IFRS 8 – OPERATING SEGMENTS

Segment reporting in accordance with IFRS 8 will be mandatory for annual financial statements covering periods beginning on or after 1 January 2009. The standards replaces IAS 14, Segment Reporting, from that date.The objective of IFRS 8 is to require: operating segments, reporting of financial information, reportable segments,chief operating decision maker (CODM

Flexible electrical conductors for high-temperature switchgear

Arch-shaped conductors fabricated from flat strips of beryllium oxide dispersion-strengthened copper alloy serve as flexible electrical connectors capable of operating in 1000 deg F temperature range, under vacuum conditions for periods of 10,000 hours or more without failure

Improved silver-zinc battery-terminal seals

Development of battery terminal seal for sealing electrolyte for periods of three to five years is discussed. Operating conditions of battery are defined. Components of electrolyte seal and method of production are reported. Schematic diagrams of device are included

Dynamic analysis of bankruptcy and economic waves

The procedures presented in this paper provide a dynamic apparatus of crediting the industrial operating systems with the assignment to avoid their correlated defaulting, to conserve general safety and soundness and improve its ability to serve as a source for sustainable growth for economy. The quality of operating firms at different periods is evaluated using the migration matrixes between some classes of default risk.credit risk ; economic growth ; regulation

Bank Distress during the Great Depression: The Illiquidity-Insolvency Debate Revisited

During the contraction from 1929 through 1933, the Federal Reserve System tracked changes in the status of all banks operating in the United States and determined the cause of each bank suspension. This essay analyzes chronological patterns in aggregate series constructed from that data. The analysis demonstrates both illiquidity and insolvency were substantial sources of bank distress. Periods of heightened distress were correlated with periods of increased illiquidity. Contagion via correspondent networks and bank runs propagated the initial banking panics. As the depression deepened and asset values declined, insolvency loomed as the principal threat to depository institutions.

Active clearance control system for a turbomachine

An axial compressor is provided with a cooling air manifold surrounding a portion of the shroud, and means for bleeding air from the compressor to the manifold for selectively flowing it in a modulating manner axially along the outer side of the stator/shroud to cool and shrink it during steady state operating conditions so as to obtain minimum shroud/rotor clearance conditions. Provision is also made to selectively divert the flow of cooling air from the manifold during transient periods of operation so as to alter the thermal growth or shrink rate of the stator/shroud and result in adequate clearance with the compressor rotor

The Cross-Section of Interbank Rates: A Nonparametric Empirical Investigation

This paper analyzes the distribution of lending and borrowing credit spreads in the European interbank market conditional on main features of banks such as their size, operating currency and nationality. This is done by means of nonparametric kernel estimation methods for the cross-sectional density of interbank funding rates over a large sample of European banks trading in the e-MID market. The analysis is repeated over consecutive non-overlapping periods in order to assess and compare the effect of the factors during crisis and non-crisis periods. We find evidence of important differences between the borrowing and lending segment of the interbank market that are augmented during crises periods. Our results strongly support the existence of a size effect in the borrowing market. Largest banks enjoy the highest lending rates and the lowest borrowing rates. The collapse of Lehman Brothers accentuates the differences in funding conditions. In both borrowing and lending segments, crises are corresponded by high volatilities in daily funding costs. Banks using the Euro currency and in countries not affected by sovereign debt crises are benefited by lower funding costs. Our nonparametric analysis of densities conditional on banks' nationality suggests that distress in the interbank market can serve as an early warning indicator of sovereign risk

Empirical Bayes methodology for estimating equipment failure rates with application to power generation plants

Many reliability databases pool event data for equipment across different plants. Pooling may occur both within and between organizations with the intention of sharing data across common items within similar operating environments to provide better estimates of reliability and availability. Frequentist estimation methods can be poor when few, or no, events occur even when equipment operate for long periods. An alternative approach based upon empirical Bayes estimation is proposed. The new method is applied to failure data analysis in power generation plants and found to provide credible insights. A statistical comparison between the proposed and frequentist methods shows that empirical Bayes is capable of generating more accurate estimates

A Note on Expanding Networks and Monopoly Pricing

We obtain explicitly the optimal path of prices for a monopolist operating in a network industry during a finite number of periods. We describe this optimal path as a function of network intensity and horizon length and show that the prices are increasing in time and that, for very low network intensity, or very high horizon length, the monopolist will offer the good at zero price in the initial period.

Energy storage apparatus

A high efficiency, flywheel type energy storage device which comprises an electronically commutated d.c. motor/generator unit having a massive flywheel rotor magnetically suspended around a ring shaped stator is presented. During periods of low energy demand, the storage devices were operated as a motor, and the flywheel motor was brought up to operating speed. Energy was drawn from the device functioning as a generator as the flywheel rotor rotated during high energy demand periods