Greater Disagreement Research Articles

Nominal exchange rates and heterogeneous beliefs

We propose a two-country model with heterogeneous beliefs to understand dynamics of nominal exchange rate. Facing a shock to monetary policy, disagreement between domestic and foreign investors shifts the relative wealth of investors – an essential part of the stochastic discount factor in our model – which then moves the foreign exchange rate. Calibrated to U.S. and U.K. data, our model reveals that dispersion in beliefs predicts the future spot exchange rate, associates with the cross-section of currency risk premia, and comoves with the time-varying volatility in currency returns. Furthermore, our model suggests that domestic investors would hold fewer foreign currency-denominated bonds in countries with greater disagreements on monetary policy.

Structured peer review: pilot results from 23 Elsevier journals.

Reviewers rarely comment on the same aspects of a manuscript, making it difficult to properly assess manuscripts' quality and the quality of the peer review process. The goal of this pilot study was to evaluate structured peer review implementation by: 1) exploring whether and how reviewers answered structured peer review questions, 2) analysing reviewer agreement, 3) comparing that agreement to agreement before implementation of structured peer review, and 4) further enhancing the piloted set of structured peer review questions. Structured peer review consisting of nine questions was piloted in August 2022 in 220 Elsevier journals. We randomly selected 10% of these journals across all fields and IF quartiles and included manuscripts that received two review reports in the first 2 months of the pilot, leaving us with 107 manuscripts belonging to 23 journals. Eight questions had open-ended fields, while the ninth question (on language editing) had only a yes/no option. The reviews could also leave Comments-to-Author and Comments-to-Editor. Answers were independently analysed by two raters, using qualitative methods. Almost all the reviewers (n = 196, 92%) provided answers to all questions even though these questions were not mandatory in the system. The longest answer (Md 27 words, IQR 11 to 68) was for reporting methods with sufficient details for replicability or reproducibility. The reviewers had the highest (partial) agreement (of 72%) for assessing the flow and structure of the manuscript, and the lowest (of 53%) for assessing whether interpretation of the results was supported by data, and for assessing whether the statistical analyses were appropriate and reported in sufficient detail (52%). Two thirds of the reviewers (n = 145, 68%) filled out the Comments-to-Author section, of which 105 (49%) resembled traditional peer review reports. These reports contained a Md of 4 (IQR 3 to 5) topics covered by the structured questions. Absolute agreement regarding final recommendations (exact match of recommendation choice) was 41%, which was higher than what those journals had in the period from 2019 to 2021 (31% agreement, P = 0.0275). Our preliminary results indicate that reviewers successfully adapted to the new review format, and that they covered more topics than in their traditional reports. Individual question analysis indicated the greatest disagreement regarding the interpretation of the results and the conducting and the reporting of statistical analyses. While structured peer review did lead to improvement in reviewer final recommendation agreements, this was not a randomized trial, and further studies should be performed to corroborate this. Further research is also needed to determine whether structured peer review leads to greater knowledge transfer or better improvement of manuscripts.

Meninjau Alasan Penyebab Cerai di Kabupaten Magelang

Divorce is something that is undesirable for every husband and wife. However, as time goes by, every family will experience great disagreements or conditions that make the decision to divorce a last resort. Divorce can only be done in front of a court hearing. The Religious Court is the judicial institution that has the authority to decide on these cases. As with marriage, divorce must also be based on strong reasons underlying the lawsuit. Through this research, the author and researcher hopes that the research results can be used as a reference or learning material regarding the reasons why someone sues their partner for divorce. This research was prepared using normative juridical methods which were presented descriptively and supported by literature study. This research was also prepared to explore the causes of divorce that occurred in Magelang Regency in 2023, whether divorce divorce or divorce lawsuits filed by husband and wife to the Mungkid Class IA Religious Court as an authorized court and in accordance with its absolute and relative competence.

Volume and stock returns in the Chinese market

We propose and empirically investigate hypotheses regarding the volume-return relationship in the Chinese stock market, taking into account the impact of prevalent noise trading and short-selling restrictions. Our findings reveal a negative correlation between trading volume and returns specifically among overvalued stocks. However, no significant correlation is observed for undervalued stocks, nor is there a consistent volume amplification effect. In contrast to our findings, Han, Huang, Huang, and Zhou (2021) also reported a positive correlation between expected return and trading volume for undervalued stocks, and they highlighted the amplified impact of trading volume in the US market. Furthermore, we observe that stricter short-selling restrictions in the Chinese market for overvalued stocks result in a larger deviation from fundamental value as the trading volume increases accompanied by greater disagreement among noise investors. These findings suggest that comprehending market disparities necessitates considering noise trading and short-selling restrictions as crucial factors.

