Evidencia de que no es necesario ajustar por riesgo al estimar el costo de uso del dinero

Investors value the special attributes of monetary assets (e.g., exchangeability, liquidity, and safety) and pay a premium for holding them in the form of a lower return rate -- The user cost of holding monetary assets can be measured approximately by the difference between the returns on illiquid risky assets and those of safer liquid assets -- A more appropriate measure should adjust this difference by the differential risk of the assets in question -- We investigate the impact that time non-separable preferences has on the estimation of the risk-adjusted user cost of money -- Using U.K. data from 1965Q1 to 2011Q1, we estimate a habit-based asset pricing model with money in the utility function and find that the risk adjustment for risky monetary assets is negligible -- Thus, researchers can dispense with risk adjusting the user cost of money in constructing monetary aggregate indexe

Affine term structure models: forecasting the Colombian yield curve

Modelar de forma superior la curva de rendimientos es útil para valoración de activos, planeación financiera y administración de riesgos. En este artículo se estiman cinco modelos afines de la estructura a plazos colombiana usando datos diarios. Se encuentra que un modelo de tres factores tiene un desempeño superior a los demás modelos para pronósticos intra-muestrales y para pronósticos (fuera de la muestra) con horizontes de uno y cinco días. Los factores del modelo se asemejan a sus contrapartes empíricas del nivel, la pendiente y la curvatura de la curva de rendimientos colombiana.Superior modeling of the yield curve is useful for asset pricing, financial planning, and risk management. In this article, we estimate five affine term structure models using daily Colombian data. We find that a three-factor model outperforms the other models in one and five days ahead forecasts. The model’s factors closely mimic empirical proxies for the level, the slope, and the curvature of the Colombian yield curve

Development of bronchiectasis during long-term rituximab treatment for rheumatoid arthritis

Here the cases of three female patients who received long-term rituximab treatment for seropositive, erosive and deforming rheumatoid arthritis was reported. After rituximab treatment, they presented with recurrent sinusitis and pneumonia, followed by the subsequent development of bronchiectasis. A temporal relationship between rituximab treatment and the onset of respiratory complications was exposed as a possible pathogenic mechanism

Eficiencia en la gestión y quiebra de bancos comerciales estadounidenses durante la crisis financiera de 2007-2009: ¿fue diferente esta vez?

Compared with previous crises few banks failed as a result of the U.S. financial crisis of 2007-2009. We investigate the role played by managerial efficiency in the non-systemic bank failures during the crisis. During previous waves of bank failures, cost-inefficient banks and banks with relatively less capital or low-quality assets were more likely to fail. Using data from 2001 to 2010, we show that profit inefficiency—our proxy for managerial inefficiency— is a robust predictor of bank failures while cost inefficiency is unrelated to them. In addition, capital adequacy lost importance in predicting non-systemic bank failures during the crisis while loan quality remained a strong predictor. Our results suggest that profit efficiency can be an important managerial indicator in monitoring banks.En comparación con crisis previas, pocos bancos quebraron como resultado de la crisis financiera estadounidense de 2007-2009. En el presente artículo se investiga el papel que la eficiencia en la gestión bancaria jugó en la quiebra de bancos comerciales considerados no-sistémicos. Durante las olas de quiebras bancarias anteriores, los bancos ineficientes en costos y con baja capitalización o con activos de baja calidad tenían una mayor probabilidad de quebrar. Usando datos entre 2001 y 2010, en este artículo se utiliza la eficiencia en beneficios para capturar la eficiencia en la gestión bancaria. Se encuentra que la eficiencia en beneficios es un predictor robusto de la probabilidad de que un banco quiebre. Contrario a la literatura previa, se encuentra que la eficiencia en costos no lo es. Además, la capitalización bancaria perdió poder predictivo en la probabilidad de quiebra mientras que la calidad de los préstamos aún conserva un alto poder predictivo. Los resultados presentados sugieren que la eficiencia en beneficios puede ser un indicador importante en la supervisión y el monitoreo de los bancos

Evaluación de cementos obtenidos por activación alcalina de ceniza de carbón con NaOH curados a bajas temperaturas

