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We extend the Tasche (2007) model on the asset correlation bias caused by a currency mismatch between assets and liabilities to the more realistic situation where some assets, and some, but not necessarily all, liabilities, are denominated in a foreign currency. To test the significance of the remaining bias we rely on a unique data base constructed by The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) co

This is the third volume in a serial of books focusing on the concept of mystical death and related ideas, as described within the Christian mystical tradition and its Jewish and Greek roots. In the succeeding chapters these mystical elements and their development are followed up, both within the Western and Eastern Christian traditions. In the final chapters the author presents the German and Dut

In southern Siberia there is a culture of throat singing, a singing technique where a person can create two different and clearly audible tones at the same time. This throat singing phenomenon has flowed from the Tuvan republic in Russia out into the entire world. Persons of different ethnic ori­gins sing and teach throat singing to persons from all kinds of nations, thus all kinds of persons come

Patient organisations contribute to many areas of pharmaceutical policy. In developing their organisational capacity, many turn to financial support from pharmaceutical companies, which may create conflicts of interests. However, the transparency of the industry’s self-regulatory approach to the disclosure of payments to patient organisations has evaded scrutiny. Using company reports disclosing p

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid-state welding process where metals are joined without melting. Heat is generated by friction between a rotating non-consumable tool and the work-piece material, and by mechanical deformation of the material. The process, invented in 1991, provides several benefits over arc welding and other fusion processes: No filler material has to be added, low energy cons

Effects of hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBO) on nerve regeneration in acellular nerve and muscle grafts were investigated in rats. Nerve and muscle grafts were made acellular by freeze-thawing and the obtained grafts were used to bridge a 10-mm gap in the sciatic nerve on the left and right sides, respectively. Rats were treated with HBO (100% oxygen for 90 minutes at 2.5 atmospheres absolute pres

Ecologists and evolutionary biologists are well aware that natural and sexual selection do not operate on traits in isolation, but instead act on combinations of traits. This long-recognized and pervasive phenomenon is known as multivariate selection, or—in the particular case where it favours correlations between interacting traits—correlational selection. Despite broad acknowledgement of correla

The visual system is affected by neurodegenerative diseases caused by the degeneration of specific retinal neurons, the leading cause of irreversible blindness in humans. Throughout vertebrate phylogeny, the retina has two kinds of specialized niches of constitutive neurogenesis: the retinal progenitors located in the circumferential marginal zone and Müller glia. The proliferative activity in the

The glycocalyx is a carbohydrate-rich layer that lines the luminal side of the vascular endothelium. Its soluble components exist in a dynamic equilibrium with the bloodstream and play an important role in maintaining endothelial layer integrity. However, the glycocalyx can be easily damaged and is extremely vulnerable to insults from a variety of sources, including inflammation, trauma, haemorrha

There is a considerable disagreement in the literature on the description of lifetime effects arising from core-valence transitions in solids. We calculate here Auger and radiative widths of shallow core levels in Li, Be, Na, Mg, and Al with use of principles consistent with dynamical theories of secondary-emission processes developed earlier. The lifetime has no simple relation to the usual self-