Digital Commons Network^™

Data Mining In Computational Proteomics And Genomics, Yang Song

Dissertations

This dissertation addresses data mining in bioinformatics by investigating two important problems, namely peak detection and structure matching. Peak detection is useful for biological pattern discovery while structure matching finds many applications in clustering and classification.

The first part of this dissertation focuses on elastic peak detection in 2D liquid chromatographic mass spectrometry (LC-MS) data used in proteomics research. These data can be modeled as a time series, in which the X-axis represents time points and the Y-axis represents intensity values. A peak occurs in a set of 2D LC-MS data when the sum of the intensity values in a …

Accounting For Midblock Pedestrian Activity In The Hcm 2010 Urban Street Segment Analysis, Albert Forde

Dissertations

The Urban Street segment analysis Chapter of the 2010 Highway Capacity Manual (HCM 2010) provides a methodology for analyzing automobile performance on signalized roadway segments within an urban roadway network. The methodology involves applying a platoon dispersion model to: a) predict the vehicle arrival flow profiles at a downstream signalized intersection; b) use the predicted arrivals to compute the proportion of vehicle arrivals on green; and c) subsequently estimate the delay, travel speed and Level of Service (LOS) under which the segment operates. Vehicles arriving during the red interval at a signalized intersection generally accumulate and form a platoon. When …

Multiple Testing Procedures For Complex Structured Hypotheses And Directional Decisions, Anjana Grandhi

Dissertations

Several multiple testing procedures are developed based on the inherent structure of the tested hypotheses and specific needs of data analysis. Incorporating the inherent structure of the hypotheses results in development of more powerful and situation-specific multiple testing procedures than existing ones. The focus of this dissertation is on developing multiple testing procedures that utilize the information on this structure of the hypotheses and aims at answering research questions while controlling appropriate error rates.

In the first part of the thesis, a mixed directional false discovery rate (mdFDR) controlling procedure is developed in the context of uterine fibroid gene expression …

Designing Novel Abstraction Networks For Ontology Summarization And Quality Assurance, Christopher Ochs

Dissertations

Biomedical ontologies are complex knowledge representation systems. Biomedical ontologies support interdisciplinary research, interoperability of medical systems, and Electronic Healthcare Record (EHR) encoding. Ontologies represent knowledge using concepts (entities) linked by relationships. Ontologies may contain hundreds of thousands of concepts and millions of relationships. For users, the size and complexity of ontologies make it difficult to comprehend “the big picture” of an ontology's content. For ontology editors, size and complexity make it difficult to uncover errors and inconsistencies. Errors in an ontology will ultimately affect applications that utilize the ontology.

In prior studies abstraction networks (AbNs) were developed to provide a …

Optimization Methods For Active And Passive Localization, Nil Garcia

Dissertations

Active and passive localization employing widely distributed sensors is a problem of interest in various fields. In active localization, such as in MIMO radar, transmitters emit signals that are reflected by the targets and collected by the receive sensors, whereas, in passive localization the sensors collect the signals emitted by the sources themselves. This dissertation studies optimization methods for high precision active and passive localization.

In the case of active localization, multiple transmit elements illuminate the targets from different directions. The signals emitted by the transmitters may differ in power and bandwidth. Such resources are often limited and distributed uniformly …

Information Filtering By Multiple Examples, Mingzhu Zhu

Dissertations

A key to successfully satisfy an information need lies in how users express it using keywords as queries. However, for many users, expressing their information needs using keywords is difficult, especially when the information need is complex. Search By Multiple Examples (SBME), a promising method for overcoming this problem, allows users to specify their information needs as a set of relevant documents rather than as a set of keywords.

Most of the studies on SBME adopt the Positive Unlabeled learning (PU learning) techniques by treating the user's provided examples (denoted as query examples) as positive set and the entire data …

Assessing Learning Outcomes And Social Capital Formation Resulting From The Use And Sharing Of Internet Knowledge Resources, Regina S. Collins

Dissertations

Today’s “digital natives” use the Internet to address most, if not all, their learning-related knowledge needs. This research evaluates the outcomes of formal learning activities requiring students to use, manage, share, and consolidate Internet knowledge resources (such as websites, videos, and blogs) to achieve both individual and group learning. This research takes an integrative approach to learning, capturing learner cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal characteristics as well as the impact of the digital environment by evaluating the technological affordances of two different systems supporting such learning activities. This research also examines pedagogical modifications that would best integrate course assignments utilizing Internet …

