Measuring the Relevance of Factors on Cross-Sectional Returns with Decision Trees

This study is concerned with new ways to identify and analyse the factors on cross-sectional returns in financial markets with respect to their time-variability. Therefore, classification and regression trees and conventional regression models are applied. This study uses data on the S&P 500 from 1999 to 2019. Empirical findings show high time variability of factors on cross-sectional returns. The high level of time-variability is not dependent on the applied model. It is also shown that CARTs and conventional regression models have low power when it comes to identifying the factors on cross-sectional returns or predicting the returns themself

Validation of the Vaccination Confidence Scale: A Brief Measure to Identify Parents at Risk for Refusing Adolescent Vaccines

Objective To validate a brief measure of vaccination confidence using a large, nationally representative sample of parents. Methods We analyzed weighted data from 9018 parents who completed the 2010 National Immunization Survey–Teen, an annual, population-based telephone survey. Parents reported on the immunization history of a 13- to 17-year-old child in their households for vaccines including tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis (Tdap), meningococcal, and human papillomavirus vaccines. For each vaccine, separate logistic regression models assessed associations between parents\u27 mean scores on the 8-item Vaccination Confidence Scale and vaccine refusal, vaccine delay, and vaccination status. We repeated analyses for the scale\u27s 4-item short form. Results One quarter of parents (24%) reported refusal of any vaccine, with refusal of specific vaccines ranging from 21% for human papillomavirus to 2% for Tdap. Using the full 8-item scale, vaccination confidence was negatively associated with measures of vaccine refusal and positively associated with measures of vaccination status. For example, refusal of any vaccine was more common among parents whose scale scores were medium (odds ratio, 2.08; 95% confidence interval, 1.75–2.47) or low (odds ratio, 4.61; 95% confidence interval, 3.51–6.05) versus high. For the 4-item short form, scores were also consistently associated with vaccine refusal and vaccination status. Vaccination confidence was inconsistently associated with vaccine delay. Conclusions The Vaccination Confidence Scale shows promise as a tool for identifying parents at risk for refusing adolescent vaccines. The scale\u27s short form appears to offer comparable performance

Herodot - Vater der Ethnologie?

Abstract (deutschsprachige Fassung): Herodot – Vater der Ethnologie? Die Geschichte der Ethnologie gibt es nicht, es sind derlei viele. Dementsprechend haben wir es auch mit einer Reihe an möglichen Anfangspunkten für eine Geschichte der Ethnologie zu tun: Antike, Aufklärung, 19. Jahrhundert, Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts. Der antiken Tradition der Ethnologie wird in den Darstellungen der Entwicklungen der Ethnologie allerdings zumeist kaum nähere, mitunter auch gar keine Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt. Wenn die Antike eine Berücksichtigung in der Besprechung findet, taucht der Name Herodot immer wieder auf, wenngleich keine intensivere Auseinandersetzung mit seinem Werk stattfindet. Ebenjenes Defizit versucht diese Arbeit zu mindern, indem sie sich aus ethnologischer Perspektive ausführlich mit den Historien Herodots beschäftigt. Dabei geht sie folgender Fragestellung nach: Herodot – Vater der Ethnologie? Um Antwort auf die gestellte Frage geben zu können, gilt es das ethnologische Potenzial Herodots eindringlich zu untersuchen. Dies geschieht in drei Schritten. Erstens konzentrieren wir uns auf Herodots methodisches Vorgehen. In den Historien findet sich die Formulierung eines empirischen Forschungsprogramms, das, wenngleich das Ausmaß seiner Realisierung bei Herodot umstritten ist, in seinen Grundzügen nach wie vor Aktualität genießt. Insbesondere gilt unser Interesse in diesem Zusammenhang der Beziehung von Autopsie und oralen Informationen. Überdies spüren wir in diesem Abschnitt dem komparativen Unternehmen Herodots nach. Mit dem ethnographischen Vergleich arbeitet Herodot soziokulturelle Differenzen und Gemeinsamkeiten heraus, wodurch er einerseits ein kritisches Instrument zur Besprechung der eigenen hellenischen Welt gewinnt, andererseits menschliche Universalien entdeckt. Zweitens widmen wir uns ausführlich der Herodotschen Ethnographie. Herodot liefert in den Historien eine Beschreibung der gesamten damals bekannten Welt und ihrer Bewohner, wobei er Themen wie z. B. Subsistenz, Rituale, Gender-Beziehungen, soziale Organisation, materielle Kultur behandelt, die auch zu einem festen Inventar der Ethnographie in der institutionell etablierten Ethnologie werden sollten. Ferner besprechen wir in diesem Teil der Arbeit gewisse Darstellungsmuster des Fremden und deren Durchbrechung im Werk Herodots. Drittens überprüfen wir das theoretische Potenzial Herodots. Hier sehen wir uns Herodots Ansätze zu einem Diffusionismus und seine Ausführungen zum Verhältnis von Natur und Mensch näher an. Ferner lernen wir Herodots Perspektivismus kennen, der sich durchaus mit einem Universalismus kombinieren lässt. Mit den durch diese intensive Auseinandersetzung mit den Herodotschen Historien gewonnenen Einsichten können wir nun eine nuanciertere Beantwortung der Frage Herodot – Vater der Ethnologie? vornehmen. Anm.: Die Arbeit beinhaltet eine Abbildung, die im Quellenverzeichnis eigens ausgewiesen ist.Abstract (English version): Herodotus – father of anthropology? There is no such thing as the history of anthropology, there are many different ones. Accordingly we have to deal with many possible starting points for a history of anthropology: antiquity, Enlightenment, the 19th century or the beginning of the 20th century. The accounts of the historical developments of anthropology however pay mostly little, now and then even no attention to the ancient tradition of anthropology. If antiquity does find consideration, the name Herodotus comes up quite often, even though no intensive analysis with his work takes place. In this work I try to overcome exactly that deficit by dealing extensively with the Histories of Herodotus from an anthropological perspective. While doing so this work deals with the following question: Herodotus – father of anthropology? To answer this, we have to examine closely the anthropological potential of Herodotus. This happens in three steps. First, we concentrate on Herodotus’ methodical procedure. The Histories contain the formulation of an empirical research-program, which, even though the extent of its realisation in the case of Herodotus is hotly debated, is in its fundamentals still up to date. In this context we are particularly interested in the relation between autopsy and oral information. Moreover do we examine in this part the comparative undertaking of Herodotus. Due to the ethnographic comparison Herodotus elaborates sociocultural differences and similarities, whereby on the one hand he wins an instrument for critically discussing his own Hellenic world, on the other hand he discovers human universals. Secondly, we discuss Herodotus’ ethnography extensively. Herodotus delivers within his Histories a description of the whole known world and its inhabitants of his time, in the course of which he deals with themes like e.g. modes of subsistence, rituals, gender-relations, social organisation, material culture and so forth, which should become fundamental to the ethnography in the institutionally established anthropology. Furthermore in this part of the work we discuss certain patterns of representation of the foreign and their destruction in the work of Herodotus. Thirdly, we scrutinize Herodotus’ theoretical potential. Here we look at Herodotus’ considerations on diffusionism and his remarks on the relationship between nature and human beings. Moreover we get to know Herodotus’ perspectivism, which is combined with a universalism. Now, after a detailed analysis of the Histories of Herodotus, we are able to give a profound answer to the question Herodotus – father of anthropology

