Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Segmenting Worksheets On Independent Seatwork With Elementary Students Delivered In A Remote Manner Using Parents As Interventionists, Lauren Peak

Master's Theses

Students have a limited amount of time each day to complete independent assignments. These assignments prioritize the learning opportunities provided to students. Learning opportunities or the chance to practice with feedback is highly effective, and additional repetition enhances the learning experience. By increasing student's time-on-task, they will be provided more learning opportunities. This study sought to discover if segmented work could increase the number of problems completed, digits correct per minute and on-task behavior. An alternating treatment design across four participants allowed for the comparison of segmented worksheets and whole worksheets. Additionally, parents served as the interventionist in this remote …

Population Parameter Estimation And Stable Isotope Analysis Of Gulf Sturgeon (Acipenser Oxyrinchus Desotoi) In The Pascagoula River, Alfonso Cohuo

Master's Theses

Gulf Sturgeon (GS), Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi, are a threatened, anadromous fish species in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Their range is from the Pearl River, LA, in the west to the Suwannee River, FL, in the east with a longitudinal divide at Mobile Bay, AL, creating a western population unit (WPU) and an eastern population unit (EPU). Sturgeon belonging to the WPU exhibit lower abundances, higher mortality rates, and are overall less studied than their EPU counterparts. Notable data gaps for the WPU includes the absence of recent population parameter estimations and confirmed feeding habitat. My thesis aims to …

Sedimentology And Shallow Groundwater Responses Of A Coastal Marsh Along A Salinity Gradient: A Case Study In Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Mississippi, James Thompson

Master's Theses

Climate change and relative sea level rise is resulting in saltwater intrusion and inundation of coastal marshes. This study investigates factors affecting marsh hydrology, including sediment composition, seasonal variability, and coastal storms in Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) near Pascagoula, Mississippi. Analysis of sediment includes color, organic matter, carbonate, magnetic susceptibility, and particle size. Shallow groundwater hydrologic trends between Summer 2015 and Fall 2016 are established along a salinity gradient at four sites using water levels, temperature, and conductivity monitored at the surface and in piezometers at depths of 0.75m, 1.5m, and 2.25m.

Sediment analysis indicates reducing conditions …

Stability Of Earth's Trajectory Inside A Binary Star System, Michael Krunic

Master's Theses

The evolution of the solar system is an interesting dynamical problem in celestial mechanics. Computer simulations have shown that planetary bodies in multiple-body systems become unstable after a long time. In this thesis, through numerical simulations, we investigate the stability of the Earth in a binary star system. In the Sun, Earth, and Jupiter three-body system, we treat Jupiter as the second star (Star 2) and we simulate the Earth's orbit over many orbital periods. In our program, we generate the positions, velocities, accelerations, and other orbital elements of each body using Newton's laws of motion. We explore four types …

Deep Reinforcement Learning With Accelerated Reward Function Technique For Robotics Task Planning, Shifabanu Mohammed Rafiq Shaikh

Master's Theses

The objectives of this research are to investigate, design, develop, and implement a DRL-based reward function enhanced robotics technique to achieve ”human-like” operations for a six DoF robot. Technical challenges for robotics applications arise nowadays with a need to achieve human-like intelligence. DRL can formulate human-likeintelligence by maximizing a long-term reward function. However, the design of states, actions, policies, and reward functions having continuous values turns out to be quite tricky. Lastly, to reach a target position, control motion behavior without calculating inverse kinematics, and update state space for actions and policy optimizations are also challenging. Inspired by Google Deepmind’s …

Humpback Whale, Megaptera Novaeangliae, Feeding Dynamics From The Perspective Of The Individual: Insights From Demography, Life History, And Bio-Logging, Jennifer Tackaberry

Master's Theses

Studies of fission-fusion societies provide a framework in which to compare the feeding dynamics across demographics, unrestrained by stable associations or relatedness. This study used bio-logger data and surface observations combined with long-term population data from the Gulf of Maine humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, population to investigate the influence of demographics on feeding methods, and time spent feeding, and to determine if a coordinated feeding method, kick-feeding, was a cooperative behavior. The results suggest that demographics did influence the feeding method used and highlighted the need to determine how energetic needs change across the feeding season. Adult females did not …

Perception Correction: Addressing Social Stigmatization Around Bdsm And Mental Health, Erin Afana

Master's Theses

Mainstream society’s characterization of activities and subgroups as abnormal can result in a long history of being shamed and pathologized, leading to discrimination and stigmatization. BDSM (bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadomasochism) is an alternative lifestyle with a variety of identities, characteristics and practices that are viewed by many as being outside of societal norms. The consequences of this can be seen in how society, in general, views BDSM participants, how the criminal justice system responds to issues involving BDSM, and how the mental health system perceives those who participate in BDSM activities. The purpose of this thesis …

