Central European foreign exchange markets: a cross-spectral analysis of the 2007 financial crisis

This paper investigates co-movements between currency markets of Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Euro in the year following the drying up of money markets in August 2007. The paper shows that assessing the degree of foreign currency co-movement by correlation can lead to concluding, erroneously, that financial contagion has not occurred. Using cross-spectral methods, the paper shows that defining contagion as changes in the structure of co-movements of asset prices encompasses more of the complex nature of exchange rate dynamics. What is shown is that, following August 2007, there is increased in the intensity of co-movements, but non-linearly. Focusing on the activities of a mix of banks and currency managers, it is suggested that changes in the structure of currency interaction present an unfavourable view of the contagion experienced by at least three of these currencies

Feed-forward regulation adaptively evolves via dynamics rather than topology when there is intrinsic noise

In transcriptional regulatory networks (TRNs), a canonical 3-node feed-forward loop (FFL) is hypothesized to evolve to filter out short spurious signals. We test this adaptive hypothesis against a novel null evolutionary model. Our mutational model captures the intrinsically high prevalence of weak affinity transcription factor binding sites. We also capture stochasticity and delays in gene expression that distort external signals and intrinsically generate noise. Functional FFLs evolve readily under selection for the hypothesized function but not in negative controls. Interestingly, a 4-node "diamond" motif also emerges as a short spurious signal filter. The diamond uses expression dynamics rather than path length to provide fast and slow pathways. When there is no idealized external spurious signal to filter out, but only internally generated noise, only the diamond and not the FFL evolves. While our results support the adaptive hypothesis, we also show that non-adaptive factors, including the intrinsic expression dynamics, matter.University of Arizona; Pew Scholarship; John Templeton Foundation [39667]; National Institutes of Health [R35GM118170, R01GM076041]Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Ultrafast Electronic Disordering During Femtosecond Laser Melting of GaAs

We have observed an ultrarapid electronic phase transformation to a centrosymmetric electronic state during laser excitation of GaAs with intense femtosecond pulses. Reflection second-harmonic intensity from the upper 90 atomic layers vanishes within 100 fs; reflectivity rises within 0.5 ps to a steady value characteristic of a metallic molten phase, long before phonon emission can heat the lattice to the melting temperature

Heritability and the Equal Environments Assumption: Evidence from Multiple Samples of Misclassified Twins

The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-013-9602-1Classically derived estimates of heritability from twin models have been plagued by the possibility of genetic-environmental covariance. Survey questions that attempt to measure directly the extent to which more genetically similar kin (such as monozygotic twins) also share more similar environmental conditions represent poor attempts to gauge a complex underlying phenomenon of GE-covariance. The present study exploits a natural experiment to address this issue: Self-misperception of twin zygosity in the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Such twins were reared under one “environmental regime of similarity” while genetically belonging to another group, reversing the typical GE-covariance and allowing bounded estimates of heritability for a range of outcomes. In addition, we examine twins who were initially misclassified by survey assignment—a stricter standard—in three datasets: Add Health, the Minnesota Twin Family Study and the Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden. Results are similar across approaches and datasets and largely support the validity of the equal environments assumption

KONDISI HOMOGENISASI DAN PRAPENINGKATAN SKALA PROSES MIKROENKAPSULASI MINYAK SAWIT

Utilization of palm oil as downstream products is still remain limited. Palm oil contains high carotenoids ranging from 500 to 700 ppm. Carotenoids are very sensitive to heat and oxidation. Microencapsulation process conducted by two steps, i.e. homogenitation to produce emulsion and spray drying to produce microcapsule that protect its active compounds. Olein homogenization was the main process in the formation of an emulsion of palm oil prior to drying process. This process was influenced by speed, time and volume. Microcapsule formulation using maltodextrin, Arabic gum, and gelatin. The results showed that the process of homogenization affected the quality and characteristics of emulsion and microencapsulate of palm oil. An increase of volume and length of time did not significantly affect the characteristics of palm oil microcapsule, such as water content, solubility and water activity (p>0.05), but significantly affected the emulsion stability, surface oil, carotenoid contain and efficiency of microencapsulation (p<0.05) and also affecting the quality of microencapsulate (yield, water activity, solubility). Palm oil microencapsulation using spray dry could be applied at industrial scale. Keywords: carotene, homogenization, microencapsulation, palm oil, scale u

Central Neurocytoma: A Review of Clinical Management and Histopathologic Features.

