Digital Commons Network^™

Toil Of The Firestarters, Peter A. Alces

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Second Amendment And The Personal Right To Arms, William W. Van Alstyne

Faculty Publications

For many years, the Second Amendment was politely ignored, or summarily dismissed, by America's legal academy. In recent years, however, more and more law professors have begun taking the Second Amendment seriously. Professor William Van Alstyne, one of the nation's most respected Constitutional law professors, and the author of a leading Constitutional law casebook; offers his contribution in this essay. Van Alstyne suggests that the Second Amendment means exactly what it says: that individual citizens have a right, not merely a privilege, to own and carry firearms. He also commends the National Rifle Association for its constructive role as a …

Ideology As Interpretation: A Reply To Professor Greene's Theory Of The Religion Clauses, Scott C. Idleman

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Rediscovering Nonjusticiability: Judicial Review Of Impeachments After Nixon, Michael J. Gerhardt

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Quest For Freedom In The Post-Brown South: Desegregation And White Self-Interest, Davison M. Douglas

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Intake Factors And Intake Processes In Adult Language Learning, B Kumaravadivelu

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Other Tongue: English Across Cultures, B Kumaravadivelu

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Patron Online Catalog Success, Jo Bell Whitlatch, Rosemary Thorne

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Toward A Unified Theory Of Products Liability: Reviving The Causative Concept Of Legal Fault, Elizabeth Price Foley, Elizabeth C. Price

Faculty Publications

This paper explores the concept of "causative" fault – with an emphasis on proximate and actual cause – as a substitute for modern strict liability.

The Multidimensional Assessment Of Career Decision Problems: The Career Decision Diagnostic Assessment, Jeffry H. Larson, Dean M. Busby, Stephan Wilson, Nilufer Medora, Scot Allgood

Faculty Publications

The multidimensional assessment of career decision problems as measured by the Career Decision Diagnostic Assessment (CDDA) is described and evaluted with a sample of 844 students from three universities. The results supported the reliability and validity of the CDDA as a measure of psychological blocks to career decision making.

Modernization Theory Revisited: A Cross-Cultural Study Of Adolescent Conformity To Significant Others In Mainland China, Taiwan, And The U.S.A., Jie Zhang, Darwin L. Thomas

Faculty Publications

This paper examines modernization theory's explanation of adolescent conformity behavior to determine patterns in three different cultural settings. Questionnaire survey data were collected from college students in mainland China, Taiwan, and the U.S. LISREL models were used to analyze the data. It was found that modernization theory was not well supported by the data. Analysis of the findings suggested that modernization theory test with cross-cultural data should take into consideration cultural characteristics, since much of human behavior is culturally determined. Contrary to modernization theory's predictions, the social institution of education is less important, but religion is highly valued in American …

Large-Scale Machine Translation: An Interlingua Approach, Deryle W. Lonsdale, Alexander M. Franz, John R. R. Leavitt

Faculty Publications

In this paper we discuss the design and development of an interlingua for a large-scale MT project. We also discuss how the resulting KANT interlingua constrains complexity, supports staged development, evolves in a balanced fashion, and seeks maximal coverage. We address issues such as granularity of the data representation, its specification, the types of information it encodes, and how it supports a modular system architecture. Our experience shows that through a careful, reasoned design and implementation effort, it is possible to achieve multilingual target-language generation for extensive technical domains.

A Report On The Assessment Procedures Used In The Evaluation Of Student Teaching At The Middle School Level, Joane W. Mckay

Faculty Publications

This conference paper on assessment of the qualities of student teachers in middle schools discusses the concepts of authentic assessment; continuous evaluation; the roles of the cooperating teacher and the university coordinator; and assessment procedures used at the University of Northern Iowa. Eleven categories are presented for use in determining; at mid-term of the student teaching experience; whether a student teacher is meeting the requirements to become an effective teacher. These are: knowledge of content and skills areas; knowledge of learners/learning process; use of instructional planning strategies; use of instructional strategies/teaching styles; use of management and discipline strategies; use of …

Development Of Strength Theories For Random Fiber Composites, Victor Giurgiutiu

Faculty Publications

A ressessment of existing theories for calculating the strength of random and quasi-random fiber composites is presented. Fundamental aspects regarding the physical model, macromechanics analysis, fiber distribution functions, generalized failure criterion, and progressive versus sudden failure models are covered first. Progressive ductile failure, progressive brittle failure, and sudden brittle failure are treated in detail. In each case, the original theory is briefly reviewed, and then its extensions accompanied by numerical examples are presented. Several limitations originally imposed by Hahn, such as the monotonically nonincreasing requirement on the failure strain curve, are lifted and the mathematical formulations are generalized. Some common …

