Modeling long-term nominal interest rates /

"August 1995."

THAID : a sequential analysis program for the analysis of nominal scale dependent variables /

Bibliography: p. 46.

Le groupe nominal épithète:Monsieur le Professeur, mes amis les linguistes, les linguistes mes amis

This paper explores the syntactic structure of those French constructions where an NP directly follows another. Examples are provided by Monsieur le Professeur, Mes amis les linguistes, Les linguistes mes amis, the later being equivalent to the English cases My Brother the fool and The fool my brother. Following an analysis of their distributional property, the syntactic structure of the groups is shown to involve the modification of the first noun by the following DP. While therefore structurally comparable to an adjectival modifier, these DPs impose a condition of coreference between the two nouns. A further interpretative constraint is shown to hold concerning the referentially anchored status of either of the DPs. Thus, the form of the complement can determine the behaviour of the head, as demonstrated by this atypical nominal group.

What nominal phrases are all about: the atypical case of indefinite pronouns with a determiner

This paper presents novel data that challenge the traditional categorial understanding of the nominal phrase. The established use of an indefinite pronoun with a determiner in French (ce quelqu'un, du n'importe quoi, un je ne sais quoi) contravenes assumptions both about pronouns, which should not be embedded, and nominal phrases, which should be headed by a noun. Analysed here for the first time, the embedding of a pronoun under a determiner is shown to find its justification in the semantic import of the construction. The anaphoric role guaranteeing referential continuity is promoted by a strong determiner; weak determiners typically contribute to constructing a designative use of the pronoun when a more precise characterisation cannot or will not be provided. How this construction would be analysed in the Minimalist Programme is presented to suggest that the phrase satisfies semantic requirements, which resolves the paradoxes of its traditional definition

Intelligent DMU creation: Nominal CAD model preparation for automated tolerance allocation

This paper examines the integration of a tolerance design process within the Computer-Aided Design (CAD) environment having identified the potential to create an intelligent Digital Mock-Up [1]. The tolerancing process is complex in nature and as such reliance on Computer-Aided Tolerancing (CAT) software and domain experts can create a disconnect between the design and manufacturing disciplines It is necessary to implement the tolerance design procedure at the earliest opportunity to integrate both disciplines and to reduce workload in tolerance analysis and allocation at critical stages in product development when production is imminent.
The work seeks to develop a methodology that will allow for a preliminary tolerance allocation procedure within CAD. An approach to tolerance allocation based on sensitivity analysis is implemented on a simple assembly to review its contribution to an intelligent DMU. The procedure is developed using Python scripting for CATIA V5, with analysis results aligning with those in literature. A review of its implementation and requirements is presented.

La tasa de cambio nominal en Colombia

Este documento tiene como objetivo brindar al estudiante una breve introducción a los diferentes regímenes de cambio que han existido en Colombia; para ello se presenta una breve descripción de los diferentes mecanismos que se han empleado en Colombia para regular el mercado de moneda extranjera desde la segunda mitad del siglo XX; de igual forma se presenta una aproximación intuitiva para entender el funcionamiento de los diferentes regímenes. Está dirigido principalmente a estudiantes de pregrado de economía, pero por la sencillez del lenguaje, puede ser de utilidad para cualquier estudiante o profesional interesado en la política económica.

LHC main dipole magnet circuits: sustaining near-nominal beam energies

Crossing the Franco-Swiss border, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), designed to collide 7 TeV proton beams, is the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator the operation of which was originally intended to commence in 2008. Unfortunately, due to an interconnect discontinuity in one of the main dipole circuit's 13 kA superconducting busbars, a catastrophic quench event occurred during initial magnet training, causing significant physical system damage. Furthermore, investigation into the cause found that such discontinuities were not only present in the circuit in question, but throughout the entire LHC. This prevented further magnet training and ultimately resulted in the maximum sustainable beam energy being limited to approximately half that of the design nominal, 3.5-4 TeV, for the first three years of operation (Run 1, 2009-2012) and a major consolidation campaign being scheduled for the first long shutdown (LS 1, 2012-2014). Throughout Run 1, a series of studies attempted to predict the amount of post-installation training quenches still required to qualify each circuit to nominal-energy current levels. With predictions in excess of 80 quenches (each having a recovery time of 8-12+ hours) just to achieve 6.5 TeV and close to 1000 quenches for 7 TeV, it was decided that for Run 2, all systems be at least qualified for 6.5 TeV operation. However, even with all interconnect discontinuities scheduled to be repaired during LS 1, numerous other concerns regarding circuit stability arose. In particular, observations of an erratic behaviour of magnet bypass diodes and the degradation of other potentially weak busbar sections, as well as observations of seemingly random millisecond spikes in beam losses, known as unidentified falling object (UFO) events, which, if persist at 6.5 TeV, may eventually deposit sufficient energy to quench adjacent magnets. In light of the above, the thesis hypothesis states that, even with the observed issues, the LHC main dipole circuits can safely support and sustain near-nominal proton beam energies of at least 6.5 TeV. Research into minimising the risk of magnet training led to the development and implementation of a new qualification method, capable of providing conclusive evidence that all aspects of all circuits, other than the magnets and their internal joints, can safely withstand a quench event at near-nominal current levels, allowing for magnet training to be carried out both systematically and without risk. This method has become known as the Copper Stabiliser Continuity Measurement (CSCM). Results were a success, with all circuits eventually being subject to a full current decay from 6.5 TeV equivalent current levels, with no measurable damage occurring. Research into UFO events led to the development of a numerical model capable of simulating typical UFO events, reproducing entire Run 1 measured event data sets and extrapolating to 6.5 TeV, predicting the likelihood of UFO-induced magnet quenches. Results provided interesting insights into the involved phenomena as well as confirming the possibility of UFO-induced magnet quenches. The model was also capable of predicting that such events, if left unaccounted for, are likely to be commonplace or not, resulting in significant long-term issues for 6.5+ TeV operation. Addressing the thesis hypothesis, the following written works detail the development and results of all CSCM qualification tests and subsequent magnet training as well as the development and simulation results of both 4 TeV and 6.5 TeV UFO event modelling. The thesis concludes, post-LS 1, with the LHC successfully sustaining 6.5 TeV proton beams, but with UFO events, as predicted, resulting in otherwise uninitiated magnet quenches and being at the forefront of system availability issues.

