Liquidity and Asset Pricing: Evidence on the Role of Investor Holding Period

We use data on actual holding periods for all investors in a stock market over a 10-year period to investigate the links between holding periods, liquidity, and asset returns. Microstructure measures of liquidity are shown to be important determinants of the holding period decision of individual investors. Average holding periods differ across different investor types. Turnover is an imperfect proxy for holding period. While both turnover and spread are related to stock returns, holding period is not.Market microstructure; Holding period; duration

Liquidity and the Business Cycle

We show evidence of a contemporaneous relation between stock market liquidity and the business cycle. Stock market liquidity worsen when the economy is slowing down, and vice versa. This effect is most pronounced for small firms. Using data for both the US and Norway, we find strong evidence that stock market liquidity predict the current and future state of the economy. We also show some evidence that can shed light on the link between stock markets and the real economy. Using stock ownership data from Norway, we find that the portfolio compositions of investors change with the business cycle. Our results suggests a flight to quality during economic downturns where equity traders move from smaller/less liquid stocks to large/liquid stocks. Our results suggest that an important explanation for the equity premium in general, and the equity size premium in particular, may be related to time variation in stock market liquidity at business cycle frequencies.Market Microstructure; Liquidity; Business Cycle

Strategic Investor Behaviour and the Volume-Volatility Relation in Equity Markets

We examine the volume-volatility relation using detailed data from a limit order driven equity market. Estimates of the intraday slope of the demand and supply schedules of the order book are found to capture regularities in spreads, trade size and submission strategies which are believed to be related to asymmetric information. On a daily level, the order book slope should also captures differences in dispersion of beliefs about stock values. The relationship between our daily slope measure and the contemporaneous volatility across companies and time supports models where strategic trading and dispersion of beliefs increase both volume and volatility.Market Microstructure; Volume-volatility relation; Equity trading; Asymmetric Information

Consumer preferences for iced coffee determined by conjoint analysis: an exploratory study with Norwegian consumers

Summary The main aim of this study was to investigate consumer preferences for extrinsic attributes of iced coffee, explore consumers' coffee consumption habits, find new market opportunities and segment consumers based on similar products preferences. A sample of 101 consumers of iced coffee was recruited during 2012 in Norway. Twelve iced coffee products combining different levels of attributes such as coffee type, origin, calories and price were presented on screen and rated according to consumers' willingness to buy (WTB). Mixed model anova, principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS‐DA) were applied to analyse data. Results show that the most preferred products for the consumer sample as a whole were low‐price low‐calorie products, while age has a significant effect on WTB for different iced coffee products. Four different consumer segments based on type of iced coffee and country of production preferences were identified and discussed

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE): Mission Description and Initial On-orbit Performance

The all sky surveys done by the Palomar Observatory Schmidt, the European Southern Observatory Schmidt, and the United Kingdom Schmidt, the InfraRed Astronomical Satellite and the 2 Micron All Sky Survey have proven to be extremely useful tools for astronomy with value that lasts for decades. The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer is mapping the whole sky following its launch on 14 December 2009. WISE began surveying the sky on 14 Jan 2010 and completed its first full coverage of the sky on July 17. The survey will continue to cover the sky a second time until the cryogen is exhausted (anticipated in November 2010). WISE is achieving 5 sigma point source sensitivities better than 0.08, 0.11, 1 and 6 mJy in unconfused regions on the ecliptic in bands centered at wavelengths of 3.4, 4.6, 12 and 22 microns. Sensitivity improves toward the ecliptic poles due to denser coverage and lower zodiacal background. The angular resolution is 6.1, 6.4, 6.5 and 12.0 arc-seconds at 3.4, 4.6, 12 and 22 microns, and the astrometric precision for high SNR sources is better than 0.15 arc-seconds.Comment: 22 pages with 19 included figures. Updated to better match the accepted version in the A

Making sense of the “clean label” trends: a review of consumer food choice behavior and discussion of industry implications

