Risk management and stable financial structures

Conventional development economics has focused mainly on generating economic growth by mobilizing savings and allocating them wisely among investment opportunities. Savings (external and domestic) were to be mobilized through tax incentives, income, and interest rate policies. Their allocation often involved direct government intervention in the investment process. After the disastrous results of the 1980s, the new wisdom is to let the private sector generate growth, while the government provides the regulatory and supervisory framework for competitive markets, ensures the existence of level playing fields, and removes obvious cases of moral hazard. But the private sector working under an inappropriate financial structure may do no better than the government in making right investment choices for long-term growth. So governments (which in a financial crisis are responsible for all national debts) should have an effective national risk management strategy, with an understanding of the national balance sheet, and the necessity of a stable financial structure for steady long-term economic growth. The authors argue that it is not only how much investment is mobilized and allocated but also how investments are financed that matters for an economy's long-term growth. Finance and development are inextricably linked with risk management (both at the sectoral and national levels). Development is a function not just of promoting the right industries and allocating capital for the high-return investments (asset management) but also of choosing the right financial structure (liability management) - and of the related risks arising from the liability mix chosen. The authors argue that one of the ingredients of the East Asian success is prudent risk management by these governments. They present five rules for national risk management, concluding, among other things, to: (a) establish fiscal discipline and price stability as the anchor of overall financial stability; (b) encourage asset diversification through industrialization and export orientation, financed by foreign direct investment; (c) avoid sectoral imbalances, such as excessive domestic or external borrowing, including the development of instruments and institutions to absorb shocks; (d) establish strong institutional capacity to assess and contain systemic risks; and (e) when the above conditions are not adequately met, retain some policy measures to handle the risk.Environmental Economics&Policies,Financial Intermediation,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research

Vagal contributions to fetal heart rate variability: an omics approach

Fetal heart rate variability (fHRV) is an important indicator of health and disease, yet its physiological origins, neural contributions in particular, are not well understood. We aimed to develop novel experimental and data analytical approaches to identify fHRV measures reflecting the vagus nerve contributions to fHRV. In near-term ovine fetuses, a comprehensive set of 46 fHRV measures was computed from fetal pre-cordial electrocardiogram recorded during surgery and 72 hours later without (n=24) and with intra-surgical bilateral cervical vagotomy (n=15). The fetal heart rate did not change due to vagotomy. We identify fHRV measures specific to the vagal modulation of fHRV: Multiscale time irreversibility asymmetry index (AsymI), Detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) alpha1, Kullback-Leibler permutation entropy (KLPE) and Scale dependent Lyapunov exponent slope (SDLE alpha). We provide a systematic delineation of vagal contributions to fHRV across signal-analytical domains which should be relevant for the emerging field of bioelectronic medicine and the deciphering of the vagus code. Our findings also have clinical significance for in utero monitoring of fetal health during surgery

The binding of TIA-1 to RNA C-rich sequences is driven by its C-terminal RRM domain

T-cell intracellular antigen-1 (TIA-1) is a key DNA/RNA binding protein that regulates translation by sequestering target mRNAs in stress granules (SG) in response to stress conditions. TIA-1 possesses three RNA recognition motifs (RRM) along with a glutamine-rich domain, with the central domains (RRM2 and RRM3) acting as RNA binding platforms. While the RRM2 domain, which displays high affinity for U-rich RNA sequences, is primarily responsible for interaction with RNA, the contribution of RRM3 to bind RNA as well as the target RNA sequences that it binds preferentially are still unknown. Here we combined nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) techniques to elucidate the sequence specificity of TIA-1 RRM3. With a novel approach using saturation transfer difference NMR (STD-NMR) to quantify protein-nucleic acids interactions, we demonstrate that isolated RRM3 binds to both C- and U-rich stretches with micromolar affinity. In combination with RRM2 and in the context of full-length TIA-1, RRM3 significantly enhanced the binding to RNA, particularly to cytosine-rich RNA oligos, as assessed by biotinylated RNA pull-down analysis. Our findings provide new insight into the role of RRM3 in regulating TIA-1 binding to C-rich stretches, that are abundant at the 5' TOPs (5' terminal oligopyrimidine tracts) of mRNAs whose translation is repressed under stress situationsJunta de Andalucía P07-CVI-02896, P11-CVI-7216, and BIO19

An Anti-Human ICAM-1 Antibody Inhibits Rhinovirus-Induced Exacerbations of Lung Inflammation

Human rhinoviruses (HRV) cause the majority of common colds and acute exacerbations of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Effective therapies are urgently needed, but no licensed treatments or vaccines currently exist. Of the 100 identified serotypes, ∼90% bind domain 1 of human intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) as their cellular receptor, making this an attractive target for development of therapies; however, ICAM-1 domain 1 is also required for host defence and regulation of cell trafficking, principally via its major ligand LFA-1. Using a mouse anti-human ICAM-1 antibody (14C11) that specifically binds domain 1 of human ICAM-1, we show that 14C11 administered topically or systemically prevented entry of two major groups of rhinoviruses, HRV16 and HRV14, and reduced cellular inflammation, pro-inflammatory cytokine induction and virus load in vivo. 14C11 also reduced cellular inflammation and Th2 cytokine/chemokine production in a model of major group HRV-induced asthma exacerbation. Interestingly, 14C11 did not prevent cell adhesion via human ICAM-1/LFA-1 interactions in vitro, suggesting the epitope targeted by 14C11 was specific for viral entry. Thus a human ICAM-1 domain-1-specific antibody can prevent major group HRV entry and induction of airway inflammation in vivo

Ion Write Microthermotics: Programing Thermal Metamaterials at the Microscale.

