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2007

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Articles 211 - 240 of 6758

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Powerpoint At 20: Back To Basics, Robert Gaskins Dec 2007

Powerpoint At 20: Back To Basics, Robert Gaskins

Robert Gaskins

Let simplicity inspire, and resist the lure of unreadable fonts, stock clip art, sound effects, and flying bullet points.


Exact Confidence Bounds For The Risk Ratio In 2x2 Tables With Structural Zero, Chris J. Lloyd, Max Moldovan Dec 2007

Exact Confidence Bounds For The Risk Ratio In 2x2 Tables With Structural Zero, Chris J. Lloyd, Max Moldovan

Chris J. Lloyd

This paper examines exact one-sided confidence limits for the risk ratio in a 2x2 table with structural zero. Starting with four approximate lower and upper limits, we adjust each using the algorithm of Buehler (1957) to arrive at lower (upper) limits that have exact coverage properties and are as large (small) as possible subject to coverage, as well as an ordering, constraint. Different Buehler limits are compared by their mean size, since all are exact in their coverage. Buehler limits based on the signed root likelihood ratio statistic are found to have the best performance and recommended for practical use.


Construction And Analysis Of An Ozone Profile Climatology Over Houston, Texas, Gary A. Morris, Anne M. Thompson, Ryan Perna, John Yorks, Bernhard Rappengluek, Greg Ostermann, Barry Lefer, Renee Boudreaux, Aaron Chow, Bonnie Ford, Elizabeth Thompson, Scott Hersey, Brittni Emery Dec 2007

Construction And Analysis Of An Ozone Profile Climatology Over Houston, Texas, Gary A. Morris, Anne M. Thompson, Ryan Perna, John Yorks, Bernhard Rappengluek, Greg Ostermann, Barry Lefer, Renee Boudreaux, Aaron Chow, Bonnie Ford, Elizabeth Thompson, Scott Hersey, Brittni Emery

Gary A. Morris

Since the summer of 2004, over 200 ozonesondes have been launched from the campuses of Rice University or the University of Houston (29.7 N, 95.3 W), each about 3 miles from downtown Houston. These sounding launches have been sponsored by NASA, the Shell Center for Sustainability of Rice University, and the Texas Commissions for Environmental Quality as part of a large effort to understand Houston’s ozone problem. Data from these soundings have provided valuable insight into the seasonal and diurnal variations of the vertical ozone distribution and their relationship to changes in atmospheric conditions. In this presentation, we show annual …


Statistical Issues In Proteomic Research, Jeffrey S. Morris Dec 2007

Statistical Issues In Proteomic Research, Jeffrey S. Morris

Jeffrey S. Morris

No abstract provided.


Exercise Makes You Feel Good, But Does Feeling Good Make You Exercise?: An Examination Of Obese Dieters, Robert Albert Carels, Carissa Coit, Bonnie Berger Dec 2007

Exercise Makes You Feel Good, But Does Feeling Good Make You Exercise?: An Examination Of Obese Dieters, Robert Albert Carels, Carissa Coit, Bonnie Berger

Robert Albert Carels

Whereas exercise-induced mood enhancement has been well documented, the relationship between mood and exercise participation is less well understood. Mood states influence evaluative judgments that could plausibly influence a decision to exercise. Further, most exercise-mood research is limited to normal weight adults in response to a single exercise session. The current investigation examines the influence of (a) morning mood on exercise, (b) exercise intensity/duration on mood enhancement, and (c) daily change in mood on exercise days compared with nonexercise days in obese behavioral weight loss program (BWLP) participants. Participants (N=36) recorded morning, evening, and pre- and postexercise mood, as well …


Bayesian Analysis For Penalized Spline Regression Using Win Bugs, Ciprian M. Crainiceanu, David Ruppert, M.P. Wand Dec 2007

Bayesian Analysis For Penalized Spline Regression Using Win Bugs, Ciprian M. Crainiceanu, David Ruppert, M.P. Wand

