The measurement of educational inequality : achievement and opportunity

This paper proposes two related measures of educational inequality: one for educational achievement and another for educational opportunity. The former is the simple variance (or standard deviation) of test scores. Its selection is informed by consideration of two measurement issues that have typically been overlooked in the literature: the implications of the standardization of test scores for inequality indices, and the possible sample selection biases arising from the Program of International Student Assessment (PISA) sampling frame. The measure of inequality of educational opportunity is given by the share of the variance in test scores that is explained by pre-determined circumstances. Both measures are computed for the 57 countries in which PISA surveys were conducted in 2006. Inequality of opportunity accounts for up to 35 percent of all disparities in educational achievement. It is greater in (most of) continental Europe and Latin America than in Asia, Scandinavia, and North America. It is uncorrelated with average educational achievement and only weakly negatively correlated with per capita gross domestic product. It correlates negatively with the share of spending in primary schooling, and positively with tracking in secondary schools.Teaching and Learning,Secondary Education,Education For All,Poverty Impact Evaluation,Tertiary Education

Measuring inequality of opportunity with imperfect data : the case of Turkey

The measurement of inequality of opportunity has hitherto not been attempted in a number of countries because of data limitations. This paper proposes two alternative approaches to circumventing the missing data problems in countries where a demographic and health survey and an ancillary household expenditure survey are available. One method relies only on the demographic and health survey, and constructs a wealth index as a measure of economic advantage. The alternative method imputes consumption from the ancillary survey into the demographic and health survey. In both cases, the between-type share of overall inequality is computed as a lower bound estimator of inequality of opportunity. Parametric and non-parametric estimates are calculated for both methods, and the parametric approach is shown to yield preferable lower-bound measures. In an application to the sample of ever-married women aged 30-49 in Turkey, inequality of opportunity accounts for at least 26 percent (31 percent) of overall inequality in imputed consumption (the wealth index).Inequality,Economic Theory&Research,Population Policies,Rural Poverty Reduction,Equity and Development

The measurement of inequality of opportunity : theory and an application to Latin America

What part of the inequality observed in a particular country is due to unequal opportunities, rather than to differences in individual efforts or luck? This paper estimates a lower bound for the opportunity share of inequality in labor earnings, household income per capita and household consumption per capita in six Latin American countries. Following John Roemer, the authors associate inequality of opportunity with outcome differences that can be accounted for by morally irrelevant pre-determined circumstances, such as race, gender, place of birth, and family background. Thus defined, unequal opportunities account for between 24 and 50 percent of inequality in consumption expenditure in the sample. Brazil and Central America are more opportunity-unequal than Colombia, Ecuador, or Peru."Opportunity profiles,"which identify the social groups with the most limited opportunity sets, are shown to be distinct from poverty profiles: ethnic origin and the geography of birth are markedly more important as determinants of opportunity deprivation than of outcome poverty, particularly in Brazil, Guatemala, and Peru.Inequality,Rural Poverty Reduction,Access to Finance,Equity and Development,Services&Transfers to Poor

Genetically engineered minipigs model the major clinical features of human neurofibromatosis type 1.

Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) is a genetic disease caused by mutations in Neurofibromin 1 (NF1). NF1 patients present with a variety of clinical manifestations and are predisposed to cancer development. Many NF1 animal models have been developed, yet none display the spectrum of disease seen in patients and the translational impact of these models has been limited. We describe a minipig model that exhibits clinical hallmarks of NF1, including café au lait macules, neurofibromas, and optic pathway glioma. Spontaneous loss of heterozygosity is observed in this model, a phenomenon also described in NF1 patients. Oral administration of a mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase inhibitor suppresses Ras signaling. To our knowledge, this model provides an unprecedented opportunity to study the complex biology and natural history of NF1 and could prove indispensable for development of imaging methods, biomarkers, and evaluation of safety and efficacy of NF1-targeted therapies

