Three Essays on International Environmental Agreements: Extensions to Cooperative R&D, Learning, and Social Preferences

This dissertation considers the theoretical aspects of countries' incentives to cooperate on environmental good provision and resolve free-rider incentives, in particular with the formation of an International Environmental Agreement (IEA).In the first chapter, "International Environmental Agreements with Cooperative Research & Development," I consider how allowing countries to invest in abatement cost-reducing R&D to make pollution abatement cheaper can change incentives to participate in the IEA. Since introducing R&D directly changes the incentives to abate pollution, I also consider two different cooperation regimes: pollution abatement and R&D investment can either be provided independently with two separate agreements, or countries may choose to negotiate provision of both goods in a single, joint agreement. I show that when the joint treaty achieves a high enough level of participation, which implies a threshold amount of R&D investment, even non-signatories find it individually rational to abate pollution. That is, the resulting technology lowers the cost of pollution abatement enough so that the behavior of non-signatories tips toward the full cooperative outcome for pollution abatement, eliminating the incentive to free-ride. In this case, a joint agreement for cooperation on the environment and R&D increases pollution abatement and aggregate welfare.Following a short chapter reviewing the weakly renegotiation-proof equilibrium, the third chapter, "Sustaining Full Cooperation in an International Environmental Agreement through Learning and R&D," analyzes the effects of learning and R&D on an IEA by assuming that countries are uncertain regarding the benefits of pollution abatement. This paper shows that uncertainty improves the likelihood of obtaining a Pareto-optimal IEA, which is constructed as a weakly renegotiation-proof equilibrium in an infinitely repeated game, by allowing for a wider range of discount factors to sustain cooperation than in the no uncertainty case. Finally, this paper analyzes whether or not new knowledge gained through R&D is beneficial for sustaining cooperation and finds that achieving the Pareto-optimal IEA tends to be less likely if R&D reduces uncertainty. The mechanism driving these results is that uncertainty leads to a higher expected net loss from punishment to a defecting country, which implies that deviations are better deterred under uncertainty than with no uncertainty.In the fourth chapter, titled "Renegotiation-Proof International Environmental Agreements with Social Preferences," I turn from purely self-interested agents and examine how social preferences, in particular, preferences for equity and efficiency, affect the likelihood of cooperation among countries to abate pollution when compared to the case of agents that are only self-interested. It is shown that an IEA with any level of cooperation, including full cooperation, exists as a weakly renegotiation-proof equilibrium for high enough discount factors. As social preferences grow stronger, the range of discount factors that can support cooperation increases, which implies that cooperation is more likely under social preferences. The key effect driving this result is that social preferences cause the net loss from the punishment of a defecting country to increase, which better deters deviations from cooperation

Effectiveness of Foam Rolling in Combination with a Static Stretching Protocol of the Hamstrings

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a foam rolling protocol in combination with a static stretching protocol. For this human subjects approved study, 46 healthy subjects were recruited with no history of lower or upper extremity injury in the 6 months prior to study participation. Forty subjects (male: n = 14, age = 21.29� 2.58 yrs, ht = 176.62� 5.28 cm, mass = 73.96� 16.9 kg; female: n = 26, age = 21.08� 2.91 yrs, ht = 167.05� 6.19 cm, mass = 73.62� 11.52 kg) completed all requirements of the study. Subjects were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups. Subjects received baseline hip range of motion (ROM) measurements before performing either a; stretching only, foam rolling and stretching, foam rolling only, or control protocol. Immediately after completion post hip ROM values were obtained. Subjects visited the lab 6 times over a two week period. Regardless of group hip ROM increased over time (P < .003). Those subjects receiving the foam and stretch treatment had the greatest increase in hip ROM (P < .05). Those subjects receiving the stretch only, foam and stretch, and foam only had greater hip ROM values than controls (P < .05). Pre hip ROM measurements for subjects in the foam and stretch were greater than those in the stretch only group (P < .05).School of Health Care Administratio

