Digital Commons Network^™

Legal Calculators And The Tax System, Joshua D. Blank, Leigh Z. Osofsky

Faculty Publications

Legal calculators often embody a characteristic that can be termed “simplexity.” As we have theorized, simplexity occurs when the government presents clear and simple explanations of the law without highlighting its underlying complexity or reducing this complexity through formal legal changes. In earlier work, we have argued that some elements of IRS publications (plain language summaries of the law for the general public) present contested tax law as clear tax rules, add administrative gloss to the tax law, and fail to fully explain the tax law.

In this Article, we show that simplexity also occurs when the government offers legal …

Digital Holography Experiments With Degraded Temporal Coherence, Douglas E. Thornton, Davin Mao, Mark F. Spencer, Christopher A. Rice, Glen P. Perram

Faculty Publications

To simulate the effects of multiple-longitudinal modes and rapid fluctuations in center frequency, we use sinusoidal phase modulation and linewidth broadening, respectively. These effects allow us to degrade the temporal coherence of our master-oscillator laser, which we then use to conduct digital holography experiments. In turn, our results show that the coherence efficiency decreases quadratically with fringe visibility and that our measurements agree with our models to within 1.8% for sinusoidal phase modulation and 6.9% for linewidth broadening.

Deconstructing The Bright Future Of Steam And Design Thinking, Mark Graham

Faculty Publications

The emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines in schools has caused advocates for art education to propose the addition of the arts to the study of STEM, transforming STEM into STEAM. Many educators see STEAM as a way to engage students with interdisciplinary topics and to integrate the arts within the school curriculum (Allina, 2018;Katz-Buonincontro, 2018; Maeda, 2013; Sousa & Pilecki,2018; Watson, 2016). One method of implementing STEAM is Design Thinking (Henriksen, 2017). STEAM education and Design Thinking are both models for interdisciplinary collaboration and problem solving to foster economic innovation, develop 21st-century skills and entrepreneurial literacy, …

The Harmonization Myth In International Intellectual Property Law, Sarah R. Wasserman Rajec

Faculty Publications

There is a dominant narrative in international intellectual property ("IP") law of ever-increasing harmonization. This narrative has been deployed in ways descriptive, prescriptive, and instrumental: approximating the historical trend, providing justification, and establishing the path forward. Appeals to harmonization are attractive. They evoke a worldwide partnership and shared sacrifice to meet the goals of innovation and access to technology through certainty, efficiency, and increased competition through lowered trade barriers. Countries with strong IP protections consistently and successfully tout the importance of certainty and lower trade barriers when seeking new and stronger protections from countries with lower levels of protection. Yet …

Affordances And Constraints: Pre-Service Science Educators Co-Teaching In Support Of Ells, Steven Drouin, Katya Aguilar, Virginia Lehmkuhl-Dakhwe

Faculty Publications

Co-teaching has increasingly been utilized as an alternative model for the student teaching experience in pre-service education. Recent literature highlights potential for co-teachers to develop by engaging in cycles of inquiry in learning communities. The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of a science student teacher who engaged in cycles of inquiry around supporting English language learners (ELLs) in a co-teaching student teaching placement. This qualitative case study involved a science mentor teacher and a science student teacher engaged in a yearlong co-teaching placement. Data sources included surveys, interviews, and written and oral lesson plans and reflections. …

Development Of Smartphone-Based Ecl Sensor For Dopamine Detection: Practical Approaches, Hyun J. Kwon, Elmer Rivera, Mabio R. Cohelo Neto, Daniel Marsh, Jonathan Swerdlow, Rodney Lee Summerscales, Padma P. Tadi Uppala

Faculty Publications

In this work, a compact, mobile phone-based ECL sensor apparatus was developed using the phone cameras, screen-printed electrodes (SPE), and mobile app for dopamine detection. Methods of DC voltage application for ECL reaction were comprehensively studied from the mobile phone itself or external power. Under optimized sensing conditions, with disposable carbon SPE and 20 mM coreactant tri-n-propylamine (TPrA), acceptable repeatability and reproducibility were achieved in terms of relative standard deviation (RSD) of intra- and interassays, which were 6.7 and 5.5%, respectively. The biochemical compound dopamine was measured due to its ECL quenching characteristics and its clinical importance. The …

A Scenario-Based Parametric Analysis Of The Army Personnel-To-Assignment Matching Problem, Matthew D. Ferguson, Raymond R. Hill, Brian J. Lunday

