The U.S. Treasury Yield Curve: 1961 to the Present

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The discount function, which determines the value of all future nominal payments, is the most basic building block of finance and is usually inferred from the Treasury yield curve. It is therefore surprising that researchers and practitioners do not have available to them a long history of high-frequency yield curve estimates. This paper fills that void by making public the Treasury yield curve estimates of the Federal Reserve Board at a daily frequency from 1961 to the present. We use a well-known and simple smoothing method that is shown to fit the data very well. The resulting estimates can be used to compute yields or forward rates for any horizon. We hope that the data, which are posted on the website http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2006 and which will be updated quarterly, will provide a benchmark yield curve that will be useful to applied economists. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

The reaction γp→π∘γ′p\gamma p \to \pi^\circ \gamma^\prime p and the magnetic dipole moment of the Δ+(1232)\Delta^+(1232) resonance

The reaction $\gamma p \to \pi^\circ \gamma^\prime p$ has been measured with the TAPS calorimeter at the Mainz Microtron accelerator facility MAMI for energies between $\sqrt{s}$ = 1221--1331 MeV. Cross sections differential in angle and energy have been determined for all particles in the final state in three bins of the excitation energy. This reaction channel provides access to the magnetic dipole moment of the $\Delta^{+}(1232)$ resonance and, for the first time, a value of $\mu_{\Delta^+} = (2.7_{-1.3}^{+1.0}(stat.) \pm 1.5 (syst.) \pm 3(theo.)) \mu_N$ has been extracted

The Quantum Mellin transform

We uncover a new type of unitary operation for quantum mechanics on the half-line which yields a transformation to ``Hyperbolic phase space''. We show that this new unitary change of basis from the position x on the half line to the Hyperbolic momentum $p_\eta$, transforms the wavefunction via a Mellin transform on to the critial line $s=1/2-ip_\eta$. We utilise this new transform to find quantum wavefunctions whose Hyperbolic momentum representation approximate a class of higher transcendental functions, and in particular, approximate the Riemann Zeta function. We finally give possible physical realisations to perform an indirect measurement of the Hyperbolic momentum of a quantum system on the half-line.Comment: 23 pages, 6 Figure

Evolution of volatile and phenolic compounds during bottle storage of merlot wines vinified using pulsed electric fields-treated grapes

This study aimed to elucidate changes in volatile, phenolic, and oenological profiles of wines vinified from Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF)-treated and untreated Merlot grapes during bottle storage of up to 150, 90, and 56 days at 4 °C, 25 °C, and 45 °C, respectively, through chemometrics technique. Wines produced from untreated grapes and those PEF-treated at four different processing conditions (electric field strength 33.1 and 41.5 kV/cm and energy inputs between 16.5 and 49.4 kJ/kg) were used for the bottle storage study. Results showed that hydroxycinnamic and hydroxybenzoic acids in all stored wines, regardless vinified from untreated and PEF-treated grapes, increased as a function of time and temperature, while anthocyanins and selected esters (e.g., ethyl butanoate) decreased. Extreme storage temperature, at 45 °C particularly, resulted in a higher amount of linalool-3, 7-oxide in all stored wines. After prolonged storage, all wines produced from grapes PEF-treated with four different processing conditions were shown to favor high retention of phenolics after storage but induced faster reduction of anthocyanins when compared to wines produced from untreated grapes. Moreover, some volatiles in wines vinified using PEF-treated grapes, such as citronellol and 2-phenylethyl acetate, were found to be less susceptible towards degradation during prolonged storage. Production of furans was generally lower in most stored wines, particularly those produced from PEF-treated grapes at higher energy inputs (>47 kJ/kg). Overall, PEF pre-treatment on grapes may improve storage and temperature stability of the obtained wines

