Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Chasing The Dollar: An Ethnography Of The Traveling Welder., Jennifer Shepherd

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

This is an ethnographic study of a group of men who work as traveling welders. This study looks at both the kinds of challenges the men face as well as the positive aspects of the work. The questions asked of the ten interview subjects were chosen in order to gain an understanding of a day in the life of the men in this profession, both on and off the clock.

The thesis will open with a pitch given by a welding school and segue into the literature review, delving into occupational and organizational culture definitions before comparing welding to other …

Test Of Hypotheses In A Time Trend Panel Data Model With Serially Correlated Error Component Disturbances, Chihwa Kao, Badi H. Baltagi, Long Liu

Center for Policy Research

This paper studies test of hypotheses for the slope parameter in a linear time trend panel data model with serially correlated error component disturbances. We propose a test statistic that uses a bias corrected estimator of the serial correlation parameter. The proposed test statistic which is based on the corresponding fixed effects feasible generalized least squares (FE-FGLS) estimator of the slope parameter has the standard normal limiting distribution which is valid whether the remainder error is I(0) or I(1). This performs well in Monte Carlo experiments and is recommended.

Measuring Service Quality At Tehran University Of Medical Sciences' Libraries, Amir Hosein Mardani, Soheila Alavi, Mohsen Nazarzadeh Zare

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Using the Libqual+ model, the present study aims to compare the viewpoints of students and librarians in the Tehran’s Medical Sciences University to determine the quality of library services. The results show that the users consider the current quality of services lower than what the librarians consider them to be. This difference of opinion is much more drastic when examining the information control subscale. Service superiority gap was estimated to be -2.14 for the overall library services under study and the said libraries fall fairly short of providing users with the desired level of services. From the users’ point of …

Discounting The Distant Future, J. Doyne Farmer, John Geanakoplos, Jaume Masoliver, Miquel Montero

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

If the historical average annual real interest rate is m > 0, and if the world is stationary, should consumption in the distant future be discounted at the rate of m per year? Suppose the annual real interest rate r ( t ) reverts to m according to the Ornstein Uhlenbeck (OU) continuous time process dr ( t ) = α[ m – r ( t )] dt + kdw ( t ), where w is a standard Wiener process. Then we prove that the long run rate of interest is r ∞ = m – k 2 /2α 2 . …

Selling Experiments: Menu Pricing Of Information, Dirk Bergemann, Alessandro Bonatti, Alex Smolin

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

A monopolist sells informative experiments to heterogeneous buyers. Buyers differ in their prior information, and hence in their willingness to pay for additional signals. The monopolist can profitably offer a menu of experiments. We show that, even under costless information acquisition and free degrading of information, the optimal menu is quite coarse. The seller offers at most two experiments, and we derive conditions under which at vs. discriminatory pricing is optimal.

Dynamic Revenue Maximization: A Continuous Time Approach, Dirk Bergemann, Philipp Strack

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We characterize the profit-maximizing mechanism for repeatedly selling a non-durable good in continuous time. The valuation of each agent is private information and changes over time. At the time of contracting every agent privately observes his initial type which influences the evolution of his valuation process. In the profit-maximizing mechanism the allocation is distorted in favor of agents with high initial types. We derive the optimal mechanism in closed form, which enables us to compare the distortion in various examples. The case where the valuation of the agents follows an arithmetic/geometric Brownian motion, Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, or is derived from a …

Dynamic Revenue Maximization: A Continuous Time Approach, Dirk Bergemann, Philipp Strack

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We characterize the profit-maximizing mechanism for repeatedly selling a non-durable good in continuous time. The valuation of each agent is private information and changes over time. At the time of contracting every agent privately observes his initial type which influences the evolution of his valuation process. In the profit-maximizing mechanism the allocation is distorted in favor of agents with high initial types. We derive the optimal mechanism in closed form, which enables us to compare the distortion in various examples. The case where the valuation of the agents follows an arithmetic/geometric Brownian motion, Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, or is derived from a …

