Digital Commons Network^™

On The Order Statistics Of Standard Normal-Based Power Method Distributions, Todd C. Headrick, Mohan Dev Pant

Publications

This paper derives a procedure for determining the expectations of order statistics associated with the standard normal distribution Z and its powers of order three and five (Z³ and Z⁵). the procedure is demonstrated for sample sizes of n ≤ 9. It is shown that Z³ and Z⁵ have expectations of order statistics that are functions of the expectations for Z and can be expressed in terms of explicit elementary functions for sample sizes of n ≤ 5. For sample sizes of n = 6,7 the expectations of the order statistics for Z, Z^{3 …}

Web Supported Emplotment: Using Object And Event Descriptions To Facilitate Storytelling Online And In Galleries, Trevor Collins, Paul Mulholland, Annika Wolff

Publications

The process of emplotment refers to the selection of significant events in a story and the identification of pertinent relations between them, in order to produce a plot providing an interpretation of those events. We are investigating how models of emplotment can be applied to develop web-based tools for creating and interpreting narratives. In particular, we are focusing on the process undertaken by art gallery professionals to design and present exhibitions. This paper presents a set of plot relations developed in collaboration with museum professionals from two national galleries in Ireland, and shows how theories of narrative and digital cultural …

Team Based Engineering Design Thinking, Nathan Mentzer

Publications

The objective of this research was to explore design thinking among teams of high school students. This objective is encompassed in the research question driving this inquiry: How do teams of high school students allocate time across stages of design? Design thinking on the professional level typically occurs in a team environment. Many individuals contribute in a variety of ways to facilitate the successful development of a solution to a problem. Teachers often require students to work in groups, but little is known about how the group functions in the context of design and the potential interaction between group performance …

Infusing Engineering Concepts: Teaching Engineering Design, Jenny L. Daugherty

Publications

Engineering has gained considerable traction in many K-12 schools. However, there are several obstacles or challenges to an effective approach that leads to student learning. Questions such as where engineering best fits in the curriculum; how to include it authentically and appropriately; toward what educational end; and how best to prepare teachers need to be answered. Integration or infusion appears to be the most viable approach; instead of stand-alone engineering courses squeezing into the already crammed curriculum. An integrative approach whereby engineering is infused into the existing curriculum, within science, technology, mathematics or other courses, appears to be the best …

Incorporating Engineering Design Challenges Into Stem Courses, Daniel L. Householder, Christine E. Hailey

Publications

The National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) invited a small group of experienced engineering educators, curriculum developers, cognitive scientists, and professional development providers to engage in the discussion of guidelines for the selection and development of engineering design challenges suitable for all students in grades 9-12. That effort resulted in seven provocative papers (Carr & Strobel, 2011; Denson, 2011; Eisenkraft, 2011; Hynes et al., 2011; Jonassen, 2011a; Schunn, 2011; Sneider, 2011) that are accessible on the NCETE web site at http://ncete.org/flash/research.php NCETE hosted two Caucuses, each consisting of “a group of people united to promote an agreed-upon cause” …

Loft: The Observatory For X-Ray Timing, M. Feroci, J. W. Den Herder, E. Bozzo, D. Barret, S. Brandt, M. Hernanz, M. Van Der Klis, M. Pohl, A. Santangelo, L Stella, A Watts, J Wilms, S Zane

Publications

The LOFT mission concept is one of four candidates selected by ESA for the M3 launch opportunity as Medium Size missions of the Cosmic Vision programme. The launch window is currently planned for between 2022 and 2024. LOFT is designed to exploit the diagnostics of rapid X-ray flux and spectral variability that directly probe the motion of matter down to distances very close to black holes and neutron stars, as well as the physical state of ultradense matter. These primary science goals will be addressed by a payload composed of a Large Area Detector (LAD) and a Wide Field Monitor …

Measuring The Stellar Accretion Rates Of Herbig Ae/Be Stars, Brian Donehew, Sean D. Brittain

Publications

The accretion rate of young stars is a fundamental characteristic of these systems.While accretion onto T Tauri stars has been studied extensively, little work has been done on measuring the accretion rate of their intermediate-mass analogs, the Herbig Ae/Be stars. Measuring the stellar accretion rate of Herbig Ae/Bes is not straightforward both because of the dearth of metal absorption lines available for veiling measurements and the intrinsic brightness of Herbig Ae/Be stars at ultraviolet wavelengths where the brightness of the accretion shock peaks. Alternative approaches to measuring the accretion rate of young stars by measuring the luminosity of proxies such …

