Life insurance and household consumption.

In this paper, we use data of life insurance holdings by age, sex, and marital status to infer how individuals value consumption in different demographic stages. Essentially, we use revealed preference to estimate equivalence scales and altruism simultaneously in the context of a fully specified model with agents facing U.S. demographic features and with access to savings markets and life insurance markets. Our findings indicate that individuals are very caring for their dependents, that there are large economies of scale in consumption, that children are costly but wives with children produce a lot of goods in the home and that while females seem to have some form of habits created by marriage, men do not. These findings contrast sharply with the standard notions of equivalence scales.Insurance

Visible submicron microdisk lasers

The authors describe the performance of submicron microdisk lasers fabricated within InGaP/InGaAlP quantum well material working at room temperature. The smallest lasers, with diameters of approximately 600 nm, feature ultrasmall mode volumes and exhibit single mode operation at low threshold powers. Their small cavity volumes of approximately 0.03 µm^3 enable microdisk lasers to be used as spectroscopic sources. Here the authors demonstrate the fabrication and characterization of visible, monolithically fabricated, submicron microdisk lasers

Differential Protein Expression During Tail Regeneration of Anolis carolinensis

Some invertebrate and vertebrate species have the ability to regenerate a lost limb. The lizard species are unique in that they can autotomize their tails and regrow them back. In this study, the proteomic change occurring within the regenerating tail of Anolis carolinensis (Green anole) during 72 h period was examined. We ran 2-dimension electrophoresis to separate the proteins and utilized SameSpots software to find 6 different spots that had altered expression of protein. Within those spots, proteins involved in immunity, energetics, and protein folding and degradation were identified. The proteins that were up-regulated were transferrin, nucleotide-binding domain of the sugar kinase superfamily, and CH1 domain in immunoglobulin. The down-regulated proteins include T-complex protein 1, phosphoglucomutase 1, AAA, creatine kinase, ESP15 homology domain, and PINT motif

Constrained efficiency in the neoclassical growth model with uninsurable idiosyncratic shocks

We investigate the welfare properties of the one-sector neoclassic growth model with uninsurable idiosyncratic shocks. We focus on the constrained efficiency notion of the general equilibrium literature, and we demonstrate constrained inefficiency for our model. We provide a characterization of constrained efficiency that uses the first-order condition of a constrained planner's problem that points to the margins of relevance for whether capital is too high or too low: the income composition of the (consumption-)poor. We calibrate our benchmark model parameters governing idiosyncratic risks to the U.S. earnings and wealth distribution, and for this distribution the income of the poor is mainly composed of labor earnings. We compute the constrained-efficient allocations - including transition dynamics - for our model economy, and we conclude that the long-run capital stock in a laissez-faire world is not only too low, but much too low. We also show that one can find parameterizations with different qualitative features: in one case, the steady-state capital stock is too high, and in another case no steady state exists.Constrained efficiency, idiosyncratic risks, neoclassical growth model

Sparse density estimator with tunable kernels

A new sparse kernel density estimator with tunable kernels is introduced within a forward constrained regression framework whereby the nonnegative and summing-to-unity constraints of the mixing weights can easily be satisfied. Based on the minimum integrated square error criterion, a recursive algorithm is developed to select significant kernels one at time, and the kernel width of the selected kernel is then tuned using the gradient descent algorithm. Numerical examples are employed to demonstrate that the proposed approach is effective in constructing very sparse kernel density estimators with competitive accuracy to existing kernel density estimators

Sensemaking of narratives: informing the capabilities development process

This capstone project determines whether sensemaking of soldier narratives can inform the Department of Defense‘s (DOD) capability development process (CDP). Sensemaking is the process of creating awareness and understanding in situations of high complexity or uncertainty. The authors gathered service member narratives concerning their use of fielded equipment, which created metadata for both quantitative and qualitative research and analysis. This capstone compares results from sensemaking of narratives with results from the Warfighter Technology Tradespace Methodology (WTTM), a system designed for the rapid fielding of equipment for small forward operating bases (FOBs) and combat outposts (COPs). The capstone finds that 1) soldier narratives inform the fielding process by providing an additional layer of meaning and context, and 2) soldier narratives do not replace current feedback mechanisms; rather, they play a complementary role. This capstone finds that narratives as a feedback mechanism can be applied during operational testing of newly developed or fielded equipment for the DOD‘s CDP.http://archive.org/details/sensemakingofnar1094542657Major, United States Army;Major, United States Army;Major, United States ArmyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Developmental Regulation of a Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor Controls Postembryonic Cell Cycle Progression in Caenorhabditis Elegans

C. elegans cki-1 encodes a member of the CIP/KIP family of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors, and functions to link postembryonic developmental programs to cell cycle progression. The expression pattern of cki-1::GFP suggests that cki-1 is developmentally regulated in blast cells coincident with G1, and in differentiating cells. Ectopic expression of CKI-1 can prematurely arrest cells in G1, while reducing cki-1 activity by RNA-mediated interference (RNAi) causes extra larval cell divisions, suggesting a role for cki-1 in the developmental control of INTRODUCTION The proper development of a multicellular organism requires the precise orchestration of cell proliferation and differentiation. Despite considerable progress toward understanding the mechanisms of cell cycle progression in single cells, less is known about the coordination of the cell cycle with development in a multicellular context. Developmental control of cell cycle is likely implemented by signals acting on limiting components of the cell cycle machinery (Edgar and Lehner, 1996). For example, in Drosophila, the timing and number of embryonic cell cycles is controlled by the developmental regulation of Cyclin E, String (cdc25), and E2F, which are limiting cell cycle activators (Duronio and O’Farrell, 1994, 1995; Knoblich et al., 1994; Duronio et al., 1995; Richardson et al., 1995; Sauer et al., 1995; Lehner and Lane, 1997), and by the activity of Dacapo, the Drosophila member of the CIP/KIP family of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors (CKIs) (de Nooij et al., 1996; Lane et al., 1996). Cells at the anterior side of the morphogenetic furrow in the fly eye imaginal disc are synchronized in G1 of their penultimate cell cycle by roughex and rca1, which regulate cyclin A (Thomas et al., 1994; Dong et al., 1997). In C. elegans, the number of cell divisions in diverse cell lineages is limited by the activity of cul-1, which likely acts by regulating the degradation of G1 cyclins (Kipreos et al., 1996; Mathias et al., 1996). CKIs block cell division by inhibiting cyclin-dependent kinase activity necessary for the G1/S transition (Harper and Elledge, 1996) and hence these proteins are potential mediators G1/S. cki-1 activity is required for the suspension of cell cycling that occurs in dauer larvae and starved L1 larvae in response to environmental signals. In vulva precursor cells (VPCs), a pathway of heterochronic genes acts via cki- 1 to maintain VPCs in G1 during the L2 stage