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Articles 1 - 30 of 34
Full-Text Articles in Science and Mathematics Education
Remotely Close: An Investigation Of The Student Experience In First-Year Mathematics Courses During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Sawyer Smith
Remotely Close: An Investigation Of The Student Experience In First-Year Mathematics Courses During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Sawyer Smith
Honors Theses
The realm of education was shaken by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It had drastic effects on the way that courses were delivered to students, and the way that students were getting their education at the collegiate level. At the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, the pandemic dramatically changed the way that first-year mathematics courses looked for students. By Spring 2021, students had the opportunity to take their first-year math courses either in-person or virtually. This project sought to identify differences between the two methods of course delivery during the Spring 2021 semester, regarding interaction with peers …
Exploring Pedagogical Empathy Of Mathematics Graduate Student Instructors, Karina Uhing
Exploring Pedagogical Empathy Of Mathematics Graduate Student Instructors, Karina Uhing
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Interpersonal relationships are central to the teaching and learning of mathematics. One way that teachers relate to their students is by empathizing with them. In this study, I examined the phenomenon of pedagogical empathy, which is defined as empathy that influences teaching practices. Specifically, I studied how mathematics graduate student instructors conceptualize pedagogical empathy and analyzed how pedagogical empathy might influence their teaching decisions. To address my research questions, I designed a qualitative phenomenological study in which I conducted observations and interviews with 11 mathematics graduate student instructors who were teaching precalculus courses at the University of Nebraska—Lincoln.
In the …
High Cognitive Demand Examples In Precalculus: Examining The Work And Knowledge Entailed In Enactment, Erica R. Miller
High Cognitive Demand Examples In Precalculus: Examining The Work And Knowledge Entailed In Enactment, Erica R. Miller
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Historically, pass rates in undergraduate precalculus courses have been dismally low and the teaching practices and knowledge of university instructors have been understudied. To help improve teaching effectiveness and student outcomes in undergraduate precalculus courses, I have studied the cognitive demand of enacted examples. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the pedagogical work and mathematical knowledge entailed in the enactment of high cognitive demand examples in a three-part study. To answer my research questions, I conducted classroom observations as well as pre- and post-observation interviews with seven graduate student instructors at a large public R1 university in the …
Supporting English Language Learners Inside The Mathematics Classroom: One Teacher’S Unique Perspective Working With Students During Their First Years In America, Amy Marie Fendrick
Supporting English Language Learners Inside The Mathematics Classroom: One Teacher’S Unique Perspective Working With Students During Their First Years In America, Amy Marie Fendrick
Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design
Reflecting upon my personal experiences teaching mathematics to English Language Learners (ELL) in a public high school in Lincoln, Nebraska, this essay largely focuses on the time I spent as the only Accelerated Math teacher in my school building. From 2012 – 2017, I taught three different subjects at this high school: Advanced Algebra, Algebra, and Accelerated Math. This essay highlights why I chose to become a math and ELL teacher, as well as the challenges, issues, struggles, and successes I experienced during my time teaching. I focus on the challenges I faced teaching students who did not share my …
Diagnostic Effects Of An Early Mastery Activity In College Algebra And Precalculus, Nathan Wakefield, Joe Champion, Jessalyn Bolkema, Douglas Dailey
Diagnostic Effects Of An Early Mastery Activity In College Algebra And Precalculus, Nathan Wakefield, Joe Champion, Jessalyn Bolkema, Douglas Dailey
Department of Mathematics: Faculty Publications
The purpose of this study was to investigate implementation of an early intervention mastery activity during the first two weeks of college algebra and precalculus courses at a large U.S. public university. Statistical modeling of (N = 935) students’ performance in the courses, including a logistic regression model of pass/fail course achievement with students’ high school rank, ACT Mathematics scores, and performance on the intervention as explanatory variables, suggested significant independent differences in course performance across performance levels on the early mastery activity. An evaluation of diagnostic validity for the model yielded a 19% false negative rate (predicted to …
