New evidence on the Fed's productivity in providing payments services

As the dominant provider of payments services, the efficiency with which the Federal Reserve provides such services in an important public policy issue. This paper examines the productivity of Federal Reserve check-processing offices during 1980-1999 using non-parametric estimation methods and newly developed methods for non-parametric inference and hypothesis testing. The results support prior studies that found little initial improvement in the Fed's efficiency with the imposition of pricing for Federal Reserve services in 1982. However, we find that median productivity improved substantially during the 1990s, and the dispersion across Fed offices declined.>Productivity ; Payment systems ; Check collection systems

The oxygenation of extraction and future global ecological democracy: the City of London, the alternative investment market and oil in frontiers in Africa

This article explores how the governance of the City of London Corporation perpetuates the oxygenation of extraction, with a focus on oil frontiers and ecological impacts in Africa. It shows how this extractive system limits environmental justice through a spider’s web of tax havens linked to the notoriously under-regulated Alternative Investment Market. The contemporary success of the City of London Corporation is supported by an archaic membership system drawn from financial services. This has also allowed it to support the establishment of the most successful network of secrecy jurisdictions of ‘tax havens’ on the planet, supporting flows for illicit business in commodity frontiers. As extractive operations are given life by the financial flows that circulate through the City and its offshore empire, and take control of land, the potential for local communities to utilise their local ecological knowledge is asphyxiated, limiting the protection of food systems and endangered species. The article explains how this system functions, and why it needs to be reformed to limit Earth’s sixth mass extinction. It does so through case studies of the City of London, the Niger Delta and Turkana Kenya, using ethnography and semi structured interviews. A new system of ecological direct democracy is proposed, limiting global corruption flows into the City’s tax havens, allowing instead for a flourishing globalisation of ecological democracy

The size, concentration, and growth of biodiversity-conservation nonprofits

Nonprofit organizations play a critical role in efforts to conserve biodiversity. Their success in this regard will be determined in part by how effectively individual nonprofits and the sector as a whole are structured. One of the most fundamental questions about an organization’s structure is how large it should be, with the logical counterpart being how concentrated the whole sector should be. We review empirical patterns in the size, concentration, and growth of over 1700 biodiversity-conservation nonprofits registered for tax purposes in the United States within the context of relevant economic theory. Conservation-nonprofit sizes vary by six to seven orders of magnitude and are positively skewed. Larger nonprofits access more revenue streams and hold more of their assets in land and buildings than smaller or midsized nonprofits do. The size of conservation nonprofits varies with the ecological focus of the organization, but the growth rates of nonprofits do not

Flight Performance Feasibility Studies for the Max Launch Abort System

In 2007, the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) initiated the Max Launch Abort System Project to explore crew escape system concepts designed to be fully encapsulated within an aerodynamic fairing and smoothly integrated onto a launch vehicle. One objective of this design was to develop a more compact launch escape vehicle that eliminated the need for an escape tower, as was used in the Mercury and Apollo escape systems and what is planned for the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV). The benefits for the launch vehicle of eliminating a tower from the escape vehicle design include lower structural weights, reduced bending moments during atmospheric flight, and a decrease in induced aero-acoustic loads. This paper discusses the development of encapsulated, towerless launch escape vehicle concepts, especially as it pertains to the flight performance and systems analysis trade studies conducted to establish mission feasibility and assess system-level performance. Two different towerless escape vehicle designs are discussed in depth: one with allpropulsive control using liquid attitude control thrusters, and a second employing deployable aft swept grid fins to provide passive stability during coast. Simulation results are presented for a range of nominal and off-nominal escape conditions

