Impure Altruism in Dictators’ Giving

We design an experiment to test whether the behavior of dictators can be rationalized by the impurely altruistic utility function. By giving the recipients an endowment of varying levels, we create an environment that allows for observable differences in behavior depending upon whether pure or impure altruism is the primary motivation. We find that the behavior of 66 percent of the dictators can be rationalized by the impurely altruistic utility function, while only 40 percent of the dictators make choices that are consistent with the purely altruistic utility function.Dictator Game, Impure Altruism, Incomplete Crowding Out

Non-Price Determinants of Automotive Demand: Restyling Matters Most

This paper analyzes market share changes in automobile and light truck submarkets. We find that new product, as measured by restyling, represents the most consistent, dominant determinant of demand. On average a ten percent reduction in relative price would yield only one-tenth the market share impact of a restyling. Alternatively, one would have to double one’s relative advertising expenditures to match the impact of a restyling. Several demand determinants not previously modeled, including rebranding and warranty curtailments, were detrimental to domestic manufacturer market shares. Safety appliance adoptions and changes in vehicle reliability had minimal impact on demand.automobile pricing, warranty, safety appliances, rebranding, reliability

Improved correction for the tissue fraction effect in lung PET/CT imaging

Recently, there has been an increased interest in imaging different pulmonary disorders using PET techniques. Previous work has shown, for static PET/CT, that air content in the lung influences reconstructed image values and that it is vital to correct for this 'tissue fraction effect' (TFE). In this paper, we extend this work to include the blood component and also investigate the TFE in dynamic imaging. CT imaging and PET kinetic modelling are used to determine fractional air and blood voxel volumes in six patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. These values are used to illustrate best and worst case scenarios when interpreting images without correcting for the TFE. In addition, the fractional volumes were used to determine correction factors for the SUV and the kinetic parameters. These were then applied to the patient images. The kinetic parameters K1 and Ki along with the static parameter SUV were all found to be affected by the TFE with both air and blood providing a significant contribution to the errors. Without corrections, errors range from 34-80% in the best case and 29-96% in the worst case. In the patient data, without correcting for the TFE, regions of high density (fibrosis) appeared to have a higher uptake than lower density (normal appearing tissue), however this was reversed after air and blood correction. The proposed correction methods are vital for quantitative and relative accuracy. Without these corrections, images may be misinterpreted

Geographies of authority

This is the final version. Available on open access from SAGE Publications via the DOI in this recordWe propose a geography that pluralises the sites, practices, and politics of authority. We defend an approach that tracks less perceptible forms of authority emerging through everyday micropolitics and experimental practices. In contrast to dominant definitions of authority as institutionalized legitimate power, we propose a definition of authority as a relation of guidance emerging from recognition of inequalities in access to truth, experience, or objectivity. Analysing four intersecting areas of authority (algorithmic, experiential, expert, and participatory authority), we propose analyses that trace authority’s affective force, and which address the tension between, but also mutual constitution of, authority and equality

Do people favour policies that protect future generations? Evidence from a British survey of adults

Long-range temporal choices are built into contemporary policy-making, with policy decisions having consequences that play out across generations. Decisions are made on behalf of the public who are assumed to give much greater weight to their welfare than to the welfare of future generations. The paper investigates this assumption. It briefly discusses evidence from sociological and economic studies before reporting the findings of a British survey of people's intergenerational time preferences based on a representative sample of nearly 10,000 respondents. Questions focused on two sets of policies: (i) health policies to save lives and (ii) environmental policies to protect against floods that would severely damage homes, businesses and other infrastructure. For both sets of policies, participants were offered a choice of three policy options, each bringing greater or lesser benefits to their, their children's and their grandchildren's generations. For both saving lives and protecting against floods, only a minority selected the policy that most benefited their generation; the majority selected policies bringing equal or greater benefits to future generations. Our study raises questions about a core assumption of standard economic evaluation, pointing instead to concern for future generations as a value that many people hold in common

Polycomb-mediated repression of EphrinA5 promotes growth and invasion of glioblastoma

