Digital Commons Network^™

Algorithmic Robot Design: Label Maps, Procrustean Graphs, And The Boundary Of Non-Destructiveness, Shervin Ghasemlou

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is focused on the problem of algorithmic robot design. The process of designing a robot or a team of robots that can reliably accomplish a task in an environment requires several key elements. How the problem is formulated can play a big role in the design process. The ability of the model to correctly reflect the environment, the events, and different pieces of the problem is crucial. Another key element is the ability of the model to show the relationship between different designs of a single system. These two elements can enable design algorithms to navigate through the …

Unraveling The Temporal Aspects Of Victimization: The Reciprocal, Additive, And Cumulative Effects Of Direct/Vicarious Victimization On Crime, Yeoju Park

Theses and Dissertations

The current study aims to assess the continuous impact of direct/vicarious victimization on subsequent victimization and delinquency/crime across waves using an incorporated model of Agnew’s general strain theory and the lifestyle/routine activities perspective. This study also aims to assess the additive and cumulative impact of dual victimization (i.e., exposure to direct and vicarious victimization) on offending. A cross-lagged model is conducted to examine the impacts of direct victimization, vicarious victimization, and delinquency/crime at an early point in time on these variables at later points in time using three waves from the Pathways to Desistance Study. Negative binomial regression models and …

The Arabidopsis Transcription Factor Aintegumenta Orchestrates Patterning Genes And Auxin Signaling In The Establishment Of Floral Growth And Form, Beth A. Krizek, Ivory C. Blakley, Yen Yi Ho, Nowlan Freese, Ann E. Loraine

Faculty Publications

Understanding how flowers form is an important problem in plant biology, as human food supply depends on flower and seed production. Flower development also provides an excellent model for understanding how cell division, expansion and differentiation are coordinated during organogenesis. In the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, floral organogenesis requires AINTEGUMENTA (ANT) and AINTEGUMENTA-LIKE 6 (AIL6)/PLETHORA 3 (PLT3), two members of the Arabidopsis AINTEGUMENTA-LIKE/PLETHORA (AIL/PLT) transcription factor family. Together, ANT and AIL6/PLT3 regulate aspects of floral organogenesis, including floral organ initiation, growth, identity specification and patterning. Previously, we used RNA-Seq to identify thousands of genes with disrupted expression in ant ail6 …

Helping College Mathematics Students Improve Their Mathematics Self-Efficacy And Self-Regulation Using Mymathlab, Allan C. Pangburn

Theses and Dissertations

A confident self-regulated learner knows how to effectively monitor their time management, motivation, help-seeking, self-efficacy, self-reflection, and strategic planning skills. These skills are components of a student’s self-regulation skills. The purpose of this action research was to evaluate the impact of using self-regulated learning strategies embedded in the online homework platform, MyMathLab, on the students’ self-regulated learning and mathematics self-efficacy skills while taking College Algebra at a 2-year Regional College Campus in the southeastern United States. This study looked to answer (1) how, and to what extent, does the online homework platform, MyMathLab, impacts the students’ self-regulated learning skills and …

Mechanistic Insight On Vibrio Gazogenes Mediated Intervention Of Aflatoxin Biosynthesis In Aspergillus Flavus, Rubaiya Jesmin

Theses and Dissertations

Aflatoxin is a liver carcinogen, mycotoxin, and a secondary metabolite that is produced by some plant pathogens within the genus Aspergillus when they infect crops such as corn, peanuts, and cotton. Given the significant adverse health and economic impacts of aflatoxin and a predicted rise of crop contamination with mycotoxins caused by a changing climate, there is a pressing need for exploring new aflatoxin mitigation methods. Previous studies in our laboratory have shown that metabolites from Vibrio gazogenes, an estuarine non-pathogenic bacterium, can inhibit aflatoxin synthesis. However, a direct interaction study between V. gazogenes and aflatoxin producing strains has …

Association Between Urinary Enterolignans As A Marker For Gut Microbiome Diversity And Depression In Nhanes, Marie Knoll

