Labor Economics

The authors hypothesize that most labor economists sooner or later had to incorporate at least the appearance of institutional concerns in their papers to avoid indigestion whenever lunching with colleagues outside the field of economics They add: If the new interests of modern labor economics are in fact driven by the imperatives of science, then the institutionalist and the neoclassical approaches may well synthesize

Golden Arm: A Probabilistic Study of Dice Control in Craps

This paper calculates how much control a craps shooter must possess on dice outcomes to eliminate the house advantage. A golden arm is someone who has dice control (or a rhythm roller or dice influencer). There are various strategies for dice control in craps. We discuss several possibilities of dice control that would result in several different mathematical models of control. We do not assert whether dice control is possible or not (there is a lack of published evidence). However, after studying casino-legal methods described by dice-control advocates, we can see only one realistic mathematical model that describes the resulting possible dice control, that in which the four faces on a rotating (horizontal) axis are favored. This is the model that we analyze in this paper

The stability of interest rate processes

This paper presents a careful reexamination of Chan, Karolyi, Longstaff, and Sanders (CKLS 1992). By redefining the possible regime shift period in line with evidence from known policy changes and past empirical research, we find evidence that contradicts the major results in their paper. The widely cited conclusion of their paper is that the elasticity of interest rate volatility is 1.5. CKLS also concluded that there was no structural shift in the interest rate process after October 1979. When the structural shift period is defined to be temporary and coincident with the Federal Reserve Experiment of October 1979 through September 1982, we find that there is strong evidence of a structural break. Furthermore, we find evidence that, contrary to CKLS's claim, a moderately elastic interest rate process can capture the dependence of volatility on the level of interest rates, while highly elastic models cannot. In particular, this study finds support for the square-root CIR process. These results are robust to changes in the short-rate data used and the treatment of outliers.Econometric models ; Interest rates ; Money

Redundancy for electric motors in spacecraft applications

The parts of electric motors which should be duplicated in order to provide maximum reliability in spacecraft application are identified. Various common types of redundancy are described. The advantages and disadvantages of each are noted. The principal types are illustrated by reference to specific examples. For each example, constructional details, basic performance data and failure modes are described, together with a discussion of the suitability of particular redundancy techniques to motor types

Calibration of the visible and near-infrared channels of the NOAA-9 AVHRR using high-altitude aircraft measurements from August 1985 and October 1986

Visible and near infrared wavelength sensors mounted on operational satellites now in use do not have onboard absolute calibration devices. One means of establishing an in-orbit calibration for a satellite sensor is to make simultaneous measurement of a bright, relatively uniform scene along the satellite view vector from a calibrated instrument on board a high altitude aircraft. Herein, aircraft data were recorded over White Sands, New Mexico at satellite overpass time. Comparison of the coincident aircraft and orbiting satellite data for the visible and near infrared wavelength channels of the NOAA-9 Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer shows that the calibration of the visible channel was unchanged from prelaunch values, but that the near infrared channel has degraded 6 percent by Aug. 1985. By Oct. 1986 the visible channel had degraded 13 percent and the near infrared channel had degraded 19 percent

Visible and near-infrared channel calibration of the GOES-6 VISSR using high-altitude aircraft measurements

Present and future visible and near-infrared wavelength sensors mounted on operational satellites do not have on-board absolute calibration devices. One means of establishing an in-orbit calibration for a satellite sensor is to make simultaneous measurements of a bright, relatively uniform scene along the satellite view vector from a calibrated instrument on board a high altitude aircraft. Aircraft data were recorded over White Sands, New Mexico, and the coincident aircraft and orbiting satellite data is compared for the visible and near-infrared wavelength channel of the GOES-6 Visible Infrared Spin-Scan Radiometer