This paper provides a survey of asset price bubbles. I focus on the theoretical model for pricing assets from both a classical rational expectations model as well as some of the theories from newer behavioral models. A review of empirical methods used to estimate bubbles is presented along with an examination of the difficulties of empirically identifying bubbles in asset prices. I provide a discussion of the role of central banks and whether a response to asset-price bubbles is appropriate on their part and conclude with a summary of some of the more famous bubbles throughout history.

Students across the nation struggle to build a conceptual understanding of scientific phenomena. The complexity of scientific concepts is difficult for students to understand, and students struggle to visualize the processes that are taught in science. New approaches that incorporate digital simulations can be used to enhance student learning of biological processes. However, more research is needed to understand how digital simulations can be used in the classroom to improve student engagement, and ultimately improve student learning. This qualitative study invited secondary teachers at rural high school who use Explore Learning’s digital simulations to teach math and science concepts. The teacher participants completed an online questionnaire which asked them to share their perspectives and opinions of Explore Learning’s simulations and how it effects student engagement. Findings suggest that Explore Learning Math and Science Gizmos increases student engagement. Based on these findings, the student researcher suggests that further research be conducted to test the effect Explore Learning's digital simulations on students' engagement when learning in math and science.

This performative text is a study of relationships at multiple levels. I ask readers to (re)consider the desire and possibility for connection in various types of relationships—romantic and intertextual as well as relationships between mothers and children, mothers and others, readers and writers, presence and absence. In relating my experiences of single motherhood, I raise questions about the possibility for creative communication scholarship—performative writing in particular—to perform the relational work of connecting us to others with whom we do not share similar life experiences or situations.

Open House, a performance art project originally titled “Give and Take,” took place in September 2010. My son and I created this project as an invitational gesture: we hoped to make a home for ourselves within the academy by inviting the academy into our home. Members of our academic community were split into small groups, given a key to our home, and, for one week, invited to show up at our home anytime—day or night, announced or not—to see what our life was like. Not everyone showed up, but, nevertheless, there was a shift in our community that was palpable as a result of this project.

In 2011, SUNY Oneonta began planning for the partial renovation of the James M. Milne Library to accommodate three offices and their staff: the tutoring center, accessibility resources office, and the faculty center. In the initial planning stages, there was no discussion of the inclusion of dedicated information literacy classrooms.

Background: Tobacco consumption constitutes a sizable portion of household consumption expenditure, which can lead to reduced expenditures on other basic commodities. This is known as the crowding-out effect. This study analyzes the crowding-out effect of tobacco consumption in Bangladesh, and the research findings have relevance for strengthening the tobacco control for improving health and well-being. Methods: We analyzed data from the Bangladesh Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2010 to examine the differences in consumption expenditure pattern between tobacco user and non-user households. We further categorize tobacco user households in three mutually exclusive groups of smoking-only, smokeless-only, and dual (both smoking and smokeless); and investigated the crowding-out effects for these subgroups. We compared the mean expenditure shares of different types of households, and then estimated the conditional Engel curves for various expenditure categories using Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) method. Crowding-out was considered to have occurred if estimated coefficient of the tobacco use indicator was negative and statistically significant. Results: We find that tobacco user households on average allocated less in clothing, housing, education, energy, and transportation and communication compared to tobacco non-user households. The SUR estimates also confirmed crowding-out in these consumption categories. Mean expenditure share of food and medical expenditure of tobacco user households, however, are greater than those of tobacco non-user households. Albeit similar patterns observed for different tobacco user households, there were differences in magnitudes depending on the type of tobacco-use, rural-urban locations and economic status. Conclusion: Policy measures that reduce tobacco use could reduce displacement of commodities by households with tobacco users, including those commodities that can contribute to human capital investments.

