The stability of interest rate processes

This paper presents a careful reexamination of Chan, Karolyi, Longstaff, and Sanders (CKLS 1992). By redefining the possible regime shift period in line with evidence from known policy changes and past empirical research, we find evidence that contradicts the major results in their paper. The widely cited conclusion of their paper is that the elasticity of interest rate volatility is 1.5. CKLS also concluded that there was no structural shift in the interest rate process after October 1979. When the structural shift period is defined to be temporary and coincident with the Federal Reserve Experiment of October 1979 through September 1982, we find that there is strong evidence of a structural break. Furthermore, we find evidence that, contrary to CKLS's claim, a moderately elastic interest rate process can capture the dependence of volatility on the level of interest rates, while highly elastic models cannot. In particular, this study finds support for the square-root CIR process. These results are robust to changes in the short-rate data used and the treatment of outliers.Econometric models ; Interest rates ; Money

Digitalização EAACONE: fluxo de trabalho

This document details the digitization workflow for the Equipe de Articulação e Assessorias às Comunidades Negras do Vale do Ribeira (EAACONE) digitization project, launched in 2019 in Eldorado, Brazil. It provides step-by-step instructions for flatbed scanning of loose and bound objects using VueScan scanning software.UT Librarie

Macaque cardiac physiology is sensitive to the valence of passively viewed sensory stimuli.

Autonomic nervous system activity is an important component of affective experience. We demonstrate in the rhesus monkey that both the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system respond differentially to the affective valence of passively viewed video stimuli. We recorded cardiac impedance and an electrocardiogram while adult macaques watched a series of 300 30-second videos that varied in their affective content. We found that sympathetic activity (as measured by cardiac pre-ejection period) increased and parasympathetic activity (as measured by respiratory sinus arrhythmia) decreased as video content changes from positive to negative. These findings parallel the relationship between autonomic nervous system responsivity and valence of stimuli in humans. Given the relationship between human cardiac physiology and affective processing, these findings suggest that macaque cardiac physiology may be an index of affect in nonverbal animals

Whose needs are they anyway? Impediments to the implementation of a consistent and structured approach to the identification and assessment of need within children and family services

In the decade that followed the Children Act 1989, many local authorities developed local frameworks and methodologies to help their staff make sense of the duty to assess 'children in need'. This thesis evaluates the introduction of one of these frameworks and more specifically the impediments to its implementation. It also explores whether these were limited to the model concerned, or whether they would be likely to affect the introduction of similar policies elsewhere. This is particularly relevant with the advent of the Department of Health et al.’s Assessment Framework in 2000 and subsequent proposals to extend the Framework’s principles to all children receiving services from local authorities, through the Integrated Children's System. The study, which the thesis describes, built on earlier research in this area by using a triangulated approach to collect data from the observation of social work practice; the reported comments of social work practitioners; and evidence from social work casefiles. [Continues.

Techniques and software for optimum and efficient mission science sequence development

Highly successful mission operations require efficient and cost-effective science sequence development. Of key importance is the Science Planning and Operations Team's (SPOT's) ability to complete science observation design and integration early in the sequence development process (i.e., before the sequence enters into a formal change control process). Once under formal change control, careful change paper documentation, Flight Team checks, and mission software checks make sequence changes more labor-intensive. This paper discusses team organization, strategies, scheduling, and software employed by the Voyager and Galileo SPOT's to complete science observation design and integration early in the sequence development process