Digital Commons Network^™

Nonparametric Identification And Estimation Of Stochastic Frontier Models, Jun Cai

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation studies nonparametric identication and estimation of stochastic frontiermodels. It is composed of three chapters. The rst chapter investigates the identication and estimation of a cross sectional stochastic frontier model with Laplacian errors and unknown variance, which is built on a nonparametric density deconvolution strategy. Chapter two studies a zero-ineciency stochastic frontier model utilizing a penalized sieve estimator, which allows flexible function forms and arbitrary distributions of ineciency. The third chapter explores identication and estimation of a nonparametric panel stochastic frontier model based on Kotlarski's Lemma and moments derived from conditional characteristic functions.

User Authentication Across Devices, Modalities And Representation: Behavioral Biometric Methods, Amith Kamath Kamath Belman

Dissertations - ALL

Biometrics eliminate the need for a person to remember and reproduce complex secretive information or carry additional hardware in order to authenticate oneself. Behavioral biometrics is a branch of biometrics that focuses on using a person’s behavior or way of doing a task as means of authentication. These tasks can be any common, day to day tasks like walking, sleeping, talking, typing and so on. As interactions with computers and other smart-devices like phones and tablets have become an essential part of modern life, a person’s style of interaction with them can be used as a powerful means of behavioral …

Atmospheric Chemistry Of Outdoor And Indoor Environments: Physical And Chemical Characterization Of Urban Grime And Measurements Of Oxidants In Vehicle Cabins, Corey Richard Kroptavich

Dissertations - ALL

This work investigates chemistry in two distinct environments in urban atmospheres. The first is the coatings found on urban surfaces often referred to as urban grime. Urban grime may serve as an important medium for photochemical and heterogeneous reactions in cities. This study characterized the composition and physical state of urban grime collected from two American cities. Wavelength-resolved extinction spectra of urban grime samples were also analyzed to improve our understanding of urban grime’s role in photochemistry. The research showed that the grime from the American cities was similar in composition to previous studies conducted in Europe and Canada, but …

Three Essays On Demand-Side Health Policies In India, Raghav Puri

Dissertations - ALL

Demand-side health policies, such as conditional cash transfers and public health insurance, aim to increase the utilization of healthcare services by providing financial incentives and higher purchasing power to under-served populations. With their increasing popularity in developing countries, there is a need for more research on their implementation and impact. In this dissertation, I examine demand-side health policies in India by evaluating the impact of these policies, identifying challenges in their implementation and proposing ways to improve their effectiveness in increasing utilization of healthcare services.

In the first chapter, I measure the impact of conditional cash transfers on health-seeking behaviors. …

Learning Semantic Information From Multimodal Data Using Deep Neural Networks, Krittaphat Pugdeethosapol

Dissertations - ALL

During the last decades, most collective information has been digitized to form an immense database distributed across the Internet. This can also be referred to as Big data, a collection of data that is vast in volume and still growing with time. Nowadays, we can say that Big data is everywhere. We might not even realize how much it affects our daily life as it is applied in many ways, ranging from online shopping, music streaming, TV streaming, travel and transportation, energy, fighting crime, to health care. Many organizations and companies have been collecting and analyzing large volumes of data …

Ypfs Lessons Learned Oral History Project: An Interview With Eric Kolchinsky, Eric Kolchinsky, Steven H. Kasoff, Matthew Lieber

Documents

Suggested Citation Form: Kolchinsky, Eric, 2020. “Lessons Learned Interview."Interview by Steve Kasoff and Matt Lieber. Yale Program on Financial Stability Lessons Learned Oral History Project. December 22, 2020. Transcript. https://ypfs.som.yale.edu/library/ypfs-lesson-learned-oral-history-project-interview-eric-kolchinsky

Ypfs Lessons Learned Oral History Project: An Interview With James K. Finkel, James K. Finkel, Steven H. Kasoff, Matthew A. Lieber

Documents

Suggested Citation Form: Finkel, James, 2020. “Lessons Learned Interview."Interview by Steve Kasoff and Matt Lieber. Yale Program on Financial Stability Lessons Learned Oral History Project. December 22, 2020. Transcript. https://ypfs.som.yale.edu/library/ypfs-lesson-learned-oral-history-project-interview-james-finkel

Teachers’ Perceptions Of Evaluation Feedback Conferences: A Mixed Methods Study, Danielle R. Brain

