Digital Commons Network^™

Numerical Simulations Of Premixed Flames Of Multi Component Fuels/Air Mixtures And Their Applications, Essa Kh I J Salem

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical Engineering

Combustion has been used for a long time as a means of energy extraction. However, in the recent years there has been further increase in air pollution, through pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, acid rain etc. To solve this problem, there is a need to reduce carbon and nitrogen oxides through lean burning, fuel dilution and usage of bi-product fuel gases. A numerical analysis has been carried out to investigate the effectiveness of several reduced mechanisms, in terms of computational time and accuracy. The cases were tested for the combustion of hydrocarbons diluted with hydrogen, syngas, and bi-product fuel in …

Effect Of Exogenous Enzymes On Apparent Metabolizable Energy Value Of Barley In Swine And Broiler Chickens, Brian L. Bryson

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

The objective of this thesis was to evaluate the effect of exogenous enzyme supplementation, phytase and xylanase-glucanase, on AME value of barley in poultry and swine. In the first study, 280 broilers were assigned 1 of 8 treatments. Barley inclusion in the diet resulted in decreased (P < 0.05) performance. There was a treatment × phytase × xylanase-glucanase interaction for dry matter retention with birds fed the corn-SBM-barley diet supplemented with phytase and xylanase-glucanase having higher (P < 0.05) DM retention compared to birds fed corn-SBM-based diet with only xylanase-glucanase supplementation. AME and AMEn of corn-SBM-based diets were greater (P < 0.05) than the corn-SBM-barley-based diets. Energy metabolizability and AMEn of barley significantly increased with xylanase-glucanase supplementation. In the second study, 24 pigs (12 pigs/phase) were assigned to 1 of 4 treatments with xylanase-glucanase and phytase. After a 7-d adaption period, urine and feces were quantitatively collected for 5 d. DE of the barley-based diet supplemented with xylanase-glucanase (3,578 kcal/kg) and phytase and xylanase-glucanase in combination (3,617 kcal/kg) were significantly different. Compared to control diets, exogenous enzymes either significantly improved or had a tendency to improve AME and AMEn value of barley in broilers, but not in growing pigs.

Classifying Soil Moisture Content Using Reflectance-Based Remote Sensing, Ali Hamidisepehr

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

The ability to quantify soil moisture spatial variability and its temporal dynamics over entire fields through direct soil observations using remote sensing will improve early detection of water stress before crop physiological or economic damage has occurred, and it will contribute to the identification of zones within a field in which soil water is depleted faster than in other zones of a field.

The overarching objective of this research is to develop tools and methods for remotely estimating soil moisture variability in agricultural crop production. Index-based and machine learning methods were deployed for processing hyperspectral data collected from moisture-controlled samples. …

Capitalization Of Green Space And Water Quality Into Residential Housing Values, Willie B. Bedell

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This thesis investigates how proximity to parks, historic district designations, and water quality are valued at residential housing prices. The first essay argues that the negative influences of parks and historic districts, if not noticed, could promote negative externalities and unincentivized investments. I find a negative impact on housing values for a close proximity to a park, suggesting disamenities in park features. When the boundary discontinuity and park amenities are considered, I find a positive valuation for a park. Overall, these results imply a mixed influence of parks on homeowners. From the historic district standpoint, I find a positive valuation …

Essays On U.S. Beef Markets, Elham Darbandi

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This dissertation includes three essays on U.S. beef market. Each essay has looked at this market from a different point of view. The first essay investigates the price adjustment along the different levels of this market. The second essay discusses the impact of food safety incidents on export levels in this market. The third essay considers the environmental loading of U.S. beef market. A summary of each article is as follows.

