Digital Commons Network^™

Simpson's Paradox Can Emerge From The N-Player Prisoner's Dilemma: Implications For The Evolution Of Altruistic Behavior, Jeffrey Alan Fletcher, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Simulations of the n-player Prisoner’s Dilemma in multiple populations reveal that Simpson’s paradox can emerge in such game-theoretic situations. The relative proportion of cooperators can decrease in each separate sub-population, while the proportion of cooperators in the total population can nonetheless increase, at least transiently. Factors that determine the longevity of this effect are under investigation. The increase of altruistic behavior exhibited in these simulations is not based on reciprocal altruism, as there are no strategies conditional on other players’ past actions, nor does it depend on kin selection via inclusive fitness, as there are no genes. This model is …

Identity, Conflict And Cooperation In International River Basins, Jack V. Kalpakian

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation tests the hypothesis that water disputes cause serious conflict within and between states. It uses a structured case study approach to see whether there is a link between the independent and dependent variables. It also considers the effect of other variables on serious conflict. Specifically it addresses the effects of national identity and the othering process on conflict. The three case studies are built around rivers in the drier parts of the world. This biases the dissertation towards affirming the established mainstream hypothesis which states that water disputes cause serious conflict. In all three cases, historical animosities and …

The Complexity Of Planning With Partially-Observable Markov Decision Processes, Martin Mundhenk

Computer Science Technical Reports

This work surveys results on the complexity of planning under uncertainty. The planning model considered is the partially-observable Markov decision process. The general planning problems are, given such a process, (a) to calculate its performance under a given control policy, (b) to find an optimal or approximate optimal control policy, and (c) to decide whether a good policy exists. The complexity of this and related problems depend on a variety of factors, including the observability of the process state, the compactness of the process representation, the type of policy, or even the number of actions relative to the number of …

The Effects Of Development On Indian Water Rights: Obstacles And Disincentives To Development Of Indian Water Rights, Jerilyn Decoteau

Water and Growth in the West (Summer Conference, June 7-9)

17 pages.

Contains references.

The Poisson Variation Of Montmort's Matching Problem, Don Rawlings

Mathematics

No abstract provided.

An Investigation Into Relationships Between Alternative Assessment And Pre-Service Elementary Teachers’ Beliefs About Mathematics, David Charles Coffey

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how including alternative assessments in a reform-based mathematics course affects pre-service teachers’ mathematical beliefs. A single section of a mathematics course designed for elementary education majors that employed three different alternative assessments was the setting for the study.

A pre- and post-belief survey completed by students enrolled in the section under study represented the first level of data collection and analysis. The results of the pre-belief survey guided the selection of seven informants from the section and provided belief statements for the informants to verify during subsequent interviews. Based on the data …

Genetically Evolved Dynamic Control For Quadruped Walking, Giorgio Grasso

Dissertations

The aim of this dissertation is to show that dynamic control of quadruped locomotion is achievable through the use of genetically evolved central pattern generators. This strategy is tested both in simulation and on a walking robot. The design of the walker has been chosen to be statically unstable, so that during motion less than three supporting feet may be in contact with the ground.

The control strategy adopted is capable of propelling the artificial walker at a forward locomotion speed of ~1.5 Km/h on rugged terrain and provides for stability of motion. The learning of walking, based on simulated …

Applications Of Agent Architectures To Decision Support In Distributed Simulation And Training Systems, Plamen V. Petrov

Dissertations

This work develops the approach and presents the results of a new model for applying intelligent agents to complex distributed interactive simulation for command and control. In the framework of tactical command, control communications, computers and intelligence (C₄I), software agents provide a novel approach for efficient decision support and distributed interactive mission training. An agent-based architecture for decision support is designed, implemented and is applied in a distributed interactive simulation to significantly enhance the command and control training during simulated exercises. The architecture is based on monitoring, evaluation, and advice agents, which cooperate to provide alternatives to the …

Development And Characterization Of Techniques For Neuro-Imaging Registration, Carlo Ciulla

Theses

Three automated techniques were developed for the alignment of Neuro-Images acquired during distinct scanning periods and their performance were characterized. The techniques are based on the assumption that the human brain is a rigid body and will assume different positions during different scanning periods. One technique uses three fiducial markers, while the other two uses eigenvectors of the inertia matrix of the Neuro-Image, to compute the three angles (pitch, yaw and roll) needed to register the test Neuro-Image to the reference Neuro-Image. A rigid body transformation is computed and applied to the test Neuro-Image such that it results aligned to …

“The Way Of The Scientist Deepens Beauty By Increasing Understanding”: Teaching Physics As An Aesthetic Form, Claudine Indigo Kavanagh

Dissertations and Theses

Educators have struggled to find an appropriate and efficacious method to engage students of science in their classrooms and lecture halls, This investigation presents a theoretical foundation for the use of aesthetic criteria when teaching physics in high school or undergraduate settings and suggests that this may be an effective learning tool. The relationship between science aesthetics and science literacy is pursued here. Included in this study are discussions of the applications of aesthetic judgement by theoretical physicists in the 20th century and and methods for bringing a dialogue concerning natural philosophy and beauty in the science classroom. While many …

Proceedings Of The 2000 Onr Decision-Support Workshop Series: The Human-Computer Partnership In Decision-Support, Collaborative Agent Design Research Center

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

The Decision Support Workshop of May 2-4, 2000 held in San Luis Obispo, Cal., was the second in a series that was started one year earlier as a joint project of the Office of Naval Research and the Collaborative Agent Design Research Center of Cal Poly.

