Digital Commons Network^™

Estimating Sediment Yield Using Agricultural Non-Point Sources (Agnps) Model: The Effects Of Slope Information From Different Gis Software.

Journal of Spatial Hydrology

This study compares the effects of slope information derived from three GIS software on sediment yield as estimated using AGNPS model. The three GIS software are IDRISI for Windows, ERDAS Imagine and ArcView. The results of the study clearly demonstrated that the different software produced different slope information. The deviations were considerable when the comparisons were based on raw slope values. The maximum slope values generated by the software differed by as much as 61 percent. Not only the software produced different slope values, the locations where the maximum slope occurred were also different. These differences in slope information subsequently …

Teachings Of The Book Of Mormon, Semester 4: Transcripts Of Lectures Presented To An Honors Book Of Mormon Class At Brigham Young University, 1988-1990, Hugh Nibley

Maxwell Institute Publications

Hugh Nibley is one of the best-known and most highly revered of Latter-day Saint scholars. For over forty years this near-legendary teacher has enthralled his readers and listeners with his encyclopedic knowledge, his wit, and his untiring research in defense of Latter-day Saint beliefs.

Now you can join Dr. Nibley in the first of four Honors Book of Mormon classes that he taught at BYU during 1988-90. Part four covers 3 Nephi 6 through Moroni 10. It is vintage Nibley, with his insights, humor, and passionate convictions, discussing a book that he loves and knows so well.

Growing Up In Early Utah: The Wasatch Literary Association 1874-1878, Ronald W. Walker

BYU Studies

One day in early February 1874, Jim Ferguson, sensing the forlorn hope of advancing his courtship with Minnie Horne, suggested to Ort (Orson F.) Whitney and another of the boys that they organize a reading society. Ferguson "had heard, no doubt, of fond couples 'reading life's meaning in each others eyes,'" Whitney later mused, "and that was the kind of reading that most interested him." Since the seventeen-year-old Whitney found himself "in the same box with Ferguson on the girl question," the suggestion found a ready response. Whitney immediately invited those who "would make desirable members" to meet at the …

Human Capital And Learning As A Source Of Sustainable Competitive Advantage, Nile W. Hatch, Jeffrey H. Dyer

Faculty Publications

This paper seeks to identify the sources of wide and persistent variations in learning performance in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. In the resource-based view of the firm, human capital is frequently assumed to contribute to competitive advantage due to its inimitability based on its intangible, firm-specific, and socially complex nature. Consistent with this view, we find that investments in firm-specific human capital have a significant impact on learning and firm performance. More specifically, human capital selection (education requirements and screening), development through training, and deployment significantly improve learning by doing, which in turn improves performance. However, we find that acquiring …

Risky Loss Distributions And Modeling The Loss Reserve Pay-Out Tail, J. David Cummins, James B. Mcdonald, Craig B. Merrill

Faculty Publications

Although an extensive literature has developed on modeling the loss reserve runoff triangle, the estimation of severity distributions applicable to claims settled in specific cells of the runoff triangle has received little attention in the literature. This paper proposes the use of a very flexible probability density function, the generalized beta of the 2nd kind (GB2) to model severity distributions in the cells of the runoff triangle and illustrates the use of the GB2 based on a sample of nearly 500,000 products liability paid claims. The results show that the GB2 provides a significantly better fit to the severity data …

Guided Model Checking With A Bayesian Meta-Heuristic, Michael D. Jones, Peter Lamborn, Kevin Seppi

Faculty Publications

This paper presents a formal verification algorithm for finding errors in models of complex concurrent systems. The algorithm improves explicit guided model checking by applying the Empirical Bayes method to revise heuristic estimates of the distance from a given state to an error state. Guided search using the revised estimates finds errors with less search effort than the original estimates.

Generalised Long Duration Probable Maximum Precipitation (Pmp) Isohyetal Map For Peninsular Malaysia

Journal of Spatial Hydrology

Isohyetal maps were prepared to estimate Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) for long duration storms in Peninsular Malaysia. Historical storms of 1, 3 and 5-day durations from 21 rainfall recording stations operated by Malaysian Meteorological Service (MMS) were identified and analysed to calculate the PMP vales. Maximum rainfall for 1, 3 and 5-day storms in the Peninsula were recorded as 809, 1272.9 and 1494 mm, respectively. The widely used and most reliable hydrometeorological method was used to derive and transpose the PMP values from the storm locations to all MMS stations in the Peninsula. Maximum transposed PMP for a particular duration …

Land Use/Land Cover Changes And Groundwater Potential Zoning In And Around Raniganj Coal Mining Area, Bardhaman District, West Bengal – A Gis And Remote Sensing Approach