The first essay (chapter 2) analyzes price adjustment of the U.S. beef sector with a focus on the Great Recession. To this purpose, the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) …

Two Essays On Whole Farm Modeling And Crop Marketing In Western Kentucky, Benjamin A. Martin

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This thesis is composed of two essays that investigate whole farm planning and crop marketing in western Kentucky. In the first essay, contracting decisions between food corn producers and a mill are analyzed to observe factors affecting the bushel amount farmers contract. Unbalanced panel data containing seven years’ worth of pricing and contract information are used with a fixed-effects model to generate parameter estimates and quantify their effect on bushels contracted. It was found that contract attributes, market condition, and relationship-specific assets had a significant effect on producers’ food corn contracting decisions. The second essay utilizes mixed-integer programming to optimize …

Willingness-To-Pay For Attributes Of Health Care Facilities In Rural Kentucky, Emmanuel Owusu-Amankwah

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Background: As rural hospitals in Kentucky face insolvency, stakeholders must assess the value of rural hospitals as well as alternatives such as rural clinics and private physician offices.

Objective: To identify the value of attributes of healthcare facilities based on Kentucky’s rural residents’ willingness-to-pay (WTP).

Methods: A survey instrument was created and distributed to ten counties in rural Kentucky. A conditional logit model was used to obtain baseline values and then a mixed logit model was used to address heterogeneity among consumers in estimating WTP. WTP values incorporated respondents’ demographic characteristics and their health status from self-reported frequency of use …

Coffee Market In China, Ran Zhu

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Although China is generally known as a tea-consuming country, both the production and consumption of coffee in China has seen double-digit growth in the last decade. This upward trend is projected to continue as long as investment is sustained and levels of disposable income continue to increase. In this rapidly expanding market, it is important for coffee producers and retailers in China to understand the preferences of emerging Chinese coffee consumers. Using survey data from Hubei and Zhejiang, China, we apply a Tobit regression model to analyze Chinese coffee consumers. Results show that the length of time consumers have been …

The Consumption And Sales Pattern Of Ugly Apples In South Korea, Hyun Jong Lee

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Approximately half of all wasted food is fruits and vegetables. One major cause of food waste is abnormal aesthetics; even if it is just as delicious as its normal counterpart. Food with a non-standard appearance (hereafter called ugly food) can be expelled by the markets. To reduce such waste, ugly food campaigns, which were developed in Europe and spread throughout the world, advocate for the consumption of ugly food. To study the problem of ugly food waste, this thesis examines ugly apples, since apples are the most common, representative, and readily accessible fruit. The objective of this thesis is to …

Improved Methods And Selecting Classification Types For Time-Dependent Covariates In The Marginal Analysis Of Longitudinal Data, I-Chen Chen

Theses and Dissertations--Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Generalized estimating equations (GEE) are popularly utilized for the marginal analysis of longitudinal data. In order to obtain consistent regression parameter estimates, these estimating equations must be unbiased. However, when certain types of time-dependent covariates are presented, these equations can be biased unless an independence working correlation structure is employed. Moreover, in this case regression parameter estimation can be very inefficient because not all valid moment conditions are incorporated within the corresponding estimating equations. Therefore, approaches using the generalized method of moments or quadratic inference functions have been proposed for utilizing all valid moment conditions. However, we have found that …

“Dad, Do You Want To Play With Me?” The Impact Of Fathers Who Make Time For Play, Michael S. Sitton

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

With an increase in the pace of life in the United States, there comes a recognition of the importance of prioritizing time, especially for fathers. Of the two-thirds of children who live with their father, only a percentage of them have fathers who report regular play time with their children. However, literature in the field does not explain specifically whether or not this play between father and child influences the child’s later risk taking behaviors in high school. Using data from the 2003 Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), waves 3, 4, and 6, this quantitative study sought to …

Analyzing Attitudes Toward Stayover Relationships Among Emerging Adults, Keiara A. Marsh

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

This study bridges the gap in literature in regards to emerging adults ages 18 to 25 and their attitudes toward relationship formation, specifically towards the acceptability of stayover relationships. By using a factorial vignette to manipulate dimensions of number of nights, reason, and gender, the attitudes of emerging adults were indicated to be acceptable. Open responses were obtained to analyze how emerging adults are categorizing the academic term of stayovers. The study found that emerging adults were more likely to find 1-2 nights as acceptable when compared to stayovers that occur every night. Qualitative analysis of results showed that respondents …

A Genetically-Informed Study Of The Predictors And The Development Of Delinquency, Albert J. Ksinan

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Although the rates of delinquent behavior have been decreasing since the 1990s, adolescent delinquent behavior continues to take a great toll on society as well as on perpetrators themselves. In this way, it is essential to understand the process of delinquency development. The current dissertation is comprised of three studies that analyzed the predictors and the development of delinquency using genetically-informed designs. The sample used for all studies comes from the Add Health dataset, a nationally-representative data on adolescents followed across 14 years.

The first study modeled the longitudinal development of delinquency in three adolescent cohorts: early, middle, and late …

Exploring Factors Facilitating Sexual Self-Disclosure For Women, Caitlin Marie Grasson

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Sexual Self-Disclosure is an important part of a relationship, however, often times, women do not feel it is appropriate to engage in. Specifically, many women do not disclose their sexual preferences, or what acts they do or do not find satisfying, with their partner. This lack of sexual self-disclosure keeps women from being able to have their own sexual needs met. This phenomenological study aimed to understand the factors that facilitate sexual self-disclosure for women in relationships. The participants (n=8) were women between the age of 24-30 who were in a committed sexual relationship for more than three months, but …

“The Best Thing That’S Happened In My Life”: The Journey Toward Acceptance Of One’S Lgbtq Child In A Sample Of Cuban-Americans And Puerto Ricans, Roberto Luis Abreu

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Acceptance by a parental figure is one of the most important protective factors for LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) youth and young adults (e.g., Ryan, 2009, 2010). Lack of parental acceptance may lead to a disruption in parent-child relationships and may increase risk for maladaptive behaviors and poorer psychosocial outcomes in LGBTQ youth (e.g., Bouris et al., 2010). Researchers have called for more inclusive samples and methods to better understand the experiences of families from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds (e.g., Heatherington & Lavner 2008). Specific to Latinas/os, cultural factors and theoretically informed interventions that facilitate parental acceptance …

A Classroom-Based Physical Activity Intervention For Adolescents: Is There A Relationship With Self-Efficacy, Physical Activity, And On-Task Behavior?, Colleen Cornelius

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Classroom-based physical activity is a newly explored avenue for providing physical activity opportunities to children within the school, but it is one that is showing academic gains in areas such as on-task behavior. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of pedal desks placed in high school classrooms. Three main objectives were examined: 1) The possible increase in physical activity self-efficacy among high school students in the classroom, 2) the effectiveness of pedal desks on increased physical activity among high school students, and 3) the impact of pedal desks on increasing classroom on-task behavior. Participants included 114 …

Examining An Asynchronous Group Discussion Board Adaptation Of A Parent-Mediated Behavior Intervention For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Alexis D. Rodgers

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social and communication deficits, as well as restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped behaviors, interests, and activities (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Although important relationships have been shown and described among the issues of challenging behavior, parent stress, and parenting sense of competence for families of children with ASD, there is a shortage of intervention programs appropriately suited for families which target these issues. Some programs have been developed and tested, but none is directly applicable for the target population. This is notable because of the connections drawn in the literature between families …

Factors Impacting Parental Acceptance Of An Lgbt Child, Dani E. Rosenkrantz

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Chrisler’s (2017) Theoretical Framework of Parental Reactions When a Child Comes Out as Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual suggests that parental reactions to having a non-heteronormative child are impacted by a process of cognitively appraising information about their child’s identity and experiencing and coping with emotional responses, both of which are influenced by contextual factors such as a parent’s value system. However, some religious values can challenge parents in the process of accepting a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) child. The purpose of this study was to test a model that examines the influence of cognitive-affective factors (cognitive flexibility, emotional …

