Sensitivity of the Static Earthquake Triggering Mechanism to Elastic Heterogeneity and Main Event Slip

This paper has evolved out of our previous work on static stress transfer, where we used the full-space elastostatic Green's tensor to compute the Coulomb stress transfer impact of the Landers earthquake on the Hector Mine event. In this work, we use the elastostatic Green's tensor for an arbitrary layered Earth model with free-surface boundary conditions to study the impact of elastic heterogeneity as well as source-fault slip and geometry on the stress transfer mechanism. Slip distribution and fault geometry of the source have a significant impact on the stress transfer, especially in case of spatially extended triggered events. Maximization of the Coulomb stress transfer function for known aftershocks provides a mechanism for inverting for the source event slip. Heterogeneity of the elastic earth parameters is shown to have a sizeable, but lower-magnitude, impact on the static stress transfer in 3D. The analysis is applied to Landers/Hector Mine and 100 small "aftershocks" of the Landers event. A computational toolkit is provided for the study of static stress transfer for arbitrary source and receiver faults in layered Earth.Comment: 26 pages, 32 figure

Board structure and supplementary commentary on the primary financial statements

Purpose: This research investigates the relationship between the extent and focus of supplementary narrative commentary (SNC) on amounts reported in the primary financial statements and board structure variables. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study uses the disclosure index methodology to measure the extent of SNC in annual reports of 167 FTSE 250 companies. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis is employed to examine the association between the extent and focus of SNC and board structure variables. Findings: The findings show that the extent of SNC on amounts reported in the primary financial statements is about 30%, suggesting that companies provide commentary on a small number of amounts reported in the financial statements. In terms of focus of SNC, companies provide greater SNC on amounts in the income statement relative to the balance sheet. The regression results indicate that the extent of SNC is negatively associated with board size, and positively associated with audit committee independence and financial expertise. Focus of SNC is negatively related to audit committee independence and finance expertise. Originality/Value: The research contributes to both the voluntary disclosure and impression management literature streams. The findings provide evidence of the extent and focus of SNC on amounts in the financial statements. They also demonstrate that board structure variables are related to the extent and focus of SNC on amounts in primary financial statements. These findings have implications for policy makers who have responsibilities for ensuring that users of annual reports receive adequate information to make decisions

On the Philosophy of Conservativism

A brief primer contrasting conservativism from progressivism, and outlining the major schools of conservative thought

Quantitative inheritance of leaf shape characters in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agricultural Science in Plant Science at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

An F₁ half diallel cross experiment with 8 parents (i.e. ½ p (p = 1) combinations) was used to study the quantitative inheritance of leaf shape characters in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.). The effect of stalk positions on the inheritance of these characters was also included. The study was carried out under a glasshouse conditions. The parental lines used in the crosses represent a random sample of leaf shape characters available in New Zealand germplasm collection. Except for wing area (2nd leaf), phenotypic analysis showed that there was a high genetic variability for other characters. The genetic analysis of the diallel indicated that inter-locus interaction (epistasis) was of little importance for most of the characters studied. Additive genetic variance was the main component of the total genetic variance. Heritability estimates ranged from moderate (approximately 40 %) to moderately high (approximately 70 %) for most characters. Near similar values were obtained from both the narrow and broadsense heritability estimates. Very little hybrid vigour was observed for both leaf area and leaf dry weight. Both the phenotypic and genotypic correlation coefficients between selected pairs of characters were in good agreement with each other in terms of direction and levels of significance. The estimates were generally high and highly significant. The components of genetic variance (i.e. additive and dominance genetic variance), heritability and correlation coefficient estimates were generally larger in the middle as compared to the top or bottom leaves

Effect of Escherichia coli endotoxin on Archachatina marginata haemolymph coagulation system

The effect of _E. coli_ endotoxin on the heamolymph coagulation response of _Archachatina marginata_ was studied. Heamocyte Lysate(HL), Haemocyte Lysate Supernatant(HLS) and Haemocyte Lysate Debris (HLD) were exposed to _Escherichia coli_ endotoxin. Controls were prepared with endotoxin-free water(<0.025 EU/ml). The differential protein coagulation was estimated in each mixture. Fractions of the haemolymph exposed to endotoxin produced higher protein coagulates than endotoxin-free fractions when incubated at 37 °C for 1 h (p<0.05). The results showed significantly higher (p<0.05) concentrations of protein coagulated when HL/plasma mixture were used than when either fraction was used. At a ratio 1:1 of HL:Plasma, highest protein coagulation was recorded. This study revealed that maximum protein coagulation in response to endotoxin was elicited by a synergy between plasma and haemocyte lysate(HL). From this research haemolymph fractions of Archachatina marginata may provide an alternative test material for endotoxin in medical preparations in the future