Knowledge And Tasks Connecting Elementary, Secondary, And Disciplinary Mathematics, Yvonne Lai
Knowledge And Tasks Connecting Elementary, Secondary, And Disciplinary Mathematics, Yvonne Lai
DBER Speaker Series
A well-prepared teacher should be able to help her students see mathematics as ideas that develop over time. Mathematics courses designed specifically for prospective secondary teachers aim for prospective teachers to see and find connections across elementary, secondary, and disciplinary mathematics, and beyond that to be able to use those connections in their future teaching. While there is broad agreement with these aims, there is also little consensus around how to carry them out. Two challenges in meeting these aims are identifying content that lends itself to such connections and designing tasks that can be used to engage with that …
Characterizing Mathematics Graduate Student Teaching Assistants’ Opportunities To Learn From Teaching, Yvonne Lai, Wendy Smith, Nathan Wakefield, Erica R. Miller, Julia St. Goar, Corbin M. Groothuis, Kelsey M. Wells
Characterizing Mathematics Graduate Student Teaching Assistants’ Opportunities To Learn From Teaching, Yvonne Lai, Wendy Smith, Nathan Wakefield, Erica R. Miller, Julia St. Goar, Corbin M. Groothuis, Kelsey M. Wells
Department of Mathematics: Faculty Publications
Exemplary models to inform novice instruction and the development of graduate teaching assistants (TAs) exist. What is missing from the literature is the process of how graduate students in model professional development programs make sense of and enact the experiences offered. A first step to understanding TAs’ learning to teach is to characterize how and whether they link observations of student work to hypotheses about student thinking and then connect those hypotheses to future teaching actions. A reason to be interested in these connections is that their strength and coherence determine how well TAs can learn from experiences. We found …
Transforming Precalculus Instruction: Evidence-Based Course Design, Wendy M. Smith
Transforming Precalculus Instruction: Evidence-Based Course Design, Wendy M. Smith
DBER Speaker Series
The UNL Mathematics Department has been focused on transforming precalculus instruction since 2012, with a goal of greater levels of student success. A short-term measure of student success is the passing rate (C or better), which has jumped from an average of 62% (2007-2011) to 80% for the past two falls. A longer-term measure of student success is recruiting and retaining undergraduates to STEM disciplines and careers. In this talk I will share specifics of the reform efforts (the who-what-when-where-why-and-how), and also share preliminary results from the research we have simultaneously been conducting into the reform efforts.
Commutative Rings Graded By Abelian Groups, Brian P. Johnson
Commutative Rings Graded By Abelian Groups, Brian P. Johnson
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Rings graded by Z and Zd play a central role in algebraic geometry and commutative algebra, and the purpose of this thesis is to consider rings graded by any abelian group. A commutative ring is graded by an abelian group if the ring has a direct sum decomposition by additive subgroups of the ring indexed over the group, with the additional condition that multiplication in the ring is compatible with the group operation. In this thesis, we develop a theory of graded rings by defining analogues of familiar properties---such as chain conditions, dimension, and Cohen-Macaulayness. We then study the …
An Analysis Of Nonlocal Boundary Value Problems Of Fractional And Integer Order, Christopher Steven Goodrich
An Analysis Of Nonlocal Boundary Value Problems Of Fractional And Integer Order, Christopher Steven Goodrich
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
In this work we provide an analysis of both fractional- and integer-order boundary value problems, certain of which contain explicit nonlocal terms. In the discrete fractional case we consider several different types of boundary value problems including the well-known right-focal problem. Attendant to our analysis of discrete fractional boundary value problems, we also provide an analysis of the continuity properties of solutions to discrete fractional initial value problems. Finally, we conclude by providing new techniques for analyzing integer-order nonlocal boundary value problems.
Adviser: Lynn Erbe and Allan Peterson
Prime Ideals In Two-Dimensional Noetherian Domains And Fiber Products And Connected Sums, Ela Celikbas
Prime Ideals In Two-Dimensional Noetherian Domains And Fiber Products And Connected Sums, Ela Celikbas
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
This thesis concerns three topics in commutative algebra:
1) The projective line over the integers (Chapter 2),
2) Prime ideals in two-dimensional quotients of mixed power series-polynomial rings (Chapter 3),
3) Fiber products and connected sums of local rings (Chapter 4),
In the first chapter we introduce basic terminology used in this thesis for all three topics.
