Digital Commons Network^™

On The Pooling Of Positive Examples With Ontology For Visual Concept Learning, Shiai Zhu, Chong-Wah Ngo, Yu-Gang Jiang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A common obstacle in effective learning of visual concept classifiers is the scarcity of positive training examples due to expensive labeling cost. This paper explores the sampling of weakly tagged web images for concept learning without human assistance. In particular, ontology knowledge is incorporated for semantic pooling of positive examples from ontologically neighboring concepts. This effectively widens the coverage of the positive samples with visually more diversified content, which is important for learning a good concept classifier. We experiment with two learning strategies: aggregate and incremental. The former strategy re-trains a new classifier by combining existing and newly collected examples, …

Kovesi And The Formal And Material Elements Of Concepts, T. Brian Mooney, Mark Nowacki, John N. Williams

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In his seminal work Moral Notions, Julius Kovesi presents a novel account of concept formation. At the heart of this account is a distinction between what he terms the material element and the formal element of concepts. This paper elucidates his distinction in detail and contrasts it with other distinctions such as form-matter, universal-particular, genus-difference, necessary-sufficient, and open texture-closed texture. We situate Kovesi’s distinction within his general philosophical method, outlining his views on concept formation in general and explain how his theory of concept formation is applied in moral philosophy.

Cracks In The Empire: Reflections Of French Journalists And Authors On The Crisis In 1930s Indochina, Henri Copin, Tobias Rettig

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The events of the early 1930s in Vietnam left an important legacy to France's literature of enquiry and protest. Writers, essayists and journalists enquired on behalf of their audiences, and in the process developed France's littérature coloniale. By showing an interest in the colonial 'other' and identifying discrepancies between imperial ideology and colonial reality, they formed a new body of thought. This new colonial humanism arguably changed metropolitan sensibilities towards the French civilizing mission. Nevertheless, while they are critical of colonial abuses and in favour of reforms, the authors discussed in this paper do not really question the French colonial …

Special Issue: Revisiting And Reconstructing The Nghê Tinh Soviets, 1930-2011, Tobias Frederik Rettig

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The seven papers presented here constitute the first collective effort in a Western language to revisit the Nghe Tinh Soviets of 1930–31. The Nghe Tinh movement, its name a compound of two neighbouring provinces in the north-central part of the French protectorate of Annam, not only occupies a special place in the history of the early Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) but also became a site for animated debate on the causes of agrarian unrest that produced two of the most influential books in South East Asian Studies: James Scott’s Moral Economy of the Peasant (1976); and Samuel Popkin’s The Rational …

Reading Ability Of Third Grade Southern Dialect, Katelynn Gibson

Honors Theses

Fourth grade is a critical time period because the reading style changes from learning to read to reading to learn. Studies have shown that if a student does not have proficient reading skills, they will struggle throughout the rest of school and have a higher risk of high school dropout (“Early Warning: Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters, 2010). The Southern dialect can have an effect on reading. Goodman and Buck (1997) have stated that “the speakers of the low-status dialects of English have much higher rates of reading failure than high status dialect readers” (p. 455). …

What Is Securities Fraud?, Samuel W. Buell

Duke Law Journal

As Rule 10b-5 approaches the age of seventy, deep familiarity with this supremely potent and consequential provision of American administrative law has obscured its lack of clear conceptual content. The rule, as written, interpreted, and enforced, is missing a fully developed connection to—of all things—fraud. Fraud is difficult to define. Several approaches are plausible. But the law of securities fraud, and much of the commentary about that body of law, has neither attempted such a definition nor acknowledged its necessity to the coherence and effectiveness of the doctrine.