Multi-Objective Optimization of FM Noise Waveforms via Generalized Frequency Template Error Metrics

FM noise waveforms have been experimentally demonstrated to achieve high time bandwidth products and low autocorrelation sidelobes while achieving acceptable spectral containment in physical implementation. Still, it may be necessary to further reduce sidelobe levels for detection or improve spectral containment in the face of growing spectral use. The Frequency Template Error (FTE) and the Logarithmic Frequency Template Error (Log-FTE) metrics were conceived as means to achieve FM noise waveforms with good spectral containment and good autocorrelation sidelobes. In practice, FTE based waveform optimizations have been found to produce better autocorrelation responses at the expense of spectral containment while Log-FTE optimizations achieve excellent spectral containment and interference rejection at the expense of autocorrelation sidelobe levels. In this work, the notion of the FTE and Log-FTE metrics are considered as subsets of a broader class of frequency domain metrics collectively termed as the Generalized Frequency Template Error (GFTE). In doing so, many different P-norm based variations of the FTE and Log-FTE cost functions are extensively examined and applied via gradient descent methods to optimize polyphase-coded FM (PCFM) waveforms. The performance of the different P-norm variations of the FTE and Log-FTE cost functions are compared amongst themselves, against each other, and relative to a previous FM noise waveform design approach called Pseudo-Random Optimized FM (PRO-FM). They are evaluated in terms of their autocorrelation sidelobes, spectral containment, and their ability to realize spectral notches within the 3 dB bandwidth for the purpose of interference rejection. These comparisons are performed in both simulation and experimentally in loopback where it was found that P-norm values of 2 tend to provide the best optimization performance for both the FTE and Log-FTE optimizations except in the case of the Log-FTE optimization of a notched spectral template where a P-norm value of 3 provides the best results. In general, the FTE and Log-FTE cost functions as subsets of the GFTE provide diverse means to optimize physically robust FM noise waveforms while emphasizing different performance criteria in terms of autocorrelation sidelobes, spectral containment, and interference rejection

Design and Evaluation of Stochastic Processes as Physical Radar Waveforms

Recent advances in waveform generation and in computational power have enabledthe design and implementation of new complex radar waveforms. Still despite these advances, in a waveform agile mode where the radar transmits unique waveforms for every pulse or a nonrepeating signal continuously, effective operation can be difficult due the waveform design requirements. In general, for radar waveforms to be both useful and physically robust they must achieve good autocorrelation sidelobes, be spectrally contained, and possess a constant amplitude envelope for high power operation. Meeting these design goals represents a tremendous computational overhead that can easily impede real-time operation and the overall effectiveness of the radar. This work addresses this concern in the context of random FM waveforms (RFM) that have been demonstrated in recent years in both simulation and in experiments to achieve low autocorrelation sidelobes through the high dimensionality of coherent integration when operating in a waveform agile mode. However, while they are effective, the approaches to design these waveforms require optimization of each individual waveform, making them subject to costly computational requirements. This dissertation takes a different approach. Since RFM waveforms are meant to be noise like in the first place, the waveforms here are instantiated as the sample functions of an underlying stochastic process called a waveform generating function (WGF). This approach enables the convenient generation of spectrally contained RFM waveforms for little more computational cost than pulling numbers from a random number generator (RNG). To do so, this work translates the traditional mathematical treatment of random variables and random processes to a more radar centric perspective such that the WGFs can be analytically evaluated as a function of the usefulness ofthe radar waveforms that they produce via metrics such as the expected matched filter response and the expected power spectral density (PSD). Further, two WGF models denoted as pulsed stochastic waveform generation (Pulsed StoWGe) and continuouswave stochastic waveform generation (CW-StoWGe) are devised as means to optimize WGFs to produce RFM waveform with good spectral containment and design flexibility between the degree of spectral containment and autocorrelation sidelobe levels for both pulsed and CW modes. This goal is achieved by leveraging gradient descent optimization methods to reduce the expected frequency template error (EFTE) cost function. The EFTE optimization is shown analytically using the metrics above, as well as others defined in this work and through simulation, to produce WGFs whose sample functions achieve these goals and thus produce useful random FM waveforms. To complete the theory-modeling-experimentation design life cycle, the resultant StoWGe waveforms are implemented in a loop-back configuration and are shown to be amenable to physical implementation

