The empirical CAPM: Estimation and Implications for the Regulatory Cost of Capital

<p>In calculating the cost of capital for regulated businesses, the New Zealand Commerce Commission uses the Capital Asset Pricing Model to estimate the cost of the equity component of capital, a procedure that involves assuming particular values for unobservable key parameters. This thesis proposes, instead, to estimate these parameters from market data. The principal result is that estimates of these parameters differ significantly from the values assumed by the Commerce Commission. Applying these estimates to two recent cases involving the electricity line and gas pipeline businesses, the estimated costs of capital for the entities involved are 3.5% to 5.5% more than those obtained by the Commission, but the associated confidence intervals are wider. One implication of these findings is that the Commissions approach systematically understates the uncertainty surrounding cost of capital estimates.</p>

The empirical CAPM: Estimation and Implications for the Regulatory Cost of Capital

<p>In calculating the cost of capital for regulated businesses, the New Zealand Commerce Commission uses the Capital Asset Pricing Model to estimate the cost of the equity component of capital, a procedure that involves assuming particular values for unobservable key parameters. This thesis proposes, instead, to estimate these parameters from market data. The principal result is that estimates of these parameters differ significantly from the values assumed by the Commerce Commission. Applying these estimates to two recent cases involving the electricity line and gas pipeline businesses, the estimated costs of capital for the entities involved are 3.5% to 5.5% more than those obtained by the Commission, but the associated confidence intervals are wider. One implication of these findings is that the Commissions approach systematically understates the uncertainty surrounding cost of capital estimates.</p>

Averaging over moduli in deformed WZW models

WZW models live on a moduli space parameterized by current-current deformations. The moduli space defines an ensemble of conformal field theories, which generically have N abelian conserved currents and central charge c > N. We calculate the average partition function and show that it can be interpreted as a sum over 3-manifolds. This suggests that the ensemble-averaged theory has a holographic dual, generalizing recent results on Narain CFTs. The bulk theory, at the perturbative level, is identified as U(1)2N Chern-Simons theory coupled to additional matter fields. From a mathematical perspective, our principal result is a Siegel-Weil formula for the characters of an affine Lie algebra.

Fuzzy Portfolio Selection with Sugeno Type Fuzzy Neural Network: Investing in the Mexican Stock Market

The objective of this research is to compare the returns of the portfolios developed by the proposed methodology called Fuzzy Portfolio Selection with Sugeno Type Fuzzy Neural Network against Markowitz’s portfolio theory; to identify the best investment model. For this purpose, we used ten stock time series of the Mexican market in daily format from January 2, 2015, to May 15, 2020, to get the portfolios every week from May 15 to June 12, 2020. The principal result is that our methodology recognized the behavior of each share, generates better risk management, and higher returns in comparison with the traditional techniques. The recommendation is to evaluate other stocks and markets to verify the efficiency of our model, the limitation is that a fundamental analysis must precede the tool, and the originality is the new technique proposed. The main conclusion is that the portfolio selection model based on fuzzy neural networks generated two models that do not have negative returns in any week, the cumulative return obtained was up to 15.68%.

What Is a Number?

An examination of and plea for a time-honored answer to the title question, that answer being, “A number is one principal result among others of a process of converting magnitudes drawn from a continuum, via a scheme of measurement, into arithmetic quantities.” Ideas on this subject of Paul du Bois-Reymond, Richard Dedekind, and Otto Hölder are subjected to detailed statement and close analysis. At the very center lies du Bois-Reymond’s demonstration that the Cantor-Dedekind Axiom–that an intuition into the nature of continuous magnitude shows that the geometric line is isomorphic to the array of Dedekind real numbers–is not merely unprovable but wholly false.

Characterizing strongly admissible sets

The concept of strong admissibility plays an important role in dialectical proof procedures for grounded semantics allowing, as it does, concise proofs that an argument belongs to the grounded extension without having necessarily to construct this extension in full. One consequence of this property is that strong admissibility (in contrast to grounded semantics) ceases to be a unique status semantics. In fact it is straightforward to construct examples for which the number of distinct strongly admissible sets is exponential in the number of arguments. We are interested in characterizing properties of collections of strongly admissible sets in the sense that any system describing the strongly admissible sets of an argument framework must satisfy particular criteria. In terms of previous studies, our concern is the signature and with conditions ensuring realizability. The principal result is to demonstrate that a system of sets describes the strongly admissible sets of some framework if and only if that system has the property of being decomposable.

