In-house investment management: making and implementing the decision

We propose a framework that asset owners can use for making and implementing any decision to manage investments in-house. It involves addressing four elements: capabilities, costs, alignment and governance; with key aspects identified for consideration within each element. The framework draws on guidance from the literature, and insights from interviews with executives from the Australian superannuation fund industry. We also report on the interviews, where we uncover striking diversity in the approaches to deciding whether to manage in-house, and the emphasis placed on various aspects related to the perceived benefits, challenges and success factors. Our framework encompasses and unifies the wide range of viewpoints we heard from industry executives. We are supportive of in-house management, provided that the conditions are right and it is implemented appropriately

The role of mitogen-activated protein kinases and sterol receptor coactivator-1 in TGF-β-regulated expression of genes implicated in macrophage cholesterol uptake

The anti-atherogenic cytokine TGF-β inhibits macrophage foam cell formation by suppressing the expression of key genes implicated in the uptake of modified lipoproteins. We have previously shown a critical role for p38 MAPK and JNK in the TGF-β-mediated regulation of apolipoprotein E expression in human monocytes. However, the roles of these two MAPK pathways in the control of expression of key genes involved in the uptake of modified lipoproteins in human macrophages is poorly understood and formed the focus of this study. TGF-β activated both p38 MAPK and JNK, and knockdown of p38 MAPK or c-Jun, a key downstream target of JNK action, demonstrated their requirement in the TGF-β-inhibited expression of several key genes implicated in macrophage lipoprotein uptake. The potential role of c-Jun and specific co-activators in the action of TGF-β was investigated further by studies on the lipoprotein lipase gene. c-Jun did not directly interact with the minimal promoter region containing the TGF-β response elements and a combination of transient transfection and knock down assays revealed an important role for SRC-1. These studies provide novel insights into the mechanisms underlying the TGF-β-mediated inhibition of macrophage gene expression associated with the control of cholesterol homeostasis

Game theory of mind

This paper introduces a model of ‘theory of mind’, namely, how we represent the intentions and goals of others to optimise our mutual interactions. We draw on ideas from optimum control and game theory to provide a ‘game theory of mind’. First, we consider the representations of goals in terms of value functions that are prescribed by utility or rewards. Critically, the joint value functions and ensuing behaviour are optimised recursively, under the assumption that I represent your value function, your representation of mine, your representation of my representation of yours, and so on ad infinitum. However, if we assume that the degree of recursion is bounded, then players need to estimate the opponent's degree of recursion (i.e., sophistication) to respond optimally. This induces a problem of inferring the opponent's sophistication, given behavioural exchanges. We show it is possible to deduce whether players make inferences about each other and quantify their sophistication on the basis of choices in sequential games. This rests on comparing generative models of choices with, and without, inference. Model comparison is demonstrated using simulated and real data from a ‘stag-hunt’. Finally, we note that exactly the same sophisticated behaviour can be achieved by optimising the utility function itself (through prosocial utility), producing unsophisticated but apparently altruistic agents. This may be relevant ethologically in hierarchal game theory and coevolution

Institutional contexts in supporting quality online postgraduate education:Lessons learned from two initiatives at the University of Edinburgh

While there are a range of practices and principles that underpin quality online postgraduate education, this work cannot all be done through course design and teaching. Good educational practice is also embedded in institutional policies, strategies, cultures and infrastructures. In this chapter, we examine two very different initiatives at the University of Edinburgh—the Distance Education Initiative (DEI) and the Near Future Teaching project (NFT)—to discuss the challenges of generating coherent institutional change towards supporting quality online postgraduate taught (PGT) education. In doing so, we highlight the importance of meaningful negotiation of central and local aims and values, through faculty development, communication between educational and leadership networks, and the embedding of educational practitioners within leadership constellations

Illegal deforestation continues in the Dominican Republic

Sierra de Bahoruco National Park is a vital haven for some of the rarest endemic birds in the Caribbean Basin—such as the La Selle Thrush, Western Chat-Tanager, and White-winged Warbler. But its cloud-forest habitat is being illegally logged and cleared for crops. And conservationists say the government of the Dominican Republic is doing little to stop it

Why do only some people who support parties actually join them? Evidence from Britain

What makes people join a political party is one of the most commonly studied questions in research on party members. Nearly all this research, however, is based on talking to people who have actually joined parties. This article simultaneously analyses surveys of members of political parties in Britain and surveys of non-member supporters of those same parties. This uniquely enables us to model the decision to join parties. The results suggest that most of the elements that constitute the influential ‘General Incentives Model’ are significant. But it also reveals that, while party supporters imagine that selective benefits, social norms and opposing rival parties’ policies are key factors in members’ decisions to join a party, those who actually do so are more likely to say they are motivated by attachments to their party’s values, policies and leaders, as well as by an altruistic desire to support democracy more generally

Measuring Community Attitudes Towards Toronto's Dome Stadium

This report fulfills the requirements of Geography 4C6.This research report focuses on explaining the attitudinal and behavioral relationship toward public facilities. This relationship is founded from two bodies of theory; public facility location theory and the theory of attitude formation. Empirical results for testing the relationship were obtained through a survey of the Downsview community's attitudes toward Toronto's proposed dome stadium. It was found that the relationship between attitudes and behaviour can stem from the perceived impacts that a facility may generate on one's neighborhood as well as one's perceived effect or influence creating a change in the planning process.ThesisBachelor of Arts (BA

PAIRED COMPETITION ANALYSIS USING MIXED MODELS

Urban and rural colonies of odorous house ants (Tapinoma sessile) have very different social structures. Urban colonies are very large with hundreds of cohabiting queens, while rural colonies are small with only one queen. To investigate whether worker ant aggressiveness varies across these two colony types, an experiment was performed using an aggression assay, in which 50 ants from each of two colonies were placed in a petri dish and allowed to fight. The response was the total number of dead ants within 24 hours. Because the ants were all the same species and not marked by colony, the number of dead ants per colony could not be determined. A total of 138 colony pairings, involving six urban (U) and seven rural (R) colonies, were used in the experiment. Interest was in comparing the three types of pairings (UU, UR, and RR) to see if there is an ordering based on aggressiveness (e.g., μUU \u3c μUR \u3c μRR). A linear mixed model is proposed to account for the fact that multiple assays involve ants from the same colony (i.e., to account for between colony variation in aggressiveness). However, the incorporation of random colony factors is not feasible for this study because of the UU and RR assays. As a result, we perform this mixed model analysis by specifying the covariance matrix (i.e., using the LINEAR covariance structure). A simulation study is used to assess the Type I and Type II errors of this mixed model approach relative to the standard one-way ANOVA. We conclude with an analysis of the real data set

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy