2,503 research outputs found
Heritability of Overconfidence
No full textEmpirical evidence suggests that people on average overestimate their own ability in a variety of circumstances. Little is known, however, about the origins of such overconfidence. To shed some light on this issue, we use the classic twin design to estimate the genetic and environmental contributions to individual differences in overconfidence. We collect data on overconfidence among 460 twin pairs. Overconfidence is measured as the difference between the perceived and actual rank in cognitive ability. Cognitive ability is measured using a 20-minute test of general intelligence. We find a highly significant joint effect of genes and common environment, but our estimates of the relative contributions of genetic and common environmental variation are less precise. According to our point estimates, genetic differences explain 16–34% of the variation in overconfidence depending on the definition of overconfidence used and common environmental differences explain 5–11%.Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius FoundationSwedish Research CouncilSwedish Council forWorking Life and Social Researc
GENETIC VARIATION IN PREFERENCES FOR GIVING AND RISK TAKING
No full textIn this paper, we use the classical twin design to provide estimates of genetic
and environmental influences on experimentally elicited preferences for risk and
giving. Using standardmethods from behavior genetics, we find strong prima facie
evidence that these preferences are broadly heritable and our estimates suggest
that genetic differences explain approximately twenty percent of individual variation.
The results thus shed light on an important source of individual variation
in preferences, a source that has hitherto been largely neglected in the economics
literature.Swedish Research CouncilForskningsrådet för arbetsliv och socialvetenskap (Sweden)Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius Foundatio
Episode 4: Alexander Hamilton and the Newburgh Conspiracy
No full textThe Department of History’s Holly Baker sat down with Dr. David Head, historian, author, and lecturer of history at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Head recently gave a talk at the 2017 Research Colloquium titled “Alexander Hamilton and the Newburgh Conspiracy: Military Politics at the Anxious End of the American Revolution”. In the interview with Holly, Dr. Head discusses conspiracy thinking and Alexander Hamilton’s role in the Newburgh affair.https://stars.library.ucf.edu/knightshistorycast/1003/thumbnail.jp
Alexander polynomial
No full textTitle: Alexander polynomial Author: Ľubica Jančová Department: Department of Algebra Supervisor: doc. RNDr. David Stanovský, Ph.D., Department of Algebra Abstract: The subject of interest of this thesis is the Alexander polynomial in the knot theory as a knot invariant and various methods of its computa- tion. The thesis focuses on the description of the computation of the Alexander polynomial using four different methods, namely: colouring regions of the knot diagram, colouring arcs of the knot diagram, Seifert's method and the method using the Conway polynomial. In the first chapter we introduce basic notions of the knot theory. In the following chapters we describe methods of computa- tion of the Alexander polynomial. The final chapter deals with the possibility of using the Conway polynomial to show that all of the mentioned methods result in the same polynomial. The main result of this thesis are proofs that might lead to the complete proof of equivalence of algorithms of computation of the Alexander polynomial. Keywords: knot theory, Alexander polynomial, knot invarian
Essays on genetic variation and economic behavior
No full textThesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references.This thesis is a collection of papers in which behavior genetic methods are used to shed light on individual differences in economic preferences, behaviors and outcomes. Chapter one uses the classical twin design to provide estimates of genetic and environmental influences on experimentally elicited preferences for risk and giving. The paper reports evidence that these preferences are broadly heritable, with estimates suggesting that genetic differences explain approximately twenty percent of individual variation. The results thus point to genes as an important source of individual variation in preferences, a source which has hitherto been largely neglected in the economics literature. The chapter is written with Christopher T. Dawes, Magnus Johannesson, Paul Lichtenstein and Bjorn Wallace. Chapter two shows that these findings also extend to the field. Following a major pension reform in the late 1990s, all Swedish adults had to form a portfolio from a large menu of funds. Matching individual investment decisions to the Swedish Twin Registry, the paper finds that approximately 25% of individual variation in portfolio risk is due to genetic variation. The results, which are complementary to those reported in chapter one, also hold for several other aspects of financial decision-making. The chapter is written with Magnus Johannesson, Paul Lichtenstein, Orjan Sandewall and Bjorn Wallace. Chapter three uses two complementary Swedish datasets to examine the importance of family environment in explaining variation in income, educational attainment, and measures of cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Using seven different sibling types who differ in their degree of genetic relatedness and rearing status, I find moderate family effects on educational attainment, cognitive skills and non-cognitive skills. This contrasts with the effects of family on income, which are low. Additional analyses, based on a sample of identical (MZ) and fraternal (DZ) twins for which more comprehensive income data is available, reveal large and persistent separation of the MZ and DZ correlations over the entire lifecycle, except at very early ages. One interpretation of this finding is that there are strong family effects on the timing of labor market entry. I discuss the relevance of these results for efforts to understand the causes of income inequality.by David Alexander Cesarini.Ph.D
No Association between Oxytocin Receptor (OXTR) Gene Polymorphisms and Experimentally Elicited Social Preferences
No full textBackground
Oxytocin (OXT) has been implicated in a suite of complex social behaviors including observed choices in economic laboratory experiments. However, actual studies of associations between oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene variants and experimentally elicited social preferences are rare.
