Non-commutative p-adic L-functions for supersingular primes

Let E/Q be an elliptic curve with good supersingular reduction at p with a_p(E)=0. We give a conjecture on the existence of analytic plus and minus p-adic L-functions of E over the Zp-cyclotomic extension of a finite Galois extension of Q where p is unramified. Under some technical conditions, we adopt the method of Bouganis and Venjakob for p-ordinary CM elliptic curves to construct such functions for a particular non-abelian extension.Comment: 13 pages; some minor corrections; to appear in International Journal of Number Theor

House prices and neighbourhood amenities: beyond the norm?

PURPOSE : Understanding the key locational and neighbourhood determinants and their accessibility is a topic of great interest to policymakers, planners and property valuers. In Northern Ireland, the high level of market segregation means that it is problematic to understand the nature of the relationship between house prices and the accessibility to services and prominent neighbourhood landmarks and amenities. Therefore, this paper aims to quantify and measure the (dis)amenity effects on house pricing levels within particular geographic housing sub-markets. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH : Most hedonic models are estimated using regression techniques which produce one coefficient for the entirety of the pricing distribution, culminating in a single marginal implicit price. This paper uses a quantile regression (QR) approach that provides a “more complete” depiction of the marginal impacts for different quantiles of the price distribution using sales data obtained from 3,780 house sales transactions within the Belfast Housing market over 2014. FINDINGS : The findings emerging from this research demonstrate that housing and market characteristics are valued differently across the quantile values and that conditional quantiles are asymmetrical. Pertinently, the findings demonstrate that ordinary least squares (OLS) coefficient estimates have a tendency to over or under specify the marginal mean conditional pricing effects because of their inability to adequately capture and comprehend the complex spatial relationships which exist across the pricing distribution. ORIGINALITY/VALUE : Numerous studies have used OLS regression to measure the impact of key housing market externalities on house prices, providing a single estimate. This paper uses a QR approach to examine the impact of local amenities on house prices across the house price distribution.http://www.emeraldinsight.com/loi/ijhmahj2019Taxatio

Is energy performance too taxing? A CAMA approach to modelling residential energy in housing in Northern Ireland

Purpose Buildings contribute significantly to CO2 production. They are also subject to considerable taxation based on value. Analysis shows that while similar attributes contribute to both value and CO2 production, there is only a loose relationship between the two. If we wish to use taxation to affect policy change (drive energy efficiency behaviour), we are unlikely to achieve this using only the current tax base (value), or by increasing the tax take off this current tax base (unlike extra taxation of cigarettes to discourage smoking, for example). Taxation of buildings on the basis of energy efficiency is hampered by the lack of current evidence of performance. This paper aims to model the now-obligatory (at sale or letting) energy performance certificate (EPC) data to derive an acceptable appraisal model (marked to market, being the EPC scores) and deploys this to the entire population of properties. This provides an alternative tax base with which to model the effects of a tax base switch to energy efficiency and to understand the tax incidence effects of such a policy. Design/methodology/approach The research uses a multiplicative hedonic approach to model energy efficiency utilising EPC holding properties in a UK jurisdiction [Northern Ireland (NI)] as the sample. This model is then used to estimate discrete energy assessments for each property in the wider population, using attributes held in the domestic rating (property tax) database for NI (700,000+ properties). This produces a robust estimate of the EPC for every property in its current condition and its cost-effective improved condition. This energy assessment based tax base is further used to estimate a new millage rate and property tax bill (green property tax) which is compared against the existing property tax based on value to allow tax incidence changes to be analysed. Findings The findings show that such a policy would significantly redistribute the tax burden and would have a variety of expected and some unexpected effects. The results indicate that while assessing the energy performance of houses can be a complex process involving many parameters, much of the explanatory power can be achieved via a relatively small number of input variables, often already held by property tax jurisdictions. This offers the opportunity for useful housing stock modelling – such as the savings possible from power switching. The research also identifies that whilst urban areas display the expected “heat island” effect in terms of energy consumption, urban properties are on average more efficient than suburban/rural properties. This facilitates spatial targeting of policy messages and initiatives. Research limitations/implications Analogous with other studies, data deficiencies introduce the risk of omitted variable bias. Modelling of the energy efficiency in the sample is limited to property attributes that are available for the wider population of properties. While this limits the modelling exercise, it is a perennial issue facing mass appraisal worldwide (where knowledge of the transacted sample attributes generally exceeds knowledge of the unsold properties). That said, the research demonstrates the benefits of sharing data and improving knowledge of the housing stock, as taxation databases would be stronger, augmented with EPC-derived property attributes for example. Originality/value The EPC lead in time for wide residential coverage is likely to be considerable. The paper contributes to emerging literature and policy debate surrounding the effect, performance measurement and implementation of energy efficiency certification, through a greater understanding of the sectorial and geographical dispersion of energy efficiency. It provides high level research to help guide policy and decision-making, identifying key locales where there is more of a physical problem and locations where there is more to gain in terms of targeting energy improvement and/or encouraging behavioural change. The paper also allows a glimpse of the implications of a change towards a taxation regime based on energy efficiency, which contributes to the debate surrounding the “greening” of property based taxes. </jats:sec