Manufacturing Process Modeling And Application To Intelligent Control, M. Laine Mears, Parakshit Mehta, Mathew Kuttolamadom, Carlos Montes, Joshua Jones, Wesley Salandro, Drew Werner

Publications

This paper reviews the major findings and intellectual contributions made over the past five years through research in the laboratory of Dr. Laine Mears at Clemson University. The focus of the laboratory’s work is in modeling of traditional and novel manufacturing processes, and application of such models to process control through model-based control strategies. Introducing intelligence to the manufacturing process through physical descriptions of the phenomena being controlled allows for more precise control as compared with reactive systems or those with simple feed-forward control schemes. For traditional processes, new approaches to process characterization allow for more precise control. For novel …

Interactive Multimedia Learning On Health Care Among Lebanese Women: An Exploratory Study, Joanna R. Kassem, Zeinab H. Houssein, Leila Halawi

Publications

Multimedia learning greatly enhanced the learning outcome and experience of learners exposed to it. The proposed study will explore the usefulness of multimedia learning software devised to educate Lebanese pregnant women who have a low level of formal education about pregnancy and early infant care. The study will be based on the media richness theory. It is expected that through media rich programs, communication of information is facilitated, promoting the resolving of indecisiveness and ambiguity that stems out of the lack of knowledge or information about a given a subject and the inability to convey a meaning of what is …

Curate And Storyspace: An Ontology And Web-Based Environment For Describing Curatorial Narratives, Paul Mulholland, Annika Wolff, Trevolr Collins

Publications

focus on describing the heritage objects that the museum holds in its collection. These are used to manage and describe individual heritage objects according to properties such as artist, date and preservation requirements. Curatorial narratives, such as physical or online exhibitions tell a story that spans across heritage objects and have a meaning that does not necessarily reside in the individual heritage objects themselves. Here we present curate, an ontology for describing curatorial narratives. This draws on structuralist accounts that distinguish the narrative from the story and plot, and also a detailed analysis of two museum exhibitions and the curatorial …

Storyspace: A Story-Driven Approach For Creating Musuem Narratives, Annika Wolff, Paul Mulholland, Tevor Collins

Publications

In a curated exhibition of a museum or art gallery, a selection of heritage objects and associated information is presented to a visitor for the purpose of telling a story about them. The same underlying story can be presented in a number of different ways. This paper describes techniques for creating multiple alternative narrative structures from a single underlying story, by selecting different organising principles for the events and plot structures of the story. These authorial decisions can produce different dramatic effects. Storyspace is a web interface to an ontology for describing curatorial narratives. We describe how the narrative component …

Power Method Distributions Through Conventional Moments And L-Moments, Flaviu A. Hodis, Todd C. Headrick, Yanyan Sheng

Publications

This paper develops two families of power method (PM) distributions based on polynomial transformations of the (1) Uniform, (2) Triangular, (3) Normal, (4) D-Logistic, and (5) Logistic distributions. One family is developed in the context of conventional method of moments and the other family is derived through the method of L-moments. As such, each of the five conventional moment-based PM classes has an analogous L-moment based class. A primary focus of the development is on PM polynomial transformations of order three. Specifically, systems of equations are derived for computing polynomial coefficients for user specified values of skew ( …

Characterizing Tukey H And Hh-Distributions Through L-Moments And The L-Correlation, Todd C. Headrick, Mohan D. Pant

Publications

This paper introduces the Tukey family of symmetric h and asymmetric hh-distributions in the contexts of univariate L-moments and the L-correlation. Included is the development of a procedure for specifying nonnormal distributions with controlled degrees of L-skew, L-kurtosis, and L-correlations. The procedure can be applied in a variety of settings such as modeling events (e.g., risk analysis, extreme events) and Monte Carlo or simulation studies. Further, it is demonstrated that estimates of L-skew, L-kurtosis, and L-correlation are substantially superior to conventional product-moment estimates of skew, kurtosis, and Pearson correlation in terms …

A Method For Simulating Nonnormal Distributions With Specified L-Skew, L-Kurtosis, And L-Correlation, Todd C. Headrick, Mohan Dev Pant

Publications

This paper introduces two families of distributions referred to as the symmetric κ and asymmetric κ_L-κ_R distributions. The families are based on transformations of standard logistic pseudo-random deviates. The primary focus of the theoretical development is in the contexts of L-moments and the L-correlation. Also included is the development of a method for specifying distributions with controlled degrees of L-skew, L-kurtosis, and L-correlation. The method can be applied in a variety of settings such as Monte Carlo studies, simulation, or modeling events. It is also demonstrated that estimates of L-skew, L …