An Examination Of Relations Among Fear, Guilt, Self-Compassion, And Multicultural Attitudes In White Adults, Whitney W. Black

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Structural racism is often perpetuated by well-intentioned White individuals who passively accept or are unaware of its existence. However, when their perceptions and understanding of the world are challenged through learning about structural racism, White people may experience emotions such as fear, and guilt, which seem to serve either a debilitating or a motivating role in multicultural attitude development. Self-compassion, which is the ability to process distressing emotions without resorting to avoidance of the emotional experience, may help White individuals work through strong negative affect that accompanies an awareness of structural racism and ultimately aid in the development of multicultural …

Beliefs About Self-Control And Regulation: Do They Matter For College Performance?, Cara E. Worick

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Students who are good self-regulators have higher motivation and achievement than those who are not. The beliefs students hold influence the goals they set, how they regulate learning, their motivation, and their subsequent actions. Beliefs about one’s own willpower (the capacity to exert self-control in everyday life) have been shown to affect individuals’ self-regulation. Willpower has been conceptualized as a limited resource that is easily depleted in demanding situations. However, some researchers have shown that individuals’ beliefs about willpower capacity (i.e., as finite or abundant), and not their actual willful acts, are more predictive of self-regulated behavior. Researchers have similarly …

Perceived Stigma And Barriers To Mental Health Care Among Former Military Service Members, Anna R. Z. Mastapha

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Former United States military members have consistently faced mental health concerns post discharge from the military. Some researchers have argued that the use of mental health services by veterans does not parallel the prevalence and need of such services (Hoge, Castro, Messer, McGurk, Cotting, & Koffman, 2004; Milliken, Auchterlonie, & Hoge, 2007; Vogt, 2011). Reasons why veterans do not access mental health care are varied and broad, however, they tend to be consistent with explanations rooted in the stigma of mental health care, and in the barriers that prevent the use of mental health care. The degree of the impact …

Uterine Corpus Malignancies In Appalachia Kentucky: Incidence, Survival And Related Health Disparities, Marian Symmes Johnson

Theses and Dissertations--Clinical Research Design

Uterine cancer is the nation’s most common gynecologic malignancy but is understudied in the geographically and socioeconomically diverse state of Kentucky (KY). This study assessed the frequency, distribution, and survival of uterine corpus malignancies in KY, and specifically the differences between Appalachia (AP) and non-Appalachia (NAP).

This study utilizes SEER and Kentucky Cancer Registries to study uterine corpus malignancy between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2014. The analysis looks at incidence between diagnoses in AP and NAP. Evaluation criteria includes: tumor histology (Type I, Type II, sarcoma, and mixed uterine malignancy), age, race, smoking status, stage at diagnosis, insurance …

Accounting For Matching Uncertainty In Photographic Identification Studies Of Wild Animals, Amanda R. Ellis

Theses and Dissertations--Statistics

I consider statistical modelling of data gathered by photographic identification in mark-recapture studies and propose a new method that incorporates the inherent uncertainty of photographic identification in the estimation of abundance, survival and recruitment. A hierarchical model is proposed which accepts scores assigned to pairs of photographs by pattern recognition algorithms as data and allows for uncertainty in matching photographs based on these scores. The new models incorporate latent capture histories that are treated as unknown random variables informed by the data, contrasting past models having the capture histories being fixed. The methods properly account for uncertainty in the matching …

Ultra-Fast And Memory-Efficient Lookups For Cloud, Networked Systems, And Massive Data Management, Ye Yu

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

Systems that process big data (e.g., high-traffic networks and large-scale storage) prefer data structures and algorithms with small memory and fast processing speed. Efficient and fast algorithms play an essential role in system design, despite the improvement of hardware. This dissertation is organized around a novel algorithm called Othello Hashing. Othello Hashing supports ultra-fast and memory-efficient key-value lookup, and it fits the requirements of the core algorithms of many large-scale systems and big data applications. Using Othello hashing, combined with domain expertise in cloud, computer networks, big data, and bioinformatics, I developed the following applications that resolve several major …

Retail Data Analytics Using Graph Database, Rashmi Priya

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

Big data is an area focused on storing, processing and visualizing huge amount of data. Today data is growing faster than ever before. We need to find the right tools and applications and build an environment that can help us to obtain valuable insights from the data. Retail is one of the domains that collects huge amount of transaction data everyday. Retailers need to understand their customer’s purchasing pattern and behavior in order to take better business decisions.

