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Polarization Dependence Of High Order Harmonic Generation From Solids In Reflection And Transmission Geometries, Erin L. Crites Jan 2020

Polarization Dependence Of High Order Harmonic Generation From Solids In Reflection And Transmission Geometries, Erin L. Crites

Honors Undergraduate Theses

High harmonic generation (HHG) is a process that occurs when an intense laser interacts with a material and generates new frequencies of light. HHG has many practical applications, namely as a spectroscopy technique and source for high frequency light and attosecond pulses. While HHG has been done extensively in gases, HHG in solids is a relatively new field. Solids are appealing as an HHG medium as they require much simpler equipment and are subsequently much more compact, and thus may have a variety of applications previously inaccessible to gas-phase HHG. However, the generation mechanism of HHG in solids has not …


Detection Of A Peptide Hormone - Somatostatin - Label-Free Split-Aptameric Probes, Charles A. Dowis Jan 2020

Detection Of A Peptide Hormone - Somatostatin - Label-Free Split-Aptameric Probes, Charles A. Dowis

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Peptide hormones are important biomolecules that transduce downstream effects such as cell proliferation, regulation, and gene expression. Their levels have been upregulated in various disorders such as cancer, yet detection methods are lacking. We designed two split aptamer-based assays for the detection of a peptide hormone – Somatostatin (SST) – with different signal readouts: fluorescent readout based on light-up aptamers and the colorimetric readout of ABTS peroxidation from a G-quadruplex. We used an already selected split-aptamer –SSTA5–for SST for our designs and we had expected the developed detection systems to exhibit detection and quantification capabilities that would hopefully allow their …


Development Of A Computer Algorithm For Generation Of Primers For Nucleic Acid Sequence Based Amplification (Nasba), Rohit Karnati Jan 2020

Development Of A Computer Algorithm For Generation Of Primers For Nucleic Acid Sequence Based Amplification (Nasba), Rohit Karnati

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Nucleic acid sequence based amplification (NASBA) is a primer based isothermal method of RNA/DNA amplification. Currently, primer design for NASBA has been restricted to hand creating sequences of oligonucleotides that must follow a set of rules to be compatible for the amplification process. This process of hand-creating primers is prone to error and time intensive. The detection of mutants, post amplification, also offers a benefit in point of care scenarios and the design of hybridization probes for sequences in the region of amplification is also an erroneous and time intensive process. By creating a program to design primers and hybridization …


Coping Mechanisms In Graduate School Discipline Specific Comparison, Sandra P. Montenegro Jan 2020

Coping Mechanisms In Graduate School Discipline Specific Comparison, Sandra P. Montenegro

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Psychological research has studied the effects of college academic demands on students' wellbeing through the moderating role of coping mechanisms. This study provides further insight by focusing on coping mechanisms among graduate students from different fields, including humanities, STEM, and social sciences. Participants were recruited at the University of Central Florida (n=97). They answered an online survey assessing the prevalence of academic stressors, the use of different coping mechanisms, and strain outcomes, including somatic symptoms, insomnia, and burnout. STEM students reported higher organizational constraints and higher interpersonal conflict compare to students in other fields. Arts and humanities students reported higher …


Using Children's Literature To Support Social And Emotional Learning In Third Through Sixth Grade Classrooms, Hayley L. Paljug Jan 2020

Using Children's Literature To Support Social And Emotional Learning In Third Through Sixth Grade Classrooms, Hayley L. Paljug

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This research examined the use of award-winning children’s literature for social and emotional learning, focusing on its use for children in third through sixth grades. The world is ever-changing, and, as a result, the need for children to learn necessary social and emotional skills continues to increase. These skills include, but are not limited to, perseverance, friendship, grit, caring, and the like. It has been found that teaching social and emotional skills through bibliotherapy is an engaging and successful method that can be used by schools and teachers. Teachers or other educational stakeholders can use this document to begin to …


Characterization Of The Physical And Chemical Effect Of Membrane Disruption And Protein Inhibiting Treatments On E. Coli, Khadijah Wright Jan 2020

Characterization Of The Physical And Chemical Effect Of Membrane Disruption And Protein Inhibiting Treatments On E. Coli, Khadijah Wright

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The increase in antibacterial resistance has placed the issue of microbial multi-drug resistance on a global stage (Gurunathan, 2019). This issue poses a threat to human and animal health as well as to the environment (Aslam et al., 2018). It affects not only the efficacy of treatment but also how those treatments are conducted (Friedman, Temkin, & Carmeli, 2016). As a result of this ongoing threat, new treatments that have potent effects on bacteria are necessary. One scientific response to this issue has been the development of multifunctional nanoparticles (NPs)(H. Wang et al., 2018). NPs have the ability to be …


Synthesis Of Polyacrylic Acid - Dopamine Nanoparticles As Radical Scavengers For Antioxidant Applications, Russell D. Cox Jan 2020

Synthesis Of Polyacrylic Acid - Dopamine Nanoparticles As Radical Scavengers For Antioxidant Applications, Russell D. Cox

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The antioxidant activity of novel drugs has been of increasing interest in recent years. Free radicals are linked as a cause to many diseases such as atherosclerosis and cancer,1 so development of drugs that can scavenge and break down free radicals is needed. One such potential solution is using dopamine, which is water-soluble and an antioxidant. However, the tendency of antioxidant drugs reacting undesirably with proteins and other biochemical compounds is a big issue for the drugs' antioxidant potential. One solution is by encapsulating the antioxidant compound in biocompatible polymer nanoparticles. In this project, dopamine is bound to the polymer …


A Generalized Low Order Model For Vortex Shedding From A Tandem Cylinder Arrangement Using Delay Coupled Van Der Pol Oscillators, Michael Soroka Jan 2020

A Generalized Low Order Model For Vortex Shedding From A Tandem Cylinder Arrangement Using Delay Coupled Van Der Pol Oscillators, Michael Soroka

Honors Undergraduate Theses

A generalized low order model (LOM) for the fluctuating lift coefficient caused by vortex shedding from a tandem cylinder pair is proposed to expand upon models from previous authors. This model could provide a reduced computational time method for collecting qualitative and quantitive data from a tandem shedding pair. A delay coupled system with sufficient bifurcation characteristics is developed to account for the different flow regimes (extended-body, reattachment, and co-shedding) which occur as cylinder spacing is varied. Coefficient and parameter fitting is performed to fit experimental data. Finally, results and physical interpretations of the interactions in the model are discussed. …


An Investigation Into Provider Communication At Ucf And The Impact Of Health Literacy On Teach Back Outcomes, Shreya L. Atmakuri Jan 2020

An Investigation Into Provider Communication At Ucf And The Impact Of Health Literacy On Teach Back Outcomes, Shreya L. Atmakuri

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The most important aspect of an encounter between a patient and his or her provider is the patient's ability to understand and implement the treatment plan and self-care instructions conferred by the provider. However, the literature in the field of patient-provider communication reveals that there is a noticeable gap in health literacy in certain patient populations that impairs their ability to understand pre-, during, and post-encounter paperwork, terminology, treatment plan, and critical self-care instructions. This has been shown to have detrimental consequences on patient health outcomes. The teach-back method, in which providers request patients to repeat key information discussed during …


Ultra-Low Power Circuits And Architectures For Neuromorphic Computing Accelerators With Emerging Tfets And Rerams, Jie Lin Jan 2020

Ultra-Low Power Circuits And Architectures For Neuromorphic Computing Accelerators With Emerging Tfets And Rerams, Jie Lin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Neuromorphic computing using post-CMOS technologies is gaining increasing popularity due to its promising potential to resolve the power constraints in Von-Neumann machine and its similarity to the operation of the real human brain. To design the ultra-low voltage and ultra-low power analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) for the neuromorphic computing systems, we explore advantages of tunnel field effect transistor (TFET) analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) on energy efficiency and temperature stability. A fully-differential SAR ADC is designed using 20 nm TFET technology with doubled input swing and controlled comparator input common-mode voltage. To further increase the resolution of the ADC, we design an energy …


