Commitment and (in) Efficiency: A Bargaining Experiment

ABSTRACT In many matching markets, bargaining determines who matches with whom and on what terms. We experimentally investigate allocative efficiency and how subjects’ payoffs depend on their matching opportunities in such markets. We consider three simple markets. There are no information asymmetries, subjects are patient, and a perfectly equitable outcome is both feasible and efficient. Efficient perfect equilibria of the corresponding bargaining game exist, but are increasingly complicated to sustain across the three markets. Consistent with the predictions of simple (Markov perfect) equilibria, we find considerable mismatch in two of the markets. Mismatch is reduced but remains substantial when we change the nature of bargaining by moving from a structured experimental protocol to permitting free-form negotiations, and when we allow players to renege on their agreements. Our results suggest that mismatch is driven by players correctly anticipating that they might lose their strong bargaining positions, and by players in weak bargaining positions demanding equitable payoffs.Financial support from the European Research Council under the grant EMBED #757229 (Elliott) is gratefully acknowledged

Multimodal spatial mapping and visualisation of Dinaledi Chamber and Rising Star Cave

The Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star Cave has yielded 1550 identifiable fossil elements – representing the largest single collection of fossil hominin material found on the African continent to date. The fossil chamber in which Homo naledi was found was accessible only through a near-vertical chute that presented immense practical and methodological limitations on the excavation and recording methods that could be used within the Cave. In response to practical challenges, a multimodal set of recording and survey methods was thus developed and employed: (1) recording of fossils and the excavation process was achieved through the use of white-light photogrammetry and laser scanning; (2) mapping of the Dinaledi Chamber was accomplished by means of high-resolution laser scanning, with scans running from the excavation site to the ground surface and the cave entrance; (3) at ground surface, the integration of conventional surveying techniques as well as photogrammetry with the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle was applied. Point cloud data were used to provide a centralised and common data structure for conversion and to corroborate the influx of different data collection methods and input formats. Data collected with these methods were applied to the excavations, mapping and surveying of the Dinaledi Chamber and the Rising Star Cave. This multimodal approach provides a comprehensive spatial framework from individual bones to landscape level

Child welfare inequalities in the four nations of the UK

Comparative international data on patterns of inequality in child welfare interventions, for example, the proportion of children about whom there are substantiated child protection concerns or who are in out-of-home care, are far less developed than data about inequalities in health. Few countries collect reliable, comprehensive information and definitions, methods of data collection and analysis are rarely consistent. The four UK countries (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) provide a potential ‘natural experiment’ for comparing intervention patterns. This study reports on a large quantitative, descriptive study focusing on children in contact with children’s services on a single date in 2015. It found that children’s chances of receiving a child protection intervention were related to family socio-economic circumstances, measured by neighbourhood deprivation, within all four countries. There was a strong social gradient which was significantly steeper in some countries than others. Ethnicity was another important factor underlying inequalities. While inequalities in patterns of intervention between the four countries were considerable, they did not mirror relative levels of deprivation in the child population. Inequalities in intervention rates result from a combination of demand and supply factors. The level and extent of inequity raise profound ethical, economic and practical challenges to those involved in child protection, the wider society and the state

Human Tra2 proteins jointly control a CHEK1 splicing switch among alternative and constitutive target exons

Alternative splicing—the production of multiple messenger RNA isoforms from a single gene—is regulated in part by RNA binding proteins. While the RBPs transformer2 alpha (Tra2α) and Tra2β have both been implicated in the regulation of alternative splicing, their relative contributions to this process are not well understood. Here we find simultaneous—but not individual—depletion of Tra2α and Tra2β induces substantial shifts in splicing of endogenous Tra2β target exons, and that both constitutive and alternative target exons are under dual Tra2α–Tra2β control. Target exons are enriched in genes associated with chromosome biology including CHEK1, which encodes a key DNA damage response protein. Dual Tra2 protein depletion reduces expression of full-length CHK1 protein, results in the accumulation of the DNA damage marker γH2AX and decreased cell viability. We conclude Tra2 proteins jointly control constitutive and alternative splicing patterns via paralog compensation to control pathways essential to the maintenance of cell viability

