Sector Constraints Research Articles

Minimal U(1) two-Higgs-doublet models for quark and lepton flavor

In the context of the 2HDM, and assuming that neutrinos acquire masses via the Weinberg operator, we perform a systematic analysis to determine the minimal quark and lepton flavor patterns, compatible with masses, mixing and CP violation data, realizable by Abelian symmetries. We determine four minimal models for quarks, where the number of independent parameters matches the number of observables. For the lepton sector, three minimal predictive models are identified. Namely, we find scenarios with a preference for the upper/lower octant of the θ23 atmospheric mixing angle, that exhibit lower bounds on the lightest neutrino masses currently probed by cosmology and testable at future neutrinoless double beta decay experiments, even for a normally ordered neutrino masses. We investigate the phenomenology of each model taking into account all relevant theoretical, electroweak precision observables, scalar sector constraints, as well as stringent quark flavor processes such as B¯→Xsγ, Bs→μ−μ+ and meson oscillations, and the charged lepton flavor-violating decays eα−→eβ−eγ+eδ− and eα→eβγ. We show that, in some cases, Abelian flavor symmetries provide a natural framework to suppress flavor-changing neutral couplings and lead to scenarios featuring heavy neutral/charged scalar masses below the TeV scale within the reach of current experiments. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

The Impact of ESG Regulations and Taxonomy on the Credit Process in Commercial Banks

The purpose of the article is to present the impact of legal regulations in the field of sustainable development (ESG) and taxonomies on the course of credit processes in commercial banks. Methodology refers to studies of legal regulations, comparative analysis of cases (case study) and inference. Results of the research show that the implementation of ESG regulations and taxonomies and the adaptation of credit processes in commercial banks will result in structural changes in loan portfolios in the near future while moving away from financing dirty industries towards the green ones. As a result, the financing stream for green assets and those supporting sustainable development will be increased, while the financing of dirty assets will be significantly reduced due to the increase in risks and accompanying costs for customers and banks. It is expected that even if some banks grant loans to finance dirty assets, they will only be short-term loans and will require high servicing costs (commission, margin, legal security, and insurance). This is due to the fact that the portfolio with credit exposures in the so-called dirty industries (mining, construction, trade) will escalate the increase in ESG risk. Such a portfolio with dirty exposures will require banks to secure additional reserve capital to maintain higher general and sector systemic risk buffers. Some banks will completely stop financing assets from dirty industries, which will mean that some of them will be abandoned due to the lack or high costs of their modernization, intensifying the negative socio-economic consequences. The ongoing process of redirecting the financing stream to green assets in banks means that enterprises and households need to take earlier adaptation actions. These include actions against financing constraints in dirty sectors and likely future losses in infrastructure and assets related to them.

Low conservative stability criteria for discrete-time Lur’e systems with sector and slope constrained nonlinearities

Lur’e system is an important nonlinear system in engineering, which is composed of a feedback connection of a linear dynamic system and a nonlinear system that satisfies the sector constraint. In this paper, for nominal and uncertain discrete Lur’e systems with time-varying delays, the absolute and robustly absolute stability are studied in detail with the nonlinearity satisfying the sector and slope constraints. Firstly, an augmented Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional (LKF) is designed, in which some augmented vectors are selected to increase the coupling information between the delay intervals and other system state variables. At the same time, some effective integral terms of nonlinear state variables are extended in the LKF according to the characteristics of sector constraint and slope constraint. Secondly, a general lemma of summation inequality for free-weighted matrices is given, which adds some coupling information between vectors and extends the search range for solving linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Thirdly, by synthesizing the general summation inequality and the newly constructed LKF, different absolute stability criteria are derived respectively, and the absolute stability criteria are extended to robustly absolute stability cases with uncertain parameters. The stability criteria reduce the conservatism of some previously proposed results. Finally, some common numerical examples and simulations are used to verify the results of this paper.

Delay-dependent Lurie–Postnikov type Lyapunov–Krasovskii functionals for stability analysis of discrete-time delayed neural networks

This paper addresses the influence of time-varying delay and nonlinear activation functions with sector restrictions on the stability of discrete-time neural networks. Compared to previous works that mainly focuses on the influence of delay information, this paper devotes to activation nonlinear functions information to help compensate the analysis technique based on Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional (LKF). A class of delay-dependent Lurie–Postnikov type integral terms involving sector constraints of nonlinear activation function is proposed to complement the LKF construction. The less conservative criteria for the stability analysis of discrete-time delayed networks is given by using improved LKF. Numerical examples show that conservatism can be reduced by the delay-dependent integral terms involving nonlinear activation functions.

