Digital Commons Network^™

Sensemaking In The Process Of Inquiry: A Qualitative Case Study Of A Networked Improvement Community, Bethany Fillers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There are persistent and pervasive issues plaguing American education, and almost seventy years of educational reform efforts have failed to adequately improve educational outcomes for many of America’s children. Networked improvement communities (or NICs) are a type of social organization created to address such problems and are proposed as an effective and efficient way to organize improvement efforts. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the sensemaking experience of a newly-formed networked improvement community as members engaged in inquiry around a chosen problem of practice. During network initiation, NIC members engage in experiences to collaboratively identify and …

Electrodeposition Of Hydrogen Molybdenum Bronze Films And Electrochemical Reduction Of Carbon Dioxide At Low Over Potentials, Sami Alharbi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hydrogen molybdenum oxide, known has molybdenum bronze, is a material of interest due to catalyzing electron transfer reactions. Specifically, molybdenum bronze is an electrocatalyst toward carbon dioxide reduction. Electrochemical deposition from a peroxymolybdic acid solution is a method for preparing molybdenum bronze films. This work demonstrates reproducible electrodeposition on indium tin oxide substrates and conductive carbon paper. Film thickness depends on concentration, time and pH. After characterization by film thickness, resistance, XRD and XPS, the as deposited films served as the working electrode for electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide in 0.1 M NaHCO₃. Ion chromatography determined formate resulting …

Synthesis Of Diazonium N-(Perfluoroalkyl) Benzenesulfonimide Polymers For Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (Pemfcs), Helal Alharbi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of the research is to synthesize the diazonium N-(perfluoroalkyl) benzenesulfonimide (PFSI)zwitterionicpolymers as electrolytes in polymerelectrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. The proposed diazoniumPFSI zwitterionic polymer (I) is expected to enhance the thermal and chemical stability, increase the proton conductivity of electrolytes, and improve the catalyst efficiency for PEM fuel cells. Synthesis of the perfluorobenzoyl peroxide initiator, homopolymerization of perfluoro (3-oxapent-4-ene) sulfonyl fluoride,coupling reaction with4-sulfamonylacetanilide, couplingreaction with 4-nitrobenzene sulfonyl amide, n-deacetylation reaction, and diazotization reactionhave been carried outsuccessfully in the lab. The intermediate chemicals are characterized by GC-MS, IR, NMR, and GPC spectroscopies.

Is Corequisite Developmental Math Effective At East Tennessee State University?, Christine Padden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis looks at the corequisite developmental math program at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) and compares the effectiveness to the previous developmental math program by comparing the student outcomes in MATH 1530. MATH 1530 is a non-calculus based statistic and probability course that satisfies most majors’ general education math requirements. ETSU sees approximately 1,000 students a year pass through MATH 1530 which is around 6.7% of the total enrollment at ETSU[9]. We are interested in the last five years of the developmental math program before it was changed to corequisite developmental math and the first five years of corequisite …

Comparing Structure From Motion Photogrammetry And Computer Vision For Low-Cost 3d Cave Mapping: Tipton-Haynes Cave, Tennessee, Clinton Elmore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Natural caves represent one of the most difficult environments to map with modern 3D technologies. In this study I tested two relatively new methods for 3D mapping in Tipton-Haynes Cave near Johnson City, Tennessee: Structure from Motion Photogrammetry and Computer Vision using Tango, an RGB-D (Red Green Blue and Depth) technology. Many different aspects of these two methods were analyzed with respect to the needs of average cave explorers. Major considerations were cost, time, accuracy, durability, simplicity, lighting setup, and drift. The 3D maps were compared to a conventional cave map drafted with measurements from a modern digital survey instrument …

