Showing papers by "Purdue University published in 2011"
TL;DR: Considering that vitamin D deficiency is very common in all age groups and that few foods contain vitamin D, the Task Force recommended supplementation at suggested daily intake and tolerable upper limit levels, depending on age and clinical circumstances.
Abstract: Objective: The objective was to provide guidelines to clinicians for the evaluation, treatment, and prevention of vitamin D deficiency with an emphasis on the care of patients who are at risk for deficiency. Participants: The Task Force was composed of a Chair, six additional experts, and a methodologist. The Task Force received no corporate funding or remuneration. Consensus Process: Consensus was guided by systematic reviews of evidence and discussions during several conference calls and e-mail communications. The draft prepared by the Task Force was reviewed successively by The Endocrine Society's Clinical Guidelines Subcommittee, Clinical Affairs Core Committee, and cosponsoring associations, and it was posted on The Endocrine Society web site for member review. At each stage of review, the Task Force received written comments and incorporated needed changes. Conclusions: Considering that vitamin D deficiency is very common in all age groups and that few foods contain vitamin D, the Task Force recomme...
7,113 citations
TL;DR: This critical review provides a processing-structure-property perspective on recent advances in cellulose nanoparticles and composites produced from them, and summarizes cellulOSE nanoparticles in terms of particle morphology, crystal structure, and properties.
Abstract: This critical review provides a processing-structure-property perspective on recent advances in cellulose nanoparticles and composites produced from them. It summarizes cellulose nanoparticles in terms of particle morphology, crystal structure, and properties. Also described are the self-assembly and rheological properties of cellulose nanoparticle suspensions. The methodology of composite processing and resulting properties are fully covered, with an emphasis on neat and high fraction cellulose composites. Additionally, advances in predictive modeling from molecular dynamic simulations of crystalline cellulose to the continuum modeling of composites made with such particles are reviewed (392 references).
4,920 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe the objectives of community efforts in improving the Noah land surface model (LSM), documents, through mathematical formulations, the augmented conceptual realism in biophysical and hydrological processes, and introduces a framework for multiple options to parameterize selected processes (Noah•MP).
Abstract: [1] This first paper of the two‐part series describes the objectives of the community efforts in improving the Noah land surface model (LSM), documents, through mathematical formulations, the augmented conceptual realism in biophysical and hydrological processes, and introduces a framework for multiple options to parameterize selected processes (Noah‐MP). The Noah‐MP’s performance is evaluated at various local sites using high temporal frequency data sets, and results show the advantages of using multiple optional schemes to interpret the differences in modeling simulations. The second paper focuses on ensemble evaluations with long‐term regional (basin) and global scale data sets. The enhanced conceptual realism includes (1) the vegetation canopy energy balance, (2) the layered snowpack, (3) frozen soil and infiltration, (4) soil moisture‐groundwater interaction and related runoff production, and (5) vegetation phenology. Sample local‐scale validations are conducted over the First International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP) Field Experiment (FIFE) site, the W3 catchment of Sleepers River, Vermont, and a French snow observation site. Noah‐MP shows apparent improvements in reproducing surface fluxes, skin temperature over dry periods, snow water equivalent (SWE), snow depth, and runoff over Noah LSM version 3.0. Noah‐MP improves the SWE simulations due to more accurate simulations of the diurnal variations of the snow skin temperature, which is critical for computing available energy for melting. Noah‐MP also improves the simulation of runoff peaks and timing by introducing a more permeable frozen soil and more accurate simulation of snowmelt. We also demonstrate that Noah‐MP is an effective research tool by which modeling results for a given process can be interpreted through multiple optional parameterization schemes in the same model framework.
1,682 citations
TL;DR: It would be profitable to address a variety of issues and factors that could affect the development of improved targeted drug delivery systems, including nanocarrier, nanovehicle, nanosystem, nanostructure, and other terms used in the literature.
1,603 citations
TL;DR: In patients with ovarian cancer, intraoperative tumor-specific fluorescence imaging with an FR-α–targeted fluorescent agent showcased the potential applications in patients with Ovarian cancer for improved intraoperative staging and more radical cytoreductive surgery.
