Market microstructure, bank's behaviour and interbank spreads

We present an empirical analysis of the European electronic interbank market of overnight lending (e-MID) during the years 1999–2009. The main goal of the paper is to explain the observed changes of the cross-sectional dispersion of lending/borrowing conditions before, during and after the 2007–2008 subprime crisis. Unlike previous contributions, that focused on banks’ dependent and macro information as explanatory variables, we address the role of banks’ behaviour and market microstructure as determinants of the credit spreads

Learning practices through recursive questionnaires

Distance education or distance learning (DL) in undergraduate courses is growing considerably in the last decades (Holmes & Reid, 2017) and got even more attention due to the COVID pandemic (Crawford et al., 2020; Baggaley, 2020). Students pursuing distance learning have often suffered from isolation and lack of a learning community, resulting in high dropout rates. In general, students’ engagement depends strongly on the evaluation methods (Holmes, 2018), and they define how students manage their time in study. Introduction to Physical Sciences 1 (ICF1) is the subject in which this work was developed in a DL course with over 1500 students per semester at CEDERJ (Distance Education Center of the State of Rio de Janeiro). In this work, we modified the method of evaluation of two optional assessments (OA) that was given to the students, whose main goal is to promote the practice, through exercises, of two fundamental contents in physics which students often have doubts and misconceptions from high school: vectors (OA1) and Newton's laws (OA2). This modification was carried out by implementing a recursive formative online assessment that students can answer as many times as they want until a specified due date. The assessment avoids memorizing the answers to the questions by generating new numerical values for each question and randomly mixing their order in every new attempt. After finishing the questionnaire, students receive immediate feedback to correct their mistakes and try to achieve a better score, in such a way that mistakes can be beneficially used as part of their learning process. Each attempt is recorded and all students’ progress is analyzed using a computational Python code. With this approach, the professor can identify and eventually interact with students who need a higher level of attention before the final exams. The former OAs were not clearly evaluating the students and helping them to better understand the required subjects. In the old format, comparisons and copying of questions could be used by the students in such a way that created an illusory impression on them that they were understanding the underlying concepts. Thus, there was a lack of correlation between the scores in the OAs and the final scores of the students. Our analysis after the implementation of the recursive questionnaires, shows that students with high scores in the OA have more chances to pass the course, as expected from an exam that correctly evaluates the students’ performance. This methodology is a valuable asset for the students’ learning process, regardless of whether they are in a DL course or a regular face-to-face course, and for the professors to identify patterns that can foresee students’ difficulties with their learning progress, allowing to address specific students in need even in classes with a large number of students. REFERENCES Baggaley, J. (2020). Educational distancing. Distance Education, 41(4), 582-588. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2020.1821609 Crawford, J., Butler-Henderson, K., Rudolph, J., Malkawi, B., Glowatz, M., Burton, R., Magni, P., & Lam, S. (2020). COVID-19: 20 countries' higher education intra-period digital pedagogy responses. Journal of Applied Learning & Teaching, 3(1), 1-20. http://dx.doi.org/10.37074/jalt.2020.3.1.7 Holmes, C. M. & Reid, C. (2017). A comparison study of on-campus and online learning outcomes for a research methods course. The Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision, 9(2), 15. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.7729/92.1182 Holmes, N. (2018). Engaging with assessment: Increasing student engagement through continuous assessment. Active Learning in Higher Education, 19(1), 23-34. https://doi.org/10.1177/146978741772323

A Note on Solid-State Maxwell Demon

Starting from 2002, at least two kinds of laboratory-testable, solid-state Maxwell demons have been proposed that utilize the electric field energy of an open-gap n-p junction and that seem to challenge the validity of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. In the present paper we present some arguments against the alleged functioning of such devices.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. Foundations of Physics, forthcoming. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1101.505

Simultaneous calculation of the helical pitch and the twist elastic constant in chiral liquid crystals from intermolecular torques

We present a molecular simulation method that yields simultaneously the equilibrium pitch wave number q and the twist elastic constant K2 of a chiral nematic liquid crystal by sampling the torque density. A simulation of an untwisted system in periodic boundary conditions gives the product K2q; a further simulation with a uniform twist applied provides enough information to separately determine the two factors. We test our new method for a model potential, comparing the results with K2q from a thermodynamic integration route, and with K2 from an order fluctuation analysis. We also present a thermodynamic perturbation theory analysis valid in the limit of weak chirality

Phase Transitions And Spatially Ordered Counterion Association In Ionic-lipid Membranes: A Statistical Model.

We propose a statistical model to account for the gel-fluid anomalous phase transitions in charged bilayer- or lamellae-forming ionic lipids. The model Hamiltonian comprises effective attractive interactions to describe neutral-lipid membranes as well as the effect of electrostatic repulsions of the discrete ionic charges on the lipid headgroups. The latter can be counterion dissociated (charged) or counterion associated (neutral), while the lipid acyl chains may be in gel (low-temperature or high-lateral-pressure) or fluid (high-temperature or low-lateral-pressure) states. The system is modeled as a lattice gas with two distinct particle types--each one associated, respectively, with the polar-headgroup and the acyl-chain states--which can be mapped onto an Ashkin-Teller model with the inclusion of cubic terms. The model displays a rich thermodynamic behavior in terms of the chemical potential of counterions (related to added salt concentration) and lateral pressure. In particular, we show the existence of semidissociated thermodynamic phases related to the onset of charge order in the system. This type of order stems from spatially ordered counterion association to the lipid headgroups, in which charged and neutral lipids alternate in a checkerboard-like order. Within the mean-field approximation, we predict that the acyl-chain order-disorder transition is discontinuous, with the first-order line ending at a critical point, as in the neutral case. Moreover, the charge order gives rise to continuous transitions, with the associated second-order lines joining the aforementioned first-order line at critical end points. We explore the thermodynamic behavior of some physical quantities, like the specific heat at constant lateral pressure and the degree of ionization, associated with the fraction of charged lipid headgroups.8403190

Composto orgânico de lixo e adubos orgânicos tradicionais na produção de matéria seca de milho e na fertilidade do solo.

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Interstitial Lung Disease in Rheumatoid Arthritis in the Era of Biologics

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) represents a severe manifestation in connective tissue diseases (CTD), with an overall incidence of 15%, and it is still a challenge for clinicians evaluation and management. ILD is the most common manifestation of lung involvement in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), observed in up to 80% of biopsies, 50% of chest Computed Tomography (CT) and only 5% of chest radiographs. Histopatological patterns of ILD in RA may present with different patterns, such as: usual interstitial pneumonia, non specific interstitial pneumonia, desquamative interstitial pneumonia, organizing pneumonia, and eosinophilic infiltration. The incidence of ILD in RA patients is not only related to the disease itself, many drugs may be in fact associated with the development of pulmonary damage. Some reports suggest a causative role for TNFα inhibitors in RA-ILD development/worsening, anyway, no definitive statement can be drawn thus data are incomplete and affected by several variables. A tight control (pulmonary function tests and/or HRCT) is mandatory in patients with preexisting ILD, but it should be also performed in those presenting risk factors for ILD and mild respiratory symptoms. Biologic therapy should be interrupted, and, after excluding triggering infections, corticosteroids should be administered

Transmesocolic hernia with sigmoid colon strangulation without surgical history: a series of two case reports.

The incidence of internal hernias is rare (0.2-0.9%). The prevalence of intestinal obstruction for an internal hernia is low (0.5-5%), however if strangulation is present the overall mortality is higher than 50%. There are multiple places where an internal hernia may be localized, with transmesenteric: transmesocolic (8%) and transomental (1-4%) as the rarest. We report a series of two cases (men with 40 years-old and women with 92 years old) of volvulus of colon sigmoid in a strangulated transverse and descendent transmesocolic hernia, with one case associated also to a transomental hernia. Both patients were submitted to a Hartmann procedure and on follow-up remained free of complains. In conclusion, transmesenteric internal hernia should be included as diagnosis hypothesis for intestinal occlusion and if the diagnosis is made, the patient should be submitted to emergency surgery due to high rates of complications, high morbidity and mortality.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

PAC1 Deficiency in a Murine Model Induces Gastric Mucosa Hypertrophy and Higher Basal Gastric Acid Output

Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) has been shown to increase the histamine release from gastric enterochromaffin-like (ECL) cells and promote gastric acid secretion in rats. In contrast, in mice, PACAP has been demonstrated to induce a decrease of gastric acid secretion, an effect presumably due to somatostatin release. To more clearly define the role of PACAP in the regulation of gastric acid output, a knockout mouse model for the PACAP-specific receptor PAC1 was applied in this study. Measurements of the basal and stimulated gastric acid secretion and morphological studies on the gastric mucosa were performed in both wild-type and PAC1-deficient mice. Compared with the wild-type mice, the PAC1-deficient mice showed a nearly threefold higher basal gastric acid output, increased gastric mucosa thickness and glands height, and proportional increases in parietal and total cell counts in the gastric mucosa. The PAC1-deficient mice also showed a trend of increased plasma gastrin levels and gastrin gene expression in the gastric mucosa. This study indicates that the expression of PAC1 is clearly important for maintaining the homeostasis of gastric acid secretion. Loss of PACAP receptor during development may lead to a compensatory mechanism regulating gastric acid secretion