55 research outputs found
A Conversation about Aliens, AIs and Jack Benny
No full textPresented on March 14, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. in the Crosland Tower, 7th floor reading room.Jack McDevitt is a former English teacher, naval officer, Philadelphia taxi driver, customs officer and motivational trainer. His work has been on the final ballot for the Nebula Awards for 12 of the past 13 years, and he holds 16 nominations in total. His first novel, The Hercules Text, was published in the celebrated Ace Specials series and won the Philip K. Dick Special Award. In 1991, McDevitt won the first $10,000 UPC International Prize for his novella, "Ships in the Night." The Engines of God was a finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and his novella, "Time Travelers Never Die," was nominated for both the Hugo and the Nebula awards.Runtime: 60:59 minutesThe Georgia Tech Library is proud to host Nebula Award-winning author Jack McDevitt in the Seventh Floor Reading Room Thursday, March 14 for “A Conversation about Aliens, AIs and Jack Benny with Sci-Fi Author Jack McDevitt
Orderings on words and permutations
No full textSubstructure orderings are ubiquitous throughout combinatorics and all of mathematics. In this thesis we consider various orderings on words, as well as the consecutive involvement ordering on permutations. Throughout there will be a focus on deciding certain order-theoretic properties, primarily the properties of being well-quasi-ordered (WQO) and of being atomic.
In Chapter 1, we establish the background material required for the remainder of the thesis. This will include concepts from order theory, formal language theory, automata theory, and the theory of permutations. We also introduce various orderings on words, and the consecutive involvement ordering on permutations.
In Chapter 2, we consider the prefix, suffix and factor orderings on words. For the prefix and suffix orderings, we give a characterisation of the regular languages which are WQO, and of those which are atomic. We then consider the factor ordering and show that the atomicity is decidable for finitely-based sets. We also give a new proof that WQO is decidable for finitely-based sets, which is a special case of a result of Atminas et al.
In Chapters 3 and 4, we consider some general families of orderings on words. In Chapter 3 we consider orderings on words which are rational, meaning that they can be generated by transducers. We discuss the class of insertion relations introduced in a paper by the author, and introduce a generalisation. In Chapter 4, we consider three other variations of orderings on words. Throughout these chapters we prove various decidability results.
In Chapter 5, we consider the consecutive involvement on permutations. We generalise our results for the factor ordering on words to show that WQO and atomicity are decidable. Through this investigation we answer some questions which have been asked (and remain open) for the involvement on permutations
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Bead based microreactors for sensing applications
No full texttextThe dissertation research described here focuses on the fabrication and
modification of the polymeric beaded sensing elements, one of the many critical
components of a Microbead Array Chip-Based Multianalyte Detection System.
Detection of biomolecules including proteins and oligonucleotides are based on
affinity interactions between carefully selected ligands immobilized on the sensing
microspheres. The current work relies on microspheres made of agarose gel shaped
into micron sized beads with intrinsic porosity associated to the concentration of
agarose in the gel. The beaded material described is considered of a homogeneous
nature with limited transport capabilities although superior to homogeneous latex
beads. The microbead array system potentially benefits from structural
modifications on the sensing elements and includes improvement on the mobile
phase mass transport, capture of larger particles, faster assays, and the increase in
the multiplexing capabilities. Efforts are also directed to preferentially modify gels
made of agarose to facilitate the transition from the existing sensing elements to the
new beaded designs made of the same polysaccharide. As a result the chemistry
utilized to attach affinity ligands to procure reactive sensing elements remained
practically the same. Collectively, these research activities have resulted in a
number of novel polymer-based reactive particles that have the potential to service
a variety of new sensing applications.Chemistr
Terrorism and Hate Crime
