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Best Practices: Modulating Tension Using Contrast Lighting
Get PDFThe goal of this thesis is to determine the best practices for modulating tension in a level through the use of contrast lighting. To test their theories, the researcher used variations of high and low contrast lighting when creating the artifact to elicit responses to tension from the player
Testing a Theory of Strategic Multi-Product Choice
No full textThis paper tests a theory of strategic multi-product choice (SMPC) using empirical evidence from a large-scale choice experiment, two smaller longitudinal choice experiments, and multi-market panel data. Multi-product choice involves two stages. In the first stage, the consumer chooses a set of substitutable products, where “set” refers to both the variety of alternatives and the quantities of each. In the second stage, the set is consumed. Assuming consumers are strategic, their consumption decisions will consider both the utility of whichever product is selected for consumption and the expected utility (i.e., value) of the set that remains. SMPC therefore requires a dynamic model. We test two such dynamic models in this paper. These models are derived from a basic random utility framework with a stochastic error term for the utility of each product alternative at the moment of consumption. Despite maintaining state variables for the quantity of every alternative, these SMPC dynamic models offer both a value function and optimal consumption policy in closed form. These structures allow us to test for strategic consumption in the second stage and for optimality of the choice sets selected in the first stage. Data from the large-scale choice experiment and the smaller longitudinal choice experiments support strategic consumer decision-making, consistent with SMPC theory. SMPC theory further predicts that the amount of variety consumers select will be higher for lower consumption rates and lower for higher consumption rates. Evidence from panel data of yogurt purchases supports this prediction. While we find that consumption choices are consistent with SMPC theory, they are not consistent with alternative explanations such as variety seeking or diversification bias. Viewed in its entirety, the empirical evidence presented in this paper confirms that both the choice set selected and the way it is consumed are consistent with dynamic models of future preference uncertainty
Predicting Biomolecular Properties and Interactions Using Numerical, Statistical and Machine Learning Methods
Get PDFWe investigate machine learning and electrostatic methods to predict biophysical properties of proteins, such as solvation energy and protein ligand binding affinity, for the purpose of drug discovery/development. We focus on the Poisson-Boltzmann model and various high performance computing considerations such as parallelization schemes
Reversing \u3cem\u3eGrutter\u3c/em\u3e
Get PDFIn 2023, the Supreme Court modified its 2003 decision in Grutter v. Bollinger. That decision had allowed colleges, graduate schools, and professional schools to explicitly consider race in the admissions process. In two cases decided together, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University and University of North Carolina, a 6–3 majority of the Court held that colleges could not employ a general racial preference but could take account of how race affected the specific applicant. The decision was based on the Court’s understanding of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Chief Justice Roberts wrote the opinion for the Court in which he held that the justifications put forth by the colleges were too vague to be evaluated by the judiciary, that racial preferences inflicted real harm, and that Grutter itself had recognized that the employment of racial preferences in college admissions were a temporary measure. In the process, Chief Justice Roberts reaffirmed that the color-blind principle was the proper focus of the Equal Protection Clause with respect to race, rejecting the competing anti-subordination theory, made it clear that universities were forbidden from providing a remedy for societal discrimination, and reaffirmed that establishing racial proportionality was an illegitimate goal. In this respect, Chief Justice Roberts brought the law in line with Bakke, J.A. Croson, and Adarand. The majority rejected Justice O’Connor’s conclusion in Grutter that university admissions were in a different context entailing less severe analysis under Equal Protection. Justice Thomas, the only justice who participated in both Grutter and the Fair Admissions cases, wrote a very lengthy concurrence expanding on the Chief Justice’s opinion and making a few points of his own
Book-And-Claim System For Sustainable Aviation Fuels
Get PDFThis Article provides an overview of the regulatory (legal) framework in which the decarbonisation of aviation is embedded, with a focus on European law. The Article further provides updates on EU-ETS, CORISA, RED III and the minimum quota of SAF supply in accordance with Refuel EU Aviation up to October 2023. Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) will be described in detail in this Article, and it is further explained that the use of SAF could significantly contribute to aviation becoming “greener”. As the availability of SAF is still rather scarce, the Article revolves around a mechanism of a global book-and-claim system to unify and scale up production and use. The general concept of book-and-claim as well as the specific one in relation to SAF is explained in the Article. Further, examples of existing book-and-claim systems are given, and the Article concludes with the benefits of a European book-and-claim system for SAF for the various stakeholders in the aviation industry
The Quad (The 2024 Alumni Magazine)
Get PDF• Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit• Trailblazer Speaker Series• Alumna Spotlight: Brittany K. Barnett• New Scholarship Challenge Initiative Timed with SMU • Dedman Law Upcoming Centennial Anniversary• Office of Diversity and Inclusion Building Community with a Spirit of Compassion, Connection, and Excellence• Jurist in Residence: Judge Kent Jordan SMU Dedman School of Law Inaugural Program• Focus on our Centers Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center, Tsai Center for Law, Science and Innovation, Robert B. Rowling Center for Business Law & Leadership• Faculty Spotlights Professors Nathan Cortez and Meghan Ryanhttps://scholar.smu.edu/quad/1040/thumbnail.jp
