A Silver Rule for Financing Local Transport Facilities

According to the Henry George Theorem (HGT), the cost of a pure local public good can be covered through a tax on related land-rents. As we show in this paper, this general proposition does not apply to transport facilities. Nonetheless, even if the "Golden Rule" does not apply in this context, land value and transport facilities are related. We show that (i) an improvement of the transport facilities does have a positive effect onto land value when taking into account the effect on the equilibrium city size; (ii) a simple relationship, similar to the HGT, does exist between the cost of optimal transport facilities and aggregate land rents; (iii) any exogenous shock reducing travel costs leads to higher optimal spending in transport facilities and higher land value. This suggests that associated changes in land value could, in a way that we define, subsidize optimal improvements in transport facilities land rents are related to spending in transport facilities.land rents: transport facilities; Henry George theorem

The Bearingless Electrical Machine

Electromagnetic bearings allow the suspension of solids. For rotary applications, the most important physical effect is the force of a magnetic circuit to a high permeable armature, called the MAXWELL force. Contrary to the commonly used MAXWELL bearings, the bearingless electrical machine will take advantage of the reaction force of a conductor carrying a current in a magnetic field. This kind of force, called Lorentz force, generates the torque in direct current, asynchronous and synchronous machines. The magnetic field, which already exists in electrical machines and helps to build up the torque, can also be used for the suspension of the rotor. Besides the normal winding of the stator, a special winding was added, which generates forces for levitation. So a radial bearing, which is integrated directly in the active part of the machine, and the motor use the laminated core simultaneously. The winding was constructed for the levitating forces in a special way so that commercially available standard ac inverters for drives can be used. Besides wholly magnetic suspended machines, there is a wide range of applications for normal drives with ball bearings. Resonances of the rotor, especially critical speeds, can be damped actively

Study of the spatial resolution achievable with the BTeV pixel sensors

A Monte Carlo simulation has been developed to predict the spatial resolution of silicon pixel detectors. The results discussed in this paper focus on the unit cell geometry of 50 $\mu$m x 400 $\mu$m, as chosen for BTeV. Effects taken into account include energy deposition fluctuations along the charged particle path, diffusion, magnetic field and response of the front end electronics. We compare our predictions with measurements from a recent test beam study performed at Fermilab.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures Talk given at PIXEL 2000 International Workshop on Semiconductor Pixel Detectors for Particles and X-rays, Genova, June 200

The Relationship between Risk and Capital in Swiss commercial Banks: A Panel Study

In this paper we investigate the relationship between changes in risk and changes in leverage for a panel of Swiss banks. Using market data for risk and both accounting and market data for capital over the period between 1990 and 2002, we find a positive correlation between changes in capital and changes in risk, i.e. higher levels of capital are associated with higher levels of risk. Despite this positive correlation, however, we do not find significant relationship between the default probability and the capital ratio.

Optimized differential energy loss estimation for tracker detectors

The estimation of differential energy loss for charged particles in tracker detectors is studied. The robust truncated mean method can be generalized to the linear combination of the energy deposit measurements. The optimized weights in case of arithmetic and geometric means are obtained using a detailed simulation. The results show better particle separation power for both semiconductor and gaseous detectors.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Nucl. Istrum. Meth.

State-owned Banks as Competition Enhancers, or the Grand Illusion

We analyze the role of state-ownership in the banking sector from the perspective of competition. Considering both the market for mortgage loans and the market for savings and investment deposits in Switzerland, we test three hypothesis: (i) Is the conduct followed by the state-owned 'cantonal banks' consistent with marginal cost pricing? (ii) Do cantonal banks charge and/or offer relatively customer friendly interest rates? And (iii) is competition intensified by the conduct and presence of cantonal banks. Based on a detailed database containing information at he individual bank level over the 1996-2002 period, the answer is: 'No'.Competition, Banking, State-ownership, Switzerland, Cantonal banks

Airborne thermography of temperature patterns in sugar beet piles

An investigation was conducted to evaluate the use of thermography for locating spoilage areas (chimneys) within storage piles and to subsequently use the information for the scheduling of their processing. Thermal-infrared quantitative scanner data were acquired initially on January 16, 1975, over the storage piles at Moorhead, Minnesota, both during the day and predawn. Photographic data were acquired during the day mission to evaluate the effect of uneven snow cover on the thermal emittance, and the predawn thermography was used to locate potential chimneys. The piles were examined the day prior for indications of spoilage areas, and the ground crew indicated that no spoilage areas were located using their existing methods. Nine spoilage areas were interpreted from the thermography. The piles were rechecked by ground methods three days following the flights. Six of the nine areas delineated by thermography were actual spoilage areas

Experience Rating in Subsets of Risks

We consider a set of risks B, which is divided into subsets Bi according to some property as profession, region etc. The subsets Bi are thought to be too small to permit a calculation of a premium from their own experience. On the other hand we assume that there are differences between the Bi . This paper tries to give a solution to the problem how the experience of the single Bi should be combined with that of the whole B. The problem is treated only with respect to frequencies of claims. The amounts of the claims are not taken into consideration. I suppose that an extension of the theory to amounts is possible and highly desirable for practical applications. Lack of time did not permit me however to proceed to such an extension in this paper. I think that the methods developed in the sequel might be applied to the following practical problems: — rate making — experience rating in the restrictive sense of the word, i.e. adjusting periodically the premium or granting premium refunds according to the experience of every single Bi — judging the experience of a. Bi . I do not give a list of references which would have to be very long. The basic idea was, as far as I know, first developed by Lundber

Contrôle des opérations d'assurance dans les branches non-vie

Les 5 contributions suivantes ont été présentées sur le thème no 3: — par R. E. Beard: 2 contributions intitulées "Calculation of Reserves for Non-Life Insurance” (Le calcul des réserves pour les branches non-vie) — par Karl Borch:) "Control of a Portfolio of Insurance Contracts” (Le contrôle d'un portefeuille d'assurances) —par B. H. Jongh:) "The Insurer's Ruin” (La ruine de l'assureur) — par T. Pentikäinen, Helsinki: "On the Solvency of Insurance Companies” (De la solvabilité des compagnies d'assurance) — par Erkki Pesonen, Helsinki "Magnitude Control of Technical Reserves in Finland” (Le contrôle du montant des réserves techniques en Finlande) Les questions traitées par ces auteurs peuvent être groupées comme suit: 1. Donnée la situation d'une compagnie d'assurance, quelles sont les affaires qu'elle devrait accepter? 2. Donnée la situation d'une compagnie d'assurance, dans quelle mesure doit-elle réassurer son portefeuille? 3. Le calcul des réserves techniques, c'est-á-dire de la réserve pour risques en cours et pour les sinistres non régiés. 4. La détermination des réserves de sécurité nécessaires en plus des réserves techniques proprement dite