Digital Commons Network^™

The Grid Scan Heuristic For Extending Lifetime In Wireless Sensor Networks, Srikar Pachva

Computer Science

Wireless Sensor Networks, consisting of sensing devices which sense the environment and communicate information among each other, is an emergent field in wireless networking with many potential applications. Efficiency of energy consumption is an important objective in these wireless sensor networks. All these sensor nodes have limited battery supplies and limited sensing capabilities. Network Lifetime of wireless sensor networks has a strong dependence on sensors' battery power. Since these sensor networks have large numbers of nodes, allowing some nodes to sleep for particular intervals of time can result in an increase of network lifetime. In this paper, a sleep scheduling …

Maximizing Sensor Coverage Using Displacement To Remove Overlaps, Kareemullah Khan Fazal

Computer Science

Sensor networks are wireless networks with small, low-cost sensors which collect and disseminate environmental data. They are used for monitoring and controlling physical environments from remote locations with better accuracy. Sensors have a lot of constraints and challenges. One of the main concerns is the coverage and redistribution of the sensors, without any overlap, in order to achieve maximum coverage with limited usage of energy. The first section of the paper gives a brief overview of the sensors, the sensor network, the various applications where sensors are used, and challenges faced in setting up a sensor network. The next section …

Genetic Search For Multi School Routing, Arjun Sivaram Kumar Ganesan

Computer Science

In genetic search for multi school routing, a set of commonly shared school buses and vans with capacity, travel speed and travel time limitations are used to service students from their pick up locations to their respective schools. The goal is to reduce the number of buses used, the total travel time of the students and the total operating cost of the school buses. This paper focuses on the optimization of the routes using genetic algorithm that is widely applied for combinatorial optimization problems including vehicle routing problems with time windows. The proposed genetic algorithm uses the genetic representation of …

Multi-Style Web Content Restructuring For Efficient Mobile Web Browsing, Xiaojun Xia

Computer Science

Mobile devices such as smart phones, PDAs, and tablets are getting more and more popular every day. As a result, more people tend to use mobile devices to access Web contents. Therefore, mobile browsing becomes an important means of Internet access for daily life. In order to have smooth and user-friendly Web browsing experiences, Web designers should consider the limitations of mobile devices, such as a small screen size. However, most Web sites do not provide a mobile version, which makes it difficult to browse the contents on the small screens of mobile devices. This study presents a novel approach …

Graph Data Conversion And Tree Visualization, Srinivas Guduru

Computer Science

The first part of the paper is converting graph data format from GXL to GraphML. GXL and GraphML are both XML-based languages for representing graph data. The HP page segmentation tool produces output graph data in GXL format, and the Visual Environment for Graph Grammar Induction and Engineering (VEGGIE) tool takes input graph data in GraphML format. To make these two tools interoperable, the Graph Data converter changes a GXL graph structure data input into a GraphML graph structure output. XSLT is used by this tool for conversion; XSLT is a simple, functional language that is often used to convert …

Data Replication Strategies In Cloud Computing, Yang Liu

Computer Science

Data replication is a widely used technique in various systems. For example, it can be employed in large-scale distributed file systems to increase data availability and system reliability, or it can be used in many network models (e.g. data grid, Amazon CloudFront) to reduce access latency and network bandwidth consumption, etc. I study a series of problems that related to the data replication method in Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) and in Amazon CloudFront service. Data failure, which is caused by hardware failure or malfunction, software error, human error, is the greatest threat to the file storage system. I present …

Distance-Aware Relay Placement And Scheduling In Wireless Networks., Shi Bai

Computer Science

The WiMAX technology and cognitive radio have been active topics in wireless networks. A WiMAX mesh network is able to provide larger wireless coverage, higher network capacity and Non-Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) communications. Cognitive radios enable dynamic spectrum access over a large frequency range. These characteristics make WiMAX mesh networks and cognitive radio networks able to provide users with low-cost, high-speed and long-range wireless communications, as well as better Quality of Service. However, there are still several challenges and problems to be solved in this area, such as relay station placement problems and scheduling problems. In this thesis, I studied a distance-aware …

Dom Structure Based Web Pattern Mining, Naresh Pillarikuppam

Computer Science

A rapid expansion in the Web has motivated several studies to understand and recognize the implementation structure underlying the interface. Though the presentation of the Web pages looks different, those Web pages may share the same semantic structure to organize information. Those common semantic structures are referred to as Web patterns. There are no strict rules for implementing the HTML structure of the web pages, and the implementation of each web page might not be consistent across the entire website. Also, the HTML implementation of one website varies from other websites. This makes it difficult to recognize the Web patterns …

