Digital Commons Network^™

Christ's Consequentialism In Light Of Abelard And Mill, John Witt

Masters Theses

An exegetical investigation of the ethical teachings of Christ seen throughout the Gospel accounts. Christ's consequentialist teachings are further clarified by investigating the works of Peter Abelard and John Stuart Mill. Brief reviews of modern consequentialists and utilitarians are given, and finally a cumulative formulation of a working Christian utilitarian ethic is formulated.

Impact Of Framing And Priming On Users' Behavior In Cybersecurity, Kavya Sharma

Masters Theses

"This research examines the impact of framing and priming on users' behavior (i.e., action) in a cybersecurity setting. It also examines perceptual outcomes (i.e., confidence, perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, trust, and fear) associated with the users' cybersecurity action. The research draws on prospect theory in the behavioral economics literature and instance-based learning theory in the education literature to generate the hypotheses for the research. A between-subject experimental design (N=129) was used. The results suggest that priming users to cybersecurity risks reduces their risk-taking behavior associated with cybersecurity whereas negative framing of messages associated with cybersecurity has no significant effect on …

Survey And Data Analysis Of Weak Gel Treatments In Injection Wells, Zhuxing Chen

Masters Theses

"Excessive water production is a major concern in mature reservoirs. Weak gels have been applied in injection wells for in-depth profile modification. However, the data range and distribution of each parameter that affects performance of weak gels have not been studied thoroughly.

China has the largest amount of chemical-based conformance control treatments. This paper presents a summary of comprehensive data ranges and distributions for weak gel treatments based on the laboratory experiments and field applications in China from 2001 to 2010. The data set includes 76 cases compiled from China Academic Journals papers. In this study, reservoir properties, gel properties …

The Use Of Ceramic Water Filters Under Pressure In An In-Line Water Pumping System, Travis Dean Gardner

Masters Theses

"Ceramic pot filters (CPFs) have proven an effective point of use (POU) filter due to their relative low cost, ease to manufacture, and effectiveness at treating contaminated water. These filters are used by individual homes, and sometimes multiple filters are needed for each home in order to produce enough water for the family's household. If these filters could be used in-line with a pumping system or elevated storage tank, water could be filtered and used on demand for a community in an economically feasible way. However, CPFs are too fragile to use under pressure due to the weak points where …

Comparing Region Level Testing Methods For Differential Dna Methylation Analysis, Arnold Albert Harder

Masters Theses

”Finding possible connections and solutions to help fight progression of diseases is a major area of research. Genomics is a primary path of research in disease research. Through the DNA sequence, possible connections to diseases have been found. However, most methods for fixing issues within a DNA sequence are still out of reach. One potential path is to investigate epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation. DNA methylation occurs when a methyl group attached to cytosines on the DNA sequence. Statistical methods can be used to identify sites or regions of significant differences in methylation levels between groups ( e. g. …

Uface: Your Universal Password No One Can See, Nicholas Steven Hilbert

Masters Theses

"With the advantage of not having to memorize long passwords, facial authentication has become a topic of interest among researchers. However, since many users store images containing their face on social networking sites, a new challenge emerges in preventing attackers from impersonating these users by using these online photos. Another problem with most current facial authentication protocols is that they require an unencrypted image of each registered user's face to compare against. Moreover, they might require the user's device to execute computationally expensive multiparty protocols which presents a problem for mobile devices with limited processing power. Finally, these authentication protocols …

Towards A Better Understanding Of Indoor Exposure To Air Pollutants: Window Opening Occurrence In U.S. Residences, Gauri Dilip Date

Masters Theses

"Opening a window dramatically alters how we are exposed to air pollutants. Online questionnaire surveys were deployed to assess window-opening occurrence of the occupants of US homes. This information will be used to better quantify population exposure to pollutants of indoor and outdoor origin. Frequency distributions of demographics were generated which showed percentages of respondents who participated in the surveys from categories including gender, race, household income and occupancy. In April 2016, 49.3% of the people surveyed opened their windows for at least 1 hour in a day. This increased to 52.5% in September 2016 and reduced considerably to 24.4% …

Cloth-Air Partitioning Of Oxybenzone, Jonathan T. Hill

Masters Theses

"Clothing has been proven to be a significant accumulator of chemicals from the air. Semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) have a high affinity towards textiles, and measuring the equilibrium partition coefficient between cloth and air (K_cloth-air) for SVOCs is crucial in predicting human exposure to these compounds. This study aims to quantify K_cloth-air for oxybenzone to contribute to a larger human exposure experiment carried out at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). K_cloth-air for oxybenzone was calculated using data collected from the exposure chamber at DTU and from performing extractions of oxybenzone in fabric samples from the …

Hydraulic Conductivity Testing Of Cement-Bentonite Mixes For Use In Annular Well Seals, Amy Lynn Norval

