Bank Supervision Going Global? A Cost-Benefit Analysis (Replaced by CentER DP 2012-059)

This paper analyzes the distortions that banks’ cross-border activities, such as foreign assets, deposits and equity, can introduce in the regulatory process. We find that while each individual dimension of cross-border activities distorts the incentives of a domestic regulator, a balanced amount of cross-border activities does not necessarily cause inefficiencies, as the various distortions can offset each other. In the case of imbalanced cross-border activities, a supranational regulator can improve outcomes, if her realm matches the geographic activity of banks, her capacity of extracting information is not lower than that of national supervisors, and the available resolution techniques do not cause higher external costs than under national resolution. Results from a numerical simulation exercise and empirical analysis using bank-level data from the recent crisis provide support to our theoretical findings. Specifically, banks with a higher share of foreign deposits and assets and a lower foreign equity share were intervened at a more fragile state, reflecting the distorted incentives of national regulators.Bank regulation;bank resolution;cross-border banking

Identifying Heavy Goods Vehicle Driving Styles in the United Kingdom

Although driving behavior has been largely studied amongst private motor vehicles drivers, the literature addressing heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers is scarce. Identifying the existing groups of driving stereotypes and their proportions enables researchers, companies, and policy makers to establish group-specific strategies to improve safety and economy. In addition, insight into driving styles can help predict drivers' reactions and therefore enable the modeling of interactions between vehicles and the possible obstacles encountered on a journey. Consequently, there are also contributions to the research and development of autonomous vehicles and smart roads. In this paper, our interest lies in investigating driving behavior within the HGV community in the United Kingdom (U.K.). We conduct analysis of a telematics dataset containing the incident information on 21 193 HGV drivers across the U.K. We are interested in answering two research questions: 1) What groups of behavior are we able to uncover? 2) How do these groups complement current findings in the literature? To answer these questions, we apply a two-stage data analysis methodology involving consensus clustering and ensemble classification to the dataset. Through the analysis, eight patterns of behavior are uncovered. It is also observed that although our findings have similarities to those from previous work on driving behavior, further knowledge is obtained, such as extra patterns and driving traits arising from vehicle and road characteristics

Optical and X-ray correlations during the 2015 outburst of the black hole V404 Cyg

We present a serendipitous multiwavelength campaign of optical photometry simultaneous with Integral X-ray monitoring of the 2015 outburst of the black hole V404 Cyg. Large-amplitude optical variability is generally correlated with X-rays, with lags of order a minute or less compatible with binary light travel time-scales or jet ejections. Rapid optical flaring on time-scales of seconds or less is incompatible with binary light-travel time-scales and has instead been associated with synchrotron emission from a jet. Both this rapid jet response and the lagged and smeared one can be present simultaneously. The optical brightness is not uniquely determined by the X-ray brightness, but the X-ray/optical relationship is bounded by a lower envelope such that at any given optical brightness there is a maximum X-ray brightness seen. This lower envelope traces out a Fopt∝F0.54X relation that can be approximately extrapolated back to quiescence. Rapid optical variability is only seen near this envelope, and these periods correspond to the hardest hard X-ray colours. This correlation between hard X-ray colour and optical variability (and anticorrelation with optical brightness) is a novel finding of this campaign, and apparently a facet of the outburst behaviour in V404 Cyg. It is likely that these correlations are driven by changes in the central accretion rate and geometry

Unidentified gamma-ray sources off the Galactic plane as low-mass microquasars?

A subset of the unidentified EGRET gamma-ray sources with no active galactic nucleus or other conspicuous counterpart appears to be concentrated at medium latitudes. Their long-term variability and their spatial distribution indicate that they are distinct from the more persistent sources associated with the nearby Gould Belt. They exhibit a large scale height of 1.3 +/- 0.6 kpc above the Galactic plane. Potential counterparts for these sources include microquasars accreting from a low-mass star and spewing a continuous jet. Detailed calculations have been performed of the jet inverse Compton emission in the radiation fields from the star, the accretion disc, and a hot corona. Different jet Lorentz factors, powers, and aspect angles have been explored. The up-scattered emission from the corona predominates below 100 MeV whereas the disc and stellar contributions are preponderant at higher energies for moderate (~15 deg) and small (~1 deg) aspect angles, respectively. Yet, unlike in the high-mass, brighter versions of these systems, the external Compton emission largely fails to produce the luminosities required for 5 to 10 kpc distant EGRET sources. Synchrotron-self-Compton emission appears as a promising alternative.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. Contributed paper to the "Multiwavelength Approach to Unidentified Gamma-Ray Sources", Eds. K.S. Cheng & G.E. Romero, to appear in Astrophysics and Space Science journa

Correlations between the peak flux density and the position angle of inner-jet in three blazars

