Much like a prehistoric pest trapped in amber, our summer plans remain in suspended animation.

A longstanding battle between an Alberta entrepreneur and a $50-million lottery winner is still raging after a new legal judgment, a securities investigation, allegations of harassment and even duelling ebooks.

Tensions are rising on Manitoulin Island because a First Nation is stopping travellers on provincial highways that go through the community. But opinions on M'Chigeeng's attempt to protect its people from COVID-19 are not divided along racial lines. 

A doctor on Manitoulin Island is encouraging seasonal residents to stay home and not to come visit during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Every year Washingtonians are treated to a feast for the eyes as ornamental cherry trees bloom across the city, most prominently by the Tidal Basin. As cherry blossom season approaches, we would like to share information about two related resources that we hope will offer some inspiration for those near and far: a selected set […]

The following is a post by Kristi Finefield, Reference Specialist in the Prints & Photographs Division, and member of the Picture This blog team. Images have a way of opening our eyes to new aspects of a well-known story. When I think of singer Marian Anderson, an image of her performing at the Lincoln Memorial […]

The following is a post by Kristi Finefield, Reference Specialist in the Prints & Photographs Division, and member of the Picture This blog team. As the Library of Congress marks its 220th year, we take the opportunity to explore one example of its efforts to sustain and celebrate the arts in its physical spaces. Above […]

Below is an interview with Elizabeth Lindqwister, the summer 2019 Liljenquist Family Fellow, and Prints & Photographs Division staff members, Karen Chittenden and Micah Messenheimer, about creating a Story Map focusing on the Civil War experience of Susie King Taylor. Many courageous people are pulling double and triple duty in this time of quarantine for […]

Over many years, the Xenopus laevis embryo has provided a powerful model system to investigate how mechanical forces regulate cellular function. Here, we describe a system to apply reproducible tensile and compressive force to X. laevis animal cap tissue explants and to simultaneously assess cellular behavior using live confocal imaging.

Mice, rats, or hamsters are immunized by giving biweekly injections of a purified antigen, cultured cells, or cDNA. For mice, if a pure, soluble protein antigen is being used and is abundant, a dose of 50–100 µg in adjuvant at each immunization is a sensible general recommendation; for rats and hamsters, a dose of 100–200 µg is sufficient. Lower doses can be used for antigens with higher immunogenicity. Adjuvants (Freund's, Ribi, Hunter's TiterMax, ImmunEasy, or Alum) should be mixed with the immunizing antigen for the first two immunizations only; Complete Freund's adjuvant is only used with the first immunization. Subsequent immunizations are performed in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) or normal saline, with or without Incomplete Freund's adjuvant. The choice of adjuvant is dependent on the subclass of immunoglobulin required. Over the course of the 6-wk immunization schedule, each animal usually receives a total of six injections (three subcutaneous and three intraperitoneal). Once a good titer has developed against the antigen of interest, regular boosts and bleeds are performed to collect the maximum amount of serum. For rats and hamsters, boosts should be spaced every 2–3 wk, and serum samples of 400–500 µL should be collected 10–12 d after each boost. For mice, boosts should be spaced every 2–3 wk, and serum samples of 200–300 µL should be collected 10–12 d after each boost.

Successful modification of the bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) after two-step BAC engineering is confirmed in two separate polymerase chain reactions (PCRs). The first reaction (5' co-integrate PCR) uses a forward 5' co-integrate primer (a sequence located upstream of the 5' end of the A-box) and a reverse 3' primer on the vector (175PA+50AT) or within the reporter sequence or mutated region as appropriate. The second reaction (3' co-integrate PCR) uses a forward 5' primer on the recA gene (RecA1300S) and a reverse 3' co-integrate primer (a sequence located downstream from the 3' end of the B-box). Those colonies shown to be positive in PCR analysis are further tested for sensitivity to UV light. After the resolution, colonies that have lost the excised recombination vector including sacB and recA genes become UV light sensitive.

Plasmid DNA is prepared from the recombinant shuttle vector pLD53.SCAB/A-B created by cloning of the A and B homology arms for two-step bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) engineering. To confirm that the A-box and B-box arms have been successfully incorporated into pLD53.SCAB, the pattern of enzyme digestion of the modified plasmid is compared with that of the unmodified pLD53.SCAB. Once the shuttle vector is shown to carry the proper sequences, it is ready for transfer into the BAC host.

