The spillover effect of enforcement actions on bank risk-taking

Enforcement actions (sanctions) aim to penalize guilty companies and provide examples to other com- panies that bad behavior will be penalized. A handful of papers analyze the consequences of sanctions in banking for sanctioned companies, while no papers have investigated the spillover effects on non- sanctioned banks. Focusing on credit-related sanctions, we show the existence of a spillover effect: non- sanctioned banks behave similar to sanctioned banks, depending on their degree of similarity, offloading problematic loans and reducing their lending activit

Set-theoretic solutions of the Yang–Baxter equation associated to weak braces

We investigate a new algebraic structure which always gives rise to a set-theoretic solution of the Yang–Baxter equation. Specifically, a weak (left) brace is a non-empty set S endowed with two binary operations + and ∘ such that both (S, +) and (S, ∘) are inverse semigroups and a∘(b+c)=(a∘b)-a+(a∘c)anda∘a-=-a+ahold, for all a, b, c∈ S, where - a and a- are the inverses of a with respect to + and ∘ , respectively. In particular, such structures include that of skew braces and form a subclass of inverse semi-braces. Any solution r associated to an arbitrary weak brace S has a behavior close to bijectivity, namely r is a completely regular element in the full transformation semigroup on S× S. In addition, we provide some methods to construct weak braces

The puzzling symbiotic X-ray system 4U1700+24

Symbiotic X-ray binaries form a subclass of low-mass X-ray binary systems consisting of a neutron star accreting material from a red giant donor star via stellar wind or Roche lobe overflow. Only a few confirmed members are currently known; 4U 1700+24 is a good candidate as it is a relatively bright X-ray object, possibly associated with the late-type star V934 Her. We analysed the archive {\it XMM}-Newton and Swift/XRT observations of 4U 1700+24 in order to have a uniform high-energy ($0.3-10$ keV) view of the source. We confirmed the existence of a red-shifted O VIII Ly-$\alpha$ transition (already observed in the 2002 {\it XMM}-Newton data) in the high-resolution spectra collected via the RGS instruments. The red-shift of the line is found in all the analysed observations and, on average, it was estimated to be $\simeq 0.009$. We also observed a modulation of the centroid energy of the line on short time scales (a few days) and discuss the observations in the framework of different scenarios. If the modulation is due to the gravitational red-shift of the neutron star, it might arise from a sudden re-organization of the emitting $X$-ray matter on the scale of a few hundreds of km. Alternatively, we are witnessing a uni-polar jet of matter (with typical velocity of $1000-4000$ km s$^{-1}$) possibly emitted by the neutron star in an almost face-on system. The second possibility seems to be required by the apparent lack of any modulation in the observed $X$-ray light curve. We also note also that the low-resolution spectra (both {\it XMM}-Newton and Swift/XRT in the $0.3-10$ keV band) show the existence of a black body radiation emitted by a region (possibly associated with the neutron star polar cap) with typical size from a few tens to hundreds of meters. The size of this spot-like region reduces as the overall luminosity of 4U 1700+24 decreases.Comment: In press on A&

Efficient and stable perovskite large area cells by low-cost fluorene-xantene-based hole transporting layer

Among the new generation photovoltaics, perovskite solar cell (PSC) technology reached top efficiencies in a few years. Currently, the main objective to further develop PSCs is related to the fabrication of stable devices with cost-effective materials and reliable fabrication processes to achieve a possible industrialization pathway. In the n-i-p device configuration, the hole transporting material (HTM) used most is the highly doped organic spiro-fluorene-based material (Spiro-OMeTAD). In addition to the high cost related to its complex synthesis, this material has different issues such as poor photo, thermal and moisture stability. Here, we test on small and large area PSCs a commercially available HTM (X55, Dyenamo) with a new core made by low-cost fluorene-xantene units. The one-pot synthesis of this compound reduces 30 times its cost with respect to Spiro-OMeTAD. The optoelectronic performances and properties are characterized through JV measurement, IPCE (incident photon to current efficiency), steady-state photoluminescence and ISOS stability test. SEM (scanning electron microscope) images reveal a uniform and pinhole free coverage of the X55 HTM surface, which reduces the charge recombination losses and improves the device performance relative to Spiro-OMeTAD from 16% to 17%. The ISOS-D-1 stability test on large area cells without any encapsulation reports an efficiency drop of about 15% after 1000 h compared to 30% for the reference case

