Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Embers, Char Miller

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

After living in Southern California for nine years, I should be used to fire season—and the fact that there is something called fire season—but I’m not.

My wife and I moved to the Southland in late summer 2007, and within the month we saw some of the region’s most horrific firestorms consume vast stretches of chaparral-cloaked foothills, deep canyons filled with alder and oak and, at higher elevations, thick stands of pine and cedar.

The Problems Of Contemporariness And Voice: Review Of Literacy & Mathematics: A Contemporary Approach To Quantitative Literacy By Jay P. Abramson And Matthew A. Isom (2005), Gizem Karaali

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

The book under review covers the traditional content of a typical mathematical literacy text. After a brief overview of the book contents, the review then focuses on two specific challenges that QL textbooks have to meet: the timeliness of the contexts used and the subjective author voice that inevitably colors any contextualized discussion. Both issues noticeably arise in the text reviewed. Nonetheless instructors may find it a helpful resource.

One View: Fire Fuels Regeneration In Eastern Sierra, Char Miller

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

Sometimes it’s the small things that can best tell big stories.

Like the Marina Fire, which currently has burned a modest 800 acres to the north of Lee Vining, threatened but did not burn any structures, and whose greatest disruption has been periodically to shut down US 395. It hardly seems worth much attention.

Dead Trees Don’T Mean Catastrophe For California, Char Miller

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

Nature knows what it’s doing. You’d never know that, though, from the panicked reaction to news that 66 million trees in California have died since 2005, including 26 million said to have perished just in the last few months.

The Erskine Fire And Public-Lands Management In The American West, Char Miller

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

The Erskine Fire is big, fast and dangerous. Its power is evident in the tragic loss of life, the incineration of an estimated 150 structures and its rapid growth — more than 36,000 acres burned in its first 30 hours.

One-Bit Compressive Sensing Of Dictionary-Sparse Signals, Richard Baraniuk, Simon Foucart, Deanna Needell, Yaniv Plan, Mary Wootters

CMC Faculty Publications and Research

One-bit compressive sensing has extended the scope of sparse recovery by showing that sparse signals can be accurately reconstructed even when their linear measurements are subject to the extreme quantization scenario of binary samples—only the sign of each linear measurement is maintained. Existing results in one-bit compressive sensing rely on the assumption that the signals of interest are sparse in some fixed orthonormal basis. However, in most practical applications, signals are sparse with respect to an overcomplete dictionary, rather than a basis. There has already been a surge of activity to obtain recovery guarantees under such a generalized sparsity model …

Fire Inevitable, Despite Attempts To Tame Chaparral, Char Miller

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

You didn’t need to fly into Ontario International Airport this past week to know that Southern California’s fire season had begun. But the view from 10,000 feet offered a unique perspective on how wildfires impact the region.

Optimizing Quantization For Lasso Recovery, Xiaoyi Gu, Shenyinying Tu, Hao-Jun Michael Shi, Mindy Case, Deanna Needell, Yaniv Plan

CMC Faculty Publications and Research

This letter is focused on quantized Compressed Sensing, assuming that Lasso is used for signal estimation. Leveraging recent work, we provide a framework to optimize the quantization function and show that the recovered signal converges to the actual signal at a quadratic rate as a function of the quantization level. We show that when the number of observations is high, this method of quantization gives a significantly better recovery rate than standard Lloyd-Max quantization. We support our theoretical analysis with numerical simulations.

