cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Fog drip maintains dry season ecological function in a California coastal pine forest
Creators: name: Fischer, Douglas T.
name: Still, Christopher J.
name: Ebert, Colin M.
name: Baguskas, Sara A.
name: Williams, A. Park
name: Columbia University. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2016
Subjects: Soil moisture
Forest ecology
Fog
Seasons

description: Fog drip is recognized as an important source of water for many ecosystems that often harbor a disproportionate fraction of endemic species. Characterizing and quantifying the ecological importance of fog drip in these ecosystems requires a range of approaches. We report on a multi‐faceted study of Bishop pine (Pinus muricata D. Don) along a coastal‐inland transect on an island off Southern California. Hourly sampling included micrometeorology, sap flux, and soil moisture. Monthly measurements included changes in tree girth, plant water stress, and isotopic values of fogwater, rainwater, and xylem water. These data show that summertime fog drip clearly affected soil moisture and maintained aspects of tree function, including leaf water relations, sap flux dynamics, and growth rates. Although water from fog drip to the soil surface was occasionally taken up by pine trees, as quantified with isotopic measurements and a Bayesian mixing model, this utilization of fog drip was highly variable in space and time. The proportion of fogwater inferred to have been used is also much less than has been demonstrated in more mesic coastal forest ecosystems using isotopic methods. These results thus suggest high ecosystem sensitivity to even moderate amounts of fog drip, a finding with important implications as climate change differentially affects fog and rain patterns.
Regional growth decline of sugar maple (Acer saccharum) and its potential causes
Creators: name: Bishop, Daniel Alexander
name: Beier, Colin M.
name: Pederson, Neil
name: Lawrence, Gregory B.
name: Stella, John C.
name: Sullivan, Timothy J.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2015
Subjects: Sugar maple--Growth
Dendrochronology

description: Sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh) has experienced poor vigor, regeneration failure, and elevated mortality across much of its range, but there has been relatively little attention to its growth rates. Based on a well‐replicated dendrochronological network of range‐centered populations in the Adirondack Mountains (USA), which encompassed a wide gradient of soil fertility, we observed that the majority of sugar maple trees exhibited negative growth trends in the last several decades, regardless of age, diameter, or soil fertility. Such growth patterns were unexpected, given recent warming and increased moisture availability, as well as reduced acidic deposition, which should have favored growth. Mean basal area increment was greater on base‐rich soils, but these stands also experienced sharp reductions in growth. Growth sensitivity of sugar maple to temperature and precipitation was non‐stationary during the last century, with overall weaker relationships than expected. Given the favorable competitive status and age structure of the Adirondack sugar maple populations sampled, evidence of widespread growth reductions raises concern over this ecologically and economically important tree. Further study will be needed to establish whether growth declines of sugar maple are occurring more widely across its range.
Population genetics and allele-specific silencing of the Huntington disease mutation
Creators: name: Kay, Christopher
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2017

description: Huntington disease (HD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expanded CAG trinucleotide repeat in the huntingtin gene (HTT). A repeat of ≥36 CAG defines the HD mutation and is diagnostic in the presence of motor or psychiatric phenotypes. All patients have an expanded CAG repeat, usually inherited from an affected parent and heterozygous with a normal (≤35) CAG repeat allele. This thesis addresses numerous gaps in our understanding of the HD mutation at the population level, including heterozygote frequency, penetrance, ancestry, the de novo mutation rate, and haplotypes useful for therapeutic gene silencing. Dense SNP genotyping across HTT in HD patients and relatives from Canada, Sweden, France, and Italy allowed definition of the three most common HD mutation haplotypes in populations of European ancestry. All common defining alleles of these haplotypes were identified from the 1000 Genomes Project reference data and validated by direct genotyping of HD patients and their families. Haplotypes of the HD mutation provide mutually exclusive sets of target variants for allele-specific HTT silencing in the maximum number of European ancestry patients. Haplotypes of the HD mutation were investigated in additional HD patient populations worldwide. The HD mutation in Peru occurs most frequently on the A1 HTT haplotype, as in Europe, but on a distinct A1 variant found in Amerindian controls, supporting an indigenous origin of the HD mutation in Latin America. The general population frequency of the HD mutation was estimated from CAG repeat genotyping of 7315 individuals in Canada, the United States, and Scotland, revealing that approximately 1 in 400 people (0.246%) has a CAG repeat of 36 or greater. This frequency of the HD mutation in the general population is higher than expected from clinical prevalence estimates. The normal CAG repeat distribution was characterized in a range of ethnically distinct populations, allowing comparative estimates of the HD new mutation rate. Estimated as a function of intermediate CAG repeat frequencies below the pathogenic range (27-35 CAG), 1 in 5372 births is a new mutation for HD in European ancestry populations, representing 7.1% of HD mutations (≥36 CAG) in the general population.
Effects of Massive Neutrinos on the Large-Scale Structure of the Universe
Creators: name: Marulli, Federico
name: Carbone, Carmelita
name: Viel, Matteo
name: Moscardini, Lauro
name: Cimatti, Andrea
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Cosmological neutrinos strongly affect the evolution of the largest structures in the Universe, i.e. galaxies and galaxy clusters. We use large box-size full hydrodynamic simulations to investigate the non-linear effects that massive neutrinos have on the spatial properties of cold dark matter (CDM) haloes. We quantify the difference with respect to the concordance LambdaCDM model of the halo mass function and of the halo two-point correlation function. We model the redshift-space distortions and compute the errors on the linear distortion parameter beta introduced if cosmological neutrinos are assumed to be massless. We find that, if not taken correctly into account and depending on the total neutrino mass, these effects could lead to a potentially fake signature of modified gravity. Future nearly all-sky spectroscopic galaxy surveys will be able to constrain the neutrino mass if it is larger than 0.6 eV, using beta measurements alone and independently of the value of the matter power spectrum normalisation. In combination with other cosmological probes, this will strengthen neutrino mass constraints and help breaking parameter degeneracies.
description: Minor changes, refs added, the version to appear in MNRAS
How Protective to the Environment is the Pesticide Risk Assessment and Registration Process in the United States?
Creators: name: Moore, Dwayne
name: McCarroll-Butler, Caleb
name: Avanasi, Raghavendhran
name: Chen, Wenlin
name: White, Mark
name: Brain, Richard
Publisher: name: Journal of Regulatory Science
Year: 2021
Subjects: pesticide risk assessment
pesticide registration
conservatism
environmental protection
regulatory science
Risk Assessment
Pesticide Registration
Regulatory Science

