Digital Commons Network^™

Language Learning Using Models Of Intentionality In Repeated Games With Cheap Talk, Jonathan Berry Skaggs

Theses and Dissertations

Language is critical to establishing long-term cooperative relationships among intelligent agents (including people), particularly when the agents' preferences are in conflict. In such scenarios, an agent uses speech to coordinate and negotiate behavior with its partner(s). While recent work has shown that neural language modeling can produce effective speech agents, such algorithms typically only accept previous text as input. However, in relationships among intelligent agents, not all relevant context is expressed in conversation. Thus, in this paper, we propose and analyze an algorithm, called Llumi, that incorporates other forms of context to learn to speak in long-term relationships modeled as …

An Iterative Numerical Method For Multiple Scattering Using High Order Local Absorbing Boundary Conditions, Jonathan Harriman Hale

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis outlines an iterative approach for determining the scattered wave for two dimensional multiple acoustic scattering problems using high order local absorbing boundary conditions and second order finite difference. We seek to approximate the total wave as it is scattered off of multiple arbitrarily shaped obstacles. This is done by decomposing the scattered wave into the superposition of single scattered waves. We then repeatedly solve the single scattering system for each obstacle, while updating the boundary conditions based off the incident wave and the scattered wave off the other obstacles. We solve each single scattering by enclosing the obstacle …

The Power-Duration Relationship Is Just As Reproducible In Females As Males, Despite The Presence Of The Menstrual Cycle, Jessica Joy Linde

Theses and Dissertations

PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of the menstrual cycle (MC) on exercise performance across the power-duration relationship (PDR). We hypothesized females would exhibit greater variability in the PDR across the MC than males across a similar timespan, with critical power (PCRIT) and Work prime (W') being lower during the early follicular phase than the late follicular and mid-luteal phases. METHODS: Eumenorrheic, endurance-trained females (n = 10, age = 24.1 ± 5.59) performed multiple constant-load-to-task-failure and maximum-power tests at three time points across the MC (early follicular, late follicular, midluteal phases). Endurance-trained males (n = 10 age = 29.5 ± 9.18) …

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Changes Coming To Periodical Subscriptions

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

With the addition of a new annual periodical at year’s end, Maxwell Institute subscribers will be offered new options effective January 1, 2010.

All current subscribers will receive a complimentary copy of the first issue of Studies in the Bible and Antiquity at the end of 2009. This periodical focuses on the Bible and the ancient biblical world. Beginning in January 2010, this periodical, as well as the other Maxwell Institute periodicals, will be available as part of the new basic subscription structure.

Nibley Magnum Opus To Be Released Soon

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Hugh Nibley’s long-anticipated One Eternal Round is in the final stages of production. This volume represents the culmination of Nibley’s thoughts and research on the Book of Abraham, especially Facsimile 2.

A Visual Focus On Form Understanding, Brian Lafayette Davis

Theses and Dissertations

Paper forms are a commonly used format for collecting information, including information that ultimately will be added to a digital database. This work focuses on the automatic extraction of information from form images. It examines what can be achieved at parsing forms without any textual information. The resulting model, FUDGE, shows that computer vision alone is reasonably successful at the problem. Drawing from the strengths and weaknesses of FUDGE, this work also introduces a novel model, Dessurt, for end-to-end document understanding. Dessurt performs text recognition implicitly and is capable of outputting arbitrary text, making it a more flexible document processing …

Defining Dyslexia Within And Across Disciplines: A Systematic Review Of The Literature, Ann Marie Trumbo

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: In the present study, we conducted a systematic review to investigate the core features of the definition of dyslexia across different disciplines according to their associated professional organizations and published research in order to evaluate the presence and type of inconsistencies within and across disciplines in how dyslexia is defined. Method: Definition statements of dyslexia from professional organizations in medicine, education, speech-language pathology, psychology, and the International Dyslexia Association were collected via scope of practice guidelines or via the organization's official website. Using a database with a wide disciplinary reach, we collected 764 of the most cited articles from …

