Extra Liquid Research Articles

Exploring the potential of short-baseline physics at Fermilab

We study the capabilities of the short baseline neutrino program at Fermilab to probe the unitarity of the lepton mixing matrix. We find the sensitivity to be slightly better than the current one. Motivated by the future DUNE experiment, we have also analyzed the potential of an extra liquid Argon near detector in the LBNF beamline. Adding such a near detector to the DUNE setup will substantially improve the current sensitivity on non-unitarity. This would help to remove CP degeneracies due to the new complex phase present in the neutrino mixing matrix. We also study the sensitivity of our proposed setup to light sterile neutrinos for various configurations.

Effect of solidification conditions and surface pores on the microstructure and columnar-to-equiaxed transition in solidification under microgravity

Microgravity solidification experiments were carried out in the Material Science Laboratory on board the International Space Station. The influence of grain refinement, rotating magnetic field (RMF) and surface pores on the microstructure and columnar-to-equiaxed transition (CET) were investigated in two selected Al-based samples solidified under microgravity conditions. The increase of the furnace pulling velocity leads to a finer dendrite structure, a smaller eutectic percentage and a more uniform eutectic distribution in the interdendritic regions. On the one hand, grain refinement ensures the occurrence of CET, which is progressive in the studied experiment because of the high temperature gradient. On the other hand, in the non-refined alloy a RMF applied during solidification fails to trigger the CET, because the forced liquid flow is too weak compared to the solidification front velocity to transport fragments from the mushy zone above the solidification front. The presence of the pores at the sample surface leads to a peculiarity in the eutectic percentage and weakens the decrease of the dendrite arm spacing for both samples. These effects are ascribed to a forced extra liquid flow into the mushy zone due to the pore that promotes the growth of the dendrites along the liquid flow direction, resulting in elongated grains and postponing the CET in the refined alloy.

Topology of Complex Networks and Demand of Intraday Liquidity: Based on the Real-Time Gross Settlement System

Abstract Based on the payments and settlement system, the influence of the topology of capital flow networks on the extra short-term liquidity demand is investigated. Through modelling the circulating mechanism of liquidity in a network, its different influencing factors are analysed. The factors relating to the strength of nodes and leakage of liquidity that influences the liquidity demands of real-time settlements are studied from the perspective of both the system and members, using different simulation methods. The results show that strength will lead the member’s liquidity demand to increase but the strength distribution will lead the system’s liquidity demand to decrease, in cases with no leakage effect or unchanged leakage effect. The liquidity demand of the entire system is positive compared to the amount of leakage effect but uncorrelated to the distribution of the leakage effect among members, if the effect of strength distribution is unchanged. If the effects of strength, strength distribution and leakage are changed together, the latter is the dominant factor that influences the liquidity demand of both system and members. The above findings are useful for the management and supervision of short-term liquidity demand in complex financial systems, and for liquidity risk management and liquidity rescue policymaking.

Precautionary borrowing and the credit card debt puzzle

This paper addresses the credit card debt puzzle using a generalization of the buffer‐stock consumption model with long‐term revolving debt contracts. Closely resembling actual US credit card law, we assume that card issuers can always deny their cardholders access to new debt, but that they cannot demand immediate repayment of the outstanding balance. Hereby, current debt can potentially soften a household's borrowing constraint in future periods, and thus provides extra liquidity. We show that for some intermediate values of liquid net worth it is indeed optimal for households to simultaneously hold positive gross debt and positive gross assets even though the interest rate on the debt is much higher than the return rate on the assets. Including a risk of being excluded from new borrowing which is positively correlated with unemployment, we are able to simultaneously explain a substantial share of the observed borrower‐saver group and match a broad range of percentiles from the empirical distributions of credit card debt and liquid assets. Credit card debt puzzle precautionary saving consumption D14 D91 E21

Excess cash holdings, investment opportunity and shareholder value: European evidences

