Digital Commons Network^™

Native Cryptography In The Browser, An Exploratory Approach, Joseph A. Wilson

Master's Theses

As applications move from the desktop to the web browser, security needs to be taken into consideration. The new Web Crypto API provides native support for web applications to perform cryptographic operations and key management functions. Client side cryptographic support is a critical component in the future development of secure web based applications. This thesis presents an exploration of the Web Crypto API. The aim of this research was to determine the feasibility of developing complex cryptographic applications in the browser. This evaluation was performed by building an end to end encrypted messaging system that implements the off the record …

Effect Of Oxygen-Limiting Tidal Conditions On Muscle Metabolism And Structure In The Giant Acorn Barnacle, Balanus Nubilus, Katie O. Grady

Master's Theses

Crustacean muscle fibers are some of the largest cells in the animal kingdom, with fiber diameters in the giant acorn barnacle (Balanus nubilus) exceeding 3 mm. Sessile animals with extreme muscle sizes and that live in the hypoxia-inducing intertidal zone – like B. nubilus – represent ideal models for probing the effects of oxygen limitation on muscle cells. We investigated changes in metabolism and structure of B. nubilus muscle in response to: normoxic immersion, anoxic immersion, or air emersion, for acute (6h) or chronic (6h exposures twice daily for 2wks) time periods. Following exposure, we immediately measured hemolymph …

Using Digital Performance Feedback To Increase Teacher Treatment Integrity, Heather Marie Whipple

Master's Theses

In intervention research, assessing treatment integrity is important to establish functional control of the independent variable and make accurate decisions regarding treatment effectiveness. This study examined the effects of digital performance feedback (DPF) as a follow-up strategy for teachers to increase integrity. A multiple baseline design was utilized to determine the effectiveness of this strategy. Results from this study expanded previous literature on ways to promote treatment integrity and help move toward a science of intervention implementation. The primary dependent variable measured was treatment integrity. Student behavior was also assessed to determine if there is a relationship between treatment integrity …

Modern Fair-Weather And Storm Sediment Transport Around Ship Island, Mississippi: Implications For Coastal Habitats And Restoration Efforts, Eve Rettew Eisemann

Master's Theses

The Mississippi – Alabama barrier island chain is experiencing accelerated sea level rise, decreased sediment supply, and frequent hurricane impacts. These three factors drive unprecedented rates of morphology change and ecosystem reduction. All islands in the chain have experienced land loss on the order of hectares per year since records began in the 1840s. In 1969, Hurricane Camille impacted as a Category 5, breaching Ship Island, and significantly reduced viable seagrass habitat. Hurricane Katrina impacted as a Category 3 in 2005, further widening Camille Cut. To better understand the sustainability of these important islands and the ecosystems they support, sediment …

Bloom Or Bust: Retrospective Analysis Of The Giant Jellyfish, Nemopilema Nomurai (Scyphozoa: Rhizostomeae), Ecology In The East Asian Marginal Seas, Naomi Yoder

Master's Theses

The Giant Jellyfish, Nemopilema nomurai, is a large-bodied bloom-forming jellyfish that occurs in the semi-enclosed basins of the East Asian Marginal Seas. N. nomurai has bloomed more frequently in the past 20 years than in any period previously recorded. In Japan, recent N. nomurai blooms were responsible for millions of dollars in lost revenue and equipment damage to commercial fisheries alone. This study statistically analyzed 21 environmental factors in connection with N. nomurai occurrence (using occurrence as a proxy for blooms). Eight factors resulted in a statistically significant or marginally significant (p ≤ 0.10), linear or non-linear relationship with …

Silicon Revolution: Sustainability Disclosures And Performance In The Semiconductor Manufacturing Industry (2010-2014), Swarali Bhat