Dissertations - ALL

Teacher performance evaluations can serve two purposes: summative/accountability and formative/professional development. The current perception in the field is that performance evaluation systems predominantly focus on fulfilling a summative agenda over formative, which blurs the lines between the two purposes of evaluation (Popham, 2013). As a result, how evaluators and teachers react to evaluation ratings creates a disconnection between the summative and formative purposes and creates critical tensions between personnel being evaluated and evaluation systems. When this tension is felt, teachers and some evaluators feel that evaluation ratings cannot be used effectively for either purpose.A way to lessen the tension would …

Gendered Civil Society Context, Local Party Strength, And Candidate Emergence: Explaining Female Representation Across The Us State Legislatures, Colleen Dougherty Burton

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation examines the substantial and persistent variation in female representation observed across states and party caucuses in the US state legislatures. I develop and test the theory of gendered civil society context and party strength to explain why female candidates are more likely to run for office in some places rather than others. Gendered civil society context refers to the gender balance of civil society groups (e.g. unions, service organizations, advocacy groups, professional associations) in a party’s local strategic environment; party strength is defined as the capacity of political parties to influence candidate nomination.

Two main hypotheses guide the …

Maternal Communication At Menarche: Evaluating Direct And Indirect Effects On Age At First Sexual Intercourse In Young Adult Women, Jennifer Horne King

Dissertations - ALL

This study examines maternal communication at menarche and its effects on early sexual decision-making in young adult women. Drawing on principles from Bandura’s social cognitive learning theory and communication privacy management theory, I predicted that certain types of maternal communication at menarche would either promote or inhibit early sexual self-efficacy, with indirect effects on age at first sexual intercourse. I also predicted that maternal communication at menarche would vary in tone or content, depending on age at menarche, with mothers communicating less to daughters who reached the milestone early. A total of 175 sexually active females aged 18 to 26 …

High-Resolution Sampling Of A Broad Marine Life Size Spectrum Reveals Differing Size- And Composition-Based Associations With Physical Oceanographic Structure, Adam T. Greer, John C. Lehrter, Benjamin M. Binder, Aditya R. Nayak, Ranjoy Barua, Ana E. Rice, Jonathan H. Cohen, Malcolm N. Mcfarland, Alexis Hagemeyer, Nicole D. Stockley, Kevin M. Boswell, Igor Shulman, Sergio Derada, Bradley Penta

Faculty Publications

Observing multiple size classes of organisms, along with oceanographic properties and water mass origins, can improve our understanding of the drivers of aggregations, yet acquiring these measurements remains a fundamental challenge in biological oceanography. By deploying multiple biological sampling systems, from conventional bottle and net sampling to in situ imaging and acoustics, we describe the spatial patterns of different size classes of marine organisms (several microns to ∼10 cm) in relation to local and regional (m to km) physical oceanographic conditions on the Delaware continental shelf. The imaging and acoustic systems deployed included (in ascending order of target organism size) …

Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning For Walkers, Inhee Park

Master's Projects

This project was motivated by seeking an AI method towards Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), that is, more similar to learning behavior of human-beings. As of today, Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) is the most closer to the AGI compared to other machine learning methods. To better understand the DRL, we compares and contrasts to other related methods: Deep Learning, Dynamic Programming and Game Theory.

We apply one of state-of-art DRL algorithms, called Proximal Policy Op- timization (PPO) to the robot walkers locomotion, as a simple yet challenging environment, inherently continuous and high-dimensional state/action space.

The end goal of this project is …

A Future In Criminal Justice, Jody Record

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

Communication Modes During Romantic Dissolution: The Impact Of Attachment And Intimacy On Initiator Breakup Strategies, William Hoffman

Communication Studies Faculty Research

A majority of romantic pair-bonds will not remain together. Surprisingly, however, less is known about relationship dissolution compared with other stages of romantic relationships, such as initiation and maintenance. The present study addresses this gap by investigating breakup initiators’ communication strategies as outcomes for the individual’s attachment style and the emotional intimacy of a recent terminated romantic relationship. Participants (N = 174) completed a series of empirically reliable and valid Likert-scale measures to assess both predictors: (a) adult attachment and (b) emotional intimacy. Emotional intimacy was a significant predictor of each of the four breakup communication strategies, and adult attachment …

Oil Palm Plantations, Forest Conservation And Indigenous Peoples In West Papua Province: What Lies Ahead?, Yubelince Y. Runtuboi, Dwiko B. Permadi, Muhammad Alif K. Sahide, Ahmad Maryudi