description: The media, public, and other stakeholders are generally unaware of the degree of protection provided to the environment by the current pesticide registration process in the United States. Each pesticide product must meet extensive fate and toxicological data requirements (typically 100+ studies) to be considered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA uses that information to conduct ecological, human health, and benefits assessments and make decisions on whether to register pesticides and, if so, under what conditions. The assessments rely on conservative assumptions, models, and inputs to consistently err on the side of caution throughout the pesticide registration process. The rigorous compliance requirements specified in the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA) are designed to preclude unacceptable adverse effects. However, this reality seldom, if ever, makes headlines. Pesticides are not causing the dire widespread apocalyptic effects often portrayed by some media outlets. Rather, pesticides have been doing what they were intentionally designed to do, controlling pests and increasing yields, within the stringent limitations of registered labels. The continually evolving pesticide registration process was originally predicated on the unintended adverse effects neither anticipated nor considered over 50 years ago, due to insufficient regulation and oversight at the time. However, the contemporary regulatory paradigm in the U.S. is data rich and analysis intensive by design, and perhaps understandably, biased towards ensuring environmental protection when registering pesticides. https://doi.org/10.21423/jrs-v09i2moore
description: Journal of Regulatory Science, Vol. 9 No. 2 (2021)
title: Dementia in Australia: 2021 Summary report
titleType: Subtitle
Creators: name: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Publisher: name: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: FOS: Physical sciences
valueUri: http://www.oecd.org/science/inno/38235147.pdf

description: This summary report presents a snapshot of key findings from the Dementia in Australia online report as at September 2021 and presents statistics on dementia prevalence, burden of disease, deaths, expenditure, carers of people with dementia and the use of health and aged care services among people with dementia. Refer to the Dementia in Australia online report for the most up-to-statistics on dementia in Australia.
Recommendations for Maximum Incorporation Rates of Whole Food in 90-Day Rat Feeding Studies
Creators: name: Goodwin, Laurie
name: Glenn, Kevin
name: Petrick, Jay
name: Ranjan, Rakesh
name: Roper, Jason
name: Sauve-Ciencewicki, Alaina
name: Bauman, Patricia
name: Hodge-Bell, Kimberly
name: Lipscomb, Elizabeth
Publisher: name: Journal of Regulatory Science
Year: 2021
Subjects: incorporation rate
feeding studies
rat feeding studies
genetically modified
Regulatory toxicology
Regulatory Science

