Digital Commons Network^™

Mixing By Cutting And Shuffling A Line Segment: The Effect Of Incorporating Diffusion, Mengying Wang

Open Access Theses

Dynamical systems are commonly used to model mixing in fluid and granular flows. We consider a one-dimensional discontinuous dynamical system model (termed “cutting and shuffling” of a line segment), and we present a comprehensive computational study of finite-time mixing. The properties of the system depend on several parameters in a sensitive way, and the effect of each parameter is examined. Space-time and waterfall plots are introduced to visualize the mixing process with different mixing protocols without diffusion, showing a variety of distinct and complex behaviors in this “simple” dynamical system. To improve the mixing efficiency and avoid pathological cases, we …

The Impacts Of Providing And Receiving Formative Peer Feedback On Secondary Students Achievement On A Graphic Design Project, Emily Yoshikawa

Open Access Theses

Formative assessment is a widely accepted practice in education today aimed towards high student achievement (Gielen & De Weaver, 2015). Despite its’ acceptance, there remains some confusion, as well as contradictory ideas, around the best practices of formative assessment and, explicitly, feedback through formative assessment (Shute, 2008). There is specifically a lack of clarity on the impact of individual elements of providing and/or receiving formative feedback on student achievement. Further, the influence of this feedback, if provided to/from peers in formative settings, is not fully understood (Liu & Carless, 2006). These ideas are important to understand so as to help …

Approximating Signed Distance Field To A Mesh By Artificial Neural Networks, Zhe Zeng

Open Access Theses

Previous research has resulted in many representations of surfaces for rendering. However, for some approaches, an accurate representation comes at the expense of large data storage. Considering that Artifcial Neural Networks (ANNs) have been shown to achieve good performance in approximating non-linear functions in recent years, the potential to apply them to the problem of surface representation needs to be investigated. The goal in this research is to exploring how ANNs can effciently learn the Signed Distance Field (SDF) representation of shapes. Specifcally, we investigate how well different architectures of ANNs can learn 2D SDFs, 3D SDFs, and SDFs approximating …

Visualizing The Motion Flow Of Crowds, Zheng Zhao

Open Access Theses

In modern cities, massive population causes problems, like congestion, accident, violence and crime everywhere. Video surveillance system such as closed-circuit television cameras is widely used by security guards to monitor human behaviors and activities to manage, direct, or protect people. With the quantity and prolonged duration of the recorded videos, it requires a huge amount of human resources to examine these video recordings and keep track of activities and events. In recent years, new techniques in computer vision field reduce the barrier of entry, allowing developers to experiment more with intelligent surveillance video system. Different from previous research, this dissertation …

Hybrid Energy Storage Systems For Uav Applications, John J. Ganser

Open Access Theses

Energy storage constraints limit the range and endurance of electric based unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Solving the energy storage problem allows the adoption of UAVs on a much wider scale. A solution to the problem would ideally retain the significant performance and efficiency benefits of the electric based propulsion system. The contents of this study focused on solving the energy storage problem through research, experiment, and simulation based testing of the application of hybrid energy storage systems (HESS) to existing UAV designs. A review of literature was done exploring existing and future applications of electric based aircraft propulsion systems. Research …

A Genetic Approach To Pinning Down The Wanderer: Mapping Vagal Afferent Innervation Of The Mouse Intestinal Mucosa, Hannah Kathleen Serlin

Open Access Theses

Vagal afferents that supply the small intestine mucosa play a key role in signaling satiation and regulating digestion. Little is known about the morphology or distribution of this innervation. A major obstacle has been the ability to selectively label a large proportion of vagal mucosal afferents independent of other extrinsic and intrinsic gastrointestinal tract innervation. A recent breakthrough revealed that Nav1.8Cre-Tomato control (CON) mice express Tomato protein in ~80% nodose and dorsal root ganglion (DRG) cells and in mucosal afferents throughout the intestines (Gautron, 519:3085, 2011). Subdiaphragmatic vagotomy in CON mice (VAGX) resulted in a complete loss of this mucosal …

