Digital Commons Network^™

Analytically Calibrated Box-Cox Percentile Limits For Duration And Event-Time Models, Zhenlin Yang, Albert K.C. Tsui

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper proposes a unified approach to constructing confidence limits for a future percentile duration or event-time. The construction is based on an analytical calibration of the Box-Cox-type “plug-in” percentile limits (PL). The performance of the calibrated Box-Cox PL is investigated using Monte Carlo experiments. Comparisons are made with PLs that are specifically designed for a particular distribution such as Weibull and lognormal. Excellent performances of the calibrated Box-Cox PL are observed. Simulation based on other popular duration models such as gamma and inverse Gaussian reveal that the proposed PL is robust against distributional assumptions and that it performs much …

Investing In Real Estate: Mortgage Financing Practices And Optimal Holding Period, Winston T. H. Koh, Edward H. K. Ng

Research Collection School Of Economics

Real estate investments are typically characterized by high degrees of leverage and long-loan tenures. In perfect capital markets, leverage has no impact on the investment decision apart from tax considerations. However, the mortgage financing market is imperfect in many countries. In the presence of market imperfections, an optimal holding period exists for real property investments. We provide a simple rule to calculate the optimal holding period to compare the required rate of return with the leveraged rate of return on equity.

U-Commerce: Emerging Trends And Research Issues, H. Galanxhi-Janaqi, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Ubiquitous commerce or u-commerce is the combination of traditional e-commerce and wireless, television, voice and silent commerce. U-commerce implies ubiquity, universality, uniqueness and unison. It is not a replacement for other types of commerce, but an extension of them. While bringing many benefits, there are challenges and impediments to overcome. Research is needed to assess the value of u-commerce and to address its related issues and challenges. Questions that need to be addressed are: What is the value of u-commerce? What are the ways to maximize the benefits and value of u-commerce? Is it the right technology and what directions …

Vertical Sensitivity For The Information Security Health Rating Of Enterprises, Arcot Desai Narasimhalu, Nagarajan Dayasindhu, Raghavan Subramanian

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

INFOSeMM Maturity model was developed jointly by SMU and Infosys. It is recognized that different industry verticals will have different levels of recommended maturity levels. This paper articulates the need for developing the industry vertical benchmarks.

Method For Identifying Individuals, Manoj Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A method and system for identifying a subject comprises obtaining a digitised recording of an electrocardiogram measurement of the subject to be identified, the digitised recording being a cyclic waveform having a peak amplitude. The digitised recording is normalised to reduce variations due to physiological effects, and the normalised recording is processed to determine a feature vector in the frequency domain. The distance between the determined feature vector and a predetermined feature vector is measured to identify the subject.

Code Of Ethical Conduct

Human Resources Policies

University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy in St. Louis is committed to maintaining a campus environment that offers a wide range of professional, social and cultural opportunities and where the well-being of students is the primary focus of all decision-making and actions. A Code of Ethical Conduct (the “code”) is in place to avoid conflicts of interest, legal and/or ethics violations and ensure mechanisms are in place to allow for protected reporting of violations.

Diagnosing Crohn's Disease: An Economic Analysis Comparing Wireless Capsule Endoscopy With Traditional Diagnostic Procedures, Neil I. Goldfarb, Laura T. Pizzi, Joseph P. Fuhr Jr., Christopher Salvador, Vanja Sikirica, Asher Kornbluth, Blair Lewis

College of Population Health Faculty Papers

The purpose of this study was to review economic considerations related to establishing a diagnosis of Crohn's disease, and to compare the costs of a diagnostic algorithm incorporating wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) with the current algorithm for diagnosing Crohn's disease suspected in the small bowel. Published literature, clinical trial data on WCE in comparison to other diagnostic tools, and input from clinical experts were used as data sources for (1) identifying contributors to the costs of diagnosing Crohn's disease; (2) exploring where WCE should be placed within the diagnostic algorithm for Crohn's; and (3) constructing decision tree models with sensitivity …

Satirical Legal Studies: From The Legists To The Lizard, Peter Goodrich

Articles

Satirical legal studies utilize humor and ridicule to critique the pretensions and follies of the legal profession and academia, transcending traditional boundaries and challenging established hierarchies. By blending satire with legal critique, this genre exposes the social and political dimensions of law, advocating for inclusivity and radical change. Despite facing backlash, satire remains a vital tool in legal discourse, offering fresh perspectives and engaging forms that keep legal studies dynamic and relevant.

