Digital Commons Network^™

Gwu Students Achieve Recognition At Regional Model United Nations Event, Office Of University Communications

Gardner-Webb NewsCenter Archive

Three students from Gardner-Webb University were recognized for their contributions during the Southern Regional Model United Nations (SRMUN) Atlanta conference held in November. Universities from across the Eastern, Southern and Mid-west regions of the United States participated, representing 79 countries at the event. Model United Nations is an authentic simulation of the UN General Assembly, UN Security Council, or other multilateral body, which introduces students to the world of diplomacy, negotiation, and decision making.

Principles Of Incorporating Spirituality Into Professional Clinical Practice, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

Incorporating spirituality into contemporary professional clinical practice has become more common in recent years most notably with the popular interest of mindfulness meditation, mindfulness based stress reduction, and yoga in particular. However, many other spiritual and religiously based assessment and treatment approaches have also been successfully utilized with a great deal of evidence-based research to support their use and effectiveness. The purpose of this brief article is to outline several guiding principles for those professionals interested in integrating spiritual and religious wisdom and approaches into their professional clinical practices in the spirit of diversity and multiculturalism sensitivity and respect. Psychology …

(Non)Randomization: A Theory Of Quasi-Experimental Evaluation Of School Quality, Yusuke Narita

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

In centralized school admissions systems, rationing at oversubscribed schools often uses lotteries in addition to preferences. This partly random assignment is used by empirical researchers to identify the effect of entering a school on outcomes like test scores. This paper formally studies if the two most popular empirical research designs successfully extract a random assignment. For a class of data-generating mechanisms containing those used in practice, I show: One research design extracts a random assignment under a mechanism if and almost only if the mechanism is strategy-proof for schools. In contrast, the other research design does not necessarily extract a …

(Non)Randomization: A Theory Of Quasi-Experimental Evaluation Of School Quality, Yusuke Narita

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Many centralized school admissions systems use lotteries to ration limited seats at oversubscribed schools. The resulting random assignment is used by empirical researchers to identify the effect of entering a school on outcomes like test scores. I first find that the two most popular empirical research designs may not successfully extract a random assignment of applicants to schools. When do the research designs overcome this problem? I show the following main results for a class of data-generating mechanisms containing those used in practice: One research design extracts a random assignment under a mechanism if and practically only if the mechanism …

Projections And Uncertainties About Climate Change In An Era Of Minimal Climate Policies, William D. Nordhaus

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Climate change remains one of the major international environmental challenges facing nations. Yet nations have to date taken minimal policies to slow climate change. Moreover, there has been no major improvement in emissions trends as of the latest data. The current study uses the updated DICE model to present new projections and the impacts of alternative climate policies. It also presents a new set of estimates of the uncertainties about future climate change and compares the results will those of other integrated assessment models. The study confirms past estimates of likely rapid climate change over the next century if there …

Causal Change Detection In Possibly Integrated Systems: Revisiting The Money-Income Relationship, Shu-Ping Shi, Stan Hurn, Peter C.B. Phillips

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper re-examines changes in the causal link between money and income in the United States for over the past half century (1959 - 2014). Three methods for the data-driven discovery of change points in causal relationships are proposed, all of which can be implemented without prior detrending of the data. These methods are a forward recursive algorithm, a recursive rolling algorithm and the rolling window algorithm all of which utilize subsample tests of Granger causality within a lag-augmented vector autoregressive framework. The limit distributions for these subsample Wald tests are provided. The results from a suite of simulation experiments …

Structural Inference From Reduced Forms With Many Instruments, Peter C.B. Phillips, Wayne Yuan Gao

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper develops exact finite sample and asymptotic distributions for structural equation tests based on partially restricted reduced form estimates. Particular attention is given to models with large numbers of instruments, wherein the use of partially restricted reduced form estimates is shown to be especially advantageous in statistical testing even in cases of uniformly weak instruments and reduced forms. Comparisons are made with methods based on unrestricted reduced forms, and numerical computations showing finite sample performance of the tests are reported. Some new results are obtained on inequalities between noncentral chi-squared distributions with different degrees of freedom that assist in …

Homogeneity Pursuit In Panel Data Models: Theory And Applications, Peter C.B. Phillips, Liangjun Su, Wuyi Wang

