Charles M. Breder, Jr.: Dry Tortugas, 1929

During the summer of 1929, Dr. Charles M. Breder, Jr., employed at that time by the New York Aquarium and American Museum of Natural History, visited the Carnegie Laboratory in the Dry Tortugas to study the development and habits of flying fishes and their allies. The diary of the trip was donated to the Mote Marine Laboratory Library by his family. Dr. Breder's meticulous handwritten account gives us the opportunity to see the simple yet great details of his observations and field experiments. His notes reveal the findings and thoughts of one of the world's greatest ichthyologists. The diary was transcribed as part of the Coastal Estuarine Data/Document Rescue and Archeology effort for South Florida. (PDF contains 75 pages

Beta lives - some statistical perspectives on the capital asset pricing model

This note summarizes some technical issues relevant to the use of the idea of excess return in empirical modelling. We cover the case where the aim is to construct a measure of expected return on an asset and a model of the CAPM type is used. We review some of the problems and show examples where the basic CAPM may be used to develop other results which relate the expected returns on assets both to the expected return on the market and other factors

The Effective Potential And Additional Large Radius Compactified Space-Time Dimensions

The consequences of large radius extra space-time compactified dimensions on the four dimensional one loop effective potential are investigated for a model which includes scalar self interactions and Yukawa coupling to fermions. The Kaluza-Klein tower of states associated with the extra compact dimensions shifts the location of the effective potential minimum and modifies its curvature. The dependence of these effects on the radius of the extra dimension is illustrated for various choices of coupling constants and masses. For large radii, the consequence of twisting the fermion boundary condition on the compactified dimensions is numerically found to produce but a negligible effect on the effective potential.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX, 6 Postscript figure

The Akulov-Volkov Lagrangian, Symmetry Currents and Spontaneously Broken Extended Supersymmetry

A generalization of the Akulov-Volkov effective Lagrangian governing the self interactions of the Nambu-Goldstone fermions associated with spontaneously broken extended supersymmetry as well as their coupling to matter is presented and scrutinized. The resulting currents associated with R-symmetry, supersymmetry and space-time translations are constructed and seen to form a supermultiplet structure.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX; Title, abstract and introduction changes, references adde

Risk management disclosure practices of UK non-financial firms after FRS13.

In the United Kingdom Financial Reporting Standard (FRS) 13, which came into force for March 1999 yearends, requires narrative and numerical disclosure of all financial instruments held or issued, in order to provide information about their impact on the firm’s risk profile. We use this information to examine the interest rate and currency profile of financial liabilities and assets. We find that UK firms on average have a greater proportion of assets and liabilities tied to floating rates of interest and that they tend to match the interest rate profile of assets and liabilities. Although sterling liabilities on average represent over half of total liabilities, for firms holding sterling and non-sterling debt the US dollar was the dominant currency. We also find a relationship between the level of foreign operations and foreign debt. Since the foreign debt profile is disclosed after the effect of derivatives, this result suggests that cross-currency swaps are used for hedging

Metal alloy resistivity measurements at very low temperatures

High speed, automated system accurately measures to approximately one percent in three minutes. System identifies materials having constant thermal or electric conductivity, predicts new material properties, develops alloys in accordance with desired specifications, and develops nondestructive devices for measuring precipitation hardening