Natural disasters and debt financing costs

Using a comprehensive dataset of 272 large-scale natural disasters in 83 countries from 1986 to 2018, we find that disasters increase government debt financing costs (T-bill rates and 10-year government bond yields) but only in the middle- and low-income countries. This distinct response relative to high-income countries is due to lower levels of credit market depth, of private insurance penetration, and of central bank independence. The results for all natural disasters are driven by biological (epidemic) and climatological disasters — two types of hazards, the frequency and severity of which have been rising.Web of Science140

Modeling of the Deactivation of Polymer-Supported Palladium Catalysts in the Hydrogenation of 4-nitrotoluene

The kinetics of the hydrogenation of 4-nitrotoluene over Pd catalysts supported on sulfonated polystyrene and simultaneous deactivation of these catalysts were investigated. Reaction rates of both the hydrogenation and the dissolution of Pd crystallites were related to the total Pd surface. The average radius of ideal spherical crystallites, as determined by X-ray powder diffraction analysis, was taken as the starting value of the crystallite size. Stability of the polymer network was checked by Inverse Steric Exclusion Chromatography (ISEC). The ESR and Static Gradient field Spin Echo (SGSE) NMR spectroscopies were used to assess the accessibility and diffusivity before and after deactivation experiments. Langmuir-Hinshelwood type kinetic models were applied to describe the hydrogenation of 4-nitrotoluene. The kinetic law was incorporated into a more comprehensive model involving also diffusion of reactants inside catalytic particles. Simultaneous treatment of a few sets of kinetic data from batch hydrogenation carried our at 0.25-0.75 MPa yielded reliable values of model parameters. The model showed an increasing rate of dissolution of palladium with decreasing concentration of hydrogen and increasing concentration of 4-nitrotoluene. The latter fact supports the hypothesis that the nitro compound is the oxidant responsible for the dissolution of palladium

4-Azafluorenone and α-Carboline Fluorophores with Green and Violet/Blue Emission

The emission properties of three 4-azafluorenone and five new α-carboline fluorophores in both solution and thin solid films were investigated. Fluorescence of the azafluorenone is clearly enhanced in thin solid films due to the presence of phenyl/biphenyl rotors, and these derivatives can be classified as green Aggregation-Induced Emission luminogens (AIEgens) with a non-emissive heteroaromatic core structure. Compared to azafluorenones, emission of α-carbolines is hypsochromically shifted to the blue region of the electromagnetic spectrum, and most of these derivatives exhibit strong violet-blue fluorescence in both solution and thin solid film layers. Further, the effective mobility and electroluminescence of new α-carbolines were investigated in prepared organic field-effect transistors and organic light-emitting diodes, respectively