The journal em>Science/em> is adding an extra round of statistical checks to its peer-review process, editor-in-chief Marcia McNutt announced today. The policy follows similar efforts from other journals, after widespread concern that basic mistakes in data analysis are contributing to the irreproducibility of many published research findings. "Readers must have confidence in the conclusions published in our journal," writes McNutt in an editorial. Working with the American Statistical Association, the journal has appointed seven experts to a Statistics Board of Reviewing Editors (SBoRE). Manuscript will be flagged up for additional scrutiny by the journal's internal editors, or by its existing Board of Reviewing Editors or by outside peer reviewers. The SBoRE panel will then find external statisticians to review these manuscripts. Asked whether any particular papers had impelled the change, McNutt said. "The creation of the 'statistics board' was motivated by concerns broadly with the application of statistics and data analysis in scientific research and is part of em>Science/em>'s overall drive to increase reproducibility in the research we publish." Giovanni Parmigiani, a biostatistician at the Harvard School of Public Health, a member of the SBoRE group. He says he expects the board to "play primarily an advisory role." He agreed to join because he "found the foresight behind the establishment of the SBoRE to be novel, unique and likely to have a lasting impact. This impact will not only be through the publications in em>Science/em> itself, but hopefully through a larger group of publishing places that may want to model their approach after em>Science/em>." John Ioannidis, a physician who studies research methodology, says that the policy is "a most welcome step forward" and "long overdue." "Most journals are weak in statistical review, and this damages the quality of what they publish. I think that, for the majority of scientific papers nowadays, statistical review is more essential than expert review," he says. But he noted that biomedical journals such as em>Annals of Internal Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association/em> and em>The Lancet/em> pay strong attention to statistical review. Professional scientists are expected to know how to analyze data, but statistical errors are alarmingly common in published research, according to David Vaux, a cell biologist. Researchers should improve their standards, he wrote in 2012, but journals should also take a tougher line, "engaging reviewers who are statistically literate and editors who can verify the process." Vaux says that em>Science/em>'s idea to pass some papers to statisticians "has some merit, but a weakness is that it relies on the board of reviewing editors to identify 'the papers that need scrutiny' in the first place." It can be learned from Paragraph 1 that ______.
Slavery was ______ in America in the 19th century.
If full credits were given to this part it could______a high grade for the student in his physical course.
He______the job because it involved too much traveling.
That outburst at the meeting was ______ of his bad temper.
She once ______ with another musician to compose a piece of pop music.
The monument was so small that it appears to be more for ______ than for memorial.A.significanceB
His attitude toward social welfare legislation
The gloves were really too small, and it was only by______them that I can get them on.
______ the weather has improved
They made detailed investigations to ______ themselves with the needs of the rural market.
All animals must rest
As children get older
World Trade Organization Director-general Renato Ruggiero predicted that the WTO would boost global incomes by $1 trillion in the next ten years. The pact paves the way for more foreign investment and competition in telecom markets. Many governments are making telecom deregulation a priority and making it easier for outsiders to enter the telecommunication business. The pace varies widely. The U. S. and Britain are well ahead of the pack, while Thailand won't be fully open until 2006. Only 20% of the $601 billion world market is currently open to competition. That should jump to about 75% in a couple of years—largely due to the Telecom Act in the U.S. last year that deregulated local markets, the opening up of the European Union's markets from Jan. 1, 1998 and the deregulation in Japan. The WTO deal now provides a forum for the inevitable disputes along the way. It is also symbolic: the first major trade agreement of the post-industrial age. Instead of being obsessed with textile quotas, the WTO pact is proof that governments are realizing that in an information age, telecom is the oil and steel of economies in the future. Businesses around the world are already spending more in total on telecom services than they do on oil. Consumers, meanwhile, can look forward to a future of lower prices—by some estimates, international calling rates should drop 80% over several years—and better service. Thanks in part to the vastly increased call volume carded by the fiber-optic cables that span the globe today, calling half a world away already costs little more than telephoning next door. The monopolies can no longer set high prices for international calls in many countries. In the U.S., the world's most fiercely competitive long distance market, frequent callers since last year have been paying about 12 cents a minute to call Britain, a price not much more than domestic rates. The new competitive environment on the horizon means more opportunities for companies from the U.S. and U.K. in particular because they have plenty of practice at the rough-and-tumble of free markets. The U.S. lobbied hard for the WTO deal, confident that its firms would be big beneficiaries of more open markets. Britain has been deregulated since 1984 but will see even more competition than before: in December, the government issued 45 new international licenses to join British Telecom so that it will become a strong competitor in the international market. However, the once-cosseted industry will get rougher worldwide. Returns on capital will come down. Risks will go up. That is how free markets work. It will look like any other business. Which of the following statements can best describe the main theme of the passage?
The soldier was______of running away when the enemy came.
Money serves as a means of accumulating wealth and as a universal ______ of exchange in the highly diversified commercial world.
Some 500 million birds ______ each year from Africa, some weighing as little as nine grammes (three-tenths of an ounce).
World Trade Organization Director-general Renato Ruggiero predicted that the WTO would boost global incomes by $1 trillion in the next ten years. The pact paves the way for more foreign investment and competition in telecom markets. Many governments are making telecom deregulation a priority and making it easier for outsiders to enter the telecommunication business. The pace varies widely. The U. S. and Britain are well ahead of the pack, while Thailand won't be fully open until 2006. Only 20% of the $601 billion world market is currently open to competition. That should jump to about 75% in a couple of years—largely due to the Telecom Act in the U.S. last year that deregulated local markets, the opening up of the European Union's markets from Jan. 1, 1998 and the deregulation in Japan. The WTO deal now provides a forum for the inevitable disputes along the way. It is also symbolic: the first major trade agreement of the post-industrial age. Instead of being obsessed with textile quotas, the WTO pact is proof that governments are realizing that in an information age, telecom is the oil and steel of economies in the future. Businesses around the world are already spending more in total on telecom services than they do on oil. Consumers, meanwhile, can look forward to a future of lower prices—by some estimates, international calling rates should drop 80% over several years—and better service. Thanks in part to the vastly increased call volume carded by the fiber-optic cables that span the globe today, calling half a world away already costs little more than telephoning next door. The monopolies can no longer set high prices for international calls in many countries. In the U.S., the world's most fiercely competitive long distance market, frequent callers since last year have been paying about 12 cents a minute to call Britain, a price not much more than domestic rates. The new competitive environment on the horizon means more opportunities for companies from the U.S. and U.K. in particular because they have plenty of practice at the rough-and-tumble of free markets. The U.S. lobbied hard for the WTO deal, confident that its firms would be big beneficiaries of more open markets. Britain has been deregulated since 1984 but will see even more competition than before: in December, the government issued 45 new international licenses to join British Telecom so that it will become a strong competitor in the international market. However, the once-cosseted industry will get rougher worldwide. Returns on capital will come down. Risks will go up. That is how free markets work. It will look like any other business. Which of the following statements can best describe the main theme of the passage?
Some might consider it an ugly truth that attractive people are often more successful than those______blessed with looks.
Why is there______traffic on the streets today than yesterday?