description: More than 25 years of 90-day rat feeding studies with GM crops have consistently shown that these studies provide no additional value to safety assessments in the absence of a testable hypothesis. However, some regulatory authorities continue to require these studies while also specifying that the test material should be relevant to the product to be consumed and tested at the maximum incorporation rate not causing nutritional imbalance. In the absence of known or suspected adverse effects, dose range-finding studies are not feasible, yet scientifically justified incorporation rates are needed to balance the nutritional requirements of the animals and to achieve the goal of observing adverse effects, should they occur. When 90-day rat feeding studies are required for GM crop safety assessments, the following maximum incorporation rates (w/w), are recommended: 50 percent maize, 30 percent soybean, 60 percent rice, 15 percent canola, and 10 percent cottonseed. These recommendations are based on empirical data regarding maximum exposure to test material and avoidance of nutritional imbalances and/or exposure to anti-nutrients or toxins naturally present in the whole food. Each recommended maximum incorporation rate provides test material consumption at levels substantially higher than the highest human worldwide chronic consumption and is fully sufficient to address regulatory requirements. https://doi.org/10.21423/jrs-v09i2goodwin
description: Journal of Regulatory Science, Vol. 9 No. 2 (2021)
Has COVID-19 changed the future of pharmaceutical regulation?
Creators: name: Edwards, Harriet
Publisher: name: Journal of Regulatory Science
Year: 2021
Subjects: COVID-19
SARS-CoV-2
AAV Vaccine
MHRA Conditional Approval
Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products
regenerative medicine
regulation
mRNA Vaccine
emergency use authorization
Regulatory Science

description: COVID-19, or SARS-CoV-2, has undoubtedly changed the world as we know it, affecting daily life, health, and economics to an unprecedented degree. Due to the widespread and devastating impact of this previously unknown virus, there has been a massive effort from the pharmaceutical industry to rapidly develop a vaccine to protect the population. As a consequence of the increasingly evolving threat of COVID-19, developers and regulators have had to respond accordingly, learning about the virus while attempting to develop and regulate treatments concurrently. As if this task was not complex enough, developers and regulators have had to face this challenge while simultaneously tackling arguably the largest widescale media attention and pressure that has ever been felt by the industry, with mainstream media, politicians, and the general public all having a vested interest in the development of the vaccines and an opinion on how they should be developed, distributed, and monitored. It is therefore a true testament to developers and regulators alike that many vaccines have already been authorized for use (or are about to be) in so many countries and territories across the world, in record time. However, this success brings many questions as to why other medicines have not been regulated at such speed before and whether the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines have received ‘special treatment’, with many posing the question: ‘are these vaccines actually safe?’. One thing that is clear, at least to the industry, is that the incredible flexibility, pragmatism, and creativity of developers and regulators in their approach to authorizing the vaccines has, unequivocally, been a main contributor to the rapid availability of these novel vaccines. This article aims to examine whether COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) has changed the future of regulation through identifying and discussing the notable regulatory milestones achieved over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic (to date), and critically analyzing the regulation of those successful vaccine candidates that have been authorized at the time of writing, while posing the ultimate question; has COVID-19 revolutionized the future of regulation of medicine development and authorization or are we simply responding to an unprecedented global pandemic? https://doi.org/10.21423/jrs-v09i2edwards
description: Journal of Regulatory Science, Vol. 9 No. 2 (2021)
Anomalously enhanced photoemission from the Dirac point and symmetry of the self-energy variations for the surface states in Bi2Se3
Creators: name: Kordyuk, A. A.
name: Zabolotnyy, V. B.
name: Evtushinsky, D. V.
name: Kim, T. K.
name: Buechner, B.
name: Plyushchay, I. V.
name: Berger, H.
name: Borisenko, S. V.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: Other Condensed Matter (cond-mat.other)
subject: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Accurate analysis of the photoemission intensity from the surface states of Bi2Se3 reveals two unusual features: spectral line asymmetry and anomalously enhanced photoemission from the Dirac point. The former indicates a certain symmetry of a scattering process, which results in strongly kω-dependent contribution to the imaginary part of the self-energy that changes sign while crossing both the dispersion curves and the energy of the Dirac point. The latter is hard to describe by one particle spectral function while a final state interference seems to be plausible explanation.
Additional file 9 of Quantitative analysis of transcriptome dynamics provides novel insights into developmental state transitions
Creators: name: Johnson, Kristin
name: Freedman, Simon
name: Braun, Rosemary
name: LaBonne, Carole
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Cell Biology
subject: Genetics
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: 19999 Mathematical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: Developmental Biology
subject: Statistics
subject: 110309 Infectious Diseases
subject: FOS: Health sciences
subject: Computational Biology

description: Additional file 9: Supplemental Figure 9. Raw Images of Supplemental Western Blots. (A) Supplemental Figure 5A Western blot analysis of lysates of developing mesoderm (20ng/uL BMP4/7) and endoderm (160ng/uL Activin) explants for pSmad2 and Smad2 with Actin loading control. Blot was cut prior to antibody hybridization to conserve antibody. Initial scan showing blot edges (top) and unedited high resolution scan of relevant size bands (bottom) both provided. (B) Supplemental Figure 7C Western Blot Analysis of lysates for epidermal (WT) and BMP4/7 treated at stage 9 (BMP4/7 20ng/uL) explants collected at stage 10 and epidermal (WT) and BMP4/7 treated at stage 10.5 (BMP4/7 20ng/uL) explants collected at stage 11 for pSmad1/5/8 with Actin loading control. Blot was cut prior to hybridization with antibody to conserve antibody. Initial scan showing blot edges (top) and unedited high resolution scan of revelant size bands (bottom) both provided. All three replicates are shown, Supplemental Figure 6A is replicate 1.
The interaction of land‐use legacies and hurricane disturbance in subtropical wet forest: twenty‐one years of change
Creators: name: Hogan, James Aaron
name: Zimmerman, Jess K.
name: Thompson, Jill
name: Nytch, Christopher J.
name: Uriarte, María
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2016
Subjects: Hurricanes--Environmental aspects
Plant communities
Land use--Environmental aspects
Jungle ecology