No full textThis article focuses on political crimes, specifically terrorism and hate crime. Both terrorism and hate crime are criminal activities that are often committed to further a political objective, as opposed to typical or regular crimes that are usually committed for personal reasons such as greed, revenge, or other personal motivations. Political motivations encompass ideological, social, and religious objectives. Several works (e.g., Bruce Hoffman’s Inside Terrorism; see Hoffman 2006, cited under Defining Terrorism and Hate Crime) examine the evolution of terrorism from ancient to modern times. While bias-motivated violence and hate crimes are just as old as terrorism, the United States did not formally adopt hate crime legislation, through the passage of a variety of substantive penalty enhancement and data collection laws, until the late 20th century. Making Hate a Crime (Jenness and Grattet 2004, cited under Defining Terrorism and Hate Crime) explores the history of hate crime legislation, highlighting how various civil rights and victims’ rights movements played a role in the passage of hate crime legislation. In the classic text Hate Crimes Revisited, Jack Levin and Jack McDevitt outline the history of hate crimes, explain why some persons are motivated to commit these crimes, and discuss efforts to combat them (Levin and McDevitt 2002, cited under Defining Terrorism and Hate Crime).</p
Measuring Student Learning Using Business Simulations: A Theory Based Perspective
No full textMany experiential educators believe that computer simulations are an effective pedagogical tool for enhancing student learning. Proving this belief has been difficult because of a number of difficult conceptual issues as well as some notoriously challenging measurement issues. This paper addresses the subject of measuring student learning using business simulations in the classroom. The broader justification for this research is the ongoing effort to investigate the relationship, if any, between student learning and simulation performance. Beginning with established learning theory, the author proposes a means and a process for measuring student learning using computer simulations
My Own Private Library: A Peek Inside the Personal Library of a Librarian
No full textThe author describes her personal library and collection of books. She mentions that her parents enjoyed reading when they had time. She reveals that she collects fiction books by Robert Jordan, David Eddings, Juliet Marillier and Jack McDevitt, among others. Due to her interest in books about English writer Beatrix Potter, she spent a week at the Lindeth House in the Lake District, England where the Potter family had stayed
Vacuum induction melting and vacuum arc remelting of Co-Al-W-X gamma-prime superalloys
No full textCo-Al-W alloys strengthened with the L12 gamma-prime phase have promise as next generation high temperature materials due to the ability to engineer a high gamma-prime content alloy with a higher gamma-prime solvus and higher melting point than many Ni-base gamma-prime strengthened alloys. Furthermore, these Co-Al-W gamma-prime alloys are interesting as potential cast-and-wrought alloys because they have a relatively narrow range of solidification temperature and large range of temperature between the gamma-prime solvus and the solidus, suggesting than manufacturing via an ingot metallurgy route would be feasible. However, since J. Sato et al discovered gamma-prime in the Co-Al-W alloy system in 2006, the focus in the literature has been on characterizing the structure and properties of these alloys and measuring and assessing the thermodynamics of the alloy system primarily for application as castings for turbine blade applications. To date the author is not aware of any publications describing the microstructure of vacuum induction melted, vacuum arc remelted ingots of a size more than about 2kg. Most work has been performed using small, laboratory-scale, cast-and-hot-rolled samples or samples cast as single crystals. This paper presents ATI's experience in assessing the feasibility of manufacturing a cast-and-wrought billet product in the Co-Al-W-X alloy system. Three 22 kg heats were produced to examine a small range of alloy compositions of potential commercial interest: Co-9Al-9W, Co-9Al-10W-2Ti, and Co-9Al-10W-2Ti-0.02B, respectively. Each heat was vacuum-induction-melted and vacuum-arc-remelted then open-die forged. The ingot microstructure has been characterized. Hot workability during billetizing will be described and microstructure and hardness of hot worked and heat treated product will be presented
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No full textThe author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepared the following final report: Document Title: Author(s)
Book Review of Children Crossing Borders: Immigrant Parents and Teacher Perspectives on Preschool
No full textIn the United States, one in four children under the age of 6 attending preschool has at least one immigrant parent and speaks a language other than English. Despite this increasing population of immigrant children in U.S. preschool settings, their stories have rarely been heard. The author shares three stories of her students and their families that focus on their lived experiences and funds of knowledge, and reconnects those stories with her own funds of knowledge as an immigrant student and teacher. Teachers in many communities around the world are educating immigrant children in their classroom. By focusing on the strengths and knowledge that all children bring to the classroom from their home and community experiences, teachers will be enriching the classroom and achieving higher quality education for every student
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