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper studies estimation of a panel data model with latent structures where individuals can be classified into different groups where slope parameters are homogeneous within the same group but heterogeneous across groups. To identify the unknown group structure of vector parameters, we design an algorithm called Panel-CARDS which is a systematic extension of the CARDS procedure proposed by Ke, Fan, and Wu (2015) in a cross section framework. The extension addresses the problem of comparing vector coefficients in a panel model for homogeneity and introduces a new concept of controlled classification of multidimensional quantities called the segmentation net. We …

Optimal Auction Design In A Common Value Model, Dirk Bergemann, Benjamin Brooks, Stephen Morris

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We study auction design when bidders have a pure common value equal to the maximum of their independent signals. In the revenue maximizing mechanism, each bidder makes a payment that is independent of his signal and the allocation discriminates in favor of bidders with lower signals. We provide a necessary and sufficient condition under which the optimal mechanism reduces to a posted price under which all bidders are equally likely to get the good. This model of pure common values can equivalently be interpreted as model of resale: the bidders have independent private values at the auction stage, and the …

Informationally Robust Optimal Auction Design, Dirk Bergemann, Benjamin Brooks, Stephen Morris

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

A single unit of a good is to be sold by auction to one of two buyers. The good has either a high value or a low value, with known prior probabilities. The designer of the auction knows the prior over values but is uncertain about the correct model of the buyers’ beliefs. The designer evaluates a given auction design by the lowest expected revenue that would be generated across all models of buyers’ information that are consistent with the common prior and across all Bayesian equilibria. An optimal auction for such a seller is constructed, as is a worst-case …

The Efficacy Of A One-To-One Technology Initiative In Improving The Four Cs, Ching-Wen Chang

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

The Ozarks Educational Research Initiative, a consortium of 19 Southwest Missouri public school districts, partnered with Missouri State University’s Institute for School Improvement from 2011 – 2015 to investigate effective practices for utilizing one-to-one digital technologies in the classroom. The focus of this descriptive study was to determine whether a one-to-one technology initiative would result in improving any of the “four Cs” (communication, collaboration, creativity, or critical thinking) of the Framework for 21st Century Learning. Of the teachers surveyed who have one-to-one classrooms, three-quarters of them (77.5%) believe there were improvements in the four Cs as a result of the …

Using Technology To Facilitate Modeling-Based Science Education: Lessons Learned From A Meta-Analysis Of Empirical Research, Jing Lei, Patrick Heng Luo, Qiu Wang, Ji Shen, Sunghye Lee, Ye Chen

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

This study focused on the integration of technologies in regular science teaching within the pedagogical framework of modeling-based instruction (MBI), a well-established instructional method in science education, and aimed to identify new trends of technology integration in MBI, explore the particular features (Interactivity, Collaboration, and Scaffolding) and affordances of new technologies, and examine the effect of technology-supported MBI on students learning outcomes. By analyzing empirical MBI studies from 2000 to 2010 through a meta-analysis and qualitatively reviewing studies from 2011-2016, this study shared three major findings: (1) computer-based software was the most commonly used technology in MBI, with Internet and …

Free To Be: One Charter School's Approach To Supporting Gender And Sexual Minority Students, Katherine Sieger

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation presents three and a half years of ethnographic data from an “LGBT” charter school. It explores how gender and sexuality appear within educational spaces and how providing students an anti-heteronormative inclusive education impacts a student’s sense of self. I show how critical pedagogy is deployed as an anti-heteronormative approach to supporting all students. The term anti-heteronormative is used to express an explicit rejection of heterosexism and genderism, acknowledging the complex oppressive factors that develop given the normative expectations of gender and sexuality and the impact such expectations have on all bodies and all students. Findings reveal how the …

Vitamin D Supplementation To Prevent Acute Respiratory Tract Infections: Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis Of Individual Participant Data, Adrian R. Martineau, David A. Jolliffe, Richard L. Hooper, Lauren Greenberg, John F. Aloia, Peter Bergman, Gal Dubnov-Raz, Susanna Esposito, Davaasambuu Ganmaa, Adit A. Ginde, Emma C. Goodall, Cameron C. Grant, Christopher J. Griffiths, Wim Janssens, Ilkka Laaksi, Semira Manaseki-Holland, David Mauger, David R. Murdoch, Rachel Neale, Judy R. Rees

