Studies of Contingent Capital Bonds

A contingent capital bond (CCB) is a subordinated security that converts to common shares when a predetermined trigger is breached. The 2008 financial crisis and the Basel III motivate the issuance of CCBs, aiming to mitigate the too-big-to-fail problem in financial distress and to resolve financial institutions by bailing in with the firm’s own capital rather than a bailing out using the taxpayers’ money. Within the structural modelling framework, we consider the pricing of CCBs with an affine geometric Brownian motion by assuming that coupon payments have impact on the asset value dynamics. We extend the capital structure into four tranches including deposits, equity, and senior and subordinated bonds, and calibrate the model to Canadian banking data. Under infinite maturity, we derive a closed-form formula to price CCBs. Regulatory suggestions can be made based on our model in the design of conversion terms in recognition to the creditor- claim seniority and to ensure that equity investors are not rewarded for poor performance. Under the finite-maturity case, the term structures of CCBs are investigated by applying Monte Carlo simulation. When the conversion price is based on the contemporary market stock price (as it tends to be in practice), CCB investors may have incentives to short the firm’s stock to depress the market stock price and earn favourable returns from possible future conversion. Continuing with the structural model, we allow for a deviation between the stock’s fundamental value and market value and use it to analyze the CCB investors’ incentives to short. We discuss three kinds of market-based conversion prices and find that directly using the contemporary market stock price could tempt manipulations. However, adding a floor to the contemporary market stock price or using the trailing average instead would curb the manipulation incentives. Among the issuances of CCBs, one noticeable characteristic is that regulators retain the right to force the conversion in view of the issuing firm’s solvency prospects and the economic stability. In an intensity-model based approach, we incorporate regulatory discretion into the pricing model and therefore manage to quantify the impact of regulatory uncertainty on the cost of CCBs. Reasonable intervals for conversion terms are also detected under the regulatory trig- ger. Two categories of intensity functions are considered to distinguish regulators’ behaviours towards non-systemically important and too-big-to-fail financial institutions. In general, the CCBs issued by too-big-to-fail financial institutions are more expensive than those issued by non-systemically important financial institutions due to the feature that conversion is sure to happen before liquidation

Value Analysis of Cheer Leading in College Sport Cultural Construction

Cheer Leading is a kind of sport which is popular and arising in recent years. It is very popular among the public and deeply affected by everyone’s favorite. Furthermore, cheer leading is a kind of sport with great universality; it can merge dancing, music, entertainment, fitness and other multiple elements in it and put them together with great containment. As a kind of healthy, optimistic youth sport, cheer leading can build up the teamwork sense of the students, which brings great significance to college students. It can not only enrich the sport cultural connotation of the college, but also can promote the building of sport culture on campus. Furthermore, the campus has also provided a very favorable living environment for the popularity of cheer leading. Hence, the two sides can obtain mutual benefit and reciprocity

Joint Scheduling for Multi-Service in Coordinated Multi-Point OFDMA Networks

In this paper, the issues upon user scheduling in the downlink packet transmission for multiple services are addressed for coordinated multi-point (CoMP) OFDMA networks. We consider mixed traffic with voice over IP (VOIP) and best effort (BE) services. In order to improve cell-edge performance and guarantee diverse quality of service (QoS), a utility-based joint scheduling algorithm is proposed, which consists of two steps: ant colony optimization (ACO) based joint user selection and greedy subchannel assignment. We compare the proposed algorithm with the greedy user selection (GUC) based scheme. Via simulation results, we show that 95% of BE users are satsified with average cell-edge data rate greater than 200kbps by using either of the two algorithms. Whereas, our proposed algorithm ensures that more than 95% of VoIP users are satisfied with packet drop ratio less than 2%, compared to 78% by the GUC based algorithm

Performance Analysis and Cooperation Mode Switch in HARQ-based Relaying

We study the optimal, in terms of power-limited outage probability (OP), placement of the relay and investigate the effect of relay placement on the optimal cooperation mode of the source and the relay nodes. Using hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) based relaying techniques, general expressions for the OP and the average transmit power are derived. The results are then particularized to the repetition time diversity (RTD) protocol. The analytical expressions are used to find the transmit powers minimizing the power-limited OP. Our results demonstrate that adaptive power allocation reduces the OP significantly. For instance, consider a Rayleigh fading channel, an OP of 10^-3 and a maximum of 2 RTD-based retransmissions. Then, compared to equal power allocation, the required transmission signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is reduced by 5 dB, if adaptive power allocation is utilized. Another important observation is that, depending on the relay positions and the total power budget, the system should switch between the single-node transmission mode and the joint transmission mode, in order to minimize the outage probability

Low-latency Ultra Reliable 5G Communications: Finite-Blocklength Bounds and Coding Schemes

