Digital Commons Network^™

Rhetoric And Philosophy Of Communication In Jorge Luis Borges' Metaphysical Obsession With Time, Aurora M. Pinto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project begins with the assumption that through storytelling we humans make sense of the world around us. Language and communication are powerful in defining who we are and allowing individuals to “become a self” (Taylor The Language 318). Drawing from Schrag, I argue that rhetoric is inextricably linked to discourse but is also situated beyond its classical persuasive function. Rhetoric evokes a response from the other, based on reflection and deliberation. Since that other might be a reader of texts of fiction, there is a rhetorical connection to interpretation that situates literature as an exemplar of communicative engagement.

This …

A Theoretical Framework For Effective Education In Rural High-Poverty Schools, Harley Ramsey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated “why” some educational leaders are effective in serving rural high-poverty populations and to better understand “how” to enact effective leadership in similar spaces. Core principles of Critical Social Theory, Systems Leadership Theory, and Emotional Intelligence informed this work. Using a Grounded Theory methodology, a theoretical framework for effective educational leadership in rural high-poverty schools emerged. This framework suggests that effective educational leaders take a systems leadership approach to guiding their organizations to more equitable and socially just ends. Such leaders honor student and family voices and actively seek to understand and respond to their lived realities. They …

Diagnosis Of Melanoma Disease State From Patient Blood Samples Using Photoacoustic Flow Cytometry, Jacob Salvatore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Approximately 1 in 50 Americans develop melanoma in their lifetime. Early detection of melanoma is pivotal to the survival of the patient, with a 99% survival rate for 5 or more years after an early diagnosis. Metastasis, or the spread of cancer, increases the chances of cancerous growth in other parts of the body. In this study, we propose the use of photoacoustic flow cytometry as a diagnostic of patient disease state, by closely monitoring the amount of circulating melanoma cells (CMCs) in a patient’s blood before and after chemotherapy treatments. Using this patient data, we were able to make …

Communication As Change: Marshall Mcluhan And A Transformation Model Of Communication, Lane Grafton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The work synthesizes Marshall McLuhan’s transformation model of communication with a trivium-based educational model and challenges the modern-day position of unreflective mediated communication. McLuhan’s transformation model demonstrates that communication is more than the transfer of content; rather, it is a transformation of perception. This work broadens the analysis and suggests that figure and ground relationships are integral to seeing the whole of media transformations. Through figure and ground relationships, communication unfolds as a study of perceptual change. The work explores perceptual change within the context of McLuhan’s conversion to the Catholic Church and underscores the importance of a unified mind …

Geochemical Characterization Of The Utica Shale Play Using Xrf-Based Chemostratigraphy In Ohio, Barbara Kemeh, Julie M. Bloxson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Utica shale is an extensive gas shale play within the Appalachian Basin, expanding from Quebec through New York, into Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. Currently a target for gas exploration, it is also the source rock for much of the Paleozoic reservoirs throughout the basin. However, the Utica-Point Pleasant lithology varies significantly across the Appalachian Basin which can make it challenging to characterize.

The Utica shale Play consists of the Trenton/Lexington Limestones, Point Pleasant Formation and Utica shale. The Point Pleasant Formation and Utica shale are often grouped together, especially in Ohio because they are difficult to visually distinguish …

Biomechanical Characterization Of Video-Recorded Short-Distance Falls Involving Children Equipped With A Biometric Device In A Childcare Setting: A Pilot Study., Danielle K. Cory

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: A fall is the most common falsely reported injury scenario when a young child presents for medical care and the caregiver is concealing abuse. There is a lack of reliably witnessed falls with known outcomes to aid in the distinction between accidental and abusive injuries.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to characterize video-recorded short distance falls involving young children in a childcare setting, to identify body regions most commonly impacted in these short distance falls, to characterize the head biomechanics of these falls, and describe fall characteristics. Additionally, physics-based models were used to predict fall biomechanics in …

Automated Conversion Of Multicellds Digital Cell Lines And Isa-Tab Filesets., Connor Joseph Burns

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Biological simulation tools are a valuable asset to bridge the gap between biological experimentation and biological theory. As systems thinking has become more regularly applied to biological materials and processes, these materials and processes have been characterized in multi-disciplinary, computational manners. This characterization has yielded an ability to create more realistic simulation tools that can provide in silico experiments for a wider range of scenarios. One prominent simulation tool is PhysiCell, an open-source physics-based multicellular simulation program which utilizes input Digital Cell Lines or Digital Snapshots from the MultiCellular Data Standard (MCDS) project.