The temperature at which the alkaline activation process takes place is a significant factor in the evolution of the mechanical properties of coal ash cementitious base material. In this work, the influence of temperature (8 a 38 °C) and curing time (3 and 28 days) on the mechanical properties of the alkaline synthesis of two coal ashes was evaluated through the study of the mineralogical evolution of the cementitious phases by XRD and FTIR. We found that the type of zeolite, a synthesis product, depends on the study factors. For values above 28 °C and at least 7 days, alkalinely activated cements with compressive strength above 20 MPa were achieved. Other parameters, such as SiO2/Al2O3 ratio, percentage of unburned coal and particle-size distribution, should be taken into account in the variation of mechanical performance.La temperatura a la cual se desarrolla el proceso de activación alcalina es un factor significativo en la evolución de las propiedades mecánicas de material cementante base ceniza de carbón. En este trabajo se evaluó, a través del estudio de la evolución mineralógica de las fases cementantes por DRX y FTIR, la influencia de la temperatura (8 a 38 °C) y tiempo (3 y 28 días) de curado sobre las propiedades mecánicas de la síntesis alcalina de dos cenizas de carbón. Se encontró que el tipo de zeolita, producto de la síntesis, depende de los factores de estudio. Para valores superiores a 28 °C y mínimo 7 días, se lograron cementos activados alcalinamente con resistencias superiores a 20 MPa. Otros parámetros, como la relación SiO2/Al2O3, el porcentaje de carbón inquemado y la distribución del tamaño de partícula, se deben de tener en cuenta en la variación del desempeño mecánico

Experimental and theoretical investigation on conformational and spectroscopic properties of dimethyl dithiodiglycolate, [CH3OC(O)CH2S]2

Dimethyl dithiodiglycolate (DTG), [CH3OC(O)CH2S]2, was synthetized by complete oxidation of methyl thioglycolate (MTG) with I2, and characterized by gas chromatography coupled with electron-impact mass spectrometry. Fifteen stable conformers were found with the B3LYP/6-31 + G* approximation, with calculated populations at ambient temperature higher than 1%. The IR and Raman spectra of liquid DTG were interpreted for the first time, in terms of equilibrium between four conformers. The UV–visible spectra of DTG in solutions of ethanol, isopropanol and acetonitrile present a low-intensity band around 230 nm, interpreted mainly as arising from n → π* transitions localized at the C[dbnd]O groups, according to the prediction of TD-DFT calculations.Fil: Juncal, Luciana Celeste. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Química Inorgánica ; ArgentinaFil: Bava, Yanina Belén. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Química Inorgánica ; ArgentinaFil: Tamone, Luciana Mariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Química Inorgánica ; ArgentinaFil: Seng, Samantha. Université de Lille 1 Sciences et Technologies; FranciaFil: Tobón, Yeny A.. Université de Lille 1 Sciences et Technologies; FranciaFil: Sobanska, Sophie. Université de Lille 1 Sciences et Technologies; FranciaFil: Picone, Andrea Lorena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Química Inorgánica ; ArgentinaFil: Romano, Rosana Mariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Química Inorgánica ; Argentin

Financial Education Programs in Colombia: Challenges in Assessing their Effectiveness

Financial education programs enjoy widespread governmental and financial industry support. They are considered an important tool for improving financial literacy, encouraging financial inclusion, and increasing consumer financial protection. Therefore, assessing their effectiveness is important to guarantee that public and private resources are allocated wisely. As we highlight in this paper, the available empirical literature casts serious doubts on the effectiveness of those programs in achieving their main objectives. Even properly designed—from an impact evaluation viewpoint—financial education programs fail to deliver long-run effects on individuals’ financial literacy or financial choices. We highlight the challenges to evaluate the impact of financial education programs and, consequently, their merits. We showcase the international experience in assessing the effectiveness of these programs and draw lessons for Colombia. We offer a set of recommendations regarding the minimum set of attributes that financial education programs should have to allow serious policy evaluation

The atrial resting potential distribution within a fibrotic zone and its effects on the conduction on non-fibrotic zones: A simulation study

