Defining'science-based targets'

The 2015 Paris Agreement to keep global warming well below 2℃above pre-industrial levels and aim towards limiting warming to 1.5℃marked a wa-tershed in planetar...     

Bayesian Extension of Biweight and Huber Weight for Robust Ability Estimation

When a response pattern does not fit a selected measurement model, one may resort to robust ability estimation. Two popular robust methods are biweight and Huber weight. So far, research on these methods has been quite limited. This article proposes the maximum a posteriori biweight (BMAP) and Huber weight (HMAP) estimation methods. These methods use the Bayesian prior distribution to compensate for information lost due to aberrant responses. They may also be more resistant to the detrimental effects of downweighting the nonaberrant responses. The effectiveness of BMAP and HMAP was evaluated through a Monte Carlo simulation. Results show that both methods, especially BMAP, are more effective than the original biweight and Huber weight in correcting mild forms of aberrant behavior.     

The Surprisingly Modest Relationship Between SES and Educational Achievement

Measures of socioeconomic status (SES) are routinely used in analyses of achievement data to increase statistical power, statistically control for the effects of SES, and enhance causality arguments under the premise that the SES-achievement relationship is moderate to strong. Empirical evidence characterizing the strength of the SES-achievement relationship and its moderators suggests that this relationship is surprisingly modest, with an average SES-achievement correlation of .22, although it appears to have strengthened in the past 3 decades. The modest SES-achievement relationship has important implications for using SES measures in educational data analyses. We provide evidence of this relationship and of the need to use theoretical models to guide the construction and selection of SES measures in analyses of achievement data.     

Relation between arterial stiffness and aerobic capacity: Importance of proximal aortic stiffness

Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) has become a popular modality of arterial stiffness measurement. However, its projected arterial segment does not include the proximal aorta which plays important roles for attenuating cardiac pulsation and reducing afterload. We hypothesised that aerobic capacity would be more strongly associated with PWV including the proximal aorta than that omitting the proximal aorta. To test our hypothesis, we compared the association between aerobic capacity and arterial stiffness parameters omitting vs. including the proximal aorta (i.e. baPWV vs. heart-ankle PWV [haPWV]) in 82 apparently healthy men (18–64 years). Estimated VO_2max significantly correlated with baPWV (r?=??0.394, P?<?.001), and more strongly with haPWV (r?=??0.546, P?<?.001). The forward stepwise multi-regression analysis revealed that haPWV (β?=??0.335), as well as age, heart rate, and body mass index (β?=??0.280 to ?0.297), was a significant independent determinant explaining variance of estimated VO_2max. These results suggest that aerobic capacity is influenced more strongly by the proximal aortic stiffness than distal aortic stiffness.     

Gender and science in Hiroshima's aftermath: a cross-cultural approach

A comparative study of Japanese and Japanese-American survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 suggests that there is much to be gained by looking at the history of the Bomb as a cross-cultural history. Issues of science and gender in survivors' experiences and memories illuminate three key features of the trans-Pacific history: a Japanese female author's literary responses to the Bomb, the Japan-U.S. relationship after the war that shaped Japan's antinuclear movement, and Japanese-American survivors' effort to gain governmental recognition and medical care in the U.S. within the context of the Asian American movement. Using variety of sources--literature, popular political discourse, congressional hearings, and oral histories--this article shows the volatile diffusion of political and cultural ideas revealed by a trans-Pacific perspective.