Pricing Limited Partnerships in the Secondary Market

This study investigates the pattern of prices for multiple partnerships sold in the secondary market. In the model, the partnership buyer prefers to purchase the units sequentially since sellers have varying desires to sell. The benefit of a sequential purchase strategy is partially offset by rational sellers who demand higher prices in earlier sales since the possibility of future sales reduces the sellers’ eagerness to sell in earlier rounds. If this strategic component is sufficiently large, a pattern of decreasing prices should be observed. Using a panel dataset comprised of 52,679 transactions from eighteen real estate limited partnerships, and after controlling for performance characteristics, the study finds that prices decrease over time, thus indicating a significant strategic component in this market.

Efficient delay-tolerant particle filtering

This paper proposes a novel framework for delay-tolerant particle filtering that is computationally efficient and has limited memory requirements. Within this framework the informativeness of a delayed (out-of-sequence) measurement (OOSM) is estimated using a lightweight procedure and uninformative measurements are immediately discarded. The framework requires the identification of a threshold that separates informative from uninformative; this threshold selection task is formulated as a constrained optimization problem, where the goal is to minimize tracking error whilst controlling the computational requirements. We develop an algorithm that provides an approximate solution for the optimization problem. Simulation experiments provide an example where the proposed framework processes less than 40% of all OOSMs with only a small reduction in tracking accuracy

Lepton flavor violating Higgs boson decays in seesaw models: new discussions

The lepton flavor violating decay of the Standard Model-like Higgs boson (LFVHD), h->\mu\tau, is discussed in seesaw models at the one-loop level. Based on particular analytic expressions of Passarino-Veltman functions, the two unitary and 't Hooft Feynman gauges are used to compute the branching ratio of LFVHD and compare with results reported recently. In the minimal seesaw (MSS) model, the branching ratio was investigated in the whole valid range 10^{-9}-10^{15} GeV of new neutrino mass scale m_{n_6}. Using the Casas-Ibarra parameterization, this branching ratio enhances with large and increasing m_{n_6}. But the maximal value can reach only order of 10^{-11}. Interesting relations of LFVHD predicted by the MSS and inverse seesaw (ISS) model are discussed. The ratio between two LFVHD branching ratios predicted by the ISS and MSS is simply m^2_{n_6}\mu^{-2}_X, where \mu_X is the small neutrino mass scale in the ISS. The consistence between different calculations is shown precisely from analytical approach.Comment: 4 figures, 26 pages, some analytic formulas and statements are corrected. Main results are unchanged. New references added. Version published in NP

Spin-chirality decoupling in the one-dimensional Heisenberg spin glass with long-range power-law interactions

We study the issue of the spin-chirality decoupling/coupling in the ordering of the Heisenberg spin glass by performing large-scale Monte Carlo simulations on a one-dimensional Heisenberg spin-glass model with a long-range power-law interaction up to large system sizes. We find that the spin-chirality decoupling occurs for an intermediate range of the power-law exponent. Implications to the corresponding $d$-dimensional short-range model is discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Physical Review Letter

Monte Carlo studies of the chiral and spin orderings of the three-dimensional Heisenberg spin glass

The nature of the ordering of the three-dimensional isotropic Heisenberg spin glass with nearest-neighbor random Gaussian coupling is studied by extensive Monte Carlo simulations. Several independent physical quantities are measured both for the spin and for the chirality, including the correlation-length ratio, the Binder ratio, the glass order parameter, the overlap distribution function and the non-self-averageness parameter. By controlling the effect of the correction-to-scaling, we have obtained a numerical evidence for the occurrence of successive chiral-glass and spin-glass transitions at nonzero temperatures, T_{CG} > T_{SG} > 0. Hence, the spin and the chirality are decoupled in the ordering of the model. The chiral-glass exponents are estimated to be \nu_{CG}=1.4+-0.2 and \eta_{CG}=0.6+-0.2, indicating that the chiral-glass transition lies in a universality class different from that of the Ising spin glass. The possibility that the spin and chiral sectors undergo a simultaneous Kosterlitz-Thouless-type transition is ruled out. The chiral-glass state turns out to be non-self-averaging, possibly accompanying a one-step-like peculiar replica-symmetry breaking. Implications to the chirality scenario of experimental spin-glass transitions are discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 24 figures. The Chi^2-analysis of the transition point has been added with new Fig.12. Some references also adde

