Digital Commons Network^™

Individualism And Collectivism In A Korean Population, Diana D. Ahn

Scripps Senior Theses

Though much research has been conducted concerning the horizontal and vertical attributes of individualism and, not much has been done comparing and contrasting an Eastern culture, collectivism to a specific aspect of American culture, individualism, such as Korean American. The 32-item INDCOL scale was used to measure the 4 attributes (Singelis et al., 1995). Contrary to the proposed hypothesis, this study found high scores in horizontal individualism in Korean American participants and high scores in horizontal individualism and horizontal collectivism in Korean participants. These results could indicate a shift towards a different attribute in the Korean and Korean American community.

Inclusionary Zoning: New Ways Forward, Owen Deutsch

Pomona Senior Theses

This is a review of recent literature on best practices for implementing inclusionary zoning. Existing policies for creating affordable housing in the United States are briefly discussed. Common components of inclusionary zoning ordinances are then detailed, and legal and economic considerations are explained. Finally, the success of inclusionary zoning, its application to large cities, and expert policy recommendations are addressed, before concluding.

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 …

The Practical Pev: Removing Barriers To Plug-In Electric Vehicle Charging And Ownership, Stephen Parry

Pomona Senior Theses

The paradigm of personal transportation is changing. Electric vehicles are here. The arrival of the Tesla Roadster, Nissan Leaf, and Chevy Volt has changed the way in which we have to think about the energy that fuels our transportation needs. As PEVs find their way into garages this year and especially in the coming years, the neighborhood, city, state, and regional electric infrastructure will take on a new importance for many people as their interactions with it become significantly more complex and intimate as a result of regular electric vehicle charging.

Man, Nature, And New Ideas: The Legacy Of Sea Pines Plantation, Markham M. Shofner

Pomona Senior Theses

My goal is to learn the history of Hilton Head Island and logically reason out the way it grew, marking Sea Pine’s design influence over time and place. This paper is meant to be a piece of nature and history writing, which has implications for the study of environmental economics and real-estate design practices, but is not strictly about either. The thrust of this piece is the mapping of developmental philosophies and their reflection in the land. This topic interests me because at its core, it looks at how decisions are made, and the trade offs that influence them. The …

Finding The Beat In Music: Using Adaptive Oscillators, Kate M. Burgers

HMC Senior Theses

The task of finding the beat in music is simple for most people, but surprisingly difficult to replicate in a robot. Progress in this problem has been made using various preprocessing techniques (Hitz 2008; Tomic and Janata 2008). However, a real-time method is not yet available. Methods using a class of oscillators called relay relaxation oscillators are promising. In particular, systems of forced Hopf oscillators (Large 2000; Righetti et al. 2006) have been used with relative success. This work describes current methods of beat tracking and develops a new method that incorporates the best ideas from each existing method and …

Extending List Colorings Of Planar Graphs, Sarah Loeb

HMC Senior Theses

In the study of list colorings of graphs, we assume each vertex of a graph has a specified list of colors from which it may be colored. For planar graphs, it is known that there is a coloring for any list assignment where each list contains five colors. If we have some vertices that are precolored, can we extend this to a coloring of the entire graph? We explore distance constraints when we allow the lists to contain an extra color. For lists of length five, we fix $W$ as a subset of $V(G)$ such that all vertices in $W$ …

Swarm Control Through Symmetry And Distribution Characterization, Georgi Dinolov

HMC Senior Theses

Two methods for control of swarms are described. The first of these methods, the Virtual Attractive-Repulsive (VARP) method, is based on potentials defined between swarm elements. The second control method, or the abstraction method, is based on controlling the macroscopic characteristics of a swarm. The derivation of a new control law based on the second method is described. Numerical simulation and analytical interpretation of the result is also presented.

