Industrial structural geology : principles, techniques and integration : an introduction

The authors wish to acknowledge the generous financial support provided in association with this volume to the Geological Society and the Petroleum Group by Badley Geoscience Ltd, BP, CGG Robertson, Dana Petroleum Ltd, Getech Group plc, Maersk Oil North Sea UK Ltd, Midland Valley Exploration Ltd, Rock Deformation Research (Schlumberger) and Borehole Image & Core Specialists (Wildcat Geoscience, Walker Geoscience and Prolog Geoscience). We would like to thank the fine team at the Geological Society’s Publishing House for the excellent support and encouragement that they have provided to the editors and authors of this Special Publication.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The incremental information content of the annual report and accounts

I. This study examines the value to financial analysts and investors generally in the UK of firms' accounting disclosures and other information contained in the annual report and accounts for share valuation purposes. 2. Using daily share price data and a large sample of actively traded UK firms the relative information content of four major information releases, the preliminary announcement, annual report and accounts, annual general meeting and the interim report, are examined. Three different models are employed, two of which involved the calculation of the market risk measure; the firm's beta. To increase comparability with previous studies, some of the tests were replicated using weekly data. 3. Previous studies have shown a bias when calculating abnormal returns due to the size composition of the sample. Re-estimating the parameters using Ordinary Least Squares but including a size variable, showed virtually no effect on the magnitude of the estimated parameters. Neither the constant `alpha' nor the coefficient 11 of the size variable were statistically significant. The former is consistent with prior research. 4. Infrequency of trading is largely associated with small companies and gives rise to a downward bias when estimating betas. Although the sample comprised actively traded mainly large companies, the betas were re-estimated using a method which takes into account thin trading. The results indicated that parameter estimates have to take into consideration thin trading even when using predominantly large actively traded stocks. The degree of stability in the betas over successive periods was low though the difference in the average betas of the two periods was negligible. The pooled betas were therefore used. 5. The initial test was to ascertain the extent of the information content of the four events. The three different model formulations employed produced almost identical results suggesting a naive model with beta=1 may well be adequate in many such event study situations. Therefore, all further tests were conducted using only the market model with adjusted betas. Of the four events, the preliminary announcement and interim report, largely representing earnings and dividends announcements, had the highest information content, whilst little information in aggregate is conveyed to the market by the annual general meeting and the annual report and accounts. Similar results were produced using a different information measure and weekly data. No unusual share price activity was observed prior to 111 the event day or after event day plus one, which is consistent with the semi-strong form of the Efficient Market Hypothesis.6. Evidence was found in tests of the market's reaction to `good' and `bad' news that, on average, they are given equal value except for the interim report where there is a sharper reaction to `bad' news. 7. This study supports previous research showing an inverse relationship between company size and the abnormal return on an event day. When variance of returns is included in the regression, the size coefficient albeit statistically significant becomes negligible in magnitude which suggests, like prior work, that size is probable a surrogate for absent firm specific variables. 8. Using a control group of companies with low annual report and accounts abnormal returns but otherwise matching a sample of outlier companies with high annual report and accounts residuals, an analysis was made of both groups. Little difference was noted in the amount of statutory or voluntary information disclosed in the preliminary announcements of the groups. There was, however, significant evidence of greater price-sensitive information being provided in the annual reports and accounts of the outlier group. 9. There was little evidence to suggest that one group was more closely followed by analysts than the other. Capital gearing and income cover were, on average, little different. Apparently what was driving the returns of the outlier sample was company specific information. The information seemed to be largely contained in two sections of the annual report , the balance sheet and the chairman's statement, which previous studies have shown to be valued by users. 10. Tests of association between information content of the events produced conflicting results but analysis of the press comments seemed to furnish some evidence of an informational relationship between the preliminary announcement and the annual report and accounts of the outlier group not observed in the control group. Press comments on the annual reports of the outlier group bear some relationship to the press comments on their preliminary announcements. 11. No previous study has directly examined the informational value of the annual report and accounts for individual firms and used analysis of press comments to identify those parts of the annual report which seem to have information content. The value of this study lies in the new evidence that it provides suggesting the annual report and accounts does have some information value for the stockmarket for particular firms and in identifying those parts of the annual report found useful by investors. 12. The implications of this study are that whilst, in aggregate, there seems to be an apparent lack of incremental information in the annual report and accounts ,this is not a true reflection of its value to all market participants. Unless the stockmarket has access to this financial statement potential adverse valuation consequences may be missed. This study suggests summary accounts are unsuitable for active stockmarket participants

A Nonparametric Statistical Approach to Analyzing Eelgrass Density Data

As part of continuing work in Port Gamble, WA a diver-based eelgrass survey was completed to support the application for a Hydraulic Project Approval (HPA), as required by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) for in-water work. The survey was completed following interim guidelines established by WDFW in 2008, although to fit the guidelines to the specific project some methods were modified and approved by WDFW. Collecting statistically robust data proved to be difficult, as shoot density in the eelgrass bed was highly variable. In some areas the variance was so high that power calculations estimated the sample number (n) to be higher than the available number of quadrats. In addition to issues with variance, data were not normally distributed so it is questionable whether parametric statistics should be used on this data. In areas where count data are highly variable and not normally distributed perhaps a more reasonable approach to data analysis is to use a non-parametric resampling method for analysis. This presentation will show the results of a survey completed along an existing wastewater treatment outfall pipe and a reference location, the results of power analysis for the survey, and statistical results comparing the sites using parametric and non-parametric statistics

Preserving Photogrammetry Outputs: A case study at the University of St Andrews Libraries and Museums_20220915

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Preserving Electronic Theses at the University of St Andrews Libraries and Museums_20220915

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The Crustal Evolution of Nemegt and Altan Uul, Southern Mongolia

This thesis concerns the crustal evolution of Nemegt and Altan Uul in the Gobi Altai mountains of southern Mongolia. Nemegt and Altan Uul consist of polydeformed Palaeozoic rocks uplifted in the Cenozoic at a restraining bend along the active left-lateral Gobi-Tien Shan intra-continental fault system, one of several east-west trending left-lateral intra-continental transpressional fault systems associated with eastward continental extrusion tectonics in Central Asia. The tectonic evolution of southern Mongolia is of particular interest as it forms part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, which is the largest area of Phanerozoic continental growth on Earth, and is a natural laboratory for studying processes of continental growth and deformation including terrane accretion, ophiolite obduction, terrane amalgamation, terrane dispersal and crustal reactivation. The uplifted Palaeozoic rocks exposed in Nemegt and Altan Uul offer an opportunity to understand multiple phases of the crustal evolution of southern Mongolia. A series of cross-strike transects of Nemegt and Altan Uul were carried out to document the lithologies and structure of the ranges. Samples were taken along the transects and at several important localities, to constrain the metamorphic petrography of the rocks in the ranges. This data is used to define several distinct east-west trending litho-tectonic sequences in Nemegt and Altan Uul. The ranges have a systematic south to north litho-tectonic variation from greenschist grade meta-volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks, thrust north over a discontinuous ophiolite belt, which is thrust north over greenschist to epidote-amphibolite grade arkosic to mature meta-sedimentary rocks. Four phases of deformation are identified from cross-cutting field relationships and constrained by existing regional data: east-west trending south-dipping cleavage (D1), and north-vergent folds of cleavage and north-directed ductile thrust shear zones (D2) formed during late Carboniferous south to north arc-terrane accretion and ophiolite obduction. East-west and northeast-southwest trending D3 normal faults formed during Cretaceous basin extension. East-west and northwest-southeast trending D4 left-lateral oblique-slip and dip-slip thrust faults formed during Cenozoic transpressional deformation and define the modern mountain ranges. The structures identified are conservatively extrapolated to depth to suggest Nemegt and Altan Uul have a positive flower structure in cross-section. An evolutionary model of Nemegt and Altan Uul suggests that D1 and D2 structures and the ophiolitic rocks in the area may represent south-dipping east-west trending fabrics and rheological weaknesses that have been reactivated in a left-lateral transpressional sense in the Cenozoic

The crustal evolution of Nemegt and Altan Uul, Southern Mongolia

This thesis concerns the crustal evolution of Nemegt and Altan Uul in the Gobi Altai mountains of southern Mongolia. Nemegt and Altan Uul consist of polydeformed Palaeozoic rocks uplifted in the Cenozoic at a restraining bend along the active left-lateral Gobi-Tien Shan intra-continental fault system, one of several east-west trending left-lateral intra-continental transpressional fault systems associated with eastward continental extrusion tectonics in Central Asia. The tectonic evolution of southern Mongolia is of particular interest as it forms part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, which is the largest area of Phanerozoic continental growth on Earth, and is a natural laboratory for studying processes of continental growth and deformation including terrane accretion, ophiolite obduction, terrane amalgamation, terrane dispersal and crustal reactivation. The uplifted Palaeozoic rocks exposed in Nemegt and Altan Uul offer an opportunity to understand multiple phases of the crustal evolution of southern Mongolia. A series of cross-strike transects of Nemegt and Altan Uul were carried out to document the lithologies and structure of the ranges. Samples were taken along the transects and at several important localities, to constrain the metamorphic petrography of the rocks in the ranges. This data is used to define several distinct east-west trending litho-tectonic sequences in Nemegt and Altan Uul. The ranges have a systematic south to north litho-tectonic variation from greenschist grade meta-volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks, thrust north over a discontinuous ophiolite belt, which is thrust north over greenschist to epidote-amphibolite grade arkosic to mature meta-sedimentary rocks. Four phases of deformation are identified from cross-cutting field relationships and constrained by existing regional data: east-west trending south-dipping cleavage (D1), and north-vergent folds of cleavage and north-directed ductile thrust shear zones (D2) formed during late Carboniferous south to north arc-terrane accretion and ophiolite obduction. East-west and northeast-southwest trending D3 normal faults formed during Cretaceous basin extension. East-west and northwest-southeast trending D4 left-lateral oblique-slip and dip-slip thrust faults formed during Cenozoic transpressional deformation and define the modern mountain ranges. The structures identified are conservatively extrapolated to depth to suggest Nemegt and Altan Uul have a positive flower structure in cross-section. An evolutionary model of Nemegt and Altan Uul suggests that D1 and D2 structures and the ophiolitic rocks in the area may represent south-dipping east-west trending fabrics and rheological weaknesses that have been reactivated in a left-lateral transpressional sense in the Cenozoic.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo