Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Concept Mapping As A Tool For Enhancing Self-Paced Learning In A Distance Scenario, John Allen Richbourg

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have determined that concept maps serve as effective tools in the traditional science classroom. The purpose of this experimental study was to investigate concept mapping as a tool for student knowledge acquisition in 10th grade science for students in distance learning situations. Research questions were designed to investigate the influence of concept mapping on rate and quality of student knowledge acquisition and retention. This study was a pretest-posttest 2-group comparison study, constructivist in nature and based on the theory of cognitive learning. Participants included 36 students in the 10th grade at an inner-city school in the United States. Control …

The Relationship Between Information Technology And Organizational Effectiveness As Perceived By Health Care Providers, Christian Chikwem Ukaga

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The U.S. Congress has made health information technology a central component of the national quest to improve health care delivery. The problem addressed in this study was the uncertainty among healthcare providers regarding the benefits of health care information technology adoption relative to healthcare delivery processes and outcomes. The purpose of the study was to understand the effectiveness of information technology as perceived by healthcare providers. The research questions were designed to investigate the relationship between health information technology and organizational effectiveness, exchange of information, organizational process, organizational productivity, and direct personal care. Sociotechnical systems theory and Donabedian's framework for …

Assessing Value Added In The Use Of Electronic Medical Records In Nigeria, Isaiah Gbenga Abimbola

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Electronic medical records (EMRs) or electronic health records have been in use for years in hospitals around the world as a time-saving system for patient record keeping. Despite its widespread use, some physicians disagree with the assertion that EMRs save time. The purpose of this study was to explore whether any time saved with the use of the EMR system was actually devoted by doctors to patient-care and thereby to improved patient-care efficiency. The conceptual support for this study was predicated employing the task-technology fit theory. Task-technology theorists argue that information technology is likely to have a positive impact in …

The Value Of Diagnostic Software And Doctors' Decision Making, Babatunde Ayodele Alaofin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The prevalence of medical misdiagnosis has remained high despite the adoption of diagnostic software. This ongoing controversy about the role of technology in mitigating the problem of misdiagnosis centers on the question of whether diagnostic software does reduce the incidence of misdiagnosis if properly relied upon by physicians. The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional study based on planned behavior theory was to measure doctors' opinions of diagnostic technology's medical utility. Recruitment e-mails were sent to 3,100 AMA-accredited physicians through their database that yielded a sample of 99 physicians for the study. One-sample t tests and, where appropriate because of non-normal …

Impact Of Eu Medical Device Directive On Medical Device Software, Guy Foe Owono

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Directive 2007/47/EC of the European Parliament amending Medical Device Directive (MDD) provides medical device manufacturers with a compliance framework. However, the effects of the amendments to the MDD on competition in the U.S. medical device software industry are unknown. This study examined the impact of this directive on the competitiveness of U.S. medical device software companies, the safety and efficacy of medical device software, employee training, and recruitment. The conceptual framework for this study included 3 dimensions of medical device regulations: safety, performance, and reliability. The overall research design was a concurrent mixed method study using both quantitative and qualitative …

A Meta-Analysis Of Association Between One-Carbon Metabolism Gene Polymorphisms And Risk Of Prostate Cancer, Mahmood Tazari

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men. The purpose of this quantitative, meta-analysis study was to examine one-carbon metabolism gene polymorphisms in a group of genes to determine their association with prostate cancer risk. The genetic epidemiology theory provided the framework for the study. The data collected were from published articles. From over 2,800 individual studies, 20 articles were retained for results and data abstraction, following the title, abstract screen, and full text screening in the second phase. The data were analyzed by a meta-analysis statistical method, combining the results from selected studies to estimate the overall association. …