description: Disturbance shapes plant communities over a wide variety of spatial and temporal scales. How natural and anthropogenic disturbance interact to shape ecological communities is highly variable and begs a greater understanding. We used five censuses spanning the years 1990–2011 from the 16‐ha Luquillo Forest Dynamics Plot (LFDP) in northeast Puerto Rico to investigate the interplay of human land‐use legacies dating to the early 20th century and two recent hurricanes (Hugo, 1989 and Georges, 1998). The LFDP is a landscape mosaic comprised of an area of mature subtropical wet forest and three areas of secondary forest with differing past land‐use intensities. We examined the degree to which hurricane disturbance–effect and subsequent community recovery varied across past land‐use classes. We expected areas with greater intensity of human land use to be more affected by hurricane disturbance therefore exhibiting greater initial damage and longer successional recovery times. Structurally, areas of secondary forest contained smaller trees than old‐growth areas; hurricanes caused widespread recruitment of shrubs and saplings that thinned with time since the first hurricane. Species richness of the plot declined over time, mostly due to the loss of rare species, but also due to the loss of some heliophilic, pioneer species that became abundant after the first hurricane. Species composition differed strongly between areas of secondary and mature forest, and these differences were largely constant over time, except for an increase in compositional differences following the second hurricane. An indicator species analysis attributed this pattern to the longer persistence of pioneer species in areas of greater past land‐use intensity, likely due to the more open canopy in secondary forest. When secondary forest areas of differing past land‐use intensity were considered separately, few species of low community rank were found as indicators. When these areas were combined, more and higher‐ranked species emerged as indicators, creating ecologically meaningful indicator species combinations that better captured the broad‐scale plant community response to past land use. Our findings support the idea that effects of past land use can persist for decades to centuries following land‐use abandonment, illustrating the importance of land‐use legacies in shaping regenerating tropical secondary forests.
Utility of Weight-of-Evidence Components in Risk Assessment: Example of Digestion Results in the Allergenicity Assessment of Newly Expressed Proteins in Genetically Engineered Crops
Creators: name: Herman, Rod
name: Roper, Jason
name: Storer, Nicholas
Publisher: name: Journal of Regulatory Science
Year: 2021
Subjects: risk assessment
weight of evidence
genetically engineered crops
allergenicity
regulatory oversight
Regulatory Science

description: Various weight-of-evidence risk-assessment frameworks have been used for regulatory decision making. In this policy commentary, we critically assess the value of including gastric and/or intestinal digestion results in the weight of evidence designed to inform the allergenicity assessment of newly expressed proteins in genetically engineered crops. This example highlights a general concept: specifically, that there is negligible value in considering a factor as a component of the risk assessment when differing outcomes for this factor do not result in different risk decisions under any reasonable hypothetical scenario regarding results from the other components of the risk assessment. We conclude that equitable and science-based regulatory guidance should include examples of weight-of-evidence scenarios illustrating how differing outcomes for each individual component within the weight of evidence would result in a different conclusion on the acceptability of the potential risk under consideration. Critically assessing each component of the weight of evidence in this manner helps avoid inclusion of components that can only distract risk assessors from the critical decision-making process, possibly resulting in inconsistent risk assessment outcomes for the same datasets. https://doi.org/10.21423/jrs-v09i2rod
description: Journal of Regulatory Science, Vol. 9 No. 2 (2021)
Ownership change, institutional development and performance
Creators: name: Knyazeva, Anzhela
name: Knyazeva, Diana
name: Stiglitz, Joseph E.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2013
Subjects: Economics
Right of property
Privatization
Banks and banking

description: This paper conducts a cross-country empirical study of the impact of institutions and agency conflicts on ownership reforms and their implications for changes in performance and efficiency. We examine two main questions. First, we evaluate the effects of certain property rights and institutional quality measures on performance and efficiency. We find that property rights and contracting rights protections contribute to stronger post-privatization performance. Second, we ask whether sectors undergoing changes from state to private ownership exhibit better or worse performance than sectors remaining public. We find an insignificant effect of privatization in ordinary least squares estimates and a negative short-term effect after correcting for endogeneity of privatization decisions that disappears in the long run, consistent with recently privatized enterprises facing short-run costs of restructuring and the challenges of mitigating agency and expropriation concerns.
Stable Growth in an Era of Crises: Learning from Economic Theory and History
Creators: name: Stiglitz, Joseph E.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2013
Subjects: Economics
Macroeconomics
Economic history
Financial crises
Euro

