343 research outputs found
The Allocation of a Prize (R)
Consider agents who undertake costly effort to produce stochastic outputs observable by a principal. The principal can award a prize deterministically to the agent with the highest output, or to all of them with probabilities that are proportional to their outputs. We show that, if there is suf cient dipersion in agents ' skills relative to the noise on output, then the proportional prize will on average elicit more output from the agents than the deterministic prize. Indeed, assuming agents know each others ' skills (the complete information case), this result holds when any Nash selection, under the proportional prize, is compared with any individually rational strategy selection under the deterministic prize. When there is incomplete information, the same result obtains but now we must restrict to Nash selections for both prizes. We also compute the optimal scheme — among a natural class of probabilistic schemes — for awarding the prize, namely that which elicits maximal effort from the agents for the least prize. In general the optimal scheme is a monotonic step function which lies "between" the proportional and the deterministic schemes. When the competition is over small fractional increments (a case that commonly arises in the presence of strong contestants whose base levels of production are high), the optimal scheme awards the prize according to the "log of the odds", where the odds are based on the proportional scheme
Isolation and expression analysis of salt stress-associated ESTs from contrasting rice cultivars using a PCR-based subtraction method
Salt stress adversely affects the growth of rice plants. To understand the molecular basis of salt-stress response, four subtracted cDNA libraries were constructed employing specific NaCl-stressed tissues from salt-tolerant (CSR 27 and Pokkali) and salt-sensitive (Pusa basmati 1) rice cultivars. An efficient PCR-based cDNA subtraction method was employed for the isolation of the salt-stress responsive cDNA clones. In all, 1,266 cDNA clones were isolated in the course of this study, out of which 85 clones were end-sequenced. Database search of the sequenced clones showed that 22 clones were homologous to genes that have earlier been implicated in stress response, 34 clones were novel with respect to their function and six clones showed no homology to sequences in any of the public database. Northern analysis showed that the transcript expression pattern of selected clones was variable amongst the cultivars tested with respect to stress-regulation
Derivatives for smooth representations of GL(n,R) and GL(n,C)
The notion of derivatives for smooth representations of GL(n) in the p-adic
case was defined by J. Bernstein and A. Zelevinsky. In the archimedean case, an
analog of the highest derivative was defined for irreducible unitary
representations by S. Sahi and called the "adduced" representation. In this
paper we define derivatives of all order for smooth admissible Frechet
representations (of moderate growth). The archimedean case is more problematic
than the p-adic case; for example arbitrary derivatives need not be admissible.
However, the highest derivative continues being admissible, and for irreducible
unitarizable representations coincides with the space of smooth vectors of the
adduced representation. In [AGS] we prove exactness of the highest derivative
functor, and compute highest derivatives of all monomial representations.
We prove exactness of the highest derivative functor, and compute highest
derivatives of all monomial representations. We apply those results to finish
the computation of adduced representations for all irreducible unitary
representations and to prove uniqueness of degenerate Whittaker models for
unitary representations, thus completing the results of [Sah89, Sah90, SaSt90,
GS12].Comment: First version of this preprint was split into 2. The proofs of two
theorems which are technically involved in analytic difficulties were
separated into "Twisted homology for the mirabolic nilradical" preprint. All
the rest stayed in v2 of this preprint. v3: version to appear in the Israel
Journal of Mathematic
The Fourth BATSE Gamma-Ray Burst Catalog (Revised)
The Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) on the Compton Gamma Ray
Observatory (CGRO) has triggered on 1637 cosmic gamma-ray bursts between 1991
April 19 and 1996 August 29. These events constitute the Fourth BATSE burst
catalog. The current version (4Br) has been revised from the version first
circulated on CD-ROM in September 1997 (4B) to include improved locations for a
subset of bursts that have been reprocssed using additional data. A significant
difference from previous BATSE catalogs is the inclusion of bursts from periods
when the trigger energy range differed from the nominal 50-300 keV. We present
tables of the burst occurrence times, locations, peak fluxes, fluences, and
durations. In general, results from previous BATSE catalogs are confirmed here
with greater statistical significance.Comment: 45 pages, 12 Postscript figures, accepted for publication in Ap. J.
