Update on the Pyramid Scheme

We summarize recent work in which we attempt to make a consistent model of LHC physics, from the Pyramid Scheme. The models share much with the NMSSM, in particular, enhanced tree level contributions to the Higgs mass and a preference for small tan {\beta}. There are 3 different singlet fields, and a new strongly coupled gauge theory, so the constraints of perturbative unification are quite different. We outline our general approach to the model, which contains a Kahler potential for three of the low energy fields, which is hard to calculate. Detailed calculations, based on approximations to the Kahler potential, will be presented in a future publication.Comment: LaTeX 2e/ 9 page

BANKS CONSOLIDATION IN NIGERIA: A SYNERGISTIC HARVEST

In order to strengthen the competitive and operational capabilities of banks in Nigeria with a view towards returning global and public confidence to the Nigerian banking sector and the economy in general, the Central Bank of Nigeria instituted a banking reform which saw most of the then existing 89 banks merging with each other. It was earlier speculated in some financial analysis quarters that the exercise might turn out to be one of those overblown hypes of an ailing economy. This, however, has turned out to be the opposite as most post-merger results tend to highlight that financial synergies exist. This paper tries to evaluate the authenticity of this assertion. To do this, pre-merger and post merger financial statements of 4 consolidated banks were obtained, adjusted, carefully analyzed and compared. The result revealed that all the four merger groups produced in addition to operational and relational synergy, financial gains far more than the 2+2=5 synergistic effects. The validating two-way ANOVA test also revealed that variations in shareholders funds can significantly affect the value of total assets of a bank

Regulating Eternal Inflation II: The Great Divide

In a previous paper, two of the authors presented a "regulated" picture of eternal inflation. This picture both suggested and drew support from a conjectured discontinuity in the amplitude for tunneling from positive to negative vacuum energy, as the positive vacuum energy was sent to zero; analytic and numerical arguments supporting this conjecture were given. Here we show that this conjecture is false, but in an interesting way. There are no cases where tunneling amplitudes are discontinuous at vanishing cosmological constant; rather, the space of potentials separates into two regions. In one region decay is strongly suppressed, and the proposed picture of eternal inflation remains viable; sending the (false) vacuum energy to zero in this region results in an absolutely stable asymptotically flat space. In the other region, we argue that the space-time at vanishing cosmological constant is unstable, but not asymptotically Minkowski. The consequences of our results for theories of supersymmetry breaking are unchanged.Comment: JHEP3, 19 Pages, 7 Figure

Towards a quantum theory of de Sitter space

We describe progress towards constructing a quantum theory of de Sitter space in four dimensions. In particular we indicate how both particle states and Schwarzschild de Sitter black holes can arise as excitations in a theory of a finite number of fermionic oscillators. The results about particle states depend on a conjecture about algebras of Grassmann variables, which we state, but do not prove.Comment: JHEP3 LaTex - 19 page

A Stringy Correspondence Principle in Cosmology

We study a d-dimensional FRW universe, containing a perfect fluid with p = w \rho and \frac{1} {d - 1} \le w \le 1, and find a correspondence principle similar to that of Horowitz and Polchinski in the black hole case. This principle follows quite generally from thermodynamics and the conservation of energy momentum tensor, and can be stated along similar lines as in the black hole case: ``When the temperature T of the universe becomes of order string scale the universe state becomes a highly excited string state. At the transition, the entropies and energies of the universe and strings differ by factors of {\cal O}(1).'' Such a matching is absent for w \ne 1 if the transition is assumed to be when the curvature or the horizon length is of order string scale.Comment: 14 pages. V2: More references added and some minor textual modifications mad

Embedding the Pentagon

The Pentagon Model is an explicit supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model, which involves a new strongly-interacting SU(5) gauge theory at TeV-scale energies. We show that the Pentagon can be embedded into an SU(5) x SU(5) x SU(5) gauge group at the GUT scale. The doublet-triplet splitting problem, and proton decay compatible with experimental bounds, can be successfully addressed in this context. The simplest approach fails to provide masses for the lighter two generations of quarks and leptons; however, this problem can be solved by the addition of a pair of antisymmetric tensor fields and an axion.Comment: 39 page

