The Effect of Intragroup Communication on Preference Shifts in Groups

We use a laboratory gift-exchange game to examine decisions made by groups under three different procedures that dictate how group members interact and reach decisions in comparison to individuals acting alone. We find that group decisions do deviate from those of individuals, but the direction and magnitude of gift exchange depend critically on the procedure. This suggests that no general statements can be made concerning the propensity of groups to exhibit reciprocal or other-regarding behavior relative to individuals. The rules governing how group members can express their preferences and expectations to other group members are critical for determining group outcomes.group behavior, teams, decision making, social preferences

Examining Group Dynamics Of High School Adminstrative Teams: How Individual And Group Leadership Traits Foster Integration Of Ideas And Actions In Learning Organizations

This dissertation examines the complexity of leadership teamwork and focuses on high school administration teams. These teams are complex and support multiple stakeholders throughout their educational institutions. The primary purpose of this study is to understand how high school administration teams construct strong group dynamics that foster integration of ideas and actions across a learning organization. The secondary focus is understanding leadership traits that teams and individual leaders of high school administration teams possess and how teams utilize communication to support effective leadership teams. The study analyzed high school administration teams, of three or more members, looking at the team components of team context, essential conditions and team performance. The findings reveal that successful high school administration teams have reoccurring structured team meetings, well-defined norms, and utilize clear and concise communication among and between all stakeholders. Additionally, the participants disclosed that being Trustworthy, Dependable and Empathic are traits that support strong teams. In conclusion, this study looks at the structures, traits and how group dynamics are fostered within high school administration teams. The research findings, in this dissertation, can provide valuable information to teams in complex conditions

Frequency Diverse Array Radar: Signal Characterization and Measurement Accuracy

Radar systems provide an important remote sensing capability, and are crucial to the layered sensing vision; a concept of operation that aims to apply the right number of the right types of sensors, in the right places, at the right times for superior battle space situational awareness. The layered sensing vision poses a range of technical challenges, including radar, that are yet to be addressed. To address the radar-specific design challenges, the research community responded with waveform diversity; a relatively new field of study which aims reduce the cost of remote sensing while improving performance. Early work suggests that the frequency diverse array radar may be able to perform several remote sensing missions simultaneously without sacrificing performance. With few techniques available for modeling and characterizing the frequency diverse array, this research aims to specify, validate and characterize a waveform diverse signal model that can be used to model a variety of traditional and contemporary radar configurations, including frequency diverse array radars. To meet the aim of the research, a generalized radar array signal model is specified. A representative hardware system is built to generate the arbitrary radar signals, then the measured and simulated signals are compared to validate the model. Using the generalized model, expressions for the average transmit signal power, angular resolution, and the ambiguity function are also derived. The range, velocity and direction-of-arrival measurement accuracies for a set of signal configurations are evaluated to determine whether the configuration improves fundamental measurement accuracy

The Relationship between FFM and Vertical Jump in Male and Female Division One Collegiate Swimmers

According to García-Ramos et al. (2016), the vertical jump is an essential factor that affects the push-off and start phases of the sport of swimming, which are crucial elements for improving stroke performance and efficiency. Explosive training strategies with resistance and light load work help improve power in the pushing motion. This may be done through plyometric training for out of the water workouts, or resistance training in the water (Makaruk et al., 2020). According to Sheppard et al. (2008), the vertical jump is considered a successful performance indicator in swimming. According to McArdle et al. (2015), the term body composition can be interchanged with the term fat-free mass or lean body mass. This is used to determine an individual’s overall health and lifestyle. It was seen that males have a lower body fat percentage, or fat free mass, than females (McArdle et al., 2015). According to Caia et al. (2016), it was found that body composition played a role in determining the vertical jump ability of athletes. In theory, less body fat composition would mean more muscle mass and stronger connection with muscular recruitment in the body (Caia et al., 2016). The purpose of this lab was to determine if body composition played a role in the ability to perform a vertical jump test among collegiate swimmers. It was hypothesized that a lower body fat percentage would lead to an overall higher vertical jump. Since males statistically have lower body fat percentages when compared to women, it can also be shown that males would have higher vertical jump values.https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/exercise-science-research-proposal-posters/1136/thumbnail.jp

Signal Characteristics of Civil GPS Jammers

This paper surveys the signal properties of 18 commercially available GPS jammers based on experimental data. The paper is divided into two distinct tests. The first characterizes the jamming signals, and the second test determines the effective range of 4 of the jammers. The first test uses power spectra from discrete Fourier transforms (DFTs) of the time series data to show that all the jammers employ approximately the same jamming method, i.e. linear frequency modulation of a single tone. The spectra also show that there are significant jammer-to-jammer variations, including between jammers of the same model, and that a given jammer’s signal may vary over time. The first test also includes measurements of signal power within frequency bands centered at the L1 and L2 frequencies, along with the sweep periods and the sweep range at both frequencies. The second test presents measurements of the attenuation of the jamming signal necessary to allow a commercially available GPS receiver to acquire and track signals from a GPS simulator. From the attenuation levels and some assumptions about the antennas used, upper limits on the effective jamming ranges are calculated for 4 of the jammers, with a resulting maximum range of 6–9 km.Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanic

Effectiveness of Responsivity Intervention Strategies on Prelinguistic and Language Outcomes for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Group and Single Case Studies

