Did the recent Brazilian economic defaults originate from real economic or financial issues?

This paper aims to discover whether the origins of the recent Brazilian economic defaults (2009, 2015, and 2016) were related to the real economy or to pure financial transactions. To do so, we analyzed the discrepancy of dispersion index (DDI) and structural path decomposition from flow of funds (FOF) matrices of the Brazilian economy from 2004 to 2015. Financial transactions mirrored real transactions in almost every year, except in 2008, when financial transactions more highly contributed to the imbalance. Additionally, the total value of financial firms’ transactions grew more than that of non-financial firms in periods preceding economic defaults (2008 and 2014) while the continued growth of non-financial firms transactions decreased the DDI in 2009 and 2015. Changes in the power of dispersion indices corroborated this observation by pointing out that the government and non-financial firms reduced their financial sharing while financial firms improved their role as financial intermediaries and, at the same time, the rest of the world was receiving a significant portion of Brazilian savings

Flow-of-funds analysis in the Brazilian economy (2004–2014)

This paper is applies the flow-of-funds (FOF) framework proposed by Tsujimura and Mizoshita (2004) to investigate the structure of financial system in the Brazilian economy. The study presents the compilation process of the asset–liability matrix (ALM) and then develops an ALM with six institutional sectors (households, non-financial firms, government, the rest of world, financial firms and the Central Bank of Brazil) for the years 2004 to 2014. From the Brazilian ALM, FOF indexes are calculated (the power of dispersion, the sensitivity of dispersion and the discrepancy of dispersion). For selected years, the structural decomposition of change in the discrepancy index is calculated and an additional expansion presents an ALM with four additional financial firms: three government-sponsored banks—Banco do Brasil, Caixa Econômica Federal, and Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social —and one private bank—Itaú. The role of each institutional sector in the Brazilian financial system is illustrated and the discrepancy of dispersion is highlighted with a good indicator of economic problems showing that the origin of recessions in Brazilian economy was almost in the structure of the financial system

Reducing Digestible Tidbits from Meaty Stock: Satisfying Varied Tastes with an Attractive Instructional Assessment Menu

Do you collect streams of data that never see the light of day? Libraries are more frequently being held accountable for metrics via scorecards, dashboards, and other short snapshots of performance. Information Literacy practitioners have meanwhile moved away from tick-marks to a learning outcome assessment culture. This means that the full array of evaluative, formative and summative approaches-- competencies, tests, self-reports and rubrics-- can leave new librarians\u27 heads spinning. Learning outcomes data are hard to wrangle, let alone, in a digestible format, but fresh assessment approaches can fully illustrate the benefits of our varied media and modes of instruction. Instead of underreporting our value, we must reconcile decision-makers\u27 needs with instructional best practices. The presenters are assessment enthusiasts, not assessment professionals, so this session will be highly accessible, and the presenters will encourage audience members to share their expertise. The session will gauge the audience\u27s vocabulary and skills regarding assessment culture. It will apprise practitioners of the challenges of educational media assessment and introduce new technologies for visualizing and compiling data. It will also provide practical examples from Capella Library\u27s assessment strategy. Session presenters come from a higher education for-profit setting. They bring the value of Information Literacy to the forefront in an intensely results-driven environment. Capella University Library has engineered a holistic reporting strategy through a living information literacy plan that draws from a plethora of data pipelines. Capella University is an invited member of the Presidents\u27 Alliance for Excellence in Student Learning & Accountability

Genetic Issues in Freshwater Turtle and Tortoise Conservation

Freshwater and terrestrial turtles are among the most imperiled biota on the planet, with nearly half of all extant taxa threatened with extinction. Active science-based management is required for the persistence of many species. Evolutionary genetic principles are often overlooked in the development of conservation and management plans, yet genetic data and theory can be critical to program success. Conservation biologists are encouraged to consider using genetic data and concepts when developing conservation strategies for turtles. We identify general areas where genetic principles and empirical data can be profitably used in conservation planning and provide examples from the turtle literature. Finally, we suggest important areas for future research in chelonian conservation genetics

Neural Resonance Theory: Entrainment to Missing Pulse Rhythms

Many rhythm perception experiments employ simple isochronous rhythms, in which synchronous neural or behav-ioral responses are observed. However, responses at the stimulus frequency do not allow one to distinguish whether synchronyoccurs as a response to common input, or as the result of an emergent population oscillation that entrains at a particular fre-quency. This study aimed to investigate whether the sensorimotor system, as measured by 32- channel cortical EEG, wouldentrain to a complex rhythm at the pulse frequency even when the complex rhythm contained no spectral power at that fre-quency. Dynamical analysis predicts neural oscillation will emerge at such a “missing” pulse frequency. We report evidence ofresponse in the EEG to missing 2 Hz pulse rhythms. These data support the theory that rhythmic synchrony occurs as the resultof an emergent population oscillation that entrains at this particular frequency. We also discuss generators of the missing pulseresponse

The First Three Rungs of the Cosmological Distance Ladder

It is straightforward to determine the size of the Earth and the distance to the Moon without making use of a telescope. The methods have been known since the 3rd century BC. However, few amateur or professional astronomers have worked this out from data they themselves have taken. Here we use a gnomon to determine the latitude and longitude of South Bend, Indiana, and College Station, Texas, and determine a value of the radius of the Earth of 6290 km, only 1.4 percent smaller than the true value. We use the method of Aristarchus and the size of the Earth's shadow during the lunar eclipse of 2011 June 15 to derive an estimate of the distance to the Moon (62.3 R_Earth), some 3.3 percent greater than the true mean value. We use measurements of the angular motion of the Moon against the background stars over the course of two nights, using a simple cross staff device, to estimate the Moon's distance at perigee and apogee. Finally, we use simultaneous CCD observations of asteroid 1996 HW1 obtained with small telescopes in Socorro, New Mexico, and Ojai, California, to derive a value of the Astronomical Unit of (1.59 +/- 0.19) X 10^8 km, about 6 percent too large. The data and methods presented here can easily become part of a beginning astronomy lab class.Comment: 34 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in American Journal of Physic

Guided structure learning of DAGs for count data

In this paper, we tackle structure learning of Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs), with the idea of exploiting available prior knowledge of the domain at hand to guide the search of the best structure. In particular, we assume to know the topological ordering of variables in addition to the given data. We study a new algorithm for learning the structure of DAGs, proving its theoretical consistence in the limit of infinite observations. Furthermore, we experimentally compare the proposed algorithm to a number of popular competitors, in order to study its behavior in finite samples.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1810.1085

Natural heritage inventory of Buckley Air National Guard Base, Arapahoe County, Colorado

Prepared for: the Nature Conservancy.July 2000.Includes bibliographical references