This thesis starts with a review of supersymmetric solutions of 11-dimensional supergravity; in particular flat M-branes and BPS configurations which can be constructed from them. The harmonic function rule is discussed and it is shown why this cannot be expected to apply to intersecting brane configurations where the intersection is localised. A new class of spacetimes is needed to cover these...

As document collections grow larger, the information needs and relevance judgments in a test collection must be well-chosen within a limited budget to give the most reliable and robust evaluation results. In this work we analyze a sample of queries categorized by length and corpus-appropriateness to determine the right proportion needed to distinguish between systems. We also analyze the approp...

Feedback is an essential component of medical education and adult learning; however, there are several challenges inherent in measuring the feedback directed at medical students. The authors describe the use of a daily e-mail questionnaire to gather information from medical students about the feedback they receive.

I’ve had cancer for 42 years. I remember cancer felt quiet, confusing, and chaotic—emotionally distancing my family from one another. I learned that when cancer invades a body, it invades your home, becomes an unwanted member of your family, and never leaves—it has visited me for 5 decades. I have lost count of all the ways doctors have announced, ‘‘it’s cancer.’’ Yet I remember how those words...

The declining enrollment is a dilemma that many information systems programs are facing. In this study, we design a “Mobile Star” project to promote the information systems major to high school students in Texas. Each “Mobile Star” project consists of a mobile app development workshop and the student’s app showcase. We expect to explore whether the student’s perceived completion, perceived achi...