Relationship between Interest Rate and Bank Common Stock Return: Evidence from the Top 10 United States Banks and Financial Sector Index

This research paper investigates the effect of changes in long-term interest rates on the returns of the top 10 US banks included in the Financial Sector Index. There are three main parts of this paper. The first part uses the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test to test the “Random Walk” of banks’ common stock returns. Based on the test’s results, returns of banks’ common stock do not solely follow the “Random Walk”. In the second part, the Two-Factor Arbitrage Pricing Theory is employed to test the effect of changes in long-term interest rate on the return of banks’ common stocks. The findings provide strong and consistent evidences that volatility of bank common stock returns is very sensitive to the long-term interest rate movement. The third part explores the effect of long-term interest rates on returns of banks’ common stocks before and after the financial crisis (September 12th, 2008). The same testing methods are used as those in part 1 and 2. The findings suggest that, after the crisis, changes in long-term interest rates exhibit an even more significant impact on banks’ common stock returns than that before the financial crisis

Integrity Monitoring Using ARAIM Algorithm in Urban Environment

Aviation is one of the earliest application of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Since the early days of the Global Positioning System (GPS), satellite navigation has been an essential part of the aviation industry. Being a particular mean of transport, which usually involves a large number of human lives, civil aviation always requires a high level of reliability from the navigation system. Such requirement brings about the concept of integrity, which concerns about the consistency and reliability of a navigation system, is defined as the capability of the system to provide timely warning when it should not be used for navigation. The concept of integrity allows the standardization of guidance systems' performance, with the utmost purpose of keeping safety for every flight. The concept of integrity has gained interests in other GNSS applications as well, especially in those that also require high reliability from the navigation solution, such as Intelligent Transport System (ITS), railways. This leads to the necessity to adapt the integrity monitoring techniques, in particular the Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM) algorithms, to use in working conditions other than the typical airport areas, such as urban environment. As a matter of fact, adaptation of RAIM algorithms to urban environment requires a throughout analysis of the environmental difference of the working condition as well as the requirement of the intended applications. This thesis focuses on developing a Kalman filter-based Advanced RAIM (ARAIM) algorithm for urban environment, which is an adaptation of the conventional ARAIM algorithm for civil aviation. ARAIM algorithm is considered the next generation of RAIM, aiming at providing higher integrity performance for more stringent phase of flight. The first step is to survey the necessary changes to adapt ARAIM algorithm to urban scenario. Experimental study highlights the prerequisite of finding a noise model to represents the signal noise level in urban area. After a suitable noise model was found after a comparative study, the KF-based ARAIM algorithm was developed. This method evaluates the separation of state correction using different subsets of measurement to detect abnormalities as well as potential faulty satellites for exclusion. The proposed method was also validated using simulation and real data. Performance analysis results show that the proposed algorithm can effectively follows the changes of signal quality which is expected to occur frequently when moving in urban environment, confirming its suitability for integrity monitoring in urban environment

Variational Disparity Estimation Framework for Plenoptic Image

This paper presents a computational framework for accurately estimating the disparity map of plenoptic images. The proposed framework is based on the variational principle and provides intrinsic sub-pixel precision. The light-field motion tensor introduced in the framework allows us to combine advanced robust data terms as well as provides explicit treatments for different color channels. A warping strategy is embedded in our framework for tackling the large displacement problem. We also show that by applying a simple regularization term and a guided median filtering, the accuracy of displacement field at occluded area could be greatly enhanced. We demonstrate the excellent performance of the proposed framework by intensive comparisons with the Lytro software and contemporary approaches on both synthetic and real-world datasets

An ARAIM adaptation for Kalman Filter

This work propose a new Kalman filter-based method for integrity monitoring, following the solution separation approach of the Advanced Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (ARAIM) algorithm. This method evaluates the separation of state correction using different subsets of measurement to detect abnormalities as well as potential faulty satellites for exclusion. This approach differs from existing Kalman filter-based methods, which use innovation vector or residual vector for stochastic evaluation

