Time-Varying Market, Interest Rate and Exchange Rate Risk in Australian Bank Portfolio Stock Returns: A Garch-M Approach

This study employs an extended version of the Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity in Mean (GARCH-M) model to consider the time-series sensitivity of Australian bank stock returns to market, interest rate and foreign exchange rate risks. Daily Australian bank portfolio returns, a market wide accumulation index, short, medium and long-term interest rates, and a trade-weighted foreign exchange index are used to model these risks over the period 1996 to 2001. The results suggest that market risk is an important determinant of bank stock returns, along with short and medium term interest rate levels and their volatility. However, long-term interest rates and the foreign exchange rate do not appear to be significant to the Australian bank return generating process over the period considered.Bank stock returns; GARCH; market risk; interest rate risk; foreign exchange risk

Is Professionalism Important in Physician Assistant Education?

Purpose: This study was designed to demonstrate the importance of a formal professionalism curriculum in physician assistant (PA) education. The PA concept arose from the medical profession, and PA education was designed to follow the medical model of education. Courses have been mandated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) to include professionalism. Just as in the curriculum in medical schools, PA educators have been allowed to create their own professionalism curricula. The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) and the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) have mandated that professionalism and ethics must be included in PA education. To address this need, a professionalism curriculum for first year PA students was created that combined standards of professionalism that are taught in medical school with those from the PA profession. Method: Sixty-four students enrolled in their first year of a master’s degree PA program were asked to voluntarily participate in a two-part survey to assess their knowledge of professionalism. The initial survey was administered prior to any formal education in professionalism. The same survey was repeated following the completion of the professionalism curriculum. The design of the survey was cross sectional and consisted of close ended questions. A Likert scale was utilized for responses, allowing for statistical analysis and comparison. Results: Sixty-three of 64 students completed both surveys. Results did not demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in knowledge of professionalism. Student evaluations were overwhelmingly positive, as was their participation in group discussions. Conclusions: Professionalism did not significantly improve. The lack of statistical significance may have referred to the lack of reliability in the findings but did not indicate the curriculum was effective or ineffective. It may have been wiser to continue professionalism education throughout the didactic year, incorporating case studies and simulation exercises

Records management capacity and compliance toolkits : a critical assessment.

This article seeks to present the results of a project that critically evaluated a series of toolkits for assessing records management capacity and/or compliance. These toolkits have been developed in different countries and sectors within the context of the e-environment and provide evidence of good corporate and information governance. Design/methodology/approach - A desk-based investigation of the tools was followed by an electronic Delphi with toolkit developers and performance measurement experts to develop a set of evaluation criteria. Different stakeholders then evaluated the toolkits against the criteria using cognitive walkthroughs and expert heuristic reviews. The results and the research process were reviewed via electronic discussion. Findings - Developed by recognised and highly respected organisations, three of the toolkits are software tools, whilst the fourth is a methodology. They are all underpinned by relevant national/international records management legislation, standards and good practice including, either implicitly or explicitly, ISO 15489. They all have strengths, complementing rather than competing with one another. They enable the involvement of other staff, thereby providing an opportunity for raising awareness of the importance of effective records management. Practical implications - These toolkits are potentially very powerful, flexible and of real value to organisations in managing their records. They can be used for a "quick and dirty" assessment of records management capacity or compliance as well as in-depth analysis. The most important criterion for selecting the appropriate one is to match the toolkit with the scenario. Originality/value - This paper aims to raise awareness of the range and nature of records management toolkits and their potential for varied use in practice to support more effective management of records

Domain general learning: Infants use social and non-social cues when learning object statistics.

Previous research has shown that infants can learn from social cues. But is a social cue more effective at directing learning than a non-social cue? This study investigated whether 9-month-old infants (N = 55) could learn a visual statistical regularity in the presence of a distracting visual sequence when attention was directed by either a social cue (a person) or a non-social cue (a rectangle). The results show that both social and non-social cues can guide infants' attention to a visual shape sequence (and away from a distracting sequence). The social cue more effectively directed attention than the non-social cue during the familiarization phase, but the social cue did not result in significantly stronger learning than the non-social cue. The findings suggest that domain general attention mechanisms allow for the comparable learning seen in both conditions

Odyssey: a semi-automated pipeline for phasing, imputation, and analysis of genome-wide genetic data

BACKGROUND: Genome imputation, admixture resolution and genome-wide association analyses are timely and computationally intensive processes with many composite and requisite steps. Analysis time increases further when building and installing the run programs required for these analyses. For scientists that may not be as versed in programing language, but want to perform these operations hands on, there is a lengthy learning curve to utilize the vast number of programs available for these analyses. RESULTS: In an effort to streamline the entire process with easy-to-use steps for scientists working with big data, the Odyssey pipeline was developed. Odyssey is a simplified, efficient, semi-automated genome-wide imputation and analysis pipeline, which prepares raw genetic data, performs pre-imputation quality control, phasing, imputation, post-imputation quality control, population stratification analysis, and genome-wide association with statistical data analysis, including result visualization. Odyssey is a pipeline that integrates programs such as PLINK, SHAPEIT, Eagle, IMPUTE, Minimac, and several R packages, to create a seamless, easy-to-use, and modular workflow controlled via a single user-friendly configuration file. Odyssey was built with compatibility in mind, and thus utilizes the Singularity container solution, which can be run on Linux, MacOS, and Windows platforms. It is also easily scalable from a simple desktop to a High-Performance System (HPS). CONCLUSION: Odyssey facilitates efficient and fast genome-wide association analysis automation and can go from raw genetic data to genome: phenome association visualization and analyses results in 3-8 h on average, depending on the input data, choice of programs within the pipeline and available computer resources. Odyssey was built to be flexible, portable, compatible, scalable, and easy to setup. Biologists less familiar with programing can now work hands on with their own big data using this easy-to-use pipeline