Abstract: The prognosis for patients with advanced stage ovarian cancer is poor. Here, Gooitzen van Dam and colleagues demonstrate the first human application of a tumor-specific intraoperative fluorescence imaging methodology using a folate receptor-α (FR-α)-targeted fluorescent agent that exploits the overexpression of FR-α in the majority of epithelial ovarian cancers. It is hoped this approach may lead to improved intraoperative staging and more radical cytoreductive surgery.
1,404 citations
TL;DR: It is shown that grain boundaries give a significant Raman 'D' peak, impede electrical transport, and induce prominent weak localization indicative of intervalley scattering in graphene, opening a route towards scalable fabrication of single-crystal graphene devices without grain boundaries.
Abstract: Chemical vapour deposition is a promising route for large-scale graphene growth. It is now shown that—through the use of seeds—high-quality, large, single-crystal domains can be grown on a patterned arrangement, and can be used to carefully study the transport across grain boundaries.
1,385 citations
TL;DR: The development of new materials for low-loss MM components and telecommunication devices is required because metals have traditionally been the material of choice for the building blocks, but they suffer from high resistive losses.
Abstract: Metamaterials (MMs) are artificial, engineered materials with rationally designed compositions and arrangements of nanostructured building blocks. These materials can be tailored for almost any application because of their extraordinary response to electromagnetic, acoustic, and thermal waves that transcends the properties of natural materials (1–3). The astonishing MM-based designs and demonstrations range from a negative index of refraction, focusing and imaging with sub-wavelength resolution, invisibility cloaks, and optical black holes to nanoscale optics, data processing, and quantum information applications (3). Metals have traditionally been the material of choice for the building blocks, but they suffer from high resistive losses—even metals with the highest conductivities, silver and gold, exhibit excessive losses at optical frequencies that restrict the development of devices in this frequency range. The development of new materials for low-loss MM components and telecommunication devices is therefore required.
1,355 citations
University of the West Indies1, Purdue University2, University of Maryland, College Park3, Boston Children's Hospital4, University of California, Davis5, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh6, University of Michigan7, University of Liverpool8, University of the Witwatersrand9
TL;DR: The goal is to provide information to help the setting of priorities for early child development programmes and policies to benefit the world's poorest children and reduce persistent inequalities.
1,297 citations
Marcos Daniel Actis1, G. Agnetta2, Felix Aharonian3, A. G. Akhperjanian +682 more•Institutions (109)
TL;DR: The ground-based gamma-ray astronomy has had a major breakthrough with the impressive results obtained using systems of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes as mentioned in this paper, which is an international initiative to build the next generation instrument, with a factor of 5-10 improvement in sensitivity in the 100 GeV-10 TeV range and the extension to energies well below 100GeV and above 100 TeV.
Abstract: Ground-based gamma-ray astronomy has had a major breakthrough with the impressive results obtained using systems of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. Ground-based gamma-ray astronomy has a huge potential in astrophysics, particle physics and cosmology. CTA is an international initiative to build the next generation instrument, with a factor of 5-10 improvement in sensitivity in the 100 GeV-10 TeV range and the extension to energies well below 100 GeV and above 100 TeV. CTA will consist of two arrays (one in the north, one in the south) for full sky coverage and will be operated as open observatory. The design of CTA is based on currently available technology. This document reports on the status and presents the major design concepts of CTA.
1,006 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a large sample of U.S. firms for the period 1995-2008 was used to show that corporate tax avoidance is positively associated with stock price crash risk.
972 citations
TL;DR: Overall, GWAS results show that variations at the liguleless genes have contributed to more upright leaves, and the use of GWAS with specially designed mapping populations is effective in uncovering the basis of key agronomic traits.
Abstract: US maize yield has increased eight-fold in the past 80 years, with half of the gain attributed to selection by breeders. During this time, changes in maize leaf angle and size have altered plant architecture, allowing more efficient light capture as planting density has increased. Through a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of the maize nested association mapping panel, we determined the genetic basis of important leaf architecture traits and identified some of the key genes. Overall, we demonstrate that the genetic architecture of the leaf traits is dominated by small effects, with little epistasis, environmental interaction or pleiotropy. In particular, GWAS results show that variations at the liguleless genes have contributed to more upright leaves. These results demonstrate that the use of GWAS with specially designed mapping populations is effective in uncovering the basis of key agronomic traits.
