How Relevant is the Disclosure of a CEO Pay Ratio?

An aftershock of the so called “Great Recession” in 2008, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act effective July 21, 2010 aimed to increase the transparency of public companies. Section 953(b) of this act is targeting the transparency of executive and employee compensation by requiring the disclosure of a CEO to median employee pay ratio. This disclosure requirement, set to affect all filings with a fiscal year beginning after January 1, 2017, was a response to the public outcry against excessive CEO compensation. Although it does promote the transparency initiative of the Dodd-Frank Act, this disclosure may be wholly unnecessary. Because total CEO compensation is already a required disclosure, this study is examining the benefits and necessity of Section 953(b) by taking into account the driving force behind the ratio and its effect on the business environment

Statistical methods for random rotations

The analysis of orientation data is a growing field in statistics. Though the rotationally symmetric location model for orientation data is simple, statistical methods for estimation and inference for the location parameter, S are limited. In this dissertation we develop point estimation and confidence region methods for the central orientation. Both extrinsic and intrinsic approaches to estimating the central orientation S have been proposed in the literature, but no rigorous comparison of the approaches is available. In Chapter 2 we consider both intrinsic and extrinsic estimators of the central orientation and compare their statistical properties in a simulation study. In particular we consider the projected mean, geometric mean and geometric median. In addition we introduce the projected median as a novel robust estimator of the location parameter. The results of a simulation study suggest the projected median is the preferred estimator because of its low bias and mean square error. Non-parametric confidence regions for the central orientation have been proposed in the literature, but they have undesirable coverage rates for small samples. In Chapter 3 we propose a nonparametric pivotal bootstrap to calibrate confidence regions for the central orientation. We demonstrate the benefits of using calibrated confidence regions in a simulation study and prove the proposed bootstrap method is consistent. Robust statistical methods for estimating the central orientation has received very little attention. In Chapter 4 we explore the finite sample and asymptotic properties of the projected median. In particular we derive the asymptotic distribution of the projected median and show it is SB-robust for the Cayley and matrix Fisher distributions. Confidence regions for the central orientation S are proposed, which can be shown to have preferable finite sample coverage rates compared to those based on the projected mean. Finally the rotations package is developed in Chapter 5, which contains functions for the statistical analysis of rotation data in SO(3)

Who is an “artist” being “copied” and who’s just raw material

There’s something racialized about copyright

Master of Science

thesisThis study examined elementary school teacher attitudes and beliefs about their perceived and desired role in childhood obesity prevention. An online survey was administered to K-6 teachers (n=628) in 55 public elementary schools in the greater Salt Lake City area. Questions addressed teachers' classroom practices, personal health behaviors, and their beliefs and attitudes about role in childhood obesity prevention. The majority of teachers (64%) believed they should play a role in childhood obesity prevention and 68% believed they can impact student health behaviors. Seventy percent of teachers included nutrition education in the classroom, with the majority (56%) teaching between 1-5 hours of nutrition lessons during the school year. On average, teachers self-reported moderate levels of nutrition self-efficacy and good to excellent overall health. Personal health practices, nutrition-self efficacy, and nutrition attitudes and beliefs were significantly correlated. Overall, teachers understood the impact of healthy nutrition practices in the classroom, but less than a quarter (21%) agreed that they have the support they need to teach nutrition in the classroom. Barriers to nutrition education include core curriculum demands, lack of time, and pressure to integrate lessons. Teachers reported the need for curriculum with short nutrition lessons, resources for nutrition guest speakers, and support for a healthy school nutrition environment

