Evidence on entrepreneurs in the United States: data from the 1989–2004 survey of consumer finances

Using data from the Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances, the authors examine characteristics of entrepreneurs and the businesses they run. Their analysis confirms that business owners are important sources of saving and wealth creation in the U.S. and that they are less risk averse than other wealthy households. This discounts the notion that the wealth of entrepreneurs disproportionately reflects a buildup of precautionary balances to guard against financial risk.Consumer surveys ; Business enterprises

A Search for Optical Emission from Binary Black Hole Merger GW170814 with the Dark Energy Camera

Binary black hole (BBH) mergers found by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and Virgo detectors are of immense scientific interest to the astrophysics community, but are considered unlikely to be sources of electromagnetic emission. To test whether they have rapidly fading optical counterparts, we used the Dark Energy Camera to perform an i-band search for the BBH merger GW170814, the first gravitational wave (GW) detected by three interferometers. The 87 deg^2 localization region (at 90% confidence) centered in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) footprint enabled us to image 86% of the probable sky area to a depth of i ~ 23 mag and provide the most comprehensive data set to search for electromagnetic (EM) emission from BBH mergers. To identify candidates, we perform difference imaging with our search images and with templates from pre-existing Dark Energy Survey (DES) images. The analysis strategy and selection requirements were designed to remove supernovae and to identify transients that decline in the first two epochs. We find two candidates, each of which is spatially coincident with a star or a high-redshift galaxy in the DES catalogs, and they are thus unlikely to be associated with GW170814. Our search finds no candidates associated with GW170814, disfavoring rapidly declining optical emission from BBH mergers brighter than i ~ 23 mag (L_(optical) ~ 5 × 10^(41) erg s^(−1)) 1–2 days after coalescence. In terms of GW sky map coverage, this is the most complete search for optical counterparts to BBH mergers to date

Relationship Between Household Socio-Economic Status and under-five Mortality in Rufiji DSS, Tanzania.

Disparities in health outcomes between the poor and the better off are increasingly attracting attention from researchers and policy makers. However, policies aimed at reducing inequity need to be based on evidence of their nature, magnitude, and determinants. The study aims to investigate the relationship between household socio-economic status (SES) and under-five mortality, and to measure health inequality by comparing poorest/least poor quintile mortality rate ratio and the use of a mortality concentration index. It also aims to describe the risk factors associated with under-five mortality at Rufiji Demographic Surveillance Site (RDSS), Tanzania. This analytical cross sectional study included 11,189 children under-five residing in 7,298 households in RDSS in 2005. Principal component analysis was used to construct household SES. Kaplan-Meier survival incidence estimates were used for mortality rates. Health inequality was measured by calculating and comparing mortality rates between the poorest and least poor wealth quintile. We also computed a mortality concentration index. Risk factors of child mortality were assessed using Poisson regression taking into account potential confounders. Under-five mortality was 26.9 per 1,000 person-years [95% confidence interval (CI) (23.7-30.4)]. The poorest were 2.4 times more likely to die compared to the least poor. Our mortality concentration index [-0.16; 95% CI (-0.24, -0.08)] indicated considerable health inequality. Least poor households had a 52% reduced mortality risk [incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 0.48; 95% CI 0.30-0.80]. Furthermore, children with mothers who had attained secondary education had a 70% reduced risk of dying compared to mothers with no education [IRR = 0.30; 95% CI (0.22-0.88)]. Household socio-economic inequality and maternal education were associated with under-five mortality in the RDSS. Targeted interventions to address these factors may contribute towards accelerating the reduction of child mortality in rural Tanzania

The science of climate change.

A complex debate is underway on climate change linked to proposals for costly measures that would reshape our power grid. This confronts technical experts outside of the geophysical disciplines with extensive, but unfamiliar, data both supporting and refuting claims that serious action is warranted. For example, evidence is brought to the table from one group of astrophysicists concerned with sunspots--this group believes there is no issue man can manage; while another group of oceanographers concerned with the heat balance in the world's oceans are very alarmed at the loss of arctic ice. What is the evidence? In an effort to put some of these issues in perspective for a technical audience, without a background in geophysics, a brief survey will consider (1) an overview of the 300 years of scientific inquiry on man's relationship to climate; (2) a basic discussion of what is meant by the ''greenhouse'' and why there are concerns which include not only CO{sub 2}, but also CH{sub 4}, N{sub 2}O, and CFC's; (3) the geological record on CO{sub 2}--which likely was present at 1,000 times current levels when life began; (4) the solar luminosity and sunspot question; and (5) the current evidence for global climate change. We are at a juncture where we are attempting to understand the earth as an integrated dynamic system, rather than a collection of isolated components

