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- All Subjects: Machine Learning
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
Description
In this project, the use of deep neural networks for the process of selecting actions to execute within an environment to achieve a goal is explored. Scenarios like this are common in crafting based games such as Terraria or Minecraft. Goals in these environments have recursive sub-goal dependencies which form a dependency tree. An agent operating within these environments have access to low amounts of data about the environment before interacting with it, so it is crucial that this agent is able to effectively utilize a tree of dependencies and its environmental surroundings to make judgements about which sub-goals are most efficient to pursue at any point in time. A successful agent aims to minimizes cost when completing a given goal. A deep neural network in combination with Q-learning techniques was employed to act as the agent in this environment. This agent consistently performed better than agents using alternate models (models that used dependency tree heuristics or human-like approaches to make sub-goal oriented choices), with an average performance advantage of 33.86% (with a standard deviation of 14.69%) over the best alternate agent. This shows that machine learning techniques can be consistently employed to make goal-oriented choices within an environment with recursive sub-goal dependencies and low amounts of pre-known information.
ContributorsKoleber, Derek (Author) / Acuna, Ruben (Thesis director) / Bansal, Ajay (Committee member) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Software Engineering (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
In response to a national call within STEM to increase diversity within the sciences, there has been a growth in science education research aimed at increasing participation of underrepresented groups in science, such as women and ethnic/racial minorities. However, an underexplored underrepresented group in science are religious students. Though 82% of the United States population is religiously affiliated, only 52% of scientists are religious (Pew, 2009). Even further, only 32% of biologists are religious, with 25% identifying as Christian (Pew, 2009; Ecklund, 2007). One reason as to why Christian individuals are underrepresented in biology is because faculty may express biases that affect students' ability to persist in the field of biology. In this study, we explored how revealing a Christian student's religious identity on science graduate application would impact faculty's perception of the student during the biology graduate application process. We found that faculty were significantly more likely to perceive the student who revealed their religious identity to be less competent, hirable, likeable, and faculty would be less likely to mentor the student. Our study informs upon possible reasons as to why there is an underrepresentation of Christians in science. This further suggests that bias against Christians must be addressed in order to avoid real-world, negative treatment of Christians in science.
ContributorsTruong, Jasmine Maylee (Author) / Brownell, Sara (Thesis director) / Gaughan, Monica (Committee member) / Barnes, Liz (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Teacher preparation programs and how they function and educate future teachers can have large-scale impacts within the classroom, yet in the United States we see these processes operating drastically differently in various states, cities, and universities. In order to understand some of the differences in teacher preparation programs and how they differ from other programs, this study reviews the literature and shares the experiences of current students in teacher preparation programs both in the United States and Finland. Finland's education system has risen to international notoriety with the use and reporting of the country's strong ranking on the Programme for International Student Achievement or PISA. In 2001 during the inaugural publication of the PISA results, Finland was ranked in the top three of all three subject areas (science, reading, and mathematics literacy) amongst other nations in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The small Nordic nation exceeded anyone's expectations of their performance on the PISA and gained worldwide recognition for the high caliber of their students and their education system. One of the biggest components of a strong education system is the strength and caliber of its teachers. As a part of the Finnish reforms in the 1970's, policies and oversight were put in place regarding the preparation of teachers for Finnish schools. The level of preparation and the qualifications of teachers were increased as a part of these reform efforts and as such Finnish teachers are required to hold at minimum, a Master's degree. Teacher preparation programs in Finland have been consolidated into just eight universities nationwide with rigorous programs and a research emphasis. Teaching in Finland is also a highly sought after and well-regarded career path. According to the Finnish Teacher Training Schools, "[i]n 2016, over 6600 applicants competed for the 660 available slots in primary school preparation programmes" (About us, 2017). With an admission rate of only ten percent, teacher preparation programs are extremely competitive, oftentimes rivaling admission rates of medical or law schools. As the United States seeks to strengthen its education system, it is vital that we learn from the success of other nations. Making changes to the policies and processes of teacher training has been highly successful in strengthening the Finnish education system and contains insights relevant to improving the education system here in the US. Experiences, insights, and observations of the Finnish teacher training process can be impactful in evaluating ways in which the United States could seek to improve its own teacher training. Based on the available literature and experiences shared by both Finnish and American teacher preparation students and program graduates, I will compare some of the differences between the two systems and provide recommendations as to how the United States could incorporate some of the successful components of Finnish teacher training programs into its own offerings as it works to better prepare teachers for the classroom.
