Happiness Maintenance and Asset Prices

This paper explores the implications of investors’ everyday mild feelings for aggregate asset returns. To this end, it introduces a novel class of state dependent preferences - happiness maintenance preferences - into the standard Mehra and Prescott (1985) economy by allowing investors’ coefficient of relative risk aversion to depend partly on their current feelings, which, in turn, are a function of the current state of the economy. Consistent with recent evidence from experimental psychology (see for example Isen (1999)), good times bring about a positive mood for investors and a heightened pain from any potential loss. In an attempt to maintain their good mood, investors become less willing to bear any portfolio risk, i.e. they become more risk averse. Extremely mild procyclical changes (a standard deviation of about one percentage point) in investors’ risk aversion are sufficient to bring the implications of a simple dynamic model of asset pricing in line with the historically observed stylized features of asset returns, without relying on unreasonable values of the behavioral parameters. With a realistic consumption process, the model is capable of accounting for a sizable equity premium in line with the one observed in the US data. It also performs well with respect to other financial statistics, such as the average risk-free rate, the volatility and predictability of stock returns and the Sharpe ratio. Being able to match the equity premium, it implies that aggregate fluctuations have important welfare costs.consumption-based asset pricing behavioral finance state- dependent risk aversion equity premium puzzle affect and decision making

Representation of Atypical Resources in the Discovery Layer: Metadata and Cataloging Aspects

The discovery layer is commonly used in libraries to provide a more “Google-like” experience that offers one-stop searching. The original selling point of the discovery layer was that journal articles could be retrieved as well as monographs. But as libraries have acquired many other formats, particularly non-print, the discovery layer has struggled to provide results that include these “atypical” resources. Metadata is crucial to the discovery layer because it is what is used for the search. The higher the quality of metadata, the better the retrieval results will be. NISO has provided a list of elements to be considered best practices when creating metadata for the discovery layer. Not everything a library has available can be found through the discovery layer. This is a particular problem for those items who have their metadata stored only in an institutional repository. These repositories are often not loaded into the discovery layer. Solving discovery layer retrieval problems will take all parties working together on solutions. Then all relevant results can be delivered, and fulfill the goal of “one-stop” searching

Evaluating the Surgeons' Perception of Difficulties of Two Techniques to Perform STARR for Obstructed Defecation Syndrome: A Multicenter Randomized Trial.

BACKGROUND After initial enthusiasm in the use of a dedicated curved stapler (CCS-30 Contour Transtar) to perform stapled transanal rectal resection (STARR) for obstructed defecation syndrome (ODS), difficulties have emerged in this surgical technique. OBJECTIVE First, to compare surgeons' perception of difficulties of STARR performed with only Transtar versus STARR performed with the combined use of linear staplers and Transtar to cure ODS associated with large internal prolapse and rectocele; second, to compare the postoperative incidence of the urge to defecate between the 2 STARR procedures. DESIGN AND SETTING An Italian multicenter randomized trial involving 25 centers of colorectal surgery. PATIENTS Patients with obstructed defecation syndrome and rectocele or rectal intussusception, treated between January and December 2012. INTERVENTIONS Participants were randomly assigned to undergo STARR with a curved alone stapler (CAS group) or with the combined use of linear and curved staplers (LCS group). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Primary end-points were the evaluation of surgeons' perception of difficulties score and the incidence of the "urge to defecate" at 3-month follow up. Secondary end-points included duration of hospital stay, rates of early and late complications, incidence of "urge to defecate" at 6 and 12 months, success of the procedures at 12 months of follow-up. RESULTS Of 771 patients evaluated, 270 patients (35%) satisfied the criteria. Follow-up data were available for 254 patients: 128 patients (114 women) in the CAS group (mean age, 52.1; range, 39-70 years) and 126 (116 women) in LCS group (mean age, 50.7 years; range, 41-75 years). The mean surgeons' perception score, was 15.36 (SD, 3.93) in the CAS group and 12.26 (SD, 4.22) in the LCS group (P < .0001; 2-sample t test). At 3-month follow-up, urge to defecate was observed in 18 (14.6%) CAS group patients and in 13 (10.7%) LCS group patients (P = .34; Fisher's exact test). These values drastically decrease at 6 months until no urge to defecate in all patients at 12 months was observed. At 12-month follow-up, a successful outcome was achieved in 100 (78.1%) CAS group patients and in 105 (83.3%) LCS group patients (P = .34; Fisher's exact test). No significant differences between groups were observed in the hospital stay and rates of early or late complications occurring after STARR. CONCLUSIONS STARR with Transtar associated with prior decomposition of prolapse, using linear staplers, seems to be less difficult than that without decomposition. Both procedures appear to be safe and effective in the treatment of obstructed defecation syndrome resulting in similar success rates and complications

