Gender Differences in Risk Behaviour: Does Nurture Matter?

Women and men may differ in their propensity to choose a risky outcome because of innate preferences or because their innate preferences are modified by pressure to conform to gender-stereotypes. Single-sex environments are likely to modify studentsâ risk-taking preferences in economically important ways. To test this, our controlled experiment gave subjects an opportunity to choose a risky outcome − a real-stakes gamble with a higher expected monetary value than the alternative outcome with a certain payoff − and in which the sensitivity of observed risk choices to environmental factors could be explored. The results show that girls from single-sex schools are as likely to choose the real-stakes gamble as much as boys from either coed or single sex schools, and more likely than coed girls. Moreover, gender differences in preferences for risk-taking are sensitive to the gender mix of the experimental group, with girls being more likely to choose risky outcomes when assigned to all-girl groups. This suggests that observed gender differences in behaviour under uncertainty found in previous studies might reflect social learning rather than inherent gender traits.gender identity, controlled experiment, risk aversion, risk attitudes,

Synthesis of 4-Thiazolidinone Small Molecules as Potential Inhibitors of the Arp2/3 Complex

Life-essential cellular processes such as endocytosis, motility, and division rely on a cell’s ability to precisely regulate construction of actin filaments in response to external factors and signals. Intrinsically involved in this process is the Actin Related Protein 2/3 (Arp2/3) Complex, a seven-subunit ATPase that functions by nucleating a daughter branch of actin from the side of a pre-existing microfilament. Active Arp2/3 complex is necessary for the proliferation of certain metastatic cancers, and inhibition of Arp2/3 complex is emerging as a potentially useful treatment strategy for such cancers. We describe synthesis and in vitro assays of 4-thiazolidinones predicted by computational methods to inhibit of Arp2/3 Complex strongly, and therefore serve as potential lead compounds for drug development. Known Arp2/3 inhibitor CK-869 serves as the starting point for derivative synthesis. We discuss the efforts towards the synthesis of new compounds and the biochemical data collected about their potency

Synthesis of Small Molecule Derivatives of CK-666 as Potential Inhibitors of the Arp2/3 Complex

The Actin-Related Protein (Arp) 2/3 Complex is an actin nucleating factor intrinsically involved in cellular regulation of actin networks during life-essential processes such as motility. Overexpression of the Arp2/3 complex has indicated as a factor allowing the proliferation of certain metastatic cancers. This work describes the synthesis and in vitro biochemical testing of several molecules predicted by computational docking to be inhibitors of Arp2/3 Complex, and therefore of potential interest in clinical applications. The molecules are designed based off of the structure of known Arp2/3 inhibitor CK-666, which was discovered via high-throughput screening. Details of the synthesis of the tryptamine derivatives are discussed, and the bulk actin polymerization assay used to determine potency of the new compounds is discussed

Gender Differences in Risk Aversion: Do Single-Sex Environments Affect their Development?

Single-sex classes within coeducational environments are likely to modify students' risk-taking attitudes in economically important ways. To test this, we designed a controlled experiment using first year college students who made choices over real-stakes lotteries at two distinct dates. Students were randomly assigned to classes of three types: all female, all male, and coeducational. They were not allowed to change group subsequently. We found that women are less likely to make risky choices than men at both dates. However, after eight weeks in a single-sex environment, women were significantly more likely to choose the lottery than their counterparts in coeducational groups. These results are robust to the inclusion of controls for IQ and for personality type, as well as to a number of sensitivity tests. Our findings suggest that observed gender differences in behaviour under uncertainty found in previous studies might partly reflect social learning rather than inherent gender traits.gender, risk preferences, single-sex groups, cognitive ability

