Digital Commons Network^™

Shelf-Scale Mapping Of Fish Distribution Using Active And Passive Acoustics, Carrie Christy Wall

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fish sound production has been associated with courtship and spawning behavior. Acoustic recordings of fish sounds can be used to identify distribution and behavior. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) can record large amounts of acoustic data in a specific area for days to years. These data can be collected in remote locations under potentially unsafe seas throughout a 24-hour period providing datasets unattainable using observer-based methods. However, the instruments must withstand the caustic ocean environment and be retrieved to obtain the recorded data. This can prove difficult due to the risk of PAMs being lost, stolen or damaged, especially in highly …

Something Is Askew In Florida's Water: Arguing For A Better Descriptive Statistic For Positively Skewed Water-Quality Data, Amie October West

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

It may be of no surprise that water quality data is right-skewed, but what appears to be overlooked by some is that the arithmetic mean and standard deviation most often fail as measures of central tendency in skewed data. When using the arithmetic mean and arithmetic standard deviation with nutrient data, one standard deviation about the arithmetic mean can capture nearly all of the data and extend into negative values. Representing nutrient data this way can be misleading to viewers who are using the statistics, and making assumptions, to understand the characteristics of those waters. Through an in-depth statistical …

Asymmetric Intra- And Intermolecular Cyclopropanation By Co(Ii)- Based Metalloradical Catalysis, Xue Xu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Metal-catalyzed cyclopropanation of olefins with diazo reagents has attracted research interest because of its fundamental and practical importance. The resulting cyclopropyl units are recurrent motifs in biologically important molecules and can serve as versatile precursors in organic synthesis. Since they were first introduced in 2004, Co(II) complexes of D₂-symmetric chiral amidoporphyrins [Co(D₂-Por*)] have emerged as a new class of catalysts for asymmetric cyclopropanation. These metalloradical catalysts have been shown to be highly effective for asymmetric intermolecular cyclopropanation of a broad scope of substrates with different classes of carbene sources, particularly including electron-deficient olefins and acceptor/acceptor-substituted …

Laboratory Schools Annual Report, 2011-2012, Laboratory Schools, Illinois State University

Annual Reports – Laboratory Schools

Illinois State University Laboratory Schools annual report

The Detection Of Abnormal Events In Activities Of Daily Living Using A Kinect Sensor, Laurence Da Luz

Theses : Honours

The growing elderly population presents a challenge on the resources of carers and assisted living communities. This has led to various projects in remote automated home monitoring in order to keep the elderly in their own home environment longer. These have the promise of alleviating the strain on support services, and the benefits of keeping people in their existing familiar community environment. Such monitoring typically involves a myriad of sensors attached to the environment and person, so as to acquire rich enough data to determine the actions of the person being monitored. In this research, an algorithm based around the …

Biology I Lab, Todd Schraw

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

Medical Terminology, Steelman Library, Todd Schraw Dr.

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

Identifying And Localizing Intracellular Nanoparticles Using Raman Spectroscopy, Jennifer Dorney, Franck Bonnier, Amaya Garcia, Alan Casey, Gordon Chambers, Hugh Byrne

Articles

Raman microscopy is employed to spectroscopically image biological cells previously exposed to fluorescently labelled polystyrene nanoparticles and, in combination with K-means clustering and Principal Component Analysis (PCA), is demonstrated to be capable of localising the nanoparticles and identifying the subcellular environment based on the molecular spectroscopic signatures. The neutral nanoparticles of 50 nm or 100 nm, as characterised by dynamic light scattering, are shown to be non-toxic to a human lung adenocarcinoma cell-line (A549), according to a range of cytotoxicity assays including Neutral Red, Alamar Blue, Coomassie Blue and (3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT). Confocal fluorescence microscopy identifies intracellular fluorescence due to …

Biosynthesis Of Marineosin, A Spiroaminal Undecylprodiginine Natural Product, Shaimaa Mohamed Salem

Dissertations and Theses

Marineosins A and B are two spiroaminal-ring containing tripyrrole compounds isolated from the marine actinomycete, Streptomyces CNQ-617, and were found to possess potent and selective cytotoxic activity against leukemia and melanoma. Marineosins belong to the prodiginines class of natural products, examples of which are undecylprodiginine and streptorubin B. Unlike marineosins, prodiginines structures are characterized by the presence of fully conjugated tripyrrole nucleus linked to an alkyl chain (that lacks any oxygen). Cyclic prodiginines arise from an oxidative cyclization of the alkyl chain onto the tripyrrole, a step catalyzed by Rieske-oxygenase like enzymes such as RedG. The biosynthesis of prodiginines is …

