The Job Market for New Economists: A Market Design Perspective

This paper, written by the members of the American Economic Association (AEA) Ad Hoc Committee on the Job Market, provides an overview of the market for new Ph.D. economists. It describes the role of the AEA in the market and focuses in particular on two mechanisms adopted in recent years at the suggestion of our Committee. First, job market applicants now have a signaling service to send an expression of special interest to up to two employers prior to interviews at the January Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA) meetings. Second, the AEA now invites candidates who are still on the market, and employers whose positions are still vacant, to participate in a web-based "scramble" to reduce search costs and thicken the late part of the job market. We present statistics on the activity in these market mechanisms and present survey evidence that both mechanisms have facilitated matches. The paper concludes by discussing the emergence of platforms for transmitting job market information and other design issues that may arise in the market for new economists.Economic

Relativistic Coulomb problem for particles with arbitrary half-integer spin

Using relativistic tensor-bispinorial equations proposed in hep-th/0412213 we solve the Kepler problem for a charged particle with arbitrary half-integer spin interacting with the Coulomb potential.Comment: Misprints are correcte

Pauli equation and the method of supersymmetric factorization

We consider different variants of factorization of a 2x2 matrix Schroedinger/Pauli operator in two spatial dimensions. They allow to relate its spectrum to the sum of spectra of two scalar Schroedinger operators, in a manner similar to one-dimensional Darboux transformations. We consider both the case when such factorization is reduced to the ordinary 2-dimensional SUSY QM quasifactorization and a more general case which involves covariant derivatives. The admissible classes of electromagnetic fields are described and some illustrative examples are given.Comment: 18 pages, Late

Calcium-stimulated calcitonin - The “new standard” in the diagnosis of thyroid C-cell disease - clinically relevant gender-specific cut-off levels for an “old test”

Introduction: Pentagastrin (Pg) stimulated calcitonin (sCT) was used to enhance accuracy in medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) diagnosis. As it is now unavailable, calcium (Ca) has been recommended as an alternative. The aim of this study was to define gender-specific cut-off values to predict MTC in patients with elevated basal CT (bCT) following Pg-sCT and Ca-sCT stimulation and to compare the time courses of CT release during stimulation. Materials and methods: The stimulation tests were applied in 62 consecutive patients with thyroid nodules. Basal calcitonin was measured by chemiluminescent immunometric assay. All patients underwent thyroidectomy and bilateral central neck dissection. C-cell pathology was confirmed by histological and immunohistochemical evaluation. Results: In 39 (0.63) patients MTC was documented while isolated C-cell hyperplasia (CCH) was identified in 23 (0.37) patients. Medullary thyroid cancer was predicted in males with bCT values > 43 pg/mL or sCT concentrations > 470 pg/mL (Pg-sCT) or > 1500 pg/mL (Ca-sCT), and in females with bCT concentrations > 23 pg/mL or sCT concentrations > 200 pg/mL (Pg-sCT) or > 780 pg/mL (Ca-sCT), respectively. Pg-sCT correctly predicted MTC in 16 (0.66) compared to 13 (0.54) after Ca-sCT in males and in 12 (0.80) compared to 11 (0.73) in females; without statistical significance. In patients with CCH or low tumor burden, there was a tendency of faster CT release after Ca stimulation (CT peak after 3min in > 60%) compared to patients with advanced MTC (CT peak after 3min in < 10%). Conclusions: Using gender-specific cut-off values, Ca could replace Pg to predict MTC with similar diagnostic power

Galilei-invariant equations for massive fields

Galilei-invariant equations for massive fields with various spins have been found and classified. They have been derived directly, i.e., by using requirement of the Galilei invariance and various facts on representations of the Galilei group deduced in the paper written by de Montigny M, Niederle J and Nikitin A G, J. Phys. A \textbf{39}, 1-21, 2006. A completed list of non-equivalent Galilei-invariant wave equations for vector and scalar fields is presented. It shows two things. First that the collection of such equations is very broad and describes many physically consistent systems. In particular it is possible to describe spin-orbit and Darwin couplings in frames of Galilei-invariant approach. Second, these Galilei-invariant equations can be obtained either via contraction of known relativistic equations or via contractions of quite new relativistic wave equations.Comment: Minor improvements of the text has been made and misprints are correcte

Cabozantinib in progressive medullary thyroid cancer

Purpose Cabozantinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) of hepatocyte growth factor receptor (MET), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2, and rearranged during transfection (RET), demonstrated clinical activity in patients with medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) in phase I. Patients and Methods We conducted a double-blind, phase III trial comparing cabozantinib with placebo in 330 patients with documented radiographic progression of metastatic MTC. Patients were randomly assigned (2:1) to cabozantinib (140 mg per day) or placebo. The primary end point was progression-free survival (PFS). Additional outcome measures included tumor response rate, overall survival, and safety. Results The estimated median PFS was 11.2 months for cabozantinib versus 4.0 months for placebo (hazard ratio, 0.28; 95% CI, 0.19 to 0.40; P < .001). Prolonged PFS with cabozantinib was observed across all subgroups including by age, prior TKI treatment, and RET mutation status (hereditary or sporadic). Response rate was 28% for cabozantinib and 0% for placebo; responses were seen regardless of RET mutation status. Kaplan-Meier estimates of patients alive and progression-free at 1 year are 47.3% for cabozantinib and 7.2% for placebo. Common cabozantinib-associated adverse events included diarrhea, palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia, decreased weight and appetite, nausea, and fatigue and resulted in dose reductions in 79% and holds in 65% of patients. Adverse events led to treatment discontinuation in 16% of cabozantinib-treated patients and in 8% of placebo-treated patients. Conclusion Cabozantinib (140 mg per day) achieved a statistically significant improvement of PFS in patients with progressive metastatic MTC and represents an important new treatment option for patients with this rare disease. This dose of cabozantinib was associated with significant but manageable toxicity

Veganismo e agroecologia: práticas convergentes para a produção de sistemas alimentares saudáveis e sustentáveis

O artigo analisa as convergências entre as práticas alimentares dos adeptos do veganismo e aquelas promovidas pelo movimento agroecológico. Mais especificamente, busca compreender como práticas cotidianas de restaurantes veganos, e seus consumidores, contribuem para a construção de sistemas alimentares saudáveis e sustentáveis nos termos defendidos pelas organizações agroecológicas. Os dados foram coletados entre outubro de 2018 e abril de 2019, período durante o qual observamos in loco as práticas alimentares de dez restaurantes veganos na cidade de Porto Alegre; realizamos entrevistas com chefs, cozinheiros, nutricionistas e proprietários dos restaurantes e aplicamos questionário estruturado a 374 consumidores. Os resultados apontam que, apesar do limitado engajamento político dos restaurantes e consumidores tanto com o movimento vegano quanto com outros movimentos alimentares, a análise das práticas sociais revela convergências entre veganismo e agroecologia.This article analyzes the convergences between the food practices of the followers of veganism and those promoted by the agroecology movement. More specifically, it seeks to understand how the daily practices of vegan restaurants and their consumers contribute to the construction of healthy and sustainable food systems in similar terms to those suggested by agroecology organizations. The survey was conducted between October 2018 and April 2019, a period during which we observed the food practices of 10 vegan restaurants in the city of Porto Alegre; conduct interviews with chefs, nutritionists and restaurant owners and applied a structured survey to 374 consumers. Results suggest that, despite limited political engagement of the restaurants and consumers both within the vegan movement and other food movements, a closer look at their practices reveals several convergences between veganism and agroecology