Do Attitudes and Personality Characteristics Affect Socioeconomic Outcomes? The Case of Welfare Use by Young Women

We develop and estimate a model of social-psychological determinants of entry to the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, the primary cash welfare program in the United States for 60 years until replaced in 1996. The structural model holds that attitudes and personality characteristics influence a woman’s likelihood of becoming demographically and financially eligible for welfare and her willingness to bear the stigma of receiving benefits. These factors, in turn, affect the likelihood of actually going on welfare. We test for a relationship between social-psychological variables and welfare participation using data from the youngest cohorts of women in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. We estimate logit models of the probability of ever participating in AFDC up to age 25 and hazard models of the timing until first use of AFDC. The attitudes and personality characteristics in the empirical model are self-esteem, locus of control, attitudes toward school, attitudes toward women’s work and family roles, commitment to work, and aversion to accepting public assistance. We find strong associations between welfare use and several attitudes and personality characteristics, but most of the associations are not robust to the inclusion of exogenous personal and family background characteristics. Consistent, strong evidence suggests that more positive attitudes toward school lower the likelihood of using welfare and increase duration until first receipt.

An Analytical Approach to Neuronal Connectivity

This paper describes how realistic neuromorphic networks can have their connectivity properties fully characterized in analytical fashion. By assuming that all neurons have the same shape and are regularly distributed along the two-dimensional orthogonal lattice with parameter $\Delta$, it is possible to obtain the accurate number of connections and cycles of any length from the autoconvolution function as well as from the respective spectral density derived from the adjacency matrix. It is shown that neuronal shape plays an important role in defining the spatial spread of network connections. In addition, most such networks are characterized by the interesting phenomenon where the connections are progressively shifted along the spatial domain where the network is embedded. It is also shown that the number of cycles follows a power law with their respective length. Morphological measurements for characterization of the spatial distribution of connections, including the adjacency matrix spectral density and the lacunarity of the connections, are suggested. The potential of the proposed approach is illustrated with respect to digital images of real neuronal cells.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Universal Formulae for Percolation Thresholds

A power law is postulated for both site and bond percolation thresholds. The formula writes $p_c=p_0[(d-1)(q-1)]^{-a}d^{\ b}$, where $d$ is the space dimension and $q$ the coordination number. All thresholds up to $d\rightarrow \infty$ are found to belong to only three universality classes. For first two classes $b=0$ for site dilution while $b=a$ for bond dilution. The last one associated to high dimensions is characterized by $b=2a-1$ for both sites and bonds. Classes are defined by a set of value for $\{p_0; \ a\}$. Deviations from available numerical estimates at $d \leq 7$ are within $\pm 0.008$ and $\pm 0.0004$ for high dimensional hypercubic expansions at $d \geq 8$. The formula is found to be also valid for Ising critical temperatures.Comment: 11 pages, latex, 3 figures not include

Considering the Case for Biodiversity Cycles: Reexamining the Evidence for Periodicity in the Fossil Record

Medvedev and Melott (2007) have suggested that periodicity in fossil biodiversity may be induced by cosmic rays which vary as the Solar System oscillates normal to the galactic disk. We re-examine the evidence for a 62 million year (Myr) periodicity in biodiversity throughout the Phanerozoic history of animal life reported by Rohde & Mueller (2005), as well as related questions of periodicity in origination and extinction. We find that the signal is robust against variations in methods of analysis, and is based on fluctuations in the Paleozoic and a substantial part of the Mesozoic. Examination of origination and extinction is somewhat ambiguous, with results depending upon procedure. Origination and extinction intensity as defined by RM may be affected by an artifact at 27 Myr in the duration of stratigraphic intervals. Nevertheless, when a procedure free of this artifact is implemented, the 27 Myr periodicity appears in origination, suggesting that the artifact may ultimately be based on a signal in the data. A 62 Myr feature appears in extinction, when this same procedure is used. We conclude that evidence for a periodicity at 62 Myr is robust, and evidence for periodicity at approximately 27 Myr is also present, albeit more ambiguous.Comment: Minor modifications to reflect final published versio

Fractal scaling of apparent soil moisture estimated from vertical planes of Vertisol pit images

