860 research outputs found
The Potential Revenue from Financial Transactions Taxes
This joint report by CEPR and the Political Economy Research Institute (University of Massachusetts, Amherst) gives an estimate of $177-354 billion in revenue that could be raised by taxing financial transactions in the United States.financial taxes, financial transactions, economic crisis, financial crisis
The Potential Revenue from Financial Transactions Taxes
The economic crisis of the last two years has led to serious concerns about the sharp growth in the federal government’s fiscal deficit as well as the government’s overall debt burden as a share of total U.S. GDP. Many analysts also believe that an excessive share of the economy’s resources is being consumed by the financial sector. A financial transactions or trading tax is a policy tool that can address both issues: raising a substantial amount of revenue and reducing the size of financial trading in the U.S. economy relative to the economy’s level of productive activity. This paper calculates the revenue potential from a set of financial trading taxes. It updates an earlier set of calculations, using a similar methodology.
Understanding Individual Experiences of Chronic Illness with Semantic Space Models of Electronic Discussions
Electronic discussion groups provide a convenient forum for individuals to share their experiences of chronic illness. The language use of individual participants, and the way their language shifts over time, may provide implicit indications of important shifts in sense-of-self. This paper relates experience with application of the hyperspace analogue to language (HAL) model for automatic construction of a dimensional model from a corpus of text. HAL is applied to 17 months of discussion on a closed list of 20 women coping with chronic illness. The discussion group was moderated for a focus the phenomenon of "Transition' - how people can learn to incorporate the consequences of illness into their lives. The current phase of research focuses on identification of clusters of words that can represent key aspects of Transition. The HAL models for two participants have been analyzed by experts in Transition to form candidate clusters. These clusters are then used as a basis for contrasting the language usage of an individual participant over time as compared to the entire corpus. We have not yet found a reliable basis for identifying transitions in an individual based on their entries into a discussion forum, although the clusters may have some inherent value for introspection on individual experiences and Transition in general. We report challenges for interpretation of the HAL model related to the correlation of dimensions and the impact of group dynamics
Strong chiral optical force for small chiral molecules based on electric-dipole interactions, inspired by the asymmetrical hydrozoan
Drawing inspiration from a remarkable chiral force found in nature, we show
that a static electric field combined with an optical linlin
polarization standing wave can exert a chiral optical force on a small chiral
molecule that is several orders of magnitude stronger than other chiral optical
forces proposed to date, being based on leading electric-dipole interactions
rather than relying on weak magnetic-dipole and electric-quadrupole
interactions. Our chiral optical force applies to most small chiral molecules,
including isotopically chiral molecules, and does not require a specific
energy-level structure. Potential applications range from chiral molecular
matter-wave interferometry for precision metrology and tests of fundamental
physics to the resolution of enantiomers for use in chemistry and biology
Dimensional and crystallographic fabric development in experimentally deformed synthetic aggregate and natural rocks
Calcite Portland-cement aggregate samples were deformed
triaxially at 25 deg. with confining pressures of 200 Mpa. The
samples were deformed under experimental approximations of
pure shear (dry and wet experimental conditions),
transpressional shear and simple shear. The pore fluid
pressure during the wet pure shear test was less than 195 MPa.
Extensive grain rotation accompanied by twinning of the
calcite grains occurred.
Optical analyses of calcite crystallographic fabrics have
been used to infer the orientation of the maximum principal
compressive stress. Stress orientations in the deformed
specimens agree well with the externally imposed stresses. A
new method has been successfully used to determine the a,
orientation. The method uses contouring of the lamellae index
associated with the compression direction determined from
Turner's Dynamic analysis method.
In pure shear, preferred dimensional orientation (PDO) of
the calcite grains are produced more efficiently in the
presence of a pore fluid pressure. In dry specimens,
transpressional shear is more effective in producing a PDO in
the calcite grain than either pure shear or simple shear.
Grain shape fabrics do not conform to the symmetry of the bulk
deformation when extensive rotation of calcite grains is
involved. Mean grain alignment is perpendicular to the
shortening in pure shear, initially inclined and later
parallel to the shear zone wall in transpressional shear, and
inclined to the shear zone wall in simple shear. The mean
orientation of the grain-alignment fabrics is, therefore, a
reliable kinematic indicator under the conditions
investigated. Transpressional shear and dry pure shear exhibit
higher lamellae indices than either wet pure shear or simple
shear.
Strain analysis of calcite grains by Robin's method
(1977) , the linearization method (Yu and Zheng, 1984) and
Harmonic mean method (Lisle, 1977) yields overestimates of the
experimental bulk strain in wet pure shear. These methods fail
to take into account interparticle motions that occur in the
presence of a high pore fluid pressure.