Masters Theses

"Grout is the material used in the annulus of water supply and monitoring wells to prevent movement of water from adjacent formations or from the land surface into the well. Grout is critical for preventing cross-contamination of aquifers through a borehole when a single well penetrates multiple aquifers and for protecting aquifers from surface contamination. The composition and emplacement of grout is regulated in most states, with standard mixes of bentonite and cement being the most widely used types of grout. Despite widespread adoption of grout regulations, surprisingly little literature is available to describe the effectiveness of different grout mixtures. …

Hydrogeochemical Controls On Reactive And Nonreactive Solute Transport In Heterogenous Porous Media, Mahta Gholizadeh Ansari

Masters Theses

"This work examines how physical and chemical heterogeneity can affect reactive and non-reactive transport in porous media. The effect of heterogeneity of the porous media is investigated both on dissolution rate of magnesite and attenuation time of nonreactive contaminants in non-reactive media. Various spatial distribution were created using statistical parameters in PETREL.A total of 6793 transport modeling simulations were run using CrunchFlow. Lasso regression was used to select most significant features and those features are then used in linear regression and deep learning models.

The magnesite dissolution simulations were performed under different permeability ratios (magnesite /sand permeability) and inlet pH. …

Processing, Microstructure, And Properties Of Engineered Diboride Structures, Connor Charles Wittmaier

Masters Theses

"The mechanical properties and processing parameters of boride ceramics in foam and laminate architectures were evaluated. The ceramic reticulated foam was produced through a polymer substrate replication technique and the hardness and compressive strength were tested. The laminate structure was tested to evaluate the flexure strength and work of fracture as a function of temperature.

The foam architecture was produced using a TiB₂ slurry coating on a polyurethane reticulated foam preform. Foams sintered to 2150⁰C displayed an average grain size of 8.9 ± 7.3 µm, and a hardness of 17.3 ± 2.4 GPa. Crush testing foams were sintered at …

Imaging In Karst Terrain Using The Electrical Resistivity And Multichannel Analyses Of Surface Wave Methods, Ragab W. Jaafar

Masters Theses

"Electrical resistivity tomography and multi-channel analyses of surface waves data were acquired at a study area in Phelps County in the south-central part of Missouri. The objectives of the investigation were fourfold: 1) to image the subsurface in the study area to a depth of 70 feet; 2) to compare the ERT images generated using both the dipole-dipole and Wenner-Schlumberger arrays; and 3) to assess how variations in the MASW array configuration affected MASW data quality; and 4) to compare the ERT-estimated depth to top-of-rock and the MASW-generated depth to top-of-rock.

The subsurface in the study area was imaged to …

Developing Restoration Schemes For A Road Transportation Network In The Event Of A Disaster, Ebin Antony

Masters Theses

"Transportation systems such as rail, road, and waterways are key component of critical infrastructure systems, providing connectivity between other components to enable the production and distribution of goods and services. During large scale disasters such as earth quakes and floods, this connectivity is disrupted, restricting or completely halting the flow of goods and services. To ensure that the connectivity between the different modes of transportation are restored in an aftermath of these disruptions, the interdependence between them and the importance of individual elements to the overall connectivity have to be studied and formulated to develop a system-level restoration plan. This …

Cyber-Physical Manufacturing Cloud: An Efficient Method Of Building Digital Twin For 3d Printer By Adapting Mtconnect Protocol, Liwen Hu

Masters Theses

"The common modeling of a virtual machine is using an information model to describe the physics of machines. The integration of digital twins into productive cyber-physical cloud manufacturing (CPCM) systems imposes strict requirements such as reducing overhead and saving resources for the systems. In this paper, we investigate a new method for building cloud-based digital twins (CBDT), which can be adapted to the CPCM platform. Our method helps reduce computing resources in the processing center and guarantees the fastest speed of the interactions between the human users and physical machines. We introduce a knowledge resource center (KRC) built on a …

Combination Of Bmp-2 And Relaxin To Induce Osteogenesis In Vivo, Sahitya Injamuri

Masters Theses

"Bone grafts are a common procedure for treating craniofacial injuries such as trauma, surgery, and reconstruction. Autografts and allografts have limitations which encourages the use of synthetic bone grafts. While synthetic bone grafts, such as hydroxyapatite (HA) microspheres, are advantageous for their cost and reproducibility, they lack the cells and growth factors needed for proper osteoinduction. Bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) has been shown to increase the osteoinduction of grafts but the effective dose is above physiological levels and causes undesired effects on the body. Relaxin has been shown to enhance BMP-2's ability to induce bone formation in vitro and thus …

Well Log Interpretation And 3d Reservoir Property Modeling Of Maui-B Field, Taranaki Basin, New Zealand, Aziz Mennan

Masters Theses

"Maui-B is one of the largest hydrocarbon-producing fields in the Taranaki Basin. Many previous works have estimated reservoir volume. This study uses 3D property modeling, which is one of the most powerful tools to characterize lithology and reservoir fluids distribution through the field. This modeling will help in understanding the reservoir properties and enhancing the production by selecting the best location for future drilling candidates. In this study, 3D seismic, core, and well log data were used to build and define a structural model, facies analysis, and petrophysical parameters. After well log interpretation and petrophysical parameter calculations, each parameter was …

Combined Flue Gas Cleanup Process For Simultaneous Removal Of SoX, NoX, And Co₂ -- A Techno-Economic Analysis, Amit Narendrasing Hajari

Masters Theses

"Flue gas cleanup often requires the removal of SO_x, NO_x and CO₂ in separate units before atmospheric emission. The step-wise treatment process currently in place incurs significant cost and energy penalty. A single-step adsorption process based on pressure swing adsorption (PSA) by which these impurities are removed is envisioned as an efficient means of flue gas cleanup that can be applied relatively easily. In this study, the technological and economic feasibility of a single-step separation process in which SO_x, NO_x and CO₂ are simultaneously removed from flue gas streams are assessed. Capital …

Chance, Chaos, And Chloral: Lily Bart Gambles It All In The House Of Mirth, Stacey L. Fitzpatrick

Masters Theses

Much of traditional literary study of Lily Bart’s struggles and social failures depicted in The House of Mirth focuses on her fear of losing her freewill, her reliance on fate or Fortuna, and her dislike of the options set before her. In this paper I will use several important scenes to illustrate that Lily’s penchant for gambling more accurately explains her behavior and rejection of social and cultural expectations. Preferring her freedom and weighing her options of marriage for power or a financially secure lifestyle, Lily considers them as a gambler, balancing her marriage prospects against her love for excitement …

“Such Night Till This I Never Passed” : How The Dreams Of Adam And Eve Lead To The Decision To Fall In Paradise Lost, Robert B. Chapman

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the idea that the Fall in Paradise Lost by John Milton is not a sudden event, but rather Adam and Eve's adherence to temptations that begin long before, specifically in Eve's vision and Adam's thoughts on Eve. This project begins by challenging the ways in which readers of the poem often overlook Eve as they focus solely on Satan or Adam. By looking at Eve's depiction as truly Adam's equal in the poem, this thesis then moves to the idea that temptations are an individual experience that begins first in the mind. Often, readers and scholars explore …

Reading Vice: The Christian Text In Geoffrey Of Monmouth's Historia Regum Brittaniae, Nancy S. Bell

Masters Theses

Geoffrey of Monmouth claimed his purpose for writing Historia regum Britanniae was to record a history of the British kings and their great deeds. On the surface, his book is indeed a chronicle detailing the reigns of several important kings and glossing over many more. However, below the surface, Geoffrey includes layers of Christian text to motivate his audience to avoid vice. To clue his readers into the Christian meaning, Geoffrey makes use of shared beliefs, such as that vices should be avoided, that a king’s behavior affects his people, that disease can be a manifestation of sin, and that …

Evaluation Of The Nutritional Options For Wellness (Now) Program: Mitigating Cardiovascular Disease And Type 2 Diabetes Through Food Pantries, Sarah L. Henning

Masters Theses

Individuals with a lower socioeconomic status are at higher risk for chronic disease diagnosis and complications (Gerteis et al., 2014). The NOW Program is a social service program that was created in order to relieve some of the burden placed on these individuals utilizing the charitable food system. The purpose of the study was to perform a quantitative program evaluation on the NOW Program which is administered by pantry coordinating organization. The NOW Program connects chronically ill, low income members of Kent County with local food pantries that offer diet specific food and health education about their specific chronic disease …

Networking And Connecting Creative Minds: Understanding Social Media’S Role In Today’S Visual Arts Instruction, Tonya Rose Kirby

Masters Theses

This study explores the use of social media in K-12 visual arts programs, focusing on why and how art educators choose to implement social media in their instructional practice. This study discusses benefits and disadvantages of social media as a pedagogical and creative tool in art education through analysis of the survey responses of 50 in-service teachers. Finally, specific social media platforms are recommended, with in-class examples provided for art teachers interested in using social media in their program.