Faculty Publications

This study aims to compare linear programming and stable marriage approaches to the personnel assignment problem under conditions of uncertainty. Robust solutions should exhibit reduced variability of solutions in the presence of one or more additional constraints or problem perturbations added to some baseline problems.
Several variations of each approach are compared with respect to solution speed, solution quality as measured by officer-to-assignment preferences and solution robustness as measured by the number of assignment changes required after inducing a set of representative perturbations or constraints to an assignment instance. These side constraints represent the realistic assignment categorical priorities and limitations …

The Paradox Of Automation As Anti-Bias Intervention, Ifeoma Ajunwa

Faculty Publications

A received wisdom is that automated decision-making serves as an anti-bias intervention. The conceit is that removing humans from the decision-making process will also eliminate human bias. The paradox, however, is that in some instances, automated decision-making has served to replicate and amplify bias. With a case study of the algorithmic capture of hiring as a heuristic device, this Article provides a taxonomy of problematic features associated with algorithmic decision-making as anti-bias intervention and argues that those features are at odds with the fundamental principle of equal opportunity in employment. To examine these problematic features within the context of algorithmic …

Collection Weeding: Innovative Processes And Tools To Ease The Burden, Gregory M. Nelson, Michael C. Goates, David S. Pixton, Megan Frost, Dan Broadbent

Faculty Publications

Evaluating collections and ultimately removing content poses a variety of difficult issues, including choosing appropriate deselection criteria, communicating with stakeholders, providing accountability, and managing the overall timetable to finish projects on time. The Science and Engineering librarians at Brigham Young University evaluated their entire print collection of over 350,000 items within one year, significantly reducing the number of items kept on the open shelves and the physical collection footprint. Keys to accomplishing this project were extensive preparation, tracking progress and accountability facilitated by Google Sheets and an interactive GIS stacks map, and stakeholder feedback facilitated by a novel web-based tool. …

What Are They Saying? How To Use Interviews For Research And Assessment In Libraries, Dan Broadbent

Faculty Publications

• Assessment in libraries is an essential part of managing library resources to meet the needs of patrons and stakeholders.
• How to do it?
• Interviews can provide more deep and rich information than simple surveys.
• But... they are also more complicated and time consuming.

Reinventing High School: Understanding The Challenges And Successes Of Transforming Education To Meet Student, Society, And Industry Needs, Scott R. Bartholomew, Greg J. Strimel, Anne M. Lucietto, Mesut Akdere

Faculty Publications

Efforts to revamp existing educational systems and approaches result in various new models in STEM education. Accordingly, a new urban public charter school, located in a Midwest state in the United States, was established in partnership with the state’s land-grant university to create a transformed integrated STEM educational environment characterized by industry-focused and design-based learning to help prepare students for the future of work and learning. This article presents findings from an exploratory study that examined the experiences of teachers and administrative staff of this innovative high school (IHS) during the first year of school operation. A purposive sample of …

Emotion-Related Socialization In The Classroom: Considering The Roles Of Teachers And Peers, Carlos Valiente, Jodi Swanson, Dawn Delay, Ashley M. Fraser, Julia H. Parker

Faculty Publications

The goal of this paper was to apply aspects of the heuristic model advanced by Eisenberg, Cumberland, and Spinrad (1998)to the study of socialization that takes place in preschool and elementary school classrooms. Investigating socialization in this context is important given the number of hours students spend in school, the emotional nature of social interactions that take place involving teachers and students, and the emotions students often experience in the context of academic work. Guided by Eisenberg and colleagues’(1998) call to consider complex socialization pathways, we focus our discussion on ways teachers, peers, and the classroom context can shape students’ …

Comparison Of Pyrolysis Of Live Wildland Fuels Heated By Radiation Vs. Convection, Mohammad-Saeed Safdari, Elham Amini, David R. Weise, Thomas H. Fletcher

Faculty Publications

During wildland fires, which include both planned (prescribed fire) and unplanned (wildfire) fires, live and dead plants may be subject to both radiative and convective heat transfer mechanisms. In this study, the pyrolysis of 14 live plant species native to the forests of the southern United States was investigated using a flat-flame burner (FFB) apparatus under three heating modes in order to mimic pyrolysis of plants during wildland fires. The heating modes were: (1) radiation-only, where the plants were pyrolyzed under a moderate heating rate of 4 °C s−1 (radiative flux of 50 kW m−2); (2) convection-only, where the FFB …

Understanding Diversity – Perspectives From University Departments Hosting Large Percentages Of International Students, K. James Hartshorn, Maureen Snow Andrade, Norman W. Evans, Gwyneth Gates

Faculty Publications

The international student enrollment in some university departments has grown to the point that these students are the majority. This study sought to determine the extent to which departments hosting large numbers of international English as a second language (ESL) students demonstrate awareness and planning to address these learners’ needs. Analyses were conducted in reference to a framework designed to aid institutions in meeting international ESL students’ needs. Findings indicate some awareness of students’ needs and related strategies for linguistic and cultural development. They also demonstrate that the proposed framework could foster more intentional strategies to ensure international student success.