We conducted a systematic review to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and single case research design (SCRD) studies of children with autism spectrum disorder that evaluate the effectiveness of responsivity intervention techniques for improving prelinguistic and/or language outcomes. Mean effect sizes were moderate and large for RCTs (33 studies; g = 0.36, 95% CI [0.21, 0.51]) and SCRD (34 studies; between-case standardized mean difference = 1.20, 95% CI [0.87, 1.54]) studies, respectively. Visual analysis (37 studies) revealed strong evidence of a functional relation for 45% of the opportunities and no evidence for 53%. Analyses of moderator effects and study quality are presented. Findings provide support for responsivity intervention strategies with more robust support for context-bound outcomes than more generalized outcomes

A Comparison of Functional Movement Screens between Genders for NCAA D1 Swimmers

A Functional Movement Screen (FMS) is a way to analyze movement patterns and observe mobility and stability deficits. The FMS test consists of a deep squat, hurdle step, incline lunge, shoulder mobility, active straight-leg raise, trunk stability, and rotary stability movement patterns. The score of the FMS can range from 0-3, 0 being the lowest. In this study, researchers compared FMS scores between male and female, NCAA, D1, swimmers. According to Anderson et. al (2015), Healthy secondary school female athletes scored lower on the total composite than healthy secondary school male athletes. Females also scored lower on the following individual FMS tasks: inline lunge and trunk stability push-up. Healthy secondary school female athletes scored 14 or less on the FMS total composite score and significantly lower in general compared with healthy secondary school male athletes, which suggests these female athletes may be at higher risk for injury. Factors that may contribute to increased injury risk include deficits in mobility, core stabilization, and coordinated movement patterns. According to Johnson et. al (2021), there were significant differences between male and female athletes when analyzing the FMS scores. Females scored higher on the incline raise and active straight- leg raise, whereas males scored higher on the trunk stability pushup. However, there were no significant differences when comparing deep squat, shoulder mobility, hurdle step and rotary stability assessments. Research has shown that males scored higher on the incline lunge and trunk stability pushup, and females scored higher on flexibility. Considering the findings of Taylor et al (2019); Anderson et al. (2015); and Johnson et al. (2021), it is hypothesized that females would score higher on the Functional Movement Screening test (FMS) due to more optimal mobility in the shoulders, hips, and knees. The purpose of this study is to identify the physiological differences in flexibility, coordination, and stability among male and female swimmers.https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/exercise-science-research-proposal-posters/1125/thumbnail.jp

Developmental trajectory of communication repair in children with Fragile X Syndrome

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Background and aims The development of communicative competence requires both language and social skills. The ability to repair following a communication breakdown is critical for continued conversational interchange and to ensure comprehension of bids for communication. Communication repair demonstrates adequate language and social skills. Children with Fragile X Syndrome have difficulty with language development and social skills, which may result in delays or deficits in repair. Repair may be additionally impaired in children with Fragile X Syndrome and co-morbid autism. This study examined the development of repair in children with Fragile X Syndrome from toddlerhood into middle childhood. Methods Fifty-five children with Fragile X Syndrome and their biological mothers participated. Data were collected during in-home visits approximately every 18 months. Videotaped mother–child interactions were collected, as well as standardized assessments of language, social skills, and autism symptomology. Results Children with Fragile X Syndrome acquired the ability to repair at 90% mastery by three-and-a-half years of age. Multilevel logistic regressions predicting probability of repair indicated marginally significant effects of mean length of utterance and number of different words, and significant effects of global social skills and autism symptomology. Effect sizes were small to moderate. Conclusions Ability to repair was measured in a naturalistic setting, which allowed children with Fragile X Syndrome to utilize repairs in their daily interactions. Although children with Fragile X Syndrome may have delayed development of repair relative to typically developing expectations, in general they nonetheless catch up and demonstrate a robust ability to repair by three-and-a-half years of age. However, this study provides evidence that individual differences in language and social skills may influence ability to repair in children with Fragile X Syndrome. Finally, the relationship between autism symptoms and repair remains unclear, necessitating further exploration. Implications: Given the noted delay in repair in young children with Fragile X Syndrome, clinicians working with this population should target development of this skill as early as possible to maximize successful social interactions. This may be particularly necessary for children with Fragile X Syndrome and co-morbid autism.NIH T32 DC000052NICHD R01 HD084563NICHD P30 HD003110P30 HD0253

Laboratory Notes From Behavioral Pharmacologists and Trainees: Considerations for the Discipline

In several laboratory meetings, we discussed the challenges that face trainees in behavioral pharmacology. Major concerns, such as a difficult funding climate and limited academic job prospects were discussed at first. However, we decided to concentrate on ways to meet these challenges; versus focusing on negatives and listing gripes. Within this more constructive framework, we identified the importance of broadening training to aligned areas to enhance the capacity of behavioral pharmacologists to collaborate in multidisciplinary teams. With increased breadth of training comes the concern for a balance that does not cheat trainees out of the depth of training also needed for success. We believe that behavioral pharmacologists trained in this manner will be ideally positioned to be leaders of these translational research teams. Related to the breadth and depth of training is the recent concerns over replicability and reproducibility of published research. Behavioral pharmacologists, with the rigors of training in behavioral analysis and experimental design, can be at the forefront of this conversation. This will be especially true if current training is reinforced with additional experience in the use of cutting-edge statistical tools that address the complex experimental designs and large data sets that emerge from modern multidisciplinary collaborations. Finally, communicating the import and potential societal impact of our research to legislators, other scientists, educators, school children, neighbors, and acquaintances is needed to ensure that our field thrives. In closing, the process of explicitly discussing the challenges and potential solutions with current trainees will enhance their mentoring and training