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The Kretschmann Scalar, Charles G. Torre

How to... in 10 minutes or less

On a pseudo-Riemannian manifold with metric g, the "Kretschmann scalar" is a quadratic scalar invariant of the Riemann R tensor of g, defined by contracting all indices with g. In this worksheet we show how to calculate the Kretschmann scalar from a metric.

Utah State University Interfaith Diversity Experiences & Attitudes Longitudinal Survey - Time 1 Report: Summer/Fall 2015, Matthew Mayhew, Alyssa Rockenbach, Eboo Patel

Interfaith Initiative Research

Together with more than 120 other colleges and universities around the United States, USU is participating in the national Interfaith Diversity Experiences and Attitudes Longitudinal Study or "IDEALS" survey. This survey was co-developed by Interfaith Youth Core and North Carolina State University to measure the impact that university experiences have on the emergence of a worldview that promotes religious "pluralism" (appreciative engagement across religious divides). View the first year report here.

How An Acoustic Sensor Can Catch A Gunman, 32 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 211 (2016), Amanda Busljeta

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Conversations said in public do not have an expectation of privacy, and therefore, the ShotSpotter does not violate the right to privacy. This comment will address the following: a) ShotSpotter technology is a necessity in all neighborhoods; b) ShotSpotter does not violate an individual’s expectation of privacy; c) the need for ShotSpotter outweighs the cost of the device; and e) regulations and economic solutions will allow cities to use ShotSpotter while still protecting the individual’s privacy rights.

Western Michigan University Undergraduate Catalog 2016-2017, Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University Course Catalogs (1904-present)

• General Information
• Colleges
• Course Descriptions (by prefix)

Art And Medicine: A Collaborative Project Between Virginia Commonwealth University In Qatar And Weill Cornell Medicine In Qatar, Amy J. Andres, Thomas R. Himsworth, Alan Weber, Stephen Scott

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Four faculty researchers, two from Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, and two from Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar developed a one semester workshop-based course in Qatar exploring the connections between art and medicine in a contemporary context. Students (6 art / 6 medicine) were enrolled in the course. The course included presentations by clinicians, medical engineers, artists, computing engineers, an art historian, a graphic designer, a painter, and other experts from the fields of art, design, and medicine. To measure the student experience of interdisciplinarity, the faculty researchers employed a mixed methods approach involving psychometric tests and observational ethnography. Data …

A Revision Of Megalocraerus Lewis, 1902 (Coleoptera, Histeridae: Exosternini), Michael S. Caterino, Alexey K. Tishechkin

Publications

The formely monotypic Neotropical genus Megalocraerus Lewis is revised to include five species, known from southeastern Brazil to Costa Rica: M. rubricatus Lewis, M. mandibularis sp. n., M. chico sp. n., M. madrededios sp. n., and M. tiputini sp. n. We describe the species, map their distributions, and provide a key for their identification. Their subcylindrical body form and emarginate mesosternum have previously hindered placement to tribe, although their curent assignment to Exosternini now appears well supported by morphological evidence. Nothing is known of the natural history of the species.

A Multi-Objective, Hub-And-Spoke Model To Design And Manage Biofuel Supply Chains, Mohammad S. Roni, Sandra D. Eksioglu, Kara G. Cafferty, Jacob J. Jacobson

Publications

In this paper we propose a multi-objective, mixed integer linear programming model to design and manage the supply chain for biofuels. This model captures the trade-offs that exist between costs, environmental and social impacts of delivering biofuels. The in-bound supply chain for biofuel plants relies on a hub-and-spoke structure which optimizes transportation costs of biomass. The model proposed optimizes the CO2" style="position: relative;" tabindex="0" id="MathJax-Element-1-Frame">CO2 emissions due to transportation-related activities in the supply chain. The model also optimizes the social impact of biofuels. The social impacts are evaluated by the number of jobs created. The multi-objective optimization model is …