A water flow algorithm for optimization problems

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

산초나무속(Zanthoxylum) 식물 성분들의 침파리(Stomoxys calcitrans L.)에 대한 기피력 및 살충활성

학위논문 (박사)-- 서울대학교 대학원 : 농생명공학부, 2013. 2. Young-Joon Ahn.The stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans L., is one of the important insect pests as a blood-sucking ectoparasite that mainly bites cattle, horses, pigs, and dogs, but also bites humans. In this study, an assessment is made of the repellency of 22 plant essential oils (EOs), Zanthoxylum oil constituents, and the mixtures with tamanu, Calophyllum inophyllum, nut oil (CI-NO) and the olfactory responses of the fly antennae to Zanthoxylum-derived constituents. The fumigant toxicity and possible insecticide mode of action of the constituents also were evaluated. In a repellency test using the EOs at a dose of 0.5 mg/cm2 with six human male volunteers based on protection time (PT) to first bite, patchouli, clove bud, lovage root, and clove leaf EOs were the most effective (PT, 3.20–3.62 h) but were less active than N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET) (PT, 4.35 h). Strong repellency was also produced by thyme white EO (PT, 2.07 h), while moderate repellency was obtained from Z. piperitum pericarp steam distillate (ZP-SD), geranium, thyme red, and oregano EOs (PT, 1.01–1.12 h). Z. armatum seed oil (ZA-SO) and bergamot EO exhibited weak repellency (PT, 0.60 and 0.57 h). At 0.25 mg/cm2, protection time of patchouli, savory, thyme white and ZP-SD (PT, ~0.6 h) and clove bud, lovage root and clove leaf EOs (PT, ~1.0 h) were also shorter than that of DEET (PT, ~2.0 h). Binary mixtures of the active EOs and CI-NO produced a significant increase in the protection time, although the repellency of each EO was weaker than that of DEET. PT of binary mixtures (PT, 2.17–2.64 h) of five EOs (lovage root, patchouli, clove bud, thyme white, and clove leaf) and CI-NO (0.25 + 2.0 mg/cm2) was similar to that of DEET + CI-NO mixture (PT, 2.69 h) at the same doses and showed longer protection time than that of either DEET alone (PT, 2.03 h), the constituted EOs (PT, 0.54–1.07 h), or CI-NO alone (PT, 0.54 h). With the exception of savory, the other EOs, CI-NO, and binary mixtures did not induce any adverse effects on the human volunteers at 0.5 mg/cm2. ZP-SD and ZA-SO volatile constituents, cuminaldehyde, cuminyl alcohol, geraniol, limonene, linalool, methyl cinnamate, neral, peperitone, and α-phelandrene alone gave short protection time (PT, ~0.5 h) and were significantly less effective than DEET alone (PT, ~2.0 h) at 0.25 mg/cm2. However, the binary mixtures of the four compounds (limonene, α-phellandrene, cuminyl alcohol, and cuminaldehyde) and CI-NO (0.25 + 1.0 mg/cm2) provided strong protection (PT, 2.36 – 2.57 h), similar to that of the DEET + CI-NO mixture (PT, 2.52 h), and gave significantly stronger effects than that of DEET alone. Two major fatty acids of CI-NO such as oleic acid and linoleic acid, and the fatty acid methyl esters such as methyl oleate and methyl linoleate were found to provide longer protection than CI-NO. In a repellency test using eight aerosol formulations containing ZP-SD or ZA-SO and CI-NO as active ingredients, the repellency of the formulations against S. calcitrans females was comparable with that of DEET + CI-NO mixtures and DEET alone. The behavioral and olfactory response patterns to 1,8-cineole, citronellal, cuminaldehyde, linalool oxide, linalool, neral, piperitone, and terpinen-4-ol from Zanthoxylum plants in combination with the attractants such as 1-octen-3-ol and butyric acid were investigated on the fly antenna. The patterns of behavioral and olfactory responses were significantly altered depending on the ratios of 1-octen-3-ol or butyric acid to the EOs or compounds in the air mixtures. The present study demonstrated that Zanthoxylum EOs lowered the levels of response of flight behaviors of the stable fly toward the test attractants. The results indicate that an olfactory receptor on the fly antenna detects directly the repellent chemicals. In the vapor-phase mortality assay with ZP-SD and ZA-SO, their 28 constituents, and eight structurally related compounds against female stable fly, cuminaldehyde, thymol, (1S)-(–)-verbenone, (–)-myrtenal, carvacrol, (S)-(Z)-verbenol, ZP-SD, cuminyl alcohol, ZA-SO, piperitone, (–)-(Z)-myrtanol, and citronellal (LC50, 0.075–0.456 µg/cm3) showed strong activity, although their magnitude was less toxic than either chlorpyrifos or dichlorvos. Structure–activity relationship investigation indicated that structural characteristics such as carbon skeleton, degrees of saturation and types of functional groups, and vapor pressure parameter, appear to play a role in determining toxicities of the test compounds. In the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition assay, citronellyl acetate, alpha-pinene, thymol, carvacrol, and alpha-terpineol (IC50, 1.20–2.73 mM) inhibited the fly head AChE but their activities were weaker than that of chlorpyrifos and dichlorvos. However, octopamine and dopamine remarkably stimulate adenylate cyclase in brain of stable flies. At 100 nmol/ml, octopamine increased cAMP level 2.7-fold compared with control. The octopamine-stimulated cAMP level significantly reduced 13.7-fold and 3.9-fold by citronellal and thymol at 100 nmol/ml, respectively, and 2.0–2.9-fold by cuminaldehyde, cuminyl alcohol, (–)-myrtenal, and (1S)-(–)-verbenone. These results indicate that the possible target site for neurotoxicity of EO fumigants is the octopamine-sensitive adenylate cyclase in the nervous system. In conclusion, global efforts to reduce the level of highly toxic synthetic repellents or insecticides in the agricultural environment justify further study on plant EOs and Zanthoxylum-derived constituents described as potential biocides for the control of stable fly populations as repellents or insecticides with fumigant action. Key words: Stomoxys calcitrans, plant essential oil, Zanthoxylum piperitum, natural repellent, natural fumigant, acetylcholinesterase inhibition, cAMP immunoassay, olfactory response Student number: 2005 – 30877Contents ABSTRACT ………………...