Simulations Of Surfactant Spreading, Jeffrey Wong

HMC Senior Theses

Thin liquid films driven by surface tension gradients are studied in diverse applications, including the spreading of a droplet and fluid flow in the lung. The nonlinear partial differential equations that govern thin films are difficult to solve analytically, and must be approached through numerical simulations. We describe the development of a numerical solver designed to solve a variety of thin film problems in two dimensions. Validation of the solver includes grid refinement studies and comparison to previous results for thin film problems. In addition, we apply the solver to a model of surfactant spreading and make comparisons with theoretical …

Markov Bases For Noncommutative Harmonic Analysis Of Partially Ranked Data, Ann Johnston

HMC Senior Theses

Given the result $v_0$ of a survey and a nested collection of summary statistics that could be used to describe that result, it is natural to ask which of these summary statistics best describe $v_0$. In 1998 Diaconis and Sturmfels presented an approach for determining the conditional significance of a higher order statistic, after sampling a space conditioned on the value of a lower order statistic. Their approach involves the computation of a Markov basis, followed by the use of a Markov process with stationary hypergeometric distribution to generate a sample.This technique for data analysis has become an accepted tool …

Martingale Couplings And Bounds On Tails Of Probability Distributions, Kyle Luh

HMC Senior Theses

Wassily Hoeffding, in his 1963 paper, introduces a procedure to derive inequalities between distributions. This method relies on finding a martingale coupling between the two random variables. I have developed a construction that establishes such couplings in various urn models. I use this construction to prove the inequality between the hypergeometric and binomial random variables that appears in Hoeffding's paper. I have then used and extended my urn construction to create new inequalities.

Group Actions And Divisors On Tropical Curves, Max B. Kutler

HMC Senior Theses

Tropical geometry is algebraic geometry over the tropical semiring, or min-plus algebra. In this thesis, I discuss the basic geometry of plane tropical curves. By introducing the notion of abstract tropical curves, I am able to pass to a more abstract metric-topological setting. In this setting, I discuss divisors on tropical curves. I begin a study of $G$-invariant divisors and divisor classes.

Verification Of Solutions To The Sensor Location Problem, Chandler May

HMC Senior Theses

Traffic congestion is a serious problem with large economic and environmental impacts. To reduce congestion (as a city planner) or simply to avoid congested channels (as a road user), one might like to accurately know the flow on roads in the traffic network. This information can be obtained from traffic sensors, devices that can be installed on roads or intersections to measure traffic flow. The sensor location problem is the problem of efficiently locating traffic sensors on intersections such that the flow on the entire network can be extrapolated from the readings of those sensors. I build on current research …

Comparing The Cognitive Demand Of Traditional And Reform Algebra 1 Textbooks, Allison M. Park

HMC Senior Theses

Research has shown that students achieved higher standardized test scores in mathematics and gained more positive attitudes towards mathematics after learning from reform curricula. Because these studies involve actual students and teachers, there are classroom variables that are involved in these findings (Silver and Stein, 1996; Stein et al., 1996). To understand how much these curricula by themselves contribute to higher test scores, I have studied the cognitive demand of tasks in two traditional and two reform curricula. This work required the creation of a scale to categorize tasks based on their level of cognitive demand. This scale relates to …

Analytic And Numerical Studies Of A Simple Model Of Attractive-Repulsive Swarms, Andrew S. Ronan

HMC Senior Theses

We study the equilibrium solutions of an integrodifferential equation used to model one-dimensional biological swarms. We assume that the motion of the swarm is governed by pairwise interactions, or a convolution in the continuous setting, and derive a continuous model from conservation laws. The steady-state solution found for the model is compactly supported and is shown to be an attractive equilibrium solution via linear perturbation theory. Numerical simulations support that the steady-state solution is attractive for all initial swarm distributions. Some initial results for the model in higher dimensions are also presented.