Discovering Complex Relationships Between Drugs And Diseases, Ranjana Sharma

Computer Science

Finding the complex semantic relations between existing drugs and new diseases will help in the drug development in a new way. Most of the drugs which have found new uses have been discovered due to serendipity. Hence, the prediction of the uses of drugs for more than one disease should be done in a systematic way by studying the semantic relations between the drugs and diseases and also the other entities involved in the relations. Hence, in order to study the complex semantic relations between drugs and diseases an application was developed that integrates the heterogeneous data in different formats …

Demonstrating Bid Rigging With A Shopping Agent Application Using Jade, Dinesh Sivanandam

Computer Science

This paper presents the implementation of a shopping-cart agent that demonstrated collusion in online bidding. Collusion is an agreement between two or more persons, sometimes illegal and therefore secretive, to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading, or defrauding others of their legal rights; or to obtain an objective forbidden by law, typically by defrauding or gaining an unfair advantage [15]. It is an agreement among firms to divide the market, set prices, or limit production. The paper has the shopping agent and its bid-rigging methods implemented using the Java Agent Development Framework (JADE), which helps develop agent-based applications. JADE uses …

Vector-Item Pattern Mining Algorithms And Their Applications, Jianfei Wu

Computer Science

Advances in storage technology have long been driving the need for new data mining techniques. Not only are typical data sets becoming larger, but the diversity of available attributes is increasing in many problem domains. In biological applications for example, a single protein may have associated sequence-, text-, graph-, continuous and item data. Correspondingly, there is growing need for techniques to find patterns in such complex data. Many techniques exist for mapping specific types of data to vector space representations, such as the bag-of-words model for text [58] or embedding in vector spaces of graphs [94, 91]. However, there are …

Modeling Of Dynamic Pricing Of Energy For A Smart Grid Using A Multi-Agent Framework, Harvinder Kaur

Computer Science

The use of smart grids is being promoted to address issues such as energy independence, global warming and emergency resilience. A smart grid is a digitized form of the power grid and is comprised of an intelligent monitoring system that keeps track of the two-way digital communications in the system. A multi-agent system is a collection of interacting intelligent agents that can be used in problem solving for systems that are difficult or impossible to be solved by an individual agent. Applications of multi-agent systems can range from transportation, logistics, graphics, networking and mobile technologies to modeling real world scenarios …

Analysis Of Security Vulnerabilities In Web Applications Using Threat Modeling, Samuel Sudhakar Kondamarri

Computer Science

Software security issues have been a major concern to the cyberspace community; therefore, a great deal of research on security testing has been performed, and various security testing techniques have been developed. A security process that is integrated into the application development cycle is required for creating a secure system. A part of this process is to create a threat profile for an application. The present project explains this process as a case study for analyzing a web application using Threat Modeling. This analysis can be used in the security testing approach that derives test cases from design level artifacts.

Positioning Of Relay Stations In Wireless Sensor Networks, Nikhil Koganti

Computer Science

A sensor is a device which can detect or measure a physical property and which records, indicates, or otherwise responds to the signal received. A wireless sensor in a network can communicate with the sensors located within its transmission range. In this paper, the capacity enhancement problem by adding a relay station to the sensor network was studied which can result in efficient and scalable design. Major concerns of the wireless sensors addressed in this paper are reducing the number of hops a message needs to make from one sensor to a different sensor before it reaches the base station, …

Development Of An Instrument To Measure Collaborative Competencies In Interprofessional Health Care Education, Carla Jean Gross

Education

Despite the widespread endorsement of interprofessional education (IPE), health care education has not implemented the strategy to the extent expected. Decisions to adopt and implement IPE must be based on evidence indicating that the approach is superior in promoting collaboration as compared to the traditional, uniprofessional educational approach. Evidence supports that incorporating IPE into the curricula generally improves students' attitudes, perceptions, and knowledge of teamwork skills on a short-term basis. Whether IPE produces graduates who are prepared to collaborate more effectively on the health care team in practice has not been determined because valid instruments have not been developed to …

A Mixed-Methods Study Examining The Effectiveness Of Psychosocial Occupational Therapy Preparation For Therapists Working With Children In Schools, Sarah Kaye Nielsen

