A Comparative Analysis of the Performance of Alternative Stock Valuation Ratios Using Stochastic Dominance with a Riskless Asset

John R. Erickson is an Associate Professor of Finance in the Department of Finance, School of Business Administration and Economics, California State University, Fullerton. Albert J. Fredman is Professor of Finance in the Department of Finance, School of Business Administration and Economics, California State University, Fullerton

Ionospheric longitudinal variations at midlatitudes: Incoherent scatter radar observation at Millstone Hill

Incoherent scatter radar (ISR) extra-wide coverage experiments during the period of 1978–2011 at Millstone Hill are used to investigate longitudinal differences in electron density. This work is motivated by a recent finding of the US east-west coast difference in TEC suggesting a combined effect of changing geomagnetic declination and zonal winds. The current study provides strong supporting evidence of the longitudinal change and the plausible mechanism by examining the climatology of electron density Ne on both east and west sides of the radar with a longitude separation of up to 40o for different heights within 300–450 km. Main findings include: 1) The east-west difference can be up to 60% and varies over the course of the day, being positive (East side Ne > West side Ne) in the late evening, and negative (West side Ne > East side Ne) in the pre-noon. 2) The east-west difference exists throughout the year. The positive (relative) difference is most pronounced in winter; the negative (relative) difference is most pronounced in early spring and later summer. 3) The east-west difference tends to enhance toward decreasing solar activity, however, with some seasonal dependence; the enhancements in the positive and negative differences do not take place simultaneously. 4) Both times of largest positive and largest negative east-west differences in Ne are earlier in summer and later in winter. The two times differ by 12–13 h, which remains constant throughout the year. 5) Variations at different heights from 300–450 km are similar. Zonal wind climatology above Millstone Hill is found to be perfectly consistent with what is expected based on the electron density difference between the east and west sides of the site. The magnetic declination-zonal wind mechanism is true for other longitude sectors as well, and may be used to understand longitudinal variations elsewhere. It may also be used to derive thermospheric zonal winds.National Natural Science Foundation (China) (Grant 40890164)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grants ATM-0733510 and ATM- 6920184

Day-to-day variability and solar preconditioning of thermospheric temperature over Millstone Hill

We use a continuous 30 day incoherent scatter radar experiment at Millstone Hill in October 2002 to examine day-to-day thermospheric variability in exospheric temperature T[subscript ex]. Solar flux and magnetic activity influences as the main driving factors for day-to-day variability are investigated quantitatively. Solar ultraviolet flux levels are based on the TIMED/SEE space weather product, allowing for analysis of ultraviolet flux-T[subscript ex] correlation. T[subscript ex] is most sensitive to solar EUV flux with approximately a 2 day delay at wavelengths of 27–34 nm (including 30.4 nm). In particularly, a 20–60 h time delay occurs in T[subscript ex] response to EUV flux at 27–34 nm band, with shorter delays in the morning and longer delays in the afternoon and at night. The 1 ∼ 2 day delayed T[subscript ex] response to solar ultraviolet flux and associated thermospheric solar preconditioning (“memory”) are most significant in the daily mean for the 27–34 nm band, in the diurnal and semidiurnal amplitudes for the soft X-ray flux at 0.1–7 nm, and in the diurnal amplitude for longer wavelengths. An empirical model driven only by EUV flux at 27–34 nm from 2 days in advance reproduces 90% of the observed variability in the Tex daily mean. With a 2 day time delay, solar X-ray flux at 0.1–7 nm is correlated positively with T[subscript ex] diurnal amplitude and negatively with T[subscript ex] semidiurnal amplitude. Finally, magnetic activity control, as represented by the Dst index, is weaker during the day and stronger at night and is important for the semidiurnal amplitude but not important for the daily mean.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Award AGS-1042569

Low Frequency Vibration Approach for Assessing Performance of Wood Floor Systems1

The primary means of inspecting buildings and other structures is to evaluate each structure member individually. This is a time-consuming and expensive process, particularly if sheathing or other covering materials must be removed to access the structural members. The objective of this study was to determine if a low frequency vibration method could be used to effectively assess the structural performance of wood floors as component systems. Twelve wood floors were constructed with solid sawn wood joists in the laboratory and tested with both vibration and static load methods. The results indicated that the forced vibration method was capable of measuring the fundamental natural frequency (bending mode) of the wood floors investigated. An analytical model derived from the flexural beam theory was found to fit the physics of the floor structures and can be used to correlate natural frequency to section modulus (EI product) of the floor systems

Kinetic collision detection between two simple polygons

AbstractWe design a kinetic data structure for detecting collisions between two simple polygons in motion. In order to do so, we create a planar subdivision of the free space between the two polygons, called the external relative geodesic triangulation, which certifies their disjointness. We show how this subdivision can be maintained as a kinetic data structure when the polygons are moving, and analyze its performance in the kinetic setting

