Understanding the Global in Global Finance and Regulation

A simple and statistically robust method for passive clock synchronization in sensor networks is presented. The method is not limited to passive (one-way communication) synchronization, but this scenario justifies the method. The recursive nature of the method and the targeted passive setup mean that it adds a minimum of requirements on the system in which it is used. Statistical characteristics of the method are quantified and real measurements are used to illustrate the robustness and performance gain relative to a naive Kalman filter based clock synchronization. Finally, C++ code that implements the suggested clock synchronization method, is provided in this article.QC 20140423</p

Businesses, buddies and babies: social ties and fertility at work

We examine the influence that co-workers’ have on each other’s fertility decisions. Using linked employer employee panel data for Sweden we show that female individual fertility increases if a co-worker recently had a child. The timing of births among co-workers of the same sex, educational level and co workers who are close in age is even more influential. Consistent with models of social learning we find that the peer effect for first time mothers is similar irrespective of the birth order of the co-worker’s child, while for higher order births within-parity peer effects are strong but cross-parity peer effects are entirely absent. A causal interpretation of our estimates is strengthened by several falsification tests showing that neither unobserved common shocks at the workplace level, nor sorting of workers between workplaces are likely to explain the observed peer effect. We also provide evidence suggesting that peers not only affect timing of births but potentially also completed fertility, and that fertility peer influences spills over across multiple networks. Our results forward the understandings of how individual fertility timing decisions are made and suggest that social interactions could be an important factor behind the strong inter-temporal fluctuations in total fertility rates observed in many countries.Peer effects; social preferences; co-workers

Recursive Bayesian Initialization of Localization Based on Ranging and Dead Reckoning

The initialization of the state estimation in a localization scenario based on ranging and dead reckoning is studied. Specifically, we start with a cooperative localization setup and consider the problem of recursively arriving at a uni-modal state estimate with sufficiently low covariance such that covariance based filters can be used to estimate an agent's state subsequently. A number of simplifications/assumptions are made such that the estimation problem can be seen as that of estimating the initial agent state given a deterministic surrounding and dead reckoning. This problem is solved by means of a particle filter and it is described how continual states and covariance estimates are derived from the solution. Finally, simulations are used to illustrate the characteristics of the method and experimental data are briefly presented

Cooperative localization by dual foot-mounted inertial sensors and inter-agent ranging

The implementation challenges of cooperative localization by dual foot-mounted inertial sensors and inter-agent ranging are discussed and work on the subject is reviewed. System architecture and sensor fusion are identified as key challenges. A partially decentralized system architecture based on step-wise inertial navigation and step-wise dead reckoning is presented. This architecture is argued to reduce the computational cost and required communication bandwidth by around two orders of magnitude while only giving negligible information loss in comparison with a naive centralized implementation. This makes a joint global state estimation feasible for up to a platoon-sized group of agents. Furthermore, robust and low-cost sensor fusion for the considered setup, based on state space transformation and marginalization, is presented. The transformation and marginalization are used to give the necessary flexibility for presented sampling based updates for the inter-agent ranging and ranging free fusion of the two feet of an individual agent. Finally, characteristics of the suggested implementation are demonstrated with simulations and a real-time system implementation.Comment: 14 page

Apolipoprotein M

Apolipoprotein M (apoM) is a 26-kDa protein that is mainly associated with high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in human plasma, with a small proportion present in triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TGRLP) and low-density lipoproteins (LDL). Human apoM gene is located in p21.31 on chromosome 6 (chromosome 17, in mouse). Human apoM cDNA (734 base pairs) encodes 188-amino acid residue-long protein. It belongs to lipocalin protein superfamily. Human tissue expression array study indicates that apoM is only expressed in liver and in kidney and small amounts are found in fetal liver and kidney. In situ apoM mRNA hybridization demonstrates that apoM is exclusively expressed in the hepatocytes and in the tubule epithelial cells in kidney. Expression of apoM could be regulated by platelet activating factor (PAF), transforming growth factors (TGF), insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and leptin in vivo and/or in vitro. It has been demonstrated that apoM expression is dramatically decreased in apoA-I deficient mouse. Hepatocyte nuclear factor-1α (HNF-1α) is an activator of apoM gene promoter. Deficiency of HNF-1α mouse shows lack of apoM expression. Mutations in HNF-1α (MODY3) have reduced serum apoM levels. Expression of apoM is significantly decreased in leptin deficient (ob/ob) mouse or leptin receptor deficient (db/db) mouse. ApoM concentration in plasma is positively correlated to leptin level in obese subjects. These may suggest that apoM is related to the initiation and progression of MODY3 and/or obesity

Occupational injuries to senior farmers in Sweden

The prevailing demographic change in the western world means that the workforce is becoming older. Farmers in particular often work beyond the normal retirement age, in a challenging physical environment. For example, the agricultural sector has the most hazardous work environment in Sweden. Therefore, it is interesting to examine the following questions: Are senior farmers more frequently involved in work-related injuries? Do some injuries happen more often in the oldest age group? Which part of the body is most frequently affected in different age groups? What can be done to decrease the risk of injury in senior farmer

Sick of your colleagues' absence?

We utilize a large-scale randomized social experiment to identify how coworkers affect each other’s effort as measured by work absence. The experiment altered the work absence incentives for half of all employees living in Göteborg, Sweden. Using administrative data we are able to recover the treatment status of all workers in more than 3,000 workplaces. We first document that employees in workplaces with a high proportion treated co-workers increase their own absence levels significantly. We then examine the heterogeneity of the treatment effect in order to explore what mechanisms are underlying the peer effect. While a strong effect of having a high proportion of treated coworkers is found for the nontreated workers, no significant effects are found for the treated workers. These results suggest that pure altruistic social preferences can be ruled out as the main motivator for the behaviour of a nonnegligible proportion of the employees in our sample.Social interactions; employer emkloyee data; work absence; fairness; reciprocal preferences

Natural Resources Policy Under the Bush Administration: Not What it Says, But What it has Done in Court

Bioassays relying on magnetic read-out using probe-tagged magnetic nanobeads are potential platforms for low-cost biodiagnostic devices for pathogen detection. For optimal assay performance it is crucial to apply an easy, efficient and robust bead-probe conjugation protocol. In this paper, sensitive (1.5 pM) singleplex detection of bacterial DNA sequences is demonstrated in a portable AC susceptometer by a magnetic nanobead-based bioassay principle; the volume-amplified magnetic nanobead detection assay (VAM-NDA). Two bead sizes, 100 and 250 nm, are investigated along with a highly efficient, rapid, robust, and stable conjugation chemistry relying on the avidin-biotin interaction for bead-probe attachment. Avidin-biotin conjugation gives easy control of the number of detection probes per bead; thus allowing for systematic investigation of the impact of varying the detection probe surface coverage upon bead immobilization in rolling circle amplified DNA-coils. The existence of an optimal surface coverage is discussed. Biplex VAM-NDA detection is for the first time demonstrated in the susceptometer: Semi-quantitative results are obtained and it is concluded that the concentration of DNA-coils in the incubation volume is of crucial importance for target quantification. The present findings bring the development of commercial biodiagnostic devices relying on the VAM-NDA further towards implementation in point-of-care and outpatient settings