Analyzing argumentation patterns in political discourse for better policy design

ABSTRACT A new policy is needed to manage Switzerland’s increasing urbanization and growing population. The second stage of the revision of the Swiss Spatial Planning Law, which has been ongoing since 2014, aims to create the legal framework to reduce or prevent the negative consequences of soil sealing, such as loss of biodiversity or urban sprawl. The revision process is characterized by substantial opposition among the actors involved; an acceptable draft revision is not conceivable. Using a structuring qualitative discourse analysis, we coded the consultation responses from the three consultation processes to date. We based our code system on acceptance factors existing in the literature and analyzed the content of the consultation responses over time and by actor. The results show that while a consensus on the instruments of the policy is emerging, there is great disagreement about the exact design and the resulting effects on the actors involved. The relative advantage of the policy and its compatibility with existing regulations are not sufficiently elaborated and presented in a comprehensible way. Ultimately, we identify several patterns of argumentation that should be considered by the policy-makers involved in the further revision, especially to address the critical arguments of the cantons and municipalities. Highlights Points of conflict and consensus during policy design were identified using QDA. Structuring the content of the policy discourse can support consensus-building. Typical argumentation patterns for opposing or accepting a policy were identified. Growing consensus entails shifts of actor conflicts from mid- to low-level topics. Relative advantage of a policy solution is key to increasing its acceptability.

Deciphering maize vertical leaf area profiles by fusing spectral imagery data and a bell-shaped function

Leaf area profiles (LAP) represent the green leaf area per unit ground area distributed with the vertical leaf layer, which is a key trait for guiding nutrition diagnosis, crop management and crop breeding. However, passive mono-angle optical sensors don't have direction information on vertical LAP, which makes spectral remote sensing can't capture the canopy-scale vertical leaf area information from top to bottom. To meet this challenge, we present a modeling framework to decipher maize vertical LAP from spectral imagery data. It first employed a hybrid method to derive LAI from the spectral imagery, and then configured a bell-shaped function to decipher the vertical LAP. We conducted a five-year field experiment in critical growth stages to test the ability of the proposed method. Results showed great disagreements between vegetative and reproductive stages. Such differences impacted the leaf area development and the largest leaf layer for LAP modeling. The proposed method considered these two phenological stage to improve the LAP estimation. The performance of this method was assessed by comparing the derived vertical LAP with measurements over different planting years and maize grain production fields. Results showed robust canopy-level modeling for vertical LAP (RMSE = 0.083–0.094 m2/m2). This study highlights that this method extends the ability of passive optical remote sensing to derive vertical information. This method is a valuable and effective remote-sensing approach for deriving vertical LAP over maize canopy scale, also has potential reference value for other vegetation with similar vertical structure.

Evaluation of consensus sleep stage scoring of dysregulated sleep in Parkinson's disease

ObjectiveSleep dysregulation in Parkinson's disease (PD) has been hypothesized to occur, in part, from dysfunction in the basal ganglia-cortical circuit. Assessment of this relationship requires accurate sleep stage determination, a known challenge in this clinical population. Our objective was to optimize the consensus on the sleep staging process and reduce interrater variability in a cohort of advanced PD subjects. MethodsFifteen PD subjects were enrolled from three sites in a clinical trial that involved recordings from subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation (DBS) leads (NCT04620551). Video polysomnography (vPSG) data for a total of 45 nights were analyzed. Four experienced scorers independently scored data on initial review. Epochs with less than 75% consensus were flagged for secondary review. In secondary review of discordant epochs, two of the original scorers re-assessed epochs, from which the final consensus stage was derived. ResultsSleep stage classification agreement averaged 83.10% across all sleep stages on initial scoring (IS), and on secondary consensus scoring (CS) review, agreement reached 96.58%. Greatest disagreement was noted in determination of awake epochs (33.6% of discordant epochs) and non-rapid-eye-movement stage 2 (N2) epochs (31.8% of discordant epochs). Scoring discrepancy was resolved with direct measurement of cortical frequency and amplitudes, physiologic context of the epoch, and video review. ConclusionOur method of multi-level initial and then secondary consensus review scoring resulted in consensus scoring agreement superior to conventional standards. This work features a custom-engineered vPSG software and review platform for integration of consensus sleep stage scoring in a multi-site clinical trial.

