A specialized inventory problem in banks: optimizing retail sweeps

Deposits held at Federal Reserve Banks are an essential input to the business activity of most depository institutions in the United States. Managing these deposits is an important and complex inventory problem, for two reasons. First, Federal Reserve regulations require that depository institutions hold certain amounts of such deposits at the Federal Reserve Banks to satisfy statutory reserve requirements against customers* transaction accounts (demand deposits and other checkable deposits). Second, some inventory of such deposits is essential for banks to operate one of their core lines of business: furnishing payment services to households and firms. including wire transfers, ACH payments, and check clearing settlement. Because the Federal Reserve does not pay interest on such deposits used to satisfy statutory reserve requirements, banks seek to minimize their inventory of such deposits. In 1994, the banking industry introduced a new inventory management tool for such deposits, the retail deposit sweep program, which avoids the statutory requirement by reclassifying transaction deposits as savings deposits. In this analysis, we examine two algorithms for operating such sweeps programs within the limits of Federal Reserve regulations.Banks and banking ; Retail trade

Effect of sea surface winds on marine aerosol characteristics and impacts on longwave radiative forcing over the Arabian Sea

Collocated measurements of spectral aerosol optical depths (AODs), total and BC mass concentrations, and number size distributions of near surface aerosols, along with sea surface winds, made onboard a scientific cruise over southeastern Arabian Sea, are used to delineate the effects of changes in the wind speed on aerosol properties and its implication on the shortwave and longwave radiative forcing. The results indicated that an increase in the sea-surface wind speed from calm to moderate (<1 to 8 m s−1) values results in a selective increase of the particle concentrations in the size range 0.5 to 5 μm, leading to significant changes in the size distribution, increase in the mass concentration, decrease in the BC mass fraction, a remarkable increase in AODs in the near infrared and a flattening of the AOD spectrum. The consequent increase in the longwave direct radiative forcing almost entirely offsets the corresponding increase in the short wave direct radiative forcing (or even overcompensates) at the top of the atmosphere; while the surface forcing is offset by about 50%

Vertical distribution of aerosols over the east coast of India inferred from airborne LIDAR measurements

The information on altitude distribution of aerosols in the atmosphere is essential in assessing the impact of aerosol warming on thermal structure and stability of the atmosphere. In addition, aerosol altitude distribution is needed to address complex problems such as the radiative interaction of aerosols in the presence of clouds. With this objective, an extensive, multi-institutional and multi-platform field experiment (ICARB-Integrated Campaign for Aerosols, gases and Radiation Budget) was carried out under the Geosphere Biosphere Programme of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO-GBP) over continental India and adjoining oceans during March to May 2006. Here, we present airborne LIDAR measurements carried out over the east Coast of the India during the ICARB field campaign. An increase in aerosol extinction (scattering + absorption) was observed from the surface upwards with a maximum around 2 to 4 km. Aerosol extinction at higher atmospheric layers (>2 km) was two to three times larger compared to that of the surface. A large fraction (75-85%) of aerosol column optical depth was contributed by aerosols located above 1 km. The aerosol layer heights (defined in this paper as the height at which the gradient in extinction coefficient changes sign) showed a gradual decrease with an increase in the offshore distance. A large fraction (60-75%) of aerosol was found located above clouds indicating enhanced aerosol absorption above clouds. Our study implies that a detailed statistical evaluation of the temporal frequency and spatial extent of elevated aerosol layers is necessary to assess their significance to the climate. This is feasible using data from space-borne lidars such as CALIPSO, which fly in formation with other satellites like MODIS AQUA and MISR, as part of the A-Train constellation

Large-scale enhancement in aerosol absorption in the lower free troposphere over continental India during spring

