Digital Commons Network^™

Particle Swarm Optimization In Dynamic Pricing, Christopher K. Monson, Patrick B. Mullen, Kevin Seppi, Sean C. Warnick

Faculty Publications

Dynamic pricing is a real-time machine learning problem with scarce prior data and a concrete learning cost. While the Kalman Filter can be employed to track hidden demand parameters and extensions to it can facilitate exploration for faster learning, the exploratory nature of Particle Swarm Optimization makes it a natural choice for the dynamic pricing problem. We compare both the Kalman Filter and existing particle swarm adaptations for dynamic and/or noisy environments with a novel approach that time-decays each particle's previous best value; this new strategy provides more graceful and effective transitions between exploitation and exploration, a necessity in the …

Cooperation-Based Clustering For Profit-Maximizing Organizational Design, Christophe G. Giraud-Carrier, Kevin Seppi, Nghia Tran, Sean C. Warnick

Faculty Publications

This paper shows how the notion of value of cooperation, a measure of the percentage of a firm’s profits due strictly to the cooperative effects among the goods it sells, can be used to analyze the relative economic advantage afforded by various organizational structures. The value of cooperation is computed from transactions data by solving a regression problem to fit the parameters of the consumer demand function, and then simulating the resulting profit-maximizing dynamic system under various organizational structures. A hierarchical agglomerative clustering algorithm can be applied to reveal the optimal organizational substructure.

Density-Dependent Parasitism In Centropogon Solanifolius (Campanulaceae) And Changes In Floral And Sex-Phase Longevity Following Infestation, July 15, 2006, Erik Z. Solberg

Monteverde Institute: Tropical Ecology and Conservation

Centropogon solanifolius flowers (Campanulaceae) are parasitized by the fly larvae of Zygothrica neolinea (Drosophilidae). The larvae burrow into the anther of the developing flower bud and eat the pollen, which changes the longevity dynamics among the infested, protandrous flowers. This study investigated whether the flies were parasitizing in a density dependent manner. The study also explored strategies that flowers used to cope with the high infestation rates (!50% in a previous study and documented here as well). To find answers to these questions, 83 flowers were located, their infestation status noted, and nearest neighbor distance measured. Additionally, 78 other flowers …

10,10′-Dinitro-10,10′-(Butane-1,4-Di­Yl)Dianthracen-9(10h)-One, Mustafa Arslan, Erol Asker, John Masnovi, Ronald J. Baker

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The title compound, C₃₂H₂₄N₂O₆, was obtained as the decomposition product of (E,E)-1,4-bis­[9,10-dihydro-9-nitro-10-(trinitro­meth­yl)-9-anthr­yl]butane, which was synthesized via a photochemical reaction of 1,4-bis­(9-anthr­yl)butane with tetra­nitro­methane. The asymmetric unit contains one half-mol­ecule; the complete mol­ecule is generated by a center of inversion. The crystal packing is determined mainly by inter­molecular C—H⋯O inter­actions.

Factors Contributing To Dust Emissions In Clark County, Nevada Quarterly Progress Report: Period Ending July 15, 2006, Margaret N. Rees

Dust Emissions from Public Lands

• Hiring of post-doctoral scholar is currently being finalized.

• Modification to task agreement has been processed.

Digitalcommons@University Of Rhode Island Statistics Feb-Jun 2006

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Statistics on the total number of full text downloads from the DigitalCommons@University of Rhode Island institutional repository for February through June 2006 [earlier data not available]. Data are provided monthly on the number of full text downloads by collection and document, and on the number of referrals by domain and country. Dissertations are included in the statistics. Digital Commons statistics are COUNTER-compliant, with downloads from robots and automated processes filtered out.

