Selecting the Best? Spillover and Shadows in Elimination Tournaments

We consider how past, current, and future competition within an elimination tournament affect the probability that the stronger player wins. We present a two-stage model that yields the following main results: (1) a shadow effect—the stronger the expected future competitor, the lower the probability that the stronger player wins in the current stage and (2) an effort spillover effect—previous effort reduces the probability that the stronger player wins in the current stage. We test our theory predictions using data from high-stakes tournaments. Empirical results suggest that shadow and spillover effects influence match outcomes and have been already been priced into betting markets.

MS Environmental Biology Capstone Project

Chapter 1- Revisiting Tamarisk Invasion in Riparian Ecosystems: An Argument Against Single Species Management of the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) Chapter 2- Temporal Trends of Tamarisk Remediation to Native Vegetation Establishment Chapter 3- Assessing Effectiveness of Tamarisk Removal Treatments Through a Meta Regression Analysis Chapter 4- Legal Challenges of Tamarisk Removal in the Southwestern United State

MS Environmental Biology Capstone Project

Chapter 1- Revisiting Tamarisk Invasion in Riparian Ecosystems: An Argument Against Single Species Management of the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) Chapter 2- Temporal Trends of Tamarisk Remediation to Native Vegetation Establishment Chapter 3- Assessing Effectiveness of Tamarisk Removal Treatments Through a Meta Regression Analysis Chapter 4- Legal Challenges of Tamarisk Removal in the Southwestern United State

The Performance of Light: Exploring the Impact of Natural Lighting in the New UMass School of Performance

This thesis explores how natural light can be integrated with built form to create a “performance of light” in architecture. Lighting conditions from a contemporary dance piece, as well as other architectural precedents, were studied, and aspects adapted into the building’s design. In addition to designing theatrical effects of light, the classroom and administrative spaces were designed to take advantage of natural light. Daylight studies were used to inform glazing design and material selection to stay within illuminance thresholds in the spaces. This project is responding to the facility needs of the campus of UMass Amherst where the program of the dance, theater and music departments are stressed for space, are operating in below-average facilities, and are separated, making collaboration difficult. The programmatic concept driving this design purposely mixes offices, classrooms and rehearsal spaces, creating overlap and collaborative opportunities. The use of mass timber was also an important aspect of the buildings’ design. Wood brings along many benefits, such as lower embodied energy, carbon sequestration, better thermal properties, and an increase in the perceived quality of architectural spaces. The volume of wood used in the building’s structural system was run through a life-cycle analysis to determine the overall carbon footprint, in relation to the amount of steel and concrete used

Conflict-performance relationships in international joint ventures : The moderating effects of conflict resolution strategies

As international business continually becomes more viable for organizations around the world and international joint ventures (IJV) become increasingly more common in the business landscape, understanding what both drives them and hinders them is crucial. Moreover, since IJVs are fundamentally built upon a relationship between firms, comprehending the internal elements of conflict in IJVs and how this conflict affects the performance of these business unions are crucial. Although several studies have studied international joint ventures from a wide variety of different perspectives, no significant studies related to the moderating role of conflict resolution strategies pertaining to the conflict-performance relationship in IJVs have been undertaken. Thus, this study aims to help shine a light on the moderating impact of four distinct conflict resolution strategies, namely, problem-solving, compromising, forcing, and legalistic, on IJV conflict and the related metric of IJV performance. Accordingly, to help establish a strong literature-based understanding of relevant concepts, the theoretical portion of the thesis literature is reviewed addressing the denotational and conceptual backgrounds of conflict and performance in IJVs and the four aforementioned moderating variables. In this review and analysis of the existing literature, care was taken to ensure that the denotational underpinnings of the key issues of the study, including the relationship undergirding the conflict-performance relationship in IJVs, were thoroughly discussed and analyzed within the context of leading theories and literature in the field of IJV research. The empirical section of this study features responses gathered from a survey of 89 Nordic IJVs covering questions related to IJV conflict, performance, and each IJVs use of the four conflict resolution strategies. An SPSS regression analysis was conducted to test the five hypotheses formulated about the moderators and gain a better understanding of the nature of conflict and the moderating variables in IJVs. As a part of this analysis, the responses from the Nordic IJVs were divided into smaller subgroups of respondent IJVs that applied certain conflict resolution strategies and those that did not apply the strategies. By conducting the regression analyses and comparing the results between the two subgroups for each of the four strategies, results were calculated that gauged the impact of each moderating variable on IJV performance. Ultimately, the statistical results supported the presence of a negative relationship between conflict and performance in the IJVs observed, supported the positive impact of two moderating variables, and supported the negative impact of two other moderating variables on the dependent variable of IJV performance, thus demonstrating strong evidence in favor of the hypothesized moderating impact of the four conflict resolution strategies

Master of Science

thesisBridge design is moving towards performance-based design in which acceptable levels of damage following an earthquake are prescribed, allowing the possibility to repair and not replace bridges. A repair technique for precast reinforced concrete bridge column-to-footing assemblies constructed with Grouted Splice Sleeve (GSS) connections has been developed. The repair is implemented and verified through laboratory testing and Strut-and-Tie Models (STM). The repair utilizes prefabricated carbon fiber-reinforced polymer shells and epoxy anchored headed mild steel rebar to relocate the column plastic hinge. Prior to the repair procedure, two undamaged, as-built, column-to-footing specimens constructed with GSS connections were tested to failure under a quasi-static cyclic lateral load. During testing, both of the as-built specimens experienced longitudinal rebar fracture, with lateral load carrying capacities degrading to 63%-65% of their ultimate load capacities. The as-built column plastic hinge region was subsequently repaired by increasing the column cross-section from a 21 in. octagonal section to a 30 in. diameter circular section, over a column height of 18 in. The repaired specimens were tested following the same cyclic loading protocol as the as-built specimens. The plastic hinge was successfully relocated to the column section above the repair, and the failure mode was longitudinal rebar fracture in the relocated plastic hinge region. The repaired assemblies had an increase in the ultimate lateral load capacities of 28%-30%, while being capable of maintaining the as-built lateral displacement capacity. To aid in the design of future as-built and repaired assemblies, a conventional STM and a nonlinear STM were developed. Generic modeling parameters were developed, which can be used with varying reinforcement layouts and element geometries. Results from the STM models match the as-built and repaired test results, predicting the ultimate lateral load capacities and nonlinear force-displacement response envelopes

Effects of Coyote Removal on Pronghorn and Mule Deer Populations in Wyoming

I studied the relationship between coyote (Canis latrans) removal and pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) density and fawn:doe ratios in southwest Wyoming and northeast Utah in 2007 and 2008. Coyote removal variables studied included the number of coyotes removed, ground hours worked, total hours worked, coyotes removed/aerial gunning hour, coyotes removed/ground work hour, and coyotes removed/total effort hour. None of the variables explained changes observed in fawn:doe ratios of pronghorn or mule deer. The number of coyotes removed, ground hours worked, total hours worked, and coyotes removed/aerial gunning hour were positively correlated with pronghorn density. However, none of the coyote removal variables were correlated with mule deer density. Coyote removal conducted in the winter and spring explained more variation and had a stronger positive correlation with fawn survival and ungulate density than removal conducted in the summer or fall. My results suggest that coyote removal conducted over large areas may increase density of pronghorn. However, coyote removal did not appear to increase mule deer fawn survival or density

Pavlov Patient Database

This project is implementing and deploying a functional patient database with customizable treatment plans and progress notes for Choices!, a counseling service center. To build this application and support the various requirements, several frameworks were considered for this project including Django, Flask, and Ruby on Rails. The Ruby on Rails suite was selected for reasons of existing familiarity for the team. Existing libraries within Rails allow for a choice of several database engines; MySQL, Postgresql, MongoDB, and NoSQL were considered. MySQL was adopted as a result of the extensive documentation and for continuity with the previous solution. Front-end requirements were met with a combination of HTML and Javascript, linked to a Bootstrap 5 framework in order to streamline user accessibility. A key quality desired by the customer was ease-of-use, to encourage higher efficiency and easy adoption by the stakeholders. In the process of development, secure data handling also emerged as a further and highly-desired attribute

Number of Uninsured Jumped to More Than Eight Million from 2007 to 2009

Updates 2007 California Health Interview Survey data with estimates for 2009 population growth and changes in insurance status among the non-elderly. Examines trends by source of coverage and explores contributing factors