The goal of this series of Workshops is to provide a forum where connections can be established on one hand between developers and proponents of decision support tools, with potential users such as managers of large, complex organizations/systems on the other. Clearly, the military belong to this class of users and it is therefore …

Diagrams Based On Structured Object Perception, Pourang Irani, Colin Ware

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

Most diagrams, particularly those used in software engineering, are line drawings consisting of nodes drawn as rectangles or circles, and edges drawn as lines linking them. In the present paper we review some of the literature on human perception to develop guidelines for effective diagram drawing. Particular attention is paid to structural object recognition theory. According to this theory as objects are perceived they are decomposed into 3D set of primitives called geons, together with the skeleton structure connecting them. We present a set of guidelines for drawing variations on node-link diagrams using geon-like primitives, and provide some examples. Results …

Statistical Power Analysis Of Dissertations Completed By Students Majoring In Educational Leadership At Tennessee Universities, Heping Deng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to estimate the level of statistical power demonstrated in recent dissertations in the field of educational leadership. Power tables provided in Cohen's (1988) Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences were used to determine the power of the statistical tests conducted in dissertations selected from five universities in Tennessee. The meta-analytic approach was used to summarize and synthesize the findings. The population of this study consisted of all dissertations successfully defended by doctoral students majoring in educational leadership/administration at East Tennessee State University, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Tennessee State University, the University …

Seasonal Variability In Brown Tree Snake (Boiga Irregularis) Response To Lures, John A. Shivik, William G. Wright, Larry Clark

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

In continuing investigations of brown tree snake, Boiga irregularis, attraction to carrion odor, we hypothesized that the attractiveness of live or dead and visually apparent or concealed lures varies seasonally. We determined that lure condition (live or dead mouse lures) and sensory cues (visually apparent or concealed lure) interact among wet and dry seasons. Concealed carrion lures were more effective during the dry season than the wet season, but the effectiveness of live mouse lures showed less seasonal variability. We identified weather variables that covary with observed seasonal trends in capture rates and investigated the influence of recent feeding …

The Annual Meeting Of The Iowa Academy Of Science April 21-22, 2000 [Program, 112th Meeting], Iowa Academy Of Science

Iowa Academy of Science Documents

Contents:

Program Summary --- 1
General Session Speakers --- 4
Awards --- 7
Symposia Programs --- 8
Special Events --- 8
Poster Sessions --- 9
Section Programs/Special Sessions --- 9
Agricultural Sciences --- 9
Anthropology --- 10, 16
Botany --- 11
Cellular, Molecular & Microbiology --- 17
Chemical Education --- 14
Chemistry: Inorganic, Analytical & Physical --- 18
Chemistry: Organic & Biological --- 18
Conservation --- 19
Earth Science Teaching --- 14
Elementary Science Teaching --- 14
Engineering --- 12
Geology --- 22
Physics --- 23
Physiology --- 23
Psychology & Linguistics --- 25
Science Teaching --- 14, 25
Zoology …

What We Say, What Our Students Hear: A Case For Active Listening, Dorothy Buerk

Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal

No abstract provided.

Santa Clara Magazine, Volume 41 Number 4, Spring 2000, Santa Clara University

Santa Clara Magazine

10 - THE IMPORTANCE OF REMEMBERING By Tamara Straus. On the I0-year anniversary, Santa Clara looks back at the Jesuit murders in El Salvador and finds a lasting legacy for the campus community.

16 - 64 MILLIONAIRES A DAY By Susan Vogel. Are they savvy or stingy? The wealthy in Silicon Valley are taking a new approach to philanthropy, but are they giving their fair share?

20 - EDUCATING FOR LIFE AND LEADERSHIP Santa Clara University is just months away from launching its year-long 150th anniversary celebration. Here's a preview of the five major sesquicentennial events.

Taking Animal Welfare Seriously: Minimizing Pain And Distress In Research Animals, The Humane Society Of The United States

ANIMAL RESEARCH

Pain and distress caused by specific research models and techniques raise serious concerns for those in the animal welfare community as well as in the scientific community. Yet good estimates of how much animal pain and/or animal distress is caused by particular techniques or methods are not yet available. The HSUS has compiled a preliminary list of research models and techniques that cause pain and distress. Analyses by the USDA and HSUS indicate that the majority of the animals reported in Column E are used in various testing procedures, with vaccine testing prominent among them. More data are needed to …

Math Induction, Lawrence Mark Lesser

Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal

No abstract provided.

Use Your Head: Mathematics As Therapy, Miriam Lipschutz-Yevick

Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal

No abstract provided.

