Digital Commons Network^™

Fostering Dialogue And Engagement: The Role Of The Catholic Church In Nigeria, Tony Terwase Famave

Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations

This thesis entitled “Fostering Dialogue and Engagement: The Role of the Catholic Church in Nigeria,” written by Tony Terwase Famave, seeks to address the long-standing misunderstandings between Christians and Muslims that often lead to the wanton destruction of lives, property, and destabilization of the social order, using Vatican II as a model for Nigeria. The ethnic and religious division in the country is further complicated by a Muslim north which is predominantly of the Hausa Fulani tribe and the Christian south which is mostly of the Igbo and Yoruba tribes, with a number of minority tribes counted among the two …

A Mathematical Model For Prediction The Embedment Depth Of The Contiguous Piles Used In The Interchange Of Zakho Entrance, Najdat S. Akrawi, Shimal A. Ahmed

Polytechnic Journal

Determination of the depths of the embedment of contiguous piles requires extensive soil investigation to obtain the soil physical parameters. In addition, a large number of such piles involved in restricted access projects make that depth an essential problem. A simple mathematical model for predicting the depth of embedment using the height of the retained soil, the standard penetration test values, and the bulk unit weight of the soils encountered for 261 pile data sets was introduced using an artificial neural network approach. The coefficient of determination equals to 0.99 for the tested the data reveal that the depth of …

Iba Newsletter [December 2019], Communications Department, Iba

IBA News

No abstract provided.

Reporting Student Learning, Hilary Hollingsworth, Jonathan Heard

NSW Curriculum Review

This paper is one of six research ‘backgrounders’ to support the 2018–20 review of the New South Wales (NSW) curriculum. It focuses on reporting student learning, which has been identified as an area of interest in the review. This paper seeks to present an evidence base, based on a rapid review of relevant research literature, to inform considerations related to student reporting practice reform.

Ti-Stan: Model Comparison Using Thermodynamic Integration And Hmc, R. Wesley Henderson, Paul M. Goggans

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2019 by the authors. We present a novel implementation of the adaptively annealed thermodynamic integration technique using Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC). Thermodynamic integration with importance sampling and adaptive annealing is an especially useful method for estimating model evidence for problems that use physics-based mathematical models. Because it is based on importance sampling, this method requires an efficient way to refresh the ensemble of samples. Existing successful implementations use binary slice sampling on the Hilbert curve to accomplish this task. This implementation works well if the model has few parameters or if it can be broken into separate parts with …

A Comparison Of Academic Performance Measures Of Hsta Participants With Non-Hsta Participants: Is It Possible To Narrow The African American-White Achievement Gap?, Sherron Mckendall, Alan Mckendall, Ann Chester

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Historically, African American and other underserved students encounter academic challenges in pursuit of a college degree—one of which is their performance on standardized tests. This paper analyzes College Grade Point Averages (CGPAs), ACT Composite (ACTC), and SAT Total (SATT) scores of students who participated in the Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA), an out-of-school-time (OST) program, and Non-HSTA (NHSTA) students attending West Virginia University. Traditionally, OST programs provide academic enrichment to underserved youth to increase their chances for post-secondary entry and success. Two-Way Factorial ANOVA determined if HSTA participants performed better on academic measures than their NHSTA counterparts. The ANOVAs …

An (S - 1; S) Inventory System With Negative Arrivals And Multiple Vacations, Kathiresan Jothivel, Anbazhagan Neelamegam

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

In this paper, we consider a continuous review one-to-one ordering policy inventory system with multiple vacations and negative customers. The maximum storage capacity is S. The customers arrive according to a Poisson process with finite waiting hall. There are two types of customers: ordinary and negative. An ordinary customer, on arrival, joins the queue and the negative customer does not join the queue and takes away any one of the waiting customers. When the waiting hall is full, the arriving primary customer is considered to be lost. The service time and lead time are assumed to have independent exponential distribution. …

Non-Standard Finite Difference Schemes For Investigating Stability Of A Mathematical Model Of Virus Therapy For Cancer, A. R. Yaghoubi, H. S. Najafi

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

In this paper, a special case of finite difference method called non-standard finite difference (NSFD) method was studied to compute the numerical solutions of the nonlinear mathematical model of the interaction between tumor cells and oncolytic viruses. The global stability of the equilibrium points of the discrete model is investigated by using the Lyapunov stability theorem. Some conditions were gained for the local asymptotical stability of the equilibrium points of the system. Finally, numerical simulations are carried out to illustrate the main theoretical results. The discrete system is dynamically consistent with its continuous model, it preserves essential properties, such as …

