Digital Commons Network^™

Cross-Disciplinary Approaches For Developing Serious Games In Higher Education: Frameworks For Food Safety And Environmental Health Education, Pauline Rooney, K.C. O'Rourke, Greg Burke, Brian Mac Namee, Claudia Igbrude

Conference papers

While some educators have adopted commercial off the-shelf games for use in the classroom, such games may not always meet the individual requirements of lecturers whose courses are tied to specific learning utcomes. An alternative is to capitalise on in-house expertise in Higher Education and create serious games through cross-disciplinary team projects. This paper outlines such a project within one Higher Education institution. It describes synergies created across disciplines as a result of the collaboration on game design and implementation. It looks at tensions generated between the pedagogical requirements (of lecturers), entertainment objectives (of games designers) and technical excellence (sought …

Compensating For Expressiveness In Queries To A Content Based Music Information Retrieval System, Bryan Duggan, Brendan O'Shea, Mikel Gainza, Padraig Cunningham

Conference papers

MATT2 is a content based music information retrieval system adapted to the characteristics of traditional Irish dance music. MATT2 compensates for expressive artefacts commonly employed by traditional musicians. Specifically these are ornamentation, "the long note", reversing and phrasing. In this paper we describe the main components of MATT2 and present an experiment where we demonstrate that using this higher level knowledge of melodic similarity in traditional Irish dance music results in a significant improvement in annotation accuracy over standard approaches from the MIR literature.

Improving Healthcare Supply Chains And Decision Making In The Management Of Pharmaceuticals, John Michael Woosley

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The rising cost of quality healthcare is becoming an increasing concern. A significant part of healthcare cost is the pharmaceutical supply component. Improving healthcare supply chains is critical not only because of the financial magnitude but also because it impacts so many people. Efforts such as this project are essential in understanding the current operations of healthcare pharmacy systems and in offering decision support tools to managers struggling to make the best use of organizational resources. The purpose of this study is to address the objectives of a local hospital that exhibits typical problems in pharmacy supply chain management. We …

Forked:A Demonstration Of Physics Realism In Augmented Reality, David Beaney, Brian Mac Namee

Conference papers

In making fully immersive augmented reality (AR) applications, real and virtual objects will have to be seen to physically interact together in a realistic and believable way. This paper describes Forked! a system that has been developed to show how physical interactions between real and virtual objects can be simulated re- alistically and believably through appropriate use of a physics en- gine. The system allows users control a robotic forklift to manipu- late virtual crates in an AR environment. The paper also describes a evaluation experiment in which it is shown that the physical inter- actions between the forklift and …

Gathering Datasets For Activity Identification, Lorcan Coyle, Juan Ye, Susan Mckeever, Stephen Knox, Mathew Staelber, Simon Dobson, Paddy Nixon

Conference papers

The area of activity identification is maturing well in the HCI and ubiquitous computing fields. However, although algorithm development is proceedings well, without publicly available datasets on which to compare results it is difficult to consolidate the disparate work being done. This problem exists because realistic datasets describing human activity are difficult and expensive to gather and because there are significant barriers to releasing the data once gathered. We review positive recent development with the release of two high-quality datasets. From our experiences using these datasets we list some recommendations for the gathering and release of future datasets. Finally, we …

Generating Natural Language Descriptions Of Ontology Concepts, Niels Schütte

Conference papers

This paper gives an overview of ongoing work on a system for the generation of NL descriptions of classes defined in OWL ontologies. We present a general structuring approach for such descriptions. Since OWL ontologies do not by default contain the information necessary for lexicalization, lexical information has to be added to the data via annotations. A rulebased mechanism for automatically deriving these annotations is presented.

