An Empirical Investigation of the Performance of Japanese Mutual Funds: Skill or Luck?

This paper assesses the performance of 355 actively managed Japanese Equity Mutual Funds between April 2011 and April 2016. The equal weight portfolio and Jensen’s alpha measures of active management provide strong evidence that Japanese Mutual Funds fail to outperform the benchmark four-factor capital asset pricing model. When it comes to market timing, the Treynor and Mazuy measure shows that 33 funds have significant positive market timing ability which is largely offset by 31 funds with significant negative timing ability. To ensure the statistical inference is robust to the non-normality found in 33 funds we employ Fama and French’s cross-sectional bootstrap. The results show that a large proportion of funds fail to outperform a hypothetical world with no skill. On the persistence of skill we find that there is stronger persistence for poor performing funds than for strong performing funds

An Empirical Investigation of the Performance of Japanese Mutual Funds: Skill or Luck?

This paper assesses the performance of 355 actively managed Japanese Equity Mutual Funds between April 2011 and April 2016. The equal weight portfolio and Jensen’s alpha measures of active management provide strong evidence that Japanese Mutual Funds fail to outperform the benchmark four-factor capital asset pricing model. When it comes to market timing, the Treynor and Mazuy measure shows that 33 funds have significant positive market timing ability which is largely offset by 31 funds with significant negative timing ability. To ensure the statistical inference is robust to the non-normality found in 33 funds we employ Fama and French’s cross-sectional bootstrap. The results show that a large proportion of funds fail to outperform a hypothetical world with no skill. On the persistence of skill we find that there is stronger persistence for poor performing funds than for strong performing funds

IUE ultraviolet observations of W UM a Stars

International Ultraviolet Explorer observations of four W UMa eclipsing binary systems (44 Boo, VW Cep, W UMa, and epsilon) are discussed. The stars generally show large surface fluxes of high temperature lines (C II, C IV, N V, Si IV) which may result from the high rotational velocities forced by synchronous rotation. High dispersion spectra of the 44 Boo system in the Mg II line enable the individual stellar components to be identified. The line widths and phase variations are consistent with the optically determined spectroscopic orbit. Circumstellar absorption of Mg II may be presented at selected phases

Effects of surface crossing in chemical reactions - The H3/plus/ system

Potential energy surfaces for singlet states of H3/plus

Light-cone coordinates based at a geodesic world line

Continuing work initiated in an earlier publication [Phys. Rev. D 69, 084007 (2004)], we construct a system of light-cone coordinates based at a geodesic world line of an arbitrary curved spacetime. The construction involves (i) an advanced-time or a retarded-time coordinate that labels past or future light cones centered on the world line, (ii) a radial coordinate that is an affine parameter on the null generators of these light cones, and (iii) angular coordinates that are constant on each generator. The spacetime metric is calculated in the light-cone coordinates, and it is expressed as an expansion in powers of the radial coordinate in terms of the irreducible components of the Riemann tensor evaluated on the world line. The formalism is illustrated in two simple applications, the first involving a comoving world line of a spatially-flat cosmology, the other featuring an observer placed on the axis of symmetry of Melvin's magnetic universe.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur

Computer Interactive Reminiscence and Conversation Aid groups – delivering cognitive stimulation with technology

INTRODUCTION: Group-based cognitive stimulation is the only nonpharmacological intervention recommended by the UK National Institute for Clinical and Health Excellence (NICE) for people with dementia. The potential of technology to extend the availability of group-based cognitive stimulation has not been tested. METHOD: One hundred and sixty-one people with dementia participated in an 8-session group activity using Computer Interactive Reminiscence and Conversation Aid (CIRCA). Cognition, quality of life and general health were assessed pre-, post- and three-months later. RESULTS: There was a significant improvement in cognition and quality of life at the end of the CIRCA group intervention, which was further improved at three-month follow-up. CONCLUSION: CIRCA group sessions improved cognition and quality of life similar to group-base cognitive stimulation approved by NICE. These benefits were maintained at three-month follow-up. The data confirm the potential of CIRCA, which can be populated with different cultural and language contents for different user groups

Study of a soft lander/support module for Mars missions. Volume 3 - Appendixes Final summary report

Soft lander support module for Mars missions - lunar module radar evaluation and vernier phase simulatio

Humor Me: Using Humor Writing to Teach First-Year Composition Students Rhetoric and Composition

A perennial problem for many first-year composition (FYC) instructors is deciding what curricular materials to use to teach their students about rhetoric and composition and how to use those resources to enable their students to practice and hone their writing skills. This dissertation argues that humor writing is a viable option as it offers unique points of connection between students and the curricular material that aid them in learning about, and achieving, college-level writing. Furthermore, humor writing can provide opportunities to teach FYC students how to engage consciously with and analyze the integral concepts of audience awareness and situated knowledge through a medium that is engaging and familiar. Thus, this dissertation’s research is guided by three questions: 1) How might humor writing be used as a teaching tool in FYC? 2) How might humor writing be used to teach FYC students how to engage consciously with and analyze audience awareness and situated knowledge? 3) What are some of the risks of using humor writing to teach rhetoric and composition in FYC, and how can they be minimized?Interestingly, two of the greats in rhetoric and composition, Aristotle and Quintilian, praised humor for its mastery of rhetoric and used it to teach their students. However, humor fell out of favor during the Industrial Revolution because entertainment was seen as anathema to “serious” curricular work. Humor is now making a slight and tentative return due to academia’s increased acceptance of popular culture. In conjunction with an exploration of rhetoric and composition’s historical on-again-off-again relationship with humor, this dissertation uses rhetorical analysis to ascertain how modern humor writers use audience awareness and situated knowledge.The analyses’ findings imply that much of humor writing liberally employs audience awareness and situated knowledge, thereby making it fertile ground for teaching FYC students about said concepts. In light of these findings, this dissertation offers activities, lesson plans, and assignments for FYC, and it discusses the benefits and possible risks of using humor writing and how those risks may be mitigated. Ultimately, this dissertation concludes that humor writing is a possible answer to FYC instructors’ challenge of including engaging material that lends itself to students practicing and honing their writing abilities, particularly their knowledge and skills regarding audience awareness and situated knowledge