A growth model of weight preferences, food consumption and public policy

Copyright @ 2013 Brunel University.In this paper we unify existing theories and empirical evidence on the origins of obesity and examine the e¤ects of scal policy on the dynamic evolution of weight. We build a dynamic general equilibrium growth model, with two sectors, one producing food and the other producing a composite consumption good. Weight is a function of rational choice as well as labor allocation between the two sectors. By estimating utility from weight and calibrating the US economy we show that (i) technological advances in agriculture decrease food prices and increase weight but not necessarily through higher food consumption but through lower calorie expenditure, (ii) reducing capital taxation, initially depresses weight levels through higher food prices; steady state food consumption decreases due to a price substitution e¤ect but weight soars due to lower calorie expenditure, (iii) reducing taxation on food increases food consumption and weight levels in equilibrium. Labor reallocation towards the less sedentary sector on one hand and higher income on the other function as contradictory forces

RBR E3 ubiquitin ligases: new structures, new insights, new questions

The RBR (RING-BetweenRING-RING) or TRIAD [two RING fingers and a DRIL (double RING finger linked)] E3 ubiquitin ligases comprise a group of 12 complex multidomain enzymes. This unique family of E3 ligases includes parkin, whose dysfunction is linked to the pathogenesis of early-onset Parkinson's disease, and HOIP (HOIL-1-interacting protein) and HOIL-1 (haem-oxidized IRP2 ubiquitin ligase 1), members of the LUBAC (linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex). The RBR E3 ligases share common features with both the larger RING and HECT (homologous with E6-associated protein C-terminus) E3 ligase families, directly catalysing ubiquitin transfer from an intrinsic catalytic cysteine housed in the C-terminal domain, as well as recruiting thioester-bound E2 enzymes via a RING domain. Recent three-dimensional structures and biochemical findings of the RBRs have revealed novel protein domain folds not previously envisioned and some surprising modes of regulation that have raised many questions. This has required renaming two of the domains in the RBR E3 ligases to more accurately reflect their structures and functions: the C-terminal Rcat (required-for-catalysis) domain, essential for catalytic activity, and a central BRcat (benign-catalytic) domain that adopts the same fold as the Rcat, but lacks a catalytic cysteine residue and ubiquitination activity. The present review discusses how three-dimensional structures of RBR (RING1-BRcat-Rcat) E3 ligases have provided new insights into our understanding of the biochemical mechanisms of these important enzymes in ubiquitin biology. INTRODUCTIO

Interactions between empathy and resting heart rate in early adolescence predict violent behavior in late adolescence and early adulthood.

BackgroundAlthough resting heart rate (RHR) and empathy are independently and negatively associated with violent behavior, relatively little is known about the interplay between these psychophysiological and temperament-related risk factors.MethodsUsing a sample of 160 low-income, racially diverse men followed prospectively from infancy through early adulthood, this study examined whether RHR and empathy during early adolescence independently and interactively predict violent behavior and related correlates in late adolescence and early adulthood.ResultsControlling for child ethnicity, family income, and child antisocial behavior at age 12, empathy inversely predicted moral disengagement and juvenile petitions for violent crimes, while RHR was unrelated to all measures of violent behavior. Interactive effects were also evident such that among men with lower but not higher levels of RHR, lower empathy predicted increased violent behavior, as indexed by juvenile arrests for violent offenses, peer-reported violent behavior at age 17, self-reported moral disengagement at age 17, and self-reported violent behavior at age 20.ConclusionsImplications for prevention and intervention are considered. Specifically, targeting empathic skills among individuals at risk for violent behavior because of specific psychophysiological profiles may lead to more impactful interventions

Schroedinger Wheeler-DeWitt Equation In Multidimensional Cosmology

We study multidimensional cosmology to obtain the wavefunction of the universe using wormhole dominance proposal. Using a prescription for time we obtain the Schroedinger-Wheeler-DeWitt equation without any reference to WD equation and WKB ansatz for WD wavefunction. It is found that the Hartle-Hawking or wormhole-dominated boundary conditions serve as a seed for inflation as well as for Gaussian type ansatz to Schroedinger-Wheeler-DeWitt equation.Comment: 10 Pages, LaTeX, no figur