This project aims to allow data exchange …

Development And Applications Of In-Vitro And In-Silico Models Of The Cardiovascular System To Study The Effects Of Mechanical Circulatory Support., Moustafa Meki

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of mortality globally. With ongoing interest in CVDs treatment, preclinical models for drug/therapeutic development that allow for fast iterative research are needed. Owing to the inherent complexity of the cardiovascular system, current in-vitro models of the cardiovascular system fail to replicate many of the physiological aspects of the cardiovascular system. In this dissertation, the main concern is with heart failure (HF). In advanced HF, patients may receive Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs) as a bridge to transplant or destination therapy. However, LVADs have many limitations, including inability to adapt to varying tissue demand …

Observational Studies In Group Testing And Potential Applications., Alexander Christopher Noll

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The use of group testing to identify individuals with targeted outcomes in a population can greatly improve the efficiency, speed, and cost effectiveness of testing a population for an outcome, or at least for identifying the prevalence of an outcome in a population. The implementation of causal inference techniques can provide the basis for an observational study that would allow an investigator to gather estimates for treatment effectiveness if group testing was conducted on the population in a certain way. This thesis examines a simulation of the above outlined principles in order to demonstrate a potential application for determining treatment …

Becoming Culturally Responsive: A Guide For Music Educators., Bailey Haynes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As America sees an increase in minority groups, providing an education that is beneficial and responsive to all cultures is a growing focus in the education system. One of the many roles of a music educator is to expose students to allmusic and music that is most meaningful to the students. Music educators are charged with providing students with musical instruction that is well rounded, and that will aid in the personal and educational growth of learners. Through culturally responsive teaching, defined as “a research-based approach towards teaching that connects students’ cultures, languages, and life experiences with that they …

Love Labor: Literal Symbols And True Abstractions., Karen Weeks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

If the home can be a metaphor for our own interiors, then the things that collect there can be similarly thought of, performing as punctuated moments within that interior, giving it shape, creating contours. Within the domestic setting, macro social forces such as global capitalism as well as the more immediate experience of meeting our children’s demands can push and pull us, equally informing the experience of being in the home. Love Labor: Literal Symbols and True Abstractions is comprised of images sourced from common ephemera of the home meant to represent the everyday: notes, discarded letters, open envelopes, unfinished …

The Effect Of Initial Conditions On The Weather Research And Forecasting Model, Aaron D. Baker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Modeling our atmosphere and determining forecasts using numerical methods has been a challenge since the early 20th Century. Most models use a complex dynamical system of equations that prove difficult to solve by hand as they are chaotic by nature. When computer systems became more widely adopted and available, approximating the solution of these equations, numerically, became easier as computational power increased. This advancement in computing has caused numerous weather models to be created and implemented across the world. However a challenge of approximating these solutions accurately still exists as each model have varying set of equations and variables to …

Machine Learning Approaches To Dribble Hand-Off Action Classification With Sportvu Nba Player Coordinate Data, Dembe Stephanos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recently, strategies of National Basketball Association teams have evolved with the skillsets of players and the emergence of advanced analytics. One of the most effective actions in dynamic offensive strategies in basketball is the dribble hand-off (DHO). This thesis proposes an architecture for a classification pipeline for detecting DHOs in an accurate and automated manner. This pipeline consists of a combination of player tracking data and event labels, a rule set to identify candidate actions, manually reviewing game recordings to label the candidates, and embedding player trajectories into hexbin cell paths before passing the completed training set to the classification …

Gravel Geology And Muskoxen Paleontology Of A Late Pleistocene Fossil Site In Saltville, Virginia, Nickolas A. Brand

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two distinct studies within the Saltville Valley of southwestern Virginia revealed insights into local Pleistocene geology and paleontology. A variety of analytical techniques were applied to gravel deposits within the paleontological site of SV-5/7 that revealed this unit is very poorly sorted, has a subangular matrix, and contains significant components of silt and sand in addition to rounded cobbles. These results suggest that rather than being deposited by fluvial processes as previously suggested, these gravels were likely the result of one or many debris flows. Additionally, the identity of fossil muskoxen from Saltville was reassessed using cranial and dental material. …

Performance Comparison Of Multiple Imputation Methods For Quantitative Variables For Small And Large Data With Differing Variability, Vincent Onyame

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Missing data continues to be one of the main problems in data analysis as it reduces sample representativeness and consequently, causes biased estimates. Multiple imputation methods have been established as an effective method of handling missing data. In this study, we examined multiple imputation methods for quantitative variables on twelve data sets with varied sizes and variability that were pseudo generated from an original data. The multiple imputation methods examined are the predictive mean matching, Bayesian linear regression and linear regression, non-Bayesian in the MICE (Multiple Imputation Chain Equation) package in the statistical software, R. The parameter estimates generated from …

