The Basel III net stable funding ratio adjustment speed and systemic risk

The theory on the timing of liquidity trades highlights two contrasting rational expectations equilibria for the liquidity adjustment speed effect, namely an immediate-trading equilibrium (trade at the onset of the liquidity shock) and a delayed-trading equilibrium (trade at the last resort). Using a partial adjustment model and an annual data sample of US bank holding companies from 1991 to 2012, we investigate the effect of Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR) adjustment speeds on systemic risk. We find that banks with the immediate-trading equilibrium tend to adjust the NSFR quickly in response to the Basel III liquidity requirement, thereby, reducing systemic risk. With the same level of the NSFR, our findings suggest that only the adjustment speed exerts a negative impact on systemic risk. Our evidence shows that small banks strengthen the effects of the negative impact of the NSFR adjustment speed on systemic risk. Our study sheds light on a real-time indicator of the NSFR for Basel III revisions before its implementation in 2018

E-Cigarette Awareness, Perceptions and Use among Community-Recruited Smokers in Hong Kong

Abstract Background Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are being increasingly used. We examined the correlates associated with e-cigarette awareness, use and perceived effectiveness in smoking cessation among Chinese daily smokers in Hong Kong. Methods Daily smokers (N = 1,307) were recruited to a community-based randomised controlled trial (‘Quit to Win’) in 2014. Socio-demographic characteristics, conventional cigarette smoking status, nicotine addiction level, quit attempts, quit intention, e-cigarette awareness, use and perceived effectiveness on quitting were reported at baseline and 1-week follow-up. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with e-cigarette awareness, use and perceived effectiveness in quitting. Results Most smokers (82.6%, 95% CI 80.2%-84.9%) had heard about e-cigarettes, and 13.3% (11.3%-15.5%) ever used e-cigarettes. Most users (74.1%) and non-users (91.2%) did not perceive e-cigarettes as effective in quitting. Being younger and having a larger family income were associated with e-cigarette awareness. Being younger, a tertiary education and a stronger addiction to nicotine were associated with e-cigarette use, which was itself associated with lower levels of intention to quit and had no association with attempts to quit (P for trend 0.45). E-cigarette use, the last quit attempt being a month earlier, having made a quit attempt lasting 24 hours or longer and perceiving quitting as important were all associated with the perceived effectiveness of e-cigarettes in quitting (all P <0.05). Conclusions Among community-recruited smokers who intended to quit, awareness of e-cigarettes was high, but most did not perceive e-cigarettes as effective in quitting. Correlates concerning ecigarette perceptions and use will help to inform prospective studies, public education and policy on controlling e-cigarettes.published_or_final_versio

Optimization of fermentation medium for nisin production from Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis using response surface methodology (RSM) combined with artificial neural network-genetic algorithm (ANN-GA)

Nisin is a bacteriocin approved in more than 50 countries as a safe natural food preservative. Response surface methodology (RSM) combined with artificial neural network-genetic algorithm (ANN-GA) was employed to optimize the fermentation medium for nisin production. Plackett-Burman design (PBD) was used for identifying the significant components in the fermentation medium. After that, the path of steepest ascent method (PSA) was employed to approach their optimal concentrations. Sequentially, Box-Behnken design experiments were implemented for further optimization. RSM combined with ANNGA were used for analysis of data. Specially, a RSM model was used for determining the individual effect and mutual interaction effect of tested variables on nisin titer (NT), an ANN model was used for NT prediction, and GA was employed to search for the optimum solutions based on the ANN model. As the optimal medium obtained by ANN-GA was located at the verge of the test region, a further Box- Behnken design based on the RSM statistical analysis results was implemented. ANN-GA was implemented using the further Box-Behnken design data to locate the optimum solution which was as follow (g/l): Glucose (GLU) 15.92, peptone (PEP) 30.57, yeast extraction powder (YEP) 39.07, NaCl 5.25, KH2PO4 10.00, and MgSO4·7H2O 0.20, with expected NT of 22216 IU/ml. The validation experiments with the optimum solution were implemented in triplicate and the average NT was 21423 IU/ml, which was 2.13 times higher than that without ANN-GA methods and 8.34 times higher than that without optimization.Key words: Response surface methodology, artificial neural network, genetic algorithm, nisin titer

A Ly-alpha Emitter with an Extremely Large Rest-frame Equivalent Width of ~900A at z=6.5: A Candidate of Population III-dominated Galaxy?