Theses and Dissertations

Depression is a chronic disease which inflicts functional and emotional impairment that has been a growing issue in the United States (US). Depression is the most prevalent mental disorder in the US and is the leading cause of disability in the world. By 2030, It is projected that major depressive disorder will be the second largest contributor to global burden of disease. Causes of depression are still largely unknown and treatments are often expensive, time consuming, and only available to certain populations. Treatment often requires a combination of medicines and therapy to be effective. In recent years, the gut microbiome …

Cis-Resveratrol Upregulates Tyrosyl-Trna Synthetase And Inhibits The Proliferation Of Select Breast Cancer Cell Lines, Marion Cone Hope Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Breast cancer is one of the most commonly occurring cancers in women. 70% of breast cancer patients express ERα and are treated with tamoxifen (Tam), a drug that is used to directly target ERα. However, 20-30% of cancer patients develop a resistance to Tam. This resistance leads to a worse prognosis and other treatments such as DNA damaging drugs or radiation to eliminate these cells. Resveratrol (RSV) is a polyphenolic- compound found in plants such as grapes and hellebore and is known to evoke anti-cancer effects. While natural resveratrol exists as a mixture of both cis- and trans- isomers, so …

Narrative Language Among Mothers With The Fmr1 Premutation And Mothers Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sara Mousavi

Theses and Dissertations

Difficulties with pragmatic language are known language traits among women with the FMR1 premutation and within the broad autism phenotype (BAP). Our study investigated the narrative cohesion and story grammar organization of spontaneously generated stories produced by mothers with the FMR1 premutation, mothers of children with ASD, and mothers of typically developing children. No group differences were observed in story grammar, overall quality, or frequency of use of temporal devices. But both the mothers of children with ASD and mothers with the FMR1 premutation committed reference errors at a significantly higher frequency than mothers in the control group. This study …

Room Temperature Semiconductor Radiation Detectors Based On Cdznte And Cdzntese, Mohsin Sajjad

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, there have been considerable interests in nuclear radiation detectors for national security and nuclear safeguard including monitoring special nuclear materials and nuclear waste characterization, for medical imaging devices using nuclear medicine such as positron emission tomography (PET), and for NASA space astronomy. One of the most promising semiconductors being considered for the field-deployable nuclear detector is cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe or CZT). CZT is a ternary semiconductor that can efficiently stop and detect high-energy gamma-rays at room temperature. CZT has desirable properties for efficient nuclear radiation detection and imaging due to high atomic number (Z ~ 50, …

The Practical Advantages And Disadvantages Of Laplace Regression As An Alternative To Cox Proportional Hazards Model: A Comparison Via Simulation, Sydney Smith

Theses and Dissertations

The Cox proportional hazards model is the most common regression technique for survival analysis. However, the proportional hazards assumption restricts it’s use to a limited group of multiplicative models. Laplace regression is a flexible quantile regression technique for censored observations that is appropriate in a wider variety of applications as compared to the Cox proportional hazards model. Instead of estimating a hazard ratio, Laplace regression which is free from a proportionality assumption, can be used to estimate many adjusted percentiles of survival time allowing for a more complete description of the association of interest. This paper compares the performance of …

Hydrogen Peroxide And Antioxidant Enzymes Moderate Interaction Of The Carbon And Oxygen Cycles At The Redoxcline, Fan Wang

Theses and Dissertations

Hydrogen peroxide is a reduced form of dioxygen produced in natural waters from a manifold of abiotic and biological processes. Hydrogen peroxide is highly redox active and it often serves to initiate the formation of reactive oxygen species in the environment. It typically exists in natural waters at concentrations ranging from as low as ~ 1 nanomolar in “blue water” marine environments to as high as 10 micromolar near actively effluxing sediments. It has the potential to cause significant toxicity in aquatic organisms, which have evolved a collection of antioxidant enzymes including peroxidase, catalase, and superoxide dismutase. Work in this …

Network-Based Statistical Analysis Of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Data From Aphasia Patients, Xingpei Zhao

