Sensitivity of Capital Stock and Multifactor Productivity Estimates to Depreciation Assumptions: A Canada-U.S. Comparison

This article provides consistent estimates for capital stock and multifactor productivity (MFP) for Canada and the United States across major industries for the 1987-2007 period. For this purpose, capital stock estimates are developed for Canadian and U.S. industries using the same asset depreciation rates (either from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis or from Statistics Canada) for the two countries. The results show that on an hours worked basis Canadian industries invest more in total capital than their U.S. counterparts. This situation reflects much greater investment in structures, with less in machinery and equipment (including information and communications technologies). The results imply that all of the Canada-U.S. labour productivity gap arises from the multifactor productivity gap.multifactor productivity, capital stock, depreciation rate, labour productivity

Decent Living Standards: material prerequisites for human wellbeing

We define a set of universal, irreducible and essential set of material conditions for achieving basic human wellbeing, along with indicators and quantitative thresholds, which can be operationalized for societies based on local customs and preferences. We draw support for this Decent Living Standard (DLS) from different accounts of basic justice, including the capability approach, basic needs, and primary goods. The DLS goes beyond existing multidimensional poverty indicators by comprehensively addressing living conditions and the means of social participation. The DLS offers a normative basis to develop minimum wage and reference budgets, and to assess environmental impacts, such as climate change, of eradicating poverty

Energy requirements for decent living in India, Brazil and South Africa

For over 30 years, researchers have tried to estimate how much energy societies require to provide for everyone’s basic needs. This question gains importance with climate change, because global scenarios of climate stabilization assume strong reductions in energy demand growth in developing countries. Here, we estimate bottom-up the energy embodied in the material underpinnings of decent living standards for India, Brazil and South Africa. We find that our estimates fall within these countries’ energy demand projections in global scenarios of climate stabilization at 2 °C, but to different extents. Further, national policies that encourage public transportation and sustainable housing construction will be critical to reduce these energy needs. The results of this study offer a benchmark to compare countries’ mitigation efforts and technology transfer arrangements to assess the extent to which they address development priorities in an equitable manner

Motion of the hydrogen bond proton in cytosine and the transition between its normal and imino states

The potential energy surface of the H13 proton in base cytosine of the DNA molecules is calculated {\it ab initio} at the Gaussian98 MP2/6-311G(d,p) level. Two potential wells are found. One corresponds to the normal cytosine, while the other corresponds to its imino tautomer. The bindings of the proton in these wells are stable enough against the thermo-disturbance. The motions of the proton in these wells are oscillations around the nearest nitrogen atom like the pendula, and may move far away from the nitrogen atom to form the hydrogen bond with other bases. The estimated tunneling probability of the H13 proton from one well to another well shows that the life time of the proton staying in one of these wells is about 6$\times10^2$ yr. It is too long to let tautomers of cytosine be in thermodynamical equilibrium in a room temperature gas phase experiment. The biological significance of these result is discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, replace the bmp files in figures 1 and 2 by corresponding eps files in tex

Overexpression of an isoform of AML1 in acute leukemia and its potential role in leukemogenesis

AML1/RUNX1 is a critical transcription factor in hematopoietic cell differentiation and proliferation. From the _AML1_ gene, at least three isoforms, _AML1a_, _AML1b_ and _AML1c_, are produced through alternative splicing. AML1a interferes with the function of AML1b/1c, which are often called AML1. In the current study, we found a higher expression level of _AML1a_ in ALL patients in comparison to the controls. Additionally, AML1a represses transcription from promotor of macrophage-colony simulating factor receptor (M-CSFR) mediated by AML1b, indicating that AML1a antagonized the effect of AML1b. In order to investigate the role of _AML1a_ in hematopoiesis and leukemogenesis _in vivo_, bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMNCs) from mice were transduced with AML1a and transplanted into lethally irradiated mice, which develop lymphoblastic leukemia after transplantation. Taken together, these results indicate that overexpression of AML1a may be an important contributing factor to leukemogenesis

Reduced transmission of IHHNV to Penaeus monodon from shrimp pond wastewater filtered through a polychaete-assisted sand filter (PASF) system

A polychaete-assisted sand filter (PASF) can aid water recirculation systems for shrimp culture ponds by removing large amounts of nutrients and suspended solids and chemically treating wastewater. By ingesting and degrading organic matter, Perinereis helleri polychaetes reared in a PASF can accumulate and potentially remove infectious hypodermal and haemopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV) present in wastewater from ponds rearing virus-infected Penaeus monodon shrimp. Reported here are data showing that filtering pond wastewater through a PASF reduces its potential to transmit IHHNV. The trial employed 3 groups of 4 tanks each containing 20 P. monodon randomly selected from a pond in which IHHNV was evident at moderate prevalence and low loads (IHHNV low-load Pond 2). Over a 2 week period, each tank group was supplied with wastewater from either the same pond (Pond 2) or Pond 1 in which IHHNV was 100% prevalent at ~104-fold higher infection loads, either directly or after being filtered through a PASF. IHHNV real-time qPCR data on total nucleic acid (TNA) extracted from pleopods of 35 P. monodon selected at random from each group identified an elevated IHHNV infection prevalence (91%) in shrimp tested from tanks supplied directly with wastewater from Pond 1. In comparison, IHHNV was detected at a much reduced prevalence and lower loads among shrimp from tanks supplied with wastewater from Pond 2 (33%) or from Pond 1 after it had been filtered through a PASF (31%). The IHHNV prevalence and load data indicate that a PASF can play a useful role in reducing the potential for shrimp pond wastewater to transmit IHHNV infection to naïve P. monodon

