Econometric Analysis of Financial Risk and Correlation

The contribution of this dissertation is threefold. First, econometric procedures to test for the occurence of asset price bubbles ex post and in real time are proposed. Real time monitoring procedures represent an additional tool for financial agents to gauge whether or not a bubble is building up in a financial market at the date of measurement. Second, we consider the problem of risk assessment and performance measurement. Risk assessment is essential for determining the amount of required capital. It is also important to counterbalance expected profits. The focus here lies on the economic index of riskiness proposed by Aumann and Serrano (2008). New theoretical properties of the index are established and estimation techniques are proposed. It is brought to application as a counterweight to expected returns to measure the perfomance of mutual funds and hedge funds. The last part of the dissertation is of more basic econometric interest. It addresses the issue of the validity of standard inference procedures in fixed effect panel data models. Ordinary least squares inference about model parameters can be misleading if shocks to cross-sectional units are correlated. Existing tests of cross-section error dependence aim at determining whether or not there is cross-section error correlation per se. In this dissertation, a procedure is developed that aims at testing whether there is cross-section error correlation that invalidates ordinary least squares inference

The influence of chop location on pork loin quality

Pork longissimus muscle quality characteristics were evaluated on 109 center cut boneless loins. After 21 d aging, loins were cut into 1-inch chops and allowed to bloom for 30 minutes before visual measurements (color, marbling and firmness) and instrumental color were recorded for each chop. Overall, visual color was the lightest on the anterior and posterior ends and was the darkest from approximately 50% to 80% of the length of the loin. Marbling was the highest at the posterior end, lowest in mid-loin, then higher toward the anterior end. Loins were the softest at the anterior end and became firmer toward the posterior end. From the anterior to approximately 40- 50% of the loin length, chops became darker (lower L*), redder (higher a*), and less yellow (lower b*). Near the center of the loin, color was constant, but became lighter (higher L*) and more yellow (higher b*) at the posterior end. Chops located at 25% (anterior), 50% (middle) and 75% (posterior) of the length of each loin were collected and further analyzed. Section chops within loins had similar pH values. The chop from the anterior section contained the highest percentage of crude fat, followed by the posterior section chop, and the middle section chop contained the lowest percentage. The middle section chop contained the highest percentage of moisture. The posterior section chop had more moisture display loss than the anterior and middle section chops. The anterior section chop had more cooking loss than the posterior section chop. Chops became progressively less tender the more posterior the section location

I-69 Finish Line: EPS Fill Under the Interstate

This presentation will look inside the unique design, analysis, and construction of the I-69 bridge structure at SR-252, which utilized expanded polystyrene (EPS) fill. We will discuss the design constraints, geotechnical challenges, and construction methods used to complete this challenging project and keep the I-69 Finish Line project in Martinsville on track for completion

An Approach to Analyze the Intermodal Rail Transport Market in Germany

This study aims to provide a complete overview of intermodal rail connections in Germany and identify the market players involved in their operation. The lack of a comprehensive overview is attributed to the difficulty of summarizing empirical data of intermodal rail transport, combined with the many rapid changes in the dynamic open market. The study uses a dataset compiled through online research and interviews with market players. The identified market players include intermodal operators, railway carriers, terminals, and ports

Development, Assembly and Characterization of ELIPS for ELI-NP

The field of nuclear physics is generally concerned with the study of the structure and dynamics of nuclei. ELI-NP will be able to deliver photons with energies of a few keV up to 19.5 MeV for this kind of fundamental research. The nuclei to be studied will be excited by the photons and the subsequent decay observed in the form of gamma rays in germanium detectors, which offer the highest energy resolution up to date. During the interaction of gamma radiation with matter effects occur in the germanium detectors, which increase the background in a spectrum. These can be reduced by using a combination of scintillation crystals with semiconductor diodes around the detector, as a so-called anti-Compton shield (ACS). For gamma quanta with high energies the pair production is the dominant interaction process in matter. In the case of germanium this energy lies at 8 MeV. The produced positrons escape from the material or annihilate with the electrons from the surrounding and two 511 keV gamma quanta are generated and emitted in opposite directions. This can lead generally to the case that one of those quanta, as well as both, can escape out of the detector and thus do not deposit the full energy of the primary gamma quantum. Thereby single-escape and double-escape peaks arise that make the recorded spectrum more complex. Another source of background is Compton scattering. Here, the incident photon is scattered out of the detector without having deposited all of its energy in it. To prevent this impurities, as well as to reduce the Compton background, often an ACS out of an efficient material (mostly BGO) to stop gamma quanta is built around a detector. Coincident events from HPGe detector and ACS will be neglected whereby the spectrum becomes cleaner. The present work is about the development, the assembly and the characterization of a HPGe-BGO pair spectrometer, also called ELIPS (ELI-NP Pair Spectrometer), on the gamma beam of ELI-NP in Bucharest-Magurele, Romania. The ELI-NP is an unique European research facility, which should in future provide among other things brilliant gamma radiation with high intensity up to an energy of 19.5 MeV. ELIADE is there an important instrument for the gamma-spectroscopic study of photonuclear reactions and consists of 8 HPGe-clover detectors. With the help of the pair spectrometer the efficiency of one of those detectors at high energies should be increased and hence the high-resolution gamma spectroscopy extended. The use of 64 BGO crystals makes the pair spectrometer an improved version of an ACS as it allows a more accurate determination for the position of the gamma quanta. Coincident events from, for example, two 511 keV gamma rays in two opposing BGO crystals and one double-escape energy in the HPGe detector can be considered as one coherent process and thus the full energy of the primary gamma ray can be reconstructed, but at the expense of statistics. However, the higher granularity also requires additionally smaller readout electronics to ensure the mechanical compatibility with ELIADE, for which reason MPPC arrays are used for this purpose. ELIPS can also be used as a stand-alone device. By inserting of a target instead of a HPGe detector into the spectrometer, it can be used as an intensity monitor for a gamma beam or for instance for the investigation of the pair-production cross section close to the threshold. The first experiments with the completed pair spectrometer were performed for testing purposes at the TU Darmstadt, at the institute for nuclear physics in Cologne, as well as at the institute Laue-Langevin in Grenoble. The results of these tests are presented in this work

Targeted Economic Development Opportunities for North Tulsa

Department of Agricultural Economic