A Doubling Technique For The Power Method Transformations, Mohan D. Pant, Todd C. Headrick

Publications

Power method polynomials are used for simulating non-normal distributions with specified product moments or L-moments. The power method is capable of producing distributions with extreme values of skew (L-skew) and kurtosis (L-kurtosis). However, these distributions can be extremely peaked and thus not representative of real-world data. To obviate this problem, two families of distributions are introduced based on a doubling technique with symmetric standard normal and logistic power method distributions. The primary focus of the methodology is in the context of L-moment theory. As such, L-moment based systems of equations are derived for …

An L-Moment-Based Analog For The Schmeiser-Deutsch Class Of Distributions, Todd C. Headrick, Mohan D. Pant

Publications

This paper characterizes the conventional moment-based Schmeiser-Deutsch (S-D) class of distributions through the method of L-moments. The system can be used in a variety of settings such as simulation or modeling various processes. A procedure is also described for simulating S-D distributions with specified L-moments and L-correlations. The Monte Carlo results presented in this study indicate that the estimates of L-skew, L-kurtosis, and L-correlation associated with the S-D class of distributions are substantially superior to their corresponding conventional product-moment estimators in terms of relative bias—most notably when sample sizes are small.

A Logistic L-Moment-Based Analog For The Tukey G-H, G, H, And H-H System Of Distributions, Todd C. Headrick, Mohan D. Pant

Publications

This paper introduces a standard logistic L-moment-based system of distributions. The proposed system is an analog to the standard normal conventional moment-based Tukey g-h, g, h, and h-h system of distributions. The system also consists of four classes of distributions and is referred to as (i) asymmetric γ-κ, (ii) log-logistic γ, (iii) symmetric κ, and (iv) asymmetric κ_L-κ_R. The system can be used in a variety of settings such as simulation or modeling events—most notably when heavytailed distributions are of interest. A procedure is also described for simulating γ-κ, γ, κ, and κ_{L …}

High Performance Gibbs Sampling For Irtmodels Using Row-Wise Decomposition, Yanyan Sheng, Mona Rahimi

Publications

Item response theory (IRT) is a popular approach used for addressing statistical problems in psychometrics as well as in other fields. The fully Bayesian approach for estimating IRT models is computationally expensive. This limits the use of the procedure in real applications. In an effort to reduce the execution time, a previous study shows that high performance computing provides a solution by achieving a considerable speedup via the use of multiple processors. Given the high data dependencies in a single Markov chain for IRT models, it is not possible to avoid communication overhead among processors. This study is to reduce …

Vortex Patterns Beyond Hypergeometric, Andrei Ludu

Publications

We prove that loop vortices are created by a point-like magnetic dipole in an infinite superconductor space. The geometry of the vortex system is obtained through analytic solutions of the linearized Ginzburg-Landau equation described in terms of Heun functions, generalizing the traditional hypergeometric behavior of such magnetic singularity.

Disparities In Weather Education Across Professional Flight Baccalaureate Degree Programs, Thomas A. Guinn, Krista M. Rader, Thomas A. Guinn

Publications

The required meteorology coursework for 22 accredited professional flight baccalaureate degree programs was examined and compared. Significant differences were noted in both the number of required meteorology courses as well as the number of required meteorology credit hours. While all programs required at least one three-credit meteorology course, not all programs required an aviation-specific meteorology course. In addition to the required number of meteorology courses and credit hours, topics within the aviation-specific meteorology courses were also examined. The study showed the topics of “flight hazards” and “aviation weather reports and charts” were identified most frequently in course descriptions, followed third …

Wave Propagation And Dispersion In Microstructured Solids, Arkadi Berezovski, Juri Engelbrecht, Mihhail Berezovski

Publications

A series of numerical simulations is carried on in order to understand the accuracy of dispersive wave models for microstructured solids. The computations are performed by means of the finite-volume numerical scheme, which belongs to the class of wave-propagation algorithms. The dispersion effects are analyzed in materials with different internal structures: microstructure described by micromorphic theory, regular laminates, laminates with substructures, etc., for a large range of material parameters and wavelengths.

Understanding The United States' Incarceration Rate, William T. Pizzi

Publications

What has caused prison sentences to climb so sharply and consistently in the last four decades?