Multi-Robot Path Planning Using Sampling-Based Algorithms And Reinforcement Learning, Donald J. Alexander

Master's Theses

In today’s world, robots are becoming extremely useful in many facets of life. With the recent increase in applicable uses of robots, multi-robot path planning has emerged as a fundamental research area. Multi-robot path planning is the process of developing a coordinated plan which is utilized by multiple robots to efficiently work together to complete a common goal. Over the history of multi-robot path planning, many new path planning methodologies have been developed with the goal of outperforming the last, boasting better efficiency and optimality. In this thesis, an analysis of various multi-robot path planning methodologies is carried out with …

Analysis Of Dietary Intake, Body Composition And Biomarkers In Adults With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Prediabetes And Without Diabetes, Sarah Thuytrinh Nguyen

Master's Theses

Our study provided an analysis and comparison of specific blood values, dietary intake, body composition, and inflammatory markers (high sensitivity-C-reactive protein (HS-CRP), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and interleukin-6 (IL-6)) between adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and prediabetes (PDM) to adults without diabetes. A total of 22 participants (PDM/T2DM n=12, controls n=10) in the San Luis Obispo, CA area completed the study prior to our ending recruitment due to Covid-19. Body composition data were collected through DXA scans. Dietary intake was assessed using a 3-day food record survey and nutritional analysis conducted using ESHA food processing software. In addition, …

Analysis Of The Slo Bay Microbiome From A Network Perspective, Lien Viet Nguyen

Master's Theses

Microorganisms are key players in the ecosystem functioning. In this thesis, we developed a framework to preprocess raw microbiome data, build a correlation network, and analyze co-occurrence patterns between microbes. We then applied this framework to a marine microbiome dataset. The dataset used in this study comes from a year-long time-series to characterize the microbial communities in our coastal waters off the Cal Poly Pier. In analyzing this dataset, we were able to observe and confirm previously discovered patterns of interactions and generate hypotheses about new patterns. The analysis of co-occurrences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic taxa is relatively novel and …

Analyzing Intramural Sport Participation At The State University Of New York College At Cortland 2021, Stephen D'Alessandro

Master's Theses

SUNY Cortland has historically had a robust and active Intramural Sports program. The program saw 2,380 students participate during the Spring 2016 semester, but that number has steadily declined in recent years. In the Fall 2019 semester, the participation rate had fallen to 1,482 participants. Research has been conducted on the topic, although it is not applicable to SUNY Cortland. Past research on intramural participation has focused on constraints to participation, finding a lack of time a primary constraint However, the research is 15 years old and conducted at universities with vastly different demographics than SUNY Cortland. The purpose of …

Do Conditional Cash Transfers Increase School Enrollment? Evidence From Brazil, Jeanette L. Silvernale

Master's Theses

Conditional cash transfer programs have been widely deployed across the globe. They seek to bolster human capital by providing benefits contingent upon a variety of actions such as school attendance and regular health checkups. Bolsa Familia is the most extensive conditional cash transfer program, serving 46 million Brazilian citizens. Despite its expansive size, there have been seldom large-scale micro evaluations of the program. Limited data has resulted in small sample sizes drawn from a single point in time. Our study diverges from the rest and utilizes a novel administrative dataset with an overall sample of nearly 60 million and a …

Cattle Producer Motivations And Willingness To Participate In Industry Animal Welfare Program Verification, Chase Decoite

Master's Theses

As consumers have become increasingly interested in where their food comes from and how it is grown, the cattle and beef industry is without exception. Many consumers are beginning to question traditional animal husbandry practices and on-farm animal welfare protocol. It is essential that the food system meets new demands and understands consumer views. In order to address these concerns, the industry has rallied around the Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) program to set the standard for cattle welfare and beef quality, with the explicit goal of improving consumer confidence. The goal of this research is to determine if cattle producers …

A Method For Monitoring Operating Equipment Effectiveness With The Internet Of Things And Big Data, Carl D. Hays Iii

Master's Theses

The purpose of this paper was to use the Overall Equipment Effectiveness productivity formula in plant manufacturing and convert it to measuring productivity for forklifts. Productivity for a forklift was defined as being available and picking up and moving containers at port locations in Seattle and Alaska. This research uses performance measures in plant manufacturing and applies them to mobile equipment in order to establish the most effective means of analyzing reliability and productivity. Using the Internet of Things to collect data on fifteen forklift trucks in three different locations, this data was then analyzed over a six-month period to …

Design Of An Automatic Fish Processing Line Using Machine Learning, Sangam Mainali

Master's Theses

This thesis presents an approach to automatic fish processing in the fishing industry using artificial intelligence. Using transfer learning approach (VGG16 model), convolutional neural network (CNN), and image processing, this thesis demonstrates the series of steps from intake of fishes, chopping of head and tail to collecting the body parts of fishes separately thus making it ready for post-processing or direct packaging as per the industrial and consumer needs. To present the idea of the classification of fishes, we have considered five different fishes and one shrimp, altogether six classes. After the classification, the fishes are sorted out according to …

