Tight Sum-of-Squares lower bounds for binary polynomial optimization problems

We give two results concerning the power of the Sum-of-Squares(SoS)/Lasserre hierarchy. For binary polynomial optimization problems of degree $2d$ and an odd number of variables $n$, we prove that $\frac{n+2d-1}{2}$ levels of the SoS/Lasserre hierarchy are necessary to provide the exact optimal value. This matches the recent upper bound result by Sakaue, Takeda, Kim and Ito. Additionally, we study a conjecture by Laurent, who considered the linear representation of a set with no integral points. She showed that the Sherali-Adams hierarchy requires $n$ levels to detect the empty integer hull, and conjectured that the SoS/Lasserre rank for the same problem is $n-1$. We disprove this conjecture and derive lower and upper bounds for the rank

The impact of credit ratings on the information content of earnings announcements: Evidence from the US stock market

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: In this thesis, I study how the credit rating of a company affects the information content, i.e., the stock price and trading volume reaction, of its earnings announcements in stock markets. I also examine how this impact differs between positive and negative earnings news as well as analyzing the effects of preceding rating changes. Finally, the study looks into how the relationship between ratings and informativeness of earnings announcements is affected by the level of information asymmetry surrounding firms and disclosure regulation changes. According to my knowledge, this is the first study to provide a more comprehensive view on the informational role of ratings around earnings announcements in stock markets. DATA AND METHODOLOGY: The empirical analysis of this study is based on 81,990 earnings announcements (from 2,765 unique firms) made in the US stock market by S&P rated firms in the period from February 1986 to December 2013. The methodology of this paper consists of traditional event study methods employing both univariate analysis and multivariate regressions where the information content of earnings releases is measured with cumulative abnormal returns and trading volumes over the [-1, +1] and [-2, +2] announcement windows. The impact of credit ratings is analyzed with different rating specifications. RESULTS: I find that the stock price and trading volume reactions around earnings disclosures are more pronounced for firms with lower ratings. For example, in the event of a negative earnings surprise, a one notch decrease in a company's credit rating is associated with a 0.25% more negative stock price reaction to earnings releases. Furthermore, a one notch lower credit rating results in 0.15% more of the outstanding shares being traded in the market around an earnings announcement. These findings indicate that lower ratings increase the information content of earnings releases and are in line with the univariate results of Greatrex (2009) but do not support the results of Leventis et al. (2014) who argue that higher ratings increase the informativeness of earnings announcements. Additional findings include that lower ratings are associated with even larger market reactions in the case of negative earnings surprises, when firms are characterized by more information asymmetry and when disclosure regulation changes increase the informational advantage of rating agencies. Preceding rating changes also increase the information content of earnings releases in some cases. Overall, my results are consistent with the hypothesis that better credit ratings reduce information asymmetry in financial markets

Government steering Beyond 2020 : From Regulatory and Resource Management to Systems navigation

The Steering2020 project provides an overview of the development and current state of Finnish state governance and strengthens the discussion on the possibilities of systemic governance. The analysis identifies enablers and barriers in the transition to more phenomenon-based steering. The more systems-based form of future steering and anticipatory governance is called systems navigation. The project is based on complexity- and systems-theoretical interpretations of anticipatory governance. From the perspective of complexity thinking, the challenges and opportunities of system navigation are not in the characteristics of institutions and actors themselves, rather in the relationships between them. Systems navigation is a structure and process of systemic steering that emerges and guides interaction, with an emphasis on a humble and forward-looking approach to governance and decision-making, as well as systemic trust and learning. The Covid-19 crisis has provided an exceptional frame of reference for analysing the policy tools and instruments of systems steering in crisis situations. In part, the exceptional situation has reinforced the perceived need for a more systemic approach to steering, in part it has highlighted the longing for clear competencies and less complexity. Multilevel systems steering does not represent mainstream. It is therefore important to draw lessons and learn from examples of cultural change on international, regional and local level, as well as to support systemic trust and adaptation, and to introduce incentives to reform guidance when needed.This publication is part of the implementation of the Government Plan for Analysis, Assessment and Research. (tietokayttoon.fi) The content is the responsibility of the producers of the information and does not necessarily represent the view of the Government

