Financial Expertise as an Arms Race

We show that firms intermediating trade have incentives to overinvest in financial expertise. In our model, expertise improves firms’ ability to estimate value when trading a security. Expertise creates asymmetric information, which, under normal circumstances, works to the advantage of the expert as it deters opportunistic bargaining by counterparties. This advantage is neutralized in equilibrium, however, by offsetting investments by competitors. Moreover, when volatility rises the adverse selection created by expertise triggers breakdowns in liquidity, destroying gains to trade and thus the benefits that firms hope to gain through high levels of expertise

Information Spillovers and Performance Persistence for Hedge Funds

We present a simple model that rationalizes performance persistence in hedge fund limited partnerships. In contrast to the model for mutual funds of Berk and Green (2004), the learning in our model pertains to profitability associated with an innovative trading strategy or emerging sector, rather than ability specific to the fund manager. As a result of potential information spillovers, which would increase competition if informed investors were to partner with non-incumbent managers, incumbent managers will let informed investors benefit from increases in estimated profitability following high returns realized with the trading strategy or in the sector

Effects of pre-slaughter feeding regimen on beef carcass characteristics

Digitized 2007 AES MoU.Includes bibliographical references (pages 17-18)

Removal of entrapped rings from swollen fingers by a nondestructive technique

Background: Ring entrapment is uncommon in our environment. It is necessary to remove entrapped rings and the removal techniques could be either destructive or non-destructive. The aim of this study is to present a non-destructive method of entrapped ring removal.Methods:   A prospective study of patients who presented to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt between 1st October 2007 and 30th September 2018, with entrapped finger ring(s). The authors developed a non-destructive technique of entrapped ring removal utilizing 1.5-2.5 mm electric cables. The cables are passed under the ring and looped over it. The surgeon and his first assistant applies traction towards the distal aspect of the finger through the cables while moving the cables from side to side around the finger, with the second assistant maintaining a counter-traction.  Data obtained was analyzed using IBM’s Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.Results:  During the period, there were 25 patients who had entrapped ring(s) in their fingers. Mean age was 22.92±9.33 years. There were 10 males and 15 females. Mean duration of ring entrapment was 5.72±4.57 days. Mean duration of ring removal was 63.6±46.58 seconds. Abrasion was the most common complication following initial removal attempts as well as this technique. The entrapped rings were all successfully removed.Conclusion: The electric cable technique is a simple, inexpensive and readily available method of entrapped ring removal.

Comment on piNN Coupling from High Precision np Charge Exchange at 162 MeV

In this updated and expanded version of our delayed Comment we show that the np backward cross section, as presented by the Uppsala group, is seriously flawed (more than 25 sd.). The main reason is the incorrect normalization of the data. We show also that their extrapolation method, used to determine the charged piNN coupling constant, is a factor of about 10 less accurate than claimed by Ericson et al. The large extrapolation error makes the determination of the coupling constant by the Uppsala group totally uninteresting.Comment: 5 pages, latex2e with a4wide.sty. This is an updated and extended version of the Comment published in Phys. Rev. Letters 81, 5253 (1998

Dual sensory impairment in special schools in South-Eastern Nigeria.

In a cross-sectional study to determine the magnitude of dual sensory impairment (DSI-combined hearing and vision loss) in children in single-disability special education schools, children in schools for the blind and schools for the deaf in four states in South-East Nigeria were examined by an ophthalmologist and otorhinolaryngologist to determine the level of their disability and to identify other disabilities if any. Participants were all students with childhood blindness or childhood deafness. The magnitude and causes of DSI and the burden of undetected DSI were the main outcome measures. A total of 273 students were examined. About 7% of these students had DSI out of which over 60% (12/19) was previously undetected. There was more DSI in the blind schools than in the deaf schools (p=0.003). There is a large burden of undetected DSI in children in special schools in Nigeria. There is a need to create awareness of this problem and advocate appropriate screening, rehabilitative and educational strategies for children who have it

Equatorial locations of water on Mars: Improved resolution maps based on Mars Odyssey Neutron Spectrometer data