Journal of Spatial Hydrology

The Raniganj area has a long history of coal mining starting from 1744. This has resulted in major change in land use pattern and high groundwater abstraction leading to drinking water crisis especially during the premonsoon period. In the present study, land use /land cover conversions in Raniganj area from 1972 to 1998 and groundwater potential zoning for future groundwater development has been delineated using the techniques of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS). The study indicates that land covered by vegetation and settlement has decreased at the expense of mining activity, which is reflected in the increase in …

A Mormon “Widow” In Colorado: The Exile Of Emily Wells Grant, Ronald W. Walker

BYU Studies

As the southbound Denver & Rio Grande train pulled out of the depot at Salt Lake City in November 1889, Emily Wells Grant breathed a sigh of relief, and relaxed. As a plural wife of Elder Heber J. Grant, she was used to dodging United States marshals. Her recent crisis, she admitted, was of her own making. Why had she insisted on attending her father's seventy-fifth birthday celebration in the Twelfth Ward after five years of secrecy? She had been spotted there, the grand jury had reopened her husband's cohabitation case, and she had been forced to flee again. The …

Termination-Dependent Diversity Performance Of Coupled Antennas: Network Theory Analysis, Michael A. Jensen, Jon W. Wallace

Faculty Publications

A new analysis of mutually coupled diversity antenna systems is presented that includes the effects of coupling on the radiation pattern and received power. This analysis, based upon the network scattering parameters, makes use of the singular value decomposition to both specify the characteristics of and analyze terminated antenna networks. The approach facilitates a simplified proof of the multiport conjugate matching condition as well as development of expressions for diversity performance as a function of various impedance terminations. Application of the analysis to coupled dipole antennas characterized using full-wave electromagnetic analysis leads to a comprehensive examination of the diversity performance …

Microstructure Design Of A Two Phase Composite Using Two-Point Correlation Functions, Brent L. Adams, H. Garmestani, G. Saheli

Faculty Publications

This work has been funded under the AFOSR Grant no. F49620-03-1-0011 and Army Research Lab contract no. DAAD17-02-P-0398 and DAAD 19-01-1-0742. Two-point distribution functions are used here as to introduce "Microstructure Sensitive Design" in two-phase composites. Statistical distribution functions are commonly used for the representation of microstructures and also for homogenization of materials properties. The use of two-point statistics allows the composite designer to include the morphology and distribution in addition to the properties of the individual phases and components. Statistical continuum mechanics is used to make a direct link between the microstructure and properties (elastic and plastic) in terms …

Resolving Automatic Prepositional Phrase Attachments By Non-Statistical Means, Deryle W. Lonsdale, Michael B. Manookin

Faculty Publications

Prepositional-phrase attachment is a topic of active research in the field of computational linguistics. Properly attaching prepositional phrases to their pertinent constituent proves straightforward for humans, but inferring these attachments in a cognitive modeling system becomes difficult. For example, in the sentence, ‘Ralph threw the frisbee to John,’ the prepositional phrase ‘to John’ will attach to the verb phrase ‘threw’. In another example, ‘Joe saw the dog with fur,’ the prepositional phrase ‘with fur’ will attach directly to the noun phrase ‘the dog.’ Humans would have little difficulty resolving these examples, but for computers this would be difficult.

Utah Clean Energy: Market Research Project "Cougars For Clean Power", Laura Mactaggart, Marda Batt, Ted Olsen

Student Works

The research done in this project analyzes BYU students' position on preserving the environment and particularly measures their knowledge regarding wind power and their willingness to contribute to the purchase of wind power by BYU. Utah Clean Energy commissioned students of the Marriott School of Management at BYU to carry out this project. Research was based on 402 surveys, which were conducted throughout campus and BYU housing complexes. The survey questionnaire and the results of the survey are located in the appendix. From the data gathered, statistical analysis was performed including cross-tabulation, chi-square testing, z-test testing, correlation, regression, and purchase …

Diffused Interface Model To Prevent Ingress Of Sea Water In Multi-Layer Coastal Aquifers

Journal of Spatial Hydrology

In many regions coastal aquifers are major source of supply of water to various sectors. However indiscriminate pumping from these aquifers leads to seawater intrusion which is difficult to contain. A numerical model is developed to study two-dimensional steady state seawater intrusion problem involving hydrodynamic dispersion in a synthetic multi-layered confined coastal aquifer. The intrusion model is used to investigate efficacy of seawater control measures involving freshwater recharge wells and combined system of freshwater recharge and saltwater discharge wells. The study found that depth of recharge well, its location from the seashore and well head are important parameters that can …