Master's Theses

This exploratory work investigates the sustainability performance and reporting practices in 20 semiconductor companies from 2010-2014 using content analysis, survey, and interview methods. The sample consists of companies that are either integrated chip manufacturers (ICMs) or semiconductor foundries with annual net revenue of $0.2 billion to $55.9 billion. A sustainability matrix based on the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines assesses the reporting completeness. Sustainability performance is measured based on two factors, identification of trends in social and environmental data and adoption of 28 sustainability best practices specific to this manufacturing sector. The majority of the resource use and emissions data followed …

Dynamics And Control Of A Suspended Atn Vehicle, Wade Patterson Brown

Master's Theses

In order to enhance the research into Automation Transit Network (ATN) systems

performed by the Spartan Superway team, a simulation environment and controller is

developed for a suspended ATN vehicle. The equations of motion are derived for a

suspended ATN vehicle constrained to move on a circular guideway (referred to as the

Planar System) and for an ATN vehicle constrained to move on a guideway of arbitrary

geometry (referred to as the General System). Additionally, a controller using feedback

linearization is designed that tracks the position of the ATN for a conditioned displacement

profile and minimizes the lateral acceleration experienced …

Psychopathology And Creativity Among Creative And Non-Creative Professions, Victor Kwan

Master's Theses

The mad genius debate has been a topic that has been discussed in both popular culture and academic discourse. The current study sought to replicate previous findings that linked psychopathology to creativity. A total of 165 biographies of eminent professionals (artists, scientists, athletes) were rated on 19 mental disorders using a three point scale of not present (0), probable (1), and present (2) for potential symptoms. Athletes served as an eminent but not creative comparison group in order to discern whether fame, independent of creativity, was associated with psychopathology. Comparison of proportion analyses were conducted to identify differences of proportion …

Reduced Mechanism Validation And Analysis Near Extinction Limits Of Perfectly Stirred Reactors, Brian J. Magda

Master's Theses

Reduced mechanisms for jet fuels, including POSF10264, POSF10325, POSF10289, and n-dodecane as a surrogate, are extensively validated and investigated in perfectly stirred reactors (PSR). The ability of the reduced models to capture extinction limits and the important reaction pathways controlling the limit phenomena are investigated using a bifurcation analysis. In particular, extinction at conditions relevant to lean blow out (LBO) in jet engines is investigated.

It was found that the reduced models perform well over various equivalence ratios, pressures, and temperatures and can accurately capture extinction in PSR. The four jet fuels exhibited similar controlling reaction pathways, which involve only …

Computational Design Of Ceramic Bone Scaffolds Fabricated Via Direct Ink Writing, Jeffrey Roberge

Master's Theses

Bone scaffold porosity and stiffness play a critical role in the success of critical-size bone defect rehabilitation. In this work, we present a computational procedure to design ceramic bone scaffolds to provide adequate mechanical support and foster bone healing. The scaffolds considered in our study consist of a lattice of curved rods fabricated via direct ink writing. We develop cellular solids models of the scaffold's effective elastic constants as functions of its geometric parameters, up to some unknown coefficients. To determine numeric values for these coefficients, we execute a computational design of experiments whereby effective elastic properties are obtained using …

A Comparison Of Solvent And Water-Borne Alkyd Coatings And The History Of Voc Regulations In The United States, Molly Elise Burns

Master's Theses

A Comparison of Solvent and Water-Borne Alkyd Coatings Abstract

Conventional solvent based alkyd coatings have gone out of favor due to concerns over volatile organic compound (VOC) content. However, due to recent focus on renewable raw materials, alkyds are making a comeback in waterborne form. Water based alkyd coatings are known to have poor shelf stability and corrosion resistance, as well as other problems during the formulation process. This project focused on comparing solvent borne to two types of water-borne alkyds, water reducible alkyds and alkyds emulsions. The purpose was to understand the differences between the three types of alkyds …

Investigating Unit Stream Power And Drainage Capture In The Upper Dajia River, Taiwan Using Geomorphic Indices, Lindsey C. Belliveau