The triaxial deformation of the Ancaster oolitic limestone
was preformed with a confining pressure of 200 Mpa, a natural
strain rate of 10-5/s and at a temperature of 135°C. The
samples were deformed under dry and wet experimental
conditions. The pore fluid pressure, during the wet test, was
less than 60 % of the confining pressure.
The deformation process of ooids in the dry experimental test is rigid rotation of the ooid particles. In the case of
wet experimental conditions, it appears that the pore fluid
pressure produces particulate flow in the fine grained ooid
matrix.
Due to a viscosity contrast, between ooids and cement
matrix, strain analysis on the ooids exhibits an overestimate
of strain compared to the experimental bulk strain. This holds
true for both wet and dry experimental conditions.
Experimental triaxial deformation was conducted on the
China Beach sandstone by pure shear for dry experimental
conditions. The temperature was held constant at 25°C, with
computer controlled natural strain rates of 10-5/s and a
confining pressure of 200 Mpa.
Mechanical heterogeneities in the grains of the China
Beach sample play an important role in the development of
cleavage. Altered feldspar grains and lithic fragments deform
by ductile processes, while unaltered feldspar and quartz
grain deform by rigid rotation and brittle processes. Strain
analysis of each grain type in the China Beach sandstone yield
a range of strain estimates depending on the deformation
process compared to the experimental bulk strain.
Comparison of Robin's method, the linearization method and
Harmonic mean method suggest that Robin's method generates the
best estimates of the bulk experimental strain ratio
Design and specification of a high speed transport protocol
Due to the increase in data throughput potential provided by high speed (fiber optic) networks,
existing transport protocols are becoming increasingly incapable of providing reliable and timely transfer of data. Whereas in networks of the past it was the transmission medium that caused the greatest communications delay, it is the case today that the transport protocols themselves have become the bottleneck. This thesis provides detailed in sight into the issues that are affecting the development of the next generation of high speed transport protocols, and includes a formal specification and limited analysis of one such protocol. Through a dissection of transport protocol functions, this thesis illustrates some of the problems which are hindering optimal performance, and demonstrates some of the design considerations of new transport protocols which are providing significant gains in efficiency. Three of the most promising lightweight transport protocol research projects are surveyed to provide a frame of reference for the newly emerging design paradigm: taking advantage of the low error rate of fiber optic media to optimize success, rather than compensate for failure.http://archive.org/details/designspecificat00mcarCaptain, United States Marine CorpsApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited
Harnessing shaped light for enhanced manufacturing using ultrafast laser inscription
The following thesis details the experimental process for the implementation of light beam
shaping into the current standard of ultrafast laser fabrication systems, allowing for the
development of a monolithic microspectrometer device. The implementation of beam
shaping aided in the correction of two limitations in the current writing system: long
manufacturing times and depth-related spherical aberration. Firstly, the addition of a pseudo-Bessel beam allowed for a 12-fold reduction in manufacturing timescales, demonstrated by
chemical etching dicing of a fused silica sample. Moreover, it was shown that polarisation-insensitive selective etching was achieved by tuning the writing laser’s pulse duration.
Secondly, it was shown that with the use of a magnitude-scaled Zernike polynomial phase
mask, the effects of depth related aberration could be counteracted. These experiments
showed that a volume Bragg grating written at a depth of 900 µm produced a low diffraction
efficiency, however, this was increased by 36% when the appropriate phase mask was
applied. This was supported by an electron plasma imaging study which provided further data
without the need for an inscribed object. The knowledge and skills gained during these two
projects produced two published papers and the first steps toward the Czerny-Turner base
monolithic microspectrometer device.EPSRC fundin
Mastication of Nuts under Realistic Eating Conditions: Implications for Energy Balance
The low digestibility and high satiety effects of nuts have been partly attributed to mastication. This work examines chewing forces and the bolus particle size of nuts (walnuts, almonds, pistachios) varying in physical properties under different conditions (with and without water, juice, sweetened yogurt and plain yogurt) along with satiety sensations and gut hormone concentrations following walnut consumption (whole or butter). In a randomized, cross-over design with 50 adults (25 males, 25 females; Body Mass Index (BMI) 24.7 ± 3.4 kg/m²; age: 18⁻52 years old (y/o), the chewing forces and particle size distribution of chewed nuts were measured under different chewing conditions. Appetite sensations were measured at regular intervals for 3 h after nut intake, and plasma samples were collected for the measurement of glucose, insulin and Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). The three nuts displayed different particle sizes at swallowing though no differences in chewing forces were observed. Walnuts with yogurt yielded larger particle sizes than the other treatments. Particle size was not correlated with either food palatability or flavor. Fullness sensations were higher after whole nut than nut butter consumption though there were no significant changes in glucose, insulin, or GLP-1 concentrations under any condition. Changing the conditions at swallowing might influence the release of energy from nuts
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