Digital Commons Network^™

Rainbow: An R Package For Visualizing Functional Time Series, Han Lin Shang

The R Journal

Recent advances in computer technology have tremendously increased the use of functional data, whose graphical representation can be infinite-dimensional curves, images or shapes. This article describes four methods for visualizing functional time series using an R add-on package. These methods are demonstrated using age-specific Australian fertility data from 1921 to 2006 and monthly sea surface temperatures from January 1950 to December 2006.

Implementing The Compendium Concept With Sweave And Docstrip, Michael Lundholm

The R Journal

This article suggests an implementation of the compendium concept by combining Sweave and the LATEX literate programming environment DOCSTRIP.

Watch Your Spelling!, Kurt Hornik, Duncan Murdoch

The R Journal

We discuss the facilities in base R for spell checking via Aspell, Hunspell or Ispell, which are useful in particular for conveniently checking the spelling of natural language texts in package Rd files and vignettes. Spell checking performance is illustrated using the Rd files in package stats. This example clearly indicates the need for a domain-specific statistical dictionary. We analyze the results of spell checking all Rd files in all CRAN packages and show how these can be employed for building such a dictionary.

Portable C++ For R Packages, Martyn Plummer

The R Journal

Package checking errors are more common on Solaris than Linux. In many cases, these errors are due to non-portable C++ code. This article reviews some commonly recurring problems in C++ code found in R packages and suggests solutions.

Glm2: Fitting Generalized Linear Models With Convergence Problems, Ian C. Marschner

The R Journal

The R function glm uses step-halving to deal with certain types of convergence problems when using iteratively reweighted least squares to fit a generalized linear model. This works well in some circumstances but non-convergence remains a possibility, particularly with a non standard link function. In some cases this is be cause step-halving is never invoked, despite a lack of convergence. In other cases step-halving is invoked but is unable to induce convergence. One remedy is to impose a stricter form of step halving than is currently available in glm, so that the deviance is forced to decrease in every iteration. …

Creating And Deploying An Application With (R)Excel And R, Thomas Baier, Erich Neuwirth, Michele De Meo

The R Journal

We present some ways of using R in Excel and build an example application using the package rpart. Starting with simple interactive use of rpart in Excel, we eventually package the code into an Excel-based application, hiding all details (including R itself) from the end user. In the end, our application implements a service oriented architecture (SOA) with a clean separation of presentation and computation layer

Program Committee Report December 2011, Regenstrief Center For Healthcare Engineering

RCHE Reports

No abstract provided.

Inventing Norms, William Hubbard

All Faculty Scholarship

Patent law strives to promote the progress of technology by encouraging invention. Traditionally, scholars contend that patent law achieves this goal by creating financial incentives to invent in the form of exclusive rights to new technology. This traditional view of invention, however, fails to recognize that inventors are motivated by more than money. Like most people, inventors are also motivated by social norms, that is, shared normative beliefs favoring certain actions while disfavoring others. This Article argues that many Americans embrace social norms that favor and encourage successful invention. Because of these "inventing norms" inventors enjoy enhanced personal satisfaction and …

The Savvy Researcher: Teaching Information Management Skills To Graduate Students, Merinda Kaye Hensley

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2009

Who better to teach information management skills than librarians? Run-of-the-mill library instruction rarely leaves time to cover topics such as current awareness tools, copyright concerns or scholarly communication education. The Savvy Researcher asks us to reconsider the drop-in workshop as a venue for the inquisitive graduate student. In this interactive session, we’ll demonstrate several active learning techniques including PowerLearn, a form of speed dating for instruction. You will develop a lesson plan to implement a workshop/module customized for the needs of your institution. At the end of this session, don't miss the Pecha Kucha, “Every path has its puddle: We …

Doing It Right: Collaboration, Shared Workspaces, Syndication And Broadcasting At The Animated Tutorial Sharing Project, Carmen Kazakoff-Lane, Paul Betty

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2009

In Information Literacy, collaboration is a catch phrase for librarians working together with others within their institutions - but important collaboration must occur across institutions as well, if we are to meet increasing user demands for 24/7, point-of-need, instruction.

Learn how the ANimated Tutorial Sharing Project (ANTS) facilitates inter-institutional collaboration and enables libraries to build a critical mass of open source tutorials (aka Open Educational Resources) that can be uploaded, downloaded, customized, subscribed to, embedded, or syndicated via sites like Facebook, iTunes or Libguides. Also learn:

- How ANTS works to eliminate duplication of effort across institutions,

- How ANTS …

Save A Horse, Ride A New Train Of Thought: Using Threshold Concepts To Teach Information Literacy, Lori Townsend, Korey Brunetti, Amy R. Hofer