TL;DR: This paper summarizes the evolution of research and current thinking as it relates to the statistical analysis of motor-vehicle injury severities, and provides a discussion of future methodological directions.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide details of fabrication and characterization of these new materials and discuss their suitability for a number of metamaterial and plasmonic applications, as well as their properties.
Abstract: As alternatives to conventional metals, new plasmonic materials offer many advantages in the rapidly growing fields of plasmonics and metamaterials. These advantages include low intrinsic loss, semiconductor-based design, compatibility with standard nanofabrication processes, tunability, and others. Transparent conducting oxides such as Al:ZnO, Ga:ZnO and indium-tin-oxide (ITO) enable many high-performance metamaterial devices operating in the near-IR. Transition-metal nitrides such as TiN or ZrN can be substitutes for conventional metals in the visible frequencies. In this paper we provide the details of fabrication and characterization of these new materials and discuss their suitability for a number of metamaterial and plasmonic applications.
TL;DR: In this article, the transverse momentum balance in dijet and γ/Z+jets events is used to measure the jet energy response in the CMS detector, as well as the transversal momentum resolution.
Abstract: Measurements of the jet energy calibration and transverse momentum resolution in CMS are presented, performed with a data sample collected in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36pb−1. The transverse momentum balance in dijet and γ/Z+jets events is used to measure the jet energy response in the CMS detector, as well as the transverse momentum resolution. The results are presented for three different methods to reconstruct jets: a calorimeter-based approach, the ``Jet-Plus-Track'' approach, which improves the measurement of calorimeter jets by exploiting the associated tracks, and the ``Particle Flow'' approach, which attempts to reconstruct individually each particle in the event, prior to the jet clustering, based on information from all relevant subdetectors
Purdue University1, Kanazawa University2, Graduate University for Advanced Studies3, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Japan4, Monash University5, University of California, Davis6, Pennsylvania State University7, University at Buffalo8, New York Botanical Garden9, University of Regina10, University of Arizona11, University of Georgia12, University of Potsdam13, Salk Institute for Biological Studies14, Charles University in Prague15, College of William & Mary16, University of California, San Diego17, École normale supérieure de Lyon18, Carnegie Institution for Science19, Hokkaido University20, University of Jena21, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg22, University of Copenhagen23, Nagoya University24, University of Tokyo25, Free University of Berlin26, University of Tsukuba27, University of Tübingen28, University of Rostock29, Nara Institute of Science and Technology30, Mayo Clinic31, University of California, Berkeley32, Rutgers University33, National Institute of Genetics34, Max Planck Society35, University of Tennessee Health Science Center36, University of Washington37, Dalhousie University38, University of Oxford39, University of Freiburg40, University of Los Andes41, University of Rhode Island42, Joint BioEnergy Institute43, Ruhr University Bochum44, Texas A&M University45, Osaka University46, Cornell University47, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory48, University of Burgundy49, Utah State University50, United States Department of Energy51
TL;DR: The genome sequence of the lycophyte Selaginella moellendorffii (Selaginella), the first nonseed vascular plant genome reported, is reported, finding that the transition from a gametophytes- to a sporophyte-dominated life cycle required far fewer new genes than the Transition from a non Seed vascular to a flowering plant.
Abstract: Vascular plants appeared ~410 million years ago, then diverged into several lineages of which only two survive: the euphyllophytes (ferns and seed plants) and the lycophytes. We report here the genome sequence of the lycophyte Selaginella moellendorffii (Selaginella), the first nonseed vascular plant genome reported. By comparing gene content in evolutionarily diverse taxa, we found that the transition from a gametophyte- to a sporophyte-dominated life cycle required far fewer new genes than the transition from a nonseed vascular to a flowering plant, whereas secondary metabolic genes expanded extensively and in parallel in the lycophyte and angiosperm lineages. Selaginella differs in posttranscriptional gene regulation, including small RNA regulation of repetitive elements, an absence of the trans-acting small interfering RNA pathway, and extensive RNA editing of organellar genes.
TL;DR: It is proposed that the crRNA seed sequence plays a role in the initial scanning of invader DNA for a match, before base pairing of the full-length spacer occurs, which may enhance the protospacer locating efficiency of the E. coli Cascade complex.
Abstract: Prokaryotic clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/Cas (CRISPR-associated sequences) systems provide adaptive immunity against viruses when a spacer sequence of small CRISPR RNA (crRNA) matches a protospacer sequence in the viral genome. Viruses that escape CRISPR/Cas resistance carry point mutations in protospacers, though not all protospacer mutations lead to escape. Here, we show that in the case of Escherichia coli subtype CRISPR/Cas system, the requirements for crRNA matching are strict only for a seven-nucleotide seed region of a protospacer immediately following the essential protospacer-adjacent motif. Mutations in the seed region abolish CRISPR/Cas mediated immunity by reducing the binding affinity of the crRNA-guided Cascade complex to protospacer DNA. We propose that the crRNA seed sequence plays a role in the initial scanning of invader DNA for a match, before base pairing of the full-length spacer occurs, which may enhance the protospacer locating efficiency of the E. coli Cascade complex. In agreement with this proposal, single or multiple mutations within the protospacer but outside the seed region do not lead to escape. The relaxed specificity of the CRISPR/Cas system limits escape possibilities and allows a single crRNA to effectively target numerous related viruses.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors advocate the wider use of relative importance indices as a supplement to multiple regression analyses, and highlight the key benefits of two relative importance analyses, dominance analysis and relative weight analysis, over estimates produced by multiple regression analysis.
Abstract: This article advocates for the wider use of relative importance indices as a supplement to multiple regression analyses. The goal of such analyses is to partition explained variance among multiple predictors to better understand the role played by each predictor in a regression equation. Unfortunately, when predictors are correlated, typically relied upon metrics are flawed indicators of variable importance. To that end, we highlight the key benefits of two relative importance analyses, dominance analysis and relative weight analysis, over estimates produced by multiple regression analysis. We also describe numerous situations where relative importance weights should be used, while simultaneously cautioning readers about the limitations and misconceptions regarding the use of these weights. Finally, we present step-by-step recommendations for researchers interested in incorporating these analyses in their own work and point them to available web resources to assist them in producing these weights.
TL;DR: As the first review of aptamers on Analytical Chemistry, this work attempts to cover major progresses in bioanalytical applications of aptamer research in the past 2 years.
Abstract: With over 2,000 publications, including about 250 reviews, resulting from a SciFinder search in just a two year period (2009–2010), the field of aptamer research has continuously generated lots of interest in the scientific community. Aptamers, first reported by three groups independently in 1990,1–3 are the artificial single-stranded DNA or RNA sequences (more recently, peptides) that fold into secondary and tertiary structures making them bind to certain targets with extremely high specificity. Owing to the high specific affinity of an aptamer to its target molecule (small molecules, proteins and even entire cells), it is thought to resemble chemical antibodies, with the dissociation constants ranging from nanomolar to picomolar level. Aptamers have a number of unique features which make them a more effective choice than antibodies. First, aptamers can be screened via in vitro process against a synthetic library, making it possible to target any molecules (from small inorganic ions to intact cells), overcoming the limit of having to use cell lines or animals, as is necessary for antibodies. Second, aptamers, once selected, can undergo subsequent amplification through polymerase chain reaction to produce a large quantity with high purity. Third, the simple chemical structure of aptamer makes it easily amendable to further modifications with functional groups according to different purposes. Finally, aptamers are much more stable than antibodies, making them suitable in applications requiring harsh conditions (e.g., high temperature or extreme pH).
The applications of aptamers remain very dynamic, with increasing explorations in the fields of biosensing, diagnostics and therapeutics (some aptamer-based applications are illustrated in Figure 1). There have been a numbers of excellent reviews in recent years with different emphases.4–8 Herein, as the first review of aptamers on Analytical Chemistry, we attempt to cover major progresses in bioanalytical applications of aptamers in the past 2 years.
Figure 1
The widespread use of aptamers for numerous analytical and biological applications. Bioanalytical applications of aptamers are highlighted in red.
TL;DR: This paper found that the quality of earnings reported by politically connected firms is significantly poorer than that of similar non-connected companies and that among connected firms, those that have stronger political ties have the poorest accruals quality.
