A new model for market-based regulation of subnational borrowing - the Mexican approach

Faced with weak sub-national finances that pose a risk to macroeconomic stability, Mexico's federal government in April 2000 established an innovative incentive framework to bring fiscal discipline to state and municipal governments. That framework is based on two pillars: an explicit renunciation of federal bail-outs, and a Basel-consistent link between the capital-risk weighting of bank loans to sub-national governments, and the borrower's credit rating. In theory, this new regulatory arrangement should reduce moral hazard among banks and their state, and municipal clients; differentiate interest rates on the basis of the borrower's creditworthiness; and, elicit a strong demand for institutional development at the sub-national level. But its access will depend on three factors critical to implementation: 1) Whether markets find thefederal commitment not to bail out defaulting sub-national governments credible. 2) Whether sub-national governments have access to financing other than bank loans. 3) How well bank capital rules are enforced.Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Economic Theory&Research,Financial Intermediation,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Financial Intermediation,Insurance&Risk Mitigation

Novel Methods in Computational Imaging with Applications in Remote Sensing

This dissertation is devoted to novel computational imaging methods with applications in remote sensing. Computational imaging methods are applied to three distinct applications including imaging and detection of buried explosive hazards utilizing array radar, high resolution imaging of satellites in geosynchronous orbit utilizing optical hypertelescope arrays, and characterization of atmospheric turbulence through multi-frame blind deconvolution utilizing conventional optical digital sensors. The first application considered utilizes a radar array employed as a forward looking ground penetrating radar system with applications in explosive hazard detection. A penalized least squares technique with sparsity-inducing regularization is applied to produce imagery, which is consistent with the expectation that objects are sparsely populated but extended with respect to the pixel grid. Additionally, a series of pre-processing steps is demonstrated which result in a greatly reduced data size and computational cost. Demonstrations of the approach are provided using experimental data and results are given in terms of signal to background ratio, image resolution, and relative computation time. The second application involves a sparse-aperture telescope array configured as a hypertelescope with applications in long range imaging. The penalized least squares technique with sparsity-inducing regularization is adapted and applied to this very different imaging modality. A comprehensive study of the algorithm tuning parameters is performed and performance is characterized using the Structure Similarity Metric (SSIM) to maximize image quality. Simulated measurements are used to show that imaging performance achieved using the pro- posed algorithm compares favorably in comparison to conventional Richardson-Lucy deconvolution. The third application involves a multi-frame collection from a conventional digital sensor with the primary objective of characterizing the atmospheric turbulence in the medium of propagation. In this application a joint estimate of the image is obtained along with the Zernike coefficients associated with the atmospheric PSF at each frame, and the Fried parameter r0 of the atmosphere. A pair of constraints are applied to a penalized least squares objective function to enforce the theoretical statistics of the set of PSF estimates as a function of r0. Results of the approach are shown with both simulated and experimental data and demonstrate excellent agreement between the estimated r0 values and the known or measured r0 values respectively

Wildlife Deterrence Method Test Device

The objective of the Deer Busters team is to design and build a device or system of devices that will be used to determine which method, or methods, are most effective at deer deterrence. JumpSport suspects that a method which gives the appearance of approach to the deer in an aggressive or startling manner but also changes the way it attacks so that the deer do not get used to the device will be most effective. Deer Busters is committed to the completion of the deer deterrent testing device by the end of the fall quarter of 2014

