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Implicit guarantees and bank stability:evidence from a quasi-natural experiment
No full textDo parent bank implicit guarantees enhance or diminish the stability of foreign subsidiaries? Using a quasi-natural experiment in the form of a regulatory intervention which removed parent banks' option to provide financial support to affiliated foreign subsidiaries, we find a substantial increase in the overall default risk of foreign subsidiaries. Less stringent private and supervisory oversight in host countries exacerbates the adverse impacts on risk. Overall, the results align with the notion that a loss in implicit guarantees implies a decline in reputational capital and franchise value. Beyond financial stability, the intervention likely has economic implications. Foreign subsidiaries increase lending and deposit funding, particularly those with stronger initial capitalization. These patterns are consistent with risk-compensating behavior where subsidiaries, following the loss of parental guarantees, expand balance sheets to sustain funding and market presence. Our findings inform ongoing policy debates regarding the merits of implicit guarantees for bank stability
Strategic culture and selective compliance:the Georgian foreign policy paradox
No full textBehaviours and tendencies in Georgian foreign policy can be explained by identifying prevailing streams in Georgian strategic culture. Michael Cecire considers trilateral cooperation with Turkey and Azerbaijan as a case study. He finds that Georgian strategic culture is primarily Western-orientated. However, Georgia’s strategic cultural attachment to the West does not mean that it fully adheres to Western norms, nor is it clearly engaging in utility-maximising behaviour. As such, despite amity to the West, Georgian foreign policy may diverge from that of its core Euro-Atlantic partners
The reluctant pressman:Jacques Callot and The Miseries and Misfortunes of War (1633)
No full textIn the celebrated series of prints 'The Miseries and Misfortunes of War (1633), Jacques Callot depicts an executioner striking the same pose that was widely used durin ghte period to represent the operator of a copperplate roller press. Taking this parallel as a starting point, this essay explores the representation of the pressman and the printers' workshop in relationship to Callot's depiction of the soldier's life
Surveillance
No full textLike control, surveillance at work is effectively age-old. However, both rose to greater prominence and levels of sophistication with the advent of large-scale industrialization. Bureaucracies evolved to measure, track, and monitor workers and their behaviours. Specific attention was paid to efficiency and effort/output. As information and communication technology developed across the 20th century and into the twenty first, new forms of surveillance, increasingly digital, emerged. Thus in many countries camera monitoring is now ubiquitous both within and without organizations. Algorithms, AI and mobile technologies have all added new dimensions to visibility and active surveillance, both in terms of how effective they are and how employees have sought to subvert and resist them. With the rise of the gig economy, surveillance continues to be a key topic in CMS and across the social sciences
From ferromagnetic semiconductor to antiferromagnetic metal in epitaxial Cr<sub>x</sub>Te<sub>y</sub> monolayers
No full textChromium ditelluride, CrTe2, is an attractive candidate van der Waals material for hosting 2D magnetism. However, how the room-temperature ferromagnetism of the bulk evolves as the sample is thinned to the single-layer limit has proved controversial. This, in part, reflects its metastable nature, vs. a series of more stable self-intercalation compounds with higher relative Cr:Te stoichiometry. Here, exploiting a recently developed method for enhancing nucleation in molecular-beam epitaxy growth of transition-metal chalcogenides, we demonstrate the selective stabilisation of high-coverage CrTe2 and Cr2+εTe3 epitaxial monolayers. Combining X-ray magnetic circular dichroism, scanning tunnelling microscopy, and temperature-dependent angle-resolved photoemission, we demonstrate that both compounds order magnetically with a similar TC. We find, however, that monolayer CrTe2 forms as an antiferromagnetic metal, while monolayer Cr2+εTe3 hosts an intrinsic ferromagnetic semiconducting state. This work thus demonstrates that control over the self-intercalation of metastable Cr-based chalcogenides provides a powerful route for tuning both their metallicity and magnetic structure, establishing the CrxTey system as a flexible materials class for future 2D spintronics
BioTIME 2.0:expanding and improving a database of biodiversity time series