What Counts as a Minority-Serving Institution? Toward the Utilization of a Standardized and Uniform Definition and Typology

Minority-serving institutions (MSIs) are unique in their ability to support the educational advancement of students of color. Approximately one in five postsecondary institutions are eligible for funding under an MSI designation, yet more than half of all undergraduate students of color are enrolled in such colleges and universities. However, there continues to be great disagreement and confusion about how to define MSIs. Researchers, policymakers, advocacy organizations, and even institutions themselves have advanced different and inconsistent definitions as to what might be considered an MSI. Given these contrasting constructions of MSIs, the purpose of this article is to offer a uniform definition and typology as to how MSIs should be defined and to construct an MSI dataset based upon this approach. We assert that this approach will yield more accuracy to the description and study of MSIs, which will greatly benefit and inform the work of institutional leaders, advocates, policymakers, and the broader MSI research community.

Intuitive cognition in the Latin medieval tradition

ABSTRACT This paper explores some key features of Medieval accounts of intuition, focusing on Thomas Aquinas (1224/5–1274), on the one hand, and on Duns Scotus (c. 1266-1308), Peter Auriol (c. 1280–1322), and William Ockham (c. 1287-1347), on the other hand. The first section is devoted to the type of intuitive cognition which is accepted by all these authors, namely, the immediate and direct grasp of some present material object by the senses. It is from this basic sensory intuition – they agree – that human cognition starts. The second section turns to intuitive intellectual cognition and to the much greater disagreements which divide these philosophers. Notwithstanding these important differences, the paper’s conclusion draws attention to the similarities in the conception of intuition which cut across the otherwise significantly different accounts of the authors discussed. I end with an invitation to recover their older way of thinking of intuition.

The relationship between carbon performance and financial performance: evidence from China.

Under the severe situation of global warming, low-carbon development is gaining more and more attention. Due to the different research methods, research samples, and the selection of performance indicators, there is greater disagreement on the relationship between carbon performance and financial performance. The study covers the dataset starting from 2013 to 2020 regarding 352 Chinese-listed companies with high energy consumption industries. The study uses the System GMM to explore the association between carbon performance and financial performance. The results we provided show that (1) carbon performance can significantly improve financial performance, but this effect is intertemporal. (2) Financial performance enhances carbon performance, and this effect is not lagged. (3) In terms of ownership structure heterogeneity, non-state-owned firms have a more significant effect of carbon performance on their financial performance, while the positive impact of financial performance on carbon performance is more pronounced in state-owned firms. The above findings provide a theoretical basis to motivate enterprises to improve their carbon performance and help China achieve the carbon neutrality goal as soon as possible.

Sex and Rural/Urban Centre Location as Determinants of Body Image Self-Perception in Preschoolers.

Body image and self-perception are highly related to psychological health and social well-being throughout the lifespan. Body image problems can lead to pathologies affecting the quality of life. Thus, it is essential to analyse perceived self-image from an early stage. This study aimed to assess body image and dissatisfaction in preschoolers, analyzing possible differences depending on sex (boy/girl) and school location (rural/urban). The sample consisted of 304 preschoolers from Extremadura (Spain) between three and six years of age. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to evaluate the differences in scores according to sex and centre location. The results showed significant differences in the body shape perception depending on the student's sex, with females showing higher scores in their Body Mass Index (BMI). However, females showed greater body dissatisfaction than their male counterparts, with greater disagreement between their perceived and desired figures. Actions and programmes to promote children's healthy body image need to be implemented with consideration for differences between the sexes.

A comparison of multiple statistically downscaled climate change datasets for the conterminous USA

Climate change projections provided by global climate models (GCM) are generally too coarse for local and regional applications. Local and regional climate change impact studies therefore use downscaled datasets. While there are studies that evaluate downscaling methodologies, there is no study comparing the downscaled datasets that are actually distributed and used in climate change impact studies, and there is no guidance for selecting a published downscaled dataset. We compare five widely used statistically downscaled climate change projection datasets that cover the conterminous USA (CONUS): ClimateNA, LOCA, MACAv2-LIVNEH, MACAv2-METDATA, and NEX-DCP30. All of the datasets are derived from CMIP5 GCMs and are publicly distributed. The five datasets generally have good agreement across CONUS for Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5, although the agreement among the datasets vary greatly depending on the GCM, and there are many localized areas of sharp disagreements. Areas of higher dataset disagreement emerge over time, and their importance relative to differences among GCMs is comparable between RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. Dataset disagreement displays distinct regional patterns, with greater disagreement in △Tmax and △Tmin in the interior West and in the North, and disagreement in △P in California and the Southeast. LOCA and ClimateNA are often the outlier dataset, while the seasonal timing of ClimateNA is somewhat shifted from the others. To easily identify regional study areas with high disagreement, we generated maps of dataset disagreement aggregated to states, ecoregions, watersheds, and forests. Climate change assessment studies can use the maps to evaluate and select one or more downscaled datasets for their study area.

