Curiosity, Motivation, Autonomy, and Lifelong Learning in Education and the United States Marine Corps

Curiosity, intrinsic motivation, and autonomy-supportive teaching all promote lifelong learning in both the classroom and Marine Corps. Humans are all born with curiosity. Children inherently practice forms of intrinsic motivation. Most would agree that they do not like being micromanaged - they enjoy a sense of freedom when completing tasks. Despite this, many students learn in a controlling environment and many Marines work under controlling leaders. Though a large amount of time is spent on learning through the first 18 years of life, lifelong learning does not come naturally and is not commonly practiced. The research and ideas discussed below are all means to promote a positive learning environment for students in the classroom and the population within the Marine Corps. If curiosity, intrinsic motivation, and an autonomy-supportive teaching environment can be promoted, it equates to creating a foundation for lifelong learning. These attributes promote confidence, self-identity, and growth as an individual. They will lead to higher test scores, morale, and mission accomplishment without that being its purpose. Lifelong learning can be something we all strive for and seek for ourselves and our Marines. It will benefit us as leaders and the Marine Corps as an institution. There are tangibles to implement in the Marine Corps to promote these attributes

Information Security Ambassadors’ Perceptions of Peer-Led Motivation in Phishing Detection

Phishing rates are increasing yearly and continue to compromise data integrity. The need to guard business information is vital for organizations to meet their business objectives and legal obligations. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore security ambassadors’ perceptions of motivating their peers to adopt safe internet behaviors in a large medical campus in Minnesota. Hackman and Oldham’s job characteristic motivation theory was used to frame the study. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 20 security ambassadors. Data coding and analysis yielded 7 themes: rewarding, value, personal interest, limited information security knowledge, increased interest, communication, and topics lacked variety. Participants stated that they perceived the ambassador program to be of value to the organization and employees, to be rewarding to the ambassador, and to generate increased interest in information security topics among their peers. Results may be used to develop intervention techniques and applications to prevent malicious phishing attempts in health care and other industries, resulting in safer patient/client environments

Cosmicflows-2: I-band Luminosity - HI Linewidth Calibration

In order to measure distances with minimal systematics using the correlation between galaxy luminosities and rotation rates it is necessary to adhere to a strict and tested recipe. We now derive a measure of rotation from a new characterization of the width of a neutral Hydrogen line profile. Additionally, new photometry and zero point calibration data are available. Particularly the introduction of a new linewidth parameter necessitates the reconstruction and absolute calibration of the luminosity-linewidth template. The slope of the new template is set by 267 galaxies in 13 clusters. The zero point is set by 36 galaxies with Cepheid or Tip of the Red Giant Branch distances. Tentatively, we determine H0 = 75 km s-1 Mpc-1. Distances determined using the luminosity-linewidth calibration will contribute to the distance compendium Cosmicflows-2.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, 27 pages, 18 figure

Predictive Power of Criminal Background on Losses

Product and data science teams for the auto insurance industry have been trying to increase pricing segmentation with validated rating variables to decrease rate subsidization. The criminal background data availability provided a new behavior variable to test against insurance-based credit scores as a potential predictive variable in the generalized linear rating model. Criminal background was analyzed using a Poisson Log Linear model and other key insurance rating variables for predicting loss costs. The study supported the inclusion of the criminal background data in combination with insurance-based credit score as the variable’s addition could improve the overall fit of the predictive model. The study also acknowledged there was a statistically significant association between criminal background and insurance-based credit score, but the overall size of the effect was small and weak. The overall contribution of value criminal background variable needs to be considered with a full rating dataset to determine if other, less powerful variables could be removed from the generalized linear to reduce the overall model complexity

Modeling a 300 kHz bathymetric sonar system

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 1992The Deep Submergence Laboratory has developed a family of calibrated high frequency bathymetric sonar systems for underwater survey. It is useful to have a detailed mathematical description of these systems to assist in data processing. A model of a generalized sonar system is developed first. This model then is made specific to the DSL 300-kHz forward scanning sonar and is implemented using the MATLAB software package. The model consists of a cascaded series of filters representing the electrical and mechanical components of the system. The model is adjusted after comparison to the transmitted pulse. The results are then inverted to demonstrate how the corrupting effects of the system can be reversed. A technique is developed for applying this reverse model to actual data. The results showed that a good representation of the system can be implemented using relatively simple descriptions of each component. The most important components are the band-limiting filter and the transducer. It is possible to reverse model these components with good results

Paleoecology of late quaternary Molluscan-Ostracod assemblages from the Norwood site, southeastern Minnesota

