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Unmanned Ground Vehicle Dynamics And Energy Efficiency Control, Mostafa Salama

All ETDs from UAB

Nowadays, energy saving is a prominent concern for scientists and researchers in the automobile industry and academic research institutions. The technological development of more efficient vehicles is a relentless quest. Moreover, maximizing such energy efficiency is essential for vehicle design. Although, existing In-Wheel Motor (IWM) vehicles have successfully improved energy efficiency compared to conventional vehicles, those IWM vehicles are lacking the usage of wheel power distribution strategies to maximize slip energy efficiency. There is a need for researching power distribution among driving wheels that would lead to a breakthrough in off-road IWM Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) energy efficiency. UGV energy …

Practical Extensions Of The Continual Reassessment Method, Amber Salter

All ETDs from UAB

This dissertation considers the presence of patient heterogeneity in dose finding studies using the likelihood-based time to event continual reassessment method (TITE-CRM). First, assuming group membership is known and the groups share some information regarding their maximum tolerated dose (MTD), we extend the two-group two-parameter CRM to the TITE-CRM. We examine the performance of the two-group two-parameter TITE-CRM for various scenarios where the true MTD for each group is different. We also consider the situation where the groups are truly homogeneous but a heterogeneous model is employed. Our simulations show that the method has some loss in accuracy compared to …

A Study On The Limitations Of Evolutionary Computation And Other Bio-Inspired Approaches For Integer Factorization, Mohit Mishra, Vaibhav Gupta, Utkarsh Chaturvedi, K. K. Shukla, Roman Yampolskiy

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Integer Factorization is a vital number theoretic problem frequently finding application in public-key cryptography like RSA encryption systems, and other areas like Fourier transform algorithm. The problem is computationally intractable because it is a one-way mathematical function. Due to its computational infeasibility, it is extremely hard to find the prime factors of a semi prime number generated from two randomly chosen similar sized prime numbers. There has been a recently growing interest in the community with regards to evolutionary computation and other alternative approaches to solving this problem as an optimization task. However, the results still seem to be very …

The Next Generation Of Action Ecology: Novel Approaches Towards Global Ecological Research, R. L. White, A. E. Sutton, R. Salguero-Gómez, T. C. Bray, H. Campbell, E. Cieraad, N. Geekiyanage, L. Gherardi, A. C. Hughes, P. Søgaard Jørgensen, T. Poisot, Lucía Desoto, Naupaka B. Zimmerman

Biology Faculty Publications

Advances in the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge over the last decade have dramatically reshaped the way that ecological research is conducted. The advent of large, technology-based resources such as iNaturalist, Genbank, or the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) allow ecologists to work at spatio-temporal scales previously unimaginable. This has generated a new approach in ecological research: one that relies on large datasets and rapid synthesis for theory testing and development, and findings that provide specific recommendations to policymakers and managers. This new approach has been termed action ecology, and here we aim to expand on earlier definitions to …

Connecting People And Ideas From Around The World: Global Innovation Platforms For Next-Generation Ecology And Beyond, P. Søgaard Jørgensen, F. Barraquand, V. Bonhomme, T. J. Curran, E. Cieraad, T. G. Ezard, L. Gherardi, R. A. Hayes, T. Poisot, R. Salguero-Gómez, Lucía Desoto, B. Swartz, J. M. Talbot, B. Wee, Naupaka B. Zimmerman

Biology Faculty Publications

We present a case for using Global Community Innovation Platforms (GCIPs), an approach to improve innovation and knowledge exchange in international scientific communities through a common and open online infrastructure. We highlight the value of GCIPs by focusing on recent efforts targeting the ecological sciences, where GCIPs are of high relevance given the urgent need for interdisciplinary, geographical, and cross-sector collaboration to cope with growing challenges to the environment as well as the scientific community itself. Amidst the emergence of new international institutions, organizations, and meetings, GCIPs provide a stable international infrastructure for rapid and long-term coordination that can be …

The Tao Of Open Science For Ecology, S. E. Hampton, S. S. Anderson, S. C. Bagby, C. Gries, X. Han, E. M. Hart, M. B. Jones, W. C. Lenhardt, A. Macdonald, W. K. Michener, J. Mudge, A. Pourmokhtarian, M. P. Schildhauer, K. H. Woo, Naupaka B. Zimmerman

Biology Faculty Publications

The field of ecology is poised to take advantage of emerging technologies that facilitate the gathering, analyzing, and sharing of data, methods, and results. The concept of transparency at all stages of the research process, coupled with free and open access to data, code, and papers, constitutes “open science.” Despite the many benefits of an open approach to science, a number of barriers to entry exist that may prevent researchers from embracing openness in their own work. Here we describe several key shifts in mindset that underpin the transition to more open science. These shifts in mindset include thinking about …