Securities fraud’s lack of mooring in a fully developed concept of fraud …

Reforming Attempt Liability Under 18 U.S.C. § 2422(B): An Insubstantial Step Back From United States V. Rothenberg , Korey J. Christensen

Duke Law Journal

The statute under which Internet sex predators are prosecuted for illicit online communications prohibits attempts to “knowingly persuade[], induce[], entice[], or coerce[]” minors to engage in “any sexual activity for which any person” can be criminally charged. This broad language has allowed courts to gradually expand the statute’s reach by reducing the level of conduct considered sufficient to constitute a substantial step toward commission of the crime. The Eleventh Circuit’s decision in United States v. Rothenberg is especially illustrative of this problematic expansion, as the court held that a conversation between consenting adults, without more, was sufficient to support a …

Dna As Patentable Subject Matter And A Narrow Framework For Addressing The Perceived Problems Caused By Gene Patents, Stephen H. Schilling

Duke Law Journal

Concerns about the alleged harmful effects of gene patents— including hindered research and innovation and impeded patient access to high-quality genetic diagnostic tests—have resulted in overreactions from the public and throughout the legal profession. These overreactions are exemplified by Association for Molecular Pathology v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a 2010 case in the Southern District of New York that held that isolated DNA is unpatentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. The problem with these responses is that they fail to adequately consider the role that gene patents and patents on similar biomolecules play in facilitating investment in …

Does Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug (Nsaid) Use Affect Dementia Progression And Survival Rates In Alzheimer's Disease? The Cache County Study, Trevor R. Buckley

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Alzheimer's disease (AD) has multiple factors that contribute to the disease process. Among these is a state of chronic inflammation that is endured by the brain during the aging process. The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) decreases the amount of neuroinflammation sustained by the brain, and greater levels of NSAID use have been demonstrated to be associated with decreased probability of developing AD. This study looked at whether greater rates of NSAID use were also associated with decreased rates of cognitive and funtional decline and survival in a population-based sample of persons with AD. Linear mixed models failed to …

Outcomes Of Rotator Cuff Surgery In Utah Workers’ Compensation Patients, Jennifer R. Grewe

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The rotator cuff is responsible for the lifting function of the shoulder and the circular movement of the arm. Rotator cuff injuries are the most common problem for the shoulder and account for approximately 4.1 million annual physicians visits. Approximately 20.7% of the population has at least one rotator cuff tear and more than 75,000 individuals will have rotator cuff surgery each year. Medical and compensation costs associated with a rotator cuff surgery are increasing and current estimated annual costs exceed 2 billion dollars. The increasing prevalence and cost associated with rotator cuff injuries in the United States population represents …

Effects Of Tannin-Containing Feed On Haemonchous Contortus In Sheep And Its Behavioral Implications, Jessica A. Juhnke

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Herbivores prefer foods that supply required nutrients and avoid those with excess nutrients and plant secondary compounds (PSC). Nevertheless, PSC such as condensed tannins can provide beneficial medicinal effects to herbivores. The objectives of this study were to determine: 1) if parasitized lambs increased preference for a tannin-rich food after they experienced the beneficial antiparasitic effects of tannins relative to parasitized lambs that did not experience such benefits, 2) if preference for the tannin-containing food in the former group decreased when parasite burdens subsided, and 3) if the tannin-enriched food decreased parasitic burdens.

Twenty-two lambs were familiarized with beet pulp …

Molecular Interactions Of Salmonella With The Host Epithelium In Presence Of Commensals, Prerak T. Desai

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Food-borne infections are a major source of mortality and morbidity. Salmonella causes the highest number of Food-borne bacterial infections in the US. This work contributes towards developing strategies to control Salmonella by (a) defining receptors used by Salmonella to adhere to and invade the host epithelium; (b) developing a host receptor based rapid detection method for the pathogen in food matrix; (C) and defining mechanisms of how probiotics can help alleviate Salmonella-induced cell death in the host epithelium.