Expert Authority in Crisis: Making Authority Real Through Struggle

There is an emerging consensus both within the social scientific research community and more widely in the public domain that expert authority is “in trouble.” However, there is much greater disagreement over the scope and scale of this trouble and what it might mean for the nature, status, and significance of expert authority in the 21st century. This paper identifies and assesses three different narratives concerning the crisis in expert authority. These constitute the delegitimation narrative, the demystification narrative, and the decomposition narrative. They can be seen as responses to the breakdown in the implicit social contract between experts, publics, and states under the extreme and continuous pressures exerted on expert authority by disjunctive change. We evaluate these various interpretations of the crisis in expert authority, particularly in terms of what they suggest about the future potency and stability of the concept of expert authority. In this process of evaluation, we also highlight the emergence of reflexive expert authority and its implications for organizational governance as potential outcomes of this ongoing crisis in the legitimacy and status of expert workers. Consequently, the paper provides a general analytical framework for understanding the emergent narratives around expert authority in democracies and highlights how all three narratives point to serious problems in sustaining this authority in the face of destabilizing change. Furthermore, in developing the notion of reflexive expert authority, we contend that theorization of expert authority needs to privilege the deeper dynamics of trust and control at the core of its analytical focus within organization theory.

Moral Weights of Animals, Considering Viewpoint Uncertainty

Many utilitarians would like a number to use to evaluate the moral impact of actions that affect animals. However, there is a great disagreement among scholars involved with animal ethics, both about how much different animals can suffer and how much that suffering morally matters. To illustrate this uncertainty, while showing as a proof of concept that it may be possible to produce useful estimates in spite of it, we ran a Monte Carlo simulation that samples the ranges of major viewpoints scholars hold in the field, to show a spread of uncertainty for how we should treat six representative animals: crickets, salmon, chickens, pigs, cows, and elephants. The results show that the uncertainty is very large, with a 90% confidence interval ranging between an animal having no value and being valued as much as a human being. More research, in the form of expert surveys and a thorough and rigorous literature review, would be required to produce better estimates, but as an illustration, we present 20% and 40% confidence intervals, as well as the median and geometric mean, based on weighting the theories according to our informal estimate of their prevalence in the literature.

Which Forms Should Be Taught Explicitly? A Theoretical Framework

Few topics in SLA are as contentious as grammar teaching. Differences in opinion persist about whether, what, and when grammar should be taught explicitly. While most SLA researchers now agree that acquisition is primarily a subconscious process, there is a good deal of empirical evidence suggesting that it can be accelerated through explicit teaching, provided forms are presented in a way that respects the natural order of acquisition. Among proponents of explicit instruction, few believe it is feasible or desirable to teach all forms, but there is great disagreement regarding which forms should be taught. This advice provides little practical direction for practitioners and policymakers wondering whether and when to teach a particular form explicitly in their classrooms. This article proposes a framework for a tool called the Implicit/Explicit Knowledge Axis which could be developed to provide critical guidance on the matter.

Encouraging the Motivation of Students in Primary School - A Case Study

The aim of the research is to examine the current practice of encouraging motivation for learning in the teaching process in the elementary school “Dr Boško Vrebalov” in Melenci from the perspective of teachers and students. The sample of students consisted of 22 teachers and 159 students. Two instruments, constructed in the form of a five-point Likert-type scale, were used in the research: the Instrument for Teachers and the Instrument for Students. The applied instruments collected data on the prevalence of procedures for stimulating students’ motivation to learn from the perspective of teachers and students. Also, the opinion of students on the motivational role of the observed procedures of the teaching process on the motivation to learn was examined. Motivational procedures included three segments: preparation and planning of the teaching process, activities of teachers during the teaching process and the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in teaching. The results presented in this paper showed that all the observed procedures during the planning of teaching and learning, as well as the procedures related to the application of ICT, are very common in the teaching process. With minor deviations, there is agreement between teachers and students on their representation. The lowest prevalence and the greatest disagreement in the opinion of teachers and students concernen the application of ICT in teaching. Teachers notice that students use ICT to a lesser extent in teaching in relation to students’ opinions. The obtained results showed that students assigned a high motivational role to all examined procedures, which suggests that students should be more stimulated to use computers in teaching and extracurricular activities for educational purposes.