An Integrated Agent-Based Microsimulation Model For Hurricane Evacuation In New Orleans, Wei Liang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Mass evacuation of urban areas due to hurricanes is a critical problem that requires extensive basic and applied research. Knowing the accurate evacuation time needed for the entire region in advance such that the evacuation order can be issued on a timely basis is crucial for the officials. Microsimulation modeling, which focuses on the characteristics of individual motorists and travel behavior, has been used widely in traffic simulation as it can lead to the most accurate result. However, because detailed driver response modeling and path processing must be incorporated, vehicle-based microscopic models have always been used only to simulate small …

The Effects Of Activation On Employers Of Reserve And National Guard Soldiers, Lee Lamar Hisey

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of military deployment or activation of reserve and National Guard soldiers on civilian employers. Understanding how activation affects the operations of civilian employers will increase awareness of the effects of labor stability on organizations. The study utilizes survey methodology to measure changes in organizational output, customer satisfaction, and employee behavior. In addition, number of employees supervised, strategies employed to adapt to the effects of activation on operations, organizational types, and the amount of time required for the organization to return to pre-activation levels of performance were measured. The sample was …

An Uncertainty-Based Approach To The Total Maximum Daily Load Development, Abhijit Patil

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A Bayesian-updating approach is developed to the estimation of the total uncertainty-based Margin of Safety (MOS) for Total Maximum Daily Load calculations using the watershed modeling tool HSPF. In order to determine the prior, likelihood, and posterior distributions of uncertainties involved in Bayesian approach, various probability density functions are derived. The temperature measurement induced uncertainty in dissolved oxygen simulation is found to be normally distributed. The temporal scale uncertainty in weather data decreases with decreasing temporal resolution. The temporal-scale uncertainties in the rainfall and temperature data follow a Weibull and general extreme value distributions, respectively. The spatial-resolution uncertainty in simulated …

Carbon Capture And Sequestration: Identifying And Managing Risks, Alexandra B. Klass, Elizabeth J. Wilson

Articles

Carbon capture and geologic sequestration (CCS) technology promises to provide deep emissions cuts, particularly from coal power generation, but deploying CCS creates risks of its own. This article first considers the risks associated with CCS, which involves capturing CO{sub 2} emissions from industrial sources and power plants, transporting the CO{sub 2} by pipeline, and injecting it underground for permanent sequestration. The article then suggests ways in which these risks can be minimized and managed and considers more broadly when or if CCS should be deployed or whether its use should be limited or rejected in favor of other solutions.

Quantitative Macro- And Microscale Methods For Characterizing Cell Viability, Julianne Forman Audiffred

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this study is to combine molecular and microdevice methods to characterize and quantify viability of single mammalian cells. Fluorescent-based assays were optimized for adherent HeLa and suspension Jurkat cells and were used as a tool for validation of a microfabricated diagnostic device. Cell and substrate/surface interactions were considered for designing a microfluidic device that can be used to characterize cell viability for quantitative biomedical and cell biology applications, which require label-free, real-time monitoring of cells. Several interdisciplinary methods are employed to evaluate electrical impedance differences between live and dead Jurkat cells in a microfluidic device. Biological Micro-Electro-Mechanical …

A Metaheuristic For The Pickup And Delivery Problem With Split-Loads And Its Extension, Dai Yao

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In this dissertation, we study improvements in the Pickup and Delivery Problem that can be achieved by allowing multiple vehicle trips to serve a common load. We explore how costs can be reduced through the elimination of the constraint that a load must be served by only one vehicle trip. Specifically, we investigate the problem of routing vehicles to serve loads that have distinct origins and destinations, with no constraint on the amount of a load that a vehicle may serve at a time. We develop a metaheuristic to solve large scale practical size problems in this form and apply …

Does Morningstar Shine In The Universe Of Mutual Funds? A Study On Morningstar Mutual Fund Ratings, Wee Seng Ng

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Using data from Morningstar Principia CDs and employing standard methodologies, we examine the extent to which two mutual fund ratings: Morningstar star ratings and Morningstar stewardship grades can predict future fund performance. In particular, we investigate whether the combined predictive power of the two ratings exceeds that of a single rating. We decompose funds into various groups characterized by fund age and fund categories in order to address such issues as whether predictive performance is uniform across characteristic-based groups. Although our analysis shows that none of the ratings alone possesses strong predictive power, there is statistical evidence to support the …