Development of Family Therapy and the Treatment of Juvenile Delinquents: A Strategy to Curb Youths Violence in Rural South-South Nigeria

The South-South region of Nigeria has of late been a very volatile and insecure region. Incidence of youth’s violence spanning from cultism, militant activities, vandalism, arson, drugs violence etc. has risen to horrifying dimension. Most of these youths were juvenile delinquents who had graduated from mere disorderly conduct to fully grown dangerous youths who had made the streets in the urban centres and rural communities unsafe to dwell and do business. Despite the full scale war declared by the Nigerian security forces against these youths, their population and the frequency of their dangerous actions are still on the rise. This has left the government with the question of ‘what is to be done’ to curb the increasing spate of youths violence in the region. In line with this question, a clinical study has been carried out here to get a clearer picture of the situation in the region. In the face of these crises in the region this paper has come to the conclusion that development of family therapy and the treatment of juvenile delinquents will help to reduce the army of violent youths in the region. This approach will act as a check and subsequently transform such juvenile delinquents into useful youths and on the long run into responsible adults in the society; adults who will not take to criminality. This paper is a product of intense days of field research. Information from primary and secondary sources coupled with the residual knowledge of the researcher in this area made the study a success. Primary data were collected through face-to-face interview with detainees from various police cells across the region and some social workers in government Establishments and Ministries in charge of family and social welfare. The response at all levels was encouraging

\u3ci\u3eDrosophila\u3c/i\u3e Model for Potential Plasticizer Induced Hyperactivity

Plasticizing additives such as phthalates, are known to cause disruptions in human nervous systems linked to neurological disorders, thus with the Drosophila activity monitoring (DAM) system test can be conducted to consider whether the flies are exhibiting hyperactivity (Hlisníková et al., 2021). Drosophila is a useful model for exposure of metabolic compounds followed by general and specific assays of their effects. Our experiments propose a link between exposure to phthalates and hyperactivity between humans that can be investigated with flies as a model for testing hyperactivity (Praveena et al., 2020). The link that is proposed is a cross-sectional study that collected urine samples of children and then scored kids based on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (Kim et al., 2009). The DAM system is a method in which flies are individually monitored for activity during the day and night to notice any differences in general activity, locomotion, and circadian rhythms. The general activities of the flies would be examined alongside a baseline of Drosophila activity, alongside flies induced with glucose to measure any differences in hyperactivity. The addition of glucose is to give a baseline of what hyperactive flies will look like in their sleep cycle and movements in the DAM system We hypothesize a significant increase in hyperactivity in phthalate-exposed flies over both high-glucose and normal flies because phthalates are disrupters in the nervous system, thus may cause signs of hyperactivity when administered to the flies

A Search for Optical Emission from Binary Black Hole Merger GW170814 with the Dark Energy Camera

Binary black hole (BBH) mergers found by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and Virgo detectors are of immense scientific interest to the astrophysics community, but are considered unlikely to be sources of electromagnetic emission. To test whether they have rapidly fading optical counterparts, we used the Dark Energy Camera to perform an i-band search for the BBH merger GW170814, the first gravitational wave (GW) detected by three interferometers. The 87 deg^2 localization region (at 90% confidence) centered in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) footprint enabled us to image 86% of the probable sky area to a depth of i ~ 23 mag and provide the most comprehensive data set to search for electromagnetic (EM) emission from BBH mergers. To identify candidates, we perform difference imaging with our search images and with templates from pre-existing Dark Energy Survey (DES) images. The analysis strategy and selection requirements were designed to remove supernovae and to identify transients that decline in the first two epochs. We find two candidates, each of which is spatially coincident with a star or a high-redshift galaxy in the DES catalogs, and they are thus unlikely to be associated with GW170814. Our search finds no candidates associated with GW170814, disfavoring rapidly declining optical emission from BBH mergers brighter than i ~ 23 mag (L_(optical) ~ 5 × 10^(41) erg s^(−1)) 1–2 days after coalescence. In terms of GW sky map coverage, this is the most complete search for optical counterparts to BBH mergers to date

The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/VIRGO GW170817. V. Rising X-ray Emission from an Off-Axis Jet