Consensus And Platooning In Multiagent Networks, Jiazhi Song

Open Access Theses

First, a distributed algorithm to accelerate the convergence of a class of linear time-invariant consensus-based distributed algorithms is proposed. Then, it is proven that, given a convergent distributed algorithm, the acceleration algorithm can ensure convergence and consensus. Also, the parameter that can ensure the largest possible convergence speed was determined. Furthermore, it is shown that some constraints on the equilibrium state of the original algorithms also apply to the equilibrium state of the acceleration algorithm. Finally, some examples are presented to validate the effectiveness of the acceleration algorithm. A method that allows obtaining convergence value within a finite amount of …

Enrichment Of Turbulence Field Using Wavelets, Yifan Du

Open Access Theses

This thesis is composed of two parts. The first part presents a new turbulence generation method based on stochastic wavelets and tests various properties of the generated turbulence field in both the homogeneous and inhomogeneous cases. Numerical results indicate that turbulence fields can be generated with much smaller bases in comparison to synthetic Fourier methods while maintaining comparable accuracy. Adaptive generation of inhomogeneous turbulence is achieved by a scale reduction algorithm, which greatly reduces the computational cost and practically introduces no error. The generating formula proposed in this research could be adjusted to generate fully inhomogeneous and anisotropic turbulence with …

Evidentiary Reasoning: An Examination Of Elementary And Middle School Students' Knowledge Of Scientific Evidence In Biology, Jamison Wills

Open Access Dissertations

This project examines upper elementary and middle school students’ knowledge of scientific evidence. Informed by literature in cognitive development, learning sciences, and science education, this proposal argues that science educators have typically treated evidence as a simple and unitary construct that is disconnected from other phases of scientific activity. Evidence in the philosophy and history of science, on the other hand, is multifaceted, sophisticated, and involves the coordination of disciplinary knowledge and methodological practices. Based on a conceptual analysis of evidence in this literature, I developed a framework of evidential dimensions that important to scientific reasoning. Two fifth and two …

Punishment Of Public Corruption In China And The United States, Linjing Wang

Open Access Dissertations

Corruption is pervasive in many countries. However, the most effective punishment to deter corruption remains unknown. Some have suggested that the death penalty is required to reduce corruption and ensure clean government. However, research shows that the likelihood of punishment is the strongest factor, not the severity of the punishment. It requires large social costs, such as expenditure on policemen, court personnel, and specialized monitoring equipment, to improve the probability of punishment. Can elevation of the severity of punishment be a good substitute? The empirical results from this dissertation suggest that the probability of punishing corruption, i.e., how likely a …

Higher-Order Random Walk Methods For Data Analysis, Tao Wu

Open Access Dissertations

Markov random walk models are powerful analytical tools for multiple areas in machine learning, numerical optimizations and data mining tasks. The key assumption of a frst-order Markov chain is memorylessness, which restricts the dependence of the transition distribution to the current state only. However in many applications, this assumption is not appropriate. We propose a set of higher-order random walk techniques and discuss their applications to tensor co-clustering, user trails modeling, and solving linear systems. First, we develop a new random walk model that we call the super-spacey random surfer, which simultaneously clusters the rows, columns, and slices of a …

Advanced Imaging Techniques For Point-Measurement Analysis Of Pharmaceutical Materials, Shijie Zhang

Open Access Dissertations

Drugs are an essential element protecting human lives from many diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disorders. One of the highlights in drug development in recent years is the establishment of rational drug design: a collection of various multi-disciplinary approaches that at the core, focus on designing molecules with specific properties for identified targets and biomolecules with known functional roles and structural information. The candidate molecules will then go through a series of examinations to characterize their physiochemical properties, and an iterative process is used to improve the design of the drug to achieve desirable attributes. The time consuming …

Low Speed Flap-Bounding In Ornithopters And Its Inspiration On The Energy Efficient Flight Of Quadrotors, Yi Wang

Open Access Dissertations

Flap-bounding, a form of intermittent flight, is often exhibited by small birds over their entire range of flight speeds. The purpose of flap-bounding is unclear during low to medium speed (2 - 8 m/s) flight from a mechanical-power perspective: aerodynamic models suggest continuous flapping would require less power output and lower cost of transport. This thesis works towards the understanding of the advantages of flap-bounding and tries to employ the underlining principle to design quadrotor maneuver to improve power efficiency. To explore the functional significance of flap-bounding at low speeds, I measured body trajectory and kinematics of wings and tail …

Modeling And Mitigation Of Wireless Communications Interference For Spectrum Sharing With Radar, David P. Zilz

Open Access Dissertations

Due to both economic incentives and policy mandates, researchers increasingly face the challenge of enabling spectrum sharing between radar and wireless communications systems. In the past eight years, researchers have begun to suggest a wide variety of approaches to radar-communications spectrum sharing, ranging from transmitter design to receiver design, from spatial to temporal to other-dimensional multiplexing, and from cooperative to non-cooperative sharing. Within this diverse field of innovation, this dissertation makes two primary contributions. First, a model for wireless communications interference and its effects on adaptive-threshold radar detection is proposed. Based on both theoretical and empirical study, we find evidence …

Global On-Line, Interactive And Simulated Learning Techniques Via Birs, Janet L. Fourman

Open Access Dissertations

Role-playing simulations have been effective techniques to encourage global skills in the engineering and design classrooms. May, Wold and Moore (2014), defined global skills as student display of respect, recognition, adjustment and integration. Gray, Debs, Exter, and Krause (2016), took this one step further and looked-for empathy in the design classroom. This has yet to be realized in the regulatory science education realm. Therefore, there is a need for on-line, interactive regulatory science education focusing on global skill outcomes. To assess the gap, four sets of data are collected. The first set was a review of evaluations from a regulatory …

Multi-Period Tradable Credit Schemes For Transportation And Environmental Applications, Seyedmohammad Miralinaghi

Open Access Dissertations

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, known as a major cause of climate change, have been emitted by the combustion of fossil fuels over the past few decades. The transportation sector contributes significantly to global GHG emissions. Inspired by the successful implementation of tradable credit schemes (TCSs) in pollution control programs, this dissertation focuses on multi-period TCSs to minimize vehicular emissions. In this scheme, a central authority (CA) allocates travel credits to travelers (credit allocation scheme) and then, charges them to travel on each link (credit charging scheme). Travelers are able to trade credits amongst themselves in the market. To address the …

High School Redesign And The Senior Year, Park D. Ginder

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe how high school principals in Indiana are redesigning senior year academic experiences as a means to increasing student engagement and making the senior year more valuable for students. Using an exploratory multiple-case study design, three high school principals serving in high performing high schools in Indiana (as defined by the Indiana Department of Education rating each school an “A”) were interviewed, with interviews recorded and transcribed, then coded for item analysis. The participants’ commentary, outlined themes, and sub-themes from the case study provide insight into the experiences of high school principals …

Sub-10nm Transistors For Low Power Computing: Tunnel Fets And Negative Capacitance Fets, Ankit Sharma

Open Access Dissertations

One of the major roadblocks in the continued scaling of standard CMOS technology is its alarmingly high leakage power consumption. Although circuit and system level methods can be employed to reduce power, the fundamental limit in the overall energy efficiency of a system is still rooted in the MOSFET operating principle: an injection of thermally distributed carriers, which does not allow subthreshold swing (SS) lower than 60mV/dec at room temperature. Recently, a new class of steep-slope devices like Tunnel FETs (TFETs) and Negative-Capacitance FETs (NCFETs) have garnered intense interest due to their ability to surpass the 60mV/dec limit on SS …

Transfer Of Antibiotic Resistance In Enterococcus Faecalis. Modeling And Computational Study, Vu Tran

Open Access Dissertations

Bacteria of the genus Enterococcus, commonly found in the intestinal tract, are the main cause of antibiotic-resistant infections that are acquired in hospitals[1], [2]. Donor cells that contain plasmid pCF10 have the ability to resist to antibiotics and are capable of transferring this plasmid to recipient cells. This transfer occurs via a rapid horizontal inducible conjugation regulated by peptide-mediated cell-cell signaling molecules (quorum sensing), known as cCF10 and iCF10. This quorum sensing system functions by producing low levels of an inducing substance that accumulates in the environments until a threshold is reached, at which point there is a change in …

Real-Time Stochastic Predictive Control For Hybrid Vehicle Energy Management., Kyle R. Williams

Open Access Dissertations

This work presents three computational methods for real time energy management in a hybrid hydraulic vehicle (HHV) when driver behavior and vehicle route are not known in advance. These methods, implemented in a receding horizon control (aka model predictive control) framework, are rather general and can be applied to systems with nonlinear dynamics subject to a Markov disturbance. State and input constraints are considered in each method. A mechanism based on the steady state distribution of the underlying Markov chain is developed for planning beyond a finite horizon in the HHV energy management problem. Road elevation information is forecasted along …

A Performance-Based Framework For Guiding Enroute Air Traffic Control Sector Design, Julian R. Archer

Open Access Dissertations

Sectors are small regions of airspace through which aircraft fly and air traffic controllers are required to manage while considering notions like safety, efficiency, and effectiveness. Interestingly, we do not know how to design, i.e. make considerations surrounding airspace, air traffic, controller, and technology factors, such that sectors generate specific levels of performance. Rather, sectors have always been designed in an artistic fashion where the focus is on human operator workload, which is fairly subjective. This research leverages the fact that many aspects of performance are objective and so are many aspects of design. A framework is proposed such that …

Multidimensional Nonlinear Optical Imaging, Fengyuan Deng

Open Access Dissertations

The work in this dissertation is focused on extending the information content for second harmonic generation (SHG) and two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) imaging. Despite the simplicity and symmetry selectivity of nonlinear optical processes, limited information on chemical composition can be recovered solely based on intensity measurements. To further explore the potential for second order nonlinear optical (NLO) measurements, additional dimensions were added to the NLO imaging platforms. By combining NLO microscopy with powder X-ray diffraction, a novel approach was established for accessing percent crystallinity in amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) with a limit of detection in the ppm range. ASDs are …

Teacher Identity And The Role Of Relational Coaching, Melinda R. Ehmer

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify specific strategies that principals use when coaching teachers who struggle to develop positive relationships with students. Using a qualitative case study design, six principals were identified through the use of a demographic survey. The principals were interviewed about their experiences. Each interview was recorded, transcribed, and coded for data analysis. The principals’ narratives, emerging themes and sub themes provide insight into their experiences with both relational and non-relational teachers. The emerging themes are: (a) relationship building for teachers and students; (b) coaching strategies; (c) roadblocks and deficiencies; and (d) identity and belief …

Conceptualizing Individual Disaster Resilience: Benchmarking Tools For Individual And Social Coping Capacity For A Disaster Resilient Society, Lindsey J. Ditirro

Open Access Dissertations

Individual disaster resilience is a new and understudied concept. It is defined as the degree to which an individual has the capacity to obtain, process, and understand disaster-related information and identify and mobilize relevant resources to make appropriate decisions and actions in dealing with disaster-related risk situations. This concept is composed of four factors: knowledge coping, information coping, communal coping and affective coping. This dissertation operationalizes this new concept and its four dimensions and develops a measurement system to test this multivariate concept known as the Individual Disaster Resilience Assessment or InDRA. This was accomplished by conducting two studies. Forty-six …

