Determinants of exchange rates: the case of the Chilean peso

In this study, we analyzed the relationship between the exchange rate movements of two countries, Chile and the United States, by studying the underlying fundamentals given by the modern exchange rate theory. In this context, we included in our regression analysis three main economic factors. Monetary policy interest rate, money supply and inflation rates were considered for both countries since January 1990. We also included a fourth variable in our model; Copper Price. The evolution of this commodity’s price played an important role in our study as we will discover that a significant portion in exchange rates variation is explained by this variable. Copper was considered because of the increasing importance of this commodity in the Chilean economy. The results show that the determinants of the exchange rate may vary over time. The independent variables that have an effect on the exchange rate may lose their explanatory power when economic conditions change or a switch in the foreign exchange rate policy dictated by central banks or, as we proved, when variations on certain markets takes place

Disciplinary articulation in rhetoric and composition

This dissertation examines how nomenclature and the act of naming shapes disciplinary identities for scholars and teachers of rhetoric and composition. The discipline is named differently by many of its members, sometimes called composition studies, writing studies, composition and rhetoric, rhetorical studies, or rhetoric and writing. The different conceptualizations of the discipline invoked by the names point to a sense that the field is unstable, although this instability is not inherently negative. I argue that the differences in how we articulate our understanding of the discipline through the names we choose for it show that the disciplinary ground remains unstable and that our disciplinary identities continue to require further (re)defining. However, this disciplinary instability may be the chief strength of rhetoric and composition, making it a field that adapts to changes in epistemological and institutional circumstances. The project, a contemporary disciplinary history, engages in metadisciplinary inquiry by focusing on the development and progression of rhetoric and composition as an intellectual endeavor from the mid-twentieth century to the present. I rely on textual analysis of scholarly and curricular materials such as conference programs, academic journals, program descriptions, and dissertations; these sources enable me to examine how the discipline is articulated in both implicit and explicit ways. Descriptions of doctoral programs, for instance, illustrate different methods of privileging certain perspectives of the field, usually through the core curriculum that program architects have agreed are vital training for incoming members of the discipline. The multitude of disciplinary names suggests a lack of consensus among members of the discipline regarding how the boundaries of the discipline are defined, generating what I call disciplinary identity discomfort, a revision of Massey's notion that our identities are in crisis. I posit that disciplines, and thus disciplinary identity, are formed by a tension between two forces: epistemological and institutional. Epistemological pressure is exerted within the discipline by scholars whose work establishes or challenges the boundaries of research deemed legible to other members of the community. External groups, such as university administrations, accreditation organizations, and legislative bodies, exert institutional pressure that shapes disciplines as well. Institutional pressure is especially important to the historical development of rhetoric and composition because of the continuing perception of literacy in crisis, leading to popular and legislative calls for increased instruction in reading and writing (and to what Mike Rose calls "the myth of transience"). Decisions about the institutional placement of rhetoric and composition (within English departments, independent writing programs, or communications departments, for instance) also inform disciplinary identity, as well as legislation about literacy or funding for research in the humanities. A discipline is thus the product of a complex interaction between scholars and teachers who attempt to create coherent, if varied, intellectual spaces for their work and social and political influences, both local and national

Application of object tracking in video recordings to the observation of mice in the wild

We give an overview of methods used to track moving objects in video and describe how information about animal behavior can be extracted from tracking data. We discuss how computer-aided observation can be used to identify and pre-select potentially interesting video sequences from large amounts of video data for further observation, as well as directly analyze extracted data. We examine how this analysis can be used to study animal behavior. As an example, we examine thermal video recorded from free-living, nocturnal, wild mice in the genus Peromyscus

Interventions for Challenging Behaviours of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Developmental Disabilities: A Synthesis Paper

This synthesis paper summarizes research literature addressing challenging be-haviours in children and youth with autism spectrum disorders and developmental disabilities in school settings. We conducted a comprehensive literature review to identify relevant peer-reviewed articles published between the years 2000 and 2011. The methodological quality of all studies was screened following a stan-dard quality assessment checklist. Intervention effects were assessed quantitatively. Results of quality analysis and intervention effectiveness were in-tegrated to identify interventions with strong support and evidence of effectiveness. We discuss results in terms of implications for intervention choice and implementation in school settings, limitations, and directions for future re-search

Belonging and distance

Through painting, I explore relationships, both between two individuals and between individuals and the communities they are a part of. I consider what is received and what is given up in order to belong. I am interested in thresholds in life, such as marriage and death, and the rituals that accompany them. I like to stage my paintings in worlds that might belong to dreams: these are spaces where emotions are amplified and small gestures—a hand on a shoulder—become the subjects of these paintings; the spaces range from the domestic to fantastical. The couple-form—a man and a woman—recurs often; the man and woman take on different roles. There is a sense of melancholy in many of these paintings; sometimes the specter of death, in the form of a skeleton, intrudes upon the figures. Colors are used to suggest emotional and psychological states of the figures depicted in the work. The imagery in these paintings is often discovered in the process of making marks