Forest and Society

Oil palm plantations are currently expanding to the eastern part of Indonesia, especially in West Papua province. Many oil palm permits issued in West Papua occupy intact biodiversity-rich forest areas which have essential value for indigenous Papuans' socio-cultural life. This article discusses expansion of oil palm plantations in West Papua province, and its impacts on forests and indigenous people. It also assesses whether the plantations fit the Special Autonomy Law and Sustainable Development Regulation goals of the province. In general, plantations are being established in forest areas, and further planned expansion threatens intact and biodiversity-rich forests. In addition, plantation development …

Reconciling Community Land And State Forest Claims In Indonesia: A Case Study Of The Land Tenure Settlement Reconciliation Program In South Sumatra, M. Nazir Salim, Diah Retno Wulan, Sukmo Pinuji

Forest and Society

Longstanding land tenure claims in state forest by communities continues to pose a challenge to government institutions in Indonesia. Such conditions require institutions to develop mechanisms to assure communities of their rights in the state ideals of manifest justice and welfare. One government policy to reconcile these goals is the mechanism on Land Tenure Settlement Reconciliation in State Forests (Penyelesaian Penguasaan Tanah dalam Kawasan Hutan/PPTKH). This study aims to describe this policy in the context of fieldwork experience related to fundamental problems in the process of identification and settlement of land tenure claimed by communities in state forests. …

European Commission Gives Tentative Support For "Network" Of Public Asset Management Companies, Alexander Nye

Documents

No abstract provided.

Ypfs Lessons Learned Oral History Project: An Interview With Claudia Sahm, Claudia Sahm, Mercedes Cardona

Documents

Suggested Citation Form: Sahm, Claudia, 2022. “Lessons Learned Interview by Mercedes Cardona, December 22, 2020.” Yale Program on Financial Stability Lessons Learned Oral History Project. Transcript. https://ypfs.som.yale.edu/library/ypfs-lesson-learned-oral-history-project-interview-claudia-sahm

Providing Clean Energy Solutions To India’S Bottom Of The Pyramid Population, Jill Howard, Fiona Wilson, E. Hachemi Aliouche

Carsey Publications

Despite a scheme launched by the Indian government in 2017 that has declared achieving close to 100 percent electrification in the country, studies have shown that only 65 percent of rural enterprises in India report having electricity grid connection. While millions of households have been positively impacted by access to electricity, small businesses and smallholder farmers (those with holdings of less than 2 acres) in rural India have been left out of the equation or receive very unreliable power supply. Byproducts of the energy poverty experienced by India’s Bottom of the Pyramid population include an enormous carbon footprint produced by …

Recent Aerodynamic Performance Evaluation Of Commercial And Non-Commercial Vehicles, Shreyash Saxena, G. T. Mahesha, G. Srinivas

Open Access archive

The effect of aerodynamics of commercial and non-commercial are analyzed in this study and after analyzing it is founded that many researchers have not attempted much on the comparative study on two different types of commercial and non-commercial vehicle having a same turbulence model. Secondly, there is lack of numerical three dimensional aerodynamic flow analysis in the case of both commercial and non-commercial vehicles. Hence, there is requirement for numerically analyzing two commercial and non-commercial vehicles having the same turbulence model to better understand the aerodynamics of both commercial and non-commercial vehicles.

Finding The Missing Millions: Lessons From 10 Active Case Finding Interventions In High Tuberculosis Burden Countries, Tripti Pande, Nathaly Aguilera Vasquez, Danielle Cazabon, Jacob Creswell

Open Access archive

No abstract provided.

State V. Kuehnel Respondent's Brief Dckt. 47986

Not Reported

No abstract provided.

Dietary Intake Of A Sample Of Stunted Egyptian Preschool Children, Amina S. Soliman, Hoda A. Abdel Salam, Saher A. Khairy, Salwa M. Saleh

Journal of Medicine in Scientific Research

Background Growth retardation is highly prevalent among children. Infections and inadequate food intake are well-established causes of growth retardation. Nutrition plays a key role in the control of linear growth. Objective The aim was to assess dietary intake of stunted Egyptian preschool children. Participants and methods The study was designed as a case–control study that included 100 Egyptian children aged 2 to less than 6 years old with delayed linear growth, proportionate stunting, who were randomly selected from the stunted outpatient clinic of National Nutrition Institute. Their results were compared with age-matching and sex-matching controls. All participants were subjected to …

Assessment Of The Nutritional Status Of Malnourished School-Age Egyptian Children, Hoda A. Abed-El Salam, Sally R. Eid, Salwa M. Saleh

