Digital Commons Network^™

Bayesian Minimum Description Length Techniques For Multiple Changepoint Detection, Hewa Anuradha Priyadarshani

All Dissertations

This dissertation develops a minimum description length (MDL) multiple changepoint detection procedure that allows for prior distributions. MDL methods, which are penalized likelihood techniques with penalties based on data description-length information principles, have been successfully applied to many recent multiple changepoint problems. This work shows ow to modify the MDL penalty to account for various prior knowledge. Our motivation lies in climatology. Here, a metadata record, which is a file listing times when a recording station physically moved, instrumentation was changed, etc., sometimes exists. While metadata records are notoriously incomplete, they permit the construct a prior distribution that helps detect …

Downstream Bandwidth Management For Emerging Docsis-Based Networks, Gongbing Hong

All Dissertations

In this dissertation, we consider the downstream bandwidth management in the context of emerging DOCSIS-based cable networks. The latest DOCSIS 3.1 standard for cable access networks represents a significant change to cable networks. For downstream, the current 6 MHz channel size is replaced by a much larger 192 MHz channel which potentially can provide data rates up to 10 Gbps. Further, the current standard requires equipment to support a relatively new form of active queue management (AQM) referred to as delay-based AQM. Given that more than 50 million households (and climbing) use cable for Internet access, a clear understanding of …

Characterizing The Effective Bandwidth Of Nonlinear Vibratory Energy Harvesters Possessing Multiple Stable Equilibria, Meghashyam Panyam Mohan Ram

All Dissertations

In the last few years, advances in micro-fabrication technologies have lead to the development of low-power electronic devices spanning critical fields related to sensing, data transmission, and medical implants. Unfortunately, effective utilization of these devices is currently hindered by their reliance on batteries. In many of these applications, batteries may not be a viable choice as they have a fixed storage capacity and need to be constantly replaced or recharged. In light of such challenges, several novel concepts for micro-power generation have been recently introduced to harness, otherwise, wasted ambient energy from the environment and maintain these low-power devices. Vibratory …

The Creation And Validation Of An Instrument To Measure School Stem Culture, Christopher White

All Dissertations

Although current research exists on school culture, there is a gap in the literature on specialized aspects of culture such as STEM Culture defined as the beliefs, values, practices, resources, and challenges in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) within a school. The objective of this study was to create a valid and reliable instrument, the STEM Culture Assessment Tool (STEM-CAT), that measures this cultural aspect based on a survey of stakeholder groups within the school community and use empirical data to support the use of this instrument to measure STEM Culture. Items were created and face validity was …

A Time-Efficient Strategy For Relay Selection And Link Scheduling In Wireless Communication Networks, Chenxi Qiu

All Dissertations

Despite the unprecedented success and proliferation of wireless communication, sustainable reliability and stability among wireless users are still considered important issues in the underlying link protocols. Existing link-layer protocols, like ARQ [44] or HARQ [57,67] approaches are designed to achieve this goal by discarding a corrupted packet at the receiver and performing one or more retransmissions until the packet is successfully decoded or a maximum number of retransmission attempts is reached. These strategies suffer from degradation of throughput and overall system instability since packets need to be en/decode in every hop, leading to high burden for relay nodes especially when …

A Special Protection Scheme Utilizing Trajectory Sensitivity Analysis In Power Transmission, Dan Suriyamongkol

All Dissertations

In recent years, new measurement techniques have provided opportunities to improve the North American Power System observability, control and protection. This dissertation discusses the formulation and design of a special protection scheme based on a novel utilization of trajectory sensitivity techniques with inputs consisting of system state variables and parameters. Trajectory sensitivity analysis (TSA) has been used in previous publications as a method for power system security and stability assessment, and the mathematical formulation of TSA lends itself well to some of the time domain power system simulation techniques. Existing special protection schemes often have limited sets of goals and …

Towards A Greater Understanding Of Hydrothermally Grown Garnets And Sesquioxide Crystals For Laser Applications, Cheryl Moore

All Dissertations

ABSTRACT The hydrothermal method of crystal growth offers many benefits over traditional melt-based techniques such as lower temperature requirements relieving detrimental high temperature effects such as stress fracturing and a closed-environment, which limits impurities. The continued study of this type of growth including hydrothermal epitaxy is crucial in our world of constant miniaturization. Presented in this thesis is the hydrothermal growth of crystals of LuAG and Lu2O3 doped with a variety of dopants. Their room-temperature and cryogenic absorption spectra are also presented. Much like Nature uses heat, pressure, water and a nutrient-rich feedstock we have used this hydrothermal technique to …

An Examination Of Academic Grit In Urban High Schools, Ronald Gorman

Dissertations

Currently, in America’s schools, approximately one in five high school students will not graduate with his or her peers, and many others will never receive a high school diploma (Stillwell & Sable, 2013). Many students arrive in our nation’s high schools without the requisite skills to be successful, and when they exhibit failure for the first time, a large percentage of them do not have the passion and perseverance to accomplish their long term goals – otherwise known as “academic grit,” a term coined by Duckworth (2007), a leading researcher in the area.

To investigate the issues mentioned above, a …

Stella: A Python-Based Domain-Specific Language For Simulations, David Mohr

Computer Science ETDs

Stella is a domain-specific language that (1) has single thread performance competitive with low-level languages, (2) supports object-oriented programming (OOP) to properly structure the code, and (3) is very easy to use. Instead of prototyping in a high-level language and then rewriting in a lower-level language, Stella is embedded in Python, is transparently usable, retains some OOP features, compiles to machine code, and executes at speed similar to C. Stella's source code is compatible with Python, and allows easy integration of C libraries. Its features are focused on the needs of scientific simulations. Other projects to speed up Python focus …

High-Dimensional Motion Planning And Learning Under Uncertain Conditions, Nick D. Malone

Computer Science ETDs

Many existing path planning methods do not adequately account for uncertainty. Without uncertainty these existing techniques work well, but in real world environments they struggle due to inaccurate sensor models, arbitrarily moving obstacles, and uncertain action consequences. For example, picking up and storing childrens toys is a simple task for humans. Yet, for a robotic household robot the task can be daunting. The room must be modeled with sensors, which may or may not detect all the strewn toys. The robot must be able to detect and avoid the child who may be moving the very toys that the robot …

Geometric Algorithms And Data Structures For Simulating Diffusion Limited Reactions, Shaun Bloom

Computer Science ETDs

Radiation therapy is one of the most effective means for treating cancers. An important calculation in radiation therapy is the estimation of dose distribution in the treated patient, which is key to determining the treatment outcome and potential side effects of the therapy. Biological dose — the level of biological damage (e.g., cell killing ratio, DNA damage, etc.) inflicted by the radiation is the best measure of treatment quality, but it is very difficult to calculate. Therefore, most clinics today use physical dose - the energy deposited by incident radiation per unit body mass - for planning radiation therapy, which …

Sage-Grouse Nests In An Active Conifer Mastication Site, Charles P. Sandford, David K. Dahlgren, Terry A. Messmer

The Prairie Naturalist

Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; sage-grouse) have experienced long-term range-wide population declines and now may occupy less than 50% of their historic range (Schroeder et al. 2004). Conifer encroachment into sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) habitat was identified as a major conservation threat by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as the agency reviewed the listing status of the species for possible protection under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (USFWS 2013).

Conifer encroachment into sagebrush habitats negatively impacts sage-grouse at landscape scales (Doherty et al. 2008, Casazza et al. 2011, Baruch-Mordo et al. 2013). Sage-grouse will utilize …

The Classic, Winter 2015-2016, Public Relations

The Classic, 2010-2019

Zwemer View: A History of Overcoming Challenges; Around the Green: Taiwan-Bound; In Box; Community Service; Top of the Class; Graduate School Boosts Fall Enrollment; Campus Life: Improv Tradition; Raider Days; New in the Classroom: Wade Druin, Mark Haselhoff '12, Dr. Seunghun "Hun" Hong, Tonya Moore-Huss, Corky Koerselman '82, Chris Nonhof, Erica (Van Meeteren '00) Vonk; On Board; VanOort Accepts Call to Denver; Adoption-Friendly; Global Education Director; Face Value: Thomas Holm; Investing in the Mission; Award Winners: Ron De Jong '71, Janet (Hassebroek '84) Guthmiller, Marjorie (Hartog '56, '58) Vander Aarde; Red Zone; Beanie Babies; 1000 Words: Practicing to Compete; Things …

Social Learning Systems: The Design Of Evolutionary, Highly Scalable, Socially Curated Knowledge Systems, Nolan Hemmatazad

Student Work

In recent times, great strides have been made towards the advancement of automated reasoning and knowledge management applications, along with their associated methodologies. The introduction of the World Wide Web peaked academicians’ interest in harnessing the power of linked, online documents for the purpose of developing machine learning corpora, providing dynamical knowledge bases for question answering systems, fueling automated entity extraction applications, and performing graph analytic evaluations, such as uncovering the inherent structural semantics of linked pages. Even more recently, substantial attention in the wider computer science and information systems disciplines has been focused on the evolving study of social …

North Shore: A Natural History Of Minnesota’S Superior Coast, Janet R. Keough

The Prairie Naturalist

Many readers of The Prairie Naturalist have lived along or visited Lake Superior’s coast. Like me, you have probably wondered about the geology and history of this beautiful and dramatic feature of northeastern Minnesota. Chel Anderson and Adelheid Fischer have written an accessible book that comprehensively describes the history and geology of the coast, surrounding highlands, and Lake Superior itself. In addition, the authors have provided fascinating subchapters on some of the most interesting species that are key elements of the region.

This rather large but beautiful book is arranged in five major chapters that cover the dominant geological units …

Distribution And Occurrence Of Bat Species In North Dakota, Josiah J. Nelson, Paul R. Barnhart, Erin H. Gillam

The Prairie Naturalist

Prior to 2009, a detailed survey of occurrence and distribution of bats in North Dakota had not been conducted. Localized surveys, occurrence reports, and museum specimens provided the only records of bats in the state. Ongoing habitat loss, exploitation of natural resources, and the impending spread of white-nose syndrome to the western United States are major threats to bat populations of the region. The objective of this study was to document presence and distributions of bat species resident in North Dakota. From 2009 to 2012, multiple mist-netting and acoustic surveys were conducted to document species presence across North Dakota. A …

December 2015 Commencement Program, Bowling Green State University

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Low-Velocity Impact Analysis Of Composite Repair Patches Of Different Shapes, Sarvesh Baliga

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The area under crack for various structures can be effectively repaired by the use of composite materials. Low velocity impact can cause barely visible damage to the interior structure of laminated composite. These impacts can cause delamination in composite materials. In this study, a Finite Element Analysis was conducted using Abaqus/Explicit and the results of the analysis were compared to the experimental data from literature. E-glass/epoxy composite laminate was subjected to a low velocity impact test. To study the effect of patch repair, a composite patch was applied on a cracked laminate and a low velocity impact was then conducted …

Design, Fabrication, And Testing Of A Proprioceptive Electroadhesion Pad For Space Applications, Walter Saravia

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to design, analyze, and fabricate an electroadhesion mechanism with the goal of providing controlled electrostatic adhesion to objects with little known surface finish, of varying curvature, and different materials. The main purpose of the mechanism is that of ensuring a soft docking, controlled in closed loop, for attachment to large pieces of orbital debris. Other envisaged purposes for the mechanism are sample collection and manipulation in free-fall and in-situ analysis of cohesive forces in regolith at small bodies, such as asteroids or comets. Electrostatic finite element analysis was performed on various electroadhesion pad designs …

The Three-Dimensional Turbulent Boundary Layer On A Rotating Disk, Daniel Digre

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Three-dimensional turbulent boundary layers (3DTBL) are seen quite commonly in nature as well as in the engineering applications. Despite this, very few high Reynolds number studies have been carried out on these boundary layers, particularly focusing on eddy structure, eddy scales and their interactions. The current study focused on developing, characterizing and evaluating an experimental framework to study high Reynolds number #3DTBL on a rotating disk with the long-term goal of carrying out high-fidelity measurements. The rotating disk flow is characterized by weak centrifugal pumping which sets up the cross flow that leads to turbulence. The tangential and radial velocities …

Learning Support Effectiveness In Mathematics At A Tennessee University, Mark Dula

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Every year thousands of students graduate from high school and move on to higher education, but many of them are not yet prepared for college level courses. The Tennessee Board of Regents does not currently allow 4-year institutions to teach courses that are below college level, so many institutions are using programs such as learning support courses to assist a growing population of underprepared students. The purpose of this study was to determine if the 1-term and 2-term retention rates for students with the same ACT mathematics subsection scores were different between students who took a regular section of Probability …

The Number Of Zeros Of A Polynomial In A Disk As A Consequence Of Coefficient Inequalities With Multiple Reversals, Derek T. Bryant

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we explore the effect of restricting the coefficients of polynomials on the bounds for the number of zeros in a given region. The results presented herein build on a body of work, culminating in the generalization of bounds among three classes of polynomials. The hypotheses of monotonicity on each class of polynomials were further subdivided into sections concerning r reversals among the moduli, real parts, and both real and imaginary parts of the coefficients.

Teacher Well-Being And Virginia Standards Of Learning, Matthew W. Mccarty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) were created by the Virginia Department of Education as a method to assess student learning. The SOLs were implemented in the mid-1990s and were used as end of grade and end of course assessments for grades 3-8 and secondary courses. The SOLs have taken on a foundational role within the Virginia public schools as they now count toward student graduation and teacher evaluation. Virginia now uses a teacher evaluation system that is in large part based upon student performance on the SOL assessments. This evaluation system is in place in all public school divisions …

An Examination Of The Perceptions Of Traditional And Nontraditional Student Engagement At Northeast State Community College, Barbara J. Lowe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between student engagement and overall satisfaction of traditional and nontraditional students at the community college level at Northeast State Community College.

Three professors, 2 staff, 2 administrators, 5 traditional students, and 5 nontraditional students from Northeast State Community College comprised the sample for the study. A descriptive case study was the qualitative approach used. Data were collected in individual in-depth interviews with participants.

The findings of this study could provide community college administrators, staff and faculty with an understanding of traditional and nontraditional students’ engagement and satisfaction and experiences on …

A Physiologically-Based Pharmacokinetic Model For Vancomycin, Rebekah White

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Vancomycin is an antibiotic used for the treatment of systemic infections. It is given

intravenously usually every twelve or twenty-four hours. This particular drug has a

medium level of boundedness, with approximately fty percent of the drug being free

and thus physiologically eective. A physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK)

model was used to better understand the absorption, distribution, and elimination of

the drug. Using optimal parameters, the model could be used in the future to test

how various factors, such as BMI or excretion levels, might aect the concentration

of the antibiotic.

The Effects Of Prompted Tutoring On An Emporium Model Math Course, Juliette Michelle Young

Honors Theses

My research goal is to investigate how specific prompting of students would affect their involvement and progress in an emporium developmental math course. With the aim of increasing the students’ involvement and progress I tested a method that was in tended to increase students’ perceived connectedness with the classroom and promote the use of the available tutors and teachers. I monitored consenting students’ progress in the Spring 2015 courses and sent emails to students who met any one of three different criterion: (1) If the students time investment was below a threshold. (2) If the student’s mastery pace was less …

Constructions And Isomorphism Types Of Images, Jessica Luna Ramirez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In this thesis, we have presented our discovery of true finite homomorphic images of various permutation and monomial progenitors, such as 2^*7: D₁₄, 2^*7 : (7 : 2), 2^*6 : S₃ x 2, 2^*8: S₄, 2*⁷²: (3²:(2S₄)), and 11^*2 :_m D₁₀. We have given delightful symmetric presentations and very nice permutation representations of these images which include, the Mathieu groups M₁₁, M₁₂, the 4-fold cover of the Mathieu group M₂₂, 2 x …

The Impact Of A Classroom-Based Physical Activity Program On Teachers' Perceptions Of Student Engagement, Courtney Lynn Doussett

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to apply a mixed-methods approach using an exploratory case study design to identify the impacts of a physical activity intervention program on student engagement in an elementary school setting. This exploratory case study research examined teachers’ perceptions of student engagement prior to and following implementation of a classroom-based physical activity intervention program, ABC for Fitness. Participants completed the Teacher Assessment of Student Engagement survey of student engagement and behavior, participated in an ABC for Fitness workshop, semi-structured interviews, a question and answer session, a mid-point check-in, and completed daily written behavior incident logs. Results …

Apply Data Clustering To Gene Expression Data, Abdullah Jameel Abualhamayl Mr.

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Data clustering plays an important role in effective analysis of gene expression. Although DNA microarray technology facilitates expression monitoring, several challenges arise when dealing with gene expression datasets. Some of these challenges are the enormous number of genes, the dimensionality of the data, and the change of data over time. The genetic groups which are biologically interlinked can be identified through clustering. This project aims to clarify the steps to apply clustering analysis of genes involved in a published dataset. The methodology for this project includes the selection of the dataset representation, the selection of gene datasets, Similarity Matrix Selection, …

Open Source Toolkit For Reentry Object Modeling, Christopher Lloyd Ostrom Ii

Master's Theses

Predicting the mass, position, and velocity of an object during its reentry are critical to satisfy NASA and ESA requirements. This thesis outlines a 3-D orbit and mass determination system for use on low earth orbit as applicable to general objects, of various material and size. The solution uses analytical models to calculate heat flux and aerodynamic drag, with some basic numerical models for simple orbit propagation and mass flow rate due to ablation. The system outlined in this thesis currently provides a framework for rough estimates of demise altitude and final mass, but also allows for many potential accuracy …