Well-preserved fossils, including mollusks, ostracods, beetles and plant remains were extracted from sediments at the Norwood Site in southeastern Minnesota during July, 1977. Stratigraphic units, in ascending order, were: (1) sandy claystone, (2) clayey siltstone, (3) sandy siltstone, and (4) laminated peat. Unit 1 was interpreted to be till or sediment that slumped or flowed into the lake. Unit 2 and the lower part of unit 3 were interpreted to be lacustrine sediments. The upper part of unit 3 was interpreted to be a shoreline deposit. Unit 4 was interpreted to be a terrestrial or marginal lacustrine deposit. Total thickness of the section was 1.7 m. Wood from the boundary of units 3 and 4 yielded a radiocarbon date of 12,400±60 years B.P. Sediment samples yielded at least 2 species of sphaeriid bivalves, 3 species of gastropods, and 6 species of ostracods. The low diversity in number of species and the age of the sediments suggested that these individuals may have been the first species to inhabit the study area after the Grantsburg glaciation. Both mollusks and ostracods were most abundant and diverse in unit 2 and the lower part of unit 3. The fosil assemblage of these units indicated a permanent lake with vegetation. The lack of mollusk fossils and better sediment sorting in the upper part of unit 3 suggested a shoreline environment. Abundant plant remains and the absence of mollusk fossils in unit 4 indicated a terrestrial or marginal lacustrine environment. Pollen analysis indicated that the lake was surrounded by tundra and, later, a spruce forest

Improving spatial resolution in soil and drainage data to combine natural and anthropogenic water functions at catchment scale in agricultural landscapes

Discrepancies in time-space representation of indata and calibration/validation data obstructs analysis of hydrological processes thatlink natural and anthropogenic water infrastructure in catchments and landscapes. To improve indata for hydrological- and modelling of the soil-plant-atmosphere-continuum, this paper presents a high-resolution dataset of hydrological functions in the agricultural landscape of Tidan, Sw Sweden. We firstly address spatial representation of soil physical parameters, describing soil water flows and storage. Secondly, we derive tile drainage datasets from historical maps. Lastly, we explore delineation and spatial location of streams, ditches and waterbodies to improve description of water connectivity. The new soil datasets with top- and subsoil descriptions varied in depicting the sensitivity of saturated hydraulic conductivity and water holding capacity. The most representative soil map showed moderate (34%) - to very rapid (21%) saturated hydraulic conductivity, water holding capacity below 40 mm 10 cm−1 (94%) and a dry bulk density ranging between 1.2 and 1.8 g cm−3 (71%). The digitalization of drained fields suggests that 69% of the arable fields are under tile drainage, dominated by sandy loam, loam and clay loam. The combined stream network resulted in 5350 km of streams and ditches, + 14% km and + 129%, respectively, compared to available best resolution datasets. Landscape surface water storage increased with a small addition (+ 6439 m3 storage potential) compared to previously available datasets. The improved descriptors of natural and anthropogenic flow and storage can potentially serve to improve water quantity and quality modelling under current and future climate- and hydrological changes

Counterexamples to elliptic Harnack inequality for isotropic unimodal L\'{e}vy processes

Until now, it has been an open question whether every subordinated Brownian motion (SBM) satisfies the elliptic Harnack inequality (EHI). In this paper, we show that the answer is ``no." In our first theorem, we show that if $X=(X_t)_{t \geq 0}$ is an isotropic unimodal L\'{e}vy process, and $X$ satisfies certain criteria (involving the jump kernel of $X$ and the distribution of the location upon first exiting balls of various sizes) then $X$ does not satisfy EHI. (Note that the class of isotropic unimodal L\'{e}vy processes is larger than the class of SBMs.) We then check that many specific SBMs do indeed satisfy the criteria, and thus do not satify EHI.Comment: 29 pages, 2 images in separate file

Malmquist Bias and the Distance to the Virgo Cluster

This paper investigates the impact of Malmquist bias on the distance to the Virgo cluster determined by the H_0 Key Project using M100, and consequently on the derived value of H_0. Malmquist bias is a volume-induced statistical effect which causes the most probable distance to be different from the raw distance measured. Consideration of the bias in the distance to the Virgo cluster raises this distance and lowers the calculated value of H_0. Monte Carlo simulations of the cluster have been run for several possible distributions of spirals within the cluster and of clusters in the local universe. Simulations consistent with known information regarding the cluster and the errors of measurement result in a bias of about 6.5%-8.5%. This corresponds to an unbiased distance of 17.2-17.4 Mpc and a value of H_0 in the range 80-82 km/s/Mpc. The problem of determining the bias to Virgo illustrates several key points regarding Malmquist bias. Essentially all conventional astronomical distance measurements are subject to this bias. In addition, the bias accumulates when an attempt is made to construct "distance ladders" from measurements which are individually biased. As will be shown in the case of Virgo, the magnitude and direction of the bias are sensitive to the spatial distribution of the parent poputation from which the observed object is drawn - a distribution which is often poorly known. This leads to uncertainty in the magnitude of the bias, and adds to the importance of minimizing the number of steps in "distance ladders".Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures, Latex, To appear in Ap