University of Colorado Boulder1, University of New South Wales2, Purdue University3, Western Kentucky University4, University of Queensland5, Tennessee Technological University6, Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency7, University of Alabama in Huntsville8, Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research9, Tuskegee University10, Max Planck Society11, Centre national de la recherche scientifique12
TL;DR: The authors summarizes the changes in landscape structure because of human land management over the last several decades, and using observed and model-eddata, documents how these changes have altered biogeophysical and biogeochemical surface fluxes on the local, mesoscale, and regional scales.
Abstract: This article summarizes the changes in landscape structure because of human land managementoverthelastseveralcenturies,andusingobservedandmodeleddata, documents how these changes have altered biogeophysical and biogeochemical surface fluxes on the local, mesoscale, and regional scales. Remaining research issues are presented including whether these landscape changes alter large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns far from where the land use and land cover changes occur. We conclude that existing climate assessments have not yet adequately factored in this climate forcing. For those regions that have undergone intensive human landscape change, or would undergo intensive change in the future, we conclude that the failure to factor in this forcing risks a misalignment of investment in climate mitigation and adaptation. 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
TL;DR: It is shown that practicing retrieval produces greater gains in meaningful learning than elaborative studying with concept mapping, and this support the theory that retrieval practice enhances learning by retrieval-specific mechanisms rather than by elaborative study processes.
Abstract: Educators rely heavily on learning activities that encourage elaborative studying, whereas activities that require students to practice retrieving and reconstructing knowledge are used less frequently. Here, we show that practicing retrieval produces greater gains in meaningful learning than elaborative studying with concept mapping. The advantage of retrieval practice generalized across texts identical to those commonly found in science education. The advantage of retrieval practice was observed with test questions that assessed comprehension and required students to make inferences. The advantage of retrieval practice occurred even when the criterial test involved creating concept maps. Our findings support the theory that retrieval practice enhances learning by retrieval-specific mechanisms rather than by elaborative study processes. Retrieval practice is an effective tool to promote conceptual learning about science.
TL;DR: Body posture and finger pointing are a natural modality for human-machine interaction, but first the system must know what it's seeing.
Abstract: Body posture and finger pointing are a natural modality for human-machine interaction, but first the system must know what it's seeing.
TL;DR: It is concluded that WRKY33 functions downstream of pathogen-responsive MPK3/MPK6 in reprogramming the expression of camalexin biosynthetic genes, which drives the metabolic flow to camaleXin production in Arabidopsis challenged by pathogens.
Abstract: Plant sensing of invading pathogens triggers massive metabolic reprogramming, including the induction of secondary antimicrobial compounds known as phytoalexins. We recently reported that MPK3 and MPK6, two pathogen-responsive mitogen-activated protein kinases, play essential roles in the induction of camalexin, the major phytoalexin in Arabidopsis thaliana. In search of the transcription factors downstream of MPK3/MPK6, we found that WRKY33 is required for MPK3/MPK6-induced camalexin biosynthesis. In wrky33 mutants, both gain-of-function MPK3/MPK6- and pathogen-induced camalexin production are compromised, which is associated with the loss of camalexin biosynthetic gene activation. WRKY33 is a pathogen-inducible transcription factor, whose expression is regulated by the MPK3/MPK6 cascade. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays reveal that WRKY33 binds to its own promoter in vivo, suggesting a potential positive feedback regulatory loop. Furthermore, WRKY33 is a substrate of MPK3/MPK6. Mutation of MPK3/MPK6 phosphorylation sites in WRKY33 compromises its ability to complement the camalexin induction in the wrky33 mutant. Using a phospho-protein mobility shift assay, we demonstrate that WRKY33 is phosphorylated by MPK3/MPK6 in vivo in response to Botrytis cinerea infection. Based on these data, we conclude that WRKY33 functions downstream of MPK3/MPK6 in reprogramming the expression of camalexin biosynthetic genes, which drives the metabolic flow to camalexin production in Arabidopsis challenged by pathogens.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors studied the effect of collision centrality on the transverse momentum of PbPb collisions at the LHC with a data sample of 6.7 inverse microbarns.
