Digital Commons Network^™

From Intent Detection To Recommendations: Leveraging Pretrained Language Models For Enhanced User Experiences, Muhammad Hasan Maqbool

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Pretrained language models have started a new era in artificial intelligence in general and natural language processing (NLP) in particular. With the advent of transformer architecture, pretrained language models are at the forefront of driving advancements in machine intelligence. Scaled dot product attention sits at the core of transformer architecture. In scaled dot product attention, each token gets a chance to attend to every other token in the context. This attention process yields the affinities or correlations that a token exhibits with other tokens, in the context. The correlation vector is normalized into a distribution, which is employed to gauge …

Internet-Of-Things Privacy In Wifi Networks: Side-Channel Leakage And Mitigations, Mnassar Alyami

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

WiFi networks are susceptible to statistical traffic analysis attacks. Despite encryption, the metadata of encrypted traffic, such as packet inter-arrival time and size, remains visible. This visibility allows potential eavesdroppers to infer private information in the Internet of Things (IoT) environment. For example, it allows for the identification of sleep monitors and the inference of whether a user is awake or asleep.

WiFi eavesdropping theoretically enables the identification of IoT devices without the need to join the victim's network. This attack scenario is more realistic and much harder to defend against, thus posing a real threat to user privacy. However, …

A Comparative Case Of The Sense Of Belonging Of Students And Black Neighborhood Stakeholders Utilizing Public Recreational Space Near An Urban College Campus, Briyanna N. Jenkins

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

At a time when regulation impacting colleges and universities has steadily increased, institutional leaders have explored ways to maximize their educational effectiveness, impact, and public contribution to their surrounding communities. Public colleges and universities often use public-private partnerships to develop institutionally owned or managed spaces on and surrounding their campuses. As a result, institutional stakeholders are infused with existing community neighborhoods, cultures and structures, which often results in permanent change imposed on these neighbors and neighborhoods. Using a comparative case study approach, this exploratory research explored the relationship between campus stakeholders utilizing campus and private recreational spaces and their sense …

Novel Phase Shifters Using Reconfigurable Filters, Georgiy Brussenskiy

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Phase shifters play a crucial role in radar, satellite communications, and 5G networks. Recently, the idea of using filters as phase shifters have attracted much interest due to providing many benefits such as smaller area, lower noise figure, easier fabrication method as compared with other technologies, reduced cost, and the ability to work as multi-functioning device. This work focuses on the implementation of bandstop-based and bandpass-based filtering phase shifters. For the bandstop-based approach, some of the resonating structures that were examined are stubs, LC tanks, L-shaped/U-shaped half wavelength resonators and many others. Periodic stub loading filter design method was compared …

Dual Frequency Comb Mid-Ir – Thz Spectroscopy, Dmitrii Konnov

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

The optical frequency comb is a coherent light source whose spectrum consists of hundreds of thousands perfectly equidistant narrow frequency components and precisely expressed in just two radio frequencies. Even though optical frequency combs were developed 25 years ago, that led to the Nobel Prize in Physics 2005, only recently there was a significant progress in generating broadband optical frequency combs in the mid-infrared. These achievements became possible due to the development of new types of robust fiber and solid-state lasers and the efficient downconverting of their frequencies through different techniques based on advanced nonlinear crystals. In this dissertation, I …

Human Visual Search Performance For Close Range Detection Of Static Targets From Moving Sensor Platforms, Jennifer Hewitt

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Search models based on human perception have been developed by military researchers over the past few decades and have both military and commercial applications for sensor design and implementation. These models are created primarily for static imagery, and accurately predict task performance for systems with stationary targets and stationary sensors, if the observer is given infinite time to make targeting decisions. To account for situations where decisions must be made on a shortened time scale, the time-limited search model was developed to describe how task performance evolves with time. Recent variations of this model have been made to account for …

Enhancing Scanning Tunneling Microscopy With Automation And Machine Learning, Darian Smalley

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is one of the most advanced surface science tools capable of atomic resolution imaging and atomic manipulation. Unfortunately, STM has many time-consuming bottlenecks, like probe conditioning, tip instability, and noise artificing, which causes the technique to have low experimental throughput. This dissertation describes my efforts to address these challenges through automation and machine learning. It consists of two main sections each describing four projects for a total of eight studies.

The first section details two studies on nanoscale sample fabrication and two studies on STM tip preparation. The first two studies describe the fabrication of …

Towards Energy-Efficient In-Memory Computing Systems Using Electronic Design Automation, Muhammad Rashedul Haq Rashed

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

The exponential growth in digital data has fueled the emergence of data-intensive applications like large language models, digital twins, and metaverse. These applications have unprecedented computing demands that exceed the capabilities of today's high-performance computing systems. To address this challenge, new computing paradigms are being explored. One promising solution is to perform processing in memory (PIM) using emerging hardware. However, PIM paradigms are still in their infancy. A major obstacle to the widespread adoption of PIM paradigms is the lack of advanced electronic design automation (EDA)-based designs to ensure the system is both robust and energy-efficient.

