Digital Commons Network^™

The Social Influence Network Model Of Performance Expectations, Jingwen Zhong

Theses and Dissertations

Disagreement among group members on each other’s status and competence has been found to negatively impact group performance. However, in theories, it is oftentimes assumed that group members have common perceptions of each other’s competence, or in other words, have a consensus on performance expectations. Recognizing the importance of disagreement on performance expectations, in this dissertation I argue that individuals are subject to the self-serving bias and can develop different performance expectations based on the same status information. The results of an online experiment show that individuals tend to think highly of themselves in both status-homogeneous and status-heterogenous situations, and …

Calibration And Use Of The Transparency Tube As An Estimate Of Turbidity: An Analysis Of Factors Controlling Light Attenuation In Estuarine Waters, Makenna Leigh Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

The transparency tube is low-cost, portable, and easy to use to measure the transparency or clarity of the water. Filling the tube with water creates a small-scale water column where water will be slowly drained out of the bottom until the Secchi disk at the bottom of the tube is visible from the top opening, and the depth of the remaining water in the tube is recorded in centimeters. Unlike traditional Secchi disk measurements, the advantage of this instrument is that sampling depth in highly turbid waters is possible with a centimeter scale resolution. Transparency tube measurement, through careful calibrations, …

Preregistration And Registration As A New Method For Transparency Of External Validation In Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning Applications To Address Overfitting, Underspecification, And Shortcut Learning, Marilyn Elaine Gartley

Theses and Dissertations

Statistics has been defined as the study of how information should be employed to reflect on and give guidance for action in a practical situation involving uncertainty. The essence of uncertainty is that there is more than one possible outcome, and the actual outcome is unknown in advance; it is indeterminate. The goal of statistical methods is inference: namely, statistical inference—reaching conclusions about populations or deriving scientific insights from data which are collected from a representative sample of that population through providing a mathematical understanding of inference, quantifying the degree of support that data offer for assertions of knowledge, as …

Quantifying Extreme Events: Applications Of Probabilistic Methods To Quantify Riverine And Coastal Flood Dynamics In South Carolina And Neighboring Coastal Communities, Ryne Phillips

Theses and Dissertations

Extreme flood events have been persistent throughout history and have challenged human populations around the globe. Over time, scientists and engineers have developed tools and technology to support flood risk management. Most, if not all, of these tools rely on some form of the field of stochastic hydrology. Stochastic hydrology is a broad discipline, but the overarching principle is to use statistical and data-driven techniques to develop an understanding of one or more hydrologic variables (e.g., flood flow or peak storm tide). However, the need for large sample sizes of data that offer insight into all possible combinations of outcomes …

Enhancing The Security In High-Speed Networks Using P4 Programmable Switches, Ali Alsabeh

Theses and Dissertations

Network security has become increasingly essential in today's networks due to the growth of various network applications, such as Machine Learning (ML) and Fifth-Generation (5G) Networks. One fundamental Internet protocol is the Domain Name System (DNS), which maps domain names to Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. Despite its importance, DNS traffic is often forwarded without being analyzed, making it a center of ever-evolving attacks. Traditionally, defense strategies are implemented on fixed-function security middleboxes that are costly, proprietary, and hard to manage. Alternatively, defenses implemented in software use general-purpose servers (e.g., the control plane of a Software-Defined Networking (SDN) network) that cannot …

Integration Analysis Of Nssm, Winlogon, And P2p Networks: Security Impact And Mitigation Strategies, Maisa Emneina

Theses and Dissertations

In today's digital world, where everything is interconnected, new security threats are constantly emerging. This thesis explores the security risks that come from the combination of three specific technologies: Non-Sucking Service Manager (NSSM), Winlogon Helper DLLs, and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks. NSSM is a powerful tool for managing services, but it can also be used by attackers to find and exploit system weaknesses. Winlogon Helper DLLs are essential for the Windows logon process, making them a critical target for attacks. When you add P2P networks into the mix, which many applications use to share data, the potential for security issues increases …

Cultural Selection Of Ethical Self-Control Toward Sustainability, Michael Jonathan Passage

