Circuit breakers: back to the basics

Stock market

Strategies for Foundations: When, Why, and How to Use Venture Philanthropy

This paper investigates the venture philanthropy strategies of foundations. We identified six strategies of foundations engaging in venture philanthropy and explain them through case studies of four foundations based in four European countries. We find that there is a spectrum of engagement models for foundations and that even the same foundation may employ various strategies to fit their individual needs and goals. To most foundations, VP serves as a complement to existing practices and only in one case as an alternative

Access to FHLBank advances and the performance of thrift institutions

This article examines thrift financial data from 1985 to 1991 and finds that financially distressed thrifts, especially those benefiting from regulatory forbearance policies, tended to borrow more from Federal Home Loan Banks. The authors also find that the stock returns of distressed thrifts reflected the subsidized rates at which they were able to borrow from the Federal Savings and Loan Corporation.Federal home loan banks ; Savings and loan associations

The Intermediate Mass Black Hole Candidate in the Center of NGC 404: New Evidence from Radio Continuum Observations

We present the results of deep, high-resolution, 5 GHz Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA) observations of the nearby, dwarf lenticular galaxy and intermediate mass black hole candidate (M ~4.5 x 10^5 M_sun), NGC 404. For the first time, radio emission at frequencies above 1.4 GHz has been detected in this galaxy. We found a modestly resolved source in the NGC 404 nucleus with a total radio luminosity of 7.6 +/- 0.7 x 10^17 W/Hz at 5 GHz and a spectral index from 5 to 7.45 GHz of alpha = -0.88 +/- 0.30. NGC 404 is only the third central intermediate mass black hole candidate detected in the radio regime with subarcsecond resolution. The position of the radio source is consistent with the optical center of the galaxy and the location of a known, hard X-ray point source (Lx ~1.2 x 10^37 erg/s). The faint radio and X-ray emission could conceivably be produced by an X-ray binary, star formation, a supernova remnant or a low-luminosity AGN powered by an intermediate mass black hole. In light of our new EVLA observations, we find that the most likely scenario is an accreting intermediate mass black hole, with other explanations incompatible with the observed X-ray and/or radio luminosities or statistically unlikely.Comment: Accepted for publication to Ap

Enhancement of the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Group's Website and Related Projects

The major problem addressed throughout the term was the need to update the group's current website, as it was outdated and required streamlining and modernization. The old Gateway to Astronaut Photography of the Earth website had multiple components, many of which involved searches through expansive databases. The amount of work required to update the website was large and due to a desired release date, assistance was needed to help build new pages and to transfer old information. Additionally, one of the tools listed on the website called Image Detective had been underutilized in the past. It was important to address why the public was not using the tool and how it could potentially become more of a resource for the team. In order to help with updating the website, it was necessary to first learn HTML. After assisting with small edits, I began creating new pages. I utilized the "view page source" and "developer" tools in the internet browser to observe how other websites created their features and to test changes without editing the code. I then edited the code to create an interactive feature on the new page. For the Image Detective Page I began an evaluation of the current page. I also asked my fellow interns and friends at my University to offer their input. I took all of the opinions into account and wrote up a document regarding my recommendations. The recommendations will be considered as I help to improve the Image Detective page for the updated website. In addition to the website, other projects included the need for additional, and updated image collections, along with various project requests. The image collections have been used by educators in the classroom and the impact crater collection was highly requested. The glaciers collection focused mostly on South American glaciers and needed to include more of the earth's many glaciers. The collections had not been updated or created due to the fact that related imagery had not been catalogued. The process of cataloging involves identifying the center point location of the image and feature identification. Other project needs included collecting night images of India in for publishing. Again, many of the images were not catalogued and the database was lacking in night time imagery for that region. The last project was to calculate the size of mega fans in South Africa. Calculating the fan sizes involved several steps. To expedite the study, calculations needed to be made after the base maps had been created. Using data files that included an outline of the mega fans on a topographic map, I opened the file in Photoshop, determined the number of pixels within the outlined area, created a one degree squared box, determined the pixels within the box, converted the pixels within the box to kilometers, and then calculated the fan size using this information. Overall, the internship has been a learning experience for me. I have learned how to use new programs and I developed new skills. These These skills can help me as I enter into the next phase of my career. Learning Photoshop and HTML in addition to coding in Dreamweaver are highly sought after skills that are used in a variety of fields. Additionally, the exposure to different aspects of the team and working with different people helped me to gain a broader set of skills and allowed me to work with people with different experiences. The various projects I have worked on this summer have directly benefitted the team whether it was completing projects they did not have the time to do, or by helping the team reach deadlines sooner. The new website will be the best place to see all of my work as it will include the newly designed pages and will feature my updates to collections

Addressing the Needs of Doctoral Students as Academic Practitioners: A Collaborative Inquiry on Teaching in Higher Education

This paper presents preliminary findings from a pilot study whose purpose was to explore how we, a tenure-track faculty member and a doctoral student, understood and developed our teaching practice when engaged in a formal faculty–student relationship. Using a hybrid of collaborative inquiry and collaborative self-study—which included verbal and written dialogue, interrogation, as well as observation—we sought to understand how that formal faculty–student relationship promoted the development of strong teaching pedagogy. The motivation for this study was a commitment to fostering high-quality teaching in undergraduate courses in our faculty of education. Driving this study was the research question: How are we investigating and improving upon our practices as teachers in post-secondary education?  Cet article présente les résultats préliminaires d’une étude pilote dont le but était d’explorer la façon dont nous, une professeure et une doctorante, avons compris et élaboré notre pratique d’enseignement lorsqu’engagées dans une relation formelle professeur-étudiant. En combinant recherche et autoétude collaborative, comprenant dialogue verbal et écrit, interrogation et observation, nous avons cherché à comprendre comment cette relation formelle professeur-étudiant favorisait l’évolution d’une pédagogie d’enseignement efficace. Le but de cette étude était d’assurer la qualité élevée des cours de premier cycle au sein de notre faculté d’éducation. La question de recherche à l’origine de cette étude était la suivante : Comment étudier et améliorer nos pratiques pédagogiques en matière d’enseignement postsecondaire

East Coast Inshore Large Mesh Net Fishery Level 2 Ecological Risk Assessment [Species of Conservation Concern]

The Queensland Ecological Risk Assessment Guideline (the Guideline) was released in March 2018 as part of the Queensland Sustainable Fisheries Strategy 2017–2027. This Guideline provides an overview of strategy being employed to develop Ecological Risk Assessments (ERAs) for Queensland’s fisheries. The Guideline describes a four-stage framework consisting of a Scoping Study; a Level 1, whole of fishery qualitative assessment; a Level 2, species-specific semi-quantitative or low-data quantitative assessment and; a Level 3 quantitative assessment (if applicable). A Scoping Study and Level 1 ERA for the East Coast Inshore Fishery was released in May 2019 (Jacobsen et al. 2019). The Level 1 assessment identified ecological components at higher risk from net fishing activities, and these were progressed to a Level 2 assessment. Level 2 ERAs are focused at the species level with risk evaluations based on a Productivity & Susceptibility Analysis (PSA). The PSA evaluates risk for each species through an assessment of seven biological attributes and four fisheries-specific attributes. Based on the outputs of the Level 1 ERA and following a species prioritisation process, the Large Mesh Net Fishery Level 2 ERA assessed risk for 32 Species of Conservation Concern (SOCC), including six marine turtles, seven dolphins, dugongs, five sharks and 13 batoids. All species were found to be at medium to high risk from tunnel net fishing activities. The risk profiles for SOCC were heavily influenced by the biological attributes (productivity); particularly those relating to their longevity and reproductive outputs. The Level 2 ERA made a list of recommendations to assist in the management and mitigation of risk in the Large Mesh Net Fishery. A number of these measures are already being discussed and considered as part of the Queensland Sustainable Fisheries Strategy 2017–2027 and will be progressed through the East Coast Inshore Fishery Working Group

Gulf of Carpentaria Inshore Fishery Level 2 Ecological Risk Assessment [Species of Conservation Concern]

The Queensland Ecological Risk Assessment Guideline (the Guideline) was released in March 2018 as part of the Queensland Sustainable Fisheries Strategy 2017–2027. This Guideline provides an overview of strategy being employed to develop Ecological Risk Assessments (ERAs) for Queensland’s fisheries. The Guideline describes a four-stage framework consisting of a Scoping Study; a Level 1, whole of fishery qualitative assessment; a Level 2, species-specific semi-quantitative or low-data quantitative assessment and; a Level 3 quantitative assessment (if applicable). A Scoping Study and Level 1 ERA for the Gulf of Carpentaria Inshore Fishery was released in December 2019 (Jacobsen et al. 2019). The Level 1 assessment identified ecological components at higher risk from net fishing activities, and these were progressed to a Level 2 assessment. Level 2 ERAs are focused at the species level with risk evaluations based on a Productivity & Susceptibility Analysis (PSA). The PSA evaluates risk for each species through an assessment of seven biological attributes and four fisheries-specific attributes. Based on the outputs of the Level 1 ERA and following a species prioritisation process, the Gulf of Carpentaria Inshore Fishery Level 2 ERA assessed risk for 27 Species of Conservation Concern (SOCC), including six marine turtles, six dolphins, dugongs, four sharks and ten batoids. All species were found to be at high risk from inshore net fishing activities. The risk profiles for SOCC were heavily influenced by the biological attributes (productivity); particularly those relating to their longevity and reproductive outputs. The Level 2 ERA made a list of recommendations to assist in the management and mitigation of risk in the Gulf of Carpentaria Inshore Fishery. A number of these measures are already being discussed and considered as part of the Queensland Sustainable Fisheries Strategy 2017–2027 and will be progressed through the Gulf of Carpentaria Inshore Fishery Working Group

Reef Line Fishery Level 2 Ecological Risk Assessment

A Scoping Study and Level 1 Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) for the Reef Line Fishery was released in July 2019 (Jacobsen et al. 2019). The Level 1 assessment identified ecological components at higher risk from line fishing activities, and these were progressed to a Level 2 assessment. Level 2 ERAs are focused at the species level with risk evaluations based on a Productivity & Susceptibility Analysis (PSA). The PSA evaluates risk for each species through an assessment of seven biological attributes and up to seven fisheries-specific attributes. This Level 2 ERA examined the risk posed to 35 target & byproduct species (Other Species quota management unit), and four protected teleosts. Collectively, 17 species were found to be at high risk from line fishing activities, and the remaining 22 species were assessed as a medium risk. Risk profiles were influenced by data deficiencies, an underdeveloped management regime, and cumulative fishing pressures. For a portion of these species, final risk ratings were precautionary and are more representative of the potential risk. Management of precautionary risks beyond what is already being undertaken as part of the Queensland Sustainable Fisheries Strategy 2017–2027 is not considered a priority. The Level 2 ERA made a list of recommendations to assist in the management and mitigation of risk in the Reef Line Fishery. A number of these measures are already being discussed or addressed through the Queensland Sustainable Fisheries Strategy 2017–2027 and the Reef Line Fishery Harvest Strategy. As the Level 2 ERA commenced prior to the implementation of the harvest strategy, the results are based on the previous management regime. The harvest strategy will be taken into consideration is subsequent ERAs