Water distribution in the hypothermic dog

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

Pension schemes versus real estate

The demographic, economic and social changes that have characterized the last decades, and the dramatic financial crisis that has taken place since 2008, have led to a demand for structural changes in the pension sector and a growing interest in individual pension products. Hence the need, for most elderly people, to liquidate their fixed assets, which are usually the homes in which they live. This highlights products such as reverse mortgages and domestic reversibility plans. Within this context, we propose a contractual scheme where an immediate life annuity is obtained by paying a single-premium in the form of real estate rights (RERs), for example by transferring to an insurer the property title of a house or a similar realty, while keeping its usufruct or a restricted bundle of rights. The level of the installments depends on the fair value of the transferred RER at the contract’s issue, the life expectancy of the insured and the expected growth rate of the real estate market value. The contract design is developed by considering the control of the financial risk inherent in the contract itself, because of the prospective changes in the value of the RERs, and the level of the insurer’s leverage. Finally, we provide some numerical evidence of the proposed contractual structure, in order to compare the level of the installments according to the house return forecasts in different European countries

An Airfoil Shape Optimization Technique coupling PARSEC Parameterization and Evolutionary Algorithm

In this work an innovative optimization process for airfoil geometry design is introduced. This procedure is based on the coupling of a PARSEC parameterization for airfoil shape and a genetic algorithms (GA) optimization method to find Nash equilibria (NE). While the PARSEC airfoil parameterization method has the capability to faithfully describe an airfoil geometry using typical engineering parameters, on the other hand the Nash game theoretical approach allows each player to decide, with a more physical correspondence between geometric parameters and objective function, in which direction the airfoil shape should be modified. As a matter of fact the optimization under NE solutions would be more attractive to use when a well posed distinction between players variables exists

Perspectives of application for nanoparticles prepared by CO2 laser pyrolysis: from ceramic nanocomposites to nanofluids

Nanoparticles are one of the main ingredients for the realization of a wide range of nanostructured materials and devices with potential applications in several research areas and industrial sectors, hence their synthesis is a critical step in the development of nanotechnologies. Here we report on the preparation of several types of nanoparticles by laser pyrolysis of gas phase or vapour phase precursors, a very flexible and scalable synthesis route. A critical insight is given into the perspectives of practical applications of these nanoparticles in a number of fields ranging from the fabrication of ceramic nanocomposites to wear resistant coatings, from fluorophores for bio-imaging to nanofluids for efficient thermal management, from nanocoatings for cultural heritage preservation to the realization of a new class of inks for ink-jet printing applications

The Poisson Log-Bilinear Lee-Carter Model: Applications Of efficient bootstrap methods to annuity analyses

Life insurance companies deal with two fundamental types of risks when issuing annuity contracts: financial risk and demographic risk. Recent work on the latter has focused on modeling the trend in mortality as a stochastic process. A popular method for modeling death rates is the Lee-Carter model. This methodology has become widely used, and various extensions and modifications have been proposed to obtain a broader interpretation and to capture the main features of the dynamics of mortality rates. In order to improve the measurement of uncertainty in survival probability estimates, in particular for older ages, the paper proposes an extension based on simulation procedures and on the bootstrap methodology. It aims to obtain more reliable and accurate mortality projections, based on the idea of obtaining an acceptable accuracy of the estimate by means of variance reducing techniques. In this way the forecasting procedure becomes more efficient. The longevity question constitutes a critical element in the solvency appraisal of pension annuities. The demographic models used for the cash flow distributions in a portfolio impact on the mathematical reserve and surplus calculations and affect the risk management choices for a pension plan. The paper extends the investigation of the impact of survival uncertainty for life annuity portfolios and for a guaranteed annuity option in the case where interest rates are stochastic. In a framework in which insurance companies need to use internal models for risk management purposes and for determining their solvency capital requirement, the authors consider the surplus value, calculated as the ratio between the market value of the projected assets to that of the liabilities, as a meaningful measure of the company's financial position, expressing the degree to which the liabilities are covered by the assets

Profit participation annuities: a business profitability analysis within a demographic risk sensitive approach

The aim of the paper is to analyze the performance of a portfolio of participating life annuities, focusing on the minimum acceptable income level throughout the quantiles of the return distribution. The model, in addition to the necessary consideration of the volatility of financial markets, gives a central role to the impact of the longevity phenomenon. The sensitivity of the portfolio performance to the survival projection, the presence of a break-even point and the time of optimum performance are pointed out, under different hypotheses for the participating quota and with stochastic assumption for the accumulation and the discounting financial processes and for the survival description

Control of quantum interference in molecular junctions: Understanding the origin of Fano and anti- resonances

We investigate within a coarse-grained model the conditions leading to the appearance of Fano resonances or anti-resonances in the conductance spectrum of a generic molecular junction with a side group (T-junction). By introducing a simple graphical representation (parabolic diagram), we can easily visualize the relation between the different electronic parameters determining the regimes where Fano resonances or anti-resonances in the low-energy conductance spectrum can be expected. The results obtained within the coarse-grained model are validated using density-functional based quantum transport calculations in realistic T-shaped molecular junctions.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Modeling and control of a modular iron bird

This paper describes the control architecture and the control laws of a new concept of Modular Iron Bird aimed at reproducing flight loads to test mobile aerodynamic control surface actuators for small and medium size aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The iron bird control system must guarantee the actuation of counteracting forces. On one side, a hydraulic actuator simulates the hinge moments acting on the mobile surface due to aerodynamic and inertial effects during flight; on the other side, the actuator to be tested applies an active hinge moment to control the angular position of the same surface. Reference aerodynamic and inertial loads are generated by a flight simulation module to reproduce more realistic conditions arising during operations. The design of the control action is based on a dynamic model of the hydraulic plant used to generate loads. This system is controlled using a Proportional Integral Derivative control algorithm tuned with an optimization algorithm taking into account the closed loop dynamics of the actuator under testing, uncertainties and disturbances in the controlled plant. Numerical simulations are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed architecture and control laws