In The Beginning: How To Interpret Genesis 1, Richard M. Davidson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Oscillator Strengths For Fe Ii Transitions At 224.918 And 226.008 Nanometers, Scott D. Bergeson, K. L. Mullman, J. E. Lawler

Faculty Publications

We report accurate experimental absorption oscillator strengths (f-values) for transitions out of the ground level of Fe II to the z⁴D^o_7/2 and z⁴D^o_9/2 levels at 224.918 and 226.008 nm (air wavelengths) to be 0.00182(14) and 0.00244(19), respectively. The number in parenthesis is the uncertainty in the last digits. These two lines are important for studying Fe abundances and grain depletions in the interstellar medium. These f-values are determined by combining emission branching fractions with radiative lifetimes. Branching fractions are measured using classical spectroradiometry on an optically thin source. Radiative lifetimes are from …

Presenting Italian Comparative And Superlative Forms Of Adjectives To College L2 Beginners, Ilona Klein

Faculty Publications

This study treats the necessity to de-emphasize the focus on grammar teaching alone in L2, and to introduce methods which are not teacher-centered, so as to enable students to interact more among each other.

By using comparative and superlative forms of adjectives – but in reality using a sequence of teaching techniques that could be applied to other grammatical situations – this article presents the use of sea shells as a visual and tactile aid which allows students to shift their L2 efforts from an abstract notion to a concrete usage.

This study offers a tool to attempt a balance …

The Effect Of Health Insurance On Retirement, Brigitte C. Madrian

Faculty Publications

FOR DECADES health insurance in the United States has been provided to most nonelderly Americans through their own or a family member's employment. This system of employment-based health insurance has evolved largely because of the substantial cost advantages that employers enjoy in supplying health insurance. By pooling large numbers of individuals, employers face significantly lower administrative expenses than do individuals. In addition, employer expenditures on health insurance are tax deductible, but individual expenditures are generally not.¹

Despite these cost advantages, there is widespread dissatisfaction with this system of employment-based health insurance. Many people are excluded because not all employers …

Employment-Based Health Insurance And Job Mobility: Is There Evidence Of Job-Lock?, Brigitte C. Madrian

Faculty Publications

This paper assesses the impact of employer-provided health insurance on job mobility by exploring the extent to which workers are "locked' into their jobs because preexisting conditions exclusions make it expensive for individuals with medical problems to relinquish their current health insurance. I estimate the degree of job-lock by comparing the difference in the turnover rates of those with high and low medical expenses for those with and without employer-provided health insurance. Using data from the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey, I estimate that job-lock reduces the voluntary turnover rate of those with employer-provided health insurance by 25 percent, from …

The Impact Of Coal Pyrolysis On Combustion, Peter R. Solomon, Thomas H. Fletcher

Faculty Publications

The pyrolysis process has impacts throughout coal combustion. The roles of pyrolysis in various aspectsof the coal combustion process are described, including the devolatilization yield, nitrogen release, softening and swelling, soot formation, and char reactivity. These processes can be understood and quantitatively predicted using recently developed network pyrolysis models that describe the transformation of the coal's chemical structure. The models are described and examples of their predictive ability for important coal combustion phenomena are presented.

Seals And Sealing Among Ancient And Latter-Day Israelites, Dana M. Pike

Faculty Publications

When a Latter-day Saint encounters the terms seal and sealing, thoughts of temples and eternal marriage come immediately to mind. In a more secular context, we may look for the "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" when purchasing certain products, and we obtain a notary's seal on important documents. What we may not realize is that our use of secular seals and our religious concepts of sealing have a history that can be traced back several thousands of years to the ancient Near East. Knowledge of the history of seals and sealing helps us to understand the figurative use of these …

Tennessee Williams & Elia Kazan: A Collaboration In The Theatre, Philip C. Kolin

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Building A Research Base For Developmentally Appropriate Practice, Rosalind Charlesworth, Craig H. Hart, Diane C. Burts, Michele Dewolf

Faculty Publications

For five years a group of researchers at Lousiana State Uinversity has been studying the effects of devlopmentally appropriate and developmentally inappropriate instructional practices on the behavior and achievement of young children. This paper begins with an overview of the extent of this work. The major arguments of the critics who have examined child development as the conceptual base for early childhood education and a construct of developmentally appropriate practice from the conceptualization view are then examined. Finally, the results of the LSU studies are summarized and a case is made in support of a construct of developmentally appropriate practice. …

