Using a comprehensive dataset of mutual funds’ quarterly holdings of credit default swap (CDS) contracts during 2007-2011, we analyze the motives for and consequences of mutual funds’ participation in the CDS market preand post-financial crisis. Consistent with theoretical work, funds resort to CDS (especially selling) when they face unpredictable liquidity needs and when the CDS securities are...

CdS/ZnO branched heterostructures have been successfully synthesized by combining thermal vapour deposition and a hydrothermal method. Drastic optoelectronic performance enhancement of such heterostructures was revealed, compared to plain CdS nanobelts, as documented by comparative in situ optoelectronic studies on corresponding individual nanostructures using an originally designed laser-compa...

X-ray computed tomography (CT) is the most commonly used imaging technique for noninvasive diagnosis of disease. In order to improve tissue specificity and prevent adverse effects, we report the design and synthesis of iodine-doped carbon dots (I-doped CDs) as efficient CT contrast agents and fluorescence probe by a facile bottom-up hydrothermal carbonization process. The as-prepared I-doped CD...

In the conventional CdS/CdTe device structure, the poly-CdS window layer has a bandgap of ~2.4 eV, which causes absorption in the short-wavelength region. Higher short-circuit current densities (Jsc) can be achieved by reducing the CdS thickness, but this can adversely impact device open-circuit voltage (Voc) and fill factor (FF). Also, poly-CdS film has about 10% lattice mismatch related to th...

Carbon dots (CDs) are novel fluorescent materials with low toxicity and good biocompatibility. Herein, the collisional/dynamic and photoluminescence (PL) center destruction quenching behaviors of a novel type of CDs were investigated. Moreover, the quenching behaviors of the CDs were exploited in applications. Firstly, dynamic PL quenching was achieved by Fe(3+) ions, which was proved by the St...

In this paper we study the counterparty risk on a payer CDS in a Markov chain model of two reference credits, the firm underlying the CDS and the protection seller in the CDS. We first state few preliminary results about pricing and CVA of a CDS with counterparty risk in a general set-up. We then introduce a Markov chain copula model in which wrong way risk is represented by the possibility of ...

Carbon nanodots (CDs) have been synthesized at gram scale with a high yield (41.8%) by carbonization of sucrose with oil acid in one simple step. The synthesized CDs are monodisperse with a narrow size distribution (average 1.84 nm in size), and show a high fluorescence quantum yield (21.6%) without passivation. The PL intensity of the obtained CDs is pH independent over a range of 2-8. Besides...

High quality CdS nanorods are synthesized reproducibly with cadmium acetate and sulfur as precursors in trioctylphosphine solution. The morphology, crystalline form and phase composition of CdS nanorods are characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM and X-ray diffraction (XRD). CdS nanorods obtained are uniform with an aspect ratio of about 5:1 and in a wurtzit...

BACKGROUND The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services established the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program in 2009 to stimulate the adoption of EHRs. One component of the program requires eligible providers to implement clinical decision support (CDS) interventions that can improve performance on one or more quality measures pre-selected for each specialty. Because the uniq...

BACKGROUND The Cardiac Depression Scale (CDS) has been designed to measure depressive symptoms in patients with heart disease. There is no Arabic version of the CDS. We translated and validated the CDS in an Arabic sample of patients with heart disease. METHODS Forward and back translation of the CDS was followed by assessment of cultural relevance and content validity. The Arabic version of ...