Female and male entrepreneurs in Sweden and the Netherlands: a test of liberal and social feminism

The purpose of this paper is to propose a nonparametric interest rate term structure model and investigate its implications on term structure dynamics and prices of interest rate derivative securities. The nonparametric spot interest rate process is estimated from the observed short-term interest rates following a robust estimation procedure and the market price of interest rate risk is estimated as implied from the historical term structure data. That is, instead of imposing a priori restrictions on the model, data are allowed to speak for themselves, and at the same time the model retains a parsimonious structure and the computational tractability. The model is implemented using historical Canadian interest rate term structure data. The parametric models with closed form solutions for bond and bond option prices, namely the Vasicek (1977) and CIR (1985) models, are also estimated for comparison purpose. The empirical results not only provide strong evidence that the traditional spot interest rate models and market prices of interest rate risk are severely misspecified but also suggest that different model specifications have significant impact on term structure dynamics and prices of interest rate derivative securities.

Digital micromirror devices for laser-based manufacturing

Digital Micromirror Devices (DMDs), containing arrays of around one million individually-controllable ~10µm square mirrors, provide an extremely cost-effective and practical method to modulate the spatial beam profile of a pulsed laser source for both additive and subtractive laser processing and printing. When demagnified by a factor of ~100 in one dimension (hence ~10,000 in area) a ~1mJ/cm2 laser pulse reflected from the mirrors on the DMD surface that are switched to the 'on' position, attains a fluence of ~10J/cm2 at the workpiece, which is more than sufficient to ablate most materials of interest to the laser-manufacturing community. More familiar in the context of high values of magnification by the laser projection industry, reversing the role to use them for equally high values of demagnification opens up a wealth of possibilities for ablation, multiphoton polymerization, security marking and fabrication of features that perhaps surprisingly can be well below the wavelength of the laser used. Of key relevance is that very high-resolution patterning can be achieved by a single laser pulse, and step-and-repeat processes, when combined with the refresh rates of the DMD pattern that are currently at the 30kHz level, open up the possibility of processing areas of up to 1cm2 per second with micron-scale resolution where each ~100µm x 100µm area patterned per pulse can display arbitrary pixelated content. We will discuss the application of DMD-baser laser processing to the following areas of interest to the laser-manufacturing community

Bovine coronary region keratinocyte colony formation is supported by epidermal-dermal interactions

Delineating the factors that orchestrate keratinocyte growth and differentiation in the claw is pivotal to understanding the quality of hoof horn production in health and disease. The specific objectives of this in- vestigation were to establish an in vitro culture system for bovine coronary region keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts, determine the colony-forming capacity of epidermal keratinocytes in the coronary region, and characterize transcriptional changes in specific cy- tokine, growth factor, and receptor genes during colony formation in coculture. Fibroblasts and keratinocytes from the coronary region of the lateral, hind limb claw were collected, and 5.0 × 103 and 7.5 × 103 kerati- nocytes were cultured in the presence or absence of fibroblast monolayers, respectively. The 2 densities of keratinocytes formed 144 ± 15.8 and 183 ± 26.9 colo- nies, respectively, in the presence of dermal fibroblasts, whereas no colonies developed in the absence of dermal fibroblasts. Keratinocytes with the ability to show colony formation comprised 1.09% ± 0.16 to 1.77% ± 0.28 of the keratinocyte population isolated from the coronary region. Keratinocyte–fibroblast cocultures developed a time-dependent increased expression of several growth factors, cytokines, and receptors. These findings demonstrated that keratinocytes from the bo- vine coronary region formed colonies in vitro and that colony formation occurred with an absolute dependence on dermal fibroblasts. Colony growth was associated with increased transcriptional expression of cytokine, growth factor, and receptor expression known to drive keratinocyte colony formation in other species. The re- sults indicate that horn-producing keratinocytes must interact with dermal fibroblasts during normal tissue homeostasis in the bovine claw

Age, segment, and horn disease affect expression of cytokines, growth factors, and receptors in the epidermis and dermis of the bovine claw

The aim of this study was to examine changes in RNA expression for growth factors, cytokines, and receptors in epidermal-dermal tissues of the bovine claw relative to hostage, claw segment, and disease state of the horn. Epidermal-dermal tissues were collected from the coronary, wall, sole, and bulb segments of 8- to 9-mo-old Holstein fetuses, normal adult cows, and adult cows with sole ulceration. Anatomic and pathologic characteristics were determined in tissues stained with eosin and hematoxylin, and RNA expression levels were evaluated using real-time, quantitative PCR. In normal tissues, certain RNA expression levels were clearly affected by hostage: 290.0-, 610.0-, 53.4-, and 8.1-fold greater expression of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor was observed in fetal coronary, wall, sole, and bulb segment relative to adult tissues, respectively. A claw segment effect was also observed in that IL-1α expression was greater (1.59-fold) in the normal adult wall relative to the coronary segment, and IL- 18 expression was greater (16.2-fold) in the normal adult sole compared with the coronary segment and 2.88 greater in the fetal sole relative to the bulb segment. Sole ulceration was associated with hemorrhage, thrombosis, inflammation, and striking increases in IL-1β, IL-18, and inducible nitric oxide synthase, and with less dramatic, albeit measurable, changes in IL-1 type I receptor, IL-1 receptor antagonist, and tumor necrosis factor-α. Amidst striking increases in keratinocyte growth factor receptor (i.e., 21.0-fold, 10.4-fold, 0, and 21.6-fold in the coronary, wall, sole, and bulb segments, respectively), a concomitant decrease occurred in keratinocyte growth factor (i.e., 0.80-, 0.54-, 0.56-, and 0.72-fold, respectively). The results demonstrated changes in disease state and, to a lesser extent, claw segment and were accompanied by alterations in the RNA expression of several cytokines, growth factors, and receptors present in the normal claw

Female and male entrepreneurs in Sweden and the Netherlands:a test of liberal and social feminism

The purpose of this paper is to propose a nonparametric interest rate term structure model and investigate its implications on term structure dynamics and prices of interest rate derivative securities. The nonparametric spot interest rate process is estimated from the observed short-term interest rates following a robust estimation procedure and the market price of interest rate risk is estimated as implied from the historical term structure data. That is, instead of imposing a priori restrictions on the model, data are allowed to speak for themselves, and at the same time the model retains a parsimonious structure and the computational tractability. The model is implemented using historical Canadian interest rate term structure data. The parametric models with closed form solutions for bond and bond option prices, namely the Vasicek (1977) and CIR (1985) models, are also estimated for comparison purpose. The empirical results not only provide strong evidence that the traditional spot interest rate models and market prices of interest rate risk are severely misspecified but also suggest that different model specifications have significant impact on term structure dynamics and prices of interest rate derivative securities

Playing to learn: Learning to TALK

‘We love the fact she can learn through play, because she is learning but not realising, and she doesn’t feel pressurised to learn’ (Parent of a child with neurodiverse developmental disorders [NDD]). Engaging children with NDD in meaningful learning can be challenging and exacerbated when children are neither motivated nor equipped with skills to facilitate engagement. Communication barriers hinder learning and children with NDD need extra support to develop language skills. This action research promoted communication competence through structured interventions, consolidated through play. Findings confirmed that progression in spontaneous communication and interaction interrelates with creative play. An innovative structured teaching approach, including video-modelling, was devised, Total Augmented Language and Key Skills (TALKS). This research affirms that by changing conditions in learning environments to an integrated teaching model, Connectivity and adopting TALKS, enhances a whole school approach to communication competence for children with NDD