University of Rhode Island

About: University of Rhode Island is a education organization based out in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Bay. The organization has 11464 authors who have published 22770 publications receiving 841066 citations. The organization is also known as: URI & Rhode Island College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts.

Antecedents and Consequences of Risky Credit Behavior Among College Students: Application and Extension of the Theory of Planned Behavior

Abstract: The Credit Card Act of 2009 reflects increased public policy concern about the risky credit behaviors of young adults. This act promotes increased responsibility of parents and implies that young adults must acquire financial knowledge and practice responsible financial behaviors. This study addresses this public issue by investigating the psychological processes underlying young adults' risky credit card behaviors and the role of parents and financial knowledge in the financial behavior of young adults. A conceptual model based on an extension of the theory of planned behavior is proposed. The authors collected data from a sample of first-year students at a major public university. The results show that both parental norm and parental socioeconomic status are important factors that influence students' risky credit behaviors. Furthermore, subjective financial knowledge does more to prevent risky credit behaviors than objective financial knowledge. Finally, behavioral intention is the most importa...

Theory of the Stochastic Resonance Effect in Signal Detection—Part II: Variable Detectors

Abstract: In Part I of this paper [ldquoTheory of the Stochastic Resonance Effect in Signal Detection: Part I-Fixed Detectors,rdquo IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, vol. 55, no. 7, pt. 1, pp. 3172-3184], the mechanism of the stochastic resonance (SR) effect for a fixed detector has been examined. This paper analyzes the stochastic resonance (SR) effect under the condition that the detector structure or its parameters can also be changed. The detector optimization problem with SR noise under both Neyman-Pearson and Bayesian criteria is examined. In the Bayesian approach when the prior probabilities are unknown, the minimax approach is adopted. The form of the optimal noise pdf along with the corresponding detector as well as the maximum achievable performance are determined. The developed theory is then applied to a general class of weak signal detection problems. Under the assumptions that the sample size N is large enough and the test statistics satisfies the conditions of central limit theorem, the optimal SR noise is shown to be a constant vector and independent of the signal strength for both Neyman-Pearson and Bayesian criteria. Illustrative examples are presented where performance comparisons are made between the original detector and the optimal SR noise modified detector for different types of SR noise.

Antiplatelet Agents Aspirin and Clopidogrel Are Hydrolyzed by Distinct Carboxylesterases, and Clopidogrel Is Transesterificated in the Presence of Ethyl Alcohol

Abstract: Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) and clopidogrel are two major antithrombogenic agents that are widely used for the treatment and prevention of cerebro- and cardiovascular conditions such as stroke. Combined use produces enhanced therapeutic effect. Aspirin and clopidogrel both are esters, and hydrolysis leads to decreased or inactivated therapeutic activity. The aim of the study was to determine whether aspirin and clopidogrel are hydrolyzed by the same enzyme(s), thus reciprocally prolonging the antithrombogenic activity. To test this possibility, microsomes from the liver and intestine were assayed for the hydrolysis of aspirin and clopidogrel. In contrary to the hypothesis, aspirin and clopidogrel were hydrolyzed in a tissue-differential manner. Liver microsomes hydrolyzed both drugs, whereas intestinal microsomes hydrolyzed aspirin only. Consistent with the tissue distribution of two carboxylesterases human carboxylesterase (HCE) 1 and HCE2, recombinant HCE1 hydrolyzed clopidogrel, whereas recombinant HCE2 hydrolyzed aspirin. In addition, hydrolysis of clopidogrel among liver samples was correlated well with the level of HCE1, and hydrolysis of aspirin with HCE2. Certain natural variants differed from the wild-type enzymes on the hydrolysis of aspirin or clopidogrel. In the presence of ethyl alcohol, clopidogrel is converted to ethyl clopidogrel. Carboxylesterases are important pharmacological determinants for drugs containing ester linkages and exhibit a large interindividual variation. The isoform-specific hydrolysis of aspirin and clopidogrel suggests that these two antithrombogenic agents may have pharmacokinetic interactions with different sets of ester drugs, and the altered hydrolysis by polymorphic mutants provides a molecular explanation to the interindividual variation.

Gap of the Linear Spin-1 Heisenberg Antiferromagnet: A Monte Carlo Calculation

Abstract: We have performed Monte Carlo calculations of the energies of several low-lying energy states of one-dimensional, spin-1 Heisenberg antiferromagnets with linear sizes up to n=32. Our results support Haldane's prediction that a gap exists in the excitation spectrum for n\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}. .AE