3-(2-Chloro-3,3,3-trifluoro­prop-1-en-1-yl)-2,2-dimethyl-N-[3-(trifluoro­meth­yl)phen­yl]cyclo­propane­carboxamide

In the title mol­ecule, C16H14ClF6NO, the cyclo­propane ring forms a dihedral angle of 70.82 (18)° with the benzene ring. The torsion angles about the ethyl­ene and amide bonds are −2.2 (5) (Cl—C—C—C) and 0.8 (5)° (O—C—N—C). A supra­molecular chain propagated by glide symmetry along [001] and mediated by N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds is observed in the crystal packing

Moduliranje i stabilizacija emulzija ulja u vodi pomoću fibroina svile

The purpose of this study is to prepare and characterize stable oil-in-water emulsions containing droplets coated with silk fibroin. Silk fibroin, a native edible fibrous protein originating from silkworm cocoons, was used to prepare 10 % (by mass) corn oil-in-water emulsions at ambient temperature (pH=7.0, 10 mM phosphate buffer). Emulsions with relatively small mean particle diameter (d32=0.47 μm) and extremely good creaming stability (>7 days) could be produced at silk fibroin concentration of 1 % (by mass). The influence of pH (2–8), thermal processing (60–90 °C, 20 min), and concentration of salt (c(NaCl)=0–250 mM) on the properties and stability of the emulsions was analyzed using ζ-potential, particle size, and creaming stability measurements. The isoelectric point of droplets stabilized with silk fibroin was pH~4. The emulsions were stable to droplet flocculation and creaming at any pH except intermediate value (pH=4.0) when stored at room temperature, which was attributed to their relatively low ζ-potential. Their ζ-potential went from around 25 to –35 mV as the pH was increased from 2 to 8. The emulsions were also stable to thermal treatment (60 and 90 °C for 20 min, pH=3 and 7), with a slight decrease in the magnitude of ζ-potential at temperatures exceeding 60 °C. The emulsions were unstable to aggregation and creaming even at relatively low salt concentrations (c(NaCl)=0–250 mM, pH=3 and 7) as a result of electrostatic screening effects. These results suggest that bulk oil stabilized with silk fibroin has improved physical stability and may provide a new way of creating functional oil products and delivery systems.Svrha je ovoga rada bila pripremiti i okarakterizirati stabilnu emulziju ulja u vodi, koja sadrži kapljice obložene fibroinom svile. Fibroin svile, prirodni jestivi vlaknasti protein dobiven iz čahura dudova svilca, upotrijebljen je za pripremu emulzije kukuruznog ulja u vodi (masenog udjela od 10 %) na sobnoj temperaturi (pH=7, 10 mM fosfatni pufer). Primjenom fibroina svile masene koncentracije od 1 % dobivene su emulzije relativno malog promjera čestica (d32=0,47 μm) i vrlo dobre stabilnosti (dulje od 7 dana). Ispitan je utjecaj pH-vrijednosti (pH=2–8), toplinske obrade (60–90 °C, 20 min) i koncentracije soli (c(NaCl)=0–250 mM) na svojstva i stabilnost emulzije (ζ-potencijal, veličina čestica i raslojavanje emulzije). Izoelektrična točka kapljica stabiliziranih pomoću fibroina svile postignuta je pri pH~4. Emulzije skladištene na sobnoj temperaturi bile su stabilne pri svim pH-vrijednostima, osim pri srednjoj (pH=4,0) kada su imale relativno nizak ζ-potencijal. Povećanjem pH-vrijednosti s 2 na 8 povećao se ζ-potencijal emulzija (s 25 na -35 mV). Uočena je stabilnost emulzija i nakon toplinske obrade (tijekom 20 minuta na 60 i 90 °C, pri pH=3 i 7), a pri temperaturama višim od 60 °C ζ-potencijal se neznatno smanjio. Zbog učinka elektrostatskog odbijanja emulzije su bile nestabilne čak i pri neznatnim koncentracijama soli (c(NaCl)=0-250 mM, pH=3 i 7). Rezultati upućuju na to da stabilizacija emulzija pomoću fibroina svile omogućuje proizvodnju funkcionalnih proizvoda na bazi ulja