Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Forward and Futures Prices: Evidence from the Foreign Exchange Markets

Empirical studies of the Treasury Bill markets have revealed substantial differences between the futures price and the implied forward price. These differences have been attributed to taxes, transaction costs, and the settling up procedure employed in the futures market. This paper examines the forward and futures prices in foreign exchange in an attempt to distinguish between the competing explanations. EMPIRICAL STUDIES OF THE Treasury bill market have revealed differences between the futures price (or rate) and the implicit forward price derived from the term structure of interest rates.1 These differences have generally been attributed to market "imperfections" such as taxes and transaction costs. (See, for example, Arak [1], Capozza and Cornell [2], and Rendelman and Carabini [6]). Recently, however, Cox, Ingersoll, and Ross [3], henceforth CIR, derived a model in which forward and futures prices need not be equal, even in perfect markets without taxes, as long as interest rates are stochastic. The significance of the CIR effect may be hard to investigate using only data from the bill market, because of the potentially complicating effects of taxes and transaction costs unique to this market. By using data from the foreign exchange market, we are able to eliminate the tax effect and reduce the impact of transaction costs. The question we address is whether the discrepancies observed in the Treasury Bill market are also observed in the foreign exchange market. If they are, then we have evidence that the differences are due to a combination of the CIR effect and the transaction costs common to both markets. If they are not, then either the magnitude of the CIR effect is much less in the foreign exchange market, or the Treasury Bill results are due to the unique tax treatment and transaction costs of that market. This paper is organized as follows. In Section I the trading mechanics of the forward and futures markets in foreign exchange are discussed. Section II reviews the explanations for the discrepancies between the forward and futures prices for Treasury Bills. The institutional differences between the foreign exchange and bill markets are also summarized to show which of these explanations cannot apply to the foreign exchange market. In Section III, the data are decribed and the empirical results are presented. The conclusions are summarized in the final section.
Bcl-3 and NFκB p50-p50 Homodimers Act as Transcriptional Repressors in Tolerant CD4+ T Cells*

The transcriptional events that control T cell tolerance are still poorly understood. To investigate why tolerant T cells fail to produce interleukin (IL)-2, we analyzed the regulation of NFκB-mediated transcription in CD4+ T cells after tolerance induction in vivo. We demonstrate that a predominance of p50-p50 homodimers binding to the IL-2 promoter κB site in tolerant T cells correlated with repression of NFκB-driven transcription. Impaired translocation of the p65 subunit in tolerant T cells was a result from reduced activation of IκB kinase and poor phosphorylation and degradation of cytosolic IκBs. Moreover, tolerant T cells expressed high amounts of the p50 protein. However, the increased expression of p50 could not be explained by activation-induced de novo synthesis of the precursor p105, which was constitutively expressed in tolerant T cells. We also demonstrate the exclusive induction of the IκB protein B cell lymphoma 3 (Bcl-3) in tolerant T cells as well as its specific binding to the NFκB site. These results suggest that the cellular ratio of NFκB dimers, and thus the repression of NFκB activity and IL-2 production, are regulated at several levels in tolerant CD4+ T cells in vivo.
The cereal rust mite Abacarus hystrix (Acari: Eriophyoidea) is a complex of species: evidence from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences

Abstract The cereal rust mite Abacarus hystrix (Nalepa), a significant pest of grasses, has been regarded as one of a few exceptions among eriophyoid mites with reference to the pattern of host plant utilization. At least 60 grass species have been recorded as its hosts. Thus, the mite has long been considered as a host generalist in which host specialization would not be likely to evolve. However, recent studies have revealed that host-associated specialization is possible in A. hystrix. Here, we aimed to discriminate between the three populations of A. hystrix associated with the different hosts (namely quackgrass, ryegrass and smooth brome) on the basis of mitochondrial (COI) and nuclear (D2 region of 28S rDNA) DNA sequences. The phylogenetic trees obtained with the maximum likelihood analysis of both COI and D2 region data sets showed that host-adapted strains of A. hystrix form distinct clades. Furthermore, on the COI nucleotide tree, the quackgrass- and brome-associated strains were internally divided each into two well-supported monophyletic clusters. The nucleotide D2 region data set tree showed that brome-associated strain is polyphyletic in origin. There is clear co-variation of DNA results with earlier morphological and ecological traits, as well as the results of crossing experiments. We showed that reproductively incompatible strains of A. hystrix exhibit more than 20% sequence divergence in the COI gene and 0.2% sequence divergence in the D2 28S rDNA. Our results did not confirm the placement of three host-associated strains of A. hystrix within one, ostensibly generalist, species.
Hiring Risky Workers: Some Evidence

