Digital Commons Network^™

Parameter Estimation In Weighted Rayleigh Distribution, M. Ajami, S. M. A. Jahanshahi

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

A weighted model based on the Rayleigh distribution is proposed and the statistical and reliability properties of this model are presented. Some non-Bayesian and Bayesian methods are used to estimate the β parameter of proposed model. The Bayes estimators are obtained under the symmetric (squared error) and the asymmetric (linear exponential) loss functions using non-informative and reciprocal gamma priors. The performance of the estimators is assessed on the basis of their biases and relative risks under the two above-mentioned loss functions. A simulation study is constructed to evaluate the ability of considered estimation methods. The suitability of the proposed model …

Bayesian Hypothesis Testing Of Two Normal Samples Using Bootstrap Prior Technique, Oyebayo Ridwan Olaniran, Waheed Babatunde Yahya

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

The most important ingredient in Bayesian analysis is prior or prior distribution. A new prior determination method was developed under the framework of parametric empirical Bayes using bootstrap technique. By way of example, Bayesian estimations of the parameters of a normal distribution with unknown mean and unknown variance conditions were considered, as well as its application in comparing the means of two independent normal samples with several scenarios. A Monte Carlo study was conducted to illustrate the proposed procedure in estimation and hypothesis testing. Results from Monte Carlo studies showed that the bootstrap prior proposed is more efficient than the …

The Role Of Emotions And Collective Satisfaction In The Customer Journey From Service Experience To Customer Engagement, Azam Ghazal Ghahghaei

Marketing Dissertations - Archive

Service providers serving business customers face some unique challenges in assessing and building customer satisfaction. These challenges arise when service providers have to deal with a team or a group of people within the client’s organization. Each of these individuals, depending on their role in the service provision, go through a unique customer journey and have a distinctive service experience. Imagine yourself in a situation with several bosses with different expectations and evaluations. Not only is it challenging to meet their expectations, but it is also hard to know if they are truly satisfied with you. This dissertation explores the …

Stakeholder-Specific Reputation And Organizational Performance: Comparing The Effects Of Overall And Employer Reputation, Michael A. Kimmel

Management Dissertations - Archive

Corporate reputation scholars largely agree that reputation is an asset related to the competitive advantage of firms. However, there is far from universal agreement about whether corporate reputation is best characterized as a single, global assessment that is common to all stakeholders, or as many assessments made by different stakeholder groups. Scholars developing corporate reputation theory have recently focused on the idiosyncratic expectations of different stakeholders, and the consequences of meeting or failing to meet those expectations. This dissertation extends this analysis to employee stakeholders by drawing on social exchange and instrumental stakeholder theory frameworks to develop hypotheses around 1.) …

Insurance, Bradley S. Wolff, Maren R. Cave, Stephen M. Schatz

Mercer Law Review

During this survey period, the Georgia state and federal courts decided questions of first impression related to uninsured motorist (UM) coverage holding that, although umbrella policies are no longer required to provide UM coverage, the statutory notice requirements must be strictly followed before such coverage can be dropped in a renewal and that the "vertical exhaustion requirements" contained in excess policies do not violate the UM statute. Another first impression decision involved the correct interpretation of the statute providing for pre-suit offers in motor vehicle injury cases and whether timely payment may be a condition of acceptance. Other cases decided …

Torts, Christopher R. Breault, Christopher B. Newbern, Brian C. Mickelsen

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys recent developments in Georgia tort law between June 1, 2016 and May 31, 2017.

Product Liability, Franklin P. Brannen Jr., P. Michael Freed, Kristen S. Cawley, Marcus Strong

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys developments in Georgia product liability law between June 1, 2015 and May 31, 2017. It covers noteworthy cases decided during this period by the Georgia Supreme Court, Georgia Court of Appeals, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the United States district courts located in Georgia.

Learning To Pray The Lord’S Prayer For Spiritual Transformation At Tachikawa Church Of Christ, Naoyoshi Fukushima

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This thesis describes a project to lead the members of Tachikawa Church of Christ to learn and experience the power and blessings of praying the Lord’s Prayer for spiritual edification and maturity. The program consisted of eight weeks of learning the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer and doing spiritual exercises. To provide a theological foundation for this project, I delivered eight sermons on the Lord’s Prayer with strong emphasis on the relational nature of the prayer.

