Harry Potter and the Meaning of Death

The paper reviews how J.K. Rowling is able to examine death in the Harry Potter book series. In the first part of the text the author touches on the deaths of Harry\u27s parents and the scarring that Harry receives from that, as well as an examination of how the deaths of others, from close friends to acquaintances, have affected Harry, specifically pertaining to his personal responsibility for them and also his grieving process. The paper also goes into how Voldemort\u27s inability to feel love, paired with his fear of dying, have pushed his quest for immortality (using Horcruxes). Harry\u27s mastery of death (using the Hallows), his willingness to accept death, and his sense of love and sacrifice for his friends is what enables him to finally defeat Voldemort. The main message is that the Harry Potter books are great entertainment, but their underlying philosophy on death creates a depth that Rowling wants us to learn from: death is a part of life, and seeking love and friendship is much more important than worrying about death

Do fat tails matter in GARCH estimation? Testing market efficiency in two transition economies

The use of the GARCH-class of models is commonplace when examining stockmarket returns. In this paper we use data on stock markets in two transitioneconomies, the Czech Republic and Romania, to demonstrate the importance ofusing the correct GARCH specification. When residuals are characterised by ‘fattails’ or kurtosis, the use of a GARCH-t specification is appropriate. Diagnostictests suggest that the GARCH-t specification is appropriate for modelling stockmarket returns in Romania, whilst the standard GARCH specification is adequatefor the Czech Republic. Using a standard GARCH specification leads torejection of the null hypothesis of market efficiency in Romania, whereas thisnull hypothesis cannot be rejected using the GARCH-t specification. The nullhypothesis of efficiency cannot be rejected in the Czech Republic using eitherspecification. Thus, we find that the presence of ‘fat tails’ can have importantimplications for inference in the analysis of stock market returns

Evaluation of the cardiovascular system during various circulatory stresses Progress report, 1 Jun. 1969 - 30 May 1970

Cardiovascular system evaluation during various circulatory stresse

Design and simulation of InGaAs/AlAsSb quantum-cascade lasers for short wavelength emission

The design and simulation of an In-0.53Ga-0.47As/Al-0.56As-0.44Sb quantum-cascade laser emitting in the near infrared is presented. Designed using a self-consistent rate equation solver coupled with an energy balance rate equation, the proposed laser has a calculated population inversion of ~20% at 77 K and sufficient gain to achieve room-temperature laser emission at λ ~2.8 µm. Threshold currents in the range 4–8 kA/cm2 are estimated as the temperature increases from 77 K to 300 K. The output characteristics of the proposed laser are compared to an existing λ ~3.1 µm In-0.53Ga-0.47As/Al-0.56As-0.44Sb quantum-cascade structure presented in the literature

Diode-quad bridge circuit means

Diode-quad bridge circuit means is described for use as a transducer circuit or as a discriminator circuit. It includes: (1) a diode bridge having first, second, third, and fourth bridge terminals consecutively coupled together by four diodes polarized in circulating relationship; (2) a first impedance connected between the second bridge terminal and a circuit ground; (3) a second impedance connected between the fourth bridge terminal and the circuit ground; (4) a signal source having a first source terminal capacitively coupled to the first and third bridge terminals, and a second source terminal connected to the circuit ground; and (5) an output terminal coupled to the first bridge terminal and at which an output signal may be taken

Diode-quad bridge for reactive transducers and FM discriminators

Diode-quad bridge circuit was developed for use with pressure-sensitive capacitive transducers, liquid-level measuring devices, proximity deflection sensors, and inductive displacement sensors. It may also be used as FM discriminator and as universal impedance bridge