Estimating time-varying risk premia in UK long-term government bonds

Simple models of time-varying risk premia are used to measure the risk premia in long-term UK government bonds. The parameters of the models can be estimated using nonlinear seemingly unrelated regression (NL-SUR), which permits efficient use of information across the entire yield curve and facilitates the testing of various cross-sectional restrictions. The estimated time-varying premia are found to be substantially different to those estimated using models that assume constant risk premia. © 2004 Taylor and Francis Ltd.

A corpus-based investigation of junk emails

Almost everyone who has an email account receives from time to time unwanted emails. These emails can be jokes from friends or commercial product offers from unknown people. In this paper we focus on these unwanted messages which try to promote a product or service, or to offer some “hot” business opportunities. These messages are called junk emails. Several methods to filter junk emails were proposed, but none considers the linguistic characteristics of junk emails. In this paper, we investigate the linguistic features of a corpus of junk emails, and try to decide if they constitute a distinct genre. Our corpus of junk emails was build from the messages received by the authors over a period of time. Initially, the corpus consisted of 1563, but after eliminating the duplications automatically we kept only 673 files, totalising just over 373,000 tokens. In order to decide if the junk emails constitute a different genre, a comparison with a corpus of leaflets extracted from BNC and with the whole BNC corpus is carried out. Several characteristics at the lexical and grammatical levels were identified.

Chemical reactions of double bonds in activated carbon:microwave and bromination methods

The reaction of localised C=C bonds on the surface of activated carbons has been shown to be an effective method of chemical modification especially using microwave-assisted reactions.

The rise and fall of diasporic bonds in Japanese-Peruvian “Return” migration

Two decades after Japanese-Peruvians and other South Americans of Japanese descent began to migrate back to Japan, the return-migration phenomenon has ended. Induced by the Japanese government in the name of shared ethnicity, Japanese policymakers now largely regard return migration as a failed policy. It failed because return-migrants did not, in the view of policy- makers, assimilate, integrate, or “make it” in Japan as expected. Thus, once-imagined ethnic bonds ceased to exist in Japan. However, ethnic bonds sustained themselves well outside Japan. The Japanese-Peruvian community in Peru has thrived and maintained continuous ties with Japan. What explains the rise and fall of diasporic ethnic bonds? Drawing on my ethnographic research in Japanese-Peruvian communities in Peru and Japan, I found that diasporic ethnic bonds are cultivated or weakened depending upon where diasporic populations are located in relation to their ancestral homeland, and how such ties are utilized, for what, and by whom.

Evaluating and improving the opposing expert safeguard against junk science

In Daubert, the Supreme Court opined that opposing expert testimony is an effective safeguard against junk science in the courtroom. Although jurors maybe unable to identify flaws in scientific research without some assistance, social psychological research suggests that people can be trained to make more sophisticated judgments about scientific quality. Further, previous research demonstrated that an opposing expert who addresses the methodology of proffered expert testimony may not enable jurors to evaluate scientific validity. In three studies, I tested why this safeguard was ineffective using a variety of stimulus materials. In the first study, I examined the mediating effect of attitudes on juror decisions within the context of a sexual harassment trial. In the second study, I examined the moderating effect of the presentation of expert credentials on participant decisions regarding child suggestibility literature. In the third study, I tested several improvements to the safeguard using improvements designed to correct for the effects of attitudes and credential presentation on juror decisions within the context of a first-degree murder trial. I found that while opposing expert testimony may have potential as a safeguard, in its current form it is ineffective. That is, a traditional opposing expert caused jurors to be skeptical of all expert testimony rather than sensitizing them to the validity of the research presented at trial. Further, while the improvements tested in this study may have potential to assist jurors in making scientifically sound decisions, more research is needed to further test and refine these improvements. ^

Variables affecting government debt: A comparison of certificates of participation, tax -exempt revenue bonds and tax -exempt general obligation bonds

This dissertation analyzed and compared variables affecting interest rate and yield of certificates of participation, tax-exempt revenue bonds and tax-exempt general obligation bonds. The study employed qualitative and quantitative analysis methods. ^ Qualitative research methods included surveys, interviews and focus groups. The survey solicited debt load information from 67 Florida school districts (21 responded) and addressed the question which districts used certificates of participation and why. Eight individuals with experience dealing with all three debt instruments were interviewed. A follow-up focus group of six school district financial officers gathered additional data. Results from the qualitative methods revealed school districts used certificates of participation based on millage authority amount available relative to overall tax base. Also identified was the belief of a significant difference in certificates of participation costs and the other two debt instrument types. ^ The study's quantitative methods analyzed 1998 and 1999 initial issues of Moody's AAA rated certificates of participation, tax-exempt revenue bonds and tax-exempt general obligation bonds. Through an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), the study examined interest rates and yields while controlling for the covariates of credit enhancement, issue size, and maturity date. The analysis identified no significant difference between interest rates of certificates of participation and tax-exempt general obligation bonds (p < 0.05). There was a significant difference between interest rates of tax-exempt revenue bonds and tax-exempt general obligation bonds. This study discerned no significant difference between yield on certificates of participation and tax-exempt general obligation bonds. It identified a difference in yield between both certificates of participation and tax-exempt general obligation bonds compared with tax-exempt revenue bonds. ^ The study found COPs to have lesser overall costs than RV bonds. COPs also have a quicker entry into the market resulting in construction cost savings. The study found policy implications such as investment portfolio limitations and public choice issues about using COPs as a mechanism to grow government. ^

