A model of financialization of commodities

We analyze how institutional investors entering commodity futures markets, referred to as the financialization of commodities, affect commodity prices. Institutional investors care about their performance relative to a commodity index. We find that all commodity futures prices, volatilities, and correlations go up with financialization, but more so for index futures than for nonindex futures. The equity-commodity correlations also increase. We demonstrate how financial markets transmit shocks not only to futures prices but also to commodity spot prices and inventories. Spot prices go up with financialization, and shocks to any index commodity spill over to all storable commodity prices

Using temporary water to resupply fresh water (on example Kanaka SCC)

In boarding houses, located at the mouth of the Kanaka beam (SCC), the problem of provision with fresh drinking water worsened. So far, the provision with drinking water was carried out with water wells from the aquifer at a depth of up to 15 m from the earth surface

State of the mineral component of rat bone tissue during hypokinesia and the recovery period

Experiments were conducted on young growing rats. Hypokinesia lasting from 20 to 200 days caused retarded gain in weight and volume of the femur and delayed development of the cortical layer of the diaphysis. In contrast, the density of the cortical layer of the femoral diaphysis increased due to elevation of the mineral saturation of the bone tissue microstructures. Incorporation of Ca into the bone tissue in hypokinesia had a tendency to reduce. Partial normalization of the bone tissue mineral component occurred during a 20 day recovery period following hypokinesia

An Analysis and Forecast of Software and Services Research in Bulgaria

In the last 40 years much has been achieved in Software Engineering research and still more is to be done. Although significant progress is being made on several fronts in Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), there is still no set of clear, central themes to focus research activity on. A task within the EU FP7 Sister project aimed at defining research priorities for the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics (Sofia University) in the area of Software and Services. A dedicated methodology was proposed and developed, based on various sources of information. The information accumulated was systematised and processed according to this methodology. The final results obtained are described and discussed here.* The work reported in this paper is partly supported by the SISTER project, funded by the European Commission in FP7-SP4 Capacities via agreement no. 205030

Effect of six-month hypokinesia in dogs on mineral component, reconstruction and mechanical properties of bone tissue

Ca45 incorporation into the bones of the limbs, particularly in the area of the muscle attachment increased in dogs as a result of 6 month hypokinesia. There were no phenomena of osteoporosis in the cortical layer of the diaphyses; however, changes in the form of osteons, an increase in the number of anastomoses between the channels and the thinning of the subperiosteal layer pointed to disturbances of the bone tissue reconstruction. Mineral saturation of the bone microstructures of the experimental dogs had a tendency to rise. No changes in the mechanical properties of the long bones occurred as a result of hypokinesia in dogs

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SINGLE NUCLEOTIDE POLYMORPHISMS IN CYTOKINE GENES AND CLINICAL LABORATORY PARAMETERS IN PATIENTS WITH MULTIPLE MYELOMA

Multiple myeloma is the most common form of paraproteinemic hemoblastosis, which is characterized by variability of clinical manifestations, forms, and variants. Limited efficiency of antitumor immune protection in the patient plays an important role in progression of this disease. Survival of myeloma cells is promoted by some growth factors, including a number of interleukins. Cytokines and chemokines are secreted in response to intercellular interactions and stimulate tumor growth, inhibition of osteoblasts and increase of the osteoclastic activity. Cytokine genes show a significant allelic polymorphism. A single gene may exhibit numerous polymorphic sites located in exons, introns and promoter regulatory areas. Single nucleotide substitutions in the promoter region of cytokine genes are known to have a huge impact upon secretion and biological activity of these factors. Therefore, a study of allelic gene variants determining the levels of cytokine production will allow of establishing new immunogenetic factors associated with a high risk of disease development, including multiple myeloma. We have studied single nucleotide polymorphism in cytokine genes (IL-1α -889 TT, IL-1β +3962 TT, IL-6 -174 GG, and IL-6 nt565 GG), and clinical laboratory parameters (serum levels of albumin, β2-microglobulin, and hemoglobin) determining severity grade of multiple myeloma in 80 patients living in the North-Western region of Russia. It was found that the presence of certain cytokine gene variants, i.e., IL-1α -889 TT, IL-1β +3962 TT, IL-6 -174 GG, IL-6 nt565 GG or IL-1α -889 TT, IL- 1β +3962 TT or IL-6 -174 GG, IL-6 nt565 GG was associated with low albumin levels (< 3.5 g/DL), and high levels of β2-microglobulin (> 5.5 mg/l). A combination of all the four negative variants in homozygous state (IL- 1α TT -889, IL-1β +3962 TT, IL-6 -174 GG and IL-6 nt565 GG) increases the chance of six-fold reduction of albumin levels (p < 0.05); combinations of homozygous IL-1α TT -889, IL-1β +3962 TT, IL-6-174 GG. and IL-6 nt565 GG are associated with increased chance of high-level β2-microglobulin (> 5.5 mg/l) by more than two times. This data allow to consider IL-1α -889 TT, IL-1β +3962 TT, IL-6 -174 GG, and IL-6 nt565 GG genotypes additional negative immunogenetic factors in the prognosis of multiple myeloma

Preferences of Hungarian consumers for quality, access and price attributes of health care services — result of a discrete choice experiment

In 2010, a household survey was carried out in Hungary among 1037 respondents to study consumer preferences and willingness to pay for health care services. In this paper, we use the data from the discrete choice experiments included in the survey, to elicit the preferences of health care consumers about the choice of health care providers. Regression analysis is used to estimate the effect of the improvement of service attributes (quality, access, and price) on patients’ choice, as well as the differences among the socio-demographic groups. We also estimate the marginal willingness to pay for the improvement in attribute levels by calculating marginal rates of substitution. The results show that respondents from a village or the capital, with low education and bad health status are more driven by the changes in the price attribute when choosing between health care providers. Respondents value the good skills and reputation of the physician and the attitude of the personnel most, followed by modern equipment and maintenance of the office/hospital. Access attributes (travelling and waiting time) are less important. The method of discrete choice experiment is useful to reveal patients’ preferences, and might support the development of an evidence-based and sustainable health policy on patient payments