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a heart condition commonly diagnosed within the clinical praxis. During an AF episode, rapid and irregular heartbeats are present and they underly a complex electrical activity. It is known that the atrial structural alterations play a role in establishing the fibrillatory propagation patterns. However, the specific mechanisms are not fully understood. Fibrosis is a hallmark of AF and it represents structural abnormalities that disturbs the atrial electrical conduction. In this work, the behavior of the cardiomyocytes resting action potential in a fibrotic tissue, under distinct textures, is studied. A computational model of atrial electrophysiology is implemented. For the fibrosis model, spatial complex-order derivatives are used. Several values for the derivative order are tested in order to generate different degrees of structural complexity. The fibrosis model also includes cellular heterogeneity through the presence of fibroblasts coupled to cardiomyocytes. Diffuse, interstitial and compact fibrosis textures are implemented in a 2D domain and the amount of fibrosis is varied. The distribution of the resting potential is assessed using the Shannon entropy and the tissue is stimulated in order to evaluate the conduction velocity. The results indicate that, the distinct fibrosis structural conditions generate a wide range of resting potential distributions: from normal to heavy-tailed. The entropy values indicate the changes in the resting potential distribution when the structural complexity varies. Such analysis evinced that the amount of fibrosis generates specific entropy curves respect the derivative order. Moreover, the conduction velocity outside the fibrotic area is affected by the fibrotic configuration, which evinces the long-range effect of the fractional derivative operator and agrees with experimental observations. These results suggest that the proposed complex-order model can be useful for modeling fibrosis during atrial fibrillation and the entropy approach allows characterizing the wide range of fibrillatory scenarios under distinct fibrosis configurations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Efecto de la frecuencia del ritmo sinusal en la generación de reentradas en un modelo 3D de aurícula humana remodelada

Las arritmias auriculares son las taquiarritmias más comunes en humanos. Recientemente, se ha demostrado que una actividad ectópica alrededor de las venas pulmonares puede generar mecanismos reentrantes en presencia de un sustrato vulnerable. En este estudio, examinamos el efecto de la frecuencia del ritmo sinusal para contribuir en la generación de mecanismos reentrantes iniciados por actividad ectópica. Los efectos del remodelado en las corrientes iónicas se incorporaron en un modelo 3D de aurícula humana, altamente realista. Sólo a altas frecuencias del ritmo sinusal (longitud del ciclo base ≤ 300 ms), la actividad ectópica provocó la generación de reentradas en figura de ocho en la aurícula derecha. Nuestro estudio sugiere que la interacción de actividad ectópica con un ritmo sinusal a alta frecuencia facilita la generación de mecanismos reentrantes en aurícula humana remodelada

Anthropometric characteristics of elite paddle players: Pilot study

El objetivo de este estudio fue describir las características antropométricas, la composición corporal y el somatotipo de una muestra internacional de jugadores de pádel de alto nivel de ambos sexos. En el estudio participaron 29 jugadores (15 varones y 14 mujeres) de categoría absoluta. Un total de 16 variables antropométricas fueron evaluadas. Se encontraron diferencias entre sexos en las variables masa, talla e IMC (p<0,001); en los pliegues tricipital, muslo, pierna (p<0,001) y en el sumatorio de 6 pliegues; en los perímetros brazo, muslo (p<0,001) y pierna (p<0,03); y en todos los diámetros analizados (p<0,001). Asimismo se encontraron diferencias en los componentes endomórfico (p<0,01), mesomórfico (p<0,001) y ectomórfico (p<0,05) del somatotipo. Los jugadores presentan un somatotipo mesomórfico-endomórfico y las jugadoras endo-mesomórfico. Esta investigación aporta datos biotipológicos actualizados de referencia para el pádel de élitePaddle is one of the racket sports that has grown the most in recent years. However, there are few or very limited studies that address the biotype of this discipline, especially in the elite paddle. The aim was to describe the anthropometric characteristics, body composition and somatotype of an international sample of high level paddle players. 29 subjects national top level (15 male and 14 female) participated in this study. 16 anthropometric variables were evaluated. Differences were found between sexes in the variables weight, height and BMI (p <0.001); in triceps, thigh and leg folds (p <0.001); in the arm, thigh (p <0.001) and leg (p <0.03) perimeters; and in all diameters analysed (p <0.001). Differences were also found between men and women in the endomorphic (p <0.01), mesomorphic (p <0.001) and ectomorphic (p <0.05) components of the somatotype. Male players present a mesomorphic-endomorphic somatotype while female players are preferably endo-mesomorphic. This research provides up-to-date reference data for somatotype in elite paddle playersInstituto de Estudios Altoaragoneses por el proyecto “Análisis de las demandas fisiológicas del pádel de competición: estudio de marcadores asociados al rendimiento físico-deportivo.