1,077 research outputs found
Fair trade in insurance industry: Premium determination of Taiwan automobile insurance
This paper examines premium determination of voluntary automobile insurance policy and risk classification under a heavily regulated rating system in Taiwan. We investigate the distribution of actual premium and pure premium, based on unique data to test if premium reflect appropriate gender-age factor. The reasonableness of loading and the difference in driving exposure between policyholder and driver are investigated for three different
types of policy. An adjustment of gender-age premium coefficients is called for
An Elusive Vector Dark Matter
Even though the sensitivity of direct dark matter search experiments reach
the level about , there is no confident signal of dark
matter been observed. We point out that, if dark matter is a vector boson, the
null result in direct dark matter search experiments may due to the destructive
effects in dark-matter-nucleon elastic scattering. We illustrate the scenario
using a modified Higgs portal model that includes exotic quarks. The
significant cancellation can occur for certain mass gap between heavy quark and
dark matter. As a result, the spin-independent dark-matter-nucleon elastic
scattering is so suppressed that the future direct search experiments can
hardly observe the signal of dark matter.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
Testing Monotonicity of Mean Potential Outcomes in a Continuous Treatment
While most treatment evaluations focus on binary interventions, a growing
literature also considers continuously distributed treatments, e.g. hours spent
in a training program to assess its effect on labor market outcomes. In this
paper, we propose a Cram\'er-von Mises-type test for testing whether the mean
potential outcome given a specific treatment has a weakly monotonic
relationship with the treatment dose under a weak unconfoundedness assumption.
This appears interesting for testing shape restrictions, e.g. whether
increasing the treatment dose always has a non-negative effect, no matter what
the baseline level of treatment is. We formally show that the proposed test
controls asymptotic size and is consistent against any fixed alternative. These
theoretical findings are supported by the method's finite sample behavior in
our Monte-Carlo simulations. As an empirical illustration, we apply our test to
the Job Corps study and reject a weakly monotonic relationship between the
treatment (hours in academic and vocational training) and labor market outcomes
like earnings or employment
White shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei following long-term culture at pH 6.8 shows reduction in activation and innate immunity
LGBP recognizes and binds to Spirulina platenis extract, and activates the prophenoloxidase system in shrimp
Extensive Reading with Guidance
A language learning mode called “word-focused extensive reading” has been proposed to facilitate word-usage learning. The user inputs a word in the computer program designed and implemented for reading to find its usage in the context of a sentence. The computer program then searches for the knowledge base for the word and provides guidance to show a summary of the salient features of word collocation. Sentences with the word in question are displayed one at a time. For each sentence the relevant collocating words are highlighted. In this way the reader sees the word collocation so as to recognize the salient features of the word and thus incrementally acquires the knowledge of word usage. The program works with large Chinese and English collections of texts. For Chinese the knowledge of word collocation was built on the basis of the Balanced Corpus of Academia Sinica. The English collocation features were collected from the British National Corpus. The program can also be useful for learning to differentiate near-synonyms
The Arabidopsis Malectin-Like/LRR-RLK IOS1 is Critical for BAK1-Dependent and BAK1-Independent Pattern-Triggered Immunity
Plasma membrane-localized pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) such as FLAGELLIN SENSING2 (FLS2), EF-TU RECEPTOR (EFR) and CHITIN ELICITOR RECEPTOR KINASE 1 (CERK1) recognize microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) to activate pattern-triggered immunity (PTI). A reverse genetics approach on genes responsive to the priming agent beta-aminobutyric acid (BABA) revealed IMPAIRED OOMYCETE SUSCEPTIBILITY1 (IOS1) as a critical PTI player. Arabidopsis thaliana ios1 mutants were hyper-susceptible to Pseudomonas syringae bacteria. Accordingly, ios1 mutants showed defective PTI responses, notably delayed up-regulation of the PTI-marker gene FLG22-INDUCED RECEPTOR-LIKE KINASE1 (FRK1), reduced callose deposition and mitogen-activated protein kinase activation upon MAMP treatment. Moreover, Arabidopsis lines over-expressing IOS1 were more resistant to bacteria and showed a primed PTI response. In vitro pull-down, bimolecular fluorescence complementation, co-immunoprecipitation, and mass spectrometry analyses supported the existence of complexes between the membrane-localized IOS1 and BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE1-ASSOCIATED KINASE1 (BAK1)-dependent PRRs FLS2 and EFR, as well as with the BAK1-independent PRR CERK1. IOS1 also associated with BAK1 in a ligand-independent manner, and positively regulated FLS2-BAK1 complex formation upon MAMP treatment. In addition, IOS1 was critical for chitin-mediated PTI. Finally, ios1 mutants were defective in BABA-induced resistance and priming. This work reveals IOS1 as a novel regulatory protein of FLS2-, EFR- and CERK1-mediated signaling pathways that primes PTI activation
Direct growth of ultra-long platinum nanolawns on a semiconductor photocatalyst
A template- and surfactant-free process, thermally assisted photoreduction, is developed to prepare vertically grown ultra-long Pt nanowires (NWs) (about 30-40 nm in diameter, 5-6 μm in length, and up to 80 NWs/100 μm2 in the wire density) on TiO2 coated substrates, including Si wafers and carbon fibers, with the assistance of the photocatalytic ability and semiconductor characteristics of TiO2. A remarkable aspect ratio of up to 200 can be achieved. TEM analytical results suggest that the Pt NWs are single-crystalline with a preferred 〈111〉 growth direction. The precursor adopted and the heat treatment conditions are crucial for the yield of NWs. The photoelectrons supplied by TiO2 gives rise to the formation of nano-sized Pt nuclei from salt melt or solution. The subsequent growth of NWs is supported by the thermal electrons which also generated from TiO2 during the post thermal treatment. The interactions between the ions and the electrons in the Pt/TiO2 junction are discussed in this study
The risk of false inclusion of a relative in parentage testing – an in silico population study
Aim To investigate the potential of false inclusion of a
close genetic relative in paternity testing by using computer
generated families.
Methods 10 000 computer-simulated families over three
generations were generated based on genotypes using 15
short tandem repeat loci. These data were used in assessing
the probability of inclusion or exclusion of paternity
when the father is actually a sibling, grandparent, uncle,
half sibling, cousin, or a random male. Further, we considered
a duo case where the mother’s DNA type was not
available and a trio case including the mother’s profile.
Results The data showed that the duo scenario had the
highest and lowest false inclusion rates when considering
a sibling (19.03 ± 0.77%) and a cousin (0.51 ± 0.14%) as
the father, respectively; and the rate when considering a
random male was much lower (0.04 ± 0.04%). The situation
altered slightly with a trio case where the highest rate
(0.56 ± 0.15%) occurred when a paternal uncle was considered
as the father, and the lowest rate (0.03 ± 0.03%) occurred
when a cousin was considered as the father. We also
report on the distribution of the numbers for non-conformity
(non-matching loci) where the father is a close genetic
relative.
Conclusions The results highlight the risk of false inclusion
in parentage testing. These data provide a valuable
reference when incorporating either a mutation in the father’s
DNA type or if a close relative is included as being
the father; particularly when there are varying numbers of
non-matching loci
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