Export and benefits of hedging in emerging economies

We study the impact of exchange rate risk upon export production within an emerging economy lacking in currency forward markets. However there exists a financial asset whose price is correlated with the relevant foreign currency. We present conditions under which export production is stimulated when the hedging device becomes more effective. In any case the exporting firm benefits from imperfectly hedging exchange rate risk. --Emerging markets,transition economy,export,exchange rate risk,price risk,hedging

Export production, hedging exchange rate risk: the duopoly case

This paper studies a Cournot duopoly in international trade so that the firms are exposed to exchange rate risk. A hedging opportunity is introduced by a forward market where the foreign currency can be traded on. We investigate two settings: First we assume that hedging and output decisions are taken simultaneously. We show that hedging is just done for risk managing reasons as it is not possible to use hedging strategically. In this setting the well-known separation result of the competitive firm holds if both firms have the hedging opportunity. In the second setting the hedging decisions are made before the output decisions. We show that hedging is used not only to manage the risk exposure but also as a strategic device. Furthermore we find that no separation result can be stated. --Exchange Rate risk,hedging,exports,duopoly

Biochemistry of glomerular basement membrane of the normal and diabetic human

The histological appearance of kidneys from patients with diabetic nephropathy is characterized by a variety of findings. The most characteristic finding is a diffuse and/or nodular glomerulosclerosis, consisting of thickening of the peripheral basement membranes and an increase of the mesangial matrix. The nodular transformation of the mesangium leads to the classical Kimmelstiel-Wilson lesion. These typical morphological findings have directed attention to the process and nature of basement membrane thickening. Also, it has been recognized for a long time that basement membrane thickening is dependent on the duration and metabolic control of diabetes mellitus [1–4]. The question of how basement membrane thickening and diabetes mellitus are related biochemically was less clear. This lack of clarity was mainly due to the fact that the chemical structure of the basement membrane was not known. Earlier chemical analyses were beset by methodological drawbacks limiting the value of the results [5, 6], whereas recent studies on the chemical composition of normal and diabetic human glomerular basement membranes (HGBM) produced conflicting results [7–13]. The isolation procedure and the source of the kidneys, as well as other factors, have been considered responsible for the different results obtained by various investigators. This prompted us to carry out further biochemical analyses on normal and diabetic HGBM under more carefully controlled conditions. Special attention has been paid to the source of kidneys and the evaluation of contamination of the isolated basement membranes

Does Early Childhood Teacher Education Affect Students' Cognitive Orientations?

Early childhood teachers may differ regarding the knowledge base they use when making professional decisions. In this study two orientations are distinguished: the orientation towards scientific knowledge vs. the orientation towards intuition and subjective experience. As different tracks in early childhood teacher education qualify for professional practice, and as education of early childhood teachers matters with regard to developmental outcomes of children, knowledge orientations of prospective early childhood teachers attending universities and attending vocational schools are investigated and compared. Knowledge orientations were assessed by means of a questionnaire. After propensity score matching of 402 beginners and 402 graduates, multilevel analyses indicate that scientific orientation at the end of teacher education was higher and subjective orientation was lower than at the beginning. Furthermore, scientific knowledge orientation of BA-students was higher, subjective orientation was lower than of students at professional schools. Implications of these results regarding education of early childhood teachers are discussed

Unfitted Trefftz discontinuous Galerkin methods for elliptic boundary value problems

We propose a new geometrically unfitted finite element method based on discontinuous Trefftz ansatz spaces. Trefftz methods allow for a reduction in the number of degrees of freedom in discontinuous Galerkin methods, thereby, the costs for solving arising linear systems significantly. This work shows that they are also an excellent way to reduce the number of degrees of freedom in an unfitted setting. We present a unified analysis of a class of geometrically unfitted discontinuous Galerkin methods with different stabilisation mechanisms to deal with small cuts between the geometry and the mesh. We cover stability and derive a-priori error bounds, including errors arising from geometry approximation for the class of discretisations for a model Poisson problem in a unified manner. The analysis covers Trefftz and full polynomial ansatz spaces, alike. Numerical examples validate the theoretical findings and demonstrate the potential of the approach