Johns Hopkins University, Dept. of Biostatistics Working Papers

Penalized splines can be viewed as BLUPs in a mixed model framework, which allows the use of mixed model software for smoothing. Thus, software originally developed for Bayesian analysis of mixed models can be used for penalized spline regression. Bayesian inference for nonparametric models enjoys the flexibility of nonparametric models and the exact inference provided by the Bayesian inferential machinery. This paper provides a simple, yet comprehensive, set of programs for the implementation of nonparametric Bayesian analysis in WinBUGS. MCMC mixing is substantially improved from the previous versions by using low{rank thin{plate splines instead of truncated polynomial basis. Simulation time …


Coplanar Constant Mean Curvature Surfaces, Karsten Grosse-Brauckmann, Robert Kusner, John M. Sullivan Dec 2007

Coplanar Constant Mean Curvature Surfaces, Karsten Grosse-Brauckmann, Robert Kusner, John M. Sullivan

Robert Kusner

We consider constant mean curvature surfaces with finite topology, properly embedded in three-space in the sense of Alexandrov. Such surfaces with three ends and genus zero were constructed and completely classified by the authors. Here we extend the arguments to the case of an arbitrary number of ends, under the assumption that the asymptotic axes of the ends lie in a common plane: we construct and classify the entire family of these genus-zero, coplanar constant mean curvature surfaces.


On The Asymptotic Stability Of Linear Volterra Difference Equations Of Convolution Type, Saber Elaydi, E Messina, A Vecchio Dec 2007

On The Asymptotic Stability Of Linear Volterra Difference Equations Of Convolution Type, Saber Elaydi, E Messina, A Vecchio

Mathematics Faculty Research

We show that the condition |a| + |∑+∞l=0bl| < 1 is not necessary, though sufficient, for the asymptotic stability of xn+1 = axn + ∑+∞l=0bn-lxl. We prove the existence of a class of Volterra difference equations (VDEs) that violate this condition but whose zero solutions are asymptotically stable.


Fabrication Of Robust Superconducting Granular Aluminium/Palladium Bilayer Microbolometers With Sub-Nanosecond Response, Thomas E. Wilson Dec 2007

Fabrication Of Robust Superconducting Granular Aluminium/Palladium Bilayer Microbolometers With Sub-Nanosecond Response, Thomas E. Wilson

Physics Faculty Research

We provide a convenient recipe for fabricating reliable superconducting microbolometers as acoustic phonon detectors with sub-nanosecond response, using imagereversal optical lithography and dc-magnetron sputtering, and our recipe requires no chemical or plasma etching. Our approach solves the traditional problem for granular aluminium bolometers of unreliable (i.e., non-Ohmic) electrical contacts by sequentially sputtering the granular aluminium film and then a palladium capping layer. We use dc calibration data, the method of Danilchenko et al. [1], and direct nanosecond-pulsed photoexcitation to obtain the microbolometer’s characteristic current, thermal conductance, characteristic relaxation time, and heat capacity. We also demonstrate the use of the deconvolution …


Report On Nutria Management And Research In The Pacific Northwest, Trevor Sheffels, Mark Sytsma Dec 2007

Report On Nutria Management And Research In The Pacific Northwest, Trevor Sheffels, Mark Sytsma

Center for Lakes and Reservoirs Publications and Presentations

The nutria (Myocastor coypus) is a large semi-aquatic mammal native to South America that has been introduced to numerous countries around the world, primarily for fur farming. Nutria were introduced in Oregon and Washington in the 1930s, and feral populations were documented in 1943. Populations are known to be expanding in both Oregon and Washington, and regional nutria damage and nuisance complaints have increased in recent years. Most of the extensive damage caused by nutria is a direct result of feeding and burrowing, but nutria are also capable of transporting parasites and pathogens transmittable to humans, livestock, and …


The Global Stratotype Section And Point (Gssp) For The Base Of The Katian Stage Of The Upper Ordovician Series At Black Knob Ridge, Southeastern Oklahoma, Usa, Daniel Goldman, Stephen A. Leslie, Jaak Nõlvak, Seth Young, Stig M. Bergström, Warren D. Huff Dec 2007