Financial market shocks and portfolio rebalancing

PurposeThe intention of the empirics is to contribute to the general understanding of investor responses to market price shocks. The authors review assumptions about investor behavior in response to price shocks and investigate alternative rebalancing heuristics.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use market data over 40 years to define market shocks. Portfolio rebalancing implements constrained Markowitz mean-variance (MV) heuristics.FindingsMomentum rebalancing in portfolio management outperforms contrarian rebalancing in the study interval. Sensitivity analysis by decade, sector constraints and proportion of security holdings bought or sold continue to support momentum rebalancing.Research limitations/implicationsThe results are consistent with under-responding to price shocks at consensus levels in financial markets. The theoretical background provides a basis for experimental lab studies of shocks of different magnitudes under conditions in which participants have information on the levels of other participants and a condition in which they can only observe their previous estimates.Practical implicationsManaging portfolios in the face of price disturbances of different magnitudes is informed by empirical studies and their implications for investor behavior.Originality/valueThis is the first study the authors can locate that uses market data with alternative rebalancing heuristics to estimate price returns from the respective heuristics over a time interval of 40 years. The authors support the results with sensitivity estimates and consider implications for the underlying agent heuristics in light of background studies.

Constraints on the functioning of Community-based Health Planning and Services facilities: A qualitative study in the Jirapa Municipality, Ghana.

The declaration of the Alma-Alta on primary health care (PHC) in 1978 enjoined nations to make health care accessible, affordable, and situated within their cultural contexts. The Ghana Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS), as a strategy to achieve the goal of PHC, has shown significant successes in communities where it has been implemented. However, a number of challenges continue to affect the effective functioning of CHPS. This study explored the community level and health system constraints on the effective functioning of CHPS in the delivering of PHC services in the Jirapa Municipality. A qualitative approach was implemented. A criterion-based purposive sampling technique was employed to recruit 51 managers and health service providers of CHPS for key informant interviews. The respondents included 25 community health management committee members, 25 health officers in charge of CHPS facilities, and one municipal CHPS coordinator. The interviews were held from September 18 to November 23, 2020. All interviews were face-to-face, audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis based on the constant comparative method was employed to analyse the data. The results showed that low community involvement in CHPS activities, disputes over the location and naming of CHPS zones, inadequate understanding of the CHPS concept and religious beliefs were the key community level factors which negatively affected the functioning of CHPS. Also, lack of logistics, financial constraints, poor attitude of health workers and inadequate staff motivation were the health sector constraints on the effective functioning of CHPS. In conclusion, concerted efforts are needed to tackle the community level and health system constraints to improve the overall functioning and effectiveness of the CHPS strategy. We recommend the strengthening of community sensitization, timely disbursement of funding, and provision of infrastructure and supplies to improve upon the effective functioning of CHPS as a strategy for delivery PHC in Ghana.

Strategic sensemaking by social entrepreneurs: creating strategies for social innovation

PurposeThis study explores how a small minority of social entrepreneurs break free from third sector constraints to conceive, create and grow non-profit organisations that generate social value at scale in new and innovative ways.Design/methodology/approachSix narrative case histories of innovative social enterprises were developed based on documents and semi-structured interviews with founders and long serving executives. Data were coded “chrono-processually”, which involves locating thoughts, events and actions in distinct time periods (temporal bracketing) and identifying the processes at work in establishing new social ventures.FindingsThis study presents two core findings. First, the paper demonstrates how successful social entrepreneurs draw on their lived experiences, private and professional, in driving the development and implementation of social innovations, which are realised through application of their capabilities as analysts, strategists and resources mobilisers. These capabilities are bolstered by personal legitimacy and by their abilities as storytellers and rhetoricians. Second, the study unravels the complex processes of social entrepreneurship by revealing how sensemaking, theorising, strategizing and sensegiving underpin the core processes of problem specification, the formulation of theories of change, development of new business models and the implementation of social innovations.Originality/valueThe study demonstrates how social entrepreneurs use sensemaking and sensegiving strategies to understand and address complex social problems, revealing how successful social entrepreneurs devise and disseminate social innovations that substantially add value to society and bring about beneficial social change. A novel process-outcome model of social innovation is presented illustrating the interconnections between entrepreneurial cognition and strategic action.