We report the discovery of rising X-ray emission from the binary neutron star (BNS) merger event GW170817. This is the first detection of X-ray emission from a gravitational-wave source. Observations acquired with the Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO) at t~2.3 days post merger reveal no significant emission, with L_x<=3.2x10^38 erg/s (isotropic-equivalent). Continued monitoring revealed the presence of an X-ray source that brightened with time, reaching L_x\sim 9x10^39 erg/s at ~15.1 days post merger. We interpret these findings in the context of isotropic and collimated relativistic outflows (both on- and off-axis). We find that the broad-band X-ray to radio observations are consistent with emission from a relativistic jet with kinetic energy E_k~10^49-10^50 erg, viewed off-axis with theta_obs~ 20-40 deg. Our models favor a circumbinary density n~ 0.0001-0.01 cm-3, depending on the value of the microphysical parameter epsilon_B=10^{-4}-10^{-2}. A central-engine origin of the X-ray emission is unlikely. Future X-ray observations at $t\gtrsim 100$ days, when the target will be observable again with the CXO, will provide additional constraints to solve the model degeneracies and test our predictions. Our inferences on theta_obs are testable with gravitational wave information on GW170817 from Advanced LIGO/Virgo on the binary inclination.Comment: 7 Pages, 4 Figures, ApJL, In Press. Keywords: GW170817, LV

The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/VIRGO GW170817. VII. Properties of the Host Galaxy and Constraints on the Merger Timescale

We present the properties of NGC 4993, the host galaxy of GW170817, the first gravitational wave (GW) event from the merger of a binary neutron star (BNS) system and the first with an electromagnetic (EM) counterpart. We use both archival photometry and new optical/near-IR imaging and spectroscopy, together with stellar population synthesis models to infer the global properties of the host galaxy. We infer a star formation history peaked at $\gtrsim 10$ Gyr ago, with subsequent exponential decline leading to a low current star formation rate of 0.01 M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$, which we convert into a binary merger timescale probability distribution. We find a median merger timescale of $11.2^{+0.7}_{-1.4}$ Gyr, with a 90% confidence range of $6.8-13.6$ Gyr. This in turn indicates an initial binary separation of $\approx 4.5$ R$_{\odot}$, comparable to the inferred values for Galactic BNS systems. We also use new and archival $Hubble$ $Space$ $Telescope$ images to measure a projected offset of the optical counterpart of $2.1$ kpc (0.64$r_{e}$) from the center of NGC 4993 and to place a limit of $M_{r} \gtrsim -7.2$ mag on any pre-existing emission, which rules out the brighter half of the globular cluster luminosity function. Finally, the age and offset of the system indicates it experienced a modest natal kick with an upper limit of $\sim 200$ km s$^{-1}$. Future GW$-$EM observations of BNS mergers will enable measurement of their population delay time distribution, which will directly inform their viability as the dominant source of $r$-process enrichment in the Universe.Comment: 9 Pages, 3 Figures, 2 Tables, ApJL, In Press. Keywords: GW170817, LV

Is the Positive Association Between Middle-Income and Rich Household Wealth and Adult Sub-Saharan African Women\u27s Overweight Status Modified by the Level of Education Attainment? A Cross-Sectional Study of 22 Countries

BACKGROUND: Previous studies show a positive association between household wealth and overweight in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries; however, the manner in which this relationship differs in the presence of educational attainment has not been well-established. This study examined the multiplicative effect modification of educational attainment on the association between middle-income and rich household wealth and overweight status among adult females in 22 SSA countries. We hypothesized that household wealth was associated with a greater likelihood of being overweight among middle income and rich women with lower levels of educational attainment compared to those with higher levels of educational attainment. METHODS: Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data from 2006 to 2016 for women aged 18-49 years in SSA countries were used for the study. Overweight was defined as a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25 kg/m2. Household wealth index tertile was the exposure and educational attainment, the effect modifier. Potential confounders included age, ethnicity, place of residence, and parity. Descriptive analysis was conducted, and separate logistic regression models were fitted for each of the 22 SSA countries to compute measures of effect modification and 95% confidence intervals. Analysis of credibility (AnCred) methods were applied to assess the intrinsic credibility of the study findings and guide statistical inference. RESULTS: The prevalence of overweight ranged from 12.6% in Chad to 56.6% in Swaziland. Eighteen of the 22 SSA countries had measures of effect modification below one in at least one wealth tertile. This included eight of the 12 low-income countries and all 10 middle income countries. This implied that the odds of overweight were greater among middle-income and rich women with lower levels of educational attainment than those with higher educational attainment. On the basis of the AnCred analysis, it was found that the majority of the study findings across the region provided some support for the study hypothesis. CONCLUSIONS: Women in higher wealth strata and with lower levels of educational attainment appear to be more vulnerable to overweight compared to those in the same wealth strata but with higher levels of educational attainment in most low- and middle- income SSA countries