Dopaminergic Genetic Contributions to Obesity in Kidney Transplant Recipients

Background: Kidney transplant recipients are a population who experience a high likelihood of gaining a significant amount of weight (between 6 and 13 kilograms) during the first year after transplantation. However, not all kidney transplant recipients gain weight. Studies have found little difference in physical activity and nutritional intake among those who do and do not gain weight. Immunosuppressant medications have also not been shown to play a substantive role in post-transplant weight gain. Additionally, although some studies have shown that age, gender, and race can influence weight gain, this information does not fully capture the observed variance. These observations suggest that genetic factors may have a role in the differential weight gain experienced by kidney transplant recipients. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that has previously been implicated in substance addiction. Recently, neuroimaging and neurogenetic data have shown that dopamine may also play a role in obesity. Both dopamine receptor genes and genes related to overall dopamine activity have been associated with obesity, weight gain, and food addiction. Gene expression studies in subcutaneous adipose tissue of kidney transplant recipients showed that expression of some dopaminergic pathway genes was negatively correlated with weight gain. Polymorphisms in some of these genes have been linked to weight gain by others. Taken together, these results suggest that genetic variation in some dopaminergic genes may underlie changes in their expression or function and may contribute to the risk for gaining weight. The purpose of the proposed study was to determine if polymorphisms associated with these previously found dopaminergic genes have predictive value when combined with demographic characteristics to identify kidney transplant recipients who are at risk of gaining weight. Methods: The subjects for this study represent a subsample of participants in a previous observational study. As a part of this study, age, race, and gender information were collected, as well as baseline and twelve month weight and height. Additionally, white blood cells were collected at baseline. Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) techniques were used to determine the genotype of these dopaminergic polymorphisms noted in previous work and in the literature as being related to weight gain. This included a total of 10 variants in 7 genes: dopamine receptor type 2 gene (DRD2) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs1800497, rs6277, and rs12364283, dopamine receptor type 3 gene (DRD3) SNP rs6280, dopamine receptor type 4 gene (DRD4) variable number tandem repeat (VNTR), catechol-o-methyltransferase gene (COMT) SNPs rs4680 and rs4818, monoamine oxidase A gene (MAOA) VNTR, monoamine oxidase B gene (MAOB) SNP rs1799836, and dopamine active transporter gene (SLC6A3/DAT1) VNTR. Genotypes were analyzed using dose dependent and risk allele approaches, and those variants with p≤0.20 were included in regression modeling. Regression models were built in a stepwise manner, first by building a model with only demographic characteristics, then by building a model with only genetic variants. Next, models were built with demographic and just individual genetic variants, and finally a model was built with demographic and all genetic variants included. Results: Seventy subjects were included in this study (43% female, 57% African American, mean age 50.7 ±13.2 years). Age was found to be weakly correlated with percent weight change (r=-0.32), but race and gender showed no appreciable relationship to percent weight change at 12 months. A simple regression of age on percent weight change was significant (p=0.006) and explained 11.2% of the variance. Multiple regression models of genetic and demographic factors explained between 11.4 and 25% of the variance, but no model reached statistical significance overall. However, age was consistently significant as a regressor. The SLC6A3/DAT1 9/10 genotype and the DRD2 rs1800497 TC genotype both approached significance in the modeling with p values of 0.08 and 0.07 respectively. The DRD2 rs1800497 genotype was also significantly correlated with percent weight gain in a dose dependent fashion (r=-0.28, p=0.05). Conclusions: Increasing age is associated with less weight gain in the first year after kidney transplantation. Although the regression modeling failed to find significant association between weight gain and specific genotypes in the set of dopaminergic genes, this study was conducted as a pilot study to test the feasibility of the methodology. Even with the current sample size and effect size limitations, these results suggest that the DRD2 SNP rs1800497 and the SLC6A3/DAT1 VNTR have value in prediction of weight gain in kidney transplant recipients. To test the predictive value of these polymorphisms, further studies using a larger cohort of patients is required

Guest Editorial: The 2014 Capstone Design Conference

The goal of the 2014 Capstone Design Conference held in Columbus, OH was to build upon the success of three previous conferences (2007 and 2010 in Boulder, CO, and 2012 in Champaign, IL) and expand the community of educators, students, and industry members engaged in discussing, analyzing, and improving capstone design education. Sessions at the 2014 Capstone Design Conference were designed for vibrant sharing of ideas and experiences across the capstone community via interactive panel sessions, poster session socials, and hands-on workshops. This editorial discusses conference planning, structure, and feedback. Technical papers that follow in this issue document scholarship surrounding noteworthy capstone course innovations. Most of these began as four page peer-reviewed papers included in the conference proceedings

