Financial reporting consequences of natural disasters: Evidence from the impact of resource constraints at audit offices on non-affected clients

Disaster-affected clients demand significant additional effort from their audit office, and hence strain the audit office’s resources available to other non-disaster-affected clients. We consider audit offices with disaster-affected clients to be strained offices and find that, compared with clients audited by non-strained audit offices, non-disaster-affected clients audited by strained audit offices are more likely to have their financial statements restated. This result suggests the financial reporting quality of companies not directly exposed to disasters could also be negatively affected by the disasters, due to their auditors’ strained-resource issue. We further find such a negative effect is more pronounced when the degree of resource constraints is greater and when the audit office lacks client experience or industry expertise. We offer novel evidence of financial reporting consequences of natural disasters, focusing on the externality of disasters on companies not directly affected by disasters. The findings have important implications for regulators in making disaster-related policies, for auditors in managing their client portfolios, and for companies in making auditor choice decisions.     

石家庄市地震危险性评价

本文在分析石家庄市及邻近地区活动性构造及地震活动特征的基础上，运用数理统计的方法，对市区的地震危险性进行了评价。认为未来百年内市区可能发生的最大地震为５级左右，其地震危险性主要来自河北平原地震带的影响。     

一种适用于高铁沿线的多台站快速地震预警方法

对于地震预警技术来说,根据参与监测预警的台站数量不同,可以将高速铁路地震监测预警系统分为单台站地震P波预警技术和多台站地震P波预警技术。单台站P波预警由于信息量较少以及噪声影响,在定位方面存在较大误差。多台站P波预警技术是在单台站P波预警的基础之上,综合多个单台站信息进行综合震源参数估算并发出地震预警信息的预警方式。通过应用多台站P波预警定位技术,能够在震源估算方面得到更准确的结果。     

农村住宅抗震安全性问题

分析了地震中农村住宅的破坏原因和不符合抗震设防要求的方面,提出了农村自建住宅的抗震设防措施,对村镇新建住宅的建设有一定的借鉴意义.     

生物农药——21世纪农药的生力军

生物农药是人们减少污染、回归自然的一个必然选择。与化学农药相比,生物农药具有无可比拟的优越性,在农作物病虫害的防治和清除杂草方面,生物农药的应用前景广阔。介绍了生物农药的种类(植物源农药,微生物农药,生物体农药),独特的作用机理和在可持续发展中的地位,并展望了它的发展前景。     

不确定环境下的地震应急救援路径优化研究

针对地震应急救援的特点,引入不确定理论,在地震灾害的背景下,研究震后动态网络环境下的应急救援路径选择问题。用不确定变量表示网络中各路段的破坏程度,综合考虑路径破坏程度及车辆路径连续性等约束条件,以救援时间最短为目标,基于不确定理论建立了动态优化模型,并用改进的遗传算法求解,最后设计算例验证了模型和算法的有效性。     

Integrating uncertain user-generated demand data when locating facilities for disaster response commodity distribution

This paper presents a new facility location problem variant with application in disaster relief. The problem is unique in that both verified data and unverified user-generated data are available for consideration during decision making. The problem is motivated by the recent need of integrating unverified social data (e.g., Twitter posts) with data from more traditional sources, such as on-the-ground assessments and aerial flyovers, to make optimal decisions during disaster relief. Integrating social data can enable identifying larger numbers of needs in shorter amounts of time, but because the information is unverified, some of it may be inaccurate. This paper seeks to provide a “proof of concept” illustrating how the unverified social data may be exploited. To do so, a framework for incorporating uncertain user-generated data when locating Points of Distribution (PODs) for disaster relief is presented. Then, three decision strategies that differ in how the uncertain data is considered are defined. Finally, the framework and decision strategies are demonstrated via a small computational study to illustrate the benefits user-generated data may afford across a variety of disaster scenarios.     

Restoring tourist confidence and travel intentions after disasters: some insights from a rejoinder to a series of unfortunate events in Malaysian tourism

Many countries face a decline in tourist confidence and reduced travel intentions after disasters. However, Malaysia – a country that experienced a series of aviation tragedies throughout 2014 – encountered an overall increase in inbound tourists and monetary receipts. This article more closely examines the effects of these unfortunate events on Malaysian tourism and identifies several strategic avenues that can contribute to restoring tourist confidence and reigniting tourist interest in travelling to disaster-stricken countries.     

Cox Point Processes: Why One Realisation Is Not Enough

We review a rich class of point process models, Cox point processes, and illustrate the necessity of more than one observation (point patterns) in performing parameter estimation. Furthermore, we introduce a new Cox point process model by treating the intensity function of the underlying Poisson point process as a random mixture of normal components. The behaviour and performance of the new model are compared with those of popular Cox point process models. The new model is exemplified with an application that involves a single point pattern corresponding to earthquake events in California, USA.     

茭簰考释--兼及江汉平原湖区人水关系

明清时期长江中游地区地方文献记载的茭簰,并非漂浮种植性质的葑田,而是漂浮居住性质的水上居家设施。“随波上下”且“不时迁移”是其基本特性,实质是借水之力以避水之害,乃湖区居民应对洪涝灾害的居住创举。茭簰不同于为众熟知的舟船,亦有别于水上航行的排筏,茭簰居民并非渔民,而是备有“种莳牲畜”的农民。茭簰与葑田,虽然一耕一居,却具有共同的指向。茭簰是湖区农家适应环境变化,根据生产生活需要而做出的相对选择,堪称湖区居民趋利避害、协调人水关系的代表性举措。