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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Defining Characteristics That Lead To Cost-Efficient Veteran Nba Free Agent Signings, David Mccain
Defining Characteristics That Lead To Cost-Efficient Veteran Nba Free Agent Signings, David Mccain
Honors Projects in Mathematics
Throughout the history of the NBA, decisions regarding the signing of free agents have been riddled with complexity. Franchises are tasked with finding out what players will serve as optimal free agent signings prior to seeing them perform within the framework of their team. This study hypothesizes that the adequacy of an NBA free agent signing can be modeled and predicted through the implementation of a machine learning model. The model will learn the necessary information using training and testing data sets that include various player biometrics, game statistics, and financial information. The application of this machine learning model will …
Electric Vehicle Uptake: What Factors Are Motivating The Shift For College-Aged And Older Groups?, Jake Cardines
Electric Vehicle Uptake: What Factors Are Motivating The Shift For College-Aged And Older Groups?, Jake Cardines
Honors Projects in Mathematics
Electric vehicles (EVs) arguably are the most quickly expanding form of transportation as the world races toward a greener future with advanced technology and reduced reliance on fossil fuels. This study analyzes various expected inputs to motivating consumers of particular age groups to purchase EVs, including examination of how the idea of EV ownership is currently perceived and testing which factors influence it positively and negatively. Data collected from 113 survey respondents serves as the basis for determining the responsiveness of potential future EV owners to variables such as vehicle brand and charging availability, electric range, costs associated with purchase …
Changing Nfl Playoff Overtime Rules To Create Equal Opportunities To Win A Game, Matthew Silvia
Changing Nfl Playoff Overtime Rules To Create Equal Opportunities To Win A Game, Matthew Silvia
Honors Projects in Mathematics
The NFL has attempted to create fair overtime rules over the course of the past decade; however, this study is interested in determining what playoff overtime rule (or rules) could the NFL implement to result in outcomes where both teams have a relatively equal chance of winning a game. This study aims to find which overtime rules work best at minimizing the differences between teams who possess the ball first versus teams that kick the ball off to start an overtime period. By collecting various NFL statistics from ESPN.com and FantasyOutsiders.com, this study hopes to run multiple simulations of different …
The Biggest Loser: How Tanking In Professional Sports Impacts Fan Perception, Julia Ayres
The Biggest Loser: How Tanking In Professional Sports Impacts Fan Perception, Julia Ayres
Honors Projects in Mathematics
Professional sports teams are adored nationwide for their talents and the pride they bring to their city for their efforts. However, not all teams take this responsibility seriously and will lose on purpose, or tank, to gain a higher draft pick in the future. Although the long-term goals of tanking are to help the organization, many people take issue with athletes not putting in their best efforts in every game. Teams in both the NBA and NFL are guilty of tanking to gain better draft picks but not all have found success in this process. This leads to important questions …
Vampires And Other Diseases: Stochastic Infection Dynamics Of Small Populations, Marijn Jaarsma
Vampires And Other Diseases: Stochastic Infection Dynamics Of Small Populations, Marijn Jaarsma
Honors Projects in Science and Technology
Mathematical models are powerful tools often applied in the field of epidemiology. The type and shape of the model will differ between different types of diseases. In this study, stochastic dynamical models are applied to the entertaining example of vampires, and the results of this analysis are compared to real-life diseases with small populations of infected. The data used comes from pop-culture depictions of vampires in literature, television shows, movies, and fan pages associated with these depictions. The aim of this study is to serve as an educational tool for modeling diseases with small populations to predict and control the …
Under The Influence, Leonardo Cavicchio
Under The Influence, Leonardo Cavicchio
Honors Projects in Mathematics
The purpose of this Honors Capstone entitled Under the Influence is to assess the validity of claims concerning the possible influence of roommates on one another, concerning alcohol on college campuses. This will be done by examining data collected in a prior study conducted over a two-year period. This analysis will focus on how alcohol consumption changes in correlation with the personality factors of roommates over an extended period of time. This secondary analysis of de-identified data will focus on primary and secondary subquestions. The primary question that will be addressed with the data set collected from the University of …
The Value Of A Win: Analysis Of Playoff Structures, Matthew Orsi
The Value Of A Win: Analysis Of Playoff Structures, Matthew Orsi
Honors Projects in Mathematics
The purpose of this Senior Capstone project is to analyze the distinctions between existing playoff systems. In particular, we are looking to analyze the differences between the standard single-elimination tournament (which the NCAA has used since the inception of the tournament) and other potential options: double-elimination and multiple game series. Popular sports such as Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association all use multiple game series for their playoffs. This project will use probability theory and simulation to determine the likelihood of different seeds winning a championship as well as the expected number of victories by seed in each …
Does Academic Performance Predict Workplace Productivity?, Jodie-Gaye Hunter
Does Academic Performance Predict Workplace Productivity?, Jodie-Gaye Hunter
Honors Projects in Economics
This research examines if college GPA affects productivity and compensation in the workplace. It uses data collected from a survey of approximately 23,000 Bryant University graduates in different stages of their career. About 10 percent of the alumni surveyed completed the survey. The econometric model used in this study allows estimating the effect of GPA on income after controlling for various demographic and socioeconomic variables, including education, major, occupation, gender, among others. The empirical work provides evidence that GPA has a positive and statistically significant impact on workplace productivity for females, but GPA seems to be a weaker predictor of …
Bootstrapping Vs. Asymptotic Theory In Property And Casualty Loss Reserving, Andrew J. Difronzo Jr.
Bootstrapping Vs. Asymptotic Theory In Property And Casualty Loss Reserving, Andrew J. Difronzo Jr.
Honors Projects in Mathematics
One of the key functions of a property and casualty (P&C) insurance company is loss reserving, which calculates how much money the company should retain in order to pay out future claims. Most P&C insurance companies use non-stochastic (non-random) methods to estimate these future liabilities. However, future loss data can also be projected using generalized linear models (GLMs) and stochastic simulation. Two simulation methods that will be the focus of this project are: bootstrapping methodology, which resamples the original loss data (creating pseudo-data in the process) and fits the GLM parameters based on the new data to estimate the sampling …
Mathematical Modeling Of Trending Topics On Twitter, Jonathan S. Skaza
Mathematical Modeling Of Trending Topics On Twitter, Jonathan S. Skaza
Honors Projects in Mathematics
Created in 2006, Twitter is an online social networking service in which users share and read 140-character messages called Tweets. The site has approximately 288 million monthly active users who produce about 500 million Tweets per day. This study applies dynamical and statistical modeling strategies to quantify the spread of information on Twitter. Parameter estimates for the rates of infection and recovery are obtained using Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. The methodological strategy employed is an extension of techniques traditionally used in an epidemiological and biomedical context (particularly in the spread of infectious disease). This study, which addresses …
Statistical Inference For Everyone (Sie), Brian S. Blais
Statistical Inference For Everyone (Sie), Brian S. Blais
Science and Technology Department Faculty Book Publications
In the field of statistical inference, there are two primary schools of thought. Each has its proponents, but it is generally accepted that on all problems covered in an introductory course, that both approaches are valid and lead to the same numerical values when applied to actual problems. Only one of these approaches is covered in a traditional course, which denies the students access to an entire field of statistical inference. The traditional approach, also called the frequentist or orthodox perspective, leads almost directly to problem above. The other approach, also called Probability Theory as Logic, derives all statistical inference …
A Study Of Women Working In The Actuarial Field, Jillian Emberg
A Study Of Women Working In The Actuarial Field, Jillian Emberg
Honors Projects in Mathematics
The goal of this project is to examine how women fit into the actuarial career path and how cultural expectations, biological factors, and personal aspirations affect their experiences in the field. Dramatic changes in the profession have occurred since its emergence in the nineteenth century to become more welcoming to women who choose to enter the profession. However, despite the equalizing demographic shifts of the field, it is still a male-dominated profession. This paper attempts to analyze why some of the changes in the demographics of the field have occurred as well as explain what factors contribute to women’s underrepresentation …
Determining The Success Of Ncaa Basketball Teams Through Team Characteristics, Raymond Witkos
Determining The Success Of Ncaa Basketball Teams Through Team Characteristics, Raymond Witkos
Honors Projects in Mathematics
Every year much of the nation becomes engulfed in the NCAA basketball postseason tournament more affectionately known as “March Madness.” The tournament has received the name because of the ability for any team to win a single game and advance to the next round. The purpose of this study is to determine whether concrete statistical measures can be used to predict the final outcome of the tournament. The data collected in the study include 13 independent variables ranging from the 2003-2004 season up until the current 2009-2010 season. Different tests were run in an attempt to achieve the most accurate …
Predictive Modeling Of Alumni Donor Behavior, Lauren Prue
Predictive Modeling Of Alumni Donor Behavior, Lauren Prue
Honors Projects in Mathematics
In recent years, college and universities have relied increasingly upon the charitable contributions of its previous graduates; as the costs of tuition rise substantially, development offices are facing the challenge of creating annual fund campaigns that are minimally expensive while providing the maximum potential for return. This study addresses the available constituent database at one University in particular in an effort to identify what criteria are the strongest predictors of donor response at a small, private university located within New England. The analysis utilized predictive modeling and data-mining largely within the software program Rapid Insight to build several models in …