On The Effect Of Heterogeneity On The Dynamics And Performance Of Dynamical Networks, Alireza Goudarzi

Dissertations and Theses

The high cost of processor fabrication plants and approaching physical limits have started a new wave research in alternative computing paradigms. As an alternative to the top-down manufactured silicon-based computers, research in computing using natural and physical system directly has recently gained a great deal of interest. A branch of this research promotes the idea that any physical system with sufficiently complex dynamics is able to perform computation. The power of networks in representing complex interactions between many parts make them a suitable choice for modeling physical systems. Many studies used networks with a homogeneous structure to describe the computational …

Shaping The Future Past: Finding History, Creating Identity In The Kwan Hsu Papers, Lisa Chere' Donnelly

Dissertations and Theses

Dr. Kwan Hsu was neither a superstar nor a celebrity. Her name does not come up in conversations about important contributors to her field of biophysics nor is she instantly recognizable for her contributions to Portland State University's international program or the state of Oregon's business ties with China. Yet she was a contributor, a cog-in-the-wheel, at the very least, in all of these areas and more. She was a peripheral member of a well-known Chinese family, but few in the United States know of or perhaps have interest in, but otherwise, she had no great connections or family ties …

A Data-Descriptive Feedback Framework For Data Stream Management Systems, Rafael J. Fernández Moctezuma

Dissertations and Theses

Data Stream Management Systems (DSMSs) provide support for continuous query evaluation over data streams. Data streams provide processing challenges due to their unbounded nature and varying characteristics, such as rate and density fluctuations. DSMSs need to adapt stream processing to these changes within certain constraints, such as available computational resources and minimum latency requirements in producing results. The proposed research develops an inter-operator feedback framework, where opportunities for run-time adaptation of stream processing are expressed in terms of descriptions of substreams and actions applicable to the substreams, called feedback punctuations. Both the discovery of adaptation opportunities and the exploitation of …

Evolved Design Of A Nonlinear Proportional Integral Derivative (Npid) Controller, Shubham Chopra

Dissertations and Theses

This research presents a solution to the problem of tuning a PID controller for a nonlinear system. Many systems in industrial applications use a PID controller to control a plant or the process. Conventional PID controllers work in linear systems but are less effective when the plant or the process is nonlinear because PID controllers cannot adapt the gain parameters as needed. In this research we design a Nonlinear PID (NPID) controller using a fuzzy logic system based on the Mamdani type Fuzzy Inference System to control three different DC motor systems. This fuzzy system is responsible for adapting the …

Groundwater Surface Trends In The North Florence Dunal Aquifer, Oregon Coast, Usa, Sarah Rebecca Doliber

Dissertations and Theses

The North Florence Dunal Aquifer is the only feasible source for drinking water for the coastal city of Florence, Oregon and Florence's Urban Growth Boundary. High infiltration rates and a shallow groundwater table leave the aquifer highly susceptible to contamination from septic tank effluent, storm runoff, chemical fertilizers and recreational ATV use throughout the dunes. Public interest in the quality and quantity of the aquifer water has been sparked since the City of Florence received a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency for a watershed protection and restoration project. Delineation of the shallow groundwater surface and its relationship to the …

Sustainability Education As A Framework For Enhancing Environmental Stewardship In Young Leaders: An Intervention At Tryon Creek Nature Day Camp, Andrea Nicole Lawrence

Dissertations and Theses

UNESCO established Sustainability Education as a top priority when it declared 2005 - 2014 to be the global decade for sustainability. Sustainability education can be implemented in outdoor programs such as nature summer camps in order to build environmental stewardship and ecological literacy in counselors and campers. This study sought to determine the extent to which an ecology and leadership training given to assistant counselors at Tryon Creek State Natural Area day camp achieved the goals of sustainability education--for the assistant counselors to learn about ecology, develop stewardship attitudes and behaviors toward the environment, and become positive role models for …

Finding The Past In The Present: Modeling Prehistoric Occupation And Use Of The Powder River Basin, Wyoming, Catherine Anne Clark

Dissertations and Theses

In the Powder River Basin of Wyoming, our nation's interest in protecting its cultural heritage collides with the high demand for carbon fuels. "Clinker" deposits dot the basin. These distinctive buttes, created by the underground combustion of coal, are underlain by coal veins; they also provided the main lithic resources for prehistoric hunter-gatherers. These deposits signify both a likelihood of extractable carbon and high archaeological site density. Federal law requires that energy developers must identify culturally significant sites before mining can begin. The research presented here explains the need for and describes a statistical tool with the potential to predict …

