Travel hysteresis in the US current account after the mid-1980s

Following the real appreciation of the US dollar in the first half of the 1980s, travel expenditures in the current account soared. Employing standard regression techniques as well as Markov-switching regime analysis we show that such expenditures did not return to their pre-appreciation levels thereafter. The permanent increase suggests the presence of travel hysteresis in the US current account after the mid-1980s.

Travel Hysteresis in the US Current Account After the Mid-1980s

Following the real appreciation of the US dollar in the first half of the 1980s, travel expenditures in the current account soared. Employing standard regression techniques as well as Markov-switching regime analysis we show that such expenditures did not return to their pre- appreciation levels thereafter. The permanent increase suggests the presence of travel hysteresis in the US current account after the mid- 1980s.

US Current Account Deficit and Exchange Rate Tax

We examine the relationship between the US current account deficit, the international value of the dollar, and the dollar reserves of foreign central banks. We find that the international value of the dollar impacts the US current account and also that dollar depreciations are accompanied by reductions in the inflow of foreign reserves. The inflow reductions are indicative that the US levies an exchange rate tax on foreigners because the foreign stock of reserves loses value.US current account; exchange rate tax

High-frequency oscillatory ventilation in pediatrics and neonatology

Este trabalho teve por objetivo rever a literatura e descrever a utilização da ventilação oscilatória de alta freqüência em crianças e recém-nascidos. Revisão bibliográfica e seleção de publicações mais relevantes sobre ventilação de alta freqüência utilizando as bases de dados MedLine e SciElo publicadas nos últimos 15 anos. As seguintes palavras-chave foram utilizadas: ventilação oscilatória de alta freqüência, ventilação mecânica, síndrome do desconforto respiratório agudo, crianças e recém-nascidos. Descreveu-se o emprego da ventilação oscilatória de alta freqüência em crianças com síndrome do desconforto respiratório agudo, síndrome de escape de ar e doença pulmonar obstrutiva. Avaliou em recém-nascidos, síndrome do desconforto respiratório, displasia broncopulmonar, hemorragia peri-intraventricular, leucoencefalomalácia e extravasamento de ar. Também, abordou a transição da ventilação mecânica convencional para a ventilação de alta freqüência e o manuseio específico da ventilação de alta freqüência quanto à oxigenação, eliminação de gás carbônico, realização de exame radiológico, realização de sucção traqueal e utilização de sedação e bloqueio neuromuscular. Foram abordados o desmame deste modo ventilatório e as complicações. Em crianças maiores a ventilação oscilatória de alta freqüência é uma opção terapêutica, principalmente na síndrome do desconforto respiratório agudo, devendo ser empregada precocemente. Também pode ser útil em casos de síndrome de escape de ar e doença pulmonar obstrutiva. Em recém-nascidos, não há evidências que demonstram superioridade da ventilação oscilatória de alta freqüência em relação à ventilação convencional, sendo a síndrome de escape de ar a única situação clínica em que há evidência de melhores resultados com este modo ventilatório.This article intends to review literature on high frequency oscillatory ventilation and describe its main clinical applications for children and neonates. Articles from the last 15 years were selected using MedLine and SciElo databases. The following key words were used: high frequency oscillatory ventilation, mechanical ventilation, acute respiratory distress syndrome, children, and new-born. The review describes high frequency oscillatory ventilation in children with acute respiratory distress syndrome, air leak syndrome, and obstructive lung disease. Respiratory distress syndrome, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, intracranial hemorrhage, periventricular leukomalacia, and air leak syndrome were reviewed in neonates. Transition from conventional mechanical ventilation to high frequency ventilation and its adjustments relating to oxygenation, CO2 elimination, chest radiography, suctioning, sedatives and use of neuromuscular blocking agents were described. Weaning and complications were also reported. For children, high frequency oscillatory ventilation is a therapeutic option, particularly in acute respiratory distress syndrome, and should be used as early as possible. It may be also useful in the air leak syndrome and obstructive pulmonary disease. Evidence that, in neonates, high frequency oscillatory ventilation is superior to conventional mechanical ventilation is lacking. However there is evidence that better results are only achieved with this ventilatory mode to manage the air leak syndrome

A Fuzzy Behavioral Model for analyzing over-reaction and under-reaction in the Brazilian stock market

