The Effect of the Number of Lending Banks on the Liquidity Constraints of Firms: Evidence From a Quasi-Experiment

We empirically explore whether firms have a target for the number of banks from which they borrow, and whether having multiple bank relationships has an impact on firms’ liquidity situation. A bank merger in Chile provides a quasi-experiment as it constitutes an exogenous reduction in the number of lenders for firms that were previously borrowing from both merging banks. We find that a significant percentage of firms whose number of bank relationships was reduced by the merger regain their original number of lenders. In particular, firms whose number of bank lending relationships was reduced from two to one as a result of the merger have a 23% higher probability of adding a new bank lending relationship in the five years following the merger than similar firms unaffected by the merger. Overall, we find that a reduction in firms’ number of bank lenders resulting from the merger reduced firms’ access to credit. In particular, a reduction from two to one bank lending relationships generated, on average, a 14.4% decrease in loan size for the affected companies compared to firms unaffected by the merger.

Discovering Rehabilitation trends in Spain: A bibliometric analysis

The main purpose of this study is to offer an overview of the rehabilitation research area in Spain from 1970 to 2018 through a bibliometric analysis. Analysis of performance and a co-word science mapping analysis were conducted to highlight the topics covered. The software tool SciMAT was used to analyse the themes concerning their performance and impact measures. A total of 3,564 documents from the Web of Science were retrieved. Univ Deusto, Univ Rey Juan Carlos and Basque Foundation for Science are the institutions with highest relative priority. The most important research themes are IntellectualDisability, Neck-Pain and Pain

Mixed Ionic-Electronic Conducting Membranes (MIEC) for Their Application in Membrane Reactors: A Review

Mixed ionic-electronic conducting membranes have seen significant progress over the last 25 years as efficient ways to obtain oxygen separation from air and for their integration in chemical production systems where pure oxygen in small amounts is needed. Perovskite materials are the most employed materials for membrane preparation. However, they have poor phase stability and are prone to poisoning when subjected to CO2 and SO2, which limits their industrial application. To solve this, the so-called dual-phase membranes are attracting greater attention. In this review, recent advances on self-supported and supported oxygen membranes and factors that affect the oxygen permeation and membrane stability are presented. Possible ways for further improvements that can be pursued to increase the oxygen permeation rate are also indicated. Lastly, an overview of the most relevant examples of membrane reactors in which oxygen membranes have been integrated are provided.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 679933. The present publication reflects only the author’s views and the European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein

Combined current profiling and biological echosounding results from a single ADCP

The present work describes a newly-developed Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) that has a fully integrated single-beam wide-band biological echosounder, thus serving a dual purpose: current measurement and biomass assessment. The system comprises a traditional 4-beam Janus configuration head, which is responsible for profiling the currents, with a vertically oriented center beam for collecting high-resolution acoustic backscatter data for subsequent biomass analysis. The system belongs to the Signature Series family of ADCPs launched in 2013 by Norwegian scientific instrumentation company Nortek. Named Signature100, it is powered by the AD2CP electronics platform, described in United States Patent 7.911.880. The four slanted beams (current profiling beams) operate at a center frequency of 100 kHz and have a range of up to 400 m with 4 m spatial resolution and sampling rate up to 1 Hz. The center vertical beam (echosounding beam) has a wider frequency band of approximately 70-120 kHz with a high dynamic range (~130 dB), and presently operating in up to three discreet pulse characteristics from a single beam set: 1) 70 kHz monochromatic, 2) 120 kHz monochromatic, and 3) 91 kHz chirp with 50 percent bandwidth and pulse compression. Acoustic pulses from the echosounder beam are interweaved with pulses for the current profiling beam for synchronous data collection. In this work we describe the system’s configuration, capabilities and results from initial trials.paper that is identical with the extended summaries format.Peer Reviewe

Long-Term Stability of Thin-Film Pd-Based Supported Membranes

Membrane reactors have demonstrated a large potential for the production of hydrogen via reforming of different feedstocks in comparison with other reactor types. However, the long-term performance and stability of the applied membranes are extremely important for the possible industrial exploitation of these reactors. This study investigates the long-term stability of thin-film Pd-Ag membranes supported on porous Al2O3 supports. The stability of five similarly prepared membranes have been investigated for 2650 h, up to 600 °C and in fluidized bed conditions. Results show the importance and the contribution of the sealing of the membranes at temperatures up to 500 °C. At higher temperatures the membranes surface deformation results in pinhole formation and a consequent decrease in selectivity. Stable operation of the membranes in a fluidized bed is observed up to 450 °C, however, at higher temperatures the scouring action of the particles under fluidization causes significant deformation of the palladium surface resulting in a decreased selectivity.The presented work is funded within BIONICO. This project has received funding from the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 671459. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, Hydrogen Europe and N.ERGHY

BoltzTraP. A code for calculating band-structure dependent quantities

A program for calculating the semi-classic transport coefficients is described. It is based on a smoothed Fourier interpolation of the bands. From this analytical representation we calculate the derivatives necessary for the transport distributions. The method is compared to earlier calculations, which in principle should be exact within Boltzmann theory, and a very convincing agreement is found

Understanding the optical responses of leaf nitrogen in Mediterranean Holm oak (Quercus ilex) using field spectroscopy

The direct estimation of nitrogen (N) in fresh vegetation is challenging due to its weak influence on leaf reflectance and the overlaps with absorption features of other compounds. Different empirical models relate in this work leaf nitrogen concentration ([N]Leaf) on Holm oak to leaf reflectance as well as derived spectral indices such as normalized difference indices (NDIs), the three bands indices (TBIs) and indices previously used to predict leaf N and chlorophyll. The models were calibrated and assessed their accuracy, robustness and the strength of relationship when other biochemicals were considered. Red edge was the spectral region most strongly correlated with [N]Leaf, whereas most of the published spectral indexes did not provide accurate estimations. NDIs and TBIs based models could achieve robust and acceptable accuracies (TBI1310,1720,730: R2 = 0.76, [0.64,0.86]; RMSE (%) = 9.36, [7.04,12.83]). These models sometimes included indices with bands close to absorption features of N bonds or nitrogenous compounds, but also of other biochemicals. Models were independently and inter-annually validated using the bootstrap method, which allowed discarding those models non-robust across different years. Partial correlation analysis revealed that spectral estimators did not strongly respond to [N]Leaf but to other leaf variables such as chlorophyll and water, even if bands close to absorption features of N bonds or compounds were present in the models.This research has been funded by the BIOSPEC project “Linking spectral information at different spatial scales with biophysical parameters of Mediterranean vegetation in the context of Global Change” (http://www.lineas.cchs.csic.es/biospec) (CGL2008-02301/CLI, Ministry of Science and Innovation) and the FLUXPEC project “Monitoring changes in water and carbon fluxes from remote and proximal sensing in a Mediterranean dehesa ecosystem” (http://www.lineas.cchs.csic.es/fluxpec) (CGL2012-34383, Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness). Pacheco-Labrador, J. was sponsored by a JAE-Predoc grant (CSIC)Peer reviewe