Market liquidity and financial stability.

Stability in financial institutions and in financial markets are closely intertwined. Banks and other financial institutions need liquid markets through which to conduct risk management. And markets need the back-up liquidity lines provided by financial institutions. Market liquidity depends not only on objective, exogenous factors, but also on endogenous market dynamics. Central banks responsible for systemic stability need to consider how far their traditional responsibility for the health of the banking system needs to be adapted to promote stability in the relevant financial markets.

Information transfer and press coverage: The case of the Gawler Craton gold boom

This study examines intra-industry information transfer after Helix Resources announced a successful drill result in the Gawler Craton region of South Australia that sparked significant investor interest in mining companies with tenement holdings in the area. This study shows that the price response of competing explorers was determined by press coverage immediately following the discovery of gold, but stocks that received the most press attention in the immediate post-announcement period suffered the greatest long-term underperformance. The research is the first in capital market literature to make use of geographical information systems software technology. © 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Exploring the Origins of Carbon in Terrestrial Worlds

Given the central role of carbon in the chemistry of life, it is a fundamental question as to how carbon is supplied to the Earth, in what form and when. We provide an accounting of carbon found in solar system bodies, in particular a comparison between the organic content of meteorites and that in identified organics in the dense interstellar medium (ISM). Based on this accounting identified organics created by the chemistry of star formation could contain at most ~15% of the organic carbon content in primitive meteorites and significantly less for cometary organics, which represent the putative contributors to starting materials for the Earth. In the ISM ~30% of the elemental carbon is found in CO, either in the gas or ices, with a typical abundance of ~10^-4 (relative to H2). Recent observations of the TW Hya disk find that the gas phase abundance of CO is reduced by an order of magnitude compared to this value. We explore a solution where the volatile CO is destroyed via a gas phase processes, providing an additional source of carbon for organic material to be incorporated into planetesimals and cometesimals. This chemical processing mechanism requires warm grains (> 20 K), partially ionized gas, and sufficiently small <10 micron grains, i.e. a larger total grain surface area, such that freeze-out is efficient. Under these conditions static (non-turbulent) chemical models predict that a large fraction of the carbon nominally sequestered in CO can be the source of carbon for a wide variety of organics that are present as ice coatings on the surfaces of warm pre-planetesimal dust grains.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Faraday Disc., vol 168, 2014, DOI: 10.1039/C4FD00003

Geosynchronous Earth Orbit/Low Earth Orbit Space Object Inspection and Debris Disposal: A Preliminary Analysis Using a Carrier Satellite With Deployable Small Satellites

Detailed observations of geosynchronous satellites from earth are very limited. To better inspect these high altitude satellites, the use of small, refuelable satellites is proposed. The small satellites are stationed on a carrier platform in an orbit near the population of geosynchronous satellites. A carrier platform equipped with deployable, refuelable SmallSats is a viable option to inspect geosynchronous satellites. The propellant requirement to transfer to a targeted geosynchronous satellite, perform a proximity inspection mission, and transfer back to the carrier platform in a nearby orbit is determined. Convex optimization and traditional optimization techniques are explored, determining minimum propellant trajectories. Propellant is measured by the total required change in velocity, delta-v. The trajectories were modeled in a relative reference frame using the Clohessy-Wiltshire equations. Mass estimations for the carrier platform and the SmallSat were determined by using the rocket equation. The mass estimates were compared to the mass of a single, non-refuelable satellite performing the same geosynchronous satellite inspection missions. From the minimum delta-v trajectories and the mass analysis, it is determined that using refuelable SmallSats and a carrier platform in a nearby orbit can be more effcient than using a single non-refuelable satellite to perform multiple geosynchronous satellite inspections

Social uncertainty is heterogeneous and sometimes valuable

To win friends, help the needy, avoid exploitation or influence strangers, people must make decisions that are inherently uncertain. In their compelling and insightful perspective on resolving social uncertainty1, FeldmanHall and Shenhav (henceforth F&S) join a growing movement combining computational approaches with social psychological theory. F&S identify a range of negative and positive aspects of social uncertainty. Here we offer additional ways to think about social uncertainty and suggest potential avenues for future research