bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Guaranteeing Defined Contribution Pensions: The Option to Buy Back a Defined Benefit Promise
Authors: Lachance Marie‐Eve , Mitchell Olivia S. , Smetters Kent 
Published: March 2003

AbstractAfter a long commitment to defined benefit (DB) pension plans for U.S. public sector employees, many state legislatures have introduced defined contribution (DC) plans for their public employees. In this process, investment risk that was previously borne by state DB plans has now devolved to employees covered by the new DC plans. In light of this trend, some states have introduced a guarantee mechanism to help protect DC plan participants. One such guarantee takes the form of an option permitting DC plan participants to buy back their DB benefit for a price. This article develops a theoretical framework to analyze the option design and illustrate how employee characteristics influence the option's cost. We illustrate the potential impact of a buy‐back option in a pension reform enacted recently by the State of Florida for its public employees. If employees were to exercise the buy‐back option optimally, the market value of this option could represent up to 100 percent of the DC contributions over their work life.
Optimal Loss Mitigation and Contract Design
Authors: Kelly Mary , Kleffner Anne E. 
Published: March 2003

AbstractThis work examines the interaction between the premium rates set by an insurer and the incentives of an individual to purchase market insurance and undertake mitigation to reduce the size of a potential loss. A risk‐neutral monopolistic insurer prices insurance according to the price‐elasticity of demand for coverage. The elasticity of demand is affected by the presence of both mitigation and government intervention. The availability of loss reduction activities increases the consumer's elasticity of demand and lowers the optimal rate charged by the monopolist. Government intervention reduces both expenditures on mitigation and the rate charged by the monopolistic insurer.
Venture Capital and the Professionalization of Start‐Up Firms: Empirical Evidence
Authors: Hellmann Thomas , Puri Manju 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the impact venture capital can have on the development of new firms. Using a hand‐collected data set on Silicon Valley start‐ups, we find that venture capital is related to a variety of professionalization measures, such as human resource policies, the adoption of stock option plans, and the hiring of a marketing VP. Venture‐capital‐backed companies are also more likely and faster to replace the founder with an outside CEO, both in situations that appear adversarial and those mutually agreed to. The evidence suggests that venture capitalists play roles over and beyond those of traditional financial intermediaries.
Portfolio Choice in the Presence of Personal Illiquid Projects
Authors: Faig Miquel , Shum Pauline 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTPersonal projects, such as a private business or the purchase of a home, influence individuals portfolio choice. We conduct a theoretical analysis of this influence when financial assets are required to provide liquidity to personal projects. Due to this liquidity consideration, individuals behave in a more riskaverse fashion when there is a large penalty for discontinuing or underinvesting in the final stages of the projects. In addition, using data from the 1995 Survey of Consumer Finances, we find that households that are saving to invest in their own businesses or in their own homes indeed have significantly safer financial portfolios.
Term Premia and Interest Rate Forecasts in Affine Models
Authors: Duffee Gregory R. 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTThe standard class of affine models produces poor forecasts of future Treasury yields. Better forecasts are generated by assuming that yields follow random walks. The failure of these models is driven by one of their key features: Compensation for risk is a multiple of the variance of the risk. Thus risk compensation cannot vary independently of interest rate volatility. I also describe a broader class of models. These aessentially affine‐ models retain the tractability of standard models, but allow compensation for interest rate risk to vary independently of interest rate volatility. This additional flexibility proves useful in forecasting future yields.
Do Conglomerate Firms Allocate Resources Inefficiently Across Industries? Theory and Evidence
Authors: Maksimovic Vojislav , Phillips Gordon 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTWe develop a profit‐maximizing neoclassical model of optimal firm size and growth across different industries based on differences in industry fundamentals and firm productivity. In the model, a conglomerate discount is consistent with profit maximization. The model predicts how conglomerate firms will allocate resources across divisions over the business cycle and how their responses to industry shocks will differ from those of single‐segment firms. Using plant level data, we find that growth and investment of conglomerate and single‐segment firms is related to fundamental industry factors and individual segment level productivity. The majority of conglomerate firms exhibit growth across industry segments that is consistent with optimal behavior.