Factors Impacting E-Government Development, Keng Siau, Y. Long

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

E-government is a way for governments to use new technologies such as the Internet to provide citizens with more convenient access to government information and services, to improve the quality of services, and to provide greater opportunities for citizens to participate in democratic institutions and processes. This research investigates factors impacting e-government development. Based on the growth theory and human capital theory from the economics literature, we hypothesize that information and computer technology, and human development are two factors impacting e-government development. The hypotheses were empirically tested using secondary data from the United Nations and the United Nations Development Programme. …

Factors Which Affect The Attitudes Of Teachers Of English Language Learners Enrolled In Mainstream Classrooms, Gail Ingrid Hirschfield

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Increased immigration to the United States over the past fifty years has led to a dramatic increase in enrollment of language minority students in schools throughout the United States. Federal and state laws mandate that public schools accommodate the unique needs of these linguistically and culturally diverse students. English language learners (ELLS) require academic and affective support from their teachers when they are included in mainstream classrooms.

Teachers' attitudes toward their students have been shown to be a predictor of student success. Teachers with positive attitudes are more likely to have received training and are also able to modify their …

Song Of The Outcasts: An Introduction To Flamenco [Book Review], Antoni Pizà

Publications and Research

Robin Totton's Song of The Outcasts: An Introduction to Flamenco is actually a judicious, balanced overview of flamenco, its styles, history, and practitioners. And although its author is very passionate about his subject matter, facts and opinions are not blurred or mystified, but rather presented with clarity and concision (in only 224 pages). Totton defines himself as an "explainer by trade" (p. 12), and explain he does. The challenge, though, is to explain verbally an art form that defines itself around the notion of ineffability.

Synchronization For Capacity -Approaching Coded Communication Systems, Jian Sun

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The dissertation concentrates on synchronization of capacity approaching error-correction codes that are deployed in noisy channels with very low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The major topics are symbol timing synchronization and frame synchronization.;Capacity-approaching error-correction codes, like turbo codes and low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes, are capable of reaching very low bit error rates and frame error rates in noisy channels by iterative decoding. To fully achieve the potential decoding capability of Turbo codes and LDPC codes, proper symbol timing synchronization, frame synchronization and channel state estimation are required. The dissertation proposes a joint estimator of symbol time delay and channel SNR for …

Design And Flight Testing Actuator Failure Accommodation Controllers On Wvu Yf-22 Research Uavs, Yu Gu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation describes the design, development, and flight testing of a Neural Network (NN) based Fault Tolerant Flight Control System (FTFCS) with the ability to accommodate for actuator failures. The goal of this research was to demonstrate the ability of a specific set of control laws to maintain aircraft handling qualities in the presence of failures in the actuator channels. In this study, two-failure scenarios have been investigated: aileron failure (locking of the right aileron at a trim position) and elevator failure (locking of the right elevator at a trim position). A fleet of WVU YF-22 research aircraft test-beds were …

K--12 Teachers' Technology Integration In Benedum Collaborative Professional Development Schools, Sabah Karayegen-Giraldo

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study investigated how K--12 teachers and interns in West Virginia University's Professional Development Schools (PDS) are using technology as a tool to enhance their students' education. The study addressed the use of technology as a classroom tool for research, communication, productivity, and problem-solving as outlined by the National Technology Standards for students. Eleven research questions framed this study. Comparisons across grade levels (elementary, middle, and high schools) and subject areas (English, mathematics, science, and social studies) were included. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used as quantitative research methods. The study involved 327 teachers and 102 intern students in these …

Strategies For Sustainable Professional Development Programs To Promote Effective Pedagogical Use Of Instructional Technology In Teaching, Karla R. Assis Cezarino

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study was to determine a set of common strategies employed by sustainable instructional technology professional development programs that are found to successfully promote educators' high-level use of technology in their teaching practice. Two questions guided this study: (a) Research Question 1: What do successful instructional technology professional development programs recognize as indicators of high-level use of technology? and (b) Research Question 2: Which instructional technology professional development strategies successfully promote high-level use of instructional technology in participants' teaching practice?;An online questionnaire consisting of close-ended questions and open-ended questions was used as the means of data collection. …

