1,197 research outputs found
Barro's fertility equations: the robustness of the role of female education and income
Barro and Lee (1994) and Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1995) find that real per-capita GDP and both male and female education have important effects on fertility in their cross-country empirical studies. In order to assess the robustness of their results, their estimated models are subjected to specification and diagnostic testing, the effects on the model of using the improved Barro and Lee (1996) cross-country data on educational attainment of the population aged 15 and over are examined, and the different specifications used by Barro and Lee and by Barro and Sala-i-Martin compared. The results obtained suggest that their fertility equations do not perform well in terms of diagnostic testing, and are very sensitive to the use of different vintages of the educational attainment proxies and of the Summers-Heston cross-country income data. A robust explanation of fertility, to link with empirical growth equations, has, therefore, not yet been found; further work is required in this area
E(5), X(5), and Prolate to Oblate Shape Phase Transitions in Relativistic Hartree Bogoliubov Theory
Relativistic mean field theory with the NL3 force is used for producing
potential energy surfaces (PES) for series of isotopes suggested as exhibiting
critical point symmetries. Relatively flat PES are obtained for nuclei showing
the E(5) symmetry, while in nuclei corresponding to the X(5) case, PES with a
bump are obtained. The PES corresponding to the Pt chain of isotopes suggest a
transition from prolate to oblate shapes at 186-Pt.Comment: 21 pages, LaTeX, including 14 .eps figure
Coulomb plasmas in outer envelopes of neutron stars
Outer envelopes of neutron stars consist mostly of fully ionized, strongly
coupled Coulomb plasmas characterized by typical densities about 10^4-10^{11}
g/cc and temperatures about 10^4-10^9 K. Many neutron stars possess magnetic
fields about 10^{11}-10^{14} G. Here we briefly review recent theoretical
advances which allow one to calculate thermodynamic functions and electron
transport coefficients for such plasmas with an accuracy required for
theoretical interpretation of observations.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, latex2e using cpp2e.cls (included). Proc. PNP-10
Workshop, Greifswald, Germany, 4-9 Sept. 2000. Accepted for publication in
Contrib. Plasma Phys. 41 (2001) no. 2-
METHOTREXATE ACTION IN RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS: STIMULATION OF CYTOKINE INHIBITOR AND INHIBITION OF CHEMOKINE PRODUCTION BY PERIPHERAL BLOOD MONONUCLEAR CELLS
This open label study examines whether methotrexate (MTX) treatment modulates ex vivo synthesis of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-lra), soluble tumour necrosis factor receptors(sTNFR p55 and p75), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), tumour necrosis factor α(TNF-α), interleukin-8 (IL-8) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC} and whether changes reflect clinical response. Significant stimulation of IL-lra and sTNFR p75 as well as inhibition of IL-8 production of PBMC were associated with clinical improvement observed in patients treated with MTX. When defining the characteristics of patients at study entry retrospectively in responders and non-responders a significantly lower ratio of IL-lra :IL-1β production before and its increase upon treatment was associated with clinical response in 13 patients compared to five patients not responding to MTX. In addition, clinical improvement was associated with decreased synthesis of IL-1β, TNF-α and IL-8 induced by bacterial lipopolysaccharide, IL-1α and IL-1β in PBMC in vitro. These findings suggest that MTX therapy reverses the inflammatory type of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) blood mononuclear cells by stimulating cytokine inhibitor production while inhibiting inflammatory cytokine release at the same time. This may explain the powerful anti-inflammatory properties of low-dose MTX as observed in most RA patients. Pretreatment determination of the IL-lra: IL-1β ratio in PBMC may be predictive with regard to a favourable therapeutic response and therefore may be useful for the selection of RA patients to be treated with MT
Transition rates and nuclear structure changes in mirror nuclei 47Cr and 47V
Lifetime measurements in the mirror nuclei 47Cr and 47V were performed by
means of the Doppler-shift attenuation method using the multidetector array
EUROBALL, in conjunction with the ancillary detectors ISIS and the Neutron
Wall. The determined transition strengths in the yrast cascades are well
described by full pf shell model calculations.Comment: Latex2e, 11 pages, 3 figure
49Cr: Towards full spectroscopy up to 4 MeV
The nucleus 49Cr has been studied analysing gamma-gamma coincidences in the
reaction 46Ti(alpha,n)49Cr at the bombarding energy of 12 MeV. The level scheme
has been greatly extended at low excitation energy and several new lifetimes
have been determined by means of the Doppler Shift Attenuation Method.
Shell model calculations in the full pf configuration space reproduce well
negative-parity levels. Satisfactory agreement is obtained for positive parity
levels by extending the configuration space to include a nucleon-hole either in
the 1d3/2 or in the 2s1/2 orbitals.
A nearly one-to-one correspondence is found between experimental and
theoretical levels up to an excitation energy of 4 MeV.
Experimental data and shell model calculations are interpreted in terms of
the Nilsson diagram and the particle-rotor model, showing the strongly coupled
nature of the bands in this prolate nucleus. Nine values of K(pi) are proposed
for the levels observed in this experiment.
As a by-result it is shown that the values of the experimental magnetic
moments in 1f7/2 nuclei are well reproduced without quenching the nucleon
g-factors.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure
Shape and structure of N=Z 64Ge; Electromagnetic transition rates from the application of the Recoil Distance Method to knock-out reaction
Transition rate measurements are reported for the first and the second 2+
states in N=Z 64Ge. The experimental results are in excellent agreement with
large-scale Shell Model calculations applying the recently developed GXPF1A
interactions. Theoretical analysis suggests that 64Ge is a collective
gamma-soft anharmonic vibrator. The measurement was done using the Recoil
Distance Method (RDM) and a unique combination of state-of-the-art instruments
at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL). States of interest
were populated via an intermediate-energy single-neutron knock-out reaction.
RDM studies of knock-out and fragmentation reaction products hold the promise
of reaching far from stability and providing lifetime information for excited
states in a wide range of nuclei
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