The Pulping of Wood with A n-Butyl Alcohol-Water System

Aspen chips were cooked in liquor composed of equal volumes of n-butyl alcohol and water, at reflux and at 150 and 185 degrees Centigrade, in order to investigate the potential use of this organic liquid as a pulping agent. Of particular interest were the effects of adding certain substances to the liquor, the effects of time and temperature, and the effects of liquor pH, as controlled by various reagents. Pulping action increased and yields decreased with increasing digestion time and temperature. No apparent advantage in pulping was demonstrated when polysulfide, dimethyl sulfoxide, or sodium xylene sulfonate was added to the liquors. The optimum pH range for catalysis of the butanol-lignin reaction appeared to be above 3 to 6.5. At severe enough conditions, the formation of wood acids catalyzed the reaction. Greater pulping effects were realized by the addition of mineral acid or Al2(S04)3. It appeared advantageous to exercise greater control of pH by urea or a buffer. AlCl3 was unfavorable as a catalyst, since it seemed to promote hydrolysis of carbohydrates and precipitation of lignin

Bank capital structure, regulatory capital, and securities innovations

Although financial instruments that, in effect, permit corporations to treat preferred stock dividends as tax-deductible interest have been used by nonfinancial corporations since late 1993, bank holding companies (BHCs) did not issue these trust-preferred securities (TPS) until 1996, when the Federal Reserve qualified them as Tier-1 capital. We delineate and test hypotheses with 1) analyses of the stock-market reaction to the Fed’s ruling and to TPS filings and 2) comparisons of BHCs that issued TPS with those that did not. We conclude that regulatory capital requirements, tax savings, and uninsured sources of funds can have significant positive effects on BHCs’ demand for capital; growth and investment opportunities have an inconclusive effect; and transaction costs have a negative effect. Our results are not consistent with the moral-hazard hypothesis.Bank capital ; Bank holding companies ; Bank supervision ; Securities

Disaggregating Student Outcomes by Race and Income: Educational Equity in Oregon

This research seeks to answer an emerging question in public school debates: whether race is just a proxy for income when it comes to disparities in educational outcomes among Oregon’s K-12 students. This research set out to respond to this question, and draws from public school data records to answer the question. We investigated student test scores across three different environments: elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. We also investigated student graduation rates from high school. The pattern of findings is absolutely clear: regardless of the site or type of disparities, when we compare how low-income students fare, all outcomes for students of color are weaker than that of White students. Similarly, when we compare outcomes for higher-income students, all outcomes of students of color are weaker than that of White students. We conclude that educators must address elements of racism across their institutions to ensure that race-related disparities are comprehensively addressed. Phase 2 of this research will investigate these same questions for specific school districts in Oregon

Sample Considerations For Short-Circuited Filled Transmission Line Measurements

Microwave materials characterization can be performed using a number of well-established measurement approaches. One such approach, the short-circuited rectangular waveguide (SC-RWG) filled transmission line approach, is known to have sample placement restrictions related to measurement reliability. This work focuses on this approach as a viable solution for microwave materials characterization of liquid materials and addresses the measurement restrictions within the context of sample length and dielectric properties. It is shown via simulation and measurement that samples of length greater than g/6 (where g is the wavelength in the RWG) do not have the reported measurement restrictions, nor do materials with high dielectric permittivity and/or loss factor (of any length)

Flow mediated vasodilation predicts the development of gestational diabetes mellitus

To prospectively measure flow mediated vasodilation (FMD) in a cohort of women with risk factors for preeclampsia and to identify poor obstetrical outcomes associated with changes in FMD

Loan growth and riskiness of banks

We investigate whether loan growth affects the riskiness of individual banks in 16 major countries. Using Bankscope data from more than 16,000 individual banks during 1997-2007, we test three hypotheses on the relation between abnormal loan growth and asset risk, bank profitability, and bank solvency. We find that loan growth leads to an increase in loan loss provisions during the subsequent three years, to a decrease in relative interest income, and to lower capital ratios. Further analyses show that loan growth also has a negative impact on the risk-adjusted interest income. These results suggest that loan growth represents an important driver of the riskiness of banks

Banks' risk assessment of Swedish SMEs

Building on the literatures on asymmetric information and risk taking, this paper applies conjoint experiments to investigate lending officers' probabilities of supporting credit to established or existing SMEs. Using a sample of 114 Swedish lending officers, we test hypotheses concerning how information on the borrower's ability to repay the loan; alignment of risk preferences; and risk sharing affect their willingness to grant credit. Results suggest that features that reduce the risk to the bank and shift the risk to the borrower have the largest impact. The paper highlights the interaction between factors that influence the credit decision. Implications for SMEs, banks and research are discussed

Prediction of photoperiodic regulators from quantitative gene circuit models

Photoperiod sensors allow physiological adaptation to the changing seasons. The external coincidence hypothesis postulates that a light-responsive regulator is modulated by a circadian rhythm. Sufficient data are available to test this quantitatively in plants, though not yet in animals. In Arabidopsis, the clock-regulated genes CONSTANS (CO) and FLAVIN, KELCH, F-BOX (FKF1) and their lightsensitive proteins are thought to form an external coincidence sensor. We use 40 timeseries of molecular data to model the integration of light and timing information by CO, its target gene FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), and the circadian clock. Among other predictions, the models show that FKF1 activates FT. We demonstrate experimentally that this effect is independent of the known activation of CO by FKF1, thus we locate a major, novel controller of photoperiodism. External coincidence is part of a complex photoperiod sensor: modelling makes this complexity explicit and may thus contribute to crop improvement

A “Wear and Tear” Hypothesis to Explain Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the leading cause of death among USA infants under 1 year of age accounting for ~2,700 deaths per year. Although formally SIDS dates back at least 2,000 years and was even mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Kings 3:19), its etiology remains unexplained prompting the CDC to initiate a sudden unexpected infant death case registry in 2010. Due to their total dependence, the ability of the infant to allostatically regulate stressors and stress responses shaped by genetic and environmental factors is severely constrained. We propose that SIDS is the result of cumulative painful, stressful, or traumatic exposures that begin in utero and tax neonatal regulatory systems incompatible with allostasis. We also identify several putative biochemical mechanisms involved in SIDS. We argue that the important characteristics of SIDS, namely male predominance (60:40), the significantly different SIDS rate among USA Hispanics (80% lower) compared to whites, 50% of cases occurring between 7.6 and 17.6 weeks after birth with only 10% after 24.7 weeks, and seasonal variation with most cases occurring during winter, are all associated with common environmental stressors, such as neonatal circumcision and seasonal illnesses. We predict that neonatal circumcision is associated with hypersensitivity to pain and decreased heart rate variability, which increase the risk for SIDS. We also predict that neonatal male circumcision will account for the SIDS gender bias and that groups that practice high male circumcision rates, such as USA whites, will have higher SIDS rates compared to groups with lower circumcision rates. SIDS rates will also be higher in USA states where Medicaid covers circumcision and lower among people that do not practice neonatal circumcision and/or cannot afford to pay for circumcision. We last predict that winter-born premature infants who are circumcised will be at higher risk of SIDS compared to infants who experienced fewer nociceptive exposures. All these predictions are testable experimentally using animal models or cohort studies in humans. Our hypothesis provides new insights into novel risk factors for SIDS that can reduce its risk by modifying current infant care practices to reduce nociceptive exposures