Central neurocytoma (CN) is a rare, benign brain tumor often located in the lateral ventricles. CN may cause obstructive hydrocephalus and manifest as signs of increased intracranial pressure. The goal of treatment for CN is a gross total resection (GTR), which often yields excellent prognosis with a very high rate of tumor control and survival. Adjuvant radiosurgery and radiotherapy may be considered to improve tumor control when GTR cannot be achieved. Chemotherapy is also not considered a primary treatment, but has been used as a salvage therapy. The radiological features of CN are indistinguishable from those of other brain tumors; therefore, many histological markers, such as synaptophysin, can be very useful for diagnosing CNs. Furthermore, the MIB-1 Labeling Index seems to be correlated with the prognosis of CN. We also discuss oncogenes associated with these elusive tumors. Further studies may improve our ability to accurately diagnose CNs and to design the optimal treatment regimens for patients with CNs

Laser-induced solid-solid phase transition in As under pressure: A theoretical prediction

In Arsenic a pressure-induced solid-solid phase transition from the A7 into the simple cubic structure has been experimentally demonstrated [Beister et al., Phys. Rev. B 41, 5535 (1990)]. In this paper we present calculations, which predict that this phase transition can also be induced by an ultrashort laser pulse in As under pressure. In addition, calculations for the pressure-induced phase transition are presented. Using density functional theory in the generalized gradient approximation, we found that the pressure-induced phase transition takes place at 26.3 GPa and is accompanied by a volume change "Delta V" = 0.5 bohr^3/atom. The laser-induced phase transition is predicted for an applied pressure of 23.8 GPa and an absorbed laser energy of 2.8 mRy/atom.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures Changes to content To be published in New Journal of Physics (accepted for publication

Genetic and Informatic Analyses Implicate Kif12 as a Candidate Gene within the Mpkd2 Locus That Modulates Renal Cystic Disease Severity in the Cys1cpk Mouse.

We have previously mapped the interval on Chromosome 4 for a major polycystic kidney disease modifier (Mpkd) of the B6(Cg)-Cys1cpk/J mouse model of recessive polycystic kidney disease (PKD). Informatic analyses predicted that this interval contains at least three individual renal cystic disease severity-modulating loci (Mpkd1-3). In the current study, we provide further validation of these predicted effects using a congenic mouse line carrying the entire CAST/EiJ (CAST)-derived Mpkd1-3 interval on the C57BL/6J background. We have also generated a derivative congenic line with a refined CAST-derived Mpkd1-2 interval and demonstrated its dominantly-acting disease-modulating effects (e.g., 4.2-fold increase in total cyst area;

Evolution of Robustness to Noise and Mutation in Gene Expression Dynamics

Phenotype of biological systems needs to be robust against mutation in order to sustain themselves between generations. On the other hand, phenotype of an individual also needs to be robust against fluctuations of both internal and external origins that are encountered during growth and development. Is there a relationship between these two types of robustness, one during a single generation and the other during evolution? Could stochasticity in gene expression have any relevance to the evolution of these robustness? Robustness can be defined by the sharpness of the distribution of phenotype; the variance of phenotype distribution due to genetic variation gives a measure of `genetic robustness' while that of isogenic individuals gives a measure of `developmental robustness'. Through simulations of a simple stochastic gene expression network that undergoes mutation and selection, we show that in order for the network to acquire both types of robustness, the phenotypic variance induced by mutations must be smaller than that observed in an isogenic population. As the latter originates from noise in gene expression, this signifies that the genetic robustness evolves only when the noise strength in gene expression is larger than some threshold. In such a case, the two variances decrease throughout the evolutionary time course, indicating increase in robustness. The results reveal how noise that cells encounter during growth and development shapes networks' robustness to stochasticity in gene expression, which in turn shapes networks' robustness to mutation. The condition for evolution of robustness as well as relationship between genetic and developmental robustness is derived through the variance of phenotypic fluctuations, which are measurable experimentally.Comment: 25 page

Short pulse laser-induced optical damage and fracto-emission of amorphous, diamond-like carbon

Short pulse laser damage and ablation of amorphous, diamond-like carbon films is investigated. Material removal is due to fracture of the film and ejection of large fragments, which exhibit a broadband emission of microsecond duration