Do Heritability Estimates of Political Phenotypes Suffer From an Equal Environment Assumption Violation? Evidence From an Empirical Study

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Levente Littvay
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Confidence Levels ◽  
Heritability Estimates ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Post Hoc ◽  
Assumption Violation

Using data from the Minnesota Twins Political Survey, this paper tests for the presence of unequal environments (EEA) by zygosity in political attitudes. Equal environment measures used include shared bedroom, friends, classes, and dressing alike. Results show an EEA violation at p < .05 in 5% of the models tested. The violations' impact on heritability estimates and their confidence levels appear random in magnitude and direction. No reasonable post hoc explanation emerged for understanding the presence of the violation in some items but not others. This article establishes reasonable priors for the absence of EEA violations in political phenotypes based on the tested environmental components. The findings place the burden on critics to present theoretical work on the specific mechanisms of EEA violations based on which additional empirical assessments could (and should) be conducted.

scholarly journals The Impact of Public Debt on the Economic Growth of Jordan: An Empirical Study (2000- 2015)

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tawfiq Ahmad Mousa ◽  
Abudallah. M. LShawareh
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Regression Model ◽  
Least Squares ◽  
Public Debt ◽  
Least Squares Method ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
External Debt ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact

In the last two decades, Jordan’s economy has been relied on public debt in order to enhance the economic growth. As such, an understanding  of the dynamics between public debt and economic growth is very important in addressing the obstacles to economic growth. The study investigates the impact of public debt on economic growth using data from 2000 to 2015. The study employs least squares method and regression model to capture the impact of public debt on economic growth. The results of the analysis indicate that there is a negative impact of total public debt, especially the external debt on economic growth. 

Data and model operations in computational sciences. The examples of computational embryology and epidemiology

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-47
Author(s):  
Fabricio Li Vigni
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Computational Epidemiology ◽  
Computational Sciences ◽  
Energy Consuming ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Time And Energy ◽  
Political Decision Making

Abstract Computer models and simulations have become, since the 1960s, an essential instrument for scientific inquiry and political decision making in several fields, from climate to life and social sciences. Philosophical reflection has mainly focused on the ontological status of the computational modeling, on its epistemological validity and on the research practices it entails. But in computational sciences, the work on models and simulations are only two steps of a longer and richer process where operations on data are as important as, and even more time and energy-consuming than modeling itself. Drawing on two study cases – computational embryology and computational epidemiology –, this article contributes to fill the gap by focusing on the operations of producing and re-using data in computational sciences. The different phases of the scientific and artisanal work of modelers include data collection, aggregation, homogenization, assemblage, analysis and visualization. The article contributes to deconstruct the ideas that data are self-evident informational aggregates and that data-driven approaches are exempted from theoretical work. More importantly, the paper stresses the fact that data are constructed and theory-laden not only in their fabrication, but also in their reusing.

The buffered, technological self: Finding associations between Internet use and religiosity

2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 461-478
Author(s):  
Paul K McClure
Keyword(s):  
Internet Use ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Sacred Texts ◽  
Religious Services ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Religiously Unaffiliated

Explanations for the rise of the religiously unaffiliated have regained attention from sociologists in light of recent declines in religiosity. While the secularization thesis has seen revisions across disciplines, few studies link lower levels of religiosity with greater Internet use. This article draws from Charles Taylor’s widely regarded account of secularity and his concept of ‘the buffered self’ to argue that individuals who use the Internet more frequently are less religious. Using data from the Baylor Religion Survey (2017), I find that with higher levels of Internet use, individuals are less likely to pray, read sacred texts, attend religious services, consider religion personally important, or affiliate with a religious tradition. Greater Internet use is further associated with being an atheist, while other media activity such as watching television is not similarly linked. These findings ground Taylor’s theoretical work by specifying empirically measurable, contextual conditions that explain recent declines in religiosity.

On the use of translation corpora in contrastive linguistics

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Volker Gast
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Testing Hypotheses ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Contrastive Linguistics ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The One ◽  
Impersonal Pronoun ◽  
Impersonal Pronouns

This article argues for a type of corpus-based contrastive research that is item-specific, predictive and hypothesis-driven. It reports on a programmatic study of the ways in which impersonalization is expressed in English and German. Impersonalization is taken to be epitomized by human impersonal pronouns like German man (e.g. Man lebt nur einmal ‘You/one only live(s) once’). English does not have a specialized impersonal pronoun like Germ. man and uses a variety of strategies instead. The question arises what determines the choice of a given impersonalization strategy in English. Drawing on relevant theoretical work and using data from a translation corpus (Europarl), variables potentially affecting the distribution of impersonalization strategies in English are identified, and their influence on the choice of a strategy is determined. By testing hypotheses derived from theoretical work and using multivariate quantitative methods of analysis, the study is intended to illustrate how bridges can be built between fine-grained semantic analyses, on the one hand, and more coarse-grained, but empirically valid, corpus research, on the other.

