Reddit’s self-organised bull runs

The shares of GameStop rallied in January after discussions on the social media site Reddit led to a wave of buying of the videogame and consumer electronics retailer’s stock. Valentina Semenova and Julian Winkler study the implication of the use of trading apps and forum discussions among retail investors and write that it is unlikely that this new `modus operandi’ will simply disappear. They say it is important for researchers and policymakers to get ahead of the curve. A delay to a critical assessment of retail investor herding threatens to destabilise markets further

Применение интенсивных методов обучения арабскому языку как иностранному на начальном этапе обучения

The article gives a detailed description of the state program "Translator in the field of professional communication" (module "Translator") by the Peoples' Friendship University where the main goal declared by training activities "for the implementation of cross-cultural communication in the professional field." The author examines the objectives of the program, learning materials and basic requirements to the educational process.В настоящее время в рамках коренной перестройки системы образования в России, связанной с её вступлением в Болонский процесс, сфера преподавания иностранных языков тоже переживает существенные изменения. Основными тенденциями новой модели преподавания иностранных языков являются сокращение количества аудиторных часов, отведённых на изучение иностранного языка, введение в действие новых Госстандартов, внедрение кредитно-модульной системы контроля и оценки знаний учащихся и др. В связи с этими нововведениями перед университетами стоит задача разработки новых программ обучения. В статье дано подробное описание государственной программы РУДН «Переводчик в сфере профессиональной коммуникации» (модуль «Переводчик»), где в качестве главной цели заявлена подготовка специалистов к деятельности, «направленной на осуществление межкультурной коммуникации в профессиональной сфере». Автор рассматривает задачи программы, учебный план, составление пособий и основные требования к учебному процессу

Reddit's self-organised bull runs: Social contagion and asset prices

This paper develops an empirical and theoretical case for how `hype' among retail investors can drive large asset fluctuations. We use the dataset of discussions on WallStreetBets (WSB), an online investor forum with over nine million followers as of April 2021, to show how excitement about trading opportunities can ripple through an investor community with large market impacts. This paper finds empirical evidence of psychological contagion among retail investors by exploiting differences in stock price fluctuations and discussion intensity. We show that asset discussions on WSB are self-perpetuating: an initial set of investors attracts a larger and larger group of excited followers. Sentiments about future stock performance also spread from one individual to the next, net of any fundamental price movements. Leveraging these findings, we develop a model for how social contagion impacts prices. The proposed model and simulations show that social contagion has a destabilizing effect on markets. Finally, we establish a causal relationship between WSB activity and financial markets using an instrumental variable approach

Social contagion and asset prices: Reddit’s self-organised bull runs

This paper develops an empirical and theoretical case for how 'hype' among retail investors can drive large asset price fluctuations. We use text data from discussions on WallStreetBets (WSB), an online investor forum with over eleven million followers as of February 2022, as a case study to demonstrate how retail investors influence each other, and how social behaviours impact financial markets. We document that WSB users adopt price predictions about assets (bullish or bearish) in part due to the sentiments expressed by their peers. Discussions about stocks are also self-perpetuating: narratives about specific assets spread at an increasing rate before peaking, and eventually diminishing in importance - a pattern reminiscent of an epidemiological setting. To consolidate these findings, we develop a model for the impact of social dynamics among retail investors on asset prices. We find that the interplay between 'trend following' and `consensus formation' determines the stability of price returns, with socially-driven investing potentially causing oscillations and cycles. Our framework helps identify components of asset demand stemming from social dynamics, which we predict using WSB data. Our predictions explain significant variation in stock market activity. These findings emphasise the role that social dynamics play in financial markets, amplified by online social media

“Orphans with Living Parents”. Children's Loneliness in Russian Noble Families (The Second Half of the XIX – Beginning of the XX Centuries)

The article examines the relationship of children and parents specific to the Russian noble families. The greatest attention is paid to the evolution of the status of children. The state of the child, although living in a full family, but being in care of nannies or governesses, in the separate residences, is being studied. An analysis of the evolution of children’s status is given – from their „uselessness” to the moment when they and their interests are placed at the centre of family relations. In their study the authors come to the conclusion, that during the XIX century the main „disease” of the noble family was the psychological condition of children – loneliness, in which „orphans with living parents” were growing up. Only at the very end of the XIX century, nobility parents begin to acknowledge the value of a child

Determination of stabilizing additives in kerosenes by the multisensor stripping voltammetry method