Zero Voltage Switching Hybrid Voltage Divider Converter, Timothy Jeong

Master's Theses

This project proposes a new hybrid voltage divider DC-DC converter that utilizes switching capacitors and inductors to produce zero voltage switching (ZVS) at the turn on state of its switches. By achieving ZVS, the switching losses are significantly reduced; thus, increasing the overall efficiency of the converter at various loads. The goal for this thesis is to perform analysis of the operation of the converter, derive equations for sizing the main components, and demonstrate its functionality through computer simulation and hardware prototype. Results of the simulation and hardware testing show that the proposed converter produces the desired output voltage while …

Exploring Material Representations For Sparse Voxel Dags, Steven Pineda

Master's Theses

Ray tracing is a popular technique used in movies and video games to create compelling visuals. Ray traced computer images are increasingly becoming more realistic and almost indistinguishable from real-word images. Due to the complexity of scenes and the desire for high resolution images, ray tracing can become very expensive in terms of computation and memory. To address these concerns, researchers have examined data structures to efficiently store geometric and material information. Sparse voxel octrees (SVOs) and directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) have proven to be successful geometric data structures for reducing memory requirements. Moxel DAGs connect material properties to these …

Graph Theoretical Modelling Of Electrical Distribution Grids, Iris Kohler

Master's Theses

This thesis deals with the applications of graph theory towards the electrical distribution networks that transmit electricity from the generators that produce it and the consumers that use it. Specifically, we establish the substation and bus network as graph theoretical models for this major piece of electrical infrastructure. We also generate substation and bus networks for a wide range of existing data from both synthetic and real grids and show several properties of these graphs, such as density, degeneracy, and planarity. We also motivate future research into the definition of a graph family containing bus and substation networks and the …

Upending The "Racial Death-Wish": Black Gay Liberation And The Culture Of Black Homophobia, Kailyn Pope

Master's Theses

This thesis analyzes the origin and impact of Black homophobia found in activist spaces of mid- to late-twentieth-century American society. Black gay Americans were subjected to intersecting forms of systemic and cultural oppression that were exceedingly hard to escape due to both the homophobia in Black spaces and the racism in gay spaces. Black gay activists and artists thus had to create their own avenues of expression where they and others could fully embrace what it meant to be Black and gay. This work utilizes a Black feminist framework to explore the roots of Black homophobia and how this type …

Modeling And Control Of A Vertical Hopping Robot, Bradley Y. Kwan

Master's Theses

Single degree-of-freedom hopping robots are typically modeled as spring loaded inverted pendulums (SLIPs). This simplified model, however, does not consider the overall leg geometry, consequently making it difficult to investigate the optimized inertial distribution of the leg for agile locomotion. To address this issue, the first part of this thesis establishes an accurate mathematical model of a DC-motor-driven, two-link hopping robot where the motors are modeled as torque sources. The equations of motion for the two distinct phases of locomotion (stance and flight) are derived using the Lagrangian approach for holonomic systems. A Simulink/Stateflow model is developed to numerically simulate …

Design And Implementation Of A Modular Human-Robot Interaction Framework, Michael J. Juri

Master's Theses

With the increasing longevity that accompanies advances in medical technology comes a host of other age-related disabilities. Among these are neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and stroke, which significantly reduce the motor and cognitive ability of affected individuals. As these diseases become more prevalent, there is a need for further research and innovation in the field of motor rehabilitation therapy to accommodate these individuals in a cost-effective manner. In recent years, the implementation of social agents has been proposed to alleviate the burden on in-home human caregivers. Socially assistive robotics (SAR) is a new subfield of research …

Analysis And Optimization Of A Colorimetric Nanosensor For Rapid Detection Of Escherichia Coli In Water, Sarah M. Stabler

Master's Theses

Safe drinking water is essential for life, yet at least two billion people around the world consume water contaminated with pathogens among other pollutants. Standard methods like polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and membrane filtration have been developed to detect enteric pathogens in water. However, these methods are limited in their accessibility due to long wait times to obtain results, and the requirements of skilled expertise, electricity, and laboratory equipment. This research has focused on addressing some of these limitations by analyzing the mechanisms of work and optimizing an indirect colorimetric nanosensor developed in previous research. The colorimetric nanosensor investigated herein …

Monte Carlo Stack-Up Tolerance Analysis Of The Hybrid Rf/Optical Antenna Edge Sensors, Kara Hewson

