Mixed population Minority Game with generalized strategies

We present a quantitative theory, based on crowd effects, for the market volatility in a Minority Game played by a mixed population. Below a critical concentration of generalized strategy players, we find that the volatility in the crowded regime remains above the random coin-toss value regardless of the "temperature" controlling strategy use. Our theory yields good agreement with numerical simulations.Comment: Revtex file + 3 figure

A microcontroller system for investigating the catch effect: Functional electrical stimulation of the common peroneal nerve

Correction of drop foot in hemiplegic gait is achieved by electrical stimulation of the common peroneal nerve with a series of pulses at a fixed frequency. However, during normal gait, the electromyographic signals from the tibialis anterior muscle indicate that muscle force is not constant but varies during the swing phase. The application of double pulses for the correction of drop foot may enhance the gait by generating greater torque at the ankle and thereby increase the efficiency of the stimulation with reduced fatigue. A flexible controller has been designed around the Odstock Drop Foot Stimulator to deliver different profiles of pulses implementing doublets and optimum series. A peripheral interface controller (PIC) microcontroller with some external circuits has been designed and tested to accommodate six profiles. Preliminary results of the measurements from a normal subject seated in a multi-moment chair (an isometric torque measurement device) indicate that profiles containing doublets and optimum spaced pulses look favourable for clinical use

Observations of Cavitation on a Three-Dimensional Oscillating Hydrofoil

A test apparatus was designed and constructed to observe the effect of sinusoidal pitching oscillations on the cavitation of three-dimensional hydrofoils. The apparatus is capable of oscillating hydrofoils at a rate up to 50 Hz and provides for adjustments in oscillation amplitude and mean angle of attack. Observations of the effect of pitching oscillation on cavitation have been made for a NACA 64-309 (modified) hydrofoil operating at its designed mean angle of attack of 7 degrees with an oscillation amplitude of 2 degrees. Photographs illustrating the interaction between natural cavity shedding frequencies and the foil reduced frequency are included

Evaluation of the Environmental Impact of Milk Quotas

The aim of this study is to examine the environmental impacts of the different systems for allocation and transfer of milk quota under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in individual Member States of the European Union (EU). In particular, it seeks to identify the ways in which differences in the implementation of milk quota regimes can impact on various sectoral and farm management trends and the environmental implications of these

Psychological stress and cardiovascular disease: empirical demonstration of bias in a prospective observational study of Scottish men

Objectives: To examine the association between self perceived psychological stress and cardiovascular disease in a population where stress was not associated with social disadvantage. Design: Prospective observational study with follow up of 21 years and repeat screening of half the cohort 5 years from baseline. Measures included perceived psychological stress, coronary risk factors, self reported angina, and ischaemia detected by electrocardiography. Setting: 27 workplaces in Scotland. Participants: 5606 men (mean age 48 years) at first screening and 2623 men at second screening with complete data on all measures Main outcome measures: Prevalence of angina and ischaemia at baseline, odds ratio for incident angina and ischaemia at second screening, rate ratios for cause specific hospital admission, and hazard ratios for cause specific mortality. Results: Both prevalence and incidence of angina increased with increasing perceived stress (fully adjusted odds ratio for incident angina, high versus low stress 2.66, 95% confidence interval 1.61 to 4.41; P for trend <0.001). Prevalence and incidence of ischaemia showed weak trends in the opposite direction. High stress was associated with a higher rate of admissions to hospital generally and for admissions related to cardiovascular disease and psychiatric disorders (fully adjusted rate ratios for any general hospital admission 1.13, 1.01 to 1.27, cardiovascular disease 1.20, 1.00 to 1.45, and psychiatric disorders 2.34, 1.41 to 3.91). High stress was not associated with increased admission for coronary heart disease (1.00, 0.76-1.32) and showed an inverse relation with all cause mortality, mortality from cardiovascular disease, and mortality from coronary heart disease, that was attenuated by adjustment for occupational class (fully adjusted hazard ratio for all cause mortality 0.94, 0.81 to 1.11, cardiovascular mortality 0.91, 0.78 to 1.06, and mortality from coronary heart disease 0.98, 0.75 to 1.27). Conclusions: The relation between higher stress, angina, and some categories of hospital admissions probably resulted from the tendency of participants reporting higher stress to also report more symptoms. The lack of a corresponding relation with objective indices of heart disease suggests that these symptoms did not reflect physical disease. The data suggest that associations between psychosocial measures and disease outcomes reported from some other studies may be spurious

Limitations of adjustment for reporting tendency in observational studies of stress and self reported coronary heart disease

Recently, observational evidence has been suggested to show a causal association between various "psychosocial" exposures, including psychological stress, and heart disease. Much of this evidence derives from studies in which a self reported psychosocial exposure is related to an outcome dependent on the subjective experience of coronary heart disease (CHD) symptoms. Such outcomes may be measured using standard symptom questionnaires (like the Rose angina schedule). Alternatively they may use diagnoses of disease from medical records, which depend on an individual perceiving symptoms and reporting them to a health worker. In these situations, reporting bias may generate spurious exposure-outcome associations. For example if people who perceive and report their life as most stressful also over-report symptoms of cardiovascular disease then an artefactual association between stress and heart disease will result

Bleomycin increases neutrophil adhesion to human vascular endothelial cells independently of upregulation of ICAM-1 and E-selectin

© 2016 Taylor & Francis. Aim of the Study: Bleomycin-induced lung disease is a serious complication of therapy characterized by alveolar injury, cytokine release, inflammatory cell recruitment, and eventually pulmonary fibrosis. The mechanisms underlying bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis may be relevant to other progressive scarring diseases of the lungs. Pulmonary vascular endothelial cells are critically involved in immune cell extravasation at sites of injury through adhesion molecule expression and cytokine release. We sought to determine the effects of bleomycin on adhesion molecule expression and cytokine release by pulmonary vascular endothelial cells, and their functional relevance to inflammatory cell recruitment. Materials and Methods: The effects of pharmacologically relevant concentrations of bleomycin on adhesion molecule expression and cytokine release by human vascular endothelial cells in vitro were studied by flow cytometry, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. A flow chamber model was used to assess the functional consequences on adhesion of flowing human neutrophils to endothelial cell monolayers. Results: Bleomycin increased intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1; CD54), vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM-1; CD106), and E-selectin (CD62E) expression, and increased monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP-1) and interleukin (IL-8) release by endothelial cells. Increases in protein expression were accompanied by increased mRNA transcription. In contrast, there was no direct effect of bleomycin on the profibrotic cytokines transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB), or endothelin-1. Under flow conditions, endothelial cells exposed to bleomycin supported increased neutrophil adhesion which was independent of ICAM-1 or E-selectin. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that bleomycin promotes endothelial-mediated inflammation and neutrophil adhesion. These mechanisms may contribute to the development of pulmonary fibrosis by supporting immune cell recruitment in the lungs

Sustainability Science: A Call to Collaborative Action

Sustainability science is an emerging field directed at advancing sustainable development. Informed by recent scholarship and institutional experiments, we identify key roles for economists and encourage their greater participation in this research. Our call to collaborative action comes from positive experiences with the Sustainability Solutions Initiative based at the University of Maine, where economists collaborate with other experts and diverse stakeholders on real-world problems involving interactions between natural and human systems. We articulate a mutually beneficial setting where economists’ methods, skills, and norms add value to the problem-focused, interdisciplinary research of sustainability science and where resources, opportunities, and challenges from science bolster economic research specifically and land/sea grant institutions broadly

Power in the Multinational Corporation in Industry Equilibrium

Recent theories of the multinational corporation introduce the property rights model of the firm and examine whether to integrate our outsource firm activities locally or to a foreign country. This paper focus instead on the internal organization of the multinational corporation by examining the power allocation between headquarters and subsidiaries. We provide a framework to analyse the interaction between the decision to serve the local market by exporting or FDI, market acces and the optimal mode of organization of the multinational corporation. We find that subsidiary managers are given most autonomy in their decision how to run the firm at intermediate levels of local competition. We then provide comparative statics for changes in fixed FDI entry costs and trade costs, information technology, the number of local competitors, and in the size of the local market