Tag "IQ"

Children from undereducated, low-income families face a greater risk of poor academic performance. But schools are capable of decreasing these risks. Experts from the Center of Social and Economic School Development at the HSE Institute of Education have studiedinternational experience in addressing these challenges.

The results of recent study conducted by the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the agency’s automatic interplanetary station, show the existence of a ‘permafrost’ near the poles of the Moon with a relatively high content of water ice (up to 5% by weight). It is believed that water ice could supply a life support system for the future Russian Lunar Station and that it could also produce hydrogen-oxygen fuel for flights into deep space.

The HSE Centre for Studies of Income and Living Standards studied the dynamics of the middle class and its behaviour with regard to paid services. The study was based on data drawn from the HSE Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE) for the years 2000 to 2017, and the results were presented at the 20th April International Academic Conference hosted by HSE.

In Russia today, HIV infection rates have stabilized, but mortality rates in a number of Russian regions have increased. Most affected by the disease are cities in the Middle Volga region, the Urals, Western Siberia and the Baikal region. In these areas, the number of HIV deaths exceeds the national average, and the disease is gradually spreading from the cities to more rural areas, according to HSE demographers Aleksei Shchur and Sergey Timonin at the XX April International Research Conference.

Over 40% of online petitions started by residents of central Russia get results. In the Far East, this is the case with only 2% of online petitions, while in the regions of the North Caucasus it is even less. Nadezhda Radina and Daria Krupnaya studied the willingness of authorities and businesses to respond to citizens’ digital activism based on data from the Change.org platform. Their research will appear in a forthcoming article in an upcoming issue of the journal, POLIS. Political Studies.

The more a student engages with various activities on campus, the higher their odds of success post-graduation. According to a study by HSE researchers, not only academic but also research and social engagement, such as participation in student organisations and events, can be linked to the development of critical thinking skills which are essential for general wellbeing as well as career advancement.

In Russia, women earn about 70% of what men earn in wages. In the academic sector, this gap is smaller. However, although women make up a majority at universities, wage gaps between the two genders still persist. To find out why this is the case, IQ.HSE spoke with Victor Rudakov, Research Fellow at the Institute of Institutional Studies.

Reproductive behavior is modernizing at different rates in post-Soviet countries. Things are changing faster in Russia, Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine, where, over the last fifteen years, the average maternity age has increased and the contribution of women in their thirties to their countries’ birthrates has grown. Meanwhile, old reproductive patterns persist in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, where firstborns are usually born to parents under 30, demographers Vladimir Kozlov and Konstantin Kazenin note in a paper delivered at HSE’s XX April International Academic Conference.

Researchers from HSE University and York University have become the first to analyse the results of 82 functional neuroimaging studies on working memory mechanisms in different adult age groups. The meta-analyses showed that across studies the agreement of various areas of the prefrontal cortex decreases with ageing, suggesting reorganization of brain function during healthy aging. The results have been published in the paper ‘Meta-analyses of the n-back working memory task: fMRI evidence of age-related changes in prefrontal cortex involvement across the adult lifespan’.

HSE Centre for Transport Economy has conducted the first econometric analysis of the factors influencing the level of automobilization in major Russian cities. The results were discussed at the 20th April International Academic Conference. Here, IQ.HSE reveals the main results of the study.