Financial Development and Growth: A Re-Examination using a Panel Granger Causality Test

In this paper we investigate the causal relationship between financial development and economic growth. We use an innovative econometric method which is based on a panel test of the Granger non causality hypothesis. We implement various tests with a sample of 63 industrial and developing countries over the 1960-1995 and 1960-2000 periods. We use three standard indicators of financial development. The results provide support for a robust causality relationship from economic growth to the financial development. On the contrary, the non causality hypothesis from financial development indicators to economic growth can not be rejected in most of the cases. However, these results only imply that, if such a relationship exists, it can not be easily identified in a simply bi-variate Granger causality test.Granger Causality Tests; Panel Data; Financial Development; Economic Growth

Intra-industry trade and economic distance : causality tests using panel data.

In this paper, we implement Granger causalty tests using panel data as methodology perfected by Hurlin (2004, 2005) and Hurlin and Venet(2004). We consider the bilateral trade patterns of the European Union with 17 countries over the period 1976-2000. We show that for the whole sample, there are no-causal relationship whatever the lag considered. However, we find some causal relationship from the economic distance to the share of intra-industry trade in the sub-sample of emerging countries and the inverse relationship in the sub-sample of developing countries.Panel data; Granger causality tests; Intra-industry trade; Economic distance;

Benchmarking machine learning models on multi-centre eICU critical care dataset

Progress of machine learning in critical care has been difficult to track, in part due to absence of public benchmarks. Other fields of research (such as computer vision and natural language processing) have established various competitions and public benchmarks. Recent availability of large clinical datasets has enabled the possibility of establishing public benchmarks. Taking advantage of this opportunity, we propose a public benchmark suite to address four areas of critical care, namely mortality prediction, estimation of length of stay, patient phenotyping and risk of decompensation. We define each task and compare the performance of both clinical models as well as baseline and deep learning models using eICU critical care dataset of around 73,000 patients. This is the first public benchmark on a multi-centre critical care dataset, comparing the performance of clinical gold standard with our predictive model. We also investigate the impact of numerical variables as well as handling of categorical variables on each of the defined tasks. The source code, detailing our methods and experiments is publicly available such that anyone can replicate our results and build upon our work.Comment: Source code to replicate the results https://github.com/mostafaalishahi/eICU_Benchmar

Smartphone apps usage patterns as a predictor of perceived stress levels at workplace

Explosion of number of smartphone apps and their diversity has created a fertile ground to study behaviour of smartphone users. Patterns of app usage, specifically types of apps and their duration are influenced by the state of the user and this information can be correlated with the self-reported state of the users. The work in this paper is along the line of understanding patterns of app usage and investigating relationship of these patterns with the perceived stress level within the workplace context. Our results show that using a subject-centric behaviour model we can predict stress levels based on smartphone app usage. The results we have achieved, of average accuracy of 75% and precision of 85.7%, can be used as an indicator of overall stress levels in work environments and in turn inform stress reduction organisational policies, especially when considering interrelation between stress and productivity of workers

Automatic Stress Detection in Working Environments from Smartphones' Accelerometer Data: A First Step

Increase in workload across many organisations and consequent increase in occupational stress is negatively affecting the health of the workforce. Measuring stress and other human psychological dynamics is difficult due to subjective nature of self- reporting and variability between and within individuals. With the advent of smartphones it is now possible to monitor diverse aspects of human behaviour, including objectively measured behaviour related to psychological state and consequently stress. We have used data from the smartphone's built-in accelerometer to detect behaviour that correlates with subjects stress levels. Accelerometer sensor was chosen because it raises fewer privacy concerns (in comparison to location, video or audio recording, for example) and because its low power consumption makes it suitable to be embedded in smaller wearable devices, such as fitness trackers. 30 subjects from two different organizations were provided with smartphones. The study lasted for 8 weeks and was conducted in real working environments, with no constraints whatsoever placed upon smartphone usage. The subjects reported their perceived stress levels three times during their working hours. Using combination of statistical models to classify self reported stress levels, we achieved a maximum overall accuracy of 71% for user-specific models and an accuracy of 60% for the use of similar-users models, relying solely on data from a single accelerometer.Comment: in IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, 201

New Compositions for Percussion Duo

The submitted videos are a representation of recent performances and world premieres of commissions by Dr. Andrea Venet’s percussion duo, Escape Ten. Escape Ten is an ensemble in residence at the UNF School of Music with Dr. Annie Stevens (Virginia Tech). The first video is of a new composition, 2300 Degrees, by Ivan Trevino. Trevino held a musical residence at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY and was greatly affected by observing glass blower Lino Tagliapietra work. Ivan states “In order to recreate the feelings I felt while watching Lino work, I decided to create a piece with a stream of unrelenting notes, while at times having each player play in time signatures different than the other. As you can imagine, this is a very challenging piece to play, and the most difficult duo I\u27ve written.” The second video contains two pieces, the first entitled Clear Midnight by Michael Burritt, followed by Fastlane by Hungarian composer Aurél Holló. Clear Midnight is a continuous two-movement work connected by a drum interlude, and is inspired by the poem \u27A Clear Midnight\u27 by Walt Whitman. The piece showcases interjectory and organic uses of the drums in a homogenous manner within the marimba texture. What is most unique about the work is that the performers are required to sing while playing their instruments in the middle section, eliciting an immediate, visceral response from the listener. Fastlane is by Aurél Holló, who is most notable for his wide breadth of performances with the internationally acclaimed Hungarian percussion ensemble Amadinda. Holló’s musical influences include music by György Ligeti and Balinese Gamelan, a very rhythmic and percussive music with a heavy emphasis on repeated, interlocking patterns called kotekan by idiophones and gong chimes. You can hear these influences in timbre and rhythm in Fastlane. A supplemental video of Clear Midnight is also provided: https://youtu.be/qfRen2JS2z

Tourism in Iceland: Individual Carbon Footprint and the Potential to be Carbon Neutral

World population has increased decade after decade and tourism is following the same trend. Tourism in Iceland is no exception, expanding each year. Most human actions have adverse effects on the planet, including travel. As traveling amongst humans increases so will tourism emissions. It is important to be aware of the impacts our actions have and the options available to make it better. Since carbon emissions for travelers are inevitable, this research has calculated the cost of offsetting those emissions through afforestation in Iceland. Most imagine a heavy financial burden to offset emissions but in reality, most visitors would only require an 8-24 USD contribution. The issue faced is lack of mitigation options. With a minimal financial burden on tourists, Iceland only lacks the resources for carbon neutral tourism

Role-Clarity and Boundaries for Trauma-Informed Teachers

As they begin to implement trauma-informed practices in their classrooms, teachers should consider their role in the lives of students and how to maintain appropriate and safe boundaries with students. This essay explores the role of the teacher in supporting trauma-affected children and offers a frame of teacher as a facilitator of connection. It also offers ways to compassionately maintain boundaries with students while supporting their access to mental health care