The Effects Of Patent Characteristics As Signals On The Growth Of Follow-On Innovations: Evidence From Chinese Patenting Activities In U.S, Wenxin Guo

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

As global trade and business activities intensified, cross-national patenting activities have been playing an increasingly important role in the process of innovation accumulation and growth. However, few studies (to my knowledge) have examined the characteristics of cross-national patents and their relationship to the accumulation and growth of innovation, especially in the context of a developing versus a developed country.
Motivated by the anecdotal evidence and `Patent Signaling Theory'(Spence, 1973), I investigate the possible influential factors on the `quality' of a US patent with a Chinese priority (thereafter `US-CN' patent) and their impact on the growth of follow-on innovation. By developing …

Southwinds - Spring 2009

Southwinds: The Literary and Arts Magazine of Missouri S&T

THE LITERARY MAGAZINE OF MISSOURI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SPRING 2009 Southwinds is sponsored by the Department of English & Technical Communication

The Rollamo 2009, Missouri University Of Science And Technology

Yearbooks

No abstract provided.

System And Method For Quantitative Imaging Of Chemical Composition To Decompose Multiple Materials, Xin Liu, L. Yu, C. H. Mccollough

Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

The present invention provides a material decomposition method capable of determining the distribution of density and constituent material concentration throughout an imaged object. The concentration, in the form of a mass fraction, mass percent, weight fraction, or weight percent, is determined from CT images acquired at different energy levels. The ratio of attenuation coefficients associated with one energy level to attenuation coefficients associated with another energy level is determined and used as an index in a lookup table to determine the concentration of a given material throughout the imaged object.

Golan V. Gonzalez And The Changing Balance Between The First Amendment, Copyright Protection, And The Rest Of The World, Carrie Claiborne

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

Danger - Bombs May Be Present - Cannon V. Gates: A Jammed Cannon Preempts Citizen Suit Indefinitely, Theresa Sauer

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

Laboratory Schools Annual Report, 2008-2009, Laboratory Schools, Illinois State University

Annual Reports – Laboratory Schools

Illinois State University Laboratory Schools annual report

Youth Volunteerism: By Looking At Who Volunteers And Why Organizations May Be Able To Recruit Youth To Become Long-Standing Volunteers, Kathryn M. Zimmerly

Graduate Research Papers

In 1835 Alexis de Tocqueville suggested volunteerism could reduce antisocial or criminal behavior (Uggen and Janikula, 1999). When looking at volunteerism today researchers have concluded similar aspects; for example, Uggen and Janikula found in their 1999 research that volunteers had increased self -acceptance, instrumentality, and civic identity.

Research by the Independent Sector suggests that 70 percent of youth volunteers feel volunteering is important because it gives them a new perspective, allows them to participate for a good cause, and gives them a greater respect for the people they are helping. Youth volunteer levels have increased (to 70 percent from 59 …

Living Originalism, Peter J. Smith, Thomas Colby

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Originalists routinely argue that originalism is the only coherent and legitimate theory of constitutional interpretation. This Article endeavors to undermine those claims by demonstrating that, despite the suggestion of originalist rhetoric, originalism is not a single, coherent, unified theory of constitutional interpretation, but is rather a disparate collection of distinct constitutional theories that share little more than a misleading reliance on a common label. Originalists generally agree only on certain very broad precepts that serve as the fundamental underlying principles of constitutional interpretation: specifically, that the “writtenness” of the Constitution necessitates a fixed constitutional meaning, and that courts that see …

Determination Of Partition And Activity Coefficients Using Headspace- Gas Chromatography, Gregory Paul Bullock

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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The Freshwater Mussels (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionidae) Of The Channelized Missouri River, Ellet Hoke

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

The lower Missouri River has historically been viewed as a fauna! barrier for unionids due to high sediment load. However this survey of the lower (channelized) Missouri River documented the presence of 14 unionid species and the exotic Corbicula fluminea (Muller, 1774). Unionids are present in stable substrates sheltered from the effects of the river's strong currents. Analysis of early literature on the Missouri River suggests reports of an absence of unionids were not based upon thorough fieldwork, and the most commonly cited rationale for their reported absence, the high sediment load in the river, is not convincing. Pre-1938 unionid …

