Information Processing of Foreign Exchange News: Extending the Overshooting Model to Include Qualitative Information from News Sentiment

In a globalized world, the volume of international trade is based on both import and export prices, thereby making a country\u27s economy highly dependent on exchange rates. In order to study exchange rate movements, one frequently exploits the so-called Dornbusch overshooting model. However, the model is controversial from a theoretical point of view: it presupposes the processing of information, though this is not directly reflected by the underlying variables. As a remedy, this paper investigates a potential cognitive bias by including textual news content, thus adjusting for information dissemination. As such, we perform a multivariate analysis to compare the classical overshooting model with an extended variant that includes news sentiment. Our results show that news has a substantial explanatory power of 11% of the exchange rate forecasting error variance. In addition, we also find statistical evidence that a shock in news sentiment may lead to overshooting

INFLUENCE OF LIGNIN EXTRACT ON THE ACTIVITY OF ENZYMES, RELATED TO CARBOHYDRATE AND PEPTIDE DIGESTION

In cooperation with the Latvian Institute of Wood Chemistry, the following research work shows quantitative experiments in investigation of affect of different concentrations of Lignin on the activity of enzymes Pepsin and ? - Amylase. All experiments are made “in vitro” and corresponding environments were simulated. The long – term aim of this research project is, to give evidence about the different effects of lignin on human enzymes to establish a cost – efficiently, natural drug. This research work is related to the European COST program, action CM0804: Chemical Biology with Natural Products: "The main objective of the Action is to advance the use of natural products as tools for chemical biology. Applying modern techniques and advancing them, natural products will prove to be instrumental in discovering target proteins and biological pathways that are of relevance to diseases. This in turn, should facilitate and speed up subsequent drug discovery efforts in the pharmaceutical industry."

Dark-field X-ray imaging for the assessment of osteoporosis in human lumbar spine specimens

Background: Dark-field imaging is a novel imaging modality that allows for the assessment of material interfaces by exploiting the wave character of x-ray. While it has been extensively studied in chest imaging, only little is known about the modality for imaging other tissues. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a clinical X-ray dark-field scanner prototype allows for the assessment of osteoporosis.Materials and methods: In this prospective study we examined human cadaveric lumbar spine specimens (vertebral segments L2 to L4). We used a clinical prototype for dark-field radiography that yields both attenuation and dark-field images. All specimens were scanned in lateral orientation in vertical and horizontal position. All specimens were additionally imaged with CT as reference. Bone mineral density (BMD) values were derived from asynchronously calibrated quantitative CT measurements. Correlations between attenuation signal, dark-field signal and BMD were assessed using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients. The capability of the dark-field signal for the detection of osteoporosis/osteopenia was evaluated with receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis.Results: A total of 58 vertebrae from 20 human cadaveric spine specimens (mean age, 73 years ±13 [standard deviation]; 11 women) were studied. The dark-field signal was positively correlated with the BMD, both in vertical (r = 0.56, p < .001) and horizontal position (r = 0.43, p < .001). Also, the dark-field signal ratio was positively correlated with BMD (r = 0.30, p = .02). No correlation was found between the signal ratio of attenuation signal and BMD (r = 0.14, p = .29). For the differentiation between specimens with and without osteoporosis/osteopenia, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.80 for the dark-field signal in vertical position.Conclusion: Dark-field imaging allows for the differentiation between spine specimens with and without osteoporosis/osteopenia and may therefore be a potential biomarker for bone stability

Short-term dynamics of day-ahead and intraday electricity prices

ISSN:1750-622

Emissions Trading System of the European Union: Emission Allowances and EPEX Electricity Prices in Phase III

The Emissions Trading System in the European Union was introduced to achieve the climate goal of reducing emissions by around 43% between 1990 and 2030. Accordingly, the costs of emission allowances are part of power generation and, by extension, the price of electricity. Theoretical works thus suggest a positive relationship between the price of emission allowances and electricity. However, this has not been validated empirically for phase III of the Emissions Trading System in the short run as part of the price setting mechanism of electricity producers. Our evidence suggests an opposite effect: According to our empricial results, both European Power Exchange (EPEX) day-ahead and intraday markets are negatively affected during phase III. We further test for a potentially asymmetric influence with the help of quantile regressions. Altogether, the outcome has implications for policy-makers and calls for further attention by academics and policy-makers in the future design of the Emissions Trading System, especially under larger amount of renewables in the electricity system.ISSN:1996-107

News sentiment and overshooting of exchange rates

ISSN:0003-6846ISSN:1466-428

Reply to Martetschläger, F.; Wahal, N. Comment on “Feuerriegel et al. Assessment of Acute Lesions of the Biceps Pulley in Patients with Traumatic Shoulder Dislocation Using MR Imaging. <i>Diagnostics</i> 2022, <i>12</i>, 2345”

We would like to thank you for your kind letter and thoughtful comments [...

Reply to Martetschl&auml;ger, F.; Wahal, N. Comment on &ldquo;Feuerriegel et al. Assessment of Acute Lesions of the Biceps Pulley in Patients with Traumatic Shoulder Dislocation Using MR Imaging. Diagnostics 2022, 12, 2345&rdquo;

We would like to thank you for your kind letter and thoughtful comments [...

Computer Mouse Movements as an Indicator of Work Stress: Longitudinal Observational Field Study

BACKGROUND Work stress affects individual health and well-being. These negative effects could be mitigated through regular monitoring of employees' stress. Such monitoring becomes even more important as the digital transformation of the economy implies profound changes in working conditions. OBJECTIVE The goal of this study was to investigate the association between computer mouse movements and work stress in the field. METHODS We hypothesized that stress is associated with a speed-accuracy trade-off in computer mouse movements. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a longitudinal field study at a large business organization, where computer mouse movements from regular work activities were monitored over 7 weeks; the study included 70 subjects and 1829 observations. A Bayesian regression model was used to estimate whether self-reported acute work stress was associated with a speed-accuracy trade-off in computer mouse movements. RESULTS There was a negative association between stress and the two-way interaction term of mouse speed and accuracy (mean -0.32, 95% highest posterior density interval -0.58 to -0.08), which means that stress was associated with a speed-accuracy trade-off. The estimated association was not sensitive to different processing of the data and remained negative after controlling for the demographics, health, and personality traits of subjects. CONCLUSIONS Self-reported acute stress is associated with computer mouse movements, specifically in the form of a speed-accuracy trade-off. This finding suggests that the regular analysis of computer mouse movements could indicate work stress