Digital Commons Network^™

Pyrolysis Of Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (Abs) Under High Heat Flux Conditions, James R. Wilson

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

Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) is a common industrial plastic that is widely used for structural and piping applications. Additionally, within the past decade ABS has become the most popular material used in a type of rapid prototyping known as fused- deposition modeling (FDM). Within the past three years, ABS plastic blends have also been investigated as a potential fuel for hybrid- and solid-propelled rocket systems, exhibiting promising results. Because the use of ABS as a rocket propellant is very recent, a pyrolysis database, describing how ABS will burn, at the temperatures and heating rates experienced by rocket systems does not exist. Previous …

Creating A Maturity Model For Business Intelligence In Healthcare, Patti Brooks

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

Healthcare is a very complex, knowledge-driven industry. The accumulation of data is quickly outpacing the capacity to use the information to improve the efficiency and quality of healthcare. At the same time, the demand for higher level knowledge to manage consumer information and to predict outcomes of care continues to rise. Business intelligence (BI) can help organizations improve efficiency in managing information and can provide decision makers with timely and accurate information. The use of a business intelligence maturity model can provide organizations with a systematic method for assessing their maturity level relative to important process areas critical to the …

Analytical And Computational Study Of Flame Acceleration In Tubes: Effect Of Wall Friction, Berk Demirgok

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Premixed flame acceleration is especially strong in the case of flame propagation in tubes or channels. Being a reasonably simple configuration to investigate fundamental flame properties, combustion tubes have numerous practical applications such as safety issues in mines, subways and power plants. This work is devoted to the analytical formulation and computational simulations of premixed flame acceleration induced by wall friction in tubes/channels. Specifically, the evolution of the flame dynamics and morphology is determined, and the main characteristics of the flame acceleration such as the flame shape and propagation speed, the acceleration rate as well as the combustion-generated velocity profile …

Determining Transportation And Development Impacts Of Consolidated Schools In West Virginia, Bradley J. Dicola

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

School consolidation has become commonplace in the West Virginia, with a declining student population as West Virginia has lost population over the last several decades. Consolidated schools offer school districts the opportunity to provide greater offerings in terms of coursework and extracurricular activities, while also allowing a reduction in some operating costs since fewer facilities are maintained and few administrative staff are needed to operate them. Consolidation also has impacts on school transportation, both in terms of time and mode choice, as well as the impact on land use patterns around the consolidated school facility.;This research seeks to help quantify …

Modeling And Recognizing Binary Human Interactions, Ke Feng

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Recognizing human activities from video is an important step forward towards the long-term goal of performing scene understanding fully automatically. Applications in this domain include, but are not limited to, the automated analysis of video surveillance footage for public and private monitoring, remote patient and elderly home monitoring, video archiving, search and retrieval, human-computer interaction, and robotics. While recent years have seen a concentration of works focusing on modeling and recognizing either group activities, or actions performed by people in isolation, modeling and recognizing binary human-human interactions is a fundamental building block that only recently has started to catalyze the …

Wind And Wake Sensing With Uav Formation Flight: System Development And Flight Testing, Trenton Jameson Larrabee

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Wind turbulence including atmospheric turbulence and wake turbulence have been widely investigated; however, only recently it become possible to use Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as a validation tool for research in this area. Wind can be a major contributing factor of adverse weather for aircraft. More importantly, it is an even greater risk towards UAVs because of their small size and weight. Being able to estimate wind fields and gusts can potentially provide substantial benefits for both unmanned and manned aviation. Possible applications include gust suppression for improving handling qualities, a better warning system for high wind encounters, and enhanced …

Microfluidic Generated Egf-Gradients Induce Chemokinesis Of Transplantable Retinal Progenitor Cells Via The Jak/Stat And Pi3kinase Signaling Pathways, Uchenna J. Unachukwu, Moira Sauane, Maribel Vazquez, Stephen Redenti

