Dynamic storage expansion in NASTRAN

Some functions of NASTRAN require a large block of working computer storage to execute. The method of meeting this requirement, because of insufficient data, was to specify in advance an excessive amount of data to avoid a fatal exit. A method was developed to calculate the amount of working space needed for the analysis and to inform the analyst of this data or, in the case of Univac computers, to acquire this extra storage and continue the analysis

Surprises in scheduled releases: why do they move the bond market?

It is well known that information arrival has an impact on prices volatility, and trading volume in financial markets (see e.g., Goodhart and O?Hara 1997). Scheduled macroeconomic announcements, such as monthly employment figures, consumer prices, or building permits, stand out from the steady flow of information.1 Several studies (e.g. Fleming and Remolona 1997) show that these releases have a very distinct impact on prices. While most of these studies try to find out which releases are significant, considerably less effort has been devoted to the question what makes some releases so important in contrast to others that seem to attract no attention. Papers addressing this question emphasize the content of releases. For example, Edison (1996) discriminates between news related to unexpected inflation and those related to unexpected changes in economic activity. Investigating intraday T-bond futures price responses to surprises in scheduled macroeconomic releases, this paper presents evidence that the type of information is relevant. More specifically, the results suggest that the sequence of releases within a given content category helps to explain their relative importance. In other words, if market participants have already observed some figures on which they can base their assessment of a particular aspect of the economy, then the additional information of another related report should be small, and thus, its impact on prices. --Macroeconomic news,scheduled announcements,public information,price formation,Treasury bonds,futures market

Wind-tunnel roll-damping measurements of a winged space shuttle configuration in launch attitude

Ground-wind load studies were conducted on three model configurations to assess the importance of aeroelastic instabilities of erected space shuttle vehicles. Roll damping was measured on a fuselage-alone model, which had a D cross section, and a fuselage and tail surfaces in combination with either a clipped-delta wing or a low-sweep tapered wing as the primary lifting surface. The largest negative roll-damping coefficients were measured with the fuselage-alone configuration and were a function of wind azimuth. At the wind azimuths at which the wing-fuselage configuration was unstable, the negative roll-damping coefficients were a function of reduced frequency

A mean variance king? Creation and resolution of uncertainty under the employment report's reign

This paper delineates the simultaneous impact of non-anticipated information on first and second moments of the intraday price process by including appropriate variables accounting for the news flow into both the mean and the variance function. This allows us to differentiate between the consistent price reaction to surprising news and traders? uncertainty about the precise price impact of this information. Analyzing the US employment report, we find that headline information is almost instantaneously incorporated into T-bond futures prices. Nevertheless, large surprises create considerable uncertainty, in particular ?bad? news. In contrast, if surprises in related headlines cross-validate each other, less room for differences of opinion is left, and hence volatility is decreased. --Information processing,trading process,volatility,macroeconomic announcements,Treasury bond futures,high-frequency data

Accounting for stock-based compensation: an extended clean surplus relation

Residual income valuation is based on the assumption that the clean surplus relation holds. As pointed out by Ohlson (2000), among others, the standard clean surplus relation is frequently violated. Moreover, standard residual income valuation models rest on the implicit assumption that future stated earnings belong to current shareholders only. This is clearly invalid for companies granting employee options. In order to overcome these deficiencies, this paper establishes an extension of the clean surplus relation and derives simple analytical solutions for the value of outstanding stocks in terms of already known accounting information. --Residual income valuation,clean surplus accounting,US-GAAP,employee stock option programs

New economy accounting : why are broad-based stock option plans so attractive?