Supp
Rodrigues Formula for the Nonsymmetric Multivariable Hermite Polynomial
Applying a method developed by Takamura and Takano for the nonsymmetric Jack
polynomial, we present the Rodrigues formula for the nonsymmetric multivariable
Hermite polynomial.Comment: 5 pages, LaTe
Neurosyphilis Increases Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-associated Central Nervous System Inflammation but Does Not Explain Cognitive Impairment in HIV-infected Individuals With Syphilis.
Background: Individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who have previously had syphilis may have cognitive impairment. We tested the hypothesis that neurosyphilis causes cognitive impairment in HIV by amplifying HIV-related central nervous system (CNS) inflammation.
Methods: HIV-infected participants enrolled in a study of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) abnormalities in syphilis underwent the mental alternation test (MAT), venipuncture, and lumbar puncture. CSF concentrations of chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 10 (CXCL10), chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2), and neurofilament light (NFL) were determined by commercial assays. The proportion of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and of CSF white blood cells (WBCs) that were activated monocytes (CD14+CD16+) was determined by flow cytometry. Neurosyphilis was defined as detection of Treponema pallidum 16S RNA in CSF or CSF white blood cells (WBCs) \u3e20/uL or a reactive CSF-Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) test; uncomplicated syphilis was defined as undetectable CSF T. pallidum, CSF WBCs ≤5/uL and nonreactive CSF-VDRL. MATlow.
Results: Median proportion of PBMCs that were activated monocytes (16.6 vs. 5.3), and median CSF CXCL10 (10658 vs. 2530 units), CCL2 (519 vs. 337 units) and HIV RNA (727 vs. 50 c/mL) were higher in neurosyphilis than in uncomplicated syphilis (P ≤ .001 for all comparisons). Neurosyphilis was not related to low MAT scores. Participants with low MAT scores had higher median CSF CXCL10 (10299 vs. 3650 units, P = .008) and CCL2 (519 vs. 365 units, P = .04) concentrations than those with high MAT scores.
Conclusions: Neurosyphilis may augment HIV-associated CNS inflammation, but it does not explain cognitive impairment in HIV-infected individuals with syphilis
Quantum symmetric pairs and representations of double affine Hecke algebras of type
We build representations of the affine and double affine braid groups and
Hecke algebras of type , based upon the theory of quantum symmetric
pairs . In the case , our constructions provide a
quantization of the representations constructed by Etingof, Freund and Ma in
arXiv:0801.1530, and also a type generalization of the results in
arXiv:0805.2766.Comment: Final version, to appear in Selecta Mathematic
Human intestinal anion exchanger isoforms: expression, distribution, and membrane localization
AbstractA family of anion exchangers (AEs) including AE1, AE2 and AE3 has been described. AE3 gene has been shown to encode two alternatively spliced isoforms termed as bAE3 (brain subtype) and cAE3 (cardiac subtype). The identity of the AE(s) involved in the human intestinal NaCl absorption is not fully understood. Current studies were undertaken to identify the AE isoforms expressed in the human intestine, to define their regional and vertical axis (crypt vs. surface cells) distribution, and to elucidate their membrane localization in the epithelial cells along the entire length of the human intestine. Our studies utilizing reverse transcription (RT)-PCR with total RNA extracted from pinch biopsies from various regions of the human intestine demonstrate that AE2 and bAE3 but not AE1 or cAE3 were expressed in all the regions of the human intestine. Utilizing in situ RT-PCR, we demonstrated that the message of AE2 was expressed throughout the vertical surface–crypt axis of the colon. Our Western blotting studies demonstrated that AE2 and bAE3 are localized to the basolateral but not the apical membranes of the intestinal epithelial cells from the human ileum and colon. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that in the human intestine, AE2 and bAE3, but not AE1 or cAE3, are expressed throughout the tract with the highest expression in the colon compared to the ileum and jejunum. Both the isoforms were found to be localized to the basolateral but not the apical membranes of the epithelial cells. We speculate that, in the human intestine, AE2 and bAE3 may be the ‘housekeeping’ isoforms, and the apical AE, the potential candidate for chloride absorption, remains to be identified
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