We aim to investigate the relation between the long-term flux density and the position angle (PA) evolution of inner-jet in blazars. We have carried out the elliptic Gaussian model-fit to the `core' of 50 blazars from 15 GHz VLBA data, and analyzed the variability properties of three blazars from the model-fit results. Diverse correlations between the long-term peak flux density and the PA evolution of the major axis of the `core' have been found in $\sim$ 20% of the 50 sources. Of them, three typical blazars have been analyzed, which also show quasi-periodic flux variations of a few years (T). The correlation between the peak flux density and the PA of inner-jet is positive for S5~0716+714, and negative for S4~1807+698. The two sources cannot be explained with the ballistic jet models, the non-ballistic models have been analyzed to explain the two sub-luminal blazars. A correlation between the peak flux density and the PA (with a T/4 time lag) of inner-jet is found in [HB89]~1823+568, this correlation can be explained with a ballistic precession jet model. All the explanations are based mainly on the geometric beaming effect; physical flux density variations from the jet base would be considered for more complicated situations in future, which could account for the no or less significance of the correlation between the peak flux density and the PA of inner-jet in the majority blazars of our sample.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Scienc

The PHENIX Experiment at RHIC

The physics emphases of the PHENIX collaboration and the design and current status of the PHENIX detector are discussed. The plan of the collaboration for making the most effective use of the available luminosity in the first years of RHIC operation is also presented.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Further details of the PHENIX physics program available at http://www.rhic.bnl.gov/phenix

Radioimmunotherapy of B-cell lymphoma with radiolabelled anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies

CD20 has proven to be an excellent target for the treatment of B-cell lymphoma, first for the chimeric monoclonal antibody rituximab (Rituxan™), and more recently for the radiolabelled antibodies Y-90 ibritumomab tiuxetan (Zevalin™) and I-131 tositumomab (Bexxar™). Radiation therapy effects are due to beta emissions with path lengths of 1–5 mm; gamma radiation emitted by I-131 is the only radiation safety issue for either product. Dose-limiting toxicity for both radiolabelled antibodies is reversible bone marrow suppression. They produce response rates of 70%–90% in low-grade and follicular lymphoma and 40%–50% in transformed low-grade or intermediate-grade lymphomas. Both products produce higher response rates than related unlabelled antibodies, and both are highly active in patients who are relatively resistant to rituximab-based therapy. Median duration of response to a single course of treatment is about 1 year with complete remission rates that last 2 years or longer in about 25% of patients. Clinical trials suggest that anti- CD20 radioimmunotherapy is superior to total body irradiation in patients undergoing stem cell supported therapy for B-cell lymphoma, and that it is a safe and efficacious modality when used as consolidation therapy following chemotherapy. Among cytotoxic treatment options, current evidence suggests that one course of anti-CD20 radioimmunotherapy is as efficacious as six to eight cycles of combination chemotherapy. A major question that persists is how effective these agents are in the setting of rituximab- refractory lymphoma. These products have been underutilised because of the complexity of treatment coordination and concerns regarding reimbursement

The pK0\Sigma+ final state in proton-proton collisions

This paper reports results from a study of the reaction pp->pK0\Sigma+ at beam momenta of p_{beam} = 2950, 3059, and 3200 MeV/c (excess energies of \epsilon= 126, 161, and 206 MeV). Total cross sections were determined for all energies; a set of differential cross sections (Dalitz plots; invariant mass spectra of all two-body subsystems; angular distributions of all final state particles; distributions in helicity and Jackson frames) are presented for \epsilon= 161 MeV. The total cross sections are proportional to the volume of available three-body phase-space indicating that the transition matrix element does not change significantly in this range of excess energies. It is concluded from the differential data that the reaction proceeds dominantly via the N(1710)P_{11} and/or N(1720)P_{13} resonance(s); N(1650)S_{11} and \Delta(1600)P_{33} could also contribute.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figure

Liposomes in Biology and Medicine

Drug delivery systems (DDS) have become important tools for the specific delivery of a large number of drug molecules. Since their discovery in the 1960s liposomes were recognized as models to study biological membranes and as versatile DDS of both hydrophilic and lipophilic molecules. Liposomes--nanosized unilamellar phospholipid bilayer vesicles--undoubtedly represent the most extensively studied and advanced drug delivery vehicles. After a long period of research and development efforts, liposome-formulated drugs have now entered the clinics to treat cancer and systemic or local fungal infections, mainly because they are biologically inert and biocompatible and practically do not cause unwanted toxic or antigenic reactions. A novel, up-coming and promising therapy approach for the treatment of solid tumors is the depletion of macrophages, particularly tumor associated macrophages with bisphosphonate-containing liposomes. In the advent of the use of genetic material as therapeutic molecules the development of delivery systems to target such novel drug molecules to cells or to target organs becomes increasingly important. Liposomes, in particular lipid-DNA complexes termed lipoplexes, compete successfully with viral gene transfection systems in this field of application. Future DDS will mostly be based on protein, peptide and DNA therapeutics and their next generation analogs and derivatives. Due to their versatility and vast body of known properties liposome-based formulations will continue to occupy a leading role among the large selection of emerging DDS