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Qm/Mm Calculations Of Spectral Tuning In Squid Rhodopsin, Jennifer Pardus

Master's Theses

This study utilized a QM/MM methodology to model and explore the protein structure and active site of invertebrate squid rhodopsin, and employed time dependent density functional theory (td-dft) calculations to further investigate the excited states of this protein. The high-resolution (2.5 Å) X-ray crystal structure of squid rhodopsin (species Todarodes pacificus) was the first Gq-coupled Guanine Protein Coupled Receptor (GPCR) structure to be determined. The availability of this novel x-ray structure data, in conjunction with computational tools, provided the opportunity to study the relationship between certain structural attributes of squid rhodopsin in the vicinity of the photoreactive center, and the …

A Physiologically Motivated Approach To The Classification Of Natural Sounds Using High Order Sound Statistics, Brian B. Bishop

Master's Theses

The ability of humans and animals to classify sounds into behaviorally relevant categories is an ongoing field of study in auditory neuroscience and psychophysics. We employed a physiologically motivated signal processing scheme to extract time-varying statistics from a large database of real sounds. Our hypothesis is that two sound statistics, intensity and contrast, will be sufficient to classify broad categories of sounds using a naïve Bayesian classifier. We seek to evaluate this hypothesis, determine to what extent these two time-varying statistics can be used to classify sounds and to evaluate the limitations of the technique. The sounds themselves were organized …

Hydrologic Characteristics Of Summer Stream Temperatures In Little Creek And Scotts Creek At The Swanton Pacific Ranch, Justin M. Louen

Master's Theses

Stream temperature impacts have resulted in increased restrictions on land management such as timber harvest and have created considerable uncertainty for future planning and management of redwood forestlands. Challenges remain in the assessment of downstream cumulative effects given the complexity of stream temperature dynamics. The goal of this research is to identify the risk of downstream temperature heating based on the summer low flow residence times, stream morphological characteristics, stream water storage, and heat budget exchanges. Stream temperature, hydrologic, climatic, and channel morphological data were collected on two, approximately 800 m stream reaches on Little Creek and Scotts Creek located …

Correlation Of Polymer Performance And Hansen Solubility Parameters, Daniel Jobse Mania

Master's Theses

Ready-to-use (RTU) grout is becoming more important to the finish and remodeling construction industry. Market research shows it is a fast-growing product that not only is creating its own space, but is beginning to supplant existing technology.

The original intent of this research was to investigate formulation parameters and how they affect grout performance. It was learned that particle size and oil absorption (OA) value are important filler properties that affect performance as much as adequate packing density and optimal pigment volume concentration (PVC) without going beyond critical PVC (CPVC).

Polymer architecture was also determined to be extremely important, but …

An Assessment Of Number Representation In The Small-Eared Bushbaby (Otolemur Garnettii), Tiffany Aycia Woodard Baker

Master's Theses

In an effort to explain the underlying mechanisms of number representation, both the object-file and the approximate number system have been proposed. Despite the recognition in animals, both nonhuman and human, it remains unclear how numbers are represented cognitively or what system is employed. Furthermore, primate numerosity research has been almost exclusively conducted within haplorhine species (monkeys and apes). Within the strepsirhines (lemurs, lorises, and galagos), it has only been investigated in 15 diurnal and cathermal Malagasy primate species. No study to date has looked at this ability in either African strepsirhines or nocturnal primates. To examine the extent of …

Determining The Viability Of Recent Storms As Modern Analogues For North-Central Gulf Of Mexico Paleotempestology Through Sedimentary Analysis And Storm Surge Reconstruction, Joshua Caleb Bregy

Master's Theses

The northern Gulf of Mexico has been devastated by recent intense storms. Camille (1969) and Katrina (2005) are two notable hurricanes that made landfall in virtually the same location in Mississippi. However, fully understanding the risks and processes associated with hurricane impacts is impeded by a short and fragmented instrumental record. Paleotempestology could potentially use modern analogues from intense storms in this region to extend the hurricane record back to pre-observational time. Existing empirically based models can back-calculate surge heights over coastal systems as a function of transport distance, particle settling velocity, and gravitational acceleration. We collected cores in a …