Women And Social Services In Saudi Arabia, Khadija Nasseef

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This master thesis talks about social services for women that provided by social welfare agencies in Saudi Arabia. This thesis is a descriptive study that uses the content analysis as a method to investigate social services agencies that provides special services for women. This thesis also had special interest in social services that improve women's lives in Saudi Arabia. The content analysis is made on documents and brochures of 4 main social services agencies that offer services for women. The content analysis was made in term of these agencies main aim and target, their main massage, their programs for women, …

E-Commerce Implementation For Dutch Precision Inc., Daniel C. Mortenson

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

The MSIS project at Dakota State University, "E-commerce implementation for Dutch Precision, Inc." began in May 2004 and was completed in December of the same year. The target company, Dutch Precision, Inc. (DPI), remanufactures brake calipers for automotive applications, regionally based near Tampa, Florida, and sells predominately to independent auto parts stores. The DPI company website was established on a new static IP address using the DutchPrecision.com domain name. Three interrelated open-source code software applications were used; Apache web server, MySQL database, and PHP, a server-side scripting language. Virus and networking difficulties initially impaired and refocused the project goals, but …

Recommender Systems For Multimedia Libraries: An Evaluation Of Different Models For Datamining Usage Data, Raquel Oliveira Araujo

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Many recommender systems exist today to help users deal with the large growth in the amount of information available in the Internet. Most of these recommender systems use collaborative filtering or content-based techniques to present new material that would be of interest to a user. While these methods have proven to be effective, they have not been designed specifically for multimedia collections. In this study we present a new method to find recommendations that is not dependent on traditional Information Retrieval (IR) methods and compare it to algorithms that do rely on traditional IR methods. We evaluated these algorithms using …

Where In The Hell Is Dorothy Parker?, Thomas J. Fuschetto Jr.

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The famous members of The Algonquin Round Table once got together to write and produce a play called No, Sirree! Since very little is known about the production, questions remain of how the members decided to do such a production, what was the production, and what they later thought about the production. Since such information is missing, then I filled in the gaps with my imagination of writing and producing an original play that represents my research and my imagination of how the members of The Algonquin Round Table decided to do a play production, how they prepared for the …

Analysis Of English And Spanish Academic Proficiency Of Pre-Service Bilingual Teachers At A University In South Texas, Matthew E. Meyers

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this research was to examine the English and Spanish academic writing proficiency of pre-service bilingual teachers at a university in south Texas and attempt to establish factors that have influenced that proficiency or lack of proficiency. Ninety-four participants who volunteered to take part in the study completed a 50-question survey that solicited demographic information and perceived proficiencies in English and Spanish. After collecting the data from the survey, participants wrote essays on four separate themes. Two of the essays were written in Spanish, and two were written in English. The compositions purported to elicit the participants' written …

The Effect Of Scaffolding On Children's Oral Language Development, Ana Villaurrutia

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This was a quasi experimental nonequivalent control group design used with 71 subjects in two Head Start center settings. LAP-D assessment results were also taken in account for the purpose of comparison regarding the dependent variable. The subjects were children 4 and 5 years old who were attending classes in two different Head Start centers. These subjects were students from 2 classrooms from Center One and 2 classrooms from Center Two. In Center One, teachers were trained in the use of scaffolding techniques, whereas in Center Two teachers had no training on scaffolding techniques. An analysis of variance procedure was …

Missouri S&T Magazine Winter 2004, Missouri S&T Marketing And Communications Department, Miner Alumni Association

Missouri S&T Magazine

No abstract provided.

The Everyday Memory Survey: Development And Psychometric Analysis, Trevor A. Hall

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

The purpose of the current study was to develop a psychometrically sound questionnaire that measures everyday memory. Specifically, it was hypothesized that both the Self­ Report and the Observer forms of the Everyday Memory Survey (EMS (Hall & Adams, 2004) would demonstrate sound psychometric properties with respect to norms, reliability and validity. The EMS combined standardization sample included 920 male and female adults aged 18 to 85+ years. Analyses yielded coefficient alphas for the EMS Self-Report and Observer forms at .96 and .97, respectively and within specific age groups from .92 to .98. Statistically significant test-retest coefficients of .91 and …

Turbulent Augmentation Of Heat Transfer Off Pin And Endwall Surfaces In A Staggered Pin Fin Array, Lindsay A. Dvorak

