Digital Commons Network^™

Learning Hierarchical Representations For Video Analysis Using Deep Learning, Yang Yang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the exponential growth of the digital data, video content analysis (e.g., action, event recognition) has been drawing increasing attention from computer vision researchers. Effective modeling of the objects, scenes, and motions is critical for visual understanding. Recently there has been a growing interest in the bio-inspired deep learning models, which has shown impressive results in speech and object recognition. The deep learning models are formed by the composition of multiple non-linear transformations of the data, with the goal of yielding more abstract and ultimately more useful representations. The advantages of the deep models are three fold: 1) They learn …

Differential Expressions Of Nodal-Signal Transducers And Global Transcriptional Repression Commit Vegetal Cells In Eleutherodactylus Coqui To Form Nutritional Endoderm, Suman Chatterjee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The vegetal core cells of a Xenopus laevis embryo commit to mesendoderm via the Nodal-signaling pathway. In Eleutherodactylus coqui, a direct developing frog, mesendoderm is specified at the marginal zone of the early gastrulae and vegetal core cells transform into nutritional endoderm. It is a novel tissue consisting of transient, yolk rich cells that provide nutrition, but do not differentiate into adult tissues. We hypothesized that a disruption of Nodal-signaling is responsible for committing vegetal core cells to nutritional endoderm. I report a dual regulation involved in the generation of nutritional endoderm. First, differential expression of Nodal-signaling components like Smad2 …

Studies Of Mercury In Water, Sediment, And Fish In Mississippi: Concentrations, Speciation, Cycling, And Isotopic Composition, Garry Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this project is to better understand the biogeochemical cycle of mercury (Hg) in Mississippi to aid those managing the resources and developing related policy. To that end, Hg levels were determined in a total of 202 fish from Enid, Sardis and Grenada Lakes; Enid and Grenada have fish consumption advisories due to Hg. In addition, total-Hg and methylmercury (MeHg) levels were determined in the inflow and outflows from Enid and Sardis Lakes and in bottom sediment and suspended solids in Enid Lake. Potential sources of Hg to Enid Lake were investigated, including precipitation and runoff from urban, …

Comparing The Teaching Of Culture In Esl/Efl Classrooms, Daniela Silva

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present research is interested in investigating if culture is approached in efl and esl classrooms. If it is, we want to know the differences in curriculum (textbooks and syllabi), especially as it pertains to cultural knowledge, in an efl class in Brazil, compared to an esl class in the united states. We will also investigate the classroom practices for incorporating culture into the English language classrooms in those contexts. Finally, we will check which cultural teaching approaches are evident in those efl and esl classrooms. Although it is difficult to define precisely what is meant by the term "culture", …

Hidden Scars: The Art Of Ptsd, Gabriel Gonzalez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Through the use of mixed media, I explore imagery that reveals the trauma of returning combat veterans, of which I am one, as we try to reintegrate into a society that does not understand the war that still lingers within us. In my work, I depict emotional disturbances that are related to my personal encounters with war. My working process starts by referencing mainstream media imagery, which I juxtapose against harsh images inspired by veterans' drug and alcohol use, trauma and death. My black-and-white pixelated paintings feature the fragmented memories of a hostile combat environment, and although "Out of My …

Screening Of Quantum Dots For Toxicity On The Growth And Viability Of Escherichia Coli, Jeremy Tharkur

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Heavy metal (HM) containing quantum dots (Qdots) are increasingly used in commercial products due to their unique electronic, optoelectronic, optical and magnetic properties. Once disposed to the landfill, environmental weathering is likely to compromise HM Qdot integrity, leading to release of heavy metal ions. To minimize any negative environmental impact of HM Qdots, there is an increasing demand for developing HM free or environmentally-friendly surface modified HM Qdot alternatives. In this study, synthesis of HM free ZnS:Mn/ZnS and surface modified HM CdS:Mn/ZnS Qdots (using N-acetylcysteine, NAC, and Dihydrolipoic acid, DHLA) and their potential toxicity assessment using E. coli as a …

