Transparency and Pre-meetings

Some committees are made up of experts, persons interested in both the (subject) matter at hand and in coming across as able decision-makers. Such committees would like to concea

How committees of experts interact with the outside world: some theory, and evidence from the FOMC

Some committees are made up of experts, persons who care both about the matter at hand and about coming across as able decision- makers. We derive two propositions about the way members of such committees interact with the outside world. First, they would like to conceal disagreement from the public. That is, once the decision has been reached, they show a united front to the outside world. Second, if such committees are required to become transparent, e.g., by publishing verbatim transcripts of their meetings, members will organize pre-meetings away from the public eye. Large part of the paper is dedicated to a case study of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee in the United States. It provides suggestive evidence supporting the two propositions

Inclusion in morning meetings

This thesis explores the extent to which teachers implement best practice of inclusion during their daily Morning Meetings. Morning Meetings are a standard practice at the beginning of the school day where student and teachers greet one another, share personal stories and information, participate in a group activity, and read a morning message written by the teachers. Preschool through third grade teachers in local school districts were given a self-reflection survey. The survey was a standardized checklist that was informed by research on inclusive practices and The Morning Meeting Book (Kriete & Davis, 2014). It was modeled after the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) joint early childhood inclusion policy, which states the defining features of inclusion as access, participation, and supports (2009). The survey lists specific practices that teachers may or may not be implementing that promote inclusion. My hypothesis before the research began was that teachers would struggle to implement the practices that take more time and preparation outside of their normal routine. The analysis of the data showed that my hypothesis was correct to some extent, teachers were more successful when implementing accommodations that they could plan into the whole group, and less successful with one-on-one accommodations that required them to work individually with a student outside of the Morning Meeting

Prognostic value of basal high-sensitive cardiac troponin levels on mortality in the general population

Interest in the use of cardiac troponin T (cTnT) and cardiac troponin I (cTnI) has expanded from diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction to risk assessment for morbidity and mortality. Although cTnT and cTnI were shown to have equivalent diagnostic performance in the setting of suspected acute myocardial infarction, potential prognostic differences are largely unexplored. The aim of this study is to quantify and compare the relationship between cTnT and cTnI, and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in the general population. Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library (from inception through October 2016) were searched for prospective observational cohort studies reporting on the prognostic value of basal high-sensitive cTnT and/or cTnI levels on cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in the general population. Data on study characteristics, participants' characteristics, outcome parameters, and quality [according to the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) "Quality Assessment Tool For Quantitative Studies] were retrieved. Hazard ratios per standard deviation increase in basal cardiac troponin level (HR per 1-SD; retrieved from the included articles or estimated) were pooled using a random-effects model. On a total of 2585 reviewed citations, 11 studies, with data on 65,019 participants, were included in the meta-analysis. Random effects pooling showed significant associations between basal cardiac troponin levels and HR for cardiovascular and all-cause mortality [HR per 1-SD 1.29 (95% confidence interval, 95% CI, 1.20-1.38) and HR per 1-SD 1.18 (95% CI, 1.11-1.26), respectively]. Stratified analyses showed higher HRs for cTnT than cTnI [cardiovascular mortality: cTnT HR per 1-SD 1.37 (95% CI, 1.23-1.52); and cTnI HR per 1-SD 1.21 (95% CI, 1.16-1.26); all-cause mortality: cTnT HR per 1-SD 1.31 (955 CI, 1.13-1.53); and cTnI HR per 1-SD 1.14 (95% CI, 1.06-1.22)]. These differences were significant (P < 0.01) in meta-regression analyses for cardiovascular mortality but did not reach statistical significance for all-cause mortality. Elevated, basal cTnT, and cTnI show robust associations with an increased risk of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality during follow-up in the general population

Tetra­kis(1,3-diphenyl­propane-1,3-dionato)hafnium(IV)

In the title compound, [Hf(C15H11O2)4], the HfIV atom is coordinated by four 1,3-diphenyl­propane-1,3-dionato ligands with an average Hf—O distance of 2.17 (3) Å and O—Hf—O bite angles varying from 74.5 (1) to 75.02 (9)°. The coordination polyhedron shows a slightly distorted Archimedean square-anti­prismatic geometry. The crystal packing is stabilized by weak C—H⋯O inter­actions

Predicting the Evolution of Sex on Complex Fitness Landscapes

Most population genetic theories on the evolution of sex or recombination are based on fairly restrictive assumptions about the nature of the underlying fitness landscapes. Here we use computer simulations to study the evolution of sex on fitness landscapes with different degrees of complexity and epistasis. We evaluate predictors of the evolution of sex, which are derived from the conditions established in the population genetic literature for the evolution of sex on simpler fitness landscapes. These predictors are based on quantities such as the variance of Hamming distance, mean fitness, additive genetic variance, and epistasis. We show that for complex fitness landscapes all the predictors generally perform poorly. Interestingly, while the simplest predictor, ΔVarHD, also suffers from a lack of accuracy, it turns out to be the most robust across different types of fitness landscapes. ΔVarHD is based on the change in Hamming distance variance induced by recombination and thus does not require individual fitness measurements. The presence of loci that are not under selection can, however, severely diminish predictor accuracy. Our study thus highlights the difficulty of establishing reliable criteria for the evolution of sex on complex fitness landscapes and illustrates the challenge for both theoretical and experimental research on the origin and maintenance of sexual reproduction

cyclo-Tetra-μ-oxido-tetra­kis­[(acetyl­acetonato-κ2 O,O′)bis­(ethano­lato-κO)niobium(V)]

The asymmetric unit of the title tetra­nuclear niobium(V) compound, [Nb4(C2H5O)8(C5H7O2)4O4], contains two NbV atoms, two bridging O atoms, two acetyl­acetonate and four ethano­late ligands. Each NbV atom is six-coordinated by the bridging O atoms, two ethano­late and one chelating acetyl­acetonate ligands. The Nb—O distances vary between 1.817 (2) and 2.201 (2) Å and the O—Nb—O angles vary between 78.88 (8) and 102.78 (9)°, illustrating the significant distortion from ideal ocahedral geometry. The rest of the tetra­nuclear unit is generated through an inversion centre. The C atoms of two of the ethano­late mol­ecules are disordered over two sites [occupancy ratio 0.601 (12):0.399 (12)]