Railroads and Local Economic Development: The United States in the 1850s

We use county and individual-level data from 1850 and 1860 to examine the economic impact of gaining access to a railroad. Previous studies have found that rail access was positively correlated with the value of agricultural land at a point in time, and have interpreted this correlation as evidence that rail access chiefly benefitted agricultural land owners in the manner predicted by the Hekscher-Ohlin or Von Theunen models. We use a difference-in-difference strategy, comparing changes in outcomes in counties that gained rail access in the 1850s to those that either gained access earlier or did not have access before the Civil War. Most of the estimated effects are small and the signs are not wholly consistent with either model, under the null hypothesis that agriculture was the chief beneficiary of rail access. For example, we find that rail access appears to have increased urbanization, raised the likelihood of participation in the service sector, decreased agricultural yields, and reduced the share of improved acreage in total land area, opposite to the patterns predicted by either the Heckscher-Ohlin or Von Theunen models.

Highly sensitive and multiplexed platforms for allergy diagnostics

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston UniversityAllergy is a disorder of the immune system caused by an immune response to otherwise harmless environmental allergens. Currently 20% of the US population is allergic and 90% of pediatric patients and 60% of adult patients with asthma have allergies. These percentages have increased by 18.5% in the past decade, with predicted similar trends for the future. Here we design sensitive, multiplexed platforms to detect allergen-specific IgE using the Interferometric Reflectance Imaging Sensor (IRIS) for various clinical settings. A microarray platform for allergy diagnosis allows for testing of specific IgE sensitivity to a multitude of allergens, while requiring only small volumes of patient blood sample. However, conventional fluorescent microarray technology is limited by i) the variation of probe immobilization, which hinders the ability to make quantitative, assertive, and statistically relevant conclusions necessary in immunodiagnostics and ii) the use of fluorophore labels, which is not suitable for some clinical applications due to the tendency of fluorophores to stick to blood particulates and require daily calibration methods. This calibrated fluorescence enhancement (CaFE) method integrates the low magnification modality of IRIS with enhanced fluorescence sensing in order to directly correlate immobilized probe (major allergens) density to allergen-specific IgE in patient serum. However, this platform only operates in processed serum samples, which is not ideal for point of care testing. Thus, a high magnification modality of IRIS was adapted as an alternative allergy diagnostic platform to automatically discriminate and size single nanoparticles bound to specific IgE in unprocessed, characterized human blood and serum samples. These features make IRIS an ideal candidate for clinical and diagnostic applications, such a POC testing. The high magnification (nanoparticle counting) modality in conjunction with low magnification of IRIS in a combined instrument offers four significant advantages compared to existing sensing technologies: IRIS i) corrects for any variation in probe immobilization, ii) detects proteins from attomolar to nanomolar concentrations in unprocessed biological samples, iii) unambiguously discriminates nanoparticles tags on a robust and physically large sensor area, iv) detects protein targets with conjugated nanoparticle tags (~40nm diameter), which minimally affect assay kinetics compared to conventional microparticle tagging methods, and v) utilizes components that make the instrument inexpensive, robust, and portable. This platform was successfully validated on patient serum and whole blood samples with documented allergy profiles (ImmunoCAP®, ThermoFisher Scientific)

