Weak convergence of probability measures on product spaces with applications to sums of random vectors

Weak convergence of probability measures on product spaces with applications to sums of random vector

Diffusion approximations in collective risk theory

Collective risk theory concerned with random fluctuations of total assets of insurance compan

An Analysis of a Hybrid Steel Bridge

The American Institute of Steel Construction hosts a competition for graduating college seniors each year. The competition is designing and fabricating a scaled steel bridge within certain parameters. Each year the parameters change to allow different seniors to face similar challenges without copying the previous year’s work. Before the outbreak of COVID-19, a bridge was fabricated as per the rules in the 2020, and the same bridge was used for the 2021 competition. With a bridge already fabricated and being used for the competition, a question arose about analyzing the bridge. This thesis encompasses the entire analysis of the steel bridge completed by the honors student. The challenge of this project is due to the nature of the bridge being both a truss and a beam. This style of bridge does not have cookie cutter formulas to analyze the bridge, and approaches were made to analyze the bridge in all forms available. Multiple forms of analysis were used to analyze the bridge including hand calculations and a computer model. Different methods of hand calculations were used to verify the results of the computer model

A Teacher\u27s Pronunciation Manual

A Teacher\u27s Pronunciation Manual is a compilation of various techniques, games and technical information to aid the teacher in his work on pronunciation in the classroom. There are several methods for minimal pair drills, sample tongue twisters, diagnostic pronunciation tests and advice on making pronunciation tapes. Each sound in English has a discussion of its production, various minimal pairs, sample sentences and exercises and one or more techniques for the classroom. A bibliography is included for the further reference

Closing the management competence gap

The success of any organized health program depends upon effective management, but health systems worldwide face a lack of competent management at all levels. Management development for health systems, particularly at the first line of supervision, must be given much higher priority by senior leaders and for investment. Human resource development leaders must be the advocates for making the investment in managerial competence

Pursuing Health-Care Reform: The Promise and the Pitfalls

In developing health care reform proposals, it is important to recognize that our health care system has evolved over a long period of time and reflects values in which Americans believe deeply--values like pluralism and entrepreneurialism, consumer choice, limited government, and low taxation. Any major reforms will assault, or at least do some violence to, these values. Nevertheless there\u27s a gathering consensus that reform of the fractured health care system to which Americans have grown accustomed is necessary, based on two overriding concerns: an uninsured population of approximately 35 million people, more than half of whom are adults holding full-time jobs; and medical care costs that continue to rise more than twice as rapidly as the consumer price index. These problems have festered for over a decade. The obvious change in the equation is a restive middle class, concerned about the uncertainty of its health insurance arrangements, and a new President who has staked his political future on making these arrangements more secure. President Clinton brings to this task a strong belief that federal policy should create a framework that encompasses all health insurance arrangements, not just those that are sponsored by government and financed through taxation. This represents a fundamental change in national health policy. During twelve years of Republican rule, the federal government defined its responsibility in the health care field only as far as the publicly financed programs, largely Medicare and Medicaid, without any responsibility to create a framework under which the whole system would operate. Clearly there is a direct link between public and private financing of health care through cost-shifting, which has increased over the years. The President proposes to transform the system that is today dominated by private decision-making and financing to one that places the federal and state governments in far more central regulatory roles in relation to how resources are allocated and how the system functions

Synergistic Control of N-Body Computer Generated Robots.

This project uses N-Body computer generated robots to investigate the fundamental problem of synergistic control of robots. This facility is important in an automated manufacturing environment and relates directly to the expanding field of study involving nonlinear systems. Experiments are performed utilizing this force controlled model to investigate nonlinear control problems using one of the techniques advanced. The principal results of this work are summarized: (1) A new simulation package is developed which uses Lagrange equations with multipliers to model two dimensional user defined robots. Three dimensionalization and parallelization are discussed and a dynamic optimization algorithm is introduced for regulating the size of the time increment. (2) A control package shell is developed which allows the user to construct and test control methodologies against this robot model; it also allows response time delays to be incorporated into the simulation. (3) A set of programs are developed as tools for investigating the synergism problem: neural networks, genetic algorithms, and a controller based on Newtonian physics. (4) Modified versions of genetic algorithms are investigated and faster convergence rates are obtained. (5) A reinterpretation of gradient decent is proffered and methods are found which speed backpropogation convergence in a realtime learning environment. (6) A controller is developed, based on Newton\u27s second law, which allows us to determine the effective mass and to quantity and compensate for external forces. (7) Experiments similar to the broomstick and inverted pendulum are performed using the Newtonian control process. (8) An experiment is performed on a human torso robot