Finance and Financial Economics:A Philosophy of Science Perspective

In this chapter, we introduce topics in finance and financial economics that should be of interest to philosophers of science and philosophers of economics, in particular. The chapter is divided in two parts. In the first part, we briefly discuss key elements of modern finance: the joint hypothesis problem as a problem of underdetermination and event studies as a method to cope with it; the relation between science and ideology; the performativity of financial models; and the role of models in finance as benchmarks or normative guidelines. In the second part, we delve deeper into the practice-oriented role of models. We focus on the influential model by Franco Modigliani and Merton Miller on the cost of capital to suggest that values held by modelers can often be the driving force of their model building and of the models’ potential relevance. Thus, values, we suggest, should be part of the philosophical appraisal of models, as opposed to the much narrower attention to their explanatoriness

Una propuesta de instrucción para abordar el razonamiento probabilístico en situaciones de azar

Con el propósito de promover razonamiento probabilístico bajo los enfoques intuitivo, clásico y frecuencial en estudiantes de grado undécimo sin instrucción previa en probabilidad, se realizó un análisis didáctico para proponer la implementación de un conjunto de tareas que permitan el avance en dicho razonamiento. A partir de dicho análisis se establecen una serie de capacidades, errores y dificultades que perfilan una posible ruta de instrucción y que delinean como aporte de esta ponencia una propuesta de instrucción que incluye situaciones asociadas a juegos de tablero, laberintos, aparato de Galton y carreras de juegos electrónicos

Reliability analysis for the quench detection in the LHC machine

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will incorporate a large amount of superconducting elements that require protection in case of a quench. Key elements in the quench protection system are the electronic quench detectors. Their reliability will have an important impact on the down time as well as on the operational cost of the collider. The expected rates of both false and missed quenches have been computed for several redundant detection schemes. The developed model takes account of the maintainability of the system to optimise the frequency of foreseen checks, and evaluate their influence on the performance of different detection topologies. Seen the uncertainty of the failure rate of the components combined with the LHC tunnel environment, the study has been completed with a sensitivity analysis of the results. The chosen detection scheme and the maintainability strategy for each detector family are given

Phenomenological model of fungal biofilters for the abatement of hydrophobic VOCs

This work describes the growth of filamentous fungi in biofilters for the degradation of hydrophobic VOCs. The study system was n-hexane and Fusarium solani B1. The system is mathematically described and the main physical, kinetic data and morphological parameters were obtained by independent experiments and validated with data from laboratory experiments. The model describes the increase in the transport area by the growth of the filamentous cylindrical mycelia and its relation with n-hexane elimination in quasi-stationary state in a biofilter. The model describing fungal growth includes Monod-Haldane kinetic and hyphal elongation and ramification. A specific surface area of transport (SSAT) of 1.91 × 105 m2 m-3 and a maximum elimination capacity (EC) of 248 g m-3 h-1 were obtained by the mathematical model simulation, with a 10% of error with respect to the experimental EC

A Global Review of PWR Nuclear Power Plants

[Abstract] Nuclear energy is presented as a real option in the face of the current problem of climate change and the need to reduce CO2 emissions. The nuclear reactor design with the greatest global impact throughout history and which has the most ambitious development plans is the Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). Thus, a global review of such a reactor design is presented in this paper, utilizing the analysis of (i) technical aspects of the different variants of the PWR design implemented over the past eight years, (ii) the level of implementation of PWR nuclear power plants in the world, and (iii) a life extension scenario and future trends in PWR design based on current research and development (R&D) activity. To develop the second analysis, a statistical study of the implementation of the different PWR variants has been carried out. Such a statistical analysis is based on the operating factor, which represents the relative frequency of reactors operating around the world. The results reflect the hegemony of the western variants in the 300 reactors currently operating, highlighting the North American and French versions. Furthermore, a simulation of a possible scenario of increasing the useful life of operational PWRs up to 60 years has been proposed, seeing that in 2050 the generation capacity of nuclear PWRs power plants will decrease by 50%, and the number of operating reactors by 70%

Phase partition of gaseous hexane and surface hydrophobicity of Fusarium solani when grown in liquid and solid media with hexanol and hexane