Concomitant Adolescent Vaccination in the U.S., 2007–2012

Concomitant (same-day) delivery of two or more vaccines to adolescents is effective, safe, and efficient. Increasing concomitant vaccination could improve coverage for recommended adolescent vaccines, but little is known about who receives vaccines concomitantly

Cantankerous creativity: Honesty–Humility, Agreeableness, and the HEXACO structure of creative achievement

Creativity research has suggested that creative people are low in agreeableness. To explore this issue, we applied the HEXACO model of personality structure, which offers an expanded representation of interpersonal traits, particularly a distinction between Honesty–Humility and Agreeableness. A sample of 1304 adults completed the HEXACO-60 and several measures of creative achievement and activities. Latent variable models found that Agreeableness had no relationship with creativity, but Honesty–Humility did: people lower in Honesty–Humility had higher creativity scores, consistent with past work on arrogance and pretentiousness among creative people

Perfectionism: The Good, the Bad, and the Creative

The influence of adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism on creativity was examined. Initially, six measures of creativity were administered, including creative self-perceptions, behavior, and performance measures. Adaptive perfectionism was weakly positively related to creativity, whereas maladaptive perfectionism was unrelated to creativity across five of the six measures. A follow-up study assessed whether initial findings could be generalized to an everyday problem-solving task. Results indicated that adaptive perfectionism was related to higher quality but not originality of solutions. Further, a curvilinear relationship in the shape of an inverted “U” occurred between adaptive perfectionism and four of eight creativity measures. Overall, adaptive perfectionism was consistently, albeit weakly, related to creativity across various types of measures, whereas maladaptive perfectionism was not related to creativity

Assessing Creativity With Self-Report Scales : A Review and Empirical Evaluation

This article reviews recent developments in the assessment of creativity using self-report scales. We focus on four new and promising scales: the Creative Achievement Questionnaire, the Biographical Inventory of Creative Behaviors, the revised Creative Behavior Inventory, and the Creative Domain Questionnaire. For each scale, we review evidence for reliability, validity, and structure, and we discuss important methodological features for users to consider. We then present new analyses of each scale based on a large, diverse sample. We evaluate each scale\u27s item-level and scale-level psychometric features, using both classical test theory and item response theory, and we examine how the scales converge. All four scales performed well and covaried highly with each other. Based on the latest generation of tools, self-report creativity assessment is probably much better than creativity researchers think it is

Enhancement of Aedes albopictus collections by ovitrap and sticky adult trap

Abstract Background: In the last decades, Aedes albopictus has become an increasing public health threat in tropical as well as in more recently invaded temperate areas due to its capacity to transmit several human arboviruses, among which Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika. Enhancing the efficiency of currently used collection approaches, such as ovitraps and sticky traps, is desirable for optimal monitoring of the species abundance, for assessment of the risk of arbovirus transmission and for the optimisation of control activities. Findings: Two sets of 4 × 4 Latin-square experiments were carried out in Tirana (Albania) to test whether modifications in ovitrap shape and size and in oviposition substrate would increase collections of Ae. albopictus eggs and whether hay-infusion would increase adult catches by sticky trap. Generalized Linear Mixed Models with negative binomial error distribution were carried out to analyse the data. Cylindrical ovitraps lined with germination paper yielded significantly higher egg catches than those exploiting either the (commonly used) wooden paddles or floating polystyrene blocks as oviposition substrates. No difference was observed between cylindrical and conical shaped ovitraps. Ovitraps and sticky traps baited with hay infusion yielded significantly higher egg and adult catches than un-baited ones. A significant relationship between ovitrap and sticky trap catches was observed both in the absence and in the presence of attractants, with ovitrap catches increasing more than sticky trap catches at increasing adult female densities. Conclusions: This study provides grounds for optimisation of ovitraps and sticky traps as monitoring tools for Ae. albopictus by (i) supporting use of germination paper as most appropriate oviposition substrate; (ii) suggesting the possible use of stackable conical ovitraps for large scale monitoring; (iii) confirming the use of hay-infusion to increase egg catches in ovitraps, and showing that hay-infusion also significant increases adult catches by sticky traps