THE IMPACT OF CAPITAL ADEQUACY RATIO (CAR), NET INTEREST MARGIN (NIM), LOAN TO DEPOSIT RATIO (LDR), AND COST TO INCOME RATIO (CIR) TOWARD BANKS PROFITABILITY (Comparison Study of Domestic Bank and Foreign Bank in Indonesia from 2011 to 2015)

The purpose of this research is to analyze Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), Net Interest Margin (NIM), Loan to Deposit Ratio (LDR), Cost to Income Ratio (CIR) toward Return On Asset (ROA) of Domestic Banks and Foreign Banks in Indonesia from 2011 to 2015. The population of this research is all domestic banks and foreign banks in Indonesia that operate from 2011 to 2015. This research uses purposive sampling method as sampling technique, therefore total samples of this research is 92 domestic banks and 10 foreign banks. The analysis technique that is used in this research is multiple linear regression analysis. This research also uses Chow test to compare the influence of CAR, NIM, LDR, CIR toward ROA between domestic banks and foreign banks. The result of analysis shows that CAR, NIM, LDR, and CIR have significant influence toward ROA in domestic banks. Meanwhile, only CAR and CIR in foreign banks show significant influence toward ROA. Chow test result shows that there is different influence of CAR, NIM, LDR, CIR toward ROA between domestic banks and foreign banks

Foreign Banks in Eastern Europe: Mode of Entry and Effects on Bank Interest Rates

Credit markets in many Eastern European countries are now dominated by foreign-owned banks. We analyze the development for foreign ownership and its impact on lending rate in ten Eastern European countries between 1995 and 2003. Currently, the majority of loans from foreign banks is granted by acquired banks. The presence of foreign acquired banks as measured by their relative number among the banks in our dataset increased somewhat slower than that of foreign de novo banks. However, since market entry through acquisition allows acquiring a credit portfolio and a customer base, acquired banks were able to expand their market share much faster than the foreign de novo banks. Our results also show that the interest rate decreased after foreign bank entry. Moreover, while the reduction in interest rates of domestic banks is more pronounced in the case of foreign entry through a de novo investment, foreign de novo banks charge higher interest rates than foreign acquired banks

Enhanced Symmetries and the Ground State of String Theory

The ground state of string theory may lie at a point of ``maximally enhanced symmetry", at which all of the moduli transform under continuous or discrete symmetries. This hypothesis, along with the hypotheses that the theory at high energies has N=1 supersymmetry and that the gauge couplings are weak and unified, has definite consequences for low energy physics. We describe these, and offer some suggestions as to how these assumptions might be compatible.Comment: harvmac, 18 page

Did Global Financial Crisis Impact the Islamic Banking Efficiencies? Evidence From Malaysian Islamic Banks

First, this paper investigated the loan and deposit efficiencies of Malaysian Islamic banks during 2008-2013 applying the non-parametric technique, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), and found that the average technical efficiency (TE) of loan financing was 83%, 88%, 87%, 95%, 100%, and 94% and the average technical efficiency for deposit mobilizations was 87%, 94%, 94%, 96%, 92%, and 96%. Only four banks in 2008, two bank in 2009, three banks in 2010, two banks in 2011-2013 are both technically and scale efficient in loan production. On the other hand, only four banks in 2008 and 2009, five banks in 2010 and 2011, three banks in 2012, and five banks in 2013 are both technical and scale efficient in deposit mobilizations. Second, the paper compares the efficiencies of Islamic banks between the global financial crisis (GFC) and the post global financial crisis (PGFC) in determining whether the efficiencies of banks between the GFCP and PGFCP are stable. Both parametric and non-parametric tests found no significant difference in the efficiencies between the two periods suggesting that the efficiencies of the Malaysian Islamic banks were stable