Aerosol absorption in the lower troposphere over continental India was assessed using extensive measurements of the vertical distribution of absorption coefficients aboard an instrumented aircraft. Measurements were made from seven base stations during winter (November–December 2012) and spring (April–May 2013), supplemented by the data from the networks of surface observatories. A definite enhancement in aerosol absorption has been observed in the lower free troposphere over the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) during spring, along with a reduction near the surface. The regional mean aerosol absorption optical depth (AAOD) over IGP, which was derived from aircraft observations (integrated from the ground to 3 km), increased from 0.020 ± 0.009 in winter to 0.048 ± 0.01 in spring. The columnar AAOD depicted weak and distinctly different seasonal variations than that of surface level black carbon mass concentrations. This contrasting difference in the seasonality indicates the presence of elevated layers of absorbing aerosols during spring in association with the long-range transport and vertical convective lofting of aerosols

The optical and physical properties of atmospheric aerosols over the Indian Antarctic stations during southern hemispheric summer of the International Polar Year 2007-2008

The properties of background aerosols and their dependence on meteorological, geographical and human influence are examined using measured spectral aerosol optical depth (AOD), total mass concentration (MT) and derived number size distribution (NSD) over two distinct coastal locations of Antarctica; Maitri (70° S, 12° E, 123 m m.s.l.) and Larsemann Hills (LH; 69° S, 77° E, 48 m m.s.l.) during southern hemispheric summer of 2007–2008 as a part of the 27th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (ISEA) during International Polar Year (IPY). Our investigations showed comparable values for the mean columnar AOD at 500 nm over Maitri (0.034±0.005) and LH (0.032±0.006) indicating good spatial homogeneity in the columnar aerosol properties over the coastal Antarctica. Estimation of Angstrom exponent α showed accumulation mode dominance at Maitri (α~1.2±0.3) and coarse mode dominance at LH (0.7±0.2). On the other hand, mass concentration (MT) of ambient aerosols showed relatively high values (≈8.25±2.87 μg m−3) at Maitri in comparison to LH (6.03±1.33 μg m−3)

A comparison of outcomes in ultrasonography guided versus landmark guided corticosteroid injection for the treatment of adhesive capsulitis

Background: Adhesive capsulitis is a debilitating disease in an otherwise healthy individual. Intra-articular corticosteroid injections offer a cost-effective, non-operative treatment option. However, it is currently unclear whether an ultrasound-guided injection relieves the symptoms of shoulder pain more effectively than if the injection was delivered landmark-guided. Methods: Eighty patients with adhesive capsulitis were randomized to two intervention groups - landmark guided and ultrasound (USG) guided. The functional status of the patients was documented prior to the intervention. Following allocation, the intra-articular steroid was administered either under USG guidance or following identification of the site of injection using landmarks. Follow-up was done on day 5, 3 weeks, 6 weeks, and 12 weeks post procedure to document the functional status. Results: The difference in visual analogue score (VAS) between the two arms was found to be statistically significant in favour of the ultrasound guided technique only on day 5 and day 21. On the other hand, the difference in disability of arm, shoulder, and hand (DASH) score between the 2 arms was found to be statistically significant in favour of the ultrasound guided technique on day 5, 21, 42 and 84. Finally, in our study, both shoulder flexion and abduction on day 84 achieved a statistically significant improvement, favouring the ultrasound guided arm. Conclusions: Ultrasound guided corticosteroid injections may offer modestly better short-term functional outcome and symptom relief when compared with landmark guided corticosteroids

Experiments on grow out culture of groupers, Epinephelus malabaricus (Schneider) and Epinephelus tauvina (Forskal)

The results of the experiments conducted on the grow-out culture of the Malabar grouper Epinephelus malabaricus and Greasy grouper Epinephelus tauvina in three different culture systems such as brackish water earthern ponds, silpaulin lined ponds and FRP tanks during 1996-1998 are presented. In the earthern pond, from a mean size of 183 mm SE 21.67 and 137.9 g SE 4.78 in May 1997 E. tauvina attained 442 mm 4.25 and 1780 g SE 4.79 in March 1998 at the end of eleven months showing a daily growth increment of 0.78 mm and 4.97 g. In the silpaulin lined pond, E. malabaricus grew from an average size of 163.2 mm SE 2.96 (74.2 g SE 2.09 ) in April 1997 to 425.7 mm SE 3.65 (1170 g SE 4.67) in March 1998 registering a mean growth of 0.72 mm (3.04 g) per day. The average daily growth increment for E. tauvina in the FRP tank during the culture period was only 0.51 mm (1.53 g). The present investigations have shown the prospect of culturing groupers in the presently unutilised/underutilised estuarine and brackish water ponds

Molecular Approaches for Insect Pest Management in Rice

AbstractThis chapter focuses on the progress made in using molecular tools in understanding resistance in rice to insect pests and breeding rice for multiple and durable insect resistance. Currently, molecular markers are being extensively used to tag, map, introgress, and clone plant resistance genes against gall midge, planthoppers, and leafhoppers. Studies on cloned insect resistance genes are leading to a better understanding of plant defense against insect pests under different feeding guilds. While marker-assisted breeding is successfully tackling problems in durable and multiple pest resistance in rice, genomics of plants and insects has identified RNAi-based gene silencing as an alternative approach for conferring insect resistance. The use of these techniques in rice is in the developmental stage, with the main focus on brown planthopper and yellow stem borer. CRISPR-based genome editing techniques for pest control in plants has just begun. Insect susceptibility genes (negative regulators of resistance genes) in plants are apt targets for this approach while gene drive in insect populations, as a tool to study rice-pest interactions, is another concept being tested. Transformation of crop plants with diverse insecticidal genes is a proven technology with potential for commercial success. Despite advances in the development and testing of transgenic rice for insect resistance, no insect-resistant rice cultivar is now being commercially cultivated. An array of molecular tools is being used to study insect-rice interactions at transcriptome, proteome, metabolome, mitogenome, and metagenome levels, especially with reference to BPH and gall midge, and such studies are uncovering new approaches for insect pest management and for understanding population genetics and phylogeography of rice pests. Thus, it is evident that the new knowledge being gained through these studies has provided us with new tools and information for facing future challenges. However, what is also evident is that our attempts to manage rice pests cannot be a one-time effort but must be a continuing one

Characteristics of spectral aerosol optical depths over India during ICARB

Spectral aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements, carried out regularly from a network of observatories spread over the Indian mainland and adjoining islands in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea, are used to examine the spatio-temporal and spectral variations during the period of ICARB (March to May 2006). The AODs and the derived Angstrom parameters showed considerable variations across India during the above period. While at the southern peninsular stations the AODs decreased towards May after a peak in April, in the north Indian regions they increased continuously from March to May. The Angstrom coefficients suggested enhanced coarse mode loading in the north Indian regions, compared to southern India. Nevertheless, as months progressed from March to May, the dominance of coarse mode aerosols increased in the columnar aerosol size spectrum over the entire Indian mainland, maintaining the regional distinctiveness. Compared to the above, the island stations showed considerably low AODs, so too the northeastern station Dibrugarh, indicating the prevalence of cleaner environment. Long-range transport of aerosols from the adjoining regions leads to remarkable changes in the magnitude of the AODs and their wavelength dependencies during March to May. HYSPLIT back-trajectory analysis shows that enhanced long-range transport of aerosols, particularly from the west Asia and northwest coastal India, contributed significantly to the enhancement of AOD and in the flattening of the spectra over entire regions; if it is the peninsular regions and the island Minicoy are more impacted in April, the north Indian regions including the Indo Gangetic Plain get affected the most during May, with the AODs soaring as high as 1.0 at 500 nm. Over the islands, the Angstrom exponent (α) remained significantly lower (~1) over the Arabian Sea compared to Bay of Bengal (BoB) (~1.4) as revealed by the data respectively from Minicoy and Port Blair. Occurrences of higher values of α, showing dominance of accumulation mode aerosols, over BoB are associated well with the advection, above the boundary layer, of fine particles from the east Asian region during March and April. The change in the airmass to marine in May results in a rapid decrease in α over the BoB