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A Unilateral Accident Model Under Ambiguity, Joshua C. Teitelbaum

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Standard accident models are based on the expected utility framework and represent agents’ beliefs about accident risk with a probability distribution. Consequently, they do not allow for Knightian uncertainty, or ambiguity, with respect to accident risk and cannot accommodate optimism (ambiguity loving) or pessimism (ambiguity aversion). This paper presents a unilateral accident model under ambiguity. To incorporate ambiguity, I adopt the Choquet expected utility framework and represent the injurer’s beliefs with a neoadditive capacity. I show that neither strict liability nor negligence is generally efficient in the presence of ambiguity. In addition, I generally find that the injurer’s level of …

Administering The Clean Water Act: Do Regulators Have "Bigger Fish To Fry" When It Comes To Addressing The Practice Of Chumming On The Chesapeake Bay?, Hope M. Babcock

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The Chesapeake Bay is one of the country's most productive estuaries. However, for decades the health of the Bay has been declining due in large part to nutrification. Excessive nutrients encourage algal blooms, which lower dissolved oxygen and increase turbidity in the Bay's waters. More than 40% of the Bay's main stern is now dead largely as a result of this problem. The practice of chumming, the discarding of baitfish, usually menhaden, over the sides of fishing boats to attract game fish like striped bass, is contributing to the Bay's nutrification problem because the decomposing chum raises the waters biological …

A Light-Weight Middleware Framework For Fault-Tolerant And Secure Distributed Applications, Ian Jacob Baird

Masters Theses

"This thesis outlines the design, implementation, and performance of a lightweight middleware framework for interprocess communication with an update log propagation algorithm. The system was designed and implemented using a point-to-point based lightweight middleware framework and compared to a similar system implemented utilizing CORBA--Abstract, page iii.

Performance Improvement Of Adaptive Filters For Echo Cancellation Applications, Deepak Challa

Masters Theses

"This work focuses on performance improvement of adaptive algorithms for both line and acoustic echo cancellation applications. Echo in telephone networks, Line Echo, is observed naturally due to impedance mismatches at the long-distance/local-loop interface. Acoustic echo is due to the acoustic coupling between the microphone and the speaker of a speakerphone. The Affine Projection (APA) and the Fast Affine Projection (FAP) algorithms are two examples of reliable and efficient adaptive filters used for echo cancellation...This thesis presents, Variable Regularized Fast Affine Projections (VR-FAP) algorithm, with a varying, optimal regularization value which provides the desirable property of both fast and low …

Converting Some Global Optimization Problems To Mixed Integer Linear Problems Using Piecewise Linear Approximations, Manish Kumar

Masters Theses

"Some global optimization problems are converted to mixed-integer linear problems (MILP) using piecewise-linear approximations in this thesis so that they can be solved using commercial MILP solvers, such as CPLEX. Special attention is given to approximating two-term log-sum functions, which appears frequently in generalized geometric programming problems. Numerical results indicate the proposed approach is sound and efficient"--Abstract, page iii.

Best Practices For Implementing A Biodiesel Program, Sundaresan Sadashivam

Masters Theses

"The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) has a mandate to utilize biodiesel blends in its fleets. However, they have not been able to meet this requirement due to various implementation issues. Therefore, this thesis presents a study to determine the best practices for implementing a biodiesel program. The study was conducted by soliciting information from Departments of Transportation and other agencies related to their biodiesel programs and practices. A list of best practices was developed and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to prioritize this list of best practices"--Abstract, page iv.

Sensor Network Coverage And Data Aggregation Problem: Solutions Toward The Maximum Lifetime, Li Yin

Masters Theses

"In the coverage problem, an optimal solution is proposed for the maximum lifetime sensor scheduling problem, which could find the upper bound of a sensor network's lifetime. This research reveals the relationship between the degree of redundancy in sensor deployment and achievable extension on network lifetime, which can be a useful guide for practical sensor network design"--Introduction, page 4.