Those who engaged in the spiritual exercises were given opportunities to experience joy, peace, and correction as they tried to live in harmony …

Let Them Eat Lunch: The Impact Of Universal Free Meals On Student Performance, Amy Ellen Schwartz, Michah W. Rothbart

Center for Policy Research

This paper investigates the impact of extending free school lunch to all students, regardless of income, on academic performance in New York City middle schools. Using a difference-in-difference design and unique longitudinal, student level data, we derive credibly causal estimates of the impacts of “Universal Free Meals” (UFM) on test scores in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics, and participation in school lunch. We find UFM increases academic performance by as much as 0.059 standard deviations in math and 0.083 in ELA for non-poor students, with smaller, statistically significant effects of 0.032 and 0.027 standard deviations in math and ELA …

Fake News: Potential Solutions To The Online Epidemic, Lee K. Royster

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Examining The Human Infectious Reservoir For Plasmodium Falciparum Malaria In Areas Of Differing Transmission Intensity, Bronner P. Gonçalves, Melissa C. Kapulu, Patrick Sawa, Wamdaogo M. Guelbéogo, Alfred B. Tiono, Lynn Grignard, Will Stone, Joel Hellewell, Kjerstin Lanke, Guido J.H. Bastiaens, John Bradley, Issa Nébié, Joyce M. Ngoi, Robin Oriango, Dora Mkabili, Maureen Nyaurah, Janet Midega, Dyann F. Wirth, Kevin Marsh, Thomas S. Churcher, Philip Bejon, Sodiomon B. Sirima, Chris Drakeley, Teun Bousema

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

A detailed understanding of the human infectious reservoir is essential for improving malaria transmission-reducing interventions. Here we report a multi-regional assessment of population-wide malaria transmission potential based on 1209 mosquito feeding assays in endemic areas of Burkina Faso and Kenya. Across both sites, we identified 39 infectious individuals. In high endemicity settings, infectious individuals were identifiable by research-grade microscopy (92.6%; 25/27), whilst one of three infectious individuals in the lowest endemicity setting was detected by molecular techniques alone. The percentages of infected mosquitoes in the different surveys ranged from 0.05 (4/7716) to 1.6% (121/7749), and correlate positively with transmission intensity. …

An Examination Of Factors Influencing Persistence At Columbus State University, Varonika Brown Hardman

Theses and Dissertations

The researcher designed the mixed method study to contribute to the field of study on persistence and provide information to CSU leadership, faculty and staff that may benefit efforts to reach and retain students. A better understanding of the factors influencing persistence may become vital for funding. Some form of performance-based funding is in place in 32 states. Georgia policymakers are considering factors such as student progression and degree completion.

For the study, the researcher asked:

1. What are the reasons graduating CSU students give for persisting at CSU? 2. What are the reasons incoming CSU students give for choosing …

An Examination Of First Generation Students And Program Administrators' Perceptions Regarding Academic And Social Support Offered At Albany Technical College, Wendy Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the perceptions of first generation students and program administrators regarding the academic and social support offered at Albany Technical College(ATC). This is a mixed-methods study that offered insight into the programmatic practices designed to improve the retention and graduation outcomes of first generation (first gen) students at ATC. This study complements the current body of literature about the challenges and conditions that influence the matriculation and graduation of the underserved population. Post-secondary institutions that enroll first generation students can benefit from learning about the experiences shared by student and program administrator participants.

Prospective participants were identified with …

Science Georgia Standards Of Excellence In Southwest Georgia: A Mixed Method Study Of Science Teachers' Perceptions Of Science And Engineering Practices And Administrative Support, Shereca R. Harvey

Theses and Dissertations

With the publication of A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (National Research Council, 2012), the dominant instructional approach for science education in the United States changed from teaching science as a process of inquiry to teaching science as a practice, using science and engineering practices. Middle and high school science teachers in the State of Georgia implemented the practices for the first time during 2017-2018 school year while teaching the new Science Georgia Standards of Excellence. Teachers who have been successful at making such instructional changes have done so with the support of their …

Design Portfolio: Innovation Team Uncharted, Angelina Bartolotta, Michael Everix, Chance Colter, Sophia Hall, Kimberly Berry, Kiernan Pitts, Whitney Veldheer

Liberal Studies Undergraduate Research

Thank you for your interest in our team, Team Uncharted, and our work with the Grand Valley State University Frederik Meijer Honors College. At the time of undertaking the task of making the Honors College more “distinctive and distinguished,” we also bore in mind the greater task of creating a better experience and life for all stakeholders. Our ultimate hope is that these efforts radiate through the process and final innovation proposal.

The team working on this project consisted of 7 members: Angelina Bartolotta, Michael Everix, Chance Colter, Sophia Hall, Kimberly Berry, Kiernan Pitts, and Whitney Veldheer. Each member took …

Team Psi: Making The Frederik Meijer Honors College Experience More Distinctive, Selena Brown, Kendra Smith, Sara Harman, Michael Guscar, Josh Schneider, Cassondra Anderson

Liberal Studies Undergraduate Research

We are grateful for your interest in our proposed solution to increase the distinction of the Frederik Meijer Honors College. This journey spanned four months, and included countless hours of research, interviews, ideating, and prototyping. Our portfolio will walk you through this process, to help you understand our insights, and how we used Design Thinking to create our final innovation.

