Intergenerational Earnings Mobility in Singapore and the United States

This study compared intergenerational earnings mobility in Singapore and the United States by replicating the limitations in the Singapore National Youth Survey on the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The mean estimated earnings elasticities are almost identical: 0.26 in Singapore and 0.27 in the United States. Transformed to 0.45 and 0.47 respectively to reflect permanent status, mobility in the two countries is moderately low compared internationally. The finding of similar mobility is not surprising given that the economic realities, welfare systems, education regimes, and labor structures in the two countries are similar. Policy makers face the daunting challenge of overcoming immobility and inequality while maintaining global competitiveness.Intergenerational earnings mobility; Singapore; United States

High expression of erythropoietin-producing hepatoma cell line-B2 (EphB2) predicts the efficiency of the Qingyihuaji formula treatment in pancreatic cancer CFPAC‑1 cells through the EphrinB1‑EphB2 pathway.

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Polysaccharides from wolfberry prevents corticosterone-induced inhibition of sexual behavior and increases neurogenesis

Lycium barbarum, commonly known as wolfberry, has been used as a traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of infertility and sexual dysfunction. However, there is still a scarcity of experimental evidence to support the pro-sexual effect of wolfberry. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBP) on male sexual behavior of rats. Here we report that oral feeding of LBP for 21 days significantly improved the male copulatory performance including increase of copulatory efficiency, increase of ejaculation frequency and shortening of ejaculation latency. Furthermore, sexual inhibition caused by chronic corticosterone was prevented by LBP. Simultaneously, corticosterone suppressed neurogenesis in subventricular zone and hippocampus in adult rats, which could be reversed by LBP. The neurogenic effect of LBP was also shown in vitro. Significant correlation was found between neurogenesis and sexual performance, suggesting that the newborn neurons are associated with reproductive successfulness. Blocking neurogenesis in male rats abolished the pro-sexual effect of LBP. Taken together, these results demonstrate the pro-sexual effect of LBP on normal and sexually-inhibited rats, and LBP may modulate sexual behavior by regulating neurogenesis. © 2012 Lau et al.published_or_final_versio

Measurement of seismometer orientation using the tangential P-wave receiver function based on harmonic decomposition

Accurate determination of the seismometer orientation is a prerequisite for seismic studies including, but not limited to seismic anisotropy. While borehole seismometers on land produce seismic waveform data somewhat free of human-induced noise, they might have a drawback of an uncertain orientation. This study calculates a harmonic decomposition of teleseismic receiver functions from the P and PP phases and determines the orientation of a seismometer by minimizing a constant term in a harmonic expansion of tangential receiver functions in backazimuth near and at 0 s. This method normalizes the effect of seismic sources and determines the orientation of a seismometer without having to assume for an isotropic medium. Compared to the method of minimizing the amplitudes of a mean of the tangential receiver functions near and at 0 s, the method yields more accurate orientations in cases where the backazimuthal coverage of earthquake sources (even in the case of ocean bottom seismometers) is uneven and incomplete. We apply this method to data from the Korean seismic network (52 broad-band velocity seismometers, 30 of which are borehole sensors) to estimate the sensor orientation in the period of 2005−2016. We also track temporal changes in the sensor orientation through the change in the polarity and the amplitude of the tangential receiver function. Six borehole stations are confirmed to experience a significant orientation change (10°−180°) over the period of 10 yr. We demonstrate the usefulness of our method by estimating the orientation of ocean bottom sensors, which are known to have high noise level during the relatively short deployment period

Toxicity of ZnO and TiO<font size=-1>₂</font> to Escherichia coli cells

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Effects of ytterbium ion on the growth, metabolism and membrane fluidity of Tetrahymena thermophila