Neste artigo, são apresentados testes empíricos para a investigação de ocorrência de fenômenos de sobre-reação e sub-reação no mercado de ações brasileiro. Para esses testes, é proposto um modelo baseado na teoria de conjuntos Fuzzy, que possui forte relação com as heurísticas de representatividade e ancoramento, estabelecidas na teoria de finanças comportamentais. O modelo proposto é empregado para a formação de carteiras e utiliza indicadores financeiros de companhias abertas. Para as análises são utilizados dois conjuntos de ações, um do setor de petróleo e petroquímica e outro do setor têxtil, com indicadores financeiros relativos ao período de 1994 a 2005.This paper presents empirical tests for investigating the occurrence of over-reaction and under-reaction phenomena in the Brazilian stock market. It is proposed that a model based on the theory of fuzzy sets, which bears a strong relationship to representativeness and anchoring heuristics, as established in the theory of behavioral finance, should be used for these tests. The proposed model is used to form portfolios and uses the financial indicators of publicly-quoted companies. Two lots of shares were used for the analyses; one from the oil and petro-chemical sector and the other from the textile sector; the financial indicators for the period 1994 to 2005 were used

Multidrug-resistant bacteria compensate for the epistasis between resistances

Mutations conferring resistance to antibiotics are typically costly in the absence of the drug, but bacteria can reduce this cost by acquiring compensatory mutations. Thus, the rate of acquisition of compensatory mutations and their effects are key for the maintenance and dissemination of antibiotic resistances. While compensation for single resistances has been extensively studied, compensatory evolution of multiresistant bacteria remains unexplored. Importantly, since resistance mutations often interact epistatically, compensation of multiresistant bacteria may significantly differ from that of single-resistant strains. We used experimental evolution, next-generation sequencing, in silico simulations, and genome editing to compare the compensatory process of a streptomycin and rifampicin double-resistant Escherichia coli with those of single-resistant clones. We demonstrate that low-fitness double-resistant bacteria compensate faster than single-resistant strains due to the acquisition of compensatory mutations with larger effects. Strikingly, we identified mutations that only compensate for double resistance, being neutral or deleterious in sensitive or single-resistant backgrounds. Moreover, we show that their beneficial effects strongly decrease or disappear in conditions where the epistatic interaction between resistance alleles is absent, demonstrating that these mutations compensate for the epistasis. In summary, our data indicate that epistatic interactions between antibiotic resistances, leading to large fitness costs, possibly open alternative paths for rapid compensatory evolution, thereby potentially stabilizing costly multiple resistances in bacterial populations.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, European Research Council.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Crop area estimate from original and simulated spatial resolution data and landscape metrics

Imagens coletadas no mesmo dia pelos sensores ETM+/Landsat-7 (30 m de resolução espacial) e MODIS/Terra (250 m) foram utilizadas para estimar a área de três importantes culturas agrícolas (soja, cana-de-açúcar e milho) com diferentes padrões de paisagem no Sudeste Brasileiro. Filtragem de Maioria dos resultados da classificação da imagem ETM+ foi aplicada para descrever o comportamento de 15 métricas em diferentes simulações de resolução espacial (90, 150, 210 e 270 m). Utilizando modelos de regressão, o desempenho do MODIS e de suas métricas para predizer a área das culturas, considerando os dados ETM+ como referência, foi analisado. Os resultados mostraram que o sensor MODIS superestimou as áreas de soja (15%) e cana-de-açúcar (1%) e subestimou a área de milho (12%). A regressão múltipla indicou que sensores de resolução espacial grosseira podem ser usados para predizer adequadamente a área vista por instrumentos com 30 m de resolução espacial apenas para culturas com baixo padrão de fragmentação como soja. Estes sensores não podem predizer adequadamente a área de milho devido aos efeitos de agregação de pixels das culturas menos fragmentadas (soja e cana-de-açúcar) sobre a mais fragmentada (milho), conforme demonstrado pela simulação da resolução espacial por filtragem de maioria da imagem ETM+. As métricas da paisagem melhoraram as estimativas de área com o MODIS apenas para a cana-de-açúcar, conforme indicado por maiores valores de R² observados para regressão múltipla do que para regressão simples. Apenas um número pequeno de métricas foi selecionado para compor os modelos de regressão visto que a maior parte delas não foi preservada entre resoluções espaciais diferentes (30 e 250 m).Images acquired at the same day by the ETM+/Landsat-7 (30 m of spatial resolution) and MODIS/Terra (250 m) sensors were used to estimate areas of three major crops (soybean, sugarcane, and corn) with different landscape patterns in Southeastern Brazil. Majority filtering of ETM + classification results was applied to describe the behavior of 15 selected landscape metrics at distinct simulated spatial resolutions (90, 150, 210 and 270 m). By using regression models, the performance of MODIS and derived metrics to predict adequately the crop area, considering ETM+ data as reference, were analyzed. Results showed that the MODIS instrument overestimated the areas of soybean (15%) and sugarcane (1%), and underestimated the area of corn (12%). Multiple regression results indicated that coarse spatial resolution sensors can be used to predict adequately the area viewed by the 30 m spatial resolution instruments only for crops with low fragmentation pattern such as soybean. These sensors cannot be used to predict the area of corn due to aggregation pixel effects of the less fragmented crops (soybean and sugarcane) over the most fragmented one (corn), as demonstrated by the spatial resolution simulation using majority filtering of the ETM+ image. Landscape metrics improved MODIS area estimates only for sugarcane, as indicated by higher values of R² for multiple than for simple regression. Only a small set of metrics was select to compose the multiple regression models because most of them were not preserved across different spatial resolutions (30 m and 250 m)