Stabilizing model predictive control synthesis using integral quadratic constraints and full‐block multipliers

SummaryIn this paper, we discuss how to synthesize stabilizing model predictive control (MPC) algorithms based on convexly parameterized integral quadratic constraints (IQCs), with the aid of general multipliers. Specifically, we consider Lur'e systems subject to sector‐bounded and slope‐restricted nonlinearities. As the main novelty, we introduce point‐wise IQCs with storage in order to accordingly generate the MPC terminal ingredients, thus enabling closed‐loop stability, strict dissipativity with regard to the nonlinear feedback, and recursive feasibility of the optimization. Specifically, we consider formulations involving both static and dynamic multipliers, and provide corresponding algorithms for the synthesis procedures. The major benefit of the proposed approach resides in the flexibility of the IQC framework, which is capable to deal with many classes of uncertainties and nonlinearities. Moreover, for the considered class of nonlinearities, our method yields larger regions of attraction of the synthesized predictive controllers (with reduced conservatism) if compared to the standard approach to deal with sector constraints from the literature.

Remark on stability margin of Lur'e systems

AbstractIn a recent work, a definition of stability margin (gain and phase margins) for a class of nonlinear systems (Lur'e systems consisting of a linear time‐invariant (LTI) plant and a sector‐constrained nonlinearity) is proposed based on the famous circle criterion. This definition is indeed interesting because the concept of gain and phase margins has been largely limited to linear systems with a single input and a single output (SISO), but it was further established for Lur'e systems with a particular type of sector constraints ( , e.g., saturation). In this paper, the previously established concept is extended to cover Lur'e systems with a general type of sector constraints ( ). It is, however, pointed out that in case of , the definitions of phase margin based on the circle criterion can be misleading and need to be modified or replaced perhaps by a time‐delay margin for Lur'e systems including an integrator, for which the phase margin can be trivially zero.

Barriers as moderators in the innovation process

Abstract This article investigates the effect of financial and non-financial barriers on innovativeness. Using microdata from Brazil, it provides a rare detailed empirical investigation of this type in developing countries. The analysis is based on a novel conceptual framework of the moderating role of barriers to innovation. Research and development expenditure and informal methods of intellectual property protection are the innovation determinants least affected by obstacles to innovation. This is in sharp contrast to company size, whose effect appeared quite sensitive to barriers of all kinds. Disembodied and embodied knowledge outsourcing interact differently with different constraints: while the former appeared helpful in working around different types of barriers in low-tech sectors, the latter was more useful in addressing financial constraints in high-tech sectors. Finally, cooperation with other firms was negatively affected by obstacles when firms seek more radical innovations, whereas cooperation with research and education organizations proved attractive for companies facing organizational constraints.

Event-Triggered Neural Network Control for LTI Systems

This paper addresses the problem of event-triggered control (ETC) of discrete-time linear time-invariant (LTI) systems stabilized by neural network controllers. The event-triggering mechanisms (ETMs) is proposed to update only a portion of the layers required to maintain stability and satisfactory performance of the feedback system, thus reducing the computational cost associated with the evaluation of the neural network. Sufficient convex conditions in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) are provided to compute the triggering parameters and characterize an estimate of the domain of attraction for the feedback system. The formulation is based on the use of Lyapunov theory and a set of generalized sector constraints that deal with the nonlinear activation functions, represented in this case by the saturation function. Optimization procedures are also formulated to effectively reduce the amount of computation in the neural network. An example borrowed from the literature is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposal.

On the asymptotic and practical stability of Persidskii-type systems with switching

In the paper, one class of differential systems with nonlinearities satisfying sector constraints is considered. We study the case where some of the sector constraints are given by linear inequalities, and some by nonlinear ones. It is assumed that the coefficients in the system can switch from one set of values to another. Sufficient conditions for the asymptotic and practical stability of the zero solution of the system are investigated using the direct Lyapunov method and the theory of differential inequalities. Restrictions on the switching law that provide a given region of attraction and ultimate bound for solutions of the system are obtained. An approach based on the construction of different differential inequalities for the Lyapunov function in different parts of the phase space is proposed, which makes it possible to improve the results obtained. The results are applied to the analysis of one automatic control system.

