Bayesian estimation of the spatial Durbin error model with an application to voter turnout in the 2004 presidential election

The potential for spatial dependence in models of voter turnout, although plausible from a theoretical perspective, has not been adequately addressed in the literature. Using recent advances in Bayesian computation, we formulate and estimate the previously unutilized spatial Durbin error model and apply this model to the question of whether spillovers and unobserved spatial dependence in voter turnout matters from an empirical perspective. Formal Bayesian model comparison techniques are employed to compare the normal linear model, the spatially lagged X model (SLX), the spatial Durbin model, and the spatial Durbin error model. The results overwhelmingly support the spatial Durbin error model as the appropriate empirical model

The Income Distribution Effect of Natural Disasters: An Analysis of Hurricane Katrina

Abstract. This paper combines the study of income distribution with that of natural disasters. We introduce several income density functions to approximate the income distributions of five samples: New Orleans prior to Katrina, New Orleans after Katrina, the United States during the same yea

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29

How State Exceptions to Employment-at-Will Affect Wages

Little research has been conducted on the effects of state adoption of exceptions to the common law doctrine of employment-at-will, which states that both employees and employers have the right to terminate an employment relationship at any time for any reason. I examine how these exceptions affect wages and find that, as predicted, the two are inversely related. All three commonly adopted exceptions are negatively related to the wage rate, with state adoption being associated with up to a three percent reduction in wages.

The Income Distribution Effect of Natural Disasters: An Analysis of Hurricane Katrina

This paper combines the study of income distribution with that of natural disasters. We introduce several income density functions to approximate the income distributions of five samples: New Orleans prior to Katrina, New Orleans after Katrina, the United States during the same year (2005), and then New Orleans and the United States in 2007. We then assess the goodness of fit of these models to determine which most accurately represents the income dis-tributions of the samples. We conclude with a discussion of how the income inequality and distribution was impacted in the city of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina using the best-fitting models and examine the persistence of these changes two years later

Teaching About Psychological Disorders:A Case for Using Discussion Boards in the Classroom

© 2016, © The Author(s) 2016. This study compares the traditional use of case studies against the novel use of discussion boards to teach naive students in the United Arab Emirates about anxiety disorders. Sixty-six female students from an abnormal psychology class were randomly assigned to either the case study condition (CSC) or the discussion board condition (DBC). Students read about anxiety disorders and at the end of the class rated their experience based on four learning outcomes. In each instance, students in the DBC rated their learning outcomes significantly higher than students in the CSC. This suggests that incorporating discussion boards as a pedagogical tool can add a new dimension for engaging student interest, fostering knowledge development, and increasing empathy

AKT supports the metabolic fitness of multiple myeloma cells by restricting FOXO activity

Metabolic alterations are important cancer-associated features that allow cancer cell transformation and their survival under stress conditions. Multiple myeloma (MM) plasma cells show increased glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), characteristics associated with recurrent genetic aberrations that drive the proliferation and survival of MM cells. The protein kinase B/AKT acts as a central node in cellular metabolism and is constitutively active in MM cells. Despite the known role of AKT in modulating cellular metabolism, little is known about the downstream factors of AKT that control the metabolic adaptability of MM cells. Here, we demonstrate that negative regulation of the forkhead box O (FOXO) transcription factors (TF) by AKT is crucial to prevent metabolic shutdown in MM cells, thus contributing to their metabolic adaptability. Our results demonstrate that the expression of several key metabolic genes involved in glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and OXPHOS, are repressed by FOXO TFs. Moreover, the FOXO-dependent repression of glycolysis- and TCA-associated genes correlates with a favorable prognosis in a large MM patient cohort. Our data suggest that repression of FOXO by AKT is essential to sustain glycolysis and the TCA cycle activity in MM cells, and as such predicts patient survival