Consistency, Heterogeneity, and Granularity of Individual Behavior under Uncertainty

By using graphical representations of budget sets over bundles of state-contingent commodities, we generate a very rich data set well-suited to studying behavior under uncertainty at the level of the individual subject. We test the data for consistency with the maximization hypothesis, and we estimate preferences using a two-parameter utility function based on Faruk Gul (1991). This specification provides a good interpretation to the data at the level of the individual subject and can account for the highly heterogeneous behaviors observed in the laboratory. The parameter estimates jointly describe attitudes toward risk and allow us to characterize the distribution of risk preferences in the population.uncertainty, revealed preference, Expected Utility Theory, loss/disappointment aversion, experiment

An attempt to find cDNA clones for pea pod extensin and pea pod specific protein

Three trials have been made for the hybridization reaction between the total RNA extract prepared from the pod of pea (Pisum sativum L.) and the probe prepared from a clone for a Brassica root protein homologous to carrot extensin, no sign of any hybridization could be seen; this shows that there is no similar sequence between those two. Another attempt was done to identify a pea pod specific clone from the cDNA library of pea pod by the use of the method of plus and minus screening technique. Two clones (pPP1052 & pPP954) have been selected that hybridized strongly to pea pod RNA but not that of pea leaf. One of them (pPP1052) has been successfully cloned into M13mpl8 and sequenced by Sanger method

Use of antibiotics by primary care doctors in Hong Kong

© 2009 Lam et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Effect of the stellar spin history on the tidal evolution of close-in planets

We investigate how the evolution of the stellar spin rate affects, and is affected by, planets in close orbits, via star-planet tidal interactions. To do this, we used a standard equilibrium tidal model to compute the orbital evolution of single planets orbiting both Sun-like stars and 0.1 M\odot M-dwarfs. We tested two stellar spin evolution profiles, one with fast initial rotation (P=1.2 day) and one with slow initial rotation (P=8 day). We tested the effect of varying the stellar and planetary dissipation and the planet's mass and initial orbital radius. Conclusions: Tidal evolution allows to differentiate the early behaviors of extremely close-in planets orbiting either a rapidly rotating star or a slowly rotating star. The early spin-up of the star allows the close-in planets around fast rotators to survive the early evolution. For planets around M-dwarfs, surviving the early evolution means surviving on Gyr timescales whereas for Sun-like stars the spin-down brings about late mergers of Jupiter planets. In light of this study, we can say that differentiating between one spin evolution from another given the present position of planets can be very tricky. Unless we can observe some markers of former evolution it is nearly impossible to distinguish the two very different spin profiles, let alone intermediate spin profiles. Though some conclusions can still be drawn from statistical distributions of planets around fully convective M-dwarfs. However, if the tidal evolution brings about a merger late in its history it can also entail a noticeable acceleration of the star in late ages, so that it is possible to have old stars that spin rapidly. This raises the question of better constraining the age of stars

Longitudinal magnon in the tetrahedral spin system Cu2Te2O5Br2 near quantum criticality

We present a comprehensive study of the coupled tetrahedra-compound Cu2Te2O5Br2 by theory and experiments in external magnetic fields. We report the observation of a longitudinal magnon in Raman scattering in the ordered state close to quantum criticality. We show that the excited tetrahedral-singlet sets the energy scale for the magnetic ordering temperature T_N. This energy is determined experimentally. The ordering temperature T_N has an inverse-log dependence on the coupling parameters near quantum criticality

The Molecular Condensations Ahead of Herbig-Haro Objects. III. Radiative and dynamical perturbations of the HH 2 condensation

We have carried out an extensive observational study (from BIMA data) and made a preliminary theoretical investigation of the molecular gas around HH2. The molecular maps show a very complex morphological, kinematical and chemical structure. The overall main conclusion of this work confirms the findings of Paper I and II, by demonstrating that in addition to the strong photochemical effects caused by penetration of the UV photons from HH2 into molecular cloud, a range of complex radiative and dynamical interactions occur. Thus, despite the apparent `quiescent' nature of the molecular cloud ahead of HH2, the kinematical properties observed within the field of view suggest that it is possibly being driven out by powerful winds from the VLA 1 protostar.Comment: 20 pages. Accepted for publication to Astronomy & Astrophysic

Access to primary care for socio-economically disadvantaged older people in rural areas: A realist review