Linkage Of Arcview Gis With The Rzwqm

Journal of Spatial Hydrology

The Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM) is a one-dimensional, lumped field-scale model. It can simulate major physical, chemical, and biological processes in an agricultural crop production system. While its reliability has been verified by several researchers, because of its lumped structure RZWQM could not account for the soil heterogeneity and the associated nonuniformity of management practices across the field. Neglecting the variability may result in misleading simulation results. On the other hand, the variability can be accurately characterized by using a geographic information system (GIS), especially ArcView GIS, the most widely used desktop mapping and geographic analysis system. Linked …

Employee Stock Purchase Plans, Gary V. Engelhardt, Brigitte C. Madrian

Faculty Publications

Employee stock purchase plans (ESPPs) are designed to promote employee stock ownership broadly within the firm and provide another tax-deferred vehicle for individual capital accumulation in addition to traditional pensions, 401(k)s, and stock options. We outline the individual and corporate tax treatment of ESPPs and the circumstances under which ESPPs will be preferred to cash compensation from a purely tax perspective. We then examine empirically ESPP participation using administrative data from 1997-2001 for a large health services company that employs approximately 30,000 people. The picture that emerges from the analysis of these data suggests that there is substantial non-participation in …

A Computational Approach To Resolving Certain Issues In Spanish Stress Placement, David Eddington

Faculty Publications

Previous research into Spanish stress assignment suggests that accentuation involves learning and storing individual word tokens along with their inherent stress patterns, and analogizing on stored words when the need arises to determine the stress pattern of an unknown or unavailable word. Exactly what variables are most relevant to stress assignment has been hotly debated. In the present study, a number of analogical simulations were carried out to determine whether elements of the CV tier, syllable weight, phonemic representation, or a combination of these, best accounts for accentuation in Spanish.

Digital Mountain: From Granite Archive To Global Access, William A. Barrett, Luke A. D. Hutchison, Douglas J. Kennard, Heath E. Nielson, Dallan Quass

Faculty Publications

Large-scale, multi-terabyte digital libraries are becoming feasible due to decreasing costs of storage, CPU, and bandwidth. However, costs associated with preparing content for input into the library remain high due to the amount of human labor required. This paper describes the Digital Microfilm Pipeline – a sequence of image processing operations used to populate a large-scale digital library from a “mountain” of microfilm and reduce the human labor involved. Essential parts of the pipeline include algorithms for document zoning and labeling, consensus-based template creation, reversal of geometric transformations and Just-In-Time Browsing, an interactive technique for progressive access of image content …

Fast Registration Of Tabular Document Images Using The Fourier-Mellin Transform, William A. Barrett, Luke A. D. Hutchison

Faculty Publications

A new technique is presented for quickly identifying global affine transformations applied to tabular document images, and to correct for those transformations. This technique, based on the Fourier-Mellin transform, is used to register (align) a set of tabular documents to each other. Each component of the affine transform is handled separately, which dramatically reduces the total parameter space of the problem. This method is robust, and deals with all components of the affine transform in a uniform way. The Fourier-Mellin transform is also extended to handle shear, which can approximate a small amount of perspective distortion, and to not need …

Coordinated Uav Target Assignment Using Distributed Tour Calculation, David H. Walker, Timothy W. Mclain, Jason K. Kowlett

Faculty Publications

In this chapter a method for assigning unmanned aerial vehicle agents to targets through the use of preplanned vehicle tours is presented. Assignments are based on multi-target tours that consider the spread of the targets and the sensor capabilities of the vehicles. In this way, the individual agents and the team as a whole make better use of team resources and improve team cooperation. Planning and assignments are accomplished in reasonable computational time through the use of heuristics to reduce the problem size.

Uranium Oxide As A Highly Reflective Coating From 100-400 Ev, Richard L. Sandberg, David D. Allred, Luke J. Bissell, Jed E. Johnson, R. Steven Turley

Faculty Publications

We present the measured reflectances (Beamline 6.3.2, ALS and LBNL) of naturally oxidized uranium and naturally oxidized nickel thin films from 100-460 eV (2.7 to 11.6 nm) at 5 and 15 degrees grazing incidence. These show that uranium as UO2, can fulfill its promise as the highest known single surface reflector for this portion of the soft x-ray region, being nearly twice as reflective as nickel in the 124-250 eV (5-10 nm) region. This is due to its large index of refraction coupled with low absorption. Nickel is commonly used in soft x-ray applications in astronomy and synchrotrons. (Its reflectance …

Microstructures By Design: Linear Problems In Elastic-Plastic Design, Brent L. Adams, B. Henrie, M. Lyon

Faculty Publications

Materials microstructure is considered to be a design variable in the methodology called microstructure sensitive design (MSD). Based upon existing homogenization relations, relating the first-order representation of microstructure (the local state distribution function) to elastic and yield properties, the paper describes the construction of properties closures. These establish the theoretically-possible combinations of properties achievable by the set of all possible microstructures, which is called the microstructure hull. Exemplary homogenization relations are shown to be, typically, hypersurfaces (often hyperplanes) in the Fourier space in which the microstructure hull resides. All points lying on (or to one side of) the hypersurface, that …

