Method of forming dynamic membrane on stainless steel support

A suitable member formed from sintered, powdered, stainless steel is contacted with a nitrate solution of a soluble alkali metal nitrate and a metal such as zirconium in a pH range and for a time sufficient to effect the formation of a membrane of zirconium oxide preferably including an organic polymeric material such as polyacrylic acid

Assessing the Consequences of Brood Parasitism and Nest Predation On Seasonal Fecundity in Passerine Birds

Brood parasites and nest predators reduce the seasonal fecundity and, hence, the population growth rates of their victims. However, most field studies do not measure directly how parasites and predators decrease seasonal fecundity, but instead measure the impact of these organisms on individual nesting attempts. Because a female may renest after losing a nest to predation, abandoning a parasitized nest, or successfully fledging a brood, knowing how brood parasites and nest predators reduce the number of offspring fledged from individual nesting attempts is not equivalent to knowing their impact on seasonal fecundity. We address this problem by developing a mathematical model that: estimates several parameters describing the natural history of this system, including the brood-parasitism rate, nest-predation rate, and probability of nest abandonment in response to a parasitism event; and extrapolates to seasonal fecundity from these parameters and others describing the length of the breeding season, the timing of events in the nesting cycle, and the productivity of parasitized and unparasitized nests. We also show how different researchers using different observational methodologies to study exactly the same population likely would arrive at noticeably different conclusions regarding the intensity of brood parasitism, and we provide mathematical formulas for comparing among several of these measures of parasitism. Our procedures extend Mayfield's method for calculating nest-success rates from nest-history data in that we simultaneously estimate parameters describing nest predation and brood parasitism, predict seasonal fecundity from these parameters, and provide confidence intervals on all parameter estimates. The model should make the design and interpretation of logistically difficult empirical studies more efficient. It also can be specialized to species affected by nest predators but not brood parasites. We use the model to analyze prairie Warbler (Dendroica discolor) and Black-capped Vireo (Vireo atricapillus) nesting data. We estimate the model's parameters for these species and use the resulting estimates to predict seasonal fecundity. For both species, the predicted seasonal fecundity closely matches the value measured directly.Integrative Biolog

Gross loan flows

Changes in net lending hide the much larger and more variable gross lending flows. We present a series of stylized facts about gross loan flows and how they vary over time, bank size, and the business cycle. We look at both the intensive (increases and decreases) and extensive (entry and exits) margins. We compare these results with the output from a simple stochastic search model.Bank loans ; Business cycles

Too much risk?

Are asset prices climbing too far too fast? Do they signal the approach of an unsustainable boom that the FOMC should step in and stop before it gathers speed? Bubbles are notoriously hard to spot beforehand, and even if we were better at it, no one is sure what the best monetary policy response would be.Economic conditions - United States ; Monetary policy

Fast Differential Emission Measure Inversion of Solar Coronal Data

We present a fast method for reconstructing Differential Emission Measures (DEMs) using solar coronal data. On average, the method computes over 1000 DEMs per second for a sample active region observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), and achieves reduced chi-squared of order unity with no negative emission in all but a few test cases. The high performance of this method is especially relevant in the context of AIA, which images of order one million solar pixels per second. This paper describes the method, analyzes its fidelity, compares its performance and results with other DEM methods, and applies it to an active region and loop observed by AIA and by the Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) on Hinode.Comment: 22 Pages, 11 Figures; submitted to The Astrophysical Journal. This version (2) includes clarifications in the text and reflects improvements to the DEM cod

Gross loan flows

We present a series of stylized facts about gross loan flows and how they vary over time, bank size, and region. We define loan creation as the sum of the change in bank loans at all banks that increased loans since last quarter. Loan destruction is similarly defined as the absolute value of the change in loans at all banks that decreased loans. The gross flow (akin to what the labor literature calls reallocation) is the sum of creation and destruction.Bank loans ; Business cycles

Pricing kernels, inflation, and the term structure of interest rates

We estimate a discrete-time multivariate pricing kernel for the term structure of interest rates, using both yields and inflation rates. This gives a separate estimate of the real kernel and the nominal kernel, taking into account a relatively sophisticated dynamical structure and mutual interaction between the real and nominal side of the economy. Along with obtaining an estimate of the real term structure, we use the estimates to obtain a new perspective on how real and nominal influences interact to produce the observed term structure.Inflation (Finance) ; Interest rates