In this paper, we examine the marginal value of extra liquidity for a sample of excess cash listed companies (i.e. ECs) operating in the five largest E.U. economies (France, Italy, Germany, Spain and UK). After had shown that these companies are generally penalised by the market, in line with previous literature, we show that extra cash held is not detrimental to shareholder value when it is combined with high investment opportunities leading, hence, in a premium of 1€ extra held. This relation is even stronger during the financial crisis of 2008. These results confirm that the main reason why ECs are generally valued less by the market is the concern that their managers may deploy excess cash in value-destroying activities. However, EC firms are not penalized ceteris paribus when there are investment opportunities. In addition, such relation is stronger with the presence of financial constraints and lack of liquidity, as explained by the transaction and precautionary motive for holding cash.

Monetary Policy and the Natural Rate of Interest

It is most important for monetary policy to track the natural rate of interest when interest rates take large and sustained swings away from their long‐run equilibrium values. Here, we study two models: a standard New Keynesian model and one in which government bonds provide liquidity. Policy rules that cannot track the natural rate perform poorly in both models, but are especially bad in the second because of sustained movements in the natural rate induced by fiscal shocks. First difference rules, on the other hand, do surprisingly well. When model uncertainty is taken into account, the dominance of the first difference rule is even more pronounced.

CEO entrenchment and corporate liquidity management

Abstract CEO entrenchment distorts firms’ liquidity policy because entrenched CEOs and shareholders have conflicting preferences for liquidity. We investigate the association between firms’ liquidity level/mix and entrenchment within a system model accounting for endogeneity. Several results are obtained. Entrenched CEOs (i) hold more liquidity because it helps reduce their firm’s risks, provides them with job and wealth security, and gives them discretion in pursuing personal objectives; (ii) prefer cash over lines of credit (LCs) because the latter are accompanied by bank monitoring; and (iii) use more LCs, despite their associated monitoring, because they provide extra liquidity. Sample disaggregation shows that increased liquidity due to CEO entrenchment can be attributed to smaller and more opaque firms – large and transparent firms maintain their liquidity levels but increase their shares of cash. These findings imply that firms should align the interests of entrenched CEOs with those of shareholders to reduce the undesirable effects of entrenchment on liquidity management.

Mortgage Rates, Household Balance Sheets, and the Real Economy

This paper investigates the impact of lower mortgage rates on household balance sheets and other economic outcomes during the housing crisis. We use proprietary loan-level panel data matched to consumer credit records using borrowers' Social Security numbers, which allows for accurate measurement of the effects. Our main focus is on borrowers with agency loans, which constitute the vast majority of U.S. mortgage borrowers. Relying on variation in the timing of resets of adjustable rate mortgages, we find that a sizable decline in mortgage payments ($150 per month on average) induces a significant drop in mortgage defaults, an increase in new financing of durable consumption (auto purchases) of more than 10% in relative terms, and an overall improvement in household credit standing. New financing of durable consumption by borrowers with lower housing wealth responds more to mortgage payment reduction relative to wealthier households. Credit-constrained households initially use more than 70% of the extra liquidity generated by mortgage rate reductions to repay credit card debt-- a deleveraging response that can significantly restrict the ability of monetary policy to stimulate these households' consumption. These findings also qualitatively hold in a sample of less-prevalent borrowers with private non-agency loans. We then use regional variation in mortgage contract types to explore the impact of lower mortgage rates on broader economic outcomes. Regions more exposed to mortgage rate declines saw a relatively faster recovery in house prices, increased durable (auto) consumption, and increased employment growth, with responses concentrated in the non-tradable sector. Our findings have implications for the pass-through of monetary policy to the real economy through mortgage contracts and household balance sheets.

