4,628 research outputs found
The construction and administration of a questionnaire on children's reaction to educational television
Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University
N.B.: Missing pages 93-111. Possibly misnumbered
The Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program: A Systemwide Systemic Risk Exception
In the fall of 2008, short-term credit markets were all but frozen, creating liquidity issues for banks and bank holding companies that could not rollover their debt at reasonable rates. Fearing that the situation would worsen if something was not done, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Federal Reserve Board invoked, and the Secretary of the Treasury approved, the use of the “systemic risk exception” (SRE) under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991, to provide unprecedented broad-based relief to struggling banks. The SRE permitted the FDIC to depart from its “least-cost” requirement when addressing failing banks. Under the auspices of the SRE, the FDIC implemented two programs: (1) the Debt Guarantee Program (DGP), which extended the FDIC’s guarantee to newly issued debt instruments of FDIC-insured institutions, their holding companies, and their eligible affiliates; and (2) the Transaction Account Guarantee Program (TAGP), which provided unlimited deposit insurance coverage of non-interest-bearing transaction accounts. The DGP and TAGP were integral parts of a broad government response to systemic risk in the banking system and are considered successful elements thereof. Under the DGP, at peak usage, the FDIC guaranteed approximately 800 billion in non-interest-bearing transaction accounts at participating banks, offering for the first-time insurance over the statutory amount. The fees collected for the programs exceeded any losses covered by the government
Genomic and biologic comparisons of cyprinid herpesvirus 3 strains
Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV-3) is the archetypal fish alloherpesvirus and the etiologic agent of a lethal disease in common and koi carp. To date, the genome sequences of only four CyHV-3 isolates have been published, but no comparisons of the biologic properties of these strains have been reported. We have sequenced the genomes of a further seven strains from various geographical sources, and have compared their growth in vitro and virulence in vivo. The major findings were: (i) the existence of the two genetic lineages previously described as European and Asian was confirmed, but inconsistencies between the geographic origin and genotype of some strains were revealed; (ii) potential inter-lineage recombination was detected in one strain, which also suggested the existence of a third, as yet unidentified lineage; (iii) analysis of genetic disruptions led to the identification of non-essential genes and their potential role in virulence; (iv) comparison of the in vitro and in vivo properties of strains belonging to the two lineages revealed that inter-lineage polymorphisms do not contribute to the differences in viral fitness observed; and (v) a negative correlation was observed among strains between viral growth in vitro and virulence in vivo. This study illustrates the importance of coupling genomic and biologic comparisons of viral strains in order to enhance understanding of viral evolution and pathogenesis
Decay of Correlations in a Topological Glass
In this paper we continue the study of a topological glassy system. The state
space of the model is given by all triangulations of a sphere with nodes,
half of which are red and half are blue. Red nodes want to have 5 neighbors
while blue ones want 7. Energies of nodes with other numbers of neighbors are
supposed to be positive. The dynamics is that of flipping the diagonal between
two adjacent triangles, with a temperature dependent probability. We consider
the system at very low temperatures.
We concentrate on several new aspects of this model: Starting from a detailed
description of the stationary state, we conclude that pairs of defects (nodes
with the "wrong" degree) move with very high mobility along 1-dimensional
paths. As they wander around, they encounter single defects, which they then
move "sideways" with a geometrically defined probability. This induces a
diffusive motion of the single defects. If they meet, they annihilate, lowering
the energy of the system. We both estimate the decay of energy to equilibrium,
as well as the correlations. In particular, we find a decay like
Quantitative SERS Detection of Uric Acid via Formation of Precise Plasmonic Nanojunctions within Aggregates of Gold Nanoparticles and Cucurbit[n]uril
This work describes a rapid and highly sensitive method for the quantitative detection of an important biomarker, uric acid (UA), via surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) with a low detection limit of ~0.2 μM for multiple characteristic peaks in the fingerprint region, using a modular spectrometer. This biosensing scheme is mediated by the host-guest complexation between a macrocycle, cucurbit[7]uril (CB7), and UA, and the subsequent formation of precise plasmonic nanojunctions within the self-assembled Au NP: CB7 nanoaggregates. A facile Au NP synthesis of desirable sizes for SERS substrates has also been performed based on the classical citrate-reduction approach with an option to be facilitated using a lab-built automated synthesizer. This protocol can be readily extended to multiplexed detection of biomarkers in body fluids for clinical applications
Electronic Properties of Two-Dimensional Carbon
We present a theoretical description of the electronic properties of graphene
in the presence of disorder, electron-electron interactions, and particle-hole
symmetry breaking. We show that while particle-hole asymmetry, long-range
Coulomb interactions, and extended defects lead to the phenomenon of
self-doping, local defects determine the transport and spectroscopic
properties. Our results explain recent experiments in graphitic devices and
predict new electronic behavior.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. The paper was originally submitted on May, 12th,
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