This paper examines the effects of bank loans, loans from non-bank financial intermediaries, and unused bank credit lines on firm cash holdings, equity risk, and investment. Firms with more bank loans have more cash and investment, but lower equity risk. Firms with more non-bank private debt...

We examine the impact of managerial incentives on acquisitions in the banking industry. We find that banks whose CEOs have higher pay-for-performance sensitivity (PPS) are less likely to engage in value-reducing acquisitions. Conditional on engaging in acquisitions, those higher-PPS banks have...

We present two game theoretic models on resource allocation in epidemic control and waiting time competition in service management. The first model considers the drug allocation problem when facing the outbreak of an international influenza pandemic. The drugs are for prophylactic use. Since...

We develop a non-linear forecast combination rule based on copulas that incorporate the dynamic interaction between individual predictors. This approach is optimal in the sense that the resulting combined forecast produces the highest discriminatory power as measured by the receiver operating...

In order to fully understand sugarcane production in Guangxi in 2013, the sample survey combined with data collection and field survey was carried out in sugarcane production areas in Nanning, Hechi, Liuzhou, Chongzuo, Baise and Laibin from May 28 to June 36 in 2013. It was found that the...

We propose autocorrelation-robust asymptotic variances of the Brier score and Brier skill score, which are generally applicable in circumstances with weak serial correlation. An empirical application in macroeconomics underscores the importance of taking care of serial correlation. We find that...

Buildings account for about 40% of the global energy consumption and contribute over 30% of the CO2 emissions. A large proportion of this energy is used for thermal comfort in buildings. This paper reviews thermal comfort research work and discusses the implications for building energy...

Correlation between clearness index and sunshine duration is useful to the estimation of the solar radiation for areas where measured solar radiation data are not available. Regression techniques were used to investigate the correlations between daily global solar radiation and sunshine duration...

This short technical note presents an attempt to develop a new climatic variable Z for assessing climate change (global warming) with respect to the built environment. Principal component analysis of long-term (30-year) dry-bulb temperature (DBT), wet-bulb temperature and global solar radiation...

Principal component analysis of 30-year long-term meteorological variables was conducted. Typical principal component years (TPCYs) were determined for Harbin, Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming and Hong Kong representing the five major architectural climates across China: severe cold, cold, hot summer...