The causal theory

This humbleness off all mighty, all wise, all noble, animal innocence characteristics of Oxford that is utterly irresistible !





“the chance of an event is the degree to which it is determined by its cause.” cited in The Causal Theory of Chance, Eagle A., Exeter college, Oxford Univ.




Chancellor of Oxford University to launch St Mary's Appeal

Lord Patten of Barnes, Chancellor of the University of Oxford, will host the launch of the St Mary's Development Appeal on 22 February 2008.
The appeal has three separate aims:

Firstly, a comprehensive restoration of much of the fabric of the church, and in particular of the tower and spire.

Secondly, an improvement of access and amenity for the Old Library to allow for disabled access and for greater use by church and outside groups.

Thirdly to re-open the West Doors and to created a purpose-built office area on the North side of the church.

source: http://www.university-church.ox.ac.uk/
news_and_events/news.htm#Development


The Third, and Fourth Moments

Sample Variance is calculated based on the sum of the square differences between each value and the sample mean, hence, called the Second Moment. The Third and Fourth Moment of distribution are calculated in similar way, based on the third and fourth Powers of differences.

Third moment= Sum (X - mean)3 / n
Fourth moment= Sum (X - mean)4 / n

Medical Statistics, Kirkwood B., Blackwell Publishing, 2006










The pupil-teacher ratio


Study a new school-level panel dataset constructed from information provided by the Independent Schools Information Service (ISIS) shows a consistent negative relationship between the pupil-teacher ratio at a school and the average examination results at that school. Our estimates indicate that the relationship persists even when we are estimating “added-value” models conditional on previous exam results.

Pupil-teacher ratios vary between 7.9 at the 10th percentile and 14.2 at the 90th percentile, with correspondingly large differences in Fees. In a sub-sample consisting of only secondary schools, the pupil-teacher ratio is 7.6 at the 10th percentile and 12.6 at the 90th percentile. The variables we use for Pst (pupil characteristics) are dummy variables for boys’and girls’schools, (other dummy variables include school size and capital spending).

The Impact of School Inputs on Student Performance: An Empirical Study of Private Schools in the United Kingdom, Kathryn Graddy, University of Oxford and CEPR
Margaret Stevens, University of Oxford, 2003





Persons, Minds and Bodies Project

E. Cohen, J. Barrett. We often think of people as consisting of minds and bodies, but is this a culturally specific way of thinking or a more widespread and fundamental way of thinking? Are there cross-culturally recurrent ways of conceptualizing what it is to be a person and of representing the relationships between persons and bodies? The area of cognitive science concerning how people develop to understand minds and mental states is termed ‘Theory of Mind.’

‘Theory of Mind’ typically focuses on how humans understand human minds (including beliefs, goals, emotions, motivations, and so on), but at CAM the area enjoys a unique treatment: we consider conceptualizations of nonhuman minds and the relationship of minds to bodies. We consider the myriad different ways in which humans use theory of mind to conceptualize spirit possessions, deities, and animals’ mental states. Further, we explore how Theory of Mind interacts with intuitive notions of the nature of bodies, especially in cultural contexts in which minds (or souls, identities, volition) are understood as separable from bodies, or displaced from bodies, or in which they are believed to intrude into bodies, as in spirit possession.

Many cognitive scientists would agree that the claims made by experimental psychologists and others regarding the universality of the mechanisms underlying notions of persons, understandings of bodies, and Theory of Mind (and their developmental trajectories) will remain speculative until these claims are tested cross-culturally, most obviously through collaboration with anthropologists.

The project has received funding from the British Academy.
source: http://www.icea.ox.ac.uk/research/cam/



The Principal Principle (Lewis, 1980): that the chance of A is the reasonable credence one would have in A given the history of a world up until some time, and the theory of chance for that world. Causal Theory of Chance, Eagle A., Exeter college, Oxford Univ.








THE WATER POVERTY INDEX WPI

Purpose of the WPI
Water management is a complex and difficult task. As populations grow and water resources become more scarce, this task will become even more complex. The WPI is mainly designed to help improve the situation for the over two billion people facing poor water endowments and poor adaptive capacity. Through its application, this tool can provide:

v A better understanding of the relationship between the physical extent of water availability, its ease of abstraction, and the level of community welfare it provides

v A mechanism for the prioritisation of water investments

v A means by which progress in the water sector can be monitored (e.g. towards the Millennium Development Goals)

When water allocation systems fail, poor people often have to use insecure or polluted sources, and conflicts over water use can arise. By making water management decisions more equitable and transparent, the WPI can contribute to the eradication of conditions which strengthen the poverty trap.

http://ocwr.ouce.ox.ac.uk/research/wmpg/wpi/wpi_leaflet.pdf