Empirical Dynamic Modeling And Nonlinear Force Control Of Friction Stir Welding, Xin Zhao

Masters Theses

"Current Friction Stir Welding (FSW) process models are mainly concerned with the detailed analysis of material flow, heat generation, etc. and therefore, are computationally intensive. Dynamic models describing the total forces acting on the tool throughout the entire welding process are required for the design of feedback control strategies and improved process planning and analysis. In this thesis, empirical models relating the process parameters (i.e., plunge depth, travel speed, and rotation speed) to the process variables (i.e., axial, path, and normal forces) are developed to describe their dynamic relationships"--Abstract, page iv.

Fine Particle Classification Using Dilute Fluidized Beds, Rajasekharan Pillai Annapoorneswari

Masters Theses

"The main objective of this project is to classify spherical soda-lime glass particles based on their size using a dilute fluidized bed system. The influence of inclined plates in the column, plate separation, plate inclination, and number of plates on the overall separation efficiency of particles will be investigated. The effect of column shape on the classification efficiency will also be assessed"--Introduction, page 3.

Evaluation Of An Adult Education Technology Program, Iwasan D. Kejawa

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the adult education technology program at a chartered alternative adult education center in Florida. The adult education center had a low rate of students passing the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). This study examined the impact of the use of computer technology in an effort to improve student learning in mathematics, reading, and science. Computers at the institution were used by all students for tutorials to prepare them for the FCAT and to obtain a high school diploma. The research questions for this study were as follows:

1. Is the education technology program …

Towards Efficient Computation Of Quality Bounded Solutions In Pomdps: Expected Value Approximation And Dynamic Disjunctive Beliefs, Pradeep Reddy Varakantham, Rajiv Maheswaran, Tapana Gupta, Milind Tambe

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

While POMDPs (partially observable markov decision problems) are a popular computational model with wide-ranging applications, the computational cost for optimal policy generation is prohibitive. Researchers are investigating ever-more efficient algorithms, yet many applications demand such algorithms bound any loss in policy quality when chasing efficiency. To address this challenge, we present two new techniques. The first approximates in the value space to obtain solutions efficiently for a pre-specified error bound. Unlike existing techniques, our technique guarantees the resulting policy will meet this bound. Furthermore, it does not require costly computations to determine the quality loss of the policy. Our second …

Analyzing The Relationship Between Change In Money Supply And Stock Market Prices, Biniv Maskay '07

Honors Projects

This paper examines the relationship between change in the money supply and the level of stock prices. This paper also dichotomizes change in the money supply into anticipated and unanticipated change and analyzes each of their relationships with stock market prices. Competing theories exist on how change in the money supply affects stock prices. The real activity theorists argue that change in the money supply and stock prices are positively related, where as the Keynesian economists argue otherwise. This study finds a positive relationship between change in the money supply and stock prices, agreeing with the real activity theorists. Economists …

A Default-Logic Paradigm For Legal Fact-Finding, Vern R. Walker

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

This paper presents a visual framework for modelling complex legal reasoning — reasoning that integrates legal rules and policies with expert and non-expert evidence. The framework is based on a many-valued, predicate, default logic. The paper first visualizes the two sides of the rule-evidence interface: rule-based deductions and evidence evaluation. It then explores ways to visualize several dynamics around that interface, including dynamics concerning evidentiary relevance, findings of fact, process decision making about motions, policy-based reasoning about rules and relevant-factor reasoning. The paper then concludes with visualizing dynamics across multiple cases and briefly discusses one pathway by which new legal …

Solving Ramanujan's Differential Equations For Eisenstein Series Via A First Order Riccati Equation, James M. Hill, Bruce C. Berndt, Timothy Huber

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this paper we prove that Ramanujan's differential equations for the Eisenstein series P, Q, and R are invariant under a simple one-parameter stretching group of transformations. Using this, we show that the three differential equations may be reduced to a first order Riccati differential equation, the solution of which may be represented in terms of hypergeometric functions. The resulting formulas allow for the derivation of parametric representations of P, Q, and R, analogous to representations in Ramanujan's second notebook. In contrast, in the classical approach, one first needs to derive the fundamental formula connecting theta functions with elliptic integrals. …

