Epigenetics: Biology's Quantum Mechanics

The perspective presented here is that modern genetics is at a similar stage of development as were early formulations of quantum mechanics theory in the 1920s and that in 2010 we are at the dawn of a new revolution in genetics that promises to enrich and deepen our understanding of the gene and the genome. The interrelationships and interdependence of two views of the gene – the molecular biological view and the epigenetic view – are explored, and it is argued that the classical molecular biological view is incomplete without incorporation of the epigenetic perspective and that in a sense the molecular biological view has been evolving to include the epigenetic view. Intriguingly, this evolution of the molecular view toward the broader and more inclusive epigenetic view of the gene has an intriguing, if not precise, parallel in the evolution of concepts of atomic physics from Newtonian mechanics to quantum mechanics that are interesting to consider

Dependence of the Fundamental Plane Scatter on Galaxy Age

The fundamental plane (FP) has an intrinsic scatter that can not be explained purely by observational errors. Using recently available age estimates for nearby early type galaxies, we show that a galaxy's position relative to the FP depends on its age. In particular, the mean FP corresponds to ellipticals with an age of ~10 Gyr. Younger galaxies are systematically brighter with higher surface brightness relative to the mean relation. Old ellipticals form an `upper envelope' to the FP. For our sample of mostly non-cluster galaxies, age can account for almost half of the scatter in the B band FP. Distance determinations based on the FP may have a systematic bias, if the mean age of the sample varies with redshift. We also show that fundamental plane residuals, B-V colors and Mg_2 line strength are consistent with an ageing central burst superposed on an old stellar population. This reinforces the view that these age estimates are tracing the last major episode of star formation induced by a gaseous merger event. We briefly discuss the empirical `evolutionary tracks' of merger-remnants and young ellipticals in terms of their key observational parameters.Comment: 14 pages, Latex, 2 figures, accepted by ApJ Letter

Approach and development strategy for an agent-based model of economic confidence.

We are extending the existing features of Aspen, a powerful economic modeling tool, and introducing new features to simulate the role of confidence in economic activity. The new model is built from a collection of autonomous agents that represent households, firms, and other relevant entities like financial exchanges and governmental authorities. We simultaneously model several interrelated markets, including those for labor, products, stocks, and bonds. We also model economic tradeoffs, such as decisions of households and firms regarding spending, savings, and investment. In this paper, we review some of the basic principles and model components and describe our approach and development strategy for emulating consumer, investor, and business confidence. The model of confidence is explored within the context of economic disruptions, such as those resulting from disasters or terrorist events

Towards Global Characterization of Environmental and Climatic Determinants for Seasonal Influenza

No abstract availabl

The slope of the black-hole mass versus velocity dispersion correlation

Observations of nearby galaxies reveal a strong correlation between the mass of the central dark object M and the velocity dispersion sigma of the host galaxy, of the form log(M/M_sun) = a + b*log(sigma/sigma_0); however, published estimates of the slope b span a wide range (3.75 to 5.3). Merritt & Ferrarese have argued that low slopes (<4) arise because of neglect of random measurement errors in the dispersions and an incorrect choice for the dispersion of the Milky Way Galaxy. We show that these explanations account for at most a small part of the slope range. Instead, the range of slopes arises mostly because of systematic differences in the velocity dispersions used by different groups for the same galaxies. The origin of these differences remains unclear, but we suggest that one significant component of the difference results from Ferrarese & Merritt's extrapolation of central velocity dispersions to r_e/8 (r_e is the effective radius) using an empirical formula. Another component may arise from dispersion-dependent systematic errors in the measurements. A new determination of the slope using 31 galaxies yields b=4.02 +/- 0.32, a=8.13 +/- 0.06, for sigma_0=200 km/s. The M-sigma relation has an intrinsic dispersion in log M that is no larger than 0.3 dex. In an Appendix, we present a simple model for the velocity-dispersion profile of the Galactic bulge.Comment: 37 pages, 9 figure

Measurement in Economics and Social Science

The paper discusses measurement, primarily in economics, from both analytical and historical perspectives. The historical section traces the commitment to ordinalism on the part of economic theorists from the doctrinal disputes between classical economics and marginalism, through the struggle of orthodox economics against socialism down to the cold-war alliance between mathematical social science and anti-communist ideology. In economics the commitment to ordinalism led to the separation of theory from the quantitative measures that are computed in practice: price and quantity indexes, consumer surplus and real national product. The commitment to ordinality entered political science, via Arrow’s ‘impossibility theorem’, effectively merging it with economics, and ensuring its sterility. How can a field that has as its central result the impossibility of democracy contribute to the design of democratic institutions? The analytical part of the paper deals with the quantitative measures mentioned above. I begin with the conceptual clarification that what these measures try to achieve is a restoration of the money metric that is lost when prices are variable. I conclude that there is only one measure that can be embedded in a satisfactory economic theory, free from unreasonable restrictions. It is the Törnqvist index as an approximation to its theoretical counterpart the Divisia index. The statistical agencies have at various times produced different measures for real national product and its components, as well as related concepts. I argue that all of these are flawed and that a single deflator should be used for the aggregate and the components. Ideally this should be a chained Törnqvist price index defined on aggregate consumption. The social sciences are split. The economic approach is abstract, focused on the assumption of rational and informed behavior, and tends to the political right. The sociological approach is empirical, stresses the non-rational aspects of human behavior and tends to the political left. I argue that the split is due to the fact that the empirical and theoretical traditions were never joined in the social sciences as they were in the natural sciences. I also argue that measurement can potentially help in healing this split