Income Trusts and Growth : Empirical Evidence

This paper provides empirical evidence on the growth, financing activity, and operating performance of Canadian business income trusts. We find that business income trusts are growing in terms of total assets and sales revenues. They frequently acquire other businesses in post-IPO period. We also find that income trusts are likely to issue third-party debt to finance acquisitions. Median operating return on total assets decreases after an business income trust IPO, indicating an operating performance inferior to that in pre-lPO years

Mudskipper genomes provide insights into the terrestrial adaptation of amphibious fishes

Mudskippers are amphibious fishes that have developed morphological and physiological adaptations to match their unique lifestyles. Here we perform whole-genome sequencing of four representative mudskippers to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying these adaptations. We discover an expansion of innate immune system genes in the mudskippers that may provide defence against terrestrial pathogens. Several genes of the ammonia excretion pathway in the gills have experienced positive selection, suggesting their important roles in mudskippers’ tolerance to environmental ammonia. Some vision-related genes are differentially lost or mutated, illustrating genomic changes associated with aerial vision. Transcriptomic analyses of mudskippers exposed to air highlight regulatory pathways that are up- or down-regulated in response to hypoxia. The present study provides a valuable resource for understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying water-to-land transition of vertebrates

Does the two-stage IPO process reduce underpricing and long run underperformance? Evidence from Chinese firms listed in the U.S.

Using hand collected data, we test existing hypotheses relating to underpricing and long-term post-IPO performance of two stage IPOs conducted by Chinese firms in the U.S. We find that the two-stage strategy is less costly than conventional IPO process. The underpricing experienced by the two-stage firms in the U.S. is much lower than that realized by conventional Chinese and US domestic IPOs. While two stage firms’ shares underperform those of the control firms in the long run, they exhibit better operating performance than conventional IPOs in the U.S where they raise equity capital. The fact that the two-stage IPO firms exhibit lower operating performance than matched Chinese IPOs is consistent with the assertion that the Chinese IPOs are of better quality than the two-stage IPOs. We also find that two-stage firms with a longer time interval between the listing and IPO dates exhibit lower information asymmetry, pay lower underwriting fees and experience a smaller degree of underpricing and better long-term performance. Overall, the preponderance of our results supports the resolution of information asymmetry hypothesis for the two stage firms

Estimation of the Mean Trace Length of Discontinuities in an Underground Drift Using Laser Scanning Point Cloud Data

In the drifts of underground metal mines, the extraction of rock mass discontinuity characteristics from point cloud models generated with laser scanning has become the main approach. However, the exposure of discontinuities is restricted in drifts, and the size of discontinuities cannot be measured directly. Therefore, it is necessary to use a reasonable sampling tool to estimate the mean trace length of the discontinuities that are mapped in the point cloud model. In this paper, a method to estimate the mean trace length of discontinuities using a three-dimensional (3D) model of a drift (3DM) is proposed. Through the point cloud data of a drift obtained using 3D laser scanning, the information on discontinuities in the surrounding rock was extracted; then, the mean trace length was estimated using 3DEC to set sampling windows on the roof and sidewall in the 3DM. By analyzing the difference between the circular sampling window and the rectangular sampling window using simulated cases, the estimation results showed that the mean trace length obtained using circular measuring windows in the 3DM was closer to the true trace length. Finally, the method was used in a practical engineering case in Jianshan Iron Mine, Panzhihua, Sichuan, China

Estimation of the Mean Trace Length of Discontinuities in an Underground Drift Using Laser Scanning Point Cloud Data

In the drifts of underground metal mines, the extraction of rock mass discontinuity characteristics from point cloud models generated with laser scanning has become the main approach. However, the exposure of discontinuities is restricted in drifts, and the size of discontinuities cannot be measured directly. Therefore, it is necessary to use a reasonable sampling tool to estimate the mean trace length of the discontinuities that are mapped in the point cloud model. In this paper, a method to estimate the mean trace length of discontinuities using a three-dimensional (3D) model of a drift (3DM) is proposed. Through the point cloud data of a drift obtained using 3D laser scanning, the information on discontinuities in the surrounding rock was extracted; then, the mean trace length was estimated using 3DEC to set sampling windows on the roof and sidewall in the 3DM. By analyzing the difference between the circular sampling window and the rectangular sampling window using simulated cases, the estimation results showed that the mean trace length obtained using circular measuring windows in the 3DM was closer to the true trace length. Finally, the method was used in a practical engineering case in Jianshan Iron Mine, Panzhihua, Sichuan, China

Geophysical Characterisation and Oil–Gas Resource Analysis of the Southern Huaying Mountain Fault Zone, Sichuan Basin, China

As the west rim of an ejective fold zone, the Huaying Mountain fault zone (HMFZ) in the eastern Sichuan Basin (SB) plays an important role in the tectonic evolution of the SB. The distribution and characteristics of HMFZ are strongly associated with tectonic activities and have greatly impacted the distribution of oil and gas reservoirs. However, its distribution and characteristics have remained poorly understood due to a lack of geophysical data, especially areal gravity survey and magnetotellurics (MT) survey, which are admittedly advantageous for detecting the edges of geological structures. Therefore, we carried out the ground geophysical surveys that areal gravity survey and MT survey, and acquired 1:250,000-scale real gravity data and MT data for the first time in this area. Optimized edge-detection methods were adopted to process the areal gravity data, allowing us to characterize the planar distribution of faults more reliably and convincingly. We found that the southern HMFZ is well developed and primarily trends in NNE and NE, whereas the subordinate faults trend in N-S and W-E. Vertical information for the faults extracted using the improved depth from the extreme points method revealed that the fault dominantly dipped to the SE, which was consistent with the results of MT inversion. Based on the spatial distribution of the faults, we further discussed the gravity anomaly, fault distribution, Luzhou palaeo uplift, and the distribution and characteristics of oil-gas resources, and found the convincing evidence to analysis the distribution of oil and gas resources in this region