Adopting Online Lecturing For Improved Learning: A Case Study From Teacher Education, Marie Quinn, Shannon Kennedy-Clark

Education Papers and Journal Articles

This paper presents the results of a study that examined the integration of video lectures into a pre-service teacher unit of study. The aim of the research was to ascertain how students used the pre-recorded videos to complement their learning. The focus was on the pedagogy, and explored three factors: convenience, self-regulation of learning and design to aid learning. A mixed method approach to the data collection was used. Data sources included reflective journals, surveys and semi-structured interviews. An analysis of the data indicates that the pre-service teachers viewed the use of pre-recorded lectures positively and that they were a …

Measurement: Five Considerations To Add Even More Impact To Your Program, Derek Hurrell

Education Papers and Journal Articles

The potential of using Measurement as a way of “tuning students into mathematics” is demonstrated. Five ideas that can form the basis of focusing on measurement to access other strands of the mathematics curriculum are examined.

Success Factors Of Small Business Owners, Susan Janet Turner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small business owners represent 99.7% of all U.S. employer firms, employ half of the private sector employees, and provide 43% of the total U.S. private payroll. However, 50% of new small business startups fail within the first 5 years of operation. The purpose for this multiple case study was to explore what skills, knowledge, and strategies small business coffee shop owners use to succeed in business beyond 5 years. Systems theory, chaos theory, and complexity theory provided the conceptual framework for exploring the research question of this multiple case study. To identify and explore the factors for maintaining small business-operations, …

Technology And Social Media In Motivating At-Risk High School Students To Complete High School, Rebecca Mix Yard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Overall, 11% of high school students leave school without a diploma, and the percentage is higher for at-risk populations. High school graduates earn higher salaries and are healthier and more law abiding than dropouts. Research is limited on the motivation of at-risk students to graduate from high school related to their technological identity to include technology and social media in their learning schema. This qualitative case study explored at-risk students' perceptions of social media, personal learning networks, and informal learning in facilitating their graduation. Pink's concept of motivation, Siemens's connectivism theory, and Bingham and Conner's theory of engagement and social …

A Case Study Of A University's Remedial Program For Passing The Praxis I, Tassi Fite Brinkley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Underprepared students desiring to enter teacher education programs struggle to achieve minimum state-required Praxis I exam scores. This problem affects teacher education programs, student success, and university enrollment and retention. With proper resources and support, these students may experience personal and academic success that may be transferred to their own students once they are certified teachers. At the participating mid-South university, the effectiveness of the existing remedial program was unknown. The study's purpose, rooted in the constructivist learning principles of Dewey and Bruner, was to address the effectiveness of the local university's existing remedial program in assisting the teacher education …

Elementary Teachers' Perceptions Of Response To Intervention And Classroom Instruction, Lora Coonce

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Response to intervention (RTI) is a federal program created to improve student learning and reduce the number of students misidentified as needing special education services. Differing interpretations of how best to implement RTI between campuses and districts have resulted in teachers' confusion and misperceptions of the program. The purpose of this study was to understand how elementary classroom teachers' perceptions of RTI affect classroom instruction. Based on Gagne's instructional theory and Bruner's theory of constructivism, the study examined the perceptions of 10 classroom teachers in 2 low socio-economic elementary schools. The study examined how RTI forms and protocols, administrative leadership, …

Determining Sustainable Strategies For Directors Of Microfinance Banks In Nigeria, Josephine Aruoriwo Diete-Spiff

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Nigerian microfinance banks often close their offices abruptly, leading to the loss of shareholders' funds. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore strategies microfinance bank directors use to maintain business sustainability. The concepts of microfinance banking, sustainability value, and strategic management theory formed the conceptual framework for this study. Twenty managing directors from microfinance banks in the Anambra state of Nigeria participated in semistructured interviews. The data analysis process involved the use of Moussakas' modified van Kaam process, which resulted in the emergence of 3 themes: strategic management, fear of microlending, and maintaining sustainability. The emergent themes …

Small And Medium Enterprises' Profitability Elements In Green Energy Transactions, Humphrey Edereka Great

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As the primary drivers of Nigeria's economy, small and medium scale enterprise (SME) leaders rely on standby generators for sustainable business operation. Because of this reliance, over 56% of the SMEs operate far below capacity from the effects of power shortages. Guided by the strategic contingency theory, this study explored the profitability strategies of business leaders faced with electricity disruptions within Abuja Federal Capital Territory while adopting corporate social responsibility (CSR) and green practices. Data collection was through face-to-face semistructured interviews using open-ended questions. Participants consisted of 12 business leaders selected from 4 SME categories within Abuja that have imbibed …