Image analysis could be a useful tool for investigating the spatial patterns of apparent soil moisture at multiple resolutions. The objectives of the present work were (i) to define apparent soil moisture patterns from vertical planes of Vertisol pit images and (ii) to describe the scaling of apparent soil moisture distribution using fractal parameters. Twelve soil pits (0.70 m long × 0.60 m width × 0.30 m depth) were excavated on a bare Mazic Pellic Vertisol. Six of them were excavated in April/2011 and six pits were established in May/2011 after 3 days of a moderate rainfall event. Digital photographs were taken from each Vertisol pit using a Kodak™ digital camera. The mean image size was 1600 × 945 pixels with one physical pixel ≈373 μm of the photographed soil pit. Each soil image was analyzed using two fractal scaling exponents, box counting (capacity) dimension (DBC) and interface fractal dimension (Di), and three prefractal scaling coefficients, the total number of boxes intercepting the foreground pattern at a unit scale (A), fractal lacunarity at the unit scale (Λ1) and Shannon entropy at the unit scale (S1). All the scaling parameters identified significant differences between both sets of spatial patterns. Fractal lacunarity was the best discriminator between apparent soil moisture patterns. Soil image interpretation with fractal exponents and prefractal coefficients can be incorporated within a site-specific agriculture toolbox. While fractal exponents convey information on space filling characteristics of the pattern, prefractal coefficients represent the investigated soil property as seen through a higher resolution microscope. In spite of some computational and practical limitations, image analysis of apparent soil moisture patterns could be used in connection with traditional soil moisture sampling, which always renders punctual estimate

The Design of an Online Social Network Site for Emergency Management: A One Stop Shop

Web 2.0 is rapidly creating new opportunities for communication and collaboration. Part of this explosion is the increase in popularity and use of Social Network Sites (SNSs) for general and domain-specific use. In the emergency domain there are a number of websites including wikis and SNSs. but they stand as silos in the field, unable to allow for cross-site collaboration. In this paper we describe ongoing design science research to develop and refine guiding principles for the design of an SNS that will bring together emergency domain professionals in a “one-stop-shop.” We surveyed emergency professionals who study crisis information systems, to ascertain potential functionalities of such an SNS. Preliminary results suggest that there is a need for the envisioned SNS. Future research will continue to explore possible solutions to issues addressed in this paper

Income redistribution in the European Union

We explore the redistributive effects of taxes and benefits in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) using EUROMOD, the tax-benefit microsimulation model for the EU. As well as describing redistributive effects in aggregate, we assess and compare the effectiveness of eight individual types of policy in reducing income disparities. We derive results for the 27 members of the EU using policies in effect in 2010 and present them for each country separately as well as for the EU as a whole

Dengue Virus Infection of Aedes aegypti Requires a Putative Cysteine Rich Venom Protein

Citation: Londono-Renteria, B., Troupin, A., Conway, M. J., Vesely, D., Ledizet, M., Roundy, C. M., . . . Colpitts, T. M. (2015). Dengue Virus Infection of Aedes aegypti Requires a Putative Cysteine Rich Venom Protein. Plos Pathogens, 11(10), 23. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1005202Dengue virus (DENV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that causes serious human disease and mortality worldwide. There is no specific antiviral therapy or vaccine for DENV infection. Alterations in gene expression during DENV infection of the mosquito and the impact of these changes on virus infection are important events to investigate in hopes of creating new treatments and vaccines. We previously identified 203 genes that were >= 5-fold differentially upregulated during flavivirus infection of the mosquito. Here, we examined the impact of silencing 100 of the most highly upregulated gene targets on DENV infection in its mosquito vector. We identified 20 genes that reduced DENV infection by at least 60% when silenced. We focused on one gene, a putative cysteine rich venom protein (SeqID AAEL000379; CRVP379), whose silencing significantly reduced DENV infection in Aedes aegypti cells. Here, we examine the requirement for CRVP379 during DENV infection of the mosquito and investigate the mechanisms surrounding this phenomenon. We also show that blocking CRVP379 protein with either RNAi or specific antisera inhibits DENV infection in Aedes aegypti. This work identifies a novel mosquito gene target for controlling DENV infection in mosquitoes that may also be used to develop broad preventative and therapeutic measures for multiple flaviviruses

Jurassic Pork: What Could a Jewish Time Traveler Eat?