This protocol describes the preparation of the shuttle vector before its introduction into bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) host cells for BAC two-step engineering. The homology arm sequences, prepared previously, are introduced by ligation into the digested shuttle vector DNA to provide sites for recombination within the BAC clone. Crude lysates of individual bacterial transformants serve as templates in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis to confirm the presence of the homology arms in the recombinant shuttle vector.

The 700-bp A homology arm (A-box) and the 700-bp B homology arm (B-box) are amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using purified bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) DNA as template for two-step BAC engineering. The resulting A-box PCR product contains an AscI site at its 5' end (the 5' primer incorporates an AscI site, and the 3' primer does not incorporate any restriction sites). The B-box PCR product contains an XmaI site at its 3' end (the 5' primer does not incorporate any restriction sites, and the 3' primer incorporates an XmaI site). The amplification products are then digested with the appropriate restriction endonucleases to render them suitable for cloning into the shuttle vector.

We assess the dynamics of volatility spillovers among global systemically important banks (G-SIBs). We measure spillovers using vector-autoregressive models of range volatility of the equity prices of G-SIBs, together with machine learning methods. We then compare the size of these spillovers with the degree of systemic importance measured by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision's G-SIB bucket designations.

FSI Briefs No 1, April 2020. Regulatory policy responses should seek to support economic activity while preserving the financial system's soundness and ensuring transparency. The recommendation for banks to make full use of capital and liquidity buffers should go hand in hand with restrictions on dividends and bonuses and clarity concerning the process for rebuilding them. Flexibility in loan classification criteria for prudential and accounting purposes should be complemented with sufficient disclosure on the criteria banks use to assess creditworthiness. The publication of detailed guidance on the application of expected loss provisioning rules, combined with sensible transitional arrangements, may constitute a balanced approach to mitigating the unintended effects of the new accounting standards.

FSI Briefs No 2, April 2020. Guidance issued by financial sector authorities in response to the Covid-19 crisis seems to suggest that international efforts to come up with operational resilience standards should take into account at least the following elements: Critical/essential employees: identifying the critical functions and employees that support important business services, as well as ensuring employees' safety and that they can safely resume their duties (remotely, if necessary); IT infrastructure: ensuring that IT infrastructure can support a sharp increase in usage over an extended period and taking steps to safeguard information security; Third-party service providers: ensuring that external service providers and/or critical suppliers are taking adequate measures and are sufficiently prepared for a scenario in which there will be heavy reliance on their services; Cyber resilience: remaining vigilant in order to identify and protect vulnerable systems, and detect, respond and recover from cyber attacks..

Using a cross-country sample of bank-dependent public fi rms we study the international spillovers of a change in banking regulation on corporate borrowing. For identi cation we examine how US rms' liabilities vis-a-vis banks, non-bank lenders and bond markets evolve after an increase in capital requirements implemented by the European Banking Authority (EBA) in 2011. We find that US firms experience a reduction in credit lines but not in term loans from EU banks.

FSI Briefs No 3, April 2020. In response to the 2007-09 Great Financial Crisis (GFC), accounting standard setters introduced a new methodology to value loans based on expected credit losses (ECL). The previous approach, based on incurred losses, was viewed as procyclical and inconsistent with prudential objectives. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, several prudential authorities and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), introduced a series of measures to clarify how banks should consider various public and private debt relief programmes in their ECL estimates and in their calculation of regulatory capital. These measures are intended to incentivise banks to continue supporting the real economy, while reducing pressure on banks' ECL provisions, earnings and regulatory capital. Supervisory initiatives that provide capital relief should be augmented by severe constraints on the payment of dividends, bonuses and share buybacks. These joint actions will simultaneously expand banks' lending capacity and enhance their ability to absorb losses. Prudential authorities face difficult trade-offs as they confront the most severe economic crisis in modern times. Encouraging the use of flexibility in applicable accounting standards, while preserving market trust and transparency in the reported financial statements of banks, will be key in fostering both economic and financial stability.

Recent literature has highlighted that international trade is mostly priced in a few key vehicle currencies, and is increasingly dominated by intermediate goods and global value chains (GVCs). Taking these features into account, this paper reexamines the business cycle dynamics of international trade and its relationship with monetary policy and exchange rates.