Remarks Concerning the Study of Four-Jet Events from Hadronic Decays of the Z0

The angular correlations of four-jet events from hadronic decays of the Z0 have been studied in the past mainly to extract from them the fundamental constants of quantum chromodynamics called colour factors. Previous studies have used all the available phase-space in order to maximize statistics. In this note we want to point out the possibility that significant differences between experiment and theory in restricted regions of phase-space might have escaped detection. Such differences could be a harbinger of the existence of new particles. Some preliminary results are presented.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Colour reconnection in e+e- -> W+W- at sqrt(s) = 189 - 209 GeV

The effects of the final state interaction phenomenon known as colour reconnection are investigated at centre-of-mass energies in the range sqrt(s) ~ 189-209 GeV using the OPAL detector at LEP. Colour reconnection is expected to affect observables based on charged particles in hadronic decays of W+W-. Measurements of inclusive charged particle multiplicities, and of their angular distribution with respect to the four jet axes of the events, are used to test models of colour reconnection. The data are found to exclude extreme scenarios of the Sjostrand-Khoze Type I (SK-I) model and are compatible with other models, both with and without colour reconnection effects. In the context of the SK-I model, the best agreement with data is obtained for a reconnection probability of 37%. Assuming no colour reconnection, the charged particle multiplicity in hadronically decaying W bosons is measured to be (nqqch) = 19.38+-0.05(stat.)+-0.08 (syst.).Comment: 30 pages, 9 figures, Submitted to Euro. Phys. J.

Measurement of event shape distributions and moments in e+e- -> hadrons at 91-209 GeV and a determination of alpha_s

We have studied hadronic events from e+e- annihilation data at centre-of-mass energies from 91 to 209 GeV. We present distributions of event shape observables and their moments at each energy and compare with QCD Monte Carlo models. From the event shape distributions we extract the strong coupling alpha_s and test its evolution with energy scale. The results are consistent with the running of alpha_s expected from QCD. Combining all data, the value of alpha_s(M_Z) is determined to be alpha_s(M_Z) = 0.1191 +- 0.0005 (stat.) +- 0.0010 (expt.) +- 0.0011 (hadr.) +- 0.0044 (theo.). The energy evolution of the moments is also used to determine a value of alpha_s with slightly larger errors: alpha_s(M_Z) = 0.1223 +- 0.0005 (stat.) +- 0.0014 (expt.) +- 0.0016 (hadr.) +0.0054 -0.0036 (theo.).Comment: 63 pages 26 fi

W+W- production and triple gauge boson couplings at LEP energies up to 183 GeV

A study of W-pair production in e+e- annihilations at Lep2 is presented, based on 877 W+W- candidates corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 57 pb-1 at sqrt(s) = 183 GeV. Assuming that the angular distributions of the W-pair production and decay, as well as their branching fractions, are described by the Standard Model, the W-pair production cross-section is measured to be 15.43 +- 0.61 (stat.) +- 0.26 (syst.) pb. Assuming lepton universality and combining with our results from lower centre-of-mass energies, the W branching fraction to hadrons is determined to be 67.9 +- 1.2 (stat.) +- 0.5 (syst.)%. The number of W-pair candidates and the angular distributions for each final state (qqlnu,qqqq,lnulnu) are used to determine the triple gauge boson couplings. After combining these values with our results from lower centre-of-mass energies we obtain D(kappa_g)=0.11+0.52-0.37, D(g^z_1)=0.01+0.13-0.12 and lambda=-0.10+0.13-0.12, where the errors include both statistical and systematic uncertainties and each coupling is determined setting the other two couplings to the Standard Model value. The fraction of W bosons produced with a longitudinal polarisation is measured to be 0.242+-0.091(stat.)+-0.023(syst.). All these measurements are consistent with the Standard Model expectations.Comment: 48 pages, LaTeX, including 13 eps or ps figures, submitted to European Physical Journal