Momentum, Business Cycle, and Time‐varying Expected Returns
Authors: Chordia Tarun , Shivakumar Lakshmanan 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTA growing number of researchers argue that time‐series patterns in returns are due to investor irrationality and thus can be translated into abnormal profits. Continuation of short‐term returns or momentum is one such pattern that has defied any rational explanation and is at odds with market efficiency. This paper shows that profits to momentum strategies can be explained by a set of lagged macroeconomic variables and payoffs to momentum strategies disappear once stock returns are adjusted for their predictability based on these macroeconomic variables. Our results provide a possible role for time‐varying expected returns as an explanation for momentum payoffs.
IPO Market Cycles: Bubbles or Sequential Learning?
Authors: Lowry Michelle , Schwert G. William 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTBoth IPO volume and average initial returns are highly autocorrelated. Further, more companies tend to go public following periods of high initial returns. However, we find that the level of average initial returns at the time of filing contains no information about that company's eventual underpricing. Both the cycles in initial returns and the lead‐lag relation between initial returns and IPO volume are predominantly driven by information learned during the registration period. More positive information results in higher initial returns and more companies filing IPOs soon thereafter.
An Empirical Investigation of Continuous‐Time Equity Return Models
Authors: Andersen Torben G. , Benzoni Luca , Lund Jesper 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTThis paper extends the class of stochastic volatility diffusions for asset returns to encompass Poisson jumps of time‐varying intensity. We find that any reasonably descriptive continuous‐time model for equity‐index returns must allow for discrete jumps as well as stochastic volatility with a pronounced negative relationship between return and volatility innovations. We also find that the dominant empirical characteristics of the return process appear to be priced by the option market. Our analysis indicates a general correspondence between the evidence extracted from daily equity‐index returns and the stylized features of the corresponding options market prices.
Nasdaq Trading Halts: The Impact of Market Mechanisms on Prices, Trading Activity, and Execution Costs
Authors: Christie William G. , Corwin Shane A. , Harris Jeffrey H. 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTWe study the effects of alternative halt and reopening procedures on prices, transaction costs, and trading activity for a sample of news‐related trading halts on Nasdaq. For intraday halts that reopen after only a five‐minute quotation period, inside quoted spreads more than double following halts and volatility increases to more than nine times normal levels. In contrast, halts that reopen the following day with a longer 90‐minute quotation period are associated with insignificant spread effects and significantly dampened volatility effects. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that increased information transmission during the halt results in reduced posthalt uncertainty.
Disentangling the Incentive and Entrenchment Effects of Large Shareholdings
Authors: Claessens Stijn , Djankov Simeon , Fan Joseph P. H. , Lang Larry H. P. 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTThis article disentangles the incentive and entrenchment effects of large ownership. Using data for 1,301 publicly traded corporations in eight East Asian economies, we find that firm value increases with the cash‐flow ownership of the largest shareholder, consistent with a positive incentive effect. But firm value falls when the control rights of the largest shareholder exceed its cash‐flow ownership, consistent with an entrenchment effect. Given that concentrated corporate ownership is predominant in most countries, these findings have relevance for corporate governance across the world.
