Governance of public pension funds : lessons from corporate governance and international evidence

An understanding of corporate governance theory can promote the adoption of appropriate governance tools to limit agency problems in public pension fund management. The absence of a market for corporate control hinders the translation of lessons from the private sector corporate world to public pension governance. The establishment of a fit, and proper governing body for public pension funds, thus may be even more important than the maintenance of a comparable body for private sector corporations. In particular, behavioral controls should be carefully designed.Economic Theory&Research,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Decentralization,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,National Governance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform

Design of an embedded iris recognition system for use with a multi-factor authentication system.

This paper describes in detail the design, manufacturing and testing of an embedded iris scanner for use with a multifactor authentication system. The design process for this project included hardware design from part selection to board design to populating. Additionally, this process included the entirety of the software development, though the iris recognition process was largely based on other works. The functional requirements for the overall multi-factor authentication system were to have three authentication methods with a thirty second window to complete all three. The system acceptance accuracy was required to be greater than 75%. Those requirements therefore dictate that the iris scanner module must also have an acceptance accuracy higher than 75% and perform iris recognition in a few seconds so that the user can gain admittance in the allotted window of time. While the hardware has been verified and tested, further development and testing is necessary on the software and image processing. This work is funded by the Department of Energy’s Kansas City National Security Campus, operated by Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, LLC under contract number DE-NA0002839

Genetic Basis of Ammonium Toxicity Resistance in a Sake Strain of Yeast: A Mendelian Case.

High concentrations of ammonium at physiological concentrations of potassium are toxic for the standard laboratory strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae In the original description of this metabolic phenotype, we focused on the standard laboratory strains of Saccharomyces In this study, we screened a large collection of S. cerevisiae natural isolates and identified one strain that is resistant to high concentrations of ammonium. This strain, K12, was isolated in sake breweries. When the K12 strain was crossed to the standard laboratory strain (FY4), the resulting tetrads displayed 2:2 segregation of the resistance phenotype, suggesting a single gene trait. Using a bulk segregant analysis strategy, we mapped this trait to a 150-kb region on chromosome X containing the TRK1 gene. This gene encodes a transporter required for high-affinity potassium transport in S. cerevisiae Data from reciprocal hemizygosity experiments with TRK1 deletion strains in K12 and BY backgrounds, as well as analysis of the deletion of this gene in the K12 strain, demonstrate that the K12 allele of TRK1 is responsible for ammonium toxicity resistance. Furthermore, we determined the minimal amount of potassium required for both the K12 and laboratory strain needed for growth. These results demonstrate that the gene encoded by the K12 allele of TRK1 has a greater affinity for potassium than the standard allele of TRK1 found in Saccharomyces strains. We hypothesize that this greater-affinity allele of the potassium transporter reduces the flux of ammonium into the yeast cells under conditions of ammonium toxicity. These findings further refine our understanding of ammonium toxicity in yeast and provide an example of using natural variation to understand cellular processes

A Qualitative Analysis of Client Perceptions of the Effects of Helpful Therapist Self-Disclosure in Long-Term Therapy

Thirteen adult psychotherapy clients currently in long-term therapy were interviewed twice, with semistructured protocols, about their experiences with helpful instances of therapist self-disclosure. Data were analyzed with a qualitative methodology. Results indicated that helpful therapist self-disclosures (a) occurred when these clients were discussing important personal issues, (b) were perceived as being intended by therapists to normalize or reassure the clients, and (c) consisted of a disclosure of personal nonimmediate information about the therapists. The therapist self-disclosures resulted in positive consequences for these clients that included insight or a new perspective from which to make changes, an improved or more equalized therapeutic relationship, normalization, and reassurance. Implications for psychotherapy are discussed

The Impact of Macroeconomic News on Quote Adjustments, Noise, and Informational Volatility

We study the impact of the arrival of macroeconomic news on the informational and noise-driven components in high-frequency quote processes and their conditional variances. Bid and ask returns are decomposed into a common ("efficient return") factor and two market-side-specific components capturing market microstructure effects. The corresponding variance components reflect information-driven and noise-induced volatilities. We find that all volatility components reveal distinct dynamics and are positively influenced by news. The proportion of noise-induced variances is highest before announcements and significantly declines thereafter. Moreover, news-affected responses in all volatility components are influenced by order flow imbalances.efficient return, macroeconomic announcements, microstructure noise, informational volatility

Have we underestimated the likelihood and severity of zero lower bound events?