Development Of Flexible Batteries Using Nano-Carbons And Polymers, Zhiqian Wang

Dissertations

Flexible electronics such as wearable equipment, displays, cell phones and smart cards require flexible power sources like batteries. In this thesis, the development of flexible batteries and supercapacitors are presented. Different types of flexible batteries including zinc carbon batteries, primary alkaline batteries, secondary alkaline batteries and zinc air cells are presented, These were designed, fabricated and improved using polymers and nano-carbons like carbon nanotubes (CNTs). CNTs are found to be effective as conductive additives compared to the traditional graphite. Purification is important to remove impurities that lead to side reactions/ corrosions. However, further treatment like carboxylation lead to higher electric …

An Efficient Boundary Integral Method For Stiff Fluid Interface Problems, Oleksiy Varfolomiyev

Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to formulate and investigate a boundary integral method for the solution of the internal waves/Rayleigh-Taylor problem. This problem describes the evolution of the interface between two immiscible, inviscid, incompressible, irrotational fluids of different density in three dimensions. A mathematical model of this interfacial flow problem in 3D is derived. The motion of the interface and fluids is driven by the action of a gravity force, surface tension at the interface, elastic bending and/or a prescribed far-field pressure gradient. The presented models include derived equations for the evolution of the interface and dipole density on …

Transforming Student Retention In Higher Education Online Programs In California Community Colleges: A Delphi Study, Felix A. Kalinski Jr

Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to discover techniques to transform retention rates for students in online courses compared to face-to-face courses in the higher education programs at California Community Colleges using a Delphi method. This qualitative study used a modified three-round Delphi technique to understand the phenomenon of the consistently lower student retention rates in fully online programs in California Community Colleges, as differentiated to student retention rates in on-campus programs. Panelists suggested their expert opinion and reveal their concerns. The research made recommendations based upon the findings of this Delphi study. The results of this study were be …

A Delphi Study That Measures The Effects Of Principal Tenure On School Culture At The High School Level, Dr. Patricia M. Custodio

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to (a) investigate expert high school principals’ perceptions regarding the minimum length of principal tenure necessary to develop a positive school culture (b) determine the impact the length of high school principal tenure has on high schools’ culture and (c) to develop recommendations regarding actions to be taken with respect to principal tenure. This particular study utilized a structural Delphi model in which expert high school principals give their expert opinion on how principal tenure affects school culture at high schools and provide suggestions for new principals and district cabinet members on how to …

The Superintendent As Transformational Leader: A Case Study Analysis Of The Strategies, Initiatives And Processes Used By Superintendents Of Exemplar 21st Century School Districts To Implement District-Wide Change For The 21st Century, Rebecca A. Summers

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify and describe the visions, frameworks, strategies, initiatives and change models used by eight superintendents of exemplar 21st century school districts as designated by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, in order to successfully implement a district-wide 21st century learning model. Semi-structured interviews were used to provide rich narratives of the superintendents’ experiences with the transformational change processes in their districts as they implemented 21st century models of education. The interviews were coded and analyzed for common themes and patterns. The findings revealed that although the superintendents were system thinkers about …

“Meeting Proficiency – Can Elementary Schools, With Subgroup Of Students With Disabilities, Exit Program Improvement After 2014?” “A Study To Determine If Instructional Strategies And/Or Inclusionary Practices, And Principal Support Of These Practices, Contributed To Schools Reaching Safe Harbor, Meeting Ayp Benchmarks Or Exiting Program Improvement In The 2012-2013 School Year.", Carolyn Lindstrom

Dissertations

In 2002, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act, which required all students to be proficient in English and Math by 2014. (Congress, 2002), including all subgroups. Students with disabilities were expected to meet the proficiency criteria along with all other subgroups. NCLB also required schools to report assessment scores to reflect the achievement of students as well as demonstrate all students were meeting, or at least making gains to achieve, proficiency. If students did not reach the expected benchmark the school was identified as failing and placed in Program Improvement. (CDE, 2011) Each school year, …

Correlational Evidence Between The Processing Speed Index, Coherent Motion Threshold, And Achievement Scores Of Children With And Without Learning Disabilities, Thomas John Larosa

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the responses to three research questions. Is there an inverse relationship between PSI and CMT? Is a score on PSI associated with a child’s performance on math fluency and math calculation? Is CMT associated with PSI on math fluency and math calculation? Academic performance in math was measured by tests of math fluency and calculation. The study investigated the likelihood that a child with a slow PSI will have a high coherent motion threshold (CMT). The diagnostic status groups were comprised of 33 children from 2nd to 8th grades. The children were …

Capacity Planning And Resource Acquisition Decisions Using Robust Optimization, Aldis Jakubovskis

Dissertations

This dissertation studies strategic capacity planning and resource acquisition decisions, including the facility location problem and the technology choice problem. These decisions are modeled in an integrative manner, and the main purpose of the proposed models and numerical experiments is to examine the effects of economies of scale, economies of scope, and the combined effects of scale and scope under uncertain demand realizations using robust optimization. The type of capacities, or technology alternatives, that a firm can acquire can be classified on two basic dimensions. The first dimension relates to the effects of scale via distinction between labor-intensive (less automated) …