In the second chapter we consider the partially ordered set (poset) of prime ideals of the projective line Proj(Z[h,k]) over the integers Z, and we interpret this poset as Spec(Z[x]) U Spec(Z[1/x]) with an appropriate identification. …
The Weak Discrepancy And Linear Extension Diameter Of Grids And Other Posets, Katherine Victoria Johnson
The Weak Discrepancy And Linear Extension Diameter Of Grids And Other Posets, Katherine Victoria Johnson
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
A linear extension of a partially ordered set is simply a total ordering of the poset that is consistent with the original ordering. The linear extension diameter is a measure of how different two linear extensions could be, that is, the number of pairs of elements that are ordered differently by the two extensions. In this dissertation, we calculate the linear extension diameter of grids. This also gives us a nice characterization of the linear extensions that are the farthest from each other, and allows us to conclude that grids are diametrally reversing.
A linear extension of a poset might …
Modeling And Mathematical Analysis Of Plant Models In Ecology, Eric A. Eager
Modeling And Mathematical Analysis Of Plant Models In Ecology, Eric A. Eager
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Population dynamics tries to explain in a simple mechanistic way the variations of the size and structure of biological populations. In this dissertation we use mathematical modeling and analysis to study the various aspects of the dynamics of plant populations and their seed banks.
In Chapter 2 we investigate the impact of structural model uncertainty by considering different nonlinear recruitment functions in an integral projection model for Cirsium canescens. We show that, while having identical equilibrium populations, these two models can elicit drastically different transient dynamics. We then derive a formula for the sensitivity of the equilibrium population to …
Combinatorics Using Computational Methods, Derrick Stolee
Combinatorics Using Computational Methods, Derrick Stolee
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Computational combinatorics involves combining pure mathematics, algorithms, and computational resources to solve problems in pure combinatorics. This thesis provides a theoretical framework for combinatorial search, which is then applied to several problems in combinatorics. Some results in space-bounded computational complexity are also presented.
Covariant Representations Of C*-Dynamical Systems Involving Compact Groups, Firuz Kamalov
Covariant Representations Of C*-Dynamical Systems Involving Compact Groups, Firuz Kamalov
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Given a C*-dynamical system (A, G, σ) the crossed product C*-algebra A x σG encodes the action of G on A. By the universal property of A x σG there exists a one to one correspondence between the set all covariant representations of the system (A, G, σ) and the set of all *-representations of A x σG. Therefore, the study of representations of A x σG is equivalent to that of covariant representations of (A, G, σ).
We study induced covariant representations of systems involving compact groups. We prove that every irreducible (resp. factor) covariant …
On Morrey Spaces In The Calculus Of Variations, Kyle Fey
On Morrey Spaces In The Calculus Of Variations, Kyle Fey
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
We prove some global Morrey regularity results for almost minimizers of functionals of the form u → ∫Ω f(x, u, ∇u)dx. This regularity is valid up to the boundary, provided the boundary data are sufficiently regular. The main assumption on f is that for each x and u, the function f(x, u, ·) behaves asymptotically like the function h(|·|)α(x), where h is an N-function.
Following this, we provide a characterization of the class of Young measures that can be generated by a sequence …
Hilbert-Samuel And Hilbert-Kunz Functions Of Zero-Dimensional Ideals, Lori A. Mcdonnell
Hilbert-Samuel And Hilbert-Kunz Functions Of Zero-Dimensional Ideals, Lori A. Mcdonnell
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
The Hilbert-Samuel function measures the length of powers of a zero-dimensional ideal in a local ring. Samuel showed that over a local ring these lengths agree with a polynomial, called the Hilbert-Samuel polynomial, for sufficiently large powers of the ideal. We examine the coefficients of this polynomial in the case the ideal is generated by a system of parameters, focusing much of our attention on the second Hilbert coefficient. We also consider the Hilbert-Kunz function, which measures the length of Frobenius powers of an ideal in a ring of positive characteristic. In particular, we examine a conjecture of Watanabe and …
Homology Of Artinian Modules Over Commutative Noetherian Rings, Micah J. Leamer
Homology Of Artinian Modules Over Commutative Noetherian Rings, Micah J. Leamer
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
This work is primarily concerned with the study of artinian modules over commutative noetherian rings.