Clinical assessment of a non-invasive wearable MEMS pressure sensor array for monitoring of arterial pulse waveform, heart rate and detection of atrial fibrillation

There is an unmet clinical need for a low cost and easy to use wearable devices for continuous cardiovascular health monitoring. A flexible and wearable wristband, based on microelectromechanical sensor (MEMS) elements array was developed to support this need. The performance of the device in cardiovascular monitoring was investigated by (i) comparing the arterial pressure waveform recordings to the gold standard, invasive catheter recording (n = 18), (ii) analyzing the ability to detect irregularities of the rhythm (n = 7), and (iii) measuring the heartrate monitoring accuracy (n = 31). Arterial waveforms carry important physiological information and the comparison study revealed that the recordings made with the wearable device and with the gold standard device resulted in almost identical (r = 0.9-0.99) pulse waveforms. The device can measure the heart rhythm and possible irregularities in it. A clustering analysis demonstrates a perfect classification accuracy between atrial fibrillation (AF) and sinus rhythm. The heartrate monitoring study showed near perfect beat-to-beat accuracy (sensitivity = 99.1%, precision = 100%) on healthy subjects. In contrast, beat-to-beat detection from coronary artery disease patients was challenging, but the averaged heartrate was extracted successfully (95% CI: -1.2 to 1.1 bpm). In conclusion, the results indicate that the device could be useful in remote monitoring of cardiovascular diseases and personalized medicine

Hiilinieluja ja ilmastohyötyjä hallituin riskein : Metsäsektorin ohjauskeinojen monitieteinen analyysi

Suomi ei ole saavuttamassa EU LULUCF-asetuksen mukaisia maankäyttösektorin ilmastotavoitteitaan vuosille 2021–2025. Myös vuosien 2026–2030 tavoitteiden ja Suomen oman hiilineutraalisuustavoitteen 2035 saavuttaminen tulee olemaan haastavaa. Metsien hakkuut ovat viime vuosina kasvaneet voimakkaan puun kysynnän vuoksi ja 1950-luvulta alkanut metsien kokonaiskasvu on taittunut. Puun kysynnän on ennustettu edelleen voimistuvan tulevaisuudessa. Hillintätoimien toteutus ei ole käynnistynyt tarvittavassa laajuudessa, vaikka hillintäkeinoja onkin tunnistettu muun muassa maankäyttösektorin ilmastosuunnitelmassa, ja metsätalouden kannustinjärjestelmää on uudistettu. Jos maankäyttösektorin ilmastotavoitteita ei saavuteta, Suomelle voi koitua merkittäviä taloudellisia kustannuksia nieluyksiköiden ostamisesta EU:n muilta jäsenmailta tai päästöjen vähentämisestä muilla sektoreilla. Metsien nielun vahvistamiseksi tarvitaankin hillintää tukevaa ja metsänhoitoa ohjaavia ohjauskeinoja. Hiilinieluja ja ilmastohyötyjä hallituin riskein: Metsiä ja puutuotteita koskevat ohjauskeinot (Hilmari) -hankkeessa arvioitiin kahdeksaa eri metsäsektorin ohjauskeinoa niiden kustannusvaikuttavuuden, ympäristövaikutusten, sosiaalisen hyväksyttävyyden ja lainsäädännön näkökulmasta. Työn pohjalta suositeltiin tehokkaita ja nopeita keinoja toteuttaa kattavaa ohjausta metsäsektorilla. Tehokas ohjauskeinokokonaisuus voitaisiin toteuttaa hiilikorvauksen, puurakentamisen tukemisen sekä maankäytön muutosmaksun avulla. Nämä ohjauskeinot ovat maankäyttömuutosmaksua lukuun ottamatta laajasti metsäsektorin toimijoiden hyväksymiä ja myös lainsäännöllisesti mahdollisia ohjauskeinoja. Hiilikorvauksen käytännön toteutukseen liittyy kuitenkin avoimia kysymyksiä, jotka on selvitettävä ennen käyttöönottoa. Siirtymävaiheen ratkaisuna sääntelyyn perustuvat uudistushakkuun läpimittarajat tai korvaus kiertoajan pidentämisestä voitaisiin toteuttaa todennäköisesti nopeammin. Hakkuiden vuotaminen ohjausjärjestelmän ulkopuolelle heikentää hillinnän tehoa. Tehokas hillintä vaatiikin, että mahdollisimman suuri osa Suomen talousmetsien pinta-alasta on ohjauskeinon piirissä. Vapaaehtoisuuteen pohjautuvissa järjestelmissä kattavuuteen voidaan vaikuttaa joko suoraan sääntelyllä tai kiinnittämällä huomiota maksettavien korvauksien suuruuteen sekä toteutuksen yksityiskohtiin ja neuvontaan. Suomen metsiä koskevan ilmasto-ohjauksen yhteys- ja ristikkäisvaikutuksia olemassa olevan ohjauksen kanssa tulisi jatkossa tarkastella kattavasti, ja varmistaa, että kokonaisuus edistää sekä ilmastopolitiikan, että metsien käytölle asetettujen muiden tavoitteiden toteutumista. Ohjauskeinokokonaisuuden aiheuttamia kustannuksia on syytä verrata EU:n sisältä hankittujen nieluyksiköiden kustannuksiin