Objective: The aim of this review is to identify and understand the contexts that effect access to high quality primary care for socio-economically disadvantaged older people in rural areas. Design: A realist review Data sources: MEDLINE and EMBASE electronic databases and grey literature (from inception to Dec 2014). Eligibility criteria for selecting studies: Broad inclusion criteria were used to allow articles which were not specific, but might be relevant to the population of interest to be considered. Studies meeting the inclusion criteria were assessed for rigour and relevance and coded for concepts relating to context, mechanism or outcome. Analysis: An overarching patient pathway was generated and used as the basis to explore contexts, causal mechanisms and outcomes. Results: 162 articles were included. Most were from the USA or UK, cross sectional in design and presented subgroup data by age, rurality or deprivation. From these studies a patient pathway was generated which included seven steps (problem identified, decision to seek help, actively seek help, obtain appointment, get to appointment, primary care interaction and outcome). Important contexts were stoicism, education status, expectations of ageing, financial resources, understanding the health care system, access to suitable transport, capacity in primary care, the booking system and experience of health care. Prominent causal mechanisms were health literacy, perceived convenience, patient empowerment and responsiveness of the practice. Conclusions: Socio-economically disadvantaged older people in rural areas face personal, community and health care barriers that limit their access to primary care. Initiatives should be targeted at local contextual factors to help individuals recognise problems, feel welcome, navigate the health care system, book appointments easily, access appropriate transport and have sufficient time with professional staff to improve their experience of health care; all of which will require dedicated primary care resources

Cigarette Smoking Accelerated Brain Aging and Induced Pre-Alzheimer-Like Neuropathology in Rats

Cigarette smoking has been proposed as a major risk factor for aging-related pathological changes and Alzheimer's disease (AD). To date, little is known for how smoking can predispose our brains to dementia or cognitive impairment. This study aimed to investigate the cigarette smoke-induced pathological changes in brains. Male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were exposed to either sham air or 4% cigarette smoke 1 hour per day for 8 weeks in a ventilated smoking chamber to mimic the situation of chronic passive smoking. We found that the levels of oxidative stress were significantly increased in the hippocampus of the smoking group. Smoking also affected the synapse through reducing the expression of pre-synaptic proteins including synaptophysin and synapsin-1, while there were no changes in the expression of postsynaptic protein PSD95. Decreased levels of acetylated-tubulin and increased levels of phosphorylated-tau at 231, 205 and 404 epitopes were also observed in the hippocampus of the smoking rats. These results suggested that axonal transport machinery might be impaired, and the stability of cytoskeleton might be affected by smoking. Moreover, smoking affected amyloid precursor protein (APP) processing by increasing the production of sAPPβ and accumulation of β–amyloid peptide in the CA3 and dentate gyrus region. In summary, our data suggested that chronic cigarette smoking could induce synaptic changes and other neuropathological alterations. These changes might serve as evidence of early phases of neurodegeneration and may explain why smoking can predispose brains to AD and dementia

Deep learning predicts the malignant-transformation-free survival of oral potentially malignant disorders

Machine-intelligence platforms for the prediction of the probability of malignant transformation of oral potentially malignant disorders are required as adjunctive decision-making platforms in contemporary clinical practice. This study utilized time-to-event learning models to predict malignant transformation in oral leukoplakia and oral lichenoid lesions. A total of 1098 patients with oral white lesions from two institutions were included in this study. In all, 26 features available from electronic health records were used to train four learning algorithms—Cox-Time, DeepHit, DeepSurv, random survival forest (RSF)—and one standard statistical method—Cox proportional hazards model. Discriminatory performance, calibration of survival estimates, and model stability were assessed using a concordance index (c-index), integrated Brier score (IBS), and standard deviation of the averaged c-index and IBS following training cross-validation. This study found that DeepSurv (c-index: 0.95, IBS: 0.04) and RSF (c-index: 0.91, IBS: 0.03) were the two outperforming models based on discrimination and calibration following internal validation. However, DeepSurv was more stable than RSF upon cross-validation. External validation confirmed the utility of DeepSurv for discrimination (c-index—0.82 vs. 0.73) and RSF for individual survival estimates (0.18 vs. 0.03). We deployed the DeepSurv model to encourage incipient application in clinical practice. Overall, time-to-event models are successful in predicting the malignant transformation of oral leukoplakia and oral lichenoid lesions