The Failure Of Westphalia: A Constructivist Examination Of Western And Middle Eastern Relations, Jayson Warren

Masters Theses

This thesis is not intended to be a dogmatic or pedantic endorsement of any one religion, ethic, or culture. To the contrary, it is the intent of the author to examine a number of competing ideas, philosophies, and belief systems in order to extrapolate their geopolitical implications and to pursue them to their logical (albeit sometimes inevitable) conclusions. Too often, any number of presuppositions at work within a given situation go overlooked and subsequently skew geopolitical analysis and resulting policy decisions. This thesis seeks to transcend mere opinion or speculation and achieve instead a framework of Constructivism for pragmatic comprehension …

Optimal Design Of Automotive Exhaust Thermoelectric Generator (Aeteg), Hassan Fagehi

Masters Theses

A consumption of energy continues to increase at an exponential rate, especially in terms of automotive spark ignitions vehicles. About 40% of the applied fuel into a vehicle is lost as waste exhaust to the environment. The desire for improved fuel efficiency by recovering the exhaust waste heat in automobiles has become an important subject. The thermoelectric generator (TEG) has the potential to convert exhaust waste heat into electricity as long as it is improving fuel economy. The remarkable amount of research being conducted on TEGs indicates that this technology will have a bright future in terms of power generation. …

Real Or Not Real: Fragmentation, Fabrication, And Composite Identity In The Hunger Games And The Mass Effect Trilogy, Tessanna Curtis

Masters Theses

As one glance at box office ratings from the past decade can attest to, twenty-first century Western society seems particularly fixated on coming-of-age stories. These stories reflect the quintessential search for identity, as explained by developmental psychologist Erik Erikson. As Erikson argues throughout his works, the fundamental task of the individual on his journey to becoming a healthy, mature adult is the formation of a personal identity and sense of self that is both unified and whole. What seems particularly ironic, however, is that these coming-of-age stories are released into a culture that is largely dismissive of Erikson’s theory of …

Sexual Health Education Among The Intellectually And Developmentally Delayed Populations: An Examination Of Medical Providers Perspective, Sarah E. Nota

Masters Theses

Sexuality is a recognized human right as it influences mental, social and emotional wellbeing. Despite this, individuals with intellectual or developmentally delays (ID/DD) rarely receive the necessary sexual education. ID/DD persons are also at an increased risk for sexual abuse, further demonstrating the strong need for education. A natural setting in which to receive unbiased and informative sexual health information is through their medical provider. The purpose of this research was to examine current clinic standards, education, and perceptions of medical providers in regards to sexual education for ID/DD adolescents. Medical providers and students within West Michigan were surveyed with …

Agents Of Justice: Female Plaintiffs In The King’S Court In Thirteenth And Fourteenth-Century England, J. Savannah Shipman

Masters Theses

It has often been assumed that medieval women, noble or common, had little or no agency, were forced into submissive roles by dominating men, and had little control over their day-to-day lives. Theoretical statements about law served to support these assumptions as they forbade women from prosecuting men for any crimes other than the murder of her husband or for rape. Yet the records of the court proceedings before the king and his justices and the Calendar of Patent Rolls paint a very different picture. The sources themselves show that women regularly came to court to gain compensation and justice …

Die Phantasie Gottes: An Analysis Of The Divine Ideas In Deity Theories And Brian Leftow, With A Proposed Synthesis, Nathaniel Dowell

Masters Theses

This thesis was on how God is related to the truth-values of propositions on possible worlds - specifically, those propositions that do not seem to be about Him and constitute His ideas for what to create. It opened with a survey of some historical positions with special emphasis on Aquinas, Leibniz, Spinoza and Kant. Next, some criticisms were given for these so-called deity theories (i.e., the belief that possibilities are dependent on God and God must, by nature, recognize the necessary truths He does) with the most space given to Brian Leftow’s critiques. The second chapter detailed Brian Leftow’s theological …

Junot Díaz’S The Brief, Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao And Its Punishment Of Failed Gender Performances, Bruno Yupanqui Tovar

Masters Theses

Junot Díaz’s renowned novel, The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Oscar Wao), presents the brief and wondrous life of its main character, Oscar Wao, but also describes the exceptional lives of Lola and Belicia, his sister and mother, respectively. While the story’s title asserts an enthusiastic tone to the lives of Oscar—and the females in his family—the story actually reveals the victimization and demise of these characters. Though Díaz offers the spell of Fukú americanus, a Dominican superstition, Feminist Theorist Judith Butler provides a more advantageous, concrete explanation for the subjugation of these characters. Butler argues that culture dictates …

The Library Under The Sun: Knowledge And Vanity In Umberto Eco’S The Name Of The Rose, Elizabeth Lamont

Masters Theses

Umberto Eco’s debut novel The Name of the Rose is so saturated with theoretical conversations and allusions that it can be read as a work of critical theory almost as much as it can be read as the wonderful detective novel that so many people have enjoyed. This thesis approaches the novel accordingly, engaging with the theoretical questions and ideas presented in the novel and evaluating them based on a biblical worldview. The central theoretical questions in the novel revolve around what can be known and how. Many critics have argued that the novel answers these questions of epistemology in …