Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United Kingdom: A personality-based perspective on concerns and intention to self-isolate

Objectives Public behaviour change is necessary to contain the spread of coronavirus (COVID‐19). Based on the reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) framework, this study presents an examination of individual differences in some relevant psychological factors. Design Cross‐sectional psychometric. Methods UK respondents (N = 202) completed a personality questionnaire (RST‐PQ), measures of illness attitudes, concerns about the impact of coronavirus on health services and socio‐economic infrastructures, personal safety, and likelihood of voluntary self‐isolation. Results Respondents most concerned were older, had negative illness attitudes, and scored higher on reward reactivity (RR), indicating the motivation to take positive approach action despite prevailing worry/anxiety. Personal safety concerns were highest in those with negative illness attitudes and higher fight–flight–freeze system (FFFS, reflecting fear/avoidance) scores. Results suggest people are experiencing psychological conflict: between the urge to stay safe (FFFF‐related) and the desire to maintain a normal, pleasurable (RR‐related) life. Ways of ameliorating conflict may include maladaptive behaviours (panic buying), reflecting reward‐related displacement activity. Intended self‐isolation related to FFFS, but also low behavioural inhibition system (related to anxiety) scores. Older people reported themselves less likely to self‐isolate. Conclusions Interventions need to consider individual differences in psychological factors in behaviour change, and we discuss relevant literature to inform policy makers and communicators

Cortical Factor Feedback Model for Cellular Locomotion and Cytofission

Eukaryotic cells can move spontaneously without being guided by external cues. For such spontaneous movements, a variety of different modes have been observed, including the amoeboid-like locomotion with protrusion of multiple pseudopods, the keratocyte-like locomotion with a widely spread lamellipodium, cell division with two daughter cells crawling in opposite directions, and fragmentations of a cell to multiple pieces. Mutagenesis studies have revealed that cells exhibit these modes depending on which genes are deficient, suggesting that seemingly different modes are the manifestation of a common mechanism to regulate cell motion. In this paper, we propose a hypothesis that the positive feedback mechanism working through the inhomogeneous distribution of regulatory proteins underlies this variety of cell locomotion and cytofission. In this hypothesis, a set of regulatory proteins, which we call cortical factors, suppress actin polymerization. These suppressing factors are diluted at the extending front and accumulated at the retracting rear of cell, which establishes a cellular polarity and enhances the cell motility, leading to the further accumulation of cortical factors at the rear. Stochastic simulation of cell movement shows that the positive feedback mechanism of cortical factors stabilizes or destabilizes modes of movement and determines the cell migration pattern. The model predicts that the pattern is selected by changing the rate of formation of the actin-filament network or the threshold to initiate the network formation

Digital image correlation (DIC) analysis of the 3 December 2013 Montescaglioso landslide (Basilicata, Southern Italy). Results from a multi-dataset investigation

Image correlation remote sensing monitoring techniques are becoming key tools for providing effective qualitative and quantitative information suitable for natural hazard assessments, specifically for landslide investigation and monitoring. In recent years, these techniques have been successfully integrated and shown to be complementary and competitive with more standard remote sensing techniques, such as satellite or terrestrial Synthetic Aperture Radar interferometry. The objective of this article is to apply the proposed in-depth calibration and validation analysis, referred to as the Digital Image Correlation technique, to measure landslide displacement. The availability of a multi-dataset for the 3 December 2013 Montescaglioso landslide, characterized by different types of imagery, such as LANDSAT 8 OLI (Operational Land Imager) and TIRS (Thermal Infrared Sensor), high-resolution airborne optical orthophotos, Digital Terrain Models and COSMO-SkyMed Synthetic Aperture Radar, allows for the retrieval of the actual landslide displacement field at values ranging from a few meters (2–3 m in the north-eastern sector of the landslide) to 20–21 m (local peaks on the central body of the landslide). Furthermore, comprehensive sensitivity analyses and statistics-based processing approaches are used to identify the role of the background noise that affects the whole dataset. This noise has a directly proportional relationship to the different geometric and temporal resolutions of the processed imagery. Moreover, the accuracy of the environmental-instrumental background noise evaluation allowed the actual displacement measurements to be correctly calibrated and validated, thereby leading to a better definition of the threshold values of the maximum Digital Image Correlation sub-pixel accuracy and reliability (ranging from 1/10 to 8/10 pixel) for each processed dataset

Application of chiral nuclear forces to light nuclei

In these proceedings, we discuss the current status of nuclear bound state predictions based on chiral nuclear interactions. Results of ordinary $s$- and $p$-shell nuclei and light hypernuclei are shown.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, corrected typos in Table 5, version as publishe

Quasinormal modes of Schwarzschild black holes in four and higher dimensions

We make a thorough investigation of the asymptotic quasinormal modes of the four and five-dimensional Schwarzschild black hole for scalar, electromagnetic and gravitational perturbations. Our numerical results give full support to all the analytical predictions by Motl and Neitzke, for the leading term. We also compute the first order corrections analytically, by extending to higher dimensions, previous work of Musiri and Siopsis, and find excellent agreement with the numerical results. For generic spacetime dimension number D the first-order corrections go as $\frac{1}{n^{(D-3)/(D-2)}}$. This means that there is a more rapid convergence to the asymptotic value for the five dimensional case than for the four dimensional case, as we also show numerically.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, RevTeX4. v2. Typos corrected, references adde

Economic Integration in East Asia: Trends, Prospects, and a Possible Roadmap

This paper, which is a revised version of the ADB Working Paper on Regional Economic Integration No. 2, reviews trends in East Asian regionalism in the areas of trade and investment, money and finance, and infrastructure. It finds that trade and, to a lesser extent, financial integration is starting to increase in the region. It also finds that business cycles are starting to be more synchronized, enhancing the case for further monetary integration among these countries. The paper also outlines a roadmap for East Asian integration.

Geographical versus Industrial Diversification: A Mean Variance Spanning Approach

This paper addresses whether country allocation provides benefits over industry allocation in a sample of European country and industry indexes. Strategy performance is compared using a mean-variance spanning test. We find that, for investors with low risk aversion, industry allocation is as good as investing in the complete set of assets. Moreover, in the most recent subperiod coinciding with the inception of the Euro, country and industry diversification are both effective. By contrast, investors with high risk aversion should always mix country and industry portfolios. A striking aspect of our analysis is that we do not find empirical evidence to support the argument that country diversification is a superior approach.Diversification gains, EMU, mean-variance spanning, portfolio allocation strategies

The Effects of the Minimum Wage in the Private and Public Sectors in Brazil

The wage and employment effects of the minimum wage predicted by the standard neoclassical theory rely on a profit maximizing firm, not on a Government employer that can cover the higher wage bill by raising taxes, reducing expenditure, or simply printing money. If the public sector has an inelastic labour demand, the associated non-negative employment effect might offset some of the negative employment effect observed in the private sector and the overall employment effect might be less adverse. This is particularly so if the public sector is overpopulated by minimum wage workers, as in Brazil. There is very limited evidence on the minimum wage effects in developing countries, and none whatsoever on the minimum wage effects across the private and public sectors. This paper estimates the effects of the minimum wage on wages and employment in both the private and public sectors. The data used is an under-explored monthly Brazilian household survey from 1982 to 2000 at individual and regional levels. Robust results suggest that the minimum wage compresses the distribution of both sectors, but in line with a stronger effect in the private sector, more adverse employment effects in the long run are also observed in that sector. In the public sector, no evidence of adverse employment effects was uncovered.minimum wage; wage effect; employment effect; private sector; public sector; Brazil