……...…….…………..…………………………… i List of abbreviations ……….......…….………...……..………………………….. viii List of tables ………………………………..………..…………………………… x List of figures ………….…………….….………..……………………………….. xiii INTRODUCTION ……………………………….....……………………………. 1 LITERATURE REVIEW ………..………………..……………...……………… 4 Chapter 1 Repellency of plant essential oils, Zanthoxylum oil constituents, and Calophyllum inophyllum nut oil against Stomoxys calcitrans Introduction ………….…………………...………………….…………………… 23 Materials and methods …………….……………………...…...………………… 24 1.1. Plant samples and steam distillation 24 1.2. Essential oils and chemicals 24 1.3. Stable flies 28 1.4. Experimental repellent formulations 29 1.5. Gas chromatography analysis 31 1.6. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis 31 1.7. Exposed human hand bioassay 33 1.8. Dermatological test 35 1.9. Data analysis 35 Results ………...…………….…………………………………………………..… 36 1.1. Chemical composition of Z. piperitum pericarp steam distillate 36 1.2. Free fatty acid constituents of tamanu nut oil 39 1.3. Repellency of test EOs and binary mixtures 41 1.4. Repellency of two Zanthoxylum oil constituents and their binary mixtures 46 1.5. Repellency of fatty acids identified in tamanu nut oil and related compounds 49 1.6. Repellency of aerosol formulations 54 1.7. Allergic reaction 54 Discussion …………………………………………………………...……………. 56 Chapter 2 Olfactory response of Stomoxys calcitrans to Zanthoxylum oil constituents and their mixtures with attractants Introduction …………………………..…………...……………………………… 62 Materials and Methods ……...………….…………………………...…………… 64 2.1. Materials 64 2.2. Stable flies 64 2.3. Scanning electron microscopy 64 2.4. Behavioral bioassay 65 2.5. Electroantennography analysis 67 2.6. Data analysis 69 Results ………………………………….……..…………...……………………… 70 2.1. Behavioral patterns of the stable fly in release-in-cage 70 2.2. Behavioral responses of the stable fly to test materials in release-in-cage 70 2.3. Behavioral responses of stable fly to test compounds 73 2.4. Antennal olfactory responses to single attractive chemicals 75 2.5. Olfactory responses to two Zanthoxylum oils and volatile compounds 78 2.6. Antennal olfactory responses to binary mixtures 80 Discussion …………………………..………………………………..…………… 85 Chapter 3 Insecticidal activity and mode of actions of Zanthoxylum oil constituents and related compounds to Stomoxys calcitrans Introduction …………………….………………………………………………… 90 Materials and methods ………...………….…………………………...………… 91 3.1. Stable fly 91 3.2. Essential oils and test chemicals 91 3.3. Vapor-phase mortality bioassay 92 3.4. Topical application method 95 3.5. Acetylcholinesterase activity assay 95 3.6. Effect of monoterpenoids on cAMP levels in the fly head homogenate 97 3.7. Data analysis 100 Results …………………………....…………………………………..…………… 101 3.1. Fumigant toxicity 101 3.2. Topical toxicity 104 3.3. Structure–activity relationship 107 3.4. Acetylcholinesterase activity 110 3.5. Acetylcholinesterase inhibition 112 3.6. In vitro effect of monoterpenoids on cAMP production 115 Discussion ……………………..…..……………………………………………… 120 CONCLUSION …………………....…………………………...………………… 125 REFERENCES ………………….…………………………...…………………… 127 ABSTRACT IN KOREAN ……………………………...……………………….. 154 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ……………...……….……...………...……………… 159Docto

Kalman filter-based ARAIM algorithm for integrity monitoring in urban environment

This work proposes an adaptation of Advanced Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (ARAIM) algorithm for snapshot integrity monitoring in urban environment, using Kalman Filter (KF) as underlying positioning method. This new method can follow the changes of signal quality, maintaining good performance under the effect of multipath which is always presents in urban areas. Performance analysis using both simulated and real data validates the method, and comparison with conventional ARAIM algorithm (which was developed for aviation) further consolidates the suitability of the proposed method for urban scenario. Keywords: ARAIM, Integrity monitoring, Kalman filter, Multipath, Urban environmen

New H∞ control design for polytopic systems with mixed time-varying delays in state and input

This paper concerns with the problem of state-feedback H∞ control design for a class of linear systems with polytopic uncertainties and mixed time-varying delays in state and input. Our approach can be described as follows. We first construct a state-feedback controller based on the idea of parameter-dependent controller design. By constructing a new parameter-dependent Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional (LKF), we then derive new delay-dependent conditions in terms of linear matrix inequalities ensuring the exponential stability of the corresponding closed-loop system with a H∞ disturbance attenuation level. The effectiveness and applicability of the obtained results are demonstrated by practical examples