This dissertation presents electronic …

Lesson Study As A Catalyst For Including Concepts And Procedures In Planning And Implementing Fraction-Based Mathematics Lessons: An Elementary School Case Study, Nisha A. Phillip Malahoo

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

This qualitative case study investigated how lesson study influenced teachers’ pedagogical strategies and content knowledge by leveraging the interplay between conceptual understanding and procedural fluency, with conceptual knowledge forming the foundation for procedural fluency in the planning and implementation of fraction-based mathematics tasks. The study aimed to address two research questions: (1) How does the engagement of teachers in the creation and analysis of fraction-based mathematics tasks in lesson study influence their instructional decision-making processes? and (2) How do teachers construct pedagogical strategies that integrate procedural and conceptual knowledge through lesson study? The sample size consisted of seven elementary school …

Millimeter-Wave Software-Defined Radios With Programmable Directionality, Marc H. Jean

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Fifth generation (5G) networks are currently being deployed at millimeter wave (mmWave) bands, beyond 22 GHz. The wireless node density and gigabit-per-second demands of 5G Internet-of Things (IoT) devices are pushing for more spatial reuse and higher frequency bands, which can be achieved by directional beamforming methods. Over the years, researchers have relied on synthetic data and simulation for studying directionality and beamforming, due to the lack and high cost of mmWave hardware. Hence, there is a major need for software-defined radio (SDR) platforms that enable programmable directionality in wireless studies and experimentation. Recently, more affordable and commercially available mmWave …

Enhancing Oil-In-Water Emulsified Bildgwater Treatment Using Electric Field Forward Osmosis (Effo), Nareg Krikorian

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Bilgewater discharge needs to meet the existing regulations with an oil concentration of less than 15 ppm. Among many treatment options, forward osmosis (FO) can be an economic-environmental method utilizing an osmotic pressure gradient between feed solution (FS) and draw solution (DS) which are separated via a semipermeable membrane. However, FO membrane foundling is still challenging. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of electric field forward osmosis (EFFO) to mitigate membrane fouling and thus improve oil-in-water emulsion separation. Standard bilge mix (SBM) was used as representative bilgewater and mineral oil (MO) was used as control. …

Advancing Policy Insights: Opinion Data Analysis And Discourse Structuring Using Llms, Aaditya Bhatia

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

The growing volume of opinion data presents a significant challenge for policymakers striving to distill public sentiment into actionable decisions. This study aims to explore the capability of large language models (LLMs) to synthesize public opinion data into coherent policy recommendations. We specifically leverage Mistral 7B and Mixtral 8x7B models for text generation and have developed an architecture to process vast amounts of unstructured information, integrate diverse viewpoints, and extract actionable insights aligned with public opinion. Using a retrospective data analysis of the Polis platform debates published by the Computational Democracy Project, this study examines multiple datasets that span local …

Application Of Artificial Intelligence In The Study Of Saturated And Unsaturated Hydraulic Properties Of Compacted Soil Barriers In Landfills, Poyu Zhang

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Machine learning models (MLMs) were developed to predict the saturated hydraulic conductivity of compacted soil barriers and help to identify appropriate soils for the construction of landfill liners and covers. Three machine learning algorithms (random forest, gradient boosting decision tree, and neural network) were used to develop MLMs, and multiple linear regression was used to compare the precision of predictions with the MLMs. Results from this study showed that the random forest model provided the best prediction of the hydraulic conductivity of compacted soil barriers, with 100% of predicted hydraulic conductivity within 100-time differences to measured hydraulic conductivity and 93% …

Exploring How Administrative Factors Including Mentoring, Compensation, And Workload Impact The Retention Rates Of Novice Title I Teachers, Danielle Jones

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This study explores the administrative factors impacting the experiences and retention rate of Title I beginning-year teachers that have 1-3 years of experience. Considering Title I schools primarily serve students from marginalized backgrounds, understanding the role of administrative factors becomes crucial. These factors significantly influence both student outcomes and teacher effectiveness, emphasizing the need for further exploration. For this reason, this research seeks to identify and understand the impacts administrative structures have on the performance, satisfaction, and retention of new teachers in Title I schools. This quantitative study will examine the experiences and outcomes of new teachers in Title I …

Volume Xxxi (2024)

The Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Journal of Florida Literature

No abstract provided.

