Digital Commons Network^™

Towards A Formal Description Of Understandability (Causality, Pre-Requisites): From Prosorov's Phonocentric Topology To More General Interior (Closure) Structures, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many real life situations, a text consists of related parts; so, to understand a part, we need to first understand some (or all) preceding parts: e.g., to understand Chapter 3, we first need to understand Chapters 1 and 2. In many cases, this dependence is described by a partial order. For this case, O.~Prosorov proposed a natural description of the dependence structure as a topology (satisfying the separation axiom T₀).

In some practical situations, dependence is more general than partial order: e.g., to understand Chapter 3, we may need to understand either Chapter 1 or Chapter 2, …

From Numerical Probabilities To Linguistic Probabilities: A Theoretical Justification Of Empirical Granules Used In Risk Management, Beverly Rivera, Francisco Zapata, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many risk management situations, instead of the exact probability values, specialists use a granule to which this probability belongs. Specifically, they use five granules, corresponding to thresholds 10%, 40%, 60%, and 90%. In this paper, we provide an explanation for such non-uniform granulation.

Primary Schooling As Protective And Endangering: The Case Of Education In War-Affected Gulu District, Sarah Gates

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The changing nature of armed conflict in the 21^st century, marked by indiscriminate targeting of civilians, poses severe challenges for the continuation of teaching and learning in war-affected countries. Conflict may affect schooling directly through attacks on students, teachers, and schools, as well as indirectly by affecting individuals' livelihoods, the state's capacity to deliver services, and refugee flows. Further, schools may reflect conflict and violence through oppressive or divisive linguistic policies or curricula, the use of corporal punishment, and sexual violence against students. However, the existing empirical research on the nexus between education and conflict, by focusing on indicators …

Self-Esteem, Spirituality, And Acculturation And The Relationship With Depression In Latinos, Fernando M. Avila

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the relationship between acculturation, self-esteem, spirituality and its association with depression in a community sample of Latinos. Previous research with Latinos has identified these factors as potentially being correlated with depression and with quality of life. The weight that these three variables can have on depression may be profound. Self-esteem and spirituality have been identified as protective factors that may assist individuals with depression by enhancing an individual's sense of worth. Acculturation is a construct that has been shown to influence Latinos in various ways. These variables have been established as predictors …

"I Came To America, Crying": Rebuilding A Life, Redefining The Self—Ethiopian Women Refugees In Denver (Colorado) (2012–2013), Barbara Guglielminotti Valetta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the challenges faced by Ethiopian women in the Denver community to reach harmony within their new social and cultural space and to examine what they feel they have lost and gained in their self-identity as a result of their immigration. Refugees face a multitude of dilemmas when they are compelled to relocate from their home countries to a new, foreign-host society. Ethiopian refugees have been arriving in the US since the 1970s and feel the uprootedness of being away from their homeland. Being uprooted is losing one’s culture and ways of life. …

"S" Entials, Steve Kahan

Word Ways

A matching quiz.

Light Verse, Jerry Dorbin

Word Ways

A collection of poems.

Anagram Quiz 13, . Anil

Word Ways

A Quiz.

Colloquy

Word Ways

A collection of responses to previously published articles.

Minimalist Crossword Puzzle, Daniel W. Galef

Word Ways

A crossword puzzle.

Anagram Quiz 14, . Anil

Word Ways

A quiz.

Speaking Mathish, Daniel W. Galef

Word Ways

Mathematics, as it has often been noted, is its own language.

Garden Paths, Daniel Galef

Word Ways

A puzzle.

Transposing The Days And Months, Jeff Grant

Word Ways

This is an attempt to provide single-word transposals for all the days and months.

It's Kaos, Get Smart!, Stuart Kidd

Word Ways

Following the second world war a little ditty began circulating amongst NATO staff to assist them with the barrage of difficulties, inconsistencies and general chaos in the the spelling and pronunciation of English.

Magic On A Transposal Puzzle, Jeremiah Farrell

Word Ways

A solution to the transposal puzzle located on the back cover.

Instructions To Authors

Word Ways

Instructions to authors and back cover.

Answers And Solutions

Word Ways

Answers and solutions to the puzzles and quizzes in this issue.

Four Is The Cosmic Number, Erik Waingarten

Word Ways

Thirteen, eight, five, four, four is the cosmic number.