Simple Photochemical Reduction Of Carbon Dioxide To Formate, Ovuokenye Omadoko

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is a need to develop techniques for conversion of carbon dioxide to other useful products such as methanol, formaldehyde, formic acid, formate, methane, and hydrocarbons. Carbon dioxide can be converted into these products using different methods such as photochemical, electrochemical, thermochemical and hydrogenation by bacteria. Formate is of interest due to its wide industrial applications which include it’s use in direct liquid fuel cells, as an additive in pyrolysis vapors, a precursor for biological fuels, and it is a key intermediate in methanogenesis breaking down complex organic compounds. In this work, conversion of carbon dioxide to formate was accomplished …

Growth Scores And Team Observation Ratings For Teachers In A Northeast Tennessee School District, David A. Little

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this nonexperimental quantitative study was to determine if there was a relationship between the 2018 Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) Growth Score given by the Tennessee Department of Education and the overall 2018 Tennessee Educator Acceleration Model (TEAM) Observation Rating for teachers in grades 3-12 in the participating public school district. Demographic variables associated with both the teacher and evaluator were considered to determine if there existed a significant difference between gender, teaching license, grade level, TEAM Certified Observer years of experience, and the growth score and overall TEAM Observation Rating. The participating public school district is …

Parent, Teacher, And Administrator Perceptions Of School Community Relationships, Tammy Watson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this purposive qualitative study was to examine the perceptions of school community relationships of preschool parents, preschool teachers, and elementary administrators. In this purposive study, participants were chosen based on predetermined characteristics (Shenton, 2004). Parents from varying levels of academic and socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as their level of parental involvement, were included in this study to eliminate bias.

The following themes emerged through coding and transcribing data: the family aspect at school; positive perception of principals; positive perception of teachers; open lines of communication between home and school; opportunities for parent involvement; the expectation of parent …

Roman Domination Cover Rubbling, Nicholas Carney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we introduce Roman domination cover rubbling as an extension of domination cover rubbling. We define a parameter on a graph $G$ called the \textit{Roman domination cover rubbling number}, denoted $\rho_{R}(G)$, as the smallest number of pebbles, so that from any initial configuration of those pebbles on $G$, it is possible to obtain a configuration which is Roman dominating after some sequence of pebbling and rubbling moves. We begin by characterizing graphs $G$ having small $\rho_{R}(G)$ value. Among other things, we also obtain the Roman domination cover rubbling number for paths and give an upper bound for the …

Immobilization Of Electrocatalytically Active Gold Nanoparticles On Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Fiber Electrodes, Daniel Mawudoku

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Studies of single, isolated nanoparticles provide better understanding of the structure-function relationship of nanoparticles since they avoid complications like interparticle distance and nanoparticle loading that are typically associated with collections of nanoparticles distributed on electrode supports. However, interpretation of results obtained from single nanoparticle immobilization studies can be difficult to interpret since the underlying nanoelectrode platform can contribute to the measured current, or the immobilization technique can adversely affect electron transfer. Here, we immobilized ligand-free gold nanoparticles on relatively electrocatalytically inert nitrogen-doped carbon ultramicroelectrodes that were prepared via a soft nitriding method. Sizes of the particles were estimated by a …

Robustness Of Semi-Parametric Survival Model: Simulation Studies And Application To Clinical Data, Isaac Nwi-Mozu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An efficient way of analyzing survival clinical data such as cancer data is a great concern to health experts. In this study, we investigate and propose an efficient way of handling survival clinical data. Simulation studies were conducted to compare performances of various forms of survival model techniques using an R package ``survsim". Models performance was conducted with varying sample sizes as small ($n5000$). For small and mild samples, the performance of the semi-parametric outperform or approximate the performance of the parametric model. However, for large samples, the parametric model outperforms the semi-parametric model. We compared the effectiveness and reliability …

Peroxide Sensing Using Nitrogen-Doped And Platinum Nanoparticle-Modified Screen-Printed Carbon Electrodes, Chidiebere Ogbu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nitrogen-doped carbon materials have garnered much interest due to their abilities to behave as electrocatalysts for reactions important in energy production (oxygen reduction) and biosensing (hydrogen peroxide reduction). Here, we demonstrate fabrication methods and determine electrocatalytic properties of nitrogen-doped screen-printed carbon (N-SPCE) electrodes. Nitrogen doping of graphite was achieved through a simple soft-nitriding technique which was then used in lab-formulated screen-printing inks to prepare N-SPCEs. N-SPCEs displayed good electrocatalytic activity, reproducibility and long term stability towards the electrochemical reduction of hydrogen peroxide. N-SPCEs exhibited a wide linear range (20 µM to 5.3 mM), reasonable limit of detection of 2.5 µM, …

