The CFO’s Information Challenge in Managing Macroeconomic Risk

In this chapter we examine the role of the CFO in setting risk management strategy with respect to macroeconomic risk, in particular, and we consider the information requirements for setting a strategy that is consistent with corporate objectives. We argue that macroeconomic risk management requires a broad approach encompassing financial, operational and strategic considerations. Furthermore, several interdependent sources of risk in the macroeconomic environment must be taken into account. Once this interdependence among, for example, exchange rates, interest rates and inflation are taken into account macroeconomic risk management can be considered a relatively self-contained aspect of Integrated Risk Management (IRM) provided relevant information is available to management. Financial risk management cannot be considered a self-contained part of macroeconomic risk management, however, since value increasing investments in flexibility of business operations affect corporate exposure and make it uncertain.Risk Management Strategy; Macroeconomic Risk; Integrated Risk Management; Chief Financial Officer; Information Needs; Corporate Strategy; Financial Risk; Real Options

Å lede i takt med stadig nye krav til ledelse

Det forventes at dagens ledere skal utvikle interne strukturer, takle press og tidsfrister, motivere, stimulere og støtte egne ansatte, planlegge, organisere, kontrollere, fatte gjennomtenkte beslutninger på bakgrunn av begrenset informasjon, være ansvarlige for å nå milepæler og sentrale mål, og mye, mye mer. På bakgrunn av en antakelse om at det stilles mange, nye og uforutsigbare, urealistiske, og ufravikelige krav til mange ledere utarbeidet vi følgende problemstilling; Hvordan påvirkes ledere av stadig nye krav til ledelse? For å avgrense oppgaven ytterligere utformet vi følgende forskningsspørsmål; “Hvilke stressorer fremtrer i tråd med stadig nye krav til ledelse, og hvilke konsekvenser kan eventuelt disse ha for lederen og lederens evne til å lede?” og “Hvordan påvirkes lederens selvoppfatning av stadig nye krav til ledelse, og hvilke konsekvenser kan eventuelt dette få for lederen og lederens evne til å lede?” På bakgrunn av den ovennevnte problemstillingen, forskningsspørsmålene og et ønsket om å kartlegge lederes subjektive opplevelser, tanker og følelser, anså vi det som mest hensiktsmessig å benytte et intensivt forskningsdesign og en kvalitativ forskningsmetode. Ved hjelp av kvalitative dybdeintervjuer og en semistrukturert Intervjuguide fikk våre informanter stor frihet til å uttrykke seg, og vi opplevde å få dyp og detaljert informasjon som ga oss et godt utgangspunkt for videre analyse. Resultatene viste at flere av våre informanter opplever at det er ensomt på toppen, samt at stadig nye, strenge, uforutsigbare og ufravikelige krav, ved siden av mangel på især tid, erfaring, feedback og emosjonell støtte ofte resulterer i mye stress og en stadig opplevelse av å ikke mestre gitte oppgaver. Som konsekvenser av det ovennevnte oppgir våre informanter blant annet rygg- og nakkeplager, høyt blodtrykk, kvalme og magesår. Så vel som svekket selvtillit, preget privatliv, og en tilbøyelighet til slurv, selektiv oppfatning av informasjon, kortsiktig tenkning, samt svekket kreativitet og forståelse av nyanser og kompleksitet

Synthesis and biology of oligoethylene glycol linked naphthoxylosides.

Proteoglycans (PGs) are important macromolecules in mammalian cells, consisting of a core protein substituted with carbohydrate chains, known as glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). Simple xylosides carrying hydrophobic aglycons can enter cells and act as primers for GAG chain synthesis, independent of the core protein. Previously it has been shown that aromatic aglycons can be separated from the sugar residue by short linkers without affecting the GAG priming ability. To further investigate the effects of the xylose-aglycon distance on the GAG priming ability, we have synthesized xyloside derivatives with 2-naphthyl and 2-(6-hydroxynaphthyl) moieties connected to xylose, directly, via a methylene bridge, or with oligoethylene glycol linkers of three different lengths. The GAG priming ability and the antiproliferative activity of the xylosides, as well as the composition of the xyloside-primed GAG chains were investigated in a matched pair of human breast fibroblasts and human breast carcinoma cells. An increase of the xylose-aglycon distance from 0.24 to 0.37nm resulted in an increased GAG priming ability in both cell lines. Further increase of the xylose-aglycon distance did not result in any pronounced effects. We speculate that by increasing the xylose-aglycon distance, and thereby the surface area of the xyloside, to a certain level would make it more accessible for enzymes involved in the GAG synthesis. The compositions of the primed GAG chains varied with different xylosides, independent of the xylose-aglycon distance, probably due to various affinities for enzymes and/or different cellular uptake. Furthermore, no correlations between the antiproliferative activities, the xylose-aglycon distances, and the amounts or compositions of the GAG chains were detected suggesting involvement of other factors such as fine structure of the GAG chains, effects on endogenous PG synthesis, or other unknown factors for the antiproliferative activity

Introduksjonsdag for gruppeledere i informatikk: hvilke tema bør adresseres?

