673 research outputs found

    Investigating the CM Club Financials at Cal Poly

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    With our growing Construction Management department and continuous flow of new students at Cal Poly, clubs at Cal Poly are constantly electing new officers to run them. These officers must know what sort of budget they are working with. This project shows these officers what previous years have done and what they can work with. The financial sheets are about revenue and expenses. It is an Operating Budget vs Actual financial sheet for year 2017-2018. The officers are encouraged to continue this financial analysis to put in their books for future officers

    Local probe investigations of the electronic phase diagrams of iron pnictides and chalcogenides

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    In this work, the electronic phase diagrams of Ca1−xNaxFe2As2 and Fe1+yTe were investigated using muon spin relaxation and Mössbauer spectroscopy. Single crystals of Ca1−xNaxFe2As2 with x = 0.00, 0.35, 0.50, and 0.67 were examined. The undoped 122 parent compound CaFe2As2 is a semi metal and shows antiferromagnetic commensurate spin density wave order below 167 K. By hole doping via Na substitution, the magnetic order is suppressed and superconductivity emerges including a Na-substitution level region, where both phases coexist. Upon Na substitution, a tilting of the magnetic moments out of the ab-plane is found. The interaction of the magnetic and superconducting order parameter in this coexistence region was studied and a nanoscopic coexistence of both order parameters is found. This is proven by a reduction of the magnetic order parameter of 7 % in x = 0.50 below the superconducting transition temperature. This reduction was analysed using Landau theory and a systematic correlation between the reduction of the magnetic order parameter and the ratio of the transition temperatures, Tc/TN, for the 122 family of the iron pnictides is presented. The magnetic phase transition is accompanied by a tetragonal-to-orthorhombic phase transition. The lattice dynamics at temperatures above and below this magneto-structural phase transition were studied and no change in the lattice dynamics were found. However, the lattice for finite x is softer than for the undoped compound. For x = 0.67, diluted magnetic order is found. Therefore, the magnetism in Ca1−xNaxFe2As2 is persistent even at optimal doping. The superconducting state is investigated by measuring the temperature dependence of the magnetic penetration depth, where two superconducting gaps with a weighting of nearly 50:50 are obtained. A temperature independent anisotropy of the magnetic penetration depth Îł_λ = 1.5(4) is obtained, which is much smaller compared to other 122 compounds indicating a more three-dimensional behaviour of Ca1−xNaxFe2As2. Powder samples of Fe1+yTe with y = 0.06, 0.12, 0.13, and 0.15 were examined. Fluctuating paramagnetic moments at room temperature were found, which are independent of the excess iron level y. Below 100 K, a magnetic precursor phase is observed, which is independent of y. Fe1.06Te shows a commensurate spin density wave phase below TN, while for y ≄ 0.13 an incommensurate spin density wave phase below TN is found. However, a slowing down of the magnetic fluctuations with decreasing temperature and static magnetic order at lowest temperature are observed.In dieser Arbeit wurden die elektronischen Phasendiagramme von Ca1−xNaxFe2As2 and Fe1+yTe mit Hilfe der Myonspinrelaxations- und Mössbauerspektroskopie untersucht. Einkristalle von Ca1−xNaxFe2As2 mit x = 0.00, 0.35, 0.50 und 0.67 wurden untersucht. Das undorierte 122-System CaFe2As2 ist ein Halbmetal und zeigt eine antiferromagnetische Spindichtewelle unterhalb von 167 K. Substituiert man Ca durch Na, werden Löcher in das System eingebracht. Die magnetische Ordnung wird mit steigendem Na-Anteil unterdrĂŒckt und Supraleitung tritt auf. Dabei existiert ein Na-Substitutionslevelbereich, in welchem Magnetismus und Supraleitung koexistieren. Desweiteren wurde ein herausdrehen der magnetischen Momente aus der ab-Ebene als Funktion von x beobachtet. Die Wechselwirkung des magnetischen mit dem supraleitenden Ordnungsparameter in der Koexistenzregion wurde untersucht und nanoskopische Koexistenz der beiden Ordnungsparameter wurde gefunden. Dies konnte durch eine Reduktion des magnetischen Ordnungsparameteres um 7 % in x = 0.50 unterhalb der supraleitenden Ordnungstemperatur gezeigt werden. Diese Reduktion wurde mit Hilfe der Landautheorie untersucht und es wurden systematische Korrelationen zwischen der Reduktion des magnetischen Ordnungsparamteres und dem VerhĂ€ltnis der Übergangstemperaturen, Tc/TN, in der 122-Familie der Eisenpniktide gefunden. Der magnetische PhasenĂŒbergang wird von einem strukturellen PhasenĂŒbergang begleitet. Die Gitterdynamik wurde bei Temperaturen oberhalb und unterhalb dieses magneto-elastischen PhasenĂŒbergangs untersucht. Es wurden keine Änderungen in der Gitterdynamik festgestellt. Jedoch konnte festgestellt werden, dass das Gitter fĂŒr endliche x weicher ist als fĂŒr das undotierte System. FĂŒr x = 0.67 wurde festgestellt, dass der Magnetismus im Ca1−xNaxFe2As2-System auch noch bei optimaler Dotierung zu finden ist. In der supraleitenden Phase wurde die TemperaturabghĂ€ngigkeit der magnetischen Eindringtiefe untersucht und es wurden zwei supraleitende BandlĂŒcken gefunden. Die Anisotropie der magnetischen Eindringtiefe ist temperaturunabhĂ€ngig und mit Îł_λ = 1.5(4) wesentlich kleiner als in anderen 122- Verbindungen, was fĂŒr eine erhöhte DreidimensionalitĂ€t in Ca1−xNaxFe2As2 spricht. Pulverproben von Fe1+yTe mit y = 0.06, 0.12, 0.13 und 0.15 wurden untersucht. Es wurden fluktuierende paramagnetische Momente bei Raumtemperatur gefunden, welche unabhĂ€ngig vom Überschusseisenlevel y sind. Unterhalb von 100 K wurde eine magnetische VorgĂ€ngerphase gefunden, welche unabhĂ€ngig von y ist. Mit fallender Temperatur wurde eine Verlangsamung der magnetischen Fluktuationen festgestellt, welche in einer statischen magnetischen Ordnung bei tiefen Temperaturen mĂŒnden

    Proceedings of the Researchers‘ Corner for the 12th Annual Meeting of the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance 2019

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    The 12th Annual Meeting of the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance [Förderkreis RĂŒckversicherung] was held 5th July 2019 in Niederkassel, near Cologne. Some 80 representatives of the (re)insurance companies involved in the Sponsoring Group took part in the meeting, along with guests. Offered for the fifth time as part of the Annual Meeting, the Researchers’ Corner gave eight members of academic staff at the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance an opportunity to deliver a presentation on their respective current research projects. In three sessions – each featuring 2-3 parallel lectures with posters – the most important results of the scientific studies by the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance were presented and discussed. The heterogeneity of the topics presented by academic staff reflects the dovetailing of Cologne Research Centre with reinsurance practice. Session 1 a) Manuel Dietmann (M.Sc.): The increasing importance of the riskmanagement function in insurance companies b) Robert Joniec (M.Sc., FCII, cand. PhD): How is the reinsurance cycle doing? c) Wolfgang Koch (M.Sc., FCII): Information asymmetries between reinsurance brokers and assignors Session 2 a) Jörg Dirks (M.Sc., FCII): Unmanned aircraft – Evolution of the market for aviation (re-)insurance b) Fabian Lassen (M.Sc., FCII): Reducing volatility through use of an insurance swap c) Fabian PĂŒtz (M.Sc., cand. PhD): Transferring cat risks from emerging markets from a macroeconomic perspective Session 3 a) Kai-Olaf Knocks (M.A., FCII): The ILS market in 2019 – discouragement or wait-and-see? b) Lihong Wang (M.Sc., FCII, cand. PhD): China InsurTech development With the publication series, ‘Proceedings of the Researchers’ Corner’, the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance meets the desire for publication of the research results of our scholars together with the accompanying posters and discussions. The titles are reproduced in keeping with the above agenda of the Researchers’ Corner for the 12th Annual Meeting of the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance. As part of the event, Prof. Materne also conducted an interview with Mr Ingo Wichelhaus (Senior Director, Mount Street) on the topic of risk management and portfolio management. Particular attention was devoted to the broad spectrum of risk for financing in the shipping sector