A Thermoviscoelastic Beam Model For Brakes, Kenneth Kuttler, J. Bajkowski, J. R. Fernandez, M. Shillor

Faculty Publications

A model for the dynamic thermomechanical behavior of a viscoelastic beam which is in frictional contact with a rigid rotating wheel is presented. It describes a simple braking system in which the wheel comes to a stop as a result of the frictional traction generated by the beam. Friction is modelled with a temperature and slip rate dependent coefficient of friction. Frictional heat generation is taken into account as well as the wheel temperature evolution, and the wear of the beam's contacting end. The model is formulated as a variational inequality. A FEM numerical scheme for the model is described, …

Motivating Undergraduate Feedback Control Through Robot Soccer, Randal Beard

Faculty Publications

One of the challenges in control engineering education is to motivate students to invest the effort necessary to understand the theoretical foundations of feedback control. We have found that many students are inherently interested in robotics and are attracted to control engineering when they understand that it plays a central role in robotic systems. To capitalize on this appeal, we have established a one semester robot soccer senior design course that uses the undergraduate feedback control course to introduce the prerequisite material. As a consequence, the undergraduate feedback control course and its lab have been redesigned to focus on mobile …

The Influences Of Family Leisure Patterns On Perceptions Of Family Functioning*, Ramon B. Zabriskie, Bryan P. Mccormick

Faculty Publications

This study conducted a preliminary test of a model of family leisure functioning by examining the relationship of core and balance family leisure patterns to family cohesion and adaptability. We hypothesized that core family leisure patterns address family needs for stability, facilitate the development of cohesive relationships, and are related to perceptions of family cohesion, whereas balance family leisure patterns address family needs for change, facilitate the development of adaptive skills, and are related to perceptions of family adaptability. Findings from 2 multiple regression analyses provided preliminary support for the model. Conclusions and implications are discussed.

Asset Pricing Theory And The Valuation Of Canadian Paintings, Douglas J. Hodgson, Keith Vorkink

Faculty Publications

The valuation of Canadian paintings is analysed empirically. Using a sample of auction prices for major Canadian painters for the period 1968–2001, we run hedonic regressions to analyse the influence of various factors, including painter identity, on auction prices, as well as to construct a market price index. This index is used in a second-stage analysis in which we analyse the properties of Canadian art viewed as an investment asset. We apply standard asset pricing theory, as incorporated in the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), to the analysis of price movements in the market for Canadian paintings.

Connections Between Teacher And Student Attitudes Regarding Script Choice In First-Year Japanese Language Classrooms, Dan Dewey

Faculty Publications

This study investigates connections between teacher and student attitudes related to the delayed (or immediate) introduction of Japanese script in the Japanese language classroom. Two groups of students completed questionnaires concerning their attitudes toward the immediate or delayed introduction of Japanese script and the use of romaji (romanized Japanese) in the Japanese as a second language classroom. The first group was introduced to Japanese script immediately, and romaji was not used in their textbook. The second group used a romaji textbook and was introduced toJapanese script at a later time and a slower rate. Teacher attitudes were also assessed using …

Adapt: A Cognitive Architecture For Robots, Deryle W. Lonsdale, D. Paul Benjamin, Damian M. Lyons

Faculty Publications

The goal of the ADAPT project is to create a robot that can model its environment accurately in real time, and use that model to perform tasks and interact with people using natural language.

Integrating Perception, Language And Problem Solving In A Cognitive Agent For A Mobile Robot., Deryle W. Lonsdale, D. Paul Benjamin, Damian M. Lyons

Faculty Publications

We are implementing a unified cognitive architecture for a mobile robot. Our goal is to endow a robot agent with the full range of cognitive abilities, including perception, use of natural language, learning and the ability to solve complex problems. The perspective of this work is that an architecture based on a unified theory of robot cognition has the best chance of attaining human-level performance.

This agent architecture is an integration of three theories: a theory of cognition embodied in the Soar system, the RS formal model of sensorimotor activity and an algebraic theory of decomposition and reformulation.

These three …

Establishing A Quantitative Foundation For Exactly Constrained Design, Alisha M. Hammond

Theses and Dissertations

Exactly constrained (EC) design is a robust design method which can be used for mechanical assemblies. It entails using the minimum number of constraints to eliminate all desired motion.

While found by some engineers in industry to have many benefits (including robust assembly, no binding or play, ease of assembly, and the ability to tolerate the wear of parts), EC designs remain somewhat unrecognized by academia. One reason for this minimal exposure may be the lack of a quantitative foundation for such designs. This thesis describes the history and current background for EC designs, and it also begins to develop …