The development impact of counterpart funds : a review of the literature /

Mode of access: Internet.

Report on foreign currencies held by the U.S. Government.

Description based on: Fiscal year 1980; title from cover.

Replacement of the natural Wolbachia symbiont of Drosophila simulans with a mosquito counterpart

Inherited rickettsial symbionts of the genus Wolbachia occur commonly in arthropods and have been implicated in the expression of parthenogenesis, feminization and cytoplasmic incompatibility phenomena in their respective hosts. Here we use purified Wolbachia from the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, to replace the natural infection of Drosophila simulans by means of embryonic microinjection techniques. The transferred Wolbachia infection behaves like a natural Drosophila infection with regard to its inheritance, cytoskeleton interactions and ability to induce incompatibility when crossed with uninfected flies. The transinfected flies are bidirectionally incompatible with all other naturally infected strains of Drosophila simulans, however, and as such represent a unique crossing type. The successful transfer of this symbiont between distantly related hosts suggests that it may be possible to introduce this agent experimentally into arthropod species of medical and agricultural importance in order to manipulate natural populations genetically.

An extragalactic HI cloud with no optical counterpart?

We report the discovery, from the H I Parkes All-Sky Survey (HIPASS), of an isolated cloud of neutral hydrogen, which we believe to be extragalactic. The H I mass of the cloud (HIPASS J1712-64) is very low, 1.7 x 10(7) M-circle dot, using an estimated distance of similar to 3.2 Mpc. Most significantly, we have found no optical companion to this object to very faint limits [mu(B) similar to 27 mag arcsec(-2)]. HIPASS J1712-64 appears to be a binary system similar to, but much less massive than, H I 1225 + 01 (the Virgo H. I cloud) and has a size of at least 15 kpc. The mean velocity dispersion measured with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) is only 4 km s(-1) for the main component and, because of the weak or nonexistent star formation, possibly reflects the thermal line width (T < 2000 K) rather than bulk motion or turbulence. The peak column density for HIPASS J1712-64, from the combined Parkes and ATCA data, is only 3.5 x 1019 cm(-2), which is estimated to be a factor of 2 below the critical threshold for star formation. Apart from its significantly higher velocity, the properties of HIPASS J1712-64 are similar to the recently recognized class of compact high-velocity clouds. We therefore consider the evidence for a Local Group or Galactic origin, although a more plausible alternative is that HIPASS J1712-64 was ejected from the interacting Magellanic Cloud-Galaxy system at perigalacticon similar to 2 x 10(8) yr ago.

Exchange rate sensitivity of Australian international equity funds

This paper analyses the exchange rate exposure displayed by a sample of Australian international equity trusts (IET). Exchange rate exposure is also examined in the context of differing economic climates with particular emphasis on the Asian crisis in mid-1997. It is found that there is evidence of exchange rate exposure particularly in the context of a multiple exchange rate model. Exposure varies substantially between three alternative time periods with different exposure apparent subsequent to the Asian crisis than prior to this event.

Style and performance of international socially responsible funds in Europe

This paper analyses the performance and investment styles of internationally oriented Socially Responsible Investment (SRI)funds, domiciled in eight European markets, in comparison with characteristics-matched conventional funds. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first multi-country study, focused on international SRI funds (investing in Global and in European equities), to combine the matched-pairs approach with the use of robust conditional multi-factor performance evaluation models, which allow for both time-varying alphas and betas and also control for home biases and spurious regression biases.In general, the results show that differences in the performance of international SRI funds and their conventional peers are not statistically significant. Regarding investment styles, SRI and conventional funds exhibit similar factor exposures in most cases. In addition,conventional benchmarks present a higher explaining power of SRI fund returns than SRI benchmarks. Our results also show significant differences in the investment styles of SRI funds according to whether they use “best-in-class” screening strategies or not. When compared to SRI funds that employ simple negative and/or positive screens, SRI “best-in-class” funds present significantly lower exposures to small caps and momentum strategies and significantly higher exposures to local stocks.

Selectivity and timing abilities of international socially responsible funds

This article analyses the selectivity and market timing abilities of international Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) funds, from eight European markets, in comparison to conventional funds with similar characteristics. The results show that differences in market timing abilities of international SRI funds and their conventional peers are not statistically significant. However, SRI funds investing in European equities are significantly worse stock pickers than conventional funds, whereas for funds investing globally, selectivity abilities are similar among both fund groups. Hence, our results suggest that a broader investment universe might increase SRI fund managers’ stock picking abilities and, consequently, improve SRI fund performance.

Performance of european socially responsible funds during market crises: evidence from France

This paper investigates the performance, investment styles andmanagerial abilities of French socially responsible investment (SRI) funds investing in Europe during crisis and non-crisis periods. Our results show that SRI funds significantly underperformcharacteristics-matched conventional funds during non-crisis periods, but match the performance of their peers duringmarket downturns. The underperformance of SRI funds during good economic states is driven by funds that use negative screens, since funds that use only positive screens performsimilarly to conventional funds across differentmarket conditions. SRI and conventional funds showsignificant differences in risk exposures during non-crisis periods but exhibit much more similar investment styles during crises. Furthermore,we find little evidence of significant differences inmanagerial abilities during bad economic states. Yet, during non-crisis periods, SRI and conventional fund managers exhibit significantly different style-timing abilities and these differences are also related to screening strategies.

Pricing of exchange traded funds

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics