Social motives vs social influence: an experiment on interdependent time preferences

We report experimental evidence on the effects of social preferences on intertemporal decisions. To this aim, we design an intertemporal Dictator Game to test whether Dictators modify their discounting behavior when their own decision is imposed on their matched Recipients. We run four different treatments to identify the effect of payoffs externalities from those related to information and beliefs. Our descriptive statistics show that heterogeneous social time preferences and information about others’ time preferences are significant determinants of choices: Dictators display a marked propensity to account for the intertemporal preferences of Recipients, both in the presence of externalities (social motives) and/or when they know about the decisions of their matched partners (social influence). We also perform a structural estimation exercise to control for heterogeneity in risk attitudes. As for individual behavior, our estimates confirm previous studies in that high risk aversion is associated with low discounting. As for social behavior, we find that social motives outweigh social influence, especially when we restrict our sample to pairs of Dictators and Recipients who satisfy minimal consistency conditions

Waste reduction using carbon dioxide: A solvent substitute for precision cleaning applications

The U.S. Department of Energy`s (DOE) Industrial Waste Program (IWP) has been sponsoring the research, development, and commercialization of supercritical fluid cleaning technology for replacement of traditional solvent cleaning processes. Los Alamos National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest Laboratory have been working through this collaborative effort to test the efficacy of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) cleaning. Tests were performed on a variety of substrates at various solvent conditions for a large number of common contaminants to characterize cleaning performance. Cleaning efficiencies with respect to system dynamics were also studied. Results of these tests show that supercritical and near-critical carbon dioxide is not only an effective solvent for precision cleaning applications of parts such as gyroscopes, bearing assemblies, and machine tools but is also feasible for bulk cleaning operations for a variety of industrial needs. It has been tested and shown to be effective for a range of substrates including laser optics components, computer disk drives, and cloth rags. Metals, including stainless steel, beryllium, gold, silver, copper and others; ceramics; and elastomeric seals such as Teflon, silicone, and epoxy potting compounds are highly compatible with SuperCritical CO{sub 2} (SCCO{sub 2}). Many contaminants, including silicones, Krytox, hydrocarbons, esters, fluorocarbons, gyroscope damping and fill fluids, and machining oils and lubricating oils, will dissolve in SCCO{sub 2}. In general, nonpolar, hydrophobic contaminants such as oils dissolve well, while hydrophilic contaminants such as inorganic salts do not. The parts and contaminants mentioned here are not the only applications for SCCO, cleaning, as the full range of possibilities is still being defined by developers and users of the technology. The many advantages of SCCO{sub 2} indicate that it is a technology that should carry industrial cleaning operations into the future

The incidence of increased unemployment in the group of seven, 1970-1994

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:3597.9148(21/96) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

The potential role of peroxynitrite in the vascular contractile and cellular energetic failure in endotoxic shock

1. Peroxynitrite is a toxic oxidant species produced from nitric oxide (NO) and superoxide. We have recently observed that the cell-permeable superoxide dismutase mimetic Mn(III)tetrakis(4-benzoic acid) porphyrin (MnTBAP) inhibits the suppression of mitochondrial respiration elicited by authentic peroxynitrite in vitro. Here we have investigated the relative potency of MnTBAP and a range of related compounds in terms of inhibition of peroxynitrite-induced oxidation and cytotoxicity. In addition, we tested the effects of MnTBAP on the vascular and the cellular energetic failure in rodent models of endotoxic shock. 2. We observed a dose-related inhibition of the peroxynitrite-induced oxidation of dihydrorhodamine 123 to rhodamine by MnTBAP, ZnTBAP and FeTBAP, but not by MnTMPyP [(5,10,15,20-tetrakis(N-methyl-4′-pirydyl)porphinato)-manganese (III)]. In addition, MnTBAP, ZnTBAP and FeTBAP, but not MnTMPyP prevented the suppression of mitochondrial respiration by authentic peroxynitrite in cultured J774 macrophages. 3. In rat cultured aortic smooth muscle cells, MnTBAP protected against the suppression of mitochondrial respiration in response to authentic peroxynitrite, immunostimulation and nitric oxide (NO) donor compounds. MnTBAP slightly reduced the amount of nitrite/nitrate produced in response to immunostimulation in these cells. 4. Administration of MnTBAP, 15 mg kg(−1) i.v., before the administration of endotoxin (15 mg kg(−1), i.v.) to rats ameliorated the development of vascular hyporeactivity and the development of endothelial dysfunction in the thoracic aorta ex vivo. 5. MnTBAP also prevented the endotoxin-induced decrease in mitochondrial respiration, the development of DNA single strand breaks, and the depletion of intracellular NAD(+) in peritoneal macrophages ex vivo. 6. MnTBAP did not inhibit the expression by endotoxin of the inducible NO synthase in lung samples. 7. MnTBAP did not alter survival rate in mice challenged with high dose endotoxin. 8. Our findings, taken together with previous data demonstrating protective effects of NO synthase inhibitors against the endotoxin-induced contractile and energetic failure in the models of shock used in the current study, and with the known ability of peroxynitrite to cause cellular energy depletion, suggest a role for peroxynitrite in the pathogenesis of cellular energetic failure and contractile dysfunction in endotoxin shock