MIDTAL (Microarrays for the Detection of Toxic Algae)

Microalgae in marine and brackish waters of Europe regularly cause harmful effects, considered from the human perspective, in that they cause economic damage to fisheries and tourism. Cyanobacteria cause similar problems in freshwaters. These episodes encompass a broad range of phenomena collectively referred to as harmful algal blooms (HABs). For adequate management of these phenomena, monitoring of microalgae is required. However, present day monitoring is time consuming and based on morphology as determined by light microscopy, which may be insufficient to give definitive species and toxin attribution. In the European Union (EU) FP7 project MIDTAL (microarrays for the detection of toxic algae), we will first target rapid species identification using rRNA genes. The variable regions of the rRNA genes can be used for probe design to recognize species or even strains. Second, a toxin based microarray will be developed that includes antibody reactions to specific toxins produced by these microalgae because even when cell numbers are low, toxins can be present and can accumulate in the shellfish. Microarrays are the state of the art technology in molecular biology for the processing of bulk samples for detection of target RNA/DNA sequence. Existing rRNA probes and antibodies for toxic algal species/strains and their toxins will be adapted and optimized for microarray use. The purpose of MIDTAL is to support the common fisheries policy and to aid the national monitoring agencies by providing new rapid tools for the identification of toxic algae and their toxins so they can comply with EU directive 91/1491/CEE to monitor for toxic algae, and reduce the need for the mouse bioassay

Identifying and understanding inequalities in child welfare intervention rates: quantitative evidence from a comparison of the four UK countries

This is the working paper for the journal article that was later published under a different title. See: Bywaters P, Scourfield J, Jones C, Sparks T, Elliott M, Hooper J, McCartan C, Shapira M, Bunting L & Daniel B (2020) Child welfare inequalities in the four nations of the UK. Journal of Social Work, 20 (2), pp. 193-215. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017318793479 With full-text available from: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/27484 First paragraph: In the public health field, much attention has been paid to measuring and analysing differences in mortality and morbidity between and within countries. While recognising problems in ensuring that data is genuinely comparable between and within different countries, sufficient convergence is managed through the WHO Global Health Observatory for data on over 1000 indicators of population health to be gathered from 194 countries (http://www.who.int/gho/en/). There is a substantial body of work that underpins judgements about relative rates of sickness and death and discussions of contributory causal factors. It supports a focus on understanding and combatting both underlying and more immediate causes of health inequalities (WHO, 2008). Reducing health inequalities is seen as an essential element for maximising the health of populations (Acheson 1998; Marmot 2010).This is the working paper for the journal article that was later published under a different title. See: Bywaters P, Scourfield J, Jones C, Sparks T, Elliott M, Hooper J, McCartan C, Shapira M, Bunting L & Daniel B (2020) Child welfare inequalities in the four nations of the UK. Journal of Social Work, 20 (2), pp. 193-215. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017318793479 With full-text available from: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/2748

Lessons Learnt from Operationalising an International Collaborative Multi-Centre Study

Many medical students are both skilled and experienced in healthcare research, statistical analysis and evidence synthesis; assets that can be deployed to great effect in order to conduct research and contribute to the body of evidence - particularly in outbreak situations where senior doctors may be redeployed to clinical duties, thus ensuring that the next generation of academic clinicians’ interest and knowledge does not go in vain. Here, we document the process by which a group of medical students across the world, with senior support, harnessed their enthusiasm and the power of technology to play leading roles in an international multi-centre study run by the Global Health Research Group on Children’s Non-Communicable Diseases (Global Children’s NCDs). Many lessons have been learnt from the successful operationalisation of this study, which we hope to impart in this article. Our operations team consisted of: a social media team who manage our various accounts; a graphic design team who produce visuals to illustrate milestones achieved or highlight countries from which we did not yet have representatives; a network team who constructed a database to manage our extensive collaborator network; a communications team who managed emails and maintained regular contact with collaborators as well as producing a guide of common issues; a researcher support team who worked to ensure that any issues faced were dealt with promptly by hosting drop-in sessions; and finally a research capacity building team. We found that medical students bring fresh perspectives and an open-minded approach which is useful in reframing challenges and generating innovative solutions; thus it is vital to give them the opportunity to collaborate with, and learn from senior academics and policy-makers.&nbsp

