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university of california at los angeles

Physicist Says Market Crashes Predictable; Major Decline Due in 2003

Successfully predicting stock market swings is as futile as searching for the fountain of youth, some people believe. UCLA physicist and complex-systems theorist Didier Sornette is not among them. Sornette says he has found patterns that occur in market crashes dating back for centuries. Their statistical signatures are evident long in advance, he concludes. Sornette has developed algorithms ? based on sophisticated mathematics, statistical modeling techniques and collective behavior theory ? that enable him to analyze more than two dozen stock markets worldwide. Applying techniques of physics to economic data, he has developed a quantitative model that can predict the signatures of a coming stock market crash.

10 Keys to Recovery From Schizophrenia

UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute researchers have identified 10 key factors to recovery from schizophrenia. The findings open opportunities to develop new treatment and rehabilitation programs and to reshape the negative expectations of many doctors, patients and their families. Based on analyses of the professional literature and the cases of 23 schizophrenia patients who successfully returned to work or school with their symptoms under control, the findings appear in the November 2002 edition of the International Review of Psychiatry.

One in Three Children Regularly Exposed to Tobacco Smoke at Home

Second-hand tobacco smoke threatens the health of 21 million American children ? 35 percent of everyone age 17 and younger ? who live in homes where residents or visitors smoke once a week or more, according to a study published Nov. 13 by researchers from RAND and UCLA. The study is the most thorough ever conducted of youths’ exposure to environmental second-hand tobacco smoke at home. It found that 19 million American children ? 28 percent of everyone in the United States 17 and younger ? are exposed to tobacco smoke at home on a daily basis.