Dartmouth Scholarship

OBJECTIVES To assess the overall effect of vitamin D supplementation on risk of acute respiratory tract infection, and to identify factors modifying this effect. DESIGN Systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data (IPD) from randomised controlled trials. DATA SOURCES Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov, and the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trials Number registry from inception to December 2015. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR STUDY SELECTION Randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trials of supplementation with vitamin D3 or vitamin D2 of any duration were eligible for inclusion if they had been approved by a …

Bulletin, Dmacc Marketing

Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Does The Rti Process Really Help Teachers Reach Struggling Students More Effectively? The Effects Of Rti On Two Kindergarten Classrooms, Callie Hirschler

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

The purpose of this paper is to share the results of an action research project relating to the effects of using Response to Intervention (RTI) in the kindergarten classroom. At a rural Iowa school, the process RTI was implemented in two kindergarten classrooms. One classroom had access to a researched based reliable universal screener, interventions and progress monitoring system. The other classroom used teacher created assessments and interventions. The paper will share the findings of the study that looked at the effects of implementing RTI with integrity in the Kindergarten classroom.

Teaching Science Vocabulary With Children’S Literature: The World Of Words Program, Asha M. Epp

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study is to investigate how to build academic vocabulary across the science content area. With the use of the children’s literature based program, World of Words by Dr. Susan B. Neuman, the study seeks to gain a better understanding and evaluate best practice in explicit vocabulary instruction. The program focuses on teaching science vocabulary through explicit direct instruction of terms and using literature as an application support. Students’ growth was evaluated by a pre and post assessment after the instructed unit.

Humorous Field - Field To Humour = 幽默地誌 - 地致幽默, Kwok Kin So

Artists-in-Residence Programme : Exhibition Catalogues

This is an experiment in spatial humour, and this assumption of humour can be applied to any urban space. Since this project starts with Lingnan University’s support of its Artist-in-Residence Program, it would seem appropriate to base the experiment around the university campus. Two straight lines were laid on the map of Tuen Mun. The lines extend to East-West through the ridge. The line to the South stretches across the valley and ends on the South coast. Two transects span a wide variety spaces and urban life in Tuen Mun. They would become the premises of this experiment. Exploring the …

Campaign 9 Of The K2 Mission: Observational Parameters, Scientific Drivers, And Community Involvement For A Simultaneous Space-And Ground-Based Microlensing Survey, Calen B. Henderson, Radosław Poleski, Matthew Penny, Rachel A. Street, David P. Bennett, David W. Hogg, B. Scott Gaudi, W. Zhu, T. Barclay, G. Barentsen, S. B. Howell, F. Mullally, A. Udalski, M. K. Szymański, J. Skowron, P. Mróz, S. Kozłowski, Wyrzykowski, P. Pietrukowicz, I. Soszyński, K. Ulaczyk, M. Pawlak, T. Sumi, F. Abe, Y. Asakura, R. K. Barry, A. Bhattacharya, I. A. Bond, M. Donachie, M. Freeman, A. Fukui, Y. Hirao, Y. Itow

Faculty Publications

K2ʼs Campaign 9 (K2C9) will conduct a ∼3.7 deg2 survey toward the Galactic bulge from 2016 April 22 through July 2 that will leverage the spatial separation between K2 and the Earth to facilitate measurement of the microlens parallax πE for ≳170 microlensing events. These will include several that are planetary in nature as well as many short-timescale microlensing events, which are potentially indicative of free-floating planets (FFPs). These satellite parallax measurements will in turn allow for the direct measurement of the masses of and distances to the lensing systems. In this article we provide an overview of the K2C9 …

Geodesic Completeness And The Lack Of Strong Singularities In Effective Loop Quantum Kantowski-Sachs Spacetime, Sahil Saini, Parampreet Singh

Faculty Publications

Resolution of singularities in the Kantowski-Sachs model due to non-perturbative quantum gravity effects is investigated. Using the effective spacetime description for the improved dynamics version of loop quantum Kantowski-Sachs spacetimes, we show that even though expansion and shear scalars are universally bounded, there can exist events where curvature invariants can diverge. However, such events can occur only for very exotic equations of state when pressure or derivatives of energy density with respect to triads become infinite at a finite energy density. In all other cases curvature invariants are proved to remain finite for any evolution in finite proper time. We …