Mathematical Techniques For The Estimation Of The Diffusion Coefficient And Elimination Constant Of Agents In Subcutaneous Tissue, Lawrence T. Hersh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this work was to develop methods to estimate the diffusion coefficient and elimination constant for dexamethasone in subcutaneous tissue. Solutions to the diffusion equation were found for different conditions relevant to implantation and injection. These solutions were then used as models for measured autoradiography data where the unknown model parameters were the diffusion coefficient and the elimination constant. The diffusion coefficient and elimination constant were then estimated by curve fitting the measured data to these models. Having these estimates would be of practical importance since inflammation surrounding implantable glucose sensors may be controlled through local release of …

Numerical Analysis Of Heat Transfer During Jet Impingement On Curved Surfaces, Cesar F. Hernandez-Ontiveros

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The flow structure and convective heat transfer behavior of a free liquid jet ejecting from a round nozzle impinging vertically on a hemispherical solid plate and a slot nozzle impinging vertically on a cylindrical curved plate have been studied using a numerical analysis approach. The simulation model incorporated the entire fluid region and the solid hemisphere or curved plate. Solution was done for both isothermal and constant heat flux boundary conditions at the inner surface of the hemispherical plate and the constant heat flux boundary condition at the inner surface of the cylindrical shaped plate. Computations for the round nozzle …

What Are The Socio-Emotional Experiences And Perceptions Of Third Grade Students With High-Stakes Testing?, Anne Marie Juola-Rushton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of third grade students with high-stakes testing. The study was designed to address this issue from the perspective of the third grade student's experience and offer a venue for them to share their stories. The following research question guides this study: What are the socio-emotional experiences and perceptions of third grade students with high-stakes testing? Data analysis employed here falls under the rubric of qualitative approaches of symbolic interaction and phenomenology written in a narrative format with the provisions of portraiture. This study uses the analytical procedures set …

The Gothic As Counter-Discourse: Mark Twain, Charles Chesnutt And Toni Morrison, Hyejin, Kim

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Revisiting the American Gothic via Julia Kristeva's theory of "the abject" demonstrates how Gothic strategies expose the historical contradictions of race in works by Mark Twain, Charles W. Chesnutt, and Toni Morrison. As theorized by Kristeva in Powers of Horror, the archaic process in which the subject attempts to constitute itself as homogeneous by casting off or "abjecting" all that cannot be assimilated to the self-same necessarily opens the way to repeated returns of the abject(ed) and the "horror" it provokes. Because the Gothic enacts the return of the abject, it was itself abjected from the literary canon until recently. …

A Pseudo-Rigid-Body Model For Spherical Mechanisms: The Kinematics And Elasticity Of A Curved Compliant Beam, Alejandro Leã³N

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis improves a previous kinematic analysis and develops the elastic portion of the analysis of a curved compliant beam. This analysis is used to develop a Pseudo-Rigid-Body Model for the curved compliant beam. The Pseudo-Rigid-Body Model consist of kinematic and elastic parameters which can be used to simplify the computation of the large deflections of the beam as it undergoes spherical motion. The kinematic parameters that are developed are the characteristic radius, Gamma*length, the parametric angle coefficient, c_theta, and the kinematic parametrization limit, Capital_theta_max(Gamma). The elastic parameters developed are the stiffness coefficient, K_theta, and the elastic parameterization limit, Capital_theta_max(K). …

Venturesome Women: Nineteenth-Century British Women Travel Writers And Sport, Precious Mckenzie-Stearns

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the travel writings of Isabella Bird Bishop, Mary Kingsley, Florence Douglas Dixie, and Isabel Savory. While away from England, these women writers participated in cultural exchanges which led to reevaluations of British womanhood. British women travel writers operated not only within the power structures of gender but also within the structures of empire, class, and race. Women travel writers blazed the trail for the New Woman of the end of the century. Before cycling and cigarette smoking were allowed, daring women such as Isabella Bird Bishop and Mary Kingsley crisscrossed the globe in defiance of patriarchal tradition …

Elisa Brune’S Le Goût Piquant De L’Univers: A Translation And Introduction, Ryan Orgera

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Le Goût piquant de l'Univers is written by the Francophone Belgian writer Elisa Brune. Brune holds a Ph.D. in environmental sciences, and this novel does not stray far from her training in science. The setting of this oeuvre is that of a Provençal village of Peyresq, the premiere annual rendezvous for the world's foremost cosmologists. The vocabulary employed in this book is that of highly scientific coteries. The work's sentence structure is a mix of dialogue, and unruly compound phrases. These two aforementioned stylistic choices made the translation of this work especially difficult. In translating, I worked with Dr. Gaëtan …