Mapping and Functional Analysis of Interaction Sites within the Cytoplasmic Domains of the Vaccinia Virus A33R and A36R Envelope Proteins
Authors: Ward Brian M. , Weisberg Andrea S. , Moss Bernard 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACT
Incorporation of the vaccinia virus A36R protein into the outer membrane of intracellular enveloped virions (IEV) is dependent on expression of the A33R protein. Possible interactions of the 200-amino-acid cytoplasmic domain of the A36R protein with itself or with the cytoplasmic domain of the A33R, A34R, B5R, or F12L IEV membrane protein was investigated by using the yeast two-hybrid system. A strong interaction was detected only between the cytoplasmic domains of the A36R and A33R proteins. Upon further analyses, the interaction site was mapped to residues 91 to 111 of the A36R protein. To investigate the role of the A36R:A33R interaction during viral infection, five recombinant vaccinia viruses containing B5R-GFP as a marker were constructed. Four had the full-length A36R gene replaced with various-length C-terminal truncations of A36R, of which two contained residues 91 to 111 and two were missing this region. The fifth recombinant virus had an A33R gene with most of the 40-amino-acid cytoplasmic tail deleted. Residues 91 to 111 of A36R and the cytoplasmic tail of A33R were required for a strong interaction between the two proteins during viral infection and for maximal amounts of A36R protein on IEV. Mutants lacking these regions of A33R or A36R formed IEV that exhibited only short sporadic intracellular movement, displayed no actin tails, and formed small plaques on cell monolayers equivalent to those of an A36R deletion mutant and smaller than those formed by point mutations that specifically abrogate actin tail formation. The A33R interaction site of the A36R protein is highly conserved among orthopoxviruses and may overlap binding sites for cellular proteins needed for microtubular movement and actin tail formation.
Interaction with a Ubiquitin-Like Protein Enhances the Ubiquitination and Degradation of Hepatitis C Virus RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase
Authors: Gao Lu , Tu Hong , Shi Stephanie T. , Lee Ki-Jeong , Asanaka Miyuki , Hwang Soon B. , Lai Michael M. C. 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACT
To identify potential cellular regulators of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (NS5B), we searched for cellular proteins interacting with NS5B protein by yeast two-hybrid screening of a human hepatocyte cDNA library. We identified a ubiquitin-like protein, hPLIC1 (for human homolog 1 of protein linking intergrin-associated protein and cytoskeleton), which is expressed in the liver (M. F. Kleijnen, A. H. Shih, P. Zhou, S. Kumar, R. E. Soccio, N. L. Kedersha, G. Gill, and P. M. Howley, Mol. Cell 6: 409-419, 2000). In vitro binding assays and in vivo coimmunoprecipitation studies confirmed the interaction between hPLIC1 and NS5B, which occurred through the ubiquitin-associated domain at the C terminus of the hPLIC1 protein. As hPLICs have been shown to physically associate with two E3 ubiquitin protein ligases as well as proteasomes (Kleijnen et al., Mol. Cell 6: 409-419, 2000), we investigated whether the stability and posttranslational modification of NS5B were affected by hPLIC1. A pulse-chase labeling experiment revealed that overexpression of hPLIC1, but not the mutant lacking the NS5B-binding domain, significantly shortened the half-life of NS5B and enhanced the polyubiquitination of NS5B. Furthermore, in Huh7 cells that express an HCV subgenomic replicon, the amounts of both NS5B and the replicon RNA were reduced by overexpression of hPLIC1. Thus, hPLIC1 may be a regulator of HCV RNA replication through interaction with NS5B.
Selective Virus Resistance Conferred by Expression of Borna Disease Virus Nucleocapsid Components
Authors: Geib Till , Sauder Christian , Venturelli Sascha , Hässler Christel , Staeheli Peter , Schwemmle Martin 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACT
Persistent viral infections can render host cells resistant to superinfection with closely related viruses by largely uncharacterized mechanisms. We present evidence for superinfection exclusion in brains of Borna disease virus (BDV)-infected rats and in persistently infected Vero cells, and we suggest that acquired resistance to BDV is due to unbalanced intracellular levels of viral nucleocapsid components. We observed that expression of BDV protein P, N, or X rendered human cells resistant to subsequent challenge with BDV but not with other RNA viruses, indicating that incorrect stoichiometry of nucleocapsid components selectively blocked the polymerase activity of incoming viruses. Vero cells containing high levels of an untranslatable BDV-N transcript remained virus susceptible, demonstrating that viral protein rather than RNA mediated resistance. Transient overexpression of BDV-P in persistently infected Vero cells was also remarkably effective against BDV, indicating that the intracellular balance of viral nucleocapsid components could serve as a target for future therapeutic antiviral strategies.