Publications and Research

A growing number of studies are evaluating retinal progenitor cell (RPC) transplantation as an approach to repair retinal degeneration and restore visual function. To advance cell-replacement strategies for a practical retinal therapy, it is important to define the molecular and biochemical mechanisms guiding RPC motility. We have analyzed RPC expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and evaluated whether exposure to epidermal growth factor (EGF) can coordinate motogenic activity in vitro. Using Boyden chamber analysis as an initial highthroughput screen, we determined that RPC motility was optimally stimulated by EGF concentrations in the range of 20-400ng/ml, with decreased stimulation …

A Study Of Energy Transfer Of Wind And Ocean Waves, Shahrdad Sajjadi, Mason Bray

Publications

To develop a better understanding of energy transfer between wind and different types of waves a model was created to determine growth factors and energy transfers on breaking waves and the resulting velocity vectors. This model was used to build on the research of Sajjadi et al (1996) on the growth of waves by sheared flow and takes models of wave velocities developed by Weber and Melsom (1993) and end energy transfer by Sajjadi, Hunt and Drullion (2012).

Electrospinning Polymer Blends For Biomimetic Scaffolds For Acl Tissue Engineering, Vanessa Lizeth Garcia

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture is one of the most common knee injuries. Current ACL reconstructive strategies consist of using an autograft or an allograft to replace the ligament. However, limitations have led researchers to investigate tissue engineered grafts, known as scaffolds, through electrospinning. Scaffolds made of natural and synthetic polymer blends have the potential to promote cell adhesion while having strong mechanical properties. However, enzymes found in the knee are known to degrade tissues and affect the healing of intra-articular injuries. Results suggest that the natural polymers used in this study modify the thermal properties and tensile strength …

Reduction Of Nitroaromatic Compounds With Sodium Borohydride Using Transition Metal Sulfides, Samuel Pina Jr.

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The following systems: NaBH4/Fe3S4, NaBH4/Co3S4, NaBH4/NiS, NaBH4/CuS, and NaBH4/ZnS, were investigated for their nitro reducing abilities. Quantitative conversions were observed for the reduction of nitrobenzene with NaBH4/Co3S4 and NaBH4/NiS systems as opposed to only 9% conversion without any catalyst, representing a ten-fold increase in the reducing ability of NaBH4. In ethanol, various nitroaromatic compounds were also successfully reduced in moderate to high yields with 3 molar equivalents of NaBH4, demonstrating a mild alternative for the effective reduction of nitroaromatic compounds to their corresponding aryl amines. Screening of catalysts was carried out using gas chromatography. All products were characterized using 1 …

Graduation As A Function Of Attendance And Discipline Of Students In The Student Success Initiative Of Texas In One South Texas Urban School District, Maria Luisa Trevino-Guerra

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This study examined the trends and patterns across time of grade placement committee students on the dependent variable, graduation. Longitudinal data for independent variables, attendance and discipline was collected for 173 students from 2005 to 2013. The independent variables of attendance and discipline were examined to determine whether or not high school completion is dependent on these two measures.

The Grade 5 students of 2005-2006 in one south Texas large urban school district who were retained in the fifth grade or advanced to the next higher grade by the grade placement committee in accordance with the Student Success Initiative (SSI) …

Oxidation Of Dibenzothiophene To Dibenzothiophene Sulfone Using Tio2, Juan H. Leal

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The oxidation of dibenzothiophene (DBT) to dibenzothiophene-sulfone has been considered as an alternate method to remove sulfur from crude oil. This study demonstrates that the oxidative desulfurization (ODS) of DBT to DBT-sulfone occurs using rutile TiO2 as a catalyst with the aid of O2. In addition, anatase and brookite were synthesized and tested in the reaction. Particle size of the catalysts was calculated and morphology was explored using SEM. A kinetic study was performed to determine the catalytic effect and activation energy of TiO2. The oxidation reaction was carried out by refluxing TiO2 and DBT in decahydronapthalene while flowing O2 …

Review Of Cerebral Aneurysm Formation, Growth, And Rupture., Nohra Chalouhi, Md, Brian L Hoh, David Hasan

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

No abstract provided.

