Good Light for Good Sight

Let\u27s be eye conservationists. Since we have only one pair of eyes to last us a lifetime it is better to strengthen the eyesight by normal, healthful use than to weaken it by straining to get along under bad lighting conditions

AN ANALYSIS OF THE PROFILES AND MOTIVATIONS OF HABITUAL COMMODITY SPECULATORS

The focus of this study is the habitual speculator in commodity futures markets. The speculator's activity broadens a market, creates essential liquidity, and performs an irreplaceable pricing function. Working knowledge of the profiles and motivations of habitual speculators is essential to both market theorist and policy makers. Responses to a 73 question survey were collected directly from retail commodity brokers with offices in Alabama. Each questionnaire recorded information on an individual commodity client who had traded for an extended period of time. The typical trader studied is a married, white male, age 52. He is affluent and well educated. He is a self-employed business owner who can recover from financial setbacks. He is a politically right wing conservative involved in the political process. He assumes a good deal of risk in most phases of his life. He is both an aggressive investor and an active gambler. This trader does not consider preservation of his commodity capital to be a very high trading priority. As a result, he rarely uses stop loss orders. He wins more frequently than he loses (over 51% of the time) but is an overall net loser in dollar terms. In spite of recurring trading losses, he has never made any substantial change in his basic trading style. To this trader, whether he won or lost on a particular trade is more important than the size of the win or loss. Thus he consistently cuts his profits short while letting his losses run. He also worries more about missing a move in the market by being on the sidelines than about losing by being on the wrong side of a market move; i.e., being in the action is more important than the financial consequences. Participating brokers confirmed that for the majority of the speculators studied, the primary motivation for continuous trading is the recreational utility derived largely from having a market position.Marketing,

A Concept Paper for a VCU Social Sciences Initiative

This project proposes the development of a Social Sciences Initiative at the undergraduate and graduate levels that will provide educational, research and service opportunities for faculty and students. These opportunities are envisioned as interdisciplinary, with a focus on community issues and priorities, and with the potential to create new links among existing educational/research units within the University. The development of a Social Sciences Initiative provides a direct link to the Mission of VCU through several of the Mission’s intents: “activities that increase knowledge and understanding of the world and inspire and enrich teaching” The Social Sciences Initiative will expand current activities and promote innovative teaching in an interdisciplinary manner. “diverse educational programs” The Social Sciences Initiative increases the diversity of educational program offerings. “development of innovative approaches to meet the changing needs of our society” The Social Sciences Initiative will directly address the changing societal needs through support of interdisciplinary education, research, and service. Further, this initiative is consistent with the VCU Vision in that it will “advance a climate of scholarly inquiry…serve as a model of diversity in higher education…addressing urban issues in the nation and the world…build upon its substantial foundations in the…applied social sciences.” (VCU Strategic Plan for the Future of Virginia Commonwealth University, Phase II, 1998)

Math 120BC – Precalculus

Students will explore advanced topics in algebra, functions and graphs, inverse functions, composite functions, polynomial and rational functions, trigonometry, exponential and logarithmic functions

A Case Study Comparing Student Experiences and Success in an Undergraduate Mathematics Course offered through Online, Blended, and Face-to-Face Instruction

A research study was conducted at an undergraduate college, comparing student experiences and successes in a mathematics course offered fully online, blended and face-to-face. In online courses, students enjoy the flexibility of learning at their own pace, not having to travel to school, as well as having consistent access to courses through a web browser. However, such conveniences do not automatically produce positive results. Some students lack the discipline, enthusiasm and sometimes feel socially isolated from their peers when learning online. Despite these challenges, online courses continue to be developed in response to the demand for online learning opportunities. However, there is a need to determine the impact of these opportunities on student learning. The majority of the participants in this study were satisfied with their learning experience. Furthermore, the results analysis did not find enough evidence to confirm that there were any significant differences in the achievement, as measured by students’ final grades and exam scores based on whether the course was taught online, as a blended course, or face-to-face format. The researchers, therefore, concluded that students can attain the same level of academic achievement through online, blended, or face-to-face courses (measuring the final exam and course final grades)

Variation in foraging activity influences area-restricted search behaviour by bottlenose dolphins

Open Access via the Royal Society Agreement Beatrice Offshore Wind Ltd COWRIE Department of Energy & Climate Change, Scottish Government Fundación la Caixa (becas Posgrado, 2015) Marine Mammal Monitoring Programme (MMMP) Marine Scotland Science Moray Offshore Wind Farm (East) Ltd NatureScot Funding This project was made possible through the integration of O.F.B.'s PhD into a broader NatureScot and joint industry funded Marine Mammal Monitoring Programme (MMMP) that supports statutory monitoring of the Moray Firth SAC and offshore windfarm construction. We thank NatureScot, Marine Scotland Science, Beatrice Offshore Wind Ltd, Moray Offshore Wind Farm (East) Ltd, Department of Energy & Climate Change, Scottish Government, Oil & Gas UK and COWRIE for contributing funds or equipment to the MMMP. O.F.B. was funded through a studentship from the Fundación ‘la Caixa’ (Becas Posgrado, 2015). I.M.G., B.J.C. and P.M.T. were core funded by the University of Aberdeen but with salary support for the period of this study though contract to MMMP. V.I.M. and S.M.P. were funded through the MMMP. R.X.C. was core funded by Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW). Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Maxwell High Performance Computing Cluster, funded by the University of Aberdeen, during the development of DOLPHIN-SPOT. We would also like to thank Claudia Aparicio Estaella for her help during the validation of the automatic detector. We acknowledge Bill Ruck, Moray First Marine and colleagues from the University of Aberdeen for assistance with the data collection and anonymous reviewers for comments that helped improve the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Prey encounters and spatial memory influence use of foraging patches in a marine central place forager

This study was carried out as part of the Moray Firth Marine Mammal Monitoring Programme, a joint industry, academic and government strategic research project with funding from Beatrice Offshore Wind Ltd and Moray Offshore Renewables Ltd (MORL).Given the patchiness and long-term predictability of marine resources, memory of high-quality foraging grounds is expected to provide fitness advantages for central place foragers. However, it remains challenging to characterize how marine predators integrate memory with recent prey encounters to adjust fine-scale movement and use of foraging patches. Here, we used two months of movement data from harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) to quantify the repeatability in foraging patches as a proxy for memory. We then integrated these data into analyses of fine-scale movement and underwater behaviour to test how both spatial memory and prey encounter rates influenced the seals' area-restricted search (ARS) behaviour. Specifically, we used one month's GPS data from 29 individuals to build spatial memory maps of searched areas and archived accelerometery data from a subset of five individuals to detect prey catch attempts, a proxy for prey encounters. Individuals were highly consistent in the areas they visited over two consecutive months. Hidden Markov models showed that both spatial memory and prey encounters increased the probability of seals initiating ARS. These results provide evidence that predators use memory to adjust their fine-scale movement, and this ability should be accounted for in movement models.PostprintPeer reviewe

4-H wetland wonders - a water quality curriculum for grades 4 and 5 leader guide [1998]

Water quality curriculum.Published July 1998. Replaced by 4-H 3805L. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalo

Public preferences for social distancing policy measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in Missouri

Importance: Policies to promote social distancing can minimize COVID-19 transmission but come with substantial social and economic costs. Quantifying relative preferences among the public for such practices can inform locally relevant policy prioritization and optimize uptake. Objective: To evaluate relative utilities (ie, preferences) for COVID-19 pandemic social distancing strategies against the hypothetical risk of acquiring COVID-19 and anticipated income loss. Design, Setting, and Participants: This survey study recruited individuals living in the Missouri area from May to June 2020 via randomly distributed unincentivized social media advertisements and local recruitment platforms for members of minority racial and ethnic groups. Participants answered 6 questions that asked them to choose between 2 hypothetical counties where business closures, social distancing policy duration, COVID-19 infection risk, and income loss varied. Main Outcomes and Measures: Reweighted population-level relative preferences (utilities) for social distancing policies, subgroups, and latent classes. Results: The survey had a 3% response rate (3045 of 90 320). Of the 2428 respondents who completed the survey, 1669 (75%) were 35 years and older, 1536 (69%) were women, and 1973 (89%) were White. After reweighting to match Missouri population demographic characteristics, the strongest preference was for the prohibition of large gatherings (mean preference, -1.43; 95% CI, -1.67 to -1.18), with relative indifference to the closure of social and lifestyle venues (mean preference, 0.05; 95% CI, -0.08 to 0.17). There were weak preferences to keep outdoor venues (mean preference, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.39 to 0.61) and schools (mean preference, 0.18; 95% CI, 0.05 to 0.30) open. Latent class analysis revealed 4 distinct preference phenotypes in the population: risk averse (48.9%), conflicted (22.5%), prosocial (14.9%), and back to normal (13.7%), with men twice as likely as women to belong to the back to normal group than the risk averse group (relative risk ratio, 2.19; 95% CI, 1.54 to 3.12). Conclusions And relevance: In this survey study using a discrete choice experiment, public health policies that prohibited large gatherings, as well as those that closed social and lifestyle venues, appeared to be acceptable to the public. During policy implementation, these activities should be prioritized for first-phase closures. These findings suggest that policy messages that address preference heterogeneity (eg, focusing on specific preference subgroups or targeting men) could improve adherence to social distancing measures for COVID-19 and future pandemics