The Fiscal Disparity and Achievement Gap between Extremely Wealthy and Poor School Districts in Illinois

Public Organization Review - This study investigates the achievement gap and horizontal disparity of schools’ funding by exploring and comparing the differences of funding between extremely...     

Patronage and secularization: social obligation and church support

As a contribution to our understanding of secularization in Britain, this paper examines the role of religious patronage. It illustrates nineteenth and early twentieth century support for the churches from rural landowners and major industrial employers, considers its benefits, and explains its rapid disappearance. The paper argues that the end of the expectation that high status individuals and major employers would actively promote organized religion is both significant evidence of secularization and a cause of further decline.     

Variability in measures of health and health behavior among emerging adults 1 year after high school according to college status

Objective: To examine changes in health behaviors among US emerging adults 1 year after high school. Participants: The national sample of participants (N = 1,927), including those attending 4-year college/university (n = 884), 2-year colleges/technical schools (n = 588), and no college (n = 455), participated in annual spring surveys 2013–2014. Methods: Health behaviors were assessed the last year of high school and first year of college; differences by college status controlling for previous-year values were estimated using regression analyses. Results: Relative to 4-year college attendees, those attending technical school/community college were less likely to binge drink (odds ratio [OR] = 0.57, confidence interval [CI] = 0.38–0.86) but more likely to speed (OR = 1.26, CI = 1.0–2.84), consume sodas (OR = 1.57, CI = 1.0–2.47), and report lower family satisfaction (p < .01), with marginally more physical and depressive symptoms. College nonattendees reported more DWI (driving while intoxicated; OR = 1.60, CI = 1.05–2.47), soda drinking (OR = 2.51, CI = 1.76–3.59), oversleeping (OR = 4.78, CI = 3.65–8.63), and less family satisfaction (p < .04). Conclusions: Health risk behaviors among emerging adults varied by college status.     

Stein-like 2SLS estimator

ABSTRACT

Maasoumi (1978 Maasoumi, E. (1978). A modified Stein-like estimator for the reduced form coefficients of simultaneous equations. Econometrica 46:695–703.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) proposed a Stein-like estimator for simultaneous equations and showed that his Stein shrinkage estimator has bounded finite sample risk, unlike the three-stage least square estimator. We revisit his proposal by investigating Stein-like shrinkage in the context of two-stage least square (2SLS) estimation of a structural parameter. Our estimator follows Maasoumi (1978 Maasoumi, E. (1978). A modified Stein-like estimator for the reduced form coefficients of simultaneous equations. Econometrica 46:695–703.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) in taking a weighted average of the 2SLS and ordinary least square estimators, with the weight depending inversely on the Hausman (1978 Hausman, J. A. (1978). Specification tests in econometrics. Econometrica 46:1251–1271.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) statistic for exogeneity. Using a local-to-exogenous asymptotic theory, we derive the asymptotic distribution of the Stein estimator and calculate its asymptotic risk. We find that if the number of endogenous variables exceeds 2, then the shrinkage estimator has strictly smaller risk than the 2SLS estimator, extending the classic result of James and Stein (1961 James W, ., Stein, C. M. (1961). Estimation with quadratic loss. Proceedings of the Fourth Berkeley Symposium on Mathematical Statistics and Probability 1:361–380. [Google Scholar]). In a simple simulation experiment, we show that the shrinkage estimator has substantially reduced finite sample median squared error relative to the standard 2SLS estimator.     

Caloric restriction in trans

Caloric (or dietary) restriction (CR) is the most potent, robust, and reproducible known means of extending longevity and decreasing morbidity in laboratory mammals. Two of the major questions faced by researchers in this field are the applicability to humans and the biochemical mechanism(s) involved in the actions of CR. Studies in nonhuman primates are beginning to address the former; studies in phylogenetically lower organisms such as yeast and Drosophila are beginning to address the latter. de Cabo and colleagues now provide evidence that some aspects of CR can be reproduced in mammalian tissue culture cells exposed to sera from rats and monkeys subjected to CR. This work presents the initial development of a new model with which to approach mechanistic studies of CR and provides a new form of direct evidence that CR exerts at least some of its effects in trans.     

Structure-(Dys)function relationships in mitochondrial electron transport chain complex II?

It has been postulated that mitochondrially derived reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a major causative role in aging processes. The primary sources of these oxidants are believed to be complexes I and III of the electron transport chain, with little evidence supporting oxidant formation at complex II (succinate dehydrogenase). Mutation of a complex II protein has, however, been shown to cause increased oxidative stress and decreased life expectancy in the Caenorhabditis elegans mutant mev-1. A recent study by Yankovskaya and colleagues, in which the structure of Escherichia coli succinate dehydrogenase was determined, provides an explanation for these observations. Furthermore, these results suggest possible mechanisms by which electron leakage might occur at this site in the aged organism.