The Impact of Alternative Grade Configurations on Student Outcomes through Middle and High School

We use statewide administrative data from Florida to estimate the impact of attending public schools with different grade configurations on student achievement through grade 10. Based on an instrumental variable estimation strategy, we find that students moving from elementary to middle school suffer a sharp drop in student achievement in the transition year. These achievement drops persist through grade 10. We also find that middle school entry increases student absences and is associated with higher grade 10 dropout rates. Transitions to high school in grade nine cause a smaller one-time drop in achievement but do not alter students' performance trajectories.educational production, public schools, grade configuration, middle schools, high schools

The Impact of Alternative Grade Configurations on Student Outcomes through Middle and High School

We use statewide administrative data from Florida to estimate the impact of attending public schools with different grade configurations on student achievement through grade 10. To identify the causal effect of structural school transitions, we use student fixed effects and instrument for middle and high school attendance based on the terminal grade of the school attended in grades 3 and 6, respectively. Consistent with recent evidence from other settings, we find that students moving from elementary to middle school in grade 6 or 7 suffer a sharp drop in student achievement in the transition year. We confirm that these achievement drops occur in nonurban areas and persist through grade 10, by which time most students have transitioned into high school. We also find that middle school entry increases student absences and is associated with higher grade 10 dropout rates. Transitions to high school in grade nine cause a smaller one-time drop in achievement but do not alter students’ performance trajectories.educational production, public schools, grade configuration, middle schools, high schools

The effects of test-based retention on student outcomes over time: Regression discontinuity evidence from Florida

Many American states require that students lacking basic reading proficiency after third grade be retained and remediated. We exploit a discontinuity in retention probabilities under Florida's test-based promotion policy to study its effects on student outcomes through high school. We find large positive effects on achievement that fade out entirely when retained students are compared to their same-age peers, but remain substantial through grade 10 when compared to students in the same grade. Being retained in third grade due to missing the promotion standard increases students' grade point averages and leads them to take fewer remedial courses in high school but has no effect on their probability of graduating.We are grateful to the Florida Department of Education for providing the primary dataset for this study. We thank Stefan Bauernschuster, Matthew Chingos, Andrew Ho, Paul Peterson, Ludger Woessmann, and the seminar participants at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Harvard University, the Ifo Institute, Mathematica Policy Research, Stanford University, the European Economic Association Meeting in Gothenburg, the European Association of Labour Economists Meeting in Turin and the Swedish Institute for Social Research for helpful comments. The Helios Education Foundation provided financial support for this research. The views contained herein are not necessarily those of the Helios Education Foundation. Any errors are our own. (Helios Education Foundation)http://sites.bu.edu/marcuswinters/files/2017/09/NBER-Grade-Retention.pdfhttp://sites.bu.edu/marcuswinters/files/2017/09/NBER-Grade-Retention.pdfAccepted manuscrip

The Effect of Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) on Political Preferences - Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment

Can online Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) that match voters to candidates and parties based on issue congruence influence voters’ political preferences? To address this question, we conducted a field experiment with University students during the 2011 Swiss federal elections and examine whether voters who used the Swiss VAA smartvote prior to the elections were more likely to adapt their initial party preferences. smartvote is an online web tool that enables voters to match their issue preferences to those of parties and candidates running for office, providing voters with custom made voting recommendations. Moreover, the tool allows voters to visualize their political position in the political landscape and compare their position to the political offer. The VAA gives unprecedented access to detailed political information and lets voters systematically compare electoral alternatives. Given these unique opportunities offered by the VAA, we analyze whether the revelation of “objective” preferences by the voting recommendation initiates changes in “subjective” preferences of voters. Decades of research on political behavior indicate that voters’ knowledge of and interest in politics is fairly limited and that political preferences are therefore highly amenable to (additional) information. Hence, we expect that voters who have their policy matches revealed by smartvote to be more likely to reconsider previously held convictions and consequently show changes in their political preference structure. We argue that VAAs can reinforce and rearrange pre-existing preferences. Employing the common political preference measure of an individual’s propensity to vote (ptv) for specific parties, we ascertain whether the smartvote voting recommendation caused voters to adapt their ptv scores for the running parties in the election. To empirically test these assumptions, we conducted a randomized field experiment during the 2011 Swiss federal elections among 2’000 University students in Switzerland. The treatment group received * Contact: [email protected] an email invitation to use smartvote before elections, providing survey participants with a personalized login for the website. The control group did not receive such an invitation. We measured the baseline characteristics and political preferences of both groups before and after the elections by means of an online survey. Given the randomized treatment assignment and the panel structure of the experiment, the data allows us to estimate the causal effect of smartvote use on political preferences. Due to non-compliance in the sample, we identify local average treatment effects for compliers. We find significant changes in the awarded scores for the top party preference among smartvote users. The assigned ptv score for the top party preferences increases significantly among those voters who used smartvote. Among those who changed their top party ptv score, most remained with the same party choice. Thus, in case of the most preferred party, smartvote use seems to reinforce pre-existing preferences. We do not only find a strengthening of the top party preference but also a multiplication thereof. Voters who consulted the tool report higher likelihoods for considering alternative choice options at elections. smartvote users, compared to non-users, are significantly more likely to change their initial preferences from a single most favored party to multiple highly preferred parties. In other words, being exposed to detailed information about vote alternatives seems to incline voters to consider these alternative options more closely and include the closest ones as part of their future choice set. These systematic shifts among smartvote users present empirical evidence for a causal effect of VAA use on political preferences

The Effect of Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) on Political Preferences - Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment

Can online Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) that match voters to candidates and parties based on issue congruence influence voters’ political preferences? To address this question, we conducted a field experiment with University students during the 2011 Swiss federal elections and examine whether voters who used the Swiss VAA smartvote prior to the elections were more likely to adapt their initial party preferences. smartvote is an online web tool that enables voters to match their issue preferences to those of parties and candidates running for office, providing voters with custom made voting recommendations. Moreover, the tool allows voters to visualize their political position in the political landscape and compare their position to the political offer. The VAA gives unprecedented access to detailed political information and lets voters systematically compare electoral alternatives. Given these unique opportunities offered by the VAA, we analyze whether the revelation of “objective” preferences by the voting recommendation initiates changes in “subjective” preferences of voters. Decades of research on political behavior indicate that voters’ knowledge of and interest in politics is fairly limited and that political preferences are therefore highly amenable to (additional) information. Hence, we expect that voters who have their policy matches revealed by smartvote to be more likely to reconsider previously held convictions and consequently show changes in their political preference structure. We argue that VAAs can reinforce and rearrange pre-existing preferences. Employing the common political preference measure of an individual’s propensity to vote (ptv) for specific parties, we ascertain whether the smartvote voting recommendation caused voters to adapt their ptv scores for the running parties in the election. To empirically test these assumptions, we conducted a randomized field experiment during the 2011 Swiss federal elections among 2’000 University students in Switzerland. The treatment group received * Contact: [email protected] an email invitation to use smartvote before elections, providing survey participants with a personalized login for the website. The control group did not receive such an invitation. We measured the baseline characteristics and political preferences of both groups before and after the elections by means of an online survey. Given the randomized treatment assignment and the panel structure of the experiment, the data allows us to estimate the causal effect of smartvote use on political preferences. Due to non-compliance in the sample, we identify local average treatment effects for compliers. We find significant changes in the awarded scores for the top party preference among smartvote users. The assigned ptv score for the top party preferences increases significantly among those voters who used smartvote. Among those who changed their top party ptv score, most remained with the same party choice. Thus, in case of the most preferred party, smartvote use seems to reinforce pre-existing preferences. We do not only find a strengthening of the top party preference but also a multiplication thereof. Voters who consulted the tool report higher likelihoods for considering alternative choice options at elections. smartvote users, compared to non-users, are significantly more likely to change their initial preferences from a single most favored party to multiple highly preferred parties. In other words, being exposed to detailed information about vote alternatives seems to incline voters to consider these alternative options more closely and include the closest ones as part of their future choice set. These systematic shifts among smartvote users present empirical evidence for a causal effect of VAA use on political preferences