Asymptomatic Periprosthetic Joint Infection of the Hip with High-Virulence Pathogens: Report of Two Cases

Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) may be a life-threatening condition, particularly when caused by pathogens with high virulence, capable of developing secondary bloodstream infection. We report two cases of chronic PJI of the hip, one with Staphylococcus aureus in a 27-year-old female with severe anorexia, the other one with Staphylococcus lugdunensis in a 74-year-old female suffering from morbid obesity. Both infections did not cause relevant symptoms over time despite the absence of suppressive antibiotic treatment. To our knowledge, there are no similar cases described in the literature. While it remains difficult to recommend postponing treatment in such cases, this option may be an alternative to suppressive antibiotic therapy

Numerical benchmarking of fluid-rigid body interactions

We propose a fluid-rigid body interaction benchmark problem, consisting of a solid spherical obstacle in a Newtonian fluid, whose centre of mass is fixed but is free to rotate. A number of different problems are defined for both two and three spatial dimensions. The geometry is chosen specifically, such that the fluid-solid partition does not change over time and classical fluid solvers are able to solve the fluid-structure interaction problem. We summarise the different approaches used to handle the fluid-solid coupling and numerical methods used to solve the arising problems. The results obtained by the described methods are presented and we give reference intervals for the relevant quantities of interest

Mean sea level variability and influence of the North Atlantic oscillation on long-term trends in the German Bight

Changes in the seasonal cycle of mean sea level (MSL) may affect the heights of storm surges and thereby flood risk in coastal areas. This study investigates the intra- and inter-annual variability of monthly MSL and its link to the North Atlantic Oscillation using records from 13 tide gauges located in the German Bight. The amplitudes of the seasonal MSL cycle are not regionally uniform and vary between 20 and 29 cm. Generally, the amplitudes are smaller at the southwestern stations, increasing as one travels to the northeastern part. The amplitudes, as well as the phase of the seasonal cycle, are characterized by a large inter-annual and inter-decadal variability, but no long-term trend could be detected. Nevertheless, in the last two decades annual maximum peaks more frequently occurred in January and February, whereas beforehand an accumulation was detected for the November and December period. These changes in phase in the various sea level time series are consistent with a shift in the annual cycle, which is, however, not significant. The changes are associated with strongly increasing trends in monthly MSL of the winter season (J–M), which are considerably higher compared to the remaining seasons. For the same season, the MSL and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) indices show strong similarities, resulting in statistically significant correlations (r ~ 0.7). Hence, these changes are linked with changing pressure conditions over the North Atlantic, which lead to a strong phase of positive values in the NAO index between the 1960’s and 1990’s

Equianalytic and equisingular families of curves on surfaces

We consider flat families of reduced curves on a smooth surface S such that each member C has the same number of singularities of fixed singularity types and the corresponding (locally closed) subscheme H of the Hilbert scheme of S. We are mainly concerned with analytic resp. topological singularity types and give a sufficient condition for the smoothness of H (at C). Our results for S=P^2 seem to be quite sharp for families of cuves of small degree d.Comment: LaTeX v 2.0

Superconducting gap and vortex lattice of the heavy fermion compound CeCu_2Si_2

The order parameter and pairing mechanism for superconductivity in heavy fermion compounds are still poorly understood. Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy at ultra-low temperatures can yield important information about the superconducting order parameter and the gap structure. Here, we study the first heavy fermion superconductor, CeCu_2Si_2. Our data show the superconducting gap which is not fully formed and exhibits features that point to a multi-gap order parameter. Spatial mapping of the zero bias conductance in magnetic field reveals the vortex lattice, which allows us to unequivocally link the observed conductance gap to superconductivity in CeCu_2Si_2. The vortex lattice is found to be predominantly triangular with distortions at fields close to \sim 0.7 H_{c2}.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, revised version accepted for publication in PR