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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Curriculum Complexity And Graduation Rates At Utah State University, Hayden Hoopes Dec 2021

Curriculum Complexity And Graduation Rates At Utah State University, Hayden Hoopes

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This study utilizes a curricular analytics framework developed by Heileman et al. (2018) to examine the relationship between curriculum complexity and graduation rates in academic programs at Utah State University. The goal in quantifying the complexity of curricula is to determine whether or not prerequisite courses and other factors of curricula structure impacts graduation from the university. To accomplish this goal, curriculum complexity spreadsheets were developed for 96 degree programs at the university, which facilitated the assignment of curriculum complexity scores to the 6,337 students who qualified for the quasi-experimental study. Logistic regression was then applied to the resulting data …


High Dimensional Event Exploration Over Multiple Simulations, Steven Deron Scott May 2020

High Dimensional Event Exploration Over Multiple Simulations, Steven Deron Scott

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

In this project, we introduce a visualization technique to analyze event simulation data. In particular, we allow the user to discover families of events based on the topological evolution of discrete events across simulations. Discovering how events behave across runs of a simulation has applications in financial market analysis, military simulations, physical mechanics, and other settings. Our approach is to use established methods to produce a linearized tour through parameter space of arbitrary dimension and visualize events of interest in two dimensions, where the first dimension is the tour ordering and the second dimension is usually time. This paper presents …


The Two Types Of Society: Computationally Revealing Recurrent Social Formations And Their Evolutionary Trajectories, Lux Miranda May 2020

The Two Types Of Society: Computationally Revealing Recurrent Social Formations And Their Evolutionary Trajectories, Lux Miranda

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Comparative social science has a long history of attempts to classify societies and cultures in terms of shared characteristics. However, only recently has it become feasible to conduct quantitative analysis of large historical datasets to mathematically approach the study of social complexity and classify shared societal characteristics. Such methods have the potential to identify recurrent social formations in human societies and contribute to social evolutionary theory. However, in order to achieve this potential, repeated studies are needed to assess the robustness of results to changing methods and data sets. Using an improved derivative of the Seshat: Global History Databank, we …


Understanding Personal Data In The World Of Social Media, Nicholas Scott Rodgers May 2020

Understanding Personal Data In The World Of Social Media, Nicholas Scott Rodgers

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Personal data is behind many of the online interactions that people have through social media and other online sites and services. This data allows sites to understand their users, which in turn allows them to provide better content for their users. This data is also used to determine user interests, which these online services use to target more relevant advertising to their users, and share the information that they collect about their users with third parties. It is only recently that this personal data is being regulated by lawmakers, the businesses running these sites are held accountable for managing the …


Algorithmic Trading For Cryptocurrencies, Michael Ward May 2018

Algorithmic Trading For Cryptocurrencies, Michael Ward

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This project takes several common strategies for algorithmic stock trading and tests them on the cryptocurrency market. The three strategies used are moving average crossover, mean reversion, and pairs trading. Data was collected every five minutes for the top one hundred cryptocurrencies between October 5, 2017, and January 24, 2018. Due to the high volatility of the market, the data includes various market situations. Three noted situations are a rising market, falling market, and relatively stable market. The three strategies were modified to optimally follow each market situation. Modifications include adjusting parameters used in each strategy as well as mixing …


Exploring The Possibilities Of A Cellular Automata In Minecraft, Stephen Saunders Jul 2014

Exploring The Possibilities Of A Cellular Automata In Minecraft, Stephen Saunders

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Complex systems are not always generated by complex individuals. Simple, cell-like individuals can produce sophisticated outcomes. Structures implementing this nature are called cellular automaton. In this paper, we discuss the difficulties associated with the creation of one such automaton in a pre-existing environment, in this case the game MineCraft. A subsequent study of the behavior of this automaton is presented, using an objective information measure called set complexity.


Moving Object Tracking: Seeking Extensible Solutions, Jeremy Pack Dec 2006

Moving Object Tracking: Seeking Extensible Solutions, Jeremy Pack

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Moving object tracking is a difficult field with no "best" solution. The documents contained here detail software that was developed in order to perform tracking of objects that are in the line of sight of multiple cameras. Some of the software developed is already in use by the US Army Dugway Proving Ground. Other software represents prototype or early development code. This software was written by Jeremy Pack, who was the lead programmer, and Luke Andrew at the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah.


Task Scheduling And Simulation, Martin Lee Mayne May 2006

Task Scheduling And Simulation, Martin Lee Mayne

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Scheduling is a problem that is not only common computer science, but which also comes up in a variety of real world situations. Whether multi-threading computer processes, scheduling airport traffic, optimizing assembly line production and manufacturing, or ensuring that enough employees are on the floor at a given time, scheduling is important for increasing efficiency, reducing costs, optimizing production, and meeting deadlines. Scheduling has been used throughout history and has increased in efficacy through the years. Modem computerized scheduling techniques are typically much better than human calculations and often produce surprising insights and results which would have been otherwise passed …