Optimally Combining Censored and Uncensored Datasets

Economists and other social scientists often face situations where they have access to two datasets that they can use but one set of data suffers from censoring or truncation. If the censored sample is much bigger than the uncensored sample, it is common for researchers to use the censored sample alone and attempt to deal with the problem of partial observation in some manner. Alternatively, they simply use only the uncensored sample and ignore the censored one so as to avoid biases. It is rarely the case that researchers use both datasets together, mainly because they lack guidance about how to combine them. In this paper, we develop a tractable semiparametric framework for combining the censored and uncensored datasets so that the resulting estimators are consistent, asymptotically normal, and use all information optimally. When the censored sample, which we refer to as the master sample, is much bigger than the uncensored sample (which we call the refreshment sample), the latter can be thought of as providing identification where it is otherwise absent. In contrast, when the refreshment sample is large and could typically be used alone, our methodology can be interpreted as using information from the censored sample to increase effciency. To illustrate our results in an empirical setting, we show how to estimate the effect of changes in compulsory schooling laws on age at first marriage, a variable that is censored for younger individuals. We also demonstrate how refreshment samples for this application can be created by matching cohort information across census datasets.

Ocean temperature measured by elephant seal-CTDs in the Southern Ocean with links to datasets

The potential effects of ocean warming on marine predators are largely unknown, though the impact on the distribution of prey in vertical space may have far reaching impacts on diving predators such as southern elephant seals. We used data from satellite-tracked southern elephant seals from Marion Island to investigate the relationship between their dive characteristics (dive depths, dive durations and time-at-depth index values) and environmental variables (temperature at depth, depth of maximum temperature below 100 m, frontal zone and bathymetry) as well as other demographic and behavioural variables (migration stage, age-class, track day and vertical diel strategy). While other variables, such as bathymetry and vertical diel strategy also influenced dive depth, our results consistently indicated a significant influence of temperature at depth on dive depths. This relationship was positive for all groups of animals, indicating that seals dived to deeper depths when foraging in warmer waters. Female seals adjusted their dive depths proportionally more than males in warmer water. Dive durations were also influenced by temperature at depth, though to a lesser extent. Results from time-at-depth indices showed that both male and female seals spent less time at targeted dive depths in warmer water, and were presumably less successful foragers when diving in warmer water. Continued warming of the Southern Ocean may result in the distribution of prey for southern elephant seals shifting either poleward and/or to increasing depths. Marion Island elephant seals are expected to adapt their ranging and diving behaviour accordingly, though such changes may result in greater physiological costs associated with foraging.

Del blog a la telenovela : un análisis de Ciega a citas, de Lucía González y Carolina Aguirre

El presente trabajo se propone indagar en los procesos de transposición operados desde la blognovela Ciega citas (de Lucía González/ Carolina Aguirre) hasta la telenovela emitida por Canal 7, pasando por la publicación de la obra como novela impresa. Se analizarán las características inherentes a cada formato, los alcances de la traducción de un código estético al otro y las motivaciones que dieron origen a los cambios, adiciones, similitudes, paralelos, y sustituciones, a partir de los cuales pueden determinarse los efectos de sentido de la transposición.

Un blog para estudiantes universitarios

Fil: Enríquez, Silvia Cecilia. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; Argentina.

El aprendizaje fuera del aula : De la lectura extensiva al blog

La lectura de textos en inglés constituye una herramienta propicia para la exposición de los alumnos a la L2 fuera del ámbito del aula. Asimismo, creemos que un mayor contacto con la lengua que se está aprendiendo permite, entre otros beneficios, ampliar el conocimiento de vocabulario y estructuras, desarrollar y/o fortalecer estrategias de lectura, conocer las características textuales de diferentes géneros, reforzar las prácticas de escritura, familiarizarse con nuevas prácticas discursivas, expandir el conocimiento sobre otras culturas, etc. Un programa de lectura extensiva podría, entonces, convertirse en un instrumento importante en el desarrollo de un curso de lengua y escritura. Estimamos, además, que comenzar simultáneamente a utilizar un blog que fomentase el libre intercambio de críticas y comentarios sobre el material leído enriquecería la experiencia en otras dimensiones. De allí que decidimos la implementación tanto del programa de lectura extensiva como del blog en la asignatura Lengua y Expresión Escrita III de la carrera del Profesorado de Inglés que se dicta en el Instituto Superior de Formación Docente Nº97, de la provincia de Buenos Aires. El objetivo de esta comunicación es, en base al marco teórico propuesto por Day y Bamford para la lectura extensiva, explicar los motivos que llevaron a la implementación del programa, analizar su puesta en práctica así como los beneficios que se han obtenido gracias a esta instancia de aprendizaje fuera del aula