Journal of Medicine in Scientific Research

Background The nutritional status of school-age children is a primary determinant of children's health, as it influences their physical and mental development. The aim of this study was to assess the nutritional status and dietary intake of macronutrients and micronutrients in a sample of malnourished school-age children (5–12 years) in Egypt. Patients and methods This was a cross-sectional study that included school-age children (5–12 years) recruited from the outpatient clinic of the National Nutrition Institute, Cairo, Egypt. Participants sampling was performed during the period from June to August 2019. In this study, 85 children of both sexes were enr?olled. Results …

Tracheostomy In Covid-19-Infected Patients, Mohammad M. Gaballah, Wael M. H Eldin Eldrandaly

Journal of Medicine in Scientific Research

Purpose To evaluate the modifications in the indications and technique of tracheostomy for prolonged-intubated COVID-19-infected patients. Methodology Commissioned by the Ministry of Health in Egypt, different guidelines for tracheostomy for COVID-19 patients were revised. A guideline was adopted and modified to meet the equipment provided by facilities assigned to contain the current pandemic. The understanding of staff and the applicability of the new guidelines were evaluated using a mini-summative quiz answered by 117 tracheostomy team members in facilities around Grand Cairo, Egypt. Results The percentages of consistent answers for questions 1–6 were 94, 90.60, 89.70, 95.70, 61.50, and 93.20%, respectively. …

Effect Of Thyme (Thymus Vulgaris L.) Essential Oil On The Quality Parameters Of Stirred Yoghurt, Emad A. H. Guirguis, Mary G. B. Meleka

Journal of Medicine in Scientific Research

Aim Stirred yoghurt was supplemented with thyme essential oil in an attempt to enhance its quality. Materials and methods Thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) essential oil concentrations (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 μl/ml) were added to the prepared stirred yoghurt and then examined for microbiological count and mycotoxin quality during storage intervals following the Egyptian standards. Results Samples contained ≥ 6 μl/ml oil showed significant increase (p<0.05) of total viable bacterial count and lactic acid bacteria, whereas mold and yeast count was decreased. Pathogenic bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli, and coliform group were not detected in any of the samples, which complied with the standards. Moreover, …

Work-Family Spillover And Depression: Are There Racial Differences Among Employed Women?, Ariane L. Rung, Evrim Oral, Edward S. Peters

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

The intersection of work and family life can be a source of burden (negative) and a source of growth (positive). Negative work-to-family and family-to-work spillover have been linked to poor mental health, while positive work-to-family and family-to-work spillover have been linked to improved health outcomes. Less is known about these relationships in racial subgroups. Louisiana, USA, has a large proportion of African Americans, providing a unique population in which to study these relationships. The objectives of this study were to examine, among a sample of women in southern Louisiana in 2017, levels of work-family spillover by race and how the …

Evaluating Level Of Specificity And Discrepancy Of Normative Referents In Relation To Personal Condom Use Among College Students, Madison Firkey

Theses - ALL

Few evidence-based interventions have effectively increased college students’ condom use. There is a large literature supporting the efficacy of alcohol normative feedback interventions, components of which may be useful for the development of condom promotion interventions. While normative feedback interventions traditionally provide feedback associated with a typical student referent, more socially proximal referents may exert a greater influence over behavior compared to distal referents. However, developing discrepancy between perceived and actual norms is also essential for such interventions, and the greatest discrepancy is generated when a distal referent is utilized. Therefore, the goal of this study was to determine which …

Towards A Nuanced Understanding Of Emotional Infidelity: An Investigation Of Behavioral Exemplars And The Impact Of Ambiguity, Morgan Proulx

Theses - ALL

Infidelity is an especially severe relational transgression that can act as a predictor of negative outcomes. Though the word “severe” may seem to imply that we can expect a degree of clarity when considering whether a particular behavior qualifies as “infidelity”, thinking of infidelity behaviors in that way might be an oversimplification. Whereas researchers have had some success in predicting the outcomes of and responses to infidelity, our understanding of infidelity may be complicated by a lack of clear behavioral indices for some forms of infidelity, namely emotional infidelity. The present study explored the specific types of behaviors that participants …

Application Of Wavelet Transform To Endurance Time Analysis Method For Performance-Based Seismic Design, Mohammadhossein Mamaghani

Dissertations - ALL

Earthquakes occur quite frequently around the world, but the number of reliable recorded ground motion data for a given site is often limited. In addition, the use of present methodologies to modify existing earthquake records to match site conditions could change the relationship between the recorded earthquake characteristics and their actual physical attributes. The result is that these modified earthquakes could have qualities not quite the same as those of the real earthquakes. Instead of using scaling and spectral matching of real earthquakes, artificial earthquakes capable of mimicking both the physical conditions and qualities of real earthquakes should be generated …