My group beats your group : evaluating non-income inequalities

This paper proposes a new methodology, the Domination Index, to evaluate non-income inequalities between social groups such as inequalities of educational attainment, occupational status, health or subjective well-being. The Domination Index does not require specic cardinalisation assumptions, but only uses the ordinal structure of these non-income variables. We approach from an axiomatic perspective and show that a set of desirable properties for a group inequality measure when the variable of interest is ordinal, characterizes the Domination Index up to a positive scalar transformation. Moreover we make use of the Domination Index to explore the relation between inequality and segregation and show how these two concepts are related theoretically

Evaluating ordinal inequalities between groups

Financial support by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through grant ECO2008-04756 and FEDER (Grupo Consolidado-C) is gratefully acknowledged.We explore the inequality measurement of a discrete ordinal variable between social groups. We provide an axiomatic characterization for the Net Difference Index (Lieberson: Sociol. Methodol. 7 , 276–291 1976), that makes use of rank-domination to evaluate the discrepancy between the distributions of two social groups over ordered categories. Adapting well-known principles of cardinal inequality measurement to the between-group ordinal inequality setting, we show that the Net Difference Index mimics the Gini Index in terms of its relationship to the Lorenz curve, in our setting.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Choosing on Influence

Financial support by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through Grant ECO2008-04756 (Grupo Consolidado-C), FEDER and also the Scottish Institute of Research in Economics (SIRE) is acknowledged.Interaction, the act of mutual influence, is an essential part of daily life and economic decisions. This paper presents an individual decision procedure for interacting individuals. According to our model, individuals seek influence from each other for those issues that they cannot solve on their own. Following a choice-theoretic approach, we provide simple properties that aid to detect interacting individuals. Revealed preference analysis not only grants underlying preferences but also the influence acquired.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Analytical Methods for Determining Connectivity Leakage in Collaboration With Meissner Filtration Products

The scope of our project involved choosing existing testing procedures and determining a viable sample size to determine an accurate leakage rate of single-use system connections (SUS). Another goal was to assess the effects of gamma irradiation on the material integrity of the hose barb to tubing connections. Our key customer requirements included: being able to determine an overall leakage rate and making a repeatable testing process. The importance of these requirements was determined through our house of quality and Pugh charts. To achieve the requirements, we tested the leakage in low-pressure and high-pressure scenarios with a large enough sample size to meet the requirements of the central limit theorem (n=30), in order to get an accurate estimate. For a repeatable testing process, there was nothing to be changed with the hydrostatic burst test since it already included calibrated machinery and a strict SOP the operator must follow. On the flip side, Meissner’s SOP for the low-pressure gas test was vague and unclear on instructions to “manipulate” the testing sample. We decided to define “manipulation” of the sample to strictly apply the 90-degree bend, 90-degree twist, pulling in a straight line, and holding the middle and end of the tube (opposite sides of the connection). Additionally, we implemented the alternation between operators to minimize or eliminate operator bias. For specifications we looked into decreasing the observation time for testing for the low-pressure gas test. The modifications were finalized to delegating at least 2 personnel to operate the testing which reduces testing time, and the SOP was modified to shorten the waiting time from 2 minutes down to 1.5 minutes. The result of our project was an improved SOP that made testing quicker and less susceptible to operator bias. Our testing performed with the modified SOP showed that there was no significant sign of operator bias. The data we gathered provided us with leakage rates for several hose barb connection configurations that we then compared to understand whether gamma-irradiation affects leakage. Our data indicates that gamma-irradiation negatively impacts the hose barb connection’s performance in terms of leakage and maximum allowable pressure

A behavioral model of adaptation

Financial support by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (ECO2014-56154-P), Balliol College and Royal Economic Society is gratefully acknowledged.Adaptation refers to the process of changing behavior in response to a variation in the environment. We propose a model of an adaptive individual that contemplates two forces: on the one hand the individual benefits from adopting the ideal response to the new environment, but on the other hand, behavioral change is costly. We lay down the axiomatic foundations of the model. We then study two applications. The first studies a situation where ideal behavior depends on the response of another adaptive individual. The second analyzes the case where the ideal response is influenced by the strategic interaction in a cheap talk-like game.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Influences of side wall angle on heat transfer of power-law fluids in trapezoidal enclosures

In recent years, there is an important increase in technological applications of non-Newtonian fluids (NNF). NNFs are preferred over Newtonian fluids (NF) because of their superior hydrodynamic and thermal properties. NNFs are particularly used as damping fluid in shock absorbers, raw material for making of armors in defense industry and insulator in thermal systems. The use of NNF has become widespread in thermal systems in order to prevent over-heating problem which affects the efficiency. This study presents a numerical analysis for the natural convection in a two dimensional trapezoidal (isosceles trapezoid) enclosure filled with power-law NNF. The effects of various parameters are investigated on heat transfer on the bottom wall by developing a two dimensional model of such a cell. The bottom edge of the trapezoidal enclosure is considered as hot, top edge as cold while the side walls are considered as adiabatic. The considered parameters are power-law index (n) and Rayleigh number (Ra) and also the trapezoid side wall angle altering in the range of 0≤≤20. The power-law index has been varied in the range of 0.6≤≤1.8 and Rayleigh number in the range of 103≤≤105 while Prandtl number has been kept constant as 1000. The results reveal that the mean Nusselt number (̅̅̅̅ ) on bottom wall of trapezoid increases by increasing trapezoid angle and decreasing power-law index. According to evidences of the study, it may be suggested that the use of power-law NNFs may contribute to increase efficiency by averting the over-heating problems in trapezoidal thermal systems which are regarded as a significant application field in green and renewable energy systems.papers presented to the 12th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Costa de Sol, Spain on 11-13 July 2016

Cognitive Evaluation of Bupropion Sustained Release in Heavy Tobacco Smokers Using Event-Related Potentials

Objective. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of bupropion sustained release (SR) on cognitive function, evaluated by event-related potentials (ERPs), in heavy tobacco smokers

The Prediction of miRNAs in SARS-CoV-2 Genomes: hsa-miR Databases Identify 7 Key miRs Linked to Host Responses and Virus Pathogenicity-Related KEGG Pathways Significant for Comorbidities.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a member of the betacoronavirus family, which causes COVID-19 disease. SARS-CoV-2 pathogenicity in humans leads to increased mortality rates due to alterations of significant pathways, including some resulting in exacerbated inflammatory responses linked to the "cytokine storm" and extensive lung pathology, as well as being linked to a number of comorbidities. Our current study compared five SARS-CoV-2 sequences from different geographical regions to those from SARS, MERS and two cold viruses, OC43 and 229E, to identify the presence of miR-like sequences. We identified seven key miRs, which highlight considerable differences between the SARS-CoV-2 sequences, compared with the other viruses. The level of conservation between the five SARS-CoV-2 sequences was identical but poor compared with the other sequences, with SARS showing the highest degree of conservation. This decrease in similarity could result in reduced levels of transcriptional control, as well as a change in the physiological effect of the virus and associated host-pathogen responses. MERS and the milder symptom viruses showed greater differences and even significant sequence gaps. This divergence away from the SARS-CoV-2 sequences broadly mirrors the phylogenetic relationships obtained from the whole-genome alignments. Therefore, patterns of mutation, occurring during sequence divergence from the longer established human viruses to the more recent ones, may have led to the emergence of sequence motifs that can be related directly to the pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2. Importantly, we identified 7 key-microRNAs (miRs 8066, 5197, 3611, 3934-3p, 1307-3p, 3691-3p, 1468-5p) with significant links to KEGG pathways linked to viral pathogenicity and host responses. According to Bioproject data (PRJNA615032), SARS-CoV-2 mediated transcriptomic alterations were similar to the target pathways of the selected 7 miRs identified in our study. This mechanism could have considerable significance in determining the symptom spectrum of future potential pandemics. KEGG pathway analysis revealed a number of critical pathways linked to the seven identified miRs that may provide insight into the interplay between the virus and comorbidities. Based on our reported findings, miRNAs may constitute potential and effective therapeutic approaches in COVID-19 and its pathological consequences

Increased risk of tuberculosis in health care workers: a retrospective survey at a teaching hospital in Istanbul, Turkey

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) is an established occupational disease affecting health care workers (HCWs). Determining the risk of TB among HCWs is important to enable authorites to take preventative measures in health care facilities and protect HCWs. This study was designed to assess the incidence of TB in a teaching hospital in Istanbul, Turkey. This study is retrospective study of health records of HCWs in our hospital from 1991 to 2000. RESULTS: The mean workforce of the hospital was 3359 + 33.2 between 1991 and 2000. There were 31 cases (15 male) meeting the diagnostic criteria for TB, comprising eight doctors, one nurse and 22 other health professionals. Mean incidence of TB was 96 per 100,000 for all HCWs (relative risk: 2.71), 79 per 100,000 for doctors (relative risk: 2.2), 14 per 100,000 for nurses and 121 per 100,000 (relative risk: 3.4) for other professionals. The mean incidence of TB in Turkey between 1991 and 2000 was 35.4 per 100,000. Incidence of TB was similar in the Departments of Chest Diseases and Clinical Medicine but there were no TB cases in the Basic Science and Managerial Departments. CONCLUSION: HCWs in Turkey who work in clinics have an increased risk for TB. Post-graduate education and prevention programs reduce the risk of TB. Control programs to prevent nosocomial transmission of TB should be established in hospitals to reduce risk for HCWs