Other Statistics and Probability Commons^™

Containing Compounding Container Congestion, Curtis Salinger

CMC Senior Theses

The Covid-19 pandemic caused major disruptions throughout the container shipping supply chain. Professor Dongping Song of Liverpool University wrote a paper discussing the logistical vulnerabilities in the supply chain, including the issue of congestion in ports. This paper examines the Port of Los Angeles from 2018-2021 as it relates to Song’s paper to see how its operations were impacted during the Covid-19 timeframe. It is found that labor shortages, chassis shortages, and change in trade behavior each contributed to the congestion. Unfortunately, the implemented policies were insufficient to bolster the port against sustained challenges and congestion continues to worsen.

Neither “Post-War” Nor Post-Pregnancy Paranoia: How America’S War On Drugs Continues To Perpetuate Disparate Incarceration Outcomes For Pregnant, Substance-Involved Offenders, Becca S. Zimmerman

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the unique interactions between pregnancy, substance involvement, and race as they relate to the War on Drugs and the hyper-incarceration of women. Using ordinary least square regression analyses and data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates, I examine if (and how) pregnancy status, drug use, race, and their interactions influence two length of incarceration outcomes: sentence length and amount of time spent in jail between arrest and imprisonment. The results collectively indicate that pregnancy decreases length of incarceration outcomes for those offenders who are not substance-involved but not evenhandedly -- benefitting white …

Mathematics Versus Statistics, Mindy B. Capaldi

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Mathematics and statistics are both important and useful subjects, but the former has maintained prominence in the American education system. On the other hand, statistics is more prevalent in daily life and is an increasingly marketable subject to know. This article gives a personal history of one mathematician’s bumpy road to learning and teaching statistics. Additionally, arguments for how and why to include statistics in the K-12 and college curricula are provided.

Using Neural Networks To Classify Discrete Circular Probability Distributions, Madelyn Gaumer

HMC Senior Theses

Given the rise in the application of neural networks to all sorts of interesting problems, it seems natural to apply them to statistical tests. This senior thesis studies whether neural networks built to classify discrete circular probability distributions can outperform a class of well-known statistical tests for uniformity for discrete circular data that includes the Rayleigh Test¹, the Watson Test², and the Ajne Test³. Each neural network used is relatively small with no more than 3 layers: an input layer taking in discrete data sets on a circle, a hidden layer, and an output …

Sequential Probing With A Random Start, Joshua Miller

HMC Senior Theses

Processing user requests quickly requires not only fast servers, but also demands methods to quickly locate idle servers to process those requests. Methods of finding idle servers are analogous to open addressing in hash tables, but with the key difference that servers may return to an idle state after having been busy rather than staying busy. Probing sequences for open addressing are well-studied, but algorithms for locating idle servers are less understood. We investigate sequential probing with a random start as a method for finding idle servers, especially in cases of heavy traffic. We present a procedure for finding the …

Monte Carlo Approx. Methods For Stochastic Optimization, John Fowler

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis provides an overview of stochastic optimization (SP) problems and looks at how the Sample Average Approximation (SAA) method is used to solve them. We review several applications of this problem-solving technique that have been published in papers over the last few years. The number and variety of the examples should give an indication of the usefulness of this technique. The examples also provide opportunities to discuss important aspects of SPs and the SAA method including model assumptions, optimality gaps, the use of deterministic methods for finite sample sizes, and the accelerated Benders decomposition algorithm. We also give a …

Rumors Of Our Rarity Are Greatly Exaggerated: Bad Statistics About Women In Science, Cathy Kessel

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

During the past few years, three bad statistics have been persistently used in discussions of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The first was questionable when it was published in 1983 and has since been widely used. The second came to prominence in 2006 – and now leads an international and perhaps eternal life on the Web. The third may have made its debut in 2007. Its variants occur in popular and academic books and journals, including the 2011 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

This report presents case histories of the three bad statistics, suggests writing …

The Quantum Dialectic, Logan Kelley

Pitzer Senior Theses

A philosophic account of quantum physics. The thesis is divided into two parts. Part I is dedicated to laying the groundwork of quantum physics, and explaining some of the primary difficulties. Subjects of interest will include the principle of locality, the quantum uncertainty principle, and Einstein's criterion for reality. Quantum dilemmas discussed include the double-slit experiment, observations of spin and polarization, EPR, and Bell's theorem. The first part will argue that mathematical-physical descriptions of the world fall short of explaining the experimental observations of quantum phenomenon. The problem, as will be argued, is framework of the physical descriptive schema. Part …