Design of the contingent royalty rate as related to the type of investment

This study investigates the design of the royalty rate in a first-price auction across three types of investments:incremental and lumpy with or without an exogenously given intensity.A bidder’s investment cost comprises private information.This,together with the stochastic evolution of the price of the output generated from the auctioned project,precludes the seller from setting the exact dates of investment with the winner.However,the seller can set the royalty rate to equate the winner’s royalty payment with the winner’s information rent so that the winner acts as if to maximize the seller’s revenue.We derive two main conclusions.First,compared with the case in which investment is lumpy with an exogenously given intensity,the seller can set a lower royalty rate on incremental investment because she can collect additional royalty payments from the winner,who has the option to later expand capacity.Second,the impact of output price uncertainty on the optimal royalty rate for the three types of investments exhibits two different patterns.When investment is either incremental or lumpy with an exogenously given intensity,greater output price uncertainty reduces the royalty rate.When investment is lumpy with variable intensity,greater output uncertainty raises the royalty rate.Our results imply that auctioneers may charge differential royalty rates for different types of investments.

Upside and downside correlated jump risk premia of currency options and expected returns

This research explores upside and downside jumps in the dynamic processes of three rates:domestic interest rates,foreign interest rates,and exchange rates.To fill the gap between the asymmetric jump in the currency market and the current models,a correlated asymmetric jump model is proposed to capture the co-movement of the correlated jump risks for the three rates and identify the correlated jump risk premia.The likelihood ratio test results show that the new model performs best in 1-,3-,6-,and 12-month maturities.The in-and out-of-sample test results indicate that the new model can capture more risk factors with relatively small pricing errors.Finally,the risk factors captured by the new model can explain the exchange rate fluctuations for various economic events.

Comparison of Vs and SPT Soil Liquefaction Assessments of NCEER: Including Hypothesis Testing

Soil liquefaction is one of the complex research topics in geotechnical engineering and engineering geology. Especially after the 1964 Niigata earthquake (Japan) induced many soil liquefaction incidents, a variety of soil liquefaction studies were conducted and reported, including the liquefaction potential assessment methods utilizing the shear wave velocity (Vs) or SPT-N profiles (SPT: standard penetration test). This study used the Vs and SPT methods recommended by the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (NCEER) to examine which is more conservative according to the assessment results on 41 liquefiable soil layers at sites in two major cities in Taiwan. Statistical hypothesis testing was used to make the analysis more quantitative and objective. Based on three sets of hypothesis tests, it shows that the hypothesis—the SPT method is more conservative than the Vs method—was not rejected on a 5% level of significance.

Earthquake Magnitude Probability and Gamma Distribution

The earthquake magnitude probability distribution is one of the underlying input data for certain earthquake analyses, such as probabilistic seismic hazard analysis. Nowadays, the method proposed by McGuire and Arabasz (1990) is commonly used for obtaining the (simulated) earthquake magnitude probability distributions. However, based on the observed earthquake data in 5 regions (Taiwan, Japan, California, Turkey, and Greece), the model did not fit the observation well. Instead, all of the case studies show that using the newly proposed gamma distribution can improve the simulation significantly compared to the conventional method.

Parameters of Coseismic Reverse- and Oblique-Slip Surface Ruptures of the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake,Eastern Tibetan Plateau

On May 12th, 2008, the Mw7.9 Wenchuan earthquake ruptured the Beichuan, Pengguan and Xiaoyudong faults simultaneously along the middle segment of the Longmenshan thrust belt at the eastern margin of the Tibetan plateau. Field investigations constrain the surface rupture pattern, length and offsets related to the Wenchuan earthquake. The Beichuan fault has a NE-trending rightlateral reverse rupture with a total length of 240 km. Reassessment yields a maximum vertical offset of 6.5±0.5 m and a maximum right-lateral offset of 4.9±0.5 m for its northern segment, which are the largest offsets found; the maximum vertical offset is 6.2±0.5 m for its southern segment. The Pengguan fault has a NE-trending pure reverse rupture about 72 km long with a maximum vertical offset of about 3.5 m. The Xiaoyudong fault has a NW-striking left-lateral reverse rupture about 7 km long between the Beichuan and Pengguan faults, with a maximum vertical offset of 3.4 m and left-lateral offset of 3.5 m. This pattern of multiple co-seismic surface ruptures is among the most complicated of recent great earthquakes and presents a much larger danger than if they ruptured individually. The rupture length is the longest for reverse faulting events ever reported.