External Boundary Conditions For Solidification Process Modeling Of Equiaxed Investment Castings, Weston Olson

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The equiaxed investment casting process is a multi-physics problem which requires knowledge from engineers who have expertise in materials, metallurgy, fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, and heat transfer. Process modeling is a tool used by foundries to help predict casting defects such as shrinkage porosity, hot tears, dimensional distortion, and poor grain structure. ProCAST is the numerical simulation suite used in this dissertation and is considered an industry standard due to its extensive proven track record. The reliability of these predictions is strongly dependent on the accuracy of the thermal boundary conditions set in the model. This dissertation consists of two studies. …

Design And Optimization Of Temperature-Stable Mems Resonators For Timing Applications Based On Thin-Film Lithium Tantalate, Yasaman Majd

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

All radio devices require a highly accurate frequency reference with superb temperature stability. While quartz-based oscillators meet accuracy demands, they cannot be easily miniaturized for higher frequencies. Silicon-based MEMS resonators offer a promising alternative due to their small size, and low power consumption, though they suffer from significant temperature drift.

This research proposes a silicon-based MEMS device that exhibits low-frequency variations across wide temperature ranges, high-quality factors, and low insertion loss, meeting modern communication system requirements. Two main research avenues are explored.

Firstly, the thermal behavior of S₀ Lamb wave X-cut Lithium Tantalate (LT) resonators is investigated, demonstrating a …

Comprehensive Analytics Of Automated Vehicles’ Effectiveness, Benefits, And Crash Severity, Shengxuan Ding

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Automated Vehicles (AV) are increasingly becoming a reality, offering major road safety improvements and advancements through the development of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Automated Driving Systems (ADS). Although research on AVs is progressing, several key gaps remain. There is a lack of sufficient matched data between AV and HDV crashes to compare their differences, along with a need for more detailed datasets to analyze ADS and ADAS crash severity and assess ADAS safety effectiveness. First, the research investigates overall trends within the AV dataset by utilizing 1,099 ADS, 1,001 ADAS and 35,113 HDV crash data. including ADS (Society …

Numerical And Analytical Evaluations Of Impact Of Atmospheric Particles On Aircraft, Brendon A. Cavainolo

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The Volume-of-Fluid method, an Eulerian multiphase flow model that adds a volume fraction transport equation to the CFD governing equations, is widely used for any fluid-fluid interface tracking problem. There are important aspects of multiphase flow that impact aircraft flight, especially flight in extreme environments. These extreme environments can range from wet, icy conditions to sandstorms, and volcanic debris. The problems posed by these harsh environments are only exacerbated by aircraft that tend to travel at higher Mach-numbers. The specific aims of the proposed research include application of the Volume-of-fluid method to the following aspects of aircraft flight: shock-droplet interactions, …

A Framework For Improving Employee Experience In The Hospitality Industry, Scott Hall

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This dissertation explores the unique aspects of employee experience within the hospitality industry. By conducting in-depth interviews with 40 employees, both within and outside of the hospitality sector, this research aims to identify the factors that distinguish the employee experience in hospitality and to lay the groundwork for future improvements in this field.

The study employs a thematic analysis to uncover key themes that define the hospitality employee experience. The findings reveal that job satisfaction in hospitality is significantly influenced by factors such as workplace culture, career development opportunities, and the intrinsic satisfaction derived from serving guests. Moreover, the research …

Shock Tube Measurements Of Sustainable Aviation Fuel Sooting Tendencies For Supersonic Commercial Transport, Koby D. Rouviere

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Sustainable Aviation fuels (SAFs) have been launched to the forefront of the aviation industry as the desire to push the boundaries of flight continues to grow. The Concorde, a symbol of cutting-edge aerospace technology, was decommissioned due to its extreme inefficiency, as it formed high levels of soot, carbon monoxide (CO), and ethylene (C₂H₄), among other emissions. The UCF shock tube experiments aim to investigate the variation between sustainable aviation fuel and traditional commercial jet fuel under supersonic conditions similar to those seen on the Concorde. The test mixtures were formulated using Jet-A, Gevo’s Alcohol-to-Jet sustainable fuel, a 50/50 blend …

Adaptive Anomaly Prediction Models, Ashkan Farhangi

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Anomalies are rare in nature. This rarity makes it difficult for models to provide accurate and reliable predictions. Deep learning models typically excel at identifying underlying patterns from abundant data through supervised learning mechanisms but struggle with anomalies due to their limited representation. This results in a significant portion of errors arising from these rare and poorly represented events. Here, we present various methods and frameworks to develop the specialized ability of models to better detect and predict anomalies. Additionally, we improve the interpretability of these models by enhancing their anomaly awareness, leading to stronger performance on real-world datasets that …

Heat Transfer And Pseudo-Boiling Of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide In A Parallel-Flow Microchannel And A Micro-Jets Impingement Device, Pranzal Ahmed

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is increasingly being used as a highly efficient, environmentally friendly and sustainable refrigerant/heat transfer fluid. Because of its high specific heat and cooling capacity, supercritical CO₂ has the potential to be widely used in a range of applications, such as power generation and thermal management of data centers/electronics. Near the critical condition, the thermo-physical properties undergo drastic changes, which includes a boiling-like phenomenon in the supercritical region (pseudo-boiling), which can affect the heat transfer performance. Thus, knowledge about the heat transfer process in the supercritical phase of CO₂ is necessary. In this experimental …

Using Electroencephalography To Predict Metabolic Cost, Jordan Grubb

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Electroencephalography (EEG) is a technique used to non-invasively record electrical signals from the brain that can be used to understand how the brain functions and controls movements. EEG, however, is susceptible to recording electrical artifact signals that do not originate from brain activity. Common artifacts that come up in EEG data are generated by eye movements, heart contractions, muscle contractions, motion artifacts, electromagnetic interference signals, and powerline noise. These artifacts are often filtered out of EEG data or reduced to clean the signals and preserve the information from the brain. However, some of these signals may provide useful information about …

Corporate Restructuring Spin-Off In A Technical Project-Based Organization, Stephen J. Davis

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

A technical project-based organization (TPBO) is a type of organizational setup that uses project management as the main economic driver. An TPBO tends to be adept at accepting change due to its inherent trait of constant change within the organization as resources move from project-to-project accepting scope changes along the way. Regardless of its ability to accept more change, every organization goes through a lifecycle. At some point, the organization must implement a change in the life cycle to avoid failure. A corporate restructuring spin-off is one way an organization can avoid organizational failure. Although the tool is used in …

Agile Healthcare: The Effects Of Information Technology Ambidexterity And Human Resource Practices On Workforce Agility And Job Performance, Jorge Flavio Sarmiento Falla

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Healthcare organizations grapple with uncertainties and rapid changes, necessitating agility within their workforce. However, empirical studies on healthcare agility are notably scarce, impeding efforts to foster an agile workforce. Through a systematic literature review, human-related dimensions and information technology aspects were found to be relevant to healthcare agility. This study addresses the impact of Information Technology Ambidexterity (ITA) and Human Resource Practices (HRP) on establishing Workforce Agility (WA). Subsequently, the study also addresses the importance of WA for the job performance of healthcare professionals. Lastly, it evaluates the mediation effect of WA on the impact of both ITA and HRP …

Ceramic Matrix Composites For Hydrogen Combustion, Christopher Varela

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

As we strive towards a clean energy economy with net-zero carbon emissions, a goal the country plans to reach by 2050, advancements in material technology must be made to allow for clean fuels like hydrogen to be employed in power generation processes. The significantly higher energy content and lack of greenhouse gas emissions characteristic of hydrogen fuel make it an attractive alternative to traditional fossil fuels. However, the increased flame temperature and chemical corrosivity introduced by the water vapor generation of hydrogen combustion pose a risk to the materials used in current gas turbine engines. Furthermore, the small molecule size …

Typography And English As A Second Language (Esl) Reading: Impact Of Variable Font Width, Letter Spacing, And Line Spacing On Reading Performance And Experience, Md Mamunur Rashid

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The mixed-method experimental study explores whether basic alterations in digital text formatting can enhance reading performance and experience of reading for the adult English as a Second Language (ESL) populations. Native English speakers are included as a comparison group. The study specifically examines the effects of varying font width, letter spacing, and line spacing on reading speed, comprehension, and self-reported levels of enjoyment and perceived difficulty.

The participants comprise 459 proficient adult readers, split between native English, native Spanish, and native Mandarin speakers. Each participant silently reads a series of 150-word English passages at an 8th-grade difficulty level, with manipulations …

Architectural And Training Regime Modifications To Transformer Models For Low Data Applications, Azwad Tamir

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

A significant catalyst of the recent Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning revolution is attributed to large language models (LLMs), which include many prominent AI systems such as ChatGPT, Bard, and Gemini. The majority of high-performance LLM models are based on the transformer architecture and the primary factor behind the recent enhancement in the performance of these models is attributed to the increase of layer quantity and dimensionality, resulting in an exponential rise in the total number of learnable parameters, necessitating substantial data for effective training. This may pose a significant barrier in certain application domains, such as bioinformatics, pharmaceutical research, …

Ammonia For Aviation, Brandon Cotto

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Aviation’s share of total global carbon emissions has been on the rise as both the decarbonization of other industries and the number of flights has increased. Ammonia as a jet fuel has been receiving attention as a potential carbon free energy storage pathway, both as a fuel and as a carrier of hydrogen. Utilizing ammonia as a fuel requires energy intensive processes making this pathway a compromise specifically intended for power generation purposes that cannot directly use sustainable energy. It is pertinent to understand the cost of realizing ammonia’s advantages as a fuel in the hard to decarbonize industry of …