The Global Stratotype Section And Point (Gssp) For The Base Of The Katian Stage Of The Upper Ordovician Series At Black Knob Ridge, Southeastern Oklahoma, Usa, Daniel Goldman, Stephen A. Leslie, Jaak Nõlvak, Seth Young, Stig M. Bergström, Warren D. Huff

Geology Faculty Publications

The International Subcomission on Ordovician Stratigraphy (ISOS) of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) recently defined the base of the global Upper Ordovician Series to be at the first appearance datum (FAD) of the graptolite species Nemagraptus gracilis in the Fågelsång GSSP in southern Sweden. This designation recognized the tremendous utility for global correlation of the first appearance of a cosmopolitan taxon that occurs within a consistent succession of other first appearance datums (e.g., Finney and Bergström, 1986; Bergström et al., 2000). Current efforts by the ISOS have focused on subdividing the Upper Ordovician into three stages and choosing appropriate …


Two's Company, Three's A Crowd: Stable Family And Threesome Roommates Problems, Chien-Chung Huang Dec 2007

Two's Company, Three's A Crowd: Stable Family And Threesome Roommates Problems, Chien-Chung Huang

Computer Science Technical Reports

We investigate Knuth's eleventh open question on stable matchings. In the stable family problem, sets of women, men, and dogs are given, all of whom state their preferences among the other two groups. The goal is to organize them into family units, so that no three of them have the incentive to desert their assigned family members to form a new family. A similar problem, called the threesome roommates problem, assumes that a group of persons, each with their preferences among the combinations of two others, are to be partitioned into triples. Similarly, the goal is to make sure that …


Exclusion And Object Tracking In A Network Of Processes, Yih-Kuen Tsay, Chien-Chung Huang Dec 2007

Exclusion And Object Tracking In A Network Of Processes, Yih-Kuen Tsay, Chien-Chung Huang

Computer Science Technical Reports

This paper concerns two fundamental problems in distributed computing---mutual exclusion and mobile object tracking. For a variant of the mutual exclusion problem where the network topology is taken into account, all existing distributed solutions make use of tokens. It turns out that these token-based solutions for mutual exclusion can also be adapted for object tracking, as the token behaves very much like a mobile object. To handle objects with replication, we go further to consider the more general $k$-exclusion problem which has not been as well studied in a network setting. A strong fairness property for $k$-exclusion requires that a …


Towards Tractable Local Closed World Reasoning For The Semantic Web, Matthias Knorr, Jose Julio Alferes, Pascal Hitzler Dec 2007

Towards Tractable Local Closed World Reasoning For The Semantic Web, Matthias Knorr, Jose Julio Alferes, Pascal Hitzler

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Recently, the logics of minimal knowledge and negation as failure MKNF [12] was used to introduce hybrid MKNF knowledge bases [14], a powerful formalism for combining open and closed world reasoning for the Semantic Web. We present an extension based on a new three-valued framework including an alternating fixpoint, the well-founded MKNF model. This approach, the well-founded MKNF semantics, derives its name from the very close relation to the corresponding semantics known from logic programming. We show that the well-founded MKNF model is the least model among all (three-valued) MKNF models, thus soundly approximating also the two-valued MKNF models from …


Two Jovian-Mass Planets In Earthlike Orbits, Sarah E. Robinson, Gregory Laughlin, Steve Vogt, Debra A. Fischer, R. Paul Butler, Geoffrey W. Marcy, Gregory W. Henry, Peter Driscoll, Genya Takeda, John A. Johnson Dec 2007

Two Jovian-Mass Planets In Earthlike Orbits, Sarah E. Robinson, Gregory Laughlin, Steve Vogt, Debra A. Fischer, R. Paul Butler, Geoffrey W. Marcy, Gregory W. Henry, Peter Driscoll, Genya Takeda, John A. Johnson

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

We report the discovery of two new planets: a 1.94 MJup planet in a 1.8 yr orbit of HD 5319, and a 2.51 MJup planet in a 1.1 yr orbit of HD 75898. The measured eccentricities are 0.12 for HD 5319b and 0.10 for HD 75898b, and Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations based on the derived orbital parameters indicate that the radial velocities of both stars are consistent with circular planet orbits. With low eccentricity and 1 AU < a < 2 AU, our new planets have orbits similar to terrestrial planets in the solar system. The radial velocity residuals of both stars have significant trends, likely arising from substellar or low-mass stellar companions.


