The demand for domestic services, capital services, wife\u27s home time, and other inputs: an econometric analysis of technical and other changes affecting U.S. households, 1900-1985

The primary purpose of this study is to examine the long-term changes in household production caused by technical and other changes in the United States. The household production model was employed to development of conceptual framework for viewing household decisions on inputs into household production and labor supply;In the empirical analyses, two methodologies were used. First, a VAR (vector autoregression) model was employed to examine the long-term relationships among six aggregate U.S. variables, 1900-1985: the number of immigrants, price of household durable goods, the unemployment rate, average household income, the number of domestic service workers, and the wage rate of domestic servants. The results revealed significant interactions and causal relations between variables in the specified VAR system;Second, a set of household input demand functions were fitted to the aggregate data for 1948-1985 using the almost-ideal-demand system (AIDS). Plausible and significant results were obtained from the six equation demand system consists of domestic services, services of household durable goods, commercial laundry and cleaning services, food away from home, wife\u27s home time, and residual category

Self-assembly of Ni–Fe layered double hydroxide at room temperature for oxygen evolution reaction

Active and stable electrocatalysts are the key to water electrolysis for hydrogen production. This paper reports a facile direct growth method to synthesize NiFe-layered double hydroxides (LDHs) on nickel foil as an electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction. The NiFe-LDH is synthesized by a galvanic process at room temperature without any additional energy for synthesis. The synthesized NiFe-LDH is a karst landform with abundant active sites and efficient mass diffusion. The NiFe-LDH with an oxygen defect show excellent electrocatalytic performance for the OER, with a low overpotential (272 mV at 10 mA/cm2), a small Tafel slope (43 mV/dec), and superior durability. Direct growth synthesis provide excellent electrical conductivity as well as strong bonding between the catalyst layer and the substrate. In addition, this synthesis process is simple to apply in the fabrication of a large size electrode and is believed to be applicable to commercialized alkaline water electrolysis

Cell-permeable peptide nucleic acid antisense oligonucleotide platform targeting human betacoronaviruses

IntroductionAntisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) with therapeutic potential have recently been reported to target the SARS-CoV-2 genome. Peptide nucleic acids (PNAs)-based ASOs have been regarded as promising drug candidates, but intracellular delivery has been a significant obstacle. Here, we present novel modified PNAs, termed OPNAs, with excellent cell permeability that disrupt the RNA genome of SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-OC43 by introducing cationic lipid moiety onto the nucleobase of PNA oligomer backbone.MethodsHCT-8 cells and Caco-2 cells were treated with 1 μM antisense OPNAs at the time of viral challenge and the Viral RNA levels were measured by RT-qPCR three days post infection.ResultsNSP 14 targeting OPNA 5 and 11, reduced the viral titer to a half and OPNA 530, 531 and 533 lowered viral gene expression levels to less than 50% of control by targeting the 5’ UTR region. Several modifications (oligo size and position, etc.) were introduced to enhance the efficacy of selected OPNAs. Improved OPNAs exhibited a dose-dependent reduction in viral replication and nucleoprotein (NP) protein. When a mixture of oligomers was applied to infected cells, viral titer and NP levels decreased by more than eightfold.DiscussionIn this study, we have developed a modified PNA ASO platform with exceptional chemical stability, high binding affinity, and cellular permeability. These findings indicate that OPNAs are a promising platform for the development of antivirals to combat future pandemic viral infections that do not require a carrier

The demand for domestic services, capital services, wife's home time, and other inputs: an econometric analysis of technical and other changes affecting U.S. households, 1900-1985

The primary purpose of this study is to examine the long-term changes in household production caused by technical and other changes in the United States. The household production model was employed to development of conceptual framework for viewing household decisions on inputs into household production and labor supply;In the empirical analyses, two methodologies were used. First, a VAR (vector autoregression) model was employed to examine the long-term relationships among six aggregate U.S. variables, 1900-1985: the number of immigrants, price of household durable goods, the unemployment rate, average household income, the number of domestic service workers, and the wage rate of domestic servants. The results revealed significant interactions and causal relations between variables in the specified VAR system;Second, a set of household input demand functions were fitted to the aggregate data for 1948-1985 using the almost-ideal-demand system (AIDS). Plausible and significant results were obtained from the six equation demand system consists of domestic services, services of household durable goods, commercial laundry and cleaning services, food away from home, wife's home time, and residual category.</p