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Description
The OMFIT (One Modeling Framework for Integrated Tasks) modeling environment and the BRAINFUSE module have been deployed on the PPPL (Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory) computing cluster with modifications that have rendered the application of artificial neural networks (NNs) to the TRANSP databases for the JET (Joint European Torus), TFTR (Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor), and NSTX (National Spherical Torus Experiment) devices possible through their use. This development has facilitated the investigation of NNs for predicting heat transport profiles in JET, TFTR, and NSTX, and has promoted additional investigations to discover how else NNs may be of use to scientists at PPPL. In applying NNs to the aforementioned devices for predicting heat transport, the primary goal of this endeavor is to reproduce the success shown in Meneghini et al. in using NNs for heat transport prediction in DIII-D. Being able to reproduce the results from is important because this in turn would provide scientists at PPPL with a quick and efficient toolset for reliably predicting heat transport profiles much faster than any existing computational methods allow; the progress towards this goal is outlined in this report, and potential additional applications of the NN framework are presented.
ContributorsLuna, Christopher Joseph (Author) / Tang, Wenbo (Thesis director) / Treacy, Michael (Committee member) / Orso, Meneghini (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Physics (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Twitter, the microblogging platform, has grown in prominence to the point that the topics that trend on the network are often the subject of the news and other traditional media. By predicting trends on Twitter, it could be possible to predict the next major topic of interest to the public. With this motivation, this paper develops a model for trends leveraging previous work with k-nearest-neighbors and dynamic time warping. The development of this model provides insight into the length and features of trends, and successfully generalizes to identify 74.3% of trends in the time period of interest. The model developed in this work provides understanding into why par- ticular words trend on Twitter.
ContributorsMarshall, Grant A (Author) / Liu, Huan (Thesis director) / Morstatter, Fred (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Bots tamper with social media networks by artificially inflating the popularity of certain topics. In this paper, we define what a bot is, we detail different motivations for bots, we describe previous work in bot detection and observation, and then we perform bot detection of our own. For our bot detection, we are interested in bots on Twitter that tweet Arabic extremist-like phrases. A testing dataset is collected using the honeypot method, and five different heuristics are measured for their effectiveness in detecting bots. The model underperformed, but we have laid the ground-work for a vastly untapped focus on bot detection: extremist ideal diffusion through bots.
ContributorsKarlsrud, Mark C. (Author) / Liu, Huan (Thesis director) / Morstatter, Fred (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computing and Informatics Program (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Studies have shown that arts programs have a positive impact on students' abilities to achieve academic success, showcase creativity, and stay focused inside and outside of the classroom. However, as school funding drops, arts programs are often the first to be cut from school curricula. Rather than drop art completely, general education teachers have the opportunity to integrate arts instruction with other content areas in their classrooms. Traditional fraction lessons and Music-infused fraction lessons were administered to two classes of fourth-grade students. The two types of lessons were presented over two separate days in each classroom. Mathematics worksheets and attitudinal surveys were administered to each student in each classroom after each lesson to gauge their understanding of the mathematics content as well as their self-perceived understanding, enjoyment and learning related to the lessons. Students in both classes were found to achieve significantly higher mean scores on the traditional fraction lesson than the music-infused fraction lesson. Lower scores in the music-infused fraction lesson may have been due to the additional component of music for students unfamiliar with music principles. Students tended to express satisfaction for both lessons. In future studies, it would be recommended to spend additional lesson instruction time on the principles of music in order help students reach deeper understanding of the music-infused fraction lesson. Other recommendations include using colorful visuals and interactive activities to establish both fraction and music concepts.
ContributorsGerrish, Julie Kathryn (Author) / Zambo, Ronald (Thesis director) / Hutchins, Catherine (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
A growing number of jobs in the US require a college degree or technical education, and the wage difference between jobs requiring a high school diploma and a college education has increased to over $17,000 per year. Enrollment levels in postsecondary education have been rising for at least the past decade, and this paper attempts to tease out how much of the increasing enrollment is due to changes in the demand by companies for workers. A Bartik Instrument, which is a measure of local area labor demand, for each county in the US was constructed from 2007 to 2014, and using multivariate linear regression the effect of changing labor demand on local postsecondary education enrollment rates was examined. A small positive effect was found, but the effect size in relation to the total change in enrollment levels was diminutive. From the start to the end of the recession (2007 to 2010), Bartik Instrument calculated unemployment increased from 5.3% nationally to 8.2%. This level of labor demand contraction would lead to a 0.42% increase in enrollment between 2008 and 2011. The true enrollment increase over this period was 7.6%, so the model calculated 5.5% of the enrollment increase was based on the changes in labor demand.
ContributorsHerder, Daniel Steven (Author) / Dillon, Eleanor (Thesis director) / Schoellman, Todd (Committee member) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This thesis provides recommendations to implement journalism and publishing programs into Montessori secondary education systems. This applies to students of 11 years or older that can be found in more than 210 Montessori schools across the nation, according to the American Montessori Society. Much of the foundation for this thesis is created by my own experience starting a journalism program at Desert Garden Montessori School in Phoenix, Arizona. The literature review looks at the history of Montessori education; the differences between Montessori education and traditional public schooling; the benefits of journalism programs for secondary education systems; and the observed fit between journalism and Montessori philosophies. The greater research explores my experience as a journalism adviser for Desert Garden Montessori School, and my own lessons learned through the spring 2015 semester. The final suggestions for a journalism program are split into three sections: those by the Desert Garden Montessori students, by certified members of American Montessori Society, and my own final recommendations. It then looks into areas for further research to solidify the expansion of journalism programs into other Montessori schools. The appendices contain newsroom documents and material published during my time as journalism adviser for Desert Garden Montessori School. This includes the magazines and stories created by the newsroom students.
ContributorsOtarola Alfaro, Miguel Angel (Author) / Gilger, Kristin (Thesis director) / Roschke, Kristy (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Previous research discusses students' difficulties in grasping an operational understanding of covariational reasoning. In this study, I interviewed four undergraduate students in calculus and pre-calculus classes to determine their ways of thinking when working on an animated covariation problem. With previous studies in mind and with the use of technology, I devised an interview method, which I structured using multiple phases of pre-planned support. With these interviews, I gathered information about two main aspects about students' thinking: how students think when attempting to reason covariationally and which of the identified ways of thinking are most propitious for the development of an understanding of covariational reasoning. I will discuss how, based on interview data, one of the five identified ways of thinking about covariational reasoning is highly propitious, while the other four are somewhat less propitious.
ContributorsWhitmire, Benjamin James (Author) / Thompson, Patrick (Thesis director) / Musgrave, Stacy (Committee member) / Moore, Kevin C. (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This paper describes a thesis project in which the author developed an eight-session, after-school curriculum to teach journalism basics to Desert Mountain High School's newspaper in Scottsdale, Arizona. Wolf's Print, the school's paper, moved to an after-school basis in the 2011-2012 school year as a result of budgetary constraints. The topics covered in these sessions ranged from the current state of journalism to learning more specific skills, such as news writing and copy editing. The paper begins with a discussion of the efficacy of after-school programs as a whole. Though these programs have been shown to benefit students, there are also challenges \u2014 most notably attendance and commitment on the part of students \u2014 to a club that is operated on a solely after-school basis. The paper ends with an evaluation of the program and several recommendations to strengthen after-school journalism programs. These recommendations include robust community involvement and teacher commitment to the club.
ContributorsGunderson, Anna Mae (Author) / Gilger, Kristin (Thesis director) / Manning, Jason (Committee member) / Brass, Jory (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Computer simulations are gaining recognition as educational tools, but in general there is still a line dividing a simulation from a game. Yet as many recent and successful video games heavily involve simulations (SimCity comes to mind), there is not only the growing question of whether games can be used for educational purposes, but also of how a game might qualify as educational. Endemic: The Agent is a project that tries to bridge the gap between educational simulations and educational games. This paper outlines the creation of the project and the characteristics that make it an educational tool, a simulation, and a game.
ContributorsFish, Derek Austin (Author) / Karr, Timothy (Thesis director) / Marcus, Andrew (Committee member) / Jones, Donald (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Physics (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
This project aims to aggregate recent information on broadcast journalism curriculum and propose a website design to help educate broadcast students about the most-needed web skills in newsrooms. Television reporters must go beyond re-hashing their broadcast package and script on the station's website, and this includes knowledge of the best site design practices to house more in-depth content. The Grady Undergraduate Survey, as well as the opinions and experience of professionals today, show that web design and web writing skills are two of the most important skills a broadcast student can possess as they prepare to graduate and seek jobs.
ContributorsPorter, Caroline (Author) / Lodato, Mark (Thesis director) / Carpenter, Serena (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor)
Created2012-12