Essays on Misplanning Wealth and Health: A Behavioural Approach

The dissertation consists of three essays on misplanning wealth and health accumulation. The conventional economics assumes that individual's intertemporal preferences are exponential (exponential preferences, EP). Recent findings in behavioural economics have shown that, actually, people do discount near future relatively heavier than distant future. This implies hyperbolic intertemporal preferences (HP). Essays I and II concentrate especially on the effects of a delayed completion of tasks, a feature of behaviour that HP enables. Essay III uses current Finnish data to analyse the evolvement of the quality adjusted life years (QALYs) and inconsistencies in measuring that. Essay I studies the existence effects of a lucrative retirement savings program (SP) on the retirement savings of different individual types having HP. If the individual does not know that he will have HP also in the future, i.e. he is the naïve, for certain conditions, he delays the enrolment on SP until he abandons it. Very interesting finding is that the naïve retires then poorer in the presence than in the absence of SP. For the same conditions, the individual who knows that he will have HP also in the future, i.e. he is the sophisticated, gains from the existence of SP, and retires with greater retirement savings in the presence than in the absence of SP. Finally, capabilities to learn from past behaviour and about intertemporal preferences improve possibilities to gain from the existence but an adequate time to learn must be then guaranteed. Essay II studies delayed doctor's visits, theirs effects on the costs of a public health care system and government's attempts to control patient behaviour and fund the system. The controlling devices are a consultation fee and a deductible for that. The deductible is effective only for a patient whose diagnosis reveals a disease that would not get cured without the doctor's visit. The naives delay their visits the longest while EP-patients are the quickest visitors. To control the naives, the government should implement a low fee and a high deductible, while for the sophisticates the opposite is true. Finally, if all the types exist in an economy then using an incorrect conventional assumption that all individuals have EP leads to worse situation and requires higher tax rates than assuming incorrectly but unconventionally that only the naives exists. Essay III studies the development of QALYs in Finland 1995/96-2004. The essay concentrates on developing a consistent measure, i.e. independent of discounting, for measuring the age and gender specific QALY-changes and their incidences. For the given time interval, use of a relative change out of an attainable change seems to be almost intact to discounting and reveals that the greatest gains are for older age groups.

Preservation of native conformation during aluminium-induced aggregation of tau protein

ALUMINIUM exposure has been shown to result in aggregation of microtubule-associated protein tau in vitro. In the light of recent observations that the native random structure of tau protein is maintained in its monomeric and dimeric states as well as in the paired helical filaments characteristic of Alzheimer's disease, it is likely that factors playing a causative role in neurofibrillary pathology would not drastically alter the native conformation of tau protein. We have studied the interaction of tau protein with aluminium using circular dichroism (CD) and 27(Al) NMR spectroscopy. The CD studies revealed a five-fold increase in the observed ellipticity of the tau-aluminium assembly. The increase in elipticity was not associated with a change in the general conformation of the protein and was most likely due to an aggregation of the tau protein induced by aluminium. Al-27 NMR spectroscopy confirmed the binding of aluminium to tau protein. Hyperphosphorylation of tau in Alzheimer's disease is known to be associated with defective microtubule assembly in this condition. Abnormally phosphorylated tau exists in a polymerized form in the paired helical filaments (PHF) which constitute the neurofibrillary tangles found in Alzheimer's disease. While it is hypothesized that its altered biophysical characteristics render abnormally phosphorylated tau resistant to proteolysis, causing the formation of stable deposits,the sequence of events resulting in the polymerization of tau are little understood, as are the additional factors or modifications required for tills process. Based on the results of our spectroscopic studies, a model for the sequence of events occurring in neurofibrillary pathology is proposed.

Symmetry preservation during radiation damage

An examination of radiation-damage processes consequent to high-energy irradiation in certain ammonium salts studied using ESR of free radical together with the structural information available from neutron diffraction studies shows that, other factors being equal/nearly equal, symmetry-related bonds are preserved in preference to those unrelated to one another by any symmetry.