description: The financial crisis and the Great Recession to which it gave rise exposed the deep flaws in standard macro-economic models, and in the way those models were deployed. In this paper, based on a talk given to the Turkish Economic Association in November 2012, Joseph E. Stiglitz discusses the range of these deficiencies and the ways in which the models must be reformed. The paper first examines five particular issues in the current policy debate and explains why the standard model provides a misguided framework for addressing them. The paper identifies the fundament al flaws in the standard model, and argues that in trying to fine tune the models for “normal” periods, it failed to address the more profound question of how to explain deep downturns, including slow recoveries. A central lacuna is the lack of attention to credit and the institutions providing it. It explains how a better understanding of banks would have led to better ways to recapitalize the banking system than tose employed in the aftermath of the crisis. Finally, the paper relates all of these issues to the ongoing Euro crisis, showing in particular that the structure of the euro, though seemingly designed to improve the efficiency of resource allocations, has actually created an unstable and inefficient system .
Economies with Heterogeneous Interacting Learning Agents
Creators: name: Landini, Simone
name: Gallegati, Mauro
name: Stiglitz, Joseph E.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2015
Subjects: Economics
Business cycles
Learning

description: Economic agents differ from physical atoms because of the learning capability and memory, which lead to strategic behaviour. Economic agents learn how to interact and behave by modifying their behaviour when the economic environment changes. We show that business fluctuations are endogenously generated by the interaction of learning agents via the phenomenon of regenerative-coordination, i.e. agents choose a learning strategy which leads to a pair of output and price which feedback on learning, possibly modifying it. Mathematically, learning is modelled as a chemical reaction of different species of elements, while inferential analysis develops combinatorial master equation, a technique, which is an alternative approach in modelling heterogeneous interacting learning agents.
Can the Euro Be Saved? An Analysis of the Future of the Currency Union
Creators: name: Stiglitz, Joseph E.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2014
Subjects: Economics
Eurozone
Monetary policy
Banks and banking, Central
Global Financial Crisis (2008-2009)

description: Following the Great Recession, eurozone countries have performed worse than even the currency union’s most pessimistic critics had predicted. The paper identifies the strong fundamental flaws in the design of the eurozone and proposes a set of reforms, both in the structure of the eurozone and current policies, which might enable the euro to work. It traces the flaws to economic misconceptions prevalent at the time the euro was designed, some of which continue to predominate. Reform is likely less costly than allowing the euro to break up. The required political will, however, is not in evidence.
Socio-Economic Considerations and Potential Implications for Gene-Edited Crops
Creators: name: Ludlow, Karinne
name: Smyth, Stuart
name: Falck-Zepeda, Jose
Publisher: name: Journal of Regulatory Science
Year: 2021
Subjects: barriers to innovation
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety
conceptual clarity
innovation
risk
Regulatory Science

description: Regulatory clarity and efficiency are increasingly important for the successful commercialization of technologies resulting from public and private R&D investments. This article examines recent developments in the movement away from mostly science-based risk assessment regulatory and variety approval systems focusing on human and animal health and environmental safety to hybrid systems that include assessment of socio-economic considerations allowed for under the auspices of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. We propose that socio-economic consideration assessments can be grouped into three methodological categories: empirically based, legally grounded and consensus approaches. Our exploration of developments in the three categories reveals gaps in data, consistency and methodology rigor, that must be addressed for efficient and reliable socio-economic consideration assessment. We assess the potential impacts of these gaps on the regulation of gene-edited crop varieties, concluding that if gene-edited crops are regulated as genetically modified crops, they will endure the same fate, that is, lengthy regulatory approval processes and failure to be commercialized. The end result being that the regulatory burdens in potential adopting and food insecure countries will prevent important new crop varieties from reaching farmers and producers for their use. https://doi.org/10.21423/jrs-v09i2ludlow
description: Journal of Regulatory Science, Vol. 9 No. 2 (2021)
Wealth and Income Distribution: New theories Needed for a New Era
Creators: name: Kanbur, Ravi
name: Stiglitz, Joseph E.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2015
Subjects: Economics
Intergenerational relations--Economic aspects
Income distribution
Economic development

description: Growth theories traditionally focus on the Kaldor-Kuznets stylised facts. Ravi Kanbur and Nobelist Joe Stiglitz argue that these no longer hold; new theory is needed. The new models need to drop competitive marginal productivity theories of factor returns in favour of rent-generating mechanism and wealth inequality by focusing on the ‘rules of the game.’ They also must model interactions among physical, financial, and human capital that influence the level and evolution of inequality. A third key component will be to capture mechanisms that transmit inequality from generation to generation.
Resonances in Loewner equations
Creators: name: Arosio, Leandro
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2010
Subjects: subject: Complex Variables (math.CV)
subject: Dynamical Systems (math.DS)
subject: FOS: Mathematics

