Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluation Of Perennial Plant Success On A Green Roof, Chris White

Theses

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF: CHRISTOPHER M. WHITE, for the Master of Science degree in PLANT, SOIL AND AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS, presented in 2017 at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. TITLE: EVALUATION OF PERENNIAL PLANT SUCCESS ON A GREEN ROOF MAJOR PROFESSORS: Karen Stoelzle Midden, S. Alan Walters A two-year study (2011-2012) was conducted on a section of an extensive green roof of the Agriculture Building at Southern Illinois University to evaluate the adaptability of four plant species to green roof culture. Extensive green roof survival, growth, and general success of four plant species (Allium schoenoprasum L., Dianthus gratianopolitanus ‘Grandiflorus’ Vill., …

Time Reversal Symmetry Breaking In 4f-Doped Topological Insulators, Stephen Hofer

Theses

Time-Reversal Symmetry (TRS) is a hallmark of Topological Insulator (TI) systems. TRS in conjuction with the strong Spin-Orbit Coupling (SOC) present in Bismuth Selenide is responsible for the uniquely robust surface states shown in this material. Breaking TRS in these systems in order to achieve gapped surface states requires the presence of a magnetic field throughout the material. We achieve this effect by doping the system with 4f elements whereby the magnetic field is provided by the local magnetic moments of the dopants manifesting ferromagnetic behavior. Through this spontaneous gap opening in the surface states in is expected that the …

The Effects Of Fluopyram On Macrophomina Phaseolina And Charcoal Rot Of Soybean, Annie Caroline Padgett

Theses

Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid., is a soilborne fungus that causes charcoal rot in over 500 plant species including Zea mays L. and Glycine max (L.) Merr. The pathogen is present in most soybean growing regions of the United States. Infection in soybean can occur after emergence and throughout the vegetative growth stages in a range of environmental conditions. The syndrome is manifest during periods of hot and dry conditions during the reproductive states of the crop. Management options are lacking and consist of avoidance and irrigating crops to lessen the damage caused by the pathogen. Fluopyram is a succinate dehydrogenase …

Data Driven Energy Efficiency Strategies For Commercial Buildings Using Occupancy Information, Lourdes Marozas-Aliaga

Theses

Most building automation systems operate with settings based on design assumptions with fixed operational schedules and fixed occupancy, when in fact both schedules and occupancy levels vary dynamically. In particular, the heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system provides a minimum ventilation airflow calculated for the maximum room capacity, when rooms are rarely fully occupied. Energy is wasted by over-supplying and conditioning air that is not required, which also leads to thermal discomfort. In higher educational institutions, where classroom occupancy goals vary from 60% to 80% of their maximum capacity, potential savings are substantial. Existing occupancy and schedule information from …

Statistics Anxiety Towards Learning New Statistical Software, Shahd Saad Alnofaie

Theses

Based on previous research, statistics anxiety towards statistics were discussed. There is a study about anxiety and attitude of graduate students in on-campus vs. online statistics courses, and student attitude toward statistics. To date, no one has seemed to examine anxiety toward statistics with regard to use of coding vs. noncoding software. The purpose of this study was to know the level of anxiety towards learning new statistical software. Responses from seventy-nine graduate students who have or had classes in the Applied Statistics Division were collected. The survey made for this study had a Likert scale that included three categories …

Special Interest Magazine Publishers’ Digital Strategies For Reader Engagement, Patricia Axford

Theses

This research study is intended to examine the strategies that special interest magazine publishers are utilizing to develop engaging reader experiences. In addition, the role of reader input in the curation and creation of interactive content for these publications is also investigated. Published research has indicated that reader interest in specific topics increases the likelihood of engagement with the publication, resulting in prolonged readership. Furthermore, studies suggest that interactivity has a positive effect on entertainment value, visual appeal, service excellence, and a return on investment with regard to readers. Digital technologies enable publishers to provide readers with bundled offerings with …

Design, Fault Modeling And Testing Of A Fully Integrated Low Noise Amplifier (Lna) In 45 Nm Cmos Technology For Inter And Intra-Chip Wireless Interconnects, Tanmay Vinay Shinde

Theses

Research in recent years has demonstrated that intra and inter-chip wireless interconnects are capable of establishing energy-efficient data communications within as well as between multiple chips. This thesis introduces a circuit level design of a source degenerated two stage common source low noise amplifier suitable for such wireless interconnects in 45-nm CMOS process. The design consists of a simple two-stage common source structure based Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) to boost the degraded received signal. Operating at 60GHz, the proposed low noise amplifier consumes only 4.88 mW active power from a 1V supply while providing 17.2 dB of maximum gain at …