Lazear recently suggested that firms that do not expect to live for a long time will hire only safe workers. Hence their worker turnover will be lower. In this paper we test this hypothesis using both the industry growth rate and industry-average age of establishments as measures of the horizon for a particular firm. We find mixed results, both at the industry level and at the establishment level. Establishments in growing industries do indeed exhibit higher churning flows, but a high average age of establishments reduces rather than increases churning. Copyright (c) 1998 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Keratinocyte-derived chemotactic cytokines: expressional modulation by nitric oxide in vitro and during cutaneous wound repair in vivo.

Inhibition of inducible nitric oxide-synthase (iNOS) enzymatic activity during cutaneous wound repair leads to severely impaired tissue regeneration. To assess whether disturbed leukocyte infiltration might participate in impaired repair, we determined expressional kinetics of neutrophil-attracting macrophage inflammatory protein-2 (MIP-2), and monocyte-attracting macrophage chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) using an excisional wound healing model in mice. MCP-1 was induced in epithelial keratinocytes upon wounding, and our data indicate that NO serves a negative regulatory role for MCP-1 expression in vivo, as clearly reduced numbers of wound margin keratinocytes associated with NO-deficient repair compensate for high MCP-1 expression levels observed during normal healing. MIP-2 expression was restricted to hair follicles which were not reduced in number during NO-deficient repair. In vitro studies confirmed a regulatory role of NO for keratinocyte-derived chemokine expression, as NO attenuated IL-1beta- and TNF-alpha-induced MCP-1 mRNA expression, whereas NO augmented IL-1beta-induced IL-8 (functional human homolog to murine MIP-2) mRNA expression in the human keratinocyte cell line HaCaT.
Financial Contracting Between Managers And Venture Capitalists: The Role Of Value‐Added Services, Reputation Seeking, And Bargaining Power

I analyze manager and venture capitalist bargaining over the financial contract in the face of double-sided moral hazard problems. The allocation of cash flows depends on the combined effects of value-added services, reputation seeking, and bargaining power. Welfare is maximized when the venture capitalist has high value-adding capabilities, the market for reputation is informationally efficient, and the manager has bargaining power. Furthermore, I consider the effect of exit strategies on the financial agreement. I also consider bidding between venture capitalists of differing abilities. Generally, the superior venture capitalist wins with a lower bid, but in some cases the inferior venture capitalist can win. 2004 The Southern Finance Association and the Southwestern Finance Association.
A NOTE ON PUBLIC GOODS PROVISION AND COMMODITY TAXES

stratedthat the dead weight losses arising from the price distortions will increase the unit social cost of the public goods, and therefore will reduce their optimal level. The second best rule for the provision of public goods when linear taxes are available was analyzed formally in Atkinson and Stern (1974), and wildasin (1979) in the identical consumers setting. They concentrated on the dead weight loss (efficiency loss) effects and showed that Pigou's conjecture is satisfied in the normal case, but that if highly taxed commodities are strong complements of the public good then it may not be satisfied. King (1986) extended this rule to an (infinitely) many consumers case.1) He derived a many person Pigovian rule which is the dual to the many person Ramsey rule in Diamond (1975) and Atkinson and Stiglitz (1980), and asserted that the optimal level of public goods depends not only on tax distortion effects but also on distribution effects. To obtain a clear interpretation of the rule, he assumed that a poll tax is available to the government. Though this assumption pro ducesa simple and intuitive formula, it cancels out two other important effects. This note derives the second best rule for the optimal provision of public goods in heteroge neousconsumers setting by using an expenditure approach. The rule is decomposed into three effects; the revenue repercussion effect, the Pigou-Harberger's dead weight loss effect, and the total distribution effect of public goods. The third effect contains not only the direct distribution effects of providing public goods as King (1986) asserted, but also the indirect distribution effects which are associated with the commodity tax increase necessary to finance the public good This decomposed formula enables us to compare the heterogeneous consumers case with homogene ousconsumer case. Patina (1990) obtained a similar result employing a cost-benefit analysis. Since his approach differs from our optimization approach, we cannot compare the result here and his result directly. Nonetheless, we can find a similar decomposition formula even in the cost benefit analysis case by specifying explicit government's tax finance ways. Section 2 presents the model. In section 3, we derive the decomposed second best rule for the
Catalysis, binding and enzyme-substrate complementarity

