The Persistence of Common-Ratio Effects in Multiple-Play Decisions

People often make more rational choices between monetary prospects when their choices will be played out many times rather than just once. For example, previous research has shown that the certainty effect and the possibility effect (two common-ratio effects that violate expected utility theory) are eliminated in multiple-play decisions. This finding is challenged by seven new studies (N = 2391) and two small meta-analyses. Results indicate that, on average, certainty and possibility effects are reduced but not eliminated in multiple-play decisions. Moreover, in our within-participants studies, the certainty and possibility choice patterns almost always remained the modal or majority patterns. Our primary results were not reliably affected by prompts that encouraged a long-run perspective, by participants’ insight into long-run payoffs, or by participants’ numeracy. The persistence of common-ratio effects suggests that the oft-cited benefits of multiple plays for the rationality of decision makers’ choices may be smaller than previously realized

The Persistence of Common-Ratio Effects in Multiple-Play Decisions

People often make more rational choices between monetary prospects when their choices will be played out many times rather than just once. For example, previous research has shown that the certainty effect and the possibility effect (two common-ratio effects that violate expected utility theory) are eliminated in multiple-play decisions. This finding is challenged by seven new studies (N = 2391) and two small meta-analyses. Results indicate that, on average, certainty and possibility effects are reduced but not eliminated in multiple-play decisions. Moreover, in our within-participants studies, the certainty and possibility choice patterns almost always remained the modal or majority patterns. Our primary results were not reliably affected by prompts that encouraged a long-run perspective, by participants’ insight into long-run payoffs, or by participants’ numeracy. The persistence of common-ratio effects suggests that the oft-cited benefits of multiple plays for the rationality of decision makers’ choices may be smaller than previously realized

Multi-Donor longitudinal antibody repertoire sequencing reveals the existence of public antibody clonotypes in HIV-1 infection

Characterization of single antibody lineages within infected individuals has provided insights into the development of Env-specific antibodies. However, a systems-level understanding of the humoral response against HIV-1 is limited. Here, we interrogated the antibody repertoires of multiple HIV-infected donors from an infection-naive state through acute and chronic infection using next-generation sequencing. This analysis revealed the existence of “public” antibody clonotypes that were shared among multiple HIV-infected individuals. The HIV-1 reactivity for representative antibodies from an identified public clonotype shared by three donors was confirmed. Furthermore, a meta-analysis of publicly available antibody repertoire sequencing datasets revealed antibodies with high sequence identity to known HIV-reactive antibodies, even in repertoires that were reported to be HIV naive. The discovery of public antibody clonotypes in HIV-infected individuals represents an avenue of significant potential for better understanding antibody responses to HIV-1 infection, as well as for clonotype-specific vaccine development

De Haas-Van Alphen measurements of one-electron and many-body effects in transition metals and intermetallic compounds

Examples are given which demonstrate the power and versatility of the dHvA effect in studying electronic behavior in metals. In transition metals the parametrization schemes give a very complete and consistent picture of the k-dependent and surface averaged electronic properties. Because the one-electron behavior is fairly well known, the many body contribution to the Fermi velocity can be isolated and its detailed anisotropy can be displayed. This kind of information is directly relevant to the calculation of electron-phonon interaction effects and cannot be derived by any other means

Study on Different Range of NIR Sensor Measurement for Different Concentration of Glucose Solution

The development of noninvasive methods to replace the conventional finger pricking method to measure the blood glucose concentration is developing rapidly. This study was conducted to evaluate different wavelength of near infrared (NIR) sensors that is going to be the best in measuring the glucose concentration samples that was prepared. Three different wavelengths of NIR sensor are used for the testing, 800 nm, 940 nm and 950 nm. Several experiments were conducted to find the relationship between the output voltages and glucose concentration. The results of the experiments proved that the linear relationship between output voltages and glucose concentration is significant for all NIR sensors used and the NIR sensor with a wavelength of 940 nm shows the best fit

Elastic net penalized Quantile Regression Model and Empirical Mode Decomposition for Improving the Accuracy of the Model Selection

In quantile regression models, numerous penalization methods have been developed to deal with ordinary least-squares method problems. Such methods are ridge penalized quantile regression, lasso penalized quantile regression, and elastic net penalized quantile regression which are used for variable selection and regularization and deals with the multicollinearity problem when it exists between the predictor variables. However, the variables of interest are often represented through time series processes, in which such time series data are often non-stationary and non-linear, which leads to poor accuracy of the resultant regression models and hence results with less reliability. The EMD-EnetQR method is proposed to address this issue, which consists of applying the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) algorithm to time series data and then using the resulting components in penalized quantile regression models. This study aims to apply the proposed EMD-QREnet method to determine the influence of the decomposition components of the original time series predictor variables on the response variable to build a model fit and improve prediction accuracy. Furthermore, this study addressed the multicollinearity between the decomposition components. Simulation studies and real dataset applications were conducted. The results show that the proposed EMDQREnet method, in most cases, outperforms the other methods by improving prediction accuracy

Local and Global Casimir Energies: Divergences, Renormalization, and the Coupling to Gravity

From the beginning of the subject, calculations of quantum vacuum energies or Casimir energies have been plagued with two types of divergences: The total energy, which may be thought of as some sort of regularization of the zero-point energy, $\sum\frac12\hbar\omega$, seems manifestly divergent. And local energy densities, obtained from the vacuum expectation value of the energy-momentum tensor, $\langle T_{00}\rangle$, typically diverge near boundaries. The energy of interaction between distinct rigid bodies of whatever type is finite, corresponding to observable forces and torques between the bodies, which can be unambiguously calculated. The self-energy of a body is less well-defined, and suffers divergences which may or may not be removable. Some examples where a unique total self-stress may be evaluated include the perfectly conducting spherical shell first considered by Boyer, a perfectly conducting cylindrical shell, and dilute dielectric balls and cylinders. In these cases the finite part is unique, yet there are divergent contributions which may be subsumed in some sort of renormalization of physical parameters. The divergences that occur in the local energy-momentum tensor near surfaces are distinct from the divergences in the total energy, which are often associated with energy located exactly on the surfaces. However, the local energy-momentum tensor couples to gravity, so what is the significance of infinite quantities here? For the classic situation of parallel plates there are indications that the divergences in the local energy density are consistent with divergences in Einstein's equations; correspondingly, it has been shown that divergences in the total Casimir energy serve to precisely renormalize the masses of the plates, in accordance with the equivalence principle.Comment: 53 pages, 1 figure, invited review paper to Lecture Notes in Physics volume in Casimir physics edited by Diego Dalvit, Peter Milonni, David Roberts, and Felipe da Ros

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters