Confirmatory Analysis of an Ethics Instrument for Corrections

In this research, we quantify the difference in correctional officers’ ethical standards, as perceived by both officers and inmates. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and higher order modeling were used to validate the correctional ethics instrument. Group invariance tests at first-order level were applied to examine the invariance structure of conceptualized and operationalized ethics across staff and inmates. The evidence indicates the construct validity of the ethic instrument. Furthermore, correctional officers have a higher perception of their ethical practice than inmates on two of five common dimensions (“professional relationship with inmates” and “use of force”).

Equivalent accuracy at a fraction of the cost: Overcoming temporal dispersion

Numerical dispersion in finite-difference (FD) modeling produces coherent artifacts, severely constraining the resolution of advanced imaging and inversion techniques. Conventionally, numerical dispersion is reduced by increasing the order of accuracy of the FD operators, and we resign ourselves to paying the high computational cost that is incurred. Assuming no spatial dispersion, we have found that FD time dispersion is independent of the medium velocity and the spatial grid for propagation, and only depends on the time-stepping scheme and the propagation time. Based on this observation, we have devised postpropagation filters to collapse the time-dispersion effect of FD modeling. Our dispersion correction filters are designed by comparing the input waveform with dispersive waveforms obtained by 1D forward modeling. These filters are then applied on multidimensional shot records to eliminate the time dispersion by two schemes: (1) stationary filtering plus interpolation and (2) nonstationary filtering. We have found with 1D and 2D examples that the time dispersion is effectively removed by our postpropagation filtering at a negligible cost compared with a higher order modeling scheme.

Prediction of Free Edge Stresses in Laminate Systems Using Multi-Dimensional Method Based on Higher-Order Modeling

This paper presents efficient modeling technique using multi-dimensional method for prediction of free edge stresses in laminate plates. For the efficient modeling, the p-convergent transition element based on two-dimensional layer elements is proposed in order to connect discrete layer elements. The elements considered are on the basis of subparametric element concept. The results obtained by this proposed model are compared with those available in literatures. Especially, three-dimensional out-of-plane stresses in the interior and near the free edges are evaluated. The present models using the p-convergent transition element are demonstrated to be more practical and economical than previously p-version FEM using only single element type.

Comparison of higher order fem and MOM/SIE approaches in analyses of closed- and open-region electromagnetic problems

We investigate the efficiency of the two most popular frequency-domain approaches in computational electromagnetics (CEM); the finite element method (FEM) and the method of moments based on the surface integral equation (MoM/SIE), both in the context of the higher order modeling. We compare the performances of the two approaches in two simple three-dimensional (3-D) problems with similar meshes, chosen as benchmark examples. The chosen examples demonstrate full-wave analysis of a wave-guiding structure (a closed-region problem) and a scatterer in free space (an open-region problem). .