A Relationship Between Regression Tests and Volatility Tests of Market ncy

Volatility tests are an alternative to regression tests for evaluating the joint null hypothesis of market efficiency and risk neutrality. Acomparison of the power of the two kinds of tests depends on what the alternative hypothesis is taken to be. By considering tests based on conditional volatility bounds, we show that if the alternative is that one could"beat the market" using a linear combination of known variables, then the regression tests are at least as powerful as the conditional volatility tests.If the application is to spot and forward markets, then the most powerful conditional volatility test turns out to be equivalent to the analogous regression test in terms of asymptotic power. In other applications,the volatility test will be less powerful than regression tests against our chosen alternative. However, these results are not inconsistent with the observation that volatility tests may be more powerful against other alternative hypoth-eses, such as that risk-averse investors are rationally maximizing the present discounted utility of future consumption,with a time-varying discount rate.

The Fountainhead of Modernity

One book that the Core Program at Colgate University would benefit from requiring in “The Challenges Of Modernity” is The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand. The Fountainhead is a philosophical text centered around a young architect, Howard Roark, who chooses to struggle in obscurity rather than compromise his modernistic architectural designs. In the context of Roark, the book encompasses many themes covered this semester in our coursework. Our class has covered the emergence of individualism, rationalism, and free thought, and Roark comes across as a manifestation of these themes, as an ideal modern character. After surviving as an individualist in a world heading towards collectivism and intellectual codependence, Roark parallels both Freud and Marx by eventually explaining his own thoughts on why society causes discontentment. Like Freud, Roark believes that restraining egocentric urges ultimately suppresses human emotion, and consequently Roark advocates for selfishness and resents altruistic thought. As an adamant individualist, Roark also shows a similar understanding of enlightenment as Kant, who believes that maturity is a product of one’s ability to think for oneself. However, Roark’s foil, Ellsworth Toohey, advocates for collectivism and for the empowerment of the masses, which are similar to Karl Marx’s themes in The Communist Manifesto. Ultimately, Rand argues that the principles of modernity are those that allow the individual to be protected from the masses through the freedoms modernity offers

Next Steps on the Road to Basic Income in Canada

Canada has had recurring debates about guaranteed or basic income over several decades. This article outlines reasons for implementing basic income in the Canadian context—reducing poverty and inequality, addressing precarious employment, and building an ecologically sustainable economy. Recently there has been a strong renewal of interest in basic income in Canada. Expressions of interest have come from the Liberal federal government elected in 2015, from provincial governments, from political parties not in power, and from municipal governments. Support for basic income also is found in a growing range of prominent individuals and organizations. While basic income advocates are encouraged by recent developments, several large and complex questions remain on how this approach can be implemented in Canada. These questions encompass the specifics of design, delivery, funding, and political support. How can basic income build on existing income security programs and leave Canadians better off in the end? How can we ensure that basic income is not used as an excuse to cut vital services such health care, social housing, early childhood care and development, and social services for those with disabilities and other challenges? How can basic income be set in place in Canada, given its complicated federal-provincial nexus of responsibility for, delivery of, and funding for social programs? The article concludes with principles that might help guide the implementation of authentically universal, adequate, and feasible basic income architecture in Canada

Supporting Special-Purpose Health Care Models via Web Interfaces

The potential of the Web, via both the Internet and intranets, to facilitate development of clinical information systems has been evident for some time. Most Web-based clinical workstations interfaces, however, provide merely a loose collection of access channels. There are numerous examples of systems for access to either patient data or clinical guidelines, but only isolated cases where clinical decision support is presented integrally with the process of patient care, in particular, in the form of active alerts and reminders based on patient data. Moreover, pressures in the health industry are increasing the need for doctors to practice in accordance with ¿best practice¿ guidelines and often to operate under novel health-care arrangements. We present the Care Plan On-Line (CPOL) system, which provides intranet-based support for the SA HealthPlus Coordinated Care model for chronic disease management. We describe the interface design rationale of CPOL and its implementation framework, which is flexible and broadly applicable to support new health care models over intranets or the Internet

Previously Taxed Property and the Federal Estate Tax

In 1918 Congress added to the then simple but rapidly proliferatingestate tax law a deduction for property previously taxed, the prototypeof today\u27s section 812(c).1 In recommending the new provision, theHouse Committee on Ways and Means said: It has come to the attention of the committee that persons closely related have died within such a short space of time that the same estate passing within a short period of time has been subjected to the estate tax, and thereby diminished unreasonably because of the short period within which the two levies have been made. For example, a husband dies leaving a large amount of property to his wife, an elderly woman, who dies within a few weeks after her husband\u27s death. Under existing law the entire estate is taxed on the transfer from husband to wife and on the transfer from wife to other beneficiaries. To alter this result the Committee recommended and Congress adopteda provision allowing the executor to deduct from the decedent\u27s grossestate any part thereof that was received by the decedent, directly or byexchange, from the taxable estate of any other person who had died withinthe previous five years. The provision was simple and straightforwar

Local Regulatory Variation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Naturally occurring sequence variation that affects gene expression is an important source of phenotypic differences among individuals within a species. We and others have previously shown that such regulatory variation can occur both at the same locus as the gene whose expression it affects (local regulatory variation) and elsewhere in the genome at trans-acting factors. Here we present a detailed analysis of genome-wide local regulatory variation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We used genetic linkage analysis to show that nearly a quarter of all yeast genes contain local regulatory variation between two divergent strains. We measured allele-specific expression in a diploid hybrid of the two strains for 77 genes showing strong self-linkage and found that in 52%–78% of these genes, local regulatory variation acts directly in cis. We also experimentally confirmed one example in which local regulatory variation in the gene AMN1 acts in trans through a feedback loop. Genome-wide sequence analysis revealed that genes subject to local regulatory variation show increased polymorphism in the promoter regions, and that some but not all of this increase is due to polymorphisms in predicted transcription factor binding sites. Increased polymorphism was also found in the 3′ untranslated regions of these genes. These findings point to the importance of cis-acting variation, but also suggest that there is a diverse set of mechanisms through which local variation can affect gene expression levels

Implementation and performance of SIBYLS: a dual endstation small-angle X-ray scattering and macromolecular crystallography beamline at the Advanced Light Source.

The SIBYLS beamline (12.3.1) of the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, supported by the US Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health, is optimized for both small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and macromolecular crystallography (MX), making it unique among the world's mostly SAXS or MX dedicated beamlines. Since SIBYLS was commissioned, assessments of the limitations and advantages of a combined SAXS and MX beamline have suggested new strategies for integration and optimal data collection methods and have led to additional hardware and software enhancements. Features described include a dual mode monochromator [containing both Si(111) crystals and Mo/B(4)C multilayer elements], rapid beamline optics conversion between SAXS and MX modes, active beam stabilization, sample-loading robotics, and mail-in and remote data collection. These features allow users to gain valuable insights from both dynamic solution scattering and high-resolution atomic diffraction experiments performed at a single synchrotron beamline. Key practical issues considered for data collection and analysis include radiation damage, structural ensembles, alternative conformers and flexibility. SIBYLS develops and applies efficient combined MX and SAXS methods that deliver high-impact results by providing robust cost-effective routes to connect structures to biology and by performing experiments that aid beamline designs for next generation light sources