Rubric Rating With Mfrm Versus Randomly Distributed Comparative Judgment: A Comparison Of Two Approaches To Second-Language Writing Assessment, Maureen E. Sims, Troy L. Cox, Grant T. Eckstein, K. James Hartshorn, Matthew P. Wilcox, Judson M. Hart

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to explore the reliability of a potentially more practical approach to direct writing assessment in the context of ESL writing. Traditional rubric rating (RR) is a common yet resource-intensive evaluation practice when performed reliably. This study compared the traditional rubric model of ESL writing assessment and many-facet Rasch modeling (MFRM) to comparative judgment (CJ), the new approach, which shows promising results in terms of reliability. We employed two groups of raters—novice and experienced—and used essays that had been previously double-rated, analyzed with MFRM, and selected with fit statistics. We compared the results of the …

Not Another Survey! Use Interviews Instead To Understand Needs In Your Library, Dan Broadbent

Faculty Publications

Assessment in libraries is an essential part of managing library resources to meet the needs of patrons and stakeholders. This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of two assessment devices—surveys and interviews—in particular as they apply to libraries.

Identifying Active Kelvin–Helmholtz Vortices On Saturn's Magnetopause Boundary, B. L. Burkholder, P. A. Delamere, Jay R. Johnson, C.- S. Ng

Faculty Publications

For Cassini magnetopause encounters, we analyse plasma and magnetic fields. The boundary can be unstable to the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability (KHI), which can drive large‐scale flows identifiable in plasma measurements. Bulk flow reversed from the expected direction near the magnetopause can indicate vorticity associated with active KH, and events are found dominantly in the dawn–subsolar region. KHIs are also responsible for magnetic field fluctuations, and hybrid simulations indicate heating, and transport is significant in an actively growing vortex. Cassini observations are filtered for disturbed magnetic fields near the magnetopause, similar to the signatures from hybrid simulations, with significant fluctuation and current …

Towards Overcoming The Curse Of Dimensionality In Predictive Modelling And Uncertainty Quantification, Dan Gabriel Cacuci

Faculty Publications

This invited presentation summarizes new methodologies developed by the author for performing high-order sensitivity analysis, uncertainty quantification and predictive modeling. The presentation commences by summarizing the newly developed 3rd-Order Adjoint Sensitivity Analysis Methodology (3rd-ASAM) for linear systems, which overcomes the “curse of dimensionality” for sensitivity analysis and uncertainty quantification of a large variety of model responses of interest in reactor physics systems. The use of the exact expressions of the 2nd-, and 3rd-order sensitivities computed using the 3rd-ASAM is subsequently illustrated by presenting 3rd-order formulas for the first three cumulants of the response distribution, for quantifying response uncertainties (covariance, skewness) …

Measurement Of Neutrino And Antineutrino Neutral-Current Quasielasticlike Interactions On Oxygen By Detecting Nuclear Deexcitation Γ Rays, K. Abe, R. Akutsu, A. Ali, C. Alt, C. Andreopoulos, L. Anthony, M. Antonova, S. Aoki, A. Ariga, Y. Ashida, E. T. Atkin, Y. Awataguchi, S. Ban, M. Barbi, G. J. Barker, G. Barr, C. Barry, M. Batkiewicz-Kwasniak, A. Beloshapkin, F. Bench, V. Berardi, S. Berkman, L. Berns, S. Bhadra, S. Bienstock, A. Blondel, S. Bolognesi, B. Bourguille

Faculty Publications

Neutrino- A nd antineutrino-oxygen neutral-current quasielasticlike interactions are measured at Super-Kamiokande using nuclear deexcitation γ rays to identify signal-like interactions in data from a 14.94(16.35)×1020 protons-on-target exposure of the T2K neutrino (antineutrino) beam. The measured flux-averaged cross sections on oxygen nuclei are âσν-NCQEâ

Characterization Of An Extensive Interface On Vitronectin For Binding To Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1: Adoption Of Structure In An Intrinsically Disordered Region, Letitia O. Puster, Christopher B. Stanley, Vladimir N. Uversky, Joseph E. Curtis, Susan Krueger, Yuzhuo Chu, Cynthia B. Peterson