Photoproduction of eta-mesic 3He

The photoproduction of eta-mesic 3He has been investigated using the TAPS calorimeter at the Mainz Microtron accelerator facility MAMI. The total inclusive cross section for the reaction gamma+3He->eta+X has been measured for photon energies from threshold to 820 MeV. The total and angular differential coherent eta cross sections have been extracted up to energies of 745 MeV. A resonance-like structure just above the eta production threshold with an isotropic angular distribution suggests the existence of a resonant quasi-bound state. This is supported by studies of a competing decay channel of such a quasi-bound eta-mesic nucleus into pi^0+p+X. A binding energy of (-4.4+-4.2) MeV and a width of (25.6+-6.1) MeV is deduced for the quasi-bound eta-mesic state in 3He.Comment: v1: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PRL; v2: minor revisions and corrections, new figure added, 4 pages, 5 figs; v3: minor change

In-medium modifications of the ππ\pi\pi interaction in photon-induced reactions

Differential cross sections of the reactions $(\gamma,\pi^\circ\pi^\circ)$ and $(\gamma,\pi^\circ\pi^++\pi^\circ\pi^-)$ have been measured for several nuclei ($^1$H,$^{12}$C, and $^{\rm nat}$Pb) at an incident-photon energy of $E_{\gamma}$=400-460 MeV at the tagged-photon facility at MAMI-B using the TAPS spectrometer. A significant nuclear-mass dependence of the $\pi\pi$ invariant-mass distribution is found in the $\pi^\circ\pi^\circ$ channel. This dependence is not observed in the $\pi^\circ\pi^{+/-}$ channel and is consistent with an in-medium modification of the $\pi\pi$ interaction in the $I$=$J$=0 channel. The data are compared to $\pi$-induced measurements and to calculations within a chiral-unitary approach

Constellations of identity: place-ma(r)king beyond heritage

This paper will critically consider the different ways in which history and belonging have been treated in artworks situated in the Citadel development in Ayr on the West coast of Scotland. It will focus upon one artwork, Constellation by Stephen Hurrel, as an alternative to the more conventional landscapes of heritage which are adjacent, to examine the relationship between personal history and place history and argue the primacy of participatory process in the creation of place and any artwork therein. Through his artwork, Hurrel has attempted to adopt a material process through which place can be created performatively but, in part due to its non-representational form, proves problematic, aesthetically and longitudinally, in wholly engaging the community. The paper will suggest that through variants of ‘new genre public art’ such as this, personal and place histories can be actively re-created through the redevelopment of contemporary urban landscapes but also highlight the complexities and indeterminacies involved in the relationship between artwork, people and place

Planning and Leveraging Event Portfolios: Towards a Holistic Theory

This conceptual paper seeks to advance the discourse on the leveraging and legacies of events by examining the planning, management, and leveraging of event portfolios. This examination shifts the common focus from analyzing single events towards multiple events and purposes that can enable cross-leveraging among different events in pursuit of attainment and magnification of specific ends. The following frameworks are proposed: (1) event portfolio planning and leveraging, and (2) analyzing events networks and inter-organizational linkages. These frameworks are intended to provide, at this infancy stage of event portfolios research, a solid ground for building theory on the management of different types and scales of events within the context of a portfolio aimed to obtain, optimize and sustain tourism, as well as broader community benefits

Halo Excitation of 6^6He in Inelastic and Charge-Exchange Reactions

Four-body distorted wave theory appropriate for nucleon-nucleus reactions leading to 3-body continuum excitations of two-neutron Borromean halo nuclei is developed. The peculiarities of the halo bound state and 3-body continuum are fully taken into account by using the method of hyperspherical harmonics. The procedure is applied for A=6 test-bench nuclei; thus we report detailed studies of inclusive cross sections for inelastic $^6$He(p,p')$^6$He$^*$ and charge-exchange $^6$Li(n,p)$^6$He$^*$ reactions at nucleon energy 50 MeV. The theoretical low-energy spectra exhibit two resonance-like structures. The first (narrow) is the excitation of the well-known $2^+$ three-body resonance. The second (broad) bump is a composition of overlapping soft modes of multipolarities $1^-, 2^+, 1^+, 0^+$ whose relative weights depend on transferred momentum and reaction type. Inelastic scattering is the most selective tool for studying the soft dipole excitation mode.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. C., 11 figures using eps