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2009

The sun beat down on a high, lonesome hilltop in Hayward... where three librarians at Cal State East Bay were redesigning a credit-bearing first-year Information Literacy course in order to move the content online. They reckoned that creating this online hootenanny would require rustling up some fresh lessons and activities and distilling the class down to a few essential learning objectives, based on ACRL standards. One librarian thundered into town with talk of "threshold concepts," a pedagogical strategy developed by Jan Meyer and Ray Land. Could threshold concepts serve as a lasso for students to snare a deeper understanding of …

The Map Is Useless Unless You Know Where You Are: Information Literacy Pre-Assessment As A Tool For Understanding And Collaboration, Jason Ertz

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2009

The objective of this presentation is to provide librarians with a potential outline for beginning an information literacy assessment strategy, starting with pre-assessment. Librarians unsure about where to start when it comes to assessment will find that developing a pre-test can be a great way to start such a strategy collaborating with classroom faculty. Pre-assessment also is nonjudgmental pertaining to faculty’s teaching abilities and students’ learning making it an easier sell for collaboration or even initiating collaboration where none existed. If we can’t know where students end up after a class, at least we can get a sense of where …

Management Theories In Manufacturing, James Nathan Webster

Graduate Research Papers

The principles and ideology of management have been around for thousands of years. "Before industrialization, organizations were primarily the household, the tribe, the church, the military, and government" (Wren, 1987, p. 13). It was very rare for people to gather and organize outside of these structures prior to the industrial revolution. As mankind and civilization have progressed, the power of organizations has shifted throughout time. In the time of Confucius, government positions were of the utmost respect, and Confucius taught that positions of power "should go to men of proven merit and ability" (Wren, 1987, p. 14). The ancient Egyptians …

On The Accuracy Of Classical And Long Wavelength Approximations For Phonon Transport In Graphene, Dhruv Singh, Jayathi Murthy, Timothy S. Fisher

Birck and NCN Publications

This paper presents a critical evaluation of the approximations usually made in thermal conductivity modeling applied to graphene. The baseline for comparison is thermal conductivity computations performed using a rigorous calculation of three-phonon scattering events and accounting for the anharmonicity of interatomic forces. Three central assumptions that underlie published theories are evaluated and shown to compromise the accuracy of thermal conductivity predictions. It is shown that the use of classical phonon occupation statistics in place of the Bose-Einstein distribution causes the overprediction of specific heat and the underprediction of phonon relaxation time; for ZA phonons, the classical approximation can underpredict …

City Of Industry: Los Efectos Concretos En El Condado De Los Angeles En La Economía, El Medio Ambiente Y La Salud Pública, Christina Andrea Hernandez

World Languages and Cultures

This project attempts to document the development of the City of Industry, located in eastern Los Angeles County, and to examine the environmental as well as socio-economic effects this industrial hub maintains on its surrounding neighborhoods. City of Industry, since its incorporation in 1957, has established an alarming precedent as a privatized city that has informed concrete changes in the local economy, the environment, and the public health of the surrounding communities that are predominantly Latina(o).

The research undertaken for this project represents an interdisciplinary intersection of a special topic in the study of Industrial Engineering: the global logistics industry, …

The Missouri Miner, December 1, 2011

The Missouri Miner Newspaper

No abstract provided.

A Prenup For Prince William And Kate - England Inches Toward Twentieth Century Law Of Antenuptial Agreements: How Shall It Enter The Twenty First, Robert E. Rains

Faculty Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Daily Eastern News: December 01, 2011, Eastern Illinois University

December

No abstract provided.

Complex Dynamics Of Discrete Seis Models With Simple Demography, Hui Cao, Yicang Zhou, Baojun Song

Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

We investigate bifurcations and dynamical behaviors of discrete SEIS models with exogenous reinfections and a variety of treatment strategies. Bifurcations identified from the models include period doubling, backward, forward-backward, and multiple backward bifurcations. Multiple attractors, such as bistability and tristability, are observed. We also estimate the ultimate boundary of the infected regardless of initial status. Our rigorously mathematical analysis together with numerical simulations show that epidemiological factors alone can generate complex dynamics, though demographic factors only support simple equilibrium dynamics. Our model analysis supports and urges to treat a fixed percentage of exposed individuals.

Development Of A Mode Choice Model For Bus Rapid Transit In Santa Clara County, California, Chun-Hung Peter Chen, George A. Naylor

Journal of Public Transportation

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is an enhanced bus service that offers many of the same service attributes as rail transit, such as specialized vehicles, large stations, real-time passenger information, and more frequent and reliable operations. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) intends to develop an integrated BRT network throughout Santa Clara County, California, to provide high quality service to areas not well served by the VTA Light Rail (LRT) system. Past research showed that many transit agencies in North America considered BRT the same as LRT in their demand models, and a few agencies treated BRT and local bus …

Modeling Access Mode Choice For Inter-Suburban Commuter Rail, Åsa Bergman, John Gliebe, James Strathman

