Elaborating Hungarian segment of the Global Map of Salt-Affected Soils (GSSmap)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gábor Szatmári ◽  
Zsófia Bakacsi ◽  
Annamária Laborczi ◽  
Ottó Petrik ◽  
Róbert Pataki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hungarian Academy ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Spatial Modelling ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Global Soil ◽  
Level Information ◽  
Salt Affected Soils ◽  
Information Image ◽  
Sas Maps ◽  
International Initiative

<p>Recently, FAO and Global Soil Partnership (GSP) launched the Global Map of Salt-affected Soils (GSSmap) international initiative, which pursued a country-driven approach and aimed to update the global and country-level information on salt-affected soils (SAS). The objective of our study is to present how Hungary contributed to this international initiative by preparing its own SAS maps according to the GSSmap specifications. For this purpose, we used not just a combination of advanced machine learning and multivariate geostatistical techniques for predicting the spatial distribution of the selected SAS indicators (i.e., pH, electrical conductivity and exchangeable sodium percentage) for the topsoil (0–30 cm) and for the subsoil (30–100 cm), but also a number of image indices exploiting a huge amount of relevant information contained in Sentinel-2 satellite images. The importance plots of random forests showed that in addition to climatic, geomorphometric parameters and legacy soil information, image indices were the most important covariates. The performance of spatial modelling of SAS indicators was checked by 10-fold cross validation showing that the accuracy of the SAS maps was acceptable. By this study and by the resulting maps of it, we not just contributed to GSSmap, but also renewed the SAS mapping methodology in Hungary, where we paid special attention to modelling and quantifying the prediction uncertainty that had not been quantified or even taken into consideration earlier.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Acknowledgment:</strong> Our research was supported by the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH; K-131820 and K-124290) and by the Premium Postdoctoral Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (PREMIUM-2019-390) (Gábor Szatmári).</p>

scholarly journals Elaborating Hungarian Segment of the Global Map of Salt-Affected Soils (GSSmap): National Contribution to an International Initiative

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 4073
Author(s):  
Gábor Szatmári ◽  
Zsófia Bakacsi ◽  
Annamária Laborczi ◽  
Ottó Petrik ◽  
Róbert Pataki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Modelling ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Level Information ◽  
Geostatistical Techniques ◽  
Salt Affected Soils ◽  
Mapping Techniques ◽  
Information Image ◽  
Sas Maps ◽  
Geomorphometric Parameters ◽  
Sentinel 2

Recently, the Global Map of Salt-affected Soils (GSSmap) was launched, which pursued a country-driven approach and aimed to update the global and country-level information on salt-affected soils (SAS). The aim of this paper was to present how Hungary contributed to GSSmap by preparing its own SAS maps using advanced digital soil mapping techniques. We used not just a combination of random forest and multivariate geostatistical techniques for predicting the spatial distribution of SAS indicators (i.e., pH, electrical conductivity and exchangeable sodium percentage) for the topsoil (0–30 cm) and subsoil (30–100 cm), but also a number of indices derived from Sentinel-2 satellite images as environmental covariates. The importance plots of random forests showed that in addition to climatic, geomorphometric parameters and legacy soil information, image indices were the most important covariates. The performance of spatial modelling was checked by 10-fold cross validation showing that the accuracy of the SAS maps was acceptable. By this study and by the resulting maps of it, we not just contributed to GSSmap, but also renewed the SAS mapping methodology in Hungary, where we paid special attention to modelling and quantifying the prediction uncertainty that had not been quantified or even taken into consideration earlier.

scholarly journals Index of information and communication technology use in labour administration: its need, its pertinence and its potential use

2018 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 240-260
Author(s):  
Anna M. Galazka ◽  
Malcolm J. Beynon ◽  
Tim Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Information And Communication Technology ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Employment Services ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Geographical Variations ◽  
Labour Dispute ◽  
Level Information ◽  
Information And Communication

This article examines the variation in the level of use of information and communication technologies by national bodies of labour administrations across 81 different countries. Extending empirical research on the state of information and communication technology use, it introduces a prototype index of country-level information and communication technology use. The index allows for the exposition of the contributions of sub-dimensions of information and communication technology use, including labour inspection, public employment services and labour dispute prevention and settlement. Graphical evidence showing sub-index and final index formulations for individual countries is given, along with graphical evidence of the country-level ranking and geographical variations of information and communication technology use (including the sub-dimensions of this use). The future potential of the prescribed approach is demonstrated by offering possible explanations behind the results on a sample of countries.