ContributorsEtz, Shannon Faye (Author) / LePore, Paul (Thesis director) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
My thesis offers original research is in its direct analysis of the IRS conflict of interest regulations and their applicability to STOs, its discussion of my experience setting up an STO, and my interviews of State Legislators as a primary source. The primary goals of my investigation are to 1. Determine the regulations and standards that exist to prevent conflicts of interest in the operation of Arizona STOs. 2. Examine instances of alleged conflicts of interest encountered by STO operators. 3. Discuss the ethical implications of STO operator actions in situations of conflicts of interest. And 4. Propose legislative solutions to remove any and all conflicts of interest. From my examination of financial records and from my interviews with other state legislators, I have concluded that Arizona Christina School Tuition Organization is violating IRS regulations by operating with an objective of conferring on its director a private benefit. The STO I helped form, ------------- STO will need to carefully document its expenses and contracts to justify its overhead margin or else risk running afoul of the same IRS regulations. Even if an STO like ------------- STO, is allowed by Arizona law to have an overhead margin of 10%, those expenses must be justified, particularly if they confer a private benefit to restricted persons. Ultimately, even if an STO deliberately flouts IRS regulations regarding private benefits realized by "disqualified" persons, it is highly unlikely that the STO will face IRS scrutiny. Therefore, there exist sufficient federal regulatory safeguards to prevent financial conflicts of interest among Arizona STO board members, but such regulations are not sufficiently enforced to prevent those conflicts of interest.
ContributorsGunther, Nicholas (Author) / Koretz, Lora (Thesis director) / Bonfiglio, Thomas (Committee member) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Organizations are hiring prospective employees with more transformational leadership qualities because of the organizational benefits associated with those leadership skills (Men, 2014). While current research examines the effects of transformational leadership in the workplace and the effects of hiring standards on organizational success, this research lacks an understanding of how to promote these hireable transformational leadership skills in education. In this study, we examine how students at the collegiate level are taught to enact leadership skills from two different methods and how they are perceived as hireable or not by human resource managers. To do this, we hired human resource professionals to code for hireability in the actions of the participants in a leadership scenario conducted at the end of the semester. By testing how students from each class are perceived as more or less hireable by human resource professionals, we contribute to the overall study of the benefits of transformational leadership in the workplace.
ContributorsBecker, Katie Marie (Author) / Adame, Elissa (Thesis director) / Towles, Megan (Committee member) / Arterburn, Ande (Committee member) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Abstract: The Ultimate Fighting Championship or UFC as it is commonly known, was founded in 1993 and has quickly built itself into the world's foremost authority on all things MMA (mixed martial arts) related. With pay-per-view and cable television deals in hand, the UFC has become a huge competitor in the sports market, rivaling the popularity of boxing for almost a decade. As with most other sports, the UFC has seen an influx of various analytics and data science over the past five to seven years. We see this revolution in football with the broadcast first down markers, basketball with tracking player movement, and baseball with locating pitches for strikes and balls, and now the UFC has partnered with statistics company Fightmetric, to provide in-depth statistical analysis of its fights. ESPN has their win probability metrics, and statistical predictive modeling has begun to spread throughout sports. All these stats were made to showcase the information about a fighter that one wouldn't typically know, giving insight into how the fight might go. But, can these fights be predicted? Based off of the research of prior individuals and combining the thought processes of relevant research into other sports leagues, I sought to use the arsenal of statistical analyses done by Fightmetric, along with the official UFC fighter database to answer the question of whether UFC fights could be predicted. Specifically, by using only data that would be known about a fighter prior to stepping into the cage, could I predict with any degree of certainty who was going to win the fight?
ContributorsMoorman, Taylor D. (Author) / Simon, Alan (Thesis director) / Simon, Phil (Committee member) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05