Theses and Dissertations

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a neuroimaging technique that provides insight into brain function and activity. Network models of fMRI signals can reveal functional connectivity related to certain brain disorders, such as post-stroke aphasia. This thesis aims to identify the functional connections that distinguish anomic and Broca’s aphasia by comparing the resting-state fMRI from the patients with these two types of aphasia. The network-based statistic (NBS) approach is used to detect such connections. After the analytic pipeline is applied to the fMRI data, the NBS approach identifies a distinct subnetwork between the two types of aphasia, which involves the …

Solid Materials Discovery For Thin Films, Oxide Catalysts, And Polymer Sealants, Benjamin Ruiz-Yi

Theses and Dissertations

Solid materials are made up of multiple classes, including metals, ceramics, and polymers. While each class can be developed for general purpose applications or highly specialized, discovery of new materials in order to improve upon desired properties is a non-trivial task for any type of material. A wide variety of materials encompass expansive design spaces, consisting of parameters such as chemical compositions, synthesis conditions, and post-processing. Due to this, narrowing down the design space to fit within a given figure-of-merit and economic viability becomes time consuming at best and infeasible at worst. High-throughput experimentation

High-throughput experimentation (HTE) is a methodology …

A Multi-Sensor Fusion-Based Underwater Slam System, Sharmin Rahman

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the problem of real-time Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) in challenging environments. SLAM is one of the key enabling technologies for autonomous robots to navigate in unknown environments by processing information on their on-board computational units. In particular, we study the exploration of challenging GPS-denied underwater environments to enable a wide range of robotic applications, including historical studies, health monitoring of coral reefs, underwater infrastructure inspection e.g., bridges, hydroelectric dams, water supply systems, and oil rigs. Mapping underwater structures is important in several fields, such as marine archaeology, Search and Rescue (SaR), resource management, hydrogeology, and speleology. …

Complex Syntax Acquisition In Children With Hearing Loss, Marissa Castaldo

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this language sample analysis was to describe complex syntax development in children with hearing loss over the preschool years. The current study addresses the following relevant research questions: Do children with hearing loss have increased performance over preschool years on broad measures of complex syntax? and What are the developmental trajectories on complex syntax in children with hearing loss?

Methods: 9 children with hearing loss participated in a 12-minute language sample following the Hadley Protocol (1998). Each child was tested at age 4 and then again in 6-month intervals until they turned 6. These children with …

The Impact Of Blended Learning On Student Motivation And Achievement In Reading And Writing, Kimberly Eish Tiedemann

Theses and Dissertations

This action research project, based on 15 days of study, examined the impact of blended learning on student engagement and achievement in a high school Reading Seminar classroom. This action research study answered three research questions: 1) What impact do blended learning strategies have on student motivation in a Reading Seminar elective course classroom? 2) How does the implementation of blended learning strategies in a Reading Seminar elective course affect student writing skills? 3) How does the implementation of blended learning strategies in a Reading Seminar elective course affect student reading skills? The participants included 13 high school freshmen in …

On The Robustness Of Bayesian Network Learning Algorithms Against Malicious Attacks, Noah Joseph Geveke

Theses and Dissertations

Bayesian networks are effective tools for discovering relationships between variables in a data set. Algorithms that learn Bayesian networks from data fall into three categories: constraint-based, score-based, and hybrid. Hybrid algorithms contain a constraint testing sub-procedure as well as a score function to create the network. Malicious changes to the training set can cause invalid networks that do not model the true data. The effects of these changes have been demonstrated using the PC algorithm, a constraint-based algorithm. In this thesis a method was developed to measure the robustness of various algorithms to determine potential malicious changes. The robustness analysis …

A Rasch Investigation Of Type I Error Rates And Power Associated With Item Fit Statistics Under Large-Scale Testing Situations, Yin Burgess

Theses and Dissertations

This simulation study investigated the accuracy of the mean square and the standardized values of the item INFIT and OUTFIT statistics (i.e., based on total item fit) in Rasch dichotomous model under large-scale testing situations. It also examined their associated Type I error rates to determine how the rule-of-thumb critical values perform in detecting item misfit. Furthermore, simulated systematic measurement disturbances were used to test the power (i.e., the hit rates of true positive cases, true positive rates) and the false positive rates (i.e., Type I error rates) of the obtained values through between-item fit indices in identifying poor-fitting items. …

