The Transformation of the U.S. Banking Industry: What a Long, Strange Trips It's Been

macroeconomics, Transformation, U.S. Banking Industry

Internal Finance and Firm Investment

We examine the neoclassical investment model using a panel of U.S. manufacturing firms. The standard model with no financing constraints cannot be rejected for firms with high (pre-sample) dividend payouts. However, it is decisively rejected for firms with low (pre-sample) payouts (firms we expect to face financing constraints). Hem, investment is sensitive to both firm cash flow and macroeconomic credit conditions, holding constant investment opportunities. Sample splits based on firm size or maturity do not produce such distinctions. The latter comparison identifies firms where "free-cash-flow" problems might be expected to produce correlations between investment and cash flow.

Automatic estimation of flux distributions of astrophysical source populations

In astrophysics a common goal is to infer the flux distribution of populations of scientifically interesting objects such as pulsars or supernovae. In practice, inference for the flux distribution is often conducted using the cumulative distribution of the number of sources detected at a given sensitivity. The resulting "$\log(N>S)$-$\log (S)$" relationship can be used to compare and evaluate theoretical models for source populations and their evolution. Under restrictive assumptions the relationship should be linear. In practice, however, when simple theoretical models fail, it is common for astrophysicists to use prespecified piecewise linear models. This paper proposes a methodology for estimating both the number and locations of "breakpoints" in astrophysical source populations that extends beyond existing work in this field. An important component of the proposed methodology is a new interwoven EM algorithm that computes parameter estimates. It is shown that in simple settings such estimates are asymptotically consistent despite the complex nature of the parameter space. Through simulation studies it is demonstrated that the proposed methodology is capable of accurately detecting structural breaks in a variety of parameter configurations. This paper concludes with an application of our methodology to the Chandra Deep Field North (CDFN) data set.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/14-AOAS750 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Study on flow properties of rotor grade steel

Compression tests were performed on Gleeble 3800 Thermo-Mechanical Simulator to study the flow properties of rotor grade steel 28CrMoNiV59. Compression specimens were deformed at a constant strain rate of 10-3 s-1. The temperature range during tests was between room temperature and 1000°C with an interval of 100°C. When the normalized flow stress was plotted as a function of temperature, it exhibited three different regions. In regions I and III flow stress decreases with increase in temperature but the same increases with temperature in region II. Microstructural changes and work hardening behaviour have been studied for the deformed specimen. Furthermore, TEM analysis was also done for the samples of these three different regions (I, II & III). Strain hardening rate as a function of the normalized flow stresses decreases at larger strain and become negligible at higher temperature

Coronal properties of planet-bearing stars

Do extrasolar planets affect the activity of their host stars? Indications for chromospheric activity enhancement have been found for a handful of targets, but in the X-ray regime, conclusive observational evidence is still missing. We want to establish a sound observational basis to confirm or reject major effects of Star-Planet Interactions (SPI) in stellar X-ray emissions. We therefore conduct a statistical analysis of stellar X-ray activity of all known planet-bearing stars within 30pc distance for dependencies on planetary parameters such as mass and semimajor axis. We find that in our sample, there are no significant correlations of X-ray luminosity or the activity indicator L_X/L_bol with planetary parameters which cannot be explained by selection effects. Coronal SPI seems to be a phenomenon which might only manifest itself as a strong effect for a few individual targets, but not to have a major effect on planet-bearing stars in general.Comment: accepted by A&

Summary of the 13th IACHEC Meeting

We summarize the outcome of the 13th meeting of the International Astronomical Consortium for High Energy Calibration (IACHEC), held at Tenuta dei Ciclamini (Avigliano Umbro, Italy) in April 2018. Fifty-one scientists directly involved in the calibration of operational and future high-energy missions gathered during 3.5 days to discuss the current status of the X-ray payload inter-calibration and possible approaches to improve it. This summary consists of reports from the various working groups with topics ranging from the identification and characterization of standard calibration sources, multi-observatory cross-calibration campaigns, appropriate and new statistical techniques, calibration of instruments and characterization of background, and communication and preservation of knowledge and results for the benefit of the astronomical community.Comment: 12 page

On 2-D Non-Adjacent-Error Channel Models

Abstract-In this work, we consider two-dimensional (2-D) binary channels in which the 2-D error patterns are constrained so that errors cannot occur in adjacent horizontal or vertical positions. We consider probabilistic and combinatorial models for such channels. A probabilistic model is obtained from a 2-D random field defined by Roth, Siegel and Wolf (2001). Based on the conjectured ergodicity of this random field, we obtain an expression for the capacity of the 2-D non-adjacenterrors channel. We also derive an upper bound for the asymptotic coding rate in the combinatorial model

Study of polyembryony and development of molecular markers for identification of zygotic and nucellar seedlings in Khasi mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco)

The objective of this work was to evaluate the occurrence of polyembryonic seedlings and other morphological parameters in Khasi mandarin during three harvest years and to identify zygotic (sexual) seedlings from nucellar (asexual) ones grown under in-vitro conditions using molecular markers. Embryos from 27 polyembryonic and 7 monoembryonic seeds of Khasi mandarin were grown in-vitro. DNA from seedlings and mother parent was analyzed using 16 ISSR and 5 RAPD primers, of which 4 ISSR and a set of 3 RAPD primers were effective to identify zygotic or nucellar origin of the seedlings. In-vitro culture enables maximum embryos of each seed to grow, favouring the origin of seedlings to be identified as zygotic. Among 69 tested individuals, 37 zygotic and 32 nucellar seedlings were recognized. In polyembryonic and monoembryonic seeds, 59.6% and 42.8% of the seedlings, respectively, have the sexual origin. Morphological characteristics of seeds and the seedlings generated varied significantly and were not correlated with polyembryony except for the clutch size and the number of branches. Polyembryonic seeds in the cultivar are high, ranging from 50.0%, 55.5% to 83.3% over three harvest years with more clutch size and the possibility of obtaining zygotic plants from them is high. In polyembryonic seeds not all zygotic seedlings were produced by small embryos located at the micropyle. Identification of zygotic seedlings by ISSR and RAPD markers in Khasi mandarin cultivar is efficient and reliable at an early developmental stage