Optimization Models To Integrate Production And Transportation Planning For Biomass Co-Firing In Coal-Fired Power Plants, Sandra D. Eksioglu, Hadi Karimi, Burak Eksioglu

Publications

Co-firing biomass is a strategy that leads to reduced greenhouse gas emissions in coal-fired power plants. Incentives such as production tax credit (PTC) are designed to help power plants overcome the financial challenges faced during the implementation phase. Decision makers at power plants face two big challenges. The first challenge is identifying whether the benefits from incentives such as PTC can overcome the costs associated with co-firing. The second challenge is identifying the extent to which a plant should co-fire in order to maximize profits. We present a novel mathematical model that integrates production and transportation decisions at power plants. …

Teaching: Natural Or Cultural?, David F. Lancy

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

An important part of the common lore of anthropology is that “other people have culture.” That is, most people fail to recognize or appreciate how much of their lives are governed by habits, values, and expectations that are largely the product of history and culture. They fail to acknowledge that their own way of doing things is not necessarily universal or even widely shared. This ethnocentrism can have enormous consequences for the construction of child development theory and education.

Radio/Television/Sound: Radio Aesthetics And Perceptual Technics In Early American Television, Luke Stadel

The Journal of e-Media Studies

Media theorists and historians have long posited a genealogical connection between radio and television, with the idea of television as “radio with images” a common trope in scholarly understandings of the relationship between the two. Although recent scholarship has produced a more sufficiently historical understanding of the industrial, cultural, and technological connections between radio and television in the American context, the way radio influenced the development of sound norms for television remains largely unclear. Rather than assuming that television simply illustrated the silent genres of radio, adding image to an otherwise blind medium, this article uses the model of perceptual …

What's In A Name? A Critical Review Of Definitions Of Quantitative Literacy, Numeracy, And Quantitative Reasoning, Gizem Karaali, Edwin H Villafane Hernandez '18, Jeremy Alexander Taylor '18

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

This article aims to bring together various threads in the eclectic literature that make up the scholarship around the theme of Quantitative Literacy. In investigating the meanings of terms like "quantitative literacy," "quantitative reasoning," and "numeracy," we seek common ground, common themes, common goals and aspirations of a community of practitioners. A decade ago, these terms were relatively new in the public sphere; today policy makers and accrediting agencies are routinely inserting them into general education conversations. Having good, representative, and perhaps even compact and easily digestible definitions of these terms might come in handy in public relations contexts as …

A Simulation-Based Evaluation Of Efficiency Strategies For A Primary Care Clinic With Unscheduled Visits, Afrifah Bobbie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the health care industry, there are strategies to remove inefficiencies from the health delivery process called efficiency strategies. This dissertation proposed a simulation model to evaluate the impact of the efficiency strategies on a primary care clinic with unscheduled "walk-in" patient visits. The simulation model captures the complex characteristics of the Orlando Veteran's Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) primary care clinic. This clinic system includes different types of patients, patient paths, and multiple resources that serve them. Added to the problem complexity is the presence of patient no-shows characteristics and unscheduled patient arrivals, a problem which has been until recently, …

A Mathematical Model For Feral Cat Ecology With Application To Disease., Jeff Sharpe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We formulate and analyze a mathematical model for feral cats living in an isolated colony. The model contains compartments for kittens, adult females and adult males. Kittens are born at a rate proportional to the population of adult females and mature at equal rates into adult females and adult males. Adults compete with each other in a manner analogous to Lotka-Volterra competition. This competition comes in four forms, classified by gender. Native house cats, and their effects are also considered, including additional competition and abandonment into the feral population. Control measures are also modeled in the form of per-capita removal …

A Systems Approach To Assessing, Interpreting And Applying Human Error Mishap Data To Mitigate Risk Of Future Incidents In A Space Exploration Ground Processing Operations Environment, Tiffaney Alexander