La adquisición del sintagma determinante en español por niños de lengua materna árabe marroquí

El objetivo principal de esta tesis es el estudio de los mecanismos generales y específicos de la adquisición del español como segunda lengua, en particular en relación con la adquisición del Sintagma Determinante (SD). Prestaremos especial atención a las diferencias y similitudes en la adquisición de esta categoría gramatical como lengua materna y como lengua segunda por niños y adultos, así como al papel de la experiencia lingüística previa y al de la edad de la primera exposición a la segunda lengua, tanto en el estadio inicial, como en el proceso y el logro final. La existencia de la facultad humana del lenguaje, como capacidad diferenciada de las otras capacidades cognitivas, es una de las asunciones de la visión chomskiana del lenguaje. Según esa visión, esta capacidad se encuentra localizada en un dominio mental prefijado, innato y específico. La adquisición del lenguaje no es una combinación de refuerzos, como propone el conductismo, sino que los niños están expuestos a un amplio rango de opciones combinatorias, de tal forma que el aprendizaje de una lengua natural consiste en la selección de parámetros y rasgos y en la adquisición del léxico (Piatelli-Palmarini, 1989). La investigación sobre la adquisición de segundas lenguas constituye un elemento principal de todos los desarrollos de la teoría chomskiana, desde la gramática transformacional al Programa Minimista (Chomsky, 1957, 1959, 1965, 1974, 1981, 1986, 1994a, 1994b, 1994c, 1994d, 1995, 1998a, 1998b, 2001; Chomsky, Beletti y Rizzi, 2000). Sin embargo, los progresos en la adecuación descriptiva, es decir, la descripción del funcionamiento lingüístico, no han contribuido siempre al desarrollo de la adecuación explicativa, la explicación de la adquisición del lenguaje. De hecho, el limitado interés mostrado por algunos de los lingüistas más renombrados que desarrollan sus investigaciones en el marco chomskiano ha podido ahondar la división metodológica establecida entre los lingüistas centrados principalmente en la teoría y los más dedicados al análisis de datos (Liceras, 2003). Las aproximaciones conexionistas o constructivistas a la adquisición del lenguaje (Elman et al., 1996; Pérez-Pereira, 2003; Ezeizaberrena, 2003) reprochan precisamente a la teoría chomskiana su escaso interés por los datos, a la vez que las ideas del innatismo y la existencia de una facultad humana específica del lenguaje...

Measuring persistence in nominal exchange rate: Implications for Angola’s entrepreneurship and business development

The purpose of this paper is to measure the degree of persistence in the Kwanza to US Dollar exchange rate. First, our results indicate that nominal exchange rates both in levels and in first differences are I(0), thus implying that the relative purchasing power parity hypothesis for Angola is not rejected. Secondly, we find a significant degree of persistence in both the formal and informal nominal exchange rates. Thirdly, the degree of persistence in the official market is significantly lower than in the formal market, while In first differences, persistence in the official exchange rate is substantially higher than in the informal exchange rate. Lastly, we could not find strong evidence that persistence has changed in levels throughout the sample period. By contrast, there is significant evidence that persistence in first differences has consistently increased after September 2003. These results have important policy implications as the National Bank of Angola is preparing to change its monetary and exchange-rate policy focus to a more inflation-targeting regime and to a more a flexible (or low-managed) exchange-rate regime.

Forecasting trends in the Brisbane central business district office market

The Queensland Department of Public Works (DPW) holds a significant interest in the Brisbane Central Business District (CBD) in controlling approximately 20 percent of the office space within its confines. This comprises a total of 333,903 square metres of space, of which 170,111 square metres is owned and 163,792 square metres is leased from the private sector. The department’s nominal ownership extends to several enduring, landmark buildings as well as several modern office towers. The portfolio includes the oldest building in the CBD, being the former Commissariat Stores building and one of the newest, a 15,000 square metre office tower under construction at 33 Charlotte Street.

Concurrent multi-scale modeling of civil infrastructures for analyses on structural deteriorating—Part II : Model updating and verification

This paper is a continuation of the paper titled “Concurrent multi-scale modeling of civil infrastructure for analyses on structural deteriorating—Part I: Modeling methodology and strategy” with the emphasis on model updating and verification for the developed concurrent multi-scale model. The sensitivity-based parameter updating method was applied and some important issues such as selection of reference data and model parameters, and model updating procedures on the multi-scale model were investigated based on the sensitivity analysis of the selected model parameters. The experimental modal data as well as static response in terms of component nominal stresses and hot-spot stresses at the concerned locations were used for dynamic response- and static response-oriented model updating, respectively. The updated multi-scale model was further verified to act as the baseline model which is assumed to be finite-element model closest to the real situation of the structure available for the subsequent arbitrary numerical simulation. The comparison of dynamic and static responses between the calculated results by the final model and measured data indicated the updating and verification methods applied in this paper are reliable and accurate for the multi-scale model of frame-like structure. The general procedures of multi-scale model updating and verification were finally proposed for nonlinear physical-based modeling of large civil infrastructure, and it was applied to the model verification of a long-span bridge as an actual engineering practice of the proposed procedures.