Formation and preservation of pedogenic carbonates in South India, links with paleo-monsoon and pedological conditions: Clues from Sr isotopes, U-Th series and REEs

The influence of the pedogenic and climatic contexts on the formation and preservation of pedogenic carbonates in a climosequence in the Western Ghats (Karnataka Plateau, South West India) has been studied. Along the climosequence, the current mean annual rainfall (MAR) varies within a 80 km transect from 6000 mm at the edge of the Plateau to 500 mm inland. Pedogenic carbonates occur in the MAR range of 500-1200 mm. In the semi-arid zone (MAR: 500-900 mm), carbonates occur (i) as rhick hardpan calcretes on pediment slopes and (ii) as nodular horizons in polygenic black soils (i.e. vertisols). In the sub-humid zone (MAR: 900-1500 mm), pedogenic carbonates are disseminated in the black soil matrices either as loose, irregular and friable nodules of millimetric size or as indurated botryoidal nodules of centimetric to pluricentimetric size. They also occur at the top layers of the saprolite either as disseminated pluricentimetric indurated nodules or carbonate-cemented lumps of centimetric to decimetric size. Chemical and isotopic (Sr-87/Sr-86) compositions of the carbonate fraction were determined after leaching with 0.25 N HCl. The corresponding residual fractions containing both primary minerals and authigenic clays were digested separately and analyzed. The trend defined by the Sr-87/Sr-86 signatures of both labile carbonate fractions and corresponding residual fractions indicates that a part of the labile carbonate fraction is genetically linked to the local soil composition. Considering the residual fraction of each sample as the most likely lithogenic source of Ca in carbonates, it is estimated that from 24% to 82% (55% on average) of Ca is derived from local bedrock weathering, leading to a consumption of an equivalent proportion of atmospheric CO2. These values indicate that climatic conditions were humid enough to allow silicate weathering: MAR at the time of carbonate formation likely ranged from 400 to 700 mm, which is 2- to 3-fold less than the current MAR at these locations. The Sr, U and Mg contents and the (U-234/U-238) activity ratio in the labile carbonate fraction help to understand the conditions of carbonate formation. The relatively high concentrations of Sr, U and Mg in black soil carbonates may indicate fast growth and accumulation compared to carbonates in saprolite, possibly due to a better confinement of the pore waters which is supported by their high (U-234/U-238) signatures, and/or to higher content of dissolved carbonates in the pore waters. The occurrence of Ce, Mn and Fe oxides in the cracks of carbonate reflects the existence of relatively humid periods after carbonate formation. The carbonate ages determined by the U-Th method range from 1.33 +/- 0.84 kyr to 7.5 +/- 2.7 kyr and to a cluster of five ages around 20 kyr, i.e. the Last Glacial Maximum period. The young occurrences are only located in the black soils, which therefore constitute sensitive environments for trapping and retaining atmospheric CO2 even on short time scales. The maximum age of carbonates depends on their location in the climatic gradient: from about 20 kyr for centimetric nodules at Mule Hole (MAR = 1100 mm/yr) to 200 kyr for the calcrete at Gundlupet (MAR = 700 mm/yr, Durand et al., 2007). The intensity of rainfall during wet periods would indeed control the lifetime of pedogenic carbonates and thus the duration of inorganic carbon storage in soils. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Costs and Benefits of a Shared Digital Long-Term Preservation System

This paper describes the cost-benefit analysis of digital long-term preservation (LTP) that was carried out in the context of the Finnish National Digital Library Project (NDL) in 2010. The analysis was based on the assumption that as many as 200 archives, libraries, and museums will share an LTP system. The term ‘system’ shall be understood as encompassing not only information technology, but also human resources, organizational structures, policies and funding mechanisms. The cost analysis shows that an LTP system will incur, over the first 12 years, cumulative costs of €42 million, i.e. an average of €3.5 million per annum. Human resources and investments in information technology are the major cost factors. After the initial stages, the analysis predicts annual costs of circa €4 million. The analysis compared scenarios with and without a shared LTP system. The results indicate that a shared system will have remarkable benefits. At the development and implementation stages, a shared system shows an advantage of €30 million against the alternative scenario consisting of five independent LTP solutions. During the later stages, the advantage is estimated at €10 million per annum. The cumulative cost benefit over the first 12 years would amount to circa €100 million.

Protocols for Collection, Preservation and Enumeration of Diatoms from Aquatic Habitats fro Water Quality Monitoring in India

Diatoms have become important organisms for monitoring freshwaters and their value has been recognised in Europe, American and African continents. If India is to include diatoms in the current suite of bioindicators, then thorough testing of diatom-based techniques is required. This paper provides guidance on methods through all stages of diatom collection from different habitats from streams and lakes, preparation and examination for the purposes of water quality assessment that can be adapted to most aquatic ecosystems in India.