Diverse Dengue Type 2 Virus Populations Contain Recombinant and Both Parental Viruses in a Single Mosquito Host
Authors: Craig Scott , Thu Hlaing Myat , Lowry Kym , Wang Xiao-fang , Holmes Edward C. , Aaskov John 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACT

Envelope (E) protein genes sampled from populations of dengue 2 (DEN-2) virus in individual
Aedes aegypti
mosquitoes and in serum from dengue patients were copied to cDNA, cloned, and sequenced. The nucleotide sequences of the E genes in more than 70% of the clones differed from the consensus sequence for the corresponding virus population at up to 11 sites, and 24 of the 94 clones contained at least one stop codon. Virus populations recovered up to 2 years apart yielded clones with similar polymorphisms in the E gene. For one mosquito, the clones obtained fell into two genotypes. One group of sequences was closely related to those of viruses recovered from dengue patients in the same locality (Yangon, Myanmar) since 1995 and were classified as Asian 1 genotype. The second group were Cosmopolitan genotype viruses which were also circulating in Yangon in 2000 and which were related to DEN-2 viruses sampled from southern China in 1999. Finally, one clone was identified as a recombinant genome composed of portions of these two “parental” genotypes. This is the first report of recombinant and parental dengue viruses in a single host.
A rapidly tunable terahertz‐wave parametric oscillator
Authors: Imai Kazuhiro , Kawase Kodo , Minamide Hiroaki , Ito Hiromasa 
Published: March 2003

AbstractWe have constructed a terahertz‐wave parametric oscillator (TPO) with pulse‐to‐pulse access to random wavelengths, using an optical beam scanner and a confocal optics system (1:1 telescope) to vary the pump light angle of incidence. In addition, we used the TPO in a spectroscopic study of HCl gas in order to test its tunability, and confirmed that the TPO was continuously tunable from 1 to 2 THz and could rapidly access random frequencies in that range. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 2, 86(4): 18–26, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecjb.10060
Automatic extraction of road networks from map images
Authors: Itonaga Wataru , Matsuda Ichiro , Yoneyama Noritaka , Ito Susumu 
Published: March 2003

AbstractWith the advent of sophisticated and diversified car navigation systems in recent years, it is becoming increasingly important to construct a precise and detailed map database. Among map data, road‐network information is a representation of the connection relations of roads by a graph structure, and is one of the most important kinds of information used in route search and guidance, which is the basic function of car navigation systems. At present, much manpower and time are being spent in the preparation of road‐network information, and it is desirable to reduce the labor required by automation using computers. This paper presents a method in which the road network is automatically extracted from map information. First, the road area is extracted from the map image by stochastic relaxation based on the geometrical properties of the road area and the background area. Then, thinning and piecewise‐linear approximation are applied to the road area to extract the road‐network information, which consists of the graphic structure of nodes and links. In this process, the distortion near junctions produced by thinning is corrected, and the nodes are optimally rearranged so that the road network represents the centers of the roads. Then, precise road‐network information is stably extracted. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 2, 86(4): 62–72, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience. wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecjb.10144
Performance of automatic gain adjustment in a shunt active filter intended for installation on power distribution systems
Authors: Jintakosonwit Pichai , Akagi Hirofumi , Fujita Hideaki , Ogasawara Satoshi 
Published: March 2003