Coherence In Theories Relating Mathematics And Language, Carl Winsløw

Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal

No abstract provided.

The Emotional Economy Of Capital Sentencing, Stephen P. Garvey

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

You often hear that one reason capital jurors condemn capital defendants is that jurors don't empathize with defendants. And one reason they don't empathize is that the process of capital sentencing is rigged against empathy. Using data from the South Carolina segment of the Capital Jury Project, I try to examine the role emotion plays in capital sentencing.

Without entering here all the important and necessary caveats, I find that the self-reported emotional responses jurors have toward capital defendants run the gamut from sympathy and pity at one extreme, to disgust, anger, and fear at the other. What causes these …

A Longitudinal Assessment Of Temperament In Octopus Bimaculoides, David Loyd Sinn

Dissertations and Theses

Cephalopods, including Octopus spp., are highly intelligent molluscs that play major roles in many marine food webs, both as top-level feeders (Ambrose, 1984) as well as by constituting a major source of protein for the animals above them (Lang, Hochberg, Ambrose, & Engle, 1997). They also are fascinating organisms for behavioral studies, with elaborate repertoires of behavior based on plasticity and learning (Wells, 1962a; 1962b; 1978) which in complexity rivals that of the vertebrates. The study of individual differences in behavior is a facet of behavioral research that has recently gained attention in the literature (Gosling & John, 1999). Traditionally, …

From Discounting To Incorporating Decisions' Long-Term Impacts, Elizabeth Atherton

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Ms. Atherton urges a different approach to valuing the impact of present day decisions on future generations.

Smart For One, Dumb For All. Review Of: Luxury Fever: Why Money Fails To Satisfy In An Era Of Excess By Robert H. Frank, Robert Costanza

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Book review of Luxury Fever: Why Money Fails to Satisfy in an Era of Excess. Robert H. Frank. Free Press, New York, 1999.

∫(Calculus)∙D(Physics) = ?, Robert Fuller

Robert G. Fuller Publications

What is wrong with physics?

• Lowest number of BS degrees in 40 years, but seems to be leveling off.
• High percentage of foreign PhD students in many departments.

What are some ways out of this situation?

• A way might be curriculum innovation

Physics and Mathematics:
They are like two functions that have always been defined on the same domain, now
they seem to have a greater overlap.

• How did it happen?
• How does it work?
• What will be the result?

Knowledge Base Support For Design And Synthesis Of Multi-Agent Systems, Marc J. Raphael

Theses and Dissertations

AgentTool is an AFIT-produced, AFOSR-sponsored multi-agent system (MAS) development tool intended for production of MASs that meet military requirements. This research focuses on enabling MAS design and synthesis tools like agentTool to store, retrieve, and filter persistent, reusable, and reliable agent domain knowledge. This "enabling" is vital if such tools are expected to produce consistent, maintainable, and verifiable agent applications on short timetables. Enabling requires: 1) modeling the agent knowledge domain, 2) designing and employing a persistent knowledge base, and 3) bridging that domain model to the knowledge base with an extensible domain interchange grammar. The achieved interchange grammar, called …

Improving The Analyst And Decision-Maker’S Perspective Through Uncertainty Visualization, Evan T. Watkins

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis constructs the Taxonomy of Uncertainty and an approach for enhancing the information in decision support systems. The hierarchical categorization of numerous causes for uncertainty defines the taxonomy, which fostered the development of a technique for visualizing uncertainty. This technique is fundamental to expressing the multi-dimensional uncertainty that can be associated with any object. By including and intuitively expressing uncertainty, the approach facilitates and enhances intuition and decision-making without undue information overload. The resulting approach for enhancing the information involves recording uncertainty, identifying the relevant items, computing and visualizing uncertainty, and providing interaction with the selection of uncertainty. A …

An Intelligent User Interface To Support Air Force Weather Product Generation And Automated Metrics, Darryl N. Leon

Theses and Dissertations

Air Force pilots require dependable weather reports so they may avoid unsafe flying conditions. In order to better gauge the accuracy of its weather products, Air Force Weather has established the requirement for an Air Force-wide automated weather metrics program. Under the guidelines for this program, forecasts will automatically be compared to observed weather to determine their accuracy. Statistics will be collected in the hopes of determining forecast error trends that can be corrected through education and training. In order for the statistical data produced by such a program to draw reliable conclusions about forecast accuracy, however, the correct format …

Interactive Worksheets In Large Introductory Physics Courses, Diandra Leslie-Pelecky

Diandra Leslie-Pelecky Publications

Physics education research indicates that interactive instruction techniques improve student performance. ¹ A variety of methods have been developed to promote interactivity, including peer instruction, ² tutorials, ³ ranking tasks, ⁴ and in-class worksheets.5 These techniques are attractive because they are adaptable to classes of all sizes and rarely require the instructor to make radical changes in the course content or pedagogical approach. Our Physics 151 is a one-semester algebra-based course for which the primary audience is architecture, construction management, natural resources, and business majors. Eighty to 140 students are in each section. The course has three hours of lecture …