Digital Commons Network^™

Comparing Infinite Sets, Julie M. Kreizel

Department of Mathematics: Master of Arts in Teaching, Exam Expository Papers

I have been assigned to explore the theorem stating that there is no largest (infinite) set as established and proven by Georg Cantor. To do this I need to start by defining what it means to say that a set is infinite. This can be quite difficult because the tendency might be to say that a set is infinite if it is not finite, and I don’t believe that grants us the clarity of definition we are looking for. When trying to understand the size of a given set, the number of objects (elements) in the set, we may not …

Fractals And The Chaos Game, Stacie Lefler

Department of Mathematics: Master of Arts in Teaching, Exam Expository Papers

The idea of fractals is relatively new, but their roots date back to 19th century mathematics. A fractal is a mathematically generated pattern that is reproducible at any magnification or reduction and the reproduction looks just like the original, or at least has a similar structure. Georg Cantor (1845-1918) founded set theory and introduced the concept of infinite numbers with his discovery of cardinal numbers. He gave examples of subsets of the real line with unusual properties. These Cantor sets are now recognized as fractals, with the most famous being the Cantor Square.

Triangulation, Jim Pfeiffer

Department of Mathematics: Master of Arts in Teaching, Exam Expository Papers

Map making has been a scientific endeavor for mankind since the beginning of recorded human history (ca. 5000 years ago) and it is today more sophisticated than ever before. In terms of trigonometric functions there is evidence that dates back to Babylonian times that angles and distances from points on a triangle were utilized in measurement with significant amounts of work in this field done by ancient Greeks, Indians, as well as Arabic mathematicians. For example the ancient Egyptians utilized the trigonometric functions for surveying properties in order to determine how much of their land had washed away when the …

Taxicab Geometry, Kyle Lannin Poore

Department of Mathematics: Master of Arts in Teaching, Exam Expository Papers

Taxicab geometry was founded by a gentleman named Hermann Minkowski. Mr. Minkowski was one of the developers in “non-Euclidean” geometry, which led into Einstein’s theory of relativity. Minkowski and Einstein worked together a lot on this idea Mr. Minkowski wanted people to know that the side angle side axiom does not always hold true for all geometries. He wanted to prove this in the case that you can not always use the hypotenuse to find the shortest way from one spot to another. The best way to think of his idea is to think of a taxicab going from one …

Fractals And The Collage Theorem, Sandra S. Snyder

Department of Mathematics: Master of Arts in Teaching, Exam Expository Papers

The idea of fractals is relatively new, but their roots date back to 19th century mathematics. A fractal is a mathematically generated pattern that is reproducible at any magnification or reduction and the reproduction looks just like the original, or at least has a similar structure. Georg Cantor (1845-1918) founded set theory and introduced the concept of infinite numbers with his discovery of cardinal numbers. He gave examples of subsets of the real line with unusual properties. These Cantor sets are now recognized as fractals, with the most famous being the Cantor Square.

An In-Depth Study Of Student Engagement, Laura Parn

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Master of Arts in Teaching, Summative Projects

In this action research study of my classroom of 5th grade mathematics, I investigated student engagement levels in the classroom, with a specific interest in how to raise the levels of engagement which students were demonstrating before the study began. I defined student engagement based on students’ posture, thinking, responsibility level, participation, and test readiness. Each day, students were given an engagement rubric where they would rate themselves on the previous five criteria. Students enjoyed the opportunity to grade themselves, and their engagement levels significantly improved over the course of the study. I discovered that giving students specific guidelines and …

The Role Of Habits-Of-Mind Problems, Student Self-Assessments And Self Reflections In A 6th Grade Math Class, Garold J. Furse

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Master of Arts in Teaching, Summative Projects

The focus of my action research is to study the impact of student self-assessment and reflection on my 6th grade math students’ abilities to solve deep-thinking math problems, herein referred to as habits-of-mind, or HOM, problems. I investigated the way informal self-assessments and self-reflections impact student learning and motivation. I discovered that students are seldom stimulated to think about their own learning. When they are encouraged to do so, student self-assessments give students ownership of their own learning and provide them with a means for evaluating their growth. Students’ assessments of their work also gives teachers a meaningful indication of …

Student Problem Solving, Michael A. Cobelens

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Master of Arts in Teaching, Summative Projects

The purpose of this study is to determine if students solve math problems using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division consistently and whether students transfer these skills to other mathematical situations and solutions. In this action research study, a classroom of 6th grade mathematics students was used to investigate how students solve word problems and how they determine which mathematical approach to use to solve a problem. It was discovered that many of the students read and re-read a question before they try to find an answer. Most students will check their answer to determine if it is correct and makes …

Improving Mathematics Problem Solving Through Written Explanations, Janet Schlattmann

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Master of Arts in Teaching, Summative Projects

