456 research outputs found
Eroding market stability by proliferation of financial instruments
We contrast Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT), the theoretical basis for the
development of financial instruments, with a dynamical picture of an
interacting market, in a simple setting. The proliferation of financial
instruments apparently provides more means for risk diversification, making the
market more efficient and complete. In the simple market of interacting traders
discussed here, the proliferation of financial instruments erodes systemic
stability and it drives the market to a critical state characterized by large
susceptibility, strong fluctuations and enhanced correlations among risks. This
suggests that the hypothesis of APT may not be compatible with a stable market
dynamics. In this perspective, market stability acquires the properties of a
common good, which suggests that appropriate measures should be introduced in
derivative markets, to preserve stability.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figure
The effect of dietary calcium inclusion on broiler gastrointestinal pH: quantification and method optimization
There is little consensus as to the most appropriate methodology for the measurement of gastrointestinal pH in chickens. An experiment was conducted to establish the optimum sampling method for the determination of broiler digesta pH in birds fed differing levels of dietary calcium. Ross 308 broilers (n = 60) were fed one of two experimental diets, one containing 0.8% monocalcium phosphate and 2% limestone and one containing 0.4% monocalcium phosphate and 1% limestone. Four factors were investigated to determine the most appropriate method of measuring broiler gastrointestinal digesta pH: removal from the tract, prolonged air exposure, altering the temperature of the assay, and controlling the water content of the digesta. The conditions were assessed at bird ages from 7 to 42 d post hatch. Dietary Ca content had no significant effect on in situ pH, but it contributed towards variance in ex situ pH of both gizzard and duodenum digesta
Sustainable remote and rural eco-tourism: Applying a systemic, holistic, a interdisciplinary and participatory (Ship) approach
Long Lamai is a remote and rural Penan community in the interiors of
Borneo in Sarawak, Malaysia. It is only accessible by either an 8-hour 4-
wheel-drive on the logging road or an hour's flight via a 19-seater Twin
Otter, and then a mandatory hour's river ride upriver. Long Lamai is being
developed as an eco-tourism site, given the existence of natural attractions
such as untouched flora and fauna, and the unique Penan's culture. A
telecentre (which provides computing facilities and Internet connection via a
satellite system, and using solar-power), was established in 2009. The
management committee, which is running the telecentre, is also
spearheading the use of ICTs in establishing Long Lamai as a tourist
attraction and hence, to improve the socio-economic status. In addition to
this, there are many aspects which need to be addressed, for example, the
issues of environment, e-commerce, handicraft development, transportation,
sourcing of food, sourcing of raw materials for the handicrafts, tour guiding,
and development of tourism activities. One approach to the design and
development of sustainable eco-tourism industry is by viewing the whole
socio-economic transformation process as a complex system. The complex
system comprises the various "sub-systems" such as those described above,
e.g. environment, e-commerce, and handicraft development. All these subsystems
interact and affect each other, and has to work effectively and
efficiently together. To understand this complex system, we take the SHIP
(systemic, holistic, interdisciplinary and participatory) approach. This paper
thus details a study of Long Lamai as an eco-tourism site from the SHIP
perspective
Computing gravitational waves from slightly nonspherical stellar collapse to black hole: Odd-parity perturbation
Nonspherical stellar collapse to a black hole is one of the most promising
gravitational wave sources for gravitational wave detectors. We numerically
study gravitational waves from a slightly nonspherical stellar collapse to a
black hole in linearized Einstein theory. We adopt a spherically collapsing
star as the zeroth-order solution and gravitational waves are computed using
perturbation theory on the spherical background. In this paper we focus on the
perturbation of odd-parity modes. Using the polytropic equations of state with
polytropic indices and 3, we qualitatively study gravitational waves
emitted during the collapse of neutron stars and supermassive stars to black
holes from a marginally stable equilibrium configuration. Since the matter
perturbation profiles can be chosen arbitrarily, we provide a few types for
them. For , the gravitational waveforms are mainly characterized by a
black hole quasinormal mode ringing, irrespective of perturbation profiles
given initially. However, for , the waveforms depend strongly on the
initial perturbation profiles. In other words, the gravitational waveforms
strongly depend on the stellar configuration and, in turn, on the ad hoc choice
of the functional form of the perturbation in the case of supermassive stars.Comment: 31 pages, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D, typos and minor
errors correcte
Nkx6.1 controls a gene regulatory network required for establishing and maintaining pancreatic Beta cell identity
All pancreatic endocrine cell types arise from a common endocrine precursor cell population, yet the molecular mechanisms that establish and maintain the unique gene expression programs of each endocrine cell lineage have remained largely elusive. Such knowledge would improve our ability to correctly program or reprogram cells to adopt specific endocrine fates. Here, we show that the transcription factor Nkx6.1 is both necessary and sufficient to specify insulin-producing beta cells. Heritable expression of Nkx6.1 in endocrine precursors of mice is sufficient to respecify non-beta endocrine precursors towards the beta cell lineage, while endocrine precursor- or beta cell-specific inactivation of Nkx6.1 converts beta cells to alternative endocrine lineages. Remaining insulin(+) cells in conditional Nkx6.1 mutants fail to express the beta cell transcription factors Pdx1 and MafA and ectopically express genes found in non-beta endocrine cells. By showing that Nkx6.1 binds to and represses the alpha cell determinant Arx, we identify Arx as a direct target of Nkx6.1. Moreover, we demonstrate that Nkx6.1 and the Arx activator Isl1 regulate Arx transcription antagonistically, thus establishing competition between Isl1 and Nkx6.1 as a critical mechanism for determining alpha versus beta cell identity. Our findings establish Nkx6.1 as a beta cell programming factor and demonstrate that repression of alternative lineage programs is a fundamental principle by which beta cells are specified and maintained. Given the lack of Nkx6.1 expression and aberrant activation of non-beta endocrine hormones in human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived insulin(+) cells, our study has significant implications for developing cell replacement therapies