Rolling route for refining grains of super light Mg-Li alloys containing Sc and Be

Pioneering work on Sc or/and Be added Mg-Li alloys with refined grains was initiated.Various rolling-based thermo-mechanical treatments on these Mg-Li alloys were carried out.Four Mg-Li alloys were prepared by vacuum melting process.A unique route for producing fine grains was applied which concluded solution treatment at 350°C,cold rolling with 60% thickness reduction and 250°C annealing,successively.

A Statistical Study on Seismo-Ionospheric Anomalies of the Total Electron Content for the Period of 56 M≥6.0 Earthquakes Occurring in China During 1998—2012

This paper reports statistical results of Seismo-Ionospheric Anomalies(SIAs) of the Total Electron Content(TEC) in the Global Ionosphere Map(GIM) associated with 56 M≥6.0 earthquakes in China during 1998—2012.To detect SIA,a quartile-based(i.e.median-based) process is performed.TEC anomalies for the period of earthquakes without being led by magnetic storms about 10 days are further isolated and examined to confirm the SIP existence.Results show that SIA is the TEC significantly decrease in the afternoon period 2—9 days before the earthquakes in China,which is in a good agreement with the SIA appearing before the 12 May 2008 M 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake.

Paleoceanographic Indicators for Early Cambrian Black Shales from the Yangtze Platform, South China: Evidence from Biomarkers and Carbon Isotopes

The lower Cambrian Niutitang Formation, a widespread black shale deposition, is of geological interest because of its polymetallic beds, Cambrian explosion, depositional ages, dramatic environmental changes and so on. Previous study focused mainly on inorganic geochemistry and few studies have investigated the organic fractions of upper Neoproterozoic-lower Cambrian strata in South China. Here we report a study of biomarkers plus organic carbon isotopes for black shales from Ganziping, Hunan Province （China）. All the saturated hydrocarbon fractions have a unimodal distribution of n-alkanes, a high content of short-chain alkanes and maximize at C 19 or C 20 （C 23 for sample Gzh00-1）. The C 27 /C 29 sterane ratio ranges from 0.77 to 1.20 and 4-methylsteranes are in low abundance. These parameters indicate that algae and bacteria are the important primary producers. Furthermore, biomarker maturity proxies show the samples to be higher maturity. The low Pr/Ph values （0.7） suggest that the samples were deposited under anoxic conditions and, likely, under stratified water columns. In addition, 25-norhopanes and gammacerane are present as diagnostic indicators of normal marine salinity and dysoxic to anoxic conditions. During the Early Tommotian, known to coincide with a transgression event, small shelly fossils increased in abundance and diversity. Moreover, positive δ 13 C org excursions close to 1.4‰ occur at the base of the Tommotian stage. In summary, the Early Cambrian black shales were deposited under dramatic paleoenvironmental changes, including oceanic anoxia, higher primary productivity and sea-level rise.

Jurassic Black Shales Facies from Qiangtang Basin (Northern Tibet): Rare Earth and Trace Elements for Paleoceanographic Implications