A simple derivation is given that the catalytic term kcat/KS is at a maximum when the structure of the enzyme is complementary to the structure of the substrate in the transition state. In addition, at a constant substrate concentration, [S], the maximum reaction rate is obtained when kcat and KS are individually high so that KS is greater than [S]; the overall reaction rate decreases with decreasing kcat and KS for KS less than [S]. Two corollaries of this are that intermediates accumulating after the initial Michaelis complex are undesirable and also enzymes whose function is to optimize reaction rates should have evolved to exhibit KM values above those of accessible substrate concentrations. This could be achieved by an often ‘distortionless’ strain which consists either of unfavourable interactions in the enzyme substrate complex which are relieved in the transition state or increasingly favourable interactions in the transition state. A possible special role of the backbone NH groups in this context is discussed. The enzyme need not be complementary to the transition state of the substrate for catalysis to occur.
Volatile Anesthetic Additivity and Specificity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: Implications for Yeast as a Model System to Study Mechanisms of Anesthetic Action

Background In animals, combinations of volatile anesthetics are additive for inducing anesthesia. Furthermore, although there is a correlation between lipophilicity and anesthetic potency, not all volatile lipophilic compounds are anesthetic. Previously the authors demonstrated the effects of volatile anesthetics on the eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast). To further relate anesthetic action in this organism to mammals, anesthetic additivity and effects of volatile, lipophilic nonanesthetics were studied. In addition, yeast pleiotropic drug‐resistance (Pdr) mutants, which confer resistance to various lipophilic compounds, were tested to determine if they are involved in anesthetic response. Methods Yeast strains were grown to saturation in liquid culture, diluted, plated on various solid media, incubated, and scored for growth. Results Combinations of volatile anesthetics inhibit growth of wild‐type (Zzz+) but not anesthetic‐resistant (Zzz‐) strains when additive concentrations equal 1 minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Two volatile, lipophilic compounds that are nonanesthetic in mammals do not inhibit yeast growth. Zzz‐ mutants remain sensitive to drugs used to identify yeast PDR genes. Conversely Pdr‐ strains, which are resistant to various lipophilic compounds, remain sensitive to volatile anesthetics. Conclusions Yeast growth is inhibited in an additive manner by volatile anesthetics. Volatile, lipophilic compounds devoid of anesthetic activity in mammals do not inhibit yeast growth. Zzz‐ mutants appear to be specifically resistant to volatile anesthetics and distinct from known Pdr (‐) mutants. These results suggest that volatile anesthetics behave is a parallel manner in yeast and mammals, making yeast a useful model to investigate the molecular effects of these compounds in living cells.
An embedded implementation of home devices control system based on brain computer interface

This paper presents a new embedded architecture for home devices control system directed through motor imagery actions captured by EEG headset. The proposed system is validated by an offline approach which consists on using available public data-set. These recording are always accompanied with noise and useless information related to the equipment, eyes blinking and many others resources of artifacts. For this reason, a complex EEG signal processing is required; starting by filtering EEG to keep the frequency of interest which is located on μ-rhytm and β-rhytm bands in our case; followed by the extraction of useful feature to minimize the size of EEG data and enhance the probability of classifying each trial correctly. A prototype of our proposed embedded system has been implemented on Stratix IV FPGA Board. The prototype operates at 200 MHz and performs real-time classification with an execution delay of 0.5 second per trial and an accuracy average of 72%.
Measuring Risk in Fixed Income Portfolios using Yield Curve Models