The Christian Approach To Psychology, Preston Keller

Student Works

This article analyzes the implications of the current worldview of contemporary psychology and demonstrates that these implications are not compatible with the worldview of a Christian approach to psychology. The contrast between Greek Naturalism and Hebrew Theism are presented as the historical foundations for the worldviews of contemporary psychology and Christianity, respectively. The ontological, epistemological, and ethical assumptions of a Christian approach to psychology are explored. The Christian approach to human flourishing, psychopathology, and psychotherapy are contrasted against contemporary psychology's approach to these three areas. The article concludes by suggesting that the field of contemporary psychology should make space for …

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

New Book Explores Faith And Philosophy

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Maxwell Institute and Brigham Young University are pleased to announce the publication of a new volume by BYU philosophy professor James E. Faulconer.

Number Manipulation For Profit, Or Just For Fun?, Paul Y. Hoskisson

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

When the writer of the Gospel of Matthew listed the genealogy of Christ, he divided it into three sections, each containing 14 generations, to wit, Abraham to David, David to the Exile, and the Exile to Christ (Matthew 1:17; also 1–17). In order to do this he had to manipulate the names by leaving out several ancestors mentioned in the Old Testament. The reason Matthew thought it necessary to create this mathematical/genealogical fiction has never been explained adequately.

Wordprint Analysis And Joseph Smith’S Role As Editor Of The Times And Seasons, Paul Fields, Matthew Roper, Atul Nepal

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

One of the issues that swirls around discus- sions of Book of Mormon geography is the rightful place the editorials in the 1842 Times and Seasons must take. The story of the editorials begins with Joseph’s receipt of John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood’s Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chaipas, and Yucatan, published in 1841. In early 1842, the Times and Seasons published several enthu- siastic articles that drew attention to the discoveries of Stephens and Catherwood in Central America and compared them favorably with the Book of Mormon. Two of these articles were signed by the editor, while …

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Breakthrough Translation Of Avicenna’S Physics Published, D. Morgan Davis

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Middle Eastern Texts Initiative, which pub­lishes texts and accompanying English translations of important works of philosophy, theology, science, and mysticism from the classical Islamic period (roughly the 9th through 14th centuries), has announced the publication of a new title in its Islamic Translation Series. Avicenna: The Physics of The Healing, translated by Jon McGinnis, an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy of the University of Missouri, St. Louis, brings to 16 the total number of volumes pub­ lished by METI in its various series.

Tabletop Extreme-Ultraviolet Source Using High Harmonic Generation For Polarization Sensitive Imaging, Taylor Jordan Buckway

Theses and Dissertations

We are developing a tabletop extreme-ultraviolet source using high harmonic generation at Brigham Young University. The thesis goes over the theory of high harmonic generation using the three-step model. This tabletop source was designed for probing magnetic domains of iron nanoparticles. We present optimization of the 42 eV and 52 eV harmonics through phase matching. Phase matching consists of tuning the intensity of the IR beam and pressure of the gas medium. The target gas medium used for this thesis is argon. The 42 eV harmonic was optimized to 8.2 billion photons per second. This was used with a 1500 …

Network Specialization: A Topological Mechanism For The Emergence Of Cluster Synchronization, Ethan Walker

Theses and Dissertations

Real-world networks are dynamic in that both the state of the network components and the structure of the network (topology) change over time. Most studies regarding network evolution consider either one or the other of these types of network processes. Here we consider the interplay of the two, specifically, we consider how changes in network structure effect the dynamics of the network components. To model the growth of a network we use the specialization model known to produce many of the well-known features observed in real-world networks. We show that specialization results in a nontrivial equitable partition of the network …

Characterizing Equivalence And Correctness Properties Of Dynamic Mode Decomposition And Subspace Identification Algorithms, Samuel Gregory Neff