Influence of post-cyclic loading on hemic peat

Construction on peat soils has proven to be a challenging task to civil engineers since this soil type has a significant issue that arises from common problems construction of roads, housing and embankment construction with regard to peat are stability, settlements and major problems were encountered especially on deep peat. For many years, in road design as an example, static loading method was applied in road designed by considering soil shear strength through static load and do not take into account the vehicular dynamic loading and shear strength thereafter. This fact is related to the shear strength of peat soil after dynamically loaded. The aim of this research is to establish the post-cyclic behaviour of peat soil after cyclically loaded and to assess the effect of parameters changes on static and post-cyclic behaviour of peat soil. 200 specimens are tested, and prepared under consolidated undrained triaxial with effective stresses at 25kPa, 50 kPa, and 100 kPa with different location from Parit Nipah, Johor, Parit Sulong, Batu Pahat, Johor and Beaufort, Sabah. These specimens tested using GDS Enterprise Level Dynamic Triaxial Testing System (ELDYN) apparatus. Whereas, dynamic load tests are carried out in different frequencies to simulate the loading type such as vibration of machineries, wind, traffic load and earthquake in field from 1.0 Hz, 2.0 Hz and 3.0 Hz with 100 numbers of loading cycles. Post-cyclic monotonic shear strength results and then compared to the static monotonic results. Significantly, showed some vital changes that leads to the changes of stress-strain behaviour. Apparently, the result shows that post-cyclic shear strength decreases with the increase of frequencies. Prior to critical yield strain level, the peat specimen experience a significant deformation. The deformation of peats triggers changes in soil structures that causes reduction in stress-strain behaviour. Thus, it can be concluded that the stress-strain behaviour of peat soil decreased after 100 numbers of cyclic loading in post-cyclic test as compared to the static tests, and it decreased substantially when frequencies were applied. The post-cyclic specimen had a lower undrained parameters than did the static. Reduction of cohesion value in postcylic compared to static almost 70% and reduction of friction angle is about 46.34%

Recent excavations along the Yobe valley

The Yobe valley is one of the many refugia that dotted the Chad basin after the commencement of the desiccation of the Sahara. It hypothetically must have been attractive to the population that had to move away from the aridized zone in search of favourable ecotones. As the Mega Chad receded from its Bama ridge shores, new lands were progressively made available for human occupation along the valley. It is one of the principal goals of the Yobe Valley Archaeological project to investigate how and when this new valley was occupied. This paper has been divided into three principal sections. The first section deals with the search for the earliest settlements of the Yobe valley. The excavations conducted at Garingada and Damakarwa were aimed at tackling this problem. The second section deals with the development of complexity. The excavation at Gambaru was directed towards this problem. The third section seeks to discuss on the bases of the excavations at the three sites, manenvironment relationship. The concluding part of the paper focuses attention on the problems and prospects of the Yobe Valley Archaeological Project

Capital market pressures and the format of intellectual capital disclosure in intellectual capital intensive firms

Purpose - A number of studies have examined firms’ intellectual capital (IC) disclosure practices. However, the presentation format of IC disclosure (text, numerical and graphs/pictures) is yet to be examined. In addition, there is little evidence on the impact of capital market pressures on IC disclosure. This study aims to examine the relation between presentation format of IC disclosures and three market factors (market-to-book ratio, share price volatility and multiple listing. Design/methodology/approach - Using content analysis, we examine the level of IC disclosure provided in the annual reports of 100 IC-intensive listed UK firms. A 61-IC-item research instrument is used to measure IC disclosure and regression analysis is employed to examine the relation between disclosure and the market factors, controlling for corporate governance and firm specific variables. Findings - Text is the most commonly used format for IC disclosure, whilst the use of graphs/pictures is very low. The findings of the relation between market factors and IC disclosure are mixed. Market-to-book ratio is significantly related to disclosure in text and numerical, but not to graphs/pictures. Share price volatility is only associated with graphs/pictures, whilst multiple listing is only related to text. Originality/value - Our findings suggest that the impact of capital market pressures on IC disclosure might differ with presentation format. In this context, the study makes a significant contribution to the IC disclosure literature