Several studies indicate that stock option plans are becoming more and more a substantial part of compensation schemes in U.S. companies. This paper shows the tax implications and accounting rules for stock option plans. By comparison of the tax and accounting rules for different compensation schemes we show that the popularity of stock options may be mainly due to the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US-GAAP) which require no charge to earnings for speciffically designed stock option plans if a company opts for footnote disclosure. Thus, for these companies the stated earnings are higher than their economical situations justify. Based on a case study of 20 companies out of the S&P 500 which rely heavily on employee stock options we arrive at the conclusion that the amount of hidden compensation cost can reach economically signifficant amounts. Since this topic seems to be widely neglected it is questionable whether stock prices reflect these hidden cost. --Accounting,US-GAAP,stock option programs

Two-state shear diagrams for complex fluids in shear flow

The possible "phase diagrams'' for shear-induced phase transitions between two phases are collected. We consider shear-thickening and shear-thinning fluids, under conditions of both common strain rate and common stress in the two phases, and present the four fundamental shear stress vs. strain rate curves and discuss their concentration dependence. We outline how to construct more complicated phase diagrams, discuss in which class various experimental systems fall, and sketch how to reconstruct the phase diagrams from rheological measurements

Teaching Graduate Trainees How to Manage Client Anger: a Comparison of Three Types of Training

The authors examined the effects of three types of training (supervisor-facilitated training, self-training, biblio-training) on 62 graduate student therapists\u27 state anxiety, self-efficacy for dealing with anger, and helping skills (i.e., reflections and immediacy) in response to videotaped vignettes of angry clients. Training overall was rated as very helpful, and trainees increased in self-efficacy for working with client anger. Supervisor-facilitated training was rated as more helpful than, and was preferred to, self-training and biblio-training; it also led to more reflection of feelings in response to clients. Results suggest that vignettes such as these might be a helpful adjunct to training once students have competency in the basic helping skills

Does wage inflation cause price inflation?

Is there any evidence to support the assumption that increased wages cause inflation? This study updates and expands earlier research into this question and finds little support for the view that higher wages cause higher prices. On the contrary, more evidence is found for higher prices leading to wage growth.Inflation (Finance) ; Wages ; Prices

Chemical differentiation of a convecting planetary interior: Consequences for a one-plate planet such as Venus

Chemically depleted mantle forming a buoyant, refractory layer at the top of the mantle can have important implications for the evolution of the interior and surface. On Venus, the large apparent depths of compensation for surface topographic features might be explained if surface topography were supported by variations in the thickness of a 100-200 km thick chemically buoyant mantle layer or by partial melting in the mantle at the base of such a layer. Long volcanic flows seen on the surface may be explained by deep melting that generates low-viscosity MgO-rich magmas. The presence of a shallow refractory mantle layer may also explain the lack of volcanism associated with rifting. As the depleted layer thickens and cools, it becomes denser than the convecting interior and the portion of it that is hot enough to flow can mix with the convecting mantle. Time dependence of the thickness of a depleted layer may create episodic resurfacing events as needed to explain the observed distribution of impact craters on the venusian surface. We consider a planetary structure consisting of a crust, depleted mantle layer, and a thermally and chemically well-mixed convecting mantle. The thermal evolution of the convecting spherical planetary interior is calculated using energy conservation: the time rate of change of thermal energy in the interior is equated to the difference in the rate of radioactive heat production and the rate of heat transfer across the thermal boundary layer. Heat transfer across the thermal boundary layer is parameterized using a standard Nusselt number-Rayleigh number relationship. The radioactive heat production decreases with time corresponding to decay times for the U, Th, and K. The planetary interior cools by the advection of hot mantle at temperature T interior into the thermal boundary layer where it cools conductively. The crust and depleted mantle layers do not convect in our model so that a linear conductive equilibrium temperature distribution is assumed. The rate of melt production is calculated as the product of the volume flux of mantle into the thermal boundary layer and the degree of melting that this mantle undergoes. The volume flux of mantle into the thermal boundary layer is simply the heat flux divided by amount of heat lost in cooling mantle to the average temperature in the thermal boundary layer. The degree of melting is calculated as the temperature difference above the solidus, divided by the latent heat of melting. A maximum degree of melting is prescribed corresponding to the maximum amount of basaltic melt that the mantle can initially generate. As the crust thickens, the pressure at the base of the crust becomes high enough and the temperature remains low enough for basalt to transform to dense eclogite