Characterization Of Etbe + Cl And Isooctane + Cl Combustion Products Using Synchrotron Photoionization, Rong Yao

Master's Theses

The low temperature (298 – 700 K) oxidation characterizations of a series of fuel additives (ETBE and isooctane) were studied at advanced light source in Lawrence Berkley National lab, using a multiplexed chemical kinetics photoionization mass spectrometer with tunable synchrotron radiation. Using Cl atoms as initiators in presence of oxygen, photoionization data were collected. Data analysis was performed via characterization of the reaction species photoionization spectra and kinetic traces, from which the products and also the intermediates were identified. Relevant reaction dynamics on potential energy surfaces were calculated, reaction enthalpies of each individual step were presented using the CBS-QB3 composite …

Krylov Subspace Spectral Method With Multigrid For A Time-Dependent, Variable-Coefficient Partial Differential Equation, Haley Renee Dozier

Master's Theses

Krylov Subspace Spectral (KSS) methods are traditionally used to solve time-dependent, variable-coefficient PDEs. They are high-order accurate, component-wise methods that are efficient with variable input sizes.

This thesis will demonstrate how one can make KSS methods even more efficient by using a Multigrid-like approach for low-frequency components. The essential ingredients of Multigrid, such as restriction, residual correction, and prolongation, are adapted to the timedependent case. Then a comparison of KSS, KSS with Multigrid, KSS-EPI and standard Krylov projection methods will be demonstrated.

Location Inference Of Social Media Posts At Hyper-Local Scale, Brian D. Mcclanahan

Master's Theses

This paper describes an approach to infer the location of a social media post at a hyper-local scale based on its content, conditional to the knowledge that the post originates from a larger area such as a city or even a state. The approach comprises three components: (i) a discriminative classifier, namely, Logistic Regression (LR) which selects from a set of most probable sub-regions from where 1 a post might have originated; (ii) a clustering technique, namely, k-means, that adaptively partitions the larger geographic region into sub-regions based on the density of the posts; and (iii) a range of techniques …

Whisk: Web Hosted Information Into Summarized Knowledge, Jiewen Wu

Master's Theses

Today’s online content increases at an alarmingly rate which exceeds users’ ability to consume such content. Modern search techniques allow users to enter keyword queries to find content they wish to see. However, such techniques break down when users freely browse the internet without knowing exactly what they want. Users may have to invest an unnecessarily long time reading content to see if they are interested in it. Automatic text summarization helps relieve this problem by creating synopses that significantly reduce the text while preserving the key points. Steffen Lyngbaek created the SPORK summarization pipeline to solve the content overload …

The Prevalence And Severity Of Incidental Temporomandibular Joint Osteoarthritic Changes In Implant Patients: A Cone Beam Ct Study, Adel Alzahrani

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

A Clinical Trial To Investigate Digital Gingivitis Image Analysis Method And Examiner-Based Grading In Assessing Experimental Gingivitis, Liliana E. Aranguren

Master's Theses

A Clinical Trial to Investigate Digital Gingivitis Image Analysis Method and

Examiner-Based Grading in Assessing Experimental Gingivitis

Liliana Aranguren D.D.S

University of Connecticut, 2016

Objective: To compare a Digital Gingivitis Image Analysis (DGIA) method and examiner-based gingival grading in assessing experimental anterior gingivitis.