Innovative entrepreneurship and quality of life. The case of Ecuador

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Carlos Aguirre ◽  
Marco Leonardo Peralta Zuñiga ◽  
Pedro Mora ◽  
Francisco Blanco
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Vector Model ◽  
Impulse Response Functions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Global Competitiveness ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Global Competitiveness Index ◽  
Multivariate Estimation

PurposeThis article is based on the assumption that entrepreneurship improves quality of life (HDI). Its main objective is to establish causal relationships between entrepreneurship variables such as credits, innovation (R&D), business growth, foreign direct investment and the Global Competitiveness Index and how these have influenced a country's development.Design/methodology/approachTo analyse and validate this assumption, relevant information has been extracted about Ecuador (the subject of the study) for the 1998–2017 period. The information has received the respective econometric treatment, through a multivariate estimation by the autoregressive vector (ARV) method that made it possible to establish impulse-response functions.ResultsThe results indicate that there is a significant and positive statistical impact between the variables related to entrepreneurship and quality of life (HDI), with the exception of “Innovation”, which is not representative in the model, demonstrating that the investment made at country level in R&D is not sufficient to have an impact on the HDI. It was also determined that promoting entrepreneurship would be useful as this would alter the trend of the variables, making them conducive to increasing the HDI.Originality/valueThis article is one of the few to address this issue. It includes the self-regressive vector model as a key methodology used to evaluate and establish public policies. RVM has provided positive results in the field of economics and can be adopted in the area of entrepreneurship.

The Influence of Analysts, Institutional Investors, and Insiders on the Incorporation of Market, Industry, and Firm-Specific Information into Stock Prices

2004 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 1119-1151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph D. Piotroski ◽  
Darren T. Roulstone
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Investors ◽  
Stock Prices ◽  
Stock Return ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Specific Component ◽  
Future Earnings ◽  
Industry Level ◽  
Level Information ◽  
Information Advantage

We investigate the extent to which the trading and trade-generating activities of three informed market participants—financial analysts, institutional investors, and insiders—influence the relative amount of firm-specific, industry-level, and market-level information impounded into stock prices, as measured by stock return synchronicity. We find that stock return synchronicity is positively associated with analyst forecasting activities, consistent with analysts increasing the amount of industry-level information in prices through intra-industry information transfers. In contrast, stock return synchronicity is inversely related to insider trades, consistent with these transactions conveying firm-specific information. Supplemental tests show that insider and institutional trading accelerate the incorporation of the firm-specific component of future earnings news into prices alone, while analyst forecasting activity accelerates both the industry and firm-specific component of future earnings news. Our results suggest that all three parties influence the firm's information environment, but the type of price-relevant information conveyed by their activities depends on each party's relative information advantage.

scholarly journals Political Institutions and Street Protests in Latin America

2011 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 340-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabiana Machado ◽  
Carlos Scartascini ◽  
Mariano Tommasi
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Level Information ◽  
Alternative Means ◽  
Latin American Countries

In this article, the authors argue that where institutions are strong, actors are more likely to participate in the political process through institutionalized arenas, while where they are weak, protests and other unconventional means of participation become more appealing. The authors explore this relationship empirically by combining country-level measures of institutional strength with individual-level information on protest participation in seventeen Latin American countries. The authors find evidence that weaker political institutions are associated with a higher propensity to use alternative means for expressing preferences, that is, to protest.

Overreaction or Underreaction to Intra-Industry Earnings Information Transfer: A Cross-Country Analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.S. Agnes Cheng ◽  
Jing Fang ◽  
Yuan Huang ◽  
Yuxiang Zhong
Keyword(s):  
Information Transfer ◽  
Information Environment ◽  
Earnings Information ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Level Information ◽  
International Setting ◽  
Country Analysis ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Information Transfers ◽  
Industry Peers

We apply the moderated confidence hypothesis (MCH) to investigate overreaction and underreaction in intra-industry earnings information transfers in an international setting. MCH predicts that late announcing firms’ investors overreact (underreact) to early announcing industry peers’ earnings news when early announcing peers’ earnings news is imprecise (precise) signals of late announcing firms’ earnings. Consistent with early announcing peers’ earnings news being imprecise signals of late announcing firms’ earnings in an international setting, we find that late announcing firms’ investors overreact to early announcing peers’ earnings news. The country-level information environment and culture shape the precision of peers’ earnings as signals of each other’s earnings and investor behaviors. Consistent with MCH, we find that late announcing firms’ investors are more likely to underreact in countries with a richer information environment, are more likely to overreact in countries with higher individualism and are less likely to overreact in countries with higher uncertainty avoidance.