"Pay No Attention To The Can Behind The Merton" A Gallimaufry Of New Spoonerisms, Don Hauptman

Word Ways

It isn't often that spoonerisms are in the news. But this past May, one made headlines nationally. A New Brunswick, New Jersey, bar owner won a prolonged legal battle over the right to call his establishment Buck Foston. The city, objecting to the name (which refers to the rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox) denied him a liquor license. A jury decided that his First Amendment rights had been violated and awarded him $1.5 million.

All this trouble for a nonsensical spoonerism! We can do better.

Front Cover And Publication Information, Volume 47, Number 3

Word Ways

Front cover and publication information for this issue, including the table of contents.

Kickshaws

Word Ways

A collection of Linguistic kickshaws.

Educator Perceptions Of The Importance Of Using Strategies For At-Risk Students In Indiana Elementary Schools, Teresa Gremaux

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine if there are significant differences in perceptions regarding the importance of strategies/programs for at-risk students according to employment position, geographic location, and percentage of free- and reduced-lunch population within the school. This study also examined alternative education strategies/programming currently being implemented in Indiana elementary schools. This study had a concentrated focus on a specific population of at-risk students. Is there a significant difference on the perceived importance of at-risk strategies and programming for elementary students based on employment position? Is there a significant difference on the perceived importance of at-risk strategies …

Toward A More Perfect Definition Of Learning: Using Biomarkers To Predict And Assess Learning Performance, Samuel J. Hunt

Dissertations

This study seeks to establish groundwork for a new definition of learning based on neurogenesis capable of guiding future educational policy and practice. The purpose of the research was to: (1) produce separate increases in neurogenesis and intelligence, (2) measure the changes in neurogenesis using protein biomarkers, and (3) correlate increases in levels of the protein biomarkers with increases in intelligence. The study employed a randomized pretest-posttest, control/comparison group research design. Thirty-eight fourth- and fifth-grade students with diverse academic needs were divided into three experimental groups: chess, exercise, and combined; with an additional control group. Pre-post measures included intelligence (RSPM) …

Setting Priorities On The Functional Status Of Hydraulic Structures In Mountainous Catchments, V. Juliette Cortes, Simone Sterlacchini, Thom Bogaard, Simone Frigerio, Luca Schenato, Alessandro Pasuto

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

The frequent inspection of hydraulic structures in mountain catchments is important due to the changing interaction among water-related processes that take place in the context of hydro-meteorological hazards such as debris flow and flash floods. At first level inspections, reports from survey protocols carried out by trained citizen-volunteers are combined to provide an index that represent the status of the structure. The survey protocols aim at identifying needs for cleaning of obstructions or to pre-screen potential problems for a second level inspection or more technical and detailed inspection. Thus, reports are focused on the functional status for the following parameters: …

Optimal Placement Of Metering Devices For Multiple Purposes, Ramon Perez, Gerard Sanz, Josep Cuguero, Miquel Angel Cuguero

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

Monitoring devices installed in a huge system like a water network imply a high cost. This cost includes installation and maintenance. Thus the placement of these devices must be optimal. The optimal sensor placement is an issue that comes up in many innovation projects in water networks. The use of models even if the final application does not use them may be crucial in such process. Nevertheless the optimality of the placement may depend highly on the final use of these sensors. In general a better placement may imply a more specific use of the information. This work studies the …

A “Clearing In The Jungle:”Adolescence In Martín Adán’S La Casa De Cartón.", Maria Spitz

School of American and Global Studies Faculty Publications with a Focus on Modern Languages and Global Studies

While critics of La casa de cartón have all considered Martín Adán’s only novel within the cosmopolitan vein of Spanish American vanguardismo, the present study questions this classification by showing how the narrative’s nameless protagonist distances himself from not only 19th century tropes and discourses that had characterized literary production, but also from those of his contemporaries. An exploration of Adán’s multiple parodies of literary production in Spanish America, as well as the alternative for collective cultural expression embodied in the trope of adolescence, points to the need to reconsider how we, as critics, approach and, ultimately, organize the …

Three Times Two Is Six, Steve Kahan

Word Ways

The thirty two-letter words displayed below need to be assembled into ten six-letter words in order to justify the arithmetically-correct title of this piece.

Borgmann's "Palindromes" Articles: A Joke Gone Awry?, Jim Puder

Word Ways

Little remembered now are three notable articles on the early history and cultural significance of palindromes which were submitted by Dmitri Borgmann and published under his by-line in the November 1979, February 1980 and May 1980 issues of Word Ways.

Sound Beginnings And Endings, Susan Thorpe

Word Ways

This is all to do with the pronunciation of the beginnings and endings of words.