We have identified a very interesting Ly-alpha emitter, whose Ly-alpha emission line has an extremely large observed equivalent width of EW_0=436^{+422}_{-149}A, which corresponds to an extraordinarily large intrinsic rest-frame equivalent width of EW_0^{int}=872^{+844}_{-298}A after the average intergalactic absorption correction. The object was spectroscopically confirmed to be a real Ly-alpha emitter by its apparent asymmetric Ly-alpha line profile detected at z=6.538. The continuum emission of the object was definitely detected in our deep z'-band image; thus, its EW_0 was reliably determined. Follow-up deep near-infrared spectroscopy revealed emission lines of neither He II lambda1640 as an apparent signature of Population III, nor C IV lambda1549 as a proof of active nucleus. No detection of short-lived He II lambda1640 line is not necessarily inconsistent with the interpretation that the underlying stellar population of the object is dominated by Population III. We found that the observed extremely large EW_0 of the Ly-alpha emission and the upper limit on the EW_0 of the He II lambda1640 emission can be explained by population synthesis models favoring a very young age less than 2-4Myr and massive metal-poor (Z<10^{-5}) or even metal-free stars. The observed large EW_0 of Ly-alpha is hardly explained by Population I/II synthesis models with Z>10^{-3}. However, we cannot conclusively rule out the possibility that this object is composed of a normal stellar population with a clumpy dust distribution, which could enhance the Ly-alpha EW_0, though its significance is still unclear.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Examining Urban Agriculture in Toronto

This report focuses on the density of urban agriculture in Toronto. To begin with, the group reviewed literature to determine the current setup of food production and distribution in the city. As a result of our initial research, it appears that Toronto is lacking a strong focus on agriculture. In collaboration with Fresh City Farms, the group reveals the current spatial pattern of community gardens and urban farms, two major sites of food production in Toronto. The team made use of various scholarly literature, websites, suggestions from Fresh City Farms, Toronto’s Open Data resource, QuantumGIS (QGIS) and the Google search engine to come up with the data necessary to complete this assignment. In QGIS, team members plotted locations for both community gardens and urban farms by digitizing. These spatial and attribute data were gathered through Google searches and the ‘Toronto Community Garden Network’ webpage. The address and contact information in relation to the plotted points were recorded in order to properly identify the establishments. In addendum to this report, the team has also uploaded maps with corresponding tables, via fusion tables, of contact information for community gardens and urban farms onto Google Sites . Subsequent to the mapping process, this report makes use of David Hulchanski’s (2006) research on the Three Cities model in Toronto. Through this framework, this report offers an analysis section that describes the possibility of discriminatory practices in the distribution of public goods, in this case, community gardens and urban farms, based on incomes, as measured by census tracts. The team suspects this as a result of a clustering of community gardens in certain regions of the downtown core (City #1, in Hulchanski’s terms) and few to no community gardens in some of the middle (City #2) and peripheral (City #3) regions of Toronto. We conclude that the results align partially with our hypothesis, as the densest bundles of community gardens are in relatively more affluent areas. Further, this report includes sections that communicate the process of our research.Examining Urban Agriculture in Toronto - sponsored by Fresh City Farm

Effects of EDP-420 on penicillin-resistant and quinolone- and penicillin-resistant pneumococci in the rabbit meningitis model

Objectives To test the efficacy of EDP-420, a new ketolide, in experimental pneumococcal meningitis and to determine its penetration into the CSF. Methods The experimental rabbit model was used in this study and EDP-420 was tested against a penicillin-resistant and a penicillin- and quinolone-resistant mutant. EDP-420 was also tested against both strains in time-killing assays over 8 h in vitro. Results In experimental meningitis, EDP-420 produced a bactericidal activity comparable to the standard regimen based on a combination of vancomycin with ceftriaxone against a penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae and a penicillin- and quinolone-resistant S. pneumoniae isolate. The penetration of EDP-420 into inflamed meninges was 38% after an iv injection of 10 mg/kg. The bactericidal activity of EDP-420 was also confirmed in in vitro time-killing assays. Conclusions EDP-420 is an efficacious alternative treatment in pneumococcal meningitis, especially when resistant strains are suspecte

