How schools influence students' academic achievements: a behavioral approach with empirical evidence from add health data.

This paper proposes a behavioral model to study how schools influence students’ educational behavior and academic achievements. The school quality is then defined into two dimensions: the amount of market-valued skills schools impart and how well schools cultivate an educational identity. Using data from Add Health in the US, I test the major hypotheses from the theoretical model. On the one hand, school resources (average class size and teacher supply) and student-level curriculum have some effects on the math GPA scores. On the other hand, educational identity indicators (school-level happiness and participation at school teams, clubs or organizations) and the previous math GPA scores are significant determinants in students’ observable effort level such as absenteeism behavior, and through this channel both determinants indirectly influence math GPA achievement. These empirical results inform us that an identity-based behavioral model adds to a rational expectation educational choice model in understanding the widening academic achievement gap between adolescents from different socioeconomic backgrounds. The paper presents the limitation of using school resources to study the school quality and advocates a richer set of school quality measures.

Identity and educational choice: a behavioral approach.

It is puzzling that socioeconomic background greatly affects educational choice. Distinguished from the explanations based on expected utility theory, this paper attempts to explore the psychological mechanisms of generating educational identity1 and schooling choice. It offers a self-signaling model where (1) it incorporates self-esteem concerns into the agent’s payoff function, (2) the investment in schooling not only signals her cognitive ability but also brings the agent into cognitive dissonance and reduction when the perceptions of ability are time-dependent. Using this model, I show a more discriminating analysis of educational choice which combines multi-dimensional factors including socioeconomic background, cognitive and non-cognitive abilities. I identify the conditions under which the high ability agent fails to invest in education. The quality of school and the preschooling are key variables. The model suggests that public policy can help poor children by improving both the early and later education quality at school.

Self-Fulfilling Crises in the Eurozone: An Empirical Test. CEPS Working Document No. 366, 22 June 2012

This paper tests the hypothesis that government bond markets in the eurozone are more fragile and more susceptible to self-fulfilling liquidity crises than in stand-alone countries. We find evidence that a significant part of the surge in the spreads of the PIGS countries (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain) in the eurozone during 2010-11 was disconnected from underlying increases in the debt-to-GDP ratios and fiscal space variables, and was the result of negative self-fulfilling market sentiments that became very strong since the end of 2010. We argue that this can drive member countries of the eurozone into bad equilibria. We also find evidence that after years of neglecting high government debt, investors became increasingly worried about this in the eurozone, and reacted by raising the spreads. No such worries developed in stand-alone countries despite the fact that debt-to-GDP ratios and fiscal space variables were equally high and increasing in these countries

Strong governments, weak banks. CEPS Policy Brief No. 305, 25 November 2013

Banks in the northern eurozone have capital ratios that are, on average, less than half of the capital ratios of banks in the eurozone’s periphery. The authors explain this by the fact that northern eurozone banks profit from the financial solidity of their governments and follow business strategies aimed at issuing too much subsidised debt. In doing so, they weaken their balance sheets and become more fragile – less able to withstand future shocks. Paradoxically, financially strong governments breed fragile banks. The opposite occurs in countries with financially weak governments. In these countries banks are forced to strengthen themselves because they are unable to rely on their governments. As a result they have significantly more capital and reserves than banks in the northern eurozone. Recommendations More than in the south, the governments of northern Europe should stand up and force the banks to issue more equity. This should go much further than what is foreseen in the Basel III accord. If the experience of the southern eurozone countries is any guide, banks in the north of the eurozone should at least double the capital and the reserves as a percentage of their balance sheets. Failure to do so risks destroying the financial solidity of the northern European governments when, in the future, negative shocks force these governments to come to the rescue of their undercapitalised banks. The new responsibilities entrusted to the European Central Bank as the single supervisor in the eurozone create a unique opportunity for that institution to change the regulatory and supervisory culture in the eurozone – one that has allowed the large banks to continue living dangerously, with insufficient capital

What Germany should fear most is its own fear: An analysis of Target2 and current account imbalances. CEPS Working Document No. 368, September 2012

This paper analyzes two claims that have been made about the Target2 payment system. The first one is that this system has been used to support unsustainable current account deficits of Southern European countries. The second one is that the large accumulation of Target2 claims by the Bundesbank represents an unacceptable risk for Germany if the eurozone were to break up. We argue that these claims are unfounded. They also lead to unnecessary fears in Germany that make a solution of the eurozone crisis more difficult. Ultimately, this fear increases the risk of a break-up of the eurozone. Or to paraphrase Franklin Roosevelt, what Germany should fear most is simply its own fear

Why is there so much Inertia in Inflation and Output? A Behavioral Explanation

Serial correlation in macroeconomics is pervasive. Macroeconomic modellers find it impossible to model this feature without relying on serially correlated shocks. Using a behavioral macroeconomic model, I show that serial correlation in inflation and output can easily be explained in the context that agents do not have rational expectation. This important feature is missing in the standard New Keynesian rational expectations models. The rational expectation models need serially correlated exogenous shocks to account for the high serial correlation in inflation and output while the behavioral model produces serial correlation in these variables endogenously. I also show that inertia in the beliefs about the future is a strong force in producing the serial correlation in inflation and output

