1,180 research outputs found
How Sensitive Are Bank Managers to Shareholder Value?
Cataloged from PDF version of article.We test for the existence of market discipline by shareholders of banks
with a wide range of ownership structures. Discipline by shareholders manifests
itself through monitoring banksâ level of risk as well as through influencing banksâ
management actions. We find that shareholders utilize the relation between stock
returns and different types of risk measures to monitor risky banks. Shareholders
partially influence bank management by responding to decreasing stock returns with
a demand to improve loan quality. Moreover, the influence on management in small
banks is more pronounced compared to large banks
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Process length variation in cysts of a dinoflagellate, Lingulodinium machaerophorum, in surface sediments: Investigating its potential as salinity proxy
âMany authors have contributed to writing this paper. Those listed in the metadata are: the main/contact author, the first listed author and Brunel University author(s). For a full list of the authors, please see the PDF version.âA biometrical analysis of the dinoflagellate cyst Lingulodinium machaerophorum (Deflandre and Cookson 1955) Wall, 1967 in 144 globally distributed surface sediment samples revealed that the average process length is related to summer salinity and temperature at a water depth of 30 m by the equation (salinity/temperature) = (0.078*average process length + 0.534) with RÂČ = 0.69. This relationship can be used to reconstruct palaeosalinities, albeit with caution. The particular ecological window can be associated with known distributions of the corresponding motile stage Lingulodinium polyedrum (Stein) Dodge, 1989. Confocal laser microscopy showed that the average process length is positively related to the average distance between process bases (RÂČ=0.78), and negatively related to the number of processes (RÂČ=0.65). These results document the existence of two end members in cyst formation: one with many short, densely distributed processes and one with a few, long, widely spaced processes, which can be respectively related to low and high salinity/temperature ratios. Obstruction during formation of the cysts causes anomalous distributions of the processes. From a biological perspective, processes function to facilitate sinking of the cysts through clustering
Fano collective resonance as complex mode in a two dimensional planar metasurface of plasmonic nanoparticles
Fano resonances are features in transmissivity/reflectivity/absorption that
owe their origin to the interaction between a bright resonance and a dark
(i.e., sub-radiant) narrower resonance, and may emerge in the optical
properties of planar two-dimensional (2D) periodic arrays (metasurfaces) of
plasmonic nanoparticles. In this Letter, we provide a thorough assessment of
their nature for the general case of normal and oblique plane wave incidence,
highlighting when a Fano resonance is affected by the mutual coupling in an
array and its capability to support free modal solutions. We analyze the
representative case of a metasurface of plasmonic nanoshells at ultraviolet
frequencies and compute its absorption under TE- and TM-polarized, oblique
plane-wave incidence. In particular, we find that plasmonic metasurfaces
display two distinct types of resonances observable as absorption peaks: one is
related to the Mie, dipolar resonance of each nanoparticle; the other is due to
the forced excitation of free modes with small attenuation constant, usually
found at oblique incidence. The latter is thus an array-induced collective Fano
resonance. This realization opens up to manifold flexible designs at optical
frequencies mixing individual and collective resonances. We explain the
physical origin of such Fano resonances using the modal analysis, which allows
to calculate the free modes with complex wavenumber supported by the
metasurface. We define equivalent array dipolar polarizabilities that are
directly related to the absorption physics at oblique incidence and show a
direct dependence between array modal phase and attenuation constant and Fano
resonances. We thus provide a more complete picture of Fano resonances that may
lead to the design of filters, energy-harvesting devices, photodetectors, and
sensors at ultraviolet frequencies.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Arrears and their implications for economic performance in the Russian Federation
[No abstract available
Photonuclear reactions with Zinc: A case for clinical linacs
The use of bremsstrahlung photons produced by a linac to induce photonuclear
reactions is wide spread. However, using a clinical linac to produce the
photons is a new concept. We aimed to induce photonuclear reactions on zinc
isotopes and measure the subsequent transition energies and half-lives. For
this purpose, a bremsstrahlung photon beam of 18 MeV endpoint energy produced
