Digital Commons Network^™

A Provably Convergent Dynamic Training Method For Multi-Layer Perceptron Networks, Timothy L. Andersen, Tony R. Martinez

Faculty Publications

This paper presents a new method for training multi-layer perceptron networks called DMP1 (Dynamic Multilayer Perceptron 1). The method is based upon a divide and conquer approach which builds networks in the form of binary trees, dynamically allocating nodes and layers as needed. The individual nodes of the network are trained using a genetic algorithm. The method is capable of handling real-valued inputs and a proof is given concerning its convergence properties of the basic model. Simulation results show that DMP1 performs favorably in comparison with other learning algorithms.

Geodemographic Approaches To Identifying U.S. Furniture Markets, Frank M. Howell, Larry Doolittle, Jarryl B. Ritchie, Melissa A. Barfield, Steven H. Bullard

Faculty Publications

Demand for household furniture is shaped by a multitude of dynamic forces, from the global economic situation to subtle changes in consumer preferences. Correspondingly, the academic disciplines employed to identify, analyze, and predict these forces range from macroeconomics to psychology, and include demography, sociology, geography, and several applied fields. The demographic characteristics of furniture consumers has been a particularly popular area of research, primarily because of the availability of secondary data from various public · agencies. Some of this research is reviewed in a subsequent section of this report.

What Journals Do Psychology Graduate Students Need?, Margaret Sylvia

Faculty Publications

The increasing price of journal subscriptions and the increasing number of journals available make it difficult for libraries to supply all needed material locally for scholarly research. Bibliographic citation analysis of student research papers is one method of evaluating the use of a journal collection. Journal selection and cancellation may be done on the basis of cost-per-use to maximize the usefulness of materials purchased with the library budget. Theses provide a convenient archival resource of student research. This study used the biblio-graphic citations found in theses and dissertations of graduate students in the psychology and counseling departments of the university, …

Improving America's Health Care: Authorizing Independent Prescriptive Privileges For Advanced Practice Nurses, Mary M. Beck

Faculty Publications

Nursing and organized medicine are engaged in a heated and emotional debate over independent prescriptive privileges for advanced practice nurses. Uncontroverted data demonstrates that nurse practitioners provide high quality health care at a reduced cost, while increasing access to health care for under-served populations. It is apparent that advanced practice nurses could improve the delivery of American health care. However, organized medicine is opposed to autonomous advanced nursing practice and lobbies powerfully against it. Currently, the majority of state laws and regulations pertaining to advanced practice nursing do not promote a sound public health policy, do not contemplate liability issues …

Kings And Counselors: The Politics Of Francis Bacon's Rhetorical Theory, Christopher Holcomb

Faculty Publications

English author Francis Bacon's letters to the courtiers of King James VI before the monarch succeeded Elizabeth I reveals his concept of rhetoric as a tool for political advancement. Bacon wrote several letters to gain the king's confidence, in which he expressed his intent to portray the king in the most positive light to his subjects once he enters England and assumes the throne. The letters are remarkable in the way they suggest that Bacon can create a persona for the king through the power of rhetoric, since Bacon includes the draft of a speech which he hoped would be …

Empire And Social-Reform, British Liberals And The Civilizing Mission In The Sugar Colonies, 1868-1874, James Patterson Smith

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Children's Rights In Intercountry Adoption: Towards A New Goal, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

Each year, hundreds of thousands of children languish in foster or institutional care worldwide, while at the same time, thousands of adults, married and unmarried alike, are denied children because of “shortages.” How did this tragedy occur, and why does it continue to be repeated daily in countries around the world? The unfortunate truth is that many of the legal and societal norms now in place effectively prohibit needy children from finding suitable homes. While potential parents in Western countries cry out for babies of their own, millions of children live in physical and psychological poverty in underfunded orphanages around …

Dangerous Misperceptions: Protecting Police Officers, Society, And The Fourth Amendment Right To Personal Security, Kathryn R. Urbonya

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The "Contract" And "Block Grants": The End Of Federal Food Programs?, Edward Steinman

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Sbi Program And Student Outcomes: A Study Of Business Policy Classes, Larry R. Watts, William T. Jackson

Faculty Publications

This study represents a preliminary inquiry ID to determine the value of combining SBI and Policy into a singular curriculum. A comparison of this combined formal was made wi1h the traditional Policy course. A slightly modified Job Diagnostic Survey (Hackman & Oldham, 1975) and a skills/usefulness scale (Hoffman, Fon1eno1 & Viswanathan, 1990) was administered to assess the difference between the two groups. Results suggested that the combined format met or exceeded the ou1comes of the traditional Policy course.

Transactional Criticism And Aesthetic Literary Experiences: Examining Complex Responses In Light Of The Teacher's Purpose, Joyce E. Many, Jacqueline K. Gerla, Donna L. Wiseman, Linda Ellis

Faculty Publications

In classroom literature discussions, teachers orchestrate situations in which readers and texts come together. Approaches teachers use may differ in terms of the stance or purpose for reading encouraged. Rosenblatt (1978, 1985) describes two stances readers can take while reading literary works. An efferent stance indicates a reader's attention is focused on information to be retained after reading and can result in a study of the text. An aesthetic stance, on the other hand, occurs when the reader's attention is on the livedthrough experience of the story and the experiences, thoughts, feelings, images, and associations which are evoked. Rosenblatt (1978, …

Fear And Loathing In The Library: College Students' Anxiety, Schema Theory And The Research Process, Bethann Zambella

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Analytic Deconstructionism? The Intellectual Voyeurism Of Anthony D'Amato, Alan R. Madry

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Abortion Counseling As Vice Activity: The Free Speech Implications Of Rust V. Sullivan And Planned Parenthood V. Casey, Christina E. Wells