IMPLEMENTATION OF GAMIFICATION IN CAPITAL MARKETS COURSE PERBANAS INSTITUTE

Along with technological developments and the occurrence of a pandemic caused by the Covid-19 Virus, many activities are carried out digitally and remotely. This pandemic causes disruption and constraints in various industries, sections or sectors. Higher education is one of the sectors experiencing disruption during the Covid-19 pandemic, where teaching and learning processes that were previously held face-to-face in the classroom have turned into virtual spaces. This makes lecturers and students have to be ready to adapt and carry out the teaching and learning process by utilizing technology such as Learning Management Systems, Video Conferences, and Campus Academic Systems. Not infrequently the teaching and learning process becomes monotonous, boring and limited in conveying and receiving the material provided. With the development of information technology can produce a concept of teaching and learning with the help of technology which is commonly called Gamification. The concept of Gamification using Mechanics Dynamic Emotional (MDE) Framework adopts elements of the game concept into the teaching and learning process because it has Mechanical, Dynamics, and Emotional aspects so that learning conditions can be created that are more interesting, fun and enjoyable. The MDE framework will be integrated into e-learning using the Research and Development (R&D) method. The R & D method is a method that is able to improve a product or make a product better. The stages in this study were made into 6 steps, namely: problem identification, data collection, analysis, village, trial and implementation, evaluation. And it can be said that by implementing gamification in lectures in the capital market at e-learning Perbanas succeeded in increasing interest, interaction, and learning atmosphere.

Focus Dilemmas. Polish School of Social Work in The Face of Global Change: From Community Traditions, Through the Challenges of Professionalization, To the Needs of Internationalization

The article discusses the priorities of contemporary education in the field of social work, taking into account the challenges of co-creating the culture of aid in Poland and in the world. It shows that this process in Poland took place in the specific political, historical, economic and cultural conditions of the last three decades, separating the roles and functions of professionalizing aid entities in the post-transformation reality of the three sectors. At the same time, the neoliberal market of competing social services and the popularized patterns of various international practices have led to the mixing of the goals and tasks of aid actors, taking the form of parcel bags. The title dilemmas of concentration are the result of the controversy around the education of contemporary social services, in their simultaneous local and global dimensions, attempts to combine axiological missionary and pragmatic management, as well as the needs of selection, limiting and designating frames in order to set priorities for current, often quite unclear, dynamically changing tasks. Sectoral constraints and territorial divisions of functions (local, national, international) generate tension and struggle, obscuring the helping ideas. The article argues that contemporary education for social work in Poland should openly and critically undertake discussions in this area, especially in the face of the need to change the paradigm of education from positivist to critical, from institutional and subject to subjective and co-creative, so that people educated to undertake aid activities are aware of the responsibility for shaping the aid system of a new era, and ready to participate in the processes of its change.

Mixed ‐synthesis for ‐stability

AbstractWe consider stabilization and performance optimization of nonlinear controlled systems, where the nonlinearity satisfies a sector constraint asymptotically. This leads to optimization of the closed loop peak‐to‐peak system norm subject to‐performance constraints. Nonlinear controlled systems tuned successfully by this novel approach are locally exponentially stable and globally BIBO‐stable.

Neighbourhood selection by natives and immigrants: Homophily or limited spatial search?

Substantial recent influxes of immigrants have transformed metropolitan housing markets across Europe, North America, and Australia. Where and under what physical and sociodemographic conditions these new residents and their children live influence their life chances and societal inequalities and cohesion. Using population register data, we estimate conditional logit models of neighbourhood selections jointly stratified by immigrant and income status for nine types of Oslo region families making ‘child-salient,’ inter- neighbourhood moves. Although homophily is an important driver of residential selection for both native and non-Western immigrant families, its significance pales in comparison to neighbourhood proximity and sectoral constraints in the spatial patterning of housing search. Study findings enhance our understanding of segregation processes and offer new perspectives on social mix housing policies. Social mix should attempt to enhance diversity at the larger spatial scales primarily by improving information about and enhancing access to potentially desirable residential options and countering anti-immigrant perceptions or discriminatory actions by real estate agents or mortgage brokers.

