Digital Commons Network^™

Examining The Predictive Abilities Of Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, And Grit, Audrey Ellen Weiss

Capstones and Honors Theses

A growing body of evidence indicates that positive psychology constructs are related to better mental health. In particular, greater mindfulness and self-compassion are associated with better psychological well-being, and some research suggests that grit may be related to less depression. This study explored the extent to which mindfulness, self-compassion, and grit uniquely predicted well-being. Participants were 228 college students (75.9% female, 78.9% White, Mage = 19.84 years) who completed a series of questionnaires. Overall, greater self-compassion and greater mindfulness were uniquely associated with better well-being. Furthermore, self-compassion partially mediated the relation between mindfulness and well-being. In general, grit was not …

Towards A Rule-Based Model Of Human Choice: On The Nature Of Homo Constitutionalus, Roger Congleton

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

Anglo-American jurisprudence emphasizes the rule of reason; it grossly neglects the reason of rules. We play socioeconomic-legal-political games that can be described empirically only by their rules. But most of us play without an understanding or ap-preciation of the rules, how they came into being, how they are enforced, how they can be changed, and most important, how they can be normatively evaluated. (Bren-nan and Buchanan, 1985, preface).

Costs And Benefits Of Building Faster Payment Systems: The Uk Experience, Claire Greene, Marc Rysman, Scott Schuh, Oz Shy

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

: A number of countries have implemented faster payment services that allow consumers and businesses to rapidly transfer money between bank accounts. These services compete with slower, existing payment services. In 2008, the United Kingdom implemented its Faster Payments Service (FPS) at a cost of less than ₤200 million (.014 percent of U.K. GDP, or $307 million) spread over seven years, plus investment costs borne by each participating bank to connect to the FPS. This paper examines the economic cost-benefit analysis underlying the U.K. FPS investment decision and describes the subsequent diffusion and use of FPS through 2014.

A Test Of The Institutionally Induced Equilibrium Hypothesis: On The Limited Fiscal Impact Of Two Celebrity Governors, Roger D. Congleton, Yang Zhou

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

We test for the stabilizing effects of political institutions on fiscal policies by examining the impact of two unlikely governors on their state’s fiscal policies. Fiscal policies are joint products of executive and legislative decisions. These institutional factors tend to moderate the effect of changes in the chief executive, as does partisan competition for office. Jesse Ventura of Minnesota’s and Arnold Schwarzenegger of California were unique—surprise—governors of their respective states. Although both governors were arguably less constrained by partisan loyalties than most others, the other institutional factors would still tend to limit their impact on public policy. Our evidence suggests …

The Spatial Distribution Of Urban Consumer Service Firms: Evidence From Yelp Reviews, Brad Humphreys, Josh Matti

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

A growing literature employs distance-based measures of localization to assess the spatial distribution of firms with a focus on manufacturing across a country. We analyze the spatial concentration of a variety of consumer services firms in the Phoenix, AZ area using geo-referenced Yelp data from over 29,000 establishments. Results from a K-density approach indicate substantial localization and service differentiation among localized firms. Firm concentration varies across service cost and quality; higher quality/cost establishments tend to cluster. Our results further understanding of the modern urban landscape as cities are increasingly centers of consumption.

Does The Asset Pricing Premium Reflect Asymmetric Or Incomplete Information?, Crocker H. Liu, Adam Nowak, Patrick S. Smith

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

We develop a framework for using text as data in asset pricing models. We use the framework to test whether real estate agents exploit their informational advantage to sell properties they own for a premium. Consistent with the previous literature, baseline estimates that exclude textual information indicate agents sell their own house at a 3 to 4 percent premium in both Phoenix, AZ and Atlanta, GA. However, this premium dissipates when textual information is included. The results suggest that the baseline estimates suffer from an omitted variable bias, which previous studies incorrectly ascribe to market distortions associated with asymmetric information.