Constructions & Optimization In Classical Real Analysis Theorems, Abderrahim Elallam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis takes a closer look at three fundamental Classical Theorems in Real Analysis. First, for the Bolzano Weierstrass Theorem, we will be interested in constructing a convergent subsequence from a non-convergent bounded sequence. Such a subsequence is guaranteed to exist, but it is often not obvious what it is, e.g., if an = sin n. Next, the H¨older Inequality gives an upper bound, in terms of p ∈ [1,∞], for the the integral of the product of two functions. We will find the value of p that gives the best (smallest) upper-bound, focusing on the Beta and Gamma integrals. …

Plprepare: A Grammar Checker For Challenging Cases, Jacob Hoyos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates one of the Polish language’s most arbitrary cases: the genitive masculine inanimate singular. It collects and ranks several guidelines to help language learners discern its proper usage and also introduces a framework to provide detailed feedback regarding arbitrary cases. The study tests this framework by implementing and evaluating a hybrid grammar checker called PLPrepare. PLPrepare performs similarly to other grammar checkers and is able to detect genitive case usages and provide feedback based on a number of error classifications.

The Shifting Role Of Teachers: A Case Study On Teachers’ Perceptions Of Personalized Learning In A Rural School District., Steve Miracle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This case study will explore teacher perceptions of the implementation of personalized learning as a means of supporting teachers in the process of transitioning to a new model of teaching and learning. A review of research revealed that there are many versions of personalized learning based on as many different definitions of what personalized learning is and what it looks like in the classroom. It is due to the lack of one consistent model that implementation can be problematic for schools and districts. As teachers are on the front line of implementing personalized learning their perceptions are important to future …

Mapping Three Dimensional Interactions Between Biomolecules And Electric Fields., Joseph Patrick Brian P.E.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Electroporation is a technique that induces the formation of open pores in cell membranes by the application of an electric field. Electroporation is widely practiced in research and clinical work for transfection of genetic sequences and drug molecule transport through the membrane barrier. However, a full theoretical explanation of the molecular mechanisms and thermodynamics responsible for pore formation, structure, and longevity does not yet exist. Advances in molecular dynamics simulations have enabled theoretical studies of electroporation with previously unobtainable fidelity spanning biologically relevant timescales. All-atom simulations utilizing the recently developed method of computational electrophysiology demonstrate that pore size correlates to …

Ecological, Evolutionary, And Molecular Mechanisms Driving Pyocin Diversity In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa., Aubrey A. Mojesky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bacteriocins are narrow-spectrum antibiotics produced in nearly all lineages of bacteria, meaning that these antimicrobials target closely related individuals. The bacteriocins of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, called pyocins, are highly prevalent and diverse in populations of this species. Laboratory studies have shown that pyocins can function to mediate the outcome of interactions, often allowing for the coexistence of multiple strains, as no one pyocin genotype is competitively superior. Although this has been demonstrated under laboratory conditions, the function of pyocins in natural settings and the ecological, evolutionary, and genetic mechanisms underlying pyocin diversity remains unclear. As such, for my dissertation, I …

Study Of Neutral Hadron Production In A High Intensity Particle Physics Experiment., Jake W. Berg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I present independent measurements of the multiplicities, R, of π⁰ and η mesons produced in annihilation interactions of electrons and positrons at a center-of-mass energy of 10.54 GeV. Data were collected using the BaBar detector at the PEP-II storage rings located at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, California. Both mesons have a decay mode to two photons, which is used to identify them and measure their production per event. I find R(π⁰) = 2.8±0.3 per event and R(η) = 0.25±0.03 per event. I also present my contributions to …

Presence Of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 In Urban Streams Receiving Sewer Overflow, Louisville, Kentucky, Usa., Cullen Hunter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pathogens may enter surface waters as they are shed in human feces and potentially delivered to surface waters via sewer overflows, particularly in the eastern United States. This study examined of the presence of fecal indicators in two forks of Beargrass Creek in Louisville, Kentucky. Surface water grab samples (N=30), sediment samples, water quality, and a paired wastewater surveillance study were analyzed. SARS-CoV-2 was detected in a single stream sample despite ubiquitous presence of the virus within the area in wastewater and consistent evidence of a human fecal indicator. These findings demonstrate the need for more green and gray infrastructure …

School Improvement Grant: Analysis Of Kentucky Cohort I Schools., Ryan Rodosky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In December of 2009, President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the School Improvement Grant (SIG) program would expand as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The United States Department of Education (USDOE) awarded an initial allocation of $8,610,752 in SIG funds to the Commonwealth of Kentucky to turnaround their lowest performing schools (United States Department of Education, 2016). In 2010, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) received funding with the goal of moving targeted schools out of PLA status successfully within the three-year window outlined in the SIG application. Ten schools in Cohort …

