Digital Commons Network^™

Pittsburg State University Annual Commencement, Dec 2016, Pittsburg State University

Commencement, 1903-Present

Program of undergraduate and graduate commencement exercises at Pittsburg State University on December of 2016

Transforming High School Counseling: Counselors' Roles, Practices, And Expectations For Students' Success, Wei-Cheng J. Mau, Jiaqi Li, Kimberly Hoetmer

Administrative Issues Journal

This study examined the current roles and practices of American high school counselors in relation to the ASCA National Model. Expectations for student success by high school counselors were also examined and compared to those of teachers' and school administrators'. A nationally representative sample of 852 lead counselors from 944 high schools was surveyed as part of the High School Longitudinal Study: 2009-2012. Findings are examined in the light of the National Model and advocated practices.

Latina Titans: A Journey Of Inspiration, Velma D. Menchaca, Shirley J. Mills, Filomena Leo

Administrative Issues Journal

This qualitative research examined the journey of renowned female leadership in higher education. Two top level Latina administrators of universities were interviewed extensively to discover their journey to leadership. The theoretical framework used was Latina critical race theory, feminist theory, and counter-storytelling. Themes that surfaced were strong supportive mother, fervent faith, humble beginnings, mentors, intelligence, and challenges not obstacles. These guiding themes serve as a path for Latinas who aspire to higher educational leadership positions.

Optimal Group Decision Making Criterion And How It Can Help To Decrease Poverty, Inequality, And Discrimination, Vladik Kreinovich, Thongchai Dumrongpokaphan

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Traditional approach to group decision making in economics is to maximize the GDP, i.e., the overall gain. The hope behind this approach is that the increased wealth will trickle down to everyone. Sometimes, this happens, but often, in spite of an increase in overall GDP, inequality remains: some people remain poor, some groups continue to face economic discrimination, etc. This shows that maximizing the overall gain is probably not always the best criterion in group decision making. In this chapter, we find a group decision making criterion which is optimal (in some reasonable sense), and we show that using this …

A Modification Of Backpropagation Enables Neural Networks To Learn Preferences, Martine Ceberio, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

To help a person make proper decisions, we must first understand the person's preferences. A natural way to determine these preferences is to learn them from the person's choices. In principle, we can use the traditional machine learning techniques: we start with all the pairs (x,y) of options for which we know the person's choices, and we train, e.g., the neural network to recognize these choices. However, this process does not take into account that a rational person's choices are consistent: e.g., if a person prefers a to b and b to c, this person should also prefer a and …

For Fuzzy Logic, Occam's Principle Explains The Ubiquity Of The Golden Ratio And Of The 80-20 Rule, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In this paper, we show that for fuzzy logic, the Occam's principle -- that we should always select the simplest possible explanation -- explains the ubiquity of the golden ratio and of the 80-20 rule.

Why Product "And"-Operation Is Often Efficient: One More Argument, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

It is an empirical fact that the algebraic product is one the most efficient "and"-operations in fuzzy logic. In this paper, we provide one of the possible explanations of this empirical phenomenon.

Towards An Algebraic Description Of Set Arithmetic, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

To describe the state of the world, we need to describe the values of all physical quantities. In practice, due to inevitable measurement inaccuracy, we do not know the exact values of these quantities, we only know the sets of possible values for these quantities. On the class of such uncertainty-related sets, we can naturally define arithmetic operations that transform, e.g., uncertainty in a and b into uncertainty with which we know the sum a + b.

In many applications, it has been useful to reformulate the problem in purely algebraic terms, i.e., in terms of axioms that the basic …

Why The Presence Of Point-Wise ("Punctate") Calcifications Or Linear Configurations Of Calcifications Makes Breast Cancer More Probable: A Geometric Explanation, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

When a specialist analyzes a mammogram for signs of possible breast cancer, he or she pays special attention to point-wise and linear-shaped calcifications and point-wise and linear configurations of calcification -- since empirically, such calcifications and combinations of calcifications are indeed most frequently associated with cancer. In this paper, we provide a geometric explanation for this empirical phenomenon.