Effects Of Corrosion On Steel Reinforcement, David Ostrofsky

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Corroded steel in concrete is a structural issue that plaques concrete structures in coastal regions. Traditionally corroded steel strength is calculated from a distributed area loss due to corrosion over the entire surface of the steel and reducing the capacity accordingly. In reality, corrosion attacks localized regions creating pits and reducing the cross section in a small region which amplifies the effects of corrosion. Stress concentrations at the corrosion pitting damage may further reduce the tensile capacity of the steel. A study of corrosion damage and strength associated with pitting damage can assist in understanding the ultimate tensile capacity of …

Factors Perceived To Contribute To Mathematics Avoidance Or Mathematics Confidence In Non-Traditional Age Women Attending A Community College, Jo Ann K Rawley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade, the number of students entering postsecondary institutions immediately after high school has been decreasing, while the number of non-traditional aged students, defined as adults over 25, has substantially increased, with women making up the majority of this adult student group. Mathematics education is an area where non-traditional age women tend to have difficulty. Fifteen individual interviews were conducted with non-traditional age women enrolled in a community college, 10 identifying mathematics as the subject they would least enjoy and 5 identifying mathematics as the subject they would most enjoy. Data were analyzed by comparing the women's stories …

Examining The Issues Surrounding Violating The Assumption Of Independent Observations In Reliability Generalization Studies: A Simulation Study, Jeanine L. Romano

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Because both validity and reliability indices are a function of the scores on a given administration of a measure, their values can often vary across samples. It is a common mistake to say that a test is reliable when in fact it is not the test that is reliable but the scores on the test that are reliable. In 1998, vacha-haase proposed a fixed-effects meta-analytic method for evaluating reliability that is similar to validity generalization studies called reliability generalization (rg). This study was conducted to evaluate alternative analysis strategies for the meta-analysis method of reliability generalization when the reliability estimates …

Devil In A White Coat: The Temptation Of Forensic Evidence In The Age Of Csi, J. Herbie Difonzo, Ruth C. Stern

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

On October 13, 2006, a couple and their two small children were found shot to death on a desolate stretch of Florida highway. Police found tracks along the roadway belonging to a van or sport utility vehicle. Concluding that the killer and the victims may have been traveling together, police also noted that the victims may have been lying down or kneeling when shot. The mother's defensive posture indicated that she had tried to shield the children from the bullets with her body. No footprints were found in the vicinity and the only physical evidence on the scene consisted of …

Portable Emission Measurements Of Snowcoaches And Snowmobiles In Yellowstone National Park, Gary A. Bishop, Ryan Stadtmuller, Donald H. Stedman

Fuel Efficiency Automobile Test Publications

No abstract provided.

Practical Problems And Decision Making: The Effect Of Strategy And Experience, Sarah Flores '07

Honors Projects

What is the most effective way to make a decision? To examine the impact of strategy at varying levels of experience, 270 undergraduates solved problems in college life. Participants at three Levels of Experience (First Years, Sophomores, and Residential Life Staff) were assigned to one of four Strategy Conditions (Analysis, Holistic Intuition, Time Limit and Control). Results showed a marginal main effect of Level of Experience, a main effect of Strategy Condition, and an interaction of the two. Time Limit was detrimental for all conditions, except for Staff. First Years performed better with Intuition than Analysis, and Staff scored nonsignificantly …

Dynamics And Divergences In Electromagnetic Backgrounds, Paul Jameson

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

This thesis investigates the behaviour of a charge which is subjected to either an electromagnetic background created by a laser or a background which is hidden behind the resolution limitations of accelerator experiments. When a charge interacts with an intense laser beam its dynamics changes. The resulting trajectory of a non-relativistic particle is solved in this thesis without having to employ the dipole approximation. Many fundamental features of this trajectory are analysed including the drift velocity and the appearance of higher harmonic oscillations. In contrast, the interaction between a charge and an unobserved electromagnetic background leads to the infrared catastrophe. …

Colour, Copies And Confinement, A Ilderton, M Lavelle, D Mcmullan

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.