Efficient Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods, Youhan Fang

Open Access Dissertations

Generating random samples from a prescribed distribution is one of the most important and challenging problems in machine learning, Bayesian statistics, and the simulation of materials. Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods are usually the required tool for this task, if the desired distribution is known only up to a multiplicative constant. Samples produced by an MCMC method are real values in N-dimensional space, called the configuration space. The distribution of such samples converges to the target distribution in the limit. However, existing MCMC methods still face many challenges that are not well resolved. Difficulties for sampling by using MCMC …

Predicting Graduation And College Gpa: A Multilevel Analysis Investigating The Contextual Effect Of College Major, John A. Gipson

Open Access Dissertations

Despite the overwhelming evidence that higher education data are nested at various levels, single-level techniques such as regression and analysis of variance are commonly used to investigate student outcomes. This is problematic as a mismatch in methodology and research questions can lead to biased parameter estimates. The purpose of this study was to predict cumulative grade point average (GPA) and the likelihood of four-year and six-year graduation while simultaneously accounting for select pre-college characteristics, during-college experiences, and the interrelationship between student-level and major-level predictors. To achieve the desired outcomes, the study applied multilevel modeling techniques to secondary data for new …

Highly Excited States Of Small Molecules And Negative Atomic Ions, Matthew T. Eiles

Open Access Dissertations

Excited states of atoms and molecules exhibit a rich array of diverse phenomena. This dissertation examines two exotic states of atoms at such excited levels: Rydberg molecules and atomic negative ions. Rydberg molecules are formed by a Rydberg atom and one or more ground state atoms, and can be highly polar due to their unusual electronic wave functions and enormous bond lengths. This dissertation expands the theory of these molecules by studying the formation and structure of polyatomic molecules, multichannel Rydberg molecules formed from divalent atoms, and spin effects and relativistic interactions. It also details intermolecular forces between Rydberg molecules, …

The Design And Analysis Of Calcium-41 Clinical Trials To Study Treatments For Bone Loss, Courtney N. Henry

Open Access Dissertations

Calcium-41 (41Ca) is a biological tracer used to rapidly and sensitively monitor skeletal calcium metabolism. Measurements of the 41Ca:Ca ratio in urine quantify changes in net bone turnover (i.e. differences in bone formation and resorption). A biomedical application of 41Ca technology clinically assesses the efficacy of treatments for preventing bone loss, primarily targeting susceptible populations such as post-menopausal women.

This research initially describes a 41Ca simulation study to determine efficient 41Ca experimental designs that preserve the accuracy and reliability of estimation and the statistical power of our conventional design, whilst substantially lowering costs by reducing the number of samples and/or …

The Federal Reserve As A Social Actor: On The Intersection Of Communication And Investor Expectations, Lauren Berkshire Hearit

Open Access Dissertations

As the U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve sets U.S. monetary policy (i.e., control of the money supply and management of the inflation rate, economic growth, and price stability) through the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) and serves as a lender of last resort. A major actor in the U.S. economic system, it is dispersed geographically across the United States and contains many branches. The chairman of the Federal Reserve communicates on behalf of the entire system before Congress, makes a statement after FOMC meetings, and gives speeches and lectures on economic status and related economic topics.

Yet there is …

Model And Appearance Based Analysis Of Neuronal Morphology From Different Microscopy Imaging Modalities, Sarun Gulyanon

Open Access Dissertations

The neuronal morphology analysis is key for understanding how a brain works. This process requires the neuron imaging system with single-cell resolution; however, there is no feasible system for the human brain. Fortunately, the knowledge can be inferred from the model organism, Drosophila melanogaster, to the human system. This dissertation explores the morphology analysis of Drosophila larvae at single-cell resolution in static images and image sequences, as well as multiple microscopy imaging modalities. Our contributions are on both computational methods for morphology quantification and analysis of the influence of the anatomical aspect. We develop novel model-and-appearance-based methods for morphology quantification …