Borrowing from thy neighbour: a European perspective on sovereign debt

European capital markets show increasing concern about the extent of sovereign debts and their sustainability. Here we explore some insights that the Overlapping Generations (OLG) framework has to offer on such issues. The OLG framework implies, for example, that there is a limit to the amount of debt that may be sustained in a closed economy- with high debt raising interest rates and crowding out capital formation. But capital market integration with less indebted partners allows for a fall in interest rates as a result of borrowing from one's neighbour. Indeed we find that - in equilibrium - most of the debt of a high indebted country will be transferred to partner countries.debt sustainability, overlapping generations, sovereign default, Euro-zone debt crisis

Graphical Methods in Device-Independent Quantum Cryptography

We introduce a framework for graphical security proofs in device-independent quantum cryptography using the methods of categorical quantum mechanics. We are optimistic that this approach will make some of the highly complex proofs in quantum cryptography more accessible, facilitate the discovery of new proofs, and enable automated proof verification. As an example of our framework, we reprove a previous result from device-independent quantum cryptography: any linear randomness expansion protocol can be converted into an unbounded randomness expansion protocol. We give a graphical proof of this result, and implement part of it in the Globular proof assistant.Comment: Publishable version. Diagrams have been polished, minor revisions to the text, and an appendix added with supplementary proof

Implementing field portable x-ray fluorescence during environmental investigations for radioactive materials

During sampling or remediation of radiologically contaminated sites quantitative results are needed to determine where to sample or where to excavate soils. Although some portable gamma spectroscopy equipment does exist for field identification of radionuclides, they are not commonly used during remedial investigations. The current, and very common, process for sampling involves scanning soil with field portable gross measuring radiation detectors (i.e. Sodium Iodide, Scintillation, etc) that measure counts per minute of ionizing radiation; this does not give any information on the nuclides present or their concentrations in the soil. Samples are then collected at biased locations, based on the results of the field detectors, and sent to an on-site or off-site laboratory for analysis (i.e. gamma-spectroscopy, alpha-spectroscopy, etc) to determine what nuclides are in the soil and quantitate their concentration. If an on-site laboratory is not used it may take a few weeks to receive data back from off-site analysis, which inhibits real-time decision making while sampling and adds costs to a project. One potential method to determine real-time concentrations of metals in soil is through the use of a field portable x-ray fluorescence (XRF) device. This thesis will examine the relationship between laboratory isotopic thorium and uranium to XRF results of elemental uranium and thorium which are contaminants of concern found at Formally Utilized Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) sites. The FUSRAP properties were contaminated during the United States early atomic weapons era and are being remediated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) as part of a federal remediation program. Both thorium and uranium are radioactive metals that will be investigated to determine if XRF devices can detect their presence at environmental levels of significance to assist in the investigation and remediation of future FUSRAP projects

Evaluation of microleakage of RSA Roekoseal Automix root canal sealer

The sealing ability of RSA Roekoseal Automix root canal sealer using ThermaFil Plus and cold lateral condensation was compared to Roth\u27s 801 root canal sealer. Fifty-two single canaled roots of extracted teeth were divided into four groups of twelve and instrumented to size 6 with .06 taper series 29 ProFiles. Group A canals were obturated with ThermaFil and Roth\u27s 801 sealer. Group B canals were obturated with ThermaFil and RSA Roekoseal Automix. Group C canals were obturated with cold lateral condensation and Roth\u27s 801 sealer. Group D canals were obturated with cold lateral condensation and RSA Roekoseal Automix. The linear penetration of ink was measured by two observers. Group B leaked significantly more than all other groups. RSA RoekoSeal Automix root canal sealer appears to seal as well as Roth\u27s 801 when using cold lateral condensation of gutta percha but not with ThermaFil Plus

How is co-leadership enacted in the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand : a 152.800 thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Management at Massey University

This research report explores the enactment of a gender-balanced co-leadership throughout the organisation of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand. This small-sized political organisation has had representatives in parliament since 1996. Its experimental model of a male and a female sharing positions arose out of the social movements of the baby boomer generation. Gender-balanced co-leadership was devised as an exception to the norm of a single leader (frequently presented as a heroic man). The metaphor of theatre is used to frame a description of the stage-managed performance of Green Party political co-leaders. I show how co-leaders have been portrayed over the life span of the party as if they were characters in play. The re-presentation of co-leaders is illustrated by images, primarily taken from the party magazine. Experiences of the enactment of this co-leader model are interpreted through five interviews with key informants who have all held formal positions of authority within the organisation. I provide an auto-ethnographic account as a party insider illustrated by snapshots. The Green Party’s co-leadership model has endured over 25 plus years. By virtue of longevity it has demonstrated a viable way of sharing position power between two genders in a political party. Sharing positions in this organisation requires a significant investment of effort to maintain the desired presentation of the relationship. The lead actors are constrained to conform to the stage-setting. Parliamentary politics imposes isomorphic forces of order and hierarchy. The enactment of co-leadership has become increasingly gender stereotypical. Gender-balanced co-leadership is an experiment that has become a conventional routine

WASP-12b as a prolate, inflated and disrupting planet from tidal dissipation

The class of exotic Jupiter-mass planets that orbit very close to their parent stars were not explicitly expected before their discovery. The recently found transiting planet WASP-12b has a mass Mp = 1.4(+/-0.1) Jupiter masses (MJ), a mean orbital distance of only 3.1 stellar radii (meaning it is subject to intense tidal forces), and a period of 1.1 days. Its radius 1.79(+/- 0.09) RJ is unexpectedly large and its orbital eccentricity 0.049(+/-0:015) is even more surprising as such close orbits are in general quickly circularized. Here we report an analysis of its properties, which reveals that the planet is losing mass to its host star at a rate ~ 10^-7 MJ yr^-1. The planets surface is distorted by the stars gravity and the light curve produced by its prolate shape will differ by about ten per cent from that of a spherical planet. We conclude that dissipation of the stars tidal perturbation in the planets convective envelope provides the energy source for its large volume. We predict up to 10mJy CO band-head (2.292 micron) emission from a tenuous disk around the host star, made up of tidally stripped planetary gas. It may also contain a detectable resonant super-Earth, as a hypothetical perturber that continually stirs up WASP-12b's eccentricity.Comment: Accepted to Nature, 14 pages, 1 figur

Strong uniform laws of large numbers for bootstrap means and other randomly weighted sums

This article establishes novel strong uniform laws of large numbers for randomly weighted sums such as bootstrap means. By leveraging recent advances, these results extend previous work in their general applicability to a wide range of weighting procedures and in their flexibility with respect to the effective bootstrap sample size. In addition to the standard multinomial bootstrap and the m-out-of-n bootstrap, our results apply to a large class of randomly weighted sums involving negatively orthant dependent (NOD) weights, including the Bayesian bootstrap, jackknife, resampling without replacement, simple random sampling with over-replacement, independent weights, and multivariate Gaussian weighting schemes. Weights are permitted to be non-identically distributed and possibly even negative. Our proof technique is based on extending a proof of the i.i.d. strong uniform law of large numbers to employ strong laws for randomly weighted sums; in particular, we exploit a recent Marcinkiewicz--Zygmund strong law for NOD weighted sums

Prospectus, October 13, 1999

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1999/1025/thumbnail.jp