Striking a Balance between Contradictory Roles: The Overlapping Role Perceptions of the Deputies in China’s Local People’s Congresses

Modern China ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dongya Huang ◽  
Quanling He
Keyword(s):  
National Survey ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
Social Background ◽  
County Level ◽  
Role Perceptions ◽  
Electoral Incentives ◽  
Congressional Representation ◽  
State Agents ◽  
Using Data

Recent studies have begun to pay increasing attention to congressional representation in China. Based on selected cases or surveys of one province or another, such studies seek to demonstrate that the deputies of local people’s congresses (LPCs) increasingly identify themselves as representatives of citizens rather than as state agents. This article, using data from a national survey conducted in 2014, explores how deputies at the county level perceive their role and what accounts for their different role perceptions. It argues that LPC deputies as a whole perceive that they have overlapping roles that could be defined as neither state agents nor citizen representatives. Rather, they try to strike a balance between seemingly contradictory roles. Deputies’ social background and political attitudes have a significant effect on their role perceptions while electoral incentives make little difference. A sense of congressional representation develops when deputies gradually come to grips with the tension between the different roles and choose to give up roles other than citizen representatives.

scholarly journals Genetic relationships between visual and objective measures of carcass composition in crossbred lambs

1999 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 553-561 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. E. Jones ◽  
G. Simm ◽  
W. S. Dingwall ◽  
R. M. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
No Value ◽  
Genetic Relationships ◽  
Genetic Correlations ◽  
Subcutaneous Fat ◽  
Carcass Composition ◽  
Objective Measures ◽  
Lean Growth ◽  
Combining Data ◽  
Heritability Estimates ◽  
Using Data

AbstractThe aim of this study was to estimate genetic and phenotypic (co)variances between objective measures and carcass visual scores, as a test of the potential value of visual scores in selection programmes to improve carcass composition in crossbred lambs. In each of 1986, 1987 and 1988, 22 Suffolk rams were chosen with either high or low scores on an index designed to increase lean growth rate. These rams were joined with 18 to 20 crossbred ewes each and their lambs were grown on grass to one of three target live weights (35·5, 41·5 and 47·0 kg) for slaughter. The carcasses of 1881 lambs were visually scored for overall conformation and fatness using the standard Meat and Livestock Commission methods. Additionally, a more detailed 15-point scale assessment of conformation and a direct visual score of subcutaneous fat on the carcass were taken on 1252 lambs during the latter 2 years of the study. Carcass composition was estimated by dissection of a shoulder joint into lean, fat and bone. The possibility of combining data collected on lambs slaughtered at each of the three target live weights, for the estimation of genetic parameters was investigated. Results indicated that heritability estimates for a trait using data collected within each of the slaughter groups were homogeneous. Genetic correlations between records collected for a trait within each of the slaughter groups were not significantly different from one. These results indicated that data collected at each of the target slaughter weights could justifiably be combined. Heritability estimates were generally higher for shoulder tissue proportions (0·3) than for visual scores (0-2). Genetic correlations between all conformation scores and tissue proportions were not significantly different from 0 and therefore of little or no value in predicting carcass composition. Genetic correlations between visual scores of fat and both tissue proportions and ratios were generally high (around 0·65). These results suggest that fat scores collected on crossbred animals could be valuable in purebred selection programmes where improving carcass composition of the crossbred generation is the underlying objective.

Entrepreneurial Passion and Behaviors: Opportunity Recognition As a Mediator

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (7) ◽  
pp. 1211-1220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiani Bao ◽  
Xiaohu Zhou ◽  
Ying Chen
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
New Ventures ◽  
Opportunity Recognition ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Entrepreneurial Passion ◽  
Positive Feelings ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activities ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications

We examined the relationships among entrepreneurial passion, opportunity recognition, and entrepreneurial behaviors. Entrepreneurial passion includes the intense positive feelings originating from engagement in entrepreneurial activities and the centrality of these activities for entrepreneurs' self-identity. The empirical study was conducted using data from 195 entrepreneurs in new Chinese companies. Results showed that entrepreneurial passion had a significant impact on opportunity recognition and entrepreneurial behaviors. Further, opportunity recognition partly mediated the relationship between entrepreneurial passion and entrepreneurial behaviors. Entrepreneurs with entrepreneurial passion are, therefore, more likely than others are to identify opportunities and start new ventures. Theoretical and practical implications for entrepreneurship are discussed.

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