The development of contingency clauses: appraisal and implications for financial stability.

The sustained growth in corporate debt over the past decade has led to an increasingly widespread use of contingency clauses. These clauses, also known as “triggers”, are written into bond issue contracts or bank loan agreements, and aim to facilitate borrowers’ access to financing by offering a certain degree of protection to creditors. They result in a tightening of the company’s borrowing conditions (for example an increment in the coupon or an early repayment), should its financial situation deteriorate. These clauses may have significant effects on the functioning of financial markets. First, because they complicate both credit risk analysis and the valuation process of debt securities with such triggers embedded. Second, because they complicate credit rating agencies’ task of rating debt-security issuers. And lastly, because their triggering could result in the opposite effect to that sought, that is to say, instead of protecting the creditor, they may cause a sharp deterioration in the borrower’s financial position. At the same time, they may also result in a series of destabilising effects for financial markets, exacerbated by the fact that investors are often unaware of their existence. While these clauses must be used with caution by borrowers, adequate transparency is also essential so that rating agencies, analysts and investors might fully understand their potential effects.

Power Laws are Logarithmic Boltzmann Laws

Multiplicative random processes in (not necessaryly equilibrium or steady state) stochastic systems with many degrees of freedom lead to Boltzmann distributions when the dynamics is expressed in terms of the logarithm of the normalized elementary variables. In terms of the original variables this gives a power-law distribution. This mechanism implies certain relations between the constraints of the system, the power of the distribution and the dispersion law of the fluctuations. These predictions are validated by Monte Carlo simulations and experimental data. We speculate that stochastic multiplicative dynamics might be the natural origin for the emergence of criticality and scale hierarchies without fine-tuning.Comment: latex, 9 pages with 3 figure

Spontaneous Scaling Emergence in Generic Stochastic Systems

We extend a generic class of systems which have previously been shown to spontaneously develop scaling (power law) distributions of their elementary degrees of freedom. While the previous systems were linear and exploded exponentially for certain parameter ranges, the new systems fulfill nonlinear time evolution equations similar to the ones encountered in Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking (SSB) dynamics and evolve spontaneously towards "fixed trajectories" indexed by the average value of their degrees of freedom (which corresponds to the SSB order parameter). The "fixed trajectories" dynamics evolves on the edge between explosion and collapse/extinction. The systems present power laws with exponents which in a wide range ($\alpha < -2.$) are universally determined by the ratio between the minimal and the average values of the degrees of freedom. The time fluctuations are governed by Levy distributions of corresponding power. For exponents $\alpha > -2$ there is no "thermodynamic limit" and the fluctuations are dominated by a few, largest degrees of freedom which leads to macroscopic fluctuations, chaos and bursts/intermitency.Comment: latex, 11 page

"Profits: The Views of Jerome Levy and Michal Kalecki"

Profits are the incentive for production and therefore employment in almost all of the world's economies; they also may represent exploitation of workers and consumers. Jerome Levy, using a complex process, derived the profits identity during the years 1908-1914. Michal Kalecki, taking advantage of the development of national accounting, derived it in the 1930s. Levy viewed the equation as a tool for developing policies that would enable capitalist economies to achieve high rates of employment. Recent American experience gives weight to his views. Kalecki's insights from the identity strengthened his belief that unemployment was inescapable under capitalism. He would find empirical support in Europe's high unemployment rates during the past two decades.

"The Economics of Aging, Can We Afford Grandma and Grandpa?"

Levy presents a preliminary study of the consumption patterns of retirees and nonretirees during the 1980s, paying particular attention to the distribution of the national consumer product. The consumer product increased in aggregate size during the period, but the retirees' portion of it grew four times faster than the working households' share. Indeed, the standard of living for much of the working population declined. Levy finds that the incremental portion of the "economic pie" absorbed by retirees is tantamount to a "tax" on nonretirees that falls most heavily on lower-income people. Although analysts anticipate a peak in the proportion of retirees to workers in the population around the year 2025, Levy asserts that problems created by this situation are, to a serous degree, already present. He recommends raising the retirement age and encouraging retirees to engage in public service activities. He believes, however, that the fundamental issue in enlarging the economic pie for everyone is unemployment. Levy cites as results of unemployment the increasingly common early retirement programs and the unwillingness of employers to undertake the costs of training older workers. He also contrasts the policies of the early postwar era that emphasized economic growth and enterprise with contemporary policies that are influenced by the interests of retirees in preserving their income and wealth.