UV cure kinetics of dimethacrylate thin and thick samples

UV curing is using UV light as the energy source to induce the polymerization of liquid monomers and oligomers to form a solid polymer. Because UV polymerization is fast and energy-saving and a UV curable system has no VOC (volatile organic compound), this new technology has developed rapidly from thin film applications to thick sample applications. In addition, since the UV cure process can be controlled spatially and temporally, it also has an important application to make gradient materials with locally optimized properties. However, most research on UV cure is based on thin film applications, and the cure kinetics of thick samples are more complex and not well understood.;In this study, we focus on the UV cure kinetics of CD540 (ethoxylated (4) Bisphenol-A dimethacrylate) thin and thick samples (2-8 mm). A photo-bleaching initiator, bis(2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl)phenylphosphine oxide (Irgacure 819), is used in the system. UV cure kinetics are complex, especially when the sample is thick, since the light intensity is a function of depth and also a function of exposure time. In order to understand the complex cure kinetics of thick samples, we first studied the variation in the transmitted intensity and initiator concentration through the depth in thick samples. Based on the experimental measured transmitted intensity, a Matlab program was written to predict the intensity versus depth and exposure time of a thick sample. Then, the UV cure kinetics of thin samples (0.05 mm) were studied. In this part, we studied the effect of light intensity, initiator concentration, and temperature on the cure kinetics experimentally and theoretically. A model was developed based on a unimolecular termination mechanism in order to predict the cure kinetics at different conditions for thin samples. Combining the Matlab program for calculating the intensity in thick samples and the model for calculating the cure kinetics of thin samples, the cure kinetics through the depth of thick samples were predicted and compared with experimental results measured by frequency dependent dielectric sensing.;The diffusion of free radicals in a UV cure free radical cure system was studied by monitoring the cure in the dark nonirradiated region under a mask. In addition, a free radical thermal cure of an acrylic resin was characterized in order to study oxygen diffusion from the surface layers into deeper layers

Photodynamic Therapy For Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma In-Situ & Mutation Burden Analysis

PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY FOR CUTANEOUS SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA IN-SITU & MUTATION BURDEN ANALYSIS. Yuemei (Amy) Zhang, Mei Zhong, Haifan Lin, and Sean Christensen. Department of Dermatology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT. SCC in-situ (SCCIS), or Bowen’s disease, is a precursor to invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the skin. Compared to other available treatment modalities, photodynamic therapy (PDT) may offer comparable efficacy with decreased morbidity and better cosmetic and functional outcomes. This retrospective study analyzes the effectiveness and outcomes of photodynamic therapy with aminolevulinic acid (ALA-PDT) treatment of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma in-situ (SCCIS) with blue light. Data collection and statistical analysis was performed on the demographics, clinical history, and procedure details of patients who have biopsy-confirmed diagnoses of SCCIS treated initially with PDT. Treated lesions had a complete response rate of 55% (39/71) after initial PDT treatment. 83% (52/63) of lesions had a complete response with 1-2 cycles of PDT. Age and large size (\u3e2 cm) were inversely correlated with complete initial response. The mean disease-free survival was 13.379 months (standard deviation of 2.0 months, C.I. [9.477, 17.280], 41 observations) for lesions receiving 1 PDT treatment, and 13.590 months (standard deviation of 2.3 months, C.I. [9.072, 18.107], 23 observations) for lesions receiving 2 treatments. There was no statistical difference between 1 and 2 PDT treatments in terms of disease-free survival function. Recurrence rates were 12% (4/33) following 1 PDT treatment and 32% (6/19) following 2 PDT treatments. Depending on clinical details, PDT may be an appropriate choice of treatment for SCCIS. SCCIS and skin cancers arise when cancer-causing mutations develop and accumulate in keratinocytes. The majority of skin cancer cases are attributed to mutations caused by ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Specific UV-induced mutations in tumor-suppressor genes have been documented in normal skin, skin cancer precursors, and SCC lesions. This study aims to develop a system to quantify and characterize the mutations in TP53, Hras, Nras, Kras, CDKN2a, Notch1, Notch2, Notch3, Fat1, Fgfr3, Knstrn, and Braf in clinically and histologically normal skin, and relate this data to level of sun damage using next-generation sequencing. This project is still in process. At this point, primers have been designed to be used in concert with Illumina, Inc.’s extension-ligation system to target a total of 59,547bp within the aforementioned genes, and sequencing of an initial cohort of patient samples has been completed with a total sequence size of 1.54E11bp with 72.26% high-quality sequence. Ongoing work of sequence analysis will quantify the mutation burden in these samples and correlate these results to skin cancer history