Education

This mixed-methods research study was conducted for the purpose of examining school-based occupational therapists' child psychosocial knowledge and attitudes, along with how therapists developed this knowledge and attitudes. Using a phenomenological qualitative approach, the study addressed the following broad research question: What meaning do school-based occupational therapists give to their experience in developing child psychosocial knowledge? Using a quantitative approach, a survey instrument was used to answer the following questions: (a) What level of child psychosocial knowledge and attitudes do school-based occupational therapists possess? (b) How do the following variables impact child psychosocial knowledge and attitudes: (1) level of education, …

Applying Group Perspectives: Student Behavior Change Resulting From A Co-Curricular Leadership Development Program, Jessica Marie Almlie

Education

This descriptive study explored undergraduate student application of leadership concepts and corresponding change in leadership behavior resulting from participation in a co-curricular leadership development program. Students who completed workshops related to effective group leadership contributed in focus group discussions regarding their application of learned skills. Students discussed applying knowledge of leadership concepts across the scope of their lives, both in and outside the classroom. This indicated a change in leadership behavior. Concepts applied emerged in five major themes: (a) addressing and managing conflict, (b) facilitating small groups, (c) appreciating and valuing diversity, (d) utilizing collaboration, and (e) accepting shared leadership. …

Transforming Lives: Exploring The Impact Of Transitioning On Female-To-Male Transpersons And Partners Of Female-To-Male Transpersons, Megan Marie Tesene

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Recent trends in gender scholarship point to an increased research focus on transidentified persons. However, the majority of it revolves around the experiences of transpersons as individuals while ignoring the influence that transitioning has on intimacy in personal relationships. Furthermore, while previous research on FtM transpersons tends to emphasize the benefits that transmen receive from transitioning, the current study focuses on some of its negative implications. Through ten semi-structured, in-depth interviews, this research explores the experiences of four transmen and six partners of transmen who were involved in a romantic relationship during the transition process. My findings indicate that transitioning …

From A Weak Tribual To A Branch Of Government: The Supreme Court Of The United States From 1789 To Marshall, Dale Edward Paul Yurs

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Each branch of the federal government has changed substantially since its creation in 1789. Today, the people directly elect both houses of Congress and citizens hold the President more accountable for his actions. The federal judiciary has grown as well. The third branch of government may have started as a fairly weak tribunal, but during the early national period it grew to an equal branch of government. The Justices redefined the judiciary by their own actions. They worked to amend the circuit riding requirements, adopted a new style of opinions, and asserted the authority of judicial review. Through primary evidence, …

A Comparison Of Bullying In Public And Private Schools In A Small Midwestern Community, Daniel J. Ryan

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Little attention has been given to the possible differences in bullying at private and public schools. Little significant research exists on bullying at private schools, its characteristics, and its differences from public schools. Inattention to this segment of the population can lead to broad and inappropriate generalizations that what works in public schools will work in private schools. This dissertation investigated to what degree there were differences between the number of incidences, types of bullying, and locations of bullying that took place at a public and private school in a small Midwestern community. The research examined the following factors and …

Master Students' Perception Of Informal Faculty Mentoring : An Explorative Investigation, Nangai Yang

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Originated from Mentor, a wise counselor to Ulysses and then teacher and protector to Ulysses' son Telemachus in Homer's Odyssey, the word mentoring now means teacher, advisor, sponsor and role model (Jacobi, 1991). The mentoring literature now characterizes this type of mentoring as informal or traditional mentoring that has been found to be very beneficial to doctoral students (Heinrich, 1995; Holland, 1995; Lyons, Scroggins & Rule, 1990; Schlosser, Knox, Moskovitz, & Hill, 2003). The purpose of this study was to investigate informal faculty mentoring at the master's degree level, namely the extent to which informal faculty mentoring activities were …

Digging Deeper: Enriching Transition To Adult Life Outcome Research Through Life-Histories, Jennifer Johnson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Post-secondary outcomes for students with and without disabilities have been documented in transition research for over three decades. However, despite efforts to improve outcomes by the field of transition, former students with disabilities outcomes have remain lower than their non-disabled peers. Historically, the data, which has been collected mostly by means of survey research, has focused on what has happened to students since they exited school. Despite valiant efforts to improve adult outcomes, what has remained unclear, is why post-school outcomes have not improved in the areas of employment, post-secondary education, independent living, personal/social relationships, and community involvement.