Methods: This was a single-center, examiner-blinded, parallel-group, randomized clinical trial. The study had 49 subjects and consisted of 2 phases: 2 weeks Oral Hygiene phase and 3 week induced gingivitis phase (days 0-21). During the hygiene phase, subjects received oral prophylaxis and used an electric toothbrush toothbrush. At day 0 of the Induced Gingivitis phase, 25 patients …

Parents' Involvement In Their Preschoolers Public Education: Families Of Children With And Without Disabilities, Lauren E. Racine

Master's Theses

Abstract

Parent involvement in early childhood education benefits the parents, the teachers, and most importantly the child. Parent involvement is a concept that refers to the participation of parents in their child’s development and academic learning, and is centered on the fostering of relationships between the home environment and the school environment (Fantuzzo, Tighe, & Childs, 2000). Currently, little research has been done on parent involvement in early childhood (and even less focusing on children with disabilities, specifically), and this study aims to fill this gap in the literature. Thirty nine parents of children enrolled in a public preschool program, …

Subsystem Failure Analysis Within The Horizon Simulation Framework, Ian M. Lunsford

Master's Theses

System design is an inherently expensive and time consuming process. Engineers are constantly tasked to investigate new solutions for various programs. Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) is an up and coming successful method used to reduce the time spent during the design process. By utilizing simulations, model-based systems engineering can verify high-level system requirements quickly and at low cost early in the design process. The Horizon Simulation Framework, or HSF, provides the capability of simulating a system and verifying the system performance. This paper outlines an improvement to the Horizon Simulation Framework by providing information to the user regarding schedule failures …

An Investigation Into The Use Of Polymer Bound Boronic Acid For Glucose Detection In Paper Based Microfluidic Devices, Spencer A. Schultz

Master's Theses

Paper Based Microfluidic Devices (microPADs) are a new platform for point-of-care diagnostic assays for use in resource-limited settings. These devices rely typically on enzymatic assays to produce their results, which makes them susceptible to degradation when exposed to extreme environmental conditions such as high temperature. In order to overcome this limitation, this research project focused on investigating the use of polymers instead of enzymes to detect analytes on microPADs.

Polymer-bound boronic acid, a glucose and pH sensitive polymer, was incorporated into microPADs in order to develop a chronometric, paper-based glucose assay. The polymer was tested with both lateral and vertical …

Complex Filters As As A Cascade Of Of Buffered Gingell Structures: Design From From Band-Stop Constraints, Samuel Robert Johnston

Master's Theses

This thesis presents an active Complex Filter implementation that that creates a transfer function with with a single real pole and a complex zero. The two-input/two-output network developed in in this thesis responds differently based upon upon the relative phase difference of of the two inputs. If a negative ninety-degree phase difference occurs between the two inputs, the filter will exhibits a bandstop response. While a positive ninety-degree phase difference exhibits a bandpass response. This topology is relatesd to to Gingell’s RC-CR polyphase topology but because of of the use of of op-amps, can be cascadedd without without suffering loading …

Ncma Groundwater Model Using Usgs Modflow-2005/Pest, Brian Matthew Wallace

Master's Theses

A numerical model for the NCMA aquifer complex is presented. The objective of the study is to develop a numerical groundwater model for the NCMA aquifer system to enhance the understanding of subsurface groundwater flow. Infiltration, streamflow, pumping, and return flows are implemented to characterize the aquifer complex over time. The numerical model is calibrated to municipal and monitoring well data, average monthly water balances, and hydraulic contours. Transient aquifer inflows and outflows are assessed in the results of the study and are compared to balance terms from previous studies. The 2007 Todd Engineers Study subsurface inflows and outflows generate …

Concatenative Synthesis For Novel Timbral Creation, James Eric Bilous

Master's Theses

Modern day musicians rely on a variety of instruments for musical expression. Tones produced from electronic instruments have become almost as commonplace as those produced by traditional ones as evidenced by the plethora of artists who can be found composing and performing with nothing more than a personal computer. This desire to embrace technical innovation as a means to augment performance art has created a budding field in computer science that explores the creation and manipulation of sound for artistic purposes. One facet of this new frontier concerns timbral creation, or the development of new sounds with unique characteristics that …