Digital Commons Network^™

Generation, Manipulation, And Detection Of Charged Droplets And Ions In The Open Air, Adam Lee Hollerbach

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation describes the development of methodologies for characterizing the physical properties of electrosprayed droplets and ions as they exist in the open air. Two novel ways of generating electrospray plumes were developed using voltage induction. Also described is a novel way to measure the sizes of electrosprayed droplets smaller than the diffraction limit of light using super resolution fluorescence microscopy. Studies performed in parallel to the sizing experiments describe an unconventional way of using ablative ions generated by corona discharges to probe chemical reactions occurring inside the inlets of mass spectrometers. Also described is the ability to direct and …

The Effects Of Campaign Finance Law On Donations To State Legislative Campaigns, Christopher F. Kulesza

Open Access Dissertations

Donors influence state policy development through campaign contributions to legislative candidates. To curb this influence, states rely on disclosure requirements, campaign contribution limits, and public finance laws to restrain campaign contributions in elections. I argue that donors do not share the same motivations in providing campaign contributions to state legislators. For example, business interest groups seek to build long-term relationships, while ideologically leaning groups hope to elect like-minded candidates. I examine the effectiveness of campaign finance laws to regulate donations to state legislative candidates. I find that the success of campaign contribution law is dependent upon the motivations of the …

Formulation Strategies And Optimization Of Poorly Water-Soluble Drugs For Preclinical And Clinical Applications, Monika Lavan

Open Access Dissertations

Successful mitigation of a disease or clinical condition requires efficacious and safe drug compounds that are designed to provide the right balance of properties including potency, specificity, safety, solubility, absorption and metabolic stability. In general, performance is governed by the physicochemical properties of the drug, the composition and properties of the dosage form, and their ability to provide release in a manner that overcomes the physiological barriers limiting exposure at the site of action. That being said, it is often very challenging to obtain a new therapeutic compound that possesses an optimal balance of these properties because of the broad …

An Examination Of Marketing Factors That Influence Nontraditional Student Enrollment Decisions, Jianping Landrum

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine marketing factors that influence the decisions of working professionals to enroll as nontraditional students in the University of their Choice. Research has shown that factors such as affordability, access, and availability matter to nontraditional students. Marketing campaigns have often focused on these three factors, perhaps to the exclusion of other factors that may be equally important and compelling in helping working professionals decide to return to college for an advanced degree. This research explored seven marketing mix factors (Price, Promotion, Physical Evidence, People, Product, Process, and Place) and the extent to which …

Large Strain Extrusion Machining Of Aa7050, Daniel R. Klenosky

Open Access Dissertations

Aluminum has remained among the most commonly-used materials for aerospace applications for the past 100 years. It is advantageous due to its relatively high strength, low weight, ease of forming, electrical and thermal conductivity, and low cost. Alloy 7050 is among highest strength aerospace-grade aluminum alloys and can be formed into a wide variety of shapes via extrusion, rolling, forging, and other processes.

Unfortunately, consistent and homogenous process control can be difficult to achieve during these bulk forming operations due to the complexity of the Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy system. Poor process control can result in defects and/or inhomogeneous microstructures and properties, …

Combatting Advanced Persistent Threat Via Causality Inference And Program Analysis, Yonghwi Kwon

Open Access Dissertations

Cyber attackers are becoming more and more sophisticated. In particular, Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) is a new class of attack that targets a specifc organization and compromises systems over a long time without being detected. Over the years, we have seen notorious examples of APTs including Stuxnet which disrupted Iranian nuclear centrifuges and data breaches affecting millions of users. Investigating APT is challenging as it occurs over an extended period of time and the attack process is highly sophisticated and stealthy. Also, preventing APTs is diffcult due to ever-expanding attack vectors.