Application-Aware Network Traffic Management in MEC-Integrated Industrial Environments

The industrial Internet of things (IIoT) has radically modified industrial environments, not only enabling novel industrial applications but also significantly increasing the amount of generated network traffic. Nowadays, a major concern is to support network-intensive industrial applications while ensuring the prompt and reliable delivery of mission-critical traffic flows concurrently traversing the industrial network. To this end, we propose application-aware network traffic management. The goal is to satisfy the requirements of industrial applications through a form of traffic management, the decision making of which is also based on what is carried within packet payloads (application data) in an efficient and flexible way. Our proposed solution targets multi-access edge computing (MEC)-integrated industrial environments, where on-premises and off-premises edge computing resources are used in a coordinated way, as it is expected to be in future Internet scenarios. The technical pillars of our solution are edge-powered in-network processing (eINP) and software-defined networking (SDN). The concept of eINP differs from INP because the latter is directly performed on network devices (NDs), whereas the former is performed on edge nodes connected via high-speed links to NDs. The rationale of eINP is to provide the network with additional capabilities for packet payload inspection and processing through edge computing, either on-premises or in the MEC-enabled cellular network. The reported in-the-field experimental results show the proposal feasibility and its primary tradeoffs in terms of performance and confidentiality

Co-occurrence of autoimmune thyroid disease in a multiple sclerosis cohort

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS), Hashimoto's disease and Graves' disease are autoimmune diseases that may share similar pathogenic mechanisms. The co-occurrence rates and demographic characteristics of Graves' disease and Hashimoto's disease (HT) in our MS population are compared with the general population. METHODS: The prevalence of thyroid disease in our MS patients was determined by chart review and survey. Previous diagnosis of thyroid disease, age at diagnosis, treatment used, and about the use of disease modifying medications used to treat their MS were asked. Chart reviews were used to estimate the population prevalence of Graves' disease and Hashimoto's disease and to estimate the demographics of patients with thyroid disease. RESULTS: A significant co-occurrence of Graves' disease with MS (p = 0.002), and a non-significant co-occurrence of Hashimoto's disease were noted (p = 0.097). No difference in the age of onset or gender of thyroid disease in MS patients compared to the general population was found. CONCLUSION: There is a significant co-occurrence in patients with MS and Graves' disease, and a trend to co-occurrence in patients with MS and Hashimoto's disease. There are no differences in the demographics of patients with thyroid disease in our MS patients compared to the general population

Learning Opinion Dynamics From Social Traces

Opinion dynamics - the research field dealing with how people's opinions form and evolve in a social context - traditionally uses agent-based models to validate the implications of sociological theories. These models encode the causal mechanism that drives the opinion formation process, and have the advantage of being easy to interpret. However, as they do not exploit the availability of data, their predictive power is limited. Moreover, parameter calibration and model selection are manual and difficult tasks. In this work we propose an inference mechanism for fitting a generative, agent-like model of opinion dynamics to real-world social traces. Given a set of observables (e.g., actions and interactions between agents), our model can recover the most-likely latent opinion trajectories that are compatible with the assumptions about the process dynamics. This type of model retains the benefits of agent-based ones (i.e., causal interpretation), while adding the ability to perform model selection and hypothesis testing on real data. We showcase our proposal by translating a classical agent-based model of opinion dynamics into its generative counterpart. We then design an inference algorithm based on online expectation maximization to learn the latent parameters of the model. Such algorithm can recover the latent opinion trajectories from traces generated by the classical agent-based model. In addition, it can identify the most likely set of macro parameters used to generate a data trace, thus allowing testing of sociological hypotheses. Finally, we apply our model to real-world data from Reddit to explore the long-standing question about the impact of backfire effect. Our results suggest a low prominence of the effect in Reddit's political conversation.Comment: Published at KDD202

Evidence-based careflow management systems: the case of post-stroke rehabilitation

