Unemployment Insurance and Precautionary Saving

We consider both theoretically and empirically the effect of unemployment insurance (UI) on precautionary savings behavior. Simulations of a stochastic life cycle model suggest that increasing the generosity of UI will substantially lower the asset holdings of the median worker, and that this effect will both rise with unemployment risk and fall with worker age. We test these implications by matching data on potential UI replacement rates to asset holdings in the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). Our empirical results are quite consistent with the predictions of the model. We find that raising the replacement rate for UI by 10 percentage points lowers financial asset holdings by 1.4 to 5.6%, so that UI crowds out up to one-half of private savings for the typical unemployment spell. We also find that this effect is stronger for those facing higher unemployment risk and weaker for older workers.

Sparsity-Sensitive Finite Abstraction

Abstraction of a continuous-space model into a finite state and input dynamical model is a key step in formal controller synthesis tools. To date, these software tools have been limited to systems of modest size (typically $\leq$ 6 dimensions) because the abstraction procedure suffers from an exponential runtime with respect to the sum of state and input dimensions. We present a simple modification to the abstraction algorithm that dramatically reduces the computation time for systems exhibiting a sparse interconnection structure. This modified procedure recovers the same abstraction as the one computed by a brute force algorithm that disregards the sparsity. Examples highlight speed-ups from existing benchmarks in the literature, synthesis of a safety supervisory controller for a 12-dimensional and abstraction of a 51-dimensional vehicular traffic network

Computational Properties of the Hippocampus Increase the Efficiency of Goal-Directed Foraging through Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning

Sherpa Romeo green journal; open accessThe mammalian brain is thought to use a version of Model-based Reinforcement Learning (MBRL) to guide “goal-directed” behavior, wherein animals consider goals and make plans to acquire desired outcomes. However, conventional MBRL algorithms do not fully explain animals’ ability to rapidly adapt to environmental changes, or learn multiple complex tasks. They also require extensive computation, suggesting that goal-directed behavior is cognitively expensive. We propose here that key features of processing in the hippocampus support a flexible MBRL mechanism for spatial navigation that is computationally efficient and can adapt quickly to change. We investigate this idea by implementing a computational MBRL framework that incorporates features inspired by computational properties of the hippocampus: a hierarchical representation of space, “forward sweeps” through future spatial trajectories, and context-driven remapping of place cells. We find that a hierarchical abstraction of space greatly reduces the computational load (mental effort) required for adaptation to changing environmental conditions, and allows efficient scaling to large problems. It also allows abstract knowledge gained at high levels to guide adaptation to new obstacles. Moreover, a context-driven remapping mechanism allows learning and memory of multiple tasks. Simulating dorsal or ventral hippocampal lesions in our computational framework qualitatively reproduces behavioral deficits observed in rodents with analogous lesions. The framework may thus embody key features of how the brain organizes model-based RL to efficiently solve navigation and other difficult tasks.Ye

“Pensando liberdade e censura no brasil da ditadura civilmilitar e dos dias atuais – uma experiência no ensino de história”

Anais do II Seminário Seminário Estadual PIBID do Paraná: tecendo saberes / organizado por Dulcyene Maria Ribeiro e Catarina Costa Fernandes — Foz do Iguaçu: Unioeste; Unila, 2014O Objetivo do presente trabalho é apresentar a atividade realizada pelo PIBID História 1 UFPR nos colégios Manoel Ribas e Dom Pedro II, ambos em Curitiba, sob coordenação da Profa. Dra. Karina KosickiBelotti e orientação dos professores Alisson Gonçalves e Daniel Nodari. A atividade aplicada foi referente à Ditadura Militar no Brasil e aos discursos opressores que a legitimaram, assim como analisar a Lei antiterrorismo da Copa e sua analogia com o AI-5 da Ditadura, atividade esta que teve como alvo a compreensão do que os alunos entendem por censura, liberdade de participação política e expressão e o entendimento dos mesmos das contradições do discurso militar que se apresentava como uma “revolução” e como isso ainda ocorre na atualidad

American relations with Great Britain and France from the Jay Treaty to the Convention of 1800

Thesis (B.A.) in History--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1992.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-135)Microfiche of typescript. [Urbana, Ill.]: Photographic Services, University of Illinois, U of I Library, [1992]. 3 microfiches (140 frames): negative.s 1992 ilu n

Disentangling magnetic hardening and molecular spin chain contributions to exchange bias in ferromagnet/molecule bilayers