Missing from …

Resident Assistant Use Of Student Development Theory And Its Relation To Supervisor Knowledge And Use, David Michael Schmid

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Resident assistants perform various functions and serve students in many aspects during their time in university residence halls, with one of their central responsibilities being to encourage student development. This study examined the use of student development by resident assistants and its relation to supervisor knowledge and use of student development theory.

Informal conversational interviews were conducted with three Residence Life Coordinators at the University of Northern Iowa and three Hall Directors at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Between two and five of the resident assistants supervised by these individuals were also interviewed.

Results indicate that while resident assistants may …

The Value Of Leisure In Coping With Natural Disaster: A Case Study In The Aftermath Of Hurricane Katrina, Germaine Jackson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have witnessed more than their share of cataclysmic events, both natural and human-made. Most notable is Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 storm that ravaged the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi. The infamous history of Hurricane Katrina's devastation stems from a couple of factors. First, the death toll reached what, for Americans, was a shockingly high figure of 1,577 people. Second, and more socially and politically relevant, was the federal government's mismanagement of the crisis.

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of leisure services available to adolescents following the traumatic …

Processing And Mechanical Characterization Of Polyurea Aerogels, Jared M. Loebs

Masters Theses

"The use of aerogels historically has been limited to extreme cases largely in part to the nature of their mechanical properties. Until recently many aerogels produced have been brittle and weak, though looking at their specific strength would suggest otherwise. This thesis outlines the processing and major mechanical properties of a relatively new type of aerogel, polyurea aerogel, that shows promise in a variety of fields including structures.

Processing polyurea aerogel begins with a liquid solution that solidifies to form a solid gel filled with liquid that is later removed by supercritical drying. Once dry, polyurea aerogels are difficult to …

Maggie And Her Students: Talking And Reasoning In A Reform-Based Mathematics Classroom, Debra Louise Semm Rich

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

In this qualitative case study, I explored how Maggie, the teacher, and her students used language to advance students' conceptual understanding of mathematics in a reform-based mathematics classroom. Specifically I sought to describe how Maggie's reform-based mathematics classroom environment impacted the quantity and quality of mathematical language spoken by her students. Maggie's eighth-grade mathematics classroom was observed during a course of study on data and statistics. Three semi-structured interviews with Maggie, artifacts provided by her, and fourteen 52-minute classroom lessons, supported with field notes, were analyzed.

Environmental themes were revealed as they related to Maggie, her beliefs, goals, knowledge, and …

A New Problem For Aesthetics, Kevin Melchionne

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

The essay introduces the problem of aesthetic unreliability, the variety of ways in which it is difficult to grasp our aesthetic experience and the consequent confusion and unreliability of what we take as our taste.

Disrupting The Discussion : The Story Of Disruptive Students In The Online Classroom, Belle Doyle Cowden

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Many online classrooms today are designed based on learner-centered principles. Implicit with this design perspective is the goal to create and facilitate a virtual learning community in which students learn from and share with each other through discussion based computer conferencing. In the current literature, little has been shared on what happens to the online learning community when students behave in a manner deemed challenging, difficult, or disruptive. However, as in the face-to-face classroom, disruptive student behaviors do appear in the online classroom.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how disruptive student behaviors impact the online learning community …

Effects Of Environmental Variables On Food Consumption, Denise Eslinger

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Overweight and obesity is a growing epidemic among adults, adolescents, and children in the United States. Since 1980, rates of obesity have doubled among adults and tripled among children, and college students are not immune to this trend. This may be due, in part, to portion sizes that exceed individuals' caloric needs. Although many studies have demonstrated that people's food consumption is highly influenced by environmental factors ( e.g., the size of a portion that is given), there has been very little theoretical work exploring the reasons for this influence. To determine if portion size would affect consumption when a …

The Impact Of Attachment Disorder On The Family And Child, Stephanie Durocher

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

John Bowlby's attachment theory suggests that based on their needs for protection, comfort and nurturance, infants form attachments with their primary caregivers. The initial relationships a person has with others will serve as a blueprint for all future relationships. This connection has a significant influence on every area of a person's life, including cognition, physical and emotional health, future relationships, education and development of values. When an infant's needs are met with inconsistency, abuse or maltreatment, the influence on a child's life and those caring for the child is widespread. This study sought to explore the impact caring for a …