Deriving Enrollment Management Scores from ACT Data

This study is an investigation of the derivation of scores that predict whether or not prospective first-time freshmen will apply or will enroll and whether or not firsttime freshman enrollees will graduate using data from the ACT (American College Testing) assessment. Using a regression methodology, four basic scores are derived to be independent of academic ability, which is indicated by a fifth score. Using cross-validation populations, each of the scores is shown to predict the desired behavioral criterion quite well, and each should serve its intended purpose. The paper discusses potential uses of the scores and examines the inclusion or exclusion of no-response items (where the individual did not give a response), the optimal number of data items to include in an enrollment management score, and other characteristics of the scores

Efficient organization of the farm industry in the north central region of the United States in 1959 and 1980

For the organization of the farm industry to be efficient in terms of income maximization would require that farm output be produced at minimum factor cost, that aggregate farm output clear the market at prices covering the factor opportunity costs and that the product mix be geared to the consumers’ wants. Meeting these requirements would mean that the income of individual farm operators would be maximized and that the farm industry would make its maximum contribution to national income. Implicit in conducting the research reported here was the hypothesis that existing resource and production characteristics of the farm industry were not approximations to the economic efficiency conditions. Specifically, we hypothesized that the farming industry contained two major types of resource imbalances

Experiments on joint source-channel fractal image coding with unequal error protection

We propose a joint source-channel coding system for fractal image compression. We allocate the available total bit rate between the source code and a range of error-correcting codes using a Lagrange multiplier optimization technique. The principle of the proposed unequal error protection strategy is to partition the information bits into sensitivity classes and to assign one code from a range of error-correcting codes to each sensitivity class in a nearly optimal way. Experimental results show that joint source-channel coding with fractal image compression is feasible, leads to ef"cient protection strategies, and outperforms previous works in this "eld that only covered channel coding with a "xed source rate

Phase behavior of the Confined Lebwohl-Lasher Model

The phase behavior of confined nematogens is studied using the Lebwohl-Lasher model. For three dimensional systems the model is known to exhibit a discontinuous nematic-isotropic phase transition, whereas the corresponding two dimensional systems apparently show a continuous Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless like transition. In this paper we study the phase transitions of the Lebwohl-Lasher model when confined between planar slits of different widths in order to establish the behavior of intermediate situations between the pure planar model and the three-dimensional system, and compare with previous estimates for the critical thickness, i.e. the slit width at which the transition switches from continuous to discontinuous.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review

Poisson-Bracket Approach to the Dynamics of Nematic Liquid Crystals. The Role of Spin Angular Momentum

Nematic liquid crystals are well modeled as a fluid of rigid rods. Starting from this model, we use a Poisson-bracket formalism to derive the equations governing the dynamics of nematic liquid crystals. We treat the spin angular momentum density arising from the rotation of constituent molecules about their centers of mass as an independent field and derive equations for it, the mass density, the momentum density, and the nematic director. Our equations reduce to the original Leslie-Ericksen equations, including the inertial director term that is neglected in the hydrodynamic limit, only when the moment of inertia for angular momentum parallel to the director vanishes and when a dissipative coefficient favoring locking of the angular frequencies of director rotation and spin angular momentum diverges. Our equations reduce to the equations of nematohydrodynamics in the hydrodynamic limit but with dissipative coefficients that depend on the coefficient that must diverge to produce the Leslie-Ericksen equations.Comment: 10 pages, to be published in Phys. Rev. E 72(5

High‐Frequency Sensor Data Reveal Across‐Scale Nitrate Dynamics in Response to Hydrology and Biogeochemistry in Intensively Managed Agricultural Basins

An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2018 American Geophysical Union.Excess nitrate in rivers draining intensively managed agricultural watersheds has caused coastal hypoxic zones, harmful algal blooms, and degraded drinking water. Hydrology and biogeochemical transformations influence nitrate concentrations by changing nitrate supply, removal, and transport. For the Midwest Unites States, where much of the land is used for corn and soybean production, a better understanding of the response of nitrate to hydrology and biogeochemistry is vital in the face of high nitrate concentrations coupled with projected increases of precipitation frequency and magnitude. In this study, we capitalized on the availability of spatially and temporally extensive sensor data in the region to evaluate how nitrate concentration (NO3−) interacts with discharge (Q) and water temperature (T) within eight watersheds in Iowa, United States, by evaluating land use characteristics and multiscale temporal behavior from 5‐year, high‐frequency, time series records. We show that power spectral density of Q, NO3−, and T, all exhibit power law behavior with slopes greater than 2, implying temporal self‐similarity for a range of scales. NO3− was strongly cross correlated with Q for all sites and correlation increased significantly with drainage area across sites. Peak NO3− increased significantly with crop coverage across watersheds. Temporal offsets in peak NO3− and peak Q, seen at all study sites, reduced the impact of extreme events. This study illustrates a relatively new approach to evaluating environmental sensor data and revealed characteristics of watersheds in which extreme discharge events have the greatest consequences

Method for Generating Long-Range Correlations for Large Systems

We propose a new method to generate a sequence of random numbers with long-range power-law correlations that overcomes known difficulties associated with large systems. The new method presents an improvement on the commonly-used methods. We apply the algorithm to generate enhanced diffusion, isotropic and anisotropic self-affine surfaces, and isotropic and anisotropic correlated percolation.Comment: 4 pages, REVTEX, figures available upon request from [email protected]

The [Het-s] Prion, an Amyloid Fold as a Cell Death Activation Trigger

International audienc

Retrieval of 3D polygonal objects based on multiresolution signatures

In this paper we present a method for retrieving 3D polygonal objects by using two sets of multiresolution signatures. Both sets are based on the progressive elimination of object's details by iterative processing of the 3D meshes. The first set, with five parameters, is based on mesh smoothing. This mainly affects an object's surface. The second set, with three parameters, is based on difference volumes after successive mesh erosions and dilations. Characteristic feature vectors are constructed by combining the features at three mesh resolutions of each object. In addition to being invariant to mesh resolution, the feature vectors are invariant to translation, rotation and size of the objects. The method was tested on a set of 40 complex objects with mesh resolutions different from those used in constructing the feature vectors. By using all eight features, the average ranking rate obtained was 1.075: 37 objects were ranked first and only 3 objects were ranked second. Additional tests were carried out to determine the significance of individual features and all combinations. The same ranking rate of 1.075 can be obtained by using some combinations of only three features. © 2011 Springer-Verlag