A Bayesian Modelling Framework for Integration of Ecosystem Services into Freshwater Resources Management

Models of ecological response to multiple stressors and of the consequences for ecosystem services (ES) delivery are scarce. This paper describes a methodology for constructing a BBN combining catchment and water quality model output, data, and expert knowledge that can support the integration of ES into water resources management. It proposes “small group” workshop methods for elucidating expert knowledge and analyses the areas of agreement and disagreement between experts. The model was developed for four selected ES and for assessing the consequences of management options relating to no-change, riparian management, and decreasing or increasing livestock numbers. Compared with no-change, riparian management and a decrease in livestock numbers improved the ES investigated to varying degrees. Sensitivity analysis of the expert information in the BBN showed the greatest disagreements between experts were mainly for low probability situations and thus had little impact on the results. Conversely, in our applications, the best agreement between experts tended to occur for the higher probability, more likely, situations. This has implications for the practical use of this type of model to support catchment management decisions. The complexity of the relationship between management measures, the water quality and ecological responses and resulting changes in ES must not be a barrier to making decisions in the present time. The interactions of multiple stressors further complicate the situation. However, management decisions typically relate to the overall character of solutions and not their detailed design, which can follow once the nature of the solution has been chosen, for example livestock management or riparian measures or both.

VALUATION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN THE SYSTEM OF FACTORS OF INFLUENCE ON THE AMOUNT OF PROFIT OF THE ENTERPRISE

A statistical analysis of the dynamics of filing patent applications in the world, as well as issued patents according to the World Intellectual Property Organization. The indicator of the International Property Rights Index for 2020 for the intellectual property market of Ukraine is considered.
 The individual nature of intellectual property objects and the existing great disagreement between several inventors in the process of creating such objects have been established. Therefore, the protective results of human intellectual activity can not be measured by the amount spent on their creation of socially necessary labor, in contrast to the tangible assets of the enterprise. The use of traditional pricing approaches depending on the objectives of the assessment is analyzed. In general, for the purposes of commercialization and capitalization to some extent used income, market, cost approaches, so it is advisable to apply a systematic approach to valuing intellectual property for different purposes and conditions of use in business.
 The issue of forming a system of factors influencing the size of the company's profit depending on the method of using intellectual property is raised. The advantages and disadvantages of using the intellectual property belonging to the economic entity to protect the monopoly on the product or service produced by him are highlighted; not the use of proprietary intellectual property, but the focus on sales or licensing; purchase of intellectual property or obtaining an exclusive license for it; acquiring a non-exclusive intellectual property license to offer a new product or service in a competitive environment.
 The role of patents for innovative activity of the enterprise is formed. The formula for determining the value of a separate patent has been developed and calculations have been made on the example of the industrial property object "Vertical Hydraulic Machine" (patent for invention UA85101) of JSC "Ukrainian Energy Machines".

Inter Observer Agreement Among Radiologist and Otorhinolaryngologists on Paranasal Sinus Computed Tomography Scans in Chronic Rhinosinusitis.

To evaluate inter observer agreement between Radiologist and Otorhinolaryngologists in identifying important structures and pathologies on pre operative computed tomography (CT) scans of paranasal sinus (PNS) in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). A retrospective review of CT scans PNS of CRS patients. Archived CT scans were evaluated by 3 observers, similarly experienced radiologist and otorhinolaryngologist and a less experienced otorhinolarygologist. The degree of intra- as well as inter observer agreement was assessed by Cohen's kappa statistics. A moderate and a fair inter observer agreement was noted among experienced radiologist and otorhinolaryngologist; & experienced experts and less experienced otorhinolaryngologist respectively. The greatest disagreements among all observers were found in superior attachment of uncinate process, optic nerve's relationship with sphenoid sinus and dehiscence of anterior ethmoid canal. The present study demonstrated a considerable inter observer variability among radiologists and otorhinolaryngologists, irrespective of their experience in the field of speciality. A few critically important structures which showed an unsatisfactory level of agreement and thus need to be sought after with more training and practice, were also identified. These included Keros type, optic nerve's location, dehiscence of anterior ethmoid artery, vidian and maxillary nerves, lamina papyracia defect, sphenoid sinus pneumatization and attachment of uncinate process. The study also emphasized the importance of inter disciplinary conferences for pre operative evaluation of sinus CT scans of CRS patients.

SPECIALIZED LEARNING AND POLITICAL POLARIZATION

AbstractWhen citizens are differentiated by how much they care about different issues informing policy, specialization allows them to concentrate their learning on the issues that are most important to them. However, as different citizens focus on different issues, the electorate becomes less responsive to party platforms. In particular, equilibrium policies polarize more in fractionalized societies in which there is greater disagreement about which issues matter the most. When the learning technology allows for more specialization, it effectively transforms the society into a more fractionalized one without changing the underlying preferences of the electorate, thereby increasing polarization.