We propose a novel approach to measure risk in fixed income portfolios in terms of value-at-risk (VaR). We obtain closed-form expressions for the vector of expected bond returns and for its covariance matrix based on a general class of dynamic factor models, including the dynamic versions of the Nelson-Siegel and Svensson models, to compute the parametric VaR of a portfolio composed of fixed income securities. The proposed approach provides additional modeling flexibility as it can accommodate alternative specifications of the yield curve as well as alternative specifications of the conditional heteroskedasticity in bond returns. An empirical application involving a data set with 15 fixed income securities with different maturities indicate that the proposed approach delivers accurate VaR estimates.
The efficacy of teachers’ responses to incidents of bullying and victimization: The mediational role of moral disengagement for bullying

Teachers respond differently to bullying and victimization. Socio-cognitive and moral domain theory suggest that students process teachers' behavior cognitively and that teachers' responses to incidents of bullying and victimization could affect students' level of moral disengagement. We examined the mediating effect of students' moral disengagement between types of teachers' responses to situations of bullying and victimization and individual bullying using multilevel mediation modelling. Participants were 609 students (50% boys, age M = 11.47, SD = 1.14) of central Italy, nested in 34 classes. Students rated the frequency of self-reported bullying and of teachers' responses to incidents of bullying and victimization on a 5-point Likert scale. Teachers' responses to bullying included non-intervention, mediation, group discussion, and sanctions. Teachers' responses to victimization included non-intervention, mediation, group discussion, and victim support. Results indicated that in the teachers' responses to incidents of bullying model, a significant indirect effect of non-intervention (β = .03; 95%CI [.01, .05]) and of sanctions (β = -.02; 95%CI [-.04, -.01]) on bullying through moral disengagement was found at the individual level. Similarly, in the model on teachers' responses toward victims there was a significant indirect effect through moral disengagement of non-intervention (β = .03; 95%CI [.02, .04]) and victim support (β = -.01; 95%CI [-.02, -.001]). At the class level there were no significant indirect effects. In sum, results indicated that moral disengagement is an important mediator at the individual level and suggest including teachers in anti-bullying interventions with a specific focus on their role for moral development.
The role of foreign direct investment in an old industrial region: The case of the Basque country and Japanese FDI

Abstract Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been used as a tool to improve the competitiveness of countries or regions affected by a structural crisis focused in the industrial sector. Spain, in general, has implemented this strategy successfully. However, the inflows of FDI in Spain have been concentrated in the most dynamic regions: Madrid and Catalonia especially. The Basque Country, typified as a declining old industrial region, has not benefited from this inflow owing to its low attraction for foreign investors. Furthermore, the sectors in which FDI is located are mature ones. The result is that FDI in Spain is increasing the gap between the growing and the declining regions. This fact is clearly detected when the case of Japanese FDI is analysed: Japanese FDI in the Basque Country is scarce and marginal when compared with that directed to the regions of Madrid and Catalonia.
Quantitative assessment of gene methylation in neoplastic and non‐neoplastic gastric epithelia using methylation‐specific DNA microarray

