A Comparative Estimation of Financial Frictions in Japan and Korea

We apply the Business Cycle Accounting method a la Chari, Kehoe, and McGrattan (2007) to the Japanese and the Korean economy and quantitatively analyze the effects of financial frictions during the recent recessions. First, we compute exogenous distor- tions in the financial, government purchases, labor, and production markets. The preliminary results show that the sudden drop in production efficiency (TFP) was the main reason of the Korean recession while the increase in labor market distortions was the main reason of the Japanese slump. Next, we orthogonalize the innovations to the distortions and quantify the maximum spill-over effects of financial frictions on output fluctuations in both countries following Christiano and Davis (2006). Our results imply that financial frictions may have been important in explaining the recessions in both countries through their effects on TFP and labor market distortions

Solitons of Sigma Model on Noncommutative Space as Solitons of Electron System

We study the relationship of soliton solutions for electron system with those of the sigma model on the noncommutative space, working directly in the operator formalism. We find that some soliton solutions of the sigma model are also the solitons of the electron system and are classified by the same topological numbers.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX2e, improvements to discussions, Version to be published in JHE

p38α (MAPK14) critically regulates the immunological response and the production of specific cytokines and chemokines in astrocytes.

In CNS lesions, "reactive astrocytes" form a prominent cellular response. However, the nature of this astrocyte immune activity is not well understood. In order to study astrocytic immune responses to inflammation and injury, we generated mice with conditional deletion of p38α (MAPK14) in GFAP+ astrocytes. We studied the role of p38α signaling in astrocyte immune activation both in vitro and in vivo, and simultaneously examined the effects of astrocyte activation in CNS inflammation. Our results showed that specific subsets of cytokines (TNFα, IL-6) and chemokines (CCL2, CCL4, CXCL1, CXCL2, CXCL10) are critically regulated by p38α signaling in astrocytes. In an in vivo CNS inflammation model of intracerebral injection of LPS, we observed markedly attenuated astrogliosis in conditional GFAPcre p38α(-/-) mice. However, GFAPcre p38α(-/-) mice showed marked upregulation of CCL2, CCL3, CCL4, CXCL2, CXCL10, TNFα, and IL-1β compared to p38αfl/fl cohorts, suggesting that in vivo responses to LPS after GFAPcre p38α deletion are complex and involve interactions between multiple cell types. This finding was supported by a prominent increase in macrophage/microglia and neutrophil recruitment in GFAPcre p38α(-/-) mice compared to p38αfl/fl controls. Together, these studies provide important insights into the critical role of p38α signaling in astrocyte immune activation

Lost equivalence of nonlinear sigma and CP1CP^{1} models on noncommutative space

We show that the equivalence of nonlinear sigma and $CP^{1}$ models which is valid on the commutative space is broken on the noncommutative space. This conclusion is arrived at through investigation of new BPS solitons that do not exist in the commutative limit.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX2

New BPS Solitons in 2+1 Dimensional Noncommutative CP^1 Model

Investigating the solitons in the non-commutative $CP^{1}$ model, we have found a new set of BPS solitons which does not have counterparts in the commutative model.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX2e, references added, improvements to discussions, Version to be published in JHE

Measurement of Single and Double Spin-Flip Probabilities in Inelastic Deuteron Scattering on 12C at 270 MeV

The deuteron single and double spin-flip probabilities, S1 and S2, have been measured for the 12C(pol{d},pol{d}') reaction at Ed = 270 MeV for an excitation energy range between 4 and 24 MeV and a scattering angular range between Theta_lab = 2.5 and 7.5 deg. The extracted S1 exhibits characteristic values depending on the structure of the excited state. The S2 is close to zero over the measured excitation energy range. The SFP angular distribution data for the 2+ (4.44 MeV) and 1+ (12.71 MeV) states are well described by the microscopic DWIA calculations

Control of aversion by glycine-gated GluN1/GluN3A NMDA receptors in the adult medial habenula

The unconventional N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor subunits GluN3A and GluN3B can, when associated with the other glycine-binding subunit GluN1, generate excitatory conductances purely activated by glycine. However, functional GluN1/GluN3 receptors have not been identified in native adult tissues. We discovered that GluN1/GluN3A receptors are operational in neurons of the mouse adult medial habenula (MHb), an epithalamic area controlling aversive physiological states. In the absence of glycinergic neuronal specializations in the MHb, glial cells tuned neuronal activity via GluN1/GluN3A receptors. Reducing GluN1/GluN3A receptor levels in the MHb prevented place-aversion conditioning. Our study extends the physiological and behavioral implications of glycine by demonstrating its control of negatively valued emotional associations via excitatory glycinergic NMDA receptors