A review of physical supply and EROI of fossil fuels in China

This paper reviews China’s future fossil fuel supply from the perspectives of physical output and net energy output. Comprehensive analyses of physical output of fossil fuels suggest that China’s total oil production will likely reach its peak, at about 230 Mt/year (or 9.6 EJ/year), in 2018; its total gas production will peak at around 350 Bcm/year (or 13.6 EJ/year) in 2040, while coal production will peak at about 4400 Mt/year (or 91.9 EJ/year) around 2020 or so. In terms of the forecast production of these fuels, there are significant differences among current studies. These differences can be mainly explained by different ultimately recoverable resources assumptions, the nature of the models used, and differences in the historical production data. Due to the future constraints on fossil fuels production, a large gap is projected to grow between domestic supply and demand, which will need to be met by increasing imports. Net energy analyses show that both coal and oil and gas production show a steady declining trend of EROI (energy return on investment) due to the depletion of shallow-buried coal resources and conventional oil and gas resources, which is generally consistent with the approaching peaks of physical production of fossil fuels. The peaks of fossil fuels production, coupled with the decline in EROI ratios, are likely to challenge the sustainable development of Chinese society unless new abundant energy resources with high EROI values can be found

The role of a new CD44st in increasing the invasion capability of the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>CD44, a hyaluronan (HA) receptor, is a multistructural and multifunctional cell surface molecule involved in cell proliferation, cell differentiation, cell migration, angiogenesis, presentation of cytokines, chemokines and growth factors to the corresponding receptors, and docking of proteases at the cell membrane, as well as in signaling for cell survival. The CD44 gene contains 20 exons that are alternatively spliced, giving rise to many CD44 isoforms, perhaps including tumor-specific sequences.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting were used to detect CD44st mRNA and CD44 protein in sensitive MCF-7, Lovo, K562 and HL-60 cell lines as well as their parental counterparts, respectively. The full length cDNA encoding CD44st was obtained from the total RNA isolated from MCF-7/Adr cells by RT-PCR, and subcloned into the pMD19-T vector. The CD44st gene sequence and open reading frame were confirmed by restriction enzyme analysis and nucleotide sequencing, and then inserted into the eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA3.1. The pcDNA3.1-CD44st was transfected into MCF-7 cells using Lipofectamine. After transfection, the positive clones were obtained by G418 screening. The changes of the MMP-2 and MMP-9 genes and protein levels were detected by RT-PCR and gelatin zymography, respectively. The number of the cells penetrating through the artificial matrix membrane in each group (MCF-7, MCF-7+HA, MCF-7/neo, MCF-7/neo+HA, MCF-7/CD44st, MCF-7/CD44st+HA and MCF-7/CD44st+Anti-CD44+HA) was counted to compare the change of the invasion capability regulated by the CD44st. Erk and P-Erk were investigated by Western blotting to approach the molecular mechanisms of MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression regulated by the CD44st.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Sensitive MCF-7, Lovo, K562 and HL-60 cells did not contain CD44st mRNA and CD44 protein. In contrast, the multidrug resistance MCF-7/Adr, Lovo/Adr, K562/Adr and HL-60/Adr cells expressed CD44st mRNA and CD44 protein. The CD44st mRNA gene sequence was successfully cloned into the recombinant vector pcDNA3.1 and identified by the two restriction enzymes. It was confirmed that the reconstructed plasmid contained the gene sequence of CD44st that was composed of exons 1 to 4, 16 to 17, and 1 to 205 bases of exons 18. The new gene sequence was sent to NCBI for publication, and obtained the registration number FJ216964. The up-regulated level of the mRNA of the CD44 gene and the CD44 protein were detected, respectively, by RT-PCR and flow cytometry in MCF-7 cells transfected with pcDNA3.1-CD44st. The invasiveness of the cells and the activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were clearly activated by HA treatment, and blocked by CD44 neutralizing antibody. MCF-7/CD44st cells pretreated with the neutralizing antibody against CD44, and the inhibitor of MAPKs signaling pathway, could strongly block the expression of P-Erk.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A new CD44st was expressed in multidrug resistant MCF-7/Adr, Lovo/Adr, K562/Adr and HL-60/Adr cells. The expression vector pcDNA3.1-CD44st was cloned and constructed successfully, and stably transfected into MCF-7 cells. HA could interact with the new CD44st and regulate the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9, which could increase the invasion capability of MCF-7 cells through the Ras/MAPK signaling pathway.</p