Bioswales For Stormwater Remediation And Infiltration: Assessing Regulatory Climate And Quantifying Filtration Capacity Of A Claremont Bioswale, Skyler Lewis, Boyu Liu, Paul Picciano, Liana Solis, Char Miller

Environmental Analysis Program Senior Projects

Watershed management is critical in ensuring a sustainable water supply. This project is designed to assess the impact of bioswales in the context of Southern California’s climate. The patterns of droughts and floods make these green infrastructure appealing as they offer potential to boost water quality and regenerate local aquifers, while reducing the area of impermeable surfaces in our urban landscape. As bioswales have not been commonly incorporated into infrastructure development, our project focuses on a relatively new bioswale, added in 2012 and located on Pomona College’s campus, to serve as our case study in determining the viability of bioswales …

Math Education: A Messy Problem, Gizem Karaali

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

The current state of math education in America is certainly not ideal, writes Gizem Karaali, but mathematicians, researchers, policy makers and others are working on it -- and it is definitely a problem worth working on.

Rethinking La's Nature Through German Eyes, Char Miller

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

Los Angeles might be more than 5700 miles from Berlin as a crow (or Luftansa) flies, but German culture—and most notably its varied perceptions of nature—have strongly influenced how those living in the Southland experience their environs.

Oft in the negative, to judge from the enduring legacy of Bertold Brecht’s sharp commentary about the City of Angeles in which he sheltered during the ravages of World War II. “They have nature here,” he jotted down in his diary in August 1941, and as “everything is so artificial, they even have an exaggerated feeling for nature, which becomes alienated.”

Umdenken: Von Der Natur Lernen (Rethinking: Learning From Nature): Some Personal Thoughts On The Goethe Institute Traveling Exhibition, Hans J. Rindisbacher

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Rethinking: Wind, Wende, Wandel, Friederike Von Schwerin-High

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Collaboration And Creativity In Southern Califonia: An Offering, Gizem Karaali, Ami Radunskaya

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

WiMSoCal (Women in Math in Southern California) is a regional conference in its ninth incarnation. The conference is the result of the efforts of Professor Cymra Haskell (USC) to create a supportive local community for women mathematicians. At our first meeting in 2007, a confluence of Ami’s EDGE regional cluster and Cymra’s WISE group at USC, we socialized, got to know each other and brainstormed about what we, as a group, would like to see happen. It was clear that our younger colleagues wanted to meet as mathematicians, sharing intellectual ideas as well as anecdotes from the trenches.

The Power Of Two: Two Tips For Mathematicians, Gizem Karaali

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

This post is about two great tips involving the number 2 that I learned along the way. They will perhaps not double your happiness or fortune, but I promise you that you will not regret it if you do decide to take them along for the ride.

Review: On Complex Symmetric Toeplitz Operators, Stephan Ramon Garcia

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Multi-Year Optimization Of Malaria Intervention: A Mathematical Model, Harry J. Dudley, Abhishek Goenka '15, Cesar J. Orellana '17, Susan E. Martonosi

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

Malaria is a mosquito-borne, lethal disease that affects millions and kills hundreds of thousands of people each year, mostly children. There is an increasing need for models of malaria control. In this paper, a model is developed for allocating malaria interventions across geographic regions and time, subject to budget constraints, with the aim of minimizing the number of person-days of malaria infection.

Review: On Rank One Perturbations Of Complex Symmetric Operators, Stephan Ramon Garcia

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Review: A C*-Algebra Approach To Complex Symmetric Operators, Stephan Ramon Garcia

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Simulating Surfactant Spreading: Impact Of A Physically Motivated Equation Of State, Dina Sinclair '17, Rachel Levy, Karen E. Daniels

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

For more than two decades, a single model for the spreading of a surfactant-driven thin liquid film has dominated the applied mathematics literature on the subject. Recently, through the use of fluorescently-tagged lipids, it has become possible to make direct, quantitative comparisons between experiments and models. These comparisons have revealed two important discrepancies between simulations and experiments: the spatial distribution of the surfactant layer, and the timescale over which spreading occurs. In this paper, we present numerical simulations that demonstrate the impact of the particular choice of the equation of state (EoS) relating the surfactant concentration to the surface tension. …

Newton's Law Of Cooling, Caleb J. Emmons

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

A poem reflecting three different viewpoints on Newton's Law of Cooling.

Pythagoras Plays His Lyre, Sarah Glaz

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

A poem about the Pythagoreans' beliefs and way of life.

Pension Building, Washington Dc, E Laura Golberg

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

No abstract provided.

The Allure Of Mathematics Or Book Review: Seduced By Logic: Émilie Du Châtelet, Mary Somerville, And The Newtonian Revolution, By Robyn Arianrhod, Elizabeth A. Lamprecht

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Today, there is a tendency to overlook the contributions of women such as Émilie du Châtelet and Mary Somerville; yet, despite numerous obstacles, they were able to make meaningful contributions to science. This review of Robyn Arianrhod’s book provides brief biographical summaries of the lives of these extraordinary women. It also considers some of the ramifications of Isaac Newton’s theory.

Throughout history, various factors have impeded women from full participation in scientific research; nevertheless, Émilie du Châtelet and Mary Somerville found and took advantage of opportunities to engage in scientific activities. This raises the question: had these women been born …

Jay Leno And Abstract Algebra, Adam Glesser, Martin Bonsangue

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

The Jay Leno skit Jaywalking, showing ordinary people struggling to answer basic questions, is both entertaining and applicable to teaching. This article describes how an instructor can strengthen students' conceptual understanding by creating an element of confusion, or "cognitive dissonance," in the students' minds using Jaywalking-style interactions in the classroom.

Dramathizing Functions: Building Connections Between Mathematics And Arts, Gunhan Caglayan

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This article focuses on connections between mathematics and performance arts (drama). More specifically we offer an exposition of a segment of college algebra mathematics (an introduction to functions), with an approach primarily emphasizing the aesthetic aspects of mathematical learning, teaching, and performing.

A Meeting Of Minds: An Alternate Humor For Teaching Mathematics To Non-Stem Majors, Paul H. Grawe

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

John Allen Paulos argued essentially for three forms of humor dear to mathematics: Incongruity, Gotcha, and Word Play. Unfortunately, these three are often combative forms and easily drive non-STEM majors out of mathematics and statistics.

William Dunham in The Mathematical Universe shows how a fine mathematician can use humor to draw non-specialists in. Central to Dunham’s success is his use of Sympathetic Pain humor, which creates softer synthetic Reconciler, Consoler, or Bridgebuilder humor styles.

What If?: Mathematics, Creative Writing, And Play, Emily Clader

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Mathematics can inform creative writing by suggesting structures for it to follow, as well as by providing the imaginative impetus for common rules to be broken. In a workshop co-taught by the author, a class of sixth-grade students explored this interplay as they produced fractal-inspired poetry and geometry-inspired fiction. This article describes the form and results of the workshop in the context of a broader discussion of the influence of mathematics upon literature.

The Importance Of Surprise In Mathematical Beauty, V. Rani Satyam

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Mathematicians, mathematics education researchers, and philosophers have written about mathematical beauty and many of the qualities commonly associated with it, such as simplicity, brevity, enlightenment, etc. One key theme that underlies many of these qualities is surprise or the unexpected. In this article, I discuss the integral role surprise plays in mathematical beauty. Through examples, I argue that simplicity alone is oftentimes not enough for a piece of mathematics to be considered beautiful, but rather it is unexpected simplicity that we seek. I propose, moreover, that surprise is necessary for enlightenment. The paper also reports results from an activity designed …

The Role Of Sequence In The Experience Of Mathematical Beauty, Leslie Dietiker

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

In this article, I analyze the aesthetic dimensions of a sequence of mathematical events found in an unusual first grade lesson in order to demonstrate how sequencing may affect an individual’s experience of mathematical beauty. By approaching aesthetic as a sense or felt quality of an experience in context (Sinclair, 2001, 2011), this analysis explains how sequence can affect the way mathematical objects or actions are experienced by an individual. Thus, rather than questioning whether or in what ways a set of mathematical objects are beautiful or not, this paper addresses under what conditions is the mathematics in play beautiful. …