Theses and Dissertations

This study consisted of three experiments to improve our understanding of the conditions that foster cooperation related to sustainability. In Experiment 1, participants completed a demographic questionnaire and an environmental and social discounting task. Results (a) support the utility of the environmental discounting task; (b) suggest responding to the discounting task is dissimilar; and (c) show that responding to hypothetical consequences on the social discounting task correlates to actual responding. Experiment 2 evaluated whether interlocking behavioral contingencies (by microculture members) associated with sustainable and non-sustainable aggregate products (Condition A & B) could be selected by cultural consequences (i.e., 20¢ toward …

Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Urban Lawn Soil Amended With Biochar And Compost Under Contrasting Redox Conditions, Angel Salinas

Theses and Dissertations

Green fields around the world are being converted to urban land uses to cope with population growth and urbanization. The objective of this study was to investigate how urban lawn soils can contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in relation to soil saturation-drainage cycles. We measured carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions as well as redox potential (Eh) from garden soils amended with biochar, compost, or biochar + compost under a mesocosm scale. Bermuda turfgrass seed was seeded in each column (5-gallon bucket) and three water saturation conditions (half-saturated, full-saturated, and unsaturated soils) were maintained for …

Patient-Specific Hemodynamic Modeling For Optimizing Left Ventricular Assist Device And Right Heart Health, Holly Felice Grant

Theses and Dissertations

LVAD speed optimization is essential for efficient LVAD therapy and to minimize complications. However, the ideal LVAD speed is unknown and must be tailored for each patient. The interplay between the LVAD, systemic, and pulmonary circulations is critical and should be considered during optimization. A computational hemodynamic model that can be tailored for each patient may provide clinicians with useful guidance and reduce the need for repeated invasive studies. This study sought to customize and evaluate a patient-specific LVAD hemodynamic optimization model.

We conducted a retrospective analysis on 25 patients implanted with HM3 and who underwent right heart catheterization (RHC) …

Existence Of Smooth Solutions For The Landau Equation With Hard Potentials, Shelly Ann Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is concerned with the Landau equation, an integro-differential equation that models the particle density of a plasma as it evolves in phase space. The main topic is the (large-data) local existence of classical solutions to the Landau equation in the case of hard potentials (γ ∈ (0, 1]). Solutions have previously been constructed by Chaturvedi [SIAM. J. Math. Anal., 55(5), 5345–5385, 2023] for initial data in an exponentially-weighted Sobolev space of order 10, but it is not a priori clear whether these solutions have more regularity than the initial data. We improve Chaturvedi’s existence result in two ways: …

On The Nature Of Low-Frequency Power Spectra In Solar Wind Turbulence, Mason Alden Dorseth

Theses and Dissertations

An important challenge in the accurate estimation of power spectra of plasma fluctuations in the solar wind at very low frequencies is that it requires extremely long signals, which will necessarily contain a mixture of qualitatively different solar wind streams. This unavoidably affects the structure of the power spectra by conflating all these different properties into a single power spectrum. This work develops a conditional statistical analysis to accurately estimate the power spectrum at arbitrarily low frequencies for ``pure'' slow solar wind stream, based on estimated autocorrelation functions of signals excluding portions that do not satisfy the required conditions. The …

Assessing The Gut Content Of Styela Plicata: A Benthic Filter Feeder In The Indian River Lagoon, Honor Lily Triumph Edmands

Theses and Dissertations

The Indian River Lagoon (IRL) has experienced declining water quality due to human activities involving nutrient input, leading to Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs). The Living Docks program affixes oyster mats to dock pilings to promote the settlement and recruitment of benthic filter feeders for water quality improvement. However, questions remain about filtering efficiencies of organisms that make up the mat communities, and whether organisms remove harmful species from the IRL. The pleated sea squirt, Styela plicata, is a common oyster mat resident. The goal of this thesis was to investigate what phytoplankton and bacteria S. plicata consumes, and if …

Hierarchical Quantized Autoencoders: Using Hierarchical Models For Data Compression Across Multiple Domains, Armani Lorenzo Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

In the era of vast data processing and transmission, sending data over a channel for downstream operations is a very common occurrence. The bandwidth of this data channel acts as a limiting factor in this operation, capping the amount of data that can be sent over a time period. Therefore, in addition to pursuing advancements in networking technology, there exists a need for more efficient means of data compression. Learned compression is the application of machine learning models to the data compression problem, and in this study, we leverage the ability of neural networks to learn the underlying structure of …

Black Men Who Participate In An Urban Community College Men Of Color Initiative: A Phenomenological Study, Steven Hardy

Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study explored the perceptions and experiences of Black men who participated in the MOCI. The study uncovered insights into what aspects of the program were effective and where improvements could be made according to the student participants. Employing a phenomenological design, the research identified commonalities among the participants' experiences (Creswell & Creswell, 2018; Moustakas, 1994; Rubin & Rubin, 2012). The structure of understanding surrounding participants in the MOCI program was meticulously facilitated using phenomenology (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). The interviews were not just semi-structured but also empathetic, with prepared open-ended questions followed by probing inquiries, all aimed at …

Study Of Modified Salinomycin Analogs On Inhibition Of Triple Negative Breast Cancer Metastasis And Invasion, Farnaz Malekmarzban

Theses and Dissertations

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a more aggressive type of breast cancer which contains faster growth, higher metastasis rate and worse prognosis. The main challenge toward treatment of this type of cancer is being heterogeneous. Recently, Salinomycin (SAL) has been considered as a potential agent for triple negative breast cancer treatment. However, chemical modification of SAL is needed to improve SAL selectivity to cations and decrease its cytotoxicity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of chemically modified analogs of SAL on the viability, metastasis, Wnt pathway as well as angiogenesis of Triple negative breast cancer …

Manufacturing Of Aligned Electrospun Nanofiber Yarns For Their Enhanced Mechanical And Piezoelectric Properties, Adaugo Mary-Frances Enuka

Theses and Dissertations

Electrospinning is a widely used technique for producing nanofibers with diverse applications. This method uses polymer solutions and strong electric fields to generate nano-sized fibers with unique properties. This study presents a novel manufacturing approach that enables the production of electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) nanofiber yarns using an automated parallel track system and an adjustable roll-to-roll collector. This research examines the impact of an automated post-drawing system on the polymer chain orientation, crystallinity, tensile strength, morphology, and piezoelectric properties of PVDF-HFP nanofiber yarn. The results reveal that the post-drawing process significantly improves molecular alignment, increases tensile strength, and enhances the …

Repair And Surface Functionalization Of Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites By Cold Spray, Ibnaj Anamika Anni

Theses and Dissertations

Fiber-reinforced polymer composites are widely used in industries and applications such as energy, automotive, defense, and aerospace. This study investigates the application of polymer cold spray, an emerging additive manufacturing process, for coating and repair of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites. The research starts with feasibility studies focused on the cold spray deposition of thermoplastic nylon-6 particles on woven glass fiber-reinforced composites (GFRP). A parametric study determines critical process parameters window, ensuring successful deposition and bonding without compromising the macroscale mechanical behavior. These findings indicate that the cold spray process does not adversely affect the fiber integrity or surface quality of …

Chemotherapy Drug Release From Hollow Core Polyethyleneimine Nanoparticles, Brian Boyle

Theses and Dissertations

Novel anticancer delivery vehicles are arising from engineered nanostructured materials. This work involved the synthesis, characterization, and release of novel hollow core polymeric nanoparticles (HCPNPs) for controlled drug delivery. Polyethyleneimine (PEI) was bound to AuNPs, forming polymer-shell nanoparticles with dissolution of the gold core via iodine forming HCPNPs with drug intercalated DNA bound to the surface. A high density (85 molecules/particle) of DNA intercalated with daunorubicin was conjugated. Particles were spherical with an average diameter of 105.7 ± 17.3 nm and zeta potential of 20.4 ± 3.54 mV. We hypothesize the DNA backbone electrostatically condensed to the primary amines on …

Matrix Processing With Photonic Analog Computing, James Michael Garofolo

Theses and Dissertations

In the digital age, a wide variety of engineering problems have been solved, to a great deal of success, by digital computing techniques. The flexibility of software and relatively low cost of digital computing hardware make it an ideal starting point for solving a majority of tasks, and the numerical stability of software solutions make it highly appealing as the major workhorse for computational tasks. Despite this, many problems are actually suboptimally solved by digital methods, leading to systems with high latency, low throughput, power hungry parallel processing units and an excess of memory for discretizing sensor inputs. Computational photonic …