description: We prove that given a Herglotz vector field on the unit ball of $\mathbb{C}^n$ of the form $H(z,t)=(a_1 z_1,...,a_n z_n)+O(|z|^2)$ with $\Re a_j<0$ for all $j$, its evolution family admits an associated Loewner chain, which is normal if no real resonances occur. Hence the Loewner-Kufarev PDE admits a solution defined for all positive times.
description: 23 pages, corrected typos, revised argument in Proposition 5.5, result unchanged
Tony Atkinson and his Legacy
Creators: name: Aaberge, Rolf
name: Bourguignon, François
name: Brandolini, Andrea
name: Ferreira, Francisco H. G.
name: Gornick, Janet C.
name: Hills, John
name: Jäntti, Markus
name: Jenkins, Stephen P.
name: Marlier, Eric
name: Micklewright, John
name: Nolan, Brian
name: Piketty, Thomas
name: Radermacher, Walter J.
name: Smeeding, Timothy
name: Stern, Nicholas
name: Stiglitz, Joseph E.
name: Sutherland, Holly
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2017
Subjects: Economics
Economic policy
Equality
Poverty

description: Tony Atkinson is universally celebrated for his outstanding contributions to the measurement and analysis of inequality, but he never saw the study of inequality as a separate branch of economics. He was an economist in the classical sense, rejecting any sub‐field labelling of his interests and expertise, and he made contributions right across economics. His death on 1 January 2017 deprived the world of both an intellectual giant and a deeply committed public servant in the broadest sense of the term. This collective tribute highlights the range, depth and importance of Tony's enormous legacy, the product of almost fifty years’ work.
The Vela and Geminga pulsars in the mid-infrared
Creators: name: Danilenko, Andrey A.
name: Zyuzin, Dmitry A.
name: Shibanov, Yuri A.
name: Zharikov, Sergey V.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The Vela and Geminga pulsars are rotation powered neutron stars, which have been identified in various spectral domains, from the near-infrared to hard $γ$-rays. In the near-infrared they exhibit tentative emission excesses, as compared to the optical range. To check whether these features are real, we analysed archival mid-infrared broadband images obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope in the 3.6--160 $μ$m range and compared them with the data in other spectral domains. In the 3.6 and 5.8 $μ$m bands we detected at $\sim$ (4--5)$σ$ significance level a point-like object, that is likely to be the counterpart of the Vela pulsar. Its position coincides with the pulsar at < 0.4 arcsec 1$σ$-accuracy level. Combining the measured fluxes with the available multiwavelength spectrum of the pulsar shows a steep flux increase towards the infrared, confirming the reality of the near-infrared excess reported early, and, hence, the reality of the suggested mid-infrared pulsar identification. Geminga is also identified, but only at a marginal 2$σ$ detection level in one 3.6 $μ$m band. This needs a farther confirmation by deeper observations, while the estimated flux is also compatible with the near-infrared Geminga excess. The detection of the infrared excess is in contrast to the Crab pulsar, where it is absent, but is similar to the two magnetars, 4U 0142+61 and 1E 2259+586, showing similar features. We discuss X-ray irradiated fall-back discs around the pulsars, unresolved pulsar nebula structures, and pulsar magnetospheres as possible origins of the excesses. We note also possible infrared signatures of an extended tail behind Geminga and of the Vela plerion radio lobes.
description: 16 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables
SAHPRA - Relevance of the New South African Health Products Regulatory Authority and Opportunities Ahead
Creators: name: Dureja, Harish
name: Dhiman, Sandeep
Publisher: name: Journal of Regulatory Science
Year: 2021
Subjects: SAHPRA
MCC
South Africa
Challenges
Opportunities
Collaboration
Coordination

description: Regulatory environments are constantly evolving, and South Africa has witnessed some significant developments in the recent past. Operational launch of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) as new healthcare products regulator marks a key milestone in the establishment of international standards in regulatory practices. Both the Medicines Control Council (MCC) and the Directorate of Radiation Control (DRC) were replaced by SAHPRA to bring control of medicines, medical devices, in vitro diagnostic tests and devices, and radiation emitting products under one regulatory body. The new agency was instituted under schedule 3A of Public Finance Management Act as public entity, thereby enabling it to retain the revenue generated. The change has evidently impacted the regulatory practices positively; however, the challenges inherited by regulators and those regulated are enormous. SAHPRA needs to confront the challenges and make the most out of the opportunities ahead. This study aims to focus on understanding the new agency, its evolution over time, objectives set forth, organizational and operational construct, responsibilities, accomplishments so far, outstanding challenges, opportunities ahead, and the collaborative efforts that can support its operation. SAHPRA has had noteworthy achievements as a healthcare products regulator. By making most use of collaboration efforts SAHPRA is all set to work through the challenges and gain from opportunities. https://doi.org/10.21423/jrs-v09i2dureja
description: Journal of Regulatory Science, Vol. 9 No. 2 (2021)
Visual text analytics for online conversations
Creators: name: Prince, Md Enamul Hoque
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2017

