Antagonism of cytokine-induced eosinophil accumulation in asthma

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Sonar behaviour in non-terrestrial ocean exploration

A goal for a future Europan payload is to determine the extent of the postulated sea, aspects of acoustic remote sensing are discussed with a view to operating a sonar in such an subsurface ocean

Three-dimensional cultured glioma cell lines

Three-dimensional glioma spheroids were produced in vitro with size and histological differentiation previously unattained. The spheroids were grown in liquid media suspension in a Johnson Space Center (JSC) Rotating Wall Bioreactor without using support matrices such as microcarrier beads. Spheroid volumes of greater than 3.5 cu mm and diameters of 2.5 mm were achieved with a viable external layer or rim of proliferating cells, a transitional layer beneath the external layer with histological differentiation, and a degenerative central region with a hypoxic necrotic core. Cell debris was evident in the degenerative central region. The necrotics centers of some of the spheroids had hyaline droplets. Granular bodies were detected predominantly in the necrotic center

Reform of the Global Financial Architecture

This paper examines the implications of the global financial crisis of 2007-10 for reform of the global financial architecture, in particular the International Monetary Fund and the Financial Stability Board and their interaction. These two institutions are not fully comparable, but they must work more closely in the future to help prevent global financial crises. To this end, the paper identifies institutional and substantive reforms separately and in their joint work that would be desirable and appropriate.International Monetary Fund, Financial Stability Board, Bank for International Settlements, Group of Twenty, banking supervision and regulation, financial crises, financial stability, financial reform

MULTIVARIATE ARCH MODELS: FINITE SAMPLE PROPERTIES OF ML ESTIMATORS AND AN APPLICATION TO AN LM-TYPE TEST

At the present time, there exists an important and growing econometric literature that deals with the application of multivariate-ARCH models to a variety of economic and financial data. However, the properties of the estimation procedures that are used have not yet been fully explored. This paper provides two main new results: the first concerns the large biases and variances that can arise when the ML estimation method is employed in a simple bivariate structure under the assumption of conditional heteroscedasticity; and the second examines how to use these analytical theoretical results to improve the size and the power of a test for multivariate ARCH effects. We analyse two models: one proposed in Wong and Li (1997) (where the disturbances are dependent but uncorrelated) and another proposed by Engle and Kroner (1995) and Liu and Polasek (1999, 2000) (where conditional correlation is allowed through a diagonal representation). We prove theoretically that a relatively large difference between the intercepts in the two conditional variance equations produces, in the first model, very large variances in some of the ML estimators and, in the second, very severe biases in some of the ML estimators of the parameters. Later we use our bias expressions to propose an LM type test of multivariate ARCH effects, showing that the size and the power of the test improve when we allow for bias correction in the estimators, and that the best recommendation in practical applications is always to use the expected hessian version of the LM. We address as well some constraints that should be included in the estimation of the models but which have so far been ignored. Finally, we present a SUR (seemingly unrelated) specification in both models, that provides an alternative way to retrieve the information matrix. We also extend Lumsdaine (1995) results in multivariate framework.Multivariate GARCH, Bias evaluation.

Designing an effective evaluation model for the South African Department of Agriculture

Governments are under increasing pressure to deliver results. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency and relevance of the public service in implementing policies and programmes for social betterment. Without such evaluations, it is difficult to ensure that evidence is integrated into policy and used in practice due to lack of generalizability and learning. This paper focuses on (1) the knowledge that is relevant to understand evaluation influence, (2) the possible conceptual frameworks that enable understanding of the evaluation implementation process, (3) possible models of the process of organizational evaluation, and (4) the main ways of intervening to increase influence. The context for analysis is the South African Department of Agriculture.Evaluation, Evaluation Influence, Policy, Programmes, South Africa, Political Economy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

One little Lebanese cucumber is not going to break the bank: Price in the choice of fresh fruits and vegetables

This paper reports on empirical research into individual consumer behaviour in the context of fresh fruit and vegetable purchases. The discussion draws on research results from two studies conducted around the actual shopping process. The findings suggest that consumers’ price response behaviour may not be consistent with that predicted by economic theory and that this could be significant at the aggregate level. The existence of ‘acceptable price ranges’ points to the presence of price thresholds within which consumers are relatively insensitive to price movements. Also of relevance is that the primary influence of the budget constraint may be at a broader level rather than at the level of choosing particular products.Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,