Social science

Qu Biologics and TransBIOTech Awarded $450K Applied Research and Development Grant Funding

Retrieved on: 
Monday, March 11, 2024

TransBIOTech, a dedicated Applied Research and Technology Center in Quebec that is focused on supporting biotechnology companies and deepening expertise in this sector in Canada, will partner on this work.

Key Points: 
  • TransBIOTech, a dedicated Applied Research and Technology Center in Quebec that is focused on supporting biotechnology companies and deepening expertise in this sector in Canada, will partner on this work.
  • Dr. Shirin Kalyan, Immunologist and Qu’s Vice President of Scientific Innovation, stated, “In partnership with TransBIOTech, we are very pleased to have been awarded this Applied Research and Development grant to support the expansion of our preclinical and translational programs while we [Qu Biologics] focus on completing enrollment of our two important Phase 2 clinical trials currently underway.
  • We at TransBIOTech aim to nurture the Canadian biotech ecosystem and to help generate value for innovative Canadian biotechnology companies, such as Qu Biologics.
  • Please subscribe here to receive future news and updates from Qu Biologics.

American Institutes for Research Announces New CEO and Board Chair

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Lawrence D. Bobo , the dean of social science at Harvard University, is the new chair of the AIR Board of Directors.

Key Points: 
  • Lawrence D. Bobo , the dean of social science at Harvard University, is the new chair of the AIR Board of Directors.
  • Heppen is the seventh president and CEO in AIR’s 77-year history, and the first woman to serve in the role.
  • She stepped down from the AIR Board of Directors after serving as its chair for more than 25 years.
  • Bobo has been a member of the AIR Board since 1997 and most recently served as vice chair.

The 3rd VINALAB and JAIMA Joint Symposium “Water Quality – The Latest Technologies for Quality Assurance and Control”

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, March 7, 2024

The Japan Analytical Instrument Manufacturers Association (JAIMA, located at 2-5-16, Kanda Nishiki-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0054, President: Masayuki Adachi / President & COO of HORIBA, Ltd.), in cooperation with VINALAB (Vietnam Association of Testing Laboratories), will hold the 3rd joint symposium on Friday, March 22 in a hybrid format connecting its bases in Tokyo and Hanoi.

Key Points: 
  • The Japan Analytical Instrument Manufacturers Association (JAIMA, located at 2-5-16, Kanda Nishiki-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0054, President: Masayuki Adachi / President & COO of HORIBA, Ltd.), in cooperation with VINALAB (Vietnam Association of Testing Laboratories), will hold the 3rd joint symposium on Friday, March 22 in a hybrid format connecting its bases in Tokyo and Hanoi.
  • The symposium will be held at VKIST (Vietnam Korea Institute of Science and Technology), located in Hoa Lac High-Tech Park in the suburbs of Hanoi.
  • JAIMA and VINALAB member companies will also have exhibition booths.
  • VKIST (Vietnam Korea Institute of Science and Technology) and JAIMA conference rooms, online auditing also available
    View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240306095346/en/

Empowering Insights: IIWB Director Attended MIT Forum Illuminating Family's Role in Shaping Women's Cognitive Landscape

Retrieved on: 
Friday, March 1, 2024

Ms. Eva Ye highlighted the journey of self-discovery and transformation that women embark on, overcoming familial constraints through innovation and showing the courage to adapt to change.

Key Points: 
  • Ms. Eva Ye highlighted the journey of self-discovery and transformation that women embark on, overcoming familial constraints through innovation and showing the courage to adapt to change.
  • Ms. Grace SHI encouraged stepping beyond traditional boundaries to chart new cognitive territories, underlining the importance of personal evolution and the positive ripple effects it has on society.
  • This MIT dialogue emphasized the intricate ways family shapes women's intellect and spirit, highlighting the importance of a nurturing environment, generational wisdom, and role models.
  • It revealed a journey of transformation, where overcoming familial limitations is seen as a path to personal and societal progress.

Pathward Appoints Neeraj Mehta To Board Of Directors

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Pathward Financial, Inc. (Nasdaq: CASH) and its subsidiary Pathward®, N.A., an industry leading financial empowerment company driven by its purpose to power financial inclusion, today announced that Neeraj Mehta has been appointed as an independent member of the Board of Directors, effective Feb. 27, 2024.