AbstractThis paper discusses automatic gain adjustment in a fully‐digital‐controlled shunt active filter intended for installation on power distribution systems. This is the first step in cooperative control of multiple shunt active filters based on voltage detection for harmonic damping throughout power distribution systems. In general, an optimal control gain is equal to the characteristic impedance of a distribution line. However, it is difficult to know the circuit parameters of a real distribution line, which depend strongly on feeder connections, shunt capacitors, and loads. Therefore, the main purpose of the gain adjustment is to help the active filter to damp out harmonic propagation without considering the circuit parameters. Moreover, the gain adjustment can reduce the compensating current and losses in the active filter. The active filter having the function of automatic gain adjustment is experimentally compared to that with a constant gain. Experiment results verify the effectiveness of the active filter having the function of automatic gain adjustment. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 142(4): 56–65, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.10094
Immunohistochemical analysis of p16INK4a, p14ARF, p18INK4c, p21CIP1, p27KIP1 and p73 expression in 271 meningiomas correlation with tumor grade and clinical outcome
Authors: Korshunov Andrey , Shishkina Lyudmila , Golanov Andrey 
Published: March 2003

AbstractRoutine pathological examination cannot distinctively predict the clinical course of meningiomas because even histologically benign tumors may recur after gross total resection. Numerous efforts have been made for the evaluation of different immunohistochemical assays in meningioma prognosis. We investigated the prognostic significance of p16INK4a, p14ARF, p18INK4c, p21CIP1, p27KIP1 and p73 expression by immunohistochemical analysis of 271 meningiomas. All tumors were additionally stained for the proliferation markers Ki‐67 and DNA topoisomerase II alpha (TopoIIα). Significant differences between the number of p16INK4a‐, p18INK4c‐ and p21CIP1‐positive cases were noted among the 3 grades of meningiomas. p16INK4a‐ and p21CIP‐positive tumors were found to prevail among benign meningiomas, whereas p18INK4c immunostaining was closely associated to anaplastic meningiomas. The number of p16INK4a‐ and p21CIP‐positive cases was significantly lower in the cohort of recurrent meningiomas. In contrast, p18INK4c‐positive cases were clustered among recurrent meningiomas regardless of tumor grade. Immunoreactivity of p14ARF, p27KIP1 and p73 did not show any differences between meningiomas of various histology and clinical outcomes. Multivariate analysis revealed that only tumor grade and TopoIIα index are independent criteria for predicting meningioma recurrence. Thus, the immunohistochemical assessment of p16INK4a, p14ARF, p18INK4c, p21CIP1, p27KIP1 and p73 expression in meningiomas does not appear to provide prognostically useful information. Further studies are needed to identify more reliable prognostic markers and to address in more detail the role of cell cycle aberrations in these tumors. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Molecular analysis of HLA class I alleles in the Mexican Seri Indians: implications for their origin
Authors: Infante E. , Olivo A. , Alaez C. , Williams F. , Middleton D. , De la Rosa G. , Pujol M.j. , Durán C. , Navarro J.l. , Gorodezky C. 
Published: March 2003

Abstract:The molecular analysis of HLA class I loci has demonstrated that, although, the genetic profile is restricted in Amerindians, several micropolymorphisms may be important in conferring a biological advantage. We analyzed the HLA‐A and B genetic profile of Seris, a Mexican Indian tribe living in northwestern Mexico in the state of Sonora. There are presently only 619 individuals. Our study included 100 Seris belonging to nine families. HLA‐A and ‐B loci typing was performed by polymerase chain reaction using an amplification refractory mutation system (PCR‐ARMS) on a select group of samples; all of them were typed by polymerase chain reaction using sequence‐specific oliogonuoleotide probes (PCR‐SSOP) at a low‐intermediate resolution level. The correlation between the techniques was 100%. Only five HLA‐A alleles and seven HLA‐B alleles were found. A*0201, A*68, A*31, A*24, B*3501, B*40, B*51, B*3512 and B*15 were present in over 5% of the individuals. B*27052 was detected in 2%. B27 is absent in any other Mexican Indian groups previously studied. The presence of B27 may be the result of a founder effect due to different waves of southward migrations. The B‐locus is more diverse and the prevalent haplotypes were: A*0201‐B*3501, A*0201‐B*40, A*0201‐B*3512, A*31‐B*51, A*68‐B*3501 and A*68‐B*40. This genetic profile is different from the pattern of other Mexicans. The phylogenetic tree suggests that Seris are more closely related to the Warao Indians from Venezuela, who live in a similar ecosystem, and to some groups of Argentina, than they are to the Mexican Lacandones who live in the jungle. These data emphasize the relevance of the interaction between genes and environment.