Adequate Yearly Progress In Small Rural Schools And Rural Low-Income Schools, Thomas W. Farmer, Man-Chi Leung, Jonathan Banks, Victoria Schaefer, Bruce Andrews, Robert Allen Murray

The Rural Educator

Adequate yearly progress (AYP) on No Child Left Behind criteria was examined for a randomly selected sample of districts that qualify for the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP). The sample involved 10% of districts that were eligible for the Small Rural Schools Achievement (SRSA) program and 10% that were eligible for the Rural and Low-income Schools (RLIS) program. Based on district reports, nearly 80% of SRSA schools made AYP, 11% failed, and 11% did not have adequate data. For schools in the RLIS program, districts reported that 65% made AYP, 29% failed, and 6% did not report adequate data. The …

An Inquiry Into Retention And Achievement Differences In Campus Based And Web Based Ap Courses, Michael Barbour, Dennis Mulcahy

The Rural Educator

A decade ago the Advanced Placement (AP) program was introduced into the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Initially, schools embraced this opportunity to provide their students with opportunities that were previously unavailable. However, within a few years the AP program was relegated to urban and large regional high schools. Few smaller, and particularly rural schools, were able to offer AP courses only to the brightest one or two students taking it as an independent study. In 1997-98, schools began to delivery AP courses in a web-based method. The purpose of the study is to examine the retention rates and …

Speaking Their Truths: Teachers Of Color In Diasporic Contexts, Carmelita Castaneda, John Kambutu, Francisco Rios

The Rural Educator

No abstract provided.

Wmu Board Of Trustees Formal Session July 14, 2006, Wmu Board Of Trustees

WMU Board of Trustees Meetings

Minutes of the WMU Board of Trustees meeting include appendices:

• Acceptance of the Agenda
• Revised Procedure to Address the Board
• Remarks by the Chair
• Remarks by the President
• Remarks by the WSA President and GSAC Past Chair and Current Chair
• Reorganization of the College of Education

Knots Not For Naught, Sharleen Adrienne Roberts

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this paper is to find the Homfly polynomial for each knot in a specific family of knots. This family of knots is generated from placing the Whitehead link into a solid torus, slicing the torus at a spot where the Whitehead has no crossings and then twisting the torus 360 degrees in either direction an integral number of times. Let L(n) denote the knot obtained by twisting the torus 360 degrees, n times. Note that n is an integer. Let the twists be towards the center of the torus for positive n and away from the center …

The Nature And Frequency Of Mathematical Discussion During Lesson Study That Implemented The Cmi Framework, Andrew Ray Glaze

Theses and Dissertations

During a year-long professional development, the faculty members at an elementary school received instruction on mathematics and how to use the Comprehensive Mathematics Instruction framework. The instruction and the framework were consistent with the standards suggested by the National Council of Teacher of Mathematics (2000). This thesis analyzes the mathematical language used by three fifth-grade teachers who participated in lesson study to create a research lesson based upon the Comprehensive Mathematics Instruction framework.

Washington University Record, July 14, 2006

Washington University Record

No abstract provided.

On The N-Body Problem, Zhifu Xie

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, central configurations, regularization of Simultaneous binary collision, linear stability of Kepler orbits, and index theory for symplectic path are studied. The history of their study is summarized in section 1. Section 2 deals with the following problem: given a collinear configuration of 4 bodies, under what conditions is it possible to choose positive masses which make it central. It is always possible to choose three positive masses such that the given three positions with the masses form a central configuration. However, for an arbitrary configuration of 4 bodies, it is not always possible to find positive masses …

Novel Potentiometric And Optical Silver Ion-Selective Sensors With Subnanomolar Detection Limits, Zsófia Szigeti, Adam Malon, Tamás Vigassy, Viktor Csokai, Alajos Grün, Katarzyna Wygladacz, Nan Ye, Chao Xu, Vincent J. Chebny, István Bitter, Rajendra Rathore, Eric Bakker, Ernö Pretsch

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

Ten Ag⁺-selective ionophores have been characterized in terms of their potentiometric selectivities and complex formation constants in solvent polymeric membranes. The compounds with π-coordination show much weaker interactions than those with thioether or thiocarbamate groups as the coordinating sites. Long-term studies with the best ionophores show that the lower detection limit of the best Ag⁺ sensors can be maintained in the subnanomolar range for at least 1 month. The best ionophores have also been characterized in fluorescent microspheres. The so far best lower detection limits of 3 × 10⁻¹¹ M (potentiometrically) and 2 × 10^{−11 …}

Direct Limits On The BS0 Oscillation Frequency, V. M. Abazov, Kenneth A. Bloom, Gregory R. Snow, D0 Collaboration

Kenneth Bloom Publications

We report results of a study of the B_s⁰ oscillation frequency using a large sample of B_s⁰ semileptonic decays corresponding to approximately 1 fb^-1 of integrated luminosity collected by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider in 2002–2006. The amplitude method gives a lower limit on the B_s⁰ oscillation frequency at 14.8 ps^-1 at the 95% C.L. At Δm_s = 19 ps^-1, the amplitude deviates from the hypothesis A= 0 (1) by 2.5 (1.6) standard deviations, corresponding to a two-sided C.L. of 1% (10%). A likelihood …

Unifying The Theories Of Inclusive Fitness And Reciprocal Altruism, Jeffrey Alan Fletcher, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Inclusive fitness and reciprocal altruism are widely thought to be distinct explanations for how altruism evolves. Here we show that they rely on the same underlying mechanism. We demonstrate this commonality by applying Hamilton’s rule, normally associated with inclusive fitness, to two simple models of reciprocal altruism: one, an iterated prisoner’s dilemma model with conditional behavior; the other, a mutualistic symbiosis model where two interacting species differ in conditional behaviors, fitness benefits, and costs. We employ Queller’s generalization of Hamilton’s rule because the traditional version of this rule does not apply when genotype and phenotype frequencies differ or when fitness …

A Flexible General Class Of Marginal And Conditional Random Intercept Models For Binary Outcomes Using Mixtures Of Normals, Brian Caffo, Ming-Wen An, Charles A. Rohde

Johns Hopkins University, Dept. of Biostatistics Working Papers

Random intercept models for binary data are useful tools for addressing between subject heterogeneity. Unlike linear models, the non-linearity of link functions used for binary data force a distinction between marginal and conditional interpretations. This distinction is blurred in probit models with a normally distributed random intercept because the resulting model implies a probit marginal link as well. That is, this model is closed in the sense that the distribution associated with the marginal and conditional link functions and the random effect distribution are all of the same family. In this manuscript we explore another family of random intercept models …

Patterns Of Scleractinian Health In Broward County, Florida, Melody J. White

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

This study was survey of disease distribution and abundance relating to coral diseases present in Broward County. Data of the 1330 scleractinian coral individuals found, 88 showed signs of disease. 19 coral species, 3 diseases and bleaching were represented. Diseases affected 9 of the species. Bleaching was the most common disease noted in this survey, followed by dark spot, red band, and yellow band.

Disease distribution appears to be scattered on the reef system. No apparent patterns were found when grouped by reef or corridor locations. MDS cluster analysis revealed a clumping of disease, but this was not correlated with …

Conjugacy Classes Of The Piecewise Linear Group, Matthew L. Housley

Theses and Dissertations

The piecewise linear group is the set of all piecewise linear orientation preserving homeomorphisms from the interval to itself under the operation of composition. We present here a complete set of invariants to classify the conjugacy classes of this group. Our approach to this problem relies on the factorization of elements into elements having only a single breakpoint.

Illinois State University Report, July 13, 2006, Illinois State University

Illinois State University Report (1966-2012)

Illinois State University bi-weekly employee newsletter.

Preheating With Trilinear Interactions: Tachyonic Resonance, Jean-François Dufaux, Gary Felder, Lev Kofman, Marco Peloso, Dmitry Podolsky

Physics: Faculty Publications

We investigate the effects of bosonic trilinear interactions in preheating after chaotic inflation. A trilinear interaction term allows for the complete decay of the massive inflaton particles, which is necessary for the transition to radiation domination. We found that typically the trilinear term is subdominant during early stages of preheating, but it actually amplifies parametric resonance driven by the four-legs interaction. In cases where the trilinear term does dominate during preheating, the process occurs through periodic tachyonic amplifications with resonance effects, which is so effective that preheating completes within a few inflaton oscillations. We develop an analytic theory of this …

A Microformatted Registry Alternative, Thomas R. Warne

Theses and Dissertations

To effectively use Web services, providers and consumers need to be connected by a registry. Several registry solutions exist today, including UDDI and WSIL. Also, many organizations simply use Web pages to list available Web services and their descriptions. This research describes a microformat for representing Web service description documents. These microformatted documents can be converted back to the original format for use by machines. They can also contain additional information, making them more useful to people. A registry, allowing indexing and searching of microformatted service descriptions, is also described. The benefits of this solution include: using existing standards; allowing …