Experimental And Computational Investigation Of Plume Surface Interactions In Vacuum Microgravity, Wesley Chambers Jan 2020

Experimental And Computational Investigation Of Plume Surface Interactions In Vacuum Microgravity, Wesley Chambers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Plume surface interactions (PSI) are caused by rocket exhaust impinging on planetary surfaces. PSI-induced environmental changes pose hazards to spacecraft and astronauts; thus, it is crucial to understand the gas-particle dynamics of these systems. We have conducted novel experimental and computational work to study PSI effects in relevant vacuum microgravity environments. To study flow effects and regolith instability we developed a computational model that describes the gas flow through a porous medium based on Darcy's Law. This flow depends on regolith properties, and the resulting subsurface pressure distribution is used to estimate ejecta mass. We find flow behaviors and the …


Chemometric Analysis Of Multidimensional Fluorescence Data Recorded From Benzo[A]Pyrene Metabolites In Shpol'skii Like Matrixes, Mohammadreza Chehelamirani Jan 2020

Chemometric Analysis Of Multidimensional Fluorescence Data Recorded From Benzo[A]Pyrene Metabolites In Shpol'skii Like Matrixes, Mohammadreza Chehelamirani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This dissertation extends the application of Shpol'skii spectroscopy to polar metabolites in polar organic solvents. For the first-time, we reported experimental evidence on the line-narrowing effect caused by primary alcohols on the spectral features of PAH metabolites at 77 K and 4.2 K. The effect of primary alcohols (RCH2OH) on the 77 K and 4.2 K fluorescence characteristics of PAH metabolites showed the best spectral narrowing when matching the length of the alkyl group (R) of the primary alcohol to the length of the n-alkane that best fitted the dimensions of the parent PAH. The spectral narrowing and the fluorescence …


Classical Engineering Systems Provide Behavioral Analog For Ephemeral Insect And Plant Biomechanics, Nicholas Smith Jan 2020

Classical Engineering Systems Provide Behavioral Analog For Ephemeral Insect And Plant Biomechanics, Nicholas Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In this dissertation we consider ephemeral behaviors of two small-scale living systems, mosquitoes and citrus fruit reservoirs. While these two systems share few obvious commonalities, they both express life events that are complex and conclude within approximately 50 milliseconds. We utilize high-speed videography, between 1,000-16,000 fps, to detail how complex behavior can be modeled as classical engineering systems. Beginning with the larger organism we assessed the landing and takeoff behavior of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to ascertain the secrets of their covert interaction with humans. At takeoff, mosquitoes decrease pushing contact time with substrates of low friction through a modified takeoff …


Inertial Orbit Estimation Using Multiple Space Based Observers: A New Measurement Model, James Hippelheuser Jan 2020

Inertial Orbit Estimation Using Multiple Space Based Observers: A New Measurement Model, James Hippelheuser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Presented within this work is a new method for inertial orbit estimation of an object, either known or unknown, adaptable to a network of low-cost observation satellites. The observation satellites would only require a monocular camera for line of sight measurements. Using the line of sight measurements of each observer, a pair of orthogonal geometric planes that intersect both the observation satellite and the target are created. The intersection of the two planes in the inertial frame defines the new measurement model that is implemented with multiple observation nodes. Total system observability is analyzed and the instantaneous (per node) observability …


Atomic Scale Processes And Electronic Band Structure Engineering In Thin Layered Materials, Brandon Blue Jan 2020

Atomic Scale Processes And Electronic Band Structure Engineering In Thin Layered Materials, Brandon Blue

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In this work, a variety of layered materials are considered for their potential technologic applications and the role of structure on the physical properties of the material system as a whole. Transition metal dichalcogenides form the core of the work discussed here, with additional results from an iron pnictide-based superconductor and for a biologically-sourced proton conductor. Here, a commercial scanning tunneling microscope (STM) with liquid cryogenic cooling provides information about both the atomic-scale structure of the surface and the local electronic density of states (LDOS) as a function of position. The interplay of superconducting and charge-density wave states is discussed …


Application Of Reliability Centered Maintenance In Railway Tracks, Sarita Rattanakunuprakarn Jan 2020

Application Of Reliability Centered Maintenance In Railway Tracks, Sarita Rattanakunuprakarn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Rail transport has played a significant role for a long time in the U.S. history. As other alternative transport modes have been developed, rail transport has increasingly faced more challenges to stay competitive. While heavy use of the rail, shortened service life and the need to meet consumer expectations have placed challenges, maintenance has become an integral part of the railway industry to assure efficacy and reliability of rail transportation. For this reason, there is a constant need to improve maintenance for a number of purposes, such as safety, quality, capacity, reliability, availability, punctuality, etc. In addition, optimizing maintenance strategy …


Chemically Stabilized Oil-In-Water Emulsion Separation Using A Custom Aquaporin-Based Polyethersulfone (Pes) Forward Osmosis Membrane System, Annmarie Ricchino Jan 2020

Chemically Stabilized Oil-In-Water Emulsion Separation Using A Custom Aquaporin-Based Polyethersulfone (Pes) Forward Osmosis Membrane System, Annmarie Ricchino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The stability of oil-in-water emulsions is enhanced by the presence of surfactants in the water, thereby increasing difficulty of remediation. In this study, mineral oil and a standard bilge mix (SBM) were used as model oils for forward osmosis (FO) performance evaluation and two different high-concentration feed solutions (FS) were tested: 10,000 and 100,000 ppm oil/surfactant (9:1 Oil/Surfactant, wt %). It was hypothesized that the charge-charge interactions between the surfactant portion of the micelles and the membrane would play an important role in membrane fouling. Therefore, the effects of both an anionic surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate [SDS]) and a nonionic …


Thermodynamic Theory Of Heavily Multimoded Nonlinear Optical Systems, Fan Wu Jan 2020

Thermodynamic Theory Of Heavily Multimoded Nonlinear Optical Systems, Fan Wu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The quest for ever higher information capacities has brought about a renaissance in multimode optical waveguide systems. This resurgence of interest has recently initiated a flurry of activities in nonlinear multimode fiber optics. The sheer complexity emerging from the presence of a multitude of nonlinearly interacting modes has led not only to new opportunities in observing a host of novel optical effects that are otherwise impossible in single-mode settings, but also to new theoretical challenges in understanding their collective dynamics. In this dissertation, we present a consistent thermodynamical framework capable of describing in a universal fashion the exceedingly intricate behavior …


Climatic And Topologic Controls On The Complexity Of River Networks, Sevil Ranjbar Moshfeghi Jan 2020

Climatic And Topologic Controls On The Complexity Of River Networks, Sevil Ranjbar Moshfeghi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The emergence and evolution of channel networks are controlled by the competition between the hillslopes and fluvial processes on the landscape. Investigating the geomorphic and topologic properties of these networks is important for developing predictive models describing the network dynamics under changing environment as well as for quantifying the roles of processes in creating distinct patterns of channel networks. In this dissertation, the response of landscapes to changing climatic forcing via numerical-modeling and field observations was investigated. A new framework was proposed to evaluate the complexity of catchments using two different representations of channel networks. The structural complexity was studied …


Leveraging Augmented Reality For Real-Time Operational Performance Management, Joshua Nelson Jan 2020

Leveraging Augmented Reality For Real-Time Operational Performance Management, Joshua Nelson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Augmented Reality (AR) projects a virtual overlay onto real space so that the user can see a superimposed image over the real-world background. Although AR has advanced recently and a breadth of applications can be found in practice, they are focused on simple tasks with few examples of more complex work tasks. One area that could benefit from advancing AR technology is operations management, specifically operational performance measurement (OPM); however, a brief review of the literature reveals that this potential application area has not yet been explored. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to investigate the application of AR …


