344 research outputs found
What Should GAAP Look Like? A Survey and Economic Analysis
We develop an economic theory of GAAP under the assumption that GAAPâs objective is to facilitate efficient capital allocation within an economy. The theory predicts that GAAP as shaped by the economic forces of demand for and supply of financial information would focus on performance measurement and control through the income statement and balance sheet. In addition, the theory allows us to compare and contrast extant GAAP, as produced in a regulated setting, with a GAAP that might arise endogenously as a result of market forces. We conclude that verifiability and conservatism, while detracting accounting from a valuation objective, are critical features of an economic GAAP. We recognize the advantage of using fair values in circumstances where these are based on observable prices in liquid secondary markets, but caution against expanding fair values to areas such as intangibles where their opportunistic use is predictable. We conclude that the convergence project between the FASB and IASB should be dismantled and that competition between the two bodies would be the most practical means of achieving an economic GAAP
Heterotic Strings on Generalized Calabi-Yau Manifolds and Kaehler Moduli Stabilization
Compactifications of heterotic string theory on Generalized Calabi-Yau
manifolds have been expected to give the same type of flexibility that type IIB
compactifications on Calabi-Yau orientifolds have. In this note we generalize
the work done on half-flat manifolds by other authors, to show how flux
quantization occurs in the general case, by starting with a basis of harmonic
forms and then extending it. However it turns out that only the axions
associated with the non-harmonic directions in the space of Kaehler moduli, can
be stabilized by the geometric (torsion) terms. Also we argue that there are no
supersymmetric extrema of the potential when the second (and fourth) cohomology
groups on the manifold are non-trivial. We suggest that threshold corrections
to the classical gauge coupling function could solve these problems.Comment: 9 page
Sulfur Mineralogy at the Mars Phoenix Landing Site
The Mars Phoenix Scout mission landed at the northernmost location (approx.68deg N) of any lander or rover on the martian surface. This paper compares the S mineralogy at the Phoenix landing site with S mineralogy of soils studied by previous Mars landers. S-bearing phases were not directly detected by the payload onboard the Phoenix spacecraft. Our objective is to derive the possible mineralogy of S-bearing phases at the Phoenix landing site based upon Phoenix measurements in combination with orbital measurements, terrestrial analog and Martian meteorite studies, and telescopic observations
String Phenomenology and the Cosmological Constant
It is argued that classical string solutions should not be fine tuned to have
a positive cosmological constant (CC) at the observed size, since even the
quantum corrections from standard model effects will completely negate any
classical string theory solution with such a CC. In fact it is even possible
that there is no need at all for any ad hoc uplifting term in the potential
since these quantum effects may well take care of this. Correspondingly any
calculation of the parameters of the MSSM has to be rethought to take into
account the evolution of the CC. This considerably complicates the issue since
the initial conditions for RG evolution of these parameters are determined by
the final condition on the CC! The Anthropic Principle is of no help in
addressing these issues.Comment: Added equation (20) clarifying usual assumption behind calculations
of soft terms. Version published in PL
Nonabelian gauge field and dual description of fuzzy sphere
In matrix models, higher dimensional D-branes are obtained by imposing a
noncommutative relation to coordinates of lower dimensional D-branes. On the
other hand, a dual description of this noncommutative space is provided by
higher dimensional D-branes with gauge fields. Fuzzy spheres can appear as a
configuration of lower dimensional D-branes in a constant R-R field strength
background. In this paper, we consider a dual description of higher dimensional
fuzzy spheres by introducing nonabelian gauge fields on higher dimensional
spherical D-branes. By using the Born-Infeld action, we show that a fuzzy
-sphere and spherical D-branes with a nonabelian gauge field whose
Chern character is nontrivial are the same objects when is large. We
discuss a relationship between the noncommutative geometry and nonabelian gauge
fields. Nonabelian gauge fields are represented by noncommutative matrices
including the coordinate dependence. A similarity to the quantum Hall system is
also studied.Comment: 28 page
A "superstorm": When moral panic and new risk discourses converge in the media
This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Health, Risk and Society, 15(6), 681-698, 2013, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13698575.2013.851180.There has been a proliferation of risk discourses in recent decades but studies of these have been polarised, drawing either on moral panic or new risk frameworks to analyse journalistic discourses. This article opens the theoretical possibility that the two may co-exist and converge in the same scare. I do this by bringing together more recent developments in moral panic thesis, with new risk theory and the concept of media logic. I then apply this theoretical approach to an empirical analysis of how and with what consequences moral panic and new risk type discourses converged in the editorials of four newspaper campaigns against GM food policy in Britain in the late 1990s. The article analyses 112 editorials published between January 1998 and December 2000, supplemented with news stories where these were needed for contextual clarity. This analysis shows that not only did this novel food generate intense media and public reactions; these developed in the absence of the type of concrete details journalists usually look for in risk stories. Media logic is important in understanding how journalists were able to engage and hence how a major scare could be constructed around convergent moral panic and new risk type discourses. The result was a media âsuperstormâ of sustained coverage in which both types of discourse converged in highly emotive mutually reinforcing ways that resonated in a highly sensitised context. The consequence was acute anxiety, social volatility and the potential for the disruption of policy and social change