Variation In Sperm Competition Risk Reveals Genotype And Genotype-By-Environment Effects On Gene Expression Of Nuptial Gift Proteins In Decorated Crickets, Laura Rengifo

Theses and Dissertations

Although mating in sexually reproducing species is a necessity, male and female interests during and after mating may diverge, leading to a sexual conflict. In polyandrous systems, males benefit by monopolizing female reproduction, and have evolved manipulative traits to this end. This includes plastically increasing sperm allocation under a high risk of sperm competition, when females are likely to mate with additional males. However, less is known about plasticity in non-sperm components of the ejaculate. Nuptial gifts provisioned to females by males are a widespread sexual tactic in insects used by males to maximize sperm transfer. In decorated crickets, the …

Design, Fabrication, And Characterization Of Multifunctional Cellular Structures For Enhanced Impact Energy Mitigation Performance, Kazi Zahir Uddin

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the relationship between the structural design of cellular solids and their macroscopic behavior and focuses on the customization of properties through advanced fabrication techniques. The concepts of density gradation and their integration in both non-ordered and ordered cellular structures have been proposed. The investigation focuses on the development of functionally graded foam materials (FGFMs) and mechanical metamaterials to obtain tunable mechanical performance. One significant focus is the fabrication of density-graded foam stacks with various interface adhesives. From the insights gained from the study of interfaces in density-graded foams, certain design and fabrication principles are applied to enhance …

Application And Development Of Ceragenins In Medical Device Coatings For Clinical Settings, Elliot E. Sherren

Theses and Dissertations

Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) pose a significant and increasing threat to global health. One primary cause of this threat is increasing antibiotic resistance. As traditional antibiotics continue to grow less effective, there is an urgent need for novel antimicrobial strategies. This work explores the potential of ceragenins, also known as cationic steroid antimicrobials (CSAs), as a promising alternative to combat HAIs. Specifically, we investigated potential roles that CSAs can play in the context of multiple medical device coatings in healthcare settings. Ceragenins are synthetic mimic of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) which exhibit broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against many common pathogens that have been …

Synthesis Of Streptococcus Pneumoniae Serotypes 6a And 6b Di- And Trisaccharides As Propargyl Glycosyl Antigens For Glycoconjugate Vaccines, Tianyao Meng

Theses and Dissertations

Streptococcus pneumoniae (Spn) is a globally prevalent Gram-positive pathogen responsible for invasive pneumococcal diseases (IPD). Among its over 90 serotypes, Spn serotypes 6A (Sp6A) and 6B (Sp6B) are two of the most common causes of IPD around the world and are more frequently isolated from infections than most of the other serotypes. Our group has previously developed a method for making immune responses to bacterial glycans T cell-dependent, involving attachment of short synthetic glycans to a virus-like nanoparticle (VLP), and in combination with a natural killer T cell (NKT cell) adjuvant. This strategy enhanced immune responses by facilitating T cell …

A Nordhaus-Gaddum Type Problem For The Normalized Laplacian Spectrum And Graph Cheeger Constant, Adam Widtsoe Knudson

Theses and Dissertations

We will study various quantities related to connectivity of a graph. To this end, we look at Nordhaus-Gaddum type problems, which are problems where the same quantity is studied for a graph $G$ and its complement $G^c$ at the same time. For a graph $G$ on $n$ vertices with normalized Laplacian eigenvalues $0 = \lambda_1(G) \leq \lambda_2(G) \leq \cdots \leq \lambda_n(G)$ and graph complement $G^c$, we prove that \begin{equation*} \max\{\lambda_2(G),\lambda_2(G^c)\}\geq \frac{2}{n^2}. \end{equation*} We do this by way of lower bounding $\max\{i(G), i(G^c)\}$ and $\max\{h(G), h(G^c)\}$ where $i(G)$ and $h(G)$ denote the isoperimetric number and Cheeger constant of $G$, respectively. We …

Jinetes De La Tormenta: The Invasive Influence Of Gender Constructs On The Journey Towards Selfhood And Societal Progress, Marissa Nicole Luquette

Theses and Dissertations

The novel Jinetes de la tormenta, written by Spanish author, Javier Castañeda de la Torre, presents gender as an obstacle to individuals in the ongoing process of self-discovery (as it relates to personal identity) and as the underlying source of human discontent in the technological age. Jinetes represents gender as a hindrance to the developing self through masculine and feminine binaries in European colonial languages and through the performative behavioral expectations tethered to the gendered body the theoretical works of Jacques Lacan and Hélène Cixous. The theoretical works of Jacques Lacan and Hélène Cixous establish the argument surrounding linguistic gender …

An Empirical Study On Detecting And Explaining Global Structural Change In Evolving Graph Using Martingale, Tarun Teja Kairamkonda

Theses and Dissertations

There is a growing interest in practical applications involving networks of interacting entities such as sensor networks, social networks, urban traffic networks, and power grids, all of which can be represented using evolving graphs. Changes in these evolving graphs can signify shifts in the behavior of interacting entities or alterations in the patterns of their interactions. Identifying and detecting these changes is crucial for addressing potential challenges or opportunities in various domains. In this study, we propose an approach for detecting structure change in evolving graphs based on the martingale change detection framework on multiple graph features extracted over time. …

Potent And Selective Small Molecule Mcl-1 Inhibitor Demonstrates Anti-Myeloma Activity And Overcomes Chemotherapy Resistance, Omar Sami Faleh Al-Odat

Theses and Dissertations

Despite a record number of clinical studies investigating various anti-myeloma treatments, the 5-year survival rate for multiple myeloma (MM) patients in the US is only 55%, and nearly all patients relapse. Poor patient outcomes demonstrate that myeloma cells are "born to survive” which means they can adapt and evolve following treatment. Thus, new therapeutic approaches to combat survival mechanisms and target treatment resistance are required. Importantly, Mcl-1, anti-apoptotic protein, is required for the development of MM and treatment resistance. This study looks at the possibility of KS18, a selective Mcl-1 inhibitor, to treat MM and overcome resistance. Our investigation demonstrates …

Integration Of Machine Learning In Structural Health Monitoring For Damage Identification And Response Prediction In Bridges, Naga Lakshmi Chittitalli Ravuri

Theses and Dissertations

Machine learning-based structural health monitoring (ML-SHM) plays a pivotal role in enhancing structural resilience. By recognizing potential hazards, implementing resistance measures, facilitating swift recovery, and continuously monitoring structural health, ML-SHM ensures proactive maintenance and minimizes recovery delays post-events. Leveraging machine learning algorithms and sensor data, ML-SHM enables early detection of anomalies, prediction of failures, and adaptive responses, enhancing the structure's ability to withstand and recover from adverse conditions. This integrated approach not only improves the structure's performance and adaptability but also contributes to overall safety and longevity. This thesis presents a comprehensive exploration of structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques for …

"Vampire Plastics": An Investigation Of Poly(Olefin Sulfone) Depolymerization And Its Dust Mitigation Abilities, Alexandra Kathryn Kanani Gallion Stapley

Theses and Dissertations

The ubiquity of particulate contamination requires dust mitigation techniques to provide low-scatter surfaces and edges on sensitive optical devices in space. Poly(olefin sulfone)s have been shown to photodegrade with the assistance of a photobase generator when exposed to UV light (254 nm) and heat (120 °C). These polymers may be useful for minimizing dust on optical surfaces for space applications. However, their behavior in vacuum has not been fully characterized. We synthesized poly(2-methyl-1-pentene sulfone) (PMPS) and poly(1-hexene sulfone) (PHS) with and without a photobase generator. We studied the photodegradation (172 nm or 254 nm) of thin films in vacuum. Spectroscopic …

The Osteological Neutral Pose Of The Neck Of An Apatosaurine Sauropod Based On Virtual And Physical Models, Colin Don Boisvert

Theses and Dissertations

An array of sauropod taxa coexisted in Late Jurassic North America. How so many giant genera coexisted without competing for food is puzzling considering their potential metabolic requirements. One aspect of this question is neck posture, which has been much contested, both in terms of the intrinsic curvature of the neck and the resultant elevation of the head. Neck curvature is characterized by the Osteological Neutral Pose (ONP), wherein the intervertebral joints are in an undeflected state. This pose is crucial to understanding neck posture. The articulated series of presacral vertebrae 2-19 of an exceptionally well-preserved apatosaurine, BYU 18531, are …