Stress testing of the stability of the Italian banking system: a VAR approach

With the aim of contributing to the use of stress testing techniques, by now a commonly-used practice adopted by the financial community to understand the determinants of financial instability, and to measure the size of financial risk, this work represents an application of macro stress testing to the Italian banking system. The paper tries to provide an answer to two interrelated questions. Whether, and the extent to which, procyclicality is a prominent feature of banks’ soundness and whether exogenous, or policy induced, tightening of monetary conditions (sharp and sustained increases in the interest rate and/or appreciation of the exchange rate) significantly increases banks’ fragility. The task is accomplished by the estimation of three alternative VAR models each using different indicators of banks’ soundness: the ratio of non performing loans (flow and stock data) and interest margins to outstanding loans. Two main conclusions emerge. First: the behaviour of either non performing loans or interest margins is only weakly procyclical: i.e. that the solidity of Italian banks could be seriously undermined only in case of falls in output far more severe than in any previous recession since the end of the World War II. The preoccupation expressed by the literature about the dangers of financial procyclicality seems, therefore, grossly exaggerated in the case of Italy. Second: in a hypothetical scenario where monetary conditions are drastically tightened our banks’ soundness indicators exhibit little variations. In this case too the importance attached by the literature to exchange rate swings, or monetary tightening more generally, for the setting off of financial crises is vastly overstated.banking crises; financial crises; procyclicality; profitability; stress testing; VAR

SISTEM TRANSMISI PADA PROTOTIPE SEPEDA LISTRIK RODA TIGA

SISTEM TRANSMISI PADA PROTOTIPE SEPEDA LISTRIK RODA TIGA Aminudin Filosa ABSTRAK Proyek Akhir ini berisi tentang Prototipe Sepeda Listrik Roda Tiga, yang melatari Proyek Akhir ini adalah meningkatnya konsumsi bahan bakar minyak menyebabkan semakin bertambahnya polusi udara, salah satu cara mengatasi ketergantungan terhadap BBM adalah penggunaan kendaraan dengan energi listrik yang lebih ramah lingkungan. Sepeda Listrik Roda Tiga adalah kendaraan dengan menggunakan tenaga listrik. Laporan proyek akhir ini membahas perancangan dan proses pembuatan Sepeda Listrik Roda Tiga. Disamping itu laporan proyek akhir ini akan membahas lebih dalam khususnya sistem transmisi yang digunakan pada Prototipe Sepeda Listrik Roda Tiga tersebut yaitu menggunakan transmisi rantai. Adapun proses pembuatan sebuah unit Prototipe Sepeda Listrik Roda Tiga ini meliputi beberapa tahap, yaitu: observasi, proses perancangan, pembuatan (permesinan), perakitan, dan pengujian sepeda listrik roda tiga. Prototipe Sepeda Listrik Roda Tiga ini menggunakan sistem transmisi rantai, dengan panjang rantai 1,389 m, breaking load dari rantai 17.858,9 N sedangkan beban yang ditahan oleh rantai sebesar 3721,123 N dan daya maksimal yang mampu ditransmisikan sebesar 570,264 watt. Pada sistem transmisi poros mempunyai tegangan tarik 59,06 N/mm² dan tegangan geser 31,06 N/mm². Kata kunci: Prototipe Sepeda Listrik Roda Tiga, sistem transmisi, transmisi ranta

La parola ontologica: la critica del linguaggio in Nietzsche tra cristallizzazione e metafora creatrice

In this paper I analyse the critique of language that Friedrich Nietzsche proposes in his first works. I try to explain how his opinions at that time had an essential influence on the further development of Nietzsche’s philosophy, even if he doesn’t seem to investigate them in depth. I will examine the essay called On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense (1873), where language is considered as an arbitrary production of men, i.e. as the consequence of metaphorical poiesis, as Nietzsche points it out. Consequently, the philosopher subverts the classical concept of truth (the adæquatio of things and intellect) and the universalizing process of mind. Moving on from theory to practise, I will consider how this conception of language affects Nietzsche’s argumentative style. To convey his new philosophy, Nietzsche demolishes the traditional way philosophers thought and wrote their ideas. Even if Nietzsche’s critique of language is based on the performativity power of words, his position is often ambiguous, because of his theoretical fragility