description: With the proliferation of Web-based social media, asynchronous conversations have become very common for supporting online communication and collaboration. Yet the increasing volume and complexity of conversational data often make it very difficult to get insights about the discussions. This dissertation posits that by integrating natural language processing and information visualization techniques in a synergistic way, we can better support the user's task of exploring and analyzing conversations. Unlike most previous systems, which do not consider the specific characteristics of online conversations; we applied design study methodologies from the visualization literature to uncover the data and task abstractions that guided the development of a novel set of visual text analytics systems. The first of such systems is ConVis, that supports users in exploring an asynchronous conversation, such as a blog. ConVis offers a visual overview of a conversation by presenting topics, authors, and the thread structure of a conversation, as well as various interaction techniques such as brushing and linked highlighting. Broadening from a single conversation to a collection of conversations, MultiConVis combines a novel hierarchical topic modeling with multi-scale exploration techniques. A series of user studies revealed the significant improvements in user performance and subjective measures when these two systems were compared to traditional blog interfaces. Based on the lessons learned from these studies, this dissertation introduced an interactive topic modeling framework specifically for asynchronous conversations. The resulting systems empower the user in revising the underlying topic models through an intuitive set of interactive features when the current models are noisy and/or insufficient to support their information seeking tasks. Two summative studies suggested that these systems outperformed their counterparts that do not support interactive topic modeling along several subjective and objective measures. Finally, to demonstrate the generality and applicability of our approach, we tailored our previous systems to support information seeking in community question answering forums. The prototype was evaluated through a large-scale Web-based study, which suggests that our approach can be adapted to a specific conversational genre among a diverse range of users. The dissertation concludes with a critical reflection on our approach and considerations for future research.
Devolution, independence, and the optimal provision of public goods
Creators: name: Stiglitz, Joseph E.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2015
Subjects: Economics
Public goods
Decentralization in government

description: This paper examines whether two regions should remain together within a fiscal federation, or separate, when their inhabitants have different preferences for publicly provided goods. The paper focuses on trade-offs between returns to scale in the provision of the goods, and the scope to tailor provision to the tastes of the inhabitants in each region. A general model is developed that includes, as special cases, both pure public and publicly provided goods, and regional and national public goods. We show that when there is a choice between public investment and consumption goods, there will, in general, be a bias against public consumption goods unless taxing powers are fully devolved. We provide conditions under which independence may be desirable even when the region contemplating independence is relatively small.
Monetary Policy in a Multi-Polar World
Creators: name: Stiglitz, Joseph E.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2015
Subjects: Economics
Monetary policy
Banks and banking, Central
Globalization
Quantitative easing (Monetary policy)

description: This paper focuses on monetary policy in the context of a global economy with two or more large countries. It attempts to deal with several questions raised by the domestic ineffectiveness and unintended global results of the United States’ policy of quantitative easing. Our analysis shows that in a world of truly free capital mobility, the effects of monetary policy may be different — typically weaker — than in a closed economy. Restrictions on free capital may therefore be advantageous.
The Origins of Inequality, and Policies to Contain It
Creators: name: Stiglitz, Joseph E.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2015
Subjects: Economics
Income distribution
Economic policy
Taxation
Economics--Political aspects

description: This paper critiques the notion that unfettered inequality is an inevitable consequence of contemporary capitalism, and provides an alternative, new framework for analyzing changes in income and wealth distribution. By thinking of these distributions as the result of changing centrifugal and centripetal economic and political forces, we can identify changes in our economic and social structure that may have played a central role in the creation of today’s high level of inequality, and we can analyze the potential impacts of alternative policies. Specifically, I suggest that much of the increase in inequality is associated with the growth in rents — including land and exploitation rents (e.g., arising from monopoly power and political influence).
Setting a Structured Food and Feed Laboratory Testing Capacity in the Arab Region
Creators: name: Godefroy, Samuel
Publisher: name: Journal of Regulatory Science
Year: 2021
Subjects: food safety
food analysis
feed safety
official laboratory
reference laboratory
capacity buidling
arab region
food control
harmonization