Robust Subspace Estimation Using Low-Rank Optimization. Theory And Applications In Scene Reconstruction, Video Denoising, And Activity Recognition., Omar Oreifej

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we discuss the problem of robust linear subspace estimation using low-rank optimization and propose three formulations of it. We demonstrate how these formulations can be used to solve fundamental computer vision problems, and provide superior performance in terms of accuracy and running time. Consider a set of observations extracted from images (such as pixel gray values, local features, trajectories . . . etc). If the assumption that these observations are drawn from a liner subspace (or can be linearly approximated) is valid, then the goal is to represent each observation as a linear combination of a compact …

Is Breakdown Of Fatty Acid Peroxides Involved In The Induction Of Apolipoprotein A1?, Rajat Gupta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the past few years the number of deaths caused due to cardiovascular diseases has been increasing and is of major concern. In the United States, 75% of cardiovascular-related deaths have been attributed to atherosclerosis. Western diets containing large quantities of peroxidized lipids are considered atherogenic. Heated oil in the form of fried food brings high levels of peroxidized fat and its decomposition products in the diet. Peroxidized lipids are known to increase the susceptibility of serum lipoproteins to undergo oxidation, thereby contributing to the progression of atherosclerosis. The intestinal cells are responsible for the absorption of dietary fatty acid …

Identification Of Epithelial Stromal Interaction 1 And Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor As Novel Kruppel-Like Factor 8 Targets In Promoting Breast Cancer Progression, Tianshu Li

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Breast cancer is the major cause of cancer death among women worldwide. Understanding the mechanisms underlying breast cancer progression remains urgent for developing effective treatment strategies to eliminate breast cancer mortality. Our recent studies have demonstrated that Krüppel-like transcriptional factor 8 (KLF8) plays a critical role for breast cancer progression. Other studies have shown that Epithelial stromal interaction 1 (EPSTI1), a recently identified stromal fibroblast-induced gene in non-invasive breast cancer cells and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) are highly overexpressed in aggressively invasive breast carcinomas including triple negative breast cancers. In this thesis project, we demonstrate high co-overexpression of KLF8 …

Preliminary Validation Of Handheld X-Ray Fluorescence (Hhxrf) Spectrometry: Distinguishing Osseous And Dental Tissue From Non-Bone Material Of Similar Chemical Composition, Heather Zimmerman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Forensic anthropologists normally examine bone from a variety of medicolegal contexts. The skeletal remains may in some cases be highly fragmented or taphonomically modified, making it difficult to sort bone from non-bone material. In these cases, the forensic anthropologist may rely on microscopic or destructive chemical analyses to sort the material. However, these techniques are costly and time-intensive, prompting the use of nondestructive analytical methods in distinguishing bone and teeth from non-bone materials in a limited number of cases. The proposed analytical techniques are limited in that they rely on an examination of the major elements in the material, and …

Influence Of Task-Role Mental Models On Human Interpretation Of Robot Motion Behavior, Scott Ososky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The transition in robotics from tools to teammates has begun. However, the benefit autonomous robots provide will be diminished if human teammates misinterpret robot behaviors. Applying mental model theory as the organizing framework for human understanding of robots, the current empirical study examined the influence of task-role mental models of robots on the interpretation of robot motion behaviors, and the resulting impact on subjective ratings of robots. Observers (N = 120) were exposed to robot behaviors that were either congruent or incongruent with their task-role mental model, by experimental manipulation of preparatory robot task-role information to influence mental models (i.e., …

Suction Detection And Feedback Control For The Rotary Left Ventricular Assist Device, Yu Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) is a rotary mechanical pump that is implanted in patients with congestive heart failure to help the left ventricle in pumping blood in the circulatory system. The rotary type pumps are controlled by varying the pump motor current to adjust the amount of blood flowing through the LVAD. One important challenge in using such a device is the desire to provide the patient with as close to a normal lifestyle as possible until a donor heart becomes available. The development of an appropriate feedback controller that is capable of automatically adjusting the pump current …

Synthesis Of Substituted Pyrrolo[2,3-D]Pyrimidines As Microtubule-Binding Agents And Hsp90 Inhibitors, Lu Lin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An introduction, background and recent advances in the areas of microtubule-binding agents and heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) inhibitors as anticancer agents are briefly reviewed. The work in this dissertation is centered on the synthesis of substituted pyrrolo[2, 3-d]pyrimidines as potential anticancer agents that act via microtubule inhibition or HSP90 inhibition..