We present a map of the near subsurface hydrogen distribution on Mars, based on epithermal neutron data from the Mars Odyssey Neutron Spectrometer. The map’s spatial resolution is approximately improved two-fold via a new form of the pixon image reconstruction technique. We discover hydrogen-rich mineralogy far from the poles, including  ∼10 wt.% water equivalent hydrogen (WEH) on the flanks of the Tharsis Montes and  >40 wt.% WEH at the Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF). The high WEH abundance at the MFF implies the presence of bulk water ice. This supports the hypothesis of recent periods of high orbital obliquity during which water ice was stable on the surface. We find the young undivided channel system material in southern Elysium Planitia to be distinct from its surroundings and exceptionally dry; there is no evidence of hydration at the location in Elysium Planitia suggested to contain a buried water ice sea. Finally, we find that the sites of recurring slope lineae (RSL) do not correlate with subsurface hydration. This implies that RSL are not fed by large, near-subsurface aquifers, but are instead the result of either small ( < 120 km diameter) aquifers, deliquescence of perchlorate and chlorate salts or dry, granular flows

Pulse-lavage brushing followed by hydrogen peroxide-gauze packing for bone-bed preparation in cemented total hip arthroplasty : a bovine model

To compare the effectiveness of pulse-lavage brushing followed by hydrogen peroxide-gauze packing with either technique alone or normal-saline irrigation in bone-bed preparation for cemented total hip arthroplasty. 44 fresh-frozen ox femoral canals were prepared for cemented total hip arthroplasty using 4 techniques: normal-saline irrigation, pulse-lavage brushing, hydrogen peroxide-soaked gauze packing, and a combination of the latter 2 techniques. The maximum tensile pull-out force required to separate the prosthesis from the femoral canal was measured as an indicator of the strength of the cement-bone interface. The mean pull-out force to separate the prosthesis from the femoral canal was significantly higher in specimens prepared with pulse-lavage brushing followed by hydrogen peroxide-soaked gauze packing or pulse-lavage brushing alone than those prepared with normal-saline irrigation or hydrogen peroxide-soaked gauze packing alone 300(p&lt;0.001). Pulse-lavage brushing is more effective at cleansing the femoral canal and increasing mechanical strength at the cement-bone interface than preparation with normal-saline irrigation or hydrogen peroxide-soaked gauze packing.<br /

A 23 kDa membrane glycoprotein bearing NeuNAcα2-3Galβ1-3GalNAc O-linked carbohydrate chains acts as a receptor for Streptococcus sanguis OMZ 9 on human buccal epithelial cells

Streptococcus sanguis colonizes several human oral surfaces, including both hard and soft tissues. Large salivary mucin like glycoproteins bearing sialic acid residues are known to bind various S.sanguis strains. However, the molecular basis for the adhesion of S.sanguis to human buccal epithelial cells (HBEC) has not been established. The present study shows that S.sanguis OMZ 9 binds to exfoliated HBEC in a sialic acid-sensitive manner. The desialylation of such cells invariably abolhhes adhesion of S.sanguis OMZ 9 to the cell surface. A soluble glycopeptide bearing short sialylated O-linked carbohydrate chains behaves as a potent inhibitor of the attachment of S.sanguis OMZ 9 to exfoliated HBEC. The resialylation of desialylated HBEC with CMP-sialic acid and Galβ1,3GalNAc α2,3-sialyltransferase specific for O-glycans restores the receptor function for S.sanguis OMZ 9, whereas a similar cell resialylation with the Galβ1,4GlcNAc α2,6-sialyltmnsferase specific for N-glycans is without effect. Finally, ceinyl-sialic acid as a substrate yeilds exfoliated HBFC bearing flurescence as the catalyst. The latter finding demonstrates that this 23kDa cell surface glycoprotein bears NeuNAcα2-3Galβ1-3GalNAc O-linked sugar chains, a carbohydrate sequence which is recongnized by S.sanguis OMZ 9 on exfoliated HBEC. In similar experiments carried out with a buccal carcinoma cell line termed SqCC/Y1 S.sanguis OMZ 9 did not attach in great numbers to such cultured cells, and these cells were shown to not express membrane glycoprotien bearing α2,3-sialylated O-linked carbohydrate chain