Math Workshop And Its Impact On Higher-Level Thinking Skills, Elizabeth Ross

Theses and Dissertations

This paper addresses the problem of students not using problem solving and critical thinking skills in high school mathematics classes. It describes an action research project that looked at the impact of Math Workshop on higher-level thinking skills, number of attempts to demonstrate proficiency, and students’ feelings/attitudes about mathematics in a high school Algebra II setting. In a small high school, 20 students enrolled in an Algebra II course were selected to complete a pre-test, post-test and tasks framed by Math Workshop. A triangulated mixed-methods design was used to compare quantitative and qualitative data to answer the research questions. Descriptive …

Spatiotemporal Dynamics Of Benthic Microalgae In South Carolina Shelf Sediments, Sarah N. Zaunbrecher

Theses and Dissertations

Benthic microalgae (BMA) play essential roles in food webs and regulating nutrient exchange at the sediment-water interface in continental shelf ecosystems. However, shelf BMA are not widely studied due to the difficulties sampling the upper few millimeters of shelf sediments. A few published studies have highlighted the high spatiotemporal distribution of BMA, but detailed explanations for this known variability are limited. The objectives of this study were to quantify BMA biomass variability on scales of cm to km and relate these measurements to in situ nutrient concentrations, sediment grain size, in situ irradiance, depth, and other environmental factors. Water and …

Immigrant Belonging In Belgium: Laws, Localities, And Living Together, Samuel P. Nielson

Theses and Dissertations

Nationalism is rising in Europe and the world. Much of it responds to massive migration, with nationalistic Europeans vocalizing their belief that immigrants do not “belong” in their countries. Many states respond to this influx of people and rising antiimmigrant sentiment by creating laws demanding immigrant “integration.” Yet a clear understanding of what defines “integration” remains elusive. So too does an understanding of how laws aimed at immigrant integration influence relationships between immigrants and local citizens, institutions, and spaces. This research addresses both of these points in Belgium, a politically and culturally fractured country that serves as a microcosm of …

Investigating Accuracy Of Model Fit Indices In Multilevel Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Mihaela C. Ene

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the performance of various model fit indices in the context of multilevel confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) to determine their robustness in this framework. As the interest in using MCFA techniques recently increased, applied researchers continue to face the challenge of evaluating model fit in this framework as no specific guidelines currently exist.

Using a simulation study with a two-level CFA model, characteristics of the model were varied to reflect a broad range of conditions commonly found in applied studies. Five factors were manipulated, including item-level ICC, level-1 sample size, level-2 sample size, model size, and model misspecification. …

Testing For Differential Attention To Features In Evaluative Conditioning, Christine E. Weber

Theses and Dissertations

One eye tracking and one behavioral experiment examined the possible roles of contingency awareness and attention to stimulus features in evaluative conditioning. These experiments tested whether evaluative conditioning altered the saliency of positive and negative features in consumer products (Study 1) and attitudinal responses to ambivalent pictures (Study 2). Based on the conceptual categorization model, pairing of ambivalent conditioned stimuli with liked or disliked unconditioned stimuli was predicted to result in enhanced attention to affectively congruent features. Study 1 tested this prediction by recording eye movements to determine how attention to features and responses to ambivalent stimuli were altered as …

Teacher Beliefs In Sex-Specific Neuromyths And Gender-Specific Instructional Strategies: Prevalence, Predictors, And Implications, Marriah Schwallier

Theses and Dissertations

Neuromyths are misconceptions or overgeneralizations about brain research and its relevance to education. A number of recent studies have demonstrated that teachers endorse neuromyths at high rates, but none have examined neuromyths related to sex-specific learning differences. This study is the first to create and utilize a neuromyth inventory designed to measure misconceptions about sex learning differences. The overarching goal of the study was to determine the prevalence and predictors of both sex-specific neuromyths and gender-specific instructional strategies. The study was conducted in three large South Carolina school districts that offered single-gender classes at some point between 2007–2016. An electronic …