Abstract: Jet production in PbPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV was studied with the CMS detector at the LHC, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6.7 inverse microbarns. Jets are reconstructed using the energy deposited in the CMS calorimeters and studied as a function of collision centrality. With increasing collision centrality, a striking imbalance in dijet transverse momentum is observed, consistent with jet quenching. The observed effect extends from the lower cut-off used in this study (jet transverse momentum = 120 GeV/c) up to the statistical limit of the available data sample (jet transverse momentum approximately 210 GeV/c). Correlations of charged particle tracks with jets indicate that the momentum imbalance is accompanied by a softening of the fragmentation pattern of the second most energetic, away-side jet. The dijet momentum balance is recovered when integrating low transverse momentum particles distributed over a wide angular range relative to the direction of the away-side jet.
TL;DR: In this article, a critical review provides a processing-structure-property perspective on recent advances in cellulose nanoparticles and composites produced from them, focusing on neat and high fraction cellulose composites.
Abstract: This critical review provides a processing-structure-property perspective on recent advances in cellulose nanoparticles and composites produced from them. It summarizes cellulose nanoparticles in terms of particle morphology, crystal structure, and properties. Also described are the self-assembly and rheological properties of cellulose nanoparticle suspensions. The methodology of composite processing and resulting properties are fully covered, with an emphasis on neat and high fraction cellulose composites. Additionally, advances in predictive modeling from molecular dynamic simulations of crystalline cellulose to the continuum modeling of composites made with such particles are reviewed (392 references).
TL;DR: In this paper, the augmented Noah land surface model described in the first part of the two-part series was evaluated over global river basins across various climate zones, across various weather zones, and in addition, global-scale tests can reveal a model's weaknesses and strengths that a local-scale testing cannot.
Abstract: [1] The augmented Noah land surface model described in the first part of the two-part series was evaluated here over global river basins Across various climate zones, global-scale tests can reveal a model's weaknesses and strengths that a local-scale testing cannot In addition, global-scale tests are more challenging than local- and catchment-scale tests Given constant model parameters (e g, runoff parameters) across global river basins, global-scale tests are more stringent We assessed model performance against various satellite and ground-based observations over global river basins through six experiments that mimic a transition from the original Noah LSM to the fully augmented version The model shows transitional improvements in modeling runoff, soil moisture, snow, and skin temperature, despite considerable increase in computational time by the fully augmented Noah-MP version compared to the original Noah LSM The dynamic vegetation model favorably captures seasonal and spatial variability of leaf area index and green vegetation fraction We also conducted 36 ensemble experiments with 36 combinations of optional schemes for runoff, leaf dynamics, stomatal resistance, and the β factor Runoff schemes play a dominant and different role in controlling soil moisture and its relationship with evapotranspiration compared to ecological processes such as the β factor, vegetation dynamics, and stomatal resistance The 36-member ensemble mean of runoff performs better than any single member over the world's 50 largest river basins, suggesting a great potential of land-based ensemble simulations for climate prediction
TL;DR: This work presents a search for dark matter consisting of weakly interacting massive particles, applying a joint likelihood analysis to 10 satellite galaxies with 24 months of data of the Fermi Large Area Telescope, and is able to rule out models with the most generic cross section, using gamma rays.
Abstract: Satellite galaxies of the Milky Way are among the most promising targets for dark matter searches in gamma rays. We present a search for dark matter consisting of weakly interacting massive particl ...
TL;DR: Although I virtually never studied outside the classroom through to the ninth grade, I was quite alert and enjoyed most of the classes, with the exception of calligraphy and Japanese language, and enjoyed the after-school hours before darkness even more, at Shonan, where only the top few of my 200-plus classmates at Yamato Junior High School attended, my lifestyle was no longer satisfactory.