Faculty Publications

Copyright © 2019 American Chemical Society. Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements were pursued to study human vitronectin, a protein found in tissues and the circulation that regulates cell adhesion/migration and proteolytic cascades that govern hemostasis and pericellular proteolysis. Many of these functions occur via interactions with its binding partner, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), the chief inhibitor of proteases that lyse and activate plasminogen. We focused on a region of vitronectin that remains uncharacterized from previous X-ray scattering, nuclear magnetic resonance, and computational modeling approaches and which we propose is involved in binding to PAI-1. This region, which bridges the N-terminal …

The Belle Ii Physics Book, E. Kou, P. Urquijo, W. Altmannshofer, F. Beajean, G. Bell, M. Beneke, I. I. Bigi, F. Bishara, M. Blanke, C. Bobeth, M. Bona, N. Brambilla, V. M. Braun, J. Brod, A. J. Buras, H. Y. Cheng, C. W. Chiang, M. Ciuchini, G. Colangelo, Milind Purohit, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Ethical Consistency And Experience: An Attempt To Influence Researcher Attitudes Toward Questionable Research Practices Through Reading Prompts, Samuel V. Bruton, Mitch Brown, Donald F. Sacco

Faculty Publications

Over the past couple of decades, the apparent widespread occurrence of Questionable Research Practices (QRPs) in scientific research has been widely discussed in the research ethics literature as a source of concern. Various ways of reducing their use have been proposed and implemented, ranging from improved training and incentives for adopting best practices to systematic reforms. This article reports on the results of two studies that investigated the efficacy of simple, psychological interventions aimed at changing researcher attitudes toward QRPs. While the interventions did not significantly modify researchers’ reactions to QRPs, they showed differential efficacy depending on scientists’ experience, suggesting …

Evidence For Late-Stage Eruptive Mass Loss In The Progenitor To Sn2018gep, A Broad-Lined Ic Supernova: Pre-Explosion Emission And A Rapidly Rising Luminous Transient, Anna Y.Q. Ho, Daniel A. Goldstein, Steve Schulze, David K. Khatami, Daniel A. Perley, Mattias Ergon, Avishay Gal-Yam, Alessandra Corsi, Igor Andreoni, Cristina Barbarino, Eric C. Bellm, Nadia Blagorodnova, Joe S. Bright, E. Burns, S. Bradley Cenko, Virginia Cunningham, Kishalay De, Richard Dekany, Alison Dugas, Rob P. Fender, Claes Fransson, Christoffer Fremling, Adam Goldstein, Matthew J. Graham, David Hale, Assaf Horesh, Tiara Hung, Mansi M. Kasliwal, N. Paul M. Kuin, S. R. Kulkarni, Thomas Kupfer, Ragnhild Lunnan, Frank J. Masci

Faculty Publications

We present detailed observations of ZTF18abukavn (SN2018gep), discovered in high-cadence data from the Zwicky Transient Facility as a rapidly rising (1.4 ± 0.1 mag hr-1) and luminous (Mg,peak = -20 mag) transient. It is spectroscopically classified as a broad-lined stripped-envelope supernova (Ic-BL SN). The high peak luminosity (Lbol ≳ 3 × 1044 erg s-1), the short rise time (trise = 3 days in g band), and the blue colors at peak (g-r ∼ -0.4) all resemble the high-redshift Ic-BL iPTF16asu, as well as several other unclassified fast transients. The early discovery of SN2018gep (within an hour of shock breakout) enabled …

Measurement Of The Integrated Luminosity Of The Phase 2 Data Of The Belle Ii Experiment, F. Abudinén, I. Adachi, P. Ahlburg, H. Aihara, N. Akopov, A. Aloisio, F. Ameli, L. Andricek, N. Anh Ky, D. M. Asner, H. Atmacan, T. Aushev, V. Aushev, T. Aziz, K. Azmi, V. Babu, S. Baehr, S. Bahinipati, A. M. Bakich, Milind Purohit, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

From April to July 2018, a data sample at the peak energy of the Υ(4S) resonance was collected with the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB electron-positron collider. This is the first data sample of the Belle II experiment. Using Bhabha and digamma events, we measure the integrated luminosity of the data sample to be (469.3±0.3±3.0) pb^-1, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. This work provides a basis for future luminosity measurements at Belle II.

