Interrelationships among international stock market indices: Europe, Asia and the Americas

In this paper, we investigate the price interdependence between seven international stock markets, namely Irish, UK, Portuguese, US, Brazilian, Japanese and Hong Kong, using a new testing method, based on the wavelet transform to reconstruct the data series, as suggested by Lee (2002). We find evidence of intra-European (Irish, UK and Portuguese) market co-movements with the US market also weakly influencing the Irish market. We also find co-movement between the US and Brazilian markets and similar intra-Asian co-movements (Japanese and Hong Kong). Finally, we conclude that the circle of impact is that of the European markets (Irish, UK and Portuguese) on both American markets (US and Brazilian), with these in turn impacting on the Asian markets (Japanese and Hong Kong) which in turn influence the European markets. In summary, we find evidence for intra-continental relationships and an increase in importance of international spillover effects since the mid 1990’s, while the importance of historical transmissions has decreased since the beginning of this century

Modelling drug coatings: A parallel cellular automata model of ethylcellulose-coated microspheres

Pharmaceutical companies today face a growing demand for more complex drug designs. In the past few decades, a number of probabilistic models have been developed, with the aim of improving insight on microscopic features of these complex designs. Of particular interest are models of controlled release systems, which can provide tools to study targeted dose delivery. Controlled release is achieved by using polymers with different dissolution characteristics. We present here an approach for parallelising a large-scale model of a drug delivery system based on Monte Carlo methods, as a framework for Cellular Automata mobility. The model simulates drug release in the gastro-intestinal tract, from coated ethylcellulose microspheres. The objective is high performance simulation of coated drugs for targeted delivery. The overall aim is to understand the importance of various molecular effects with respect to system evolution over time. Important underlying mechanisms of the process, such as erosion and diffusion, are described

Interdependence between emerging and major markets

In this paper, we investigate the price spillover effects among two developed markets, (the US and the UK ), and two developing markets, (Irish and Portuguese), using a new testing method suggested by Lee (2002). We find that there are interrelationships between any two of the Irish, the UK and Portuguese markets and that the co-movements between the emerging markets and the US are statistically significant but weak. We also found that the US market is slightly influenced by the UK but not vice versa

Apples and oranges: the difference between the reaction of the emerging and mature markets to crashes

We study here the behavior of the eigenvalues of the covariance matrices of returns for emerging and mature markets at times of crises. Our results appear to indicate that mature markets respond to crashes differently to emerging ones and that emerging markets take longer to recover than mature markets. In addition, the results appear to indicate that the second largest eigenvalue gives additional information on market movement and that a study of the behavior of the other eigenvalues may provide insight on crash dynamics

Techniques for clustering gene expression data

Many clustering techniques have been proposed for the analysis of gene expression data obtained from microarray experiments. However, choice of suitable method(s) for a given experimental dataset is not straightforward. Common approaches do not translate well and fail to take account of the data profile. This review paper surveys state of the art applications which recognises these limitations and implements procedures to overcome them. It provides a framework for the evaluation of clustering in gene expression analyses. The nature of microarray data is discussed briefly. Selected examples are presented for the clustering methods considered

Hospital Librarians: Training the Next Generation of Doctors

Hospital librarians address a wide array of information needs. They help nurses figure out how to take care of patients, help physicians with difficult cases, help families get reliable health information, and sometimes the information they provide even helps save a life. They also play an important role in training the next generation of doctors. At one hospital in Oregon, Providence St. Joseph Health System Library Services has integrated traditional library instruction directly into the curriculum of the Internal Medicine Residency Program. Providence St. Joseph Health (PSJH) System Library Services has a staff of 16 librarians and library paraprofessionals dedicated to meeting the information needs of a diverse group of patrons: the employees and medical staff of the PSJH healthcare system. The library staff supports patient care, scientific research, business, and continuing education needs of employees and medical staff, but is also a key part of training the future healthcare workforce as well. The library provides resources and services to support employees who are obtaining academic degrees to advance their career in healthcare, as well as education support and training for the School of Health Professions of the affiliated University of Providence, and the many graduate medical education programs located in hospitals across the health system. As the librarians located at medical schools play a key role in the education of our future doctors, so too do hospital librarians as they work with new doctors during their time in medical residency

The Goldilocks Method: Demonstrating Your Value in Small, Medium, and Large Bites