We developed a cell-cell crosslinking method to discover host-microbe receptors, and discovered three new receptor-ligand interactions. Interaction of Salmonella Ef-Tu with …

Have Introduced Brown Trout (Salmo Trutta) Affected Native Aquatic Vertebrates In Western United States Streams?, Nora K. Burbank

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The introduction of exotic species to areas outside of their native range is one of the greatest threats to the biodiversity of native freshwater organisms. Exotic species have outcompeted native species for resources such as food and shelter, and in some cases these interactions have resulted in local extinctions or reductions in abundance of those native species. Brown trout are native to Eurasia, but have been introduced to much of the rest of the world, including the United States. In some parts of their introduced range, brown trout have substantially reduced the abundance and home ranges of some native fish …

Class-Wide Respect And Social Support Skill Training To Increase Peer Interactions Of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Melanie Orton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The demand for effective social skills interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders is a pertinent issue for school-based professionals. One approach to increase appropriate social skills is to involve peer support by training a few socially competent children to positively interact with a student with an ASD. Potentially, training larger groups of children could result in increasing the number of different peers who would actively support positive interactions with their classmates with ASD. Thus, the present study investigated the effect of a class-wide peer-training strategy on the percentage of positive social interaction and number of peer contacts for three …

Fish Passage Through Rehabilitated Culverts Laboratory Study, Amber H. Olsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Slip lining culverts represent a low-cost technique that can restore life to decaying culverts. However, slip liners are smoother than typical host culverts; therefore, they generate higher flow velocities and lower flow depths within the culvert, which are fish passage barriers. One way to mitigate these barriers is by installing baffles. Unfortunately baffles can jeopardize the flow capacity of the culvert.

The Utah Water Research Laboratory (UWRL) at Utah State University contracted with the Utah Department of Transportation for $85,000 to test the effectiveness of baffles in improving fish passage through culverts. The goal of this project was to identify …

The Potential For Growth In Foreign Direct Investment In The Horticultural Sector Of Armenia, Mikayel Khachatryan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study examines why foreign investors choose to invest in companies in Armenia and is specifically attempting to understand how to attract more investment into the fruit and vegetable companies of Armenia. Investment by foreigners in domestic companies is referred to as foreign direct investment of FDI. The research was completed by gathering information from foreign firms that are already investing in companies in Armenia. This was done by conducting a face-to-face questionnaire with business managers of these companies in Yerevan, Armenia during August and December of 2010. The information gathered from these interviews was used in a statistical analysis …

Assessment Of Colorado’S Wilderness Areas: Manager Perceptions And Remoteness Modeling, Gary D. Vaughn

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study assessed visitor use levels and resource and social conditions in wilderness areas across the State of Colorado using existing and collected spatial data. This is the first attempt to spatially assess wilderness conditions at the state level. A state-wide assessment of wilderness conditions allows local and regional managers to make informed regional decisions and to prioritize and direct their time and energy efficiently. This assessment clarifies the recreational use and impacts across the state. This study consists of two projects: 1) managers’ perceptions of the location and extent of resource and social condition problems; and 2) a geographic …

Using Species Distribution Models To Assess Invasion Theory And Provide Management Recommendations For Riparian Areas In The Eastern Columbia And Western Missouri River Basins, Diane R. Menuz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Globalization has created opportunities for plant and animal species to be transported to novel ecosystems. A subset of these species become invasive species, which are able to persist and spread rapidly to become influential components in their new ecosystems. Invasive species are often able to out-compete co-occurring native species and can alter fundamental ecosystem properties, such as soil nutrient availability or time between wildfires in a region. The United States is estimated to lose $34 billion per year to invasive plant species through costs to control unwanted species and lowered crop and forage production.

We used statistical models to better …

Reconstructing The Holocene Arroyo History Of The Upper Escalante River, Southern Utah, Using Optically Stimulated Luminescence (Osl) And Radiocarbon Dating, Anne E. Hayden

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Arroyos are steep-walled, entrenched, typically ephemeral streams commonly found in dryland river systems that form when streams incise into previously deposited alluvial fill. Arroyos in the southwestern U.S. have been studied extensively following the historic period of arroyo cutting in the late 1800s and early 1900s A.D. The upper Escalante River in south-central Utah similarly began incising in 1909, and records evidence for past cut and fill cycles in well-exposed walls along the now continuous arroyo.