In this dissertation, we present proposals for dealing with …

Beyond Animation: Toward A Rhetoric Of Motion Design For Technical And Professional Writing, Daniel Joseph Liddle

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation grounds the relationship between visual rhetoric in professional and technical communication and motion design, a sub-discipline of graphic design that focuses on the movement of typography, color, and abstract shapes. Although scholars in professional and technical communication readily discuss the problematic use of animation in web design and presentation graphics (PowerPoint, Prezi, etc), there has been little recognition of the growing use of animated motion in contemporary multimedia design. I argue that these connections are necessary given the increasingly standard role of motion as a design element in common genres in professional communication, including user interfaces, explainer videos, …

An Accident Waiting To Happen: Cognitive Drivers Of Unsafe Cycling Behavior, Eric Lavetti

Open Access Dissertations

Bicycling is a popular method of transportation and recreational activity utilized ubiquitously around the world. In the United States alone thousands of active cycling clubs exist, in addition to the millions of riders who ride independently, and cycling has shown a continual steady increase for decades. As cycling becomes more and more popular, a commensurate increase in cycling accidents and fatalities has also occurred. Regardless of current safety interventions employed hundreds of cyclist fatalities and tens of thousands of cyclist injuries are recorded/reported annually. Cycling accidents are estimated to cost billions of dollars in damages, medical expenses, lost wages, and …

Optimal Placement Of A Small Order In A Diffusive Limit Order Book, Hyoeun Lee

Open Access Dissertations

A Limit Order Book (LOB), a trading system used by most of the electronic financial trading exchanges across the world, collects all the buy and sell limit orders: orders that specify a desired price and quantity. Limit orders are executed by matching them to the market orders: orders to buy or sell certain quantities or shares at the best available prices out of the standing limit orders in the book. In an order-driven market using the LOB system, one of the stock trader’s major concerns is to clear his/her inventory, by using a combination of limit orders and market orders. …

Disciplinary Differences In A Community Of Inquiry, Jieun Lim

Open Access Dissertations

The Community of Inquiry framework has been used in numerous studies, with over 1800 citations to date (Google Scholar, January 2018). These studies mostly involve the study of a single discipline and rarely examine disciplinary differences as a potential factor in student outcomes. To address the research gap this study examined the differences in students’ social, cognitive, and teaching presence and the effects of those presences on the students’ learning outcomes according to their academic disciplines.

This study used an explanatory sequential mixed-method design in two phases. The data were collected from 25 undergraduate online courses at two large public …

Investigation Of Electrochemically Li-Ion Active Materials For Li-Ion Batteries, Daw Gen Lim

Open Access Dissertations

Being the battery of the 2l8t century, Li-ion batteries have been making headway towards replacing traditional medium to large scale energy storage devices. Recent applications ranging from EVs to grid-level energy storage, have driven the design criteria of Li-ion batteries to evolve at a rapid pace. Three major goals are low cost, high electrochemical performance, and improved safety. New targets set by the DOE to make Li-ion batteries more competitive in their new market sectors have been to decrease cost to US$ 125 kWh-1 and increase gravimetric and volumetric energy density to 235 Wh kg-1 and 500 Wh L - …

Predicting Breakage Of Needle-Shaped Large Aspect Ratio Particles Using Discrete Element Method (Dem), Rohit Kumar

Open Access Dissertations

Particle attrition is inevitable during processing of granular material and has been reported to cause manufacturing inefficiencies, unpredictable product quality, dust hazards, flow problems, etc. Of particular interest to this study is attrition of large aspect ratio needle-shaped active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in an agitated filter dryer (AFD). Prior experimental works on particle attrition in AFDs have been successful at predicting the overall bulk behavior. However, for an in-depth understanding of the attrition phenomenon, particle level kinematics and dynamics information is required. The particle level details can be obtained through computational discrete element method (DEM) models, but most of the …

Web Site Analytics: The Potential For The Transformation Of A Restaurant’S Marketing Strategy - A Case Study Of A Casual Dining Restaurant In The Midwest, Stephen Rolan Leitch