We would also like to express our gratitude for the teaching and guidance of professor Linda Chamberlain of the Frederik Meijer Honors College, and all the ways in which she helped us navigate the Design Thinking process. Without her, this …

Gvsu Honors College: A More Distinctive Experience, Alexis Ellis, Darius Youngblood, Lynn Doherty, Marissa Kahnt, Pierce Henderson,, Taylor Kooy

Liberal Studies Undergraduate Research

In the later summer of 2017, our team was assembled from six individuals in the HNR 313 Design Thinking class at Grand Valley State University. In time, we would learn each other’s names, personalities, assign roles for the task ahead, and come to share life experiences. Alexis Ellis became our team writing lead, Darius Youngblood became the team leader, Lynn Doherty volunteered to be the scribe and recorder, Marisa Kahnt became a co-reporter and manager of human resources, Pierce Henderson became co-reporter and researcher, and Taylor Kooy became co-presenter and task manager.

With our team finalized, we were able to …

Going Beyond ‘Do No Harm’: A Critical Annotation, Robert F. Johnson

Peer Reviewed Articles

The Op-Ed article in the New York Times (November 4th, 2016), “On Assisted Suicide, Going Beyond Do No Harm” by Haider Javed Warraich provided an articulate and timely plea for more widespread availability and application of physician-assisted dying, or “suicide”, as part of end-of-life medical care. While this profound intervention should be considered by physicians and others as an option for those able to express their wishes at the end-of-life, it must be considered in the context of the ethical principles appropriate for all health care interventions and recognized for its limited role in the overall approach to compassionate care …

U.S. Teachers’ Perception Of Confucian Teaching Philosophies And Methodologies, Tak C. Chan, Binbin Jiang, Mei Mei Xu

Faculty Articles

The purpose of this study is to solicit the perceptions of United States teachers to examine the extent of their agreement with the Confucian teaching philosophies and methodologies. A mixed research methodology was used in this study. Sixty elementary, middle, and high school teachers from 24 schools of five urban school districts of Georgia were randomly selected and invited to participate in the study. Thirty-two teachers (53.3%) representing 17 different teaching areas responded by returning an author designed survey. Quantitative data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were analyzed by examining emerged themes and patterns. The findings …

Dolley Madison And Anecdotes In Early Twentieth Century Textbooks, Ryann Finley Warlick

All Theses

On August 24, 1814, during the War of 1812, British troops were quickly advancing upon the American capital, Washington City. Inside of the Executive Mansion, First Lady, Dolley Madison, was gathering items to be rescued in the event that the British troops should advance into the capital. Following the American defeat at the Battle of Bladensburg, American General John Armstrong ordered a retreat of his troops, resulting in the final exodus of Washington City. As she was leaving the Executive Mansion, Dolley Madison decided the Gilbert Stuart portrait of General George Washington also needed to be saved, and according to …

Influential Factors In The College Decision-Making Process For Chinese Students Studying In The United States, Madeline Adele Rafi

All Theses

For more than 974,000 international students, the United States is the destination of choice to pursue higher education. Although Chinese students account for almost one in three international students in the U.S., there are many unknowns about the influential factors behind their college decision. This phenomenological study explores the self-described most important factors for Chinese students' decision to attend college in the United States and the sources they seek to make their decision. Through interviews with students originally from China who attained their undergraduate degree from a U.S. university, my goal was to understand how individuals arrive at his/her alma …

Effects Of Rider Experience Level On Horse Kinematics And Behavior, Rebekah Strunk

All Theses

Large riding lesson programs are an essential part of the horse industry. To meet demand and remain profitable, lesson barns sometimes require horses to work multiple times a day with different rider levels. There is little guidance as to the behavioral and physical effects of such protocols, so lesson program managers have limited scientific evidence upon which to base horse management and welfare decisions. The current data regarding horse and rider interactions includes motion pattern variability, trunk and spine kinematics and force plate analyses. While these data are helpful to explain scenarios that can affect the horse with an accomplished …

Tactile Interactions, Lacy Ann Miller

All Theses

This installation of utilitarian ceramics developed from the value I place on function, ergonomics, tactility, and surface decoration which abstractly reference the biological structures facilitating our perception. I bring together these elements to playfully explore our relationships with objects - my pots are intended to be filled with food or drink, picked up, passed to a neighbor, and enjoyed in lively daily use. Audiences are familiar with tableware, its use and purpose in the home are common across history and culture. This intimate acquaintance places my work closer to its intended destination- people's lives and hands. Referring to this phenomenon …