An Investigation into the Role of Protein Kinases in T lymphocyte Migration

The migration of T lymphocytes is a vital component of the immune system, with roles in immunosurveillance and inflammation. The role of Phosphoinositide 3-kinase within T lymphocyte migration is unclear, with some evidence that it may be a disposable signal. Here, using Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B activated peripheral blood mononuclear cells and the T cell line CEM cells, the role of Phosphoinositide 3-kinase and its downstream kinases was investigated. CCL22 mediated CEM cell migration and CXCL12 mediated peripheral blood mononuclear cell migration were shown to be independent of Phosphoinositide 3-kinase using several different broad-spectrum Phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitors. However, these cells were Akt-dependent, as demonstrated by incubation with the Akt inhibitor Akti-1/2. Differences in the effect of the inhibitors on Akt activity were discovered, indicating that either Akt can be activated in the absence of Phosphoinositide 3-kinase, or differences exist regarding the relative abundance of each protein within the cell. Th17 cells are a subtype of the T helper cell family and have been shown to be involved in inflammation and immune diseases. Mouse splenocytes were polarised to a Th17 phenotype and analysed for the surface expression of chemokine receptors. CCR2, CCR6 and CCR9 were shown to be expressed on Th17 cells and upregulated under Th17 polarising conditions. However, only CCR2 and CCR6 induced migration of Th17 cells. This migration was sensitive to Phosphoinositide 3-kinase and Akt inhibitors. This data reveals a model for the migration of Th17 cells to areas of inflammation, and sheds light on the role of Phosphoinositide 3-kinase during this process.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

An investigation into the role of protein kinases in T lymphocyte migration

The migration of T lymphocytes is a vital component of the immune system, with roles in immunosurveillance and inflammation. The role of Phosphoinositide 3-kinase within T lymphocyte migration is unclear, with some evidence that it may be a disposable signal. Here, using Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B activated peripheral blood mononuclear cells and the T cell line CEM cells, the role of Phosphoinositide 3-kinase and its downstream kinases was investigated. CCL22 mediated CEM cell migration and CXCL12 mediated peripheral blood mononuclear cell migration were shown to be independent of Phosphoinositide 3-kinase using several different broad-spectrum Phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitors. However, these cells were Akt-dependent, as demonstrated by incubation with the Akt inhibitor Akti-1/2. Differences in the effect of the inhibitors on Akt activity were discovered, indicating that either Akt can be activated in the absence of Phosphoinositide 3-kinase, or differences exist regarding the relative abundance of each protein within the cell. Th17 cells are a subtype of the T helper cell family and have been shown to be involved in inflammation and immune diseases. Mouse splenocytes were polarised to a Th17 phenotype and analysed for the surface expression of chemokine receptors. CCR2, CCR6 and CCR9 were shown to be expressed on Th17 cells and upregulated under Th17 polarising conditions. However, only CCR2 and CCR6 induced migration of Th17 cells. This migration was sensitive to Phosphoinositide 3-kinase and Akt inhibitors. This data reveals a model for the migration of Th17 cells to areas of inflammation, and sheds light on the role of Phosphoinositide 3-kinase during this process.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Detection of a Substantial Molecular Gas Reservoir in a brightest cluster galaxy at z = 1.7

We report the detection of CO(2-1) emission coincident with the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) of the high-redshift galaxy cluster SpARCS1049+56, with the Redshift Search Receiver (RSR) on the Large Millimetre Telescope (LMT). We confirm a spectroscopic redshift for the gas of z = 1.7091+/-0.0004, which is consistent with the systemic redshift of the cluster galaxies of z = 1.709. The line is well-fit by a single component Gaussian with a RSR resolution-corrected FWHM of 569+/-63 km/s. We see no evidence for multiple velocity components in the gas, as might be expected from the multiple image components seen in near-infrared imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope. We measure the integrated flux of the line to be 3.6+/-0.3 Jy km/s and, using alpha_CO = 0.8 Msun (K km s^-1 pc^2)^-1 we estimate a total molecular gas mass of 1.1+/-0.1x10^11 Msun and a M_H2/M_star ~ 0.4. This is the largest gas reservoir detected in a BCG above z > 1 to date. Given the infrared-estimated star formation rate of 860+/-130 Msun/yr, this corresponds to a gas depletion timescale of ~0.1Gyr. We discuss several possible mechanisms for depositing such a large gas reservoir to the cluster center -- e.g., a cooling flow, a major galaxy-galaxy merger or the stripping of gas from several galaxies -- but conclude that these LMT data are not sufficient to differentiate between them.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ Letter