Does the PeaceBuilders Intervention Reduce Violence in Schools?

Fisher and Pulver present a brief overview and analysis of the article, Initial behavior outcomes for the PeaceBuilders Universal School-Based Violence Prevention Program, originally published in Developmental Psychology. The authors present a summary of the key components of the article including the introduction, method and results of the study. They offer an additional analysis of implications for future practice, including a discussion of the positive impacts of PeaceBuilders on student experience and teacher perception of student social competence

Does a School-Based Social Skills Program Have an Effect on Students’ Behavior and Social Skills?

Pulver and Fisher present a brief overview and analysis of the article, Social skills training in schools: An evaluation study, originally published in Adolescence. The authors present a summary of the key components of the article including the introduction, method and results of the study. They offer an additional analysis of implications for future practice, including a discussion of the translation of positive intervention outcomes to outside of the classroom, as well as a critique based on the lack of a control group in the study

Investigation looking at the repeatability of 20 Society of Master Saddlers (SMS) qualified saddle fitters’ observations during static saddle fit

Saddle fit is widely considered to be a crucial factor for the health and performance of riding horses; however, there have been no studies looking at the agreement between professionals who fit and assess saddles. The aim of the study was to determine the agreement between Society of Master Saddlers (SMSs) qualified saddle fitters when statically fitting a saddle following the SMS guidelines. Twenty SMS qualified saddle fitter volunteers were recruited via social media and asked to statically assess the fit of the saddle following the “7 points of saddle fit” guidelines of the SMS in 10 horses. Descriptive statistics and Fleiss Kappa (as a measure of agreement beyond chance) were used to determine agreement between fitters. Agreement varied from slight to substantial between the different saddle assessment criteria with the assessment of overall saddle fit resulting in a fair agreement of k = 0.32. Substantial agreement was found for saddle clearance front (k = 0.66), top (k = 0.78), and rear (k = 0.81). Fair agreement was found for clearance of the saddle—side (k = 0.28) and how the girth straps line up with girth groove (k = 0.31) and panel contact (k = 0.38). Slight agreement was found for tree width and length (k = 0.12) and tree length (k = 0.12). Horse height in some criteria affected agreement. Agreement varied between the standard criteria. In cases where it was difficult to visually evaluate saddle fit, agreement was lower. Further work should aim to standardize the criteria which had suboptimal agreement

Comparison tests and experimental compliance calibration of the proposed standard round compact plane strain fracture toughness specimen

Standard round specimen fracture test results compared satisfactorily with results from standard rectangular compact specimens machined from the same material. The location of the loading pin holes was found to provide adequate strength in the load bearing region for plane strain fracture toughness testing. Excellent agreement was found between the stress intensity coefficient values obtained from compliance measurements and the analytic solution proposed for inclusion in the standard test method. Load displacement measurements were made using long armed displacement gages and hollow loading cylinders. Gage points registered on the loading hole surfaces through small holes in the walls of the loading cylinders

Maximum-Likelihood Comparisons of Tully-Fisher and Redshift Data: Constraints on Omega and Biasing

We compare Tully-Fisher (TF) data for 838 galaxies within cz=3000 km/sec from the Mark III catalog to the peculiar velocity and density fields predicted from the 1.2 Jy IRAS redshift survey. Our goal is to test the relation between the galaxy density and velocity fields predicted by gravitational instability theory and linear biasing, and thereby to estimate $\beta_I = \Omega^{0.6}/b_I,$ where $b_I$ is the linear bias parameter for IRAS galaxies. Adopting the IRAS velocity and density fields as a prior model, we maximize the likelihood of the raw TF observables, taking into account the full range of selection effects and properly treating triple-valued zones in the redshift-distance relation. Extensive tests with realistic simulated galaxy catalogs demonstrate that the method produces unbiased estimates of $\beta_I$ and its error. When we apply the method to the real data, we model the presence of a small but significant velocity quadrupole residual (~3.3% of Hubble flow), which we argue is due to density fluctuations incompletely sampled by IRAS. The method then yields a maximum likelihood estimate $\beta_I=0.49\pm 0.07$ (1-sigma error). We discuss the constraints on $\Omega$ and biasing that follow if we assume a COBE-normalized CDM power spectrum. Our model also yields the 1-D noise noise in the velocity field, including IRAS prediction errors, which we find to be be 125 +/- 20 km/sec.Comment: 53 pages, 20 encapsulated figures, two tables. Submitted to the Astrophysical Journal. Also available at http://astro.stanford.edu/jeff

C-shaped specimen plane strain fracture toughness tests

Test equipment, procedures, and data obtained in the evaluation of C-shaped specimens are presented. Observations reported on include: specimen preparation and dimensional measurement; modifications to the standard ASTM E 399 displacement gage, which permit punch mark gage point engagement; and a measurement device for determining the interior and exterior radii of ring segments. Load displacement ratios were determined experimentally which agreed with analytically determined coefficients for three different gage lengths on the inner surfaces of radially-cracked ring segments

On the speed of pulled fronts with a cutoff

We study the effect of a small cutoff $\epsilon$ on the velocity of a pulled front in one dimension by means of a variational principle. We obtain a lower bound on the speed dependent on the cutoff, and for which the two leading order terms correspond to the Brunet Derrida expression. To do so we cast a known variational principle for the speed of propagation of fronts in new variables which makes it more suitable for applications.Comment: 12 pages no figure

The Velocity Field from Type Ia Supernovae Matches the Gravity Field from Galaxy Surveys

We compare the peculiar velocities of nearby SNe Ia with those predicted by the gravity fields of full sky galaxy catalogs. The method provides a powerful test of the gravitational instability paradigm and strong constraints on the density parameter beta = Omega^0.6/b. For 24 SNe Ia within 10,000 km/s we find the observed SNe Ia peculiar velocities are well modeled by the predictions derived from the 1.2 Jy IRAS survey and the Optical Redshift Survey (ORS). Our best $\beta$ is 0.4 from IRAS, and 0.3 from the ORS, with beta>0.7 and beta<0.15 ruled out at 95% confidence levels from the IRAS comparison. Bootstrap resampling tests show these results to be robust in the mean and in its error. The precision of this technique will improve as additional nearby SNe Ia are discovered and monitored.Comment: 16 pages (LaTex), 3 postscript figure