Key Points: 
  • Pathward Financial, Inc. (Nasdaq: CASH) and its subsidiary Pathward®, N.A., an industry leading financial empowerment company driven by its purpose to power financial inclusion, today announced that Neeraj Mehta has been appointed as an independent member of the Board of Directors, effective Feb. 27, 2024.
  • Mehta will serve as a member of the Audit Committee and Governance, Nominating and Sustainability Committee of the Pathward Financial, Inc. and Pathward, N.A.
  • Neeraj brings with him nearly three decades of experience in the banking and financial space, and his knowledge directly supports Pathward’s operating strategy, which we believe will continue to deliver solid results and drive shareholder value,” said Becky Shulman, chair of the Board of Directors for Pathward Financial, Inc. and Pathward, N.A.
  • Mehta has served as chief executive officer at DigniFi, a FinTech company looking to refine vehicle financing by removing barriers everyday people encounter, since 2021.

Global Times: Chinese whole-process people's democracy fully demonstrated by two sessions

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, March 5, 2024

BEIJING, March 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands of Chinese lawmakers and policy advisors are gathering in Beijing for the annual two sessions.

Key Points: 
  • BEIJING, March 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands of Chinese lawmakers and policy advisors are gathering in Beijing for the annual two sessions.
  • The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, China's top political advisory body, held a press conference on Sunday, one day ahead of its annual session.
  • Liu Jieyi, spokesperson for the second session of the 14th CPPCC National Committee, briefed the press on the session.
  • Liu said that the People's Political Consultative Conference is an important form of promoting socialist democracy and practicing whole-process people's democracy in China's political life.

Government of Canada reappoints president of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Through its suite of programs that support research training, insight and partnerships, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) is playing a key role by promoting collaboration with public, private, not-for-profit and community organizations, as well as with Indigenous peoples.

Key Points: 
  • Through its suite of programs that support research training, insight and partnerships, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) is playing a key role by promoting collaboration with public, private, not-for-profit and community organizations, as well as with Indigenous peoples.
  • He played an instrumental role in mobilizing social sciences and humanities research expertise to help Canada navigate the pandemic and ensure a strong recovery.
  • "Congratulations to Dr. Hewitt on his reappointment as president of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
  • SSHRC is the federal research funding agency that promotes and supports research and training in the humanities and social sciences.

Westat Awarded Contract to Continue Supporting the PATH Study

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, February 21, 2024

ROCKVILLE, Md., Feb. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Institutes of Health's (NIH's) National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) have announced the award of a third contract to Westat to continue to support the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study. Westat has supported the study since its inception in 2011.

Key Points: 
  • Westat is committed to continuing the trusted partnership with NIH/NIDA and FDA/CTP on the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study to understand tobacco use patterns and impacts on public health.
  • Westat has supported the study since its inception in 2011.
  • The PATH Study is a uniquely large, long-term study of tobacco use and health in the United States.
  • "Our work will build on the knowledge we have gained during the past 12 years of supporting the PATH Study and a foundation of over 35 years of tobacco research," notes Charles Carusi, PhD , a Westat Vice President and the project director for the PATH Study.

Measuring market-based core inflation expectations

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 15, 2024

Abstract

Key Points: 
    • Abstract
      We build a novel term structure model for pricing synthetic euro area core inflation-linked
      swaps, a hypothetical swap contract indexed to core inflation.
    • The model provides estimates of market-based expectations for core inflation, as
      well as core inflation risk premia, at daily frequency, whereas core inflation expectations from
      surveys or macroeconomic projections are typically only available monthly or quarterly.
    • We
      find that core inflation-linked swap rates are generally less volatile than headline inflationlinked swap rates and that market participants expected core inflation to be substantially
      more persistent than headline inflation following the 2022 energy price spike.
    • In this paper, we aim to infer market-based core inflation expectations, which are otherwise
      not directly observable because no financial asset directly tied to core inflation exists.
    • We deem this second assumption reasonable because HICP inflation itself is a linear combination
      of core as well as energy and food inflation.
    • The level of 2 percent and relatively low volatility of
      long-term inflation expectations suggests that inflation expectations are firmly anchored at the
      ECB?s 2 percent inflation target.
    • This assumption appears reasonably uncontroversial,
      as core inflation is a sub-component of headline inflation, which the observable headline ILS
      rates are tied to.
    • Our estimates of core ILS rates reflect both market participants? genuine core
      inflation expectations and a core inflation risk premium, but our model explicitly allows for
      this decomposition.
    • The model-implied estimates of core ILS rates appear reasonable along several dimensions:
      (i) like realized core inflation is less volatile than headline inflation, the core ILS rates are less
      volatile than headline ILS rates, (ii) core ILS rates comove less with oil prices than headline
      ILS rates, (iii) the core inflation expectations, as reflected in core ILS rates, typically evolve
      similarly as the core inflation projections by Eurosystem staff, and (iv) consistent with market
      commentary at the time, core ILS rates suggest that market participants expected core inflation
      to be substantially more persistent than headline inflation following the 2022 energy price spike.
    • To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to price core ILS rates and decompose them into
      market-based expectations for and risks around the core inflation outlook.
    • Our approach to inferring core ILS
      rates from headline ILS rates, realized headline and core inflation as well as survey expectations
      for headline and core inflation is also related to Ang et al.
    • Relative
      to their study, we separately measure core inflation expectations and risk premia, we provide
      core inflation expectations at a higher-frequency, and we provide evidence on the causal effects

      ECB Working Paper Series No 2908

      6

      of monetary policy shocks on core inflation expectations and risk premia.