No full textMotivation: Here, we make available a second version of the BioTIME database, which compiles records of abundance estimates for species in sample events of ecological assemblages through time. The updated version expands version 1.0 of the database by doubling the number of studies and includes substantial additional curation to the taxonomic accuracy of the records, as well as the metadata. Moreover, we now provide an R package (BioTIMEr) to facilitate use of the database. Main Types of Variables: Included The database is composed of one main data table containing the abundance records and 11 metadata tables. The data are organised in a hierarchy of scales where 11,989,233 records are nested in 1,603,067 sample events, from 553,253 sampling locations, which are nested in 708 studies. A study is defined as a sampling methodology applied to an assemblage for a minimum of 2 years. Spatial Location and Grain: Sampling locations in BioTIME are distributed across the planet, including marine, terrestrial and freshwater realms. Spatial grain size and extent vary across studies depending on sampling methodology. We recommend gridding of sampling locations into areas of consistent size. Time Period and Grain: The earliest time series in BioTIME start in 1874, and the most recent records are from 2023. Temporal grain and duration vary across studies. We recommend doing sample-level rarefaction to ensure consistent sampling effort through time before calculating any diversity metric. Major Taxa and Level of Measurement: The database includes any eukaryotic taxa, with a combined total of 56,400 taxa. Software Format: csv and. SQL
Assessing the effects of a 660 nm diode laser on crustacean eyes
No full textSustainable management of crustacean fisheries requires accurate and timely data for population modelling, but many stocks are data deficient. To address this challenge, a novel device using Class 3R 660 nm diode lasers and Artificial Intelligence algorithms for automated data collection is under development. Whilst the safe use of Class 3R lasers is prescribed for the human eye, equivalent knowledge is required to ensure that lasers of this Class can be used without causing ocular damage to crustaceans. Some countries recognise crustaceans as sentient, thus ocular impacts that could compromise welfare and impair the subsequent survival of sampled specimens could be deemed unacceptable. This study investigates the impact of a prototype laser scanning system on the compound eyes of the white-legged prawn, Litopenaeus vannamei. Histological analysis in a controlled laboratory revealed a correlation between laser exposure and markers of ocular tissue damage, suggesting potential cumulative effects associated with repeated exposure. However, there was indication of pre-existing, underlying baseline alterations in some markers, possibly associated with senescence. Further, observations indicated minimal immediate behavioural effects following single scans, though care is warranted in extrapolating these findings to natural populations and different species under commercial conditions. In an operational context, specimens would only be subjected to a single exposure with a conveyor speed four times faster than that used experimentally, which equates to ~0.05 mW total laser energy. The estimated exposure for a single scan used experimentally was ~0.19 mW. At this level, there is no clear evidence of ocular tissue damage. However, fewer than five repeated exposures at the 6.7 cm/s conveyor speed used experimentally, may result in observable changes in some ocular tissue underscoring the need for cautious protocol development. This research highlights potential biological markers for evaluating photothermal damage in crustacean eyes, which could be used in future studies covering a broader range of commercially significant species
Teacher identity in English medium instruction:a scoping review of the literature on EMI in the EU
No full textEnglish medium instruction (EMI) has steadily increased in higher education institutions across Europe since the Bologna Process in 1999. Most research in this area has focused on teaching practices and learning affordances; however, attention to teacher identity has often been an afterthought. In this article, we conducted a scoping literature review of 23 empirical studies in EMI teacher identity. Arksey and O'Malley (2005) was used alongside Levac et al.'s (2010) recommendations to ensure consistency and replicability. Results show that language choice and use affect one's self-perceptions as a lecturer or academic. In many instances, language is perceived as an emotional obstacle, whether or not it is matched by an objective lack of linguistic competence. Positioning theory has been frequently used in the literature to investigate teacher identity, resulting in two contrasting stances: embracing the EMI identity or resisting it, usually through the use of multilingual practices. Further research is needed to evaluate the results and provide a synthesis of the included studies
Shifting GnRH neuron ensembles underlie successive preovulatory luteinizing hormone surges
No full textThe gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons operate as a neuronal ensemble exhibiting coordinated activity once every reproductive cycle to generate the preovulatory GnRH surge. Using GCaMP fiber photometry at the GnRH neuron distal dendrons to measure the output of this widely scattered population in female mice, we find that the onset, amplitude, and profile of GnRH neuron surge activity exhibits substantial variability from cycle to cycle both between and within individual mice. This was also evident when measuring successive proestrous luteinizing hormone surges. Studies combining short (c-Fos and c-Jun) and long (genetic robust activity marking) term indices of immediate early gene activation revealed that, while ∼50% of GnRH neurons were activated at the time of each surge, only half of these neurons had been active during the previous proestrous surge. These observations reveal marked inter- and intra-individual variability in the GnRH surge mechanism. Remarkably, different subpopulations of overlapping GnRH neurons are recruited to the ensemble each estrous cycle to generate the GnRH surge. While engendering variability in the surge mechanism itself, this likely provides substantial robustness to a key event underlying mammalian reproduction.</p