The Importance Of Using Multiple Styles Of Generalization, Tony R. Martinez, D. Randall Wilson

Faculty Publications

There are many ways for a learning system to generalize from training set data. There is likely no one style of generalization which will solve all problems better than any other style, for different styles will work better on some applications than others. This paper presents several styles of generalization and uses them to suggest that a collection of such styles can provide more accurate generalization than any one style by itself. Empirical results of generalizing on several real-world applications are given, and comparisons are made on the generalization accuracy of each style of generalization. The empirical results support the …

Towards A General Distributed Platform For Learning And Generalization, Brent W. Hughes, Tony R. Martinez

Faculty Publications

Different learning models employ different styles of generalization on novel inputs. This paper proposes the need for multiple styles of generalization to support a broad application base. The Priority ASOCS model (Priority Adaptive Self-organizing Concurrent System) is overviewed and presented as a potential platform which can support multiple generalization styles. PASOCS is an adaptive network composed of many simple computing elements operating asynchronously and in parallel. The PASOCS can operate in either a data processing mode or a learning mode. During data processing mode, the system acts as a parallel hardware circuit. During leaming mode, the PASOCS incorporates rules, with …

Of Hotel Revenues, Rents, And Formalism In The Bankruptcy Courts: Implications For Reforming Commercial Real Estate Finance, R. Wilson Freyermuth

Faculty Publications

This article is intended to continue the dialogue begun by the proposed Restatement and has two distinct goals in this effort. Parts I through III argue that the position of the Restatement drafters is both legally and functionally sound and that bankruptcy courts should embrace and apply the proposed Restatement in administering distressed real estate developments. Part I reviews the reasoning articulated in the hotel bankruptcy cases, demonstrating how courts have applied the provisions of the Bankruptcy Code and state law in a formalistic manner to extinguish the hotel mortgagee's lien upon postpetition room revenues. Part II rejects the analysis …

Declarative Representations Of Multiagent Systems, Munindar P. Singh, Michael N. Huhns, Larry M. Stevens

Faculty Publications

This paper explores the specification and semantics of multiagent problem-solving systems, focusing on the representations that agents have of each other. It provides a declarative representation for such systems. Several procedural solutions to a well-known test-bed problem are considered, and the requirements they impose on different agents are identified. A study of these requirements yields a representational scheme based on temporal logic for specifying the acting, perceiving, communicating, and reasoning abilities of computational agents. A formal semantics is provided for this scheme. The resulting representation is highly declarative, and useful for describing systems of agents solving problems reactively.

Coordinated Intelligent Control Via Epistemic Utility Theory, Wynn C. Stirling

Faculty Publications

An approach to local reactive coordinated intelligent control based on the concept of an epistemic system, together with a principle of action that may be exercised locally, is presented. An epistemic system provides a mechanism for agents to characterize their knowledge corpora, options, goals, and beliefs. Levi's rule of epistemic utility provides a principle of action for decision making by comparing the informational value of rejection with the belief of correctness. Decisions are made locally and reactively, rather than globally. Coordination is implemented between agents by sharing and learning the epistemic systems of other agents. The resulting coordination model is …

Rsvp: A New Resource Reservation Protocol, Daniel Zappala, Stephen Deering, Deborah Estrin, Scott Shenker, Lixia Zhang

Faculty Publications

The current Internet architecture, embodied in the Internet Protocol (IP) network protocol, offers a very simple service model: point-to-point best-effort service. In recent years, several new classes of distributed applications have been developed, such as remote video, multimedia conferencing, data fusion, visualization, and virtual reality. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Internet’s primitive service model is inadequate for these new applications. This inadequacy stems from the failure of the point-to-point best-effort service model to address two application requirements. First, many of these applications are very sensitive to the quality of service their packets receive. For a network to deliver …

Classification Of The Tor-Algebras Of Codimension Four Almost Complete Intersections, Andrew R. Kustin

Faculty Publications

Let (R, m, k) be a local ring in which 2 is a unit. Assume that every element of k has a square root in k . We classify the algebras Tor'(R/J, k) as J varies over all grade four almost complete intersection ideals in R. The analogous classification has already been found when J varies over all grade four Gorenstein ideals [21], and when J varies over all ideals of grade at most three [5, 30]. The present paper makes use of the classification, in [21], of the Tor-algebraso f codimension four Gorenstein rings, as well as the (usually …