Evaluating Crime As A Negative Externality Of Hosting Mega-Events: Econometric Analysis Of The 2012 London Summer Olympics, Nicholas Le

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

Analysis of the benefits and the drawbacks of hosting large-scale sporting events like the Olympics or World Cup frequently ignore the effects of crime due to its relatively small economic impact in comparison to employment and consumption effects. Literature has frequently tied sporting events and tourism to crime, in addition to observing proximity effects on crime during sporting events. This research seeks to confirm both by implementing a difference-in-difference regression that can show whether crime increased during the Olympics, in particular in London boroughs which hosted venues for the Games. Ultimately, the research concludes that crime in London as a …

Mandating Meaningful Forensic Discovery: A Proposal To Fuel The Engine Of Truthfulness, Marjorie Mcdiarmid

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Minimum Nurse To Patient Ratios, Kate Bolinksy

Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Judicial Independence Focused On High Courts In Latin America, Adila Fathallah

Capstones and Honors Theses

ABSTRACT Judicial Independence Focused on High Courts in Latin America Adila Fathallah This report encompasses the meanings of judicial independence, and all the aspects in which define and have been used to measure it historically, focusing on Latin American countries to present a clear image of the difficulties and attempts that go into judicial independence achievement. The rule of law depends on independence for judges and the judiciary, in relation to being able to uphold the law of the land without outside pressures, fear or favour to any other branch of government or other entities, and the general public. Legal …

Confucius Institute's Effects On China's Higher Education Exports: A Perspective From Cultural Difference And Institutional Quality, Donald Lien, Feng Yao, Fan Zhang

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

This article uses a panel data of international student flows to China from 2000–2014 to investigate Confucius Institute (CI)’s effects on China’s educational service exports. We find that CI, as a comprehensive platform for promoting Chinese language and cultural exchange, has a significant positive effect on China’s education exports. The effects of CI on China’s education exports are transmitted through promoting Chinese language, bridging cultural gaps, and reducing psychic distance. We further find that the effects of CI on China’s education exports are heterogeneous, depending on the level of cultural difference and institutional quality in the host country. The effects …

Minimal Degrees Of Genocchi-Peano Functions: Calculus Motivated Number Theoretical Estimates, Krzysztof Ciesielski

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

A rational function of the form x α1 1 x α2 2 ⋯x αn n x β1 1 +x β2 2 +⋯+x βn n is a Genocchi-Peano example, GPE, provided it is discontinuous, but its restriction to any hyperplane is continuous. We show that the minimal degree D(n) of a GPE of n-variables equals 2 ⌊ e 2 e2−1 n⌋ + 2i for some i ∈ {0, 1, 2}. We also investigate the minimal degree Db(n) of a bounded GPE of n-variables and note that D(n) ≤ Db(n) ≤ n(n + 1). Finding better bounds for numbers Db(n) remains an …

Implementation Of A Collaborative Hiv And Hepatitis C Screening Program In Appalachian Urgent Care Settings, Carmen N. Burrell, Melinda J. Sharon, Stephen M. Davis, Elena M. Wojcik, Ian B.K Martin

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Introduction: With the current hepatitis C (HCV) epidemic in the Appalachian region and the risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infection, there is a need for increased secondary prevention efforts. The purpose of this study was to implement routine HIV and HCV screenings in the urgent care setting through the use of an electronic medical record (EMR) to increase a provider’s likelihood of testing eligible patients.

Methods: From June 2017 through May 2018, EMR-based HIV and HCV screenings were implemented in three emergency department-affiliated urgent care settings: a local urgent care walk-in clinic; a university-based student health services center; and …

What Memory Representation Is Acquired During Nonword Speech Production Learning? The Influence Of Stimulus Features And Training Modality On Nonword Encoding, Kimberly M. Meigh, Susan Shaiman, Connie A. Tompkins, Katherine Verdolini Abbott, Timothy Nokes-Malach

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The purpose of this research was to investigate memory representations related to speech processing. Psycholinguistic and speech motor control theorists have hypothesized a variety of fundamental memory representations, such as syllables or phonemes, which may be learned during speech acquisition tasks. Yet, it remains unclear which fundamental representations are encoded and retrieved during learning and generalization tasks. Two experiments were conducted using a motor learning paradigm to investigate if representations for syllables and phonemes were acquired during a nonword repetition task. Additionally, different training modalities were implemented across studies to examine if training modality influenced memory encoding for nonword stimuli. …