Boolean Architecture

The Grande Boolean Concert Hall uses architectural features to draw in the passerby and creates a pull for those considering Knoxville as a destination. The design infuses natural curves into the downtown area creating architectural intrigue and seats just over 1800 patrons for concerts or events. Boolean logic informed the programmatic flow and overall form celebrating the three Boolean operations: difference, intersection and union. The geometries informing circulation, enclosure and organization were the cone, sphere, and ellipse. These geometries were operated upon to create a plaza, entrance, and roof geometry directly relating to acoustic performance. A detailed acoustic simulation allowed for the iteration of acoustic reflector organization to ensure the greatest acoustic quality within the design. Extraordinary methods of drawing including stone stereotomy, the historical art and science of cutting three dimensional stones from 2-d drawings, and descriptive geometry informed how the project was documented and helped cultivate the translation of 3-dimensional objects into 2-dimensional data. The initial research to develop these extraordinary methods included 2-d and 3-d algorithms testing the curvature documentation of fruit, a naturally doubly curved surface. Without these extraordinary methods the documentation of this design at a construction level would not be possible due to the doubly curved surfaces produced through the Boolean operations

Crafting is So Hardcore: Masculinized Making in Gaming Representations of Labor

In this paper we examine the representation of crafts in video games, particularly in “crafting systems” – collections of mechanics that are described as crafting within a game's narrative. Real world crafting practitioners value creativity, expression, and mastery of material, but the act of crafting itself is often viewed by society as reproductive, feminized labor and therefore devalued. Because of this, crafting systems in games have been designed to more closely resemble masculinized, productive labor in the form of repetitive, manufacturing-like mechanics. These representational choices persist even across games lauded for their crafting systems, as our analysis demonstrates. Through an examination of both user-generated tutorials and game mechanics for three games that frequently appear on “best crafting games” lists, we show that games persist in devaluing the reproductive labor of crafting, reducing creative expression and material mastery to marginal and repetitive tasks while catering to the palates of masculine gamers by emphasizing stats-driven progression rather than creative making

But Does Pikachu Love You? Reproductive Labor in Casual and Hardcore Games

Since the first Pokémon game launched in Japan in 1996, the series has been a balancing act between casual and hardcore gaming. While the first iteration and “core” series has emphasized a modified, accessible version of traditional JRPG mechanics, other titles have frequently emphasized so-called casual play; most recently, Pokémon Go lured in a new set of players with mobile, locative Pokémon hunting. The 2018 release of a hybrid game, Let’s Go, Pikachu! and its sister release Let’s Go, Eevee!, has drawn renewed attention to the casual-hardcore dichotomy, meeting considerable resistance and criticism for its perceived casualization of the franchise. Through analyzing the discourse of the new game’s reception as demonstrated by a dataset of user reviews on Metacritic alongside published game reviews, the gendered nature of the casual-hardcore dichotomy in the Pokémon franchise becomes clear. Key themes coded from the reviewed data include grinding, difficulty, nostalgia, and “cuteness.” Placing this discourse alongside the game’s own internal representations of reproductive labor through Pokémon caretaking and the contested definition of “grinding” demonstrates a fundamental resistance from the so-called hardcore game community to what are viewed as feminized play mechanics. The revealed tension is particularly remarkable given the emotional, reproductive labor of training and loving Pokémon that is front-ended in the franchise’s overarching narrative and core values--a set of values that inherently conflicts with the “hardcore” gamer mentality of play

The Jacobi operator on (−1,1)(-1,1) and its various mm-functions

We offer a detailed treatment of spectral and Weyl-Titchmarsh-Kodaira theory for all self-adjoint Jacobi operator realizations of the differential expression \begin{align*} \tau_{\alpha,\beta} = - (1-x)^{-\alpha} (1+x)^{-\beta}(d/dx) \big((1-x)^{\alpha+1}(1+x)^{\beta+1}\big) (d/dx),& \\ \alpha, \beta \in \mathbb{R}, \; x \in (-1,1),& \end{align*} in $L^2\big((-1,1); (1-x)^{\alpha} (1+x)^{\beta} dx\big)$, $\alpha, \beta \in \mathbb{R}$. In addition to discussing the separated boundary conditions that lead to Jacobi orthogonal polynomials as eigenfunctions in detail, we exhaustively treat the case of coupled boundary conditions and illustrate the latter with the help of the general $\eta$-periodic and Krein--von Neumann extensions. In particular, we treat all underlying Weyl-Titchmarsh-Kodaira and Green's function induced $m$-functions and revisit their Nevanlinna-Herglotz property. We also consider connections to other differential operators associated with orthogonal polynomials such as Laguerre, Gegenbauer, and Chebyshev.Comment: 59 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2102.00685, arXiv:2110.15913, arXiv:1910.1311