In this action research study of two classrooms of 7th grade mathematics, I investigated how requiring written explanations of problem solving would affect students ability to problem solve, their ability to write good explanations, and how it would affect their attitudes toward mathematics and problem solving. I studied a regular 7th grade mathematics class and a lower ability 7th grade class to see if there would be any difference in what was gained by each group or any group. I discovered that there were no large gains made in the short time period of my action research. Some gains were …

Math Anxiety: What Can Teachers Do To Help Their Students Overcome The Feeling?, Danielle Swanson

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Master of Arts in Teaching, Summative Projects

In this action research study of my classroom of 7th and 8th grade mathematics, I investigated how math anxiety relates to the student work and behavior in the classroom, and how this can affect the student’s overall relationship to mathematics. I discovered that the harder the work, the more math anxiety was displayed. The harder I pushed students to think more deeply, the fewer responses to my questions I received. I noticed difference in the students’ body language and overall behavior. As a result of this research, I plan to help my students try to overcome the feeling of math …

Water Current, Volume 38, No. 3. Summer 2006

Water Current Newsletter

• Fall Colloquium Features Research, Programming By Lorrie Benson

• Seeing Toxic Algae Before it Blooms by Steve Ress

• From the Director

• Meet the Faculty

• UNL Forms Public Water Resources Advisory Panel

• Atema Joins Water Center as Student Worker

• Hardin Hall Rededicated; SNR Moves In

• Potential For Algae Blooms Continues; Test Kits Available From UNL Extension by Steve Ress

• Harder, NRDs Identify Research Needs

• 2006 Water and Natural Resources Tour

• Water News Briefs

• Internships Through the Water Resources Research Initiative

• UNL’s Jess Notes Lists Creative Uses for Instate and …

Predicted Magnetoelectric Effect In Fe/Batio3 Multilayers: Ferroelectric Control Of Magnetism, Chun-Gang Duan, Sitaram S. Jaswal, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal

Evgeny Tsymbal Publications

An unexplored physical mechanism which produces a magnetoelectric effect in ferroelectricferromagnetic multilayers is studied based on first-principles calculations. Its origin is a change in bonding at the ferroelectric-ferromagnet interface that alters the interface magnetization when the electric polarization reverses. Using Fe/BaTiO₃ multilayers as a representative model, we show a sizable difference in magnetic moments of Fe and Ti atoms at the two interfaces dissimilar by the orientation of the local electric dipole moments. The predicted magnetoelectric effect opens a new direction to control magnetic properties of thin-film layered structures by electric fields.

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

Education Faculty Publications

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 …

Boundary Fragment Matching And Articulated Pose Under Occlusion, Nicholas Howe

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

Silhouette recognition can reconstruct the three-dimensional pose of a human subject in monocular video so long as the camera’s view remains unoccluded by other objects. This paper develops a shape representation that can describe and compare partial shapes, extending the silhouette recognition technique to apply to video with occlusions. The new method operates without human intervention, and experiments demonstrate that it can reconstruct accurate three-dimensional articulated pose tracks from single-camera walking video despite occlusion of one-third to one-half of the subject.

Charactarizations Of Linear Suboptimality For Mathematical Programs With Equilibrium Constraints, Boris S. Mordukhovich

Mathematics Research Reports

The paper is devoted to the study of a new notion of linear suboptimality in constrained mathematical programming. This concept is different from conventional notions of solutions to optimization-related problems, while seems to be natural and significant from the viewpoint of modern variational analysis and applications. In contrast to standard notions, it admits complete characterizations via appropriate constructions of generalized differentiation in nonconvex settings. In this paper we mainly focus on various classes of mathematical programs with equilibrium constraints (MPECs), whose principal role has been well recognized in optimization theory and its applications. Based on robust generalized differential calculus, we …

John Howard Sobel, Logic And Theism: Arguments For And Against Beliefs In God, Robert C. Koons

Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers

No abstract provided.

Institutional Data Book 2005-2006, University Of Minnesota, Morris Office Of Institutional Research

Campus Documents and Reports

No abstract provided.

Formation Of Monofunctional Cisplatin-Dna Adducts In Carbonate Buffer, Alexandra Binter, Jerry Goodisman, James C. Dabrowiak

Chemistry - All Scholarship

Carbonate in its various forms is an important component in blood and the cytosol. Since, under conditions that simulate therapy, carbonate reacts with cisplatin to form carbonato complexes, one of which is taken up and/or modified by the cell [C.R. Centerwall, J. Goodisman, D.J. Kerwood, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 127 (2005) 12768–12769], cisplatin-carbonato complexes may be important in the mechanism of action of cisplatin. In this report we study the binding of cisplatin to pBR322 DNA in two different buffers, using gel electrophoresis. In 23.8 mM HEPES, N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-piperazine-N′-2-ethanesulfonic acid, 5 mM NaCl, pH 7.4 buffer, cisplatin produces …

Querying Formal Contexts With Answer Set Programs, Pascal Hitzler, Markus Krotzsch

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Recent studies showed how a seamless integration of formal concept analysis (FCA), logic of domains, and answer set programming (ASP) can be achieved. Based on these results for combining hierarchical knowledge with classical rule-based formalisms, we introduce an expressive common-sense query language for formal contexts. Although this approach is conceptually based on order-theoretic paradigms, we show how it can be implemented on top of standard ASP systems. Advanced features, such as default negation and disjunctive rules, thus become practically available for processing contextual data.