Infrastructure For Performance Monitoring And Analysis Of Systems And Applications, Ramin Izadpanah Jan 2020

Infrastructure For Performance Monitoring And Analysis Of Systems And Applications, Ramin Izadpanah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The growth of High Performance Computer (HPC) systems increases the complexity with respect to understanding resource utilization, system management, and performance issues. HPC performance monitoring tools need to collect information at both the application and system levels to yield a complete performance picture. Existing approaches limit the abilities of the users to do meaningful analysis on actionable timescale. Efficient infrastructures are required to support largescale systems performance data analysis for both run-time troubleshooting and post-run processing modes. In this dissertation, we present methods to fill these gaps in the infrastructure for HPC performance monitoring and analysis. First, we enhance the …


A Computational Biomechanical Model-Based Optimization Of Fulcrum Support In Orthosis Enabled Closed Reduction Of Developmental Dysplasia Of The Hip, Christopher Rose Jan 2020

A Computational Biomechanical Model-Based Optimization Of Fulcrum Support In Orthosis Enabled Closed Reduction Of Developmental Dysplasia Of The Hip, Christopher Rose

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Hip abduction orthosis devices (HAOD) are used to reduce the hip joint of infants affected by developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH). HAOD have been successful for mild cases of DDH and ineffective for severe cases. Efforts in understanding the biomechanics of lower limbs have been made to improve the success rate of current treatment methods, especially for Grade IV dislocations (G4). The aim of this dissertation is twofold: first, it proposes the use of a varying fulcrum point (FP) located below the leg to improve DDH treatment; and secondly, it defines the optimal FP (OP) location for a broad …


Algorithms And Applications Of Novel Capsule Networks, Rodney Lalonde Jan 2020

Algorithms And Applications Of Novel Capsule Networks, Rodney Lalonde

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Convolutional neural networks, despite their profound impact in countless domains, suffer from significant shortcomings. Linearly-combined scalar feature representations and max pooling operations lead to spatial ambiguities and a lack of robustness to pose variations. Capsule networks can potentially alleviate these issues by storing and routing the pose information of extracted features through their architectures, seeking agreement between the lower-level predictions of higher-level poses at each layer. In this dissertation, we make several key contributions to advance the algorithms of capsule networks in segmentation and classification applications. We create the first ever capsule-based segmentation network in the literature, SegCaps, by introducing …


Novel Fibers And Components For Space Division Multiplexing Technologies, Juan Carlos Alvarado Zacarias Jan 2020

Novel Fibers And Components For Space Division Multiplexing Technologies, Juan Carlos Alvarado Zacarias

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Passive devices and amplifiers for space division multiplexing are key components for future deployment of this technology and for the development of new applications exploring the spatial diversity of light. Some important devices include photonic lantern (PL) mode multiplexers supporting several modes, fan-in/fan-out (FIFO) devices for multicore fibers (MCFs), and multimode amplifiers capable of amplifying several modes with low differential modal gain penalty. All these components are required to overcome the capacity limit of single mode fiber (SMF) communication systems, driven by the growing data capacity demand. In this dissertation I propose and develop different passive components and amplifiers for …


Dynamic Modeling And Simulation Of A Power Plant Steam Condenser On The Siemens Sppa-T3000 Platform, Mohammad Odeh Jan 2020

Dynamic Modeling And Simulation Of A Power Plant Steam Condenser On The Siemens Sppa-T3000 Platform, Mohammad Odeh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

With rapidly increasing computational power, modeling and simulation of complex systems is gradually becoming the norm for evaluating and predicting performance. This research focuses on modeling and simulating thermodynamic behavior of condensers within Combined Cycle Power Plants. This is particularly useful for power generation companies as this allows a wide range of operating conditions to be simulated and characterized without risking damage or the need to shut down the power plant, all of which results in losing revenue in the process. Moreover, being able to observe the thermodynamic evolution of the system provides useful insight into efficiency and response to …


Monolithic Thin-Film Lithium Niobate Scanning Micromirror: Design And Simulation, Abimanyu Veerappan Jan 2020

Monolithic Thin-Film Lithium Niobate Scanning Micromirror: Design And Simulation, Abimanyu Veerappan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In this thesis, a novel scanning micromirror is introduced in which a thin layer of lithium niobate (few micrometer thick) is utilized as both as the structural material and the actuating piezoelectric medium. In this novel monolithic design, the conventional composite torsional hinges are avoided. The finite element simulations performed and reported in here indicate that the proposed design offers a superior performance in terms of higher scan angle and linear angle control compared to the existing solutions for the same dimensions. The simulation results predict an optical scan angle of 125.6° at a resonant frequency of 550 Hz using …


Hybrid Physics-Informed Neural Networks For Dynamical Systems, Renato Giorgiani Do Nascimento Jan 2020

Hybrid Physics-Informed Neural Networks For Dynamical Systems, Renato Giorgiani Do Nascimento

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Ordinary differential equations can describe many dynamic systems. When physics is well understood, the time-dependent responses are easily obtained numerically. The particular numerical method used for integration depends on the application. Unfortunately, when physics is not fully understood, the discrepancies between predictions and observed responses can be large and unacceptable. In this thesis, we show how to directly implement integration of ordinary differential equations through recurrent neural networks using Python. We leveraged modern machine learning frameworks, such as TensorFlow and Keras. Besides offering basic models capabilities (such as multilayer perceptrons and recurrent neural networks) and optimization methods, these frameworks offer …


Control Strategies For Multi-Controller Multi-Objective Systems, Raaed Al-Azzawi Jan 2020

Control Strategies For Multi-Controller Multi-Objective Systems, Raaed Al-Azzawi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This dissertation's focus is control systems controlled by multiple controllers, each having its own objective function. The control of such systems is important in many practical applications such as economic systems, the smart grid, military systems, robotic systems, and others. To reap the benefits of feedback, we consider and discuss the advantages of implementing both the Nash and the Leader-Follower Stackelberg controls in a closed-loop form. However, closed-loop controls require continuous measurements of the system's state vector, which may be expensive or even impossible in many cases. As an alternative, we consider a sampled closed-loop implementation. Such an implementation requires …


Identifying Diurnal Variability Of Brain Connectivity Patterns Using Graph Theory, Farzad Vasheghani Farahani Jan 2020

Identifying Diurnal Variability Of Brain Connectivity Patterns Using Graph Theory, Farzad Vasheghani Farahani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Circadian rhythms are 24-hour fluctuations determining periodicity in a wide range of physiological processes, including neural activity and hormone secretion, which controls sleeping and feeding habits. Despite significant diurnal variation in human brain function, neuroscientists have rarely considered the effects of time-of-day on their studies. Moreover, there are interpersonal discrepancies in sleep-wake patterns, diurnal preferences, and daytime alertness (known as chronotypes), which can cause different diurnal profiles in human cognition and brain performance. The study of circadian typology differences has increased in recent years, however, examining the effects of both time-of-day and people's chronotype requires further elucidation. In the present …


The Effects Of Gesture Presentation In Video Games, Jack Oakley Jan 2020

The Effects Of Gesture Presentation In Video Games, Jack Oakley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

As everyday and commonplace technology continues to move toward touch devices and virtual reality devices, more and more video games are using gestures as forms of gameplay. While there is much research focused on gestures as user interface navigation methods, we wanted to look into how gestures affect gameplay when used as a gameplay mechanic. In particular, we set out to determine how different ways of presenting gestures might affect the game's difficulty and flow. We designed two versions of a zombie game where the zombies are killed by drawing gestures. The first version of the game is a touchscreen-based …