Background: In an era of financial constraint hospital libraries are facing closer scrutiny and must prove their value in order to survive. Leadership at a large health system library found the traditional written annual report lacked the impact needed to capture the attention and the imagination of administration. Taking different approaches over the years, this library has found a solution that is “just right”, creating three very different documents – small, medium, and large – to demonstrate its worth. Description: Library leadership moved away from the traditional written annual report toward a one-page infographic that depicted the library’s scope, scale, and impact. This visual representation of library statistics captured the attention of administration and patrons in a new, compelling way. As it didn’t allow for telling deeper stories of special projects and partnerships, the library later added back in a written supplement and a “Selected Thanks” section that directly quoted satisfied library patrons. But, when the library’s very existence was at stake, the need for a much more comprehensive value-case was necessary, and a 20-page white paper tied to the organization’s strategic plan and key initiatives was created. Providing an annual report in 3 different formats – small, medium, and large, allows the library to tell just the right story, to the right person, in the right place. Conclusion: Reporting on library usage statistics, initiatives, and successes in different formats has allowed the health system library to tell its story in just the right way at the right time. The posted infographic provides a lasting snapshot that draws people in. As such, it has been viewed by far more people than reports in the past. The written supplement tells stories from our patrons, and is delivered to key leadership. The value-case effectively tied ALL the work the library does directly to the institution’s strategic goals, and this past year effectively convinced senior leadership to stave off cuts.https://digitalcommons.psjhealth.org/other_pubs/1060/thumbnail.jp

Inherent work suit buoyancy distribution:effects on lifejacket self-righting performance

Introduction: Accidental immersion in cold water is an occupational risk. Work suits and life jackets (LJ) should work effectively in combination to keep the airway clear of the water (freeboard) and enable self-righting. We hypothesized that inherent buoyancy, in the suit or LJ, would be beneficial for enabling freeboard, but its distribution may influence LJ self-righting. Methods: Six participants consented to complete nine immersions. Suits and LJ tested were: flotation suit (FLOAT; 85 N inherent buoyancy); oilskins 1 (OS-1) and 2 (OS-2), both with no inherent buoyancy; LJs (inherent buoyancy/buoyancy after inflation/total buoyancy), LJ-1 50/150/200 N, LJ-2 0/290/290 N, LJ-3 80/190/270 N. Once dressed, the subject entered an immersion pool where uninflated freeboard, self-righting performance, and inflated freeboard were measured. Data were compared using Friedman’s test to the 0.05 alpha level. Results: All suits and LJs enabled uninflated and inflated freeboard, but differences were seen between the suits and LJs. Self-righting was achieved on 43 of 54 occasions, irrespective of suit or LJ. On all occasions that self-righting was not achieved, this occurred in an LJ that included inherent buoyancy (11/54 occasions). Of these 11 failures, 8 occurred (73% of occasions) when the FLOAT suit was being worn. Discussion: LJs that included inherent buoyancy, that are certified as effective on their own, worked less effectively from the perspective of self-righting in combination with a work suit that also included inherent buoyancy. Equipment that is approved for use in the workplace should be tested in combination to ensure adequate performance in an emergency scenario

Pure-ly for Authors: An Update of a Health System Researcher Profile Platform

In 2023, a large healthcare system transitioned their institutional repository\u27s author profile service to an upgraded and more comprehensive platform, and in doing so re-energized author and leadership buy-in. After Digital Commons\u27™ Expert Gallery Suite eliminated some functionality, institutional repository (IR) staff began the process of exploring other author profile platforms that would align with essential workflows. Elsevier\u27s™ Pure rose to the top of compatible and robust platforms suitable to replace our previous solution. Pure\u27s™ automated importing and database-integration was a primary draw, but IR staff had to find creative ways to utilize the administrative features that didn\u27t integrate with the organization\u27s existing HR/IS systems. Utilizing the health system\u27s Digital Commons\u27™ institutional repository and other internal databases IR staff compiled a list of eligible researchers and authors for the new platform. Automation allowed IR staff to populate at launch greater than 4x the number of profiles as the previous platform. Throughout this process, the IR staff made new contacts with researchers and administrators across the enterprise growing opportunities for marketing and outreach for the IR and the Library. While the new and improved platform is in an ongoing cycle of updates and polishing, the process has given the Library/IR new prominence within the organization and the ability to be responsive to researcher and administration needs around scholarly communication and research visibility