Optimization With Interval Data: New Problems, Algorithms, And Applications., Mohsen Mohammadi Dehcheshmeh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The parameters of real-world optimization problems are often uncertain due to the failure of exact estimation of data entries. Throughout the years, several approaches have been developed to cope with uncertainty in the input parameters of optimization problems, such as robust optimization, stochastic optimization, fuzzy programming, parametric programming, and interval optimization. Each of these approaches tackles the uncertainty in the input data with different assumptions on the source of uncertainty and imposes different requirements on the returned solutions. In this dissertation, the approach we take is that of interval optimization, and more specifically, interval linear programming. The two main problems …

The Peacock In The Room: Confronting The Hidden Curriculum Of Androcentrism And Gender Bias In Undergraduate Biology Education., Sarah Hamilton Spaulding

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation exposes one manifestation of the hidden curriculum of gender bias in the biological academe and explores the impacts of implicit essentialist perspectives on biology curricula and student understanding of an important evolutionary concept. Chapter one introduces the concept of gender essentialism and its relationship to the hidden curriculum of gender bias. I conclude the introductory chapter by reviewing tenets from queer curriculum theory and suggesting that applications of the theory may provide educators with the pedagogical tools required to counter implicit essentialist perspectives. Chapter two describes a textbook image analysis informed by previous textbook analyses to examine the …

The Effects Of Great Leaps Reading On The Reading Fluency Of Elementary Students With Reading And Behavioral Deficits., Gwendolyn Shultz Ashley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an examination of one reading fluency intervention presented in digital form. It begins as an overview of the academic challenges faced by students classified as emotional behavioral disorder in our P-12 schools, due to challenges accessing the curriculum. Children that also have reading fluency deficits have an even more difficult time accessing grade level curriculum. Several theories of education are presented, with a focus on instructivist theory. Instructivist theory focuses on such methodology as Applied Behavior Analysis, which includes Discreet Trial Training and direct instruction.Repeated reading is included. All of these are components of Great Leaps for …

Ga-Based Iii-V Semiconductor Photoanodes For Solar Fuels And Novel Techniques To Investigate Their Photocorrosion., Sahar Pishgar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Solar energy is one of the most abundant renewable energy sources. However, the diurnal variation of the sun as well as seasonal and weather effects, limits the widespread global implementation of solar energy. Thus, Cost-effective energy storage is critical to overcome the intermittent nature of solar energy available on the earth. Photoelectrolysis of water to oxygen and hydrogen fuel is a promising large-scale solution to store intermittent solar energy in a dense and portable form. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water-splitting, or artificial photosynthesis, research strives to develop a semiconductor photoelectrode with both high efficiency and long-term stability. Semiconductors of the III–V class …

Isomotive Dielectrophoresis For Enhanced Analyses Of Cell Subpopulations., Mohamed Zakarya Rashed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the relentless dream of creating a true lab-on-a-chip device is closer to realization than ever before, which will be enabled through efficient and reliable sample characterization systems. Dielectrophoresis (DEP) is a term used to describe the motion of dielectric particles/ cells, by means of a non-uniform electric field (AC or DC). Cells of different dielectric properties (i.e., size, interior properties, and membrane properties) will act differently under the influence of dielectrophoretic force. Therefore, DEP can be used as a powerful, robust, and flexible tool for cellular manipulation, separation, characterization, and patterning. However, most recent DEP applications focus on …

Electrodeposition Of Hydrogen Molybdenum Tungsten Bronze Films And Electrochemical Reduction Of Carbon Dioxide., Mohammad Bajunaid

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The foremost aim for performing this study was to focus on the electrodeposition of mixed hydrogen molybdenum tungsten bronze films, which have the potential for e^– transfer interactions carrying out the reduction of carbon dioxide. A yellow peroxymolybdic tungstate solution was prepared and used for the electrodeposition of hydrogen molybdenum tungsten bronze films on conductive carbon paper. Electrodeposition was carried out at -2.0 V from 20 - 120 minutes to determine the effect of deposition time on film thickness and CO₂ reduction. These films were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The deposited films served as a working electrode …

Sororities Surviving Covid-19: A Phenomenological Study Of Panhellenic Virtual Sorority Recruitment, Margaret Darden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study addressed perceptions of virtual sorority recruitment and was conducted at a large, public university in the Midwestern United States. Data was gathered through interviews using a criterion sampling method in place for this study. Study participants fell into one of the following categories: new members, general members, chapter recruitment chairs, chapter presidents, chapter advisors, chapter recruitment advisors, or the fraternity/sorority advisor. Emerging themes and categories were identified by coding and analyzing the interview data. The themes that were identified were: the convenience of online meetings, reduced emphasis on appearance reduced emotional, financial and time strain, increased accessibility …