On A Hybrid Technique To Handle Analytical And Approximate Solutions Of Linear And Nonlinear Fractional Order Partial Differential Equations, Kamal Shah, Hammad Khalil, Ahmet Yildirim

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

This manuscript is devoted to consider Natural transform (NT) coupled with homotopy perturbation method (HPM) for obtaining series solutions to some linear and nonlinear fractional partial differential equations (FPDEs). By means of NT, we obtain the transformed problem which is then solved by using HPM. By means of Stehfest’s numerical algorithm and using the dual relationship of NT and Laplace transform, we calculate inverse NT for approximate solutions. The series solutions we obtain using the proposed method are in close agreement with the exact solutions. We apply the proposed method to some interesting problems to illustrate our main results.

Cyclic Kite Configuration With Variable Mass Of The Fifth Body In R5bp, Abdullah A. Ansari, Ashraf Ali, Mehtab Alam, Rabah Kellil

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

This paper presents a numerical investigation on some characteristics and parameters related to the motion of an infinitesimal body with variable mass in five-body problem. The other four bodies are considered as primaries. The whole system forms a cyclic kite configuration and moves on a circle, the center of which is taken as the origin.We assume that the motion of the fifth infinitesimal body is affected by the other components of the system but it has no effect on their behavior. We started by setting the equations of motion of the fifth body by using Jeans’ law and Meshcherskii’s space-time …

Bifurcation Analysis For Prey-Predator Model With Holling Type Iii Functional Response Incorporating Prey Refuge, Lazaar Oussama, Mustapha Serhani

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

In this paper, we carried out the bifurcation analysis for a Lotka-Volterra prey-predator model with Holling type III functional response incorporating prey refuge protecting a constant proportion of the preys. We study the local bifurcation considering the refuge constant as a parameter. From the center manifold equation, we establish a transcritical bifurcation for the boundary equilibrium. In addition, we prove the occurrence of Hopf bifurcation for the homogeneous equilibrium. Moreover, we give the radius and period of the unique limit cycle for our system

Solutions Of The Generalized Abel’S Integral Equation Using Laguerre Orthogonal Approximation, N. Singha, C. Nahak

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

In this paper, a numerical approximation is drafted for solving the generalized Abel’s integral equation by practicing Laguerre orthogonal polynomials. The proposed approximation is framed for the first and second kinds of the generalized Abel’s integral equation. We have utilized the properties of fractional order operators to interpret Abel’s integral equation as a fractional integral equation. It offers a new approach by employing Laguerre polynomials to approximate the integrand of a fractional integral equation. Given examples demonstrate the simplicity and suitability of the method. The graphical representation of exact and approximate solutions helps in visualizing a solution at discrete points, …

An Admm-Factorization Algorithm For Low Rank Matrix Completion, Rahman Taleghani, Maziar Salahi

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

In this paper, we propose an Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) based algorithm that is taking advantage of factorization for the fixed rank matrix completion problem. The convergence of the proposed algorithm to the KKT point is discussed. Finally, on several classes of test problems, its efficiency is compared with several efficient algorithms from the literature.

New Lie Group Of Transformation For The Non-Newtonian Fluid Flow Narrating Differential Equations, Khalil U. Rehman, M. Y. Malik

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

In this endeavour, a new Lie point of transformation for the fluid flow narrating differential equations are proposed. For this purpose a non-Newtonian fluid named tangent hyperbolic fluid is considered towards the flat surface in a magnetized flow field. In addition, equation of concentration admits the role of chemically reactive species. A mathematical model in terms of the coupled PDE’s is constructed. Lie group of analysis is implemented to yield the new Lie point of transformation for tangent hyperbolic fluid flow narrating differential equations when the heat and mass transfer individualities are considered. The resultant system of PDE’s is reduced …

Analysis Of Heat Absorption Viscoelastic Exothermic Chemical Reactive Fluid With Temperature Dependent Viscosity Under Bimolecular Kinetic, S. O. Salawu, R. A. Kareem