Functionality preservation with enhanced mechanical integrity in the nanocomposites of the metal-organic framework, ZIF-8, with BN nanosheets

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and boron nitride both possess novel properties, the former associated with microporosity and the latter with good mechanical properties. We have synthesized composites of the imidazolate based MOF, ZIF-8, and few-layer BN in order to see whether we can incorporate the properties of both these materials in the composites. The composites so prepared between BN nanosheets and ZIF-8 have compositions ZIF-1BN, ZIF-2BN, ZIF-3BN and similar to ZIF-4BN. The composites have been characterized by PXRD, TGA, XPS, electron microscopy, IR, Raman and solid state NMR spectroscopy. The composites possess good surface areas, the actual value decreasing only slightly with the increase in the BN content. The CO2 uptake remains nearly the same in the composites as in the parent ZIF-8. More importantly, the addition of BN markedly improves the mechanical properties of ZIF-8, a feature that is much desired in MOFs. Observation of microporous features along with improved mechanical properties in a MOF is indeed noteworthy. Such manipulation of properties can be profitably exploited in practical applications.

Association Rule Sharing Model for Privacy Preservation and Collaborative Data Mining Efficiency

The disclosure of information and its misuse in Privacy Preserving Data Mining (PPDM) systems is a concern to the parties involved. In PPDM systems data is available amongst multiple parties collaborating to achieve cumulative mining accuracy. The vertically partitioned data available with the parties involved cannot provide accurate mining results when compared to the collaborative mining results. To overcome the privacy issue in data disclosure this paper describes a Key Distribution-Less Privacy Preserving Data Mining (KDLPPDM) system in which the publication of local association rules generated by the parties is published. The association rules are securely combined to form the combined rule set using the Commutative RSA algorithm. The combined rule sets established are used to classify or mine the data. The results discussed in this paper compare the accuracy of the rules generated using the C4. 5 based KDLPPDM system and the CS. 0 based KDLPPDM system using receiver operating characteristics curves (ROC).

Information Preservation (IP) Method in Simulation

This paper reviews firstly methods for treating low speed rarefied gas flows: the linearised Boltzmann equation, the Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM), the Navier-Stokes equation plus slip boundary conditions and the DSMC method, and discusses the difficulties in simulating low speed transitional MEMS flows, especially the internal flows. In particular, the present version of the LBM is shown unfeasible for simulation of MEMS flow in transitional regime. The information preservation (IP) method overcomes the difficulty of the statistical simulation caused by the small information to noise ratio for low speed flows by preserving the average information of the enormous number of molecules a simulated molecule represents. A kind of validation of the method is given in this paper. The specificities of the internal flows in MEMS, i.e. the low speed and the large length to width ratio, result in the problem of elliptic nature of the necessity to regulate the inlet and outlet boundary conditions that influence each other. Through the example of the IP calculation of the microchannel (thousands long) flow it is shown that the adoption of the conservative scheme of the mass conservation equation and the super relaxation method resolves this problem successfully. With employment of the same measures the IP method solves the thin film air bearing problem in transitional regime for authentic hard disc write/read head length ( ) and provides pressure distribution in full agreement with the generalized Reynolds equation, while before this the DSMC check of the validity of the Reynolds equation was done only for short ( ) drive head. The author suggests degenerate the Reynolds equation to solve the microchannel flow problem in transitional regime, thus provides a means with merit of strict kinetic theory for testing various methods intending to treat the internal MEMS flows.

Information preservation (IP) method in simulation of internal rarefied gas flows in MEMS

This paper reviews firstly methods for treating low speed rarefied gas flows: the linearised Boltzmann equation, the Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM), the Navier-Stokes equation plus slip boundary conditions and the DSMC method, and discusses the difficulties in simulating low speed transitional MEMS flows, especially the internal flows. In particular, the present version of the LBM is shown unfeasible for simulation of MEMS flow in transitional regime. The information preservation (IP) method overcomes the difficulty of the statistical simulation caused by the small information to noise ratio for low speed flows by preserving the average information of the enormous number of molecules a simulated molecule represents. A kind of validation of the method is given in this paper. The specificities of the internal flows in MEMS, i.e. the low speed and the large length to width ratio, result in the problem of elliptic nature of the necessity to regulate the inlet and outlet boundary conditions that influence each other. Through the example of the IP calculation of the microchannel (thousands m ? long) flow it is shown that the adoption of the conservative scheme of the mass conservation equation and the super relaxation method resolves this problem successfully. With employment of the same measures the IP method solves the thin film air bearing problem in transitional regime for authentic hard disc write/read head length ( 1000 L m ? = ) and provides pressure distribution in full agreement with the generalized Reynolds equation, while before this the DSMC check of the validity of the Reynolds equation was done only for short ( 5 L m ? = ) drive head. The author suggests degenerate the Reynolds equation to solve the microchannel flow problem in transitional regime, thus provides a means with merit of strict kinetic theory for testing various methods intending to treat the internal MEMS flows.