Introduction: While studies from developed countries have reported dietary differences between tobacco users and non-users, less is known about the influence of tobacco on diet in developing countries where malnutrition is a major public health challenge. Methods: In this study we used the nationally representative Household Income Expenditure Survey 2010 from Bangladesh. Detailed household-level food consumption data including both ethnic and region-specific foods were collected over 14 days, consisting of 7 visits each collecting two days of dietary recall information. Results: Out of 12240 households, 2061 consumed smoking tobacco only (16.8%), 3284 consumed smokeless tobacco only (26.8%), and 3348 consumed both (27.4%). Overall, 71% of the households reported expenditure on tobacco (smoking and/or smokeless) and were considered any-tobacco use households. Our results indicate that after controlling for household expenditure, household size, household child to adult ratio, place of residence (urban/rural), and region fixed effects, any-tobacco households consumed significantly lower amounts (g/ day) of milk and dairy products (β = -17.11, p<0.01) and oil/fat (β = -10.30, p<0.01) compared to tobacco non-use households (β: adjusted mean difference in food amount g/day/household). Conversely, consumption of cereal grains (β = 152.46, p<0.0001) and sugar (β = 8.16, p<0.0001) were significantly higher among any-tobacco households compared to non-tobacco households. We observed similar patterns for smoking-only, smokeless-only, and dual tobacco product households. Conclusions: Evidence of dietary differences between tobacco-use and non-use households may play an important role in developing strategies to address poor diet and malnutrition among tobacco-use households in a developing country like Bangladesh. This study provides one of the first reports addressing diet in relation to tobacco use from a developing country, particularly using nationally representative data. The finding that tobacco-use households have poorer dietary consumption than non-use households suggests that it is important to address tobacco use in the context of nutrition and development programs in low-income environments.

Mountain gorillas are particularly inbred compared to other gorillas and even the most inbred human populations. As mountain gorilla skeletal material accumulated during the 1970s, researchers noted their pronounced facial asymmetry and hypothesized that it reflects a population-wide chewing side preference. However, asymmetry has also been linked to environmental and genetic stress in experimental models. Here, we examine facial asymmetry in 114 crania from three Gorilla subspecies using 3D geometric morphometrics. We measure fluctuating asymmetry (FA), defined as random deviations from perfect symmetry, and population-specific patterns of directional asymmetry (DA). Mountain gorillas, with a current population size of about 1000 individuals, have the highest degree of facial FA (explaining 17% of total facial shape variation), followed by Grauer gorillas (9%) and western lowland gorillas (6%), despite the latter experiencing the greatest ecological and dietary variability. DA, while significant in all three taxa, explains relatively less shape variation than FA does. Facial asymmetry correlates neither with tooth wear asymmetry nor increases with age in a mountain gorilla subsample, undermining the hypothesis that facial asymmetry is driven by chewing side preference. An examination of temporal trends shows that stress-induced developmental instability has increased over the last 100 years in these endangered apes.

Cyanobacteria form harmful algal blooms (cHABs) and certain species can produce variable cyanotoxins, specifically the most common and toxic, Microcystin (MC) and its associated congeners. Cyanotoxins and MC in cHABs often reach concentrations that are deemed unsafe for human consumption and recreation. Recreational activities during cyanobacterial blooms can expose a person to a high cyanotoxin concentrations. I hypothesized that persons engaged in motorized recreational activities during cyanobacterial blooms will be exposed to measurable cyanotoxin concentrations without full-body immersion. I constructed a device to be towed behind a motorboat, and 10 sampling events occurred at Chautauqua Lake, a eutrophic lake with reoccurring cHABs. Splash collected contained 0.02 – 4.1 µg L⁻¹ of total microcystins (MC) by LC-MS/MS and was highly correlated to the lake surface concentration (R² = 0.95, p < 0.05). Surface MC was significantly correlated to the interaction of water temperature and Microcystis aeruginosa abundance (R² = 0.92, p < 0.05), over the traditionally used indicators total cyanobacterial abundance, chlorophyll a, and warm water. These results show certain recreational activities may expose a person to unsafe MC concentrations from splash contact alone, and limnological conditions surrounding MC production can vary between systems.

Lakes exhibit physical, chemical, and biological differences in their responses to climate change. Water transparency and temperature trends have been established as indicators of the quality of lakes in local and regional studies. To better understand responses of lakes to large-scale climatological changes, lakes near Glacier National Park have been regularly monitored through the Northwest Montana Lakes Network since 1992. Citizen science volunteers measured Secchi disk depths and temperature in 47 lakes in Montana, USA, to assess water quality and the potential impacts of climate change on lakes between June and August from 1992 through 2021. We modeled seasonal and annual variability in measurements across years, and among months while accounting for lake-specific variation in seasonal and annual trends. Both Secchi disk depth and temperature changed significantly across all lakes during this period. Secchi disk depth increased significantly in five lakes, and temperature increased significantly within twenty-six lakes. Lakes that were colder on average displayed greater increases in temperature than warmer lakes, and lakes with lower-than-average Secchi depths increased in clarity more than clearer lakes. Future analyses will be conducted on nutrient data received from these lakes to formulate a comprehensive analysis of trophic shifts coincident with climate change.