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to show independent restaurateurs the value that Web site analytics can have on providing data about the visitors to their Web site and the marketing opportunities these data provide. The study surveyed customers about their restaurant Web site browsing behaviors and analyzed Web site analytical data of a casual dining restaurant in the Midwest. Analysis was conducted using t-tests and analysis of variance. Findings indicated that certain browsing behaviors were associated with an increased number of reservations and visitation to the restaurant Web site prior to dining impacted average check. The study is the …

Nested Planetary Geartrain Design For Vibration Reduction Using Augmented Direct Gear Design Methodology, Cong Liao

Open Access Dissertations

The Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) of a vehicle is one of the decisive indices of vehicle performance in terms of objective measures and subjective quality. The compact co-axial planetary geartrain of the automatic transmission, with its advantages of high gear reduction, controllable power split, distributed torque on multiple gears, and the ability to shift under load, is an irreplaceable core component in a vehicle’s powertrain. It plays an important role in providing a smooth, stable, and quiet ride. However, due to the complexity of planetary gearsets and various operating points of engine-transmission power matching, the planetary geartrain is also …

Large Scale Data Analysis In Parallel R And Its Use In Efficiently Scheduling Batch Jobs In The Cloud, Hao Lin

Open Access Dissertations

Large-scale data management and deep data analysis are increasingly important for both enterprise and scientific applications. Statistical languages provide rich functionality and ease of use for data analysis and modeling and have large user bases. R is among the most widely used of these languages, but is limited by a single threaded execution model and problem sizes that fit in a single node. We propose a highly parallel R system called RABID (R Analytics for BIg Data) that maintains R compatibility, leverages the MapReduce-like Spark framework and achieves high performance and scaling across clusters. RABID preserves the R programming model …

Enthusiastic Educators And Interested Visitors: Investigating The Relationships Between Museum Educators' Enthusiasm And Visitors' Situational Interest, Changchia James Liu

Open Access Dissertations

Informal education environments like museums have become some of the most important educational resources. Although much attention has been paid to museum settings and programs, little is known about how museum educators support visitors’ learning and intrinsic motivation. In particular, there is a need to investigate museum educators’ enthusiasm, considering that enthusiasm is a powerful way of creating an engaging learning experience across various subjects and environments. In this study, I investigate museum educators’ enthusiasm as perceived by adult visitors through the lens of interest development. The results I found (N = 209) indicate a strong positive relationship between museum …

Biologically Inspired Delay-Doppler Neighborhood Processing Of Radar Waveforms For Enhanced Delay-Doppler Resolution, I-Fan Liu

Open Access Dissertations

The delay-Doppler resolution of a radar system determines its ability to separate targets that are spatially close together and have similar radial velocities with respect to the radar. For this reason, the design of radar signals and signal processing with good delay-Doppler resolution has long been an ongoing active area of research. Radar systems typically use matched-filters to maximize the received signal-to-noise ratio and maximize target detection performance, in which case the delay-Doppler resolution of the radar waveform is given by the ambiguity function of the transmitted waveform.

Neurobiologists studying echolocation in bats have noted their outstanding resolution capabilities of …

I Just Don't Feel Like I Am The Authentic Me: Navigating Identity And Organizational Identification Through Experiences Of Workplace Incivility, Jennifer S. Linvill

Open Access Dissertations

Workplace incivility is a pervasive problem in organizations worldwide. Given the current political and social climates in the United States, it is a relevant and timely topic that requires further understanding. The current study contributes to this growing body of empirical research by examining how individuals’ multiple identities (i.e., age, gender, national origin, race, sexual orientation) and organizational identification relate to their experiences with workplace incivility. Additionally, this project explores how targets’ experiences with workplace incivility relate to power and control. Through in-depth interviews with individuals who have experienced workplace incivility, the study makes several important contributions.

This study provides …

Heat Stress And In Utero Heat Stress: Effects On Boar Reproduction And The Efficacy Of Nutritional Mitigation, Drew W. Lugar

Open Access Dissertations

With the majority of commercial swine farms utilizing artificial insemination, reproductive efficiency is a primary focus of producers and researchers. Boar reproduction specifically, can have a major impact on the overall reproductive efficiency of the swine industry. Heat stress has a negative effect on the swine industry. In growing pigs it causes reduced growth, in sows reduced fertility, and in boars it causes reduced sperm production and quality. In addition, more recent studies have implied that gestational (in utero) heat stress (IUHS) can add insult to injury, resulting in further reductions in animal growth and reproduction. However, very little emphasis …

Computationally Efficient Nonparametric Testing, Meimei Liu

Open Access Dissertations

A common challenge in nonparametric inference is its high computational complexity when data volume is large. In this thesis, I will introduce novel computationally efficient nonparametric testing methods. Firstly, we develop a computationally efficient nonparametric testing by employing a random projection strategy. In the specific kernel ridge regression setup, a simple distance-based test statistic is proposed. Notably, we derive the minimum number of random projections that is sufficient for achieving testing optimality in terms of the minimax rate. An adaptive testing procedure is further established without prior knowledge of regularity. One technical contribution is to establish upper bounds for a …

Assessment Of Epistemic Uncertainty In Flood Inundation Modeling, Zhu Liu

Open Access Dissertations

Flooding is one of the most devastating natural disasters in the world and it exacerbated during the past decades. In order to reduce the loss of lives and properties from repeating flooding events, reliable flood predictions are required. Currently, there exist a series of hydrodynamic models that have different model structures which solve different forms of governing equations in one- (1D), two- (2D) or three- (3D) dimensions, thus providing various possible predictions for decision makers to choose from. Even for the same model, depending on how the model is implemented for a specific parameter set, input data and channel geometry …

Do You Smoke?: How Physicians Navigate Conversations About Smoking And Lung Cancer, Mary E. Marshall

Open Access Dissertations

Lung cancer, the second most commonly diagnosed cancer, is a leading cause of death among older adults (Cronin et al., 2018; Siegel, Miller, & Jemal, 2017). While there are numerous health benefits associated with smoking cessation in patients with advanced lung cancer (Gemine & Lewis, 2017; Parsons, Daley, Begh, & Aveyard, 2010), conversations about smoking cessation are infrequent and often lack physician support for cessation (Warren, Marshall, et al., 2013; Wells et al., 2017). Physicians may avoid lengthy conversations about smoking to protect patients from feeling shame and guilt due to the perceived stigma associated with smoking and a lung …

Dissolution And Redemption Of Self In Shakespeare's Four Main Tragedies, Wei Lu

Open Access Dissertations

From the Pre-Platonic Greek culture to the Renaissance, history witnesses the shift from the care of the self, to a renunciation of self, and back to an articulated concern for the self. These changes in how people understood their identity culminate in Shakespeare’s tragedies. It is the purpose of my project to investigate and extend beyond the current thinking about Shakespeare and philosophy. Current scholarship tends to agree with Stanley Cavell’s Disowning Knowledge, which sets Shakespeare’s work in a climate of skepticism. My work argues that a more positive account of moral philosophy better explains the nature of the self …

The Efficacy And Secondary Effects Of Pharmaceutical Legislation, Justine A. Mallatt

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation examines the effects of pharmaceutical policies on various behavioral, health, and economic outcomes. The first chapter is The Effect of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs on Opioid Prescriptions and Heroin Crime Rates. In response to growing abuse of prescription opioid painkillers, 50 U.S. states have implemented electronic prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) that record patients into a state-wide registry when a prescription opioid is received. This paper uses a difference-in-differences regression framework and interactive fixed effects factor models to identify the effect of PDMPs and two related programs on the types and strengths of opioid painkiller prescriptions filled and …

Boron Segregation And Its Effects In Advanced High Strength Steel, Kara Luitjohan

Open Access Dissertations

There is a current push in the automotive industry to increase the fuel economy of passenger vehicles. One method to achieve this goal is through the use of advanced high strength steels (AHSS). The higher strength of these steels allows for thinner gauge components to be implemented, reducing the weight of the vehicle and increasing the fuel economy. Included under the umbrella of AHSS are alloys containing small amounts of boron, 0.002 – 0.005 wt% B. The addition of boron leads to difficulties during commercial production, specifically via continuous casting.