Glass shell manufacturing in space

Residual gases always found in glass shells are CO2, O2 and N2. In those cases where high water vapor pressure is maintained in the furnace, water is also found in the shells. Other evidence for the existence of water in shells is the presence of water-induced surface weathering of the interior shell surface. Water and CO2 are the predominant volatiles generated by the pyrolysis of both inorganic and hydrolyzed metal-organic gels. The pyrolysates of unhydrolyzed metal-organic gels also contain, in addition to water and CO2, significant levels of organic volatiles, such as ethanol and some hydrocarbons; on complete oxidation, these produce CO2 and water as well. Water is most likely the initial blowing agent, it is produced copiously during the initial stages of heating. In the later stages, CO2 becomes the dominant gas as H2O is lost at increasing rates. Water in the shell arises mainly from gel dehydration, CO2 by sodium bicarbonate/carbonate decomposition and carbon oxidation, and O2 and N2 by permeation of the ambient furnace air through the molten shell wall

The effect of health insurance reform: Evidence from China

This paper estimates the impact of a health insurance reform on health outcomes in urban China. Using the China Health and Nutrition Survey we find that this reform increases the rate of health insurance coverage significantly among workers in Non-State Owned Enterprises. The double difference (DD) estimations show that the reform also leads to better health outcomes: workers are less likely to get sick and more likely to use preventive care. Using an instrumental variable (IV) approach to look at the causal effect of health insurance, we find those with health insurance use more preventive care but do not report significantly better health outcomes, an increase in health care utilisation, or an increase in out-of-pocket medical expenditure

Incentives and Childrens's Dietary Choices: A Field Experiment in Primary Schools

We conduct a field experiment in 31 primary schools in England to test the effectiveness of different temporary incentive schemes, a standard individual based incentive scheme and a competitive scheme, on increasing the choice and consumption of healthy items at lunchtime. The individual scheme has a weak positive effect that masks significantly differential effects by age whereas all students respond positively to the competitive scheme.For our sample of interest, the competivie scheme increases choice of healthy items by 33% and consumption of healthy items by 48%, twice and three times as much as ain the individual incentive scheme, respectively. The positive effects generally carry over to the week immediately following the treatment but we find little evidence of any effects six months later. Our results show that incentives can work, at least temporarily, to increase healthy eating but that there are large differences in effectiveness between schemes. Furthermore it is important to analyse things at the individual level as average effects appear to be masking significant heterogeneous effects that are predicted by the health literature

Multiple Charge State Beam Acceleration at Atlas

A test of the acceleration of multiple charge-state uranium beams was performed at the ATLAS accelerator. A 238U+26 beam was accelerated in the ATLAS PII linac to 286 MeV (~1.2 MeV/u) and stripped in a carbon foil located 0.5 m from the entrance of the ATLAS Booster section. A 58Ni9+ 'guide' beam from the tandem injector was used to tune the Booster for 238U+38. All charge states from the stripping were injected into the booster and accelerated. Up to 94% of the beam was accelerated through the Booster linac, with losses mostly in the lower charge states. The measured beam properties of each charge state and a comparison to numerical simulations are reported in this paper.Comment: LINAC2000, MOD0

A Variational Principle Based Study of KPP Minimal Front Speeds in Random Shears

Variational principle for Kolmogorov-Petrovsky-Piskunov (KPP) minimal front speeds provides an efficient tool for statistical speed analysis, as well as a fast and accurate method for speed computation. A variational principle based analysis is carried out on the ensemble of KPP speeds through spatially stationary random shear flows inside infinite channel domains. In the regime of small root mean square (rms) shear amplitude, the enhancement of the ensemble averaged KPP front speeds is proved to obey the quadratic law under certain shear moment conditions. Similarly, in the large rms amplitude regime, the enhancement follows the linear law. In particular, both laws hold for the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process in case of two dimensional channels. An asymptotic ensemble averaged speed formula is derived in the small rms regime and is explicit in case of the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process of the shear. Variational principle based computation agrees with these analytical findings, and allows further study on the speed enhancement distributions as well as the dependence of enhancement on the shear covariance. Direct simulations in the small rms regime suggest quadratic speed enhancement law for non-KPP nonlinearities.Comment: 28 pages, 14 figures update: fixed typos, refined estimates in section