The Astropy Problem

The Astropy Project (http://astropy.org) is, in its own words, "a community effort to develop a single core package for Astronomy in Python and foster interoperability between Python astronomy packages." For five years this project has been managed, written, and operated as a grassroots, self-organized, almost entirely volunteer effort while the software is used by the majority of the astronomical community. Despite this, the project has always been and remains to this day effectively unfunded. Further, contributors receive little or no formal recognition for creating and supporting what is now critical software. This paper explores the problem in detail, outlines possible solutions to correct this, and presents a few suggestions on how to address the sustainability of general purpose astronomical software

Recommendations for defining preventable HIV-related mortality for public health monitoring in the era of Getting to Zero: an expert consensus

Getting to Zero is a commonly cited strategic aim to reduce mortality due to both HIV and avoidable deaths among people with HIV. However, no clear definitions are attached to these aims with regard to what constitutes HIV-related or preventable mortality, and their ambition is limited. This Position Paper presents consensus recommendations to define preventable HIV-related mortality for a pragmatic approach to public health monitoring by use of national HIV surveillance data. These recommendations were informed by a comprehensive literature review and agreed by 42 international experts, including clinicians, public health professionals, researchers, commissioners, and community representatives. By applying the recommendations to 2019 national HIV surveillance data from the UK, we show that 30% of deaths among people with HIV were HIV-related or possibly HIV-related, and at least 63% of these deaths were preventable or potentially preventable. The application of these recommendations by health authorities will ensure consistent monitoring of HIV elimination targets and allow for the identification of inequalities and areas for intervention

Compound-specific carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions of chlorophyll a and its derivatives reveal the eutrophication history of Lake Zurich (Switzerland)

© 2016 Elsevier B.V. To reconstruct the impact of eutrophication on phototrophic communities and the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nitrogen in the surface water, we investigated the distributions and carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions (d13C and d15N values) of chlorins in the sediments of Lake Zurich. The chlorin distributions were dominated by chlorophyll a (Chl a) and its derivatives, which reflect rapid degradation to the pheopigments in the water column and sediments of the lake. The d13C values of these sedimentary chlorins followed the historical trends of eutrophication and reoligotrophication, except in the surface sediments, which were characterised by higher relative contributions of aged, redeposited organic matter (OM). The d13C values of the sedimentary chlorins together with bulk sediment d13C values and C/N ratios indicate that the phototrophic communities in the lake used a 13C-depleted carbon source, which is mainly of aquatic origin. The d15N values of chlorins reflect the predominance of nitrate assimilating phototrophs, especially the non-N2-fixing cyanobacterium Planktothrix rubescens prevalent during sediment deposition. Shifts in d15N values of Chl a followed mostly the trends in eutrophication and reoligotrophication, but were also affected by community assemblage shifts to diatoms and/or other cyanobacteria at the end of the 19th century and during the eutrophication maximum in the 1970s.The lower d15NChl-a values in the surface sediments coincide with increasing nitrogen to phosphorus ratios and reduced water column mixing that characterise the recent reoligotrophication period and may explain the predominance of P. rubescens in Lake Zurich. In contrast, the higher contributions of laterally transported OM explains the large offset of d15N values of the pheopigments relative to Chl a, which is supported by the high radiocarbon age of the surface sediments

Sirt3, Mitochondrial ROS, Ageing, and Carcinogenesis

One fundamental observation in cancer etiology is that the rate of malignancies in any mammalian population increases exponentially as a function of age, suggesting a mechanistic link between the cellular processes governing longevity and carcinogenesis. In addition, it is well established that aberrations in mitochondrial metabolism, as measured by increased reactive oxygen species (ROS), are observed in both aging and cancer. In this regard, genes that impact upon longevity have recently been characterized in S. cerevisiae and C. elegans, and the human homologs include the Sirtuin family of protein deacetylases. Interestingly, three of the seven sirtuin proteins are localized into the mitochondria suggesting a connection between the mitochondrial sirtuins, the free radical theory of aging, and carcinogenesis. Based on these results it has been hypothesized that Sirt3 functions as a mitochondrial fidelity protein whose function governs both aging and carcinogenesis by modulating ROS metabolism. Sirt3 has also now been identified as a genomically expressed, mitochondrial localized tumor suppressor and this review will outline potential relationships between mitochondrial ROS/superoxide levels, aging, and cell phenotypes permissive for estrogen and progesterone receptor positive breast carcinogenesis