Structural Determinants of the Natural Rate of Unemployment in Canada

This paper presents empirical estimates of the policy and structural determinants of the natural rate of unemployment in Canada. The paper begins with a discussion of structural features of the economy which impinge on the adjustment of real wages to their equilibrium level. Estimates are presented showing how the generosity of the unemployment insurance system is related to past levels of unemployment. The empirical results indicate that government policies have been largely responsible for changes in the natrual rate, and hence can contribute to a reduction in the natural rate in the medium term.Natural rate of unemployment; Canada

A Hedonic Model for Housing Prices in Wilsonville, Oregon

We estimate a hedonic model for housing prices in Wilsonville, Oregon. Our data for 197 houses is drawn from Zillow for 2014 to 2017. We find that the number of bedrooms, the square footage of the house, and whether the house is single level are statistically significant factors affecting housing prices. Location variables are also found to be statistically significant. As an example, the price of a house on the Charbonneau Golf Course is estimated to be 15% higher than the price of a house located elsewhere in Wilsonville

Functional analysis of tumour specific effector and regulatory T cells in vivo: Implications for cancer immunotherapy

MB49, an H2b+ murine bladder carcinoma cell line, naturally expresses the male-specific minor histocompatibility antigen, HY, which can be used as a proxy tumour associated antigen. The MB49 cell line, together with two HY-specific TCR-transgenic mouse strains (as sources of tumour-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells), form a unique system in which anti-tumour T cell responses can be manipulated and analysed. I have studied some basic but critical immunological aspects of MB49 cells, adoptively transferred T cells and an immunotherapeutic antibody. I confirmed that MB49 cells express all three defined HY genes (Dby, Uty and Smcy), and demonstrated that cultured and freshly isolated tumour cells display a distinct phenotype. I found that MB49 tumours are very aggressive even though they are clearly immunogenic. Female B6 mice are more efficient than males at controlling MB49 tumours, especially when inoculated with a low tumour dose, suggesting that HY-specific T cell responses make a significant contribution to immune control of MB49 tumours. I evaluated three different immunotherapies for treating MB49 tumours: Whole body irradiation followed by the adoptive transfer of Tumour Associated Antigen specific CD4 T cells, or IL-15 expressing CD8 T cells, were found to inhibit the growth of MB49 tumours. Administration of anti-GITR mAbs was found to be very effective at eliminating established MB49 tumours. I observed a novel role for IL-2 in immunoregulation; by the suppression of the differentiation of IL-17-producing Th17 cells. Finally, I demonstrated that Transforming Growth Factor β is essential for the tumour-induced expansion of natural regulatory T cells. This study not only extends the current knowledge of the immunobiology of MB49 tumours but also lays a foundation for further investigation with respect to designing rational T cell cancer immunotherapy using genetically manipulated, tumour-specific T cells

Temporal learning in the cerebellum: The microcircuit model

The cerebellum is that part of the brain which coordinates motor reflex behavior. To perform effectively, it must learn to generate specific motor commands at the proper times. We propose a fundamental circuit, called the MicroCircuit, which is the minimal ensemble of neurons both necessary and sufficient to learn timing. We describe how learning takes place in the MicroCircuit, which then explains the global behavior of the cerebellum as coordinated MicroCircuit behavior

North-South R&D Spillovers

We examine the extent to which developing countries that do little, if any research and development themselves benefit from R&D that is performed in the industrial countries. By trading with an industrial country that has large 'stocks of knowledge' from its cumulative R&D activities, a developing country can boost its productivity by importing a larger variety of intermediate products and capital equipment embodying foreign knowledge, and by acquiring useful information that would otherwise be costly to obtain. Our empirical results, which are based on observations over the 1971-90 period for 77 developing countries, suggest that R&D spillovers from the industrial countries in the North to the developing countries in the South are substantial.

An Investigation of Behavior Problems of Children With Down Syndrome and Their Relationship to Life Events.

Behavior problems of 44 children with Down Syndrome between the ages of 6 and 15 and 44 controls without mental retardation matched for age, sex and socioeconomic status were compared by means of mother and teacher ratings. Ratings from both sources indicated that children with Down Syndrome had more behavior problems, in particular attention deficit, noncompliance, thought disorder and social withdrawal. Thirty one percent of these children were identified by mothers as having a significant behavior problem compared with 58% of those rated by teachers. In both cases, Down Syndrome behavior problem prevalence exceeded that for controls by a three to one margin. Negative life events from the past year were significantly associated with mother but not teacher ratings of Down Syndrome behavior problems. No significant interaction between Down Syndrome and negative life events was identified. For the entire sample, negative life events proved to be as strongly associated with behavior problems as adaptive behavior level on the basis of mother ratings, but less strongly associated with behavior problems than adaptive behavior on the basis of teacher ratings. Implications of the results for developmental disability and life events research are discussed

Helicopter transmission research at NASA Lewis Research Center

A joint helicopter transmission research program between NASA Lewis Research Center and the U.S. Army Aviation Systems Command has existed since 1970. Program goals are to reduce weight and noise and to increase life and reliability. Reviewed are significant advances in technology for gears and transmissions and the experimental facilities at NASA Lewis for helicopter transmission testing are described. A description of each of the rigs is presented along with some significant results from the experiments

Multiwavelength observations of the Be/X-ray binary 4U1145-619

We report optical and infrared observations of the massive X-ray binary system 4U1145-619 (V801 Cen) which show that the circumstellar disc of the Be star component is in decline. Infrared J,H,K,L magnitudes of V801Cen have been monitored from 1993 March to 1996 April. H alpha spectra have been obtained throughout the same period. We find that both the infrared excess and the Balmer emission have been in decline throughout the period of observations. A 13 year optical and X-ray history of the source has been collated, revealing a possible correlation between the optical and X-ray activity. In addition, we have used u,v,b,y,beta indices, corrected for both circumstellar and interstellar effects, to calculate the physical parameters of the underlying B star.Comment: 8 pages postscript. Accepted by MNRA