Establishing robust geochronologies of past arroyo cycles in these fluvial settings has been difficult. Recent improvements in accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon (^{14 …}

Accelerating Production Of Slow-Growing Intermountain West Native Plants By Modifying Their Microclimate, Sam A. Miller

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Water shortages are a recurring problem in the western US. As much as 70% of yearly municipal water consumption may be used to irrigate urban landscapes. Significant water savings can be realized by installing low water landscapes, where turfgrass is replaced by low water trees, shrubs, grasses, and perennials. Intermountain West (IMW) native trees and shrubs are excellent candidates for low water landscaping. However, due to their slow initial growth, many native trees and shrubs are simply unavailable to consumers, as they are not cost effective for nursery growers to produce. In an effort to accelerate the yearly growth rates …

Effect Of Voluntary Exercise And Diet On The Unfolded Protein Response In The Brain Of Mice, Yu Ho Kim

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The medical costs for many chronic diseases are increasing dramatically and placing a major financial burden on nations and individuals in both developed and developing countries. A number of chronic diseases, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and some neurodegenerative diseases are all attenuated by a history of physical activity suggesting that they may be interconnected in some way. It has been suggested that cellular stress is a major factor promoting these chronic diseases.

Cellular stress occurs in a specific compartment within the cell, the endoplasmic reticulum, whose normal function is in the synthesis and folding of proteins into the …

The Biogeography Of Marbled Godwit (Limosa Fedoa) Populations In North America, Bridget E. Olson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. Toward fulfillment of that mission, a priority of the USFWS is conservation and management of migratory birds. Effective conservation actions to ensure the continued existence of a species on the landscape cannot be designed without first understanding basic life history characteristics of a species. It is common in the case of migratory birds, that we lack understanding of some of their elemental biological traits.

The Marbled Godwit, …

Analysis Of The Import, Export, And Bioavailability Of Nitrogen And Phosphorus Within Pineview Reservoir, Brady K. Worwood

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study was conducted to provide new and useful data about Pineview Reservoir and its watershed, produce water and phosphorus (P) budgets for Pineview Reservoir, test the validity of conclusions made in the Pineview Reservoir Total Maximum Daily Loading (TMDL) document, and create estimates of nitrogen (N) loading to the reservoir from both surface and ground water sources. The production of the water and P budgets, as well as the N loading estimates, was accomplished by measuring flow, nitrate, ammonium, total phosphorus (TP), and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) that was entering and exiting the reservoir through surface water sources and …

Quantifying Rates Of Autocompaction In The Pearl River Marsh, Louisiana, Jeremiah Nicholas Prouhet

Master's Theses

Annual rates of shallow autocompaction (< 1 m) were calculated in the upper ~one meter of sediment from six cores of a transect in the Pearl River Marsh (PRM), Louisiana, in order to determine the most significant sedimentary property controlling this process. Compaction-free wedge cores were sub-sampled at one centimeter intervals to collect the following data: age control, using 137Cs and 210Pb, and sedimentary variables, specifically, particulate organic carbon, bulk density, median grain size, porosity, and water content. An upper and an underlying sedimentary unit (named the 137Cs and 210Pb units) were defined between radiometric datum levels, and their sedimentary properties were statistically tested for significant differences using the non-parametric Mann-Whitney test. Rates of autocompaction were calculated from the model of Williams (2003), and both rates of autocompaction and sedimentation were tested for significant differences between the upper and lower sedimentary units.

