Stereophotolithography: A Brand New Machinery

Mechanical Engineerin

Using survey participants to estimate the impact of nonparticipation

The authors evaluate the effectiveness of two models often used to measure the extent of nonparticipation bias in survey estimates. The first model establishes a "continuum of resistance" to being surveyed, placing people who were interviewed after one phone call on one end and nonparticipants on the other. The second assumes that there are "classes" of nonparticipants and that similar classes can be found among participants; it identifies groups of participants thought to be like nonparticipants and uses them as "proxies" to estimate the characteristics of nonparticipants. The authors use these models to examine how accurately they estimate the characteristics of nonparticipants and the impact of nonparticipation on survey estimates of means of child support awards and payments in Wisconsin. They find that neither model detects the true extent of nonparticipation bias.

Punitive Damages and Due Process: Trying to Keep up with the United States Supreme Court after Philip Morris USA v. Williams

Throughout the past two decades, the United States Supreme Court has gradually formed several procedural and substantive protections under the Fourteenth Amendment\u27s Due Process Clause limiting the size of punitive damages a State can award against civil defendants. The Court has made it clear that the catalyst for the recent constitutional doctrine stems from its concern towards punitive damages that run wild. What has not been as clear is what prior constitutional authority the Court has drawn from when creating these new rules. Consequently, state courts, left with little guidance, have struggled with applying as well as predicting the evolving requirements of due process announced by the Court. The latest example of a state court\u27s valiant effort to comply with these constitutional standards and ultimately have its decision vacated and remanded by the Supreme Court occurred in Philip Morris USA v. Williams. In a schizophrenic opinion, the Court in Williams announced a new rule that unequivocally prohibits a state from using punitive damages to punish a defendant for harm caused to persons not parties to the litigation, while simultaneously concluding that evidence of harm to nonparties is admissible to show the reprehensibility of the defendant\u27s misconduct. Without elaborating on the utility of this distinction, the Court then charged trial courts with the ambiguous task of ensuring that juries do not improperly use evidence of this type. The decision announced in Williams immediately sparked negative scholarly reaction. Academics have criticized the Court\u27s holding as an unworkable rule that has further interfered with the States\u27 prerogative in awarding punitive damages. The purpose of this Note is to explain the significance of Williams will have on a state\u27s ability to impose punitive damages as well as to describe the practical challenges trial courts will face in adhering to the Court\u27s new rule. To properly frame the issues for discussion, this Note will first recount the Court\u27s brief and tumultuous history construing due process limitations with punitive damages. Then it will describe what effects Williams will have on lower court procedures and the States\u27 legitimate interest in awarding punitive damages

Attitudes of Preservice Elementary Teachers Toward Science and the Teaching of Science

The importance of attitude toward the teaching and understanding of science has long been a concern of researchers. Its importance in the schools, as a means to influence academic achievement, continues to be felt. Teachers, often without trying, pass on to their students attitudes about science that are unproductive. It is, therefore, important for teachers to possess attitudes supporting the subjects that they teach. The problem then is determining what factors contribute to these teacher attitudes and how are they passed on to students. Past research has failed to show conclusively what actually contributes to the creation of positive and negative attitudes towards science. It has been shown that students at the primary grades tend to like science more than the older students, while the younger students\u27 teachers dislike science and the secondary grades teachers feel very positive toward science. This study polled the students in two different education courses in order to determine what effect, if any, these courses had on student attitudes toward science and the teaching of science. The courses polled were Elementary Education 1230, an introduction education class, and Elementary Education 3290, the science methods course that all elementary education majors must complete. The findings of the study indicate that the science methods course Elementary Education 3290 does cause an increase in the positive attitudes of those students who complete this course. It is not clear, however, if this change is due to the different age levels of the students, i.e. maturation level or if it was actually the course and course content. Further investigation is needed to determine more accurately the relationship between the science method course and preservice elementary teachers attitudes toward science and the teaching of science

Letter from Nathan C. Schaeffer

Letter concerning the bill to reincorporate the National Educational Association under the name of the \u27National Education Association of the United States\u27

Why Are You Crying?: The Impact of Parental Trauma on the Child

The purpose of this research project was to investigate the impact of parental trauma symptoms on the child. The researcher became interested in this topic over the last few years with the increased reports of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on returning vets from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. With reports of increase domestic abuse and suicides in this population, the research was curious how these symptoms of trauma impacted their children. The majority of the research reviewed centered around quantitative studies where parents had developed classic single event PTSD symptoms from war trauma (vs. complex PTSD), and how the diagnosis impacted their child on a micro level. The writer conducted a qualitative research project with 8 licensed mental health professionals who worked directly with children and families in private psychotherapy. Most of the findings supported the data in the existing literature. However, major finding was that in some cases a trauma bond between parent and child existed that was so invasive it replaced any sort of nurturance, security, or love between the parent and child, and yet they remained connected to each other. An implication for social work would be the importance of working from a systems perspective so that the child is not labeled as the sole problem, and that potential new treatments could be developed to work collaboratively with both the child and parent. Future research recommendations include: 1) studying a larger sample in order to generalize the population, 2) Identifying if the parent has a specific PTSD diagnosis in case examples, 3) Studying how the age of the child mediates the impact of the parent’s PTSD symptoms

Analyzing the Correlation of the University of Mississippi Football Program\u27s Success and Financials with that of the University and Local Businesses in Oxford, Mississippi

The purpose of this thesis is to look at Ole Miss athletic events, specifically football games, and the success and profit of local businesses in Oxford, Mississippi and the University of Mississippi. There are several existing studies analyzed in this paper that indicate a correlation between college football programs and the University and city revenues at several other colleges and universities across the country. A historical analysis of the University of Mississippi Athletic Department’s revenues and expenses, football attendance numbers, and University enrollment trends throughout the years 2015 to 2019 indicates how important football is to the University and its financial impact. Analyzing Oxford, Mississippi’s city sales tax data collected from the Mississippi Department of Revenue across those same years also indicates that there appear to be correlations between consumer spending and the Ole Miss football game schedule. The Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 substantially changed the athletic department’s operations and affected local businesses’ profits significantly, which is analyzed through the athletic department’s financial statements and the city sales tax data from the year 2020. In an effort to understand just how much local businesses in Oxford benefit from the effects of Ole Miss football games, personal interviews were conducted with various business owners in the city. The information obtained in these interviews reveals how much Oxford businesses rely on the traffic that Ole Miss football games bring each year. The result of this research indicates that Ole Miss football influences the financial success and profitability of many local businesses in Oxford due to increased tourist traffic and spending on game day weekends, and many businesses, as a result, rely on football season for profits year after year

Human Like Adaptation of Force and Impedance in Stable and Unstable Tasks

Abstract—This paper presents a novel human-like learning con-troller to interact with unknown environments. Strictly derived from the minimization of instability, motion error, and effort, the controller compensates for the disturbance in the environment in interaction tasks by adapting feedforward force and impedance. In contrast with conventional learning controllers, the new controller can deal with unstable situations that are typical of tool use and gradually acquire a desired stability margin. Simulations show that this controller is a good model of human motor adaptation. Robotic implementations further demonstrate its capabilities to optimally adapt interaction with dynamic environments and humans in joint torque controlled robots and variable impedance actuators, with-out requiring interaction force sensing. Index Terms—Feedforward force, human motor control, impedance, robotic control. I