Single-Site Catalyst Promoters Accelerate Metal- Catalyzed Nitroarene Hydrogenation, Liang Wang, Erjia Guan, Jian Zhang, Junhao Yang, Yihan Zhu, Yu Han, Ming Yang, Cheng Cen, Gang Fu, Bruce C. Gates, Feng-Shou Xiao

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Atomically dispersed supported metal catalysts are drawing wide attention because of the opportunities they offer for new catalytic properties combined with efficient use of the metals. We extend this class of materials to catalysts that incorporate atomically dispersed metal atoms as promoters. The catalysts are used for the challenging nitroarene hydro- genation and found to have both high activity and selectivity. The promoters are single-site Sn on TiO2 supports that incorporate metal nanoparticle catalysts. Represented as M/Sn- TiO2 (M = Au, Ru, Pt, Ni), these catalysts decidedly outperform the unpromoted supported metals, even for hydrogenation of nitroarenes substituted with various …

Altered Spring Phenology Of North American Freshwater Turtles And The Importance Of Representative Populations, Fredric J. Janzen, Luke A. Hoekstra, Ronald J. Brooks, David M. Carroll, J Whitfield Gibbons, Judith L. Greene, John B. Iverson, Jacqueline D. Litzgus, Edwin D. Michael, Steven G. Parren, Willem M. Roosenburg, Gabriel F. Strain, John K. Tucker, Gordon R. Ultsch

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Globally, populations of diverse taxa have altered phenology in response to climate change. However, most research has focused on a single population of a given taxon, which may be unrepresentative for comparative analyses, and few long-term studies of phenology in ectothermic amniotes have been published. We test for climate- altered phenology using long-term studies (10–36 years) of nesting behavior in 14 populations representing six genera of freshwater turtles (Chelydra, Chrysemys, Kinosternon, Malaclemys, Sternotherus, and Trachemys). Nesting season initiation oc- curs earlier in more recent years, with 11 of the populations advancing phenology. The onset of nesting for nearly all populations …

Value Chains: Production Upstreamness And Downstreamness Revisited, Patricio Aroca, Randall Jackson

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Measures devised to quantify value chain position have been used increasingly in recent years. While the constructs underlying these measures are meaningful, this paper identifies an overlooked implementation problem. Proposed algorithms have been applied as though the underlying data represent flows. Implementation data are drawn from modern input-output accounting frameworks that recognize secondary production explicitly. Unadjusted Use matrices are not conventional flows matrices because they do not identify the industries from which commodities originate. We demonstrate logical inconsistencies that arise, provide correct flow matrix formulations for upstreamness and downstreamness measures, and present empirical comparisons of correct and incorrect formulations.

Auditory Disruption Improves Word Segmentation: A Functional Basis For Lenition Phenomena, Jonah Katz, Melinda Fricke

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This paper presents evidence that spirantization, a cross-linguistically common lenition process, affects English listeners’ ease of segmenting novel “words” in an artificial language. The cross-linguistically common spirantization pattern of initial stops and medial continuants (e.g. [ɡuβa]) results in improved word segmentation compared to the inverse “anti-lenition” pattern of initial continuants and medial stops (e.g. [ɣuba]). The study also tests the effect of obstruent voicing, another common lenition pattern, but finds no significant differences in segmentation performance. There are several points of broader interest in these studies. Most of the phonetic factors influencing word segmentation in past studies have been …

Bigger And Better Patent Examiner Statistics, Shine Tu

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The American government charges the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) with reading and reviewing patent applications to determine what new or improved inventions, machines, and processes qualify for patent protection. Each application is reviewed by a specific patent examiner who theoretically applies the standards of patentability in an even, fair, unbiased and consistent manner. This task requires the examiner to not only be internally consistent with the applications she reviews but also consistent with the behavior of other examiners within the same technology center. I have conducted two studies based on data from hundreds of thousands of patents, …