Why Most Bright Stars Are Binary But Most Dim Stars Are Single: A Simple Qualitative Explanation, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

It is known that most visible stars are binary: they have a nearby companion star, and these two stars orbit around each other. Based on this fact, until recently, astronomers believed that, in general, most stars are binary. A few years ago, a surprising paper showed that while most bright stars are indeed binary, most dim stars are single. In this paper, we provide a simple qualitative explanation for this empirical fact.

Evolution Of Complexity In Gene Regulatory Networks During Host-Parasite Coevolution, Jeewoen Shin

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Robustness, defined as tolerance to perturbations such as mutations and environmental fluctuations, is pervasive in biological systems. However, robustness often coexists with its counterpart, evolvability - the ability of perturbations to generate new phenotypes. Previous models of gene regulatory network evolution have shown that robustness evolves under stabilizing selection, but in more realistic scenarios such as coevolution, it may be advantageous to evolve sensitivity, i.e. for some mutations to change the phenotype. Furthermore, it is unclear how robustness and evolvability will emerge in common coevolutionary scenarios. In this dissertation, we consider three different two-species models of coevolution involving one host …

Two Essays In Quantitative Finance, Ke Wang

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

This dissertation explores two interesting problems in quantitative finance. In the first part, we consider the detection methods on structural breaks that are characterized by a credit rating transition matrix based on homogeneous Markov process model. Recent studies have shown that firms’ credit rating migration process is not stationary and may have structural breaks. Assuming the generator of probability transition matrices of firms’ credit rating to be piecewise constant and the jump time of generator corresponds to the structural break time in the pattern of firms’ rating migrations, we study several types of sequential surveillance rules for early detection. The …

Computational Relativistic Electrodynamics: New Algorithms, Parallel Software, And Applications To Accelerator Design, Kwang Min Yu

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

A parallel, fully relativistic, 3D electromagnetic particle-in-cell (EM-PIC) code, named SPACE, has been developed for the simulation of relativistic particle beams, beam - plasma interaction, and plasma chemistry. New algorithms such as atomic processes in plasma, proper boundary conditions, and an efficient method for highly-relativistic beams in non-relativistic plasma have been developed. Algorithms for atomic process include ionization of neutral atoms by electron impact, recombination of plasma, and electron attachment on dopants in dense neutral gases. The code has been used for the simulation of processes in high-pressure radio-frequency (RF) cavity (HPRF) program at Fermilab. Advanced numerical simulations resolve all …

Essays On The Spillover Effects Of Information Arrivals In Security Trading, Zhenning Wang

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The mixture distribution hypothesis is widely used to explain the behavior of returns and volumes in security trading in single-security settings, and the unobservable information arrival process in models based on this hypothesis is the key factor that determines the conditional distributions of returns and volumes. In order to investigate whether the information arrival processes of different securities may interact with each other, in the first part of this dissertation I extended the framework of mixture distribution hypothesis to a multiple-security setting, in which the unobservable information arrival processes of different securities may potentially interact with each other through vector …

Log-Linear Model Based Tree And Latent Variable Model For Count Data, Yuan Zhao

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Events that occur randomly over time or space result in count data. Poisson models are widely used for analyses. However, simple log-linear forms are often insufficient for complex relationship between variables. Thus we study tree-structured log-linear models and latent variables models for count data. First, we consider extending Poisson regression for independent observations. Decision trees exhibit the advantage of interpretation. Constant fits are too simple to interpret within strata nonetheless. We hence propose to embed log-linear models to decision trees, and use negative binomial distribution for overdispersion. Second, we consider latent variable models for point process observation in neuroscience. Neurons …

Classification Of Fetal Heart Rate Signals By Deep Learning, Xuan Chen

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

In the course of delivery, a fetus may suffer from oxygen deficiency due to the intensive pressure changes. Electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) system has been widely used in obstetrics, to provide continuous information to clinicians for making decisions and in preparing for delivery. There has been many efforts to build automated systems to analyze fetal heart rates (FHRs) and offer clinical supports. In this thesis, our goal is to introduce the most recent and popular machine learning method, deep learning, for FHR classification. We first introduce the preliminaries of FHR classification methods and the database used in our experiments. Then, …