Water quality effects of intermittent water supply in Arraiján, Panama

Intermittent drinking water supply is common in low- and middle-income countries throughout the world and can cause waterquality to degrade in the distribution system.In this study,we characterized waterquality in one study zone with continuous supply and three zoneswith intermittentsupply in the drinking waterdistribution network in Arraija!n,Panama.Low orzero pressuresoccurred in allzones,and negative pressuresoccurred in the continuouszone and two ofthe intermittentzones.Despite hydraulic conditions that created risks for backflow and contaminant intrusion, only four of 423 (0.9%) grab samplescollected atrandom timeswere positive fortotalcoliform bacteria and only one waspositive for E.coli.Only nine of 496 (1.8%) samples had turbidity >1.0 NTU and all samples had !0.2 mg/L free chlorine residual.In contrast,water quality was often degraded during the first-flush period (when supply first returned after an outage).Still, routine and first-flush water quality under intermittent supply was much better in Arraija!n than that reported in a previous study conducted in India.Better waterquality in Arraija!n could be due to betterwaterquality leaving the treatmentplant,shortersupply outages,highersupply pressures,a more consistentand higherchlorine residual,and fewercontaminant sourcesnearpipes.The resultsillustrate thatintermittentsupply and itseffectson waterquality can vary greatly between and within distribution networks.The study also demonstrated thatmonitoring techniques designed specifically for intermittentsupply,such as continuous pressure monitoring and sampling the firstflush,can detectwaterquality threats and degradation thatwould notlikely be detected with conventionalmonitoring.Intermittent drinking water supply is common in low- and middle-income countries throughout the world and can cause waterquality to degrade in the distribution system.In this study,we characterized waterquality in one study zone with continuous supply and three zoneswith intermittentsupply in the drinking waterdistribution network in Arraija!n,Panama.Low orzero pressuresoccurred in allzones,and negative pressuresoccurred in the continuouszone and two ofthe intermittentzones.Despite hydraulic conditions that created risks for backflow and contaminant intrusion, only four of 423 (0.9%) grab samplescollected atrandom timeswere positive fortotalcoliform bacteria and only one waspositive for E.coli.Only nine of 496 (1.8%) samples had turbidity >1.0 NTU and all samples had !0.2 mg/L free chlorine residual.In contrast,water quality was often degraded during the first-flush period (when supply first returned after an outage).Still, routine and first-flush water quality under intermittent supply was much better in Arraija!n than that reported in a previous study conducted in India.Better waterquality in Arraija!n could be due to betterwaterquality leaving the treatmentplant,shortersupply outages,highersupply pressures,a more consistentand higherchlorine residual,and fewercontaminant sourcesnearpipes.The resultsillustrate thatintermittentsupply and itseffectson waterquality can vary greatly between and within distribution networks.The study also demonstrated thatmonitoring techniques designed specifically for intermittentsupply,such as continuous pressure monitoring and sampling the firstflush,can detectwaterquality threats and degradation thatwould notlikely be detected with conventionalmonitoring

Ionospheric ion temperature climate and upper atmospheric long-term cooling

It is now recognized that Earth's upper atmosphere is experiencing a long-term cooling over the past several solar cycles. The potential impact of the cooling on societal activities is significant, but a fundamental scientific question exists regarding the drivers of the cooling. New observations and analyses provide crucial advances in our knowledge of these important processes. We investigate ionospheric ion temperature climatology and long-term trends using up-to-date large and consistent ground-based data sets as measured by multiple incoherent scatter radars (ISRs). The very comprehensive view provided by these unique observations of the upper atmospheric thermal status allows us to address drivers of strong cooling previously observed by ISRs. We use observations from two high-latitude sites at Sondrestrom (invariant latitude 73.2°N) from 1990 to 2015 and Chatanika/Poker Flat (invariant latitude 65.9°N) over the span of 1976–2015 (with a gap from 1983 to 2006). Results are compared to conditions at the midlatitude Millstone Hill site (invariant latitude 52.8°N) from 1968 to 2015. The aggregate radar observations have very comparable and consistent altitude dependence of long-term trends. In particular, the lower F region (<275 km) exhibits dayside cooling trends that are significantly higher (−3 to −1 K/yr at 250 km) than anticipated from model predictions given the anthropogenic increase of greenhouse gases. Above 275 km, cooling trends continue to increase in magnitude but values are strongly dependent on magnetic latitude, suggesting the presence of significant downward influences from nonneutral atmospheric processes.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Awards AGS-1042569 and AGS-1343056