Relevance. To ensure the operational reliability of equipment, an urgent task is to control the content of antioxidant and antiwear additives in engine fuel at all stages from its production to its intended use. At the stages of fuel use (storage, transfer, transportation, etc.), antioxidant additives can be used up due to natural oxidative processes that inevitably occur in the fuel. As for the antiwear additives, being surfactants by their nature, they can be adsorbed on the surfaces of the process equipment with which the fuel comes into contact. As a result, at the stage of intended use, the level of fuel quality can significantly decrease. Controlling the content of additives in the fuel at the stage of application will allow taking timely measures to restore the fuel quality and reduce the risks of accidents. Aim. To propose an approach to the analysis of the component composition of fuels, which makes it possible to control the content of additives. Objects. Samples of kerosene fractions that are used as the basis or components of commercial fuels of the TС-1 and RT brands produced by oil refineries, stabilizing anti-wear additives "Hi-Tech" and DNA (distilled petroleum acids). Methods. In the framework of the research devoted to solving the problem of operational control of the content of certain additives in various petroleum products, much attention was paid to the possibility of using voltammetry methods for these purposes. Voltammetry is a set of electrochemical methods of research and analysis based on the patterns of electric current flow through an electrochemical cell – an analytical system of two electrodes separated by an analyzed electrolyte solution. Analytical information using voltammetric methods is obtained on the basis of studying the dependence of the current strength in an electrolytic cell on the potential of the indicator microelectrode immersed in the analyzed solution, on which the analyzed reaction proceeds. Results. The paper introduces an approach to the analysis of the component composition of fuels by the multisensor stripping voltammetry method. This approach makes it possible to control the content of additives in the fuel. A feature of the electrochemical behavior of various grades of hydrogenated jet fuel was studied in order to develop a mobile express method for determining additives in them. The authors have developed a test system consisting of an aqueous solution of dimethylformamide (40%) with potassium chloride (0,1 M), cobalt, zinc and mercury cations (2,5×10–4 M). The analyzed fuel was introduced in a ratio of 30:1. The resulting mixture, 50 μl in volume, was mixed and applied to an indicator electrode for subsequent electrochemical measurements. The determination of additives in kerosene in the developed method was carried out by their influence on the peaks of the currents of dissolution of metals in the test system. In this case not only the task of determining the presence of additives in kerosene was solved, but also the problem of their identification

Optimal Threshold Control by the Robots of Web Search Engines with Obsolescence of Documents

A typical web search engine consists of three principal parts: crawling engine, indexing engine, and searching engine. The present work aims to optimize the performance of the crawling engine. The crawling engine finds new web pages and updates web pages existing in the database of the web search engine. The crawling engine has several robots collecting information from the Internet. We first calculate various performance measures of the system (e.g., probability of arbitrary page loss due to the buffer overflow, probability of starvation of the system, the average time waiting in the buffer). Intuitively, we would like to avoid system starvation and at the same time to minimize the information loss. We formulate the problem as a multi-criteria optimization problem and attributing a weight to each criterion. We solve it in the class of threshold policies. We consider a very general web page arrival process modeled by Batch Marked Markov Arrival Process and a very general service time modeled by Phase-type distribution. The model has been applied to the performance evaluation and optimization of the crawler designed by INRIA Maestro team in the framework of the RIAM INRIA-Canon research project

Mitochondriotropic and Cardioprotective Effects of Triphenylphosphonium-Conjugated Derivatives of the Diterpenoid Isosteviol

Mitochondria play a crucial role in the cell fate; in particular, reducing the accumulation of calcium in the mitochondrial matrix offers cardioprotection. This affect is achieved by a mild depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane potential, which prevents the assembly and opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore. For this reason, mitochondria are an attractive target for pharmacological interventions that prevent ischaemia/reperfusion injury. Isosteviol is a diterpenoid created from the acid hydrolysis of Steviarebaudiana Bertoni (fam. Asteraceae) glycosides that has shown protective effects against ischaemia/reperfusion injury, which are likely mediated through the activation of mitochondrial adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP)-sensitive potassium (mitoKATP) channels. Some triphenylphosphonium (triPP)-conjugated derivatives of isosteviol have been developed, and to evaluate the possible pharmacological benefits that result from these synthetic modifications, in this study, the mitochondriotropic properties of isosteviol and several triPP-conjugates were investigated in rat cardiac mitochondria and in the rat heart cell line H9c2. This study's main findings highlight the ability of isosteviol to depolarize the mitochondrial membrane potential and reduce calcium uptake by the mitochondria, which are typical functions of mitochondrial potassium channel openings. Moreover, triPP-conjugated derivatives showed a similar behavior to isosteviol but at lower concentrations, indicative of their improved uptake into the mitochondrial matrix. Finally, the cardioprotective property of a selected triPP-conjugated derivative was demonstrated in an in vivo model of acute myocardial infarct