Journal of Public Transportation

This paper presents an analysis of access mode choice by riders of one of the first U.S. suburb-to-suburb commuter railroads, the Westside Express (WES), in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. The study uses on-board survey data collected by the region’s transit agency, Tri-Met, during WES’s first year of operation. The data include observed access mode choices, historical mode usage, and subjective assessment of WES attributes. A hierarchical choice model was estimated, using attributes of the access trip, station areas and rider characteristics. The estimation results revealed pre-WES-mode inertia effects in choosing drive access, pro-sustainability attitudes in choosing bike access, the …

Characteristics Of Age-Friendly Bus Information, Kieran Broome, Linda Worrall, Jennifer Fleming, Duncan Boldy

Journal of Public Transportation

Bus information is an important element to consider when developing and implementing age-friendly bus systems. Little is known regarding the bus information needs and preferences of older people. This study aims to illuminate characteristics of age-friendly bus information. Participant observations with stimulated recall interviews (n=40) were used to identify older peoples’ (age 60 and over) perspectives on bus information. The data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. A printed information location checklist also was conducted. Categorical analysis identified that older people used a variety of information sources including printed information, telephone, Internet, bus drivers, word of mouth, and experience. Positive …

A New Architectural Design Of Elevated Small Group Automated Rapid Transit, Hugh Chapman, Mary Chapman, Avishai Ceder

Journal of Public Transportation

Due to increased motorcar popularity, public transport use has declined while congestion costs billions in wasted time, fuel, accidents, air and water pollution. Proposed passenger transport projects have been cancelled in major cities, and completed projects have not attracted the private motorist. This study investigates reasons for this. As cities grow vertically and horizontally, they form three-dimensional mazes requiring special transport design solutions that enhance the city. Congestion can be alleviated by transferring passenger transport onto elevated solutions such as the presented Elevated Small Group Automated Rapid Transit (ESGART) SkyCabs system, which straddles the gap between Group Rapid Transit (GRT) …

Assessment Of Surface Transportation Security Training Needs And Delivery Preferences, Karen W. Lowrie, Judy A. Shaw, Michael R. Greenberg

Journal of Public Transportation

America’s surface transportation system features long and inter-connected routes and open access to stations and vehicles, making the system vulnerable to terrorist attack. While a variety of security-related training products exist for the transportation sector, government and other reports have called for improvements in the transportation security training curriculum in terms of quality and consistency. At the same time, tight economic times have left few extra financial resources available for systems to deliver adequate training to employees. This study assessed the needs for additional security training through focus groups and interviews with representatives of major surface transportation stakeholders and agencies. …

Bus Passenger Origin-Destination Estimation And Related Analyses Using Automated Data Collection Systems, Wei Wang, John P. Attanucci, Nigel H.M. Wilson

Journal of Public Transportation

This research explores the application of archived data from Automated Data Collection Systems (ADCS) to transport planning with a focus on bus passenger travel behavior, including Origin-Destination (OD) inference, using London as a case study. It demonstrates the feasibility and ease of applying trip-chaining to infer bus passenger OD from smart card transactions and Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) data and is the first known attempt to validate the results by comparing them with manual passenger survey data. With the inferred OD matrices, the variations of weekday and weekend bus route OD patterns are examined for planning purposes. Moreover, based on …

Full Issue 14(4)

Journal of Public Transportation

No abstract provided.

Front Matter, The Texas Ornithological Society

Bulletin of the Texas Ornithological Society

No abstract provided.

Late Summer Dietary Survey Of Scaled Quail (Callipepla Squamata), Jeff H. Bardwell, Christopher M. Ritzi, Scott P. Lerich, Alan M. Fedynich

Bulletin of the Texas Ornithological Society

This survey examines late summer dietary habits of a Scaled Quail (Callipepla squamata) population from Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area in Brewster County, Texas in 2002. Quail crop contents were quantified by frequency of occurrence and volumetric abundance. Results mirror summer and fall diet trends in the literature based on Scaled Quail populations in western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. Two age classes were examined (juvenile and adult) and between areas with and without spread dams. Newly documented genera included Amsinckia, Iva, and Stellari, while Opuntia was conspicuously absent. Food items of highest consumption based on volumetric abundance were Acalypha …

Use Of Urban Bird Feeders By White-Winged Doves And Great-Tailed Grackles In Texas, Alayne B. Fronimos, John T. Baccus, Michael F. Small, Joseph A. Veech

Bulletin of the Texas Ornithological Society

As White-winged Doves (Zenaida asiatica) and Great-tailed Grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus) expanded their range northward, these species have shown an increased affinity for urban areas, perhaps because of a constant supply of anthropogenic food sources. We compared use of bird feeders by both of these species to established avian species in urban central Texas. We used 15 feeding stations in San Marcos and 15 in San Antonio. We digitally recorded interaction events for half-hour intervals in summer 2009 and winter 2010. We used recordings to calculate total time spent by each species at each feeding station, count the number of aggressive …

Predation Of A White-Winged Dove Nest By A Fox Squirrel, William Colson, Trevor Kalich, Alan Fedynich, Shelly Kremer

Bulletin of the Texas Ornithological Society

No abstract provided.