Dive depth and dive duration data of subadult and adult, male and female southern elephant seals from Marion Island between 2004 and 2008 with links to datasets

Although numerous studies have addressed the migration and dive behaviour of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina), questions remain about their habitat use in the marine environment. We report on the vertical use of the water column in the species and the potential lifetime implications for southern elephant seals from Marion Island. Long-term mark-resight data were used to complement vertical habitat use for 35 known individuals tagged with satellite-relay data loggers, resulting in cumulative depth use extrapolated for each individual over its estimated lifespan. Seals spent on average 77.59% of their lives diving at sea, 7.06% at the sea surface, and 15.35% hauled out on land. Some segregation was observed in maximum dive depths and depth use between male and female animals-males evidently being physiologically more capable of exploiting increased depths. Females and males spent 86.98 and 80.89% of their lives at sea, respectively. While at sea, all animals spent more time between 300 and 400 m depth, than any other depth category. Males and females spent comparable percentages of their lifetimes below 100 m depth (males: 65.54%; females: 68.92%), though males spent 8.98% of their lives at depths in excess of 700 m, compared to females' 1.84% at such depths. Adult males often performed benthic dives in excess of 2,000 m, including the deepest known recorded dive of any air-breathing vertebrate (>2,133 m). Our results provide a close approximation of vertical habitat use by southern elephant seals, extrapolated over their lifespans, and we discuss some physiological and developmental implications of their variable depth use.

Dive depth and dive duration data of subadult and adult, male and female southern elephant seals from Marion Island between 2004 and 2008 with links to datasets

Sexual segregation in habitat use occurs in a number of animal species, including southern elephant seals, where differences in migration localities and dive behaviour between sexes have been recorded. Due to the extreme sexual size dimorphism exhibited by southern elephant seals, it is unclear whether observed differences in dive behaviour are due to increased physiological capacity of males, compared to females, or differences in activity budgets and foraging behaviour. Here we use a mixed-effects modelling approach to investigate the effects of sex, size, age and individual variation on a number of dive parameters measured on southern elephant seals from Marion Island. Although individual variation accounted for substantial portions of total model variance for many response variables, differences in maximum and targeted dive depths were always influenced by sex, and only partly by body length. Conversely, dive durations were always influenced by body length, while sex was not identified as a significant influence. These results support hypotheses that physiological capability associated with body size is a limiting factor on dive durations. However, differences in vertical depth use appear to be the result of differences in forage selection between sexes, rather than a by-product of the size dimorphism displayed by this species. This provides further support for resource partitioning and possible avoidance of inter-sexual competition in southern elephant seals.

At surface behaviour data of juvenile southern elephant seals from Marion Island between 2001 and 2006 with links to datasets

Marine mammals forage in dynamic environments characterized by variables that are continuously changing in relation to large-scale oceanographic processes. In the present study, behavioural states of satellite-tagged juvenile southern elephant seals (n = 16) from Marion Island were assessed for each reliable location, using variation in turning angle and speed in a state-space modelling framework. A mixed modelling approach was used to analyse the behavioural response of juvenile southern elephant seals to sea-surface temperature and proximity to frontal and bathymetric features. The findings emphasised the importance of frontal features as potentially rewarding areas for foraging juvenile southern elephant seals and provided further evidence of the importance of the area west of Marion Island for higher trophic-level predators. The importance of bathymetric features during the transit phase of juvenile southern elephant seal migrations indicates the use of these features as possible navigational cues.

Un blog para estudiantes universitarios

Fil: Enríquez, Silvia Cecilia. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; Argentina.

El aprendizaje fuera del aula : De la lectura extensiva al blog

La lectura de textos en inglés constituye una herramienta propicia para la exposición de los alumnos a la L2 fuera del ámbito del aula. Asimismo, creemos que un mayor contacto con la lengua que se está aprendiendo permite, entre otros beneficios, ampliar el conocimiento de vocabulario y estructuras, desarrollar y/o fortalecer estrategias de lectura, conocer las características textuales de diferentes géneros, reforzar las prácticas de escritura, familiarizarse con nuevas prácticas discursivas, expandir el conocimiento sobre otras culturas, etc. Un programa de lectura extensiva podría, entonces, convertirse en un instrumento importante en el desarrollo de un curso de lengua y escritura. Estimamos, además, que comenzar simultáneamente a utilizar un blog que fomentase el libre intercambio de críticas y comentarios sobre el material leído enriquecería la experiencia en otras dimensiones. De allí que decidimos la implementación tanto del programa de lectura extensiva como del blog en la asignatura Lengua y Expresión Escrita III de la carrera del Profesorado de Inglés que se dicta en el Instituto Superior de Formación Docente Nº97, de la provincia de Buenos Aires. El objetivo de esta comunicación es, en base al marco teórico propuesto por Day y Bamford para la lectura extensiva, explicar los motivos que llevaron a la implementación del programa, analizar su puesta en práctica así como los beneficios que se han obtenido gracias a esta instancia de aprendizaje fuera del aula