Programs For Language Minority Students At Tbr Community Colleges: A Study Of Factors Affecting Design, Caitlin Chapman-Rambo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This purpose of this study was to determine to what extent programs for language-minority students at TBR community colleges adhere to the recommendations contained in the Conference on College Composition and Communications 2009 Statement on Second Language Writing and Writers and to investigate the factors beyond these professional recommendations that influence administrative decision-making about these programs and their designs. This study contained a survey sent to individuals at all 13 community colleges in the Tennessee Board of Regents system and follow-up interviews with 5 survey respondents from different institutions.

Analysis of the results of the study indicates all TBR community …

Modification Of Chemical Vapor-Deposited Carbon Electrodes With Electrocatalytic Metal Nanoparticles Through A Soft Nitriding Technique, Enoch Amoah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Metal nanoparticles have been widely used for many catalytic and electrocatalytic applications due to their larger surface area-to-volume ratios and higher densities of active sites compared to bulk materials. This has resulted in much interest in understanding the electrocatalytic behavior of metal nanoparticles with respect to their structure. However, most research on this topic has employed collections of nanoparticles. Due to difficulties in controlling and characterizing particle loading and interparticle distance in nanoparticle ensembles, single nanoparticles studies have recently become a topic of great interest. In this study, a soft nitriding technique was applied to chemical vapor-deposited carbon ultramicroelectrodes (UMEs) …

Debris-Slide Susceptibility Modelling Using Gis Technology In The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Raja Das

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Debris-slides are one of the most frequently occurring geological hazards in metasedimentary rocks of the Anakeesta ridge in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM), which often depends on the influence of multiple causing factors or geo-factors such as geological structures, slope, topographic elevation, land use, soil type etc. or a combination of these factors. The main objective of the study was to understand the control of geo-factors in initiating debris-slides using different knowledge and data-driven methods in GIS platform. The study was performed in three steps: (1) Evaluation of geometrical relationship between geological discontinuity and topographic orientation in initiation of …

Modeling Extreme Heat Events Using Global Reanalysis Data: An Assessment Of Current Climate Data And The Need For Improved Weather Station Data In Tennessee, John Reasons

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) is used to assess categorical heat stress risk factors for individuals working in outdoor environments and to provide guidelines for work/rest ratios and water intake. The variables required to compute WBGT are used by meteorologists for many purposes and are available through the Copernicus Program which was implemented by European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) to provide users access to ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA) historical database. WBGT values for Tennessee during National Weather Service (NWS) issued excessive heat warnings were calculated to determine the need for additional advisories based on WBGT guidelines. Monthly average WBGT …

A Log And Core Analysis Of The Marmaton Group, Granite Wash Fan Delta In The Anadarko Basin, Washita County, Oklahoma, Cole A. Hatchel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Pennsylvanian Marmaton Group Granite Wash located in the southern Anadarko Basin is a fan delta system that consists of stacked arkosic sandstones, conglomerates, and shale, and within Washita County, Oklahoma, are known to be a prolific hydrocarbon producer. The Marmaton Group in Washita County, though, has a variable and largely unestablished stratigraphic framework and sudden changes in lithology throughout the region, both horizontally and laterally. This combined with a lack of core or outcrop data has created confusion in the subsurface, and the Marmaton Group has remained largely unstudied in southern Washita County, OK.