    Proceedings of the Researchers’ Corner for the 11th Annual Meeting of the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance 2018

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    The 11th Annual Meeting of the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance (Förderkreis RĂŒckversicherung) on the topic of reinsurance was held 13 July 2018, in Niederkassel near Cologne. Some 85 invited representatives of the (re)insurance companies supporting the Sponsoring Group took part in the meeting, together with guests. Offered for the fourth time as part of the Annual Meeting, the Researchers’ Corner gave eight members of academic staff at the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance an opportunity to deliver a presentation on their respective individual research projects. Professor Materne also conducted interviews with Dr. Falk Niehörster (Climate Risk Innovations) and Dr. Magnus Kobel (YAS.life). Dr. Niehörster reported on his research and consulting activities in regard to maritime climate change and Dr. Kobel on the business model of his InsurTec, YAS.life, and his general experience in the establishment and development of start-ups. In three sessions – each with 2-3 parallel lectures with posters – the most important results of the scientific studies by the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance were presented and discussed. The heterogeneity of the topics presented by academic staff reflects the dovetailing of research theory with practice

    Annual Report 2018 of the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance

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    The reinsurance market continues to face major challenges – at this point we would like to outline just two of these. While renewal of the reinsurance contracts as at 1st January 2019 was largely ‘riskadjusted flat’, renewal of the retrocession contracts was decidedly late. As at the date when this Annual Report 2018 went to press (2nd January 2019), the final trend is still not yet discernible. However, there are signs of a substantial hardening in prices and conditions in the retrocession area. Reinsurers, which are depend on the resource of retrocession capacity, would then be placed in an even more difficult position of increasing the price of retrocession, yet these additional costs cannot be passed on to the assignors under their active reinsurance contracts. Not least the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority [BaFin] is also certain to set its sights on this aspect in its analysis of the prevailing reinsurance price level, which has been announced for 2019. Of particular interest with regard to a potential determination of insufficient market conditions would also be the resulting reaction by BaFin (and the basis on which this would occur). A decisive factor for a possible strengthening of the retrocession market would be a changed attitude on the part of alternative capital, which in recent years already provided 50-70% of the retrocession capacity – and rising – via ILS funds and other mechanisms. Unlike traditional reinsurers, ‘innocent investors’ such as pension funds were increasingly nervous as a result of the high number of claims again in 2018 – particularly the California wildfires in Q4 2018 – as well as the drop in the fund share price of numerous ILS funds prior to the renewal at 1st January 2019. A further substantial burden on the business climate lies in the utter ambiguity with regard to the modalities of Brexit on 29th March 2019. A no-deal Brexit would seem to be a real – and perhaps even a probable – alternative. This would create a large vacuum in legal certainty by eliminating many EU-UK contracts and agreements. The Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance analyses the latest developments in the reinsurance market and, where appropriate, monitors these through research projects. In the process, the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance links its research activities with practices in the reinsurance sector. Hereby, and facilitated through organisation of the annual Cologne Reinsurance Symposium and the Annual Meeting of the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance [Förderkreis RĂŒckversicherung], a bi-directional transfer of knowledge between theory and practice is pursued. The content of these two scientific events, as well as the completed research projects, are incorporated into scholarship and instruction at the Institute of Insurance Studies, rounding out practice-oriented training in the field of reinsurance. - 5 - Currently, there are nine researchers and two employees responsible for science management on the staff of the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance. Thereby, all material and personnel costs are fully financed by third-party funds provided by the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance. We want to thank the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance, the University leadership and administration, ivwKöln [the Institute of Insurance Cologne] and the employees of the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance for all their support for the research projects and events of the past year