AbstractThe activities of a care providers’ team need to be coordinated within a process properly designed on the basis of available best practice medical knowledge. It requires a rethinking of the management of care processes within health care organizations. The current workflow technology seems to offer the most convenient solution to build such cooperative systems. However, some of its present weaknesses still require an intense research effort to find solutions allowing its exploitation in real medical practice. This paper presents an approach to design and build evidence-based careflow management systems, which can be viewed as components of a knowledge management infrastructure each health care organization should be provided with to increase its performance in delivering high quality care by efficiently exploiting the available knowledge resources. The post-stroke rehabilitation process has been taken as a challenging care problem to assess our methodology for designing and developing careflow management systems. Then a system was co-developed with a team of rehabilitation professionals who will be committed to use it in their daily work. The system’s main goal is to deliver a full array of rehabilitation services provided by an interdisciplinary team. They are related to identify which patients are most likely to benefit from rehabilitation, manage a rehabilitation treatment plan, and monitor progress both during rehabilitation and after return to a community residence. A model of the rehabilitation process was derived from an international guideline and adapted to the local organization of work. It involves different organizational units, such as wards, rehabilitation units, clinical laboratories, and imaging services. Several organizational agents work within them and play one or more roles. Each role is defined by the goals’ set that she/he must fulfill. Special effort has been given to the design and development of a knowledge-based system for managing exceptions, which may occur in daily medical work as any deviation from the normal flow of activities. It allows either avoiding or recovering automatically from expected exceptions. When they are not expected, organizational agents, with enough power to do that, are allowed to modify the scheduled flow of activities for an individual patient under the only constraint of justifying their decision. After an intensive testing in a research laboratory, the system is now in the process of being transferred in a real working setting with the full support of its future users

Activation of Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase by a Glutamate- and Magnesium-Sensitive Protein Phosphatase in the Islet β-Cell

Acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) catalyzes the formation of malonyl-CoA, a precursor in the biosynthesis of long-chain fatty acids, which have been implicated in physiological insulin secretion. The catalytic function of ACC is regulated by phosphorylation (inactive)−dephosphorylation (active). In this study we investigated whether similar regulatory mechanisms exist for ACC in the pancreatic islet β-cell. ACC was quantitated in normal rat islets, human islets, and clonal β-cells (HIT-15 or INS-1) using a [ 14 C]bicarbonate fixation assay. In the β-cell lysates, ACC was stimulated by magnesium in a concentration-dependent manner. Of all the dicarboxylic acids tested, only glutamate, albeit ineffective by itself, significantly potentiated magnesium-activated ACC in a concentration-dependent manner. ACC stimulation by glutamate and magnesium was maximally demonstrable in the cytosolic fraction; it was markedly reduced by okadaic acid (OKA) in concentrations

Sensor-embedded face masks for detection of volatiles in breath: a proof of concept study

The correlation between breath volatilome and health is prompting a growing interest in the development of sensors optimized for breath analysis. On the other hand, the outbreak of COVID-19 evidenced that breath is a vehicle of infection; thus, the introduction of low-cost and disposable devices is becoming urgent for a clinical implementation of breath analysis. In this paper, a proof of concept about the functionalization of face masks is provided. Porphyrin-based sensors are among the most performant devices for breath analysis, but since porphyrins are scarcely conductive, they make use of costly and bulky mass or optical transducers. To overcome this drawback, we introduce here a hybrid material made of conducting polymer and porphyrins. The resulting material can be easily deposited on the internal surface of standard FFP face masks producing resistive sensors that retain the chemical sensitivity of porphyrins implementing their combinatorial selectivity for the identification of volatile compounds and the classification of complex samples. The sensitivity of sensors has been tested with respect to a set of seven volatile compounds representative of diverse chemical families. Sensors react to all compounds but with a different sensitivity pattern. Functionalized face masks have been tested in a proof-of-concept test aimed at identifying changes of breath due to the ingestion of beverages (coffee and wine) and solid food (banana- and mint-flavored candies). Results indicate that sensors can detect volatile compounds against the background of normal breath VOCs, suggesting the possibility to embed sensors in face masks for extensive breath analysis