Gfsa Encodes A Novel Galactofuranosyltransferase Involved In Biosynthesis Of Galactofuranose Antigen Of O-Glycan In Aspergillus Nidulans And Aspergillus Fumigatus, Yuji Komachi, Shintaro Hatakeyama, Haruka Motomatsu, Taiki Futagami, Karina Kizjakina, Pablo Sobrado, Keisuke Ekino, Kaoru Takegawa, Masatoshi Goto, Yoshiyuki Nomura, Takuji Oka

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Summary: The cells wall of filamentous fungi in the genus Aspergillus has galactofuranose (Galf)-containing polysaccharides and glycoconjugates, including O-glycans, N-glycans, fungal-type galactomannan and glycosylinositolphosphoceramide, which are important for cell wall integrity. Here, we attempted to identify galactofuranosyltransferases that couple Galf monomers onto other wall components in Aspergillus nidulans. Using reverse-genetic and biochemical approaches, we identified that the AN8677 gene encoded a galactofuranosyltransferase, which we called GfsA, involved in Galf antigen biosynthesis. Disruption of gfsA reduced binding of β-Galf-specific antibody EB-A2 to O-glycosylated WscA protein and galactomannoproteins. The results of an in-vitroGalf antigen synthase assay revealed that GfsA has β1,5- or …

X-Ray Fluorescence (Xrf) Analyzer - Theory, Utility, And Qa/Qc For Environmental And Commercial Product Samples In Cambodia, Sereyrath Lim

Multidisciplinary Studies Theses

Laboratory facilities in developed countries provide a variety of options for analysis of environmental samples and commercial commodities that could impact human health. The same is not true in developing countries and there is a great need to identify technologies that could be used to provide robust, accurate, cost-effective analysis that minimizes the need for extensive technical training. An X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyzer seems to be an analytical technique that could be such a tool for developing countries. Therefore, the objective of this thesis was to assess the performance and utility of a handheld, portable XRF unit in analyzing different …

Efficient Privacy-Preserving Range Queries Over Encrypted Data In Cloud Computing, Bharath K. Samanthula, Wei Jiang

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

With the growing popularity of data and service outsourcing, where the data resides on remote servers in encrypted form, there remain open questions about what kind of query operations can be performed on the encrypted data. In this paper, we focus on one such important query operation, namely range query. One of the basic security primitives that can be used to evaluate range queries is secure comparison of encrypted integers. However, the existing secure comparison protocols strongly rely on the encrypted bit-wise representations rather than on pure encrypted integers. Therefore, in this paper, we first propose an efficient method for …

Differences In Internet Usage Patterns With Stress And Anxiety Among College Students, Levi Malott, Sai Preethi Vishwanathan, Sriram Chellappan

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Stress and Anxiety negatively affect mental health and can lead a number of debilitating impacts to overall health and wellbeing. In the recent past, adolescents are becoming increasingly afflicted with Stress and Anxiety. In this paper, we report our findings on a six-week study of 70 students at a college campus on associations between Stress and Anxiety with respect to Internet usage of students. Using Cisco NetFlow records, on-campus Internet usage of students was collected continuously and unobtrusively in a privacy-preserving manner. Using the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS), students were separated based on normal scores and high scores …

Chc-Tscm: A Trustworthy Service Composition Method Based On An Improved Chc Genetic Algorithm, Cao Buqing, Liu Jianxun, Xiaoqing Frank Liu, Li Bing, Zhou Dong