    Annual Report 2019 of the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance

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    The reinsurance market continues to face major challenges – at this point we would like to outline just one of these, by way of example. The renewal of reinsurance contracts effective 1st January 2020 seems to present an-other disappointment for the reinsurance sector. This development is surprising for a substantial hardening of prices and conditions, not only in the retrocession area but also in the primary (corporate) insurance market. As a rule, a price increase in the retrocession sector is initially followed by a price rise in the reinsurance industry, which then ultimately also occurs in the primary (corporate) insurance market. Yet the trend we are currently witnessing seems to have skipped over the reinsurers. This confronts the reinsurance market with the question of whether – and, if so, when – the price adjustments will also take effect in the case of reinsurance contracts. The Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance analyses the latest developments in the reinsurance market and, where appropriate, monitors these through research pro-jects. In the process, the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance links its research activities with practices in the reinsurance sector. Hereby, and facilitated through or-ganisation of the annual Cologne Reinsurance Symposium and the Annual Meeting of the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance [Förderkreis RĂŒckversicherung], a bi-directional transfer of knowledge between theory and practice is pursued. The content of these two scientific events, as well as the completed research projects, are incorporated into scholarship and instruction at the Institute of Insurance Studies, rounding out practice-oriented training in the field of reinsurance. There are seven researchers, two employees responsible for research management and one administrative employee currently on the staff of the Cologne Research Cen-tre for Reinsurance. Thereby, all material and personnel costs are fully financed by third-party funds provided by the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance. Within the scope of its social and environmental responsibility, this year the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance dealt with the topics of climate protection, sustaina-bility and equality. Because these topics are at once global, national and individual missions, the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance developed ideas and took measures to actively practice climate protection, sustainability and equality. In this ef-fort, great importance was attached to maintaining the level of quality while at the same time pursuing the objectives the Research Centre had set for itself in the above-men-tioned areas. While it is still in its beginnings, our initiative in the field of climate protec-tion and sustainability is manifested particularly in the most sustainable management of resources and travel we can achieve. We want to thank the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance, the University leadership and administration, ivwKöln [the Institute of Insurance Studies Cologne] and the employees of the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance for all their support for the research projects and events of the past year

    Shattering Stained Glass: Empowering Christian Women to Lead Equitably in the Church and Society

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    In today\u27s American Christian culture, it has been my observation that women are still feeling the repercussions of Christian traditions and theologies that have an elongated history of neglecting their authority and leadership. After having a decade and a half of experience working within different Christian communities, there has been an overwhelming amount of evidence to support that there is a strong disconnect between the theology of women’s leadership and the physical, practical, and systematic action of engaging them as leaders. Among these narratives is my own. After having served in a leadership role within an evangelical mega church for over a decade, I have experienced the systematic realities and hurdles many women face in a white, male, dominated community. Within my research, I have concluded that while a church may preach from the pulpit the authority and theological justification of women in leadership, there can easily remain systems and methods that keep them from actually embodying those positions. As a result, these women, who feel called to leadership have been overlooked, underequipped, and have failed to have access to fundamental resources to equip them in their calling as leaders. This thesis project will seek to examine the ways in which the church can and should be an advocate for female leadership and contribute to the reconciling of a patriarchal dominated culture. We accomplish this by first specifically naming how Christian communities have failed in aiding female leaders in their identity, calling, and gifting. It is this thesis writer’s conviction that if we are to “fix” an issue, we must be willing to “face” the issue. Therefore, this thesis will spend a considerable amount of time diagnosing the obstacles of female leadership from women’s point of view. In summary what our findings will conclude is that there is a large population of female leaders who face systematic inequality. Consequently, this has resulted in many women questioning their imago dei, their purpose, and their ability to engage in the leadership to which they are called. As a result, it has led women to not only give up on their pursuits of leadership, but it has also caused psychological and emotional harm. Consequently, women have not only reported leaving the church, but they have unfortunately learned to normalize their pain and suffering. Therefore, this thesis will also name how a continual negation of engaging their needs only perpetuates a culture that marginalizes them. Thanks to the contribution of many marginalized theologies, such as feminist, black, and mujerista, we now have a theological framework that suggest that the church can no longer stand idly by as the people within their communities feel oppressed, marginalized, and neglected. Therefore, the next portion of this thesis will be centered around articulating a theological disposition that justifies the inclusivity of women and the equitable empowerment to see women participate as part of the Body of Christ. We will do this by specifically looking at Ubuntu theology and Incarnational Theology, which articulates the Churches theological necessity to participate in the reconciliatory actions of Christ. Thereby, negating any culturally justified actions that ignore the systematic negation of female leadership. As a result, the purpose of our question is to reconcile the disconnect between a Christian communities which claims female leadership but practically fails in embodying this equality in the day-to-day practice of their communities. By addressing this severed connection between theory and practice, we are left with a clearer understanding of the elements needed to empower the women within the Church to be the leaders they believe God has divinely called, identified, and enabled them to be. The goal of this thesis is to leave us with a framework to help Christian communities reconcile the female/male leadership disparities within our churches and society. To that end, this thesis will seek to answer, “Will a praxis of engaging women’s identity, gifting, and calling aid women in their leadership and will it contribute to reconciling the female/male disparities within our Christian communities so that women are empowered and released to fully lead in Church and society?” By establishing a theology of reconciliation that calls us into a narrative of aiding and equipping female leadership, I will conclude this thesis by offering a theological and systematic praxis and by examining if this praxis ultimately contributes to the church becoming an advocate for female leadership and contribute to the reconciliation of a patriarchally dominated culture