Enhancing Workplace Productivity And Competitiveness In Trinidad And Tobago Through Ict Adoption, Kennedy Jerome Swaratsingh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The productivity of Trinidad and Tobago's public sector workplaces is related to their absorptive capacity for technological adoption. Guided by the technology acceptance model, which suggests that individuals' and institutions' use of technology increases in relation to perceived ease of use and apparent value, this case study explored how Trinidad and Tobago used information and communications technology from 2001 - 2010 to improve public sector workplace productivity. Study data were collected from 22 individual interviews with senior executives from the government of Trinidad and Tobago, members of the e-business roundtable, and local industry experts, and from reviewing the archives of …

Effects Of Investor Sentiment Using Social Media On Corporate Financial Distress, Tarek Hoteit

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The mainstream quantitative models in the finance literature have been ineffective in detecting possible bankruptcies during the 2007 to 2009 financial crisis. Coinciding with the same period, various researchers suggested that sentiments in social media can predict future events. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between investor sentiment within the social media and the financial distress of firms Grounded on the social amplification of risk framework that shows the media as an amplified channel for risk events, the central hypothesis of the study was that investor sentiments in the social media could predict t he level …

Economic Efficiency Of Fuel Reduction Treatments In The Home Ignition Zone To Mitigate Wildfire Risk In Montana, Usa, Howard L. Williams

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wildland-urban interface growth and factors increasing the probability of wildfire suggest that annual spending on wildfire risk mitigation and suppression will continue to increase. With limited information about the benefits and costs of risk mitigation, land managers and homeowners may under- or over-invest in risk mitigation, where costs are disproportionate to the expected benefits of the strategy. This study accounted for expected increases in wildfire risk (due to growth of the WUI, climate change and vegetation growth) over time in Flathead County, Montana, and estimated the expected avoided loss in structure values associated with three treatment levels that would require …

The Biogeochemistry Of Elemental Sulfur Contaminated Soils: Insights Into Effective Remediation, Michael Ryan Mctee

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Soil contamination that results from elemental sulfur (S⁰) deposition is a new occurrence. Elemental sulfur is stockpiled as a byproduct from the oil and gas industry and is deposited by biodegradable trap and skeet targets at shooting ranges. Chemolithotrophs and mixotrophs can oxidize S⁰ to H₂SO₄. Consequently, in areas where excess S⁰ is deposited or stockpiled, soils can acidify to pH values observed with acid mine drainage.

I studied S⁰ contamination at a former sporting clay range. For seven years, the range used biodegradable trap and skeet targets that contained S …

The Effect Of Spatial Patterns Of Soil Hydraulic Conductivity And Depth On Local And Hillslope Scale Shallow Water Table Dynamics, Casey E. Ryan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Much research in forested headwater catchments has focused on the role of topography for organizing subsurface flow and the hydrologic connectivity of upland flow paths to stream networks. However, little work has been conducted to evaluate how localized and hillslope scale patterns of hydraulic conductivity and soil depth contribute to spatial patterns of water table duration, magnitude, and connectivity. I monitored shallow groundwater dynamics in wells distributed across a 1st order hillslope in the Lubrecht Experimental Forest, Montana. Additionally, I collected in-situ measurements of soil saturated hydraulic conductivity and soil depth at 10m intervals across the study hillslope and compared …

Proterozoic Tectonometamorphic Evolution Of The Ruby Range, Sw Montana, Usa: Insights From Phase Equilibria Modeling And In Situ Monazite Petrochronology, Martin Cramer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Phase equilibria modeling and monazite petrochronology reveal a complex history for the Ruby Range, SW Montana, which provides insights into the reactivation and growth of the northwestern Wyoming craton. Metapelites and orthoamphibolites from three areas were investigated. Stone Creek, the structurally highest area along the western flank, records a clockwise P–T path with peak conditions of ~6.5 kbar and ~760 °C and post-peak conditions of ~6.0 kbar and ~680 °C. Monazite growth in this area occurred at 1790–1723 Ma, with monazite inclusions in garnet at 1757 ± 8 Ma. Structurally deeper rocks at Elk Gulch in the south-central part …