Search For Quark-lepton Compositeness In The Dimuon Final State At Do

We used the upgraded DØ detector at the Tevatron at s = 1.96 TeV to collect data in a search for a compositeness signature of quarks and leptons. This analysis uses an integrated luminosity of 400 pb−1. The high-mass dimuon mass spectrum is compared with that predicted by Drell-Yan (DY) scattering, modified by a contact interaction. This interaction is parameterized by a compositeness energy scale factor Λ. Preliminary limits on Λ are set at the 95% confidence level for constructive and destructive interference between the DY amplitude and the contact interaction for various quark and lepton chiralities

A multicomponent assembly approach for the design of deep desulfurization heterogeneous catalysts

Deep desulfurization is a challenging task and global efforts are focused on the development of new approaches for the reduction of sulfur-containing compounds in fuel oils. In this work, we have proposed a new design strategy for the development of deep desulfurization heterogeneous catalysts. Based on the adopted design strategy, a novel composite material of polyoxometalate (POM)-based ionic liquid-grafted layered double hydroxides (LDHs) was synthesized by an exfoliation/grafting/assembly process. The structural properties of the as-prepared catalyst were characterized using FT-IR, XRD, TG, NMR, XPS, BET, SEM and HRTEM. The heterogeneous catalyst exhibited high activity in deep desulfurization of DBT (dibenzothiophene), 4,6-DMDBT (4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene) and BT (benzothiophene) at 70 °C in 25, 30 and 40 minutes, respectively. The catalyst can be easily recovered and reused at least ten times without obvious decrease of its catalytic activity. Such excellent sulfur removal ability as well as the cost efficiency of the novel heterogeneous catalyst can be attributed to the rational design, where the spatial proximity of the substrate and the active sites, the immobilization of ionic liquid onto the LDHs via covalent bonding and the recyclability of the catalyst are carefully considered

A Circus Among the Circuits: Would the Truly Famous and Diluted Performer Please Stand Up? The Federal Trademark Dilution Act and Its Challenges

Sometimes, nothing is more painful than the truth. Congress passed the celebrated Federal Trademark Dilution Act of 1995 (“the Act” or the “Dilution Act”) with great hope that it would create a uniform anti-dilution law, end forum shopping, and encourage trademark owners to build brand equity with more ease. Congress was overwhelmingly in favor the Act, and thus passed it with little debate, leaving behind a sparse congressional record. In its haste to pass the Act, Congress failed to address whether the Act extends to product design marks; whether the Act requires proof of actual economic harm, or if likelihood of dilution is an acceptable standard; how fame and dilution should be measured; and the degree of fame or dilution required under the Act. Trademark owners now have to bear the cost of congressional failure. For the time being, trademark owners are facing conflicting interpretations of the Dilution Act coming from the First, Fourth, Eighth and Ninth Circuits. The other circuit courts, expectedly, will soon follow suit when they have their chance to address the Act. Each of the circuit courts that has had the opportunity to address the Act has its own idea about dilution and fame, the meaning of dilution, how to establish fame, and how to prove dilution. With the conflicting rulings from these circuits, there is a circus among the circuits. Each performer at the circus is carrying its own act leaving trademark owners a federal anti-dilution system that is almost as chaotic as the original patchwork system of more than twenty-five state statutes. Trademark owners will continue to shop for a forum that has the best anti-dilution protection where the owners do not have to satisfy, among others, the stringent requirement of actual economic harm to the famous mark. In Part I, this Article will expose the congressional failure. Part I also provides an analysis for each of the issues left out by Congress. These issues include: (a) the problems with providing a patent-like protection to product design marks under the Act; (b) the problems with proof of actual dilution versus likelihood of dilution; (c) the problems with “famous;” and (d) the problems with undefined terms in the Act, such as “willful intent.” Part II analyzes, compares, and contrasts the dizzying circus acts of the First, Fourth, Eighth and Ninth Circuit performers. Part III explains the reasons the fun at the circus is over and offers various ways to orchestrate a new act for the benefits of trademark owners, the courts and the public. Part IV concludes that if a uniform interpretation of the Act is not soon formulated by the circuit courts, more chaos will occur, and perhaps it is time to hear from the ringmasters--the Supreme Court or Congress