scholarly journals Regulatory Environment and Firm Performance in EU Telecommunications Services

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Montolio ◽  
Francesc Trillas ◽  
Elisa Trujillo-Baute
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Market Share ◽  
Multinational Firms ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Level Information ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Telecommunications Services ◽  
Broadband Market ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Better Than

AbstractWe empirically estimate the effects of regulated access prices and firms’ multinational status on firm performance by using firm, corporate group, and country level information for the European broadband market between 2002 and 2010. Three measures of firm performance are used, namely: market share, revenue and productivity. Special attention is paid to differences in the impact on the performance measures depending on a firm’s position as either a market incumbent or entrant. We find that while access prices have a negative effect on entrants’ market share and revenue, the effect on incumbents’ market share, revenue and productivity is positive. Further, we find that multinational entrants perform better than national entrants in terms of their market share but worse in terms of their revenue and productivity. The opposite is true of incumbent multinationals which perform better than nationals in terms of their revenue and productivity but worse in terms of their market share. This confirms that a firm’s multinational status has a significant impact on its performance, and that this impact differs for incumbents and entrants. Finally, when evaluating the impact of access prices on firm performance at the mean performance of national and multinational firms, we find that the impact of access prices is lower for multinational than for national firms.

scholarly journals Optimization of 1,4-Naphthoquinone Hit Compound: A Computational, Phenotypic, and In Vivo Screening against Trypanosoma cruzi

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 423
Author(s):  
Leonardo S. Lara ◽  
Guilherme C. Lechuga ◽  
Caroline dos S. Moreira ◽  
Thaís B. Santos ◽  
Vitor F. Ferreira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Trypanosoma Cruzi ◽  
Acute Infection ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Parasite Load ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Trypanocidal Activity ◽  
Structure Activity ◽  
Activity Structure ◽  
Sas Maps

Chagas disease (CD) still represents a serious public health problem in Latin America, even after more than 100 years of its discovery. Clinical treatments (nifurtimox and benznidazole) are considered inadequate, especially because of undesirable side effects and low efficacy in the chronic stages of the disease, highlighting the urgency for discovering new effective and safe drugs. A small library of compounds (1a–i and 2a–j) was designed based on the structural optimization of a Hit compound derived from 1,4-naphthoquinones (C2) previously identified. The biological activity, structure-activity relationship (SAR), and the in silico physicochemical profiles of the naphthoquinone derivatives were analyzed. Most modifications resulted in increased trypanocidal activity but some substitutions also increased toxicity. The data reinforce the importance of the chlorine atom in the thiophenol benzene ring for trypanocidal activity, highlighting 1g, which exhibit a drug-likeness profile, as a promising compound against Trypanosoma cruzi. SAR analysis also revealed 1g as cliff generator in the structure-activity similarity map (SAS maps). However, compounds C2 and 1g were unable to reduce parasite load, and did not prevent mouse mortality in T. cruzi acute infection. Phenotypic screening and computational analysis have provided relevant information to advance the optimization and design of new 1,4-naphthoquinone derivatives with a better pharmacological profile.

Voluntary Disclosure of Country-Level Information and FCPA Violations

2020 ◽  
pp. 0148558X2098220
Author(s):  
Joseph Legoria ◽  
Kenneth J. Reichelt ◽  
Jared Soileau
Keyword(s):  
Voluntary Disclosure ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Foreign Government ◽  
Level Information ◽  
Foreign Operations

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) of 1977 prohibits U.S. listed firms from bribing foreign government officials for business purposes. We examine whether less transparent firms are more likely to violate the FCPA by testing whether their voluntary disclosure of country-level information explains the violation. We hand-collect voluntarily disclosed geographic information for firms cited for FCPA violations and for a matched control group of nonviolators. We test whether less transparent disclosure of operations (sales and long-lived assets) abroad explains whether firms violate the FCPA. We find supporting evidence. Next, we compare the transparency of FCPA violators that self-reported their violations with the transparency of our control group, as well as the transparency of non-self-reporters to the transparency of our control group. Regulators sanction self-reporters with lower penalties than non-self-reporters. We find that the former are as transparent as the nonviolators. Yet, non-self-reporters are less transparent, suggesting that they drive our results. Overall, our results suggest that more transparent reporting of foreign operations is associated with FCPA compliance. Our study contributes to understanding whether voluntary disclosure signals FCPA compliance, following disclosure theory and instrumental stakeholder theory.

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