Geospatial Ontology Development And Semantic Analytics, I. Budak Arpinar, Cartic Ramakrishnan, Molly Azami, Amit P. Sheth, E. Lynn Usery, Mei-Po Kwan

Kno.e.sis Publications

Geospatial ontology development and semantic knowledge discovery addresses the need for modeling, analyzing and visualizing multimodal information, and is unique in offering integrated analytics that encompasses spatial, temporal and thematic dimensions of information and knowledge. The comprehensive ability to provide integrated analysis from multiple forms of information and use of explicit knowledge make this approach unique. This also involves specification of spatiotemporal thematic ontologies and populating such ontologies with high quality knowledge. Such ontologies form the basis for defining the meaning of important relations terms, such as near or surrounded by, and enable computation of spatiotemporal thematic proximity measures we …

Columns Summer 2006, Southern Adventist University

Alumni Newsletter

Features the article "Serving God and Country". Two students are preparing for careers in military chaplaincy, a career that has taken one alum all the way to the Pentagon. Read their stories, plus explore different perspectives on Adventist service in the military.

University News

Cal Poly Magazine

No abstract provided.

Catching Up With President Baker, Leah Kolt

Cal Poly Magazine

No abstract provided.

A Classification Of Strategies Employed By High School Students In Isomorphic Combinatorial Problems, Martina Janácková, Jaroslav Janácek

The Mathematics Enthusiast

The aim of the paper is to discuss some aspects of the combinatorial thinking of high school students. We took one student - Jane and gave her 4 isomorphic testing problems. Then we tried to classify the different strategies the students took in their solutions.

Placement, Visibility And Coverage Analysis Of Dynamic Pan/Tilt/Zoom Camera Sensor Networks, John A. Ruppert

Theses

Multi-camera vision systems have important application in a number of fields, including robotics and security. One interesting problem related to multi-camera vision systems is to determine the effect of camera placement on the quality of service provided by a network of Pan/Tilt/Zoom (PTZ) cameras with respect to a specific image processing application. The goal of this work is to investigate how to place a team of PTZ cameras, potentially used for collaborative tasks, such as surveillance, and analyze the dynamic coverage that can be provided by them.

Computational Geometry approaches to various formulations of sensor placement problems have been shown …

Reference Database Usage Statistics 2005-2006, Andree J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Statistics on the use of online reference databases at the University of Rhode Island during the period from July 2005 through June 2006. Includes COUNTER-compliant data on sessions, searches, turnaways, full text articles downloaded, cost per search, and other metrics.

Writing On Water: Resources, Discourses, Reflections, Justin Scott-Coe, W. Scott Howard

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

We started this project in the shadow of the Great Tsunami of 2004, witnessed Katrina destroy New Orleans as submissions were coming in, and now publish during a record-breaking, nationwide—some say worldwide—heat wave. Is it any wonder the release of our journal issue on water appears as suspiciously timed as Al Gore's droning tome on global warming?

When The Well Runs Dry: An Exploration Of Water Conservation And Blue Theology, Margaret H. Ferris

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

Worldwide, freshwater is becoming scarce as the Earth's population increases, the effects of pollution and global warming shrink available resources, and agriculture demands rise. As theological communities offer distinctive contributions to the dialogue, theologians need to address the crisis and provide appropriate analysis and solutions from the perspective of "Blue Theology". This paper formulates such an approach, offering some of the first efforts made towards addressing the global water crisis through a theological lens. Within the Abrahamic tradition, the essay examines: how water is specifically beloved by the Divine; and the implications of God's love of water. The paper next …

The Social Nature Of Natural Resources - The Case Of Water, Jamie Linton

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

Of all things, water is among the most difficult to pin down. It is nevertheless characteristic of modernity that we ascribe to it an essence, on which basis particular kinds of human-water relations are made possible while others are denied. The ascription of an essential identity to water constitutes a social and political act by which it is both made known to people and made available for people. This paper explores the implications of ascribing to water an identity as "resource." Water was pronounced a resource in the United States early in the last century in the context of the …

Donors, Modellers And Development Brokers: The Pork Barrel Of Water Management Research, Julie Trottier

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

Donors are shaping the mainstream research agenda concerning water management around the world. As large sums are made available within applied research programmes, many actors are competing to access them. This has led to the development of a new class of actors: the water research development brokers. Development brokers have mostly been studied in the developing world. They are usually defined as local actors who master the knowledge framework of donor organizations while their social positions and local networks allow them to act as intermediaries between the local population targeted by the donor and the donor itself. Such a position …