Molecular Biology Techniques Q&A

Molecular Biology Techniques Q&A

Effects of amount and type of cation species on the phase formation of single and codoped α-SiAlONs

The phase formation of single phase α-SiAlON ceramics based on α-Si3N4 was investigated using different rare earth (RE) or metallic cations to stabilise the α-phase. The effects of sintering temperature, size and type of stabilising cation and the addition of extra liquid forming additives on the phase transformation of α-Si3N4 to α-SiAlON were considered. The influence of the chosen parameters on properties such as density and hardness is furthermore discussed for Ca-codoped silicon aluminium oxynitride (SiAlON) ceramics (50% RE cations combined with 50% calcium cations). For smaller and larger RE systems different intermediate phases occur and the dissolution of sintering additives takes place at different temperatures, resulting in different amounts of SiAlON at a given sintering temperature. For smaller cations, the SiAlON formation is favoured below 1,750 °C compared to larger cations. The addition of extra liquid to the starting composition supports the SiAlON formation above the eutectic temperature. Contrary to the RE systems the calcium-doped samples did not show an intermediate phase during sintering. The cation solubility for sintering additives is higher and therefore the amount of SiAlON created below 1,750 °C increased. The final amount of SiAlON at 1,850 °C was about the same for all systems. Mechanical properties are also influenced by the composition of the starting powder. In general, increasing temperature leads to higher density and hardness.

High infrared transmission of Y 3+–Yb 3+-doped α-SiAlON

Dense dual Y 3+–Yb 3+-doped α-SiAlON ceramic containing extra addition of 2 wt.% Y 2O 3/Yb 2O 3 was fabricated by hot pressing at 1900 °C for 1 h, and its optical transmittance was investigated over the wavelength range 200–6000 nm. The results showed that the addition of 2 wt.% extra liquid phase could effectively promote Y/Yb-α-SiAlONs densification and its assemblage only consisted of single crystallized α-SiAlON phase. The obtained sample had relatively high infrared light transmittance properties. The maximum transmittance in the medium infrared region for 1.0 mm thick specimen could reach around 72% at ~ 2500 nm. It is attributed to the uniform, dense microstructure and few residual intergranular phases.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of multi-cation containing α-sialons

Dense Y-, Yb- and (Y + Yb)-doped α-sialons containing 2 wt.% extra liquid phase were fabricated by hot pressing. The results show that the elongated grains morphology can be obtained by partially substituting Yb with Y as a modifying cation, and hence improve the toughness of the materials. An additional intermediate holding step during sintering has no obvious effect on the microstructures and the mechanical properties. Post-heat treatment can further facilitate the growth of elongated α-sialon grains and increase the toughness of the materials. All the materials exhibited very similar high hardness of over 20 GPa.

Proprietary trading losses in banks: do banks invest sufficiently in control?

This paper analyzes management and control issues linked to the employment of traders who engage in proprietary trading activity for their employer (a bank). The bank can invest in control and monitoring of these traders, and the paper evaluates the profitability of such investments. We find that the investment in control is distorted due to interfering market microstructure effects. The bank is inclined to underinvest in control of its traders because traders who are not too closely monitored generate extra liquidity in the market. Bank supervision might be needed, therefore, to correct for such effects. We evaluate the effectiveness of the value-at-risk capital adequacy requirement proposed by the Bank for International Settlements, and find that this approach correctly targets the banks that are the most vulnerable, i.e. those that are the most at risk of underinvesting in its control and monitoring systems.

Is supplementation with elemental diet feasible in patients undergoing pelvic radiotherapy?