Local Url Resolution Protocol, Joseph Clark Ekstrom

Theses and Dissertations

DOGMA is a resource management system designed to create a supercomputer like system from unused desktop computers. Scalability is one of the challenges faced by DOGMA because it uses a strict client/server architecture. Distributing large files over a client server architecture is problematic since available network bandwidth is limited. The Local URL Resolution Protocol(LURP) addresses this problem for environments where there are high node densities. LURP implements a locality aware Peer-to-Peer file distribution model to increase the speed of file distribution while reducing the overall network congestion.

Crossing Dependencies In Persian, Jonathan M. Dehdari

Theses and Dissertations

Languages occasionally have syntactic constructions that are difficult, if not impossible, to describe using a context-free grammar. One such construction is a crossing dependency. Crossing dependencies have been well studied for Dutch and Swiss German (Huybregts, 1976; Shieber, 1985), and recently for Tagalog (Maclachlan and Rambow, 2003). In this paper I propose that Persian exhibits crossing dependencies. In this SOV language, a light verb construction in the future tense becomes interrupted by a future auxiliary verb, which agrees with its subject in person and number. The future auxiliary also splits passive constructions in a similar manner. These forms present interesting …

Sheep Updates 2006 - Part 4, K. G. Geenty, A. A. Swan, A. J. Smith, J. L. Smith, Chris Oldham, R. G. Woodgate, R. A. Love, E. Dobbe, H. M. Hoult, J. Pearson, S. Hill, A. Van Burgel, R. B. Besier, R. Warburton, L. Mathwin, D. Rogers, E. Crossley, Allan Herbert, P. Nichols, Tony Albertsen, Darryl Mcclements, Graeme Martin, Penny Hawken, Caroline Vinoles, Beth Paganoni, Dominique Blanche

Sheep Updates

This session covers seven papers from different authors:

MANAGEMENT

1. Wool and meat traits in Merino flocks in different regions, K.G. Geenty, A.A. Swan, A.J. Smith, J.L. Smith, Sheep CRC and CSIRO Livestock Industries, Armidale

2. Fat score or Condition score? - It all depends on what you want to do! Chris Oldham, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia

3. Sheep worm control - the latest for Western Australia, RG Woodgate, RA Love, E Dobbe, HM Hoult, J Pearson, S Hill, A van Burgel and RB Besier, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia

PASTURES

4. Rethinking pasture production …

Campus Chronicle (Vol. 9, No. 1), Valparaiso University

Campus Chronicle

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Hurricane Katrina On Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans, Lsu Health Sciences Center - New Orleans

LSUHSC Hurricane Katrina Archive: Reports & Presentations

"The Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans" is a 6 page document presented by Dr. Larry H. Hollier (Dean of the School of Medicine 2004-2007, Chancellor 2006-2021) to the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on July 13, 2006.

This report details the status of faculty, departments, and organizations affiliated with LSU Health just before Hurricane Katrina, the challenges the school administrators faced in evacuating the campuses and associated medical centers as well as relocating all services, and the success of the university in continuing education and research programs while …

The Runge-Lenz Vector, Carl W. David

Chemistry Education Materials

The Runge-Lenz vector is a constant of the motion in the Kepler problem. As a precursor to developing a ladder operator formalism for the H-atom's quantum mechanics, various relations concerning the Runge-Lenz vector are obtained.

The Combination Of Ecological And Case-Control Data, Sebastien Haneuse, Jon Wakefield

UW Biostatistics Working Paper Series

Ecological studies, in which data are available at the level of the group, rather than at the level of the individual, are susceptible to a range of biases due to their inability to characterize within-group variability in exposures and confounders. In order to overcome these biases, we propose a hybrid design in which ecological data are supplemented with a sample of individual-level case-control data. We develop the likelihood for this design and illustrate its benefits via simulation, both in bias reduction when compared to an ecological study, and in efficiency gains relative to a conventional case-control study. An interesting special …