Barro's fertility equations: the robustness of the role of female education and income

Barro and Lee (1994) and Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1995) find that real per-capita GDP and both male and female education have important effects on fertility in their cross-country empirical studies. In order to assess the robustness of their results, their estimated models are subjected to specification and diagnostic testing, the effects on the model of using the improved Barro and Lee (1996) cross-country data on educational attainment of the population aged 15 and over are examined, and the different specifications used by Barro and Lee and by Barro and Sala-i-Martin compared. The results obtained suggest that their fertility equations do not perform well in terms of diagnostic testing, and are very sensitive to the use of different vintages of the educational attainment proxies and of the Summers-Heston cross-country income data. A robust explanation of fertility, to link with empirical growth equations, has, therefore, not yet been found; further work is required in this area

The Impact of Second Step Implementation on Students’ Social-Emotional Skills in an Elementary School Setting

A positive classroom and a positive school environment are needed to best support students, especially those students with major behavioral concerns. The implementation of the Second Step curriculum is one way to support positive student behavior. This study examined the impact of Second Step implementation methods on students’ emotion management skills. Peer-to-peer, small-group teacher intervention, and whole-group implementation groups in kindergarten and fifth-grade classrooms were studied. Data collection methods included observational checklists, a district created formative assessment, and pre- and post-tests created by the Second Step curriculum. The data collected indicated that many students had an accurate understanding of social-emotional learning skills, but they did not implement emotion-management skills consistently. However, students participating in peer-to-peer emotion management teaching were more self-aware and applied emotion management skills more frequently when compared to students receiving small-group and whole-group instruction. Based on these results, peer-to-peer instruction methods are recommended to strengthen Second Step emotion management skill instruction and student self-awareness

E(5), X(5), and Prolate to Oblate Shape Phase Transitions in Relativistic Hartree Bogoliubov Theory

Relativistic mean field theory with the NL3 force is used for producing potential energy surfaces (PES) for series of isotopes suggested as exhibiting critical point symmetries. Relatively flat PES are obtained for nuclei showing the E(5) symmetry, while in nuclei corresponding to the X(5) case, PES with a bump are obtained. The PES corresponding to the Pt chain of isotopes suggest a transition from prolate to oblate shapes at 186-Pt.Comment: 21 pages, LaTeX, including 14 .eps figure

How to make experimental economics research more reproducible: lessons from other disciplines and a new proposal

Efforts in the spirit of this special issue aim at improving the reproducibility of experimental economics, in response to the recent discussions regarding the “research reproducibility crisis.” We put this endeavour in perspective by summarizing the main ways (to our knowledge) that have been proposed – by researchers from several disciplines – to alleviate the problem. We discuss the scope for economic theory to contribute to evaluating the proposals. We argue that a potential key impediment to replication is the expectation of negative reactions by the authors of the individual study, and suggest that incentives for having one’s work replicated should increase

49Cr: Towards full spectroscopy up to 4 MeV

The nucleus 49Cr has been studied analysing gamma-gamma coincidences in the reaction 46Ti(alpha,n)49Cr at the bombarding energy of 12 MeV. The level scheme has been greatly extended at low excitation energy and several new lifetimes have been determined by means of the Doppler Shift Attenuation Method. Shell model calculations in the full pf configuration space reproduce well negative-parity levels. Satisfactory agreement is obtained for positive parity levels by extending the configuration space to include a nucleon-hole either in the 1d3/2 or in the 2s1/2 orbitals. A nearly one-to-one correspondence is found between experimental and theoretical levels up to an excitation energy of 4 MeV. Experimental data and shell model calculations are interpreted in terms of the Nilsson diagram and the particle-rotor model, showing the strongly coupled nature of the bands in this prolate nucleus. Nine values of K(pi) are proposed for the levels observed in this experiment. As a by-result it is shown that the values of the experimental magnetic moments in 1f7/2 nuclei are well reproduced without quenching the nucleon g-factors.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure

Preoperative Cognitive Impairment and Postoperative Delirium Predict Decline in Activities of Daily Living after Cardiac Surgery-A Prospective, Observational Cohort Study.

Cardiac surgery and subsequent treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) has been shown to be associated with functional decline, especially in elderly patients. Due to the different assessment tools and assessment periods, it remains yet unclear what parameters determine unfavorable outcomes. This study sought to identify risk factors during the entire perioperative period and focused on the decline in activity of daily living (ADL) half a year after cardiac surgery. Follow-ups of 125 patients were available. It was found that in the majority of patients (60%), the mean ADL declined by 4.9 points (95% CI, -6.4 to -3.5; p < 0.000). In the "No decline" -group, the ADL rose by 3.3 points (2.0 to 4.6; p < 0.001). A multiple regression analysis revealed that preoperative cognitive impairment (MMSE ≤ 26; Exp(B) 2.862 (95%CI, 1.192-6.872); p = 0.019) and duration of postoperative delirium ≥ 2 days (Exp(B) 3.534 (1.094-11.411); p = 0.035) was independently associated with ADL decline half a year after the operation and ICU. Of note, preoperative ADL per se was neither associated with baseline cognitive function nor a risk factor for functional decline. We conclude that the preoperative assessment of cognitive function, rather than functional assessments, should be part of risk stratification when planning complex cardiosurgical procedures

πNN\pi NN coupling determined beyond the chiral limit

Within the conventional QCD sum rules, we calculate the $\pi NN$ coupling constant, $g_{\pi N}$, beyond the chiral limit using two-point correlation function with a pion. We consider the Dirac structure, $i\gamma_5$, at $m_\pi^2$ order, which has clear dependence on the PS and PV coupling schemes for the pion-nucleon interactions. For a consistent treatment of the sum rule, we include the linear terms in quark mass as they constitute the same chiral order as $m_\pi^2$. Using the PS coupling scheme for the pion-nucleon interaction, we obtain $g_{\pi N}=13.3\pm 1.2$, which is very close to the empirical $\pi NN$ coupling. This demonstrates that going beyond the chiral limit is crucial in determining the coupling and the pseudoscalar coupling scheme is preferable from the QCD point of view.Comment: 8 pages, revtex, some errors are corrected, substantially revise