Water footprint of Ischia Island: preliminary evaluation

Mestrado Vinifera Euromaster - Instituto Superior de Agronomia - ULWe are witnessing in recent years to a climate change due to a number of operations carried out by man. In this sense, agriculture is a strategic sector if we want to tackle this situation, more and more unsustainable as modern agriculture, also called "intensive", is causing more of a problem is the surface layer of the earth's crust, that the biosphere. The following work is part of a larger project, called VA.RIVI, applied on the island of Ischia, and is designed to specifically consider the components that form the basis for the calculation of the Water Footprint, which indicates the environmental impact of a product, a process or an entire company working on water resources. The WF is a relatively new tool, whose standard (ISO14046) was published not more than three months ago, on November 2014, so this does not always work considers the water footprint, but often refers to other indicators of the environmental impact, such as the Carbon Footprint, Ecological Footprint, or the Life Cycle Assessment. Will be analyzed the guidelines of the new ISO 14046, also reporting a sample calculation made possible thanks to the publications present in the bibliography, and will be compared to the production of organic wine. The work is complemented by a number of best practices to reduce the water footprint, but also to reduce the environmental impact of a company or a business process through small and large measures to be implemented at all levels.N/

PRINCIPIO DEL RAGIONEVOLE DUBBIO E LIBERO CONVINCIMENTO DEL GIUDICE CAUTELARE

Il progetto coltivato è ripensare ai detti che stabiliscono connessioni tra giudizio cautelare e art. 533, co. 1, c.p.p. attraverso un approccio che riconosce alla proposizione al di là di ogni ragionevole dubbio forma e forza di principio assiomatico, valido in e per ogni tipo di apprezzamento del fatto – interlocutorio o definitivo, per le cautele come per la pena – e che, nella qualità, va oltre la naturale selettività della regola del giudizio di merito, figurando un parametro di comportamento generale per il giudice

PERIZIA E COGNITIVISMO PROCESSUALE

Utilizzando la storia come metodo per sprovincializzare i segni del processo di modernizzazione del diritto e della giurisprudenza, si evidenzia la crisi dei giudizi tradizionali sui saperi monologici del giudice, giacché essi non possono sfuggire a riflessioni analitiche e dogmatiche che coinvolgono le strutture sostanziali del modello processuale, i suoi concetti e i principi fondamentali. Evenienze che rendono necessario rintracciare rapporti e combinazioni tra legalità, saperi esperti degli esperti e saperi esperti del giudice, se si vogliano codificare le commistioni tra scienza e processo. È necessario stabilire in che modo (con quali regole e quando) e in che misura, rispetto al sistema legale di prove, il contributo personologico del perito può incidere nella formazione del convincimento del giudice, che non è libero, essendo guidato da regole di comportamento e da principi euristici capaci di condizionare la contesa tra fatto e fattispecie che egli è chiamato a dirimere

Prognostic factors in breast cancer with a focus on the role of tumour proliferation

Ki67 is the most commonly used marker of proliferation in breast cancer. The general aim of the thesis was to investigate the prognostic role of Ki67 and its interplay with other prognostic factors in breast cancer cohorts. In Paper I, the prognostic value of Ki67 as analysed in metastasis biopsies (mKi67) and the change in Ki67 from primary tumour (pKi67) to corresponding first site of relapse was studied in patients diagnosed and treated for metastatic breast cancer (MBC) at Karolinska University Hospital (Stockholm, Sweden). A significantly longer median post-relapse overall survival (OS) was demonstrated for low-mKi67 ( ≤20%) compared with high-mKi67 (>20%) group (25 vs.17 months, p 0.01 by log-rank test). mKi67 was associated with OS regardless of pKi67. Ki67 varied from primary tumour to metastasis in a significant number of patients (p 0.01 by McNemar's test) and the change from high to low was correlated to better OS in comparison with stable Ki67 levels. In paper II, the prognostic value in terms of post-relapse OS of breast cancer subtypes and genomic signatures as assessed in primary tumour tissue was investigated, beyond classical clinical and pathological prognostic determinants, in patients diagnosed and treated for MBC at Karolinska University Hospital. Immunohistochemistry-(IHC) and PAM50-based intrinsic subtypes showed a significant but not independent prognostic value after distant relapse. Moreover, low and medium-risk categories according to PAM50 risk of relapse score (ROR-S) were independently associated with longer post-relapse OS in comparison with the high-risk category. In contrast, the 21-gene Recurrence Score and the 70-gene signature were not independently prognostic of post-relapse survival. The PAM50-derived proliferation score also independently correlated with survival and the additional clinical information deriving from combining ROR-P (ROR-S weighted for the proliferation score) with the other prognosticators was also highly significant (p < 0.001). In paper III, the additional prognostic information deriving from the combination of genomic signatures and IHC markers, namely Ki67 alone or added to oestrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor 2 receptor (HER2) to generate IHC subtypes, compared with either classifier alone was investigated in two cohorts. Cohort 1 included patients with diagnosis of primary breast cancer from the Stockholm Breast Cancer Registry (SBCR) while cohort 2 was composed of women diagnosed with primary tumour in Uppsala county (Sweden). In cohort 1, 21-gene Recurrence Score and PAM50 added relevant prognostic information beyond Ki67/IHC subtypes. All the investigated genomic signatures provided additional prognostic information when combined with Ki67/IHC subtypes in the group of ER-positive/lymph node positive tumours while no signature reached the statistical significance when ER-negative tumours were studied. IHC subtypes, but not Ki67 alone, showed additional prognostic ability when combined with all genomic signatures except PAM50, in the overall cohort 1 and ER-negative subgroup, but not in ER-positive/lymph node negative and ER-positive/lymph node positive tumours. In cohort 2, the findings were substantially comparable but the statistical significance reduced likely due to the smaller sample size. In Paper IV, the change in survival after local and loco-regional relapse of breast cancer over 34 years (1980-2014) was studied in a cohort of patients from the SBCR. Survival was compared between three cohorts according to years of relapse diagnosis: 1980-1989; 1990-1999; 2000-2014. In total, 1922 women were diagnosed with local and 776 with loco-regional relapse. In the group of the local recurrence, median postrelapse event-free survival (EFS) and OS significantly improved over time, regardless of age. Conversely, age-related trends in survival were demonstrated in the group of women who experienced a loco-regional relapse. Relative survival was consistent with the observed EFS and OS. In addition, a decrease in mortality over time was demonstrated only in younger patients diagnosed with a loco-regional relapse in 2000- 2014 (EMR 0.48; 95% CIs 0.42-0.72), regardless of other prognostic factors. The outcome was unchanged when the analysis was restricted to the years 1980 through 2009

