Noncognitive skills in economics: Models, measurement, and empirical evidence

There is an increasing economic literature considering personality. This paper provides an overview on the role of these skills regarding three main aspects of economic analysis: measurement, theoretical modeling, and empirical estimates. Based on the relevant literature from different disciplines, the common psychometric measures used to assess personality are discussed. A recently proposed theoretical framework of human capital production takes personality explicitly into account. It is reviewed to clarify the understanding of crucial features of skill development. Based on these foundations, the main results of the empirical literature regarding noncognitive skills are classified along the research questions and summarized. --noncognitive skills,personality,human capital formation,psychometric measures

Variation of learning intensity in late adolescence and the impact on noncognitive skills

Despite the interdependence between cognitive and noncognitive skills, empirical studies have shown a longer period of acquisition in life-time for the latter besides relevance for educational and labor market success. Analyzing returns of investments during different periods of life is therefore economically meaningful. We evaluate the effects of a substantial increase in the amount of curriculum per unit of time (learning intensity) at the end of higher secondary schooling on nine types of these skills. The results show no influence on the acquisition of noncognitive skills, indicating that personality does rather not depend on schooling investments in late adolescence. --Noncognitive skills,human capital formation,learning intensity,natural experiment,Big Five,Locus of Control,Reciprocity,Self-Control

Liver failure occurring as a component of exertional heatstroke.

An unusual case of an exertional heatstroke in a healthy 25-year-old man is presented. Initially, the patient was deeply comatose and developed severe rhabdomyolysis and massive hepatic necrosis. Subsequently, he received a liver transplant with remarkable improvement in his mental status, although the rhabdomyolysis continued. The patient died 41 days after the transplant due to a complicating infection. Providing that infections can be effectively controlled, liver transplants might be a promising therapeutic alternative for the few patients who survive the initial neurological consequences of this unusual event

Space applications of Automation, Robotics And Machine Intelligence Systems (ARAMIS). Volume 3, phase 2: Executive summary

The field of telepresence is defined, and overviews of those capabilities that are now available, and those that will be required to support a NASA telepresence effort are provided. Investigation of NASA's plans and goals with regard to telepresence, extensive literature search for materials relating to relevant technologies, a description of these technologies and their state of the art, and projections for advances in these technologies are included. Several space projects are examined in detail to determine what capabilities are required of a telepresence system in order to accomplish various tasks, such as servicing and assembly. The key operational and technological areas are identified, conclusions and recommendations are made for further research, and an example developmental program leading to an operational telepresence servicer is presented

Space Applications of Automation, Robotics and Machine Intelligence Systems (ARAMIS), phase 2. Volume 1: Telepresence technology base development

The field of telepresence is defined, and overviews of those capabilities that are now available, and those that will be required to support a NASA telepresence effort are provided. Investigation of NASA's plans and goals with regard to telepresence, extensive literature search for materials relating to relevant technologies, a description of these technologies and their state of the art, and projections for advances in these technologies over the next decade are included. Several space projects are examined in detail to determine what capabilities are required of a telepresence system in order to accomplish various tasks, such as servicing and assembly. The key operational and technological areas are identified, conclusions and recommendations are made for further research, and an example developmental program is presented, leading to an operational telepresence servicer

Space Applications of Automation, Robotics and Machine Intelligence Systems (ARAMIS), phase 2. Volume 2: Telepresence project applications

The field of telepresence is defined and overviews of those capabilities that are now available, and those that will be required to support a NASA telepresence effort are provided. Investigation of NASA' plans and goals with regard to telepresence, extensive literature search for materials relating to relevant technologies, a description of these technologies and their state of the art, and projections for advances in these technologies over the next decade are included

Prevalence of vertebral fractures on chest radiographs of elderly African American and Caucasian women.

The prevalence of vertebral fractures on routine chest radiographs of elderly Caucasian women was only 1.3 times higher than in African American (AA) women, a difference considerably smaller than reported in population studies. AAs with medical problems may have higher risk of vertebral fractures than previously suspected.IntroductionEarlier studies noted a 1.9- to 3.7-fold higher prevalence of vertebral fractures in Caucasian (CA) compared to African American (AA) women. These studies, however, may have suffered from selection bias. We reported that among women referred for bone density testing, the prevalence of vertebral fractures in AA was the same as in CA women. Suspecting that the latter might have been due to a referral bias, we examined the racial difference in the prevalence of vertebra fractures on chest radiographs of patients seeking general medical care, not selected for osteoporosis.MethodsConsecutive chest radiographs (N = 1,200) of women over age 60 were evaluated using Genant's semi-quantitative method. Patients' race and the presence of diseases or medications associated with increased fracture risk were ascertained from the electronic medical records.ResultsAmong 1,011 women (76% AA) with usable radiographs, 11% had moderate or severe vertebral fractures. The prevalence of vertebral fractures was 10.3% in 773 AA and 13% in 238 CA women (p = 0.248 for difference between races). The lack of difference persisted after controlling for age, smoking, use of glucocorticoids, or presence of cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, organ transplantation, and end-stage renal disease. Among all subjects, CA women were more likely to be diagnosed and treated for osteoporosis (p <0.001).ConclusionAmong subjects seeking medical care, the difference in the prevalence of vertebral fractures between AA and CA women is smaller than previously suspected. Greater attention to the detection of vertebral fractures and the management of osteoporosis is warranted in AA women with medical problems

Adaptive time steps in trajectory surface hopping simulations

Trajectory surface hopping (TSH) simulations are often performed in combination with active-space multi-reference configuration interaction (MRCI) treatments. Technical problems may arise in such simulations if active and inactive orbitals strongly mix and switch in some particular regions. We propose to use adaptive time steps when such regions are encountered in TSH simulations. For this purpose, we present a computational protocol that is easy to implement and increases the computational effort only in the critical regions. We test this procedure through TSH simulations of a GFP chromophore model (OHBI) and a light-driven rotary molecular motor (F-NAIBP) on semiempirical MRCI potential energy surfaces, by comparing the results from simulations with adaptive time steps to analogous ones with constant time steps. For both test molecules, the number of successful trajectories without technical failures rises significantly, from 53% to 95% for OHBI and from 25% to 96% for F-NAIBP. The computed excited-state lifetime remains essentially the same for OHBI and increases somewhat for F-NAIBP, and there is almost no change in the computed quantum efficiency for internal rotation in F-NAIBP. We recommend the general use of adaptive time steps in TSH simulations with active-space CI methods because this will help to avoid technical problems, increase the overall efficiency and robustness of the simulations, and allow for a more complete sampling