description: Food and feed analysis is a key component in the healthy function and performance of a food control system. Sound decision making relies upon accurate food and feed test results, such as robust scientific data, to inform the risk analysis process: the foundation for establishing responsible regulatory measures. This paper presents efforts presently underway in the Arab region to structure the operation of food and feed testing laboratories and to coordinate sanitary and phytosanitary measures, as a means to stimulate intra-regional trade of food and agri-food commodities. It examines previous experiences undertaken to frame such collaborative action in food and feed testing in the European Union (EU), and, more recently in South East Asia. In addition, the outputs of a survey conducted among key opinion leaders, actors of accreditation bodies, and food competent authorities with regard to current assets and challenges faced by food and feed regulatory testing in the Arab region are discussed. Lastly, a path forward is proposed to shape the development of Arab regional Reference Laboratories, and requirements are recommended to achieve a common policy direction and criteria for the designation of such Reference Laboratories. A regional approach is introduced to promote the integration of food regulatory systems in the region, to strengthen the performance, and to enhance the reliability of food and feed testing in priority areas, with the aim to better characterize the food safety and quality realities in the Arab region. https://doi.org/10.21423/jrs-v09i2godefroy
description: Journal of Regulatory Science, Vol. 9 No. 2 (2021)
Comparison of XRF, TXRF, and ICP-MS Methods for Determination of Mercury in Face Creams
Creators: name: Vrdoljak, Gordon
name: Palmer, Peter
name: Jacobs, Richard
name: Moezzi, Bahman
name: Viegas, Alanna
Publisher: name: Journal of Regulatory Science
Year: 2021
Subjects: mercury
face creams
XRF
TXRF
ICP-MS
analytical chemistry
regulatory science

description: Regulatory, media, and watchdog groups have identified numerous face cream products containing percent levels of mercury that far exceed the 1 ppm FDA regulatory limit. Mercury is added to these products to provide skin bleaching properties, and this poses a serious health risk to consumers. This study compares XRF, TXRF, and the more widely accepted ICP-MS methods for determination of mercury in face cream products. To identify contaminated products in a field setting, XRF is the preferred method, as it involves direct analysis of the sample, analysis times of a minute or less, and detection limits down to single ppm levels. XRF analysis gave quantitative results that compared well to those from ICP-MS for homogeneous products, but gave more variable results for products containing small crystals or chunks of inorganic mercury salts. More accurate results for these products requires preparation of a representative sample, microwave digestion, and TXRF or ICP-MS analysis. Given the continued production and distribution of mercury-containing face cream products, it is recommended that portable XRF be used to screen for such products or for accurate quantification of mercury in homogeneous products, and TXRF be used to determine the mercury content of more heterogeneous products. https://doi.org/10.21423/jrs-v09i2vrdoljak
description: Journal of Regulatory Science, Vol. 9 No. 2 (2021)
Additional file 1 of Strategies to improve the quality of wheat- flour- bread chain in Iran: the perspective of different stakeholders
Creators: name: Bazhan, Marjan
name: Shafiei Sabet, Farnam
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Science Policy
subject: Plant Biology

description: Supplementary Material 1
Income Contingent Loans for the Unemployed: A Preulde to a General Theory of the Efficient Provision of Social Insurance
Creators: name: Stiglitz, Joseph E.
name: Yun, Jungyoll
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2014
Subjects: Economics
Unemployment insurance
Income-contingent loans
Social security

description: Income contingent loans (ICL) have mainly been discussed in the context of the finance of education. But, in fact, they are equally relevant whenever there is a simultaneous need for smoothing across states of nature and over time. This chapter explores in detail one such application, to unemployment.
Dynastic inequality, mobility and equality of opportunity
Creators: name: Kanbur, Ravi
name: Stiglitz, Joseph E.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2016
Subjects: Economics
Equality
Social mobility
Income distribution

description: One often heard counter to the concern about rising income and wealth inequality is that it is wrong to focus on inequality of outcomes in a “snapshot”. Intergenerational mobility and “equality of opportunity”, so the argument goes, is what matters for normative evaluation. In response to this counter, we ask what pattern of intergenerational mobility leads to lower inequality not between individuals but between the dynasties to which they belong? And how does this pattern in turn relate to commonly held views on what constitutes equality of opportunity? We revive and revisit here our earlier contributions which were in the form of working papers (Kanbur and Stiglitz 1982, 1986) in order to engage with the current debate. Focusing on bistochastic transition matrices in order to hold constant the steady state snapshot income distribution, we develop an explicit partial ordering which ranks matrices on the criterion of inequality between infinitely lived dynasties. A general interpretation of our result is that when comparing two transition matrices, if one matrix is “further away” from the identity matrix then it will lead to lower dynastic inequality. More specifically, the result presents a computational procedure to check if one matrix dominates another on dynastic inequality. We can also assess “equality of opportunity”, defined as identical prospects irrespective of starting position. We find that this is not necessarily the mobility pattern which minimizes dynastic inequality.
Additional file 2 of Strategies to improve the quality of wheat- flour- bread chain in Iran: the perspective of different stakeholders
Creators: name: Bazhan, Marjan
name: Shafiei Sabet, Farnam
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Science Policy
subject: Plant Biology

description: Supplementary Material 2