This study examined two sets …

Soil Amelioration And Plant Establishment On Sodium Affected Soils On Galveston Island, Texas, Elaine Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The storm surge from Hurricane Ike in 2008 inundated much of Galveston Island, Texas, causing lasting below-ground impacts in the form of elevated soil sodium (Na+) concentrations. The Na+ initially killed much of the vegetation on the Island and its persistence in soils and groundwater slowed revegetation with some species. Soil amelioration techniques aimed at reducing soil Na+ concentrations were evaluated on an area affected by the storm surge. The treatments were: constructed raised beds composed of uncontaminated soil, incorporation of organic mulch, gypsum application, and combinations of these treatments. Inputs of Na+ from sea-spray aerosols were also quantified using …

Ensuring A Holistic And Quality Education For Every Child: A Phenomenological Inquiry Of Principals’ Transformational Leadership, Elijah Granger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have not fully examined how school leaders impact the teaching and learning environment when working toward generating students’ academic success. Balyer (2012) called for more work on understanding the transformational leadership behaviors that create conditions conducive to generating student achievement within educational accountability. Therefore, the purpose of this phenomenological inquiry is to explore the lived experiences of principals and their perceptions concerning the state accountability system and how it may impact their transformational efforts in ensuring a holistic and quality education for every child. The phenomenological inquiry will yield the opportunity to compare administrators’ in-depth perceptions of the accountability …

Aerobic Photolysis Mecbl: Structure And Electronic Properties Of Cbl-O-O-Ch3 Intermediate., Aida Bazarganpour

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The photolysis of methylcobalamin (coenzyme B₁₂) results in homolytic cleavage of the Co-C bond, forming cob(II)alamin and the Co(II)/CH₃ radical pair (RP) which further react with O₂ to form the intermediate (R-O-O-Cbl) that involves in the aerobic photolysis. It has been suggested that the key intermediate (R-O-O-Cbl) involves in aerobic photolysis is the insertion of O₂ between the Co-C bond. Clearly, the exposure of light is needed to induce the activation Co-C bond for generating the Co(II)/CH₃ radical pair (RP). The intermediate (R-O-O-Cbl) undergoes further decomposition to aldehyde as the final product of aerobic …

Predicting Residency Match Outcomes For Fourth-Year Medical Students., Jacob Shreffler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An important goal for undergraduate medical education program leaders is to prepare their medical students to successfully match during the National Residency Match Program (Gauer & Jackson, 2017). Due to the recent increase in applications submitted during the residency process, it is critical for medical education programs to better understand the factors and attributes of those medical students who are successfully matching (Liang, Curtin, Signer, & Sawoia, 2017). As there is a larger number of medical students now enrolled than positions available for residency, the number of unmatched seniors is expected to rise (Bumsted, Schenider, & Deiorio, 2017). Additionally, the …

Designing And Sample Size Calculation In Presence Of Heterogeneity In Biological Studies Involving High-Throughput Data., Sudhir Srivastava

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The designing and determination of sample size are important for conducting high-throughput biological experiments such as proteomics experiments and RNA-Seq expression studies, thus leading to better understanding of complex mechanisms underlying various biological processes. The variations in the biological data or technical approaches to data collection lead to heterogeneity for the samples under study. We critically worked on the issues of technical and biological heterogeneity. The quantitative measurements based on liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) often suffer from the problem of missing values (MVs) and data heterogeneity. We considered a proteomics data set generated from human kidney …

Digital Political Information Consumption And Ambivalent Political Attitudes., Dane Ryan Warner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understating how individuals form, reinforce, or change attitudes has a long history in political science research. This study seeks to contribute to the existing literature by bridging the gap between the ambivalence and digital political communications literature by examining the relationship between digital political information consumption and ambivalent political attitudes. Using the American National Election Studies 2016 Time Series Study, I examine the role of digital political information consumption as a moderator of value conflict and ambivalent political attitudes. The findings suggest that increased levels of information gather significantly reduce group ambivalence, candidate ambivalence, and value ambivalence.