Theses and Dissertations

We examine the related nature of two identification algorithms, subspace identification (SID) and Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD), and their correctness properties over a broad range of problems. This investigation begins by noting the strong relationship between the two algorithms, both drawing significantly on the pseudoinverse calculation using singular value decomposition, and ultimately revealing that DMD can be viewed as a substep of SID. We then perform extensive computational studies, characterizing the performance of SID on problems of various model orders and noise levels. Specifically, we generate 10,000 random systems for each model order and noise level, calculating the average identification …

The Lost Wonderland Diaries, Tessa Mcmillan

Children's Book and Media Review

Moving to a new town means Celia can try to hide her dyslexia. Stuck at her mother’s new job at the library, Celia meets Tyrus, a boy obsessed with books. A voice leads them to her mother’s office where they find a chest with four old diaries. Opening one, they are transported into Wonderland. Sylvan, a white rabbit, tells them that a destructive plague is infesting Wonderland. It was prophesied that Wonderland will end unless another Alice saves it. Constantly on the run from the Red Queen, who is hunting them to open portals outside Wonderland, they meet others who …

Full Issue, Various Reviewers

Children's Book and Media Review

No abstract provided.

Improving Predictions Of Vapor Pressure, Liquid Heat Capacity, And Heat Of Vaporization In Associating Fluids, Joseph C. Bloxham

Theses and Dissertations

Vapor pressure, heat of vaporization, and liquid heat capacity are linked through fundamental thermodynamic relationships. These related properties are essential for the safe design of many industrial processes, and measurement and prediction of these properties remains an essential part of modern thermodynamics research. DIPPR uses the fundamental relationships connecting these properties as a prediction method for all three, referred to as "the derivative method." DIPPR regards values predicted using the derivative method as highly accurate, even when compared to more traditional predictions. Despite the widespread interest in improving understanding of these properties, many questions remain regarding their prediction. Foremost among …

Accurate Band Energies Of Metals With Quadratic Integration, Jeremy John Jorgensen

Theses and Dissertations

Materials play an important role in society. Historically, and even at present, materials have been discovered by trial and error, and many of the most useful materials have been discovered by chance. The high-throughput approach aims to remove (as much as possible) chance and guesswork at the experimental level by filtering out materials candidates that are not predicted to exist. Many successes have been recorded. In the high-throughput approach to materials discovery, machined-learned models of materials are created from databases of theoretical materials. These databases are the result of millions of density-functional-theory (DFT) simulations. The size and accuracy of the …

How Failures Cascade In Software Systems, Barbara W. Chamberlin

Theses and Dissertations

Cascading failures involve a failure in one system component that triggers failures in successive system components, potentially leading to system wide failures. While frequently used fault tolerant techniques can reduce the severity and the frequency of such failures, they continue to occur in practice. To better understand how failures cascade, we have conducted a qualitative analysis of 55 cascading failures, described in 26 publicly available incident reports. Through this analysis we have identified 16 types of cascading mechanisms (organized into eight categories) that capture the nature of the system interactions that contribute to cascading failures. We also discuss three themes …

The Perception Of At-Risk Students On Caring Student-Teacher Relationships And Its Impact On Their Productive Disposition, Brittany Hopper

Theses and Dissertations

The importance of a positive, caring relationship with students in the classroom is under-researched in mathematics education. Research shows that a positive student-teacher relationship can have many long-term positive results for the student. Many of these results directly impact a student's productive disposition towards mathematics. At-risk students are in greater need of positive relationships and an increase in productive disposition. Using Joan Tronto's (1993) elements of care, I examine the student perspective of these kinds of relationships and how the student sees development of their own productive disposition.