Microtubule-binding agents are effective against a broad range of tumors and lymphomas and have been common components of combination cancer-chemotherapy in the clinic. Despite the unparalleled success, drawbacks among microtubule-binding agents such as multi-drug resistance, dose-limiting toxicity, poor pharmacokinetic profile and high cost have supported the sustaining momentum in …

Molecular Evolution Of Hominoid Seminal Plasma Genes, Sarah Jean Carnahan Craig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

When asking the question of what underlying genetic changes drive species to be different, it is debated whether protein coding or non-coding mutations are more important. The hominoids (humans, great apes, and gibbons) are a group of closely related species, yet vary widely in their mating system behaviors and predicted levels of sperm competition. In species where females mate with multiple males, sperm competition is hypothesized to increase the rate of adaptive evolution of proteins expressed in male reproductive tissues through recurrent selective sweeps (positive selection). Previous studies have shown this to be true for individual male reproductive genes. In …

Ozone And Gac Treatment Of A Central Florida Groundwater For Sulfide And Disinfectant By-Product Control, Tara Lamoureux

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluated the combination of ozone and granular activated carbon (GAC) treatment for the removal of sulfide and disinfection byproduct (DBP) precursors in drinking water at the pilot-scale. The research conducted was performed at the Auxiliary (Aux) and Main Water Treatment Plants (WTPs) in Sanford, Florida. Both WTPs rely upon groundwater sources that contain total sulfide ranging from 0.02 to 2.35 mg/L and total organic carbon (TOC) ranging from 0.61 to 2.20 mg/L. The Aux WTP’s raw water contains, on average, 88% more sulfide and 24% more TOC than the Main WTP. Haloacetic acids (HAA5) and total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) …

Time And Space Efficient Techniques For Facial Recognition, Waleed Alrasheed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in face recognition. As a result, many new facial recognition techniques have been introduced. Recent developments in the field of face recognition have led to an increase in the number of available face recognition commercial products. However, Face recognition techniques are currently constrained by three main factors: recognition accuracy, computational complexity, and storage requirements. The problem is that most of the current face recognition techniques succeed in improving one or two of these factors at the expense of the others. In this dissertation, four novel face recognition techniques that improve the …

A Comparative Analysis Of Present And Past Participial Adjectives And Their Collocations In The Corpus Of Contemporary American English (Coca), Natalia Reilly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ESL grammar books have lists of present and past participial adjectives based on author intuition rather than actual word frequency. In these textbooks, the –ing and –ed participial adjectives derived from transitive verbs of state and emotion are presented in pairs such as interesting/interested, boring/bored, or surprising/surprised. This present study used the Corpus of Contemporary American English http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/ (COCA) to investigate the overall frequency of participial adjectives in use as well as their frequency within certain varieties of contexts. The results have shown that among most frequently used participial adjectives there are not only the participial adjectives derived from transitive …

The Decorruption: The Making Of A Political Satire, Maria Garcia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Decorruption is a feature-length fiction film directed by María García, made as part of the requirements for earning a Master of Fine Arts in Entrepreneurial Digital Cinema from the University of Central Florida. The film is a political satire, which tells the story of a country plagued by corruption, where a rebellious government employee discovers that death is the only solution to the problem, so she sets out on a killing spree against the corrupt. The film was produced on a microbudget (under $50,000) level, following the program’s guidelines. It was shot in Ecuador with non-professional actors and a …

Pembroke Circle: A Portrayal Of Social Themes Using Micro-Budget Cinema, Max Rousseau

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pembroke Circle is a feature-length, micro-budget, digital motion picture, written, produced and directed by Max Rousseau as a part of the University of Central Florida’s Masters in Fine Arts program in Digital Entrepreneurial Cinema. The filmmaker engaged some very difficult material in the micro-budget paradigm and grew personally and professionally in the process. This thesis documents the writing process, pre-production, fund-raising, production and post-production; all leading to the completion of a festival-ready feature film. It is the hope that this thesis will create an understanding of what it takes to make a micro-budget film and offer some help to future …

Scene Understanding For Real Time Processing Of Queries Over Big Data Streaming Video, Alexander Aved

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With heightened security concerns across the globe and the increasing need to monitor, preserve and protect infrastructure and public spaces to ensure proper operation, quality assurance and safety, numerous video cameras have been deployed. Accordingly, they also need to be monitored effectively and efficiently. However, relying on human operators to constantly monitor all the video streams is not scalable or cost effective. Humans can become subjective, fatigued, even exhibit bias and it is difficult to maintain high levels of vigilance when capturing, searching and recognizing events that occur infrequently or in isolation. These limitations are addressed in the Live Video …

Understanding The Capabilities And Limitations Of Advanced Interactive M&S: A Cricothyroidotomy Simulation Case Study, Lillian Campbell-Wynn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Simulation for surgical education and training is increasingly perceived as a valuable contribution to traditional teaching methods providing a structured learning experience. Surgical simulations allow surgeons to practice tactics, techniques and procedures numerous times without the cost, limitations and ethical problems of using cadaver-based models. The goal of this research is to advance the use of modeling and simulation in support of emergency medical training. This research explores questions identified through a case study of two different modeling and simulation techniques – virtual reality and mannequins - in the support of combat emergency medical education and training. To reduce the …

Florida Local Government Conservation Planning: Variability, Drivers, And Policy Implications, Pamela Pannozzo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the quality of Florida county government conservation planning. To assess conservation planning quality, a theoretical model of conservation planning as prescribed by the conservation science literature was first developed. A plan evaluation coding protocol was applied to local comprehensive plan Conservation Elements to determine the extent to which county-level conservation planning met the theoretical model. A high degree of variability in conservation planning quality was found. Highest quality conservation planning occurred in the Gulf coast counties of southwest Florida. Lowest conservation planning quality occurred in the Florida Panhandle counties. The quality of conservation planning of coastal counties …

Sex Ratios Of Juvenile Green Turtles (Chelonia Mydas) In Three Developmental Habitats Along The Coast Of Florida, Cheryl Sanchez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The concept of temperature dependent sex determination (TSD) has been somewhat of an evolutionary enigma for many decades and has had increased attention with the growing predictions of a changing climate, particularly in species that are already threatened or endangered. TSD taxa of concern include marine turtles, which go through various life stages covering a range of regions. This, in turn, creates difficulties in addressing basic demographic questions. Secondary sex ratios (from life stages post-hatchling) were investigated by capturing juvenile green turtles (Chelonia mydas), 22.6-60.9 cm in straight carapace length (SCL), from three developmental areas along the east coast of …

Population Dynamics And Environmental Factors Influencing Herbs In Intact And Degraded Florida Rosemary Scrub, Elizabeth Stephens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Species have complex and contextual relationships with their environment; both the relative contributions of life-history stages to population growth and the effect of environmental factors on each stage can be different among co-existing species. Timing and extent of reproduction, survival, and mortality determine population growth, species distributions, and assemblage patterns. I evaluate the role of habitat (intact, degraded) and microsite (shrub, leaf litter, bare sand) on population dynamics of Florida scrub herbs. Isolated overgrown shrubs and extensive bare sand areas in degraded scrub were expected to decrease seed predation, reduce competition of herbs with shrubs, and provide larger habitat for …

