Using The Major Field Test-Business As An Assessment Tool And Impetus For Program Improvement: Fifteen Years Of Experience At Virginia Military Institute

We examine the history of VMI’s use of the Major Field Test as an assessment tool for its Department of Economics and Business.  Further, we chronicle how the information gathered from a decade and a half of use has shaped the curriculum, faculty composition and policies within the Department. There is evidence that the policies surrounding how and when the Major Field Test is administered influences student performance on the test and that it can be a valuable component of a comprehensive assessment program. &nbsp

Hadron Mass Predictions of the Valence Approximation to Lattice QCD

We evaluate the infinite volume, continuum limits of eight hadron mass ratios predicted by lattice QCD with Wilson quarks in the valence (quenched) approximation. Each predicted ratio differs from the corresponding observed value by less than 6\%.Comment: 13 pages of Latex + 2 PostScript files attached, IBM/HET 92-

Development of Decision Support Systems for Estimating Salinity Instrusion Effects due to Climate Change on the South Carolina and Georgia Coast

2010 S.C. Water Resources Conference - Science and Policy Challenges for a Sustainable Futur

Accelerating the Hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm

An algorithm for separating the high- and low-frequency molecular dynamics modes in Hybrid Monte Carlo simulations of gauge theories with dynamical fermions is presented. The separation is based on splitting the pseudo-fermion action into two parts, as was initially proposed by Hasenbusch. We propose to introduce different evolution time-scales for each part. We test our proposal in realistic simulations of two-flavor O(a) improved Wilson fermions. A speed-up of more than a factor of three compared to the standard HMC algorithm is observed in a typical run.Comment: 6 pages, late

Exotic Quarkonia from Anisotropic Lattices

We study in detail the spectrum of heavy quarkonia with different orbital angular momentum along with their radial and gluonic excitations. Using an anisotropic formulation of Lattice QCD we achieved an unprecedented control over statistical errors and were able to study systematic errors such as lattice spacing artefacts, finite volume effects and relativistic corrections. First results on the spin structure in heavy hybrids are also presented.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Psychometric Characteristics of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) in Postpartum Mothers with Histories of Childhood Maltreatment

Background: There is increased awareness that resilience serves as a protective factor against adverse psychophysiological sequelae in the context of stress. However, there are few instruments to assess this construct in adult populations. The Connor-Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC) has been developed to assess adaptation following stress exposure. While this instrument has previously demonstrated impressive reliability and construct validity, prior research has not supported the consistency of the originally described factor structure. There is also limited evidence regarding the measurement of resilience in the context of cumulative stress exposure. Objectives: This research explores the psychometric properties of the CD-RISC in mothers with childhood histories of maltreatment Materials and Methods: Postpartum women who endorsed a history of childhood abuse or neglect (N = 141) completed the CD-RISC, the childhood trauma questionnaire and other surveys measuring positive and negative health and functioning. We calculated descriptive statistics with percentage counts and means as appropriate. Internal reliability was evaluated by Cronbach’s alpha and the calculation of item-to-total score correlations. Parallel analysis (PA) was utilized to derive the number of retained factors. Results: A recent parenting transition concomitant with a history of maltreatment was associated with lower CD-RISC scores. Internal reliability and concurrent validity analyses were satisfactory and consistent with predicted hypotheses. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) supported a four-factor model of resilience with this population. Conclusions: This research offers further evidence of the reliability and validity of the CD-RISC. Further, the results of the EFA with parallel analysis offer an empirically-driven derivation of factors for this population

Hybrid Monte Carlo with Fat Link Fermion Actions

The use of APE smearing or other blocking techniques in lattice fermion actions can provide many advantages. There are many variants of these fat link actions in lattice QCD currently, such as FLIC fermions. The FLIC fermion formalism makes use of the APE blocking technique in combination with a projection of the blocked links back into the special unitary group. This reunitarisation is often performed using an iterative maximisation of a gauge invariant measure. This technique is not differentiable with respect to the gauge field and thus prevents the use of standard Hybrid Monte Carlo simulation algorithms. The use of an alternative projection technique circumvents this difficulty and allows the simulation of dynamical fat link fermions with standard HMC and its variants. The necessary equations of motion for FLIC fermions are derived, and some initial simulation results are presented. The technique is more general however, and is straightforwardly applicable to other smearing techniques or fat link actions