Digital Commons Network^™

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence For Team Cognition In Human-Ai Teams, Beau Schelble

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Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have enabled AI to be applied across a wide variety of new fields like cryptography, art, and data analysis. Several of these fields are social in nature, including decision-making and teaming, which introduces a new set of challenges for AI research. While each of these fields has its unique challenges, the area of human-AI teaming is beset with many that center around the expectations and abilities of AI teammates. One such challenge is understanding team cognition in these human-AI teams and AI teammates' ability to contribute towards, support, and encourage it. Team cognition is …

A Scalable Transmission And Distribution Co-Simulation Platform For Ibr-Heavy Power Systems, Yousu Chen

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The grid is evolving rapidly to meet the requirements of the clean energy transition. This evolution involves an increasing penetration of renewable energy resources and new complexities with a larger number of devices and controls spread across transmission and distribution networks. The boundary between transmission and distribution becomes blur. Consequently, we face significant challenges in managing the fundamental shift in power system physics. The ubiquitous use of Inverter Based Resources (IBRs) throughout the transmission and distribution systems has made it more difficult for the grid to maintain grid stability under dynamic conditions. Therefore, there is a strong need to explore …

Influence Of Photoreactor Design Parameters On The Performance Of Ultraviolet Light-Induced Degradation Of Per-And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances By Bismuth Oxy Hydroxy Phosphate And Hexagonal Boron Nitride Photocatalystsinfluence Of Photoreactor Design Parameters On The Performance Of Ultraviolet Light-Induced Degradation Of Per-And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances By Bismuth Oxy Hydroxy Phosphate And Hexagonal Boron Nitride Photocatalysts, Mojtaba Qanbarzadeh

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The main objective of this study is to evaluate the practical applicability of heterogeneous photocatalysis technology powered by ultraviolet (UV) photons for the degradation of per and -polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in contaminated groundwater samples. For this purpose, bismuth oxyhydroxy phosphate (BOHP) and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) were utilized as the main photocatalysts in slurry photodegradation systems. BOHP (Bi₃O(OH)(PO₄)₂) is a wide bandgap semiconductor with high activity for degrading long-chain perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) in mild operational conditions. Boron nitride (BN) is another wide bandgap semiconductor material that was used in this study due to its …

Feasibility Of Using High-Alkali Natural Pozzolans And Reclaimed Fly Ash As Alternative Supplementary Cementitious Materials In Concrete, Weiqi Wang

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Due to the shortage of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) in the concrete industry, it is necessary to seek a new alternative. This study evaluates the feasibility of high-alkali SCMs, which were not recommended previously due to potentially exacerbating alkali-silica reaction (ASR) in concrete. The study addresses theSCMs’ ASR mitigation performance, evaluated by ASTM C1567, C1293, and AASHTO T380. Other concrete durability tests, including ASTM C596 drying shrinkage test, ASTM C1012 sulfate resistance test, and ASTM C1202 rapid chloride ions penetration test, were also conducted in this study. The ASTM C311 strength activity index test, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and ASTM …

Studies On Electrochemical Hydrogen Isotope Separation, Liyanage Mayura Sankalpa Silva

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Graphene-integrated Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrochemical cells have emerged as a novel area of scientific investigation in the realm of hydrogen isotope separation. Chemical Vapor Deposited (CVD) graphene has been especially useful due to its large-scale production capability for scaling-up purposes. The research described in this dissertation explores the role that inadvertent introduction of cations, notably ammonium and copper, during the CVD graphene transfer onto PEM substrates, such as Nafion, might play in affecting hydrogen ion transport and isotope separation in PEM electrochemical cells. An extensive review of existing literature exposed a gap concerning unintentional cation introductions during graphene transfer, …

The Use Of The South Carolina School Improvement Model - Quick Cycles In Sixth-Grade Science Classrooms, Jennifer Gnann

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Using data to make informed decisions about instruction strengthens a teacher’s delivery of content within the classroom. However, many teachers have not been taught how to properly use a model of rapid improvement cycles to analyze data and apply it to their classroom instruction. I modified the South Carolina School Improvement Model so that it could be used in short cycles to see how teachers used it to plan for, monitor, and adjust instruction in their classrooms.

I conducted a single case study over a six-week period in which I instructed two sixth-grade science teachers on how to use the …

Deep Reinforcement Learning For The Design Of Structural Topologies, Nathan Brown

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Advances in machine learning algorithms and increased computational efficiencies have given engineers new capabilities and tools for engineering design. The presented work investigates using deep reinforcement learning (DRL), a subset of deep machine learning that teaches an agent to complete a task through accumulating experiences in an interactive environment, to design 2D structural topologies. Three unique structural topology design problems are investigated to validate DRL as a practical design automation tool to produce high-performing designs in structural topology domains.

The first design problem attempts to find a gradient-free alternative to solving the compliance minimization topology optimization problem. In the proposed …

Force Displacement, Forced Perspective: The Rhetorics Of Refugee Experience, Jonathan Burgess

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This dissertation interrogates the intersection of digital media, displacement, and human rights within the contemporary geopolitical landscape, with a specific focus on the MENA region. From a perspective firmly rooted rhetoric, it dissects the complex relationship between technology and displaced populations, emphasizing the role of transmedia storytelling in shaping refugee experiences and narratives and the potential for transmedia storytelling to facilitate greater insights into needs and gaps for displaced people. Central to the analysis is the paradox of digital tools both as emancipatory devices and tools of surveillance and control, which are further elucidated through case studies.

Engaging with thinkers …

An Investigation Of The Accretion Processes In T Tauri And Herbig Ae/Be Systems Using High Resolution Optical And Near-Infrared Spectroscopy, Joshua Kern

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Star and planet formation is intimately tied to the accretion of material from the environments in which they form. During the formation process, disks of gas and dust develop in young stellar objects through which material is facilitated to the star and forming planets. Theoretical models of these accretion processes invoke viscous spreading via hydrodynamics, as well as more complex interactions with magnetic fields be it from the stellar component or the formation environment in order to catalyze these mass flows. These accretion models predict various scenarios including magnetospheric accretion as well as supersonic accretion flows in the disk atmosphere …

Addressing Mercury Contamination From Artisanal Gold Mining In Colombia: Pollution Exposure, Health Risk, And Educational Efforts In The Communities Of La Toma, Colombia, Kelli Mccourt

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Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) has become a primary environmental and public health concern in the region of Colombia known as Alto Cauca. The predominantly Afro-descendent communities of Yolombó and La Toma in Alto Cauca have experienced pollution linked to the use of mercury in the ASGM process. For the past decade, mercury has emerged as a contaminant of increasing concern in the communities due to its toxicity and ability to bioaccumulate and biomagnify. Likewise, mining in the region raises concerns over the leaching of metals into local waters. Given the complexity of risk and pollution in the communities, …

A Social-Ecological Systems Inquiry For Understanding Environmental Change In Los Angeles Outer-Ring Suburbs, Farnaz Kamyab

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Within the framework of the city's green infrastructure, urban and suburban green coverage play a pivotal role in delivering substantial benefits to health, economy, and the environment. However, the permanence of these green coverage is threatened by dynamic changes in neighborhood socio-economic, spatial, and ecological elements and their loss or degradation presents a problematic issue. Social-Ecological System Theory (SES) offers a comprehensive framework for understanding the potential correlations between socio-economic trends and the degradation of green coverage. This research is based on a case study of the highly diverse megacity, Los Angeles (LA), which encompasses a wide array of built-environments, …

Leveraging Professional Learning To Impact Leadership Of Technology Integration, Tennille Woodward

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School and district leaders lack awareness of the depth and complexity of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Education Leaders and how the implementation of the leader standards provides for students and teachers to learn relevant skills and strategies. Continuing the work of Schoenbart’s 2019 dissertation, the Education Leaders Technology Survey (ELTS) provides a self-assessment for education leaders to reflect on their leadership of technology integration and provides baseline data for this study. Professional learning around the ISTE Standards for Education Leaders provided through a Canvas course provides education leaders with a theory of action to …

Characterization Of The Effects Of The Pyrazolopyrimidine Inhibitor Grassofermata (Nav-2729) In The Eukaryotic Pathogen Trypanosoma Brucei, Kristina Marie Parman

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The protozoan pathogen, Trypanosoma brucei, is the causative agent of sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in livestock in sub-Saharan Africa. T. brucei cycles between tsetse fly and mammalian hosts, and it is adapted to survive in diverse host tissues. Variant Surface Glycoprotein (VSG) plays a key role in immune evasion in the mammalian host. The VSG membrane anchor requires two myristates, 14-carbon saturated fatty acids (FAs) that are scarce in the host. T. brucei can synthesize FAs de novo, but also readily takes up exogenous FAs, despite lacking homologs to fatty acid uptake proteins found in other …

Atomistic And Mesoscale Modeling Of Microstructure Development During Solid-State Sintering, Omar Hussein

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Interfaces are ubiquitous in materials systems, and they influence the processing and properties of nearly all engineering and functional materials. Examples include grain boundaries (GBs) in polycrystalline materials, free surfaces in nanoparticles, and phase boundaries in multiphase materials. Therefore, understanding and controlling interfacial processes is a key aspect of materials design and discovery efforts.

Recent developments in advanced manufacturing and synthesis techniques have enabled the fabrication of materials architectures with intricate nanoscale features. Of particular interest is solid-state sintering, known for creating complex and high-precision geometries with controlled microstructures. While sintering science has been the subject of active research, very …

Trash, Fragments, And Breaking Things: Toward A Grotesque Cripistemology For Disabled Life Writing, Michelle Anne Lloyd

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Despite the boom of memoirs of mental health post-1997 and the first advertisements for Prozac, most of them follow the same formula and come from the same places of privilege. This privilege is evident in the author bios on the books themselves and the careers of the writers. The popularity of these books within both abled and disabled realms has therefore created a script that those with mental illnesses are expected to abide by. Following in the example of Margaret Price, Katie Rose Guest Pryal, Merri Lisa Johnson, and others, I resituate mental illness as mental disability and place it …

The Effects Of Math Pathways On Pupils In Poverty, Edward Kameen

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This was a Mixed Methods study that evaluated the implementation of a Math Pathways Program at Crestview High School. The study leveraged Improvement Science and a long-range PDSA cycle with the aim of improving outcomes for Pupils in Poverty in Dual Credit math courses. This study sought to answer three research questions. The first two research questions were answered with quantitative data and the final research question was answered with qualitative data. The research questions that guided this study were (1) What effects did the Math Pathways Program have on the enrollment of Pupils in Poverty in Dual Credit math? …

Impact Of Copper-Containing Products And Irrigation On Hybrid Bermudagrass (Cynodon Dactylon (L.) Pers X C. Transvaalensis Burtt-Davy), Adam Gore

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Copper (Cu) is an often-seen component in various turf industry products including fungicides, algaecides, and colorants. Though an essential micronutrient in plants, excessive levels of Cu has been shown in various plant commodities to cause phytotoxicity and plant death. With the increasing use of pigments on hybrid bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers x. C. transvaalensis Burtt-Davy] putting greens to replace overseeding practices during traditional dormant periods combined with regular applications of fungicide, algaecide and spray additives containing Cu, the objective of this study was to investigate the potential impact of individual and combined copper-containing treatments on hybrid bermudagrass and …

Embracing Identities And Affirming Agency: Exploring Effective Mentorship For Women Doctoral Students In Engineering Disciplines Using An Intersectional Lens, Jennifer Brown

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Positive mentoring experiences are crucial for retaining and advancing those who hold marginalized identities in STEM, as they foster a greater sense of belonging and self-efficacy that encourage these students to persist in their fields. Marginalized identities in STEM include, but are not limited to, women, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), low-income, first-generation, neurodivergent, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Oftentimes, these identities intersect, introduce additional nuance in interactions within engineering spaces, and affect the mentoring support that both mentees and their mentors require.

Prior research has shown the reciprocal value that is created when graduate students are …

Physics-Based Machine Learning Methods For Control And Sensing In Fish-Like Robots, Colin Rodwell

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Underwater robots are important for the construction and maintenance of underwater infrastructure, underwater resource extraction, and defense. However, they currently fall far behind biological swimmers such as fish in agility, efficiency, and sensing capabilities. As a result, mimicking the capabilities of biological swimmers has become an area of significant research interest. In this work, we focus specifically on improving the control and sensing capabilities of fish-like robots.

Our control work focuses on using the Chaplygin sleigh, a two-dimensional nonholonomic system which has been used to model fish-like swimming, as part of a curriculum to train a reinforcement learning agent to …

Improving Sizing Resolution Of Particle Impactors In The Nanoparticle Range, Shivuday Kala

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The application of particle size measurement extends across many fields: air quality measurement, pharmaceutical studies, paint and coating production, and nanoparticle formulation to name a few. Therefore, accurate measurement of nanoparticles is critical to aerosol science. While devices currently exist that can size and count nanoparticles such as electrical mobility spectrometers, dynamic light scattering devices, and small angle X-ray scattering devices, their high costs, complex operation, and lack of outdoor usability, restrict their use in practical applications. Among the devices that can size aerosols down to the nanoscale, cascade impactors stand out because of their robustness, relatively simple design, low …

Making The Move Toward Meaningfulness In Learning Activities: Enhancing Teacher Self-Efficacy In Student Engagement Through An Instructional Coaching Approach In Improvement Science, Maureen Tiller

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Student engagement is a common problem in schools today and a challenging one to solve. Choosing to dive deeper into this complex problem at one high school, ten teachers participated in a coaching cycle designed to impact self-efficacy in student engagement with the support of the school’s instructional coach in collaboration with the principal. One overarching research question guided this improvement science study: What impact does an instructional coaching cycle focused on meaningfulness in learning activities have on teachers’ self-efficacy in student engagement? To answer the research question, I conducted a quantitative and qualitative data analysis of pre- and …

Mindfulness As An Emotional Well-Being Tool For Beginning Teachers, Brittany Crumley

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Today’s early educators are responsible for providing a stimulating learning environment to facilitate student academic outcomes, in addition to providing a positive emotional climate to support student social-emotional functioning. Early childhood educators engage with various physical and emotional stressors throughout the workday (e.g., disruptive behaviors, standardized assessment), and to be effective, they must be able to cope with their own emotional reactivity. Teacher experiences of work stress may lead to decreased performance, burnout, and poor student outcomes, creating serious concerns for the education environment. One transferable strategy to help teachers’ emotional well-being is mindfulness self-care (e.g., breathing practices), which can …

Leadership Matters: Developing And Growing Leaders To Lead High-Needs Schools, Mona Dickson

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The role of a principal has changed since its inception. This dissertation explores the transformative role of school principals in the American educational landscape. With a keen focus on the historical and contemporary nuances, this study meticulously traced the evolution of the term “principal.” The underlying dynamics shaped by gender biases, stringent accountability measures, and the innate pressures enveloping the position are highlighted. An emphasis is placed on principals leading high-needs schools, revealing a spectrum of challenges, often intensified by socio-economic and infrastructural disparities. The study delved into these leaders’ diverse experiences and expectations through qualitative lenses of semi-structured interviews …

Zero-Knowledge Reductions And Confidential Arithmetic, Marvin Jones

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The changes in computing paradigms to shift computations to third parties have resulted in the necessity of these computations to be provable. Zero-knowledge arguments are probabilistic arguments that are used to to verify computations without secret data being leaked to the verifying party.