Combinatorial Interpretations Of Fibonomial Identities, Elizabeth Reiland

HMC Senior Theses

The Fibonomial numbers are defined by \[ \begin{bmatrix}n \\ k \end{bmatrix} = \frac{\prod_{i=n-k+1} ^{n} F_i}{\prod_{j=1}^{k} F_j} \] where $F_i$ is the $i$th Fibonacci number, defined by the recurrence $F_n=F_{n-1}+F_{n-2}$ with initial conditions $F_0=0,F_1=1$. In the past year, Sagan and Savage have derived a combinatorial interpretation for these Fibonomial numbers, an interpretation that relies upon tilings of a partition and its complement in a given grid.In this thesis, I investigate previously proven theorems for the Fibonomial numbers and attempt to reinterpret and reprove them in light of this new combinatorial description. I also present combinatorial proofs for some identities I did …

Continued Fractions: A New Form, Donald Lee Wiyninger Iii

HMC Senior Theses

While the traditional form of continued fractions is well-documented, a new form, designed to approximate real numbers between 1 and 2, is less well-studied. This report first describes prior research into the new form, describing the form and giving an algorithm for generating approximations for a given real number. It then describes a rational function giving the rational number represented by the continued fraction made from a given tuple of integers and shows that no real number has a unique continued fraction. Next, it describes the set of real numbers that are hardest to approximate; that is, given a positive …

Noise, Delays, And Resonance In A Neural Network, Austin Quan

HMC Senior Theses

A stochastic-delay differential equation (SDDE) model of a small neural network with recurrent inhibition is presented and analyzed. The model exhibits unexpected transient behavior: oscillations that occur at the boundary of the basins of attraction when the system is bistable. These are known as delay-induced transitory oscillations (DITOs). This behavior is analyzed in the context of stochastic resonance, an unintuitive, though widely researched phenomenon in physical bistable systems where noise can play in constructive role in strengthening an input signal. A method for modeling the dynamics using a probabilistic three-state model is proposed, and supported with numerical evidence. The potential …

What’S The Emergency Here? An Examination Of Emergency Room Perspectives On Muslim Immigrant Patients In Berlin, Janet Ma

Pomona Senior Theses

My thesis, then, proposes to examine an often-overlooked field in which tensions relating to immigration also occurs: health care. It aims to better understand how Germany’s health care system, particularly its emergency facilities, have responded to the increasing ethnic and cultural diversity of patients as a result of these demographic shifts, and what still must be done to provide equal and satisfactory health care for all patients.

The Idea Of The Public Library In The United States: Why Is It Important?, Ruth Bernstein

Pitzer Senior Theses

In a 1954 Library Science textbook author Ernestine Rose asked her readers to ponder whether the public library is either “unique and indispensable“ or “incidental and pleasant—the frills on our civic costume”. Over sixty-five years later these opposite constructs are still valid to frame my thesis with the questions, What is important about a library, What does it mean and to whom does it matter?

Erin Payne Mfa Thesis Statement, Erin B. Payne

CGU MFA Theses

Please see Download button in top right corner for the full statement.

Food
 Deserts
 In
 The 
Inland
 Empire: Locating 
Space
 For
 Urban
 Gardens
 In
 Ontario,
 California, Ashley L. Mccoy

Pomona Senior Theses

Food insecurity is defined as “a household‐level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food” (USDA Economic Research Service 2009). Low‐income households tend to be food insecure for many reasons. The first and most obvious would be the access to monetary resources. If a household does not have a sufficient income, it is difficult to keep an adequate amount of food for all household members at all times. Another reason would be that many low‐income households cannot afford a car and/or do not have easy access to public transportation or reliable private transportation.

Fabrication And Preliminary Characterization Of Hydrophobic Silica Aerogel Films For Oil Remediation Studies, Ellen Yang

Pomona Senior Theses

Due to the potential of oil sorbents for oil spill clean-up, hydrophobic silica-based aerogel thin films have been synthesized and characterized by various methods. Aerogels were prepared using a two-step acid/base sol-gel process and functionalized with trimethylchlorosilane in hexane, followed by drying in ambient conditions. After film deposition by spin-coating, samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption analysis (BET surface area = 377.66 m2 /g), and variable-angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (thickness of 287.00 ± 0.85 nm, refractive index of 1.08, porosity of 80.9%). Unlike previous studies with aerogel films, quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) was applied to …

Impact Of It On The Role Of A Community Of Practice Moderator In The Coalescing Stage Of Development, Farnaz Barvarz Piepkorn

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation uses case study research to evaluate the impact of Information Technology (IT) on the moderator's role in directing a community of practice (CoP) in its Coalescing stage of development. Ten CoPs were studied.