The Biluo Co and Amdo 114 station, northern Tibet, cropping out the Early Toarcian and Middle-Late Tithonian （Jurassic） organic-rich black shales, have been a focus to petroleum geologists in discussing their oil-producing potential. This paper first reports the trace elements and rare earth elements to discuss the paleoenvironments, redox conditions and sedimentary mechanisms of those black shales. Both sections exhibit variation in trace element abundances with concentrations 〈0.1 ppm to 760 ppm, mostly enriched in V, Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mo, Ba and U. Element ratios of Ni/Co, V/Cr, U/Th and V/（V＋Ni） plus U were used to identify redox conditions. The shale-normalized rare earth element （REE） patterns are characterized by the flat-shale type with instable Ce anomalies and very weekly positive Eu anomalies. Positive Ceanom values are significant with values varying between - 0.064 and 0.029 in Biluo Co, which may be interpreted as release of REE and input of riverine terrestrial matter with rich Ce （resulting in pH change） during the anoxic conditions. In the middle parts of Amdo 114 station, distinct negative Ceanom values are observed （-0.238 to -0.111） and associated surface water warming were interpreted as being related to a major sea level rise. In contrast, the formation of the black shales in the lower and upper part of the studied succession took place during a cooler （Ceanom values 〉-0.10）, lower surface water productivity, and lower sea-level stage. Thus, we emphasize the role of different factors that control the formation of local and regional black shales. The most important factors are sea-level fluctuations and increasing productivity.

高功率等离子磁控溅射法制备含钛类金刚石碳膜(英文)

为了改善类金刚石碳膜的性能,采用高功率等离子磁控溅射法将含钛非晶碳薄膜沉积在304不锈钢基材上,气源为C2H2-Ar混合气体,金属钛为阴极靶材。为了改善附着力和降低残余应力,制备了含Ti/TiC/DLC多层结构的镀膜。利用GDS、XRD、SEM、Raman光谱法、纳米压痕仪和盘-销摩擦计研究基材偏压及基材与靶材的距离对薄膜性能的影响。结果表明,薄膜具有优良的粘合强度和韧性。

有蒸发-风反馈和海-气相互作用的CISK开尔文波——热带季节内振荡机制的进一步研究(英文)

将波动-CISK(积云对流加热反馈)、海-气相互作用和蒸发-风反馈都引入一个简单理论模式,研究了它们在驱动热带大气季节内振荡(ISO)中的作用。其结果表明．波动-CISK在减慢激发波的位相速度以接近观测到的热带ISO的移速过程中起主要作用;而蒸发－风反馈的主要作用是使激发波不稳定;海-气相互作用在减慢激发波的移速方面也有一定作用。因此,波动－CISK和蒸发-风反馈可认为是热带ISO的主要动力学机制。本研究还表明,由于蒸发-风反馈和海-气相互作用的影响,激发波是一种频散波,这种频散性可以更好地解释热带大气中ISO的活动特征。

Superplastic elongation characteristic of fine grained magnesium alloy ZK60

This paper employs simple rolling process plus annealing to refine the grain size of magnesium alloy ZK60. This goal is effectively achieved, obtaining grains as fine as -3.7 um. Such a specimen shows an elongation of 642%, and its ultimate fracture surface exhibits intergranular separation and significant grain growth. Additionally, the effects of the specimen＇s geometry and tensile test axis with respect to the rolling direction on superplastic elongation is studied, which has not been done before.

Vision-Based Vehicle Detection for a Forward Collision Warning System

A weather-adaptive forward collision warning (FCW) system was presented by applying local features for vehicle detection and global features for vehicle verification. In the system, horizontal and vertical edge maps are separately calculated. Then edge maps are threshold by an adaptive threshold value to adapt the brightness variation. Third, the edge points are linked to generate possible objects. Fourth, the objects are judged based on edge response, location, and symmetry to generate vehicle candidates. At last, a method based on the principal component analysis (PCA) is proposed to verify the vehicle candidates. The proposed FCW system has the following properties: 1) the edge extraction is adaptive to various lighting condition;2) the local features are mutually processed to improve the reliability of vehicle detection;3) the hierarchical schemes of vehicle detection enhance the adaptability to various weather conditions;4) the PCA-based verification can strictly eliminate the candidate regions without vehicle appearance.

Preface: Frontiers in Astrophysics(Ⅱ)——A special issue dedicated to the 20th anniversary of RAA(2001–2020)

On the arrival of the 20 th anniversary of the journal,Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics(RAA),we see rapid progress in the frontiers of astronomy and astrophysics.To celebrate the birth and growth of RAA,a special issue consisting of 11 invited reviews from more than 30 authors,mainly from China,has been organized.This is the second volume of the special issues entitled Frontiers in Astrophysics published in RAA.The publication aims at evaluating the current status and key progress in some frontier areas of astronomy and astrophysics with a spirit of guiding future studies.