Contour Extraction of Inertial Confinement Fusion Images By Data Augmentation

X-Ray radiographs are one of the primary results from inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments. Issues such as scarcity of experimental data, high levels of noise in the data, lack of ground truth data, and low resolution of data limit the use of machine/deep learning for automated analysis of radiographs. In this work we combat these roadblocks to the use of machine learning by creating a synthetic radiograph dataset resembling experimental radiographs. Accompanying each synthetic radiograph are corresponding contours of each capsule shell shape, which enables neural networks to train on the synthetic data for contour extraction and be applied to the experimental images. Thus, we train an instance of the convolutional neural network U-Net to segment the shape of the outer shell capsule using the synthetic dataset, and we apply this instance of U-Net to a set of radiographs taken at the National Ignition Facility. We show that the network extracted the outer shell shape of a small number of capsules as an initial demonstration of deep learning for automatic contour extraction of ICF images. Future work may include extracting outer shells from all of the dataset, applying different kinds of neural networks, and extraction of inner shell contours as well.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figure

Clinical implications of the intrinsic molecular subtypes in hormone receptor-positive and HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer

Traditionally, the classification of breast cancer relies on the expression of immunohistochemical (IHC) biomarkers readily available in clinical practice. Using highly standardized and reproducible assays across patient cohorts, intrinsic molecular subtypes of breast cancer - also called 'intrinsic subtypes' (IS) - have been identified based on the expression of 50 genes. Although IHC-based subgroups and IS moderately correlate to each other, they are not superimposable. In fact, non-luminal biology has been detected in a substantial proportion (5-20%) of hormone receptor-positive (HoR+) tumors, has prognostic value, and identifies reduced and increased sensitivity to endocrine therapy and chemotherapy, respectively. During tumor progression, a shift toward a non-luminal estrogen-independent and more aggressive phenotype has been demonstrated. Intrinsic genomic instability and cell plasticity, alone or combined with external constraints deriving from treatment selective pressure or interplay with the tumor microenvironment, may represent the determinants of such biological diversity between primary and metastatic disease, and during metastatic tumor evolution. In this review, we describe the distribution and the clinical behavior of IS as the disease progresses, focusing on HoR+/HER2-negative advanced breast cancer. In addition, we provide an overview of the ongoing clinical trials aiming to validate the predictive and prognostic value of IS towards their incorporation into routine care

Motor cortex inputs at the optimum phase of beta cortical oscillations undergo more rapid and less variable corticospinal propagation

Brain oscillations involve rhythmic fluctuations of neuronal excitability and may play a crucial role in neural communication. The human corticomuscular system is characterized by beta activity and is readily probed by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). TMS inputs arriving at the excitable phase of beta oscillations in the motor cortex are known to lead to muscle responses of greater amplitude. Here we explore two other possible manifestations of rhythmic excitability in the beta band; windows of reduced response variability and shortened latency. We delivered single-pulse TMS to the motor cortex of healthy human volunteers (10 females and 7 males) during electroencephalography recordings made at rest. TMS delivered at a particular phase of the beta oscillation benefited from not only stronger, but also less variable and more rapid transmission, as evidenced by the greater amplitude, lower coefficient of variation, and shorter latency of motor evoked potentials. Thus, inputs aligned to the optimal phase of the beta EEG in the motor cortex enjoy transmission amplitude gain, but may also benefit from less variability and shortened latencies at subsequent synapses. Neuronal phase may therefore impact corticospinal communication