Scale Invariant Object Recognition Using Cortical Computational Models And A Robotic Platform, Danny Voils

Dissertations and Theses

This paper proposes an end-to-end, scale invariant, visual object recognition system, composed of computational components that mimic the cortex in the brain. The system uses a two stage process. The first stage is a filter that extracts scale invariant features from the visual field. The second stage uses inference based spacio-temporal analysis of these features to identify objects in the visual field. The proposed model combines Numenta's Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM), with HMAX developed by MIT's Brain and Cognitive Science Department. While these two biologically inspired paradigms are based on what is known about the visual cortex, HTM and HMAX …

Fundamental Properties Of Functional Zinc Oxide Nanowires Obtained By Electrochemical Method And Their Device Applications, Athavan Nadarajah

Dissertations and Theses

We report on the fundamental properties and device applications of semiconductor nanoparticles. ZnO nanowires and CdSe quantum dots were used, prepared, characterized, and assembled into novel light-emitting diodes and solar cells. ZnO nanowire films were grown electrochemically using aqueous soluble chloride-based electrolytes as precursors at temperatures below 90° C. Dopants were added to the electrolyte in the form of chloride compounds, which are AlCl₃, CoCl₂, CuCl₂, and MnCl₂. The optical, magnetic, and structural properties of undoped and transition-metal-ion doped ZnO nanowires were explored. Our results indicate that the as-grown nanowire structures have …

Origin Of Surface Undulations At The Kamb Ice Stream Grounding Line, West Antarctica, Fiona Bronwyn Seifert

Dissertations and Theses

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is drained primarily by five major ice streams, which together control the volume of ice discharged into the ocean across the grounding line. The grounding line of Kamb Ice Stream (KIS) is unusual because the ice stream upstream of it is stagnant. Here, a set of surface features--shore-parallel, long wavelength, low amplitude undulations--found only at that grounding line are examined and found to be "pinch and swell" features formed by an instability in the viscous deformation of the ice. When a relatively competent layer is surrounded by lower strength materials, particular wavelength features within the …

Measurement And Simulation Of Parallel Plate Waveguide Structures In The Terahertz Region For Sensing And Material Characterization Applications, James Alexander Higgins

Dissertations and Theses

The THz region is a burgeoning field of research with applications in spectroscopy, integrated circuit fabrication, bio-medicine, and communications. Until recently, the THz region was largely unexplored, mainly due to the technical difficulties involved in making efficient and compact sources and detectors. As these challenges are addressed, the focus of research has shifted to practical applications, such as sensing and imaging. The focus of this thesis is to investigate the characterization of parallel plate waveguide multimode propagation and periodically notched resonant structures for use in sensing and material parameter extraction applications. Broadband and narrowband measurements are presented and analyzed. Measurements …

Phylogenomics: Molecular Evolution In The Genomics Era, Arun Somwarpet Seetharam

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Evolutionary studies in recent years have been transformed by the development of new, powerful techniques for investigating many mechanisms and events of molecular evolution. Large collections of many different complete genomes now available in the public domain offer great advantages to genomic scale evolutionary studies. Phylogenomics, a term often used to describe the use of genomic scale data to infer species phylogeny or to predict protein function through evolutionary history, is greatly benefitted by the revolutionary progress in DNA sequencing technology. In the present study we developed and utilized various phylogenomic methods on large genome-scale data. In the first study, …

A Study Of The Effects Of Fieldbus Network Inducted Delays On Control Systems., Joseph Mianoo

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fieldbus networks are all-digital, two-way, multi-drop communication systems that are used to connect field devices such as sensors and actuators, and controllers. These fieldbus network systems are also called networked control systems (NCS). Although, there are different varieties of fieldbus networks such as Foundation Field Bus, DeviceNet, and Profibus available in the automation industries, Controller Area Network (CAN) is more widely accepted in automotive applications. The growing popularity of, and demand for, fieldbus networks can be attributed to several advantages they have, such as: reduction in capital costs, interoperability, and greater system functionality. However, as the complexity of modern fieldbus …

A Comparison Of Elementary Mathematics Achievement In Everyday Math And Saxon Math Schools In Illinois, Clayton Roan

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study compared mathematics achievement in Illinois elementary schools using the Everyday Math and Saxon Math curricula. The Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) was used as the measure of student achievement. Multiple correlation analyses showed that the type of curriculum used was a significant predictor of mathematics achievement at the third and fifth grade levels. Everyday Math was found to support greater student achievement in these grades. When holding other variables constant, Everyday Math schools can be expected to have an average of 2.1% more questions correct on the multiple choice portion of the ISAT than Saxon Math schools at …