Common Inflammation-Related Candidate Gene Variants and Acute Kidney Injury in 2647 Critically Ill Finnish Patients

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a syndrome with high incidence among the critically ill. Because the clinical variables and currently used biomarkers have failed to predict the individual susceptibility to AKI, candidate gene variants for the trait have been studied. Studies about genetic predisposition to AKI have been mainly underpowered and of moderate quality. We report the association study of 27 genetic variants in a cohort of Finnish critically ill patients, focusing on the replication of associations detected with variants in genes related to inflammation, cell survival, or circulation. In this prospective, observational Finnish Acute Kidney Injury (FINNAKI) study, 2647 patients without chronic kidney disease were genotyped. We defined AKI according to Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) criteria. We compared severe AKI (Stages 2 and 3, n = 625) to controls (Stage 0, n = 1582). For genotyping we used iPLEX(TM) Assay (Agena Bioscience). We performed the association analyses with PLINK software, using an additive genetic model in logistic regression. Despite the numerous, although contradictory, studies about association between polymorphisms rs1800629 in TNFA and rs1800896 in IL10 and AKI, we found no association (odds ratios 1.06 (95% CI 0.89-1.28, p = 0.51) and 0.92 (95% CI 0.80-1.05, p = 0.20), respectively). Adjusting for confounders did not change the results. To conclude, we could not confirm the associations reported in previous studies in a cohort of critically ill patients.Peer reviewe

Heme oxygenase-1 repeat polymorphism in septic acute kidney injury

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a syndrome that frequently affects the critically ill. Recently, an increased number of dinucleotide repeats in the HMOX1 gene were reported to associate with development of AKI in cardiac surgery. We aimed to test the replicability of this finding in a Finnish cohort of critically ill septic patients. This multicenter study was part of the national FINNAKI study. We genotyped 300 patients with severe AKI (KDIGO 2 or 3) and 353 controls without AKI (KDIGO 0) for the guanine-thymine (GTn) repeat in the promoter region of the HMOX1 gene. The allele calling was based on the number of repeats, the cut off being 27 repeats in the S-L (short to long) classification, and 27 and 34 repeats for the S-M-L2 (short to medium to very long) classification. The plasma concentrations of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) enzyme were measured on admission. The allele distribution in our patients was similar to that published previously, with peaks at 23 and 30 repeats. The S-allele increases AKI risk. An adjusted OR was 1.30 for each S-allele in an additive genetic model (95% CI 1.01-1.66; p = 0.041). Alleles with a repeat number greater than 34 were significantly associated with lower HO-1 concentration (p<0.001). In septic patients, we report an association between a short repeat in HMOX1 and AKI risk