The decision to raise firm value through a sports-business exchange: How much are Real Madrid’s goals worth to its president’s company’s goals?

Global brands emerging from the world of sports are becoming commonplace, and firms invest in the realm of sports, usually through sponsorship initiatives, to get a link with these global brands. Over and above just a mere business link, what if a company makes a personal commitment to get into the core of a renowned, celebrated sports team? This article provides managers with a procedure to analyze, in a weekly basis, how valuable this type of decision is. A conceptual model shows that the personal involvement of a firm’s figurehead in a first-class sports club can impact positively on firm value if the person is doing well in the task s/he is entrusted with by the club. The empirical application to the soccer club Real Madrid, over 1,409 days and 215 matches, finds that the club’s performance on the field has a significant impact on the economic returns of its president’s company, with asymmetrical effects on firm value in a “loss aversion” pattern, that is, lost matches have a greater effect on firm value than games won.     

Energy losses of ice slurry in pipe sudden contractions

The paper presents the results of the experimental research on the ice slurry loss coefficient during its flow through sudden contractions. Experimental studies were conducted using a few of the most common contractions of copper pipes. Six contraction ratios were covered: 0.500, 0.615, 0.650, 0.769, 0.800 and 0.813. In the experimental research, the mass fraction of solid particles in the slurry ranged from 20 to 30 (20%, 25%, 30%). Research results allow for determining the theoretical correlation for the ice slurry, in order to calculate the loss coefficient in contractions during laminar flow. The results of experimental investigations also confirmed that the loss coefficients in contractions in turbulent (transitional) flow of the ice slurry are the same as in the case of Newtonian liquids. The paper also presents original theoretical correlation for calculating the kinetic energy correction factor in the laminar range flow of liquid in the Bingham model. This correlation is used in this work for calculation of the ice slurry flow through contractions.     

Optimal investment strategies and risk-sharing arrangements for a hybrid pension plan

A continuous time stochastic model is used to study a hybrid pension plan, where both the contribution and benefit levels are adjusted depending on the performance of the plan, with risk sharing between different generations. The pension fund is invested in a risk-free asset and multiple risky assets. The objective is to seek an optimal investment strategy and optimal risk-sharing arrangements for plan trustees and participants so that this proposed hybrid pension system provides adequate and stable income to retirees while adjusting contributions effectively, as well as keeping its sustainability in the long run. These goals are achieved by minimizing the expected discount disutility of intermediate adjustment for both benefits and contributions and that of terminal wealth in finite time horizon. Using the stochastic optimal control approach, closed-form solutions are derived under quadratic loss function and exponential loss function. Numerical analysis is presented to illustrate the sensitivity of the optimal strategies to parameters of the financial market and how the optimal benefit changes with respect to different risk aversions. Through numerical analysis, we find that the optimal strategies do adjust the contributions and retirement benefits according to fund performance and model objectives so the intergenerational risk sharing seem effectively achieved for this collective hybrid pension plan.     

Optimal investment of DC pension plan under short-selling constraints and portfolio insurance

In this paper we investigate an optimal investment problem under short-selling and portfolio insurance constraints faced by a defined contribution pension fund manager who is loss averse. The financial market consists of a cash bond, an indexed bond and a stock. The manager aims to maximize the expected S-shaped utility of the terminal wealth exceeding a minimum guarantee. We apply the dual control method to solve the problem and derive the representations of the optimal wealth process and trading strategies in terms of the dual controlled process and the dual value function. We also perform some numerical tests and show how the S-shaped utility, the short-selling constraints and the portfolio insurance impact the optimal terminal wealth.     

短程透镜的损耗

本文讨论了引起短程透镜损耗的各种因素,用最优边缘卷边曲率半径和表面抛光的方法成功地降低了短程透镜的损耗,给出了短程透镜的损耗测量值.     

The participation puzzle with reference-dependent expected utility preferences

Expected utility theory with a smooth utility function predicts that, when allocating wealth between a risky and a riskless asset, investors allocate a positive amount to the risky asset whenever its expected return exceeds the riskless rate of return. A large number of people invest none of their wealth in risky assets, though, leading to the ”participation puzzle.” This paper explores whether the participation puzzle can be addressed when the utility function has a kink at the reference wealth level. It shows that when the reference wealth level is initial wealth increased by the riskless rate of return, there exists a range of expected excess returns for the risky asset for which the investor takes no position. Moreover, this range of expected excess returns is described by comparing a common performance measure of stock returns, the Omega Function, to a function of preference parameters. However, if the reference wealth level is any other constant, the usual expected utility prediction holds and investors allocate at least some of their wealth to the risky asset whenever it has a positive expected excess return.     

Optimization designs and performance comparison of two CUSUM schemes for monitoring process shifts in mean and variance

In statistical process control (SPC), when dealing with a quality characteristic x that is a variable, it is usually necessary to monitor both the mean value and variability. This article proposes an optimization algorithm (called the holistic algorithm) to design the CUSUM charts for this purpose. It facilitates the determination of the charting parameters of the CUSUM charts and considerably or significantly increases their overall detection effectiveness. A single CUSUM chart (called the ABS CUSUM chart) has been developed by the holistic algorithm and fully investigated. This chart is able to detect two-sided mean shifts and increasing variance shifts by inspecting the absolute value of sample mean shift. The results of performance studies show that the overall performance of the ABS CUSUM chart is nearly as good as an optimal 3-CUSUM scheme (a scheme incorporating three individual CUSUM charts). However, since the ABS CUSUM chart is easier for implementation and design, it may be more suitable for many SPC applications in which both mean and variance of a variable have to be monitored.     

Glass Transition (Tg) and Dielectric Loss in Na2O-Bi2O3-TiO2-P2O5 GLASSES

Thermal and dielectric loss properties of Na₂O-Bi₂O₃-TiO₂-P₂O₅ phosphate glasses, have been studied by the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and electrical factor loss (tgi) measurements. The variation of tgi has been followed along two lines inside the quaternary systems Na₂O-Bi₂O₃-5TiO₂-P₂O₅ and Na₂O-5Bi₂O₃-TiO₂-P₂O₅. Experiments have been carried out from ambient temperature to 450°C and show a strong influence of sodium, bismuth and titanium ions on T_g and tgi.     

Bayesian analysis of loss reserving using dynamic models with generalized beta distribution

A Bayesian approach is presented in order to model long tail loss reserving data using the generalized beta distribution of the second kind (GB2) with dynamic mean functions and mixture model representation. The proposed GB2 distribution provides a flexible probability density function, which nests various distributions with light and heavy tails, to facilitate accurate loss reserving in insurance applications. Extending the mean functions to include the state space and threshold models provides a dynamic approach to allow for irregular claims behaviors and legislative change which may occur during the claims settlement period. The mixture of GB2 distributions is proposed as a mean of modeling the unobserved heterogeneity which arises from the incidence of very large claims in the loss reserving data. It is shown through both simulation study and forecasting that model parameters are estimated with high accuracy.     

外币折算损益对会计报表影响分析

本文通过对外币折算损益产生的原因及其分类的分析,采用国际上和我国现行会计核算制度程序对外币折算损益处理的不同特点,分类型分析了外币折算损益对会计报表产生的影响。