Evaluation Of A Semi-Analytical/Numerical Method For Modeling Matrix Diffusion Effects In Groundwater Chemical Transport, Noelia Susana Muskus Ruiz

All Theses

Secondary sources of contamination, such as dissolved chemicals in low permeability zones result in plume persistence and limitations for plume remediation as a consequence of the process of matrix diffusion (Mackay and Cherry, 1989; Chapman and Parker, 2005). Existing numerical transport simulators are capable of modeling matrix diffusion; however, they require fine discretization, resulting in large computational effort. An alternative approach was developed combining numerical and analytical modeling to simulate matrix diffusion effects. The semi-analytical/numerical (referred to as semi-analytical for short) approach used here was adapted from geothermal reservoir modeling of transient heat conduction in low permeability cap rocks (Vinsome …

Geometric Path-Planning Algorithm In Cluttered 2d Environments Using Convex Hulls, Nafiseh Masoudi

All Theses

Routing or path planning is the problem of finding a collision-free path in an environment usually scattered with multiple objects. Finding the shortest route in a planar (2D) or spatial (3D) environment has a variety of applications such as robot motion planning, navigating autonomous vehicles, routing of cables, wires, and harnesses in vehicles, routing of pipes in chemical process plants, etc. The problem often times is decomposed into two main sub-problems: modeling and representation of the workspace geometrically and optimization of the path. Geometric modeling and representation of the workspace are paramount in any path planning problem since it builds …

Cross Flow Filtration Modeling Using Analytical And Numerical Solutions Along With Implementation As A Web-Based Calculator, Lauren Paige Mcintyre

All Theses

In this thesis, we present a 1D model for the complex phenomenon of cross-flow filtration. We begin by developing the governing equations and providing analytical solutions that can be found using Laplace transforms for both the simple clean filter case, and the more complex filter with fouling in the form of cake, and depth plugging of the filter media. A walk through of the set up and implementation of a simple web-based application is given, and the code to produce the web application for this model is included in an appendix. The web application acts as a calculator, accepting model …

Precision Agriculture Technology Development And Utilization For Hay Production, Perry Jonathan Loftis

All Theses

Mass flow sensor algorithms were developed for a hay yield monitoring system using ultrasonic sensors to measure windrow height. The algorithms indicated accuracies of 17.34% to 9.51%, with a wide tolerance to mounting positions. The developed mass flow algorithms were used in a nitrogen rate strip test on a 25 ac irrigated Tifton 85 bermudagrass field. Results suggested that yield, crude protein content and profit was maximized with the highest nitrogen rate only during the first harvest of 2017. All other harvest suggested a lower rate of nitrogen should be applied in order to maximize profit. A second method of …

Estimating The Location Of A Nuclear Source In A Three-Dimensional Environment With Unknown Background Radiation, Hangjin Liu

All Theses

Finding illicit nuclear sources in an urban environment plays an important role in reconnaissance research for domestic security. This work focuses on the problem of estimating the locations of radioactive sources that potentially exist in a three-dimensional search space using a network of sensors. The design of an estimation system to provide consistent surveillance is considered using drones equipped with sensors, Global Position System (GPS) devices and basic communication capabilities. In many environments, sensors cannot be placed in close proximity to the source, which makes estimating the location of a nuclear source especially difficult. In this work, we apply maximum-likelihood …

The Effect Of Outsourcing On The Change Of Wage Share, Tianqi Li

All Theses

The technology breakthroughs and tariff reductions of the last several decades have reduced the costs of trade. The classical Heckscher-Ohlin model cannot explain the pattern of the change in nonproduction wage share: the relative wages of nonproduction and production workers increased steadily since 1980s. The increasing wage gap leads to increasing income inequality, growing poverty and strains the social fabric. Hence, we need an alternative approach to explain the increasing “wage gap” between nonproduction and production workers. Feenstra developed a trade in intermediate model which estimates the how much outsourcing contributes to the total change in nonproduction wage share and …

The English House Of Gibbs In Peru's Guano Trade In The Nineteenth Century, Megan L. Johnson

All Theses

The English mercantile house of Gibbs emerged alongside many other foreign merchant houses in the years after independence in South American countries, and they were active mostly in Peru, holding a virtual monopoly on Peruvian guano, from 1842 until 1861. Unlike many other merchants who dealt with private companies, Gibbs worked directly on a commission basis with the government of Peru and loaned money to the government in advance of sales. By the time Gibbs left the guano trade in 1861, the government was the stronger party. South American societies regarded the foreign merchants as parasites, “producing and contributing nothing.” …