Faculty Publications

Part I of this article discusses the Court's opinions in Rust and Casey. It first demonstrates that the driving force in both decisions was the Court's characterization of abortion counseling as an activity rather than as speech. Part I further discusses the speech/conduct distinction in First Amendment jurisprudence and demonstrates that abortion counseling falls on the speech side of that distinction. Parts II and III suggest that the real cause of the conflation of speech and conduct in Rust and Casey was the confluence of (1) the reemergence of reasoning found in a curious commercial speech decision -- Posadas de …

Empirical Legal Scholarship: Reestablishing A Dialogue Between The Academy And Profession, Craig Allen Nard

Faculty Publications

Should legal academics begin to engage in a greater degree of empirical scholarship, I believe that the gap between law schools and the profession will not only cease to distend, but actually will begin to contract. If what I assert is true, or even partially true, the question remains: Why is there such a paucity of empirical legal scholarship?

Part I of this article discusses the importance and value of the empirical method and empirical scholarship by briefly exploring the philosophy of Pragmatism and its influence on the law. Thereafter, part II explores why legal academics do not engage in …

Playing "21" With Narcotics Enforcement: A Response To Professor Carrington (Symposium, Regulatory Future Of Contingent Employment), Frank O. Bowman Iii

Faculty Publications

Although I have fundamental disagreements with Professor Carrington even when his argument is reduced to its core, my purpose here is neither to defend every jot and tittle of national drug policy, nor to propose any sweeping personal vision of the place of recreational drugs in America. My ambitions are more modest. I suggest three premises: (1) Intelligent discussion of drug policy requires that we shed the image of law enforcement as warfare. (2) Instead, criminal narcotics prohibitions, penalties, and enforcement methods should be analyzed by the same standards which *939 govern any other type of crime. (3) If antinarcotics …

Defensor Fidei: The Travails Of A Post-Realist Formalism, Lyrissa Lidsky

Faculty Publications

This Article probes the philosophical and psychological attractions of formalism and suggests that its promise of stability and order may be essential to the effective functioning of the legal system, even if the promise can never be realized.

Privacy And Intelligent Transportation Technology, Dorothy J. Glancy

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

De Jure Revolution?, Margaret Russell

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Right To Choose How To Die: A Constitutional Analysis Of State Laws Prohibiting Physician-Assisted Suicide, David Sloss

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Diminishment Of Indian Reservations: Legislative Or Judicial Fiat?, (Panel Discussion), Frank Pommersheim

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Art Of Judicial Biography, Michael J. Gerhardt

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Psychological Relevance Of Phonological Generalizations In Spanish: An Experiment, David Eddington

Faculty Publications

A psycholinguistic experiment aids in determining if the phonological generalizations which appear in the literature on Spanish phonology are psychologically significant for Spanish speakers. The experiment focuses on whether common phonological alternations play a role in native speakers' perceptions of whether two words share a morpheme. The results indicate that they are a significant factor in speakers' perceptions of morphemic relatedness. Therefore, these findings provide some evidence that these phonological generalizations are psychologically valid, and not merely descriptive in nature.

The Radical Feminist Defense Of Individualism, Cynthia V. Ward

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Legal Realism, Lex Fori, And The Choice-Of-Law Revolution, Michael S. Green

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Student Evaluations Of Teaching Effectiveness: The Interpretation Of Observational Data And The Principle Of Faute De Mieux, B. Burt Gerstman

Faculty Publications

Student opinion surveys are important but widely misunderstood tools for evaluating teaching effectiveness. In this brief review, an analogy is drawn between the use and interpretation of observational data for public health and biomedical research and the use of student opinion data in evaluating teach ing effectiveness. Sources of systematic error in the form of selection bias, information bias, and confounding are defined and illustrated. Original data concerning intermittent "quid pro quo" confounding (i.e., the effect of expected grades on student evaluations of teaching) are presented. Finally, the principle of faute de mieux ("lack of anything better") and the interpretation …

Students As Experts: Tapping The Cultural/Linguistic Diversity Of The Classroom, B Kumaravadivelu, Bean, Lowenberg

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Non-Impact Of The United States Supreme Court Regulatory Takings Cases On The State Courts: Does The Supreme Court Really Matter?, Ronald H. Rosenberg

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Using Spiritual Interventions In Psychotherapy: Practices, Successes, Failures, And Ethical Concerns Of Mormon Psychotherapists, P. Scott Richards, Richard W. Potts

Faculty Publications

Two hundred and fifteen (out of 300) randomly selected Mormon psychotherapists were surveyed and asked to indicate how frequently they use various spiritual interventions in psychotherapy and to describe successful and unsuccessful spiritual intervention case examples. The therapists indi- cated that they use a wide variety of spiritual interventions, including praying silently for clients, teaching spiritual concepts, encouraging forgiveness, and using the religious community as a sup- port. Many spiritual interventions were perceived by the therapists as potentially therapeutic. Pro- cess guidelines for using spiritual interventions were offered by the therapists, and ethical concerns (e.g., dual relationships, imposing values) were …

Organizing Tax Instruction: Evidence Regarding The Way Students Organize Tax Knowledge, Stephen T. Limberg, Michael S. Schadewald, Brian C. Spilker

Faculty Publications

An important part of accounting curriculum reform is a movement away from traditional methods of organizing accounting courses toward improved organization schemes. Two basic approaches to organizing the content of tax courses are a transaction-based scheme and an entity-based scheme. This paper reports the results of an experiment that investigates which scheme is more consistent with how incoming masters in tax students organize tax knowledge and how different schemes affect the manner in which graduating students organize tax knowledge. Ninety students drawn from two full-time masters in taxation programs participated in the study. Subjects individually completed three separate tasks that …