Gender Fairness Within The Force Concept Inventory, Adrienne Traxler, Rachel Henderson, John Stewart, Gay Stewart, Alexis Papak, Rebecca Lindell

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Research on the test structure of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) has largely ignored gender, and research on FCI gender effects (often reported as “gender gaps”) has seldom interrogated the structure of the test. These rarely crossed streams of research leave open the possibility that the FCI may not be structurally valid across genders, particularly since many reported results come from calculus-based courses where 75% or more of the students are men. We examine the FCI considering both psychometrics and gender disaggregation (while acknowledging this as a binary simplification), and find several problematic questions whose removal decreases the apparent gender …

Spontaneous Formation Of Ion Holes And Ion Beams In Expanding Plasmas, Evan M. Aguirre

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Presented here are direct, spatially resolved measurements of the spontaneous formation of a steady-state, ion accelerating structure and an ion hole in the plume of an expanding, low- pressure plasma. Ion velocity distribution function (IVDF) measurements, obtained with laser induced fluorescence, are taken parallel and perpendicular to the background magnetic field in an argon helicon plasma. The parallel IVDFs show an ion beam with v ≈ 8,000 m/s flowing downstream and confined to the center of the discharge. The ion beam is measurable for tens of centimeters along the expansion axis before the LIF signal fades, likely a result of …

Assessment Of Surgical Guide Accuracy Utilizing A Digital Workflow, Nicole Irene Andreini

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Objectives: To determine the accuracy of placing implants using a digital workflow. Variables were compared to see if there was an effect on implant position accuracy. These included bone level (BL) versus bone level tapered (BLT) implants, positioning of implants adjacent to tooth support versus further across an edentulous ridge, and impact of the surgical guide requiring adjustment to fully seat. Furthermore, two methods of post-operative assessment were compared to evaluate consistency of each approach.;Methods: A typical work up for digital implant planning was performed on a sectioned pig jaw. The DICOM CBCT file and IOS STL file were imported …

Using Artistic Process To Provide Outlets Of Communication, Understanding, And Healing To Improve The Well Being Of Selected Learners, Sarah Allen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Public schools in America follow a carefully structured pattern tied directly to the societies and cultures from within. While this structure may create a positive and familiar learning environment for some, others who are unfamiliar with the societal and cultural norms within public school structures, may be left behind. Some learners have simple language barriers that exclude them from activities as well as others during the school day; some choose silence out of fear or embarrassment from unknown circumstances; while others are labeled as Special Education and are not able to speak to others verbally as a "normal" child would. …

The Semantics Of Spanish Compounding: An Analysis Of Nn Compounds In The Parallel Architecture, Luis Miguel Toquero Perez

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Noun-Noun compounds (NN) are a concatenation of two nouns that function as a single unit both morphosyntactically and semantically. One of the main challenges that a study of NN compounding faces is their semantics, and more precisely, identifying the implied semantic relations that hold between the two elements. One of the most recent frameworks that has been proposed to account for the semantic relations between the modifier and head in NN compounds is Jackendoff's (2009, 2016) basic functions model within the Parallel Architecture framework. In this model, a semantic relation between the head and modifier is established by using an …

Investigation Of Model Reduction Using Bayesian Calibration And Dynamic Discrepancy, Ahmed Nirjhar Alam

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

No abstract provided.

Affected Behavior: Deceptive Unities In Eighteenth Century Conduct Books, Dominique Angela Bruno

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

No abstract provided.

Two Essays On Ceo Compensation And Investment Behavior, Jonathan Thomas Fluharty-Jaidee

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

No abstract provided.

Development Of Resonating Tubular Oscillating Linear Alternator And Engine; System Design And Modeling, Gregory Heiskell

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

No abstract provided.

Bayesian Spatio-Temporal Analysis Of Road Traffic Crashes, Amin Azimian

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

No abstract provided.

Generation And Sensitivity Analysis Of Transmission Shift Schedule For Hybrid-Electric Vehicle, Nicholas Connelly

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

No abstract provided.