Separation Of Spatial And Temporal Structure Of Auroral Particle Precipitation, A. Boudouridis, Harlan E. Spence Dec 2007

Separation Of Spatial And Temporal Structure Of Auroral Particle Precipitation, A. Boudouridis, Harlan E. Spence

Physics & Astronomy

[1] Knowledge of the dominant temporal and spatial scales of auroral features is instrumental in understanding the various mechanisms responsible for auroral particle precipitation. Single spacecraft data always suffer from temporal/spatial ambiguity. In an effort to separate the temporal and spatial variations of the aurora, we use electron and ion precipitation data from two co-orbiting satellites, F6 and F8 of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). The two spacecraft have almost identical polar orbits with a small difference in period. As a result the time difference between the two measurements varies with time. We use two statistical tools in order …


Role Of Group A Streptococcus Htra In The Maturation Of Speb Protease, J. N. Cole, J. A. Aquilina, P. G. Hains, A. Henningham, K. S. Sriprakash, M. G. Caparon, V. Nizet, M. Kotb, S. J. Cordwell, S. P. Djordjevic, Mark J. Walker Dec 2007

Role Of Group A Streptococcus Htra In The Maturation Of Speb Protease, J. N. Cole, J. A. Aquilina, P. G. Hains, A. Henningham, K. S. Sriprakash, M. G. Caparon, V. Nizet, M. Kotb, S. J. Cordwell, S. P. Djordjevic, Mark J. Walker

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

The serine protease HtrA (DegP) of the human pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes (group A Streptococcus; GAS) is localized to the ExPortal secretory microdomain and is reportedly essential for the maturation of cysteine protease SpeB. Here we utilize HSC5 (M5 serotype) and the in-frame isogenic mutant HSC5ΔhtrA to determine whether HtrA contributes to the maturation of other GAS virulence determinants. Mutanolysin cell wall extracts and secreted proteins were arrayed by 2-DE and identified by MALDI-TOF PMF analysis. HSC5ΔhtrA had elevated levels of cell wall-associated M protein, whilst the supernatant had higher concentrations of M protein fragments and a reduced amount of mature …


Changing Cultures Of Water In Eastern Australian Backyard Gardens, Lesley M. Head, Pat Muir Dec 2007

Changing Cultures Of Water In Eastern Australian Backyard Gardens, Lesley M. Head, Pat Muir

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Research into diverse cultural understandings of water provides important contributions to the pressing global issue of sustainable supply, particularly when combined with analysis of relationships between everyday household practice and larger sociotechnical networks of storage and distribution. Here we analyse semi-structured interviews with 298 people about their 241 backyards in the Australian east coast cities of Sydney and Wollongong, undertaken during the 2002-03 drought. Water emerged as an important issue in both consciousness and practice. In contrast to a number of other environmental issues which stimulate more polarised responses, a commitment to reducing water consumption was shared across the study …


The Substitution Theorem For Semilinear Stochastic Partial Differential Equations, Salah-Eldin A. Mohammed, Tusheng Zhang Dec 2007

The Substitution Theorem For Semilinear Stochastic Partial Differential Equations, Salah-Eldin A. Mohammed, Tusheng Zhang

Articles and Preprints

In this article we establish a substitution theorem for semilinear stochastic evolution equations (see's) depending on the initial condition as an infinite-dimensional parameter. Due to the infinitedimensionality of the initial conditions and of the stochastic dynamics, existing finite-dimensional results do not apply. The substitution theorem is proved using Malliavin calculus techniques together with new estimates on the underlying stochastic semiflow. Applications of the theorem include dynamic characterizations of solutions of stochastic partial differential equations (spde's) with anticipating initial conditions and non-ergodic stationary solutions. In particular, our result gives a new existence theorem for solutions of semilinear Stratonovich spde's with anticipating …


Age-Structured Population Model With Cannibalism, Mmohammed El-Doma Dec 2007

Age-Structured Population Model With Cannibalism, Mmohammed El-Doma

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

An age-structured population model with cannibalism is investigated. We determine the steady states and study the local asymptotic stability as well as the global stability. The results in this paper generalize previous results.