While each of these CoPs is in a different stage of development, the analysis focuses on the Coalescing stage because it is considered the most critical. A detailed case study of each CoP, including a survey of moderators and members, and interviews with moderators is presented. Analysis of these cases indicated that use of IT -- defined as communication, software, and hardware tools -- has …

A Secure Behavior Modification Sensor System For Physical Activity Improvement, Alan Price

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Today, advances in wireless sensor networks are making it possible to capture large amounts of information about a person and their interaction within their home environment. However, what is missing is how to ensure the security of the collected data and its use to alter human behavior for positive benefit.

In this research, exploration was conducted involving the "infrastructure" and "intelligence" aspects of a wireless sensor network through a Behavior Modification Sensor System. First was to understand how a secure wireless sensor network could be established through the symmetric distribution of keys (the securing of the infrastructure), and it involves …

Sector-Switching In Transition Economies: A Case Study Of Kazakhstan's Health Care Sector, Dariga Chukmaitova

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The dissertation examines the economic and behavioral factors influencing 'sector-switching' in Kazakhstan's health care industry. Sector-switching involves doctors moving from the national to the private system, which is not well established, thereby raising questions about why the switch occurs. It addresses the question: why health care professionals in Kazakhstan switch from the public sector to similar jobs in the private or nonprofit sectors? This study addresses a key issue in public management (sector switching) and also offers insights into the dynamics of the transition from a centralized economy to a market economy. As such, its findings have `real-world' applications beyond …

Teaching Activist Intelligence: Feminism, The Educational Experience And The Applied Women's Studies Department At Cgu, Tara Chaffee Robinson

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The need to teach students how to be community activists becomes increasingly relevant as women's studies continues to evolve from its activist roots. Living in a culture that discourages activist work, many women's studies students feel passionately about activist issues, but with frustrating paralysis. For this reason, many of them pursue graduate degrees to equip themselves for an activist-oriented life, since they are not sure how to do this themselves. Without the presence of a concrete social movement, women's studies students need activist behavior and community modeled for them through the institution of the university. Teaching feminist activism to women's …

Discrete Variable Representation Of The Angular Variables In Quantum Three-Body Scattering, David Caballero

CGU Theses & Dissertations

There are many numerical methods to study the quantum mechanical three-body scattering system using the Schrodinger equation. Traditionally, a partial-wave decomposition of the total wave function is carried out first, allowing the scattering system to be solved one partial wave at a time. This is convenient when the interaction is central, causing the total angular momentum to be conserved during the collision process. This is not possible in the presence of a non-central interaction such as a laser field, where the total angular momentum is not conserved during the collision process. The Discrete Variable Representation is a new method for …

Do Facework Behaviors Matter During Conflicts Among Online Discussion Team Members?, Jesus Herman Canelon

CGU Theses & Dissertations

According to researchers, face is an important possession carried by individuals into interactions with others. Face has been studied in diverse areas such as: politeness, compliance gaining, emotional discourse, negotiations, face-negotiation theory, and conflict. Perhaps because of its value, face can be vulnerable during conflict situations. Facework behaviors are the communicative strategies that people use during conflicts to protect face (theirs or others), threaten others' face, and to avoid or resolve conflicts. So far, studies about facework behaviors have focused on face-to-face interactions. Preliminary studies have shown: a. facework behaviors may affect the outcomes of online discussion teams, b. sex …

The High Costs Of Small Loans: Understanding Interest Rates In Microfinance, Benjamin W. Hudgens

CMC Senior Theses

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000183 EndHTML:0000003190 StartFragment:0000002393 EndFragment:0000003154 SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/benjaminhudgens/Desktop/Final%20Thesis.docx This thesis will use data from 2009 to examine two questions about the Microfinance industry. First, why do firms charge interest rates well beyond their cost of funds and second, are there important differences at the national level that can help us to understand the high interest rates in Microfinance? I find that interest rates are primarily a result of operating expenses, but profit-status has large effects in developed Microfinance markets. I also find that the Economist Intelligence Unit’s measures of regulatory environment and industrial development explain a large portion of the variation in …