Theoretical and Empirical properties of Dynamic Conditional Correlation Multivariate GARCH

In this paper, we develop the theoretical and empirical properties of a new class of multi-variate GARCH models capable of estimating large time-varying covariance matrices, Dynamic Conditional Correlation Multivariate GARCH. We show that the problem of multivariate conditional variance estimation can be simplified by estimating univariate GARCH models for each asset, and then, using transformed residuals resulting from the first stage, estimating a conditional correlation estimator. The standard errors for the first stage parameters remain consistent, and only the standard errors for the correlation parameters need be modified. We use the model to estimate the conditional covariance of up to 100 assets using S&P 500 Sector Indices and Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks, and conduct specification tests of the estimator using an industry standard benchmark for volatility models. This new estimator demonstrates very strong performance especially considering ease of implementation of the estimator.

Improved liquid-level sensor for cryogenics

Liquid-level indicator, consisting of a diode heated by a resistor, allows simultaneous use of two or three of the liquids nitrogen, hydrogen, and helium. Operation depends on strong temperature-dependence of the forward resistance of a germanium diode and the difference between liquid and vapor in heat-transfer properties

Laparoscopic repair of a large interstitially incarcerated inguinal hernia.

A 68 year old female presented for elective repair of an abdominal wall hernia. Preoperative CT imaging revealed a right inguinal hernia defect with hernia contents coursing cephalad between the external and internal abdominal oblique muscles. This was consistent with an interstitial inguinal hernia, a rare entity outside of post- traumatic hernias. At operation the hernia contents were reduced laparoscopically. The hernia was then repaired by transitioning to the totally extraperitoneal (TEP) approach using a 15cm X 15cm piece of polyester mesh. The patient had an uneventful recovery. Interstitial hernias are rare, difficult to diagnose and potentially dangerous if left untreated. There is no consensus on the ideal repair of these unique hernias. This represents a minimally invasive repair of an unusual hernia, with a novel approach to diagnose and manage the hernia and its redundant sac

Asymmetric dynamics in the correlations of global equity and bond returns

JEL Classification: F3, G1, C5Correlation, International Finance, Variance Targeting

Lourmarin in the Eighteenth Century

Originally published in 1971. In the 1970s, social historians of seventeenth-century France began examining the social changes in the ancien régime in an effort to reconstruct the events leading up to the French Revolution. Thomas Sheppard examines Lourmarin, a mainly Protestant village with a small textile industry. He seeks to answer a series of questions posed at the outset of the book: What was daily life like in an eighteenth-century French village? How was village government organized? To what extent did community leaders regulate village political life? What effect did the Revolution have on life in the village? Sheppard answers these questions with his archival work in Lourmarin. He concludes his work with an investigation of the effects of the Revolution on life in Lourmarin following 1789

The Supreme Court of Canada Crumbles Mr. Christie\u27s Cookie

In British Columbia (Attorney General) v. Christie, 2007 SCC 21, [2007] 1 SCR 873, the unanimous full bench of the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a provincial sales tax ( PST ) on legal services, rejecting a Charter challenge and overturning the lower courts\u27 decisions that partially invalidated the tax. The taxpayer, a lawyer practising poverty law in British Columbia, challenged the validity of a provincial sales tax charging 7 percent on fees billed for legal services and payable on billing. The PST on legal services required lawyers and notaries public in private practice to add the tax onto their billings. The taxpayer proved that his clientele needed legal assistance in litigious matters, but could not afford to pay the PST on top of his modest fees, with the result that he had to pay the PST personally on their behalf. All the judges hearing the case accepted as a fact that the PST impeded access to legal assistance by the taxpayer\u27s clientele, and imposed a hardship on him personally. The motions judge in the British Columbia Supreme Court and a majority of the British Columbia Court of Appeal declared the tax invalid to the extent that it violated civil rights of access to justice. Access to justice is implicitly guaranteed by the concept of the rule of law as expressed in the Preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Supreme Court of Canada upheld the PST on legal services in full, concluding that the taxpayer had failed to establish any violation of the rule of law or denial of access to justice

Mandatory Retirement: Termination at 65 is Ended, But Exceptions Linger on

In employment law, mandatory retirement ( MR ) is the compulsory termination of employment as a result of the employee having reached a specified age. In legal circles, MR is regarded as retirement rather than dismissal, though an individual who wishes to continue to work beyond a specified age might disagree. The elimination of MR in British Columbia resulted from the deletion of five little words in the definition of age in section 1 of the British Columbia Human Rights Code, RSBC 1996, c 210 (BCHRC). Section 1 of the BCHRC formerly defined age as meaning an age of 19 years or more and less than 65 years . Bill 31, later the Human Rights Code (Mandatory Retirement Elimination) Amendment Act, 2007, SBC, c 21, s 1 [effective January 1, 2008] changed the definition to mean an age of 19 years or more. The elimination of MR fell short of total and complete annihilation, however, because of the following four continuing exceptions: (1) age under 19 years; (2) operation of a bona fide retirement, superannuation or pension plan or a bona fide group or employee insurance plan; (3) bona fide occupational requirement; or (4) age-based distinction permitted or required by any Act or regulation. While other forms of prohibited discrimination in employment, such as race or sex, are absolute, human rights legislation prohibiting age discrimination invariably allows broad statutory exceptions because ageing is a fact of life that affects everyone. For this reason, human rights provisions abolishing MR permit age discrimination in employment to continue on relatively broad grounds

Structure and mechanisms of viral transcription factors in archaea

Virus-encoded transcription factors have been pivotal in exploring the molecular mechanisms and regulation of gene expression in bacteria and eukaryotes since the birth of molecular biology, while our understanding of viral transcription in archaea is still in its infancy. Archaeal viruses do not encode their own RNA polymerases (RNAPs) and are consequently entirely dependent on their hosts for gene expression; this is fundamentally different from many bacteriophages and requires alternative regulatory strategies. Archaeal viruses wield a repertoire of proteins to expropriate the host transcription machinery to their own benefit. In this short review we summarise our current understanding of gene-specific and global mechanisms that viruses employ to chiefly downregulate host transcription and enable the efficient and temporal expression of the viral transcriptome. Most of the experimentally characterised archaeo-viral transcription regulators possess either ribbon-helix-helix or Zn-finger motifs that allow them to engage with the DNA in a sequence-specific manner, altering the expression of a specific subset of genes. Recently a novel type of regulator was reported that directly binds to the RNAP and shuts down transcription of both host and viral genes in a global fashion

The determination of plate efficiencies in unsteady-state plate-column models

Other investigations have shown the relationship between various plate efficiencies and the relationship between the Murphree plate efficiency and the point efficiency for steady-state conditions. So far there has been no work done on the relationship between the Murphree plate efficiency and the point efficiency for unsteady-state conditions. In unsteady-state distillation simulation, the Murphree plate efficiency has been held constant and it is thought that this may be the reason for the differences between experimental and theoretical liquid composition responses in some cases. Further, the liquid mixing models used to represent the mixing occurring on a distillation plate, do not include down-comer sections and the need for experimental investigation of the down-comer effect is required to produce a realistic model. Experimental conductivity impulse responses, using potassium chloride tracer, are obtained on a 7 ft. x 1.5 ft. sieve plate using the system air-water. The sieve trays, weir height and down-comer segmental area are variable, and the responses are compared with those obtained by the diffusion model. [Continues.