The filamentous fungus, Fusarium solani, was grown in liquid and solid culture with glucose, glycerol, 1-hexanol and n-hexane. The partition coefficient with gaseous hexane (HPC) in the biomass was lower when grown in liquid medium with 1-hexanol (0.4) than with glycerol (0.8) or glucose (1) The HPC for surface growth were 0.2 for 1-hexanol, 0.5 for glycerol, 0.6 for glucose, and 0.2 for F. solani biomass obtained from a biofilter fed with gaseous n-hexane. These values show a 200-fold increase in n-hexane solubility when compared to water (HPC = 42). Lower HPC values can be partially explained by increased lipid accumulation with 1-hexanol, 10.5% (w/w) than with glycerol (8.5% w/w) or glucose (7.1% w/w). The diameter of the hyphae diminished from 3 μm to 2 μm when F. solani was grown on solid media with gaseous n-hexane thereby doubling the surface area for gaseous substrate exchange. The surface hydrophobicity of the mycelia increased consistently with more hydrophobic substrates and the contact angle of a drop of water on the mycelial mat was 113° when grown on n-hexane as compared to 75° with glucose. The fungus thus adapts to hydrophobic conditions and these changes may explain the higher uptake of gaseous hydrophobic substances by fungi in biofilters

Generation and Dispersion Model of Gaseous Emissions from Sanitary Landfills

A mathematical model was developed to quantify the environmental impact produced by the gases emission from sanitary landfills. The stages of gas generation and diffusion were modeled using waste and cover materials placed in a landfill over an isotropic porous medium, while the dispersion stage was modeled for the atmosphere using a Gaussian model. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) criteria were adopted for the estimation of greenhouse gases emissions. The MATLAB computer program was used to prepare simulations of a proposed sanitary landfill to serve the municipalities of Temuco and Padre Las Casas in Chile, considering a lifetime of 20 years. The simulated results show that the conditions of confinement have a greater incidence on the rate of gas emission than does the quantity of waste disposed. It was also concluded that the level of environmental impact varies considerably according to the evaluation scenario and the project design

Comparison of several ELISA tests for detecting the presence of IgG and IgM against herpes simplex viruses

Four enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays designated test 1 (ETI-HSVK-G 1/2); test 2 (ETI-HSVK-M 1/2); test 3 (ETI-HSVK-G 2), and test 4 (BioElisa HSV2 IgG) were studied to evaluate different stages of herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection. Samples (50 sera and 14 cerebrospinal fluid) were included in four groups. Group 1 consisted of samples from patients with primary HSV infections; group 2 comprised samples from patients with recurrent HSV infections; group 3 were samples nonreactive to HSV; and group 4 were samples from patients with infections by other herpes viruses (4a, chickenpox; 4b, herpes zoster; and 4c, infectious mononucleosis by Epstein-Barr virus). The percentages of agreement between tests 1 and 2 were 100 and 72.1%, respectively. The total diagnostic values of tests 1 and 2 were: 100 and 50% sensitivity, respectively; and 100 and 89% specificity, respectively. Few positive results for HSV-2 infection were found, and so, tests 3 and 4 were not evaluated. The results of tests 3 and 4 for a chickenpox patient, and a herpes zoster patient were not in agreement

Multi-turn Extraction system of the PS at CERN: information management and planning

CERN es el Consejo Europeo de la Investigación Nuclear. Es el mayor laboratorio de física de partículas, donde científicos de todo el mundo estudian la estructura de la materia y las fuerzas que las mantienen unidas para así conseguir entender mejor el comportamiento y el origen del Universo. Actualmente se está construyendo el mayor acelerador del mundo (ya en su fase de puesta en marcha), el Large Hadron Collider (LHC) situado en la frontera franco-suiza, ocupando un túnel 27 km de longitud excavado 100 m de profundidad. Para inyectar partículas en el LHC son necesarios otros aceleradores más pequeños que ya se encontraban anteriormente en el CERN: el acelerador PS (Proton Synchrotron) y el SPS (Super Proton Synchrotron). Para transferir partículas de un acelerador a otro es necesario un sistema que las extraiga con la menor pérdida posible del haz. Por ello, se está construyendo un nuevo sistema de extracción “Multi-turn extraction”. Este proyecto, conocido como MTE, se prevé que esté completamente instalado y testeado a finales de junio de 2008. El proyecto MTE está siendo llevado a cabo por diferentes secciones del CERN. Este proyecto se centra en una de ellas, “KPS Section” (Kickers of the Accelerator PS). Hasta este momento, toda la información de la sección relacionada con el proyecto MTE se encontraba en diferentes formatos y localizaciones, tales como ordenadores personales, carpetas archivadoras, libros o en el conocimiento de los trabajadores de la sección. A lo largo de este proyecto se describe el diseño y creación de un nuevo sistema de gestión y almacenaje de información seguro, rápido, ágil y fácil en su manejo. Para ello se han utilizado las herramientas ya existentes en el CERN: EDMS (Engineering Data Management System), DFS (Distributed File System) y páginas web. Además, se describe la creación de una página web donde se centraliza toda la información de la sección relacionada con el proyecto MTE y se facilita el acceso a la información por parte de todos los trabajadores. Para finalizar, se realiza una planificación detallada del proyecto MTE pero únicamente aquellas tareas en la que participan los trabajadores de la sección KPS