Computable Contracts, Harry Surden

Publications

This Article explains how and why firms are representing certain contractual obligations as computer data. The reason is so that computers can read and process the substantive aspects of contractual obligations. The representation of contractual obligations in data instead of (or in addition to) the traditional written language form - what this Article calls "data-oriented contracting" - allows for the application of advanced computer processing abilities to substantive contractual obligations. Certain financial contracts exemplify this model. Equity option contracts are routinely represented not as contract documents written in ordinary language - but as data records intended to be processed by …

Use Of Alumni Advisory Board In Assessment Of Achievement Of Student Outcomes In Capstone Design, Scott L. Post, Julie Reyer, Martin Morris

Publications

This paper discussed the use of the Alumni Advisory Board in assessment of capstone design projects. Since it is an ABET requirement that engineering programs obtain input from outside constituents on the continuous improvement processes for their programs, practically all engineering departments have established some form of external alumni advisory board which meets with the department administration and faculty on a regular basis, usually every semester. Since these boards are already in place, they can be used to assess the achievement of ABET student outcomes in the capstone design course. Specifically, the Alumni Advisory Board can be used to evaluate …

The Flight From Judgment: Reflections On Benjamin Barton’S An Empirical Study Of Supreme Court Justice Pre-Appointment Experience, Jennifer Hendricks

Publications

Discusses J. McIntyre Machinery, Ltd. v. Nicastro as an example of the Supreme Court's failure to rely on practical wisdom, in connection with the historic shift toward increasingly elite credentials for the justices.

Tiger Cub Strikes Back: Memoirs Of An Ex-Child Prodigy About Legal Education And Parenting, Peter H. Huang

Publications

I am a Chinese American who at 14 enrolled at Princeton and at 17 began my applied mathematics Ph.D. at Harvard. I was a first-year law student at the University of Chicago before transferring to Stanford, preferring the latter's pedagogical culture. This Article offers a complementary account to Amy Chua's parenting memoir. The Article discusses how mainstream legal education and tiger parenting are similar and how they can be improved by fostering life-long learning about character strengths, emotions, and ethics. I also recount how a senior professor at the University of Pennsylvania law school claimed to have gamed the U.S. …

From Tiger Mom To Panda Parent, Peter H. Huang

Publications

This response to Yale Law Professor Amy Chua’s book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, complements a much longer and related article that is also in part a response to Chua’s book: Tiger Cub Strikes Back: Memoirs of an Ex-Child Prodigy About Legal Education and Parenting, 1 British Journal of American Legal Studies 297 (2012). This brief essay discusses the cultural differences between Chinese and Western views about education, learning, and parenting. This editorial draws on research in social psychology to analyze the stereotype of Asians and Asian Americans as being competent yet unsociable. Finally, this reflection draws …

Lawyers, Loyalty And Social Change, Deborah J. Cantrell

Publications

Fundamentally, cause lawyers engage in their work to make social change. Scholars of cause lawyering have generated a robust and rich literature considering important issues, such as what kinds of advocacy strategies best generate social change and what features of the relationship between cause client and cause lawyer are critical to an engaged and mutual relationship. But, the literature has neglected a key aspect of the cause lawyer and client relationship: whether the particular kind of loyalty that exists as between them hinders or helps in achieving social change. This Article fills that void. It first illuminates the particular features …

Genealogies Of Risk: Searching For Safety, 1930s-1970s, William Boyd

Publications

Health, safety, and environmental regulation in the United States are saturated with risk thinking. It was not always so, and it may not be so in the future. But today, the formal, quantitative approach to risk provides much of the basis for regulation in these fields, a development that seems quite natural, even necessary. This particular approach, while it drew on conceptual and technical developments that had been underway for decades, achieved prominence during a relatively short timeframe; roughly, between the mid-1970s and the early 1980s--a time of hard looks and regulatory reform. Prior to this time, formal conceptions of …

Multi-Disciplinary Hands-On Desktop Learning Modules And Modern Pedagogies, Bernard J. Van Wie, David B. Thiessen, Marc Compere, Ximena Toro, Jennifer C. Adam, Et Al.

Publications

Our team’s research focuses on fundamental problems in undergraduate education in terms of how to expand use of well researched, yet still “new”, teaching pedagogies of ‘sensing’ or ‘hands-on’, ‘active’ and ‘problem-based learning’ within engineering courses. It is now widely accepted that traditional lectures ARE NOT best for students – yet that is what the community almost universally does.

To address this issue we are developing new Desktop Learning Modules (DLMs) that contain miniaturized processes with a uniquely expandable electronic system to contend with known sensor systems/removable cartridges, as well as, unknown expansions to the project. We have shown that …