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research results have shown that more than half of aviation, aerospace and aeronautics mishaps/incidents are attributed to human error. Although many existing incident report systems have been beneficial for identifying engineering failures, most of them are not designed around a theoretical framework of human error, thus failing to address core issues and causes of the mishaps. Therefore, it is imperative to develop a human error assessment framework to identify these causes. This research focused on identifying causes of human error and leading contributors to historical Launch Vehicle Ground Processing Operations mishaps based on past mishaps, near mishaps, and close calls. …

Structure-Preserving Finite Difference Methods For Linearly Damped Differential Equations, Ashish Bhatt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Differential equations (DEs) model a variety of physical phenomena in science and engineering. Many physical phenomena involve conservative or dissipative forces, which manifest themselves as qualitative properties of DEs that govern these phenomena. Since only a few and simplistic models are known to have exact solutions, approximate solution techniques, such as numerical integration, are used to reveal important insights about solution behavior and properties of these models. Numerical integrators generally result in undesirable quantitative and qualitative errors . Standard numerical integrators aim to reduce quantitative errors, whereas geometric (numerical) integrators aim to reduce or eliminate qualitative errors, as well, in …

Electrostatic Control Over Temperature-Dependent Tunneling Across Single-Molecule Junctions, Alvar Rodriguez Garrigues

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim of the present dissertation is to improve the understanding and methodology of temperature-dependent tunnel conduction through individual molecules by single-electron transport spectroscopy. New advances in electrochemistry present individual molecular diodes as a realistic option for the implementation on molecular circuits thanks to their high current rectification ratios. Therefore, a major requisite in this field is to understand and control the conduction behaviors for a large variety of conditions. This work focuses on the electric conduction through ferrocene-based molecules as a function of temperatures within a wide range of bias and gate voltages by means of three-terminal electromigrated-broken single-electron …

Energy-Aware Reconfigurable Logic Device Using Spin-Based Storage And Carbon Nanotube Switching, Mohan Krishna Gopi Krishna

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Scaling of semiconductors to the 14-nanometer range and below nanometer range introduces serious design challenges that include high static power in memories and high leakage power, hindering further integration of CMOS devices. Thus, emerging devices are under intense analysis to overcome these drawbacks caused by transistor size scaling. Spintronics technology provides excellent features such as Non-Volatility, low read power, low read delay, higher scalability as well as easy integration with CMOS in comparison with SRAM memories. In addition, Carbon-Nanotube Field-Effect Transistors (CNFETs) provide superior electrical conductivity, low delay and low power consumption in comparison with conventional CMOS technology. Thus in …

Ua35/3 Memoranda, Wku Provost

WKU Administration Documents

Memoranda issued by the WKU Provost to WKU faculty and staff through email in 2016.

• Outstanding Mentoring in Undergraduate Research / Creative Activity
• 2016 Faculty Awards Reception
• Associate Provost of Research & Creative Activity
• Dean of Graduate School

Does Performance-Based Assessment In An Introductory Circuits Laboratory Improve Student Learning?, Benjamin D. Mcpheron, Mallory Zerena Mcpheron, Charles R. Thomas

Engineering, Computing & Construction Management Faculty Publications

Undergraduate engineering students regularly participate in laboratory experiences in introductory circuit theory courses. Based on instructor experience, it can be observed that students often struggle to remember how to use test and measurement equipment or important software from week to week, making long term retention of necessary skills inadequate. The facilitators of this study searched for strategies to improve student retention of important skills, and drew inspiration from performance-based assessment strategies used in the healthcare profession. In particular, physical therapy students are often subject to skills checks, where they must demonstrate competency in standard techniques for physical therapy practice. This …

Sign Learning Kink-Based (Silk) Quantum Monte Carlo For Molecular Systems, Xiaoyao Ma, Randall W. Hall, Frank Loffler, Karol Kowalski, Kiran Bhaskaran-Nair, Mark Jarrell, Juana Moreno