Power-time curves and metabolic properties of Tetrahymena thermophila BF5 exposed to different Yb3+ stop levels were studied by ampoule method of isothermal calorimetry at 28 degrees C. Metabolic rate (r) decreased significantly while peak time (PT) increased with the increase of Yb3+ stop. These results were mainly due to the inhibition of cell growth, which corresponded to the decrease of cell number obtained by cell counting. Compared with cell counting, calorimetry was sensible, easy to use and convenient for monitoring the toxic effects of Yb3+ stop on cells and freshwater ecosystem. It was also found that cell membrane fluidity decreased significantly under the effects of Yb3+ stop, which indicated that Yb3+ could be membrane active molecules with its effect on cell membranes as fundamental aspect of its toxicity.Power-time curves and metabolic properties of Tetrahymena thermophila BF5 exposed to different Yb3+ stop levels were studied by ampoule method of isothermal calorimetry at 28 degrees C. Metabolic rate (r) decreased significantly while peak time (PT) increased with the increase of Yb3+ stop. These results were mainly due to the inhibition of cell growth, which corresponded to the decrease of cell number obtained by cell counting. Compared with cell counting, calorimetry was sensible, easy to use and convenient for monitoring the toxic effects of Yb3+ stop on cells and freshwater ecosystem. It was also found that cell membrane fluidity decreased significantly under the effects of Yb3+ stop, which indicated that Yb3+ could be membrane active molecules with its effect on cell membranes as fundamental aspect of its toxicity

ANALYSIS OF SPONTANEOUS IMBIBITION IN FRACTAL TREE-LIKE NETWORK SYSTEM

Spontaneous imbibition in porous media is common in nature, imbibition potential is very important for understanding the imbibition ability, or the ability to keep high imbibition rate for a long time. Structure parameters have influence on imbibition potential. This work investigates the process of spontaneous imbibition of liquid into a fractal tree-like network, taking fractal structure parameters into consideration. The analytical expression for dimensionless imbibition rate with this fractal tree-like network is derived. The influence of structure parameters on imbibition potential is discussed. It is found that optimal diameter ratio beta is important for networks to have imbibition potential. Moreover, with liquid imbibed in more sub-branches, some structures of parameter combinations will show the characteristic of imbibition potential gradually. Finally, a parameter plane is made to visualize the percentage of good parameter in all possible combinations and to evaluate the imbibition potential of a specific network system more directly. It is also helpful to design and to optimize a fractal network with good imbibition potential

Water imbibition of shale and its potential influence on shale gas recovery-a comparative study of marine and continental shale formations

A large volume of fracturing fluid is pumped into a well to stimulate shale formation. The water is imbibed into the reservoir during this procedure. The effect of the imbibed water on gas recovery is still in debate. In this work, we study the spontaneous imbibition of water into marine shale samples from the Sichuan Basin and continental shale samples from Erdos Basin to explore the fluid imbibition characteristics and permeability change during water imbibition. Comparison of imbibition experiments shows that shale has stronger water imbibition and diffusion capacity than relatively higher permeability sandstone. Once the imbibition stops, water in shale has stronger ability to diffuse into deeper matrix, the water content in the main flow path decreases. Experiments in this study show that marine shale has stronger water imbibition capacity than continental shale. The permeability of continental shale decreases significantly with increasing imbibition water volume; however, the permeability of marine shale decreases at first and increases after a certain imbibition time. The induced fracture is obvious in the marine shale. SEM analysis shows that the relationship between the clay mineral and organic matter of continental shale is much more complex than that of marine shale, which may be the key factor restricting the water imbibition because the flow path is trapped by swelled clay minerals. Through this study, we concluded that whether gas recovery benefits from water imbibition depends on three aspects: 1) the diffusion ability of liquid into matrix; 2) the new cracks introduced by imbibed water; and 3) the formation sensibility. This study is useful for optimizing fracture fluids and determining the best flow-back method. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

A microcalorimetric assay of tetrahymena thermophila for assessing tributyltin acute toxicity

The power-time curves of Tetrahymena thermophila exposed to tributyltin (TBT) were detected by microcalorimetry. Metabolic rate (r) decreased significantly while peak time (PT) increased with the enhancement of TBT level. Compared with the measured multibiomarker including catalase, lactate dehydrogenase, glutathione S-transferase, ATPase and membrane fluidity, PT and r could be sensitive biomarkers for assessing TBT toxicity at cellular level. The effective concentrations obtained by them were consistent to those obtained by the protozoan community toxicity test. As a result, the microcalorimetric assay of T. thermophila had a great potential in assessing TBT acute toxicity and monitoring TBT pollution in the freshwater ecosystem

Pure angular momentum generator using a ring resonator

Author name used in this publication: X. M. ZhangAuthor name used in this publication: D. P. Tsai2010-2011 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe