Earned, owned, or transferred: are donations sensitive to the composition of income and wealth?

Using data from COPPS/PSID, we investigate the effects of different forms and sources of income (labor, asset, welfare, and other transfers) and wealth (home equity and other wealth) on household charitable donations (total, religious, secular, combined causes, and the needy). We find that it is important to disaggregate income and wealth and to distinguish the effect of an increase in the level of each component from the effect of the component’s presence. We reject the fungibility hypothesis for income and, except for religious giving and gifts to the needy, for wealth. Past receipt of inheritances affects current giving.donations, income decomposition, wealth decomposition, consumption

The Intergenerational Transmission of Generosity

The Center on Philanthropy Panel Study (COPPS) has provided the first data on the giving of parents and their children. COPPS has found that adult children whose parents give currently are much more likely to be donors themselves than are children whose parents do not give currently; they are also far more likely to give more money than children of non-donors. In addition, parents' religious giving emerges as an engine for religious generosity, affecting the religious giving of their adult children, but having no effect on children's "secular" giving (e.g., to United Way, help the poor, education, etc. ). No relationship exists between the adult children's religious affiliation and their secular giving (except among those of the Jewish faith, who also make large donations to secular causes). There is a significant relationship between parents’ secular giving and their adult children's secular giving; Parents who give generously to secular causes have adult children with higher probability of giving to secular causes and who give at higher amounts than are seen among adult children whose parents do not give as generously to secular causes. This suggests a transmission of values for secular giving

Practical Roadmap and Limits to Nanostructured Photovoltaics

The significant research interest in the engineering of photovoltaic (PV) structures at the nanoscale is directed toward enabling reductions in PV module fabrication and installation costs as well as improving cell power conversion efficiency (PCE). With the emergence of a multitude of nanostructured photovoltaic (nano-PV) device architectures, the question has arisen of where both the practical and the fundamental limits of performance reside in these new systems. Here, the former is addressed a posteriori. The specific challenges associated with improving the electrical power conversion efficiency of various nano-PV technologies are discussed and several approaches to reduce their thermal losses beyond the single bandgap limit are reviewed. Critical considerations related to the module lifetime and cost that are unique to nano-PV architectures are also addressed. The analysis suggests that a practical single-junction laboratory power conversion efficiency limit of 17% and a two-cell tandem power conversion efficiency limit of 24% are possible for nano-PVs, which, when combined with operating lifetimes of 10 to 15 years, could position them as a transformational technology for solar energy markets.Eni-MIT Alliance Solar Frontiers Program (Eni S.p.A. (Firm))National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship ProgramLink FoundationHertz Foundation (Fellowship

Improved performance and stability in quantum dot solar cells through band alignment engineering

Solution processing is a promising route for the realization of low-cost, large-area, flexible and lightweight photovoltaic devices with short energy payback time and high specific power. However, solar cells based on solution-processed organic, inorganic and hybrid materials reported thus far generally suffer from poor air stability, require an inert-atmosphere processing environment or necessitate high-temperature processing [superscript 1], all of which increase manufacturing complexities and costs. Simultaneously fulfilling the goals of high efficiency, low-temperature fabrication conditions and good atmospheric stability remains a major technical challenge, which may be addressed, as we demonstrate here, with the development of room-temperature solution-processed ​[ZnO over ​PbS] quantum dot solar cells. By engineering the band alignment of the quantum dot layers through the use of different ligand treatments, a certified efficiency of 8.55% has been reached. Furthermore, the performance of unencapsulated devices remains unchanged for over 150 days of storage in air. This material system introduces a new approach towards the goal of high-performance air-stable solar cells compatible with simple solution processes and deposition on flexible substrates.National Science Foundation (U.S.)Hertz FoundationSamsung Advanced Institute of TechnologyNational Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laser Biomedical Research Center. Contract 9-P41-EB015871-26A1)National Science Foundation (U.S.). Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (Program) (MIT Center for Materials Science and Engineering. Award DMR-08-19762

Ammonia Emissions from U.S. Broiler Houses in Kentucky and Pennsylvania

Updated U.S. broiler ammonia emissions for PA and KY are presented

Immunization with a synthetic consensus hepatitis C virus E2 glycoprotein ectodomain elicits virus-neutralizing antibodies

Global eradication of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection will require an efficacious vaccine capable of eliciting protective immunity against genetically diverse HCV strains. Natural spontaneous resolution of HCV infection is associated with production of broadly neutralizing antibodies targeting the HCV glycoproteins E1 and E2. As such, production of cross-neutralizing antibodies is an important endpoint for experimental vaccine trials. Varying success generating cross-neutralizing antibodies has been achieved with immunogens derived from naturally-occurring HCV strains. In this study the challenge of minimising the genetic diversity between the vaccine strain and circulating HCV isolates was addressed. Two novel synthetic E2 glycoprotein immunogens (NotC1 and NotC2) were derived from consensus nucleotide sequences deduced from samples of circulating genotype 1 HCV strains. These two synthetic sequences differed in their relative positions in the overall genotype 1a/1b phylogeny. Expression of these constructs in Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells resulted in high yields of correctly-folded, monomeric E2 protein, which were recognised by broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies. Immunization of guinea pigs with either of these consensus immunogens, or a comparable protein representing a circulating genotype 1a strain resulted in high titres of cross-reactive anti-E2 antibodies. All immunogens generated antibodies capable of neutralizing the H77 strain, but NotC1 elicited antibodies that more potently neutralized virus entry. These vaccine-induced antibodies neutralized some viruses representing genotype 1, but not strains representing genotype 2 or genotype 3. Thus, while this approach to vaccine design resulted in correctly folded, immunogenic protein, cross-neutralizing epitopes were not preferentially targeted by the host immune response generated by this immunogen. Greater immunofocussing by vaccines to common epitopes is necessary to successfully elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies

Earned, owned, or transferred: are donations sensitive to the composition of income and wealth?

Using data from COPPS/PSID, we investigate the effects of different forms and sources of income (labor, asset, welfare, and other transfers) and wealth (home equity and other wealth) on household charitable donations (total, religious, secular, combined causes, and the needy). We find that it is important to disaggregate income and wealth and to distinguish the effect of an increase in the level of each component from the effect of the component’s presence. We reject the fungibility hypothesis for income and, except for religious giving and gifts to the needy, for wealth. Past receipt of inheritances affects current giving

Earned, owned, or transferred: are donations sensitive to the composition of income and wealth?

Using data from COPPS/PSID, we investigate the effects of different forms and sources of income (labor, asset, welfare, and other transfers) and wealth (home equity and other wealth) on household charitable donations (total, religious, secular, combined causes, and the needy). We find that it is important to disaggregate income and wealth and to distinguish the effect of an increase in the level of each component from the effect of the component’s presence. We reject the fungibility hypothesis for income and, except for religious giving and gifts to the needy, for wealth. Past receipt of inheritances affects current giving

Developmental Regulation of an Adhesin Gene during Cellular Morphogenesis in the Fungal Pathogen Candida albicans

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A diverse panel of hepatitis C virus glycoproteins for use in vaccine research reveals extremes of monoclonal antibody neutralization resistance

Despite significant advances in the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, the need to develop preventative vaccines remains. Identification of the best vaccine candidates and evaluation of their performance in preclinical and clinical development will require appropriate neutralization assays utilizing diverse HCV isolates. We aimed to generate and characterize a panel of HCVE1E2 glycoproteins suitable for subsequent use in vaccine and therapeutic antibody testing. Full-length E1E2 clones were PCR amplified from patient- derived serum samples, cloned into an expression vector, and used to generate viral pseudoparticles (HCVpp). In addition, some of these clones were used to generate cell culture infectious (HCVcc) clones. The infectivity and neutralization sensitivity of these viruses were then determined. Bioinformatic and HCVpp infectivity screening of approximately 900 E1E2 clones resulted in the assembly of a panel of 78 functional E1E2 proteins representing distinct HCV genotypes and different stages of infection. These HCV glycoproteins differed markedly in their sensitivity to neutralizing antibodies. We used this panel to predict antibody efficacy against circulating HCV strains, highlighting the likely reason why some monoclonal antibodies failed in previous clinical trials. This study provides the first objective categorization of cross-genotype patient-derived HCVE1E2 clones according to their sensitivity to antibody neutralization. It has shown that HCV isolates have clearly distinguishable neutralization-sensitive, -resistant, or -intermediate phenotypes, which are independent of genotype. The panel provides a systematic means for characterization of the neutralizing response elicited by candidate vaccines and for defining the therapeutic potential of monoclonal antibodies