We performed SQUID and FMR magnetometry experiments to clarify the relationship between two reported magnetic exchange effects arising from interfacial spin-polarized charge transfer within ferromagnetic metal (FM)/molecule bilayers: the magnetic hardening effect, and spinterface-stabilized molecular spin chains. To disentangle these effects, both of which can affect the FM magnetization reversal, we tuned the metal phthalocyanine molecule central site's magnetic moment to selectively enhance or suppress the formation of spin chains within the molecular film. We find that both effects are distinct, and additive. In the process, we 1) extended the list of FM/molecule candidate pairs that are known to generate magnetic exchange effects, 2) experimentally confirmed the predicted increase in anisotropy upon molecular adsorption; and 3) showed that spin chains within the molecular film can enhance magnetic exchange. This magnetic ordering within the organic layer implies a structural ordering. Thus, by distengangling the magnetic hardening and exchange bias contributions, our results confirm, as an echo to progress regarding inorganic spintronic tunnelling, that the milestone of spintronic tunnelling across structurally ordered organic barriers has been reached through previous magnetotransport experiments. This paves the way for solid-state devices studies that exploit the quantum physical properties of spin chains, notably through external stimuli.Comment: Non

Luciferin production and luciferase transcription in the bioluminescent copepod Metridia lucens

Bioluminescent copepods are often the most abundant marine zooplankton and play critical roles in oceanic food webs. Metridia copepods exhibit particularly bright bioluminescence, and the molecular basis of their light production has just recently begun to be explored. Here we add to this body of work by transcriptomically profiling Metridia lucens, a common species found in temperate, northern, and southern latitudes. In this previously molecularly-uncharacterized species, we find the typical luciferase paralog gene set found in Metridia. More surprisingly, we recover noteworthy putative luciferase sequences that had not been described from Metridia species, indicating that bioluminescence produced by these copepods may be more complex than previously known. This includes another copepod luciferase, as well as one from a shrimp. Furthermore, feeding experiments using mass spectrometry and 13C labelled L-tyrosine and L-phenylalanine firmly establish that M. lucens produces its own coelenterazine luciferin rather than acquiring it through diet. This coelenterazine synthesis has only been directly confirmed in one other copepod species

Florida Atlantic Coast Telemetry (FACT) Array: A Working Partnership

The Florida Atlantic Coast Telemetry (FACT) Array is a collaborative partnership of researchers from 24 different organizations using passive acoustic telemetry to document site fidelity, habitat preferences, seasonal migration patterns, and reproductive strategies of valuable sportfish, sharks, and marine turtles. FACT partners have found that by bundling resources, they can leverage a smaller investment to track highly mobile animals beyond a study area typically restrained in scale by funds and manpower. FACT is guided by several simple rules: use of the same type of equipment, locate receivers in areas that are beneficial to all researchers when feasible, maintain strong scientific ethics by recognizing that detection data on any receiver belongs to the tag owner, do not use other members detection data without permission and acknowledge FACT in publications. Partners have access to a network of 480 receivers deployed along a continuum of habitats from freshwater rivers to offshore reefs and covers 1100 km of coastline from the Dry Tortugas, Florida to South Carolina and extends to the Bahamas. Presently, 49 species, (25 covered by Fisheries Management Plans and five covered by the Endangered Species Act) have been tagged with 2736 tags in which 1767 tags are still active

Oxidation of Monolignols by Members of the Berberine Bridge Enzyme Family Suggests a Role in Plant Cell Wall Metabolism

Plant genomes contain a large number of genes encoding for berberine bridge enzyme (BBE)-like enzymes. Despite the widespread occurrence and abundance of this protein family in the plant kingdom, the biochemical function remains largely unexplored. In this study, we have expressed two members of the BBE-like enzyme family from Arabidopsis thaliana in the host organism Komagataella pastoris. The two proteins, termed AtBBE-like 13 and AtBBE-like 15, were purified, and their catalytic properties were determined. In addition, AtBBE-like 15 was crystallized and structurally characterized by x-ray crystallography. Here, we show that the enzymes catalyze the oxidation of aromatic allylic alcohols, such as coumaryl, sinapyl, and coniferyl alcohol, to the corresponding aldehydes and that AtBBE-like 15 adopts the same fold as vanillyl alcohol oxidase as reported previously for berberine bridge enzyme and other FAD-dependent oxidoreductases. Further analysis of the substrate range identified coniferin, the glycosylated storage form of coniferyl alcohol, as a substrate of the enzymes, whereas other glycosylated monolignols were rather poor substrates. A detailed analysis of the motifs present in the active sites of the BBE-like enzymes in A. thaliana suggested that 14 out of 28 members of the family might catalyze similar reactions. Based on these findings, we propose a novel role of BBE-like enzymes in monolignol metabolism that was previously not recognized for this enzyme family