
1997 issue of Physics Today.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures, LaTeX2e + BoxedEPS
Leptophobic U(1)'s and the R_b - R_c Crisis
In this paper, we investigate the possibility of explaining both the R_b
excess and the R_c deficit reported by the LEP experiments through Z-Z' mixing
effects. We have constructed a set of models consistent with a restrictive set
of principles: unification of the Standard Model (SM) gauge couplings, vector-
like additional matter, and couplings which are both generation-independent and
leptophobic. These models are anomaly-free, perturbative up to the GUT scale,
and contain realistic mass spectra. Out of this class of models, we find three
explicit realizations which fit the LEP data to a far better extent than the
unmodified SM or MSSM and satisfy all other phenomenological constraints which
we have investigated. One realization, the \eta-model coming from E_6, is
particularly attractive, arising naturally from geometrical compactifications
of heterotic string theory. This conclusion depends crucially on the inclusion
of a U(1) kinetic mixing term, whose value is correctly predicted by
renormalization group running in the E_6 model given one discrete choice of
spectra.Comment: LaTeX, 26 pages, 5 embedded EPSF figures. Version to be published in
Phys. Rev.
Planet Hunters. VIII. Characterization of 41 Long-Period Exoplanet Candidates from Kepler Archival Data
The census of exoplanets is incomplete for orbital distances larger than 1
AU. Here, we present 41 long-period planet candidates in 38 systems identified
by Planet Hunters based on Kepler archival data (Q0-Q17). Among them, 17
exhibit only one transit, 14 have two visible transits and 10 have more than
three visible transits. For planet candidates with only one visible transit, we
estimate their orbital periods based on transit duration and host star
properties. The majority of the planet candidates in this work (75%) have
orbital periods that correspond to distances of 1-3 AU from their host stars.
We conduct follow-up imaging and spectroscopic observations to validate and
characterize planet host stars. In total, we obtain adaptive optics images for
33 stars to search for possible blending sources. Six stars have stellar
companions within 4". We obtain high-resolution spectra for 6 stars to
determine their physical properties. Stellar properties for other stars are
obtained from the NASA Exoplanet Archive and the Kepler Stellar Catalog by
Huber et al. (2014). We validate 7 planet candidates that have planet
confidence over 0.997 (3-{\sigma} level). These validated planets include 3
single-transit planets (KIC-3558849b, KIC-5951458b, and KIC-8540376c), 3
planets with double transits (KIC-8540376b, KIC-9663113b, and KIC-10525077b),
and 1 planet with 4 transits (KIC-5437945b). This work provides assessment
regarding the existence of planets at wide separations and the associated false
positive rate for transiting observation (17%-33%). More than half of the
long-period planets with at least three transits in this paper exhibit transit
timing variations up to 41 hours, which suggest additional components that
dynamically interact with the transiting planet candidates. The nature of these
components can be determined by follow-up radial velocity and transit
observations.Comment: Published on ApJ, 815, 127 Notations of validated planets are changed
in accordance with naming convention of NASA Exoplanet Archiv
Heated Disc Stars in the Stellar Halo
Minor accretion events with mass ratio M_sat : M_host ~ 1:10 are common in
the context of LCDM cosmology. We use high-resolution simulations of
Galaxy-analogue systems to show that these mergers can dynamically eject disk
stars into a diffuse light component that resembles a stellar halo both
spatially and kinematically. For a variety of orbital configurations, we find
that ~3-5e8 M_sun of primary stellar disk material is ejected to a distance
larger than 5 kpc above the galactic plane. This ejected contribution is
similar to the mass contributed by the tidal disruption of the satellite galaxy
itself, though it is less extended. If we restrict our analysis to the
approximate solar neighborhood in the disk plane, we find that ~1% of the
initial disk stars in that region would be classified kinematically as halo
stars. Our results suggest that the inner parts of galactic stellar halos
contain ancient disk stars and that these stars may have been liberated in the
very same events that delivered material to the outer stellar halo.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures; MNRAS accepte
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