Fundamental Studies Of Oxygen Electrocatalysis In Alkaline Electrochemical Cells, Victoria F. Mattick

Theses and Dissertations

Until recently the world’s main source of energy has been fossil fuels, such as coal and petroleum. However, these energy sources are polluting our planet, becoming scarce and increasingly inaccessible, and are costly to extract. Therefore, much attention has been directed to harvesting clean, abundant, and renewable energy, such as solar rays and wind. However, the intermittency of solar and wind power generation requires an effective energy buffering solution (aka energy storage) to become efficient and reliable. With high efficiency and energy density, rechargeable batteries and reversible fuel cells are two of the best methods for this purpose. Unfortunately, a …

Understanding The Role Of Political Commitment And Coherence Across Sectors And Across National And Sub-National Levels In Enabling Improvements In Nutrition In Rwanda, Elyse Iruhiriye

Theses and Dissertations

Reducing undernutrition is on the political agendas of many low- and middle-income countries. There is general consensus that to improve nutritional outcomes involves actions across the different sectors that influence both the immediate and underlying determinants of optimal nutrition and an enabling environment to support the political and policy processes. Despite renewed attention over the last 15 years, addressing nutrition in a multisectoral way was previously promoted in the 1970’s but failed to have sustained political commitment due to its organizational complexities to plan and implement strategies across sectors.

We conducted an in-depth retrospective case study to understand how Rwanda, …

Expansion Microscopy: A New Approach To Microscopic Evaluation, Ashley Ferri

Theses and Dissertations

Optical microscopy resolution is limited by the wavelengths of light and the series of microscope lenses and other optical components used to create a magnified image of cell structures in a sample. Often the cell structures are smaller or closer together than the resolution limits of a light microscope. In 2015 the Boyden group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) created a sample preparation technique, expansion microscopy which involves embedding biological samples in a crosslinked, swellable, hydrogel polymer that allows for uniform physical separation of cell components so that they can subsequently be resolved by light microscopy. Using the …

The Impact Of Race/Ethnicity On Sentencing: A Matching Approach, Travis Jones

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to study the direct impact of race/ethnicity on sentencing of federal drug offenders. In order to accomplish this goal, an exact matching approach is utilized to generate strata containing white, black and Hispanic offenders who are matched based on relevant legal and extra-legal factors derived from focal concerns theory. The total sentences (i.e. fines, probation, incarceration, etc.) of matched offenders are then compared pairwise to determine which offender received the more severe sentence. The findings overall do not suggest that black and Hispanic offenders receive more severe sentences to comparable white offenders; however, drug …

Aesthetic Activisms: Language Politics And Inheritances In Recent Poetry From The U.S. South, Sunshine Dempsey

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation, Aesthetic Activisms: Language Politics and Inheritances in Recent Poetry from the U.S. South, is to illustrate how four contemporary poets incorporate and adapt literary forms and linguistic structures to emphasize the exclusionary systems of language that undergird accepted southern cultural practices. Aesthetic Activismslooks at four poets, Natasha Trethewey, Fred Moten, Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, and C.D. Wright, who challenge concepts of regional literary inheritances that refuses to recognize a broad plurality of voices and histories.

Aesthetic Activisms focuses on poets whose work re-orients, or centralizes, marginalized experience through form and content, resisting essentialist …

Moving-Camera Video Content Analysis Via Action Recognition And Homography Transformation, Yang Mi

Theses and Dissertations

Moving-camera video content analysis aims at interpreting useful information in videos taken by moving cameras, including wearable cameras and handy cameras. It is an essential problem in computer vision, and plays an important role in many real-life applications, including understanding social difficulties and enhancing public security. In this work, we study three sub-problems of moving-camera video content analysis, including two sub-problems for the analysis on wearable-camera videos which are a special type of moving camera videos: recognizing general actions and recognizing microactions in wearable-camera videos. And, the third sub-problem is estimating homographies along moving-camera videos.

Recognizing general actions in wearable-camera …