Does consumer sentiment accurately forecast UK household consumption? Are there any comparisons to be made with the US?

This paper investigates how well survey data depicting consumer sentiment forecasts household’s consumption behavior for the UK. We consider whether consumer sentiment is able to predict the growth of household’s consumption, in addition to the growth of labor income. The empirical analysis finds that Consumer Confidence Indices (CCI) does predict the household’s consumption of durable goods. We also draw comparisons with recent analysis for the US. In addition, we analyze whether both the UK and US CCI are accurate and useful predictors of household’s consumption growth using directional analysis. We find that the UK confidence indicators predict better the US

A new approach to secure economic power dispatch

This article presents a new nonlinear convex network flow programming model and algorithm for solving the on-line economic power dispatch with N and N−1 security. Based on the load flow equations, a new nonlinear convex network flow model for secure economic power dispatch is set up and then transformed into a quadratic programming model, in which the search direction in the space of the flow variables is to be solved. The concept of maximum basis in a network flow graph was introduced so that the constrained quadratic programming model was changed into an unconstrained quadratic programming model which was then solved by the reduced gradient method. The proposed model and its algorithm were examined numerically with an IEEE 30-bus test system on an ALPHA 400 Model 610 machine. Satisfactory results were obtaine

Processing asymmetry of transitions between order and disorder in human auditory cortex

Purpose: To develop an algorithm to resolve intrinsic problems with dose calculations using pencil beams when particles involved in each beam are overreaching a lateral density interface or when they are detouring in a laterally heterogeneous medium. Method and Materials: A finding on a Gaussian distribution, such that it can be approximately decomposed into multiple narrower, shifted, and scaled ones, was applied to dynamic splitting of pencil beams implemented in a dose calculation algorithm for proton and ion beams. The method was tested in an experiment with a range-compensated carbon-ion beam. Its effectiveness and efficiency were evaluated for carbon-ion and proton beams in a heterogeneous phantom model. Results: The splitting dose calculation reproduced the detour effect observed in the experiment, which amounted to about 10% at a maximum or as large as the lateral particle-disequilibrium effect. The proton-beam dose generally showed large scattering effects including the overreach and detour effects. The overall computational times were 9 s and 45 s for non-splitting and splitting carbon-ion beams and 15 s and 66 s for non-splitting and splitting proton beams. Conclusions: The beam-splitting method was developed and verified to resolve the intrinsic size limitation of the Gaussian pencil-beam model in dose calculation algorithms. The computational speed slowed down by factor of 5, which would be tolerable for dose accuracy improvement at a maximum of 10%, in our test case.AAPM Annual Meeting 200

Human Auditory cortical processing of changes in interaural correlation

Sensitivity to the similarity of the acoustic waveforms at the two ears, and specifically to changes in similarity, is crucial to auditory scene analysis and extraction of objects from background. Here, we use the high temporal resolution of magnetoencephalography to investigate the dynamics of cortical processing of changes in interaural correlation, a measure of interaural similarity, and compare them with behavior. Stimuli are interaurally correlated or uncorrelated wideband noise, immediately followed by the same noise with intermediate degrees of interaural correlation. Behaviorally, listeners' sensitivity to changes in interaural correlation is asymmetrical. Listeners are faster and better at detecting transitions from correlated noise than transitions from uncorrelated noise. The cortical response to the change in correlation is characterized by an activation sequence starting from ∼50 ms after change. The strength of this response parallels behavioral performance: auditory cortical mechanisms are much less sensitive to transitions from uncorrelated noise than from correlated noise. In each case, sensitivity increases with interaural correlation difference. Brain responses to transitions from uncorrelated noise lag those from correlated noise by ∼80 ms, which may be the neural correlate of the observed behavioral response time differences. Importantly, we demonstrate differences in location and time course of neural processing: transitions from correlated noise are processed by a distinct neural population, and with greater speed, than transitions from uncorrelated noise

Working days in a London construction team in the eighteenth century: evidence from St Paul's Cathedral

This article provides new information and data on the work and pay of skilled and semi‐skilled men on a large London construction project in the early 1700s. It offers firm‐level evidence on the employment relation in the construction industry at the time and sheds some light on the number of days worked per year and per week, showing that employment was more irregular and seasonal than current estimates of income infer. The patterns are considered in the context of new debates about industriousness and economic growth

Dynamics of Dynamin during Clathrin Mediated Endocytosis in PC12 Cells

Members of the dynamin super-family of GTPases are involved in disparate cellular pathways. Dynamin1 and dynamin2 have been implicated in clathrin-mediated endocytosis. While some models suggest that dynamin functions specifically at the point of vesicle fission, evidence also exists for a role prior to fission during vesicle formation and it is unknown if there is a role for dynamin after vesicle fission. Although dynamin2 is ubiquitously expressed, dynamin1 is restricted to the nervous system. These two structurally similar endocytic accessory proteins have not been studied in cells that endogenously express both.The present study quantitatively assesses the dynamics of dynamin1 and dynamin2 during clathrin-mediated endocytosis in PC12 cells, which endogenously express both proteins. Both dynamin isoforms co-localized with clathrin and showed sharp increases in fluorescence intensity immediately prior to internalization of the nascent clathrin-coated vesicle. The fluorescence intensity of both proteins then decreased with two time constants. The slower time constant closely matched the time constant for the decrease of clathrin intensity and likely represents vesicle movement away from the membrane. The faster rate may reflect release of dynamin at the neck of nascent vesicle following GTP hydrolysis.This study analyses the role of dynamin in clathrin-mediated endocytosis in a model for cellular neuroscience and these results may provide direct evidence for the existence of two populations of dynamin associated with nascent clathrin-coated vesicles

How serotonin shapes moral judgment and behavior

Neuroscientists are now discovering how hormones and brain chemicals shape social behavior, opening potential avenues for pharmacological manipulation of ethical values. Here, we review recent studies showing how altering brain chemistry can alter moral judgment and behavior, focusing in particular on the neuromodulator serotonin and its role in shaping values related to harm and fairness. We synthesize previous findings and consider the potential mechanisms through which serotonin could increase the aversion to harming others. We present a process model whereby serotonin influences social behavior by shifting social preferences in the positive direction, enhancing the value people place on others’ outcomes. This model may explain previous findings relating serotonin function to prosocial behavior, and makes new predictions regarding how serotonin may influence the neural computation of value in social contexts