Financing infrastructure development : time to unshackle the bonds?

The authors would like to thank the RICS for their financial support of the project and the numerous respondents who gave so freely of their time. Part of the research was supported by a grant from the Hong Kong-Scotland Partners in Post-Doctoral Research Scheme sponsored by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong and the Scottish Government (S-HKU701/13).

1979 Gayle Bonds

1979-1980 Miss Lincoln

A first principles analysis of the effect of hydrogen concentration in hydrogenated amorphous silicon on the formation of strained Si-Si bonds and the optical and mobility gaps

In this paper, we use a model of hydrogenated amorphous silicon generated from molecular dynamics with density functional theory calculations to examine how the atomic geometry and the optical and mobility gaps are influenced by mild hydrogen oversaturation. The optical and mobility gaps show a volcano curve as the hydrogen content varies from undersaturation to mild oversaturation, with largest gaps obtained at the saturation hydrogen concentration. At the same time, mid-gap states associated with dangling bonds and strained Si-Si bonds disappear at saturation but reappear at mild oversaturation, which is consistent with the evolution of optical gap. The distribution of Si-Si bond distances provides the key to the change in electronic properties. In the undersaturation regime, the new electronic states in the gap arise from the presence of dangling bonds and strained Si-Si bonds, which are longer than the equilibrium Si-Si distance. Increasing hydrogen concentration up to saturation reduces the strained bonds and removes dangling bonds. In the case of mild oversaturation, the mid-gap states arise exclusively from an increase in the density of strained Si-Si bonds. Analysis of our structure shows that the extra hydrogen atoms form a bridge between neighbouring silicon atoms, thus increasing the Si-Si distance and increasing disorder in the sample.

Primary Road Bonds, 1950

A brief overview of Iowa's road bonds.

Financial stocks and political bonds: stock market participation and political behavior in the United States and Britain

This dissertation investigates the effect of stock market participation on political behavior. Some observers claim that financial assets—stocks and mutual funds—have a causal effect on political behavior. The “investor class theory” asserts that as people invest in the stock market their partisan attachments shift rightward. The “asset effect theory” claims that financial investments increase political interest and participation. I examine these claims with longitudinal data from the United States and Great Britain covering a twenty-year period from the early 1980s through the mid-2000’s. I also examine the effect of financial asset ownership on political attitudes in the United States during the 2008 stock market crash. I find no evidence to support the argument that stock market participation has any causal effect on partisanship, participation, or political attitudes.

Reverse convertible bonds

I convertible bonds sono degli strumenti finanziari che conferiscono al suo possessore la facoltà di scegliere se, una volta scaduta l'obbligazione, essere rimborsato tramite una somma di denaro (valore nominale) oppure convertire l'obbligazione in un numero predefinito di azioni. Successivamente si è trattato l’argomento della tesi, i reverse convertible bonds. Queste obbligazioni sono simili ai convertible bonds con la differenza che in tal caso il diritto di scegliere se convertire o meno l'obbligazione in azioni è lasciato all'emittente e non al sottoscrittore. I reverse convertible si ottengono dalla combinazione di un coupon bond ordinario (senza l'opzione di conversione) a breve termine e di un'opzione put sulle azioni sottostanti. E' stata analizzata la formula di valutazione dei reverse convertible bonds, data dalla differenza tra il prezzo di un coupon-bond ordinario emesso dalla stessa società e il prezzo di un'opzione put (quest'ultimo moltiplicato per il rapporto di conversione, ossia per il numero di azioni che si ottengono dalla conversione di ciascuna obbligazione convertibile). E’ stata poi fatta un’analisi empirica dei prezzi dei reverse convertible bonds. Sono stati calcolati i prezzi di 7 reverse convertible utilizzando i dati forniti dal database finanziario e macroeconomico, Thomson Reuters Datastream.I prezzi calcolati sono stati poi confrontati con i prezzi di mercato di tali obbligazioni relativamente allo stesso istante temporale, il giorno 6/6/2016.