Aerodynamical and Structural Analysis of Operationally Used Turbine Blades

This paper presents an integrated methodology for the analysis of operationally-used turbine blades, incorporating aerodynamic and multiple structural simulations. In jet engines, blade rubbing and erosion lead to deviations of the blade geometry. The presented functional simulations are conducted in order to predict the influence of wear on the performance of turbine blades based on these geometric variations. A numerical simulation of the investigated turbine blades using CFD show the change of aerodynamic performance and the flow field due to wear. Additionally, the deviations of the blade geometry lead to a different pressure and temperature distribution on the blade surface, which is used as input for the structural simulations. The change in geometry, surface pressure and temperature lead to a change in vibration behavior of the blade. Particularly the eigenfrequencies and excitation are affected. This is incorporated into the analysis by performing a structural vibration simulation of a complete bladed disk, using component mode synthesis and wave base substructuring. The mistuning effects are analyzed statistically using the Monte Carlo method. The change in vibration amplitudes influences crack opening and closing for a single blade under thermo-mechanical load. These processes, including thermal expansion, are investigated using the extended finite element method. Two real turbine blades are used to compare the characteristics of a new and a used blade.DFG/SFB/87

Altered expression of genes implicated in xylan biosynthesis affects penetration resistance against powdery mildew

Heteroxylan has recently been identified as an important component of papillae, which are formed during powdery mildew infection of barley leaves. Deposition of heteroxylan near the sites of attempted fungal penetration in the epidermal cell wall is believed to enhance the physical resistance to the fungal penetration peg and hence to improve pre-invasion resistance. Several glycosyltransferase (GT) families are implicated in the assembly of heteroxylan in the plant cell wall, and are likely to work together in a multi-enzyme complex. Members of key GT families reported to be involved in heteroxylan biosynthesis are up-regulated in the epidermal layer of barley leaves during powdery mildew infection. Modulation of their expression leads to altered susceptibility levels, suggesting that these genes are important for penetration resistance. The highest level of resistance was achieved when a GT43 gene was co-expressed with a GT47 candidate gene, both of which have been predicted to be involved in xylan backbone biosynthesis. Altering the expression level of several candidate heteroxylan synthesis genes can significantly alter disease susceptibility. This is predicted to occur through changes in the amount and structure of heteroxylan in barley papillae.Jamil Chowdhury, Stefanie Lück, Jeyaraman Rajaraman, Dimitar Douchkov, Neil J. Shirley, Julian G. Schwerdt, Patrick Schweizer, Geoffrey B. Fincher, Rachel A. Burton and Alan Littl

Case studies to enhance graduate employability: Indigenous employment and supports

This is one in a series of case studies to enhance graduate employability. This case study on the context of Indigenous employment and supports is based on interviews and focus groups with 14 people across the stakeholder groups of employed graduates, students in internships, educators,career development professionals and employers from six different universities

Impact of Personalized Information on Vote Intention: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment

Voting advice applications (VAAs) are voter information tools that millions of individuals have used in recent elections throughout the world. However, little is known about how they affect political behavior. Until now, observational studies of VAA have produced inconclusive results. Here we present the results from a randomized field experiment in Switzerland that estimates the causal effects of VAA use on voters’ vote intentions. Our results suggest that usage of the Swiss VAA smartvote strengthened the vote intention for the most preferred party and also increased the number of parties considered as potential vote options. These results imply that VAAs can influence voting behavior and that they can play an important role in electoral politics

Synthesis of magnetite nanoparticles by the method of co-precipitation and study of the influence of the reaction medium on their magnetic properties

Magnetite nanoparticles were obtained using the co-precipitation method under various synthesis conditions. The phase composition was investigated using X-ray diffraction analysis. The saturation magnetization of the obtained magnetic nanoparticles was investigated using vibrating-sample magnetometer. As a result, the samples obtained in a nitrogen atmosphere reveal a higher saturation magnetization value than the ones obtained in air