Sequential Monte Carlo Methods For Inference And Prediction Of Latent Time-Series, Inigo Urteaga

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

In the era of information-sensing mobile devices, the Internet-of-Things and Big Data, research on advanced methods for extracting information from data has become extremely critical. One important task in this area of work is the analysis of time-varying phenomena, observed sequentially in time. This endeavor is relevant in many applications, where the goal is to infer the dynamics of events of interest described by the data, as soon as new data-samples are acquired. This dissertation is on novel methods for sequential inference and prediction of latent time-series. We assume that a sequence of observations is a function of a hidden …

Lagrangian Analysis Of Vector And Tensor Fields: Algorithmic Foundations And Applications In Medical Imaging And Computational Fluid Dynamics, Zi'ang Ding

Open Access Dissertations

Both vector and tensor fields are important mathematical tools used to describe the physics of many phenomena in science and engineering. Effective vector and tensor field visualization techniques are therefore needed to interpret and analyze the corresponding data and achieve new insight into the considered problem. This dissertation is concerned with the extraction of important structural properties from vector and tensor datasets. Specifically, we present a unified approach for the characterization of distinguished manifolds that form the skeleton of vector and tensor fields and play a key role in understanding their properties.

This dissertation makes several important contributions in this …

A Sharp Interface Isogeometric Strategy For Moving Boundary Problems, Tao Song

Open Access Dissertations

The proposed methodology is first utilized to model stationary and propagating cracks. The crack face is enriched with the Heaviside function which captures the displacement discontinuity. Meanwhile, the crack tips are enriched with asymptotic displacement functions to reproduce the tip singularity. The enriching degrees of freedom associated with the crack tips are chosen as stress intensity factors (SIFs) such that these quantities can be directly extracted from the solution without a-posteriori integral calculation.

As a second application, the Stefan problem is modeled with a hybrid function/derivative enriched interface. Since the interface geometry is explicitly defined, normals and curvatures can be …

A Structural Etiology Of The U.S. Constitution, Charles Edward Andrew Lincoln Iv

Student Scholarship

This article offers an interpretation of the problems addressed by and the eventual purpose of the United States government. Simultaneously, it seeks to analyze and explain the continued three-part structure of the United States federal government as outlined in the Constitution. Subsequently I define the three parts of the federal government—judiciary, executive, and legislative—as explained through the lens of the Platonic paradigm of (logos = word = law), (thymos = external driving spirit = executive), and (eros = general welfare = legislative) extrapolated from Plato’s dialogues.

First, the article establishes Plato’s theory of the three-part Platonic soul as a major …

Graduate Studies Newsletter, Graduate Studies Office

Newsletters

THIS ISSUE

Welcome P.1

Spotlight on Dr. Chris Aberson P .2

Digital Commons @ HSU P.3

Upcoming Events & Resources P.4

Student Success Stories P.5,6

Fine-Tuning An Algorithm For Semantic Document Clustering Using A Similarity Graph, Lubomir Stanchev

Computer Science and Software Engineering

In this article, we examine an algorithm for document clustering using a similarity graph. The graph stores words and common phrases from the English language as nodes and it can be used to compute the degree of semantic similarity between any two phrases. One application of the similarity graph is semantic document clustering, that is, grouping documents based on the meaning of the words in them. Since our algorithm for semantic document clustering relies on multiple parameters, we examine how fine-tuning these values affects the quality of the result. Specifically, we use the Reuters-21578 benchmark, which contains 11,362 newswire stories …

The Digital Musing Of A History Buff, Charles W. Kann

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Perhaps the best part of studying Computer Science (CS) is that it is not an isolated discipline; CS exists to produce systems and applications that support the business and interests of nearly every person in the world. Any area of inquiry is open to fanciful and meaningful exploration by computer scientists. In a very real sense, the world is the oyster of those who can use digital tools developed by CS.

