A moving baseline for evaluation of advanced coal extraction systems

Results from the initial effort to establish baseline economic performance comparators for a program whose intent is to define, develop, and demonstrate advanced systems suitable for coal resource extraction beyond the year 2000 are reported. Systems used were selected from contemporary coal mining technology and from conservation conjectures of year 2000 technology. The analysis was also based on a seam thickness of 6 ft. Therefore, the results are specific to the study systems and the selected seam extended to other seam thicknesses

Improving Family-Professional Partnerships through Active Listening Training

Although family-professional partnerships have a substantial positive impact on student progress and development, there still is a considerable need for educators to work on building and maintaining these relationships. Education professionals continue to discuss the need for training in building partnerships with families. Effective trainings for pre-service teachers in communication may be a key component to develop these skills in future educators. Active listening has been shown to have an important role in effective communication and may be the first step to building strong family-professional partnerships. This study presents a systematic literature review examining how active listening trainings have been conducted in college programs. Eight studies met inclusion criteria for further analysis and discussion. The results demonstrated significant effects and suggest active listening skills can be a potentially effective intervention to address communication barriers. However, the quality of the research base limits the overall confidence in the findings. To address prior limitations in the research, the following study utilized a pretest – posttest design to examine participant’s active listening steps achieved before and after an active listening training. Findings yielded statistically significant effects in pretest and posttest results. In addition, social validity measures showed family members of individuals with disabilities noticed a positive difference between individuals who did and did not receive the training. The research discusses the implications of results and future research

The use of whole exome sequencing to detect novel genetic disorders: Two cases and an assessment of the technology

Over the past several years whole exome sequencing (WES) by high-throughput sequencing of target-enriched genomic DNA has become both technically feasible and financially practical as a means of studying Mendelian disorders. It is also entering the clinical realm as a powerful diagnostic tool for cases that have eluded answers and a cost effective one for cases with a suspected genetically heterogeneous disorder or set of differentials. This thesis examines the strategies for use and impact of such a technology in both the research and clinical setting. It presents an analysis of two cases in which WES was used to determine the causative mutation in the phenotype of an unknown/undiagnosed genetic disorder. The results demonstrate the strengths and limitations of variant filtering strategies, the need for co-segregating familial samples when possible, the value of a detailed phenotypic picture and family history, and value of functional studies in confirming the pathogenicity of candidate variants. In the first case report, WES succeeded in narrowing the candidate list to a manageable size for two sibs affected in the neonatal period with seizures, encephalopathy, and thrombocytopenia, and who died at a few months of age. Sequencing data on the parents and unaffected sibling is needed to elucidate the pathogenic mutations. In the second case report, WES detected a strong candidate mutation in NDUFAF6, a complex 1 assembly factor. Given the patient’s presentation with multi-organ dysfunction, dramatic skeletal myopathy, and degenerative course suggestive of a mitochondrial disorder, complex 1 deficiency was suspected but Sanger sequencing failed to confirm the mutation. This thesis also examined the ethical and practical considerations involved in incorporating WES into clinical practice and its impact on public health, namely improved treatment options for patients and an improved knowledge of the relationship between genetics and disease phenotypes

Price Impact and Survival of Irrational Traders

Milton Friedman argued that irrational traders will consistently lose money, won’t survive and, therefore, cannot influence long run equilibrium asset prices. Since his work, survival and price impact have been assumed to be the same. In this paper, we demonstrate that survival and price impact are two independent concepts. The price impact of irrational traders does not rely on their long-run survival and they can have a significant impact on asset prices even when their wealth becomes negligible. We also show that irrational traders ’portfolio policies can deviate from their limits long after the price process approaches its long-run limit. We show, in contrast to a partial equilibrium analysis, these general equilibrium considerations matter for the irrational traders long-run survival. In sum, we explicitly show that price impact can persist whether or not the irrational traders survive.

An application of cumulant techniques to irreversible processes

Ph.D.Harold A. Gersc