887 research outputs found
Training in compensatory strategies enhances rapport in interactions involving people with Möbius syndrome
No full textIn the exploratory study reported here, we tested the efficacy of an intervention designed to train teenagers with Möbius syndrome (MS) to increase the use of alternative communication strategies (e.g., gestures) to compensate for their lack of facial expressivity. Specifically, we expected the intervention to increase the level of rapport experienced in social interactions by our participants. In addition, we aimed to identify the mechanisms responsible for any such increase in rapport. In the study, five teenagers with MS interacted with three naïve participants without MS before the intervention, and with three different naïve participants without MS after the intervention. Rapport was assessed by self-report and by behavioral coders who rated videos of the interactions. Individual non-verbal behavior was assessed via behavioral coders, whereas verbal behavior was automatically extracted from the sound files. Alignment was assessed using cross recurrence quantification analysis and mixed-effects models. The results showed that observer-coded rapport was greater after the intervention, whereas self-reported rapport did not change significantly. Observer-coded gesture and expressivity increased in participants with and without MS, whereas overall linguistic alignment decreased. Fidgeting and repetitiveness of verbal behavior also decreased in both groups. In sum, the intervention may impact non-verbal and verbal behavior in participants with and without MS, increasing rapport as well as overall gesturing, while decreasing alignment
Cyclical Persistence and the Cyclicality of R&D
No full textAbstract We propose cyclical persistence as an important factor in ‡uencing the link between short-run cycles and long-run growth, through the cyclicality of R&D. A simple theory is presented, suggesting that higher persistence can drive innovation pro-cyclical by raising the cyclicality of innovation's marginal expected return relative to that of its marginal opportunity cost. Our theory is carried to an industry panel of R&D and output. We …nd that cyclical persistence accounts for about half of the observed variation in industry R&D's cyclicality. The author thanks Wayne Gray and Randy Becker for their kindly providing the extended NBER manufacturing productivity databases, and Stephanie Yang for research assistance. Gary Richardson, Linda Cohen, Dan Bogart, Guillaume Rocheteau, Peter Rupert, Randy Wright, and seminar participants at the Atlanta Fed, USC, the Brookings Institutions, and the 2010 Midwest Macro Meeting provided helpful discussions. The remaining errors are mine
Exploring the latitude and depth dependence of solar Rossby waves using ring-diagram analysis
No full textContext. Global-scale equatorial Rossby waves have recently been unambiguously identified on the Sun. Like solar acoustic modes, Rossby waves are probes of the solar interior. Aims. We study the latitude and depth dependence of the Rossby wave eigenfunctions. Methods. By applying helioseismic ring-diagram analysis and granulation tracking to observations by HMI aboard SDO, we computed maps of the radial vorticity of flows in the upper solar convection zone (down to depths of more than 16 Mm). The horizontal sampling of the ring-diagram maps is approximately 90 Mm (∼7.5°) and the temporal sampling is roughly 27 hr. We used a Fourier transform in longitude to separate the different azimuthal orders m in the range 3 ≤ m ≤ 15. At each m we obtained the phase and amplitude of the Rossby waves as functions of depth using the helioseismic data. At each m we also measured the latitude dependence of the eigenfunctions by calculating the covariance between the equator and other latitudes. Results. We conducted a study of the horizontal and radial dependences of the radial vorticity eigenfunctions. The horizontal eigenfunctions are complex. As observed previously, the real part peaks at the equator and switches sign near ±30°, thus the eigenfunctions show significant non-sectoral contributions. The imaginary part is smaller than the real part. The phase of the radial eigenfunctions varies by only ±5° over the top 15 Mm. The amplitude of the radial eigenfunctions decreases by about 10% from the surface down to 8 Mm (the region in which ring-diagram analysis is most reliable, as seen by comparing with the rotation rate measured by global-mode seismology). Conclusions. The radial dependence of the radial vorticity eigenfunctions deduced from ring-diagram analysis is consistent with a power law down to 8 Mm and is unreliable at larger depths. However, the observations provide only weak constraints on the power-law exponents. For the real part, the latitude dependence of the eigenfunctions is consistent with previous work (using granulation tracking). The imaginary part is smaller than the real part but significantly nonzero
Semiramide
No full textPrograma de les funcions de "Semiramide" de G. Rossini amb llibret de G. Rossi, que van tenir lloc durant els dies 26 i 29 de desembre de 1985 i 3 de gener de 1986 al Gran Teatre del Liceu. Hi van actuar M. Caballé com a Semiramide, L. Valentini-Terrani com a Arsace, J. P. Bogart com a Assur, E. Giménez com a Idreno, A. Echeverría com a Oroe i ombra de Nino, R. M. Ysàs com a Azema i J. Ruiz com a Mitrane. L'Orquestra i el Cor del Gran Teatre del Liceu van ser dirigits per A. Siciliani, R. Gandolfi i V. Sicur
Did the Glorious Revolution Contribute to the Transport Revolution? Evidence from Investment in Roads and Rivers