Intersections of gender, ethnicity, place and innovation: Mapping the diversity of women-led SMEs in the United Kingdom

This article advances knowledge on the diversity and heterogeneity of women-led small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United Kingdom by analysing how gender intersects with ethnicity and place to influence their engagement in innovation. We adopt an intersectional perspective, and base our analyses on the Longitudinal Small Business Survey (LSBS) data of 29,257 SMEs over the period 2015–2018. Our findings suggest that despite their limited number, as well as firm size and industry sector constraints, women-led SMEs are actively engaged in innovation activities. In addition, our results on the effects of intersecting categories of gender, ethnicity and place on innovation, further emphasise the heterogeneity of women-led SMEs, both with regard to their likelihood to engage in innovation, as well as the place where innovation is most likely to occur. Implications for policy and practice are highlighted.

EU Paris-Aligned and Climate Transition-Benchmarks: A Case Study

This article presents the results of a study examining the construction of Paris-aligned Benchmarks (PAB) and Climate Transition Benchmarks (CTB). Such portfolios are intended to satisfy the requirements for EU Paris-aligned and Climate Transition Benchmarks as laid out by the EU Commission Delegated Regulation of July 12, 2020, adopting the findings from <i>EU Technical Expert Group Report on Climate Transition and Paris Aligned Benchmarks</i> (TEG Report). We construct these portfolios using the tilt-based exposure targeting framework over the 10-year period between 2009 and 2019. The simulated results show that the proposed method is able to construct portfolios that satisfy all the requirements set out in the delegated regulation, including the requirements on emissions, exclusions, and sector constraints, in addition to incorporating forward-looking Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI) metrics. The requirements are also exceeded through increasing exposure to green economy sectors using green revenues data. <b>TOPICS:</b>ESG investing, information providers/credit ratings, portfolio construction, performance measurement <b>Key Findings</b> ▪ EU minimum requirements on Paris-aligned and Climate Transition Benchmarks are achievable and can be specified as feasible benchmark and portfolio construction objectives. ▪ A tilt based exposure targeting framework is a suitable option for constructing a portfolio that meets the PAB or CTB requirements. ▪ Forward-looking climate objectives using TPI metrics complement reported historic emission-based measures, prioritize allocations to companies that align their business models with international climate goals, and can reinforce investor-corporate engagement.

Inflation, economic growth and education expenditure

Recent evidence shows that different inflation rates have effects on long-run economic growth. We follow the increasing interest in the issue offering a new explanation for the influence of monetary policy on economic growth: cash requirements for household expenditures in education. We devise an endogenous growth model with cash-in-advance (CIA) constraints in several sectors (education, horizontal R&D, vertical R&D, and manufacturing and consumption) and study its steady-state and transitional dynamics. In particular, the CIA constraint in education expenditures of households is essential to obtain a negative relationship between inflation and economic growth on the long- run. Quantitatively, this monetary endogenous growth model replicates both the small influence of monetary policy on growth, while highlighting the effects it can have on welfare and the allocation of resources in different sectors in the economy.

Consensus tracking of nonlinear multi-agent systems under input saturation with applications: A sector-based approach

This paper focuses on the consensus tracking control of nonlinear multi-agent systems by utilizing the quadratic inner-bounded (QIB) and the one-sided Lipschitz (OSL) conditions in the presence of input saturation constraint under a directed communication topology. A novel sector constraint for the saturation function to formulate consensus control of nonlinear systems under saturating inputs is derived. This sector condition is applied to develop a leader-following consensus of nonlinear agents. A local treatment of the consensus control, ensuring a guaranteed region of stability in the presence of input constraints is provided herein. A computationally simple convex routine-based approach is attained for extraction of the coupling weight and gain of the relative state feedback-based consensus protocol along with the enlargement of the region of stability. Unlike the conventional schemes, the proposed approach can deal with OSL nonlinear agents, effectively employs the information of communication topology in the sector condition, and can be applied to both linear and nonlinear regions of actuators. Moreover, a useful consensus approach for the Lipschitz nonlinear agents is obtained as a particular scenario of the resultant method. Numerical examples to demonstrate the applications and effectiveness of the proposed approach for the input-constrained nonlinear mobile and robotic agents are provided.