Validity Study Of The R-Pla, A Resilience Scale For People Living With Hiv, Jinxiang Hu, Julianne M. Serovich, Monique J. Brown, Judy A. Kimberly, Yi-Hsin Chen

Faculty Publications

This study provides psychometric assessment of a resilience scale with a sample of women living with HIV. Baseline data were used from a longitudinal HIV disclosure study of 124 women aged between 18-63 collected between 2001 and 2004 in a large Midwestern city. The Rasch model was used to examine the psychometric properties of the resilience scale. Results indicated that the resilience instrument meets the Rasch model application assumptions. Evidence of validity suggested the resilience instrument demonstrated good item and person fit, as well as good item and person reliability. Most items showed measurement invariance across different age and racial …

Analytic Non-Adiabatic Derivative Coupling Terms For Spin-Orbit Mrci Wavefunctions. I. Formalism, Lachlan T. Belcher, Gary S. Kedziora, David E. Weeks

Faculty Publications

Analytic gradients of electronic eigenvalues require one calculation per nuclear geometry, compared to at least 3n + 1 calculations for finite difference methods, where n is the number of nuclei. Analytic nonadiabatic derivative coupling terms (DCTs), which are calculated in a similar fashion, are used to remove nondiagonal contributions to the kinetic energy operator, leading to more accurate nuclear dynamics calculations than those that employ the Born-Oppenheimer approximation, i.e., that assume off-diagonal contributions are zero. The current methods and underpinnings for calculating both of these quantities, gradients and DCTs, for the State-Averaged MultiReference Configuration Interaction with Singles and Doubles (MRCI-SD) …

Analyze Informant-Based Questionnaire For The Early Diagnosis Of Senile Dementia Using Deep Learning, Fubao Zhu, Xiaonan Li, Daniel Mcgonigle, Haipeng Tang, Zhuo He, Chaoyang Zhang, Guang-Uei Hung, Pai-Yi Chu, Weihua Zhou

Faculty Publications

Objective: This paper proposes a multiclass deep learning method for the classification of dementia using an informant-based questionnaire.

Methods: A deep neural network classification model based on Keras framework is proposed in this paper. To evaluate the advantages of our proposed method, we compared the performance of our model with industry-standard machine learning approaches. We enrolled 6,701 individuals, which were randomly divided into training data sets (6030 participants) and test data sets (671 participants). We evaluated each diagnostic model in the test set using accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-Score.

Results: Compared with the seven conventional machine learning …

Microcanonical Analysis Of Boltzmann And Gibbs Entropies In Trapped Cold Atomic Gases, Kenneth J. Higginbotham, Daniel E. Sheehy

Faculty Publications

We analyze a gas of noninteracting fermions confined to a one-dimensional harmonic oscillator potential, with the aim of distinguishing between two proposed definitions of the thermodynamic entropy in the microcanonical ensemble, namely the standard Boltzmann entropy and the Gibbs (or volume) entropy. The distinction between these two definitions is crucial for systems with an upper bound on allowed energy levels, where the Boltzmann definition can lead to the notion of negative absolute temperature. Although negative temperatures do not exist for the system of fermions studied here, we still find a significant difference between the Boltzmann and Gibbs entropies, and between …

Cell Velocity Is Asymptotically Independent Of Force: A Differential Equation Model With Random Switching., J. C. Dallon, Emily J. Evans, Christopher P. Grant, William V. Smith

Faculty Publications

Numerical simulations suggest that average velocity of a biological cell depends largely on attachment dynamics and less on the forces exerted by the cell. We determine the relationship between two models of cell motion, one based on finite spring constants modeling attachment properties (a randomly switched differential equation) and a limiting case (a centroid model-a generalized random walk) where spring constants are infinite. We prove the main result of this paper, the Expected Velocity Relationship theorem. This result shows that the expected value of the difference between cell locations in the differential equation model at the initial time and at …

Computational Screening Of New Perovskite Materials Using Transfer Learning And Deep Learning, Xiang Li, Yabo Dan, Rongzhi Dong, Zhuo Cao, Chengcheng Niu, Yuqi Song, Shaobo Li, Jianjun Hu

Faculty Publications

As one of the most studied materials, perovskites exhibit a wealth of superior properties that lead to diverse applications. Computational prediction of novel stable perovskite structures has big potential in the discovery of new materials for solar panels, superconductors, thermal electric, and catalytic materials, etc. By addressing one of the key obstacles of machine learning based materials discovery, the lack of sufficient training data, this paper proposes a transfer learning based approach that exploits the high accuracy of the machine learning model trained with physics-informed structural and elemental descriptors. This gradient boosting regressor model (the transfer learning model) allows us …