    Magnetic order and spin dynamics across a ferromagnetic quantum critical point: ÎŒ\muSR investigations of YbNi4_4(P1−x_{1-x}Asx_x)2_2

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    In the quasi-1D heavy-fermion system YbNi4_4(P1−x_{1-x}Asx_x)2_2 the presence of a ferromagnetic (FM) quantum critical point (QCP) at xcx_c ≈0.1\approx 0.1 with unconventional quantum critical exponents in the thermodynamic properties has been recently reported. Here, we present muon-spin relaxation (ÎŒ\muSR) experiments on polycrystals of this series to study the magnetic order and the low energy 4ff-electronic spin dynamics across the FM QCP. The zero field ÎŒ\muSR measurements on pure YbNi4_4(P2_{2} proved static long range magnetic order and suggested a strongly reduced ordered Yb moment of about 0.04ÎŒB\mu_B. With increasing As substitution the ordered moment is reduced by half at x=0.04x = 0.04 and to less than 0.005 ÎŒB\mu_B at x=0.08x=0.08. The dynamic behavior in the ÎŒ\muSR response show that magnetism remains homogeneous upon As substitution, without evidence for disorder effect. In the paramagnetic state across the FM QCP the dynamic muon-spin relaxation rate follows 1/T1T∝T−nT_{1}T\propto T^{-n} with 1.01±0.04≀n≀1.13±0.061.01 \pm 0.04 \leq n \leq 1.13 \pm 0.06. The critical fluctuations are very slow and are even becoming slower when approaching the QCP.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

    Chip-based liver equivalents for toxicity testing - organotypicalness versus cost-efficient high throughput

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    Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugÀnglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.Drug-induced liver toxicity dominates the reasons for pharmaceutical product ban, withdrawal or non-approval since the thalidomide disaster in the late-1950s. Hopes to finally solve the liver toxicity test dilemma have recently risen to a historic level based on the latest progress in human microfluidic tissue culture devices. Chip-based human liver equivalents are envisaged to identify liver toxic agents regularly undiscovered by current test procedures at industrial throughput. In this review, we focus on advanced microfluidic microscale liver equivalents, appraising them against the level of architectural and, consequently, functional identity with their human counterpart in vivo. We emphasise the inherent relationship between human liver architecture and its drug-induced injury. Furthermore, we plot the current socio-economic drug development environment against the possible value such systems may add. Finally, we try to sketch a forecast for translational innovations in the field
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