Payroll employment data: measuring the effects of annual benchmark revisions

During the recovery from the 2001 recession, the business press and economic analysts used payroll employment data released monthly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) as evidence of protracted weakness in the labor market. But using these monthly releases for this type of analysis can be premature and potentially misleading. The initial BLS releases can differ substantially from payroll employment data that are revised to incorporate information from less timely but more complete sources. ; This article highlights the historical revisions to the aggregate nonfarm payroll employment series. Examining both monthly survey-based revisions and the more extensive annual benchmark revisions, the authors focus specifically on how the sequence of data revisions modifies payroll employment estimates from their initial release. The graphs in the article display the magnitude and direction of each revision from the initial estimate for a particular month to its currently published value, demonstrating that the largest portion of enduring change for the estimates occurs in the benchmark revisions. ; The authors then investigate empirically whether these revisions contain information that can be exploited to anticipate future revisions. The analysis shows that previous benchmark data revisions are useful for explaining the variation in subsequent payroll employment benchmark data. Such information, the authors note, could prove useful for further research aimed at modeling better real-time estimates of employment conditions.Employment (Economic theory)

Moon-sur-Elle – Le Bourg

Cette affaire concerne la perte d’un « Thunderbolt » P-47 piloté par le second lieutenant William McGowan lors d’une opération de chasse au-dessus de Moon-sur-Elle dans le département de la Manche, en opération de soutien au débarquement de la plage de Normandie le 6 juin 1944. Le lieutenant d’aviation, Paul E. Stryker, qui accompagnait le SLT McGowan, a rapporté que l’avion du SLT McGowan avait été touché par un tir anti-aérien à environ 152,4 m d’altitude, avait percuté le sol après être pa..

Development implementation, and assessment of course learning outcomes: Working paper series--02-01

This paper describes a process for developing program learning outcomes for an undergraduate business major program and mapping more specific course-level learning outcomes to these program-level outcomes. Also described is a process for assessing the effectiveness with which the course-level learning outcomes have been achieved. The processes is designed to provide a mechanism for making broad program level outcomes meaningful to instructors in their ongoing delivery of the program

Cardiovascular disease in the Peruvian Andes: local perceptions, barriers, and paths to preventing chronic diseases in the Cajamarca region

Objectives: Public health interventions can be improved by understanding peoples' explanatory models of disease. We explore awareness and perceptions of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and options for preventative actions in young adults living in rural Andean communities. Methods: We used convenience sampling to select 46 men and women from communities in Cajamarca (Peru). Subjects participated in eight focus groups where they discussed their understanding and perceived causes of CVD as well as barriers and pathways to healthy lifestyles. Results: Fresh foods, physical activity, unpleasant emotions, and healthcare access were cited as important determinants of healthy lifestyles. Barriers to healthy diets included lacking nutritional knowledge, fluctuating food prices, and limited access to foodstuffs. Women felt particularly vulnerable to CVD and identified gendered barriers to manage stress and engage in sports. Low health literacy, poor doctor-patient relationships, and long distances prevented participants from fully accessing healthcare. Conclusion: CVD prevention interventions should consider local knowledge of these diseases and of healthy lifestyles, and harness ongoing programmes that have successfully promoted good nutrition in children and pregnant women. In concert with public-private parterships, governments should include disease prevention interventions for the entire family

Conducting Polymers and Corrosion III. A Scanning Vibrating Electrode Study of Poly(3-octyl pyrrole) on Steel and Aluminum

Electroactive conducting polymers (ECPs) continue to be of considerable interest as components of corrosion-resistant coating systems. ECPs, in addition to being conductive, are redox active materials, typically with potentials that are positive of iron and aluminum. Thus, as with chromate, interesting and potentially beneficial interactions of ECPs with active metal alloys such as steel and aluminum are anticipated. In this work, the scanning vibrating electrode technique (SVET), also known as the current density probe, was used to probe such interactions between a poly(3-octyl pyrrole) coating (POP) and cold-rolled steel and aluminum (Al 2024-T3) substrates. The POP coatings were scribed to simulate a defect through the coating to the metal substrate surface. The SVET was used to map the current flowing in and around the defect while the sample was immersed in either 3% NaCl (steel) or in dilute Harrison solution (aluminum), an aqueous solution consisting of 0.35% (NH4)2SO4, 0.05% NaCl. Although there were significant differences in the behavior of the POP-coated steel and POP-coated aluminum substrates, both exhibited a significant delay before the onset of any observable current compared to uncoated or epoxy-coated samples. Current density maps for the steel clearly indicate that the reduction reaction occurred on the conducting polymer surface, with oxidation confined to the defect. Current density maps for the aluminum alloy never displayed significant oxidation at the defect. Rather, reduction (after a significant delay) occurred at the defect as well as across the polymer surface, with concomitant localized undercoating oxidation of the aluminum substrate

A Phase 1 study of intravenous infusions of tigecycline in patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells meet the higher energy, metabolic, and signaling demands of the cell by increasing mitochondrial biogenesis and mitochondrial protein translation. Blocking mitochondrial protein synthesis through genetic and chemical approaches kills human AML cells at all stages of development in vitro and in vivo. Tigecycline is an antimicrobial that we found inhibits mitochondrial protein synthesis in AML cells. Therefore, we conducted a phase 1 dose-escalation study of tigecycline administered intravenously daily 5 of 7 days for 2 weeks to patients with AML. A total of 27 adult patients with relapsed and refractory AML were enrolled in this study with 42 cycles being administered over seven dose levels (50-350 mg/day). Two patients experienced DLTs related to tigecycline at the 350 mg/day level resulting in a maximal tolerated dose of tigecycline of 300 mg as a once daily infusion. Pharmacokinetic experiments showed that tigecycline had a markedly shorter half-life in these patients than reported for noncancer patients. No significant pharmacodynamic changes or clinical responses were observed. Thus, we have defined the safety of once daily tigecycline in patients with refractory AML. Future studies should focus on schedules of the drug that permit more sustained target inhibition

The impact of a dealer's failure on OTC derivatives market liquidity during volatile periods

This paper develops a model in which information losses may be an important part of the cost of an OTC derivatives dealer's failure. A dealer failure forces solvent counterparties of a failed dealer to seek replacement hedges with other dealers. However, by forcing good firms into the derivatives market, the failure provides camouflage for insolvent firms seeking to speculate with a dealer that does not know their credit status. The paper models this information loss and uses the model to quantitatively evaluate a range of scenarios. The results suggest that a market breakdown is unlikely but not quite impossible.Derivative securities ; Liquidity (Economics)

Visual contrast sensitivity is associated with the presence of cerebral amyloid and tau deposition

Visual deficits are common in neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease. We sought to determine the association between visual contrast sensitivity and neuroimaging measures of Alzheimer’s disease-related pathophysiology, including cerebral amyloid and tau deposition and neurodegeneration. A total of 74 participants (7 Alzheimer’s disease, 16 mild cognitive impairment, 20 subjective cognitive decline, 31 cognitively normal older adults) underwent the frequency doubling technology 24-2 examination, a structural MRI scan and amyloid PET imaging for the assessment of visual contrast sensitivity. Of these participants, 46 participants (2 Alzheimer’s disease, 9 mild cognitive impairment, 12 subjective cognitive decline, 23 cognitively normal older adults) also underwent tau PET imaging with [18F]flortaucipir. The relationships between visual contrast sensitivity and cerebral amyloid and tau, as well as neurodegeneration, were assessed using partial Pearson correlations, covaried for age, sex and race and ethnicity. Voxel-wise associations were also evaluated for amyloid and tau. The ability of visual contrast sensitivity to predict amyloid and tau positivity were assessed using forward conditional logistic regression and receiver operating curve analysis. All analyses first were done in the full sample and then in the non-demented at-risk individuals (subjective cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment) only. Significant associations between visual contrast sensitivity and regional amyloid and tau deposition were observed across the full sample and within subjective cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment only. Voxel-wise analysis demonstrated strong associations of visual contrast sensitivity with amyloid and tau, primarily in temporal, parietal and occipital brain regions. Finally, visual contrast sensitivity accurately predicted amyloid and tau positivity. Alterations in visual contrast sensitivity were related to cerebral deposition of amyloid and tau, suggesting that this measure may be a good biomarker for detecting Alzheimer’s disease-related pathophysiology. Future studies in larger patient samples are needed, but these findings support the power of these measures of visual contrast sensitivity as a potential novel, inexpensive and easy-to-administer biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease-related pathology in older adults at risk for cognitive decline