ASSESSMENT OF A MARKLESS MOTION TRACKING METHOD TO DETERMINE BODY POSITION ON THE BIKE

This study compared body position on the bicycle using manual and automatically determined body segments during stationary cycling. High speed video (120 fps) was obtained from 14 cyclists using their own bikes on a stationary cycle trainer in a single session. Torso, hip, knee and ankle angles were measured in two positions of the crank (3 o’clock and 6 o’clock-dynamically) to determine body position on the bike. Significant differences (3-12°, d=0.38-1.92) were observed for all joints between the manual and automated method for both crank positions (except for the ankle at the 6 o’clock). Overall, the automated method overestimated torso and knee flexions and underestimated hip flexion and ankle dorsiflexion. The implications of these changes in terms of bike setup are to be determined in future research but it is unlikely that errors from the automated method will result in large changes in joint forces

Genomic selection in rubber tree breeding: A comparison of models and methods for managing G×E interactions

Several genomic prediction models combining genotype × environment (G×E) interactions have recently been developed and used for genomic selection (GS) in plant breeding programs. G×E interactions reduce selection accuracy and limit genetic gains in plant breeding. Two data sets were used to compare the prediction abilities of multienvironment G×E genomic models and two kernel methods. Specifically, a linear kernel, or GB (genomic best linear unbiased predictor [GBLUP]), and a nonlinear kernel, or Gaussian kernel (GK), were used to compare the prediction accuracies (PAs) of four genomic prediction models: 1) a single-environment, main genotypic effect model (SM); 2) a multienvironment, main genotypic effect model (MM); 3) a multienvironment, single-variance G×E deviation model (MDs); and 4) a multienvironment, environment-specific variance G×E deviation model (MDe). We evaluated the utility of genomic selection (GS) for 435 individual rubber trees at two sites and genotyped the individuals via genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Prediction models were used to estimate stem circumference (SC) during the first 4 years of tree development in conjunction with a broad-sense heritability (H2) of 0.60. Applying the model (SM, MM, MDs, and MDe) and kernel method (GB and GK) combinations to the rubber tree data revealed that the multienvironment models were superior to the single-environment genomic models, regardless of the kernel (GB or GK) used, suggesting that introducing interactions between markers and environmental conditions increases the proportion of variance explained by the model and, more importantly, the PA. Compared with the classic breeding method (CBM), methods in which GS is incorporated resulted in a 5-fold increase in response to selection for SC with multienvironment GS (MM, MDe, or MDs). Furthermore, GS resulted in a more balanced selection response for SC and contributed to a reduction in selection time when used in conjunction with traditional genetic breeding programs. Given the rapid advances in genotyping methods and their declining costs and given the overall costs of large-scale progeny testing and shortened breeding cycles, we expect GS to be implemented in rubber tree breeding programs