30,871 research outputs found
Hedge funds, credit risk transfer and financial stability.
Over the past decade, central bankers and financial institution supervisors have sharpened their focus on the increasingly important role that private pools of investment funds play in global financial markets. The growth in these pools has contributed significantly to market efficiency and financial stability by expanding liquidity in many financial markets, improving price discovery, and, ultimately, lowering the costs of capital. Private investment pools and the alternative investment strategies they pursue have contributed to a signifi cant expansion of the global markets and have helped accelerate the evolution in traded credit products such as credit derivatives, collateralized debt obligations, and the securitization of an increasing array of traditionally illiquid assets. However, because of the lack of transparency and an established regime of supervision of these investment vehicles, policymakers and supervisors have become concerned about customer protection and the potential for systemic risk. This paper discusses some of the key issues confronting supervisors in light of the recent growth of private investment pools and the rapid developments in the area of credit risk transfer, with a particular focus on the implications of these trends regarding systemic risk and financial stability.
System and method for moving a probe to follow movements of tissue
An apparatus is described for moving a probe that engages moving living tissue such as a heart or an artery that is penetrated by the probe, which moves the probe in synchronism with the tissue to maintain the probe at a constant location with respect to the tissue. The apparatus includes a servo positioner which moves a servo member to maintain a constant distance from a sensed object while applying very little force to the sensed object, and a follower having a stirrup at one end resting on a surface of the living tissue and another end carrying a sensed object adjacent to the servo member. A probe holder has one end mounted on the servo member and another end which holds the probe
Bulk and surface transitions in asymmetric simple exclusion process: Impact on boundary layers
In this paper, we study boundary-induced phase transitions in a particle
non-conserving asymmetric simple exclusion process with open boundaries. Using
boundary layer analysis, we show that the key signatures of various bulk phase
transitions are present in the boundary layers of the density profiles. In
addition, we also find possibilities of surface transitions in the low- and
high- density phases. The surface transition in the low-density phase provides
a more complete description of the non-equilibrium critical point found in this
system.Comment: 9 pages including figure
Multi-shocks in asymmetric simple exclusions processes: Insights from fixed-point analysis of the boundary-layers
The boundary-induced phase transitions in an asymmetric simple exclusion
process with inter-particle repulsion and bulk non-conservation are analyzed
through the fixed points of the boundary layers. This system is known to have
phases in which particle density profiles have different kinds of shocks. We
show how this boundary-layer fixed-point method allows us to gain physical
insights on the nature of the phases and also to obtain several quantitative
results on the density profiles especially on the nature of the boundary-layers
and shocks.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure
Sensing of Fluctuating Nanoscale Magnetic Fields Using NV Centres in Diamond
New magnetometry techniques based on Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) defects in diamond
allow for the imaging of static (DC) and oscillatory (AC) nanoscopic magnetic
systems. However, these techniques require accurate knowledge and control of
the sample dynamics, and are thus limited in their ability to image fields
arising from rapidly fluctuating (FC) environments. We show here that FC fields
place restrictions on the DC field sensitivity of an NV qubit magnetometer, and
that by probing the dephasing rate of the qubit in a magnetic FC environment,
we are able to measure fluctuation rates and RMS field strengths that would be
otherwise inaccessible with the use of DC and AC magnetometry techniques. FC
sensitivities are shown to be comparable to those of AC fields, whilst
requiring no additional experimental overheads or control over the sample.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Factorization in hard diffraction
In this talk, I reviewed the role of factorization in diffraction hard
scattering.Comment: Talk presented at the Ringberg Workshop on ``New Trends in HERA
Physics 2001''. 10 pages, 6 postscript figures. Misprints correcte
Total intravenous anesthesia: advantages for intracranial surgery
Journal ArticleAlthough volatile anesthetics have been widely accepted in anesthetic management for neurosurgery, they reduce vascular resistance, resulting in increased cerebral blood flow and increased intracranial pressure (ICP). In patients with elevated ICP who undergo craniotomy, the increase in ICP during surgery from inhaled anesthetics can make the surgery more difficult, thereby increasing the risk of ischemic cerebral insults. Total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) using propofol and analgesic drugs (remifentanil or fentanyl) and excluding simultaneous administration of any inhaled drugs is being used in patients undergoing craniotomy because of its potential to reduce ICP and ease access to the operative site
Electrostatic considerations affecting the calculated HOMO-LUMO gap in protein molecules.
A detailed study of energy differences between the highest occupied and
lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (HOMO-LUMO gaps) in protein systems and
water clusters is presented. Recent work questioning the applicability of
Kohn-Sham density-functional theory to proteins and large water clusters (E.
Rudberg, J. Phys.: Condens. Mat. 2012, 24, 072202) has demonstrated vanishing
HOMO-LUMO gaps for these systems, which is generally attributed to the
treatment of exchange in the functional used. The present work shows that the
vanishing gap is, in fact, an electrostatic artefact of the method used to
prepare the system. Practical solutions for ensuring the gap is maintained when
the system size is increased are demonstrated. This work has important
implications for the use of large-scale density-functional theory in
biomolecular systems, particularly in the simulation of photoemission, optical
absorption and electronic transport, all of which depend critically on
differences between energies of molecular orbitals.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
Derivation of the Blackbody Radiation Spectrum from a Natural Maximum-Entropy Principle Involving Casimir Energies and Zero-Point Radiation
By numerical calculation, the Planck spectrum with zero-point radiation is
shown to satisfy a natural maximum-entropy principle whereas alternative
choices of spectra do not. Specifically, if we consider a set of
conducting-walled boxes, each with a partition placed at a different location
in the box, so that across the collection of boxes the partitions are uniformly
spaced across the volume, then the Planck spectrum correspond to that spectrum
of random radiation (having constant energy kT per normal mode at low
frequencies and zero-point energy (1/2)hw per normal mode at high frequencies)
which gives maximum uniformity across the collection of boxes for the radiation
energy per box. The analysis involves Casimir energies and zero-point radiation
which do not usually appear in thermodynamic analyses. For simplicity, the
analysis is presented for waves in one space dimension.Comment: 11 page
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