Stockholm University

About: Stockholm University is a education organization based out in Stockholm, Sweden. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 21052 authors who have published 62567 publications receiving 2725859 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Stockholm & Stockholms universitet.

Social-ecological systems as complex adaptive systems : modeling and policy implications

Abstract: Systems linking people and nature, known as social-ecological systems, are increasingly understood as complex adaptive systems. Essential features of these complex adaptive systems – such as nonlinear feedbacks, strategic interactions, individual and spatial heterogeneity, and varying time scales – pose substantial challenges for modeling. However, ignoring these characteristics can distort our picture of how these systems work, causing policies to be less effective or even counterproductive. In this paper we present recent developments in modeling social-ecological systems, illustrate some of these challenges with examples related to coral reefs and grasslands, and identify the implications for economic and policy analysis.

Power to the people : evidence from a randomized field experiment on community-based monitoring in Uganda

Abstract: This brief summarizes the results of a gender impact evaluation study, entitled Power to the people : evidence from a randomized field experiment on community-based monitoring in Uganda, intervention started in 2004 and consisted of a training and a six month follow up in Uganda. The study observed that localized nongovernmental organizations encouraged communities to be more involved with the state of health service provision and strengthened their capacity to hold their local health providers to account for performance. The community based monitoring project increased the quality and quantity of primary health care provision. The program led to a significant increase in the weight of infants by .14 z scores and a significant decrease in child mortality by 33. Utilization of outpatient services was significantly higher (20 percent) in the treatment group and the overall effect across utilization measures is large and significant. Funding for the study derived from Bank-Netherlands Partnership Program, World Bank Research Committee, World Bank Africa Region division, Swedish International Development Agency, Department for Research Cooperation.

DARWIN: towards the ultimate dark matter detector

Abstract: DARk matter WImp search with liquid xenoN (DARWIN(2)) will be an experiment for the direct detection of dark matter using a multi-ton liquid xenon time projection chamber at its core. Its primary g ...

Variability in the analysis of a single neuroimaging dataset by many teams

Abstract: Data analysis workflows in many scientific domains have become increasingly complex and flexible. Here we assess the effect of this flexibility on the results of functional magnetic resonance imaging by asking 70 independent teams to analyse the same dataset, testing the same 9 ex-ante hypotheses1. The flexibility of analytical approaches is exemplified by the fact that no two teams chose identical workflows to analyse the data. This flexibility resulted in sizeable variation in the results of hypothesis tests, even for teams whose statistical maps were highly correlated at intermediate stages of the analysis pipeline. Variation in reported results was related to several aspects of analysis methodology. Notably, a meta-analytical approach that aggregated information across teams yielded a significant consensus in activated regions. Furthermore, prediction markets of researchers in the field revealed an overestimation of the likelihood of significant findings, even by researchers with direct knowledge of the dataset2-5. Our findings show that analytical flexibility can have substantial effects on scientific conclusions, and identify factors that may be related to variability in the analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging. The results emphasize the importance of validating and sharing complex analysis workflows, and demonstrate the need for performing and reporting multiple analyses of the same data. Potential approaches that could be used to mitigate issues related to analytical variability are discussed.