Theses and Dissertations

Pin fin arrays are one of the more common internal cooling features in many turbine vanes and blades. Pin fins increase turbulence of passage flow and internal heat transfer surface area. Most pin fin array designs use empirical correlations to predict heat transfer rates and pressure drop. Previous research suggests computational models for heat transfer and velocity distribution predictions can be improved if the characteristics of turbulence and its response near surfaces such as pins and endwalls are known. Detailed heat transfer and turbulence data are needed to investigate why current turbulence models fail. Improvements can be made by introducing …

Saudi Women's Society: Perceptions Of Saudi Arabian Women Living In The Upper Midwest, Philline M. Deraney

Theses and Dissertations

This research posed three broad questions about perceptions of adult Saudi Arabian women living in Midwestern states of North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Specifically, the questions explored were: (I) What were the women experiencing while living in the Midwest? (2) What did the experiences mean to the women? and, (3) How did the women interpret their experiences? The purposes of this research were to amplify the women's ''voices'' and to add to the limited base of qualitative research on Saudi Arabian women. Interviews and brief observations of 13 native Saudi women were the main for1ns of data collection, and rigorous …

Psychological Distress Between American Indian And Majority Culture College Students Regarding The Use Of The Fighting Sioux Nickname And Logo, Angela Laroque

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to investigate to what extent, the “Fighting Sioux” Nickname and Logo affects American Indian and Majority Culture college students emotionally. This study compared American Indian and Majority Culture students’ differences of emotional reactions and distress to twc different slide presentations using images of the “Fighting Sioux” Nickname and Logo found around the campus of the University of North Dakota (UND). The main focus was to examine the possible psychological side effects.

Participants consisted of 36 Majority Culture and 33 American Indian College students in attendance at UND. Each participant filled out an informed consent …

The Graduate Dean As Guardian Of Standards And Academic Excellence, Cynthia H. Shabb

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the role of the graduate dean at selected American Universities. The primaiy method of investigating the role of the graduate dean was grounded theory. The sample for this study was composed of the graduate dean at the University of North Dakota (UND) and nine institutions identified by the North Dakota University System as UND’s peers including Southern Illinois University—Carbondale, State University of New York at Buffalo, University of Louisville, University of Missouri—Kansas City, University of Nevada—Reno, University of South Carolina, Wright State University, Ohio University, and West Virginia University. The data analysis …

Teacher Candidate Dispositions Identified By Ncate-Accredited Colleges Of Education: How Professional Educators Are Disposed Toward The Students, Curriculum, And Reasons They Teach, Debra L. (Rhoads) Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

The education profession has a great deal of information on potential teachers' knowledge and technical skills, but the study of affective attributes that are the human interface between teaching and student learning is still evolving. The central phenomenon exmined in this study is the affective and attitudinal attributes, or "dispositions" of teachers as defined by colleges of education.

The researcher analyzed conceptual frameworks and affective attributes in Institutional Reports from colleges reviewed by the National Council on the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), whose standards require reporting on dispositions. The dispositional factors that these colleges surmise predict successful practice were …

Information Structure In Narrative Texts In Byali (A Gur Language Of Benin), John J. Berthelette

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an application of Knud Lambrecht’s 1994 work, Information structure and sentence form, to Byali, a Gur language of northwestern Benin (West Africa). In particular, it concerns an analysis of how the different focus structures are marked in Byali, according to Lambrecht’s framework.

Given that this is an application of a theoretical framework in order to describe a language, the thesis has three purposes: (1) to provide an overview of Lambrecht’s framework; (2) to provide an analysis of Byali data using this framework; and (3) to evaluate the suitability of Lambrecht’s framework for analyzing Byali focus structure.

High Stakes Assessment And The American College Test (Act): Relationships Between Two Assessments And High School Coursework, Gaylynn L. Becker

Theses and Dissertations

This study focused on some of the problems school districts face in implementing the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001. NCLB requires that by the year 2013-2014 all students must score at the proficient level or above in state assessments. This requirement poses unique problems for school districts in achieving 100% of the students scoring at or above the proficient level.

Some of the problems this study examined were: What was the relationship between the number of mathematics courses taken and performance on the North Dakota Mathematics Assessment? What was the relationship between achievement on the North Dakota …