Del blog a la telenovela : un análisis de Ciega a citas, de Lucía González y Carolina Aguirre

El presente trabajo se propone indagar en los procesos de transposición operados desde la blognovela Ciega citas (de Lucía González/ Carolina Aguirre) hasta la telenovela emitida por Canal 7, pasando por la publicación de la obra como novela impresa. Se analizarán las características inherentes a cada formato, los alcances de la traducción de un código estético al otro y las motivaciones que dieron origen a los cambios, adiciones, similitudes, paralelos, y sustituciones, a partir de los cuales pueden determinarse los efectos de sentido de la transposición.

Del blog a la telenovela : un análisis de Ciega a citas, de Lucía González y Carolina Aguirre

El presente trabajo se propone indagar en los procesos de transposición operados desde la blognovela Ciega citas (de Lucía González/ Carolina Aguirre) hasta la telenovela emitida por Canal 7, pasando por la publicación de la obra como novela impresa. Se analizarán las características inherentes a cada formato, los alcances de la traducción de un código estético al otro y las motivaciones que dieron origen a los cambios, adiciones, similitudes, paralelos, y sustituciones, a partir de los cuales pueden determinarse los efectos de sentido de la transposición.

El aprendizaje fuera del aula : De la lectura extensiva al blog

La lectura de textos en inglés constituye una herramienta propicia para la exposición de los alumnos a la L2 fuera del ámbito del aula. Asimismo, creemos que un mayor contacto con la lengua que se está aprendiendo permite, entre otros beneficios, ampliar el conocimiento de vocabulario y estructuras, desarrollar y/o fortalecer estrategias de lectura, conocer las características textuales de diferentes géneros, reforzar las prácticas de escritura, familiarizarse con nuevas prácticas discursivas, expandir el conocimiento sobre otras culturas, etc. Un programa de lectura extensiva podría, entonces, convertirse en un instrumento importante en el desarrollo de un curso de lengua y escritura. Estimamos, además, que comenzar simultáneamente a utilizar un blog que fomentase el libre intercambio de críticas y comentarios sobre el material leído enriquecería la experiencia en otras dimensiones. De allí que decidimos la implementación tanto del programa de lectura extensiva como del blog en la asignatura Lengua y Expresión Escrita III de la carrera del Profesorado de Inglés que se dicta en el Instituto Superior de Formación Docente Nº97, de la provincia de Buenos Aires. El objetivo de esta comunicación es, en base al marco teórico propuesto por Day y Bamford para la lectura extensiva, explicar los motivos que llevaron a la implementación del programa, analizar su puesta en práctica así como los beneficios que se han obtenido gracias a esta instancia de aprendizaje fuera del aula

Reference datasets and pollen record from sediment core YAK, Yakumo, SW Hokkaido

This study reconstructs middle and late Holocene vegetation and climate dynamics in the Oshima Peninsula, SW Hokkaido, using the published method of biome reconstruction and modern analogue technique applied to the Yakumo pollen record (42°17'03''N, 140°15'34''E) spanning the last 5500 years. Two previously published matrices assigning Japanese plant/pollen taxa to the major vegetation types (biomes) are tested using a newly compiled dataset of 78 surface pollen spectra from Hokkaido. With both matrices showing strengths and weaknesses in reconstructing cool mixed and temperate deciduous forests of Hokkaido, the results suggest the necessity to consider the whole list of identified terrestrial pollen taxa for generating robust vegetation reconstructions for northern Japan. Applied to the fossil pollen data, both biome-reconstruction approaches demonstrate consistently that oak-dominated cool mixed forest spread in the study region between 5.5 and 3.6 cal ka BP and was subsequently replaced by beech-dominated temperate deciduous forest. The pollen-based climate reconstruction suggests this change in the vegetation composition was caused by a shift from cooler and drier than present climate to warmer and wetter, similar to modern conditions about 3.6 cal ka BP. Comparing the pollen-based reconstruction results with the published marine records from the NW Pacific, the reconstructed vegetation and climate dynamics can be satisfactorily explained by the greater role played by the warm Tsushima Current in the Sea of Japan and in the Tsugaru Strait during the middle and late Holocene. An increase in sea surface temperatures west and south of the study site would favour air temperature rise and moisture uptake and cause an increase in precipitation and snow accumulation in the western part of Hokkaido during the late Holocene.