Dynamic Revenue Maximization: A Continuous Time Approach, Dirk Bergemann, Philipp Strack

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We characterize the revenue-maximizing mechanism for time separable allocation problems in continuous time. The valuation of each agent is private information and changes over time. At the time of contracting every agent privately observes his initial type which influences the evolution of his valuation process. The leading example is the repeated sales of a good or a service. We derive the optimal dynamic mechanism, analyze its qualitative structure and frequently derive its closed form solution. This enables us to compare the distortion in various settings. In particular, we discuss the cases where the type of each agent follows an arithmetic …

Dynamic Revenue Maximization: A Continuous Time Approach, Dirk Bergemann, Philipp Strack

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We characterize the revenue-maximizing mechanism for time separable allocation problems in continuous time. The willingness-to-pay of each agent is private information and changes over time. We derive the dynamic revenue-maximizing mechanism, analyze its qualitative structure and frequently derive its closed form solution. In the leading example of repeat sales of a good or service, we establish that commonly observed contract features such as at rates, free consumption units and two-part tariffs emerge as part of the optimal contract. We investigate in detail the environments in which the type of each agent follows an arithmetic or geometric Brownian motion or a …

Games With Money And Status: How Best To Incentivize Work, Pradeep Dubey, John Geanakoplos

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Status is greatly valued in the real world, yet it has not received much attention from economic theorists. We examine how the owner of a firm can best combine money and status together to get his employees to work hard for the least total cost. We find that he should motivate workers of low skill mostly by status and high skill mostly by money. Moreover, he should do so by using a small number of titles and wage levels. This often results in star wages to the elite performers.

Money And Status: How Best To Incentivize Work, Pradeep Dubey, John Geanakoplos

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Status is greatly valued in the real world, yet it has not received much attention from economic theorists. We examine how the owner of a firm can best combine money and status to get her employees to work hard for the least total cost. We find that she should motivate workers of low skill mostly by status and high skill mostly by money. Moreover, she should do so by using a small number of titles and wage levels. This often results in star wages to the elite performers and, more generally, in wage jumps for small increases in productivity. By …

Open Access Data In Polar And Cryospheric Remote Sensing, Allen Pope, W. Rees, Adrian Fox, Andrew Fleming

Dartmouth Scholarship

This paper aims to introduce the main types and sources of remotely sensed data that are freely available and have cryospheric applications. We describe aerial and satellite photography, satellite-borne visible, near-infrared and thermal infrared sensors, synthetic aperture radar, passive microwave imagers and active microwave scatterometers. We consider the availability and practical utility of archival data, dating back in some cases to the 1920s for aerial photography and the 1960s for satellite imagery, the data that are being collected today and the prospects for future data collection; in all cases, with a focus on data that are openly accessible. Derived data …

Flow (Proquest), Carolyn Schubert, Amanda Hedrick

Libraries

Flow is a new citation management product released by ProQuest in 2013, bridging the robust features in RefWorks with other popular characteristics from its competitors like Mendeley or Zotero. Additional features such as document annotations and revised folder sharing are great additions. However, Flow still lacks a full mobile-friendly interface and complete ADA-accessible navigation. Overall, Flow is a huge step forward in design and usability for those already familiar with RefWorks and who need a very robust citation management tool.

The Efficacy Of Christian Devotional Meditation On Stress, Anxiety, Depression, And Spiritual Health With Korean Adults In The United States: A Randomized Comparative Study, Jinse Kim

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study investigated the comparative effectiveness of Christian devotional meditation (CDM) versus progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) on stress, anxiety, depression, and overall spiritual health among a sample of nonclinical Korean Christian adults in the United States. Seventy nine individuals at two churches in the northern Virginia area completed the study. At each church, the subjects were randomly assigned to a two-hour session of CDM training or PMR training. Each participant then was asked to practice the technique at home at least once a day for two weeks with audio recorded instructions. The participants' perceived level of stress, anxiety, depression, and …