Lvad Occlusion Condition Monitoring Using State Augmented Acoustic Spectral Images, Ian Richard Prechtl

Theses

Each year, thousands of people die from heart disease and related illnesses due to the lack of available donor organs. Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) aim to mitigate that occurrence, serving as a bridge-to-surgery option. While short term survival rates of LVAD patients near that of orthotopic surgery they are not viable long term options due to varied reasons. This work examines one cause, outlet graft thrombosis, and develops an algorithm for increasingly robust classification of device condition as it pertains to thrombosis or more generally occlusion. In order to do so an in vitro heart simulator is developed so …

24 Jie Qi Journey: Learning Jie Qi Culture And Living A Healthy Life, Yuqi Xiao

Theses

This project aims to explore new ways to spread traditional culture of Jie Qi and to teach a healthy lifestyle according the theory of Jie Qi. The project provides comprehensive design solutions through a website to remedy the problem of ineffective learning of complex knowledge from books and lack of communication. The website creates a virtual visual environment through interactive design that offer users a playful journey through an introduction of Jie Qi.

Jie Qi is a historic and significant invention. Based on observations of the sun’s movement integrated with natural phenomenon, starting about 3000 years ago, the ancient Chinese …

Design For Curiosity: A Study Of Visual Design Elements, Interaction, And Motivation, Elaine Carole Montambeau

Theses

The field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) has traditionally focused on the usability of a system, but as increasing numbers of interactive products become entwined in our daily lives, so does the opportunity to understand user impacts that reach beyond usability. In particular, interaction design, a subdomain of HCI, expands the focus of HCI by looking at the aesthetic impacts a system may have on user emotions. Curiosity is one such emotion that tends to induce information-seeking and motivational behaviors. An experimental study was undertaken to determine whether an interactive, front-end graphic that incorporated curiosity principles in its design would …

Wrought, Tim Grayson

Theses

This body of work was my investigation into why I have been so fascinated with armor and protection. I wanted to go beyond the desire for physical protection and discover why I felt fixated upon it. This led me to look at the strength one finds when acknowledging the underlying vulnerability rather than trying to hide it and seeing the positive outcomes that can result from times of struggle.

Thinking About Life: Being Balanced, Xinhao Yang

Theses

My thesis work represents my thinking about life at present. It is influenced by Chinese culture and Chinese philosophy as well as my own experience. I was also inspired by the Yin Yang doctrine of Taosim. Everything is composed of a pair of contrary elements: positive and negative. Balance is the keyword of my life view currently. I believe that everyone's life should be balanced. This means enjoying the positive parts and not resenting the negative parts because they are equally important in our lives. It is the negative element of life that enhances the positive element. I suggest experiencing …

Validation Of An Innovation Mining Framework, Karthikeyan Subramani

Theses

The driving hypothesis of this thesis is that a quantitative approach linking business objectives of an organization with technological limitations of the physical product would enable industry to create more innovative products. The main goal of this research is to validate the applicability and reliability of the innovation mining framework developed by Peyyeti (2016) to identify innovation opportunities and components worth innovating in a product. In this work, the innovation mining framework is applied with minor modifications to a mechanical pencil, innovation scenarios were then compared to existing innovations in mechanical pencils. Based on the success of the feasibility trial, …

“Hoilet System”— A Way To Improve Experience In High Traffic Female Public Restrooms In The U.S, Kaining Qiu

Theses

This paper focuses on improving the experience of women using high traffic public restrooms in the U.S. By looking into the past studies on the insufficient numbers of ladies’ rooms provided under building codes and the lack of accommodations for multi-tasking, with further research on public restroom cleanliness and personal privacy, this paper proposes that all four of those contribute to an unpleasant experience. At the same time, little has been done to address these problems nationwide and most of the relevant research is out of date. To further understand the overall experience women go through, a survey was conducted …

The Impact Of Perceived Leadership Styles On Hotel Employee Job Engagement, Abutaleb Zarban

Theses

Engaged employees have a positive impact on organizational outcomes. In fact, employees who are highly committed to their jobs tend to perform better, and such employees are less likely to quit. Leaders in the workplace have the potential to influence employee work engagement. Different leadership styles might drive employee engagement to different extents. The purposes of this study are twofold: to identify the leadership styles and drivers that lead to engaged employees, and to contribute to the literature of employee engagement in the context of hospitality and tourism. This study used a quantitative method, specifically survey that was distributed to …

Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics, Tanmayee Gupte

Theses

Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) is a meshfree particle method based on a Lagrangian formulation, which has been widely applied to different areas in astrophysics involving complicated fluid dynamical processes. For the first part of this project we have expanded an existing smoothed particle hydrodynamic code (StarCrash). We have added different time integration methods and used them to study the code's overall ability to conserve energy. In the second part we have evaluated the StarCrash code's ability to use different numerical treatments to perform shock tube simulations via Sod's shock tube test. We have used different evolution schemes involving either the …

Efficient Inventory Management Of Hospital Supply Chains Using A Sim-Heuristic Approach, Siddharth Garg

Theses

Inventory management is a vital section of a supply chain system. In a hospital setting, where delivering high quality patient care is a prime concern, inventory management is often overlooked. With the ever increasing demand for products, it becomes challenging to manage inventory in a dynamic facility such as a hospital. Although there is abundant research in supply chain, seldom have the proposed methods found their way into execution in actual hospital settings. Additionally, much of the literature focuses on particular aspects of the supply chain. Current methods used in practice lead to system performance that is suboptimal, resulting in …

Implementing A Database To Intervene In And Reduce Gun Violence In Rochester, Ny, Audrey Dipoala

Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the issue of gun violence, specifically urban gun violence in the city of Rochester, New York. The goal was to gain an understanding of the circumstances surrounding these shootings and to learn how to potentially reduce these types of incidents. In order to do this, we created a database containing over 200 different variables covering incident information, victim/suspect information, weapons information, circumstances, and outcome of the investigation. All fatal and non-fatal shootings in the City of Rochester between years 2010 and 2012 were entered into this database. These three years’ worth of …

Mathematical Model And Parameter Estimation For Tumor Growth, Lujun Yin

Theses

We consider a tumor growth model initially proposed by Ward and King in 1997. Our primary goal is to find an efficient and accurate numerical method for the identification of parameters in the model (an inverse problem) from measurements of the evolving tumor over time. The so-called direct problem, in this case, is to solve a system of coupled nonlinear partial differential equations for given fixed values of the unknown parameters. We compare several derivative-free and gradient-based methods for the solution of the inverse problem which is formulated as an optimization problem with the system of partial differential equations (PDEs) …

A Quantum Simulation Study Of Iii-V Esaki Diodes And 2d Tunneling Field-Effect Transistors, Patsy Cadareanu

Theses

Tunnel field-effect transistors (TFETs) have long been considered as a replacement technology for metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors in low power digital applications due to their low OFF-current and small subthreshold swing. These benefits are somewhat neutralized by the low ON-current exhibited by TFETs fabricated with large bandgap semiconductors such as silicon. To offset this drawback, different material systems can be used, with material optimization required for the channel material, the gate stack, and their corresponding geometries. This study considers the novel idea of using 2-dimensional (2D) semiconductors for the channel material in TFETs, and the potential effects of such a channel …

An Assessment Of Small Unmanned Aerial Systems In Support Of Sustainable Forestry Management Initiatives, Michael P. Mcclelland Ii

Theses

Sustainable forest management practices are receiving renewed attention in the growing effort to make efficient long-term use of natural resources. Sustainable management approaches require accurate and timely measurement of the world’s forests to monitor volume, biomass, and changes in sequestered carbon. It is in this context that remote sensing technologies, which possess the capability to rapidly capture structural data of entire forests, have become a key research area. Laser scanning systems, also known as lidar (light detection and ranging), have reached a maturity level where they may be considered a standard data source for structural measurements of forests; however, airborne …

Holographic Generative Memory: Neurally Inspired One-Shot Learning With Memory Augmented Neural Networks, Dillon R. Graham

Theses

Humans quickly parse and categorize stimuli by combining perceptual information and previously learned knowledge. We are capable of learning new information quickly with only a few observations, and sometimes even a single observation. This one-shot learning (OSL) capability is still very difficult to realize in machine learning models. Novelty is commonly thought to be the primary driver for OSL. However, neuroscience literature shows that biological OSL mechanisms are guided by uncertainty, rather than novelty, motivating us to explore this idea for machine learning.