Consumers in industrialized countries are nowadays much more interested in information about the production methods and components of the food products that they eat, than they had been 50 years ago. Some production methods are perceived as less “natural” (i.e. conventional agriculture) while some food components are seen as “unhealthy” and “unfamiliar” (i.e. artificial additives). This phenomenon, often referred to as the “clean label” trend, has driven the food industry to communicate whether a certain ingredient or additive is not present or if the food has been produced using a more “natural” production method (i.e. organic agriculture). However, so far there is no common and objective definition of clean label. This review paper aims to fill the gap via three main objectives, which are to a) develop and suggest a definition that integrates various understandings of clean label into one single definition, b) identify the factors that drive consumers' choices through a review of recent studies on consumer perception of various food categories understood as clean label with the focus on organic, natural and ‘free from’ artificial additives/ingredients food products and c) discuss implications of the consumer demand for clean label food products for food manufacturers as well as policy makers. We suggest to define clean label, both in a broad sense, where consumers evaluate the cleanliness of product by assumption and through inference looking at the front-of-pack label and in a strict sense, where consumers evaluate the cleanliness of product by inspection and through inference looking at the back-of-pack label. Results show that while ‘health’ is a major consumer motive, a broad diversity of drivers influence the clean label trend with particular relevance of intrinsic or extrinsic product characteristics and socio-cultural factors. However, ‘free from’ artificial additives/ingredients food products tend to differ from organic and natural products. Food manufacturers should take the diversity of these drivers into account in developing new products and communication about the latter. For policy makers, it is important to work towards a more homogenous understanding and application of the term of clean label and identify a uniform definition or regulation for ‘free from’ artificial additives/ingredients food products, as well as work towards decreasing consumer misconceptions. Finally, multiple future research avenues are discussed

Common and Distinct Components in Data Fusion

In many areas of science multiple sets of data are collected pertaining to the same system. Examples are food products which are characterized by different sets of variables, bio-processes which are on-line sampled with different instruments, or biological systems of which different genomics measurements are obtained. Data fusion is concerned with analyzing such sets of data simultaneously to arrive at a global view of the system under study. One of the upcoming areas of data fusion is exploring whether the data sets have something in common or not. This gives insight into common and distinct variation in each data set, thereby facilitating understanding the relationships between the data sets. Unfortunately, research on methods to distinguish common and distinct components is fragmented, both in terminology as well as in methods: there is no common ground which hampers comparing methods and understanding their relative merits. This paper provides a unifying framework for this subfield of data fusion by using rigorous arguments from linear algebra. The most frequently used methods for distinguishing common and distinct components are explained in this framework and some practical examples are given of these methods in the areas of (medical) biology and food science.Comment: 50 pages, 12 figure

A Follow-Up Study of the 1962-65 Notehand Students of Bishop Dubourg High School, St. Louis, Missouri, to Identify the Effectiveness and Personal Uses of Notehand

This study aims to ascertain the effectiveness and personal uses of Notehand. Students of six classes taught during the years 1962-65 at Bishop Dubourg High School, St. Louis, Missouri, were contacted and requested to complete questionnaires which furnished this data. Of the 149 students invited to participate, 147 replied. Tabulations were made as replies were received, and an analysis began when 98.6 per cent of the questionnaires were returned. The findings of the study were converted into tables showing the positive and negative responses to each question for each academic year, and the percentage for all years combined. A sampling of negative, positive, and suggested comments of students also appears. This survey indicated that 88.7 pre cent of the students replying use Notehand, while 11.3 per cent do not use it. Based on the findings, the writer concluded that Notehand is meeting the needs of the students. Therefore, it is being taught effectively and is reaching the focal objective, which is: taking meaningful and useful notes. However, there is need to extend the experiences of using Notehand. Results of this study led the researcher to the following recommendations: 1. Familiarize faculty with objectives and values of a Notehand course. 2. Continue offering the course to juniors and seniors. 3. Offer course to all classmen who desire to pursue a college education. 4. Provide more current topics for notemaking purposes. 5. Engage more lecturers 6. Pilot a B-track class for two semesters to enable students to gain more experiences with Notehand and notemaking. 7. Conduct a survey each year

特別支援教育専攻学生を対象とした障害理解のための教材開発(2)―糖尿病・血友病等の「自己注射」場面を中心にした教材―

　特別支援教育専攻学生の指導では、対象とする障害児・者が活用する機器・道具を提示し、その使用法の解説がなされてきた。これは感覚・情報系障害領域では指導上意義がある。また肢体不自由・運動障害系では、車イスや生活補助具、障害体験グッズなどが障害理解教材として活用されてきた。しかし病弱教育領域では、子どもの困難理解につながる「病気体験」は、健常学生にはできない。そこで教員は、病院見学、療養生活の映像資料等を活用し、病気の影響や困難をイメージさせる方法をとることが多い。本研究では糖尿病および血友病を例にとり、病気による「困難」を体験・体感させる教材について検討した。糖尿病・血友病の自己注射モデルを提示し、その作製・改善とそれを使用した授業経過を分析対象とした。学生による試作及び改良モデルは、自己注射実施時の困難・不安・躊躇を「体感」させることを目的としているが、作製過程そのものが、学生による困難・不安・躊躇といった自己注射実施を必要とする疾患のもつ障害特性の理解を促進することが推察された

Enzyme activity in lines of pigs selected for high and low fatness

International audienc