Relative deprivation as a cause of risky behaviors

ABSTRACT

Combining a standard measure of concern about low relative wealth and a standard measure of relative risk aversion leads to a novel explanation of variation in risk-taking behavior identified and documented by social psychologists and economists. We obtain two results: (1) Holding individual i’s wealth and his rank in the wealth distribution constant, the individual’s relative risk aversion decreases when he becomes more relatively deprived as a result of an increase in the average wealth of the individuals who are wealthier than he is. (2) If relative deprivation enters the individual’s utility function approximately linearly then, holding constant individual i’s wealth and the average wealth of the individuals who are wealthier than he is, the individual’s relative risk aversion decreases when he becomes more relatively deprived as a result of a decline in his rank. Our findings provide a theoretical support for evidence about the propensity of relatively deprived individuals to gamble and resort to other risky behaviors.     

Cationic ruthenium complex of the formula [RuCl(2,6-diacetylpyridine)(PPh3)2]BArF and its catalytic activity in the formation of enol esters

A new ruthenium 2,6-diacetylpyridine complex was synthesized and applied in the atom-economic synthesis of enol esters through Markovnikov-directed addition of carboxylic acids to terminal alkynes. The ruthenium complex [RuCl(dap)(PPh₃)₂]⁺BArF^? was synthesized from [RuCl₂(PPh₃)₂] and the corresponding ligand 2,6-diacetylpyridine (dap). The complex was characterized structurally. The new ruthenium complex was utilized under ambient conditions as a catalyst in the Markovnikov addition of carboxylic acids to terminal alkynes to afford the corresponding enol esters in 93% to 52% isolated yields (85?°C, 16?h reaction time, 1?mol% catalyst loading).     

Polymerizable derivatives of long-chain fatty acids. IV. Vinyl esters

Contrary to some published reports, the vinyl esters of saturated fatty acids polymerize readily and rapidly. Vinyl oleate, when present in excess of 5%, and oxygen exert marked retarding effects. Techniques are described for the free-radical-initiated polymerization of the vinyl esters of caprylic, capric, lauric, myristic, palmitic, and stearic acids in bulk, dispersion, solution, and emulsion. Some data are given for polymerization in the presence of chain-transfer agents, such as carbon tetrachloride, dodecylmercaptan, and ethylbenzene. Conditions are reported for obtaining degrees of polymerization from about 2 (when chain-transfer agents are employed) to 10,000 (weight average). The weight average degree of polymerization increases markedly as the conversion increases, particularly above 80%. Even up to extremely high conversions, soluble polymers are obtained in most cases. Solubility characteristics, transition point data, molecular weights (osmometric and light-scattering), and isolation and purification techniques are also reported.     

Fette, Wachse, Ceresin

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Rapid protein-ligand costructures using chemical shift perturbations

Structure-based drug discovery requires the iterative determination of protein-ligand costructures in order to improve the binding affinity and selectivity of potential drug candidates. In general, X-ray and NMR structure determination methods are time consuming and are typically the limiting factor in the drug discovery process. The application of molecular docking simulations to filter and evaluate drug candidates has become a common method to improve the throughput and efficiency of structure-based drug design. Unfortunately, molecular docking methods suffer from common problems that include ambiguous ligand conformers or failure to predict the correct docked structure. A rapid approach to determine accurate protein-ligand costructures is described based on NMR chemical shift perturbation (CSP) data routinely obtained using 2D 1H-15N HSQC spectra in high-throughput ligand affinity screens. The CSP data is used to both guide and filter AutoDock calculations using our AutoDockFilter program. This method is demonstrated for 19 distinct protein-ligand complexes where the docked conformers exhibited an average rmsd of 1.17 +/- 0.74 A relative to the original X-ray structures for the protein-ligand complexes.     

OPTIMAL FISH HARVESTING FOR A POPULATION MODELED BY A NONLINEAR PARABOLIC PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATION

As the human population continues to grow, there is a need for better management of our natural resources in order for our planet to be able to produce enough to sustain us. One important resource we must consider is marine fish populations. We use the tool of optimal control to investigate harvesting strategies for maximizing yield of a fish population in a heterogeneous, finite domain. We determine whether these solutions include no‐take marine reserves as part of the optimal solution. The fishery stock is modeled using a nonlinear, parabolic partial differential equation with logistic growth, movement by diffusion and advection, and with Robin boundary conditions. The objective for the problem is to find the harvest rate that maximizes the discounted yield. Optimal harvesting strategies are found numerically.     

CALCULATION OF THE YOUNG’S MODULUS OF AN ADSORBED POLYMER LAYER

 Polymer layers adsorbed to a surface or in a confined environment often change their mechanical properties. There is even the possibility of solidification of the confined layer. To judge the stiffness of such a layer, we used the Hertz model to calculate the Young’s modulus of the polymer layer in the confinement of AFM experiments with silicon nitride tip with a radius of curvature of R » 50 nm and a glass sphere attached to the cantilever R = 5 mm. Since there is no visible indentation of the layer in the AFM experiments, the layer is either penetrated very easily, or the indentation is too small to be seen in a force curve. The latter would be the case for a polymer layer with a Young’s modulus above 4 ´ 10⁸ Pa in case of an experiment with a silicon nitride tip and 4 ´ 10⁵ Pa in case of a glass sphere.     

Poissonian Behavior of Ising Spin Systems in an External Field

We apply the Stein–Chen method for Poisson approximation to spin-half Ising-type models in positive external field which satisfy the FKG inequality. In particular, we show that, provided the density of minus spins is low and can be expanded as a convergent power series in the activity (fugacity) variable, the distribution of minus spins is approximately Poisson. The error of the approximation is inversely proportional to the number of lattice sites (we obtain upper and lower bounds on the total variation distance between the exact distribution and its Poisson approximation). We illustrate these results by application to specific models, including the mean-field and nearest neighbor ferromagnetic Ising models.