The Relationship of Gender, Spirituality, and Willingness to Seek Mental Health Treatment Among Students at a Faith-Based Institution

College is a demanding time in a student’s life that can require willingness to seek help in times of significant distress. The factors that can influence this decision are numerous and complex. This study examined the relationship between willingness to seek mental health treatment, gender, and level of religiosity and spirituality in students that are enrolled in a single faith-based institution. Results suggest that female students were more willing to seek help from a mental health professional than males, and students who endorsed high levels of religiosity and spirituality were more inclined to seek help from a religiously affiliated advisor than those who endorsed low levels of religiosity and spirituality

Bayesian nonparametric multivariate convex regression

In many applications, such as economics, operations research and reinforcement learning, one often needs to estimate a multivariate regression function f subject to a convexity constraint. For example, in sequential decision processes the value of a state under optimal subsequent decisions may be known to be convex or concave. We propose a new Bayesian nonparametric multivariate approach based on characterizing the unknown regression function as the max of a random collection of unknown hyperplanes. This specification induces a prior with large support in a Kullback-Leibler sense on the space of convex functions, while also leading to strong posterior consistency. Although we assume that f is defined over R^p, we show that this model has a convergence rate of log(n)^{-1} n^{-1/(d+2)} under the empirical L2 norm when f actually maps a d dimensional linear subspace to R. We design an efficient reversible jump MCMC algorithm for posterior computation and demonstrate the methods through application to value function approximation

Pwning Level Bosses in MATLAB: Student Reactions to a Game-Inspired Computational Physics Course

We investigated student reactions to two computational physics courses incorporating several videogame-like aspects. These included use of gaming terminology such as "levels," "weapons," and "bosses"; a game-style point system linked to course grades; a self-paced schedule with no deadlines; a mastery design in which only entirely correct attempts earn credit, but students can retry until they succeed; immediate feedback via self-test code; an assignment progression from "minions" (small, focused tasks) to "level bosses" (integrative tasks); and believable, authentic assignment scenarios. Through semi-structured interviews and course evaluations, we found that a majority of students considered the courses effective and the game-like aspects beneficial. In particular, many claimed that the point system increased their motivation; the self-paced nature caused them to reflect on their self-discipline; the possibility and necessity of repeating assignments until perfect aided learning; and the authentic tasks helped them envision using course skills in their professional futures.Comment: Accepted for publication in the proceedings of the 2014 Physics Education Research Conference (PERC

Directory of Federal Funding Sources for Adult Education

Lists funding sources for adult education and literacy services. Describes forty-nine federal programs in ten agencies that authorized expenditures for adult basic education services during the 2007 and 2008 fiscal years, including to state agencies

Stellar Populations in Spiral Galaxies

We report preliminary results of the characterization of bulge and inner disk stellar populations for 8 nearby spiral galaxies using Gemini/GMOS. The long-slit spectra extend out to 1-2 disk scale lengths with S/N/Ang > 50. Two different model fitting techniques, absorption-line indices and full spectral synthesis, are found to weigh age, metallicity, and abundance ratios differently, but with careful attention to the data/model matching (resolution and flux calibration), we are able constrain real signatures of age and metallicity gradients in star-forming galaxies.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. To appear in the proceedings for IAUS 241 "Stellar Populations as Building Blocks of Galaxies", Eds. R.F. Peletier and A. Vazdeki

What impact do questionnaire length and monetary incentives have on mailed health psychology survey response?

Objectives: Response rates to health-related surveys are declining. This study tested two strategies to improve the response rate to a health psychology survey mailed through English general practices: (1) sending a shortened questionnaire and (2) offering a monetary incentive to return a completed questionnaire. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Methods: Adults (n = 4,241) aged 45–59 years, from four General Practices in South-East England, were mailed a survey on attitudes towards bowel cancer screening. Using a 2 × 4 factorial design, participants were randomized to receive a ‘short’ (four A4 pages) or a ‘long’ (seven A4 pages) questionnaire, and one of four monetary incentives to return a completed questionnaire – (1) no monetary incentive, (2) £2.50 shop voucher, (3) £5.00 shop voucher, and (4) inclusion in a £250 shop voucher prize draw. Age, gender, and area-level deprivation were obtained from the General Practices. Results: The overall response rate was 41% (n = 1,589). Response to the ‘short’ questionnaire (42%) was not significantly different from the ‘long’ questionnaire (40%). The £2.50 incentive (43%) significantly improved response rates in univariate analyses, and remained significant after controlling for age, gender, area-level deprivation, and questionnaire length. The £5.00 (42%) and £250 prize draw (41%) incentives had no significant impact on response rates compared to no incentive (38%). Conclusions: A small monetary incentive (£2.50) may slightly increase response to a mailed health psychology survey. The length of the questionnaire (four pages vs. seven pages) did not influence response. Although frequently used, entry into a prize draw did not increase response. Achieving representative samples remains a challenge for health psychology