Acute gastrointestinal upset occurs in approximately 80% of patients undergoing radiotherapy for pelvic cancers. Underlying changes relate to denudation of the mucosal layer which renders the small intestine vulnerable to additional damage from proteolytic enzymes and bile acids. Severe acute bowel symptoms may predispose to progressive fibrotic and ischaemic changes. Elemental diet given during treatment may reduce acute and chronic bowel symptoms induced by pelvic radiotherapy. This study aimed to assess compliance with elemental diet during pelvic radiotherapy. Patients with gynaecological, urological or rectal malignancy undergoing radical or adjuvant pelvic radiotherapy were randomised to one of five groups. Each group was assigned a target quantity of three different elemental sip feeds (Group 1, 20%, Group 2, 50%, Group 3, 75% of calorie requirements taken as E028 extra liquid; Group 4, 50% of calorie requirements taken as E028 extra powder; Group 5, 50% of calorie requirements taken as Emsogen powder). Compliance was assessed using a diary card and weekly assessment. Statistical analyses were conducted on an intention to treat basis. Fifty patients (44 female, six male) mean age 58 yr (95% CI 55-61), were recruited to the study (24 endometrial, 17 cervical, 7 rectal, 1 vulval and 1 bladder carcinoma). Mean weight at baseline was 74.5 kg (95% CI 69-80) and this did not change during treatment. Full compliance was achieved in three patients, all from Group 1. By week 5, only 46% of patients were consuming elemental diet. Post hoc analysis of variance with repeated measures indicated that there were no significant differences in volume of elemental diet consumed between groups (P = 0.937). There was a significant inverse linear relationship between intake of elemental diet and time (P < 0.001). Different formulations of elemental diet do not influence compliance. Patients are unlikely to be able to consume more than one-third of their calorie requirements in the form of an elemental sip feed. Further investigation is warranted to determine if intervention with this volume of elemental diet is beneficial.

SPS Processing and Superplastic Deformation of Silicon Nitride Based Ceramics

Recently we have introduced a novel processing concept of sialon components implying that an extra liquid phase that is thermodynamically compatible with sialon phases is introduced by increasing the O/N ratio in the general formula (Yb+Y)xSi12-(3x+n)Al3x+nOnN16- n while keeping constant the Yb, Y, Si, and Al proportions. By increasing the oxygen content from its stoichiometric value of 5.16 to 15 eq%, a series of powder mixtures were prepared and their overall compositions are located slightly above the homogeneity region of the a- sialon phase. These compositions were consolidated to full densities by hot pressing (HP) and Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS), respectively. The sintering kinetics in the HP and SPS units is compared. The grain growth kinetics were investigated both by post heat-treatment of SPS pre-consolidated monophasic a-sialon bodies consisting of sub-micron sized equiaxed grains in a conventional graphite furnace using extended holding times (hours) and in the SPS apparatus rapidly heated exceeding the temperature threshold of grain growth and using short holding times (minutes). Post heat treatment in the SPS apparatus yielded in-situ reinforced microstructures no matter if an additional liquid/glass was involved or not while corresponding microstructures could only be obtained for non-stoichiometric compositions by post heat treatment in the graphite furnace. The grain growth kinetics is discussed in terms of static and dynamic ripening mechanisms. We have recently shown that the ductility of covalent bonded silicon nitride based ceramics is dramatically enhanced in presence of a pulsed electric field. Compressive strains rates in the range of 10-2 s-1 can easily be achieved at T ³ 1500oC. The enhanced ductility is explained by that the electric field induces motion of charged species present in the grain boundary glassy/liquid phase that in turn promotes grain sliding along the grain boundaries.

Self‐Reinforced α‐SiAlON Ceramics with Improved Damage Tolerance Developed by a New Processing Strategy

Alpha‐SiAlON ceramics with a refined self‐reinforced microstructure, i.e., containing acicular grains with dimensions much smaller than those obtained in previous studies, embedded in a matrix consisting of submicrometer‐sized isotropic grains, were prepared by applying a rapid one‐step sintering procedure. To suppress the overabundant formation of α‐SiAlON nuclei, a combination of stabilizing cations, Y + Yb, was used; to encourage formation of acicular α‐SiAlON grains, a small amount of an extra liquid (∼3 vol%) was introduced; to avoid abnormal grain coarsening resulting from dynamic ripening, the final sintering temperature was set to just slightly above the minimum temperature threshold for activating grain growth (1700°C). The fully dense compacts obtained exhibited excellent thermal‐shock resistance, and hardness and fracture toughness values of 20 GPa and 5.1 MPa·m1/2, respectively.