Intra-annual variability of the Western Mediterranean Oscillation (WeMO) and occurrence of extreme torrential precipitation in Catalonia (NE Iberia)

In previous studies the Western Mediterranean Oscillation index (WeMOi) at daily resolution has proven to constitute an effective tool for analysing the occurrence of episodes of torrential precipitation over eastern Spain. The western Mediterranean region is a very sensitive area, since climate change can enhance these weather extremes. In the present study we created a catalogue of the extreme torrential episodes (≥200 mm in 24 h) that took place in Catalonia (NE Iberia) during the 1951–2016 study period (66 years). We computed daily WeMOi values and constructed WeMOi calendars. Our principal result reveals the occurrence of 50 episodes (0.8 cases per year), mainly concentrated in the autumn. We confirmed a threshold of WeMOi ≤ −2 to define an extreme negative WeMO phase at daily resolution. Most of the 50 episodes (60 %) in the study area occurred on days presenting an extreme negative WeMOi value. Specifically, the most negative WeMOi values are detected in autumn, from 11 to 20 October, coinciding with the highest frequency of extreme torrential events. On comparing the subperiods, we observed a statistically significant decrease in WeMOi values in all months, particularly in late October and in November and December. No changes in the frequency of these extreme torrential episodes were observed between both subperiods. In contrast, a displacement of the extreme torrential episodes is detected from early to late autumn; this can be related to a statistically significant warming of sea temperature.

NAE-resolution: A new resolution refutation technique to prove not-all-equal unsatisfiability

In this paper, we analyze Boolean formulas in conjunctive normal form (CNF) from the perspective of read-once resolution (ROR) refutation schemes. A read-once (resolution) refutation is one in which each clause is used at most once. Derived clauses can be used as many times as they are deduced. However, clauses in the original formula can only be used as part of one derivation. It is well known that ROR is not complete; that is, there exist unsatisfiable formulas for which no ROR exists. Likewise, the problem of checking if a 3CNF formula has a read-once refutation is NP-complete. This paper is concerned with a variant of satisfiability called not-all-equal satisfiability (NAE-satisfiability). A CNF formula is NAE-satisfiable if it has a satisfying assignment in which at least one literal in each clause is set to false. It is well known that the problem of checking NAE-satisfiability is NP-complete. Clearly, the class of CNF formulas which are NAE-satisfiable is a proper subset of satisfiable CNF formulas. It follows that traditional resolution cannot always find a proof of NAE-unsatisfiability. Thus, traditional resolution is not a sound procedure for checking NAE-satisfiability. In this paper, we introduce a variant of resolution called NAE-resolution which is a sound and complete procedure for checking NAE-satisfiability in CNF formulas. The focus of this paper is on a variant of NAE-resolution called read-once NAE-resolution in which each clause (input or derived) can be part of at most one NAE-resolution step. Our principal result is that read-once NAE-resolution is a sound and complete procedure for 2CNF formulas. Furthermore, we provide an algorithm to determine the smallest such NAE-resolution in polynomial time. This is in stark contrast to the corresponding problem concerning 2CNF formulas and ROR refutations. We also show that the problem of checking whether a 3CNF formula has a read-once NAE-resolution is NP-complete.

On Interactive Pedagogical Technologies Which Can Assist English Language Students to Improve Their Learning Skills

The purpose of this study is to consider the effectiveness of using interactive technologies in the process of teaching a foreign language at a higher educational institution. The principal result of our research is the analysis of the influence of using interactive techniques on acquiring communicative competence and personal development of students. The major conclusions estimate the significance of applying interactive technologies in learning process.

To the definition of operators , which are performed IN Kaluzhnin’s graph-schems with parafractal characteristics

The regular formula of operator, which is performed in given Kaluzhnin’s graph-scheme with parafractal characteristics, can be definded by two procedures. The standard procedure is based on the solution of system of operator equations, which is given birth by this graph-scheme. The modified procedure is based on the solution of several lesser-scale systems of operator equations, which are given birth by parafractals. The modified procedure is simpler than the standard one, but it is not evident identity of the results of both procedures. The principal result of this article is the theorem about this identity.