An Investigation Of Teacher Experiences With Implementation Of A Response To Intervention Model, Jennifer H. Murphy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A Southeastern school district was in the initial phases of a response to intervention (RtI) model using 3 tiers of intervention prior to students being identified for participation in special education. General education classroom teachers were responsible for all Tier I interventions by differentiating the core curriculum. However, teachers received little to no specific training related to implementation, progress monitoring, and data analysis of these differentiated interventions. This case study examined teachers' perceptions of the current implementation of RtI in one elementary school and their perceptions of professional support needed to implement, assess, and analyze RtI data. This qualitative research …

Exemplary Teachers' Perspectives On Effective Teaching Elements In Danielson's Framework For Teaching, Derek Jon Olson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Reforms in teacher evaluation are enacted to increase student achievement. Although there is research on teacher evaluation and teacher quality, there is little that addresses effective teaching as conceptualized in Danielson's Framework for Teaching, a commonly used evaluation tool. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine which of the 4 domains and 76 elements of Danielson's framework are viewed by award-winning teachers as having the greatest impact on effective teaching and learning. Constructivism formed the theoretical basis for this study. The research questions examined to what extent state and national teachers of the year perceive differences in the …

Relationship Of Solar Energy Installation Permits To Renewable Portfolio Standards And Insolation, Kirt Gordon Butler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Legislated renewable portfolio standards (RPSs) may not be the key to ensure forecast energy demands are met. States without a legislated RPS and with efficient permitting procedures were found to have approved and issued 28.57% more permits on average than those with a legislated RPS. Assessment models to make informed decisions about the need and effect of legislated RPSs do not exist. Decision makers and policy creators need to use empirical data and a viable model to resolve the debate over a nationally legislated RPS. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine if relationships between the independent variables …

A Comparison Of Preservice Teachers' Responses To Bullying Scenarios, Cynthia Louise Davis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This nonexperimental study was conducted to determine differences that exist between PreK to 4th grade preservice teachers' beliefs about the severity of bullying, their empathy with victims of bullying, beliefs about their ability to cope with bullying in the classroom, and their ability to intervene in bullying issues. Bandura's self-efficacy theory and Ajzen's theory of planned behavior provided the study's theoretical base and demonstrated a connection between participants perceived ability to cope with bullying behavior and willingness to intervene. The participants (N = 112) were students in a 2-year community college PreK to 4th grade education transfer degree program. Data …

Best Practices To Minimize Data Security Breaches For Increased Business Performance, Fedinand Jaiventume Kongnso

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States, businesses have reported over 2,800 data compromises of an estimated 543 million records, with security breaches costing firms approximately $7.2 million annually. Scholars and industry practitioners have indicated a significant impact of security breaches on consumers and organizations. However, there are limited data on the best practices for minimizing the impact of security breaches on organizational performance. The purpose of this qualitative multicase study was to explore best practices technology leaders use to minimize data security breaches for increased business performance. Systems theory served as the conceptual framework for this study. Fourteen participants were interviewed, including …

The Cacaio Project: Education For Environmental, Aesthetic And Moral Development, Atila T. Calvente

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Economic inequalities, institutional awkwardness, cultural underdevelopment, social exclusion, a fast rate of environmental, ecological, and biodiversity degradation have all been at the root of historic social injustice and structural poverty in Brazil for centuries. Human development and emancipation in this context should be approached as a set of non-formal educational practices to promote better learning and dignity. These would become potent means for reducing material poverty and selfish individual behavior, and for improving holistic modes of education and culture. Non-traditional educational practices can have an important influence in state-run schools, as well as in private schools, by enhancing resilience and …

Experience Of Awe: An Expansive Approach To Everyday Aesthetics, Thomas Leddy

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

As opposed to Melchionne and Naukkarinen, I defend an expansive definition of everyday aesthetics, one that includes festivals, tourism, and many daily activities of artists and other professionals, along with most ordinary and common experiences. I argue for continuities between aesthetics of everyday life and the aesthetics of art and nature. Looking through a window, for example, may involve aspects of all three. Although I agree with Melchionne that everyday aesthetics is closely related to questions of subjective well-being, I take a more expansive approach to this, drawing from recent psychological studies of the experience of “awe” to stress the …

Qualitative Case Study Of Read-Aloud Expository Text Strategies In Kindergarten Through Grade 2, Mary Adeyemo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In an inner-city elementary school, students continue to lag in reading proficiency, and implementation of research-based, district-mandated teaching strategies is not well understood. The purpose of this case study was to explore teachers' perceptions of mandated, read-aloud expository text strategies in K-2 classrooms. The conceptual framework was Vygotsky's social constructivism model of learning, which envisions students learning by interacting with teachers and peers, in this case, using read-aloud strategies, until they become autonomous, expository readers. The research questions focused on benefits and challenges of the implementation of read-aloud expository text by K-2 teachers who were given a 5-year mandate by …

Community College Instructors' Perceptions And Use Of Feedback, Janeth Martin Walker Franklin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many community college students, especially those who are required to take developmental education courses, do not complete course and degree goals. Research shows that constructive feedback practices used by instructors improve academic achievement while destructive feedback practices diminish student learning. Using a constructivist framework, the purpose of this qualitative, instrumental case study was to understand how faculty who teach developmental education and entry level college courses perceive and use feedback in a large urban community college in the Southwestern United States. Data were collected through 17 in-depth, face-to-face interviews and written feedback examples submitted by the faculty members. Interview transcripts …

Governmental Procurement Restrictions, Deficit Reductions, And The Sustainability Of Alaska Native Corporations, Paul O. Fondren

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) came under political scrutiny in the United States in 2009 during a climate of economic recession and governmental spending reductions. Since then, ANCs have faced increased governmental regulations that immediately changed the ways that their leaders previously achieved growth and success. The purpose of this explanatory case study was to identify elements of ANC strategic plans that lead to success and growth when operationally implemented. The central research questions investigated what executable strategic plans ANC leaders need to ensure sustainable business growth and what practices have led to success and failures. Data were collected from interviews …

De Novo Identification Of Differentially Methylated Regions In The Human Genome, Timothy J. Peters, Michael J. Buckley, Aaron L. Statham, Ruth Pidsley, Katherine Samaras, Reginald V. Lord, Susan J. Clark, Peter L. Molloy

Medical Papers and Journal Articles

Background: The identification and characterisation of differentially methylated regions (DMRs) between phenotypes in the human genome is of prime interest in epigenetics. We present a novel method, DMRcate, that fits replicated methylation measurements from the Illumina HM450K BeadChip (or 450K array) spatially across the genome using a Gaussian kernel. DMRcate identifies and ranks the most differentially methylated regions across the genome based on tunable kernel smoothing of the differential methylation (DM) signal. The method is agnostic to both genomic annotation and local change in the direction of the DM signal, removes the bias incurred from irregularly spaced methylation sites, and …

Towards Analytical Techniques For Optimizing Knowledge Acquisition, Processing, Propagation, And Use In Cyberinfrastructure, Leonardo Octavio Lerma

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

For many decades, there has been a continuous progress in science and engineering applications.

A large part of this progress comes from the new knowledge that researchers acquire, propagate, and use. This new knowledge has revolutionized many aspects of our life, from driving to communications to shopping.

Somewhat surprisingly, there is one area of human activity which is the least impacted by the modern technological progress: the very processes of acquiring, processing, and propagating information. When we decide where to place sensors, which algorithm to use for processing the data – we rely mostly on our own intuition and on …

Synthesis Of Benzofused-P-Indolequinones From 1,4-Naphthoquinone And Selective N-Debenzylation By Dess-Martin Periodinane, Quang Huynh Luu

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

p-Indolequinones are important heterocycles since they display interesting bioactivities such as anticancer activities as well as the ability to trigger drug release in drug targeting research. Additionally, they are also useful in precursors for the synThesis of bioactive compounds. Over decades, many methodologies have been investigated for the synThesis of p-indolequinones. Among those, cyclization of quinones plays an important role in convenient synThesis of these compounds. However, the great majority of these methods only describe quinones as electrophiles in cyclization. In our research, we found an intramolecular nucleophilic attack of quinone to an in-situ generated carbonyl group and developed a …

Does Low-Level Arsenic Exposure Predict Blood Pressure In Children?, Tania Angelica Mayorga

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background & Significance: Inorganic arsenic is a heavy metal naturally found in soil and human exposure to this heavy metal causes adverse effects. Exposure risks are particularly high in developing children. Arsenic is mainly found in bedrock. It is also a by-product of smelting, it is used in cement production, and historically is has been found in crop pesticides. Among other ill-effects, arsenic exposure in humans can cause respiratory diseases, peripheral neuropathy and liver fibrosis. In particular arsenic has been shown in many studies to be a contributing factor in the risk for hypertension in adults however no studies have …

High Performance Computing In Air Quality Models An Their Applications, Roberto A. Perea

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

High Performance Computing has become an important tool for many applications and services in the areas of Air Quality research. One important aspect is the use of computational technology in simulation and modeling of complex Air Quality models which makes it affordable in terms of data analysis, processing and speed. For this Dissertation, three projects using Air quality models were developed using high performance computing.

For the first project, ozone concentrations for the Paso del Norte Region are simulated using air quality models and compared against experimental data. For the second project, the Development of models and optimization of codes …

Question 1: Star Speeds; Question 2: Slurping Gasoline, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

One piece of evidence that the center of our galaxy contains a super-massive black hole came from measuring the speed of a star orbiting that black hole. What is the maximum speed of that star?

If instead of carrying their gas in fuel tanks, cars “slurped up” a stream of gas as they drove, how thick a stream of gas would each car need?