In this dissertation, we study zero-knowledge arguments with specific focus on reductions. Our main contributions are:

1. Provide a thorough survey in a variety of zero-knowledge techniques and protocols.
2. Prove various results of reductions that can be used to study interactive protocols in terms of subroutines. Additionally, we identify an issue in the analogous definition of zero-knowledge for …

From Experiences To Beliefs: An Exploratory Case Study On Science Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Emergent Bilinguals, Yamil Ernesto Ruiz

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Emergent bilingual (EB) students in the US are those who are in the process of developing academic English proficiency. EBs are some of the fastest growing populations of students in American public schools. There exists a great deal of research geared towards developing both curricular resources and instructional strategies to best support EBs in the science classroom, however many of these professional development studies lament the lack of growth in terms of achievement in science learning outcomes of EBs. It is possible that due to a lack of transformation in their beliefs that the teachers in these studies do not …

Restorative Practices: Implementing An Alternative To Disproportionate Out-Of-School Suspension And Expulsion Rates Of Black Students, Ezra Cowan

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This research describes the application of improvement science focusing on implementing restorative practices (RP) to decrease suspension and expulsion rates of Black students. Black students are suspended and expelled disproportionately compared to their White peers in South Carolina. Due to the high suspension and expulsion rates, school districts are implementing restorative practices to decrease the suspension and expulsion rates of minorities. This study utilizes a qualitative method of data collection and analysis to determine if the use of RP is effective in decreasing suspension and expulsion rates of Black students. RP employs two informal and two formal tools for conflict …

How Is Wildlife Poaching Changing In Uganda And How Can We Understand The Contribution Of Wildlife Protection Efforts At Multiple Scales: Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda., Ingrid Nyonza Nyakabwa

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Wildlife poaching is a critical global issue that poses significant threats to biodiversity, ecological balance, and the long-term sustainability of wildlife in Sub-Saharan Africa. The illicit trade in wildlife and their derivatives continues to grow, fueled by various socio-economic, cultural, and environmental factors. As the demand for wildlife products persists, it is imperative to understand the underlying causes, impacts, and potential solutions to combat this detrimental practice.

This research examined the dimensions of wildlife poaching in and around the area of Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda, the largest and oldest National Park in Uganda. Uganda has experienced success in …

Ti-6al-4v Β Phase Selective Dissolution: In Vitro Mechanism And Prediction, Michael A Kurtz

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Retrieval studies document Ti-6Al-4V β phase dissolution within total hip replacement systems. A gap persists in our mechanistic understanding and existing standards fail to reproduce this damage. This thesis aims to (1) elucidate the Ti-6Al-4V selective dissolution mechanism as functions of solution chemistry, electrode potential and temperature; (2) investigate the effects of adverse electrochemical conditions on additively manufactured (AM) titanium alloys and (3) apply machine learning to predict the Ti-6Al-4V dissolution state. We hypothesized that (1) cathodic activation and inflammatory species (H₂O₂) would degrade the Ti-6Al-4V oxide, promoting dissolution; (2) AM Ti-6Al-4V selective dissolution would occur …

Developing High-Performance 2d Heterostructured Electrocatalysts And Photocatalysts For Hydrogen Production And Utilizationsts And Photocatalysts For Hydrogen Production And Utilization, Xiaohan Ma

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H₂ is a pivotal chemical in modern society, not only as a clean energy carrier but also as a versatile chemical reactant. However, traditional hydrogen production and utilization heavily rely on thermocatalysis, which is highly energy-intensive and can result in heavy carbon emission and severe environmental problems. Photocatalysis and electrocatalysis are greener alternatives to thermocatalysis that can capitalize on the renewable sunlight and electricity and thus dramatically reduce energy requirements. However, heterogeneous electro/photocatalysts are still far from application to hydrogen economy due to the lack of design principles that can lead to sufficient efficiency. To address this challenge, the …

A Digital Triplet For Utilizing Offline Environments To Train Condition Monitoring Systems For Rolling Element Bearings, Ethan Wescoat

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Manufacturing competitiveness is related to making a quality product while incurring the lowest costs. Unexpected downtime caused by equipment failure negatively impacts manufacturing competitiveness due to the ensuing defects and delays caused by the downtime. Manufacturers have adopted condition monitoring (CM) techniques to reduce unexpected downtime to augment maintenance strategies. The CM adoption has transitioned maintenance from Breakdown Maintenance (BM) to Condition-Based Maintenance (CbM) to anticipate impending failures and provide maintenance actions before equipment failure. CbM is the umbrella term for maintenance strategies that use condition monitoring techniques such as Preventive Maintenance (PM) and Predictive Maintenance (PdM). Preventive Maintenance involves …