In his talk, Dr. Kann will explore how he uses those digital tools to advance his enthusiasm for history. The talk will highlight some of the work he has …

The History Of Algorithmic Complexity, Audrey A. Nasar

Publications and Research

This paper provides a historical account of the development of algorithmic complexity in a form that is suitable to instructors of mathematics at the high school or undergraduate level. The study of algorithmic complexity, despite being deeply rooted in mathematics, is usually restricted to the computer science curriculum. By providing a historical account of algorithmic complexity through a mathematical lens, this paper aims to equip mathematics educators with the necessary background and framework for incorporating the analysis of algorithmic complexity into mathematics courses as early on as algebra or pre-calculus.

Progression Magazine, 2016 Winter, Coastal Carolina University

Progression Magazine

Magazine of the College of Science at Coastal Carolina University.

Reforming The Contested Convention: Rethinking The Presidential Nomination Process, Michael T. Morley

Scholarly Publications

The presidential nomination process used by the Democratic and Republican Parties is an ill-considered, unstable pastiche of competing components that generally operate in fundamentally different manners. The process is comprised of three main elements: the selection of delegates to the national convention (generally through state and district party conventions or other intraparty processes), the determination of the presidential candidates for whom those delegates will vote (generally through state-by-state primaries and caucuses), and the national convention itself.

The ritual of holding primary elections and caucuses across the nation creates the widespread public expectation that the results of those proceedings—the will of …

The R Journal (December 2016) 8(2): Complete Issue, The R Foundation

The R Journal

Editorial, Michael Lawrence

Contributed Research Articles

multipleNCC: Inverse Probability Weighting of Nested Case-Control Data, Nathalie C. Støer and Sven Ove Samuelsen

QPot: An R Package for Stochastic Differential Equation Quasi-Potential Analysis, Christopher M. Moore, Christopher R. Stieha, Ben C. Nolting, Maria K. Cameron, and Karen C. Abbott

Design of the TRONCO BioConductor Package for TRanslational ONCOlogy, Marco Antoniotti, Giulio Caravagna, Luca De Sano, Alex Graudenzi, Giancarlo Mauri, Bud Mishra, and Daniele Ramazzotti

diverse: An R Package to Analyze Diversity in Complex Systems, Miguel R. Guevara, Dominik Hartmann, and Marcelo Mendoza

Simulating Correlated Binary and Multinomial Responses under Marginal Model Specification: …

Synthesis And Performance Of Novel Supramolecular Tools For Single-Particle Cryogenic Electron Microscopy And Drug And Gene Delivery, Kyle J. Wright

Open Access Dissertations

High-resolution biomacromolecular structure elucidation is fundamentally important to structure-based drug design and basic research into complex biochemical processes. Cryo-EM is an emerging alternative to XRD and NMR that is complementary in many ways relative to XRD and NMR. Materials approaches to cryo-EM are anticipated to greatly facilitate the cryo-EM process, allowing progress toward a more high-throughput application of cryo-EM to address challenges in structural biology. ^ Various affinity-based approaches inspired by approaches previously introduced for 2D crystallization were developed for facilitation of cryo-EM. A library of affinity lipopolymer constructs were synthesized consisting of lipopolymers of various PEG molecular weights conjugated …

Micro-Sociological Implications Of Domestic Violence On Adolescents In A School Setting, Kerri Schulz

Perspectives

Adolescent victimization and exposure to domestic violence has the ability to yield negative psychological, social, behavioral, developmental, and cognitive outcomes. Unfortunately, violence within the home is becoming increasingly prevalent. In 2007 alone, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that roughly 794,000 adolescents were either abused or neglected within their household (Sousa et al. 2011:112). Another form of violence that is becoming recognized as a widespread public-health concern is intimate partner violence. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, intimate partner violence is present when the juvenile is not directly involved and acts more as a witness to …

Non Markovian Queue With Two Types Service Optional Re-Service And General Vacation Distribution, K. Sathiya, G. Ayyappan

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

We consider a single server batch arrival queueing system, where the server provides two types of heterogeneous service. A customer has the option of choosing either type 1 service with probability p1 or type 2 service with probability p2 with the service times follow general distribution. After the completion of either type 1 or type 2 service a customer has the option to repeat or not to repeat the type 1 or type 2 service. As soon as the customer service is completed, the server will take a vacation with probability θ or may continue staying in the system with …