Bankruptcy Prediction: A Comparison of Some Statistical and Machine Learning Techniques

We are interested in forecasting bankruptcies in a probabilistic way. Specifically, we compare the classification performance of several statistical and machine-learning techniques, namely discriminant analysis (Altman's Z-score), logistic regression, least-squares support vector machines and different instances of Gaussian processes (GP's) -that is GP's classifiers, Bayesian Fisher discriminant and Warped GP's. Our contribution to the field of computational finance is to introduce GP's as a potentially competitive probabilistic framework for bankruptcy prediction. Data from the repository of information of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is used to test the predictions.Bankruptcy prediction, Artificial intelligence, Supervised learning, Gaussian processes, Z-score.

College Adjustment and the Shy Student

The study was conducted to examine the correlation between shyness and college adjustment. To make the determination, the Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale (RCBS) (1981) was used to identify shyness, while the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ) (Baker and Siryk, 1989) was utilized in assessing college adjustment. While the shyness scale assessed shyness as a single construct, the college adaptation scale assessed college adjustment in terms of academic adjustment, social adjustment, personal-emotional adjustment, and college attachment. The data of 90 students in a general psychology class in a Mid-Western college with a total student population of approximately 6,800 was used for the study. Results indicated significant correlations between shyness and academic adjustment, as well as between shyness and personal-emotional attachment, and highly significant correlations between shyness and social attachment, as well as between shyness and attachment to college. This indicates a high probability that shyness is strongly related to the investigated areas; academic, social, personal-emotional adjustment, and attachment to college. It is hoped that the findings of this study will encourage colleges to examine and implement services that will facilitate the college adjustment process for all students, and specifically for shy students who may be at increased risk of adjustment difficulties but who may be unlikely to seek assistance

Slavery in Rhode Island: Awakening a Forgotten Past (poster)

This map serves to raise awareness about the history of slavery in Rhode Island. Despite having played an active role in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, Rhode Island’s involvement is often overlooked or omitted from what we are traditionally taught in historically influenced classes at Providence College. Instead of integrating local history and knowledge into our own curriculum, we learn about slavery through a Eurocentric, Westernized lens. We aim to challenge our narrow teachings about slavery and widen our perspectives by constructing alternative narratives that go against the metanarrative. This map displaces the untold narratives of four areas in Rhode Island: Providence, Bristol, Narragansett and Newport. Through these stories, we seek to highlight and draw attention to the set of skills, the culture, and the sense of humanity that Black individuals retained throughout their enslavement. By presenting Rhode Island’s involvement in the slave trade, we aim to remind our community that slavery not only existed thousands of miles away from us but also occurred in many familiar places we visit every day. We would not only like to shed light on the hidden history of slavery, but to also raise consciousness about how this history should play a vital part in our education at Providence College

Essays on corruption, allocative inefficiency, and mergers and acquisitions

The aim of this thesis is to unearth, for developing countries, how investment climate constraints – i.e., electricity supply and corruption – affect firms’ performances and the misallocation of production inputs (i.e., capital and labour); as well as the efficacy of tax incentives in attracting inward investments in the form of mergers and acquisitions (M&As). The first chapter assesses the implication of electricity shortages on the allocative efficiency (or misallocation) of capital and labour for a sample of 750 Ghanaian manufacturing firms spanning the period 2011–2015. The motivation for and relevance of this empirical inquest stems from insights from nascent literature (Restuccia and Rogerson 2008; Banerjee and Duflo 2005; Hsieh and Klenow 2009) that demonstrate how allocative inefficiency of production inputs contributes to the low aggregate total factor productivity (TFP) in developing countries. The study’s findings suggest that when faced with unreliable and insufficient power supply, firms respond by curtailing the employment of capital, labour, and compensation (wages) to the latter. Additionally, electricity shortages appear to inhibit firms’ efficiency (TFP) performance. What is more, electricity shortages are found to also increase the misallocation of or the allocative inefficiency of capital and labour. This effect is more pronounced for firms that own generators implying that for these set of firms, which are also those most likely more reliant on electricity, self-generation is not sufficient to attenuate the adverse effects of insufficient and unreliable power supply from the national grid. The last set of results indicate that, particularly for the misallocation of capital, this effect is more pronounced for firms that are electricity constrained. A finding which leads to the conclusion that these group of firms have capital or production techniques that are more electricity reliant. The second chapter investigates the impact of tax incentives on inward foreign investments in the form of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) for a sample of 91 developing countries. Although the extant literature (Hines, 1996; Devereux and Griffith, 1998; Bénassy-Quéré, Fontagné and Lahrèche-Révil, 2005; Huizinga and Voget, 2009) evidentially informs us about the sensitivity of firm location decision or FDI to taxation particularly for advanced countries, little is known about the efficacy of conditional (or targeted) tax incentives in inducing foreign investors, particularly for developing countries. This study uncovers that concessionary tax rates have the tendency to attract inward M&As into developing countries. This finding is found to be more pronounced for concessionary tax rates that are geared towards or conditional on investors locating in a specific location or SEZs or contributing to domestic exporting activities. Unimpressively, the quantitative magnitudes are rather modest in that, for instance, a developing country will have to reduce tax rates by as much as 1.6% in order to attract a single inward M&A. The last (third) chapter uses firm-level data from the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys to examine the economic consequences of corruption on the performances of firms in Africa. The novelty of this chapter stems from the fact that most studies (Aidt 2009; P. G. Méon and Weill 2010; Méndez and Sepúlveda 2006; Mauro 1995) that have probed this issue have been macro-based hence failing to unearth any micro insights, and the only micro-based study (Fisman and Svensson 2007) was undertaken for a cross-section of Ugandan firms. The results suggest that firms that are likely to be more established – i.e., older and larger firms – are less likely to engage in bribery payment, rather it is the least productive ones that are more likely to do so. The chapter’s findings further reveal that corruption has both a contemporaneous and lag effect on firm performances in Africa. Finally, the results confirm that this negative effect is more pronounced for larger and older firms than small and medium-sized firms and young firms

Effect of gasket of varying thickness on spark ignition engines

In the study of Toyota, In-line, 4 cylinders, spark ignition engine using gaskets of varying thicknesses (1.75mm, 3.5mm, 5.25mm, 7mm and 8.75mm) between the cylinder head and the engine block, the performance characteristics of the engine was investigated via the effect of engine speed on brake power, brake thermal efficiency, volumetric efficiency and exhaust temperature. To evaluate the performance characteristics for definite gasket (GK) thickness, the engine was operated between 200 – 4000 rpm, under steady state condition. The investigation reveals worsening engine performance with increasing gasket thickness though with improved volumetric efficiency for any given speed range.KEYWORDS: Brake thermal efficiency, volumetric efficiency, Exhaust temperatur

A review of biochar influences on crop outputs and soil assets

Biochar used in soils aims at intensifying the properties of soil and the transfer of amounts of conservative remnant energy centred fertilizers as well as the restoration of rich carbons. Biochar steadiness is vital to reckoning the effect of biochar modifications on atmospheric green gas (GHG) which remains unsatisfactory. The making and mixture of biochar in soils has a vital role in the mitigation of climate change. The objective of this paper was to review the influences of biochar on crop outputs and soil assets. It is needful for additional clarification on the improvement of biochar application to several crop yields to advance general recognition as a soil modification. The biochar feedstock used for production and pyrolysis condition and the application rate of biochar for crop productivity is described in the discussion. Furthermore, agronomic benefits and the strategies as well as the recommendations for the use of biochar is discussed. It is concluded that the use of biochar increases the physical assets and crop output. Biochar can potentially, workably and sustainably sequester in excess of 1 Pg of CO2-carbon equals yearly when used.Keywords: Biochar, water holding capacity, soil microbes, sequestration of carbon, soil propertie

Basic School Teachers’ Perceptions about Curriculum Design in Ghana

This study focused on teachers’ perceptions about curriculum design and barriers to their participation. The sample size was 130 teachers who responded to a questionnaire. The analyses made use of descriptive statistics and descriptions. The study found that the level of teachers’ participation in curriculum design is low. The results further showed that the importance of teachers taking part in curriculum design include contributing to  successful implementation of curriculum, knowing the needs of the students, developing some skills and contributing their knowledge in the design process. Finally, huge workload, lack of expertise, inadequate funding and lack of availability of information emerged as the major barriers to teachers’ participation in curriculum design. The study recommends that decentralization of the curriculum design process and providing school curriculum leaders are appropriate for increasing the level of teachers’ engagement in curriculum development. Keywords: curriculum, curriculum design, teacher, barriers, participatio