Future autonomous systems require wireless connectivity able to support extremely stringent requirements on both latency and reliability. In this paper, we leverage recent developments in the field of finite-blocklength information theory to illustrate how to optimally design wireless systems in the presence of such stringent constraints. Focusing on a multi-antenna Rayleigh block-fading channel, we obtain bounds on the maximum number of bits that can be transmitted within given bandwidth, latency, and reliability constraints, using an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing system similar to LTE. These bounds unveil the fundamental interplay between latency, bandwidth, rate, and reliability. Furthermore, they suggest how to optimally use the available spatial and frequency diversity. Finally, we use our bounds to benchmark the performance of an actual coding scheme involving the transmission of short packets

Light Higgs boson in the NMSSM confronted with the CMS diphoton and ditau excesses

In 2018, the CMS collaboration reported a di-photon excess around 95.3 GeV with a local significance of 2.8 $\sigma$. Interestingly, the CMS collaboration also reported a di-tau excess recently at 95 $\sim$ 100 GeV with a local significance of 2.6 $\sim$ 3.1 $\sigma$. Besides, a $b\bar{b}$ excess at 98 GeV with a 2.3 $\sigma$ local significance was reported with LEP data about twenty years ago. In this work, we consider interpreting these excesses together with a light Higgs boson in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM). We conclude that in NMSSM the 95 $\sim$ 100 GeV excesses are difficult to be satisfied simultaneously (not possible globally at $1\sigma$ level, or simultaneously at $2\sigma$ level), and we analyze two partial-satisfied scenarios: the globally $2\sigma$ scenario and small di-photon scenario. An approximate equation of global fit to the three excesses is derived, and two representative types of surviving samples are analyzed in detail. Since the mass regions of these excesses are near the Z boson, we also consider checking the light Higgs boson in the $t\bar{t}$-associated channels. The detailed results may be useful for further checking the low-mass-region excesses in the future.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, 2 table

Investigating the Initiation-Response-Feedback cycle from moves to discourse: A comparative study of Chinese and Australian English language classrooms

The Initiation Response Feedback (IRF) cycle is a ubiquitous, teacher-led discourse pattern in classroom interaction. However, with its restricted participation structure and tight teacher control, it also limits opportunities for student language use and learning. Research has investigated the functions of the IRF cycle in terms of specific discourse moves, in particular the pivotal function of the feedback move. However, few studies have examined the IRF cycle from a Vygotskian sociocultural theoretical perspective as a discursive unit of interaction that functions as a pedagogical tool mediating language learning in classrooms. From this perspective, language learning in classrooms occurs through the collaborative use of discursive mediating tools such as the IRF cycle, underpinned by the interactional competence and cultural assumptions of participants. This study aims to explore how the IRF cycle functions as a mediating tool for language learning and can be used to increase language learning opportunities by developing participants’ classroom interactional competence (CIC) influencing patterns of classroom interaction. The study examines teachers’ use of the IRF cycle to promote language learning as part of their development of classroom interactional competence. The influence of participants’ cultural backgrounds on the local emergence of the IRF cycle is also considered from a macro level of culture. This study of Eight English language classrooms in northern China and Australia is conducted using a field-based qualitative approach to data collection and analysis, comprising classroom observations and discourse analysis. Classroom discourse patterns across the two sites are analysed and compared at three levels or units of analysis - the IRF, CIC and cultural frames. The findings show that effective use of the IRF cycle to achieve language learning goals expands students’ language learning opportunities through joint teacher-student appropriation of the IRF as a mediational tool and is crucially shaped by participants’ interactional resources and cultural assumptions. The study provides a rich picture of the dynamic co-construction of the IRF cycle within wider interactional and cultural frameworks. It furthers our understanding of the multi-layered, mediational potential of the IRF cycle and provides empirical evidence of the nature, function and effects of Vygotsky’s concept of mediation in language learning classrooms

On the Impact of Control Channel Reliability on Coordinated Multi-Point Transmission

In the heterogeneous networks (HetNets), co-channel interference is a serious problem. Coordinated multi-point (CoMP) transmission has emerged as a powerful technique to mitigate co-channel interference. However, all CoMP techniques rely on information exchange through reliable control channels, which are unlikely to be available in HetNets. In this paper, we study the effect of unreliable control channels, consisting of the access links and backhaul links, on the performance of CoMP. A control channel model is introduced by assigning link failure probability (LFP) to backhaul and access links for the cooperative clusters. Three CoMP architectures, namely the centralized, semi-distributed and fully distributed are analyzed. We investigate the probability of deficient control channels reducing quality of service, and impeding transmission. General closed-form expressions are derived for the probability of a cooperative transmission node staying silent in a resource slot due to unreliable control links. By evaluating the average sum rate of users within a CoMP cluster, we show that the performance gains offered by CoMP quickly diminish, as the unreliability of the control links grows