The liquidity reserve funding and management strategies

This paper investigates the managing strategies of a bank's liquidity reserve in the broader context of the role of asset-liability management according to the liquidity issues of a banking organisation. Several types of liquidity are presented and how these are interconnected and how they might affect a financial institution's liquidity risk. When managing the liquidity reserve and its included assets, the following influencing factors need to be taken into account: Firstly, the banking organisation itself, with its business model, funding structure and related types of risk; secondly, national and international regulatory requirements have to be fulfilled and lastly, financial market behaviour and its participants need to have carefully watched and anticipated, in order to manage the risk which might arise from the liquidity reserve itself

Pregnant women with bronchial asthma benefit from progressive muscle relaxation: A randomized, prospective, controlled trial

Background: Asthma is a serious medical problem in pregnancy and is often associated with stress, anger and poor quality of life. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) on change in blood pressure, lung parameters, heart rate, anger and health-related quality of life in pregnant women with bronchial asthma. Methods: We treated a sample of 64 pregnant women with bronchial asthma from the local population in an 8-week randomized, prospective, controlled trial. Thirty-two were selected for PMR, and 32 received a placebo intervention. The systolic blood pressure, forced expiratory volume in the first second, peak expiratory flow and heart rate were tested, and the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory and Health Survey (SF-36) were employed. Results: According to the intend-to-treat principle, a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure and a significant increase in both forced expiratory volume in the first second and peak expiratory flow were observed after PMR. The heart rate showed a significant increase in the coefficient of variation, root mean square of successive differences and high frequency ranges, in addition to a significant reduction in low and middle frequency ranges. A significant reduction on three of five State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory scales, and a significant increase on seven of eight SF-36 scales were observed. Conclusions: PMR appears to be an effective method to improve blood pressure, lung parameters and heart rate, and to decrease anger levels, thus enhancing health-related quality of life in pregnant women with bronchial asthma. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel

Destruction of molecular compounds in gaseous and liquid medium in microwave discharge plasma

The paper presents the results of experimental studies of molecular destruction in gaseous and liquid medium using microwave discharge plasma at atmospheric pressure. As the gas medium hydrocarbon gas is used, the liquid medium were aqueous solutions of methylene blue and more complex organic compound in the form of humic substances. As a result of the destruction of hydrocarbon gas molecules in microwave discharge plasma new products such as hydrogen, ethylene, acetylene and carbon nanostructured material have been formed. In experiments on destruction of molecular compounds in aqueous organic solutions we used air, nitrogen and argon for plasma gases. It is shown that the process of molecular destruction in aqueous organic solutions in the microwave discharge plasma is based on oxidation-reduction reactions. It is found that the maximum efficiency of removal of organic compounds from the solution occurs when using air as the plasma gas

Biadhesive Peptides for Assembling Stainless Steel and Compound Loaded Micro-Containers

Biadhesive peptides (peptesives) are an attractive tool for assembling two chemically different materials—for example, stainless steel and polycaprolactone (PCL). Stainless steel is used in medical stents and PCL is used as a biodegradable polymer for fabrication of tissue growth scaffolds and drug delivering micro-containers. Biadhesive peptides are composed of two domains (e.g., dermaseptin S1 and LCI) with different material-binding properties that are separated through a stiff peptide-spacer. The peptesive dermaseptin S1-domain Z-LCI immobilizes antibiotic-loaded PCL micro-containers on stainless steel surfaces. Immobilization is visualized by microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy analysis and released antibiotic from the micro-containers is confirmed through growth inhibition of Escherichia coli cells

Species-speciWc defense strategies of vegetative versus reproductive blades of the PaciWc kelps Lessonia nigrescens and Macrocystis integrifolia

Chemical defense is assumed to be costly and therefore algae should allocate defense investments in a way to reduce costs and optimize their overall fitness. Thus, lifetime expectation of particular tissues and their contribution to the fitness of the alga may affect defense allocation. Two brown algae common to the SE Pacific coasts, Lessonia nigrescens Bory and Macrocystis integrifolia Bory, feature important ontogenetic differences in the development of reproductive structures; in L. nigrescens blade tissues pass from a vegetative stage to a reproductive stage, while in M. integrifolia reproductive and vegetative functions are spatially separated on different blades. We hypothesized that vegetative blades of L. nigrescens with important future functions are more (or equally) defended than reproductive blades, whereas in M. integrifolia defense should be mainly allocated to reproductive blades (sporophylls), which are considered to make a higher contribution to fitness. Herein, within-plant variation in susceptibility of reproductive and vegetative tissues to herbivory and in allocation of phlorotannins (phenolics) and N-compounds was compared. The results show that phlorotannin and N-concentrations were higher in reproductive blade tissues for both investigated algae. However, preferences by amphipod grazers (Parhyalella penai) for either tissue type differed between the two algal species. Fresh reproductive tissue of L. nigrescens was more consumed than vegetative tissue, while the reverse was found in M. integrifolia, thus confirming the original hypothesis. This suggests that future fitness function might indeed be a useful predictor of anti-herbivore defense in large, perennial kelps. Results from feeding assays with artificial pellets that were made with air-dried material and extract-treated Ulva powder indicated that defenses in live algae are probably not based on chemicals that can be extracted or remain intact after air-drying and grinding up algal tissues. Instead, anti-herbivore defense against amphipod mesograzers seems to depend on structural traits of living algae