A Permutation-Based Confidence Distribution For Rare-Event Meta-Analysis, Travis Andersen

Theses and Dissertations

Confidence distributions (CDs), which provide evidence across all levels of significance, are receiving increasing attention, especially in meta-analysis. Meta-analyses allow independent study results to be combined to produce one overall conclusion and are particularly useful in public health and medicine. For studies with binary outcomes that are rare, many traditional meta-analysis methods often fail (Sutton et al. 2002; Efthimiou 2018; Liu et al. 2018; Liu 2019; Hunter and Schmidt 2000; Kontopantelis et al. 2013). Zabriskie et al. (2021b) develop a permutation-based method to analyze such data when study treatment effects vary beyond what is expected by chance. In this work, …

A Multidimensional Convolutional Bootstrapping Method For The Analysis Of Degradation Data, Jared M. Clark

Theses and Dissertations

While Monte Carlo methods for bootstrapping are typically easy to implement, they can be quite time intensive. This work aims to extend an established convolutional method of bootstrapping to work when convolutions in two or more dimensions are required. The convolutional method relies on efficient computational tools rather than Monte Carlo simulation which can greatly reduce the computation time. The proposed method is particularly well suited for the analysis of degradation data when the data are not collected on time intervals of equal length. The convolutional bootstrapping method is typically much faster than the Monte Carlo bootstrap and can be …

Math Achievement Opportunity For American Mexican Children In Mexico: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis Using Multilevel Data, Jimmy E. Hernandez

Theses and Dissertations

Since the U.S. Recession of 2008, more Mexicans are leaving than coming to the United States. Many Mexican families return to Mexico with their U.S.-born--or American Mexican--children and youth. Approximately 700,000 American Mexican children and youth are now living and attending K-12 schools throughout Mexico (Gándara & Jensen, 2021; Jacobo-Suárez, 2017; Jensen et al., 2017; Passel et al., 2012). They are part of a broader category of students who have educational experiences on both sides of the border often referred to as transnational students. Return migration to Mexico presents both challenges and opportunities that affect their adaptation to Mexican schools. …

Inhibition Of Cell Adhesion And Actin Localization During Migration Upon Protective Antigen Mutant Ligand Binding To The Capillary Morphogenesis Gene 2, Sai Lun Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Capillary Morphogenesis Gene 2 protein (CMG2) is a type 1 transmembrane receptor known as the anthrax toxin receptor 2 (ANTXR2). While it is documented that the cell surface receptor CMG2 mediates anthrax toxin entry into the cell via endocytosis, the physiological role of CMG2 is not well understood. Others have suggested that CMG2 may have a role in mediating ECM homeostasis and angiogenesis. Additionally, both anthrax protective antigen (PA) and a furin protease-resistant mutant, PASSSR, inhibit corneal neovascularization in a mouse model, and interestingly PASSSR has a greater affinity to CMG2 receptor. PASSSRalso has a more potent antiangiogenic effect than …

Physics-Guided Machine Learning In Ocean Acoustics Using Fisher Information, Michael Craig Mortenson

Theses and Dissertations

Waterborne acoustic signals carry information about the ocean environment. Ocean geoacoustic inversion is the task of estimating environmental parameters from received acoustic signals by matching the measured sound with the predictions of a physics-based model. A lower bound on the uncertainty associated with environmental parameter estimates, the Cramér-Rao bound, can be calculated from the Fisher information, which is dependent on derivatives of a physics-based model. Physics-based preconditioners circumvent the need for variable step sizes when computing numerical derivatives. This work explores the feasibility of using a neural network to perform geoacoustic inversion for environmental parameters and their associated uncertainties from …

“If I Could Do This, I Feel Anyone Could:” The Design And Evaluation Of A Two-Factor Authentication Manager, Garrett D. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a strong defense against account compromise. However, usability studies reveal challenges with 2FA setup. The process to manually setup and remove 2FA methods differs across websites. We present a system design for a 2FA manager to automatically setup and remove 2FA methods. Potential benefits are reduced time, fewer mistakes, consistent terminology, a single workflow for users to learn, and the ability to rapidly transition to a new 2FA method—e.g., when replacing a lost 2FA method. We create two proof-of-concept implementations of our design, one as a browser extension and one integrated as a feature in an …