Formation of in situ Reinforced Microstructures in α-sialon Ceramics: Part II. In the Presence of a Liquid Phase

In situ reinforced microstructures with well-dispersed elongated grains, up to 10 μm in length, embedded in matrices consisting of submicron equiaxed grains, were developed by hot pressing Y-, Yb-, and (Y + Yb)-doped a-sialon ceramics containing approximately 3 vol% extra liquid phase at a comparatively low sintering temperature, 1800 °C. The liquid phase, thermodynamically compatible with a-sialon, was introduced by raising the oxygen content of an already oxygen-rich α-sialon composition, e.g., by increasing the O/N ratio in RExSi12-(3x+n) Al3x+nOnN16−n. Two different α–Si3N4 precursor powders, one fine-grained and one coarse, and one coarse β–Si3N4 powder were used, and the influence of particle size and crystalline modification of the precursor Si3N4 powder on the formation of elongated a-sialon grains was investigated. The formation of elongated α-sialon grains was promoted by introducing an extra liquid phase and by using a fine-grained α–Si3N4 powder, whereas the coarse β–Si3N4 powder did not yield any elongated grains at all. The obtained in situ reinforced α-sialon ceramics were both hard and tough, with a Vickers hardness and a fracture toughness of 21 GPa and approximately 5 MPa m1/2, respectively.

Equity Market Valuation: Assessing the Adequacy of Value Measures to Predict Index Returns

Following the work of Lee, Myers and Swaminathan (1999), we develop robust tests of their intrinsic value measure, along with other traditional measures of value, for the Australian Stock Market. Specifically, we apply the tests to a broadly matched version of the Australian Asia Pacific Extra Liquid Series (APELS), which was recently introduced to Australia. A primary motivation for the paper was to assess the suggestion implied in the US study of a violation of capital market efficiency, where the use of publicly available information, namely a fundamental valuation measure using consensus analysts forecasts, could be used to predict returns. Our results do not support the conclusions reached by Lee, Myers and Swaminathan (1999). Possible reasons for this are the differing Market structures, the use of a different Index or the use of alternative statistical tests.

Liquid-Crystal Phases Formed in Mixed Suspensions of Rod- and Platelike Colloids

The phase behavior of rod−plate mixtures was investigated using model systems of unambiguously rod- and plate-shaped colloids. Neither at equilibrium nor in the early stages of the phase separation process do we observe the theoretically disputed biaxial nematic phase. Instead, the mixtures show demixing into an isotropic and a separate rod- and a plate-dominated uniaxial nematic phase. The high-concentration regime of the rod−plate phase diagram is exceptionally rich because of the appearance of two extra liquid crystal phases: a rod-rich (presumably) nematic phase and a plate-rich columnar phase. This leads to the appearance of several four-phase equilibria and even a five-phase equilibrium. We explain the observed topology of the phase diagram by the interplay between the rod- and platelike shape of the particles and their polydispersity.

Practical evaluation of hold-up for passive decoupling in distillation column

Decisions made during the steady-state design of distillation columns have a large influence on the dynamic characteristics of the operating unit. Conventionally, steady-state design is often completed before dynamics and control issues are considered. Additional complexity in the active control system must as a result be used to compensate for any resulting shortcomings in dynamic performance. Here, our aim is to improve control system performance not through more complex active control but through passive improvements arising from more favourable equipment design. An extra liquid hold-up, the middle vessel, was placed in the middle of the column by connecting the feed to an external vessel via a circulating system. To exploit and demonstrate the potential performance of this new modified design, our study was focussed on an existing pilot scale distillation column at Nottingham University. This new design was shown to be very effective in rejecting both feed composition and feed flowrate step changes.