Profits: The Views of Jerome Levy and Michal Kalecki

Profits are the incentive for production and therefore employment in almost all of the world's economies; they also may represent exploitation of workers and consumers. Jerome Levy, using a complex process, derived the profits identity during the years 1908–1914. Michal Kalecki, taking advantage of the development of national accounting, derived it in the 1930s. Levy viewed the equation as a tool for developing policies that would enable capitalist economies to achieve high rates of employment. Recent American experience gives weight to his views. Kalecki's insights from the identity strengthened his belief that unemployment was inescapable under capitalism. He would find empirical support in Europe's high unemployment rates during the past two decades.

An investigation into attitudinal responses of years nine, ten and eleven students towards the programmes of study of the modern foreign language National Curriculum in three West Essex 11 -16 LM comprehensive schools

Questions which prompted interest in this area of research in 1988: Has the introduction of the National Curriculum with its concomitant statutory requirements made any measurable difference to students' responses to MFL classroom activities? If so, then in what way and to what extent might MFL study be now more (or less) appealing to more able 13-15 year-old students in local 11-16 LM Comprehensives? The last large-scale attempt to explore pupils' views on MFL classroom activities was in 1985, as part of the Assessment of Performance Unit (APU) surveys in Secondary Schools. There has been no attempt using the techniques of applied research to investigate pupils' views since the introduction of GCSE or indeed the National Curriculum. Despite this the research of Chambers, Clarke and Stables and Wikeley in the 1990s provided significant insight into the health of the subject at secondary level. Many of the concerns raised in these works are echoed in action research based in local schools in West Essex-in particular, the impact of target language teaching, the question of relevancy and the declining popularity of languages. The research aims to record students' responses to the PoS and to find possible reasons for these constructs. The results will be compared with other findings including those of the APU from 1985. Using the Programme of Study as a means of measurement seems a worthwhile starting point. This statutory requirement of the National Curriculum forms a blueprint for MFL teaching and learning and could constitute the framework of an investigation into student responses to MFL tasks and skills. Fmihermore, teachers teach increasingly by consensus. Professionals should constantly seek to exploit better the preferred learning activities of their students; if MFL staff do not know what these are they need a working model to find out this information. The research also makes use of APU questionnaires to assess the perceived enjoyment, usefulness and difficulty of MFL study as well as measuring the level of desired contact with other European students. Findings of the investigation in 2000:- Many of the findings of this study may be said to repOli favourably on aspects of the PoS in MFL. Among the more positive responses were: • communicating with each other in pairs and groups, and with their teacher. This largely underlined the popularity of role-plays; • developing understanding and skills through a range of language activities, e.g. games, role-play, surveys and other investigations discuss their own ideas. Discuss interests and experiences and compare them with those of others. Listen, read or view for personal interest and enjoyment, as well as for information This reflected the preference of many teenagers for exercising a degree of control in the pace and direction of the tasks set; • listening and responding to different types of spoken language. Skimming and scanning texts, including databases where appropriate, for information. This suggests that such exercises are popular for reasons that are likely to be related to pace of work; • using a range of resources for communicating, e.g. telephone, electronic mail, fax, letters; • redrafting writing to improve its accuracy and presentation, e.g. by wordprocessing. Using dictionaries and reference materials. Students are not always comfortable with the seemingly random nature of language and welcome quick methods of eliminating doubt and establishing accuracy; • Express agreement, disagreement, personal feeling and opinions. Learning by heart phrases and short extracts, e.g. rhymes, poems, songs, jokes, tongue twisters. Pupils enjoy such activities but are critical when the material is unappealing. However,many of the findings indicated less positive experiences of the students in MFL. These included: • A significantly low level of perceived enjoyment in MFL study among average and more able students in all three schools in the study falling from an already low base in Year 9 to lower levels in Year 10 and Year 11; • This experience is often more pronounced in MFL than in other GCSE subjects; • A reluctance to use the target language as a means of communication. Elements of the PoS most strongly connected to this finding were: using language for real purposes, as well as to practise skills, using everyday classroom events as a context for spontaneous speech, initiating and developing conversations, developing strategies for dealing with the unpredictable, producing a variety of types of writing, asking about meanings, seek clarification or repetition in the TL. • Teachers do not always accurately assess the popularity or unpopularity of MFL classroom tasks; • Definitions of difficulty are often determined by levels of motivation; • The desire for contact with the target language community is minimal and there are low levels of integrative motivation in all three schools; • Ethnocentricity does not appear to contribute to this; • Comparisons with 1985 APU findings indicate a far more negative outlook for MFL study in some West Essex schools with virtually no interest in post 16 MFL study

