Durables and Lemons: Private Information and the Market for Cars

We specify an equilibrium model of car ownership with private information where individuals sell and purchase new and second-hand cars over their life-cycle. Private information induces a transaction cost and distorts the market reducing the value of a car as a savings instrument. We estimate the model using data on car ownership in Denmark, linked to register data. The lemons penalty is estimated to be 18% of the price in the rst year of ownership, declining with the length of ownership. It leads to large reductions in the turnover of cars and in the probability of downgrading at job loss

Adopt, adapt, and improve: Assessment of a new driver display in rail

This project evaluated the impact of a new enhanced information display intended as a cognitive aid on the operating performance of Locomotive Engineers (i.e. Train Drivers) within a large New Zealand freight rail network. The display previewed the upcoming route and presented information capable of optimising the performance of the locomotive. It did not exert any direct influence over the train and therefore did not take any decision-making capacity away from the driver. The addition of this technology represented a step-change for the organisation and a considerable investment for furthering safety and performance by improving the situation awareness of train drivers. Improving situation awareness is likely to lead to improved decision-making and hence performance and safety (Endsley, 1999) However, given the impact on ways of working for the train driver, and on the development of the organisation, acquiring insight into the cognitive, organisational and/or physical ergonomics impact of the technology was critical and attracted the need for a human factors assessment

Towards molecular electronic devices based on 'all-carbon' wires

Nascent molecular electronic devices based on linear ‘all-carbon’ wires attached to gold electrodes through robust and reliable C–Au contacts are prepared via efficient in situ sequential cleavage of trimethylsilyl end groups from an oligoyne, Me3Si–(C[triple bond, length as m-dash]C)4–SiMe3 (1). In the first stage of the fabrication process, removal of one trimethylsilyl (TMS) group in the presence of a gold substrate, which ultimately serves as the bottom electrode, using a stoichiometric fluoride-driven process gives a highly-ordered monolayer, Au|C[triple bond, length as m-dash]CC[triple bond, length as m-dash]CC[triple bond, length as m-dash]CC[triple bond, length as m-dash]CSiMe3 (Au|C8SiMe3). In the second stage, treatment of Au|C8SiMe3 with excess fluoride results in removal of the remaining TMS protecting group to give a modified monolayer Au|C[triple bond, length as m-dash]CC[triple bond, length as m-dash]CC[triple bond, length as m-dash]CC[triple bond, length as m-dash]CH (Au|C8H). The reactive terminal C[triple bond, length as m-dash]C–H moiety in Au|C8H can be modified by ‘click’ reactions with (azidomethyl)ferrocene (N3CH2Fc) to introduce a redox probe, to give Au|C6C2N3HCH2Fc. Alternatively, incubation of the modified gold substrate supported monolayer Au|C8H in a solution of gold nanoparticles (GNPs), results in covalent attachment of GNPs on top of the film via a second alkynyl carbon–Au σ-bond, to give structures Au|C8|GNP in which the monolayer of linear, ‘all-carbon’ C8 chains is sandwiched between two macroscopic gold contacts. The covalent carbon–surface bond as well as the covalent attachment of the metal particles to the monolayer by cleavage of the alkyne C–H bond is confirmed by surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The integrity of the carbon chain in both Au|C6C2N3HCH2Fc systems and after formation of the gold top-contact electrode in Au|C8|GNP is demonstrated through electrochemical methods. The electrical properties of these nascent metal–monolayer–metal devices Au|C8|GNP featuring ‘all-carbon’ molecular wires were characterised by sigmoidal I–V curves, indicative of well-behaved junctions free of short circuits

Towards the design of effective multipodal contacts for use in the construction of Langmuir-Blodgett films and molecular junctions