Assessing Risk Of Violence In Caucasian And African-American Male Forensic Patients, Brandy Lynn Herriott

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Violence risk assessment, or the ability to predict the likelihood of a criminal offender's to commit a violent act in the future, is an essential role of psychologists in the criminal justice system. One of the most widely used violence risk assessment instruments is the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG). The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is the most widely used measure of psychopathy and is often used as part of violence risk assessment, including in the the VRAG. The PCL-R is lengthy and time-consuming process, which has led to the development of the Childhood and Adolescent Taxon Scale (CATS), which is …

A Study Of The Effects Of Fieldbus Network Induced Delays On Control Systems, Joseph Mainoo

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fieldbus networks are all-digital, two-way, multi-drop communication systems that are used to connect field devices such as sensors and actuators, and controllers. These fieldbus network systems are also called networked control systems (NCS). Although, there are different varieties of fieldbus networks such as Foundation Field Bus, DeviceNet, and Profibus available in the automation industries, Controller Area Network (CAN) is more widely accepted in automotive applications. The growing popularity of, and demand for, fieldbus networks can be attributed to several advantages they have, such as: reduction in capital costs, interoperability, and greater system functionality. However, as the complexity of modern fieldbus …

The Relationship Between Reading Fluency And Mathematical Word Problem Solving: An Exploratory Study, Amy M. Walker

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the relationship between Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) scores and mathematics problem solving scores. The reading fluency scores were obtained from the Dynamic Indicator of Basic Early Literacy (DIBELS) assessment. The mathematics problem solving scores were obtained from the Indiana State Test ofEducation Progress Plus (ISTEP+) assessment. In addition, error patterns found in mathematics problem solving on ISTEP+ and Acuity Diagnostic Tests were analyzed. The purpose of the quantitative study was to determine if DIBELS ORF scores were correlated with mathematics problem solving ISTEP+ scores. A linear regression was conducted to determine the significance of the correlation. …

Remnants: Within An Age Of Digitalism, Marchelo Vera

Theses

21st Century civilization allows a glimpse into the progressive art paradigm that encompasses our constantly transforming technological advancements. These ideas explore the global network of our modern times and the interrelated possibilities within it. My collaborative and interdisciplinary methods give a glimpse into the future of digital/print media, augmented reality, and interactive environments. My artwork explores the hybrid, identity, culture, and an evolving reality within an age of Digitalism.

Teacher Professional Development In An Online Learning Community : A Case Study In Indonesia, Eunice R. Sari

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Over the past decade the rapid pace of technological innovation has changed the knowledge-based society and gradually changed the way teaching and learning are conducted (Hargreaves, 2003). Teachers are increasingly viewed as not only the knowledge providers, but also the facilitators of a learning process. These changes have been difficult for teachers to adapt to, requiring substantial amounts of professional development. In Indonesia, the government has continually developed a number of strategic education policies and implemented various pathways to improve the professionalism of teachers. Nonetheless, there are still a large number of teachers who struggle to access the professional development …

Application Framework For Wireless Sensor Networks [Thesis], Amro Qandour

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are based on innovative technologies that had revolutionized the methods in which we interact with the environment; i.e., through sensing the physical (e.g., fire motion, contact) and chemical (e.g., molecular concentration) properties of the natural surroundings. The hardware in which utilized by WSNs is rapidly evolving into sophisticated platforms that seamlessly integrate with different vendors and protocols (plug-n-play). In this thesis, we propose a WSN framework which provides assistance with monitoring environmental conditions; we focus on three main applications which include: a. Air-quality monitoring, b. Gas-leak detection, and c. Fire sensing. The framework involves four specifications: …

Linear-Cavity Tunable Fibre Lasers Employing An Opto-Vlsi Processor And A Mems-Based Device, David Daniel Michel

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis proposes and demonstrates experimentally two novel linear-cavity tunable fibre lasers employing an erbium-doped fibre (EDF) in conjunction with an Opto- VLSI processor and a MEMS-based device for wavelength selection. The Opto-VLSI processor and the MEMS-based device along with an optical collimator, a Bragg grating plate and an optical lens, enable the realisation of an optical filter for continuous tuning of wavelengths over the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) range of the EDF. We also propose the use of a section of un-pumped EDF as a saturable absorber (SA), which suppresses noise spikes caused by the high optical pumping power. …