Spatially And Spectrally Resolved Quantum Path Interference With Chirped Driving Pulses, Stefanos Carlström, Jana Precliková, Eleonora Lorek, Esben Witting Larsen, Christoph M. Heyl, David Paleček, Donatas Zigmantas, Kenneth J. Schafer, Mette B. Gaarde, Johan Mauritsson

Faculty Publications

Wemeasure spectrally and spatially resolved high-order harmonics generated in argon using chirped multi-cycle laser pulses. Using a stable, high-repetition rate laser we observe detailed interference structures in the far-field. The structures are of two kinds; off-axis interference from the long trajectory only and on-axis interference including the short and long trajectories. The former is readily visible in the far-field spectrum, modulating both the spectral and spatial profile. To access the latter, we vary the chirp of the fundamental, imparting different phases on the different trajectories, thereby changing their relative phase. Using this method together with an analytical model, we are …

Supplement: The Rate Of Binary Black Hole Mergers Inferred From Advanced Ligo Observations Surrounding Gw150914, B. P. Abbott, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott, M. R. Abernathy, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, C. Adams, T. Adams, P. Addesso, R. X. Adhikari, V. B. Adya, C. Affeldt, M. Agathos, K. Agatsuma, N. Aggarwal, O. D. Aguiar, L. Aiello, A. Ain, P. Ajith, B. Allen, A. Allocca, P. A. Altin, S. B. Anderson, W. G. Anderson, K. Arai, M. C. Araya, C. C. Arceneaux, J. S. Areeda, N. Arnaud, K. G. Arun, S. Ascenzi, G. Ashton, M. Ast

Faculty Publications

This article provides supplemental information for a Letter reporting the rate of (BBH) coalescences inferred from 16 days of coincident Advanced LIGO observations surrounding the transient (GW) signal GW150914. In that work we reported various rate estimates whose 90% confidence intervals fell in the range 2-600 Gpc-3yr-1. Here we give details on our method and computations, including information about our search pipelines, a derivation of our likelihood function for the analysis, a description of the astrophysical search trigger distribution expected from merging BBHs, details on our computational methods, a description of the effects and our model for calibration uncertainty, and …

The Target Of Β-Expansin Expb1 In Maize Cell Walls From Binding And Solid-State Nmr Studies, Tuo Wang, Yuning Chen, Akira Tabuchi, Daniel J. Cosgrove, Mei Hong

Faculty Publications

© 2016 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. The wall-loosening actions of β-expansins are known primarily from studies of EXPB1 extracted from maize (Zea mays) pollen. EXPB1 selectively loosens cell walls (CWs) of grasses, but its specific binding target is unknown. We characterized EXPB1 binding to sequentially extracted maize CWs, finding that the protein primarily binds glucuronoarabinoxylan (GAX), the major matrix polysaccharide in grass CWs. This binding is strongly reduced by salts, indicating that it is predominantly electrostatic in nature. For direct molecular evidence of EXPB1 binding, we conducted solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance experiments using paramagnetic relaxation enhancement …

Evolutionary Innovation And Diversification Of Carotenoid-Based Pigmentation In Finches, Russell A. Ligon, Richard K. Simpson, Nicholas A. Mason, Geoffrey E. Hill, Kevin J. Mcgraw

Faculty Publications

© 2016 The Author(s). Evolution © 2016 The Society for the Study of Evolution. The ornaments used by animals to mediate social interactions are diverse, and by reconstructing their evolutionary pathways we can gain new insights into the mechanisms underlying ornamental innovation and variability. Here, we examine variation in plumage carotenoids among the true finches (Aves: Fringillidae) using biochemical and comparative phylogenetic analyses to reconstruct the evolutionary history of carotenoid states and evaluate competing models of carotenoid evolution. Our comparative analyses reveal that the most likely ancestor of finches used dietary carotenoids as yellow plumage colorants, and that the ability …

Isolation And Characterization Of Acidobacterium Ailaaui Sp. Nov., A Novel Member Of Acidobacteria Subdivision 1, From A Geothermally Heated Hawaiian Microbial Mat, Marisa R. Myers, G. M. King