Getting into hot water: water quality in tropical lakes in relation to their utilisation
Over-exploitation of tropical lakes and reservoirs ('lakes') causes water quality problems that occur as a result of competing socio-economic demands and the presence of feedback loops within the system that exacerbate the situation. We review well documented case studies from Brazil, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia and Mexico to examine the effect that changes in water quality and quantity have had on the utilisation of these tropical lakes. By comparing the different approaches used to improve their sustainable management, we have found that nutrient enrichment is one of the most important and widespread water quality problems, causing adverse effects such as algal blooms, nuisance levels of aquatic plants, low oxygen levels and elevated greenhouse gas emissions. These effects restrict the use of these lakes for water supply, fisheries, recreation, tourism and wildlife. We conclude that tropical lakes require better management, urgently, to restore the ecosystem services that they deliver to man and nature. However, to be effective, the development of sustainable management programmes needs to be underpinned by reliable scientific evidence and the results of extensive stakeholder engagement activities. We note that, currently, there is little information available on how tropical lakes respond to management interventions that can be used to guide these activities. Further research is needed to address this knowledge gap. Presented at International Conference on the Ocean and Earth Sciences, 18-20 November 2020, Jakarta Selatan, Indonesia (held online)
Formation of dense partonic matter in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC: Experimental evaluation by the PHENIX collaboration
Extensive experimental data from high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions were
recorded using the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
(RHIC). The comprehensive set of measurements from the first three years of
RHIC operation includes charged particle multiplicities, transverse energy,
yield ratios and spectra of identified hadrons in a wide range of transverse
momenta (p_T), elliptic flow, two-particle correlations, non-statistical
fluctuations, and suppression of particle production at high p_T. The results
are examined with an emphasis on implications for the formation of a new state
of dense matter. We find that the state of matter created at RHIC cannot be
described in terms of ordinary color neutral hadrons.Comment: 510 authors, 127 pages text, 56 figures, 1 tables, LaTeX. Submitted
to Nuclear Physics A as a regular article; v3 has minor changes in response
to referee comments. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures
for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available
at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
Analysis of the correlation between strength and fractal dimension of gravelly soil in debris-flow source areas
peer-reviewedParticle size distribution of gravelly soil plays a crucial role in debris flow initiation. For better understanding the mechanism of debris flow formation, two crucial mechanical property parameters of the gravelly soil are required to be studied meticulously: hydraulic conductivity and strength. With the aim of measuring the composition of the gravelly soil, 182 soil samples were taken from debris flow prone areas. With the aid of a sieve test, the particle size distribution of the samples can be obtained and analyzed. Then fractal theory was employed to compute the fractal dimension of the soil samples. By analyzing the results of sieve test (particle size distribution curves) and the results of the fractal theory calculations, the relationship between fractal dimension and particle size distribution can be explored. The results illustrate that the particle compositions of the gravelly soil tends to remain uniform as the fractal dimension increases. Moreover, as the coarse particle content increases, the fractal dimension decreases. To better understand the formation mechanism of debris flows, direct shear tests were conducted. Subsequently the experimental results were analyzed. By analysis, the following conclusions can be drawn: the soil strength decreases as the fractal dimension increases, and for soils with lower moisture content and identical dry density, a linear relationship between fractal dimension and cohesion force was identified. Moreover, cohesion force and internal friction force both decrease as the fractal dimension increases, but the internal friction angle decreases slightly while the cohesion force decreases greatly. Therefore we concluded that soil strength decreased mainly due to the reduction in cohesion force.PUBLISHEDpeer-reviewe
Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment
This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and
W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with
the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated
luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and
the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto
the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions
f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV
and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw
> 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour,
are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017
+/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second
include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables,
revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio
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