Considerable advances in manipulating heat flow in solids have been made through the innovation of artificial thermal structures such as thermal diodes, camouflages, and cloaks. Such thermal devices can be readily constructed only at the macroscale by mechanically assembling different materials with distinct values of thermal conductivity. Here, we extend these concepts to the microscale by demonstrating a monolithic material structure on which nearly arbitrary microscale thermal metamaterial patterns can be written and programmed. It is based on a single, suspended silicon membrane whose thermal conductivity is locally, continuously, and reversibly engineered over a wide range (between 2 and 65 W/m·K) and with fine spatial resolution (10-100 nm) by focused ion irradiation. Our thermal cloak demonstration shows how ion-write microthermotics can be used as a lithography-free platform to create thermal metamaterials that control heat flow at the microscale

Lessons from building an automated pre-departure sequencer for airports

Commercial airports are under increasing pressure to comply with the Eurocontrol collaborative decision making (CDM) initiative, to ensure that information is passed between stakeholders, integrate automated decision support or make predictions. These systems can also aid effective operations beyond the airport by communicating scheduling decisions to other relevant parties, such as Eurocontrol, for passing on to downstream airports and enabling overall airspace improvements. One of the major CDM components is aimed at producing the target take-off times and target startup-approval times, i.e. scheduling when the aircraft should push back from the gates and start their engines and when they will take off. For medium-sized airports, a common choice for this is a “pre-departure sequencer” (PDS). In this paper, we describe the design and requirements challenges which arose during our development of a PDS system for medium sized international airports. Firstly, the scheduling problem is highly dynamic and event driven. Secondly, it is important to end-users that the system be predictable and, as far as possible, transparent in its operation, with decisions that can be explained. Thirdly, users can override decisions, and this information has to be taken into account. Finally, it is important that the system is as fair as possible for all users of the airport, and the interpretation of this is considered here. Together, these factors have influenced the design of the PDS system which has been built to work within an existing large system which is being used at many airport

Who Meets Whom: Access and Lobbying During the Coalition Years

In 2010, the incoming Coalition government announced that it would publish details of meetings between ministers and outside interests. We have collated and coded these data and, in this article, describe patterns of access between 2010 and 2015. In some respects, access is notably fragmented. No single organisation attends more than 2.5% of the 6292 meetings held by ministers. On the contrary, business, collectively, attends fully 45% of all meetings: more than twice the share of any other category of organisation. We also find evidence of distinctive policy communities characterised by high levels of access between particular interests and ministers within specific departments

A hypothetico-deductive approach to assessing the social function of chemical signalling in a non-territorial solitary carnivore

The function of chemical signalling in non-territorial solitary carnivores is still relatively unclear. Studies on territorial solitary and social carnivores have highlighted odour capability and utility, however the social function of chemical signalling in wild carnivore populations operating dominance hierarchy social systems has received little attention. We monitored scent marking and investigatory behaviour of wild brown bears Ursus arctos, to test multiple hypotheses relating to the social function of chemical signalling. Camera traps were stationed facing bear ‘marking trees’ to document behaviour by different age sex classes in different seasons. We found evidence to support the hypothesis that adult males utilise chemical signalling to communicate dominance to other males throughout the non-denning period. Adult females did not appear to utilise marking trees to advertise oestrous state during the breeding season. The function of marking by subadult bears is somewhat unclear, but may be related to the behaviour of adult males. Subadults investigated trees more often than they scent marked during the breeding season, which could be a result of an increased risk from adult males. Females with young showed an increase in marking and investigation of trees outside of the breeding season. We propose the hypothesis that females engage their dependent young with marking trees from a young age, at a relatively ‘safe’ time of year. Memory, experience, and learning at a young age, may all contribute towards odour capabilities in adult bears

Health-state utilities in a prisoner population : a cross-sectional survey

Background: Health-state utilities for prisoners have not been described. Methods: We used data from a 1996 cross-sectional survey of Australian prisoners (n = 734). Respondent-level SF-36 data was transformed into utility scores by both the SF-6D and Nichol's method. Socio-demographic and clinical predictors of SF-6D utility were assessed in univariate analyses and a multivariate general linear model. Results: The overall mean SF-6D utility was 0.725 (SD 0.119). When subdivided by various medical conditions, prisoner SF-6D utilities ranged from 0.620 for angina to 0.764 for those with none/mild depressive symptoms. Utilities derived by the Nichol's method were higher than SF-6D scores, often by more than 0.1. In multivariate analysis, significant independent predictors of worse utility included female gender, increasing age, increasing number of comorbidities and more severe depressive symptoms. Conclusion: The utilities presented may prove useful for future economic and decision models evaluating prison-based health programs