The upper unit in the six cores generally had lower bulk density, higher water content, higher porosity, and higher particulate organic carbon than the underlying unit, but with some interesting exceptions. Additionally, annual autocompaction and sedimentation rates were greatest in the overlying unit at stations PR02 (0.39 ± 0.05 cm/y) and PR05 (0.42 ± 0.03 cm/y) and greatest in the underlying unit at stations PR02 (0.22 ± 0.08 cm/y) and PR03 (0.18 ± 0.06 cm/y). Based on Spearman correlations, rates of autocompaction were most strongly correlated to and influenced by rates of sedimentation rather …

The Use Of Computed Tomography To Measure Biogenic Structures In Recently Hypoxic And Normoxic Sediments On The Louisiana Continental Shelf, Valerie Ann Hartman

Master's Theses

Over the past 60 years, seasonal hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico has occurred with increased severity and over a greater area. To determine if biogenic structures in the northern Gulf of Mexico vary in response to hypoxic stress, the seafloor on the continental shelf of Louisiana was analyzed during the spring and fall of 2009 at four provinces of similar sediment type that differ in recent history of bottom water oxygen concentration. Subcores were analyzed by computed tomography (CT) to determine the number, diameter, length, volume, surface area, and depth of biogenic burrow structures in sediments where biogenic …

Consequences Of Contact: An Evaluation Of Childhood Health Patterns Using Enamel Hypoplasias Among The Colonial Maya Of Tipu, Amanda R. Harvey

Master's Theses

Located in western Belize, Tipu was occupied from 1541-1704. This Colonial Maya population from a Spanish visita mission church was analyzed to investigate health disturbances associated with European contact. Dental defect called enamel hypoplasias were scored to assess childhood health. Standard methods of scoring (Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994) were employed to assess frequency, severity, and type of episode in the permanent anterior dentition. For analysis, 325 individuals were placed into age groups of subadults (6-17 years), younger adults (18-35 years), and older adults (36-50+ years). The population was also considered for differences by sex and tooth type.

Results showed a …

Tick Infestations And Their Consequences For Migratory Songbirds During Spring Stopover, Johnny Michael Sellers Jr.

Master's Theses

Migratory birds face a number of challenges during their seasonal movement from tropical/sub-tropical Central and South America to more temperate North America. Maintaining health during migration is of particular concern. This study seeks to understand how haematophageous ectoparasites, such as ticks (Ixodida), impact host body condition as they feed on passerines during migration. We hypothesized that foraging location would impact tick acquisition by migrants and that tick burdens during migration would negatively impact body condition. We surveyed 2,064 birds during spring 2009 and 2010 and found that 2.4% of the surveyed birds were infested with one or more …

Lead And Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Meta-Analysis, James Kenneth Goodlad Iii

Master's Theses

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is thought to have a significant neurological component, and several brain structures have been implicated. Environmental variables like lead have been shown to affect brain structures, which in turn impacts cognitive development and behavior. Some studies have begun to associate environmental variables like lead with the inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive symptoms of ADHD. This meta-analysis examined the association between different components of ADHD (including attention problems and hyperactivity/impulsivity) and level of lead exposure in children and adolescents. Articles focusing on the association between lead and inattention or hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms were gathered from the online databases PsycINFO and Medline. …

Enhancing Inettest By Improving The Programming Question And Group Grading, Sushil Dosi

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This report describes an improvement to the Utah State University iNetTest testing system. The iNetTest system allows instructors and/or students to: • Create/take tests with rich sets of question types (multiple choice, essay, true/false, computational programming question, etc.); • Monitor the test takers for cheating; • Auto-grade for many types of questions, as well as group grade for all question types; and • Send scores to students via either email or SMS. Specifically, this report discusses the design and development of an improved computational programming question for the iNetTest system. For programming questions, iNetTest allows for the use of various …

Peddlers Of Hate: The Existence Of Norm Entrepreneurs As A Necessary Precursor To Genocide, Lauren Elise Fairbanks

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Over the course of the 20th century genocide has been responsible for the murder of more than 170 million people; it is has proven to be four times deadlier than war (Voth, 2007). Although it often appears spontaneous, Genocide is instead a result of certain preconditions. Studies into the causes of genocide ought to aid in the formation of methods intended to keep violence from occurring. Unfortunately, seemingly different factors such as economic crisis, resource scarcity, institutional weakness, and ethnic resentment prove difficult to classify as the ultimate cause. Instead these conditions work collectively to create an atmosphere that is …