As part of on-going efforts to optimize the electrical performance and stability of molecular electronic components, anchor groups that bind molecules to electrode surfaces via multiple points of connection (multipodal contacts) have begun to attract attention. Here an oligo(arylene)ethynylene (OAE) derivative with ‘tripodal’ 2,6-bis((methylthio)methyl)pyridine anchoring groups at both molecular termini has been prepared and used to form well-ordered monolayer Langmuir films at the air–water interface. These films were transferred onto solid supports (surface pressure of transference 8 mN m−1) to give homogeneous, densely packed, monolayer Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) films, which efficiently block a gold electrode surface. Within the surface-supported LB film, the molecules are oriented with a tilt angle of approximately 30° to the surface normal and contacted through both the ‘buttressed’ methylthioether groups and the pyridine nitrogen atom, as determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and shell-isolated nanoparticle-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SHINERS). Molecular junctions formed by contact of a single molecule within the film by the “STM touch-to-contact” method give a most probable molecular conductance of 4.4 × 10−5G0. This value compares well with the single molecule conductance of 1,4-bis(pyridin-4-ylethynyl)benzene determined by a variety of methods (3.2–5.4 × 10−5G0), indicating that the addition of the buttressing groups does not perturb the favourable electrical characteristics of the pyridyl contacting group. Consistent with these conductance data, a transition voltage (Vtrans = 0.48 V) was observed for this ‘buttressed’, pyridine-contacted OAE derivative, indicating relatively good alignment of the metal electrode Fermi level and the frontier molecular orbitals.E. E. gratefully acknowledges the award of a DGA fellowship from Government of Aragon. P. C. is grateful for financial assistance from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad from Spain and fondos FEDER in the framework of the project MAT2016-78257-R. S. M. and P. C. also acknowledge DGA/fondos FEDER (construyendo Europa desde Aragón) for funding the research group Platón (E31_17R). R. J. N. and D. C. M are grateful for financial assistance from the EPSRC (grants EP/M029522/1, EP/M005046/1 and EP/M014169/1). P. J. L. gratefully acknowledges support from the Australian Research Council (DP190100073 and DP190100074). S. B. thanks the University of Western Australia for the award of an International Postgraduate Research Scholarship. The authors also thank Dr G. Antorrena for technical support in XPS studies. H. M. O. is grateful for financial assistance from Escuela Politécnica Nacional in the framework of projects PII-DFIS-02-2018 and PIS-17-12.Peer reviewe

Molecular Structure-(Thermo)electric Property Relationships in Single-Molecule Junctions and Comparisons with Single- and Multiple-Parameter Models

The most probable single-molecule conductance of each member of a series of 12 conjugated molecular wires, 6 of which contain either a ruthenium or platinum center centrally placed within the backbone, has been determined. The measurement of a small, positive Seebeck coefficient has established that transmission through these molecules takes place by tunneling through the tail of the HOMO resonance near the middle of the HOMO–LUMO gap in each case. Despite the general similarities in the molecular lengths and frontier-orbital compositions, experimental and computationally determined trends in molecular conductance values across this series cannot be satisfactorily explained in terms of commonly discussed “single-parameter” models of junction conductance. Rather, the trends in molecular conductance are better rationalized from consideration of the complete molecular junction, with conductance values well described by transport calculations carried out at the DFT level of theory, on the basis of the Landauer–Büttiker model

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

The Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus viral interleukin 6 gene affects metastasis and expression of B cell markers in a murine xenograft model.

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is a cancer-causing virus in humans, primarily affecting AIDS patients. KSHV causes a range of cancers including Kaposi's sarcoma, pleural effusion lymphoma and multicentric Castleman's disease. Current methods available for treating these cancers are relatively ineffective, and new targets for therapy are needed. The KSHV viral homolog of interleukin-6 gene (vIL-6) may play a significant role in tumor development and may serve as a new anti-cancer target, but its role in tumor formation is only partially understood. Here, a novel animal model was used to study how vIL-6 affects tumor development. Highly immune-deficient Rag2-/-γc-/- mice were transplanted with an immortalized human B cell line (BJAB) harboring either wild-type (WT) KSHV or a mutant strain lacking vIL-6 ΔvIL-6). Solid tumors developed and total tumor mass and the number of tumors were characterized. The vIL-6 gene had no significant impact on tumor mass, but significantly more tumors were detected when vIL-6 was present. Significant differences in expression of B cell markers in cells from extracted tumors were detected based upon the presence of vIL-6. B cell markers in tumor cells were also compared to the same cell type in culture, prior to xenotransplantation; B cell markers were mostly downregulated during tumor formation and these changes did not differ based upon the presence of vIL-6. The only marker that significantly increased in expression during tumor development was CD30. Tumor blood vessels were quantified to determine if more angiogenesis occurred with vIL-6-expressing virus, but there was no significant difference. These data indicate that vIL-6 plays a role in KSHV tumor formation in B cells in vivo. Further investigation into how vIL-6 manipulates CD30 expression may shed insight into KSHV oncogenesis, and may identify how vIL-6 can be targeted