Increasing Outer Risk

Recent empirical research has established that the distributions of a wide range of economic variables are kurtotic in that they have higher peak(s) in the neighborhood of the mean and greater elongation in the tails than the normal distribution. This paper provides a formal characterization of the empirically significant notions of kurtotic distributions by formulating the concept of outer risk. An increase in outer risk corresponds to a dispersion transfer from the center of a distribution to its tails. In terms of the relocation of probability mass, such a dispersion transfer accentuates the peak(s) of the distribution and elongates its tails. It is shown that ordering distributions by outer risk is equivalent to the ordering of distributions resulting from unanimous choice by all individuals whose utility function has a negative fourth derivative.Outer risk, outer risk aversion

SpZ12-1, a negative regulator required for spatial control of the territory-specific CyIIIa gene in the sea urchin embryo

The CyIIIa cytoskeletal actin gene of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus is activated in late cleavage and expressed exclusively in the aboral ectoderm territory of the embryo. Previous gene transfer studies defined a 2.3 kb cis-regulatory region that is necessary and sufficient for correct temporal and spatial expression of a CyIIIa. CAT fusion gene. In this paper, a negative regulatory element within this region was identified that is required for repression of the CyIIIa gene in skeletogenic mesenchyme cells. The repression mediated by this regulatory element takes place after initial territorial specification. A cDNA clone encoding a DNA-binding protein with twelve Zn fingers (SpZ12-1) was isolated by probing an expression library with this cis-element. Deletion analysis of the SpZ12-1 protein confirmed that a DNA-binding domain is located within the Zn finger region. SpZ12-1 is the only DNA-binding protein in embryo nuclear extract that interacts with the specific cis-target sites required for repression of CyIIIa.CAT in skeletogenic mesenchyme and is likely to be the trans factor that mediates this repression

Electronic transport properties of double-wall carbon nanotubes

We studied the discretized electronic spectra of double-wall carbon nanotube (DWCNT) quantum dots (QDs) in the Coulomb-blockade regime. At low temperatures, the stability diagrams show a clear and regular eight-electron periodicity, which is due to the nonzero intershell couplings. Furthermore, the electronic charging energy, the energy level spacing, and the intershell coupling strengths of the measured DWCNT QDs were determined

Does communicating safety matter?

Tourists generally prefer to visit safe destinations. However, it is rare to see safety messages in promotional materials. Does communicating safety in destination-branding campaigns matter to tourists? We use an experimental design to explore the relationship between safety messages and visit intentions. The results show that the extent to which safety messages increase visit intentions depends on tourists’ risk propensity and self-efficacy in travel planning. The effect of safety messages is greater for low-risk-propensity respondents than for high-risk-propensity respondents; it is also greater for respondents with high (compared to low) self-efficacy in travel planning. We conclude that safety messages help to promote a destination, subject to the moderating influence of cognitive tendencies.</p

Foreign Aid, Political Power and FDI: Do Aid-dependent Institutions Facilitate Investment in Africa?

In this article, we examine the nexus between foreign development assistance and the attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI) through a de facto political power, as an aid-seeking and likely aid-dependent group. We apply structural equation modelling to investigate the direct and indirect effect of aid on FDI via economic institutions for a sample of 42 African countries from 2002 to 2016. Our results corroborate a direct positive effect of aid and institutions on FDI as a productive financial source. However, an aid-dependent de facto political power does not improve the economic institutions, and within a broad institutional context, it may even worsen them, evidencing the indirect effect of reducing a country’s attractiveness for FDI. This study offers robust evidence under different specifications and variables of institutions in addition to several controls for political and strategic interests and economic conditions. We ultimately develop a model explaining why aid barely makes any contribution to institutional reforms. In countries that are heavily dependent on aid, the beneficiary group is discouraged from improving institutional qualities as the source of benefits would be discontinued

Targeting a therapeutic LIF transgene to muscle via the immune system ameliorates muscular dystrophy.

Many potentially&nbsp;therapeutic molecules have been identified for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy. However, targeting those molecules only to sites of active pathology is an obstacle to their clinical use. Because dystrophic muscles become extensively inflamed, we tested whether expressing a therapeutic transgene in leukocyte progenitors that invade muscle would provide selective, timely delivery to diseased muscle. We designed a transgene in which leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is under control of a leukocyte-specific promoter and transplanted transgenic cells into dystrophic mice. Transplantation diminishes pathology, reduces Th2 cytokines in muscle and biases macrophages away from a CD163+/CD206+ phenotype that promotes fibrosis. Transgenic cells also abrogate TGFβ signaling, reduce fibro/adipogenic progenitor cells and reduce fibrogenesis of muscle cells. These findings indicate that leukocytes expressing a LIF transgene reduce fibrosis by suppressing type 2 immunity and highlight a novel application by which immune cells can be genetically modified as potential therapeutics to treat muscle disease

Analyzing thin film morphology by Resonance Raman spectroscopy

Polymeric organic thin film transistors (OFETs) and all-polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells (all-PCS), which are composed of a polymer donor and a polymer acceptor, have attracted considerable attention in the last years. The interest of these polymeric materials present various advantages versus small molecular counterparts, including strong light absorption, excellent mechanical flexibility and durability, and great potential in printing applications due to their great processability. In OFETs and bulk heterojunction solar cells, the morphology and crystallinity control of the neat polymer or blended donor-acceptor polymer films is essential in order to improve device performance. In this communication, we present a Resonance Raman spectroscopy study directed to disentangle the film morphology of a series of all-acceptor and donor acceptor polymers for OFETs and all-PCS applications.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

G2-structures for N=1 supersymmetric AdS4 solutions of M-theory

We study the N=1 supersymmetric solutions of D=11 supergravity obtained as a warped product of four-dimensional anti-de-Sitter space with a seven-dimensional Riemannian manifold M. Using the octonion bundle structure on M we reformulate the Killing spinor equations in terms of sections of the octonion bundle on M. The solutions then define a single complexified G2-structure on M or equivalently two real G2-structures. We then study the torsion of these G2-structures and the relationships between them.Comment: 48 pages, updated references, corrected minor errors and typos, Class. Quantum Grav. (2018

The Precautionary Premium and the Risk-Downside Risk Tradeoff

This paper shows that the precautionary premium embodies a tradeoff between risk and downside risk. It is the size of a mean-preserving spread for thish the strength of aversion to risk just offsets the strength of aversion to downside risk. Using this result, decreasing absolute prudence can be interpreted as meaning that the amount of exposure to risk (as measured by a spread) for which aversion to risk just offsets aversion to downside risk decreases as wealth increases. This happens when an increase in wealth causes a smaller percentage change in absolute downside risk aversion than in absolute risk aversion