A Triangular Relationship: Hong Kong, China and Great Britain
Get PDFMandaline Kam analyzes the unique relationship between Hong Kong, China, and Great Britain. The paper examines Hong Kong\u27s colonial past, the transition under the one country, two systems framework, and the socio-political tensions that arose from the clash of Western democratic ideals with Chinese socialist policie
U.S. Africa Command & Security Assistance to Fragile States
Get PDFJoseph Kinyanjui evaluates the role of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) in addressing security issues in Africa. The paper discusses whether AFRICOM\u27s operations contribute to militarization and state fragility or effectively enhance stability through capacity building
Glacial Erosion Rates from the Last Glacial Maximum to Present in Southern Patagonia (50°S)
Get PDFOver the past few decades, the notion of exogenic processes (e.g. weathering, erosion) contributing to mountain building rather than destruction has become increasingly supported through both direct observations and modeling. As a result, the details of the link between erosion, and therefore climate, and the tectonic evolution of mountain ranges, have progressively become established. One of the key observations emerging from the climate-tectonic debate has been the role of glaciers as powerful landscape sculptors, sensitive to climate signals. The reconstruction of glacial environments evolution and the recovery of patterns of glacial erosion over time have proven key to understanding feedbacks between climate and tectonic processes. Particularly glacial erosion rates show a marked increase toward the present, attributed to an increased variability of the climate in the last few million years. Whether this increase represents a genuine signal or is the result of a time averaging bias is still debated. To date, rates of glacial erosion and glacial erosion controls remain poorly understood, due to our lack of direct observation, particularly over different time scales, and due to poor preservation of glacial landforms in subaerial conditions. The sedimentary record preserved subaqueously in proglacial environments has the potential to offer observational constraints for understanding the relationship between climate, erosion, and tectonics. This dissertation addresses glacial erosion rates by providing first-order constraints on 1) the evolution of glacier grounding line positions through time as expressed in proglacial subaqueous settings, 2) the variations in sediment yields and erosion rates associated with glacial retreats and re-advances, and 3) the variables controlling erosion rates of lake-terminating glaciers. In this dissertation, I focus on the Southern Patagonia Icefield, where I reconstruct the subaqueous evolution and calculate new glacial erosion rates estimated from sediment accumulations in Lago Argentino, a proglacial basin with a nearly complete preserved sedimentary record. I use high-resolution seismic reflection data to examine the stratigraphic record in Lago Argentino and to constrain the timing of deposition in the context of the existing glacial chronology of the area. I identify subaqueously-preserved evidence of glacier readvances during the Last Glacial Termination, a record that has been missing from the terrestrial glacial landforms in the area, and that supports a broad synchronous response of Southern Patagonian glaciers to deglacial climate forcing. I use the interpreted seismic units and their corresponding timing to calculate erosion rates through the past ∼20,000 yrs, averaged over time intervals ranging from sub-decadal to millennial. I explore erosion rates variability through time and with changes in temperature, precipitation, retreat rates, and ice velocity. The data show that erosion rates have varied substantially, from 0.4±0.1 to 82.4±17.6 mm/yr, with no systematic increase (or decrease) through time. Rather, erosion occurs during discrete, intense events separated by times of quiescence. In addition, I find that glacial erosion rates have comparable magnitudes when averaged over similar time intervals. The data show a power-law increase in glacial erosion rates with decreasing averaging time interval, consistent with other observations globally. Given the observed intermittent character of glacial erosion, I attribute this increase to a time averaging bias, rather than to an escalation in magnitude of erosional pulses toward the present. I also find that glacial erosion rates for one of the fastest retreating glaciers in the Southern Patagonia Icefield, the Upsala Glacier, exhibit a strong positive correlation with retreat rates and ice velocities, facilitated by the temperate climate of Patagonia and modulated by the overdeepened lake bathymetry and distribution of subaqueous moraines
Adapting Weighted Gene Co-Expression Network Analysis for Next Generation Sequencing
Get PDFNew technologies such as single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) have become vital to the understanding of cell type heterogeneity. One limitation of this technique is that the resulting data sets are sparse. That is, genes often have read counts of zero in a given cell. Computational challenges arise when sparse data sets are analyzed with Weighted Gene Co-Expression Network Analysis (WGCNA), a technique that has been used to study the underlying genetic network of bulk data sets.
This project aims to study how sparsity degrades the performance of WGCNA. This is done by modifying data sets where the method has been successfully applied. Gene clusters, or modules, of the generated network can then be tracked from the original data set across varying levels of sparsity. This gives insight into how the network construction is altered when a sparse data set is used. We will then study imputation and smoothing techniques to recover performance. Finally, we will seek to determine significant statistical features of the data that predict model performance