An investigation into attitudinal responses of years nine, ten and eleven students towards the programmes of study of the modern foreign languages national curriculum in three west Essex 11-16 LM comprehensive schools

Questions which prompted interest in this area of research in 1988 Has the introduction of the National Curriculum with its concomitant statutory requirements made any measurable difference to students' responses to MFL classroom activities? If so, then in what way and to what extent might MFL study be now more (or less) appealing to more able 13-15 year-old students in local 11-16 LM Comprehensives? The last large-scale attempt to explore pupils' views on MFL classroom activities was in 1985, as part of the Assessment of Performance Unit (APU) surveys in Secondary Schools. There has been no attempt using the techniques of applied research to investigate pupils' views since the introduction of GCSE or indeed the National Curriculum. Despite this the research of Chambers, Clarke and Stables and Wikeley in the 1990s provided significant insight into the health of the subject at secondary level. Many of the concerns raised in these works are echoed in action research based in local schools in West Essex-in particular, the impact of target language teaching, the question of relevancy and the declining popularity of Languages. The research aims to record students' responses to the PoS and to find possible reasons for these constructs. The results will be compared with other findings including those of the APU from 1985. Using the Programme of Study as a means of measurement seems a worthwhile starting point. This statutory requirement of the National Curriculum forms a blueprint for MFL teaching and learning and could constitute the framework of an investigation into student responses to MFL tasks and skills. Furthermore, teachers teach increasingly by consensus. Professionals should constantly seek to exploit better the preferred learning activities of their students; if MFL staff do not know what these are they need a working model to find out this information. The research also makes use of APU questionnaires to assess the perceived enjoyment, usefulness and difficulty of MFL study as well as measuring the level of desired contact with other European students. Findings of the investigation in 2000. Many of the findings of this study may be said to report favourably on aspects of the PoS inMFL. Among the more positive responses were: • communicating with each other in pairs and groups, and with their teacher. This largely underlined the popularity of role-plays; • developing understanding and skills through a range of language activities, e.g. games, role-play, surveys and other investigations discuss their own ideas. Discuss interests and experiences and compare them with those of others. Listen, read or view for personal interest and enjoyment, as well as for information This reflected the preference of many teenagers for exercising a degree of control in the pace and direction of the tasks set; • listening and responding to different types of spoken language. Skimming and scanning texts, including databases where appropriate, for information. This suggests that such exercises are popular for reasons that are likely to be related to pace of work; • using a range of resources for communicating, e.g. telephone, electronic mail, fax, letters; • redrafting writing to improve its accuracy and presentation, e.g. by wordprocessing. Using dictionaries and reference materials. Students are not always comfortable with the seemingly random nature of language and welcome quick methods of eliminating doubt and establishing accuracy; • Express agreement, disagreement, personal feeling and opinions. Learning by heart phrases and short extracts, e.g. rhymes, poems, songs, jokes, tongue twisters. Pupils enjoy such activities but are critical when the material is unappealing. However, many of the findings indicated less positive experiences of the students in MFL. These included: • A significantly low level of perceived enjoyment in MFL study among average and more able students in all three schools in the study falling from an already \O\,v base in Year 9 to lower levels in Year 10 and Year 11; • This experience is often more pronounced in MFL than in other GCSE subjects; • A reluctance to use the target language as a means of communication. Elements of the PoS most strongly connected to this finding were: using language for real purposes, as well as to practise skills, using everyday classroom events as a context for spontaneous speech, initiating and developing conversations, developing strategies for dealing with the unpredictable, producing a variety of types of writing, asking about meanings, seek clarification or repetition in the TL. • Teachers do not always accurately assess the popularity or unpopularity of MFL classroom tasks; • Definitions of difficulty are often determined by levels of motivation; • The desire for contact with the target language community is minimal and there are low levels of integrative motivation in all three schools; • Ethnocentricity does not appear to contribute to this; • Comparisons with 1985 APU findings indicate a far more negative outlook for MFL study in some West Essex schools with virtually no interest in post 16 MFL study

Multi-feed cone Cassegrain antenna Patent

Design and operation of multi-feed cone Cassegrain antenn