Does Daylight Saving Time Really Make Us Sick?

This paper comprehensively studies the health effects of Daylight Saving Time (DST) regulation. Relying on up to 3.4 million BRFSS respondents from the US and the universe of 160 million hospital admissions from Germany over one decade, we do not find much evidence that population health significantly decreases when clocks are set forth by one hour in spring. However, when clocks are set back by one hour in fall, effectively extending sleep duration for the sleep deprived by one hour, population health slightly improves for about four days. The most likely explanation for the asymmetric effects are behavioral adjustments by marginal people in spring

Intermolecular multiple scattering of electrons. II. Observed effects for SF6

A theory of intermolecular multiple scattering of electrons by vapor molecules is tested by comparing predicted effects with effects observed over a wide range of sample densities. It is found that the theory, which contains no adjustable constants and is based on small angle approximations, gives a good account of experimental observations. The degree to which experimental structure refinements are degraded by multiple scattering is also examined. It is found that derived internuclear distances are disturbed very little even when the mean number of scatterings per electron is as high as 2 and the interference features are washed out by a factor of 2. Apparent amplitudes of vibration are influenced more significantly but are still correctable with fair precision.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/71314/2/JCPSA6-78-12-7165-1.pd

Intermolecular multiple scattering of electrons. I. Theory

Coherent intramolecular multiple scattering by free molecules has been investigated extensively in the literature. Scant attention has been paid to incoherent intermolecular multiple scattering, however, a potentially serious problem under some circumstances. Therefore, a treatment of this problem has been carried out, taking advantage of simplifications afforded by the predominance of forward scattering. Explicit expressions of elementary form are derived for the differential cross sections corresponding to double, triple, and higher scatterings, and for the fractional contribution of each to the total intensity. Illustrative calculations are presented for electrons diffracted at various sample pressures encountered in a recent diffraction study of collisionally assisted laser pumping of SF6.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/70200/2/JCPSA6-78-12-7159-1.pd

The first-order effect of Holocene Northern Peatlands on global carbon cycle dynamics

Given the fact that the estimated present-day carbon storage of Northern Peatlands (NP) is about 300–500 petagram (PgC, 1 petagram = 1015 gram), and the NP has been subject to a slow but persistent growth over the Holocene epoch, it is desirable to include the NP in studies of Holocene carbon cycle dynamics. Here we use an Earth system Model of Intermediate Complexity to study the first-order effect of NP on global carbon cycle dynamics in the Holocene. We prescribe the reconstructed NP growth based on data obtained from numerous sites (located in Western Siberia, North America, and Finland) where peat accumulation records have been developed. Using an inverse method, we demonstrate that the long-term debates over potential source and/or sink of terrestrial ecosystem in the Holocene are clarified by using an inverse method, and our results suggest that the primary carbon source for the changes (sinks) of atmospheric and terrestrial carbon is the ocean, presumably, due to the deep ocean sedimentation pump (the so-called alkalinity pump). Our paper here complements ref. 1 by sensitivity tests using modified boundary conditions

Extrapolative Beliefs in the Cross-Section: What Can We Learn from the Crowds?

Using novel data from a crowdsourcing platform for ranking stocks, we investigate how investors form expectations about stock returns over the next week. We find that investors extrapolate from stocks’ recent past returns, with more weight on more recent returns, especially when recent returns are negative, salient, or from a dispersed cross-section. Such extrapolative beliefs are stronger among nonprofessionals and large stocks. Moreover, consensus rankings negatively predict returns over the next week, more so among stocks with low institutional ownership and a high degree of extrapolation. A trading strategy that sorts stocks on investor beliefs generates an economically significant profit

Estradiol regulates miR-135b and mismatch repair gene expressions via estrogen receptor-β in colorectal cells.

Estrogen has anti-colorectal cancer effects which are thought to be mediated by mismatch repair gene (MMR) activity. Estrogen receptor (ER) expression is associated with microRNA (miRNA) expression in ER-positive tumors. However, studies of direct link between estrogen (especially estradiol E2), miRNA expression, and MMR in colorectal cancer (CRC) have not been done. In this study, we first evaluated the effects of estradiol (E2) and its antagonist ICI182,780 on the expression of miRNAs (miR-31, miR-155 and miR-135b) using COLO205, SW480 and MCF-7 cell lines, followed by examining the association of tissue miRNA expression and serum E2 levels using samples collected from 18 colorectal cancer patients. E2 inhibited the expressions of miRNAs in COLO205 cells, which could be reversed by E2 antagonist ICI 182.780. The expression of miR-135b was inversely correlated with serum E2 level and ER-β mRNA expression in CRC patients' cancer tissues. There were significant correlations between serum E2 level and expression of ER-β, miR-135b, and MMR in colon cancer tissue. This study suggests that the effects of estrogen on MMR function may be related to regulating miRNA expression via ER-β, which may be the basis for the anti-cancer effect in colorectal cells

Realization Utility with Reference-Dependent Preferences

We develop a tractable model of realization utility that studies the role of reference-dependent S-shaped preferences in a dynamic investment setting with reinvestment. Our model generates both voluntarily realized gains and losses. It makes specific predictions about the volume of gains and losses, the holding periods, and the sizes of both realized and paper gains and losses that can be calibrated to a variety of statistics, including the Odean measure of the disposition effect. Our model also predicts several anomalies including, among others, the flattening of the capital market line and a negative price for idiosyncratic risk.Comment: appears in The Review of Financial Studies (2013