by the Philips SLI-25 linac has been used. The subsequent decay has been
measured with a well-shielded single HPGe detector. The results obtained for
transition energies are in good agreement with the literature data and in many
cases surpass these in accuracy. For the half-lives, we are in agreement with
the literature data, but do not achieve their precision. The obtained accuracy
for the transition energies show what is achievable in an experiment such as
ours. We demonstrate the usefulness and benefits of employing clinical linacs
for nuclear physics experiments
Determining Crack Aperture Distribution in Rocks Using the C-14-PMMA Autoradiographic Method : Experiments and Simulations
Because cracks control the global mechanical and transport properties of crystalline rocks, it is of a crucial importance to suitably determine their aperture distribution, which evolves through alteration processes and rock weathering. Due to the high variability of crack networks in rocks, a multiscale approach is needed. The C-14-PMMA (polymethylmethacrylate) method was developed to determine crack apertures using a set of artificial crack samples with different controlled apertures and tilt angles and also using Monte Carlo simulations. The experiments and simulations show the same result: the estimation of apparent aperture w(A) was successful regardless of tilt angle, even if the estimates are less accurate for low tilt angles (Peer reviewe
Weathering of Viama?o granodiorite, south Brazil : Part 2-Initial porosity of un-weathered rock controls porosity development in the critical zone
The development of porosity during rock weathering is a key process controlling nutrients release, water holding capacity available for plants and water flow. Here we used X-ray Computed Tomography (XRCT) and 14C PolyMethylMethAcrylate (PMMA) autoradiography to show how cracks are created and enlarged during initial weathering stages (saprock and saprolite) of granodiorite in southern Brazil (Viama similar to o - RS). The physical evolution is characterized by imaging the pore network, using 14C-PMMA and XRCT methods. Combined with bulk porosity measurements, they highlight the increase in porosity with the degree of weathering (un-weathered rock phi = 1.66 %, saprolite phi = 11.7 %). This increase is related to the joint increase of the density of the cracks (unweathered rock D = 0.28 mm-1, saprolite D = 0.94 mm-1) and of the average opening of the microcracks (unweathered rock w = 2.4 mu m, saprolite w = 3.9 mu m) and macrocracks (un-weathered rock w = 176 mu m, saprolite w = 400 mu m). However, these average crack openings do not account for the variability of the openings that govern the flows, characterized here by specific distribution ranging from the submicrometre to the centimetre scale. The results highlight that the pore network of the un-weathered rock plays a key role in the initial stages or incipient weathering. The density and aperture and cracks increase following the subcritical cracking concept and new pores are formed by chemo-mechanical processes. The presence/absence of initial fractures in the regolith is certainly a key parameter controlling the weathering of different rock types (mafic vs felsic).Peer reviewe
Bottom Production
We review the prospects for bottom production physics at the LHC.Comment: 74 pages, Latex, 71 figures, to appear in the Report of the ``1999
CERN Workshop on SM physics (and more) at the LHC'', P. Nason, G. Ridolfi, O.
Schneider G.F. Tartarelli, P. Vikas (conveners
The Basilicata Wealth Fund: Resource Policy and Long-Run Economic Development in Southern Italy
This paper contributes to the growing political economy literature of within-country natural resources management, by proposing a new resource policy for the oil-rich southern Italian region of Basilicata. The policy proposal is to establish a (regional) wealth fund in which all the royalty revenues from non-renewable natural resource exploitation in Basilicata would be stored and fully converted into low-risk financial assets. The scope is to give priority to long-run investments as to better exploit revenues from large-scale extraction of natural capital. Establishing a wealth fund at the regional sub-national level is a novel approach that can be applied to other resource-rich regions in the world. I label the fund as the Basilicata Wealth Fund (BWF). The BWF would be a regionally owned investment fund, however independently administered from national authorities (for instance, as an independent legal entity under the jurisdiction of the Bank of Italy). In addition, the paper posits a transparent and clear-cut spending fiscal rule in order to let regional authorities use the resource revenues to finance economic policy. The clear advantage from the BWF would be the stronger focus on long-run economic development and the higher accountability, hence avoiding misuse of resource revenues for myopic fiscal spending
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