Market basket analysis is a field in data mining, that is focused on discovering patterns in retail’s transaction data. Our goal is …

Deep Neural Networks For Multi-Label Text Classification: Application To Coding Electronic Medical Records, Anthony Rios

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

Coding Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) with diagnosis and procedure codes is an essential task for billing, secondary data analyses, and monitoring health trends. Both speed and accuracy of coding are critical. While coding errors could lead to more patient-side financial burden and misinterpretation of a patient’s well-being, timely coding is also needed to avoid backlogs and additional costs for the healthcare facility. Therefore, it is necessary to develop automated diagnosis and procedure code recommendation methods that can be used by professional medical coders.

The main difficulty with developing automated EMR coding methods is the nature of the label space. The …

Investigation Of Volatile Organic Compounds (Vocs) Detected At Vapor Intrusion Sites, Mohammadyousef Roghani

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

This dissertation investigates unexplained vapor intrusion field data sets that have been observed at hazardous waste sites, including: 1) non-linear soil gas concentration trends between the VOC source (i.e. contaminated groundwater plume) and the ground surface; and, 2) alternative pathways that serve as entry points for vapors to infiltrate into buildings and serve to increase VOC exposure risks as compared to the classic vapor intrusion model, which primarily considered foundation cracks as the route for vapor entry. The overall hypothesis of this research is that theoretical knowledge of fate and transport processes can be systematically applied to vapor intrusion field …

Building Teacher Efficacy: Challenges Of Creating Communities Of Practice Among New Teachers And Veteran Teachers In A Toxic Work Environment, J Lail

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Leadership Studies

Recently, changes in graduation requirements in some states have made it more important than ever for students to be literate in all content areas. State assessments not only measure student academic ability, but they are a necessary component of graduation from high school. After completing required courses, students are expected to take assessments covering the content of those courses. In order to safely meet the graduation requirement, students must score at least 3 points per assessment on a 5-point scale. This has proven difficult for over 50% of students expecting to graduate.

Students at Midwestern-American High School (MAHS) have been …

The Role Of Pro-Inflammatory Mediators Ifnβ And Prostaglandin E2 In Suppression Of Innate Immunity To Listeria Monocytogenes, Michelle G. Pitts

Theses and Dissertations--Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics

As a foodborne pathogen, Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) encounters many barriers to invasion and dissemination in the host that may change the nature of host response. Lm has been most commonly studied using intravenous (i.v.) inoculation, however, a method that delivers a bolus of bacteria directly to the bloodstream. Thus, little is known about what systemic and local mediators are triggered during the natural course of infection and how these may impact susceptibility. Our laboratory used foodborne transmission of Lm in mice to assess whether the method of transmission and the specific organ microenvironment could affect infection-induced secretion of …

Insights Into Key Gene Regulatory Networks In Borrelia Burgdorferi, William Kenneth Arnold

Theses and Dissertations--Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics

Gene regulatory networks are composed of interconnected regulatory nodes created by regulatory factors of multiple types. All organisms finely tune gene expression in order to adapt to and survive within their current niche. Obligate parasitic bacteria are under extreme pressure to quickly and appropriately adapt their gene regulatory programs in order to survive within their given host. Borrelia burgdorferi is one such organism and persists in nature by alternating between two hosts; Ixodes spp. ticks and small vertebrate animals. These two hosts represent drastically different environments; requiring a unique gene regulatory program to survive and transmit between them. Microbiologists have …