Charge-impurity-induced Majorana fermions in topological superconductors

We study numerically Majorana fermions (MFs) induced by a charged impurity in topological superconductors. It is revealed from the relevant Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations that (i) for quasi-one dimensional systems, a pair of MFs are bounded at the two sides of one charge impurity and well separated; and (ii) for a two dimensional square lattice, the charged-impurity-induced MFs are similar to the known pair of vortex-induced MFs, in which one MF is bounded by the impurity while the other appears at the boundary. Moreover, the corresponding local density of states is explored, demonstrating that the presence of MF states may be tested experimentally.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Consumer finance / household finance: the definition and scope

Purpose: The purpose of this literature review paper is to define consumer finance, describe the scope of consumer finance and discuss its future research directions. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, consumer finance is used as a synonym of household finance. Consumers refer to individuals and families. After defining the term “consumer finance,” we conducted a critical review of consumer finance as an interdisciplinary research field in terms of money managing, insuring, borrowing and saving/investing. Future research directions are also discussed. Findings: This paper discusses similarities and differences among several terms such as consumer finance, household finance, personal finance, family finance and behavioral finance. The paper also reviewed key studies on consumer financial behavior around four key financial functions, namely, money management, insurance, loan and saving/investment and several nontraditional topics such as fintech and financial capability/literacy. The paper also introduced several datasets of consumer finance commonly used in the United States and China. Originality/Value: This paper clarified several similar terms related to consumer finance and sorted out the diverse literature of consumer finance in multiple disciplines such as economics, finance and consumer science, which provide a foundation for generating more fruitful research in consumer finance in the future

Housing prices and household savings: evidence from urban China

Based on precautionary saving motives, this research develops a three-period life-cycle model to manifest the impact of housing prices on household savings in urban China. The theoretical model illustrates that the expected appreciation of housing prices at a household’s middle age leads to the increase in household savings at a household’s young age. Second, household savings at a household’s young age are positively associated with both expected educational and medical expenditures in a household’s middle age and pension expenditures at a household’s old age. Third, the expected housing prices crowd out educational and medical expenditures at a household’s middle age. With the panel data sets of China’s 31 provinces during 1996–2016, results suggest that the expected housing prices significantly interact with the current household savings. However, the influence of the expected housing prices on the current household savings is greater than that of the current household savings on the expected housing prices. Third, the expected expenditures of education, medical care and pension fuel up the current household savings. Meanwhile, the housing prices crowd out the expenditures of education, medical care and pension. Finally, data of the Urban Household Survey (UHS) over the period 2002–2007 show that the household head age has an effect of reverse U-shape on household savings. Accordingly, to prevent a housing bubble and promote household consumption, policy makers should curb housing price inflation by enacting appropriate countercyclical housing policies

Synthesis and structure of the inclusion complex {NdQ[5]K@Q[10](H₂O)4}·4NO₃·20H₂O

Heating a mixture of Nd(NO₃)₃·6H₂O, KCl, Q[10] and Q[5] in HCl for 10 min affords the inclusion complex {NdQ[5]K@Q[10](H₂O)₄}·4NO₃·20H₂O. The structure of the inclusion complex has been investigated by single crystal X-ray diffraction and by X-ray Photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)

Note On Certain Inequalities for Neuman Means

In this paper, we give the explicit formulas for the Neuman means $N_{AH}$, $N_{HA}$, $N_{AC}$ and $N_{CA}$, and present the best possible upper and lower bounds for theses means in terms of the combinations of harmonic mean $H$, arithmetic mean $A$ and contraharmonic mean $C$.Comment: 9 page