Non-line-of-sight tracking of people at long range

A remote-sensing system that can determine the position of hidden objects has applications in many critical real-life scenarios, such as search and rescue missions and safe autonomous driving. Previous work has shown the ability to range and image objects hidden from the direct line of sight, employing advanced optical imaging technologies aimed at small objects at short range. In this work we demonstrate a long-range tracking system based on single laser illumination and single-pixel single-photon detection. This enables us to track one or more people hidden from view at a stand-off distance of over 50~m. These results pave the way towards next generation LiDAR systems that will reconstruct not only the direct-view scene but also the main elements hidden behind walls or corners

Book review: Talking diversity with Teachers and Teacher educators

Book review of Cruz, B., Ellerbrock, C. R., Vásquez, A., & Howes, E. V. (2014). Talking diversity with teachers and teacher educators: Exercises and critical conversations across the curriculum. by Ryan Flessner and Susan C. Adamson

A UNIQUE APPROACH TO SUCCESSION PLANNING FOR DIABETES NURSES: EVALUATION OF AN EMERGING PROGRAMME

Aim To evaluate the emerging nurse internship programme developed by the Waikato Regional Diabetes Centre, Hamilton. Objectives To provide information on the emerging processes and the preliminary outcomes of the programme to the stakeholders of the Waikato Regional Diabetes Centre for planning and development. Methods The evaluation used a constructivist evaluation framework. Key stakeholders were interviewed individually or as a group at the beginning of the programme and at the end of the first rotation. The interns also completed self-assessment questionnaires at the beginning and at the end of their first rotation. Clients of the service completed a satisfaction questionnaire after receiving care from one of the interns. Results and conclusions The internship is a complex programme in that it has a number of parts, however the complexity makes the programme comprehensive. Two of the key factors that contributed to the programme’s early success, and which were valued by the interns, were the cohesive team environment and the inclusion in the programme of external professional supervision. At the end of the first rotation three of the interns had gained confidence in their knowledge and skills related to diabetes care while the fourth intern had lost confidence in her skills and knowledge. The programme added to the workload of the Clinical Nurse Specialists who provided clinical supervision but who were committed to providing supervision. One intern was positioned in a general practice so did not rotate around the other placements. The practice felt they had experienced gains from her being in the programme because she was able to take on patients with greater complexity in her clinics. Additionally, the other practice nurses increased their knowledge about diabetes as a result of the intern’s engagement in the programme and the relationship with the Waikato Regional Diabetes Centre

Small secreted proteins enable biofilm development in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus.

Small proteins characterized by a double-glycine (GG) secretion motif, typical of secreted bacterial antibiotics, are encoded by the genomes of diverse cyanobacteria, but their functions have not been investigated to date. Using a biofilm-forming mutant of Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 and a mutational approach, we demonstrate the involvement of four small secreted proteins and their GG-secretion motifs in biofilm development. These proteins are denoted EbfG1-4 (enable biofilm formation with a GG-motif). Furthermore, the conserved cysteine of the peptidase domain of the Synpcc7942_1133 gene product (dubbed PteB for peptidase transporter essential for biofilm) is crucial for biofilm development and is required for efficient secretion of the GG-motif containing proteins. Transcriptional profiling of ebfG1-4 indicated elevated transcript levels in the biofilm-forming mutant compared to wild type (WT). However, these transcripts decreased, acutely but transiently, when the mutant was cultured in extracellular fluids from a WT culture, and biofilm formation was inhibited. We propose that WT cells secrete inhibitor(s) that suppress transcription of ebfG1-4, whereas secretion of the inhibitor(s) is impaired in the biofilm-forming mutant, leading to synthesis and secretion of EbfG1-4 and supporting the formation of biofilms

Nurses Alumni Association Bulletin, Fall 2011

2011 - 2012 Meeting Date Calendar Cover 2012 Annual Luncheon & Meeting Notice Officers, Committee Chairs, Satellite and Volunteers Bulletin Publication Committee The President\u27s Message Treasurer\u27s Report Resume of Minutes Office News Committee Reports Social Scholarship Relief Trust Fund Nominating Satellite - Harrisburg Satellite Area Bulletin By Laws Annual Giving Janet C. Hindson Award Janet C. Hindson Award Criteria Janet C. Hindson Award Recipient and Nominees Memories Era Ending (Part Two) Mary Schaal, EdD, RN Medical Clinic Psychology and Nursing Happy Birthday -To Be 80 or More 50th Anniversary Class Lists for 1961 Luncheon Attendees Center Page 1962 - Anniversary Class List for 2012 Annual Luncheon Comments In Memoriam, Names of Deceased Graduates Class News Additional Information, Pins, Transcripts & Address Info Scholarship Fund Application Certification Reimbursement Application Relief Fund Application List of Hotels Campus Ma