1,913 research outputs found
The geometric realization of a simplicial Hausdorff space is Hausdorff
It is shown that the thin geometric realization of a simplicial Hausdorff
space is Hausdorff. This proves a famous claim by Graeme Segal that the thin
geometric realisation of a simplicial k-space is a k-space.Comment: 19 page
Wage differentials for temporary services work: evidence from administrative data
We use administrative data from the unemployment insurance system State of Washington to study the magnitude of the wage differential associated with work in the temporary services industry. We find that temp wage rates are 15% to 20% below the levels that might have been expected based on trends during other periods in workers' careers even after controlling for differences between temps and other workers. Comparing temp wages immediately before and after temp work or to the wages on non-temp jobs begun during the same period as workers were in the temp industry yields estimates of the temp work penalty as low as 10%.Wages ; Temporary employees
Black/white differences in wealth
This article studies the extent to which the wide gap in the wealth holdings of whites and African Americans can be explained by differences in family income and demographic characteristics.Wealth ; Income ; Demography
Dynamics and Lax-Phillips scattering for generalized Lamb models
This paper treats the dynamics and scattering of a model of coupled
oscillating systems, a finite dimensional one and a wave field on the half
line. The coupling is realized producing the family of selfadjoint extensions
of the suitably restricted self-adjoint operator describing the uncoupled
dynamics. The spectral theory of the family is studied and the associated
quadratic forms constructed. The dynamics turns out to be Hamiltonian and the
Hamiltonian is described, including the case in which the finite dimensional
systems comprises nonlinear oscillators; in this case the dynamics is shown to
exist as well. In the linear case the system is equivalent, on a dense
subspace, to a wave equation on the half line with higher order boundary
conditions, described by a differential polynomial explicitely
related to the model parameters. In terms of such structure the Lax-Phillips
scattering of the system is studied. In particular we determine the incoming
and outgoing translation representations, the scattering operator, which turns
out to be unitarily equivalent to the multiplication operator given by the
rational function , and the Lax-Phillips semigroup,
which describes the evolution of the states which are neither incoming in the
past nor outgoing in the future
Small Sample Bias in GMM Estimation of Covariance Structures
We examine the small sample properties of the GMM estimator for models of covariance structures, where the technique is often referred to as the optimal minimum distance (OMD) estimator. We present a variety of Monte Carlo experiments based on simulated data and on the data used by Abowd and Card (1987, 1990) in an examination of the covariance structure of hours and earnings changes. Our main finding is that OMD is seriously biased in small samples for many distributions and in relatively large samples for poorly behaved distributions. The bias is almost always downward in absolute value. It arises because sampling errors in the second moments are correlated with sampling errors in the weighting matrix used by OMD. Furthermore, OMD usually has a larger root mean square error and median absolute error than equally weighted minimum distance (EWMD). We also propose and investigate an alternative estimator, which we call independently weighted optimal minimum distance (IWOMD). IWOMD is a split sample estimator using separate groups of observations to estimate the moments and the weights. IWOMD has identical large sample properties to the OMD estimator but is unbiased regardless of sample size. However, the Monte Carlo evidence indicates that IWOMD is usually dominated by EWMD.
A Smooth Model for the String Group
We construct a model for the string group as an infinite-dimensional Lie
group. In a second step we extend this model by a contractible Lie group to a
Lie 2-group model. To this end we need to establish some facts on the homotopy
theory of Lie 2-groups. Moreover, we provide an explicit comparison of string
structures for the two models and a uniqueness result for Lie 2-group models.Comment: 32 pages; v2: uniqueness result for 2-group models added (Th. 6.5),
typo in title corrected; v3: construction of basic PU(H)-bundle discussed
(Rem. 3.9), final version to appear in IMR
Incorporating expression data in metabolic modeling: a case study of lactate dehydrogenase
Integrating biological information from different sources to understand
cellular processes is an important problem in systems biology. We use data from
mRNA expression arrays and chemical kinetics to formulate a metabolic model
relevant to K562 erythroleukemia cells. MAP kinase pathway activation alters
the expression of metabolic enzymes in K562 cells. Our array data show changes
in expression of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) isoforms after treatment with
phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), which activates MAP kinase signaling. We
model the change in lactate production which occurs when the MAP kinase pathway
is activated, using a non-equilibrium, chemical-kinetic model of homolactic
fermentation. In particular, we examine the role of LDH isoforms, which
catalyze the conversion of pyruvate to lactate. Changes in the isoform ratio
are not the primary determinant of the production of lactate. Rather, the total
concentration of LDH controls the lactate concentration.Comment: In press, Journal of Theoretical Biology. 27 pages, 9 figure
Examining sex differences in knee pain: the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study
SummaryObjectiveTo determine whether women experience greater knee pain severity than men at equivalent levels of radiographic knee osteoarthritis (OA).Design and methodsA cross-sectional analysis of 2712 individuals (60% women) without knee replacement or a recent steroid injection. Sex differences in pain severity at each KellgrenâLawrence (KL) grade were assessed by knee using visual analog scale (VAS) scale and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC) with and without adjustment for age, analgesic use, Body mass index (BMI), clinic site, comorbid conditions, depression score, education, race, and widespread pain (WSP) using generalized estimating equations. Effect sizes (Cohen's d) were also calculated. Analyses were repeated in those with and without patellofemoral OA (PFOA).ResultsWomen reported higher VAS pain at all KL grades in unadjusted analyses (d = 0.21â0.31, P < 0.0001â0.0038) and in analyses adjusted for all covariates except WSP (d = 0.16â0.22, P < 0.0001â0.0472). Pain severity differences further decreased with adjustment for WSP (d = 0.10â0.18) and were significant for KL grade â€2 (P = 0.0015) and 2 (P = 0.0200). Presence compared with absence of WSP was associated with significantly greater knee pain at all KL grades (d = 0.32â0.52, P < 0.0001â0.0008). In knees with PFOA, VAS pain severity sex differences were greater at each KL grade (d = 0.45â0.62, P = 0.0006â0.0030) and remained significant for all KL grades in adjusted analyses (d = 0.31â0.57, P = 0.0013â0.0361). Results using WOMAC were similar.ConclusionsWomen reported greater knee pain than men regardless of KL grade, though effect sizes were generally small. These differences increased in the presence of PFOA. The strong contribution of WSP to sex differences in knee pain suggests that central sensitivity plays a role in these differences
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