Selection Effects, Biases, and Constraints in the Calan/Tololo Supernova Survey

We use Monte Carlo simulations of the Calan/Tololo photographic supernova survey to show that a simple model of the survey's selection effects accounts for the observed distributions of recession velocity, apparent magnitude, angular offset, and projected radial distance between the supernova and the host galaxy nucleus for this sample of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). The model includes biases due to the flux-limited nature of the survey, the different light curve morphologies displayed by different SNe Ia, and the difficulty of finding events projected near the central regions of the host galaxies. From these simulations we estimate the bias in the zero-point and slope of the absolute magnitude-decline rate relation used in SNe Ia distance measurements. For an assumed intrinsic scatter of 0.15 mag about this relation, these selection effects decrease the zero-point by 0.04 mag. The slope of the relation is not significantly biased. We conclude that despite selection effects in the survey, the shape and zero-point of the relation determined from the Calan/Tololo sample are quite reliable. We estimate the degree of incompleteness of the survey as a function of decline rate and estimate a corrected luminosity function for SNe Ia in which the frequency of SNe appears to increase with decline rate (the fainter SNe are more common). Finally, we compute the integrated detection efficiency of the survey in order to infer the rate of SNe Ia from the 31 events found. For a value of Ho=65 km/sec/Mpc we obtain a SN Ia rate of 0.21(+0.30)(-0.13) SNu. This is in good agreement with the value 0.16+/-0.05 SNu recently determined by Capellaro et al. (1997).Comment: 36 pages, 19 figures as extra files, to appear in the A

Nosotros y los otros : el otro y los otros en la política internacional pre y pos en la Gran Guerra, el problema inmigratorio y la enseñanza, 1898 - 1919

Estanislao Zeballos contribuyó a crear el imaginario e inventar la patria Argentina desde La Revista Derecho, Historia y Letras. Esta construcción de la nacionalidad, se dio en el plano de la elite, desde su interior. Al fin y al cabo su papel de intelectual fue orgánico a su clase. Es así que son numerosos los artículos que aparecen en relación a la celebración del centenario haciendo hincapié en la importancia que debe asignársele a la educación. A partir del tomo XXXVI van apareciendo discursos alusivos que se continúan en la Revista en el período de la Gran Guerra y cuyo sentido es sin lugar a dudas consolidar la idea de identidad nacional frente a las ideas de aquellos inmigrantes a los que el país había acogido. El año del Centenarioencontrará a Zeballos como decano de la Facultad de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad de Buenos Aires, sin perder de vista su "Revista" y la necesidad permanente de inculcar los valores nacionales. La temática educativa como aspecto central de la conformación de la identidad se evidencian en los contenidos de los discursos que en el Centenario publica la Revista. Y así, en la República Argentina, el 25 de mayo de 1910, entre otros discursos, el presidente doctor José Figueroa Alcorta, en el acto de colocación de la piedra fundamental del monumento a la Revolución de Mayo en líneas generales expresaba que se debía rendir honor a los grandes principios morales y políticos tutelares de la libertad y del derecho humano, que infundieron en el espíritu argentino el ideal de la patria soberana. Señalando que ese esfuerzo heroico de aquel veinticinco de mayo de 1810, con sus afanes y quebrantos por la conquista de sus ideales y el desenvolvimiento de sus aptitudes orgánicas debe servir de guía para generaciones futuras. En La Revista se publican entre 1910 y 1918 distintos discursos y homenajes al Centenario, y continúan hasta 1922 aunque esporádicamente en esa fecha. En ellos se destaca el virtuoso heroísmo que nos dio patria y la necesidad de estímulo y esperanza para las generaciones sucesivas que perpetúen en los siglos la altiva tradición de Mayo, donde se inician los antecedentes históricos de la incorporación del país al concierto de los pueblos libres. Es necesario crear una identidad nacional en un período en que los extranjeros eran numéricamente superiores a la población nativa y fundamentalmente en un período en que los países de origen de dichos inmigrantes en su mayoría estaban enfrentados militarmente.Fil: Shaw, Enrique E..Fil: Borgarello, Esther S.