RinRuby: Accessing the R Interpreter from Pure Ruby

RinRuby is a Ruby library that integrates the R interpreter in Ruby, making R's statistical routines and graphics available within Ruby. The library consists of a single Ruby script that is simple to install and does not require any special compilation or installation of R. Since the library is 100% pure Ruby, it works on a variety of operating systems, Ruby implementations, and versions of R. RinRuby's methods are simple, making for readable code. This paper describes RinRuby usage, provides comprehensive documentation, gives several examples, and discusses RinRuby's implementation. The latest version of RinRuby can be found at the project website: http://rinruby.ddahl.org/.

Economic Interdependence Along a Colonial Frontier: Capitalism and the New River Valley, 1745-1789.

Historians have generally placed the beginning of capitalism in the United States in the early- to mid-nineteenth century. This assumes that the industrialization of the New England states fostered in a modern economic environment for the country as a whole. However, evidence of modern economic principles existed on the Virginia frontier as early as the mid-eighteenth century. As frontier settlers aspired to emulate eastern society, they not only sought to recreate a lifestyle similar to the one they left behind, but also set up similar governing practices, which in turn created social stratification similar to that which existed in the Tidewater region. Virginia\u27s frontier participated in a web of trade relations where goods were both exported and imported from the region and traditional, local trade relationships waned. What emerged was a frontier interdependent with the east as trade kept both regions tightly connected, leaving little room for an autonomous, independent backcountry to develop

Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman

A Personal Look at Sherman’s Grand Vision The historical reputation of William Tecumseh Sherman has carried some heavy baggage since his death. For generations of Southerners, he embodied the vengeful hand of war. Many saw him as the harbinger of the bloody twentieth century; indeed, the t...

Interactive Teaching Tools for Spatial Sampling

The statistical analysis of data which is measured over a spatial region is well established as a scientific tool which makes considerable contributions to a wide variety of application areas. Further development of these tools also remains a central part of the research scene in statistics. However, understanding of the concepts involved often benefits from an intuitive and experimental approach, as well as a formal description of models and methods. This paper describes software which is intended to assist in this understanding. The role of simulation is advocated, in order to explain the meaning of spatial correlation and to interpret the parameters involved in standard models. Realistic scenarios where decisions on the locations of sampling points in a spatial setting are required are also described. Students are provided with a variety of sampling strategies and invited to select the most appropriate one in two different settings. One involves water sampling in the lagoon of the Mururoa Atoll while the other involves sea bed sampling in a Scottish firth. Once a student has decided on a sampling strategy, simulated data are provided for further analysis. This extends the range of teaching activity from the analysis of data collected by others to involvement in data collection and the need to grapple with issues of design. It is argued that this approach has significant benefits in learning.

Preliminary Study of the Relationship Between Undergraduate Learning Outcome Assessment and Estimated Earnings of Graduates

The primary motivation for exploring the relationship between learning outcomes assessment and graduate earnings is to simply document the assumed link so that educators have some basis for claiming long-term benefits of outcomes assessment. Furthermore, the scope of the project was limited to exploring learning outcomes assessment in the state of Kansas as this was deemed a preliminary inquiry. Specifically, this article seeks to address the following three questions: 1. Have academic programs in Kansas adopted assessment plans? 2. Does student ability play a role in earnings differentiation upon graduation? 3. Is there a difference in earnings between the highest, moderate, and lowest performing graduates

RinRuby: Accessing the R Interpreter from Pure Ruby

RinRuby is a Ruby library that integrates the R interpreter in Ruby, making R's statistical routines and graphics available within Ruby. The library consists of a single Ruby script that is simple to install and does not require any special compilation or installation of R. Since the library is 100% pure Ruby, it works on a variety of operating systems, Ruby implementations, and versions of R. RinRuby's methods are simple, making for readable code. This paper describes RinRuby usage, provides comprehensive documentation, gives several examples, and discusses RinRuby's implementation. The latest version of RinRuby can be found at the project website: http://rinruby.ddahl.org/

Diagrammatic Coupled Cluster Monte Carlo

We propose a modified coupled cluster Monte Carlo algorithm that stochastically samples connected terms within the truncated Baker--Campbell--Hausdorff expansion of the similarity transformed Hamiltonian by construction of coupled cluster diagrams on the fly. Our new approach -- diagCCMC -- allows propagation to be performed using only the connected components of the similarity-transformed Hamiltonian, greatly reducing the memory cost associated with the stochastic solution of the coupled cluster equations. We show that for perfectly local, noninteracting systems, diagCCMC is able to represent the coupled cluster wavefunction with a memory cost that scales linearly with system size. The favorable memory cost is observed with the only assumption of fixed stochastic granularity and is valid for arbitrary levels of coupled cluster theory. Significant reduction in memory cost is also shown to smoothly appear with dissociation of a finite chain of helium atoms. This approach is also shown not to break down in the presence of strong correlation through the example of a stretched nitrogen molecule. Our novel methodology moves the theoretical basis of coupled cluster Monte Carlo closer to deterministic approaches.Comment: 31 pages, 6 figure

Advancing 21st century policing: Exploring the Phoenix Police Department's best practices for community engagement

In light of recent conflicts between law enforcement and community members, particularly in communities plagued with a high crime rate and a large minority population, President Obama ordered the 21st Century Policing Task Force to identify strategies for promoting crime control while simultaneously building trust between law enforcement and the community (President’s Task Force, 2015). Based on their findings, the Task Force outlined six main pillars that will foster a positive police and community relationship (i.e., advance 21st Century Policing). While each of the six pillars focuses on an area vital to the successful implementation of 21st Century Policing, evidence suggests that pillars 1-4, which promote community engagement, form a vital foundation from which the other pillars can grow. The development of community engagement rests upon the trust and legitimacy a police department establishes with its community. As such, effective police departments must pay particular attention to community perceptions (i.e., how the community views its police department), for community members must believe the officers serving the community are doing so with legitimacy and honesty. Following the recently publicized, nationwide police shootings involving African American community members, many police departments have experienced troubling community conflicts. However, the Phoenix Police Department (PPD), which serves a large diverse community (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010), has been able to maintain collaborative police community dialogues and facilitate peaceful community protests, even when its officers engage in questionable activities. To assist police departments throughout the country build similar relationships with their respective communities, this White Paper will highlight some of the PPD’s noteworthy community engagement strategies

Agency and Architecture: How to Be Critical? (Scott Lash and Antoine Picon, in conversation with Kenny Cupers and Isabelle Doucet. Comments by Margaret Crawford)

Agency is a notion that brings together a variety of concerns that currently echo in diverse segments of the architectural debate. This article, in the form of a conversation, addresses this multifarious notion and attempts to bring to the fore points of intersection between agency-related concerns too often perceived as disconnected. The article has been assembled out of separate interviews with three prominent scholars who have, from different fields, made particular contributions to this theme: Antoine Picon, historian of architecture and technology; Scott Lash, professor of sociology and cultural studies; and Margaret Crawford, professor in architecture and urban studies. This conversation interrogates agency theoretically, and does so through three major questions. One question relates to agency’s binary coupling with structure, perhaps one of the most central concepts in the understanding of modern society. Secondly, because agency is intimately linked to the idea of ‘other’ possible actions and futures, it assumes intentionality and criticality, both of which resonate strongly in the architectural debate. Finally, in order to understand agency better within the specific context of architecture, the article addresses the condition of the architectural object and its relation to the individual and the social