Still Banking on the Market: A Comment on the Failure of Market Discipline

Following the publication of my article Banking On the Market: Relying On Depositors to Control Bank Risks, I expected an immediate rejoinder from proponents of market discipline. Concern over the increased rate of bank failure and the inadequacy of the deposit insurance funds, as well as pressure for deregulation, were providing impetus for revival of the notion that the market for deposits could play a greater role in controlling bank risk. Yet no such reaction has taken place. Rather than moving to limit depositors\u27 recovery in failing banks, the bank regulators have continued to arrange solutions that guarantee protection to all depositors. Moreover, bank runs by fearful depositors have continued to occur

The Consumerization of Financial Regulation

Part I shows how consumer protection is becoming the leading rationale for financial regulation. Part II argues that the consumerization of financial regulation may distort analysis of the costs and benefits of regulation, leading to the inefficient production of regulation. Part III assesses the effect of the consumerization of regulation on the regulators themselves

Demonstration of a beam loaded nanocoulomb-class laser wakefield accelerator.

Laser-plasma wakefield accelerators have seen tremendous progress, now capable of producing quasi-monoenergetic electron beams in the GeV energy range with few-femtoseconds bunch duration. Scaling these accelerators to the nanocoulomb range would yield hundreds of kiloamperes peak current and stimulate the next generation of radiation sources covering high-field THz, high-brightness X-ray and γ-ray sources, compact free-electron lasers and laboratory-size beam-driven plasma accelerators. However, accelerators generating such currents operate in the beam loading regime where the accelerating field is strongly modified by the self-fields of the injected bunch, potentially deteriorating key beam parameters. Here we demonstrate that, if appropriately controlled, the beam loading effect can be employed to improve the accelerator's performance. Self-truncated ionization injection enables loading of unprecedented charges of ∼0.5 nC within a mono-energetic peak. As the energy balance is reached, we show that the accelerator operates at the theoretically predicted optimal loading condition and the final energy spread is minimized.Higher beam quality and stability are desired in laser-plasma accelerators for their applications in compact light sources. Here the authors demonstrate in laser plasma wakefield electron acceleration that the beam loading effect can be employed to improve beam quality by controlling the beam charge

Evapotranspiration from Spider and Jade Plants Can Improve Relative Humidity in an Interior Environment

Citation: Kerschen, E., Garten, C., Williams, K., & Derby, M. (2016). Evapotranspiration from Spider and Jade Plants Can Improve Relative Humidity in an Interior Environment. HortTechnology, 26(6), 803-810. doi: 10.21273/HORTTECH03473-16Plants in the interiorscape have many documented benefits, but their potential for use in conjunction with mechanical heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems to humidify dry indoor environments requires more study. In this research, evaporation and evapotranspiration rates for a root medium control, variegated spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum), and green jade plants (Crassula argentea) were measured over 24 hours at 25% and 60% relative humidity (RH) and 20 °C to generate data for calculation of the leaf surface area and number of plants necessary to influence indoor humidity levels. Evaporation and evapotranspiration rates were higher for all cases at 25% RH compared with 60% RH. At 25% RH during lighted periods, evapotranspiration rates were ?15 g·h?1 for spider plants and 8 g·h?1 for jade plants. Spider plants transpired during lighted periods due to their C3 photosynthetic pathway, whereas jade plants had greater evapotranspiration rates during dark periods—about 11 g·h?1—due to their crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) photosynthetic pathway. A combination of plants with different photosynthetic pathways (i.e., C3 and CAM combination) could contribute to greater consistency between evapotranspiration rates from day to night for humidification of interior spaces. Using the measured data, calculations indicated that 32,300 cm2 total spider plant leaf surface area, which is 25 spider plants in 4-inch-diameter pots or fewer, larger plants, could increase the humidity of an interior bedroom from 20% RH to a more comfortable 30% RH under bright interior light conditions

Protective Effect of Dual-Strain Probiotics in Preterm Infants: A Multi-Center Time Series Analysis

Objective To determine the effect of dual-strain probiotics on the development of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), mortality and nosocomial bloodstream infections (BSI) in preterm infants in German neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Design A multi-center interrupted time series analysis. Setting 44 German NICUs with routine use of dual-strain probiotics on neonatal ward level. Patients Preterm infants documented by NEO-KISS, the German surveillance system for nosocomial infections in preterm infants with birth weights below 1,500 g, between 2004 and 2014. Intervention Routine use of dual-strain probiotics containing Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium spp. (Infloran) on the neonatal ward level. Main outcome measures Incidences of NEC, overall mortality, mortality following NEC and nosocomial BSI. Results Data from 10,890 preterm infants in 44 neonatal wards was included in this study. Incidences of NEC and BSI were 2.5% (n = 274) and 15.0%, (n = 1631), respectively. Mortality rate was 6.1% (n = 665). The use of dual-strain probiotics significantly reduced the risk of NEC (HR = 0.48; 95% CI = 0.38–0.62), overall mortality (HR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.44–0.83), mortality after NEC (HR = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.26–0.999) and nosocomial BSI (HR = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.81–0.98). These effects were even more pronounced in the subgroup analysis of preterm infants with birth weights below 1,000 g. Conclusion In order to reduce NEC and mortality in preterm infants, it is advisable to add routine prophylaxis with dual-strain probiotics to clinical practice in neonatal wards