Faculty Publications

© 2016 IUMS. A novel member of Acidobacteria was isolated from a microbial mat growing on a geothermally heated dead tree trunk in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park (HI, USA). The rod-shaped, Gramnegative capsulated cells of strain PMMR2T were non-motile and catalase and oxidase negative. Growth occurred aerobically from 15 to 55 °C (optimum, 40 °C) and at pH values from 4.5 to 7.0 (optimum, 6.5). A limited range of sugars and organic acids supported growth. However, results of a genomic analysis suggested that various polysaccharides might be hydrolysed as carbon sources, and evidence for pectin degradation was observed in liquid …

Capsular Polysaccharide Production And Serum Survival Of Vibrio Vulnificus Are Dependent On Antitermination Control By Rfah, Shana B. Garrett, Katherine L. Garrison-Schilling, Jeffrey T. Cooke, Gregg S. Pettis

Faculty Publications

© 2016 Federation of European Biochemical Societies The human pathogen Vibrio vulnificus undergoes phase variation among colonial morphotypes, including a virulent opaque form which produces capsular polysaccharide (CPS) and a translucent phenotype that produces little or no CPS and is attenuated. Here, we found that a V. vulnificus mutant defective for RfaH antitermination control showed a diminished capacity to undergo phase variation and displayed significantly reduced distal gene expression within the Group I CPS operon. Moreover, the rfaH mutant produced negligible CPS and was highly sensitive to killing by normal human serum, results which indicate that RfaH is likely essential …

Entomopathogenic Nematodes Combined With Adjuvants Presents A New Potential Biological Control Method For Managing The Wheat Stem Sawfly, Cephus Cinctus (Hymenoptera: Cephidae), Scott L. Portman, Sindhu M. Krishnankutty, Gadi V.P. Reddy

Faculty Publications

The wheat stem sawfly, (Cephus cinctus Norton) Hymenoptera: Cephidae, has been a major pest of winter wheat and barley in the northern Great Plains for more than 100 years. The insect's cryptic nature and lack of safe chemical control options make the wheat stem sawfly (WSS) difficult to manage; thus, biological control offers the best hope for sustainable management of WSS. Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) have been used successfully against other above-ground insect pests, and adding adjuvants to sprays containing EPNs has been shown to improve their effectiveness. We tested the hypothesis that adding chemical adjuvants to sprays containing EPNs will …

Damage Patterns, Monitoring, And Management Of Procontarinia Mangiferae (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) In Pakistan, Hafiz M. Rehman, Riaz Mahmood, Muhammad Razaq, Gadi V.P. Reddy

Faculty Publications

Since 2005, mango has been damaged by a group of new pests, the gall midges, in all mango-growing areas of Pakistan. Little is known about these pests in Pakistan. In this report, we present information on the occurrence, damage patterns,methods for monitoring, and management of Procontariniamangiferae (Felt), amango gallmidge found in the country. At the study site (Rahim Yar Khan, a district of the province Punjab, Pakistan), the pest was active from January/February to April as eggs, larvae, and adults on mango inflorescence buds, branches (axillaries), and immature fruits. Females of P. mangiferae oviposited in inflorescence tissues, and larvae, after …

Priming Of Narrative Language In Young Adults, Rachel M. Crowder

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

A Preliminary Study Of Movement Intensity During A Go/No-Go Task And Its Association With Adhd Outcomes And Symptom Severity, Fenghua Li, Yi Zheng, Stephanie D. Smith, Frederick Shic, Christina C. Moore, Xixi Sheng, Yanjie Qi, Zhengkui Liu, James F. Leckman

Faculty Publications

Objective

At present, there are no well-validated biomarkers for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The present study used an infrared motion tracking system to monitor and record the movement intensity of children and to determine its diagnostic precision for ADHD and its possible associations with ratings of ADHD symptom severity.

Methods

A Microsoft motion sensing camera recorded the movement of children during a modified Go/No-Go Task. Movement intensity measures extracted from these data included a composite measure of total movement intensity (TMI measure) and a movement intensity distribution (MID measure) measure across 15 frequency bands (FB measures). In phase 1 of the …