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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Innovative Representations Of Light, Behaving As Both Particles And Waves, Among The Paintings Of Monet And Renoir, Charles Smith Nov 2014

Innovative Representations Of Light, Behaving As Both Particles And Waves, Among The Paintings Of Monet And Renoir, Charles Smith

Charles Kay Smith

Monet and Renoir, friends collaborating in open air about 1865, discovered that sunlight filtering through a canopy of tree leaves does not produce the splotches and dapples that studio artists conventionally represented at the time but circles of light. Sometimes the circles of light punctuating the shade are clear, separate and crisp, as though light is being propagated as particles, but if the pin-hole gaps between leaves are very close together, they will project compound or superimposed circles that look like the waves that Thomas Young saw in his double slit experiment in 1803-4. Newton’s Opticks published in 1704 had …


Computational Communication Intelligence: Exploring Linguistic Manifestation And Social Dynamics In Online Communication, Xiaoxi Xu Nov 2014

Computational Communication Intelligence: Exploring Linguistic Manifestation And Social Dynamics In Online Communication, Xiaoxi Xu

Doctoral Dissertations

We now live in an age of online communication. As social media becomes an integral part of our life, online communication becomes an essential life skill. In this dissertation, we aim to understand how people effectively communicate online. We research components of success in online communication and present scientific methods to study the skill of effective communication. This research advances the state of art in machine learning and communication studies. For communication studies, we pioneer the study of a communication phenomenon we call Communication Intelligence in online interactions. We create a theory about communication intelligence that measures participants’ ten high-order …


Cultivating Communities Of Practice To Develop Local Preparedness For Climate Change, Konda Reddy Chavva Nov 2014

Cultivating Communities Of Practice To Develop Local Preparedness For Climate Change, Konda Reddy Chavva

Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this research was to study the effectiveness of field facilitators’ (FFs) community of practice in improving ways in which FFs and farmers communicate and work together to strengthen farmers’ climate change preparedness through identifying locally suitable adaptation strategies in drought-prone districts of Andhra Pradesh State in India. In development initiatives like the one studied, FFs are often the key liaison person with each community—farmers in this case. FFs interact regularly with farmers, with whom they establish and sustain critical relationships over time. Further, they take the lead in building farmers’ capacities by contextualizing technical information that professionals …


Developing Spatial Reasoning Skills In General Chemistry Students, Deborah L. Carlisle Aug 2014

Developing Spatial Reasoning Skills In General Chemistry Students, Deborah L. Carlisle

Doctoral Dissertations

The study of organic chemistry requires the understanding and use of spatial relationships, which can be challenging for many students. Prior research has shown that there is a need to develop students’ spatial reasoning skills. To that end, this study implemented guided activities designed to strengthen students’ spatial skills, with the aim of preparing students for organic chemistry and other future STEM courses. Students, taking the second semester of a two-semester general chemistry course, engaged in these activities. This study followed a quasi experimental design, in which the experimental (n = 209) and the control group (n = 212) were …


Patterns In Trash: Factors That Drive Municipal Solid Waste Recycling, Jared Starr Jan 2014

Patterns In Trash: Factors That Drive Municipal Solid Waste Recycling, Jared Starr

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Municipal recycling is driven by a variety of factors. Yet how these factors change over time is not well understood. I analyze a suite of contextual and program variable in multiple time periods, spanning 16 years, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Based on the models run, I reach the surprising conclusion that most program variables have an insignificant effect on recycling rates. These findings can inform municipal officials and waste managers as they seek new ways to increase municipal recycling participation.