Physical properties of Brackett Emitters in the APOGEE DR17 Catalog

In the process of accumulating mass (accretion), young stars channel ionized gas from the protoplanetary disk to the stellar surface along magnetic field lines. Upon impacting the photosphere, the gas cools down, recombining and emitting hydrogen spectral lines. Measuring these emission lines allows us to determine the temperature and density of the gas in those accretion streams. This then enables us to test whether those parameters depend on the accretion rate. We present measurements of equivalent widths and line ratios for Brackett (Br) 11 – 20 lines for 3366 observations of 940 pre-main sequence stars observed with APOGEE as of Data Release 17. We identify the subset of stars with strong detections down to Br20, and fit the resulting line ratios to predictions of radiative transfer models. We also estimate physical properties inferred from the strongest accretors, such as hydrogen densities between 1011 and 1012 cm-3. Their temperatures appear to be less constrained, but model fits suggest the excitation temperature is inversely proportional to the hydrogen density. Finally, we describe plans for future work to calibrate the flux within Br11 line as a proxy for the mass accretion rate

A Meta-Analysis of Hippocampal and Amygdala Volumes in Patients Diagnosed With Dissociative Identity Disorder

14 pagesDissociative Identity Disorder (DID), an illness characterized by multiple personality states, has long been a controversial diagnosis within the psychiatric community. Demonstrating a neuroanatomical basis for the disorder may help to resolve the controversy. Current literature on the neuroanatomy associated with DID has focused on the hippocampus and amygdala and are inconclusive. This meta-analysis pools the results from n = 3 studies to compare the mean size of these two structures between DID patients, non-DID patients, and healthy controls. Patients diagnosed with both DID & PTSD were found to have smaller hippocampi bilaterally (p< .001) compared to healthy controls; no significant difference was seen in the amygdala. When comparing DID to PTSD patients, the left hippocampus was smaller (p< .001), with a trend for a smaller right hippocampus (p = .06). A comparison of the amygdala was not possible due to a lack of data. These findings suggest that a smaller hippocampus is seen in DID patients beyond what is seen for PTSD, provides neuroanatomical evidence for the memory impairment often seen in DID patients (i.e., amnesia experienced by the host and alters), and presents a potentially novel means to understand this disorder

Access routes and reported decision criteria for lumbar epidural drug injections: a systematic literature review

Purpose: To review lumbar epidural drug injection routes in relation to current practice and the reported criteria used for selecting a given approach. Material and methods: This was a HIPPA-compliant study. Employing a systematic search strategy, the MEDLINE and EMBASE databank as well as the Cochrane Library were searched for studies on epidural drug injections. The following data were noted: access route, level of injection, use of image guidance, and types and doses of injected drugs. Justifications for the use of a particular route were also noted. Data were presented using descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 1,211 scientific studies were identified, of which 91 were finally included (7.5%). The interlaminar access route was used in 44 of 91 studies (48.4%), the transforaminal in 37 of 91 studies (40.7%), and the caudal pathway in 26 of 91 studies (28.6%). The caudal pathway was favored in the older studies whereas the transforaminal route was favored in recent studies. Decision criteria related to correct needle placement, concentration of injected drug at lesion site, technical complexity, costs, and potential complications. Injection was usually performed on the level of the lesion using local anesthetics (71 of 91 studies, 78.0%), steroids (all studies) and image guidance (71 of 91 studies, 78%). Conclusions: The most commonly used access routes for epidural drug injection are the interlaminar and transforaminal pathways at the level of the pathology. Transforaminal routes are being performed with increasing frequency in recent year