10,198 research outputs found
Do banks price their informational monopoly?
Modern corporate finance theory argues that although bank monitoring is beneficial to borrowers, it also allows banks to use the private information they gain through monitoring to "hold-up" borrowers for higher interest rates. In this paper, we seek empirical evidence for this information hold-up cost. Since new information about a firm's credit-worthiness is revealed at the time of its first issue in the public bond market, it follows that after firms undertake their bond IPO, banks with an exploitable information advantage will be forced to adjust their loan interest rates downwards, particularly for firms that are revealed to be safe. Our findings show that firms are able to borrow from banks at lower interest rates after they issue for the first time in the public bond market and that the magnitude of these savings is larger for safer firms. We further find that among safe firms, those that get their first credit rating at the time of their bond IPO benefit from larger interest rate savings than those that already had a credit rating when they entered the bond market. Since more information is revealed at the time of the bond IPO on the former firms and since this information will increase competition from uninformed banks, these findings provide support for the hypothesis that banks price their informational monopoly. Finally, we find that while entering the public bond market may reduce these informational rents, it is costly to firms because they have to pay higher underwriting costs on their IPO bonds. Moreover, IPO bonds are subject to more underpricing than subsequent bonds when they first trade in the secondary bond market.Corporate bonds ; Credit ratings
Measurements of an ionizable constituent of low ionosphere using a Lyman-alpha source and blunt probe
Ionizable constituent density measurement of D region using Lyman-alpha source and blunt prob
Do banks propagate debt market shocks?
Over the years, U.S. banks have increasingly relied on the bond market to finance their business. This created the potential for a link between the bond market and the corporate sector whereby borrowers, including those that do not rely on bond funding, became exposed to the conditions in the bond market. We investigate the importance of this link. Our results show that when the cost to access the bond market goes up, banks that rely on bond financing charge higher interest rates on their loans. Banks that rely exclusively on deposit funding follow bond financing banks and increase the interest rates on their loans, though by smaller amounts. Further, banks pass the bond market shocks predominantly to their risky borrowers that have access to the bond market and to their borrowers that do not have access to the bond market. These results show that banks propagate shocks to the bond market by passing them through their loan policies to their borrowers, including those that do not use bond financing.Banks and banking ; Banks and banking - Costs ; Bond market
The bearable lightness of being
How are philosophical questions about what kinds of things there are to be understood and how are they to be answered? This paper defends broadly Fregean answers to these questions. Ontological categories-such as object, property, and relation-are explained in terms of a prior logical categorization of expressions, as singular terms, predicates of varying degree and level, etc. Questions about what kinds of object, property, etc., there are are, on this approach, reduce to questions about truth and logical form: for example, the question whether there are numbers is the question whether there are true atomic statements in which expressions function as singular terms which, if they have reference at all, stand for numbers, and the question whether there are properties of a given type is a question about whether there are meaningful predicates of an appropriate degree and level. This approach is defended against the objection that it must be wrong because makes what there depend on us or our language. Some problems confronting the Fregean approach-including Frege's notorious paradox of the concept horse-are addressed. It is argued that the approach results in a modest and sober deflationary understanding of ontological commitments
The environment and host haloes of the brightest z~6 Lyman-break galaxies
By studying the large-scale structure of the bright high-redshift Lyman-break
galaxy (LBG) population it is possible to gain an insight into the role of
environment in galaxy formation physics in the early Universe. We measure the
clustering of a sample of bright (-22.7<M_UV<-21.125) LBGs at z~6 and use a
halo occupation distribution (HOD) model to measure their typical halo masses.
We find that the clustering amplitude and corresponding HOD fits suggests that
these sources are highly biased (b~8) objects in the densest regions of the
high-redshift Universe. Coupled with the observed rapid evolution of the number
density of these objects, our results suggest that the shape of high luminosity
end of the luminosity function is related to feedback processes or dust
obscuration in the early Universe - as opposed to a scenario where these
sources are predominantly rare instances of the much more numerous M_UV ~ -19
population of galaxies caught in a particularly vigorous period of star
formation. There is a slight tension between the number densities and
clustering measurements, which we interpret this as a signal that a refinement
of the model halo bias relation at high redshifts or the incorporation of
quasi-linear effects may be needed for future attempts at modelling the
clustering and number counts. Finally, the difference in number density between
the fields (UltraVISTA has a surface density ~1.8 times greater than UDS) is
shown to be consistent with the cosmic variance implied by the clustering
measurements.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, accepted MNRAS 23rd March 201
Interprofessional learning in practice: The student experience
Interprofessional learning and the development of teamworking skills are
recognised as essential for patient care and are also a government priority for
undergraduate education. Sixteen occupational therapy students worked on
an interprofessional training ward as part of their practice placement and three
of them participated in an evaluation using the nominal group technique.
Despite this small number, the evaluation identifies the value of this learning
experience in giving the students an opportunity to appreciate the importance of
interpersonal skills; to learn about other team members’ roles; and to experience
the challenges of working on a busy rehabilitation ward for older people
Plasmalogen and anionic phospholipid dependence of the cardiac sarcolemmal sodium-calcium exchanger
AbstractAlthough plasmalogens are the predominant phospholipids of cardiac sarcolemma, their physiological role has not been forthcoming. Since the cardiac sarcolemmal sodium-calcium exchanger has been proposed to be regulated by anionic phospholipids, the roles of plasmalogens and anionic phospholipids as regulators of the sodium-calcium exchanger were explored. Reconstituted sodium-calcium exchange activity in plasmalogen-containing proteoliposomes was 10-fold higher than that in control proteoliposomes comprised of only diacyl phospholipids. Additionally, exchange activity in plasmalogen-containing proteoliposomes was regulated by anionic phospholipids. Thus, plasmalogens provide a critical lipid environment in which anionic phospholipids serve as boundary lipids for the regulation of the trans-sarcolemmal sodium-calcium exchanger
Investigation into the Effectiveness of a Solar-Thermal clothes dryer with Exhaust Heat Recovery
This poster will discuss an investigation being conducted to determine the feasibility of drying clothes using medium-temperature solar collectors. The prototype system includes an air-to-air heat exchanger used to preheat intake air with the humid exhaust stream and a water-to-air heat exchanger to utilize a 180°F storage system that is associated with a residential sized rooftop thermal-solar system. Overall effectiveness will be evaluated based on the drying time of 6 spin dried bath towels. The energy recovered through the exhaust heat exchanger will also be quantified to consider efficiency improvements associated with energy recovery for conventional systems. Mechanical design, control systems, cost analysis, and energy balance will be presented. This project is contributing to the Alfred State zero-energy home to be demonstrated at the 2015 US DOE Solar Decathlon in Irvine, California
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