Formally Designing And Implementing Cyber Security Mechanisms In Industrial Control Networks., Mehdi Sabraoui

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation describes progress in the state-of-the-art for developing and deploying formally verified cyber security devices in industrial control networks. It begins by detailing the unique struggles that are faced in industrial control networks and why concepts and technologies developed for securing traditional networks might not be appropriate. It uses these unique struggles and examples of contemporary cyber-attacks targeting control systems to argue that progress in securing control systems is best met with formal verification of systems, their specifications, and their security properties. This dissertation then presents a development process and identifies two technologies, TLA+ and seL4, that can be …

Cognitive Satellite Communications And Representation Learning For Streaming And Complex Graphs., Wenqi Liu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation includes two topics. The first topic studies a promising dynamic spectrum access algorithm (DSA) that improves the throughput of satellite communication (SATCOM) under the uncertainty. The other topic investigates distributed representation learning for streaming and complex networks. DSA allows a secondary user to access the spectrum that are not occupied by primary users. However, uncertainty in SATCOM causes more spectrum sensing errors. In this dissertation, the uncertainty has been addressed by formulating a DSA decision-making process as a Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) model to optimally determine which channels to sense and access. Large-scale networks have attracted …

Hardware Implementation Of Boost Power Factor Correction Converter., Shruti Motilal Deore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nowadays, there has been an increasing demand of unity power factor in electrical power sector. Due to the nonlinear nature of load equipment, switching devices, source voltage and current are out of phase with each other. Many power converters topologies are used for the power factor correction. The boost converter with controller is most common for power factor correction circuits. The controller objective is to maintain the output voltage regulation and input current tracking with source voltage. The voltage ripple present due to the ac component of the current tracking objective, hence instead of ignoring that ripple, it is used …

Functional Opponency In Working Memory Capacity Predicts Cognitive Flexibility In Problem Solving., Charles A. Van Stockum Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive flexibility is a hallmark of individuals with higher working memory capacity (WMC). Yet, research demonstrates that higher WMC individuals are sometimes more likely to adopt rigid problem-solving approaches. The present research examines a novel account for these contradictory findings—that different WMC mechanisms interact in ways that both support and constrain cognitive flexibility. Across three studies, participants completed the water jug task—a problem-solving task requiring them to first establish and then break mental set using a complex strategy. Participants then completed measures targeting three WMC mechanisms: attention control, primary memory, and secondary memory. Study 1 demonstrated that primary memory and …

Improving Flow-Induced Hemolysis Prediction Models., Mohammad Mohaghegh Faghih

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Partial or complete failure of red blood cell membrane, also known as hemolysis, is a persistent issue with almost all blood contacting devices. Many experimental and theoretical contributions over the last few decades have increased insight into the mechanisms of mechanical hemolysis in both laminar and turbulent flow regimes, with the ultimate goal of developing a comprehensive, mechanistic and universal hemolysis prediction model. My research is broadly divided into two sections: theoretical/analytical/Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analyses and experimental tests. The first part of my research revolved entirely around analyzing the simplest and most popular hemolysis model, commonly called as the …

Predictors Of Empirically-Supported Interventions Following Structured Functional Assessment., Alton Nathaniel Verbist

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Assessment is foundational to the process of evidence-based practice yet has received little research attention. Project SAFESPACE has recently initiated screening and assessment for all children entering out of home care in Kentucky with the goal of providing assessment-driven, evidence-based treatment. The Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) assessment—the instrument adopted in this service system—is designed to link the assessment process with the selection of appropriate interventions. Informed by naturalistic decision making, this dissertation sought to investigate the relationship between responses on the CANS assessment and the empirically supported interventions subsequently prescribed by the assessing clinician. Using secondary data …

Novel Bayesian Methodology In Multivariate Problems., Debamita Kundu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation involves developing novel Bayesian methodology for multivariate problems. In particular, it focuses on two contexts: shrinkage based variable selection in multivariate regression and simultaneous covariance estimation of multiple groups. Both these projects are centered around fully Bayesian inference schemes based on hierarchical modeling to capture context-specific features of the data and the development of computationally efficient estimation algorithm. Variable selection over a potentially large set of covariates in a linear model is quite popular. In the Bayesian context, common prior choices can lead to a posterior expectation of the regression coefficients that is a sparse (or nearly sparse) …