In this work, we investigate OSL for neural networks using more robust compositional knowledge representations and a …

Fissures And Fractures: An Investigation In Natural Breakdowns, Joshua Dewall

Theses

Growing up in a mostly rural area in the Midwest, I spent great lengths outside as a child. Sure, I was born into the era of arcade games and Nintendo, but I remember preferring more active experiences rather than the stationary ones held within doors. Maybe it was hard to keep my focus; maybe I was a bit hyperactive. Whatever the reason, I wasn’t inside when I didn’t have to be. I recall escaping into the woods for hours when I was younger. I would take long bike rides or escape into the horse pasture deep behind our house. Not …

Heymoe: Leveraging Virtual Robot And Game Mechanics In Mobile Prototype Application Design For Chinese Language Learning, Boxiao Gong

Theses

With the growth of internet technology, individuals currently have a better experience in using interactive systems like desktop computer software or mobile device applications than ever before. Moreover, using mobile phones in learning activities is becoming increasingly popular. However, the learning applications today do not fully meet the learner’s needs, especially for young adults who have some interest but lack fundamental knowledge in their study subjects. Combining mobile phone technology and game elements could make it possible to solve this problem. In this way, the limitations of location and the sometimes boring nature of the learning activities could be efficiently …

Convex Optimization Approach To The Optimal Power Flow Problem In Dc-Microgrids With Energy Storage, Abdullah Mohammed Alzahrani

Theses

Humanity is currently facing a global energy crisis. This is due to the shortage in the conventional energy resources while the demand for energy is rising. In response to this crisis, research in designing more energy efficient systems has gained significant importance. The Microgrids (MGs) are one of the main key elements in giving significant momentum to efficient decentralized energy generation.

From the perspective of MGs power management, economical scheduling for generators, energy storage, and demand loads are critical. Performance optimization processes are needed to minimize the operating costs while considering operational constraints.

In this thesis, the optimal power flow …

The Graphic Design Archive: Generating Higher Levels Of Scholarship Through A User Experience Approach To Scholarly Image Database Design, Jenna Shay

Theses

Innovations in the user experiences of digital image collections have taken image-based searching from the realm of basic one-way searches and sorts and delivered users a new world of dynamic and interactive explorations that offer mechanisms for higher-level cognitive functions such as comparing, analyzing, sorting, sharing, designing, and creating in an intuitive environment. While innovations in image search functionality often occur first in non-academic applications (e.g., social media), image archives meant to amasse and preserve visual information for the ages would benefit by adopting and adapting search innovations.

Students and scholars that access image-based archives of information to gather resources …

Transcriptomics Of Learning, Pablo Iturralde

Theses

Learning is a basic and important component of behavior yet we have very little empirical information about the interaction between mechanisms of learning and evolution. In our work, we are testing hypotheses about the neurogenetic mechanisms through which animal learning abilities evolve. We are able to test this directly by using experimentally evolved populations of flies, which differ in learning ability. These populations were previously evolved within the lab by creating worlds with different patterns of change following theoretically predicted effects on which enhanced learning will evolve. How has evolution acted to modulate genes and gene expression in the brain …

An Assessment Of Competencies Of Clinical Instructors In Teaching And Guidance For Nursing Students In Clinical Areas: A Cross-Sectional Study In Tanzania, Rehema L. Mligo

Theses

Nursing student's clinical competence including psychomotor skills, attitude, values, and beliefs of professional practices depend on the quality of clinical instruction given by their preceptors in clinical settings. The main objective was to assess the Tanzanian clinical instructors' teaching abilities and attitude towards the clinical teaching and guidance of nurse students at clinical areas. It was a cross-sectional study design with quantitative approach.

The Budgeting Process Of Kosovo: A Critical Analysis, Arber Maxhuni

Theses

The budgeting process is one of the most important macroeconomic tools of the Government. Throughout the budget cycle, strategic allocations of public money to budget organizations are conducted in aspiration of financial stability and economic prosperity. This study attempts to provide a comprehensive overview of Kosovo’s contemporary budgetary practices and underpin some of its weaknesses. It discusses both legislative and executive viewpoints of the process and proposes recommendations which would improve the budgeting process in terms of quality, transparency, and efficiency.

Cryogenic Operation Of Scmos Image Sensors, Benjamin P. Stewart

Theses

Scientific CMOS image sensors have lower read noise and dark current than charge coupled devices. They are also uniquely qualified for operation at cryogenic temperatures due to their MOSFET pixel architecture. This paper follows the design of a cryogenic imaging system to be used as a star tracking rocket attitude regulation system. The detector was proven to retain almost all its sensitivity at cryogenic temperatures with acceptably low read noise. Once the star tracker successfully maintains rocket attitude during the flight of the CIBER-2 experiment, the technology readiness level of scientific CMOS detectors will advance enough that they could see …