Improving the Accuracy of Mobile Touchscreen QWERTY Keyboards

In this thesis we explore alternative keyboard layouts in hopes of finding one that increases the accuracy of text input on mobile touchscreen devices. In particular, we investigate if a single swap of 2 keys can significantly improve accuracy on mobile touchscreen QWERTY keyboards. We do so by carefully considering the placement of keys, exploiting a specific vulnerability that occurs within a keyboard layout, namely, that the placement of particular keys next to others may be increasing errors when typing. We simulate the act of typing on a mobile touchscreen QWERTY keyboard, beginning with modeling the typographical errors that can occur when doing so. We then construct a simple autocorrector using Bayesian methods, describing how we can autocorrect user input and evaluate the ability of the keyboard to output the correct text. Then, using our models, we provide methods of testing and define a metric, the WAR rating, which provides us a way of comparing the accuracy of a keyboard layout. After running our tests on all 325 2-key swap layouts against the original QWERTY layout, we show that there exists more than one 2-key swap that increases the accuracy of the current QWERTY layout, and that the best 2-key swap is i ↔ t, increasing accuracy by nearly 0.18 percent

Critical Issues for Administrators of Specialized Schools

The current call for accountability in education increases the need for an understanding of best practices for administrators of specialized schools that serve students with special needs, including residential and day treatment programs. The literature revealed issues in curriculum planning and resource allocation to meet the complex and interrelated needs of students in specialized schools, and in effective program design for students with specific low incidence disabilities. No literature could be identified that addressed the challenges of administering specialized schools that integrate educational, therapeutic, and transitional and vocational programs in one setting. A survey of administrators of specialized schools in one Northern California county was conducted to identify best practices for decision making and resource allocation in a time of dwindling local, state and national resources. Four administrators working in specialized programs in Northern California were interviewed using a questionnaire. Findings indicated that administrators of specialized schools make decisions about staffing, training and curriculum based on their students’ needs for integrated services in order to support development across three domains: 1) academic, 2) therapeutic, and 3) vocational, transitional and independent living skill training. Administrator responses emphasized communication and collaboration between all domains as essential for student success. Findings further indicated that administrators agreed that students do best when teachers receive support for their emotional and social needs as well as their curriculum and instructional planning needs

Using Third-Party Information in Forensic Mental-Health Assessment: A Critical Review

T he use of psychological and psychiatric evaluations for the courts has grown considerably in the last three decades.1 For the purposes of this article, we will refer to such an evaluation as a forensic mental-health assessment (FMHA). There are two important components to the definition of FMHA. First, such activity involves evaluations conducted in the context of criminal or civil proceedings.2 Second, it includes certain kinds of tasks—such as reconstructing a past mental state and linking it with the functional-legal capacities specified in a given legal test (such as insanity at the time of the offense) or evaluating a current mental state and appraising the extent to which it affects such functional legal capacities (such as those described in competence-to-stand trial evaluations).3 We begin by discussing FMHA in greater detail. This discussion includes broad foundational principles applicable to all such evaluations, as well as a brief description of 17 commonly evaluated types of FMHA. In this context, we then turn to the use of third-party information, or TPI (collateral interviews, records, and other documents or digital evidence), in FMHA. This discussion will address the importance, the value and limitations, and the current legal and professional status of TPI in forensic assessment

Using Third-Party Information in Forensic Mental-Health Assessment: A Critical Review

T he use of psychological and psychiatric evaluations for the courts has grown considerably in the last three decades.1 For the purposes of this article, we will refer to such an evaluation as a forensic mental-health assessment (FMHA). There are two important components to the definition of FMHA. First, such activity involves evaluations conducted in the context of criminal or civil proceedings.2 Second, it includes certain kinds of tasks—such as reconstructing a past mental state and linking it with the functional-legal capacities specified in a given legal test (such as insanity at the time of the offense) or evaluating a current mental state and appraising the extent to which it affects such functional legal capacities (such as those described in competence-to-stand trial evaluations).3 We begin by discussing FMHA in greater detail. This discussion includes broad foundational principles applicable to all such evaluations, as well as a brief description of 17 commonly evaluated types of FMHA. In this context, we then turn to the use of third-party information, or TPI (collateral interviews, records, and other documents or digital evidence), in FMHA. This discussion will address the importance, the value and limitations, and the current legal and professional status of TPI in forensic assessment

Ultraluminous infrared galaxies: mergers of sub-L* galaxies?

A sample of 27 low-redshift, mostly cool, ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) has been imaged at 1.6 μm with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS). The majority (67%) of the sample's galaxies are multiple-nucleus galaxies with projected separations of up to 17 kpc, and the rest of the sample (33%) are single-nucleus galaxies, as determined by the NICMOS angular resolution limit. The average observed, integrated (host+nucleus) H magnitude of our HST H sample ULIRGs is -24.3, slightly above that of an L* galaxy (MH = -24.2), and 52% of the sample's galaxies have sub-L* luminosities. The ULIRGs in the HST H sample are not generated as a result of the merging of two luminous (i.e., ≥L*) spiral galaxies. Instead, the interactions and mergers occur in general between two, or in some cases more, less massive sub-L* (0.3-0.5L*) galaxies. Only one out of the 49 nuclei identified in the entire HST H sample has the properties of a bright quasar-like nucleus. On average, the brightest nuclei in the HST H sample galaxies (i.e., cool ULIRGs) are 1.2 mag fainter than warm ULIRGs and low-luminosity Bright Quasar Survey quasars (BQS QSOs) and 2.6 mag fainter than high-luminosity BQS QSOs. Since the progenitor galaxies involved in the merger are sub-L* galaxies, the mass of the central black hole in these ULIRGs would be only about (1-2) × 107 M☉, if the bulge-to-black hole mass ratio of nearby galaxies holds for ULIRGs. The estimated mass of the central black hole is similar to that of nearby Seyfert 2 galaxies but at least 1 order of magnitude lower than the massive black holes thought to be located at the center of high-luminosity QSOs. Massive nuclear starbursts with constant star formation rates of 10-40 M☉ yr-1 could contribute significantly to the nuclear H-band flux and are consistent with the observed nuclear H-band magnitudes of the ULIRGs in the HST H sample. An evolutionary merging scenario is proposed for the generation of the different types of ULIRGs and QSOs on the basis of the masses of the progenitors involved in the merging process. According to this scenario, cool ULIRGs would be the end product of the merging of two or more low-mass (0.3L*-0.5L*) disk galaxies. Warm ULIRGs and low-luminosity QSOs would be generated by a merger involving intermediate-mass (0.5 L*) disk galaxies. Under this scenario, warm ULIRGs could still be the dust-enshrouded phases of UV-bright low-luminosity QSOs, but cool ULIRGs, which are most ULIRGs, would not evolve into QSOs

Housing & Residence Life Impact Report: Fall 2017 to Spring 2018

Introduction: Living on campus is considered a high impact practice for student success. Student success is believed to emerge from “the amount of physical and psychological energy that the student devotes to the academic experience” (Astin, 1984), housing and residence life programming facilitates this type of devotion. However, creating this type of living experience requires administrators understand the complexities of how housing can affect specific student groups and their decision to either persist at or leave an institution. This report explores the impact of housing and residence life at Utah State University on students living on campus. It disaggregates results to identify which segments of students benefit most and it explores the impact by living community and dormitory style. METHODS: Students who lived on campus were compared to similar students who did not live on campus. They were compared using prediction-based propensity score matching. This technique matched students who lived on campus with non-users based on their persistence prediction and their propensity to participate. The difference between predicted and actual persistence rates were compared using difference-in-difference testing. FINDINGS: Students were 98% similar following matching. Those who lived on campus were significantly more likely to persist at USU than similar students who did not live on campus, (DID = 0.0119, p \u3c .001). The unstandardized effect size can be estimated through student impact. It is estimated that housing assisted in retaining 46 (CI: 21 – 71) students each year who were otherwise not expected to persist

Regional differences in AIDS and non-AIDS related mortality in HIV-positive individuals across Europe and Argentina: the EuroSIDA study

BACKGROUND Differences in access to care and treatment have been reported in Eastern Europe, a region with one of the fastest growing HIV epidemics, compared to the rest of Europe. This analysis aimed to establish whether there are regional differences in the mortality rate of HIV-positive individuals across Europe, and Argentina. METHODS 13,310 individuals under follow-up were included in the analysis. Poisson regression investigated factors associated with the risk of death. FINDINGS During 82,212 person years of follow-up (PYFU) 1,147 individuals died (mortality rate 14.0 per 1,000 PYFU (95% confidence interval [CI] 13.1-14.8). Significant differences between regions were seen in the rate of all-cause, AIDS and non-AIDS related mortality (global p<0.0001 for all three endpoints). Compared to South Europe, after adjusting for baseline demographics, laboratory measurements and treatment, a higher rate of AIDS related mortality was observed in East Europe (IRR 2.90, 95%CI 1.97-4.28, p<.0001), and a higher rate of non-AIDS related mortality in North Europe (IRR 1.51, 95%CI 1.24-1.82, p<.0001). The differences observed in North Europe decreased over calendar-time, in 2009-2011, the higher rate of non-AIDS related mortality was no longer significantly different to South Europe (IRR 1.07, 95%CI 0.66-1.75, p = 0.77). However, in 2009-2011, there remained a higher rate of AIDS-related mortality (IRR 2.41, 95%CI 1.11-5.25, p = 0.02) in East Europe compared to South Europe in adjusted analysis. INTERPRETATIONS There are significant differences in the rate of all-cause mortality among HIV-positive individuals across different regions of Europe and Argentina. Individuals in Eastern Europe had an increased risk of mortality from AIDS related causes and individuals in North Europe had the highest rate of non-AIDS related mortality. These findings are important for understanding and reviewing HIV treatment strategies and policies across the European region

Is it possible to separate the graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effect against B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia from graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after hematopoietic cell transplant?

Hematopoietic cell transplant is a curative therapy for many pediatric patients with high risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Its therapeutic mechanism is primarily based on the generation of an alloreactive graft-versus-leukemia effect that can eliminate residual leukemia cells thus preventing relapse. However its efficacy is diminished by the concurrent emergence of harmful graft-versus-host disease disease which affects healthly tissue leading to significant morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this review is to describe the interventions that have been trialed in order to augment the beneficial graft-versus leukemia effect post-hematopoietic cell transplant while limiting the harmful consequences of graft-versus-host disease. This includes many emerging and promising strategies such a