On The Total Duration Of Negative Surplus Of A Risk Process With Two-Step Premium Function, Pavlina Jordanova Dec 2007

On The Total Duration Of Negative Surplus Of A Risk Process With Two-Step Premium Function, Pavlina Jordanova

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

We consider a risk reserve process whose premium rate reduces from cd to cu when the reserve comes above some critical value v. In the model of Cramer-Lundberg with initial capital u ≥ 0, we obtain the probability that ruin does not occur before the first up-crossing of level v. When u < v, following H. Gerber and E. Shiu (1997), we derive the probability that starting with initial capital u ruin occurs and the severity of ruin is not bigger than v. Further we express the probability of ruin in the two step premium function model - ψ (u,v), by the last two probabilities. Our assumptions imply that the surplus process will go to infinity almost surely. This entails that the process will stay below zero only temporarily. We derive the distribution of the total duration of negative surplus and obtain its Laplace transform and mean value. As a consequence of these results, under certain conditions in the Model of Cramer-Lundberg we obtain the expected value of the severity of ruin. In the end of the paper we give examples with exponential claim sizes.


Stability Analysis For The Gurtin-Maccamy’S Age-Structured Population Dynamics Model, Mohammed El-Doma Dec 2007

Stability Analysis For The Gurtin-Maccamy’S Age-Structured Population Dynamics Model, Mohammed El-Doma

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

The stability of the Gurtin-MacCamy’s age-structured population dynamics model is investigated. We determine the steady states and study their stability. The results in this paper generalize previous results.


Vertex Pops And Popturns, Greg Aloupis, Brad Ballinger, Prosenjit Bose, Mirela Damian, Erik D. Demaine, Martin L. Demaine, Robin Flatland, Ferran Hurtado, Stefan Langerman, Joseph O'Rourke, Perouz Taslakian, Godfried Toussaint Dec 2007

Vertex Pops And Popturns, Greg Aloupis, Brad Ballinger, Prosenjit Bose, Mirela Damian, Erik D. Demaine, Martin L. Demaine, Robin Flatland, Ferran Hurtado, Stefan Langerman, Joseph O'Rourke, Perouz Taslakian, Godfried Toussaint

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Western Gray Whales Off Sakhalin Island, Russia: A Joint Russia-U.S. Scientific Investigation July-September 2007, David W. Weller, Amanda L. Bradford, Aimée R. Lang, Hyun Woo Kim, Maxim Sidorenko, Grigory A. Tsidulko, Alexander M. Burdin, Robert L. Brownell Jr. Dec 2007

Western Gray Whales Off Sakhalin Island, Russia: A Joint Russia-U.S. Scientific Investigation July-September 2007, David W. Weller, Amanda L. Bradford, Aimée R. Lang, Hyun Woo Kim, Maxim Sidorenko, Grigory A. Tsidulko, Alexander M. Burdin, Robert L. Brownell Jr.

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

A collaborative Russia-U.S. research program on western gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) summering off northeastern Sakhalin Island, Russia, has been ongoing since 1995 and has produced important new information on the present day conservation status of this critically endangered population. This interim report reviews preliminary findings from 2007 research activities and combines such with data from previous years, in some cases ranging back to 1994. Photo-identification research conducted off Sakhalin Island in 2007 resulted in the identification of 83 whales, including nine calves and two previously unidentified non-calves. When combined with data from 1994-2006, a catalog of 169 photo-identified …


Ua35/1 Doers & Deeds Vol. 7, No. 3, Wku Provost Dec 2007

Ua35/1 Doers & Deeds Vol. 7, No. 3, Wku Provost

WKU Archives Records

Newsletter created by the WKU Provost & Vice President of Academic Affairs to highlight the activities of faculty, staff and alumni.


