7,241 research outputs found
Pessimistic Foreign Investors and Turmoil in Emerging Markets: the case of Brazil in 2002
Using survey data, we document that foreign-owned institutions became more pessimistic than locally owned institutions about the strength of the Brazilian currency around the 2002 presidential elections. As a result of their relative pessimism, foreign-owned institutions made larger forecast errors. Consistent with the emergence of their relative pessimism, foreign investors heavily sold Brazilian stocks and the Brazilian currency in futures markets ahead of the 2002 elections. Periods of stronger foreign sell-off were associated with larger equity price declines and larger depreciation of the Brazilian Real in spot and futures markets. These results are consistent with foreign investors’ relative lack of knowledge of Brazilian institutions contributing to the sharp depreciation of the Brazilian currency and stock market ahead of the 2002 presidential elections.
Pessimistic Foreign Investors and Turmoil in Emerging Markets : The Case of Brazil in 2002
Using survey data, we document that foreign-owned institutions became more pessimistic than locally owned institutions about the strength of the Brazilian currency around the 2002 presidential elections. As a result of their relative pessimism, foreignowned institutions made larger forecast errors. Consistent with the emergence of their relative pessimism, foreign investors heavily sold Brazilian stocks and the Brazilian currency in futures markets ahead of the 2002 elections. Periods of stronger foreign sell-off were associated with larger equity price declines and larger depreciation of the Brazilian Real in spot and futures markets. These results are consistent with foreign investors’ lack of knowledge of Brazilian institutions contributing to the sharp depreciation of the Brazilian currency and stock market ahead of the 2002 presidential elections.currency crisis ; portfolio flows ; difference of opinions ; elections JEL Codes: F31 ; F36 ; G15
Correlated geminal wave function for molecules: an efficient resonating valence bond approach
We show that a simple correlated wave function, obtained by applying a
Jastrow correlation term to an Antisymmetrized Geminal Power (AGP), based upon
singlet pairs between electrons, is particularly suited for describing the
electronic structure of molecules, yielding a large amount of the correlation
energy. The remarkable feature of this approach is that, in principle, several
Resonating Valence Bonds (RVB) can be dealt simultaneously with a single
determinant, at a computational cost growing with the number of electrons
similarly to more conventional methods, such as Hartree-Fock (HF) or Density
Functional Theory (DFT). Moreover we describe an extension of the Stochastic
Reconfiguration (SR) method, that was recently introduced for the energy
minimization of simple atomic wave functions. Within this extension the atomic
positions can be considered as further variational parameters, that can be
optimized together with the remaining ones. The method is applied to several
molecules from Li_2 to benzene by obtaining total energies, bond lengths and
binding energies comparable with much more demanding multi configuration
schemes.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, to be published in the Journal of Chemical
Physic
From the triangular to the kagome lattice: Following the footprints of the ordered state
We study the spin-1/2 Heisenberg model in a lattice that interpolates between
the triangular and the kagome lattices. The exchange interaction along the
bonds of the kagome lattice is J, and the one along the bonds connecting kagome
and non-kagome sites is J', so that J'=J corresponds to the triangular limit
and J'=0 to the kagome one. We use variational and exact diagonalization
techniques. We analyze the behavior of the order parameter for the
antiferromagnetic phase of the triangular lattice, the spin gap, and the
structure of the spin excitations as functions of J'/J. Our results indicate
that the antiferromagnetic order is not affected by the reduction of J' down to
J'/J ~ 0.2. Below this value, antiferromagnetic correlations grow weaker, a
description of the ground state in terms of a Neel phase renormalized by
quantum fluctuations becomes inadequate, and the finite-size spectra develop
features that are not compatible with antiferromagnetic ordering. However, this
phase does not appear to be connected to the kagome phase as well, as the
low-energy spectra do not evolve with continuity for J'-> 0 to the kagome
limit. In particular, for any non-zero value of J', the latter interaction sets
the energy scale for the low-lying spin excitations, and a gapless triplet
spectrum, destabilizing the kagome phase, is expected.Comment: 9 pages, 10 Figures. To be published in PR
Are specialized sperm function tests clinically useful in planning assisted reproductive technology?
40-year-old male patient and 32-year-old female partner, with a history of primary infertility of two years duration. The workup revealed idiopathic mild oligoasthenothe-ratozoospermia, and no apparent female infertility factors. The couple has failed three intrauterine insemination (IUI) cycles, planning more IUI cycles but also considering in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI)46111612
Fermi Gases in Slowly Rotating Traps: Superfluid vs Collisional Hydrodynamics
The dynamic behavior of a Fermi gas confined in a deformed trap rotating at
low angular velocity is investigated in the framework of hydrodynamic theory.
The differences exhibited by a normal gas in the collisional regime and a
superfluid are discussed. Special emphasis is given to the collective
oscillations excited when the deformation of the rotating trap is suddenly
removed or when the rotation is suddenly stopped. The presence of vorticity in
the normal phase is shown to give rise to precession and beating phenomena
which are absent in the superfluid phase.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Reproductive outcomes, including neonatal data, following sperm injection in men with obstructive and nonobstructive azoospermia: case series and systematic review
We compared pregnancy outcomes following intracytoplasmic sperm injection for the treatment of male infertility according to the type of azoospermia. First, we analyzed our data from 370 couples who underwent intracytoplasmic sperm injection using sperm from men with obstructive azoospermia and nonobstructive azoospermia, and the outcomes were compared to a group of 465 non-azoospermic infertile males. Then, we performed a systematic review of the published data on pregnancy and neonatal outcomes of children born after sperm injection using sperm from men with obstructive and nonobstructive azoospermia. Live birth rates were significantly lower in the nonobstructive azoospermia group (21.4%) compared with the obstructive azoospermia (37.5%) and ejaculated sperm (32.3%) groups. A total of 326 live births resulted in 427 babies born. Differences were not observed between the groups in gestational age, preterm birth, birth weight and low birth weight, although we noted a tendency towards poorer neonatal outcomes in the azoospermia categories. The overall perinatal death and malformation rates were 2.8% and 1.6%, respectively, and the results did not differ between the groups. We identified 20 published studies that directly compared pregnancy outcomes between obstructive azoospermia and nonobstructive azoospermia. Most of these studies were not designed to detect differences in live birth rates and had lower power to detect differences in less frequent outcomes, and the reporting of neonatal outcomes was unusual. The included studies reported either a decrease or no difference in pregnancy outcomes with intracytoplasmic sperm injection in cases of nonobstructive azoospermia and obstructive azoospermia. In general, no major differences were noted in short-term neonatal outcomes and congenital malformation rates between children from fathers with nonobstructive azoospermia and obstructive azoospermia
Pessimistic foreign investors and turmoil in emerging markets : the case of Brazil in 2002
Using survey data, we document that foreign-owned institutions became more pessimistic than locally owned institutions about the strength of the Brazilian currency around the 2002 presidential elections. As a result of their relative pessimism, foreignowned institutions made larger forecast errors. Consistent with the emergence of their relative pessimism, foreign investors heavily sold Brazilian stocks and the Brazilian currency in futures markets ahead of the 2002 elections. Periods of stronger foreign sell-off were associated with larger equity price declines and larger depreciation of the Brazilian Real in spot and futures markets. These results are consistent with foreign investors’ lack of knowledge of Brazilian institutions contributing to the sharp depreciation of the Brazilian currency and stock market ahead of the 2002 presidential elections
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