Further Reforms after the "BIG BANG": The Japanese Government Bond Market

This paper identifies key steps for further development of the JGB market in aligning its infrastructures with those of the U.S. and U.K. government securities markets. One major impediment to the JGB market development is commingled management of government assets and liabilities. Especially Fiscal Investment and Loan Program's inadvertent influence over monetary policy not only causes the cost of government-issued debt to increase but also creates serious impediments to the development of the JGB markets. Therefore, it is recommended that Ministry of Finance's involvement in the JGB market should be limited to issuer's function in the capacity of government debt manager and a "hands-off" policy be adopted by the Ministry of Finance to give all FILP agencies complete autonomy. Additional reform measures are recommended to create a more efficient and effective JGB market: (i) promote JGBs with non-resident investors; (ii) introduce the primary dealer system; (iii) adopt the uniform-price auction method; (iv) allow when-issued trading; (v) develop a truly American-style REPO market; and (vi) introduce STRIPS.

Automated Array Assembly Task In-depth Study of Silicon Wafer Surface Texturizing

Several aspects of silicon wafer surface texturizing were studied. A low cost cleaning method that utilizes recycled Freon in an ultrasonic vapor degreaser to remove organic and inorganic contaminants from the surface of silicon wafers as received from silicon suppliers was investigated. The use of clean dry air and high throughout wafer batch drying techniques was shown to lower the cost of wafer drying. A two stage texturizing process was examined for suitability in large scale production. Also, an in-depth gettering study with the two stage texturizing process was performed for the enhancement of solar cell efficiency, minimization of current versus voltage curve dispersion, and improvement in process reproducibility. The 10% efficiency improvement goal was exceeded for the near term implementation of flat plate photovoltaic cost reduction

A Note on Shareholder Oversight and the Regulatory Environment: The Japanese Banking Experience

During a period where Japanese banks operated under a less restrictive regulatory environment, 1986-88, we find positive relationships between bank risk and ownership concentration. This empirical evidence reveals shareholder activism by the largest shareholders. During the periods immediately before and immediately after this particular subperiod, which are characterized by stricter regulatory environments, we do not observe evidence of shareholder activism. Taken together, these results are consistent with the argument that restrictive regulation and shareholder oversight are substitutes for one another. Time-series results and bank performance results yield consistent evidence.Large shareholders, Japanese banks, bank risk, shareholder oversight

An Anatomy of the Magnet Effect: Evidence from the Korea Stock Exchange High-Frequency Data

We examine the existence and the forms of the magnet effect using transaction files and limit order book of the Korea Stock Exchange. A significant magnet effect exists in all five market microstructure variables (the rate of return, trading volume, volatility, order flow, and order type) when the limit hit becomes imminent. Specifically, investors place increasingly more orders, choose proportionally more market orders, and frequently reposition existing orders to advance transactions. We also find that: (i) a narrower price limit exhibits higher acceleration rates in all five variables compared to a wider price limit; and (ii) the upper limit hits draw heavier volumes of transactions, order submissions and market orders than the lower limit hits. We confirm that the magnet effect is a phenomenon unique only to markets with daily price limit systems.Price Limit, Magnet Effect, Rate of Return, Trading Volume, Volatility, Order Flow, Order Type, Price Trajectory, Korea Stock Exchange

Improved Parameters and New Lensed Features for Q0957+561 from WFPC2 Imaging

New HST WFPC2 observations of the lensed double QSO 0957+561 will allow improved constraints on the lens mass distribution and hence will improve the derived value of H$_0$. We first present improved optical positions and photometry for the known components of this lens. The optical separation between the A and B quasar images agrees with VLBI data at the 10 mas level, and the optical center of the primary lensing galaxy G1 coincides with the VLBI source G' to within 10 mas. The best previous model for this lens (Grogin and Narayan 1996) is excluded by these data and must be reevaluated. Several new resolved features are found within 10\arcsec of G1, including an apparent fold arc with two bright knots. Several other small galaxies are detected, including two which may be multiple images of each other. We present positions and crude photometry of these objects.Comment: 7 pages including 2 postscript figures, LaTeX, emulateapj style. Also available at http://www.astro.lsa.umich.edu:80/users/philf/www/papers/list.htm

Controlling Charging and Arcing on a Solar Powered Auroral Orbiting Spacecraft

The Global Precipitation Measurement satellite (GPM) will be launched into a high inclination (65 degree) orbit to monitor rainfall on a global scale. Satellites in high inclination orbits have been shown to charge to high negative potentials, with the possibility of arcing on the solar arrays, when three conditions are met: a drop in plasma density below approximately 10,000 cm(exp -3), an injection of energetic electrons of energy more that 7-10 keV, and passage through darkness. Since all of these conditions are expected to obtain for some of the GPM orbits, charging calculations were done using first the Space Environment and Effects (SEE) Program Interactive Spacecraft Charging Handbook, and secondly the NASA Air-force Spacecraft Charging Analyzer Program (NASCAP-2k). The object of the calculations was to determine if charging was likely for the GPM configuration and materials, and specifically to see if choosing a particular type of thermal white paint would help minimize charging. A detailed NASCAP-2k geometrical model of the GPM spacecraft was built, with such a large number of nodes that it challenged the capability of NASCAP-2k to do the calculations. The results of the calculations were that for worst-case auroral charging conditions, charging to levels on the order of -120 to -230 volts could occur on GPM during night-time, with differential voltages on the solar arrays that might lead to solar array arcing. In sunlit conditions, charging did not exceed -20 V under any conditions. The night-time results were sensitive to the spacecraft surface materials chosen. For non-conducting white paints, the charging was severe, and could continue unabated throughout the passage of GPM through the auroral zone. Somewhat conductive (dissipative) white paints minimized the night-time charging to levels of -120 V or less, and thus were recommended for GPM thermal control. It is shown that the choice of thermal control paints is important to prevent arcing on high inclination orbiting spacecraft solar arrays as well as for GEO satellites, even for solar array designs chosen to minimize arcing

The Intracluster Light and its Link with the Dynamical State of the Host Group/Cluster: the Role of the Halo Concentration

We investigate on the role of the halo concentration in the formation of the intra-cluster light (ICL) in galaxy groups and clusters, as predicted by a state-of-art semi-analytic model of galaxy formation, coupled with a set of high-resolution dark matter only simulations. The analysis focuses on how the fraction of ICL correlates with halo mass, concentration and fraction of early-type galaxies (ETGs) in a large sample of groups and clusters with $13.0\leq \log M_{halo} \leq 15.0$. The fraction of ICL follows a normal distribution, a consequence of the stochastic nature of the physical processes responsible for the formation of the diffuse light. The fractional budget of ICL depends on both halo mass (very weakly) until group scales, and concentration (remarkably). More interestingly, the ICL fraction is higher in more concentrated objects, a result of the stronger tidal forces acting in the innermost regions of the haloes where the concentration is the quantity playing the most relevant role. Our model predictions do not show any dependence between the ICL and ETGs fractions and so, we instead suggest the concentration rather than the mass, as recently claimed, to be the main driver of the ICL formation. The diffuse light starts to form in groups via stellar stripping and mergers and later assembled in more massive objects. However, the formation and assembly keep going on group/cluster scales at lower redshift through the same processes, mainly via stellar stripping in the vicinity of the central regions where tidal forces are stronger.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in ApJ, small correction