On Galaxy-Cluster Sizes and Temperatures

We show that the distribution of the sizes and temperatures of clusters can be used to constrain cosmological models. The size-temperature (ST) distribution predicted in a flat Gaussian cluster-abundance-normalized Omega_0=0.3 model agrees well with the fairly tight ST relation observed. A larger power-spectrum amplitude sigma_8 would give rise to a larger scatter about the ST relation as would a larger value of Omega_0 and/or long non-Gaussian high-density tails in the probability density function. For Gaussian initial conditions, the ST distribution suggests a constraint sigma_8 Omega_0^{0.26} \simeq 0.76. The ST relation is expected to get tighter at high redshifts. In the process, we derive a simple formula for the halo formation-redshift distribution for non-Gaussian models. We also suggest that the discrepancy between the naive zero-redshift ST relation and that observed may be due, at least in part, to the fact that lower-mass clusters form over a wider range of redshifts. An Appendix derives an equation for the formation-redshift distribution of halos.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures; replacement to match the published versio

Call me maybe? It's not crazy! Data collection offices are a good partner in data management

Pecha Kucha presented at the 2015 International Association for Social Science Information Services & Technology (IASSIST) Conference, Minneapolis, MN.For data management professionals, attention is largely focused on the beginning and ends of the research process, as many researchers are worried about meeting federal requirements for data management plans (DMPs) and are looking for ways to share and archive their data. As a University office specializing in survey and experimental data collection, we have seen how the "middle" steps of data collection and analysis can be influenced by, and be an influence on, these upstream and downstream data management processes. In this Pecha Kucha, we will present relevant data management lessons we have learned from designing, developing, and hosting data collection tools. Challenges of anonymity and paying participants, quirks of statistical files produced by data collection tools, and transparency in the research process are among some of the issues we will discuss. As many of these challenges directly impact later sharing and curation of the data collected, we emphasize that data collection offices can be important partners in data management efforts

Listening to limericks: a pupillometry investigation of perceivers’ expectancy

What features of a poem make it captivating, and which cognitive mechanisms are sensitive to these features? We addressed these questions experimentally by measuring pupillary responses of 40 participants who listened to a series of Limericks. The Limericks ended with either a semantic, syntactic, rhyme or metric violation. Compared to a control condition without violations, only the rhyme violation condition induced a reliable pupillary response. An anomaly-rating study on the same stimuli showed that all violations were reliably detectable relative to the control condition, but the anomaly induced by rhyme violations was perceived as most severe. Together, our data suggest that rhyme violations in Limericks may induce an emotional response beyond mere anomaly detection

Thinking Inside the Box: Visual Design of the Response Box Affects Creative Divergent Thinking in an Online Survey

While the visual design of a question has been shown to influence responses in survey research, it is less understood how these effects extend to assessment-based questions that attempt to measure how, rather than just what, a respondent thinks. For example, in a divergent thinking task, the number and elaboration of responses, not just how original they are, contribute to the assessment of creativity. Using the Alternative Uses Task in an online survey, we demonstrated that scores on fluency, elaboration, and originality, core constructs of participants’ assessed creative ability, were systematically influenced by the visual design of the response boxes. The extent to which participants were susceptible to these effects varied with individual differences in trait conscientiousness, as several of these effects were seen in participants with high, but not low, conscientiousness. Overall, our results are consistent with previous survey methodology findings, extend them to the domain of creativity research, and call for increased awareness and transparency of visual design decisions across research fields