Master's Theses

The Deep Space Network (DSN), located at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), is developing an RF/Optical Hybrid Antenna. This antenna concept will support the reception of high-bandwidth optical deep-space communications with simultaneous support of conventional RF uplink and downlink. The optical system on the antenna consists of sixty-four hexagonal mirrors positioned to form a spherical aperture. To align the mirrors, a Position Opto-Electronic Metrology Sensor (POEMS) system is used to measure the position of each mirror relative to one another. The POEMS system consists of a sender called a collimator, which sends collimated light to the receiving component, called a …

The Effect Of Reaction Conditions On The Nucleation And Particle Growth Of A Colloidal Covalent Organic Framework, Brendan Posson

Master's Theses

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are a novel class of crystalline materials with regular porosity, high specific surface area, and various linkage chemistries. Conventional chemical syntheses of these materials lead to the formation of bulk powders characterized as polycrystalline aggregates. Synthesizing these materials as colloidal systems is an effective means to prevent aggregation and achieve larger single-crystalline domain sizes. In this thesis, I describe the effect of temperature and transimination catalyst strength on COF particle nucleation and particle growth. Morphology and crystallinity of the COF-300 particles were confirmed using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The onset of colloidal …

Leveraging Intermediate Artifacts To Improve Automated Trace Link Retrieval, Alberto D. Rodriguez

Master's Theses

Software traceability establishes a network of connections between diverse artifacts such as requirements, design, and code. However, given the cost and effort of creating and maintaining trace links manually, researchers have proposed automated approaches using information retrieval techniques. Current approaches focus almost entirely upon generating links between pairs of artifacts and have not leveraged the broader network of interconnected artifacts. In this paper we investigate the use of intermediate artifacts to enhance the accuracy of the generated trace links – focus- ing on paths consisting of source, target, and intermediate artifacts. We propose and evaluate combinations of techniques for computing …

Cultivating Creativity In Aerospace Systems Engineering To Manage Complexity, Kenneth Lucas Dodd

Master's Theses

In recent decades, complexity in aerospace programs has been increasing, leading to large budget and schedule overruns. Many of the risks of complex system development can be attributed to the inadequacy of linear methods when applied to nonlinear domains, i.e., oversimplification in a program amplifies the amount of risk produced when a system behaves unexpectedly. Effectively managing complexity involves responding to the various sources of complexity, whether it appears in the objective behavior of the system itself or in the subjective behavior of the people developing it. Thus, the engineering of complex systems requires nonlinear modeling methods of the system …

A Survey Of Computer Graphics Facial Animation Methods: Comparing Traditional Approaches To Machine Learning Methods, Joseph A. Johnson

Master's Theses

Human communications rely on facial expression to denote mood, sentiment, and intent. Realistic facial animation of computer graphic models of human faces can be difficult to achieve as a result of the many details that must be approximated in generating believable facial expressions. Many theoretical approaches have been researched and implemented to create more and more accurate animations that can effectively portray human emotions. Even though many of these approaches are able to generate realistic looking expressions, they typically require a lot of artistic intervention to achieve a believable result. To reduce the intervention needed to create realistic facial animation, …

Investigating Daily Fantasy Baseball: An Approach To Automated Lineup Generation, Ryan Smith

Master's Theses

A recent trend among sports fans along both sides of the letterman jacket is that of Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS). The DFS industry has been under legal scrutiny recently, due to the view that daily sports data is too random to make its prediction skillful. Therefore, a common view is that it constitutes online gambling. This thesis proves that DFS, as it pertains to Baseball, is significantly more predictable than random chance, and thus does not constitute gambling.

We propose a system which generates daily lists of lineups for Fanduel Daily Fantasy Baseball contests. The system consists of two components: …

A Study Of Implementation Methodologies For Distributed Real Time Collaboration, Lauren A. Craft

Master's Theses

Collaboration drives our world and is almost unavoidable in the programming industry. From higher education to the top technological companies, people are working together to drive discovery and innovation. Software engineers must work with their peers to accomplish goals daily in their workplace. When working with others there are a variety of tools to choose from such as Google Docs, Google Colab and Overleaf. Each of the aforementioned collaborative tools utilizes the Operational Transform (OT) technique in order to implement their real time collaboration functionality. Operational transform is the technique seen amongst most if not all major collaborative tools in …

An Inclusive Design Approach To Integrating An External Human Machine Interface With Autonomous Vehicles, Sandra Roksic

Master's Theses

As autonomous vehicles become more prevalent in urban traffic settings, the safety of vulnerable road users, predominantly pedestrians, must be placed in high regard relative to the design of the autonomous vehicle's (AV's) external human machine interface (HMI). Traditionally, there exist communication methods between drivers and pedestrians, such as hand gestures, eye contact, and verbal cues that convey the driver's awareness of the pedestrian's presence. However, with autonomous vehicles, there is a shift in communicative responsibility from the driver to the vehicle itself. It is the vehicle's responsibility to intuitively and clearly indicate its actions to the pedestrian.

This research …