A Critique of the Stochastic Discount Factor Methodology

In this paper, we point out that the widely used stochastic discount factor (SDF) methodology ignores a fully specified model for asset returns. As a result, it suffers from two potential problems when asset returns follow a linear factor model. The first problem is that the risk premium estimate from the SDF methodology is unreliable. The second problem is that the specification test under the SDF methodology has very low power in detecting misspecified models. Traditional methodologies typically incorporate a fully specified model for asset returns, and they can perform substantially better than the SDF methodology.

Computationally-efficient Finite-element-based Thermal and Electromagnetic Models of Electric Machines.

With the modern trend of transportation electrification, electric machines are a key component of electric/hybrid electric vehicle (EV/HEV) powertrains. It is therefore important that vehicle powertrain-level and system-level designers and control engineers have access to accurate yet computationally-efficient (CE), physics-based modeling tools of the thermal and electromagnetic (EM) behavior of electric machines. In this dissertation, CE yet accurate thermal and EM models for electric machines, which are suitable for use in vehicle powertrain design, optimization, and control, are developed. This includes not only creating fast and accurate thermal and EM models for specific machine designs, but also the ability to quickly generate and determine the performance of new machine designs through the application of scaling techniques to existing designs. With the developed techniques, the thermal and EM performance can be accurately and efficiently estimated. Furthermore, powertrain or system designers can easily and quickly adjust the characteristics and the performance of the machine in ways that are favorable to the overall vehicle performance.PhDElectrical Engineering: SystemsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113497/1/kanzhou_1.pd

The emerging roles and therapeutic potential of cyclin-dependent kinase 11 (CDK11) in human cancer.

Overexpression and/or hyperactivation of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are common features of most cancer types. CDKs have been shown to play important roles in tumor cell proliferation and growth by controlling cell cycle, transcription, and RNA splicing. CDK4/6 inhibitor palbociclib has been recently approved by the FDA for the treatment of breast cancer. CDK11 is a serine/threonine protein kinase in the CDK family and recent studies have shown that CDK11 also plays critical roles in cancer cell growth and proliferation. A variety of genetic and epigenetic events may cause universal overexpression of CDK11 in human cancers. Inhibition of CDK11 has been shown to lead to cancer cell death and apoptosis. Significant evidence has suggested that CDK11 may be a novel and promising therapeutic target for the treatment of cancers. This review will focus on the emerging roles of CDK11 in human cancers, and provide a proof-of-principle for continued efforts toward targeting CDK11 for effective cancer treatment

Fire performance of concrete-encased CFST columns and beam-column joints

[EN] Concrete-encased CFST (concrete filled steel tube) structure is a type of composite structure featuring an inner CFST component and an outer reinforced concrete (RC) component. They are gaining popularity in high-rise buildings and large-span buildings in China nowadays. To date, the behaviour of concrete-encased CFST structures at ambient temperature has been investigated, but their fire performance has seldom been addressed, including the performance in fire and after exposure to fire. This paper summarizes the fire test results of concrete-encased CFST columns and beam-column joints. The cruciform beam-column joint was composed of one continuous concrete-encased CFST column and two cantilevered reinforced concrete (RC) beams. These specimens were subjected to a combined effect of load and full-range fire. The test procedure included four phases, i.e. a loading phase at ambient temperature, a standard fire exposure phase with constant load applied, a sequential cooling phase and a postfire loading phase. The main findings are presented and analysed. Two types of failure were identified, i.e. the failure during fire exposure and the failure during postfire loading. Global buckling failure was observed for all the column specimens. The column specimens with common load ratios achieved high fire ratings without additional fire protection. The concrete-encased CFST columns also retained high postfire residual strength. As for the joint members, beam failure was observed in all cases. The measured temperature-time history and deformation-time history are also presented and discussed. For both the column and joint specimens, the deformation over the cooling phase was significantly greater than that in the standard fire exposure phase.Zhou, K.; Han, L. (2018). Fire performance of concrete-encased CFST columns and beam-column joints. En Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Advances in Steel-Concrete Composite Structures. ASCCS 2018. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 779-786. https://doi.org/10.4995/ASCCS2018.2018.6927OCS77978

The gendered impacts of partnership and parenthood on paid work and unpaid work time in Great Britain, 1992-2019

Using data from the British Household Panel Study and the UK Household Longitudinal Study (1992–2019), this study investigates the impacts of partnership and parenthood on women's and men's paid work and unpaid work time and how these impacts have changed in the last three decades in Great Britain. We applied two fixed-effect models—one conventional, one novel—with individual constants and slopes to account for the selection and longitudinal changes in time use. We found that the gender-traditionalizing effect of partnership on the use of time has weakened over the years. Marriage did not affect women's and men's paid work time, and since the 2010s, marriage no longer affect women's and men's time spent on housework differently. However, motherhood continues to reduce women's paid work time substantially, and the extent of this impact has remained unchanged over the previous three decades. Partnership and parenthood have resulted in minor changes to men's paid work and unpaid work time; the extent of their effects has likewise remained modest over the previous three decades. Our findings suggest that in Britain, the gender revolution of the division of labor among parents has stalled, and family policies have not successfully increased mothers’ paid work time and fathers’ unpaid work time

Offset quantum-well method for tunable distributed Bragg reflector lasers and electro-absorption modulated distributed feedback lasers

A two-section offset quantum-well structure tunable laser with a tuning range of 7 nm was fabricated using offset quantum-well method. The distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) was realized just by selectively wet etching the multiquantum-well (MQW) layer above the quaternary lower waveguide. A threshold current of 32 mA and an output power of 9 mW at 100 mA were achieved. Furthermore, with this offset structure method, a distributed feedback (DFB) laser was integrated with an electro-absorption modulator (EAM), which was capable of producing 20 dB of optical extinction

Heat transfer across a nanoscale pressurized air gap and its application in magnetic recording

In this study, we investigated how a thermally actuated air bearing slider heats up a fast-spinning storage disk through a highly pressurized nanoscale air gap in a magnetic recording system. A Euleriandescription- based computational approach is developed considering heat conduction through a pressurized air film and near-field radiation across the gap. A set of field equations that govern the air bearing dynamics, slider thermo-mechanics and disk heat dissipation are solved simultaneously through an iterative approach. A temperature field on the same order as the hot slider surface itself is found to be established in the disk. The effective local heat transfer coefficient is found to vary substantially with disk materials and linear speeds. This approach quantifies the magnitude of different thermal transport schemes and the accuracy is verified by an excellent agreement with our experiment, which measures the local slider temperature rise with a resistance temperature sensor. It also demonstrates an effective computational approach to treat transient thermal processes in a system of components with fast relative speed and different length scales. Finally, the investigated thermal transport mechanism leads to a substantial spacing change that has a significant impact on the spacing margin of today’s magnetic storage systems