No full textTransport infrastructure investment increased substantially in Britain between the seventeenth and eighteenth century. This paper argues that the Glorious Revolution of 1688-89 contributed to transportation investment by reducing uncertainty about the security of improvement rights. It shows that road and river investment was low in the 1600s when several undertakers had their rights violated by major political changes or decrees from the King. It also shows that investment permanently increased after the Glorious Revolution when there was a lower likelihood that undertakers had their rights voided by acts. Together the evidence suggests that the political and institutional changes following Glorious Revolution made rights to improve infrastructure more secure and that promoters and investors responded to greater security by proposing and financing more projects.Property rights; Investment under uncertainty; Glorious Revolution; Transport Revolution
The early impact of Brighton and Hove's school admission reforms
No full textWe analyse the initial impact of a major school admission reform in Brighton and Hove. The new system incorporated a lottery for oversubscribed places and new catchment areas. We examine the post-reform changes in school composition. We locate the major winners and losers in terms of the quality of school attended. We match similar cities and conduct a difference-in-difference analysis of the policy change. We see no significant change in student sorting: if anything, the point estimates suggest a rise in socio-economic segregation. We do see a significant weakening of the dependence of school attended on student’s prior attainment.school lottery, segregation, school admissions reforms
Map of the city of Columbus, Ohio / executed for G. J. Brand & Co, publishers ; R. R. Marble, civil engineer ; John H. Bogart, relief map engraver
No full textGlobal-scale equatorial Rossby waves as an essential component of solar internal dynamics
No full textThe Sun’s complex dynamics is controlled by buoyancy and rotation in the convection zone. Large-scale flows are dominated by vortical motions1 and appear to be weaker than expected in the solar interior2. One possibility is that waves of vorticity due to the Coriolis force, known as Rossby waves3 or r modes4, remove energy from convection at the largest scales5. However, the presence of these waves in the Sun is still debated. Here, we unambiguously discover and characterize retrograde-propagating vorticity waves in the shallow subsurface layers of the Sun at azimuthal wavenumbers below 15, with the dispersion relation of textbook sectoral Rossby waves. The waves have lifetimes of several months, well-defined mode frequencies below twice the solar rotational frequency, and eigenfunctions of vorticity that peak at the equator. Rossby waves have nearly as much vorticity as the convection at the same scales, thus they are an essential component of solar dynamics. We observe a transition from turbulence-like to wave-like dynamics around the Rhines scale6 of angular wavenumber of approximately 20. This transition might provide an explanation for the puzzling deficit of kinetic energy at the largest spatial scales
The functional integrity of northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens) and green frog (Rana clamitans) populations in orchard wetlands. I. Genetics, physiology, and biochemistry of breeding adults and young-of-the-year
No full textRana pipiens and R. clamitans were evaluated during 1993-94 at 8 wetland sites in Ontario, Canada, 4 of which were within apple orchards, to determine if environmental changes associated with orchard management affected measured biological parameters. Size, age, genetic variation, condition indices, levels of circulating steroid hormones, 7-ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase activity (EROD), and organochlorine and organophosphorus residues in breeding males sampled at pond sites in orchards were compared to the same parameters measured in breeding males from reference sites. Also, the size and physiological condition of young-of-the-year captured in orchard and reference ponds were compared. No evidence of a reduction in genetic variation was found in populations of either species at any sites, but unexpectedly high average heterozygosity values (0.191-0.282) in concert with low overall fixation indices (0.012-0.059) in adults of both species did suggest that pond populations were interacting with neighbouring populations in non-orchard habitats. Few significant differences in levels of circulating steroid hormones or condition indices of breeding males were found among sites. Significant EROD induction in male green frogs collected from one orchard site during one sampling event was the only indication that a metabolic challenge due to presence of cytochrome P450-inducing toxicants may have existed, whereas elevated concentrations of organochlorines (DDT or endosulfan-related) in green frog tissues suggested that frogs at 3 orchard sites were taking up pesticides. Significant differences in size of equivalent-age male and juvenile leopard frogs and green frogs occupying different study sites suggested that suboptimal habitat characteristics existed at 1 or 2 of the 4 orchard sites. However, site-specific habitat deficiencies could not be related to orchard study sites in general..RE: 56 ref.; RN: 50-29-3; 115-29-7; SC: ZA; VE; CA; PE; PA; EC; 0J; 0ESource type: Electronic(1
Inter-modal Network Externalities and Transport Development: Evidence from Roads, Canals, and Ports during the English Industrial Revolution
No full textHow does the development of one transport mode influence the development of another? This paper uses time-series data to test whether inter-model network externalities influenced the development of road, canal, and port infrastructure in England from 1760 to 1830. The main finding is that road development had a positive effect on canal development. The results suggest that the option value of investing in a canal in the future diminished when nearby road improvements were initiated because there was less uncertainty about future profits from canal tolls. They also suggest a reinterpretation of road transport in the Industrial Revolution and point to the general importance of inter-modal network externalities.Inter-modal network externalities; British transport; Industrial Revolution
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