Methodology/Principal Findings
We test hypotheses of associations between social preferences, as measured by behavior in two economic games, and 9 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the OXTR gene in a sample of Swedish twins (n = 684). Two standard economic games, the dictator game and the trust game, both involving real monetary consequences, were used to elicit such preferences. After correction for multiple hypothesis testing, we found no significant associations between any of the 9 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and behavior in either of the games.
Conclusion
We were unable to replicate the most significant association reported in previous research between the amount donated in a dictator game and an OXTR genetic variant
David Weinberger, expert on impact of technology on society
No full textIncludes descriptive metadata provided by producer in MP4 file: "Science and Technology - Videos - David Weinberger, expert on impact of technology on society."As part of our library lecture series, David Weinberger, author of The Cluetrain Manifesto and Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder, will speak on Monday, December 6 about how knowledge has changed in the networked age.Jean and Alexander Heard Librar
Illustrated Medieval Alexander-Books in French Verse
No full textInternational audienceThe core of this book on the French verse Alexander in France and Italy was written by eminent Alexander specialist David J.A. Ross, who left an incomplete typescript at his death. The baton was taken up by an international team of specialists in medieval literature and art history, Maud Pèrez-Simon, author of Les manuscrits du Roman d’Alexandre en prose, and Alison Stones, author of Manuscripts Illuminated in France: Gothic Manuscripts 1260–1320. In its emphasis on illustration, this book complements the volumes of the Alexander Redivivus series and offers new perspectives on the reception of one of the most popular medieval heroes of history and legend. It forms a sequel to Ross’s collected essays and his Illustrated Medieval Alexander-Books in Germany and the Netherlands, to the work of the editors in the field of medieval manuscripts, and to the first volume in the Manuscripta Illuminata series, on the illustrations of Valerius Maximus in French.639 p., 260 colour ill., 10 b/w tables, 216 x 280 m
A Natural History of Botanical Therapeutics
No full textPlants have been used as a source of medicine throughout history and continue to serve as the basis for many pharmaceuticals used today. Although the modern pharmaceutical industry was born from botanical medicine, synthetic approaches to drug discovery have become standard. However, this modern approach has led to a decline in new drug development in recent years and a growing market for botanical therapeutics that are currently available as dietary supplements, drugs, or botanical drugs. Most botanical therapeutics are derived from medicinal plants that have been cultivated for increased yields of bioactive components. The phytochemical composition of many plants has changed over time, with domestication of agricultural crops resulting in the enhanced content of some bioactive compounds and diminished content of others. Plants continue to serve as a valuable source of therapeutic compounds because of their vast biosynthetic capacity. A primary advantage of botanicals is their complex composition consisting of collections of related compounds having multiple activities that interact for a greater total activity.Research supported by NIH Grant P50 AT002776-01 from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) which funds the Botanical Research Center; also supported by Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health under U01 TW006674 for the International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups; and Rutgers University.NIH P50 AT002776-01; by William CefaluNIH U01 TW006674The published version of this article is available at: http://www.metabolismjournal.com
Road rashers: A smuggler's tale
No full textPublished work by a Douglas College Student Alumni. In the latter half of the 21st century, global climate change has made the southern half of North America arid and uninhabitable. The Incorporated States of America wages a brutal war against their northern neighbors, the Confederation of Canada in a bid to secure usable farm land. In the midst of this vicious border war, one ruthless smuggler attempts the most daring border crossing of all. --From publisher description.boo
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