11,461 research outputs found
The rationality and reliability of expectations reported by British households: micro evidence from the British household panel survey
This paper assesses the accuracy of individuals' expectations of their financial circumstances, as reported in the British Household Panel Survey, as predictors of outcomes and identifies what factors influence their reliability. As the data are qualitative bivariate ordered probit models, appropriately identified, are estimated to draw out the differential effect of information on expectations and realisations. Rationality is then tested and we seek to explain deviations of realisations from expectations at a micro-economic level, possibly with reference to macroeconomic shocks. A bivariate regime-switching ordered probit model, distinguishing between states of rationality and irrationality, is then estimated to identify whether individual characteristics affect the probability of an individual using some alternative model to rationality to form their expectations. --household behaviour,expectation formation
Efficient Aggregation of Panel Qualitative Survey Data
Qualitative business survey data are used widely to provide indicators of economic activity ahead of the publication of official data. Traditional indicators exploit only aggregate survey information, namely the proportions of respondents who report âupâ and âdownâ. This paper examines disaggregate or firm-level survey responses. It considers how the responses of the individual firms should be quantified and combined if the aim is to produce an early indication of official output data. Having linked firmsâ categorical responses to official data using ordered discrete choice models, the paper proposes a statistically efficient means of combining the disparate estimates of aggregate output growth which can be constructed from the responses of individual firms. An application to firm-level survey data from the Confederation of British Industry shows that the proposed indicator can provide early estimates of output growth more accurately than traditional indicators.Survey Data; Indicators; Quantification; Forecasting; Forecast Combination
âItâs just a lot they are asking from usâ: College Athlete Experiences of Division III to Division II Reclassification
The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of college athletes who were directly impacted by their institutionâs pursuit of gaining membership to a different NCAA division (i.e., divisional reclassification). More specifically, this study sought to understand specific changes that accompany the Division III to Division II transition, which include: 1) divisional philosophy, 2) financial aid, 3) level of competition, 4) athletically related activities, and 5) academic standards. Conceptually, this study was guided by the stress appraisal and coping process. The Brief COPE inventory of coping responses was applied as a framework from which to understand how college athletes coped with the financial, athletic, and academic changes to the college athlete experience. Research participants were Division III college athletes who reclassified with their athletic program to become Division II college athletes, and who participated in semi-structured interviews that allowed for rich descriptions of their experiences through the reclassification process to be captured. Findings suggest that reclassification was a relative stressor meaning that the process was perceived as stressful by some but not all the reclassifying college athletes interviewed. In coping with the relative stresses, college athletes demonstrated a greater tendency to engage in emotion-focused coping, which included the venting of emotional distress. More specialist support services are proposed to encourage more problem-focused coping responses among affected college athletes
Conductance fingerprint of Majorana fermions in the topological Kondo effect
We consider an interacting nanowire/superconductor heterostructure attached
to metallic leads. The device is described by an unusual low-energy model
involving spin-1 conduction electrons coupled to a nonlocal spin-1/2 Kondo
impurity built from Majorana fermions. The topological origin of the resulting
Kondo effect is manifest in distinctive non-Fermi-liquid (NFL) behavior, and
the existence of Majorana fermions in the device is demonstrated unambiguously
by distinctive conductance lineshapes. We study the physics of the model in
detail, using the numerical renormalization group, perturbative scaling and
abelian bosonization. In particular, we calculate the full scaling curves for
the differential conductance in AC and DC fields, onto which experimental data
should collapse. Scattering t-matrices and thermodynamic quantities are also
calculated, recovering asymptotes from conformal field theory. We show that the
NFL physics is robust to asymmetric Majorana-lead couplings, and here we
uncover a duality between strong and weak coupling. The NFL behavior is
understood physically in terms of competing Kondo effects. The resulting
frustration is relieved by inter-Majorana coupling which generates a second
crossover to a regular Fermi liquid.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figure
Generalized Wilson Chain for solving multichannel quantum impurity problems
The Numerical Renormalization Group is used to solve quantum impurity
problems, which describe magnetic impurities in metals, nanodevices, and
correlated materials within DMFT. Here we present a simple generalization of
the Wilson Chain, which improves the scaling of computational cost with the
number of channels/bands, bringing new problems within reach. The method is
applied to calculate the t-matrix of the three-channel Kondo model at T=0,
which shows universal crossovers near non-Fermi liquid critical points. A
non-integrable three-impurity problem with three bands is also studied,
revealing a rich phase diagram and novel screening/overscreening mechanisms.Comment: 5 pages + 5 pages supplementary materia
High specific radioactivities of osmium from photonuclear reactions
The investigation described in this thesis has included a study of the activities in iridium, osmium, and rhenium which were produced by photonuclear reactions in osmium and iridium. Osmium activities produced by slow neutron bombardment on osmium metal have also been investigated. During the course of these experiments a method of concentrating osmium activities by the Szilard-Chaimers process was discovered and was further developed
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Languages and Learning at Key Stage 2: A Longitudinal Study Final Report
In 2006, The Open University, the University of Southampton and Canterbury Christ Church University were commissioned by the then Department for Education and Skills (DfES), now Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) to conduct a three-year longitudinal study of languages learning at Key Stage 2 (KS2). The qualitative study was designed to explore provision, practice and developments over three school years between 2006/07 and 2008/09 in a sample of primary schools and explore childrenâs achievement in oracy and literacy, as well as the possible broader cross-curricular impact of languages learning
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