The casting difficulties are predicted to stem from a metatectic …

Hablar De Memoria: Trauma Y Recuperación Del Discurso En La Joven Narrativa Chilena, Carmen Martin Quijada

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the relationship between trauma, memory and discourse in the work of the most recent generation of Chilean authors, seeking to determine how these young writers review Chilean history from the perspective and interpretative possibilities of literary texts. Based on the notion of trauma as an impossibility to narrate and communicate the past, this study describes how, in each of the novels studied, a renewed awareness of the traumatic effects of the military dictatorship's violence can be perceived in Chile, as well as a firm intention to review that past and reverse the effects that violence has had …

Evaluating The Efficacy Of Correlation-Based Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Modeling Under Different Patterns Of Missing Correlations, Jing Lv

Open Access Dissertations

Missing correlations often happen in the primary correlation matrices and create major problems for the performance of meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM). In current literature, methodological investigation regarding the performance of MASEM methods paired with a large proportion of missing data is limited. This simulation study was designed to investigate the impacts of missing conditions on the correlation-based MASEM performance, utilizing weighted-covariance generalized least squares (W-COV GLS) with pairwise deletion (PD), W-COV GLS with multiple imputation (MI), and two-stage structural equation modeling (TSSEM) to pool the correlation matrices. Specifically, impacts of the study number (k), the within study sample size …

Design, Synthesis, And Biological Evaluation Of Small Molecule Drug Conjugates Targeting The Carbonic Anhydrase Ix Receptor And Investigation Of A Ligand Targeted Strategy For Targeted Cell-Based Therapies, Isaac Marks

Open Access Dissertations

Carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) is a membrane-spanning zinc metalloenzyme that catalyzes the reversible consumption of CO2 and water to form H+ + HCO3- in hypoxic and acidic environments. Many human cancers upregulate CAIX to help control their pH in hypoxic microenvironments. The consequent overexpression of CAIX on malignant cells and low expression on normal tissues renders CAIX a particularly attractive target for small molecule inhibitors, antibody drug conjugates, and ligand-targeted drugs. In this study, CAIX-targeted fluorescent reporter molecules were initially exploited to investigate CAIX-specific binding to multiple cancer cell lines in vitro and were shown to exhibit potent, selective in …

Effects Of Exogenous Enzymes And Live Yeast On Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility And Gut Microbiome Diversity In Pigs, Hang Lu

Open Access Dissertations

Supplementation of pigs with exogenous xylanase, phytase and live yeast (LY) has been shown to enhance pig performance. However, the effect on weanling pig performance is not clear. Therefore, the objective of the series of studies described in this dissertation was to determine the effects of xylanase, phytase and live yeast on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and fecal gut microbial diversity of weanling pigs.

The first experiment was to determine the timing of xylanase supplementation to weanling pigs fed corn-soybean meal based diets and its effect on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and the composition of the gut microbiome. A total …

Efficient Support Of Text And Time In Spatial Data Systems, Ahmed R. Mahmood

Open Access Dissertations

The widespread use of GPS-enabled devices, e.g., smart-phones and GPS navigators has resulted in the generation of massive amounts of spatial data. This has led to the development of spatial data systems that process and manage spatial data effciently. Temporal and textual data often coexist with spatial data. This dissertation targets the effcient processing of spatio-temporal and spatio-textual data. To effciently support spatio-temporal data with limited temporal data retention, a new disk-based data structure for indexing moving objects trajectories with limited temporal data retention is introduced. To optimize the processing of spatio-textual data, a new frequency-aware spatio-textual indexing structure is …