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Since the 80s the Italian Society of Apheresis and Cell Manipulation ( SIdEM ) started to monitor the adverse events of therapeutic apheresis (TA) procedures. In subsequent years other variables were added and a national TA registry was created, with a fluctuating adhesion over the years. From 2010 to 2013 the Registry was shared with the Italian Society of Nephrology ( SIN ): the collection method required data of each patient and a lack of adhesion was observed, mainly because of a heavy workload needed to fill out all the fields. SIdEM was then forced to simplify the form by collecting aggregated data. At the same time, the Italian Privacy Authority (IPA) gave a negative opinion on the use of the SIdEM-SIN registry because it did not prevent the possibility to identify the patients and raised the question whether a national registry could be managed by a scientific society or if it should be under the control of the Regulatory Authority ( CNS - National Blood Centre). Since 2015 SIdEM has continued to collect aggregated data, with a simple form sent to each Italian TA unit. Today the main limitation of our Registry is the absence of informatic and financial support and the main limit of all TA Registries is represented by the voluntary adhesion, which can be limited by lack of time and interest or reluctance to show and share own data. In the last year SIdEM has started to work with the CNS in order to implement and integrate the Registry into the Information System of the Transfusion Units ( SISTRA ), a system that monitors the activities of the whole Italian blood system.The hypothesis of a Global Registry is fascinating. In order to have the greatest adhesion it should be easy and fast to fill in and, possibly, based on aggregated data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hedonic modeling of Oklahoma cow auction data is used to determine the market value of bred cow characteristics. We use Agricultural Marketing Service data that let us consider more years and more lots of cattle than is typical for a cattle hedonic study. The greatest price premiums were for black, late-gestating cows, categorized as high quality by market reporters and weighing between 1,600 and 1,700 lb. Previous research on optimal cow size finds much smaller-size cows are optimal, and our research finds that larger cows receive a lower price per pound but still receive a substantially higher price per head. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic crashes constitute a major burden on most governments, especially in countries classified as middle- or low-income countries. Most low- or middle-income countries suffer either from scarce or no crash records' data or unreliable data, where annual crash reports become the main source of data available to investigate crashes in order to find and take countermeasures to reduce both frequency and severity of crashes. This paper aimed at using aggregate annual crash reports for 18 years, in order to determine the main factors that contribute to characterizing crashes in a specific year according to severity. Identification of these factors was made possible using Bayesian networks, in which three different models were developed. The main contributing factors which were found to increase the likelihood of classifying crashes as severe or fatal were: higher number of traffic control device violations, speeding, higher number of run-off-road crashes and higher number of pedestrian crashes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important results in basic set theory is without doubt Cantor's Theorem which states that the power set of any set X is strictly bigger than X itself. Specker once stated, without providing a proof, that a generalization is possible: for any natural exponent m, there is a natural number N for which if X has at least N distinct elements, then the power set of X is strictly bigger than Xm. The aim of this paper is to formalize and prove Specker's claim and to provide a way to compute the values of N for which the theorem holds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper merges two isolated bodies of literature: the Markov chain model with macro data, formally described in detail by MacRae in 1977, and the Ecological inference model, the pitfalls of which were discussed by Robinson in 1950. Both are choice models. They have the same likelihood function and the same regression equation. Decades ago, this likelihood function was computationally demanding. This has led to the use of several approximate methods, in particular with the Ecological inference model. Due to the improvement in computer hardware and software since Macrae (1977), the exact maximum likelihood should now be the preferred estimation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been much interest recently in the relationship between economic conditions and mortality, with some studies showing that mortality is pro-cyclical, while others find the opposite. Some suggest that the aggregation level of analysis (e.g. individual vs. regional) matters. We use both individual and aggregated data on a sample of 20-64 year-old Swedish men from 1993 to 2007. Our results show that the association between the business cycle and mortality does not depend on the level of analysis: the sign and magnitude of the parameter estimates are similar at the individual level and the aggregate (county) level; both showing pro-cyclical mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to understand the dynamics of the rapidly growing Chinese film industry by relying on a revised reason action model that uses a data-mining approach with aggregated data to examine the determinants of people’s intentions to see movies. The results show that attitude towards seeing movies indicated by online film ratings, collective norms represented by box-office performance and Academy Award win(s) significantly predict intentions to see movies. In addition, a movie’s year of release, star power, country of origin, adaptation from a novel and status as a sequel were significant predictors of aggregated intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: The NCBI's Sequence Read Archive (SRA) promises great biological insight if one could analyze the data in the aggregate; however, the data remain largely underutilized, in part, due to the poor structure of the metadata associated with each sample. The rules governing submissions to the SRA do not dictate a standardized set of terms that should be used to describe the biological samples from which the sequencing data are derived. As a result, the metadata include many synonyms, spelling variants and references to outside sources of information. Furthermore, manual annotation of the data remains intractable due to the large number of samples in the archive. For these reasons, it has been difficult to perform large-scale analyses that study the relationships between biomolecular processes and phenotype across diverse diseases, tissues and cell types present in the SRA. Results: We present MetaSRA, a database of normalized SRA human sample-specific metadata following a schema inspired by the metadata organization of the ENCODE project. This schema involves mapping samples to terms in biomedical ontologies, labeling each sample with a sampletype category, and extracting real-valued properties. We automated these tasks via a novel computational pipeline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Team Tennis competitions produce aggregate scores for teams, and thus team rankings, based on head-to-head matchups of individual team members. Similar scoring rules can be used to rank any two groups that must be compared on the basis of paired elements. We explore such rules in terms of their strategic and social choice characteristics, with particular emphasis on the role of cycles. We first show that cycles play an important role in promoting competitive balance, and show that cycles allow for a maximum range of competitive balance within a league of competing teams. We also illustrate the impact that strategic behavior can have on the unpredictability of competition outcomes, and show for a general class of team tennis scoring rules that a rule is strategy-proof if and only if it is acyclic (dictatorial) and manipulable otherwise. Given the benefits of cycles and their relationship with manipulability, a league valuing competitive balance may invite such social choice violations when choosing a scoring rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Field education is integral to the professional education of social work students preparing to enter the profession. Despite its importance, and the emphasis on evidence-informed practice in the wider social work curriculum, the evidence base that informs the quality and effectiveness of this core component of training is varied. This brief article describes the beginning stages of a program of research to utilise anonymised administrative data to better understand student experiences, pathways, progress and performance in social work field education. It is argued that informing the evidence base through better utilisation of administrative data has the potential to strengthen program and curriculum development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests the optimality of consumption decisions at the aggregate level, taking into account popular deviations from the canonical constant-relative-risk-aversion (CRRA) utility function model—rule of thumb and habit. First, we provide extensive empirical evidence of the inappropriateness of linearization and testing strategies using Euler equations for consumption—a drawback for standard rule-of-thumb tests. Second, we propose a novel approach to testing for consumption optimality in this context: nonlinear estimation coupled with return aggregation, where rule-of-thumb behavior and habit are special cases of an all-encompassing model. We estimated 48 Euler equations using GMM. At the 5% level, we only rejected optimality twice out of 48 times. Moreover, out of 24 regressions, we found the rule-of-thumb parameter to be statistically significant only twice. Hence, lack of optimality in consumption decisions represent the exception, not the rule. Finally, we found the habit parameter to be statistically significant on four occasions out of 24. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In some contexts, the effect of a treatment can be estimated with easily accessible aggregate rather than individual data, using difference-in-difference estimation. However, under imperfect assignment within groups, this produces intent-to-treat estimates, which may not be the treatment effect of interest. This article provides a method for estimating local average treatment effects using aggregate data. I also suggest a data source that allows the method to be applied when treatment rates are not recorded. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Estimation of net costs attributed to a disease or other health condition is very important for health economists and policy makers. Skewness and heteroscedasticity are well-known characteristics for cost data, making linear models generally inappropriate and dictating the use of other types of models, such as gamma regression. Additional hurdles emerge when individual level data are not available. In this paper, we consider the latter case were data are only available at the aggregate level, containing means and standard deviations for different strata defined by a number of demographic and clinical factors. We summarize a number of methods that can be used for this estimation, and we propose a Bayesian approach that utilizes the sample stratum specific standard deviations as stochastic. We investigate the performance of two linear mixed models, comparing them with two proposed gamma regression mixed models, to analyze simulated data generated by gamma and log-normal distributions. Our proposed Bayesian approach seems to have significant advantages for net cost estimation when only aggregate data are available. The implemented gamma models do not seem to offer the expected benefits over the linear models; however, further investigation and refinement is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Axiomatic characterization is the foundation ofL-fuzzy rough set theory: the axiom sets of approximation operators guarantee the existence ofL-fuzzy relations orL-fuzzy coverings that reproduce the approximation operators. Axiomatic characterizations of approximation operators based onL-fuzzy coverings have not been fully explored, although those based onL-fuzzy relations have been studied thoroughly. Focusing on three pairs of widely usedL-fuzzy covering-based approximation operators, we establish an axiom set for each of them, and their independence is examined. It should be noted that the axiom set of eachL-fuzzy covering-based approximation operator is different from its crisp counterpart, with an either new or stronger axiom included in theL-fuzzy version. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Simpson's Paradox is the phenomenon that appears in some datasets, where subgroups with a common trend (say, all negative trend) show the reverse trend when they are aggregated (say, positive trend). Even if this issue has an elementary mathematical explanation, it has a deep statistical significance. In this paper, we discuss basic examples in arithmetic, geometry, linear algebra, statistics, game theory, gender bias in university admission and election polls, where we describe the appearance or absence of the Simpson's Paradox. In the final part, we present our results concerning the occurrence of the Simpson's Paradox in Quantum Mechanics with focus on the Quantum Harmonic Oscillator and the Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation. We discuss how likely it is to incur in the Simpson's Paradox and give some concrete numerical examples. We conclude with some final comments and possible future directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We review the production function and the hypothesis of equilibrium in the neoclassical framework. We notify that in a soup of sectors in economy, while capital and labor resemble extensive variables, wage and rate of return on capital act as intensive variables. As a result, Baumol and Bowen’s statement of equal wages is inevitable from the thermodynamics point of view. We try to see how aggregation can be performed concerning the extensive variables in a soup of firms. We provide a toy model to perform aggregation for production and the labor income as extensive quantities in a neoclassical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a new application of the Sequential Quadratic Programing (SQP) algorithm to the context of clustering aggregate panel data. The optimization applies the SQP method in parameter estimation. The method is illustrated on synthetic and empirical data sets. Distinct models are estimated and compared with varying numbers of clusters, explanatory variables, and data aggregation. Results show a good performance of the SQP algorithm for synthetic and empirical data sets. Synthetic data sets were simulated assuming two segments and two covariates, and the correlation between the two covariates was controlled in three scenarios: ρ = 0.00 (no correlation), ρ = 0.25 (weak correlation), and ρ = 0.50 (moderate correlation). The SQP algorithm identifies the correct number of segments for these three scenarios based on all information criteria (AIC, AIC3, and BIC) and retrieves the unobserved heterogeneity in preferences. The empirical case study applies the SQP algorithm to consumer purchase data to find market segments. Results for the empirical data set can provide insights for retail category managers because they are able to compute the impact on the marginal shares caused by a change in the average price of one brand or product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the seismicity rate behaviour in and around Greece during 2009, seeking significant changes in rate preceding larger events. For individual larger events it is difficult to clearly distinguish precursory rate changes from other, possibly unrelated, variations in seismicity. However, when we aggregate seismicity data occurring within a radius of 10 km and in a 50-day window prior to earthquakes with, e.g. magnitude ≥3.5, the resulting aggregated time series show a clearly increasing trend starting 2-3 weeks prior to the 'mainshock' time. We apply statistical tests to investigate if the observed behaviour may be simply consistent with random (poissonian) variations, or, as some earlier studies suggest, with clustering in the sense that high activity rates at some time may imply increased rates later, and thus (randomly) greater probability of larger coming events than for periods of lower seismicity. In this case, rate increases have little useful predictive power. Using data from the entire catalogue, the aggregated rate changes before larger events are clearly and strongly statistically significant and cannot be explained by such clustering. To test this we choose events at random from the catalogue as potential 'mainshocks'. The events preceding the randomly chosen earthquakes show less pronounced rate increases compared to the observed rate changes prior to larger events. Similar behaviour is observed in data sub-sets. However, statistical confidence decreases for geographical subsets containing few 'mainshocks' as it does when data are weighted such that 'mainshocks' with many preceding events are strongly downweighted relative to those with fewer. The analyses suggest that genuine changes in aggregated rate do occur prior to larger events and that this behaviour is not due to a small number of mainshocks with many preceding events dominating the analysis. It does not automatically follow that it will be possible to routinely observe precursory changes prior to individual larger events, but there is a possibility that this may be feasible, e.g. with better data from more sensitive networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the exponential distribution assumption, many reliability databases recorded data in an aggregate way. Instead of individual failure times, each aggregate data point is a summation of a series of collective failures representing the cumulative operating time of one component position from system commencement to the last component replacement. The data format is different from traditional lifetime data and the statistical inference is challenging. We first model the individual component lifetime by a gamma distribution. Confidence intervals for the gamma shape parameter can be constructed using a scaled χ2approximation to a modified ratio of the geometric mean to the arithmetic mean, while confidence intervals for the gamma rate and mean parameters, as well as quantiles, are obtained using the generalized pivotal quantity method. We then fit the data using the inverse Gaussian (IG) distribution, a useful lifetime model for failures caused by degradation. Procedures for point estimation and interval estimation of parameters are developed. We also propose an interval estimation method for the quantiles of an IG distribution based on the generalized pivotal quantity method. An illustrative example demonstrates the proposed inference methods. Supplementary materials for this article are available online. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the rational choice reasoning that is used to explain the correlation between low voter turnout and the disruptions caused by weather related phenomena in the United States. Using in-person as well as phone survey data collected in New York City where the damage and disruption caused by Hurricane Sandy varied by district and even by city blocks, we explore, more directly than one can with aggregate data, whether individuals who were more affected by the disruptions caused by Hurricane Sandy were more or less likely to vote in the 2012 Presidential Election that took place while voters still struggled with the devastation of the hurricane and unusually low temperatures. Contrary to the findings of other scholars who use aggregate data to examine similar questions, we find that there is no difference in the likelihood to vote between citizens who experienced greater discomfort and those who experienced no discomfort even in non-competitive districts. We theorize that this is in part due to the resilience to costs and higher levels of political engagement that vulnerable groups develop under certain institutional conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research on the relationship between standards and teachers' practice suggests that teachers are unlikely to make changes to practice without extensive opportunities for learning about standards with colleagues. This article extends this line of research, using a comparative case study of three high-poverty urban schools to examine the nature of teachers' collaborative work around the Common Core State Standards and the conditions that support this work. It argues that collaborative practices that encourage joint examination of instruction and student learning against standards support teachers in noticing and attending to differences between their current practice and standards. In addition, it examines the role of teachers' instructional knowledge and principals' leadership in supporting teachers' collaboration around standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a clustering-based iterative algorithm to solve certain optimization problems in machine learning, where we start the algorithm by aggregating the original data, solving the problem on aggregated data, and then in subsequent steps gradually disaggregate the aggregated data. We apply the algorithm to common machine learning problems such as the least absolute deviation regression problem, support vector machines, and semi-supervised support vector machines. We derive model-specific data aggregation and disaggregation procedures. We also show optimality, convergence, and the optimality gap of the approximated solution in each iteration. A computational study is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In economics and government statistics, aggregated data instead of individual level data are usually reported for data confidentiality and for simplicity. In this paper we develop a method of flexibly estimating the probability density function of the population using aggregated data obtained as group averages when individual level data are grouped according to quantile limits. The kernel density estimator has been commonly applied to such data without taking into account the data aggregation process and has been shown to perform poorly. Our method models the quantile function as an integral of the exponential of a spline function and deduces the density function from the quantile function. We match the aggregated data to their theoretical counterpart using least squares, and regularize the estimation by using the squared second derivatives of the density function as the penalty function. A computational algorithm is developed to implement the method. Application to simulated data and US household income survey data show that our penalized spline estimator can accurately recover the density function of the underlying population while the common use of kernel density estimation is severely biased. The method is applied to study the dynamic of China's urban income distribution using published interval aggregated data of 1985–2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers in the conflict research community have become increasingly aware that we can no longer depend on state-aggregated data. Numerous factors at the substate level affect the nature of human interactions, so if we really want to understand conflict, we need to find more appropriate units of analysis. However, while many conflict researchers have realized this, actually taking the next step and performing data analysis on spatial data grids has remained a rather elusive goal for many because of the difficulty of learning the new techniques to perform such analyses. This paper introduces SpatialGridBuilder, a new, freely available, open-source system with the goal of empowering conflict researchers with no background in GIS methods to start their own spatial analyses. SpatialGridBuilder allows the researcher to: (a) create entirely new spatial datasets, based on the needs of their own research; (b) import their own spatial data; (c) easily add a range of important variables to the datasets, including commonly used conflict variables, plus new variables that have not been presented before; and (d) visualize graphical renderings of this data. Having done this, SpatialGridBuilder will then export the dataset for the researcher to analyse using conventional statistical methods. This article introduces the new program, and demonstrates how it can be used to set up such a statistical analysis. It also shows how different results can be achieved by building grids of different resolutions, thereby encouraging researchers to choose grid resolutions appropriate to their research questions and data. The article also introduces a novel means of determining infrastructure complexity, using Google maps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article identifies seven specific attitudes, behaviors, and skills among academically successful urban Black students and explores the relationship to their achievement. This study examines the academic achievement of 157 Black students and finds that when specific Successful Learner Characteristics are present, above-average academic achievement is likely to result. This research further determines that when urban Black students demonstrate these characteristics they also share in greater responsibility for their own learning. Finally, this study concludes that there may be less of an “achievement gap” than there is a gap in attitudes, behaviors, and skills that lead to academic achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper proves a conjecture of Solomon Feferman concerning the indefiniteness of the continuum hypothesis relative to a semi-intuitionistic set theory. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Frege’s Grundgesetze was one of the 19th century forerunners to contemporary set theory which was plagued by the Russell paradox. In recent years, it has been shown that subsystems of the Grundgesetze formed by restricting the comprehension schema are consistent. One aim of this paper is to ascertain how much set theory can be developed within these consistent fragments of the Grundgesetze, and our main theorem (Theorem 2.9) shows that there is a model of a fragment of the Grundgesetze which defines a model of all the axioms of Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory with the exception of the power set axiom. The proof of this result appeals to Gödel’s constructible universe of sets and to Kripke and Platek’s idea of the projectum, as well as to a weak version of uniformization (which does not involve knowledge of Jensen’s fine structure theory). The axioms of the Grundgesetze are examples of abstraction principles, and the other primary aim of this paper is to articulate a sufficient condition for the consistency of abstraction principles with limited amounts of comprehension (Theorem 3.5). As an application, we resolve an analogue of the joint consistency problem in the predicative setting. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of augmented reality to teach a chain task to three elementary-age students with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Augmented reality blends digital information within the real world. This study used a marker-based augmented reality picture prompt to trigger a video model clip of a student brushing her teeth. All students learned how to brush their teeth independently and maintained the skill 9 weeks later with the introduction of augmented reality. Theoretical and teacher implications are discussed in the context of using new technologies to teach students with ASDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mendelian randomization is the use of genetic instrumental variables to obtain causal inferences from observational data. Two recent developments for combining information on multiple uncorrelated instrumental variables (IVs) into a single causal estimate are as follows: (i) allele scores, in which individual-level data on the IVs are aggregated into a univariate score, which is used as a single IV, and (ii) a summary statistic method, in which causal estimates calculated from each IV using summarized data are combined in an inverse-variance weighted meta-analysis. To avoid bias from weak instruments, unweighted and externally weighted allele scores have been recommended. Here, we propose equivalent approaches using summarized data and also provide extensions of the methods for use with correlated IVs. We investigate the impact of different choices of weights on the bias and precision of estimates in simulation studies. We show that allele score estimates can be reproduced using summarized data on genetic associations with the risk factor and the outcome. Estimates from the summary statistic method using external weights are biased towards the null when the weights are imprecisely estimated; in contrast, allele score estimates are unbiased. With equal or external weights, both methods provide appropriate tests of the null hypothesis of no causal effect even with large numbers of potentially weak instruments. We illustrate these methods using summarized data on the causal effect of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol on coronary heart disease risk. It is shown that a more precise causal estimate can be obtained using multiple genetic variants from a single gene region, even if the variants are correlated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a model, for a system of intuitionistic analysis including Brouwer's principle for numbers and Kripke's schema, in which [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the analysis developed in our earlier paper , we show that every uncountable cardinal in Gitik's model of in which all uncountable cardinals are singular is almost Ramsey and is also a Rowbottom cardinal carrying a Rowbottom filter. We assume that the model of is constructed from a proper class of strongly compact cardinals, each of which is a limit of measurable cardinals. Our work consequently reduces the best previously known upper bound in consistency strength for the theory [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the occasion of his 70th birthday, the work of Adrian Mathias in set theory is surveyed in its full range and extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our work proposes to study the conuclear image of a substructural logic and in particular to investigate the relationship between a substructural logic and its conuclear image. We analyze some axioms familiar to substructural logics and we check if they: (a) are preserved under conuclear images, (b) never hold in a conuclear image, or (c) are compatible with conuclear images but are not necessarily preserved under conuclear images. Moreover, we prove that the conuclear image of any substructural logic has the disjunction property. We finally give a sufficient condition in order that an inequality is preserved under conuclear images and observe that if we slightly relax this condition, we meet counterexamples of inequalities that are not preserved under conuclear images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we give characterizations of the stable and ℵ0-stable theories, in terms of an external property called representation. In the sense of the representation property, the mentioned classes of first-order theories can be regarded as 'not very complicated'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This empirical study of conservation tillage adoption relies on the logit model applied to fieldlevel information on agents' attributes and county-aggregated measures of agents' choices. The methodology treats the aggregated data as an expected value--the area-weighted group average of individual probabilities of choosing conservation tillage--subject to a measurement error. Using 2002 and 2004 data for Iowa, we estimate field-level costs of the adoption of conservation tillage. The results indicate that adoption is significantly affected by soil characteristics and crop rotation and highlight the heterogeneity in adoption costs when controlling for these characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Education Policy Analysis Archives / Archivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas / Arquivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas is the property of Educational Policy Analysis Archives & Education Review and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study addresses the old problem of epistemological rupture between the micro and macro levels of scientific knowledge and critically analyzes the new proposals for reconciliation. At the same time, it is trying to answer questions like: is this methodological dualism a matter which limits scientific knowledge or it is rather an ideological dispute, in the broad sense of the term? Does it not rely on a founding duality and on a living dialectic between "the whole and the part"? The two levels of knowledge are not reciprocally exclusive and can "communicate" with each other and have even common analysis models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Economy & Forecasting / Ekonomìka ì Prognozuvannâ is the property of Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, Institute for Economic Forecasting and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Employing Bauman's scholarship on globalization, the author theorizes teacher candidates as tourists in order to critically examine current field observation practices in art education. The study follows preservice students as they participate in collecting narratives during field observations in an urban/inner-city school. The visual representations of their experiences are analyzed to isolate and address emergent themes that reveal the consumerist nature of field practices through instances of (trans)action. Recent national studies give credence to the shifting landscape of public education in the United States and the author suggests that the changing demographics of both teachers and students necessitate a reconceptualization of site observations in order to challenge preconceived notions of diverse pedagogical places and provide strategies to mitigate spaces of tension experienced during fieldwork. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focused on first-semester college students, investigating (a) indirect effects of aggregate alcohol use on grade point average (GPA) through academic effort (skipping class and time on schoolwork) and (b) daily effects of alcohol use on reduced effort. Eighty students reported daily alcohol use and academic effort (skipping class and hours spent on schoolwork) during five selected weeks of their first semester; the university provided GPAs. We found strong evidence of an indirect effect of aggregate alcohol use on GPA through skipping class; there was weaker evidence for time on schoolwork as a mediator. Daily analyses showed increased skipping and reduced schoolwork on days during which students used alcohol. Intervention to increase persistence may focus on reducing alcohol use and on dealing with low effort (e.g., skipping class). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modeling events requires accounting for differential follow-up duration, especially when combining randomized and observational studies. Although events occur at any point over a follow-up period and censoring occurs throughout, most applied researchers use odds ratios as association measures, assuming follow-up duration is similar across treatment groups. We derive the bias of the rate ratio when incorrectly assuming equal follow-up duration in the single study binary treatment setting. Simulations illustrate bias, efficiency, and coverage and demonstrate that bias and coverage worsen rapidly as the ratio of follow-up duration between arms moves away from one. Combining study rate ratios with hierarchical Poisson regression models, we examine bias and coverage for the overall rate ratio via simulation in three cases: when average arm-specific follow-up duration is available for all studies, some studies, and no study. In the null case, bias and coverage are poor when the study average follow-up is used and improve even if some arm-specific follow-up information is available. As the rate ratio gets further from the null, bias and coverage remain poor. We investigate the effectiveness of cardiac resynchronization therapy devices compared with those with cardioverter-defibrillator capacity where three of eight studies report arm-specific follow-up duration. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the period after 1989, we compare two societies with majority of the population residing in cities, which however applies more significantly to Czechia. Analyses of aggregated data from parliamentary elections confirm larger urban-rural cleavage than analyses based on survey research. Although both societies have a very similar profile of voter turnout regarding municipalities' population size, the difference in political preferences between countryside and cities is less prominent in Czechia than in Slovakia. Alternation of „urban“ and „rural“ coalition governments, which was occurring in Slovakia, was not observed in Czechia. Urban-rural political cleavage is significantly weaker in Czechia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present experimental evidence on the impact of a school choice program in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh that provided students with a voucher to finance attending a private school of their choice. The study design featured a unique two-stage lottery-based allocation of vouchers that created both studentlevel and market-level experiments, which allows us to study the individual and the aggregate effects of school choice (including spillovers). After two and four years of the program, we find no difference between test scores of lottery winners and losers on Telugu (native language), math, English, and science/social studies, suggesting that the large cross-sectional differences in test scores across public and private schools mostly reflect omitted variables. However, private schools also teach Hindi, which is not taught by the public schools, and lottery winners have much higher test scores in Hindi. Furthermore, the mean cost per student in the private schools in our sample was less than a third of the cost in public schools. Thus, private schools in this setting deliver slightly better test score gains than their public counterparts (better on Hindi and same in other subjects), and do so at a substantially lower cost per student. Finally, we find no evidence of spillovers on public school students who do not apply for the voucher, or on private school students, suggesting that the positive effects on voucher winners did not come at the expense of other students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]