Harri Toivonen, M.Sc. (Econ), will defend his PhD dissertation at the Helsinki School of Economics (HSE) on Friday, December 2, 2005. The dissertation is entitled “Modeling, Valuation and Risk Management of Commodity Derivatives” and is in the field of Finance. The public defense will start at 12:00 in the auditorium of the Chydenia building (address Runeberginkatu 22-24). The opponent is Professor Petri Sahlström (Tampere University of Technology) and the custos is Professor Hannu Seristö (HS

A specially developed oil mixture reduced airborne levels of particulate matter at a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) in a study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The researchers evaluated an oil spray developed to reduce the airborne health hazards at industrial feeding facilities. Chronic respiratory illnesses are a serious concern for CAFO workers, as well as for the surrounding communities and animals themselves. The study, published in

U.S. participation in benchmark products increasing/ Optimal liquidity with one tick bid/ask spreads/ USD margin call service launched successfully Extended U.S. afternoon trading on the international derivatives exchange Eurex has seen a successful start since its introduction on November 21, the exchange announced on Tuesday. An average of approximately 59,000 contracts per day was traded during the extended trading hours in the first week. Eurex extended the trading day for its

The share of the wholesale and retail trade in the consumer price of food has increased rapidly in Finland over the past five years. At the same time, a declining share of the consumer food euro is allocated to farmers, according to marketing margin calculations from MTT Agrifood Research Finland.

Marketing margin calculations by MTT indicate the share of the retail price going to each sector along the supply chain: farmer, processing and trade (=marketing margin) as well as

euro 29 Million Invested in Leading Producer in European Commercial Sushi Market

European Capital, S.A. SICAR announced today it has invested approximately euro 29 million in the One Stop Buyout of Marco Polo Foods, the leading producer in the European commercial sushi market. European Capital’s investment takes the form of senior term debt, senior subordinated debt, redeemable bonds and common equity. Marco Polo management is investing in redeemable bonds and common equity.

Christodoulos Floudas and his students Stacy Janak and Martin Taylor have invented a mathematical formula that may transform the way that day-to-day work assignments are made across government and industry.

They didn’t set out to accomplish such a broad goal. Initially they were simply attempting to solve a seemingly obscure problem: figuring out the best way for the National Science Foundation to efficiently and fairly assign funding proposals for review to its many rev

In a recently published study, Mayo Clinic researchers determined Math Learning Disorder (LD) is common among school-age children. Results show that boys are more likely to have Math LD than girls. The research also indicates that although a child can have a Math LD and a reading LD, a substantial percentage of children have Math LD alone. In fact, the cumulative incidence of Math LD through age 19 ranges from 6% to as high as 14%, depending on the Math LD definition. LD is used to describe t

Men behave in certain ways to retain their partner and to continue their relationship with her. Sometime it’s sweet, like holding hands or giving flowers, and sometimes it’s a harbinger of danger. A study published in the latest issue of Personal Relationships identifies several specific acts and tactics that lead to the possibility of violence. Vigilance over a partner’s whereabouts was the highest-ranking tactic predicting violence across the researchers’ three-study investigati

Rice University economist cites importance of needing trial experience

Assistant U.S. attorneys in districts with high private salaries are more likely to take a drug-trafficking case to trial than are assistant attorneys in districts with low private salaries, according to a study by economists at Rice University and Colgate University that is published in the October issue of the Journal of Law and Economics.

“Regional differences in private lawyer salaries affect whet

Twelve-year-olds whose parents smoked were more than two times as likely to begin smoking cigarettes on a daily basis between the ages of 13 and 21 than were children whose parents didn’t use tobacco, according to a new study that looked at family influences on smoking habits. The research indicated that parental behavior about smoking, not attitudes, is the key factor in delaying the onset of daily smoking, according to Karl Hill, director of the University of Washington’s Seattle Soc

Why do people prefer to put their money into closed, interest-bearing bank deposits, when they could invest it in liquid, higher-yielding government treasury bills (T-bills) at no greater risk?

It’s all because of what Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers Prof. Dan Galai and Dr. Orly Sade call the “ostrich effect” – that is, investors “burying their heads in the sand” like ostriches so as to ignore what they perceive as a risky situation.

Galai, the Abe Gray Pr

According to a new study in The Journal of Finance, private equity has average returns roughly equal to the S&P 500 (net of management fees). This contradicts the myth that private equity outperforms the public market benchmarks by 4%-6% annually. However, there is large variation in performance across private equity partnerships. We also find that there is a significant amount of persistence in private equity, not only among successful funds but also for the unsuccessful ones. Successful private

Nur wenigen WM-Sponsoren gelingt es tatsächlich, einen hohen Bekanntheitsgrad im Umfeld des Sport-Ereignisses zu erreichen. Gleichzeitig bietet die Fußball-WM selbst Kleinunternehmen bestimmter Branchen die Chance, auch ohne Sponsoring-Engagement von dem Event zu profitieren. Speziell in der Tourismusbranche profitieren die WM-Städte vor allem von Tagesbesuchern, wenn auch in stark unterschiedlichem Maße. Zu diesem Ergebnis kommt die aktuelle Auswertung der Fußball-Langzeit-Studie von Prof. Dr.

The latest value of the EuroCOIN™ indicator released by the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) shows:

– CEPR’s EuroCOIN reading for June 2005 points to a slowdown of economic activity for the 12 countries that make up the euro area. The upturn signals given for March and April have been more than offset by a decrease in the May and June readings for EuroCOIN, indicating that the direction of euro area economic growth remains uncertain.

– In the euro area, the cyc

Clearstream has received the “Quality Recognition Award” by JPMorgan Chase Bank in recognition of its high quality funds transfer operations area. The award is given each year following a continual review process of industry suppliers undertaken by JPMorgan Chase Bank. It is designed to identify and reward companies that have demonstrated specific levels of operating excellence. The review undertaken in 2004, showed that Clearstream had clearly excelled in meeting its operat

17 February, 2005Mindjet™ predicts continued growth in 2005 as it introduces new business solutions, expands channel sales and enters new global markets Mindjet™, the leading provider of software for visualising and managing information, today announced a record year for 2004, showing dramatic growth and success with Global 2000 accounts and government agencies worldwide. Mindjet™ boosted revenues to more than $20 million – an increase of 60 per cent over 2003. At the same time, the California-based company achieved profitability while increasing its global workforce by more than 20 per cent. The company also signed Oracle veteran Robert Gordon as its new CEO and Brightmail veteran Francois Lavaste as vice president for global marketing and strategy….