    • Specifically, we decompose the synthetic core ILS rates
      into average expected core inflation over the lifetime of the swap contract and a core inflation
      risk premium that compensates investors for core inflation risk.
    • In
      our model below, this term is constant over time and relatively small, so we will simply refer
      to the core inflation risk premium as the difference between the core ILS rate and the average
      expected core inflation over the lifetime of the swap contract.
    • 3.2

      Core ILS rates

      To have a joint model for headline and core ILS rates, we need one further assumption on the
      dynamics of realized core inflation.

    • The assumption that core inflation is driven by the same set of factors as headline inflation
      should be relatively uncontroversial: since headline inflation is a weighted average of core and
      food and energy inflation, it should reflect any factors driving core inflation.
    • If there are factors
      driving food and energy inflation, which do not show up in core inflation, then those factors
      should still show up in headline inflation.
    • In step two, to be able to infer the factor
      loadings of core inflation, we would regress realized core inflation onto the estimated latent
      factors to identify the additional parameters in equation (12).
    • Before the fourth
      quarter of 2016, the SPF did not ask respondents for their core inflation expectations, so we
      are not able to use survey-based information about core inflation before then.
    • Before
      2016, the fitted core inflation series is somewhat above the realized one, potentially reflecting
      that the model has limited information about core inflation over this early period due to the
      lack of information about core inflation from surveys.
    • This could have been the
      case if one of the factors moved core inflation and energy and food inflation in exactly offsetting
      direction, so the overall impact on headline inflation was exactly zero.
    • During 2021, for example, there were

      ECB Working Paper Series No 2908

      25

      Figure 7: Decomposition of synthetic core ILS rates
      2y core ILS

      5y core ILS

      5
      4

      5
      ILS

      premia

      exp

      4

      ILS

      premia

      exp

      3

      3

      2

      2

      1

      1

      0

      0

      -1

      -1

      -2
      2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

      -2
      2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

      10y core ILS

      5y5y core ILS

      5
      4

      5
      ILS

      premia

      exp

      4

      ILS

      premia

      exp

      3

      3

      2

      2

      1

      1

      0

      0

      -1

      -1

      -2
      2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

      -2
      2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

      Note: Synthetic core ILS rates decomposed into genuine core inflation expectations and core inflation risk
      premia.

    • ECB Working Paper Series No 2908

      26

      Figure 8: Decomposition of ILS rates
      2y ILS

      5y ILS

      5
      4

      5
      ILS

      premia

      exp

      4

      3

      3

      2

      2

      1

      1

      0

      0

      -1

      -1

      -2
      2006

      2010

      2014

      2018

      2022

      -2
      2006

      ILS

      2010

      10y ILS

      2018

      2022

      5
      ILS

      premia

      exp

      4

      3

      3

      2

      2

      1

      1

      0

      0

      -1

      -1

      -2
      2006

      2014

      exp

      5y5y ILS

      5
      4

      premia

      2010

      2014

      2018

      2022

      -2
      2006

      ILS

      2010

      premia

      2014

      2018

      exp

      2022

      Note: ILS rates decomposed into genuine core inflation expectations and core inflation risk premia.

    • We find that the headline inflation risk premium
      indeed does responds more strongly than the core inflation risk premium.
    • The key
      assumption underlying our approach is that traded headline ILS rates span core inflation, which

      ECB Working Paper Series No 2908

      35

      should be reasonably uncontroversial as core inflation is a sub-component of headline inflation.

    • We fit the model to euro area headline ILS rates, realized headline and core inflation, and
      both headline and core inflation expectations reported in the SPF.
    • Decomposing our core ILS rates into genuine core inflation expectations and core
      inflation risk premia shows that shorter maturities mainly reflect core inflation expectations,
      while the core inflation risk premium matters relatively more for longer maturities.
    • Our results suggest that a monetary policy tightening surprise significantly lowers
      near-term core inflation expectations, although less so than it lowers headline inflation expectations.