The St. Louis Desegregation Transfer Program: Do African American Students Perform Better In An Integrated Setting, Marquita Lanee' Bowers-Brown

Dissertations

The academic achievement gap between the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County students indicates educational and racial disparity between the city and county schools. The City of St. Louis and St. Louis County school districts have tried to solve this racial disparity in public education through St. Louis’ interdistrict student transfer program, the Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation (VICC). Starting in the 1980s, this transfer program aimed to desegregate the predominantly white, higher performing county school districts and the predominantly black, low performing city school district. This dissertation focuses on the effectiveness of this program. Do African American students …

Teaching At The Top Of The Class: Black Female Educators' Perspective On Teaching High Achieving Black Children, Sheandra P. Brown

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to examine the action steps that Black female educators take when teaching high achieving Black students. More specifically this study investigated the way that the participants implement instruction in their classroom for high achieving students. This study included five Black female educators from four predominately Black school districts in a small town in the Midwest. Critical Race Theory and Othermothering were used as theoretical frameworks to examine the importance of the role that Black female educators play in today's urban classrooms. The terms gifted and high achiever are often used interchangeably in …

Eliciting Knowledge Bases With Defeasible Reasoning: A Comparative Analysis With Machine Learning, Peter Keogh

Dissertations

This thesis compares the ability of an implementation of Defeasible Reasoning (via Argumentation Theory) to model a construct (mental workload) with Machine Learning. In order to perform this comparison a defeasible reasoning system was designed and implemented in software. This software was used to elicit a knowledge base from an expert in an experiment which was then compared with machine learning. The central findings of this thesis were that the knowledge based approach was better at predicting an objective performance measure, time, than machine learning. However, machine learning was better equiped to identify another object measure task membership. The knowledge …

The Relatioship Between Adult Basic And Adult Secondary Educational Instructional Styles And Learner Outcomes When Measured As Educaional Gain On The National Reporting System, Kenneth Mattei Foushee

Dissertations

Abstract The research activity was designed to explore the idea of a predominance of one of two teaching styles, defined as teacher-centered or learner-centered, among adult basic education and adult secondary education teachers in Missouri. The Principles of Adult Learning Scale (Conti, 1985), consisting of 44 questions, was employed to identify the teaching style of respondents. The scores on the survey were compared to the educational outcome measure provided by the Department of Education and State of Missouri with the intention that conclusions as to the efficacy of one of the two styles would be revealed. The survey was distributed …

Accountability Model For Alternative Education Settings, Victoria Ford

Dissertations

Since 2001 professionals have worked to assist alternative education and juvenile court schools in navigating accountability connected to the 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, otherwise known as the No Child Left Behind Act. As alternative education programs struggle through the process of program improvement it seems as if there has to be a more accurate model to measure program effectiveness and student achievement in these settings. Under the current federal model, which is still aligned to the NCLB goals, a school could enter program improvement based on the proficiency of less than 15 students, out of …

Spatial, Temporal And Demographical Analysis Of Gulf Of Mexico Research Priorities, The Effect Of The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Stephen Hiller Sempier

Dissertations

A set of twenty equally-weighted national ocean research priorities were define in 2007, but it was not clear if these priorities applied for the Gulf of Mexico. A series of three longitudinal surveys of people who conduct research, sponsor research or use research for professional or recreational purposes was released that focused on the twenty research priorities and asked people how they rated each. A convenience sampling method was employed, which suggests that the results are constrained to the survey respondents and should not be extrapolated to a larger population. More than 1,500 people completed the 2013 GMRP survey and …

Assessing Nontraditional Student Dropouts On A Commuter Campus, Mary Theresa Funk

Dissertations

An educated population renders economic returns for the country and the workforce. The relatively large number of college and university dropouts jeopardizes the nation’s presidential education mandate to increase the percentage of adults earning a postsecondary degree by 2020. Employee demand for higher skills motivates institutions to reduce the flow of dropouts in order to increase persistence to graduation. The number of students residing off-campus is increasing causing a larger nontraditional student population. Commuter campus administrators are challenged to retain students who may have families and full-time employment. This research compared student dropouts at a traditional residential campus with nontraditional …

Money Changes Everything: The Relationship Between Financial Factors And Persistence For Financially Independent Undergraduate Students At A Kentucky Four-Year Public Institution, Ladonna Hunton

Dissertations

Research on factors related to persistence suggest that re-enrollment decisions are based upon an evaluation of the returns on investment in education. If students perceive that the costs of a college education outweigh the benefits, they will discontinue their involvement by choosing not to re-enroll. As a result, students’ choices to maintain their enrollment in postsecondary education can be an effective indicator of affordability. This study examined the degree to which financially independent undergraduate students’ persistence decisions are related to financial factors, including unmet need, total financial aid received, and type of financial aid received. The data examined in this …

Integrating Formative Assessment Into Physics Instruction: The Effect Of Formative Vs. Summative Assessment On Student Physics Learning And Attitudes, Chaiphat Plybour

Dissertations

Of many instructional strategies used to improve teaching and learning in science, formative assessment is potentially one of the most effective. A central feature is timely feedback during learning, giving students the opportunity to benefit and improve while also enabling teachers to adjust instruction to learner needs. By contrast, conventional assessment tends to be mostly summative, assigning point scores, grading and ranking students, and providing extrinsic motivation. For maximum effectiveness in enhancing learning, formative assessment should be designed into instruction from the start rather than being an add-on. This project comprised development, teaching, and research aspects. Two physics topic modules, …

Teacher Evaluation And Student Achievement In Elementary Education, Eric L. Allen

Dissertations

Historically, the state of Missouri has utilized the Performance-Based Teacher Evaluation (PBTE) system developed by Dr. Jerry Valentine from the University of Missouri (Valentine & Harting, 1986). The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 mandated more rigorous accountability standards for state education systems (Moe, 2014). The 2012 revisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) provided to Missouri by the U.S. Department of Education relieved the original mandates of the NCLB Act (MODESE, 2015a). However, added were provisions for teacher and administrator accountability which required evaluation of research-based principles of effective instruction (MODESE 2015a). In this study, …

An American Public High School Ethnographic Study: Effectively Preparing African American Male Students For Academic Success, Demarius J. Howard

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to engage in ethnographic research involving Jack E. Singley High School (JESA), which was part of the Irving Independent School District in Irving, Texas and recognized throughout the state as one of its most successful high schools. Singley High School had a population of 1600, with 88% minority students, who continued to exhibit academic achievement. The researcher evidenced specific interest in the performance of African-American male students at Singley, since this academic performance consistently received national recognition. This sub-population had been described as experiencing an ‘achievement gap’. However at Singley, African- American males were …

Case Study On The Efficacy Of An Elementary Steam Laboratory School, Mary Paula Armknecht

Dissertations

A case study was conducted of an elementary STEAM laboratory program in a Midwest Missouri school district, which was unique to the area, and involved risk-taking by the school officials. The delivery model for instruction in the program was inquiry-based learning with a STEAM focus. The planning of the program involved the community, as well as district personnel. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of the program at the end of the first year to determine if the goals of the planning committee had been met and if the perceptions of the stakeholders were in favor …

Mechanochemical Investigation Of A Glassy Epoxy-Amine Thermoset Subjected To Fatigue, Stephen Finley Foster

Dissertations

Covalent bonds in organic molecules can be produced, altered, and broken through various sources of energy and processes. These include photochemical, thermochemical, chemical, and mechanochemical processes. Polymeric materials derive their physical properties from the time scale of motion, summation of intermolecular forces, and number of chain entanglements and crosslinks. Glassy thermoset polymers experience mechanical fatigue during dynamic stress loading and properties diminish with inevitable material failure at stress levels below the ultimate tensile strength (UTS). Damage modeling has been successful in predicting the number of cycles required to induce failure in a specimen due to stress. However, it does not …

Assessment Of Student Knowledge Of The Weak And Strong Nuclear Forces, Pramila Shakya

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of active-learning activities to teach weak force and strong force to students enrolled in various courses at The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg campus and Gulf Park campus at different class times would increase their knowledge. There were eighty-six students that took part in this study. The study was conducted in the lab classes of an introductory astronomy survey course (AST 111), an introductory algebra-based physics course (PHY 112), and an introductory calculus-based physics course (PHY 202) during fall semester 2014. Each class was randomly assigned as active-learning or …

Measuring A Cognitive Apprenticeship Model Of Instruction In Statistics Education, Amanda Dawn Leimer

Dissertations

Research has continued to support the need for investigating the role of pedagogical models in relation to students’ statistical anxiety, statistical self-efficacy, and academic performance within statistics education. Although models in the literature such as the Cognitive Apprenticeships Model of Instruction (CA-MOI) have emerged and have shown positive educational outcomes for teaching disciplines that involve the use of complex tasks (Kuo, Hwang, Chen, & Chen, 2012; Poitras & Poitras, 2011; Wegner, 2011), only one study has actually measured the degree to which this model was implemented, using the Maastrict Clinical Teaching Questionnaire (MCTQ) (Stalmeijer et al., 2008). Consequently the problem …