Spin Density Wave Phases In Semiconductor Superlattice, Liqiu Zheng Dec 2007

Spin Density Wave Phases In Semiconductor Superlattice, Liqiu Zheng

All Dissertations

We discuss the existence of spin instabilities and of possible ground states with broken spin symmetry in the presence of a tilted magnetic field for several semiconductor heterostructures. In each instance, the fundamental premise of our study is the existence of a spin degeneracy, controlled by tuning various experimentally controllable parameters, that permits the apparition of spin-flip processes driven entirely by the many-body Coulomb interaction. If in the case of a single quantum well, the spin instabilities trigger an abrupt paramagnetic to ferromagnetic phase transition, we demonstrate that in superlattices, at low temperatures, a stable spin density wave ($SDW$) ground …


Efficacy Of Cognitive Therapy And Pharmacotherapy In Depression: A Meta-Analysis, Daniel B. Michel Dec 2007

Efficacy Of Cognitive Therapy And Pharmacotherapy In Depression: A Meta-Analysis, Daniel B. Michel

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

A meta-analysis comparing the long-term effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and pharmacotherapy in preventing relapse following treatment discontinuation was performed using published studies of depressed participants. Twenty-three articles met inclusionary criteria and were included in the analyses. Weighted effect sizes and moderators, treatment type, were calculated using statistical analysis software. Initially, fixed effects models were applied to the data, but due to significant between-group heterogeneity that could not be fully explained by treatment type, mixed effect models were used to account for the residual heterogeneity. Results indicated that overall, depressed individuals treated to remission with CBT evidence decreased relapse …


On A Class Of Backward Mckean-Vlasov Stochastic Equations In Hilbert Space: Existence And Convergence Properties, Nazim I. Mahmudov, Mark A. Mckibben Dec 2007

On A Class Of Backward Mckean-Vlasov Stochastic Equations In Hilbert Space: Existence And Convergence Properties, Nazim I. Mahmudov, Mark A. Mckibben

Mathematics Faculty Publications

This investigation is devoted to the study of a class of abstract first-order backward McKean-Vlasov stochastic evolution equations in a Hilbert space. Results concerning the existence and uniqueness of solutions and the convergence of an approximating sequence of solutions (and corresponding probability measures) are established. Examples that illustrate the abstract theory are also provided.


Entrainment And Stimulated Emission Of Ultrasonic Piezoelectric Auto-Oscillators, Richard L. Weaver, Oleg I. Lobkis, Alexey Yamilov Dec 2007

Entrainment And Stimulated Emission Of Ultrasonic Piezoelectric Auto-Oscillators, Richard L. Weaver, Oleg I. Lobkis, Alexey Yamilov

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Theoretical modeling and laboratory tests are conducted for nonlinear auto-oscillating piezoelectric ultrasonic devices coupled to reverberant elastic bodies. the devices are shown to exhibit behavior familiar from the theory of coupled auto-oscillators. in particular, these spontaneously emitting devices adjust their limit-cycle frequency to the spectrum of the body. It is further shown that the auto-oscillations can be entrained by an applied field; an incident wave at a frequency close to the frequency of the natural limit cycle entrains the oscillator. Special attention is paid to the phase of entrainment. Depending on details, the phase is such that the oscillator can …


Large Energy Gaps In Cac₆ From Tunneling Spectroscopy: Possible Evidence Of Strong-Coupling Superconductivity, Cihan Kurter, Lutfi Ozyuzer, Daniel Mazur, John F. Zasadzinski, Daniel Rosenmann Dec 2007

Large Energy Gaps In Cac₆ From Tunneling Spectroscopy: Possible Evidence Of Strong-Coupling Superconductivity, Cihan Kurter, Lutfi Ozyuzer, Daniel Mazur, John F. Zasadzinski, Daniel Rosenmann

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Tunneling in CaC6 crystals reproducibly reveals superconducting gaps Δ of 2.3±0.2 meV that are ~40% larger than reported earlier. In an isotropic s -wave scenario, that puts CaC6 into the class of very strongly coupled superconductors, since 2Δ k Tc ~4.6, implying that soft Ca phonons are primarily involved in the superconductivity. This conclusion explains the relatively large Ca isotope effect found recently for CaC6, but it could also signal a strong anisotropy in the electron-phonon interaction.