A fiber‐type DNA microarray was used to calculate methylation rates (MR) of four tumor suppressor genes, lysyl oxidase (LOX), p16, RUNX3, and tazarotene‐induced gene 1 (TIG1). MR were calculated in 26 primary gastric cancers and corresponding non‐neoplastic gastric epithelia, and the results were compared to those of conventional methylation‐specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP). MR ranged from 0.1% to 69.1% (mean, 18.3%) for LOX, 0.5–74.1% (mean, 15.7%) for p16, 0.2–76.5% (mean, 22.7%) for RUNX3, and 0.6–41.2% (mean, 5.8%) for TIG1 in primary gastric cancers, and from 0.1% to 25.8% (mean, 8.7%) for LOX, 1.0– 23.2% (mean, 10.3%) for p16, 0.7–25.1% (mean, 5.5%) for RUNX3, and 1.8–27.6% (mean, 11.4%) for TIG1 in corresponding non‐neoplastic gastric epithelia. Although MR varied significantly across different samples for both neoplastic and non‐neoplastic gastric epithelia, high‐level methylation (MR >40%) was cancer specific and was observed in 19.2%, 19.2%, 30.8%, and 3.8% of primary gastric cancers for LOX, p16, RUNX3, and TIG1, respectively. All samples with high‐level methylation, as well as some samples with low MR (particularly <10%) were judged to be methylation positive on conventional MSP. Quantitative analysis of gene methylation using methylation‐specific DNA microarray is a promising method for cancer diagnosis.
A Global Lending Channel Unplugged? Does U.S. Monetary Policy Affect Cross-Border and Affiliate Lending by Global U.S. Banks?

We examine how U.S. monetary policy affects the international activities of U.S. Banks. We access a rarely studied US bank-level dataset to assess at a quarterly frequency how changes in the U.S. Federal funds rate (before the crisis) and quantitative easing (after the onset of the crisis) affects changes in cross-border claims by U.S. banks across countries, maturities and sectors, and also affects changes in claims by their foreign affiliates. We find robust evidence consistent with the existence of a potent global bank lending channel. In response to changes in U.S. monetary conditions, U.S. banks strongly adjust their cross-border claims in both the pre and post-crisis period. However, we also find that U.S. bank affiliate claims respond mainly to host country monetary conditions.
Personalities and labour activism in Nigeria: thecontributions of Michael Imuodu and AdamsOshiomhole

The role of individuals as the locomotive of history and labour activism is well stressed in Marxist perspective of social change, which is anchored on the belief that vibrant and articulate labour leadership has often produced radical reactions and resistance to oppressive regimes and maladministration. This fact sheds light on the roles played by Michael Imoudu and Adams Oshiomhole in the struggles for national liberation and the advancement of the welfare of the working class and the masses of the Nigerian state through their selfless labour activism, organization of series of national strikes and mass protests that sometimes exposed them to risks and state brutality. This article offers a historical reflection of the roles played by both Imoudu and Oshiomhole in the history of labour unionism and activism in Nigeria and interrogates the impact of socio-economic forces and the consciousness of a humble background as indigenes of Edo minority group in Nigeria and how this helped to galvanize their relentless struggle for the enthronement of justice, equity and wellbeing for the helpless workers in Nigeria. It argues that both Imoudu and Oshiomhole were very important in creating the necessary impetus among the working class in their struggle against oppressive and exploitativesocio-economic and political conditions in the Nigerian state.
Src Signaling Links Mediators of Inflammation to Cx43 Gap Junction Channels in Primary and Transformed CFTR-Expressing Airway Cells

Dysfunction of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is associated with recurrent pulmonary infections and inflammation. We previously reported that tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α decreases gap junction connectivity in cell lines derived from the airway epithelium of non-cystic fibrosis (non-CF) subjects, a mechanism that was defective in cells derived from CF patients, and identified the tyrosine kinase c-Src as a possible bridge between TNF-α and Cx43. To examine whether this modulation also takes place in primary epithelial cells, the functional expression of Cx43 was studied in non-CF and CF airway cells, obtained from surgical polypectomies and turbinectomies, which were grown either on culture dishes or permeable filters. Expression of Cx43 was detected by immunofluorescence on cells grown under both culture conditions. Non-CF and CF airway cells also showed intercellular diffusion of Lucifer Yellow. Dye coupling was rapidly abolished in non-CF cells in the presence of TNF-α, lipopolysaccharide and lysophosphatidic acid, and could be prevented by tyrphostin47, an inhibitor of Src tyrosine kinases. This down-regulation, however, was not detected in CF airway cells. These data indicate that CFTR dysfunction is associated with altered Src signaling, resulting in the persistence of gap junction connectivity in primary and transformed CF airway cells.