Poster submissio

Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry for the Determination of Methylprednisolone in Rat Plasma and Liver After Intravenous Administration of Its Liver-Targeted Dextran Prodrug

A specific and sensitive liquid chromatography (LC)-tandem mass spectrometric method for quantitative determination of methylprednisolone (MP) in rat plasma and liver was developed and validated using triamcinolone acetonide as an internal standard. Liquid-liquid extraction using tert-butyl methyl ether was used to extract the drug and the internal standard from plasma and liver. The separation of MP was performed on a C(18) column with a mobile phase of acetonitrile:0.5% formic acid aqueous solution (85:15, v/v) over 4 min. The assay was based on the selected reaction monitoring transitions at m/z 375 -\u3e 161 for MP in plasma, 375 -\u3e 357 for MP in liver, and 435 -\u3e 415 for internal standard in both plasma and liver. The lower limit of quantification was 20 ng/mL based on 100 mu L of plasma or liver homogenate. Intra- and inter-clay assay variations wer

Development of a new ‘ultrametric’ method for assessing spawning progression in female teleost serial spawners

The collection and presentation of accurate reproductive data from wild fish has historically been somewhat problematic, especially for serially spawning species. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to develop a novel method of assessing female spawning status that is robust to variation in oocyte dynamics between specimens. Atlantic cod (Barents Sea stock) were used to develop the new ‘ultrametric’ method, that is based on the progressive depletion of the vitellogenic oocyte pool relative to the rather constant previtellogenic oocyte (PVO) pool. Fish were subsequently partitioned into one of four categories that accurately reflected changes in their oocyte size frequency distribution characteristics and gonadosomatic index throughout spawning. The ultrametric method overcomes difficulties associated with presence of bimodal oocyte distributions, oocyte tails, lack of clear hiatus region, and presence of free ova, and can be implemented at a single sampling point. Much of the workflow is fully automated, and the technique may circumvent the need for histological analysis depending on the desired outcome. The ultrametric method differs from the traditional autodiametric method in that PVOs can be separated by ultrasonication and then enumerated, and ovarian homogeneity is not a mandatory requirement per se. The method is designed for determinate spawners but might be extended to include indeterminate spawners

Photoassociation inside an optical dipole trap: absolute rate coefficients and Franck-Condon factors

We present quantitative measurements of the photoassociation of cesium molecules inside a far-detuned optical dipole trap. A model of the trap depletion dynamics is derived which allows to extract absolute photoassociation rate coefficients for the initial single-photon photoassociation step from measured trap-loss spectra. The sensitivity of this approach is demonstrated by measuring the Franck-Condon modulation of the weak photoassociation transitions into the low vibrational levels of the outer well of the 0g- state that correlates to the 6s+6p3/2 asymptote. The measurements are compared to theoretical predictions. In a magneto-optical trap these transitions have previously only been observed indirectly through ionization of ground state molecules

Theoretical model for ultracold molecule formation via adaptive feedback control

We investigate pump-dump photoassociation of ultracold molecules with amplitude- and phase-modulated femtosecond laser pulses. For this purpose a perturbative model for the light-matter interaction is developed and combined with a genetic algorithm for adaptive feedback control of the laser pulse shapes. The model is applied to the formation of 85Rb2 molecules in a magneto-optical trap. We find for optimized pulse shapes an improvement for the formation of ground state molecules by more than a factor of 10 compared to unshaped pulses at the same pump-dump delay time, and by 40% compared to unshaped pulses at the respective optimal pump-dump delay time. Since our model yields directly the spectral amplitudes and phases of the optimized pulses, the results are directly applicable in pulse shaping experiments

An ansatz for the nonlinear Demkov-Kunike problem for cold molecule formation

We study nonlinear mean-field dynamics of ultracold molecule formation in the case when the external field configuration is defined by the level-crossing Demkov-Kunike model, characterized by a bell-shaped coupling and finite variation of the detuning. Analyzing the fast sweep rate regime of the strong interaction limit, which models a situation when the peak value of the coupling is large enough and the resonance crossing is sufficiently fast, we construct a highly accurate ansatz to describe the temporal dynamics of the molecule formation in the mentioned interaction regime. The absolute error of the constructed approximation is less than 3*10^-6 for the final transition probability while at certain time points it might increase up to 10^-3. Examining the role of the different terms in the constructed approximation, we prove that in the fast sweep rate regime of the strong interaction limit the temporal dynamics of the atom-molecule conversion effectively consists of the process of resonance crossing, which is governed by a nonlinear equation, followed by atom-molecular coherent oscillations which are basically described by a solution of the linear problem, associated with the considered nonlinear one.Comment: Accepted for publication in J. Contemp. Phys. (Armenian National Academy of Sciences) 8 pages, 4 figure

Phosphatidylinositol Transfer Protein-α in platelets is inconsequential for thrombosis yet is utilized for tumor metastasis

Platelets are increasingly recognized for their contributions to tumor metastasis. Here, we show that the phosphoinositide signaling modulated by phosphatidylinositol transfer protein type α (PITPα), a protein which shuttles phosphatidylinositol between organelles, is essential for platelet-mediated tumor metastasis. PITPα-deficient platelets have reduced intracellular pools of phosphoinositides and an 80% reduction in IP3 generation upon platelet activation. Unexpectedly, mice lacking platelet PITPα form thrombi normally at sites of intravascular injuries. However, following intravenous injection of tumor cells, mice lacking PITPα develop fewer lung metastases due to a reduction of fibrin formation surrounding the tumor cells, rendering the metastases susceptible to mucosal immunity. These findings demonstrate that platelet PITPα-mediated phosphoinositide signaling is inconsequential for in vivo hemostasis, yet is critical for in vivo dissemination. Moreover, this demonstrates that signaling pathways within platelets may be segregated into pathways that are essential for thrombosis formation and pathways that are important for non-hemostatic functions