1949 survey of consumer finances: part VIII. distribution of consumer saving in 1948

Consumer surveys ; Consumer behavior ; Consumer credit

Economic Impacts of Planned Transportation Investments in New Jersey

This report demonstrates that New Jersey's plans to invest in transportation infrastructure over the next decade will result in nearly 27,000 full-time jobs per year. It also shows that the state's transportation investments will generate economic impacts in the form of employment, income, gross domestic product, and state and local tax revenues. The report is the result of a joint study conducted by the Heldrich Center and the Center for Urban Policy Research at Rutgers University's Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy

Stem and progenitor cells: Origins, phenotypes, lineage commitments, and transdifferentiations

Multipotent stem cells are clonal cells that self-renew as well as differentiate to regenerate adult tissues. Whereas stem cells and their fates are known by unique genetic marker studies, the fate and function of these cells are best studied by their prospective isolation. This review is about the properties of various highly purified tissue-specific multipotent stem cells and purified oligolineage progenitors. We contend that unless the stem or progenitor cells in question have been purified to near homogeneity, one cannot know whether their generation of expected (or unexpected) progeny is a property of a known cell type. It is interesting that in the hematopoietic system the only long-term self-renewing cells in the stem and progenitors pool are the hematopoietic stem cells. This fact is discussed in the context of normal and leukemic hematopoiesis

Endogenous Wnt signalling in human embryonic stem cells generates an equilibrium of distinct lineage-specified progenitors.

The pluripotent nature of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) makes them convenient for deriving therapeutically relevant cells. Here we show using Wnt reporter hESC lines that the cells are heterogeneous with respect to endogenous Wnt signalling activity. Moreover, the level of Wnt signalling activity in individual cells correlates with differences in clonogenic potential and lineage-specific differentiation propensity. The addition of Wnt protein or, conversely, a small-molecule Wnt inhibitor (IWP2) reduces heterogeneity, allowing stable expansion of Wnt(high) or Wnt(low) hESC populations, respectively. On differentiation, the Wnt(high) hESCs predominantly form endodermal and cardiac cells, whereas the Wnt(low) hESCs generate primarily neuroectodermal cells. Thus, heterogeneity with respect to endogenous Wnt signalling underlies much of the inefficiency in directing hESCs towards specific cell types. The relatively uniform differentiation potential of the Wnt(high) and Wnt(low) hESCs leads to faster and more efficient derivation of targeted cell types from these populations

Sex differences in variability across timescales in BALB/c mice.

BackgroundFemales are markedly underinvestigated in the biological and behavioral sciences due to the presumption that cyclic hormonal changes across the ovulatory cycle introduce excess variability to measures of interest in comparison to males. However, recent analyses indicate that male and female mice and rats exhibit comparable variability across numerous physiological and behavioral measures, even when the stage of the estrous cycle is not considered. Hormonal changes across the ovulatory cycle likely contribute cyclic, intra-individual variability in females, but the source(s) of male variability has, to our knowledge, not been investigated. It is unclear whether male variability, like that of females, is temporally structured and, therefore, quantifiable and predictable. Finally, whether males and females exhibit variability on similar time scales has not been explored.MethodsThese questions were addressed by collecting chronic, high temporal resolution locomotor activity (LA) and core body temperature (CBT) data from male and female BALB/c mice.ResultsContrary to expectation, males are more variable than females over the course of the day (diel variability) and exhibit higher intra-individual daily range than females in both LA and CBT. Between mice of a given sex, variability is comparable for LA but the inter-individual daily range in CBT is greater for males. To identify potential rhythmic processes contributing to these sex differences, we employed wavelet transformations across a range of periodicities (1-39 h).ConclusionsAlthough variability in circadian power is comparable between the sexes for both LA and CBT, infradian variability is greater in females and ultradian variability is greater in males. Thus, exclusion of female mice from studies because of estrous cycle variability may increase variance in investigations where only male measures are collected over a span of several hours and limit generalization of findings from males to females

On the need for a new playing die

We model the rolling of a standard die, using a Markov matrix. Though a die may be called ‘fair’, its initial position influences a roll’s outcome. This being undesirable, a simple solution is proposed

Cloning of terminal transferase cDNA by antibody screening

A cDNA library was prepared from a terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-containing thymoma in the phage vector λgt11. By screening plaques with anti-terminal transferase antibody, positive clones were identified of which some had β-galactosidase-cDNA fusion proteins identifiable after electrophoretic fractionation by immunoblotting with anti-terminal transferase antibody. The predominant class of cross-hybridizing clones was determined to represent cDNA for terminal transferase by showing that one representative clone hybridized to a 2200-nucleotide mRNA in close-matched enzyme-positive but not to enzyme-negative cells and that the cDNA selected a mRNA that translated to give a protein of the size and antigenic characteristics of terminal transferase. Only a small amount of genomic DNA hybridized to the longest available clone, indicating that the sequence is virtually unique in the mouse genome

Profile-Based Optimal Matchings in the Student-Project Allocation Problem

In the Student/Project Allocation problem (spa) we seek to assign students to individual or group projects offered by lecturers. Students provide a list of projects they find acceptable in order of preference. Each student can be assigned to at most one project and there are constraints on the maximum number of students that can be assigned to each project and lecturer. We seek matchings of students to projects that are optimal with respect to profile, which is a vector whose rth component indicates how many students have their rth-choice project. We present an efficient algorithm for finding agreedy maximum matching in the spa context – this is a maximum matching whose profile is lexicographically maximum. We then show how to adapt this algorithm to find a generous maximum matching – this is a matching whose reverse profile is lexicographically minimum. Our algorithms involve finding optimal flows in networks. We demonstrate how this approach can allow for additional constraints, such as lecturer lower quotas, to be handled flexibly