We start by showing that many of the properties of noetherian modules that make homological methods work seamlessly have analogous properties for artinian modules. We prove many of these properties using Matlis duality and a recent characterization of Matlis reflexive modules. Since Matlis reflexive modules are extensions of noetherian and artinian modules many of the properties that hold for artinian and noetherian modules naturally follow for Matlis reflexive modules and more generally for mini-max modules.
In the last chapter we prove that if the Betti …
Groups And Semigroups Generated By Automata, David Mccune
Groups And Semigroups Generated By Automata, David Mccune
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
In this dissertation we classify the metabelian groups arising from a restricted class of invertible synchronous automata over a binary alphabet. We give faithful, self-similar actions of Heisenberg groups and upper triangular matrix groups. We introduce a new class of semigroups given by a restricted class of asynchronous automata. We call these semigroups ``expanding automaton semigroups''. We show that this class strictly contains the class of automaton semigroups, and we show that the class of asynchronous automaton semigroups strictly contains the class of expanding automaton semigroups. We demonstrate that undecidability arises in the actions of expanding automaton semigroups and semigroups …
On A Family Of Generalized Wiener Spaces And Applications, Ian Pierce
On A Family Of Generalized Wiener Spaces And Applications, Ian Pierce
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
We investigate the structure and properties of a variety of generalized Wiener spaces. Our main focus is on Wiener-type measures on spaces of continuous functions; our generalizations include an extension to multiple parameters, and a method of adjusting the distribution and covariance structure of the measure on the underlying function space.
In the second chapter, we consider single-parameter function spaces and extend a fundamental integration formula of Paley, Wiener, and Zygmund for an important class of functionals on this space. In the third chapter, we discuss measures on very general function spaces and introduce the specific example of a generalized …
Extremal Trees And Reconstruction, Andrew Ray
Extremal Trees And Reconstruction, Andrew Ray
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Problems in two areas of graph theory will be considered.
First, I will consider extremal problems for trees. In these questions we examine the trees that maximize or minimize various invariants. For instance the number of independent sets, the number of matchings, the number of subtrees, the sum of pairwise distances, the spectral radius, and the number of homomorphisms to a fixed graph. I have two general approaches to these problems. To find the extremal trees in the collection of trees on n vertices with a fixed degree bound I use the certificate method. The certificate is a branch invariant, …
Packings And Realizations Of Degree Sequences With Specified Substructures, Tyler Seacrest
Packings And Realizations Of Degree Sequences With Specified Substructures, Tyler Seacrest
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
This dissertation focuses on the intersection of two classical and fundamental areas in graph theory: graph packing and degree sequences. The question of packing degree sequences lies naturally in this intersection, asking when degree sequences have edge-disjoint realizations on the same vertex set. The most significant result in this area is Kundu's k-Factor Theorem, which characterizes when a degree sequence packs with a constant sequence. We prove a series of results in this spirit, and we particularly search for realizations of degree sequences with edge-disjoint 1-factors.
Perhaps the most fundamental result in degree sequence theory is the Erdos-Gallai Theorem, characterizing …
Annihilators Of Local Cohomology Modules, Laura Lynch
Annihilators Of Local Cohomology Modules, Laura Lynch
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
In many important theorems in the homological theory of commutative local rings, an essential ingredient in the proof is to consider the annihilators of local cohomology modules. We examine these annihilators at various cohomological degrees, in particular at the cohomological dimension and at the height or the grade of the defining ideal. We also investigate the dimension of these annihilators at various degrees and we refine our results by specializing to particular types of rings, for example, Cohen Macaulay rings, unique factorization domains, and rings of small dimension.