Abelian Toda field theories on the noncommutative plane
Generalizations of GL(n) abelian Toda and abelian affine
Toda field theories to the noncommutative plane are constructed. Our proposal
relies on the noncommutative extension of a zero-curvature condition satisfied
by algebra-valued gauge potentials dependent on the fields. This condition can
be expressed as noncommutative Leznov-Saveliev equations which make possible to
define the noncommutative generalizations as systems of second order
differential equations, with an infinite chain of conserved currents. The
actions corresponding to these field theories are also provided. The special
cases of GL(2) Liouville and sinh/sine-Gordon are
explicitly studied. It is also shown that from the noncommutative
(anti-)self-dual Yang-Mills equations in four dimensions it is possible to
obtain by dimensional reduction the equations of motion of the two-dimensional
models constructed. This fact supports the validity of the noncommutative
version of the Ward conjecture. The relation of our proposal to previous
versions of some specific Toda field theories reported in the literature is
presented as well.Comment: v3 30 pages, changes in the text, new sections included and
references adde
Nonintersecting Brownian motions on the half-line and discrete Gaussian orthogonal polynomials
We study the distribution of the maximal height of the outermost path in the
model of nonintersecting Brownian motions on the half-line as , showing that it converges in the proper scaling to the Tracy-Widom
distribution for the largest eigenvalue of the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble.
This is as expected from the viewpoint that the maximal height of the outermost
path converges to the maximum of the process minus a
parabola. Our proof is based on Riemann-Hilbert analysis of a system of
discrete orthogonal polynomials with a Gaussian weight in the double scaling
limit as this system approaches saturation. We consequently compute the
asymptotics of the free energy and the reproducing kernel of the corresponding
discrete orthogonal polynomial ensemble in the critical scaling in which the
density of particles approaches saturation. Both of these results can be viewed
as dual to the case in which the mean density of eigenvalues in a random matrix
model is vanishing at one point.Comment: 39 pages, 4 figures; The title has been changed from "The limiting
distribution of the maximal height of nonintersecting Brownian excursions and
discrete Gaussian orthogonal polynomials." This is a reflection of the fact
that the analysis has been adapted to include nonintersecting Brownian
motions with either reflecting of absorbing boundaries at zero. To appear in
J. Stat. Phy
Flux Stabilization in 6 Dimensions: D-terms and Loop Corrections
We analyse D-terms induced by gauge theory fluxes in the context of
6-dimensional supergravity models. On the one hand, this is arguably the
simplest concrete setting in which the controversial idea of `D-term uplifts'
can be investigated. On the other hand, it is a very plausible intermediate
step on the way from a 10d string theory model to 4d phenomenology. Our
specific results include the flux-induced one-loop correction to the scalar
potential coming from charged hypermultiplets. Furthermore, we comment on the
interplay of gauge theory fluxes and gaugino condensation in the present
context, demonstrate explicitly how the D-term arises from the gauging of one
of the compactification moduli, and briefly discuss further ingredients that
may be required for the construction of a phenomenologically viable model. In
particular, we show how the 6d dilaton and volume moduli can be simultaneously
stabilized, in the spirit of KKLT, by the combination of an R symmetry twist, a
gaugino condensate, and a flux-induced D-term.Comment: 24 pages, 1 figure v2:minor correction
Bimodal distribution of free tropospheric ozone over the tropical western Pacific revealed by airborne observations
A recent airborne field campaign over the remote western Pacific obtained the first intensive in situ ozone sampling over the warm pool region from oceanic surface to 15-km altitude (near 360-K potential temperature level). The new data set quantifies ozone in the tropical tropopause layer under significant influence of convective outflow. The analysis further reveals a bimodal distribution of free tropospheric ozone mixing ratio. A primary mode, narrowly distributed around 20-ppbv, dominates the troposphere from the surface to 15-km. A secondary mode, broadly distributed with a 60-ppbv modal value, is prominent between 3 and 8-km (320-K to 340-K potential temperature levels). The latter mode occurs as persistent layers of ozone-rich drier air and is characterized by relative humidity under 45%. Possible controlling mechanisms are discussed. These findings provide new insight into the physical interpretation of the >S>-shaped mean ozone profiles in the tropics.Peer Reviewe
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