80 research outputs found
The political influence of peer groups: experimental evidence in the classroom
People who belong to the same group often behave alike. Is this because people with similar preferences naturally associate with each other or because group dynamics cause individual preferences and/or the information that they have to converge? We address this question with a natural experiment. We find no evidence that peer political identification affects individual identification. But we do find that peer engagement affects political identification: a more politically engaged peer group encourages individual political affiliation to move from the extremes to the centre
Endorse or Not to Endorse: Understanding the Determinants of Newspapersâ Likelihood of Making Political Recommendations
This article investigates the determinants of newspapersâ provision for political opinion. I empirically examine the role of newspapersâ political preferences and market competition on newspapersâ decision to make endorsements. Regression results suggest that market competition turns newspapers more likely to make endorsements. Results from a simple model show that newspapersâ ideology determine their endorsements, making partisan papers more likely to make political recommendations and endorse challengers than non-partisan newspapers
The Role of Conferences on the Pathway to Academic Impact: Evidence from a Natural Experiment
We provide evidence for the effectiveness of conferences in promoting academic impact, by exploiting the cancellation - due to "Hurricane Isaac" - of the 2012 American Political Science Association Annual Meeting. We assembled a dataset of 29,000 articles and quantified conference effects, using difference-in-differences regressions. Within four years of being presented at the conference, an article's likelihood of becoming cited increases by five percentage points. We decompose the effects by authorship and provide an account of the underlying mechanisms. Overall, our findings point to the role of short term face-to-face interactions in the formation and dissemination of scientific knowledge
Andes Basin Focal Project
The CPWF Basin Focal Project for the Andes system of basins worked with a range of local
stakeholders to develop a better understanding of the mechanisms for improving the
productivity of water in the Andes. We considered productivity in broad terms as the
productivity of energy (HEP), food and fiber (agriculture) and livelihoods (industry, transport
and benefit sharing such as Payments for Environmental Services schemes (PES)).
In addition to the compiled data bases and analyses on poverty and institutions, one of the
key deliverables of the project was the development and deployment of the AguAAndes
policy support system (PSS). This integrates analyses of water availability and productivity
within the local environmental and policy context. It is a web-based policy support system
combining an extensive spatial database with process-based models for hydrology, crop
production and socio-economic processes. It is intended to allow analysts and decision
makers to test the potential onsite and offsite impacts of land and water management
decisions in terms of their ability to sustain environmental services and human wellbeing.
Interventions and recommendations for future actions on water and food in the region are
presented
Intradermorreação de Montenegro em cães (Mammalia: Canidae) experimentalmente inoculados por Leishmaniaguyanensis e Leishmania braziliensis (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae), principais agentes causadores de Leishmaniose Tegumentar na AmazÎnia
Entropy-corrected new agegraphic dark energy in Horava-Lifshitz cosmology
We study the entropy-corrected version of the new agegraphic dark energy
(NADE) model and dark matter in a spatially non-flat Universe and in the
framework of Ho\v{r}ava-Lifshitz cosmology. For the two cases containing
noninteracting and interacting entropy-corrected NADE (ECNADE) models, we
derive the exact differential equation that determines the evolution of the
ECNADE density parameter. Also the deceleration parameter is obtained.
Furthermore, using a parametrization of the equation of state parameter of the
ECNADE model as , we obtain both
and . We find that in the presence of interaction, the
equation of state parameter of this model can cross the phantom
divide line which is compatible with the observation.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures, to appear in 'Astrophysics and Space Science
Comprehensive analysis of epigenetic clocks reveals associations between disproportionate biological ageing and hippocampal volume
The concept of age acceleration, the difference between biological age and chronological age, is of growing interest, particularly with respect to age-related disorders, such as Alzheimerâs Disease (AD). Whilst studies have reported associations with AD risk and related phenotypes, there remains a lack of consensus on these associations. Here we aimed to comprehensively investigate the relationship between five recognised measures of age acceleration, based on DNA methylation patterns (DNAm age), and cross-sectional and longitudinal cognition and AD-related neuroimaging phenotypes (volumetric MRI and Amyloid-ÎČ PET) in the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) and the Alzheimerâs Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Significant associations were observed between age acceleration using the Hannum epigenetic clock and cross-sectional hippocampal volume in AIBL and replicated in ADNI. In AIBL, several other findings were observed cross-sectionally, including a significant association between hippocampal volume and the Hannum and Phenoage epigenetic clocks. Further, significant associations were also observed between hippocampal volume and the Zhang and Phenoage epigenetic clocks within Amyloid-ÎČ positive individuals. However, these were not validated within the ADNI cohort. No associations between age acceleration and other Alzheimerâs disease-related phenotypes, including measures of cognition or brain Amyloid-ÎČ burden, were observed, and there was no association with longitudinal change in any phenotype. This study presents a link between age acceleration, as determined using DNA methylation, and hippocampal volume that was statistically significant across two highly characterised cohorts. The results presented in this study contribute to a growing literature that supports the role of epigenetic modifications in ageing and AD-related phenotypes
State of the worldâs plants and fungi 2020
Kewâs State of the Worldâs Plants and Fungi project provides assessments of our current knowledge of the diversity of plants and fungi on Earth, the global threats that they face, and the policies to safeguard them. Produced in conjunction with an international scientific symposium, Kewâs State of the Worldâs Plants and Fungi sets an important international standard from which we can annually track trends in the global status of plant and fungal diversity
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