Патогенетические факторы, ассоциирующиеся с формированием острого абдоминального болевого синдрома собак при гастроэнтерите

Intercorrelative relationships between various clinical and laboratory parameters in dogs with acute gastroenteritis were studied. In dogs with acute alimentary gastroenteritis (n = 31), pain rating scale score significantly (p 0.05) correlated with pulse rate (r = 0.58), respiratory rate (r = 0.50), hematocrit (r = 0.47), ESR (r = 0.72), number of erythrocytes (r = 0.50) and leukocytes (r = 0.77), concentration of albumins (r = -0.52), globulins (r = 0.59), 1-globulins (r = 0.49), 2-globulins (r = 0.42), -globulins (r = -0.36), -globulins (r = 0.59), C-reactive protein (r = 0.82), serum activity of ALT (r = 0.70), AST (r = 0.39), -amylase (r = 0.38), alkaline phosphatase (r = 0.83) and serum concentration of creatinine (r = 0.42), tumor necrosis factor- (r = 0.82), interleukin-4 (r = 0.92), interleukin-6 (r = 0.92), interferon- (r = 0.91), interleukin-1 (r = 0.85), interleukin-8 (r = 0.91). The following changes were noted in the body of dogs with acute gastroenteritis: local and systemic immune-inflammatory response activated, pain, intoxication, dehydration syndrome, disorders of motor, secretory, absorption, excretory function of gastrointestinal tract formed, secondary hepatopathy and pancreatopathy developed. In dogs with acute gastroenteritis, there were also statistically significant (p 0.05) correlations between the number of erythrocytes and hematocrit (r = 0.65), MCHC (r = 0.32), ESR (r = 0.35), hemoglobin concentration (r = 0.73) and leukocyte count (r = 0.35); between MCV and hematocrit (r = 0.62), MCHC (r = -0.64); between MCV and MCHC (r = -0.64); MCH and MCHC (r = 0.40); ESR and leukocyte count (r = 0.53). Changes in intercorrelative relationships between clinical and laboratory parameters in dogs with acute gastroenteritis can be considered as predictors of severity of the pathological process.Исследовались интеркореллятивные связи между разнообразными клиническими и лабораторными показателями у собак, больных острым гастроэнтеритом. Показатель шкалы оценки боли достоверно (р ≤ 0,05) коррелировал с частотой пульса (r = 0,58), частотой дыхания (r  =  0,50), гематокритом (r = 0,47), СОЭ (r = 0,72), количеством эритроцитов (r = 0,50) и лейкоцитов (r = 0,77), концентрацией альбуминов в сыворотке крови (r = –0,52), глобулинов (r = 0,59), α1‑глобулинов (r = 0,49), α2‑глобулинов (r = 0,42), β-глобулинов (r = –0,36), γ-глобулинов (r = 0,59), С-реактивного белка (r = 0,82), сывороточной активностью аланиновой (r = 0,70) и аспарагиновой аминотрасфераз (r = 0,39), α-амилазы (r = 0,38), щелочной фосфатазы (r = 0,83) и сывороточной концентрацией креатинина (r = 0,42), фактора некроза опухоли-α (r = 0,82), интерлейкина‑4 (r = 0,92), интерлейкина‑6 (r = 0,92), интерферона-γ (r = 0,91), интерлейкина‑1α (r = 0,85), интерлейкина‑8 (r = 0,91). В организме собак, больных острым гастроэнтеритом, происходит активизация локальной и системной иммуновоспалительной реакции организма, возникает болевой, интоксикационный, дегидратационный синдром, происходят нарушения моторной, секреторной, всасывательной, экскреторной функции желудочно-­кишечного тракта, формируется вторичная гепатопатия и панкреатопатия. Также констатировано наличие статистически значимых (р ≤ 0,05) коррелятивных связей между количеством эритроцитов и показателем гематокрита (r = 0,65), MCHC (r = 0,32), СОЭ (r = 0,35), концентрацией гемоглобина (r = 0,73) и количеством лейкоцитов (r = 0,35); между MCV и гематокритом (r = 0,62), MCHC (r = –0,64); между MCV и MCHC (r = 0,64); MCH и MCHC (r = 0,40); СОЭ и количеством лейкоцитов (r = 0,53). Изменения интеркоррелятивных связей между клинико-­лабораторными параметрами у больных острым гастроэнтеритом собак можно рассматривать как предикторы тяжести патологического процесса