A Proposed Ascent Abort Flight Test for the Max Launch Abort System

The NASA Engineering and Safety Center initiated the Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) Project to investigate alternate crew escape system concepts that eliminate the conventional launch escape tower by integrating the escape system into an aerodynamic fairing that fully encapsulates the crew capsule and smoothly integrates with the launch vehicle. This paper proposes an ascent abort flight test for an all-propulsive towerless escape system concept that is actively controlled and sized to accommodate the Orion Crew Module. The goal of the flight test is to demonstrate a high dynamic pressure escape and to characterize jet interaction effects during operation of the attitude control thrusters at transonic and supersonic conditions. The flight-test vehicle is delivered to the required test conditions by a booster configuration selected to meet cost, manufacturability, and operability objectives. Data return is augmented through judicious design of the boost trajectory, which is optimized to obtain data at a range of relevant points, rather than just a single flight condition. Secondary flight objectives are included after the escape to obtain aerodynamic damping data for the crew module and to perform a high-altitude contingency deployment of the drogue parachutes. Both 3- and 6-degree-of-freedom trajectory simulation results are presented that establish concept feasibility, and a Monte Carlo uncertainty assessment is performed to provide confidence that test objectives can be met

Staying true with the help of others: doxastic self-control through interpersonal commitment

I explore the possibility and rationality of interpersonal mechanisms of doxastic self-control, that is, ways in which individuals can make use of other people in order to get themselves to stick to their beliefs. I look, in particular, at two ways in which people can make interpersonal epistemic commitments, and thereby willingly undertake accountability to others, in order to get themselves to maintain their beliefs in the face of anticipated “epistemic temptations”. The first way is through the avowal of belief, and the second is through the establishment of collective belief. I argue that both of these forms of interpersonal epistemic commitment can function as effective tools for doxastic self-control, and, moreover, that the control they facilitate should not be dismissed as irrational from an epistemic perspective

The Impact of Halo Properties, Energy Feedback and Projection Effects on the Mass-SZ Flux Relation

We present a detailed analysis of the intrinsic scatter in the integrated SZ effect - cluster mass (Y-M) relation, using semi-analytic and simulated cluster samples. Specifically, we investigate the impact on the Y-M relation of energy feedback, variations in the host halo concentration and substructure populations, and projection effects due to unresolved clusters along the line of sight (the SZ background). Furthermore, we investigate at what radius (or overdensity) one should measure the integrated SZE and define cluster mass so as to achieve the tightest possible scaling. We find that the measure of Y with the least scatter is always obtained within a smaller radius than that at which the mass is defined; e.g. for M_{200} (M_{500}) the scatter is least for Y_{500} (Y_{1100}). The inclusion of energy feedback in the gas model significantly increases the intrinsic scatter in the Y-M relation due to larger variations in the gas mass fraction compared to models without feedback. We also find that variations in halo concentration for clusters of a given mass may partly explain why the integrated SZE provides a better mass proxy than the central decrement. Substructure is found to account for approximately 20% of the observed scatter in the Y-M relation. Above M_{200} = 2x10^{14} h^{-1} msun, the SZ background does not significantly effect cluster mass measurements; below this mass, variations in the background signal reduce the optimal angular radius within which one should measure Y to achieve the tightest scaling with M_{200}.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, to be submitted to Ap

A proof‐of‐concept pilot randomized comparative trial of brief Internet‐based compassionate mind training and cognitive‐behavioral therapy for perinatal and intending to become pregnant women

Depression is a prevalent and costly mental health problem that affects women as well as their larger communities, with substantial impacts on mother and infant during childbearing years. Face‐to‐face care has not adequately addressed this global concern due to difficulties in scaling these resources. Internet interventions, which can provide psychological tools to those lacking adequate access, show promise in filling this void. We conducted a 2‐condition proof‐of‐concept pilot randomized trial comparing brief Internet‐based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and brief Internet‐based compassionate mind training (CMT) for women who are currently pregnant, became pregnant within the last year, and intend to become pregnant in the future. We found that, although CMT and CBT demonstrated near equivalence in improving affect, self‐reassurance, self‐criticism, and self‐compassion, CMT showed superiority to CBT in reducing depression and anxiety symptoms. These findings provide a compelling initial argument for the use of CMT as an avenue for addressing problems associated with negative affect. Implications, limitations, and future directions along this line of research will also be discussed.Campus Research Board at Palo Alto University Elton C and Joan R Waelde Meditation Fellowshi