Before the recent recession, the consensus among researchers was that the zero lower bound (ZLB) probably would not pose a significant problem for monetary policy as long as a central bank aimed for an inflation rate of about 2 percent; some have even argued that an appreciably lower target inflation rate would pose no problems. This paper reexamines this consensus in the wake of the financial crisis, which has seen policy rates at their effective lower bound for more than two years in the United States and Japan and near zero in many other countries. We conduct our analysis using a set of structural and time series statistical models. We find that the decline in economic activity and interest rates in the United States has generally been well outside forecast confidence bands of many empirical macroeconomic models. In contrast, the decline in inflation has been less surprising. We identify a number of factors that help to account for the degree to which models were surprised by recent events. First, uncertainty about model parameters and latent variables, which were typically ignored in past research, significantly increases the probability of hitting the ZLB. Second, models that are based primarily on the Great Moderation period severely understate the incidence and severity of ZLB events. Third, the propagation mechanisms and shocks embedded in standard DSGE models appear to be insufficient to generate sustained periods of policy being stuck at the ZLB, such as we now observe. We conclude that past estimates of the incidence and effects of the ZLB were too low and suggest a need for a general reexamination of the empirical adequacy of standard models. In addition to this statistical analysis, we show that the ZLB probably had a first-order impact on macroeconomic outcomes in the United States. Finally, we analyze the use of asset purchases as an alternative monetary policy tool when short-term interest rates are constrained by the ZLB, and find that the Federal Reserve's asset purchases have been effective at mitigating the economic costs of the ZLB. In particular, model simulations indicate that the past and projected expansion of the Federal Reserve's securities holdings since late 2008 will lower the unemployment rate, relative to what it would have been absent the purchases, by 1-1/2 percentage points by 2012. In addition, we find that the asset purchases have probably prevented the U.S. economy from falling into deflation.Inflation (Finance) ; Interest rates ; Macroeconomics - Econometric models

The impact of macroeconomic news on quote adjustments, noise, and informational volatility

We study the impact of the arrival of macroeconomic news on the informational and noise-driven components in high-frequency quote processes and their conditional variances. Bid and ask returns are decomposed into a common ('efficient return') factor and two market-side-specific components capturing market microstructure effects. The corresponding variance components reflect information-driven and noise-induced volatilities.We find that all volatility components reveal distinct dynamics and are positively influenced by news. The proportion of noise-induced variances is highest before announcements and significantly declines thereafter. Moreover, news-affected responses in all volatility components are influenced by order flow imbalances. --effcient return,macroeconomic announcements,microstructure noise,informational volatility

Highlights of unsteady pressure tests on a 14 percent supercritical airfoil at high Reynolds number, transonic condition

Steady and unsteady pressures were measured on a 2-D supercritical airfoil in the Langley Research Center 0.3-m Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel at Reynolds numbers from 6 x 1,000,000 to 35 x 1,000,000. The airfoil was oscillated in pitch at amplitudes from plus or minus .25 degrees to plus or minus 1.0 degrees at frequencies from 5 Hz to 60 Hz. The special requirements of testing an unsteady pressure model in a pressurized cryogenic tunnel are discussed. Selected steady measured data are presented and are compared with GRUMFOIL calculations at Reynolds number of 6 x 1,000,000 and 30 x 1,000,000. Experimental unsteady results at Reynolds numbers of 6 x 1,000,000 and 30 x 1,000,000 are examined for Reynolds number effects. Measured unsteady results at two mean angles of attack at a Reynolds number of 30 x 1,000,000 are also examined