A test of the permanent income hypothesis on Czech voucher privatization

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39465/3/wp75.pd

Test of Permanent Income Hypothesis on Czech Voucher Privatization

This paper tests the permanent income hypothesis using the natural experiment of Czech voucher privatization. This' form of privatization moved state assets to individuals and represented an unexpected windfall gain for participants of the privatization scheme. Whether the windfall was consumed or saved provides a clear test of the permanent income hypothesis. Analysis based on data from a sample survey suggests that only a small number of transferred assets were cashed in and spent on consumption. This result supports the concept of the permanent income hypothesis.

Early urinary biomarkers of diabetic nephropathy in type 1 diabetes mellitus show involvement of kallikrein-kinin system

Abstract Background Additional urinary biomarkers for diabetic nephropathy (DN) are needed, providing early and reliable diagnosis and new insights into its mechanisms. Rigorous selection criteria and homogeneous study population may improve reproducibility of the proteomic approach. Methods Long-term type 1 diabetes patients without metabolic comorbidities were included, 11 with sustained microalbuminuria (MA) and 14 without MA (nMA). Morning urine proteins were precipitated and resolved by 2D electrophoresis. Principal component analysis (PCA) and Projection to latent structures discriminatory analysis (PLS-DA) were adopted to assess general data validity, to pick protein fractions for identification with mass spectrometry (MS), and to test predictive value of the resulting model. Results Proteins (n = 113) detected in more than 90% patients were considered representative. Unsupervised PCA showed excellent natural data clustering without outliers. Protein spots reaching Variable Importance in Projection score above 1 in PLS (n = 42) were subjected to MS, yielding 33 positive identifications. The PLS model rebuilt with these proteins achieved accurate classification of all patients (R2X = 0.553, R2Y = 0.953, Q2 = 0.947). Thus, multiple earlier recognized biomarkers of DN were confirmed and several putative new biomarkers suggested. Among them, the highest significance was met in kininogen-1. Its activation products detected in nMA patients exceeded by an order of magnitude the amount found in MA patients. Conclusions Reducing metabolic complexity of the diseased and control groups by meticulous patients’ selection allows to focus the biomarker search in DN. Suggested new biomarkers, particularly kininogen fragments, exhibit the highest degree of correlation with MA and substantiate validation in larger and more varied cohorts

WCRP Task Team for the Intercomparison of ReAnalyses (TIRA): Motivation and Progress

Reanalyses have proven to be an important resource for weather and climate related research, as well as societal applications at large. New atmospheric reanalyses in various forms are produced every few years. In addition, land and ocean communities are producing disciplinary uncoupled reanalyses, and regional reanalyses are emerging in addition to global reanalyses. Systems of data information are being developed to facilitate the intercomparison of reanalyses among themselves and with observations and climate change experiments (e.g. CREATE-IP and WRIT). Current research and development in reanalysis is directed at (1) extending the length of reanalyzed period and (2) use of coupled Earth system models for climate reanalysis. While the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) involvement in the reanalyses communities through its Data Advisory Council (WDAC) has been substantial, for example in organizing international conferences on reanalyses. However, these efforts have previously not included an analysis of the differences among reanalyses and their inherent uncertainties which are important questions for both users and developers of reanalyses. Therefore, the WCRP Task Team for the Intercomparison of ReAnalyses (TIRA) task team has been formed as collaborative effort to address reanalyses role in WCRP. This constitutes a logical progression that fills the needs of the community and contributes to the WCRP mission. The primary charge to TIRA is to develop a reanalysis intercomparison project plan that will attain the following objectives.1)To foster understanding and estimation of uncertainties in reanalysis data by intercomparison and other means)To communicate new developments and best practices among the reanalyses producing centers3)To enhance the understanding of data and assimilation issues and their impact on uncertainties, leading to improved reanalyses for climate assessment4)To communicate the strengths and weaknesses of reanalyses, their fitness for purpose, and best practices in the use of reanalysis datasets by the scientific communityThis contribution outlines the need for a task team on reanalyses, their intercomparison, the objectives of the team and progress thus far. Results for some pilot intercomparisons will also be discussed

Comparison of Online Insurance Comparators

Účelem této bakalářské práce je porovnat online srovnávače pojištění. Hlavním cílem této bakalářské práce je podrobně prozkoumat poskytované pojistné produkty na tuzemském trhu pomocí online srovnávačů pojištění. Dále se práce zabývá uživatelským prostředím jednotlivých srovnávačů, množstvím osobních dat, které potřebují pro vyhotovení nabídky a porovnání tuzemského trhu s vybranými zahraničními trhy. Tato práce věnuje Pozornost převážně životnímu pojištění.This bachelor's thesis deals with the comparison of online insurance comparators. Its main goal is to examine in detail the insurance products provided on the domestic market using online insurance comparators. Furthermore, the work focuses on the user interface of individual comparators, the amount of personal data they need to prepare an offer and the comparison of the domestic market with selected foreign markets. This thesis mainly focuses on life insurance

Technology mathematics handbook

xiv, 370 p.; 23 cm