A Tribute to Bill Kruskal

Discussion of ``The William Kruskal Legacy: 1919--2005'' by Stephen E. Fienberg, Stephen M. Stigler and Judith M. Tanur [arXiv:0710.5063]Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/088342306000000358 the Statistical Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Time-sequential Pipelined Imaging with Wavefront Coding and Super Resolution

Wavefront coding has long offered the prospect of mitigating optical aberrations and extended depth of field, but image quality and noise performance are inevitably reduced. We report on progress in the use of agile encoding and pipelined fusion of image sequences to recover image quality

The Cultural Lives of Californians: Insights from the California Survey of Arts and Cultural Participation

Over the past two decades, numerous reports indicate that national rates of arts attendance have been declining. This downward trend is reflected in both survey data and in the day-to-day experiences of many nonprofit arts organizations. In California, attendance rates -- as defined by traditional measures -- have also declined. And yet, there is a sense that the arts and culture are flourishing as never before, with a renewed vigor and excitement. How do we understand this apparent contradiction?The trend in attendance figures, however, does not reflect Californians' participation in a wide array of arts and cultural activities. People's participation in arts and cultural activities, especially in ways that allow them to develop or release their own artistic impulse, is extensive -- and perhaps nowhere more so than in California.At the same time, California's cultural landscape is undergoing massive changes, affecting the ways people encounter, experience and engage with art. These changes include California's demographic shift to being a so-called "majority-minority" state and rapid technological advances that offer new opportunities for artistic expression and access. These changes pose challenges and exciting new opportunities for how artists and organizations create and share their expertise and work. But to understand these changes and their implications for the nonprofit arts field, a broader, more nuanced, more complete understanding of how Californians participate in arts and culture is required.The California Survey of Arts & Cultural Participation is a tool we developed to ask a wide range of questions about what Californians do to engage with arts and culture

The N-Effect in Sales: A Field Experiment

Honors (Bachelor's)PsychologyUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112102/1/jacbradb.pd

Tornado Density and Return Periods in the Southeastern United States: Communicating Risk and Vulnerability at the Regional and State Levels

Tornado intensity and impacts vary drastically across space, thus spatial and statistical analyses were used to identify patterns of tornado severity in the Southeastern United States and to assess the vulnerability and estimated recurrence of tornadic activity. Records from the Storm Prediction Center\u27s tornado database (1950-2014) were used to estimate kernel density to identify areas of high and low tornado frequency at both the regional- and state-scales. Return periods (2-year, 5-year, 10-year, 25-year, 50-year, and 100-year) were calculated at both scales as well using a composite score that included EF-scale magnitude, injury counts, and fatality counts. Results showed that the highest density of tornadoes occur in Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas, while the highest return period intensities occur in Alabama and Mississippi. Scaledependent analysis revealed finer details of density and intensity for each state. Better communication of high hazard areas and integration into existing mitigation plans is suggested

Social information, social policy and social science

Der Beitrag befasst sich mit der Bereitstellung und Nutzung von Daten in der öffentlichen Politik und der Rolle der Sozialwissenschaftler im Rahmen einer verbesserten Datennutzung. Dabei geht es insbesondere um die Frage, wie Fakten zu Daten werden und welche Entscheidungen den kontinuierlichen Datensammlungen von sozialen Fakten in der Gesellschaft zugrunde liegen. Es wird untersucht, welche Rollen Regierungen, Märkte und Sozialwissenschaftler bei dieser Datenproduktion besitzen. Während den Sozialwissenschaftlern spezielle Verantwortung für die Qualität von Daten zur Politikberatung zukommt, scheitern jedoch Forschungsprojekte immer wieder an unklaren wissenschaftlichen Fragestellungen an die Forscher, die Daten sammeln und analysieren. So bleibt eine der wesentlichsten ungelösten Fragen zur Zeit, wie Sozialwissenschaft und Politik besser zugunsten einer verbesserten Auswertung sozialer Daten zusammenarbeiten könnten. (ICH

The reform of British television post Peacock : a study.

PhDThroughout the eighties, and particularly from 1986, British broadcasting has been understood as undergoing a fundamental change. Consequently, this thesis will analyze, explain and assess the major developments which have taken place in the wake of what has been widely perceived as an on-going transition within the British broadcasting system. This reform has often been identified as a shift from a system orientated around the concept of public service to one in which alternative core tenets such as free enterprise, competition and commercialization have emerged alongside the traditional paradigm. It has been motivated by a number of imperatives; the 'push' of technology, convergence between the telecom and broadcast industries, the emergence of new media actors, market-liberal ideologies and the political will of the Thatcher government. This thesis will test the relative importance of these factors and consider the crucial questions which are shaping the debate over the future of British broadcasting into the second millenium

A study of the abundance, diversity, and recruitment status of freshwater mussels in the Marais des Cygnes River, Kansas

The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on October 20, 2009).Thesis advisor: Dr. Charles Rabeni.M.S. University of Missouri--Columbia 2009.This study examines the status of a freshwater mussel assemblage located on the Marais des Cygnes River at the Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge in Kansas. Four mussel beds were selected and parameters including density, diversity, area, recruitment status, and habitat selection by mussels were examined at each site. Density within the mussel beds at the four sites ranged from 3.0 mussels/ m2 to 8.9 mussels/ m2. Amblema plicata was the most abundant species at all four sites with densities ranging from 1.3 mussels/ m2 to 4.5 mussels/ m2. The mussel bed at Site 1 had the highest value of species evenness and higher numbers of recent recruits in four aged species. In addition, there was evidence of regular annual recruitment in three tachytictic species at Site 1 in recent years (Amblema plicata, Obliquaria reflexa, and Quadrula pustulosa). In contrast, Ellipsaria lineolata, a bradytictic species experienced higher recruitment success in years where mean monthly discharge in June through August was low. Discriminant models developed at each site based on depth and several substrate variables were accurate (76%-87%) at predicting mussel absence in "unfavorable" habitats (deeper areas with lower ratios of medium and coarse gravel to other particle sizes) but limited in their ability to predict mussel presence in "favorable habitats" (57%-77%). Other factors including stability of the gravel substrate during high flow events, food availability, and temperature may be influencing the micro-scale distribution pattern of mussels at the sites on the Marias des Cygnes River.Includes bibliographical references