The Effects of Technology Education on Science Achievement

The problem of this study was to determine the effect of technology education units on science achievement of third graders. To solve this problem, the following hypotheses were tested: 1) Within a third grade classroom, technology education units of instruction will affect students\u27 achievement on the Science Tests For Higher Standards more than non-participants in such instruction. 2)Within a third grade classroom, technology education units of instruction will affect students\u27 achievement on the Science Standards of Learning more than non-participants in such instruction

Live Load Distribution Factors and UHPC Shear Key Performance of SCDOT NEXT D Beam and Solid Slab Bridges

For short to medium span bridges experiencing lower average daily traffic (ADT), the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) currently utilizes both hollow core and solid slab precast concrete span bridge sections. The intended advantages of these bridge sections were that they could be built according to an accelerated bridge construction (ABC) schedule and have increased durability. Increasing a bridge\u27s durability has economic advantages since they require less maintenance and have a greater lifespan. Both the precast hollow core and solid slab spans have not met the SCDOT\u27s durability requirements. Deterioration of the grout key between adjacent precast members has led to reflective cracking in both the bridge deck and bridge wearing surface. These cracks allow water and other corrosive materials to infiltrate the precast beam sections, and lead to the corrosion of the prestressing strands and reinforcement. Corrosion of prestressing leads to bridge repairs as well as a diminished life-span, both costly to the SCDOT. Reflective cracking at the shear key also leads to a decreased ability for a bridge to share load among its adjacent members. Both hollow core and solid slab sections are designed to distribute load transversely across the bridge and longitudinally to the girder bearings. Individual girders resist only a portion of the loads on a bridge. If the shear key is degraded and its ability to share load lessened, a possible overload and catastrophic failure of a bridge member could occur. These durability issues have proved to be problematic and have concerned the SCDOT. The SCDOT and Clemson University teamed up to conduct research in order to identify, modify, or develop a bridge type that was both more durable and could meet the schedule of ABC. The SCDOT and Clemson University settled on the northeast extreme tee (NEXT) beam, developed by the bridge technical committee of PCI Northeast. The NEXT beam section is an advantageous bridge section for many reasons, including its geometric diversity, ability to meet an ABC schedule, utility accommodations, full deck option, and a wider shear key allowing for an easier concrete pour or grouting. The NEXT beam cross section does not fall into an AASHTO LRFD category for simplified moment live load distribution factors. This project seeks to calculate live load distribution factors via live load test, and determine what, if any, category the NEXT section can fall under for simplified moment live load distribution factors. A future research project will assess the durability of the UHPC shear keys for both the NEXT D and solid slab span by monitoring the ability for girder sections to share load transversely over a period of two years. Results of this research will be given to the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) so that they may be informed on how NEXT Beam transverse moment distribution behavior. Results on UHPC shear key performance and durability will also be given to the SCDOT

Inferring Synaptic Structure in presence of Neural Interaction Time Scales

Biological networks display a variety of activity patterns reflecting a web of interactions that is complex both in space and time. Yet inference methods have mainly focused on reconstructing, from the network's activity, the spatial structure, by assuming equilibrium conditions or, more recently, a probabilistic dynamics with a single arbitrary time-step. Here we show that, under this latter assumption, the inference procedure fails to reconstruct the synaptic matrix of a network of integrate-and-fire neurons when the chosen time scale of interaction does not closely match the synaptic delay or when no single time scale for the interaction can be identified; such failure, moreover, exposes a distinctive bias of the inference method that can lead to infer as inhibitory the excitatory synapses with interaction time scales longer than the model's time-step. We therefore introduce a new two-step method, that first infers through cross-correlation profiles the delay-structure of the network and then reconstructs the synaptic matrix, and successfully test it on networks with different topologies and in different activity regimes. Although step one is able to accurately recover the delay-structure of the network, thus getting rid of any \textit{a priori} guess about the time scales of the interaction, the inference method introduces nonetheless an arbitrary time scale, the time-bin $dt$ used to binarize the spike trains. We therefore analytically and numerically study how the choice of $dt$ affects the inference in our network model, finding that the relationship between the inferred couplings and the real synaptic efficacies, albeit being quadratic in both cases, depends critically on $dt$ for the excitatory synapses only, whilst being basically independent of it for the inhibitory ones