Casino Royale And Franchise Remix: James Bond As Superhero, Robert P. Arnett

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

The article discusses the role of the film "Casino Royale" in remixing the James Bond franchise. The author believes that the remixed Bond franchise has shifted its genre to a superhero franchise. When Sony acquired MGM in 2004, part of its plan was to transform the 007 franchise at par with "Spiderman." The remixed franchise re-aligns its franchise criteria with those established by superhero films. The author cites "Casino Royale's" narrative structure as an example of the success of the film as franchise remixed for the future. The portrayal of Bond as a superhero by actor Daniel Craig is discussed.

Everyone Is A Curator: Human-Assisted Preservation For Ore Aggregations, Frank Mccown, Michael L. Nelson, Herbert Van De Sompel

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The Open Archives Initiative (OAI) has recently created the Object Reuse and Exchange (ORE) project that defines Resource Maps (ReMs) for describing aggregations of web resources. These aggregations are susceptible to many of the same preservation challenges that face other web resources. In this paper, we investigate how the aggregations of web resources can be preserved outside of the typical repository environment and instead rely on the thousands of interactive users in the web community and the Web Infrastructure (the collection of web archives, search engines, and personal archiving services) to facilitate preservation. Inspired by Web 2.0 services such as …

Powered Mobility As An Intervention For Children With Cerebral Palsy: A Systematic Review ; The Smart Wheelchair: Is It An Appropriate Mobility Training Tool For Children With Cerebral Palsy?, Sarah Mcgarry

Theses : Honours

Purpose. To systematically review the effectiveness of powered mobility training interventions in improving driving skills and psychosocial outcomes in children with cerebral palsy. Method. Electronic searches of CINAHL, Medline and Meditext were conducted. Using two assessment tools, two independent reviewers assessed the quality of selected studies and level of evidence. Studies were included if a powered mobility training intervention was described, at least one participant had cerebral palsy and if the majority of participants were aged between 18 months and 18 years old. A narrative analysis was conducted. Results. Seven articles were eligible for inclusion. Intervention protocols included computer simulator …

Children's Exposure To Lead And Nickel In Esperance - A Case Study, Matthew Tristan Winters

Theses : Honours

This is a cross-sectional study of lead and nickel exposure of children aged 2-12 years living at varying distances from a point source of pollution in Esperance. Esperance was an ideal case study location because of previous environmental contamination with lead and nickel above background levels. Non-invasive biological samples of hair, toenails and urine were collected from participating children, and environmental samples, including house dust, soil and drinking water were also sampled from each participant household. Exposure was assessed by measuring the concentration of metals found in the biological samples, and determining their relationships with the environmental samples from each …

An Investigation Into Student Reactions Towards Rad Versus Traditional Programming Environments For Novice Developers, Pansy Colkers

Theses : Honours

The traditional approach to programming using text editors is widely used in many institutions to teach introductory programming. These types of traditional programming environments provide fundamental programming concepts for learning, especially in the context of novice developers. In recent years, teaching institutions have seen a trend towards the introduction of visual "drag-and-drop" rapid application development (RAD) environments for teaching novice programmers. These 'environments capture student interest in programming by allowing the construction of workable programs within a short time frame based on minimal pre-existing coding knowledge. However, some have argued that these visual RAD environments might not be suitable for …

Making The Invisible, Visible : Exploring Liminality Of Mind And Body Through Glass, Naomi Hunter

Theses : Honours

It is through the discipline of visual arts that I research the subject of the mind-body relationship and the notion of liminality- this is the space in-between. To that end, the aim of this research is to investigate and construct a visible means of exhibiting liminal space. This creative work will be used as a metaphor for the synergy between body and mind, which I contend occurs within an internal liminal space. I investigate these concepts through the double articulation of creative practice and a written exegesis, based on the following research questions: 'In what ways can glass be used …