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

This study examines the boundary layer flow of variable viscosity, incompressible exothermic chemical reactive fluid with thermal radiation and asymmetric convective cooling under Bimolecular kinetic. The viscoelastic fluid flow along a vertical channel in the presence of a thermal buoyancy force and pressure gradient. Rosseland approximation is defined for the thick radiation heat flux in the energy equation with gray radiating liquid, non-scattering but with heat absorbing depending on wavelength. The convective heat exchange with the sorrounding temperature at the channel surface satisfied Newton’s law of cooling. The computational analysis of the dimensionless nonlinear governing equations is obtained using Weighted …

Application Of Reduced Differential Transform Method For Solving Two-Dimensional Volterra Integral Equations Of The Second Kind, Seyyedeh R. Moosavi Noori, Nasir Taghizadeh

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

In this paper, we propose new theorems of the reduced differential transform method (RDTM) for solving a class of two-dimensional linear and nonlinear Volterra integral equations (VIEs) of the second kind. The advantage of this method is its simplicity in using. It solves the equations straightforward and directly without using perturbation, Adomian’s polynomial, linearization or any other transformation and gives the solution as convergent power series with simply determinable components. Also, six examples and numerical results are provided so as to validate the reliability and efficiency of the method.

Analysis Of Batch Arrival Single And Bulk Service Queue With Multiple Vacation Closedown And Repair, T. Deepa, A. Azhagappan

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

In this paper, we analyze batch arrival single and bulk service queueing model with multiple vacation, closedown and repair. The single server provides single service if the queue size is ‘< a’ and bulk service if the queue size is ‘ ≥ a’. After completing the service (single or bulk), the server may breakdown with probability ξ and then it will be sent for repair. When the system becomes empty or the server is ready to serve after the repair but no one is waiting, the server resumes closedown and then goes for a multiple vacation of random length. Using supplementary variable technique, the steady-state probability generating function (PGF) of …

A Certain Class Of Statistical Deferred Weighted A-Summability Based On (P; Q)-Integers And Associated Approximation Theorems, L. N. Mishra, M. Patro, S. K. Paikray, B. B. Jena

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

Statistical summability has recently enhanced researchers’ substantial awareness since it is more broad than the traditional (ordinary) convergence. The basic concept of statistical weighted A- summability was introduced by Mohiuddine (2016). In this investigation, we introduce the (presumably new) concept of statistical deferred weighted A-summability and deferred weighted A- statistical convergence with respect to the difference sequence of order r involving (p; q)-integers and establish an inclusion relation between them. Furthermore, based upon the proposed methods, we intend to approximate the rate of convergence and to demonstrate a Korovkin type approximation theorem for functions of two variables defined on a …

Ppc Update, Wendy C. Robertson

NASIG Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Community Outreach Model Of Service-Learning: A Case Study Of Active Learning And Service-Learning In A Natural Hazards, Vulnerability, And Risk Class, Brittany D. Brand, Kara Brascia, Margaret Sass

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The popularity of service learning is increasing, especially at a time when college students want to make a greater impact in their communities. However, service learning has not been extensively assessed in courses based in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. This article provides a case study of how incorporating service learning through a community outreach project can increase student engagement, enhance the depth of understanding of a given topic, build communication and teamwork skills, and contribute meaningfully to the students' community. This article shares how the instructor of a natural hazards, vulnerability, and risk course implements service-learning through a community …

Employing Earth Observations And Artificial Intelligence To Address Key Global Environmental Challenges In Service Of The Sdgs, Wenzhao Li

Computational and Data Sciences (PhD) Dissertations

Earth Observation (EO) data provides the capability to integrate data from multiple sources and helps to produce more relevant, frequent, and accurate information about complex processes. EO, empowered by methodologies from Artificial Intelligence (AI), supports various aspects of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This dissertation presents author’s major studies using EO to fill in knowledge gaps and develop methodologies and cloud-based applications in selected SDGs, including SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 14 (Life below Water) and SDG 15 (Life on Land). For SDG 6, the study focuses on spatiotemporal water recharge …

Incorporating Word Order Explicitly In Glove Word Embedding, Brandon Cox

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Word embedding is the process of representing words from a corpus of text as real number vectors. These vectors are often derived from frequency statistics from the source corpus. In the GloVe model as proposed by Pennington et al., these vectors are generated using a word-word cooccurrence matrix. However, the GloVe model fails to explicitly take into account the order in which words appear within the contexts of other words. In this paper, multiple methods of incorporating word order in GloVe word embeddings are proposed. The most successful method involves directly concatenating several word vector matrices for each position in …

Vol. 36, No. 4, Helen J. Kim

The Illinois Public Employee Relations Report

Which ULP is It?: An Examination of Retaliation under Sections 10(a)(1) and 10(a)(2) of the Illinois Public Relations Act by Helen J. Kim

Recent Developments

Pittsburg State University Annual Commencement, December 2019, Pittsburg State University

Commencement, 1903-Present

Program of undergraduate and graduate commencement exercises at Pittsburg State University on December of 2019

Adsorption Of Polyisobutylene-Based Dispersants Onto Carbon Black, Travis Paul Holbrook

Dissertations

The formation of carbonaceous by-products (e.g. soot) during the operation of an internal combustion engine is unavoidable and the aggregation of this soot leads to deleterious effects including abrasive wear of the engine, increased oil viscosities, and sludge deposition. Dispersants, which are composed of a hydrophobic tail and a polar headgroup, are used as oil additives to aid in the suspension and stabilization of the soot particles. Polyisobutylene succinimide (PIBSI) is the most well-studied class of dispersants and is characterized by a linear architecture and polyamine headgroup that interacts with soot by acid-base and dipole-dipole interactions. As such, there remains …

The Antimicrobial Activity And Cellular Targets Of Plant Derived Aldehydes And Degradable Pro-Antimicrobial Networks In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Yetunde Adewunmi

Dissertations

Essential oils (EOs) are plant-derived products that have been long exploited for their antimicrobial activities in medicine, agriculture, and food preservation. EOs represent a promising alternative to conventional antibiotics due to the broad-range antimicrobial activity, low toxicity to human commensal bacteria, and the capacity to kill microorganisms without promoting resistance. Despite the progress in the understanding of the biological activity of EOs, many aspects of their mode of action remain inconclusive. The overarching aim of this work was to address these gaps by studying molecular interactions between antimicrobial plant aldehydes and the opportunistic human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We initiated …

Selected Performance Indicators Of University-Model Schools, David Herndon

Dissertations

University-Model® schools seek to blend attributes of homeschooling with traditional schooling by transferring a significant portion of classroom time to a satellite classroom, typically the student’s home. Proponents suggest the model lends itself to better prepared and well-balanced graduates due to the forced ownership required of students in terms of time management, the development of independent study habits, increased balance of family life, and subsequent parental guidance; however, very little research exists to validate these claims. These tenants of the model are in line with recent research and theories suggesting a more holistic approach, beyond academic metrics, to ensure college …

Developing A Computational Framework For A Construction Scheduling Decision Support Web Based Expert System, Feroz Ahmed

Dissertations

Decision-making is one of the basic cognitive processes of human behaviors by which a preferred option or a course of action is chosen from among a set of alternatives based on certain criteria. Decision-making is the thought process of selecting a logical choice from the available options. When trying to make a good decision, all the positives and negatives of each option should be evaluated. This decision-making process is particularly challenging during the preparation of a construction schedule, where it is difficult for a human to analyze all possible outcomes of each and every situation because, construction of a project …

Female Student Perceptions Of Factors That Influence Persistence In Male-Dominated Community College Career And Technical Education Science, Technology, Engineering, And Math Programs, Valeria Williams

Dissertations

The number of males enrolled in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs outnumber female counterparts (Wang & Degol, 2017). The disparity is even greater in persistence rates for STEM related fields (Glass, Sassler, Levitte & Michelmore, 2013). The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of females enrolled in traditionally male-dominated programs of study, specifically in the areas of STEM in community and junior colleges, to determine factors that influence persistence.

Although previous research exists focusing on women in STEM, most studies explore the barriers women face (Ong, Wright, Espinosa, & Orfield, 2011). The findings from previous …

Why Spiking Neural Networks Are Efficient: A Theorem, Michael Beer, Julio Urenda, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Current artificial neural networks are very successful in many machine learning applications, but in some cases they still lag behind human abilities. To improve their performance, a natural idea is to simulate features of biological neurons which are not yet implemented in machine learning. One of such features is the fact that in biological neural networks, signals are represented by a train of spikes. Researchers have tried adding this spikiness to machine learning and indeed got very good results, especially when processing time series (and, more generally, spatio-temporal data). In this paper, we provide a theoretical explanation for this empirical …