Paleontologists use multiple methods to reconstruct the anatomy and behavior of extinct animals, including direct observations from well-preserved fossils and inferences from the phylogeny of modern and extinct relatives. We illustrate these techniques by reference to the biblical definitions of kosher and non-kosher animals; that is, how can we apply these approaches to the hypothetical question of whether an extinct form would have been kosher. The biblical categories do not readily map to modern understandings of systematics, but are heavily based on life mode. When given, distinguishing characteristics, such as the presence of fins and scales in aquatic animals, can be readily seen directly in fossils. In other cases, such as cud chewing, they need to be inferred from the phylogenetic relationships of the fossil forms. Dinosaurs (other than birds), unfortunately, are not kosher. A kosher “paleo diet” would be increasingly difficult further in the past. The use of biblical content as a way of introducing concepts from paleontology and evolutionary biology, such as crown groups and stem groups, should be of broad interest.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12052-015-0047-

Safety and effectiveness of insulin pump therapy in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes

WSTĘP. Celem pracy była ocena bezpieczeństwa skuteczności stosowania pompy insulinowej u dzieci młodzieży chorych na cukrzycę typu 1. MATERIAŁ I METODY. Do badania włączono 95 dzieci, które rozpoczęły stosowanie pompy insulinowej w Johns Hopkins Hospital w okresie od stycznia 1990 do grudnia 2000 roku. Średni wiek badanych wynosił 12,0 lat (przedział 4&#8211;18 lat); 29% badanych było poniżej 10 roku życia. Dane zebrano z dokumentacji medycznej, począwszy od okresu 6&#8211;12 miesięcy przed zastosowaniem terapii pompą insulinową. Średni czas obserwacji wynosił 28 miesięcy. WYNIKI. Zaobserwowano niewielkie, lecz znamienne statystycznie obniżenie stężenia HbA1c w 3.&#8211;6. miesiącu terapii (7,7% vs. 7,5%, p = 0,03). W czasie dalszej obserwacji stężenie to stopniowo zwiększało się i pozostało podwyższone po roku, jednak na to zjawisko wpływał wiek badanych i czas trwania cukrzycy. Obie wymienione zmienne wiązały się z wyższym stężeniem HbA1c. Po uwzględnieniu wieku i czasu trwania cukrzycy średnie stężenie HbA1c po rozpoczęciu terapii pompą insulinową było znamiennie niższe niż przed jej zastosowaniem (7,7% vs. 8,1%, p < 0,001). Częstość powikłań (kwasica ketonowa, interwencje w izbie przyjęć) była podobna przed i po rozpoczęciu leczenia. Zaobserwowano mniej incydentów hipoglikemii po rozpoczęciu terapii (12 vs. 17, współczynnik częstości = 0,46; 95% CI 0,21&#8211;1,01). WNIOSKI. Badanie to sugeruje, że stosowanie pompy insulinowej jest bezpieczną i skuteczną metodą leczenia u wybranych dzieci chorych na cukrzycę typu 1.INTRODUCTION. To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of insulin pump therapy in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. MATERIAL AND METHODS. All 95 patients who began insulin pump therapy at Johns Hopkins Hospital between January 1990 and December 2000 were included in the study. The mean age was 12.0 years (range 4&#8211;18), and 29% of the patients were < 10 years old. Data were obtained by chart review beginning 6&#8211;12 months before pump start. The median duration of follow-up was 28 months. RESULTS. There was a small but significant decrease in HbA1c at 3&#8211;6 months after pump start (7.7% vs. 7.5%; P = 0.03). HbA1c levels then gradually increased and remained elevated after 1 year of followup; however, this association was confounded by age and diabetes duration, both of which were associated with higher HbA1c levels. After adjusting for duration and age, mean HbA1c after pump start was significantly lower than before pump start (7.7% vs. 8.1%; P < 0.001). The number of medical complications (diabetic ketoacidosis, emergency department visits) was similar before and after pump start. There were fewer hypoglycemic events after pump start (12 vs. 17, rate ratio 0.46, 95% CI 0.21&#8211;1.01). CONCLUSIONS. This study suggests that pump therapy is safe and effective in selected children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes