Temperament in the Classroom

Variance in academic performance that persists when situational variables are held constant suggests that whether students fail or thrive depends not only on circumstance, but also on relatively stable individual differences in how children respond to circumstance. More academically talented children generally outperform their less able peers, but much less is known about how traits unrelated to general intelligence influence academic outcomes. This paper addresses several related questions: What insights can be gleaned from historical interest in the role of temperament in the classroom? What does recent empirical research say about the specific dimensions of temperament most important to successful academic performance? In particular, which aspects of temperament most strongly influence school readiness, academic achievement, and educational attainment? What factors mediate and moderate associations between temperament and academic outcomes? What progress has been made in deliberately cultivating aspects of temperament that matter most to success in school? And, finally, for researchers keenly interested in better understanding how and why temperament influences academic success, in which direction does future progress lie?

Financial social accounting matrix: concepts, constructions and theoretical framework

A Social Accounting Matrix (hereafter, SAM) is a particular tool to represent that whole economic activities incomes and expenditures flows accounts through a socio-economic system, which captures the transactions and transfers between all economic agents and institutions in the system. During the last two decades, the financial market are well developed and significantly impacts the economic growth, it will be more worthy to move from a real SAM to a Financial SAM, containing the details of the financial institutions and transaction of agents’ assets and liabilities. Therefore, this paper will discuss the outlines and constructions framework for the aggregate Financial SAM. The understanding of the structure of Financial SAM can be a database for a financial Computed General Equilibrium (CGE) model and can be used to analyze the behavior of national’s public debt.SOCIAL ACCOUNTING MATRIX (SAM), FINANCIAL, FLOW-OF-FUNDS

Three essays on the economic effects of combat related post-traumatic stress disorder on U.S. veterans

2022 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.Since September 2001, approximately 2.77 million military service members have served on over 5.4 million deployments (Wenger, 2018) to Iraq and Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), and Operation New Dawn (OND). Soldiers returning from these deployments are at risk of experiencing adverse mental health issues, to include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. The first-stage of this study examines the relationship between exposure to combat and a diagnosis of PTSD and depression. Then, I explore the effects a diagnosis of PTSD and depression have on the employment and risk-taking behaviors of U.S. service members. Chapter 1 focuses on active duty service members, veterans, and National Guardsmen and Reservists and estimates the effects of combat on their mental health outcomes. I then decompose the effects of combat and examine the effect of differing measures of combat on mental health. These measures include deployment length, exposure to enemy firefight, killing or wounding someone, and exposure to the death or injury of an ally, civilian, or enemy. I find that exposure to combat and several separate combat events leads to higher probabilities of adverse mental health outcomes for military members. Chapter 2 explores the effect a diagnosis of PTSD has on several employment outcomes for U.S. veterans. First, using a standard probit model, I examine the effect of PTSD on four employment outcomes: the probability of employment, the number of hours worked per week (on average), employment sector, and job satisfaction. I find that PTSD is associated with a decreased probability of employment and a decrease in the number of hours worked per week. However, if PTSD is endogenous, then these results will be biased. For example, veterans with PTSD may be perceived by potential employers as being dangerous or incompetent (Hipes & Gemoets, 2019), which could affect the probability of employment. To address this concern, I employ a two-stage estimation approach using exposure to combat as an instrument to minimize the bias in the estimated effect of PTSD on the probability of employment and the number of hours worker per week. I find no significant effect of PTSD on either outcome. Chapter 3 focuses on the relationship between a diagnosis of PTSD and depression and the risk-taking behaviors of service members. Risk-taking behaviors are defined as intentional behaviors that have potential negative consequences or loss and have been found to be positively associated with PTSD. U.S. military personnel returning from deployments are experiencing adverse mental health issues which can lead to an increase in risk-taking behaviors. This increase in risk-taking behaviors can lead to worse economic outcomes for veterans, such as high unemployment rates and decreased earnings. I approach this question from two separate directions. First, I examine the effect a diagnosis of PTSD or depression has on the risk-taking behaviors of U.S. veterans. Second, I examined the association of exposure to combat on risk-taking behaviors using the combat events found to be significant to a diagnosis of PTSD or depression in Chapter 1. I find that PTSD is associated with an increase in the use of nicotine, alcohol, and other substances. As stated above, the broad goal of this research is to improve our understanding of the long-term consequences a diagnosis of combat-related PTSD has on U.S. veterans. Chapter 1 allows me to explore the effect different combat experiences have on the probability of adverse mental health outcomes. While Chapter 1 looks at the direct effects of combat exposure on mental health outcomes, Chapter 2 looks beyond the combat experience and examines the effect a diagnosis of combat-related PTSD has on the employment outcomes of U.S. veterans. Chapter 3 extends the work in the previous chapter by exploring one potential reason for the lower levels of employment found in U.S. veterans by examining the effect PTSD and depression have on the risk-taking behaviors of previously deployed service members

Wetting and drying dynamics for TiO2 with PbS quantum dots.

Initial solar cells utilized silicon and alloys for their economic viability. Photoelectrochemical photovoltaic cells were discovered with technological advancement which increased solar efficiency and further improved economic feasibility leading to quantum dot sensitized solar cells. Lead sulfide quantum dots and titanium dioxide were studied for wetting and drying effects. Zeta potential, pH values, SEM, and optical microscopes quantified or observed the colloidal suspension and dried sample behavior. Combined mixtures of lead sulfide and titania were dried at 3.6 pH and 12.56 pH values. This due to the observed zeta potential isoelectric point of titania, and behavior showed increased stability occurring for those pH values, respectively. SEM imaging was optimized to achieve a thin layer of dried material. Lab microscope imaging further confirmed what was occurring in SEM imaging; the materials were falling out of suspension with lead sulfide settling to the bottom (black or grey material) and titania (white) on the top surface of the dried droplet at both pHs. This work completed further establishes behavioral evaluation of individual materials related to creating third generation solar devices made with quantum dots verses that of current materials used for second generation materials like CdS, CdSe, and CdTe. This work contributes to general knowledge of material characteristics of lead sulfide as a nanoparticle as a potential quantum dot in a titanium dioxide microparticle system

Neutrons transition densities for the 2+−8+2^+-8^+ multiplet of states in 90^{90}Zr

The neutron transition densities of the $2^+-8^+$ levels in $^{90}$Zr were extracted in the process of analysing ({\bf p},p') scattering at 400 Mev. Its comparison with the proton transition densities for these levels was undertaken. The radial shapes of the experimental neutron and proton transition densities for each state were found to be different.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

THE ASEAN-5 FUTURE CURRENCY: MAASTRICHT CRITERIA

In this recent decade, many of the economists and policymakers attempted to investigate the suitability of the East Asian region to form a currency union and based on the European countries experience as a benchmark. This study aims to investigate the long-run real convergence in GDP per capita growth among Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines, over 1978 to 2004. The Dickey-Fuller (DF) and Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) unit root tests were conducted at first difference of GDP per capita for each country; the results demonstrated that all countries GDP per capita are stationary at first difference. The results of the Bound Testing Approach (Auto-Regression Distributed Lag (ARDL)) indicated that there is a long run relationship between variables in the Maastricht Criteria. The results showed that interest rate, inflation rate and the debt ratio experience that negative relationship to the GDP per capita. However, the exchange rate and surplus (or deficit) ratio shown the positive related to the GDP per capita. Therefore, the findings showed the ASEAN 5 countries have fulfilled the Maastricht Criteria with consistent to expected sign(s) except for Singapore’ exchange rate and Indonesia’s debt ratio. Hence, those ASEAN 5 countries in this study have potential to form a single currency.Monetary Union (MU), Bound Test (ARDL), Maastricht Criteria, Single Currency

Stem cell biology and drug discovery

There are many reasons to be interested in stem cells, one of the most prominent being their potential use in finding better drugs to treat human disease. This article focuses on how this may be implemented. Recent advances in the production of reprogrammed adult cells and their regulated differentiation to disease-relevant cells are presented, and diseases that have been modeled using these methods are discussed. Remaining difficulties are highlighted, as are new therapeutic insights that have emerged

Temperament in the Classroom

Some students fare better than others, even when researchers control for family background, school curriculum, and teacher quality. Variance in academic performance that persists when situational variables are held constant suggests that whether students fail or thrive depends on not only circumstance but also relatively stable individual differences in how children respond to circumstance. More academically talented children, for instance, generally outperform their less able peers. Indeed, general intelligence, defined as the ability to understand complex ideas, to adapt effectively to the environment, to learn from experience, to engage in various forms of reasoning, to overcome obstacles by taking thought (Neisser et a!., 1996, p. 77), has a monotonic, positive relationship with academic performance, even at the extreme right-tail of the population (Gottfredson, 2004; Lubinski, 2009). Much less is known about how traits unrelated to general intelligence influence academic outcomes. This chapter addresses several related questions: What insights can be gleaned from historical interest in the role of temperament in the classroom? What does recent empirical research say about the specific dimensions of temperament most important to successful academic performance? In particular, which aspects of temperament most strongly influence school readiness, academic achievement, and educational attainment? What factors mediate and moderate associations between temperament and academic outcomes? What progress has been made in deliberately cultivating aspects of temperament that matter most to success in school? And, finally, for researchers keenly interested in better understanding how and why temperament influences academic success, in which direction does future progress lie

Breast cancer detection using automated whole breast ultrasound and mammography in radiographically dense breasts

PurposeMammography, the standard method of breast cancer screening, misses many cancers, especially in dense-breasted women. We compared the performance and diagnostic yield of mammography alone versus an automated whole breast ultrasound (AWBU) plus mammography in women with dense breasts and/or at elevated risk of breast cancer.MethodsAWBU screening was tested in 4,419 women having routine mammography (Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00649337). Cancers occurring during the study and subsequent 1-year follow-up were evaluated. Sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value (PPV) of biopsy recommendation for mammography alone, AWBU and mammography with AWBU were calculated.ResultsBreast cancer detection doubled from 23 to 46 in 6,425 studies using AWBU with mammography, resulting in an increase in diagnostic yield from 3.6 per 1,000 with mammography alone to 7.2 per 1,000 by adding AWBU. PPV for biopsy based on mammography findings was 39.0% and for AWBU 38.4%. The number of detected invasive cancers 10 mm or less in size tripled from 7 to 21 when AWBU findings were added to mammography.ConclusionAWBU resulted in significant cancer detection improvement compared with mammography alone. Additional detection and the smaller size of invasive cancers may justify this technology's expense for women with dense breasts and/or at high risk for breast cancer