Rapid Determination of Mg, Fe, Al, etc., in Rock Phosphate Samples using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer

There are several methods for the determination of Mg, Fe, Al and other elements in phosphorite samples. The method of analysis is developed in chemical laboratory of RODL, IBM, Bangalore for rock phosphate sample which is not only very fast and accurate but also maximum number of required elements can be analysed in the prepared solution. This method was used for the analysis of ore dressing products obtained while carrying out the beneficiation studies on rock phosphate samples from China. The sample is treated with aquaregia followed by perchl-oric acid. The prepared solution is used for the determina-tion of maximum number of elements like Mg, Fe, Al etc., by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. By taking suitable aliquot from the solution, P205 can be analysed by volu-metric or gravimetric method. Residue is used for the determination of Si02

Family-level sampling of mitochondrial genomes in coleoptera: compositional heterogeneity and phylogenetics

Mitochondrial genomes are readily sequenced with recent technology and thus evolutionary lineages can be sampled more densely. This permits better phylogenetic estimates and assessment of potential biases resulting from heterogeneity in nucleotide composition and rate of change. We gathered 245 mitochondrial sequences for the Coleoptera representing all 4 suborders, 15 superfamilies of Polyphaga, and altogether 97 families, including 159 newly sequenced full or partial mitogenomes. Compositional heterogeneity greatly affected 3rd codon positions, and to a lesser extent the 1st and 2nd positions, even after RY coding. Heterogeneity also affected the encoded protein sequence, in particular in the nad2, nad4, nad5 and nad6 genes. Credible tree topologies were obtained with the nhPhyML (‘non-homogeneous’) algorithm implementing a model for branch-specific equilibrium frequencies. Likelihood searches using RAxML were improved by data partitioning by gene and codon position. Finally, the PhyloBayes software, which allows different substitution processes for amino acid replacement at various sites, produced a tree that best matched known higher-level taxa and defined basal relationships in Coleoptera. After rooting with Neuropterida outgroups, suborder relationships were resolved as (Polyphaga (Myxophaga (Archostemata + Adephaga))). The infraorder relationships in Polyphaga were (Scirtiformia (Elateriformia (Staphyliniformia + Scarabaeiformia (Bostrichiformia (Cucujiformia)))). Polyphagan superfamilies were recovered as monophyla except Staphylinoidea (paraphyletic for Scarabaeiformia) and Cucujoidea, which can no longer be considered a valid taxon. The study shows that, whilst compositional heterogeneity is not universal, it cannot be eliminated for some mitochondrial genes, but dense taxon sampling and the use of appropriate Bayesian analyses can still produce robust phylogenetic trees

Bridging the Gap – Enhancing Private Investment in Future Infrastructure Provision

This research enhances understanding of the infrastructure investment landscape within six countries, Canada, China, India, Singapore, the UK and the US. We find differences in maturity, transparency and openness to international investment across the six countries Through a comprehensive series of interviews with investors, developers, policy makers and advisers we highlight the importance of governments as ‘facilitators’ of private infrastructure investment; providing strategic vision, sustained political commitment and, perhaps most importantly, active project pipelines. The protracted and uncertain nature of infrastructure development pipelines and the complexities in governance frameworks that support infrastructure provision have been considerable barriers to enhanced private investment. Our research has shown that more efficient procurement and investment models for greenfield projects would also enhance private sector investment flows, which in turn would contribute to the re-allocation of the societal and economic benefits associated with new infrastructure provision

Threshold electric field in unconventional density waves

As it is well known most of charge density wave (CDW) and spin density wave (SDW) exhibit the nonlinear transport with well defined threshold electric field E_T. Here we study theoretically the threshold electric field of unconventional density waves. We find that the threshold field increases monotonically with temperature without divergent behaviour at T_c, unlike the one in conventional CDW. The present result in the 3D weak pinning limit appears to describe rather well the threshold electric field observed recently in the low-temperature phase (LTP) of alpha-(BEDT-TTF)_2KHg(SCN)_4.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Isolated right ventricular failure in hyperthyroidism: a clinical dilemma

We present a unique case of a 42-year-old gentleman with newly diagnosed Graves’ disease and isolated right ventricular failure. Extensive evaluation to include echocardiogram and cardiac catheterization were negative for significant pulmonary hypertension or coronary artery disease as potential etiologies. Hyperthyroid induced vasospasm is a rare but reported clinical entity that serves to be a clinical and diagnostic dilemma

Substitution for Cu in the electron-doped infinite-layer superconductor Sr0.9La0.1CuO2, Ni reduces Tc much faster than Zn

We report on the effect of substitution for Cu on Tc of electron-doped infinite-layer superconductors Sr0.9La0.1Cu1-xRxO2, R = Zn and Ni. We found that Tc was nearly constant until x = 0.03 for R = Zn, while superconductivity was nearly suppressed for x = 0.02 with dTc/dx = 20 K/% for R = Ni. This behavior is very similar to that of conventional superconductors. These findings are discussed in terms of the superconducting gap symmetry in the cuprate superconductors including another electron-doped superconductor, (Nd,Ce)2CuO4-y.Comment: 5 pages and 2 EPS figures, [email protected] for material reques