An error resilient scheme for H.264 video coding based on distortion estimated mode decision and nearest neighbor error concealment

Although H.264 video coding standard provides several error resilience tools, the damage caused by error propagation may still be tremendous. This work is aimed at developing a robust and standard-compliant error resilient coding scheme for H.264and uses techniques of mode decision, data hiding, and error concealment to reduce the damage from error propagation. This paper proposes a system with two error resilience techniques that can improve the robustness of H.264 in noisy channels. The first technique is Nearest Neighbor motion compensated Error Concealment (NNEC) that chooses the nearest neighbors in the reference frames for error concealment. The second technique is Distortion Estimated Mode Decision (DEMD) that selects an optimal mode based on stochastically distorted frames. Observed simulation results showed that the rate-distortion performances of the proposed algorithms are better than those of the compared algorithms.

Toward Cloud-Based Parking Facility Management System: A Preliminary Study

An e-tag used on the freeway is a kind of passive sensors composed of sensors and radio- frequency identification （RFID） tags. The principle of the electronic toll collection system is that the sensor emits radio waves touching the e-tag within a certain range, the e-tag will respond to the radio waves by induction, and the sensor will read and write information of the vehicles. Although the RFID technology is popularly used in campus management systems, there is no e-tag technology application used in a campus parking system. In this paper, we use the e-tag technology on a campus parking management system based on the cloud-based construction. By this, it helps to achieve automated and standardized management of the campus parking system, enhance management efficiency, reduce the residence time of the vehicles at the entrances and exits, and improve the efficiency of vehicles parked at the same time.

Facile Synthesis of Ag/TiO2 by Photoreduction Method and Its Degradation Activity of Methylene Blue under UV and Visible Light Irradiation

A series of Ag/TiO2 with various Ag contents were prepared by photoreduction method. Commercial TiO2 from Evonik-Degussa was used as the catalyst. Ag was used as the cocatalyst. This facial synthesis method is cheap and easy. TiO2 was suspended in water with various concentrations of silver nitrate. The solution was illuminated by UV light for 36 h. Ag would deposit on the surface of TiO2. This method can deposit all Ag cation in the starting material on TiO2 after 36 h irradiation by UV light. X-ray diffraction, high resolution-TEM, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to characterize the surface, morphology and chemical composition of the catalysts. Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue in water on these catalysts was carried out under UV and visible light irradiation, respectively. The methylene blue concentration in water was measured by a UV-vis spectrophotometer. The results showed that the bulk structure of TiO2 did not change and some of Ag was incorporated into the surface of TiO2 lattice. The change in the electronic state of Ti on surface is attributed to the replacement of titanium atoms by silver atoms on the TiO2 surface structure which induced visible light response and enhanced the photocatalytic activity. 1 wt% Ag is the optimum loading to have high activity.

Preface: The Chang'e-3 lander and rover mission to the Moon

The Chang＇e-3 （CE-3） lander and rover mission to the Moon was an in- termediate step in China＇s lunar exploration program, which will be followed by a sample return mission. The lander was equipped with a number of remote-sensing instruments including a pair of cameras （Landing Camera and Terrain Camera） for recording the landing process and surveying terrain, an extreme ultraviolet camera for monitoring activities in the Earth＇s plasmasphere, and a first-ever Moon-based ultravi- olet telescope for astronomical observations. The Yutu rover successfully carried out close-up observations with the Panoramic Camera, mineralogical investigations with the VIS-NIR Imaging Spectrometer, study of elemental abundances with the Active Particle-induced X-ray Spectrometer, and pioneering measurements of the lunar sub- surface with Lunar Penetrating Radar. This special issue provides a collection of key information on the instrumental designs, calibration methods and data processing pro- cedures used by these experiments with a perspective of facilitating further analyses of scientific data from CE-3 in preparation for future missions.