Ecological Effects And Genetic Diversity Of The Invading Rhizocephalan Parasite Loxothylacus Panopaei In The Flatback Mud Crab Eurypanopeus Depressus, Kathryn A. O'Shaughnessy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The rhizocephalan barnacle Loxothylacus panopaei (Gissler, 1884) is a parasite of xanthid crabs. Infection results in parasitic castration and anecdysis of the host. Loxothylacus panopaei is invasive to the US Atlantic coast. The parasite's range was expanded by introduction of infected crabs to Chesapeake Bay in the mid-1960s, and now extends from Long Island Sound, New York to Cape Canaveral, Florida. Monthly flatback mud crab (Eurypanopeus depressus Smith, 1869) collections over 13 months (January 2012-January 2013) at three South Carolina locations found an overall parasite prevalence of 24.2% (391 of 1,615), and provided the first reports of L. panopaei at …

Evaluating The Use Of Autonomous Recording Units To Monitor Yellow Rails, Nelson's Sparrows, And Le Conte's Sparrows, Anna Marie Sidie-Slettedahl

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Population status and habitat use of yellow rails (Coturnicops noveboracensis) (YERA), Nelson’s sparrows (Ammodramus nelsoni) (NESP), and Le Conte’s sparrows (Ammodramus leconteii) (LCSP) are poorly known, so systematic surveys of these elusive species are needed to inform conservation planning and guide management. A standardized protocol for monitoring secretive marsh birds exists (Conway 2009, 2011); however, these species call at night and may be missed during early-morning marsh bird surveys. I tested the effectiveness of autonomous recording units (ARUs) to survey these species by analyzing recorded vocalizations using bioacoustics software. I deployed 22 ARUs at 54 sites in northern Minnesota and …

Heavy Metals In Traditionally Used Fruits Among The Lakota, Joanita M. Kant

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Heavy metals concentrations in soils and plants on and near Pine Ridge Reservation (PRR), SD, are a cause of concern to Oglala Lakota tribal government, particularly because of current and past uranium mining nearby, as well as familiarity with occasional selenium poisoning in livestock. In this study, concentrations of As, Ba, Pb, Se, and U were determined using ICP-OES for selected traditionally edible berries and small fruits, and the soils in which they grow. Results indicated that the heavy metals are likely of natural origin, and ingestion of these culturally important fruits at levels reported in interviews among the Lakota …

Sagebrush Ecosystem Characterization, Monitoring, And Forecasting With Remote Sensing: Quantifying Future Climate And Wildlife Habitat Change, Collin G. Homer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems constitute the largest single North American shrub ecosystem and provide vital ecological, hydrological, biological, agricultural, and recreational ecosystem services. Disturbances continue to alter this ecosystem, with climate change possibly representing the greatest future disturbance risk. Improved ways to characterize and monitor gradual change in this ecosystem are vital to its future management. A new remote sensing sagebrush characterization approach was developed in Wyoming which integrates three scales of remote sensing to derive four primary continuous field components (bare ground, herbaceousness, litter, and shrub), and four secondary components (sagebrush, big sagebrush, Wyoming sagebrush, and shrub …

Impacts Of Land Cover Changes On Ecosystem Services Delivery In The Black Hills Ecoregion From 1950 To 2010, Suzanne Cotillon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Environmental degradation generated by land use choices and human activities is the first driver of change in the provision of ecosystem goods and services. One of the challenges in ecosystem services research is to evaluate the contribution of each land cover unit to ecosystem services delivery while considering multiple services. In this thesis, I develop a framework to assess the capacity of many land covers to independently produce ecosystem services (i.e., potential production) and the capacity of the whole landscape to deliver multiple services to the population (i.e., potential supply). In the first part, this methodology is used to report …

Impacts Of Spring-Interseeded Cover Crops On Late-Emerging Weed Suppression And Ground Cover In Corn (Zea Mays L.) Production Systems, Alex D. Bich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Any alternative crop management strategy will only be adopted by growers if yield is not negatively impacted, fits within a current management practice, is easily implementable with minimal cost, or provides other beneficial features such as weed control or suppression. Corn production that incorporates a cover crop as an alternative weed control strategy and ground cover may support a sustainable system that is less dependent on herbicidal weed control. In addition, the cover crop may be used as a fall forage, act as a slow release fertilizer source the following year, and provide ground cover to reduce soil erosion. In …