Collected Faculty Scholarship

The Sign Learning Kink (SiLK) based Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) method is used to calculate the ab initioground state energies for multiple geometries of the H₂O, N₂, and F₂ molecules. The method is based on Feynman’s path integral formulation of quantum mechanics and has two stages. The first stage is called the learning stage and reduces the well-known QMC minus sign problem by optimizing the linear combinations of Slater determinants which are used in the second stage, a conventional QMC simulation. The method is tested using different vector spaces and compared to the results of …

The Periodical Winter 2016, Southern Adventist University

the Periodical – Chemistry Department Newsletter

Volume 3, issue 2 of the Periodical includes articles about the Chemistry Club's community service, a pictorial listing of May 2016 graduates, student Jeron Estwick's presentation at a chemistry conference, a feature on students recognized for academic achievement, and an alumni spotlight.

High Powered Pulsed Terahertz Light Generation From Superconducting Antenna Arrays, Nicholas C. Padgett

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Terahertz radiation is invaluable for use in spectroscopy and imaging work due to its nondestructive nature. It has become a key focus for those wishing to develop sensors capable of detecting weapons and narcotics unobtrusively and at a distance as well as characterizing materials and identifying defects. An ultrafast pulsed (femtoseconds) laser incident on a superconducting ring has been predicted to cause the emission of terahertz (THz) radiation. It is theorized that the radiation is a result of the supercurrent being modulated by the breaking and recombining of Cooper pairs on the order of picoseconds, where the time scale determines …

Incorporating Applied Undergraduate Research In Senior To Graduate Level Remote Sensing Courses, Richard Henley, Daniel Unger, David Kulhavy, I-Kuai Hung

Faculty Publications

An Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture (ATCOFA) senior spatial science undergraduate student engaged in a multi-course undergraduate research project to expand his expertise in remote sensing and assess the applied instruction methodology employed within ATCOFA. The project consisted of performing a change detection land-use/land-cover classification for Nacogdoches and Angelina counties in Texas using satellite imagery. The dates for the imagery were spaced approximately ten years apart and consisted of four different acquisitions between 1984 and 2013. The classification procedure followed and expanded upon a series of concrete theoretical remote sensing principles, transforming the four remotely sensed raster images …

Evaluating Interactive Transect Area Assessments Hands-On Instruction For Natural Resource Undergraduate Students, Daniel Unger, Sarah Schwab, Ryan Jacques, Yanli Zhang, I-Kuai Hung, David L. Kulhavy

Faculty Publications

Undergraduate students pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Spatial Science degree at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) receive instruction in the spatial sciences with a focus on hands-on applications. All undergraduate students take the course Introduction to Spatial Science which includes a comprehensive overview of spatial science incorporating a comparison of standard inexpensive area assessment techniques with high-end computer based area assessment methodologies. Students within this course were instructed how to assess the area of a surface feature on an aerial image with a ruler applying the transect method. Student's average Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) between a student's …

Spatial Distribution Of Earthworms In An East Texas Forest Ecosystem, Melissa A. Bozarth, Kenneth W. Farrish, George A. Damoff, James Van Kley, J. Leon Young

Faculty Publications

Earthworms were collected and identified in different ecological habitats of the Stephen F. Austin Experimental Forest (SFAEF) in the Piney Woods Ecoregion (PWE) of Texas. Earthworm spatial distribution data were collected over four distinct ecological habitats with a range of soil conditions and vegetative cover. A total of 128 sampling plots were surveyed in two different, broadly defined locations (mesic slope = 68 plots, dry-mesic upland = 60 plots). Using multivariate classification/ordination (TWINSPAN) and detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) of overstory vegetation data, these two locations were further divided into four distinct habitats: dry-mesic mixed upland, transitional zone, mesic slope and …

Exact Expressions For The Kohn–Sham Exchange-Correlation Potential In Terms Of Wave-Function-Based Quantities, Rogelio Cuevas-Saavedra, Viktor N. Staroverov

Chemistry Publications

Several workers have deduced various exact expressions for the Kohn–Sham exchange-correlation potential in terms of quantities computable from the interacting and noninteracting wave functions of the system. We show that all these expressions can be obtained by one general method in which the interacting N-electron wave function is expanded in products of one- and (N − 1)-electron functions. Different expressions correspond to different choices of the latter functions. Our analysis unifies and clarifies the previously proposed exact treatments of the exchange-correlation potential, and suggests new ways of expressing this quantity.

Assortative Mating But No Evidence Of Genetic Divergence In A Species Characterized By A Trophic Polymorphism, Scott F. Coborne, S R. Garner, Fred Longstaffe, Bryan D. Neff

Earth Sciences Publications

Disruptive selection is a process that can result in multiple sub-groups within a population, referred to as diversification. Foraging related divergence has been described in many taxa, but many questions remain about the contribution of such divergence to reproductive isolation and potentially sympatric speciation. Here we use stable isotope analysis of diet and morphological analysis of body shape to examine phenotypic divergence between littoral and pelagic foraging ecomorphs in a population of pumpkinseed sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus). We then examine reproductive isolation between ecomorphs by comparing the isotopic compositions of nesting males to eggs from their nests (a proxy for maternal …

Taxonomy, Location Of Origin, And Health Status Of Proboscideans From Western Canada Investigated Using Stable Isotope Analysis, Jessica Z. Metcalfe, Fred Longstaffe, Christopher N. Jass, Grant D. Zazula, Grant Keddie

Earth Sciences Publications

We investigated the application of stable isotope analysis of proboscidean remains (collagen in bone/dentin/cementum and structural carbonate in enamel bioapatite) for genus-level identification of isolated specimens, assessment of geographic origins, and testing for nutritional stress. Mammoths (Mammuthus sp.) tended to have higher δ¹⁵N_col and lower δ¹³C_col than mastodons (Mammut americanum), but differences were not significant in every location. Determining the genus of isolated specimens may be possible for locations and time periods with good isotopic baselines, but environmental changes can confound interpretations. For example, an Alberta proboscidean with a δ¹⁵N …

Microbially Induced Sedimentary Structures In The Paleoproterozoic, Upper Huronian Supergroup, Canada, Carolyn Hill, Patricia I. Corcoran, Rohan Aranha, Fred Longstaffe

Earth Sciences Publications

The Paleoproterozoic Gordon Lake and Bar River formations, Huronian Supergroup, contain a variety of sedimentary structures in the Flack Lake area of Ontario, Canada, that have been considered of debatable origin. We identify these structures as microbially induced sedimentary structures (MISS). The preserved MISS are related to microbial mat destruction and decay, and include sand cracks, mat chips, remnant gas domes, pyrite patches, and iron laminae. A biological origin for the fossil structures is supported by their similarities to modern and ancient documented examples of MISS, the sand-dominated nature of the substrate in which they are preserved, and key microtextures …

Formation Of The Neoarchean Bad Vermillion Lake Anorthosite Complex And Spatially Associated Granitic Rocks At A Convergent Plate Margin, Superior Province, Western Ontario, Canada, Shuda Zhou, Ali Polat, Fred Longstaffe, Kunguang Yang, Brian J. Fryer, Crhis Weisener

Earth Sciences Publications

The Bad Vermilion Lake Anorthosite Complex (henceforth, the BVLA Complex) in western Ontario is one of the well-exposed, anorthosite-bearing, Archean layered intrusions in the Superior Province, Canada. This study presents new whole-rock major and trace element data for the various units of the Complex, oxygen isotope data for the anorthosite, and major and trace element data for the spatially associated granitic rocks intruding the BVLA Complex to constrain their petrogenetic and geodynamic origin. Zircons from granitic rocks have yielded a ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb age of 2716 ± 18 Ma, constraining the minimum intrusion age of the Complex. Despite deformation …