The Covid-19 shock is placing enormous strains on corporates cash buffers. Corporate financial statements from 2019 suggest that 50% of firms do not have sufficient cash to cover total debt servicing costs over the coming year. Credit lines could provide firms with additional liquidity. On average undrawn credit stood around 120% of debt servicing costs at end 2019. However, access is uneven and banks may be reluctant to renew or extend them in the current environment. Sticky operating expenses result in many firms running operating losses, placing an additional burden on cash buffers. Estimates indicate that following a 10% drop in revenues, operating expenses only fall by 6% on average. Simulations suggest that if revenues fall by 25% in 2020, then closing the entire funding gap with debt would raise firm leverage by around 10 percentage points.

The National Book Festival Presents series was created to provide a book festival experience to lovers of the event on a year-round basis. Because these programs can no longer be held at the Library, we are offering a virtual multipart series, with authors who have written books about widespread diseases and the worldwide response to them.

Our ongoing celebration of the Library of Congress National Book Festival continues with Poets Laureate Tracy K. Smith and Robert Hass discussing the making of poetry, the position of Poet Laureate and their new books, "American Journal: Fifty Poems for Our Time" (edited by Smith) and "A Little Book on Form: An Exploration into the Formal Imagination of Poetry" (Hass), on the Poetry & Prose stage at the 2018 Festival.

Even celebrity chef Julia Child said that the sleek appliance made mixing 'marvelous'

Application deadline: 17 May 2020 | Banking Settlements Centre | Location: Basel, Switzerland

Press release: CPMI and IOSCO share authorities´ experiences in cooperation to increase FMI safety and efficiency, 10 December 2019

The BIS Board of Directors has decided to invite the central banks of Kuwait, Morocco and Vietnam to become members of the BIS. This is the first such expansion since 2011 and will take the number of members to 63.

No global real estate market despite higher price synchronisation and growing role of international investors, central banks find (Press release, 18 February 2020)

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) today announced two key appointments to the BIS Innovation Hub, a new initiative designed to support central bank collaboration on new financial technology. (Press release, 19 February 2020)

Basel Committee Press release "Basel Committee meets to review vulnerabilities and emerging risks, advance supervisory initiatives and promote Basel III implementationl", 27 February 2020.

Press release about Basel Committee assesses members' implementation of the Net Stable Funding Ratio and large exposures framework, 19 March 2020

Press release "Basel Committee coordinates policy and supervisory response to Covid-19", 20 March 2020

Press release "Governors and Heads of Supervision announce deferral of Basel III implementation to increase operational capacity of banks and supervisors to respond to Covid-19", 27 March 2020

BCBS Press release "Basel Committee and IOSCO announce deferral of final implementation phases of the margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives", 3 April 2020

CPMI Press release "Jurisdictions move towards full implementation of standards for financial market infrastructures", 8 April 2020.

CPMI Press release "How fintech can promote financial inclusion - a new report on the opportunities and challenges", 14 April 2020

Press release "Saudi G20 Presidency and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub invite global innovators to solve RegTech and SupTech challenges", 27 April 2020

BCBS Press release "Basel Committee issues progress report on banks' implementation of the 'Principles for effective risk data aggregation and reporting'", 29 April 2020

Tissue engineering has a unique set of tools and technologies for developing preventive strategies, diagnostics, and treatments that can play an important role during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The American Geriatrics Society annually honors researchers, clinicians, educators, and emerging health professionals who have made outstanding contributions to high-quality, person-centered care for older people.

Acute myeloid leukemia is an aggressive cancer of the blood-forming system. It affects the hematopoietic stem cells, or blood stem cells, of various white blood cells and of the red blood cells and platelets.

The number of people evaluated for signs of stroke at U.S. hospitals has dropped by nearly 40% during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study led by researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis who analyzed stroke evaluations at more than 800 hospitals across 49 states and the District of Columbia.

It’s the coronavirus election now.

The pandemic has put psychological theories of politics to a very interesting test.

The purpose of suffering may be mysterious, but the search for meaning is obligatory.

When the province eventually conducts its review on the response to COVID-19, the president of the Nova Scotia Nurses’ Union can think of one thing in particular that needs to be discussed.

Police say efforts to find the driver of an abandoned car in Kings County last week likely saved his life.

Over the 13 hours the mass shooting took place across Nova Scotia on April 18 and 19, the RCMP called in resources from New Brunswick to help. However, the two municipal police forces closest to Portapique were not asked to respond directly at any point, CBC News has learned.

Quebec's public health director, Dr. Horacio Arruda, says grandparents under 70 years old are allowed to see and even care for their grandchildren. But the recommendation comes with cautions.