Adviser: Thomas Marley
The Theory Of Discrete Fractional Calculus: Development And Application, Michael T. Holm
The Theory Of Discrete Fractional Calculus: Development And Application, Michael T. Holm
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
The author's purpose in this dissertation is to introduce, develop and apply the tools of discrete fractional calculus to the arena of fractional difference equations. To this end, we develop the Fractional Composition Rules and the Fractional Laplace Transform Method to solve a linear, fractional initial value problem in Chapters 2 and 3. We then apply fixed point strategies of Krasnosel'skii and Banach to study a nonlinear, fractional boundary value problem in Chapter 4.
Adviser: Lynn Erbe and Allan Peterson
Formalizing Categorical And Algebraic Constructions In Operator Theory, William Benjamin Grilliette
Formalizing Categorical And Algebraic Constructions In Operator Theory, William Benjamin Grilliette
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
In this work, I offer an alternative presentation theory for C*-algebras with applicability to various other normed structures. Specifically, the set of generators is equipped with a nonnegative-valued function which ensures existence of a C*-algebra for the presentation. This modification allows clear definitions of a "relation" for generators of a C*-algebra and utilization of classical algebraic tools, such as Tietze transformations.
On The Betti Number Of Differential Modules, Justin Devries
On The Betti Number Of Differential Modules, Justin Devries
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Let R = k[x1, ..., xn] with k a field. A multi-graded differential R-module is a multi-graded R-module D with an endomorphism d such that d2 = 0. This dissertation establishes a lower bound on the rank of such a differential module when the underlying R-module is free. We define the Betti number of a differential module and use it to show that when the homology ker d/im d of D is non-zero and finite dimensional over k then there is an inequality rankR D ≥ 2n. This …
The Cohomology Of Modules Over A Complete Intersection Ring, Jesse Burke
The Cohomology Of Modules Over A Complete Intersection Ring, Jesse Burke
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
We investigate the cohomology of modules over commutative complete intersection rings. The first main result is that if M is an arbitrary module over a complete intersection ring R, and if one even self-extension module of M vanishes then M has finite projective dimension. The second main result gives a new proof of the fact that the support variety of a Cohen-Macaulay module whose completion is indecomposable is projectively connected.
Applications Of Linear Programming To Coding Theory, Nathan Axvig
Applications Of Linear Programming To Coding Theory, Nathan Axvig
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Maximum-likelihood decoding is often the optimal decoding rule one can use, but it is very costly to implement in a general setting. Much effort has therefore been dedicated to find efficient decoding algorithms that either achieve or approximate the error-correcting performance of the maximum-likelihood decoder. This dissertation examines two approaches to this problem.
In 2003 Feldman and his collaborators defined the linear programming decoder, which operates by solving a linear programming relaxation of the maximum-likelihood decoding problem. As with many modern decoding algorithms, is possible for the linear programming decoder to output vectors that do not correspond to codewords; such …
Vanishing Of Ext And Tor Over Complete Intersections, Olgur Celikbas
Vanishing Of Ext And Tor Over Complete Intersections, Olgur Celikbas
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Let (R,m) be a local complete intersection, that is, a local ring whose m-adic completion is the quotient of a complete regular local ring by a regular sequence. Let M and N be finitely generated R-modules. This dissertation concerns the vanishing of Tor(M, N) and Ext(M, N). In this context, M satisfies Serre's condition (S_{n}) if and only if M is an nth syzygy. The complexity of M is the least nonnegative integer r such that the nth Betti number of M is bounded by a polynomial of degree r-1 for all sufficiently large n. We use this notion of …
Properties Of The Generalized Laplace Transform And Transport Partial Dynamic Equation On Time Scales, Chris R. Ahrendt
Properties Of The Generalized Laplace Transform And Transport Partial Dynamic Equation On Time Scales, Chris R. Ahrendt
Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
In this dissertation, we first focus on the generalized Laplace transform on time scales. We prove several properties of the generalized exponential function which will allow us to explore some of the fundamental properties of the Laplace transform. We then give a description of the region in the complex plane for which the improper integral in the definition of the Laplace transform converges, and how this region is affected by the time scale in question. Conditions under which the Laplace transform of a power series can be computed term-by-term are given. We develop a formula for the Laplace transform for …