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and most aggressive intrinsic brain tumour in adults. Integrated transcriptomic and epigenomic analyses of glioblastoma initiating cells (GIC) in a mouse model uncovered a novel epigenetic regulation of EfnA5. In this model, Bmi1 enhances H3K27me3 at the EfnA5 locus and reinforces repression of selected target genes in a cellular context-dependent fashion. EfnA5 mediates Bmi1-dependent proliferation and invasion in vitro and tumour formation in an allograft model. Importantly, we show that this novel Polycomb feed-forward loop is also active in human GIC and we provide pre-clinical evidence of druggability of the EFNA5 signalling pathway in GBM xenografts overexpressing Bmi1

Thrombotic microangiopathy following onasemnogene abeparvovec for spinal muscular atrophy: A case series

Spinal muscular atrophy is treated with onasemnogene abeparvovec, which replaces the missing survival motor neuron 1 gene via an adeno-associated virus vector. As of July 1, 2020, we had identified 3 infants who developed thrombotic microangiopathy following onasemnogene abeparvovec. Early recognition and treatment of drug-induced thrombotic microangiopathy may lessen mortality and morbidity

High-precision photometric redshifts from Spitzer/IRAC : extreme [3.6] - [4.5] colors identify galaxies in the redshift range z ~ 6.6 - 6.9.

One of the most challenging aspects of studying galaxies in the z 7 universe is the infrequent confirmation of their redshifts through spectroscopy, a phenomenon thought to occur from the increasing opacity of the intergalactic medium to Lyα photons at z \u3e 6.5. The resulting redshift uncertainties inhibit the efficient search for [C II] in z ~ 7 galaxies with sub-millimeter instruments such as ALMA, given their limited scan speed for faint lines. One means by which to improve the precision of the inferred redshifts is to exploit the potential impact of strong nebular emission lines on the colors of z ∼ 4 – 8 galaxies as observed by Spitzer/IRAC. At z ~ 6.8, galaxies exhibit IRAC colors as blue as[3.6] [4.5] 1 - ~- , likely due to the contribution of [O III]+Hβ to the 3.6 μm flux combined with the absence of line contamination in the 4.5 μm band. In this paper we explore the use of extremely blue [3.6] [4.5] - colors to identify galaxies in the narrow redshift window z ~ 6.6 – 6.9. When combined with an I-dropout criterion, we demonstrate that we can plausibly select a relatively clean sample of z ~ 6.8 galaxies. Through a systematic application of this selection technique to our catalogs from all five CANDELS fields, we identify 20 probable z ~ 6.6 – 6.9 galaxies. We estimate that our criteria select the ∼50% strongest line emitters at z ~ 6.8 and from the IRAC colors we estimate a typical [O III]+Hb rest-frame equivalent width of 1085 Å for this sample. The small redshift uncertainties on our sample make it particularly well suited for follow-up studies with facilities such as ALMA

Microglia promote glioblastoma via mTOR-mediated immunosuppression of the tumour microenvironment

Tumour-associated microglia/macrophages (TAM) are the most numerous non-neoplastic populations in the tumour microenvironment in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common malignant brain tumour in adulthood. The mTOR pathway, an important regulator of cell survival/proliferation, is upregulated in GBM, but little is known about the potential role of this pathway in TAM. Here, we show that GBM-initiating cells induce mTOR signalling in the microglia but not bone marrow-derived macrophages in both in vitro and in vivo GBM mouse models. mTOR-dependent regulation of STAT3 and NF-jB activity promotes an immunosuppressive microglial phenotype. This hinders effector T-cell infiltration, proliferation and immune reactivity, thereby contributing to tumour immune evasion and promoting tumour growth in mouse models. The translational value of our results is demonstrated in whole transcriptome datasets of human GBM and in a novel in vitro model, whereby expandedpotential stem cells (EPSC)-derived microglia-like cells are conditioned by syngeneic patient-derived GBM-initiating cells. These results raise the possibility that microglia could be the primary target of mTOR inhibition, rather than the intrinsic tumour cells in GB