Abstract: I was born on July 14, 1935 in Changchun, China, as a Japanese citizen. My family moved to Harbin when I was one and then to Seoul, Korea, two years before the end of World War II. I was admitted to an elementary school in Harbin at age six, a year earlier than normal, and I then went to Seoul as an eight-year old third grader. Shortly after the end of World War II in 1945, my family returned to Japan and moved into a house in Tokyo which my parents had purchased several years earlier and had miraculously survived many intensive bombings. A much more serious problem for my parents was how to feed a rapidly growing family of seven, with five children ranging from twelve to one. Their solution to this foodshortage problem was to move to an underdeveloped patch of land of a little less than one acre about 50 km southwest of the center of Tokyo. Although my father s attempt to become a farmer there was not very successful, this naturally wooded area called “Rinkan” in Yamato city, Kanagawa prefecture, became what I consider even now my “first hometown”, where I spent my junior high school (seventh–ninth grades), high school (tenth–twelfth grades), and college years (1953– 1958; five years as I needed to repeat my junior year due to gastrointestinal illness). Despite all these difficulties, I recall my early school years through to the ninth grade mostly with positive and enjoyable memories. Although I virtually never studied outside the classroom through to the ninth grade, I was quite alert and enjoyed most of the classes, with the exception of calligraphy and Japanese language. But, I enjoyed the after-school hours before darkness even more. Those short after-school hours in the nearly six-month-long Harbin winters were spent skating in the playground covered with ice. I hardly recall my indoor activities before darkness through to my ninth grade. Several classmates and I in our junior high school jointly collected naturally growing grasses for rabbits, and took care of chickens—which virtually every family in our area were raising for food and minor supplementary income—but we never forgot to set aside some time for playing ball games and so on. For some reason, I found a world atlas on our very modest bookshelf to be to my liking and almost daily looked at it in the evening, especially during my Harbin days. Even with this manner of approach, I luckily established myself as one of the top students throughout my elementary and junior high school years. My first setback, if only a temporary one, hit me when I applied for an “elite” high school in our prefecture called Shonan High School. Despite my superior scholastic standing, I was declared ineligible, because I was a year younger than my classmates. Luckily, several of my teachers at Yamato Junior High School, including my classroom teacher, S. Koyama, and music class teacher, T. Suzuki, who was the father of my future wife, Sumire, successfully persuaded Shonan High School officials to accept me. At Shonan, where only the top few of my 200-plus classmates at Yamato Junior High School attended, my lifestyle described above was no longer satisfactory. Nor was I sufficiently ambitious about my higher education. I soon noticed that the entire school was obsessed with a single notion of intensely training and successfully sending as many students as possible to several of the most highly rated universities, represented by the University of Tokyo, several other former Imperial Universities such as Kyoto, Osaka, and Nagaya, as well as Tokyo Institute of Technology. Throughout my first year at Shonan, I was still mostly limiting my studying to that in the classrooms, which led me to earn the 123rd place in scholastic standing among a little more than 400 classmates. After a brief moment of disappointment, I then realized that, whereas there were a little more than 100 students who were ahead of myself, there were also nearly 300 others behind me. Back in those days, about 30–40 students, including one-time repeaters, were successfully entering the University of Tokyo each year from Shonan. It then suddenly occurred to me that, if I studied as hard as I could, even I might have a legitimate chance of entering the University of Tokyo, which until then appeared far beyond my reach. For the first time in my life, I instantly became a selfmotivated and highly disciplined model student devoting most of my available time to intensive studying. I would wake up a couple of hours earlier than the rest and spend those extra hours in preparation for the classes each day. No more solitary explorations of my favorite Shonan seaside area, especially Enoshima Island, after classes. Each evening, I would study until after 11 pm, when I heard mother’s gentle
TL;DR: In this paper, a tutorial on the field of femtosecond pulse shaping, a technology that enables generation of nearly arbitrary, user defined, ultrafast optical waveforms, with control of phase, amplitude, and polari-zation, is presented.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reconstruct the portfolios of shareholders who hold equity stakes in private and publicly-traded European firms and find great heterogeneity in the degree of portfolio diversification across large shareholders.
Abstract: Using new data for the universe of firms covered in Amadeus, we reconstruct the portfolios of shareholders who hold equity stakes in private and publicly-traded European firms. We find great heterogeneity in the degree of portfolio diversification across large shareholders. Exploiting this heterogeneity, we document that firms controlled by diversified large shareholders undertake riskier investments than firms controlled by non-diversified large shareholders. The impact of large shareholder diversification on corporate risk-taking is both economically and statistically significant. Our results have important implications at the policy level because they identify one channel through which policy changes aimed at improving capital market development can improve economic welfare.