Hedonic Damages, Hedonic Adaptation, and Disability

Over the past quarter century, the concept of adaptive preferences has played an important role in debates in law, economics, and political philosophy. As Professor Jon Elster has described this psychological phenomenon, people tend to adjust their aspirations to their possibilities. A number of prominent scholars have argued that the existence of adaptive preferences raises serious problems for neoclassical economics and for unambivalent enthusiasm for freedom of choice. Because our current preferences are constrained by the opportunities available to us, proponents of adaptive preference theory contend, those preferences may not be the best guide to what is in our interests; we may be unduly content with unfair limitations on our opportunities. In a typical passage, Amartya Sen describes the phenomenon this way: The underdog learns to bear the burden so well that he or she overlooks the burden itself. Discontent is replaced by acceptance, hopeless rebellion by conformist quiet, and-most relevantly in the present context-suffering and anger by cheerful endurance. As people learn to adjust to the existing horrors by the sheer necessity of uneventful survival, the horrors look less terrible in the metric of utilities. Thus, scholars have typically invoked the adaptive preferences phenomenon as an argument that some preferences are not a proper measure of justice and ought not guide policy. Although some have recognized in the abstract that nothing in the theory of adaptive preferences requires preferences to be disregarded uniformly, the concept has nearly always been deployed as part of an argument for disregarding revealed, expressed, or felt preferences. Critics of adaptive preference theory have argued that the theory lacks both conceptual coherence and empirical grounding and that it is undemocratic because the true argument for satisfying preferences is that they are the individual\u27s, whatever their origin. We take a different tack. We agree with the theory\u27s proponents that adaptive preferences exist and that they raise significant normative questions about the unreflective use of preferences as a measure of justice or a basis for policy. But-and this is a point to which proponents of adaptive preference theory have given too little attention-identifying adaptive preferences is only the beginning of the normative inquiry. Although the writings of the theory\u27s proponents sometimes suggest the contrary, we argue that adaptive preferences ought not be automatically rejected (though neither should they be accepted uncritically) as a measure of justice or a basis for policy. Rather, the realization that particular preferences are adaptive should induce a more searching normative inquiry into whether those preferences ought to drive policy in particular contexts

Hedonic Damages, Hedonic Adaptation, and Disability

A number of states recognize hedonic damages as a separate category of recovery in tort and tort-like actions. Others consider lost enjoyment of life as an aspect of what are sometimes termed disability damages-damages for physical or mental impairment. Many other states permit juries to take account of lost enjoyment of life in setting compensation for pain and suffering or other forms of general damages. In all these jurisdictions, disability has loomed large. And the (explicit or implicit) view of disability is often one of tragic dependency and helplessness. As we show in Part I below, lawyers seeking hedonic damages emphasize their clients\u27 new status as compromised and damaged persons, and courts frequently uphold jury verdicts awarding hedonic damages to individuals who have experienced disabling injuries based on a view that disability-what some courts refer to as the failure to be a whole person - necessarily limits one\u27s enjoyment of life. This view is consonant with a general societal understanding of disability as a tragedy and of people with disabilities as natural objects of pity. In this Article, we challenge that view. A rich psychological literature demonstrates that disability does not inherently limit enjoyment of life to the degree that these courts suggest. Rather, people who experience disabling injuries tend to adapt to their disabilities. To the extent that they experience continuing hedonic loss, it is physical pain and loss of societal opportunities-not anything inherent in the disability-that is the major contributor

Hedonic Damages, Hedonic Adaptation, and Disability

Over the past quarter century, the concept of adaptive preferences has played an important role in debates in law, economics, and political philosophy. As Professor Jon Elster has described this psychological phenomenon, people tend to adjust their aspirations to their possibilities. A number of prominent scholars have argued that the existence of adaptive preferences raises serious problems for neoclassical economics and for unambivalent enthusiasm for freedom of choice. Because our current preferences are constrained by the opportunities available to us, proponents of adaptive preference theory contend, those preferences may not be the best guide to what is in our interests; we may be unduly content with unfair limitations on our opportunities. In a typical passage, Amartya Sen describes the phenomenon this way: The underdog learns to bear the burden so well that he or she overlooks the burden itself. Discontent is replaced by acceptance, hopeless rebellion by conformist quiet, and-most relevantly in the present context-suffering and anger by cheerful endurance. As people learn to adjust to the existing horrors by the sheer necessity of uneventful survival, the horrors look less terrible in the metric of utilities. Thus, scholars have typically invoked the adaptive preferences phenomenon as an argument that some preferences are not a proper measure of justice and ought not guide policy. Although some have recognized in the abstract that nothing in the theory of adaptive preferences requires preferences to be disregarded uniformly, the concept has nearly always been deployed as part of an argument for disregarding revealed, expressed, or felt preferences. Critics of adaptive preference theory have argued that the theory lacks both conceptual coherence and empirical grounding and that it is undemocratic because the true argument for satisfying preferences is that they are the individual\u27s, whatever their origin. We take a different tack. We agree with the theory\u27s proponents that adaptive preferences exist and that they raise significant normative questions about the unreflective use of preferences as a measure of justice or a basis for policy. But-and this is a point to which proponents of adaptive preference theory have given too little attention-identifying adaptive preferences is only the beginning of the normative inquiry. Although the writings of the theory\u27s proponents sometimes suggest the contrary, we argue that adaptive preferences ought not be automatically rejected (though neither should they be accepted uncritically) as a measure of justice or a basis for policy. Rather, the realization that particular preferences are adaptive should induce a more searching normative inquiry into whether those preferences ought to drive policy in particular contexts

Optimasi TIME Dial Setting (TDS) Relay Arus Lebih Menggunakan Adaptive Modified Firefly Algorithm pada Sistem Kelistrikan PT. Pupuk Kalimantan Timur

Penggunaan relay arus lebih (over current relay) pada industri memerlukan pengaturan beberapa parameter seperti arus pickup (Ip), time dial setting (TDS), serta waktu operasi (top). Dalam standard acuan dicantumkan batasan-batasan dan formulasi dalam menentukan parameter tersebut. Salah satu permasalahan adalah penentuan TDS pada relay inverse (Kode ANSI 51). Umumnya penentuan nilai TDS dilakukan dengan metode trial and error, hal ini dirasa kurang efektif sehingga diusulkan suatu metode baru dalam menentukan TDS pada sistem kelistrikan eksisting PT. Pupuk Kalimantan Timur. Digunakan algoritma adaptive firefly yang dimodifikasi dalam menyelesaikan permasalahan dengan mempertimbangkan kurva starting motor dan perbedaan tipe kurva antar rela

Hubungan Motivasi Dengan Kepatuhan Penggunaan Alat Pelindung Diri Pada Petugas Tpa Raberas Sumbawa Besar

Garbage is one of the causes of environmental pollution and causes damage to the environment. Waste management purposes to improve public health and environmental quality and make waste a resource. The final waste management site, namely the landfill (TPA), and the role of waste collectors are very much needed in waste management. This study aims to determine the relationship between work motivation and the use of personal protective equipment at TPA Raberas Sumbawa Besar officers. This research is quantitative research with a cross-sectional study method. Data was collected by giving questionnaires and observation sheets to 60 workers at TPA Raberas. The results showed that most respondents had a work motivation of 45 people (75%) following compliance with personal protective equipment; respondents did not comply with 39 people (65.%). Kendall's Tau test results obtained a value of = 0.055. There is no significant relationship between work motivation and the use of personal protective equipment among the TPA Raberas Sumbawa officers. The Kendall's Tau correlation test showed that significant count value > significant table value (0.586> 0.254), then the hypothesis H0 is accepted, and H1 is rejecte

Morphology and structure of the Lomonosov Ridge, Arctic Ocean

The Lomonosov Ridge is a band of continental crust that stretches across the Arctic Ocean and separates the Mesozoic Amerasian Basin from the Cenozoic Eurasian Basin. From about 87°N north of Greenland across the Pole to about 86°N, the Lomonosov Ridge is a single high-standing blocky ridge with minimum depths of ~ 950 - 1400 m. South of 86°N on the Siberian side, the ridge breaks up into a series of ridges spread over a width of about 200 km. In this region a high-standing blocky ridge with minimum depths of ~ 650 - 1400 m bounds the Eurasian Basin and continues to the Siberian continental margin. This ridge is continuous with the single ridge making up the Lomonosov Ridge toward North America and is the former outermost continental shelf of Eurasia bounding the Amerasian Basin. The Eurasian Basin margin of the Lomonosov Ridge consists of a series of rotated fault blocks stepping down to the basin that result from nearly orthogonal rifting to form the Eurasian Basin. No rotated fault blocks are observed on the Amerasian Basin margin of the Lomonosov Ridge. On the Amerasian Basin side, Marvin Spur, a linear ridge separated from Lomonosov Ridge by a deep basin, parallels Lomonosov Ridge on the North American side of the pole. At the bend in the Lomonosov Ridge near the North Pole, Marvin Spur continues along strike across the Makarov Basin. South of 86°N toward Siberia, a continuous outer ridge makes up the Amerasian Basin edge of the Lomonosov complex with a series of basins and ridges between it and the former Eurasian shelf. The outer ridge marks an abrupt boundary between the Lomonosov Ridge complex and the apparently oceanic crust of the Makarov Basin. The outer ridge and Marvin Spur very closely follow small circles about a pole located on the Mackenzie delta. The observed structure on the Amerasian Basin side of the Lomonosov Ridge is analogous to that observed at well-studied shear margins and supports rotational models for the development of the Amerasian Basin