Capturing The Benefits Of Restoration: Local Business Utilization And Opportunities For Growth In Northwestern Montana, Chelsea P. Mciver

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Restoration and maintenance of forests and watersheds is increasingly a focus of management on public lands and, in addition to traditional forest management activities, has the potential to contribute to the economic vitality of local, forest-dependent communities. However, research has shown that the extent to which local communities benefit from restoration and management activities is highly variable. This study seeks to understand whether local communities in northwestern Montana are capturing the benefits of these activities on public lands by analyzing federal contracting trends. Specifically, this study 1) characterizes the value and type of federal contracts along with the spatial distribution …

Cows And Plows: Science-Based Conservation For Grassland Songbirds In Agricultural Landscapes, Marisa K. Lipsey

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Temperate grasslands are among earth’s most imperiled ecosystems. In North America, steep declines of endemic songbird populations indicate that grassland loss and degradation may be approaching critical levels. Grasslands are agricultural landscapes largely (~85%) under private ownership with little formal protection status. Remaining bird populations depend on grazing lands that have not been converted to cropland. We combine regional data from a hotspot for grassland bird diversity (northeast Montana, USA; 26,500-km2) with continental data spanning the northern Great Plains (1,000,000-km2) to evaluate how land use and management influence bird distribution and abundance. Regionally, habitat used by seven grassland specialists spanned …

A Model For Determining Drivers Of Phenology In Western United States Rangelands, Joseph R. St. Peter

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Plant phenology has long been used as an indicator of climate. Recent changes in plant phenology are evidence of the influence of climate change. Modeling plant phenology has become an effective tool to understand the impacts of climate change. Using machine learning techniques I developed a modeling process for accurately predicting phenology across a diverse landscape. This model uses individual site data to set site specific climate thresholds for plant phenology. This model also identifies the limiting factors to vegetation phenology for rangelands in the western United States. NDVI remotely sensed data was used to quantify land surface phenology and …

Uncertainty Communication Solution In Neutrosophic Key, Florentin Smarandache, Bianca Tedorescu, Mirela Teodorescu

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

This study is the first step of a research that points out the solving of uncertainties in process analysis. The research is based on Neutrosophy Theory (Smarandache, 1995), a new concept of states treatment with a generous applicability to sciences, like artificial intelligence (Vladareanu et al, 2014).

Quaestiones Neutrosophicae, Florentin Smarandache, Yale Landsberg

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

The following dialogue contains cuts from different non-protocolar conversations, initially not intended for publication, held by the authors by email during the beginning of 2015 – on Neutrosophy and related topics.

Many thanks to all friends and dialogue partners who payed attention to Neutrosophy and connected areas, in emails, yahoo groups, social media, letters, private discussions.

Euclid Squares On Infinite Planes, Florentin Smarandache, W.B. Vasantha Kandasamy, K. Ilanthenral

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In this book for the first time the authors study the new type of Euclid squares in various planes like real plane, complex plane, dual number plane, special dual like number plane and special quasi dual number plane. There are six such planes and they behave distinctly. From the study it is revealed that each type of squares behave in a different way depending on the plane. We define several types of algebraic structures on them. Such study is new, innovative and interesting. However for some types of squares; one is not in a position to define product. Further under …

Techno-Art Of Selariu Supermathematics Functions, 2nd Volume, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

An ALBUM, according to the dictionary, is defined as "notebook for storing photos, postcards, stamps, lyrics, quotes etc.", which, in other words, means gatherings of "pieces" of the same "species". Or, in the new Techno-Art of Selariu SuperMathematics Functions ALBUM (the second book of Selariu SuperMathematics Functions), one contemplates a unique COMPOSITION, INTER-, INTRA- and TRANS-DISCIPLINARY. (Capitalizing here is not a futility, but a harmony with the TRUTH.) One caveat I am indebted to do, as a consequent "reader" – over time, I received the ALBUM, chapter by chapter, pace by pace, which gave me the time to analyze / …

A New Type Of Group Action Through The Applications Of Fuzzy Sets And Neutrosophic Sets, Florentin Smarandache, Mumtaz Ali

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

Fuzzy sets are the most significant tools to handle uncertain data while neutrosophic sets are the generalizations of fuzzy sets in the sense to handle uncertain, incomplete, inconsistent, indeterminate, false data. In this paper, we introduced fuzzy subspaces and neutrosophic subspaces (generalization of fuzzy subspaces) by applying group actions.Further, we define fuzzy transitivity and neutrosophic transitivty in this paper. Fuzzy orbits and neutrosophic orbits are introduced as well. We also studied some basic properties of fuzzy subspaces as well as neutrosophic subspaces.

A Comparison Of Combined Overlap Block Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (Cobfcm) And Combined Overlap Block Neutrosophic Cognitive Map (Cobncm) In Finding The Hidden Patterns And Indeterminacies In Psychological Causal Models: Case Study Of Adhd, Hojjatollah Farahani, Florentin Smarandache, Lihshing Leigh Wang

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In spite of researchers’ concerns to find causalities, reviewing the literature of psychological studies one may argue that the classical statistical methods applied in order to find causalities are unable to find uncertainty and indeterminacies of the relationships between concepts.

In this paper, we introduce two methods to find effective solutions by identifying “hidden” patterns in the patients’ cognitive maps. Combined Overlap Block Fuzzy Cognitive Map (COBFCM) and Combined Overlap Block Neutrosophic Map (COBNCM) are effective when the number of concepts can be grouped and are large in numbers. In the first section, we introduce COBFCM, COBNCM, their applications, and …

N-Valued Interval Neutrosophic Sets And Their Application In Medical Diagnosis, Said Broumi, Irfan Deli, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In this paper a new concept is called n-valued interval neutrosophic sets is given. The basic operations are introduced on n-valued interval neutrosophic sets such as; union, intersection, addition, multiplication, scalar multiplication, scalar division, truthfavorite and false-favorite. Then, some distances between n-valued interval neutrosophic sets (NVINS) are proposed. Also, we propose an efficient approach for group multi-criteria decision making based on n-valued interval neutrosophic sets. An application of n-valued interval neutrosophic sets in medical diagnosis problem is given.

(T, I, F)-Neutrosophic Structures, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In this paper we introduce for the first time a new type of structures, called (T, I, F)-Neutrosophic Structures, presented from a neutrosophic logic perspective, and we show particular cases of such structures in geometry and in algebra. In any field of knowledge, each structure is composed from two parts: a space, and a set of axioms (or laws) acting (governing) on it. If the space, or at least one of its axioms (laws), has some indeterminacy, that structure is a (T, I, F)-Neutrosophic Structure.

Neutrosophic Axiomatic System, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In this paper, we introduce for the first time the notions of Neutrosophic Axiom, Neutrosophic Axiomatic System, Neutrosophic Deducibility and Neutrosophic Inference, Neutrosophic Proof, Neutrosophic Tautologies, Neutrosophic Quantifiers, Neutrosophic Propositional Logic, Neutrosophic Axiomatic Space, Degree of Contradiction (Dissimilarity) of Two Neutrosophic Axioms, and Neutrosophic Model. A class of neutrosophic implications is also introduced. A comparison between these innovatory neutrosophic notions and their corresponding classical notions is made. Then, three concrete examples of neutrosophic axiomatic systems, describing the same neutrosophic geometrical model, are presented at the end of the paper.

Inteligencia Artificial Y Analítica De Datos Para Un Futuro Sostenible, Florentin Smarandache, Michael Y. Leyva Vazquez

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

1-De los mitos a la Inteligencia Artificial moderna

2-Evolución e Impacto de la Inteligencia Artificial Generativa

3-Sostenibilidad en la Era de la Inteligencia Artificial: Impactos y Desafíos

3-Neutrosofía másalláde lo verdaderoy lo falso

Graph-Theoretic Characterization Of Cyber-Threat Infrastructures, Amine Boukhtouta, Djedjiga Mouheb, Mourad Debbabi, Omar Alfandi, Farkhund Iqbal, May El Barachi

All Works

In this paper, we investigate cyber-threats and the underlying infrastructures. More precisely, we detect and analyze cyber-threat infrastructures for the purpose of unveiling key players (owners, domains, IPs, organizations, malware families, etc.) and the relationships between these players. To this end, we propose metrics to measure the badness of different infrastructure elements using graph theoretic concepts such as centrality concepts and Google PageRank. In addition, we quantify the sharing of infrastructure elements among different malware samples and families to unveil potential groups that are behind specific attacks. Moreover, we study the evolution of cyber-threat infrastructures over time to infer patterns …

Toward Mobile Robots Reasoning Like Humans, Jean Oh, Arne Suppe, Felix Duvallet, Abdeslam Boularias, Luis Navarro-Serment, Martial Hebert, Anthony Stentz, Jerry Vinokurov, Oscar Romero, Christian Lebiere, Robert Dean

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Robots are increasingly becoming key players in human-robot teams. To become effective teammates, robots must possess profound understanding of an environment, be able to reason about the desired commands and goals within a specific context, and be able to communicate with human teammates in a clear and natural way. To address these challenges, we have developed an intelligence architecture that combines cognitive components to carry out high-level cognitive tasks, semantic perception to label regions in the world, and a natural language component to reason about the command and its relationship to the objects in the world. This paper describes recent …

Modeling Neuromorphic Persistent Firing Networks, Ning Ning, Guoqi Li, Wei He, Kejie Huang, Li Pan, Kiruthika Ramanathan, Rong Zhao, Luping Shi

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Neurons are believed to be the brain computational engines of the brain. A recent discovery in neurophysiology reveals that interneurons can slowly integrate spiking, share the output across a coupled network of axons and respond with persistent firing even in the absence of input to the soma or dendrites, which has not been understood and could be very important for exploring the mechanism of human cognition. The conventional models are incapable of simulating the important newly-discovered phenomenon of persistent firing induced by axonal slow integration. In this paper, we propose a computationally efficient model of neurons through modeling the axon …

Adaptive Duty Cycling In Sensor Networks With Energy Harvesting Using Continuous-Time Markov Chain And Fluid Models, Wai Hong Ronald Chan, Pengfei Zhang, Ido Nevat, Sai Ganesh Nagarajan, Alvin C. Valera, Hwee Xian Tan, Natarajan Gautam

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Abstract:The dynamic and unpredictable nature of energy harvesting sources available for wireless sensor networks, and the time variation in network statistics like packet transmission rates and link qualities, necessitate the use of adaptive duty cycling techniques. Such adaptive control allows sensor nodes to achieve long-run energy neutrality, where energy supply and demand are balanced in a dynamic environment such that the nodes function continuously. In this paper, we develop a new framework enabling an adaptive duty cycling scheme for sensor networks that takes into account the node battery level, ambient energy that can be harvested, and application-level QoS requirements. We …

Low Effort Crowdsourcing: Leveraging Peripheral Attention For Crowd Work, Vaish Rajan, Peter Organisciak, Kotaro Hara, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Haoqi Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Crowdsourcing systems leverage short bursts of focusedattention from many contributors to achieve a goal. Byrequiring people’s full attention, existing crowdsourcingsystems fail to leverage people’s cognitive surplus in themany settings for which they may be distracted, performingor waiting to perform another task, or barely payingattention. In this paper, we study opportunities for loweffortcrowdsourcing that enable people to contribute toproblem solving in such settings. We discuss the designspace for low-effort crowdsourcing, and through a seriesof prototypes, demonstrate interaction techniques, mechanisms,and emerging principles for enabling low-effortcrowdsourcing.