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Trustworthy service composition is an extremely important task when service composition becomes infeasible or even fails in an environment which is open, autonomic, uncertain and deceptive. This paper presents a trustworthy service composition method based on an improved Cross generation elitist selection, Heterogeneous recombination, Cataclysmic mutation (CHC) Trustworthy Service Composition Method (CHC-TSCM) genetic algorithm. CHC-TSCM firstly obtains the total trust degree of the individual service using a trust degree measurement and evaluation model proposed in previous research. Trust combination and computation then are performed according to the structural relation of the composite service. Finally, the optimal trustworthy service composition is …

An Analysis Of Peer-To-Peer Distributed Hash Algorithms In Improving Fault Tolerance In The Hadoop Running Environment, Benjamin R. Knaus

Honors Theses

Cloud computing is a “new frontier” in the world of computing. One of the cloud architectures widely used is the Hadoop running environment. Hadoop consists of many parts—including MapReduce, TaskTrackers, and JobTrackers. Right now, there is no fault-tolerance for JobTrackers in Hadoop. This paper analyzes four different distributed hash algorithms (Pastry, Tapestry, CAN, and Chord) that could be implemented inside Hadoop to improve JobTracker fault-tolerance. We recommend Chord as the best suited for integration and improvement of Hadoop.

Differentiating Instruction For Gifted Learners In The Regular Classroom: A Quick-Reference Guide For Teachers, Sarah E. White

Honors Theses

Today’s educators face the daunting challenge of presenting mandated curriculum content to a very diverse set of students. Furthermore, their success as an educator is often determined by the scores their students earn on standardized tests at the year’s end. Focus is therefore shifted to the struggling student population, and meanwhile, the advanced learners may be left to their own devices, at least as far as their education is concerned. While pullout programs are in place in some school districts, students usually spend the majority of their time in the regular education classroom, where their needs must be adequately met. …

Tender Evaluation For The Telecommunication Industry Using The Analytic Network Process, Ali Kalanaki

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In the past few decades, tender evaluation has consistently dominated most of organizations' top strategic priorities. Additionally, the field of tender evaluation has generated a vast amount of research efforts, wherein most of these efforts center on methods enabling consideration of all affecting criteria together to make an appropriate decision. Despite the great deal of advances in the methods of tender evaluation based on technical view, there still lacks comprehensive and organizational-driven decision making tools to support organizations during the crucial task of choosing a suitable tender that best meets their business and technical needs.;Tender evaluation has a strategic role …

Liquid Chromatography -- Tandem Mass Spectrometry Techniques For Drugs Of Abuse As Applied To Bacterial And Forensic Toxicology, Stephanie Marie Martindale

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The ability of bacterial species to transform complex chemical substances has been well documented. Some of these species are native to the human gastrointestinal tract and play an active role in the postmortem decomposition process. These species have potential to cause biotransformations that affect compound-to-metabolite ratios within the human body, especially after death. Postmortem changes such as these have rarely been evaluated or taken into consideration but they have potential to supply valuable information, especially concerning compound identification and confirmation.;The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of Escherichia coli, Bacteroides fragilis, and Clostridium perfringens on drugs of …

Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs And The Lived Experience Of Preservice Elementary Teachers, Karen A. Kettler

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The current study utilized a mixed methods approach to examine the science teaching efficacy beliefs (STEB) of preservice elementary teachers as they participated in a Science Methods course. The following questions were addressed using quantitative survey data and qualitative interviews: What are the STEB of preservice elementary teachers as they progress through a Science Methods course?; How do the STEB of preservice elementary teachers with higher and lower personal science teaching efficacy (PSTE) beliefs change as they progress through a Science Methods course?; What is the nature of the lived experiences of preservice elementary teachers with higher and lower PSTE …

The Impact Of Service Learning On Leadership Skills Of Students Who Are Gifted And Talented In The Middle School, Patricia Anne Coon

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This investigation relates to the impact of service learning on leadership skills of students who are gifted in the middle school while the students plan the project in-school and execute their goals out-of-school for their yearlong service learning project called Community Problem-Solving, or CmPS. Based on surveys, observations, and interviews from 25 students identified as gifted in the middle school, this study describes the student responses and observations from the researcher and teacher of the gifted. Findings show that most of the students in the study felt that their yearlong service learning project positively impacted their leadership skills. The data …

Continuities On Subspaces, Timothy James Glatzer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

We define a generalized continuity by declaring that for any family S of subsets of a topological space X, a function f : X → Y is S -continuous if for each S∈ S , the function f ↾ S : S → Y is continuous. This is easily seen to generalize such well known concepts as separate continuity and linear continuity. Using this definition as a way to unify several disparate results, we attempt to create a theory of S -continuity. As a part of this program, we give constructions for S -continuous functions for several natural classes S …

A Versatile Method Of Resolution Enhancement For Tactile Sensor Array Used As Synthetic Skin: Modeling And Implementation, Karen Flores De Jesus

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Tactile sensors are one of the major devices that enable robotic systems to interact with the surrounding environment. In particular, modern assistive robotic systems need to carry out many human-like activities. Thus, it is desired to have sensor arrays that can acquire different environmental information just like human skin. In the past two decades, various types of tactile sensor arrays have been developed to acquire different physical properties, such as temperature, force, and geometric shapes. However, though the measurement of a single sensor can be accurate, the planar resolution is limited due to fabrication difficulties. This research aims to propose …

A Correlational Study To Evaluate The Effectiveness Of Behavior-Based Safety In An Offshore Oil Production Facility, Zinga Martine Branco

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

For many countries, oil production constitutes a large part of their economic resources. It is also one of the most hazardous activities with high incident rates. Workplace safety has remained a challenge for these industries which strive to operate injury free. Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) is used as a safety intervention approach to minimize the frequency and severity of workplace incidents and injuries. Many companies assume BBS is effective in reducing injuries and losses. However, only anecdotal evidence is usually presented to support the effectiveness of BBS in decreasing incident rates.;This study explores the relationship between Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) outcomes and …

Using A Three-Dimensional Model To Understand Age Differences In The Framing Effect, Tara E. Karns

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The present study used a between-subjects design with three instruction conditions to investigate susceptibility to the framing effect among younger, middle-aged, and older adults. Participants were instructed to pay attention to the facts and numbers, to use their gut feelings, or to use their previous experiences to respond to two decision-making scenarios pertaining to treatment for lung cancer and a vaccination for a flu virus. Results revealed that, overall, the framing effect was present in the lung cancer scenario, but not the flu scenario. Instruction condition and age did not affect susceptibility to the framing effect; however, a frame by …

Aerodynamic Parameter Identification Of A Venus Lander, Robert A. Sykes

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

An analysis was conducted to identify the parameters of an aerodynamic model for a Venus lander based on experimental free-flight data. The experimental free-flight data were collected in the NASA Langley 20-ft Vertical Spin Tunnel with a 25-percent Froude-scaled model. The experimental data were classified based on the wind tunnel run type: runs where the lander model was unperturbed over the course of the run, and runs were the model was perturbed (principally in pitch, yaw, and roll) by the wind tunnel operator. The perturbations allow for data to be obtained at higher wind angles and rotation rates than those …

Techniques For Ocular Biometric Recognition Under Non-Ideal Conditions, Raghavender Reddy Jillela

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The use of the ocular region as a biometric cue has gained considerable traction due to recent advances in automated iris recognition. However, a multitude of factors can negatively impact ocular recognition performance under unconstrained conditions (e.g., non-uniform illumination, occlusions, motion blur, image resolution, etc.). This dissertation develops techniques to perform iris and ocular recognition under challenging conditions. The first contribution is an image-level fusion scheme to improve iris recognition performance in low-resolution videos. Information fusion is facilitated by the use of Principal Components Transform (PCT), thereby requiring modest computational efforts. The proposed approach provides improved recognition accuracy when low-resolution …