Bærekraftig befolkningsutvikling og grønn distriktsomstilling

Rapporten handler om bærekraftig befolkningsutvikling i distriktskommuner og hvilke faktorer for attraktivitet og kompetanse som kan bidra til grønn omstilling. Rapporten beskriver indikatorer som distriktskommuner kan benytte for å følge og overvåke samfunnsutvikling på disse områdene. Det empiriske grunnlaget er kommunene i Lofoten, Harstad og Narvik.publishedVersio

Влияние стартового состава ядерного топлива на концентрацию изотопов урана и плутония в облученном ядерном топливе реактора ВВЭР-1000

Объектом исследования является ядерный реактор ВВЭР с электрической мощностью 1000 МВт. Целью работы является определение влияние стартового состава ядерного топлива на концентрацию изотопов урана и плутония в облученном ядерном топливе реактора ВВЭР-1000.The object of the study is a VVER nuclear reactor with an electric capacity of 1,000 MW. The aim of the work is to determine the influence of the starting composition of nuclear fuel on the concentration of uranium and plutonium isotopes in irradiated nuclear fuel of the VVER-1000 reactor

An Analysis of Furniture Heat Release Rates by the Nordtest

This report analyses the small to full-scale prediction of the combustion behaviour of a series of Nordtest furniture specimens. This prediction analysis is based on Model I from the Combustion Behaviour of Upholstered Furniture (CBUF) study. The Nordtest furniture specimens ranged from 1 to 3 seaters and used two different types of foam and fabrics. Both types of foam and fabric were representative of the two extremes typically found on the market. The foams used were High Resilience Polyurethane and Standard Polyurethane. The fabrics used were 100% polypropylene and 100% cotton/linen blend. A total of 141 full-scale furniture tests in the Furniture Calorimeter and 33 small-scale tests in the Cone Calorimeter were conducted at the fire-testing laboratory at CSIRO in Melbourne. In addition to this a further 22 small-scale tests in the Cone Calorimeter were conducted in the fire-testing laboratory in Christchurch at the University of Canterbury. The outcomes from this study showed that Model I is a good predictor of the full-scale results for the Standard Polyurethane foam with both fabric combinations. The High Resilience Polyurethane foam burnt more readily with its cotton/linen fabric cover than with the polypropylene fabric, demonstrating that fabric effects can be quite pronounced in determining the burning behaviour of upholstered furniture. The High Resilience Polyurethane was a better performer than the Standard Polyurethane foam, in terms of producing a lower heat release rate, and was generally over predicted, confirming that for these particular furniture specimens, Model I's results range from good to conservative

The Arabidopsis leucine-rich repeat receptor kinase MIK2/LRR-KISS connects cell wall integrity sensing, root growth and response to abiotic and biotic stresses

Plants actively perceive and respond to perturbations in their cell walls which arise during growth, biotic and abiotic stresses. However, few components involved in plant cell wall integrity sensing have been described to date. Using a reverse-genetic approach, we identified the Arabidopsis thaliana leucine-rich repeat receptor kinase MIK2 as an important regulator of cell wall damage responses triggered upon cellulose biosynthesis inhibition. Indeed, loss-of-function mik2 alleles are strongly affected in immune marker gene expression, jasmonic acid production and lignin deposition. MIK2 has both overlapping and distinct functions with THE1, a malectin-like receptor kinase previously proposed as cell wall integrity sensor. In addition, mik2 mutant plants exhibit enhanced leftward root skewing when grown on vertical plates. Notably, natural variation in MIK2 (also named LRR-KISS) has been correlated recently to mild salt stress tolerance, which we could confirm using our insertional alleles. Strikingly, both the increased root skewing and salt stress sensitivity phenotypes observed in the mik2 mutant are dependent on THE1. Finally, we found that MIK2 is required for resistance to the fungal root pathogen Fusarium oxysporum. Together, our data identify MIK2 as a novel component in cell wall integrity sensing and suggest that MIK2 is a nexus linking cell wall integrity sensing to growth and environmental cues

Search for Neutral Heavy Leptons Produced in Z Decays

Weak isosinglet Neutral Heavy Leptons ($\nu_m$) have been searched for using data collected by the DELPHI detector corresponding to $3.3\times 10^{6}$ hadronic~Z$^{0}$ decays at LEP1. Four separate searches have been performed, for short-lived $\nu_m$ production giving monojet or acollinear jet topologies, and for long-lived $\nu_m$ giving detectable secondary vertices or calorimeter clusters. No indication of the existence of these particles has been found, leading to an upper limit for the branching ratio $BR($Z$^0\rightarrow \nu_m \overline{\nu})$ of about $1.3\times10^{-6}$ at 95\% confidence level for $\nu_m$ masses between 3.5 and 50 GeV/$c^2$. Outside this range the limit weakens rapidly with the $\nu_m$ mass. %Special emphasis has been given to the search for monojet--like topologies. One event %has passed the selection, in agreement with the expectation from the reaction: %$e^+e^- \rightarrow\ell \bar\ell \nu\bar\nu$. The results are also interpreted in terms of limits for the single production of excited neutrinos