Understanding the consequences of diversification on financial stability

In this paper, we study the consequences of diversification on financial stability and social welfare using an agent based model that couples the real economy and a financial system. We validate the model against its ability to reproduce several stylized facts reported in real economies. We find that the risk of an isolated bank failure (i.e. idiosyncratic risk) is decreasing with diversification. In contrast, the probability of joint failures (i.e. systemic risk) is increasing with diversification which results in more downturns in the real sector. Additionally, we find that the system displays a “robust yet fragile” behaviour particularly for low diversification. Moreover, we study the impact of introducing preferential attachment into the lending relationships between banks and firms. Finally, we show that a regulatory policy that promotes bank–firm credit transactions that reduce similarity between banks can improve financial stability whilst permitting diversification

Improvisation as a creative dialogue

Our paper will describe the creative process of Zaum: Beyond Mind an interactive sound theater performance, and examine the role of improvisation in shaping the piece. Zaum is a modular performance for voice, bandoneon, piano and electronics- integrating both live interactive elements and fixed sounds – with lighting, and video projection. While the creative process included traditional modes of composition, a significant aspect in melding the contribution of two composers - each with a different approach to composition - shares important attributes with improvisation. It is to do with creative listening, adjusting our individual contribution in response to changing contexts, and developing a shared sense of musical pacing and narrative. Improvisation also played a significant role in developing the technological, interactive elements of the piece with a co-evolution of the programming and the performance over a lengthy process of exploration and adjustments. This process, therefore, entails multiple dialogues, musical as well as verbal, between us as a duo and between us and our instruments. On the way we discovered that analytical reflection, despite its connotations of cerebral processes popularly portrayed as in opposition to the spontaneity required in improvisation, played a crucial role in the shaping of the piece

The Heritage Blinman Mine Experience

Luke Harrald (software, hardware and acoustic design) Instruments : Electro-acoustic composition + Software and Hardware design incorporating a custom 32 channel speaker array. Premiere 28 June 2010. Permanently installed in the abandoned Blinman Copper Mine. Blinman, SA. 5434. Extent : 60 mins. There is 30 minutes of music in the soundtrack for this work. Guided tours run for one hour, as the music is not continuous, and there are other aspects to experiencing the installation in its entirety. This installation was an interdisciplinary, collaborative work. Other contributors were Teresa Crea (director), Peter Heydrich (photographer & technician), James Coulter (visual artist) and Malcolm Walker (writer). Since it’s installation there have been more than 500 tours of the work, involving more than 3000 people.http://www.heritageblinmanmine.com.au

Staging The Bomb

This essay examines the creative processes, experimentation, technical approaches, and audience experience of our immersive installations developed across a two-year period, 2014-15, via a program of creative residencies with community and visiting artists. Here we give focus to the first piece produced, 10 Minutes to Midnight, made with the community of Australian nuclear veterans and first presented in the rural South Australian town of Balaklava, home of nuclear veteran Avon Hudson, a key Australian campaigner for veterans' rights. In 2015, a companion installation Ngurini (Searching) was developed with the Yalata Aboriginal community in the far west of South Australia. Jessie Boylan details this piece in 'Residual: after the event of Maralinga' (this volume).2 Together, the two installations cover the emergent community stories of the British led nuclear experiments in Australia, shared by service and civilian personnel.Ellise Barkley, Nic Mollison, Paul Brown, Luke Harrald and Teresa Cre

In-lab ALOHA mid-infrared up-conversion interferometer with high fringe contrast @λ = 3.39 μm

International audienceWe report on the implementation of a mid-infrared (MIR) interferometer prototype for furthermore application in the framework of high-resolution imaging in astronomy. This paper demonstrates the possibility to extend to the L band our experimental study performed on the up-conversion interferometer in H band. This in-laboratory preliminary experiment allowed us to get the first fringes with the MIR Astronomical Light Optical Hybrid Analysis (ALOHA) @3.39 μm up-conversion interferometer with a bright quasi monochromatic source (HeNe 3.39 μm). A stable contrast greater than 98 per cent has been reached. This opens the possibility to propose an alternative instrument for the demanding domain of high resolution imaging in the MIR domai