Automatic Detection of Egg Shell Cracks

The challenge was to find a reliable, non-intrusive means of detecting cracks in eggs. Intensity data from eggs were collected by VisionSmart for the group to analyse. Given the short time period three main questions were addressed. 1) Is there a feature of the intensity data which detects, and discriminates between pinholes, cage marks and cracks? 2) Are there ways to improve the current data collection process? 3) Are there other data collection methods which should be tried? A partial positive response to 1) is presented and describes the many problems that arose. Some answers to 2) and 3) are also presented

An Empirical Investigation into the Performance of High-Yield Bond Issuers

A vast amount of academic research focuses on how bond issuance impacts the firm. Most recent research focuses on investment grade bonds and ignores non-investment grade bonds. Chapter 1 investigates firms issuing high-yield debt and the impact on their stock price by identifying determinants of the negative abnormal return that surrounds the announcement of an issue in the short-run. It is learned the length, coupon payment and amount of the issue are significant in explaining the CAR as is the age of the firm, first-time issuers and the marketplace where its stock trades. Firm performance ratios including the current and total-asset-turnover ratio also have explanatory power. These determinants of the CAR have an explanatory power approaching 55%. Chapter 2 uses an ordinary least squares technique similar to Chapter 1 to capture determinants of the pricing decision for high-yield bond offerings. I find the coupon amount, the years to maturity, bonds issued for refinancing purposes and callable bonds are significant determinants in the spread at issuance. The exchange in where the firms stock trades and bullish market conditions are also of significance. It is determined these variables have roughly 52% explanatory power over the spread. Chapter 3 looks at long-run stock underperformance of high-yield bond IBOs\u27 in the 3-5 year post issuing period compared to firms that do not issue stock and\or bonds over the same 5-year post period. A second dataset featuring investment grade bond issuing firms is also compared to firms that do not issue stocks and\or bonds over the same 5-years post period. It is determined that stock underperformance does exist following bond IBOs\u27 using both the Buy-and-Hold return and Fama-French Four-Factor models. The level of underperformance is found to be greatest for callable bonds issuers followed by straight bonds and convertible bond issuers. Additionally, it is learned that high-yield bond issuing firms experience a greater level of underperformance than their investment-grade counterparts. This line of research partially fills the gap in understanding how non-investment grade bonds impacts the firm in both stock performance and the pricing decision

Almost Quantum Correlations are Inconsistent with Specker's Principle

Ernst Specker considered a particular feature of quantum theory to be especially fundamental, namely that pairwise joint measurability of sharp measurements implies their global joint measurability (https://vimeo.com/52923835). To date, Specker's principle seemed incapable of singling out quantum theory from the space of all general probabilistic theories. In particular, its well-known consequence for experimental statistics, the principle of consistent exclusivity, does not rule out the set of correlations known as almost quantum, which is strictly larger than the set of quantum correlations. Here we show that, contrary to the popular belief, Specker's principle cannot be satisfied in any theory that yields almost quantum correlations.Comment: 17 pages + appendix. 5 colour figures. Comments welcom

Our heritage from 1776: A working class view of the first American revolution

https://stars.library.ucf.edu/prism/1415/thumbnail.jp

Marx and America

https://stars.library.ucf.edu/prism/1762/thumbnail.jp

Case-Building Behavior, Persistence, and Emergence Success of \u3ci\u3ePycnopsyche Guttifer\u3c/i\u3e (Walker) (Trichoptera: Limnephilidae) in Laboratory and \u3ci\u3ein situ\u3c/i\u3e Environments: Potential Trade-Offs of Material Preference

When removed from their cases in a non-flow laboratory environment, 5th instar Pycnopsyche guttifer (Walker) larvae were always successful in constructing a new case within 24 h when woody debris was present as a material choice. Most were successful within 1 h. Larvae were never successful at case building in the absence of wood in a non-flow environment. These laboratory-constructed ‘emergency cases’ were flimsy, lacking in shape, and larger than field cases. Laboratory case size, shape, and material preference remained constant after repeated daily evacuations over a series of 10 days. Larvae could be induced to construct a case composed of mineral particles only in the absence of wood and when placed in a laboratory stream with simulated flow conditions, or in situ in a natural stream. The emergence success of P. guttifer specimens induced to build these mineral cases, however, was significantly higher than that of larvae remaining in their field cases or of larvae that built wood cases. This result is likely due to a fungal infection that affected only larvae in wood cases. Our results demonstrate a scenario where a clearly non-preferred case construction material appears to increase survival

Medical Expense Reimbursement Plans - Planning Opportunities Under the Final Section 105(h) Regulations

Because these new standards impact significantly upon preexisting medical expense reimbursement plans, this article will present a general overview of the traditional tax treatment of payments under such plans, describe the new nondiscrimination standards and their effective date, as well as outline several planning opportunities which remain available in this area