How Does the Market Value Unfunded Pension Liabilities?

We lead off by discussing a number of theoretical reasons for expecting various relationships between a firm's unfunded pension liability and its market value. We then discuss our doubts about the methodology of earlier papers which studied the empirical relation between funding and market value using standard cross sectional techniques. A modified cross sectional approach which alleviates some of these doubts, and a variable effect event study methodology which alleviates most of them are both employed to investigate the issues raised in the first part of the paper. Our conclusion confirms those of earlier studies that unfunded pension liabilities are accurately reflected in lower share prices.

Digital predistortion of wideband radar waveforms

As demands for increased radio frequency system performance have grown over time, sufficiently mitigating the distortion introduced by high power amplifiers has proven to be a major challenge to overcome. Digital predistortion is one technique commonly used to reduce the distortion products seen at the output of amplifiers, to great effect. While some of the most widely used predistortion algorithms to date may seem most applicable to waveforms with properties most commonly seen in wireless communication systems, it will be seen that with some specialization, these methods can be quite applicable to linear frequency-modulated pulse radar waveforms. In this thesis, a frequency-domain approach to parameter estimation is presented, and a simple window-based approach to predistortion of wideband linear frequency-modulated pulses is also explored. To test the performance of these predistortion algorithms, a modular radar signal processing FPGA testbench architecture is discussed. Finally, a software defined radio was used to measure the performance of the algorithms discussed in this thesis, and a significant improvement in the peak range sidelobe level was observed. These results enable the integration of digital predistortion into modern radar systems with minimal computational overhead to correct radar pulse envelope distortion

OPTIC: Orbiting Plutonian Topographic Image Craft Proposal for an Unmanned Mission to Pluto

The proposal for an unmanned probe to Pluto is presented and described. The Orbiting Plutonian Topographic Image Craft's (OPTIC's) trip will take twenty years and after its arrival, will begin its data collection which includes image and radar mapping, surface spectral analysis, and magnetospheric studies. This probe's design was developed based on the request for proposal of an unmanned probe to Pluto requirements. The distinct problems which an orbiter causes for each subsystem of the craft are discussed. The final design revolved around two important factors: (1) the ability to collect and return the maximum quantity of information on the Plutonian system; and (2) the weight limitations which the choice of an orbiting craft implied. The velocity requirements of this type of mission severely limited the weight available for mission execution-owing to the large portion of overall weight required as fuel to fly the craft with present technology. The topics covered include: (1) scientific instrumentation; (2) mission management; (3) power and propulsion; (4) attitude and articulation control; (5) structural subsystems; and (6) command, control, and communication

Some Items to Consider Before You Change the Calving Season of Your Beef Cow Herd

This publication gives important items to consider before changing calving seasons of beef cow herds

An Exploration in Implementing Fault Tolerance in Scientific Simulation Application Software

The ability for scientific simulation software to detect and recover from errors and failures of supporting hardware and software layers is becoming more important due to the pressure to shift from large, specialized multi-million dollar ASCI computing platforms to smaller, less expensive interconnected machines consisting of off-the-shelf hardware. As evidenced by the CPlant{trademark} experiences, fault tolerance can be necessary even on such a homogeneous system and may also prove useful in the next generation of ASCI platforms. This report describes a research effort intended to study, implement, and test the feasibility of various fault tolerance mechanisms controlled at the simulation code level. Errors and failures would be detected by underlying software layers, communicated to the application through a convenient interface, and then handled by the simulation code itself. Targeted faults included corrupt communication messages, processor node dropouts, and unacceptable slowdown of service from processing nodes. Recovery techniques such as re-sending communication messages and dynamic reallocation of failing processor nodes were considered. However, most fault tolerance mechanisms rely on underlying software layers which were discovered to be lacking to such a degree that mechanisms at the application level could not be implemented. This research effort has been postponed and shifted to these supporting layers

Endothelial cell regulation of systemic haemodynamics and metabolism acts through the HIF transcription factors.

BackgroundThe vascular endothelium has important endocrine and paracrine roles, particularly in the regulation of vascular tone and immune function, and it has been implicated in the pathophysiology of a range of cardiovascular and inflammatory conditions. This study uses a series of transgenic murine models to explore for the first time the role of the hypoxia-inducible factors, HIF-1α and HIF-2α in the pulmonary and systemic circulations as potential regulators of systemic vascular function in normoxic or hypoxic conditions and in response to inflammatory stress. We developed a series of transgenic mouse models, the HIF-1α Tie2Cre, deficient in HIF1-α in the systemic and pulmonary vascular endothelium and the L1Cre, a pulmonary endothelium specific knockout of HIF-1α or HIF-2α. In vivo, arterial blood pressure and metabolic activity were monitored continuously in normal atmospheric conditions and following an acute stimulus with hypoxia (10%) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Ex vivo, femoral artery reactivity was assessed using wire myography.ResultsUnder normoxia, the HIF-1α Tie2Cre mouse had increased systolic and diastolic arterial pressure compared to litter mate controls over the day-night cycle under normal environmental conditions. VO2 and VCO2 were also increased. Femoral arteries displayed impaired endothelial relaxation in response to acetylcholine mediated by a reduction in the nitric oxide dependent portion of the response. HIF-1α L1Cre mice displayed a similar pattern of increased systemic blood pressure, metabolic rate and impaired vascular relaxation without features of pulmonary hypertension, polycythaemia or renal dysfunction under normal conditions. In response to acute hypoxia, deficiency of HIF-1α was associated with faster resolution of hypoxia-induced haemodynamic and metabolic compromise. In addition, systemic haemodynamics were less compromised by LPS treatment.ConclusionsThese data show that deficiency of HIF-1α in the systemic or pulmonary endothelium is associated with increased systemic blood pressure and metabolic rate, a pattern that persists in both normoxic conditions and in response to acute stress with potential implications for our understanding of the pathophysiology of vascular dysfunction in acute and chronic disease

Cardiovascular adaptation to hypoxia and the role of peripheral resistance.

Systemic vascular pressure in vertebrates is regulated by a range of factors: one key element of control is peripheral resistance in tissue capillary beds. Many aspects of the relationship between central control of vascular flow and peripheral resistance are unclear. An important example of this is the relationship between hypoxic response in individual tissues, and the effect that response has on systemic cardiovascular adaptation to oxygen deprivation. We show here how hypoxic response via the HIF transcription factors in one large vascular bed, that underlying the skin, influences cardiovascular response to hypoxia in mice. We show that the response of the skin to hypoxia feeds back on a wide range of cardiovascular parameters, including heart rate, arterial pressures, and body temperature. These data represent the first demonstration of a dynamic role for oxygen sensing in a peripheral tissue directly modifying cardiovascular response to the challenge of hypoxia

Catfish: A Monte Carlo simulator for black holes at the LHC

We present a new Fortran Monte Carlo generator to simulate black hole events at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. The generator interfaces to the PYTHIA Monte Carlo fragmentation code. The physics of the BH generator includes, but not limited to, inelasticity effects, exact field emissivities, corrections to semiclassical black hole evaporation and gravitational energy loss at formation. These features are essential to realistically reconstruct the detector response and test different models of black hole formation and decay at the LHC.Comment: 22 pages, 8 eps figures. Matches version already published in Computer Physics Communications. CATFISH code and documentation are available at http://www.phy.olemiss.edu/GR/catfis