Digital Commons Network^™

Routing And Security In Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, Baban A. Mahmood

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

A Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) consists of a set of nodes which can form a network among themselves. MANETs have applications in areas such as military, disaster rescue operations, monitoring animal habitats, etc. where establishing fixed communication infrastructure is not feasible. Routing protocols designed for MANETs can be broadly classified as position-based (geographic), topology-based and hybrid. Geographic routing uses location information of nodes to route messages. Topology-based routing uses network state information for route discovery and maintenance. Hybrid routing protocols use features in both position-based and topology-based approaches. Position-based routing protocols route packets towards the destination using greedy forwarding …

Analyzing The Geo-Dependence Of Human Face Appearance And Its Applications, Mohammad T. Islam

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

Human faces have been a subject of study in computer science for decades. The rich of set features from human faces have been used in solving various problems in computer vision, including person identification, facial expression analysis, and attribute classification. In this work, I explore the human facial features that depend on the geo-location using a data- driven approach. I analyze millions of public domain images to extract the geo-dependent human facial features and explore their applications. Using various machine learning and statistical techniques, I show that the geo-dependent features of human faces can be used to solve the image …

The Therapeutic Use Of Nurturing Touch With Childen In Play Therapy, Scott S. Folsom

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Play therapy has become a popular treatment model for children that addresses a spectrum of disorders and behaviors. While utilizing play techniques, the use of touch between client and therapist often introduces itself into the therapeutic relationship. Whether incidental, intentional, or initiated by the client or therapist, nurturing touch has become a topic of discussion in regards to its appropriateness, purpose and efficacy. While there has been extensive research into the use of touch with adults in psychotherapy, there is limited information in regards to its use with children. The lack of research and literature leaves therapists, with limited information …

We Were Treated Like Machines : Professionalism And Anti-Blackness In Social Work Agency Culture, Mark D. Davis

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This exploratory study sought to answer two overarching research questions: (1) To what extent is there color-blind anti-Black bias in the way that professionalism is defined and enforced in social work agency culture? (2) What are exacerbating and ameliorating factors for this anti-Black bias? I developed a mixed-methods online questionnaire and recruited 246 participants via e-mail and Facebook. Participants were mostly White female social workers 18-39 years old, though the sample was disproportionately African American as compared with the general social worker population. When participants were asked if they perceived anti-Black bias in professionalism at their agencies, 42.7% answered yes …

Santeria And Mental Health : Bridging The Gap Between The Social Work Profession And Orisha, Penelope Williams

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative study was conducted with the purpose of exploring how Orisha priest and priestesses dealt with issues of mental health with in their Iles and/or community. This study was made possible by the participation of seven priests and priestess, by conducting semi-open ended narrative interviews. The findings indicated that issues of mental health were present and dealt with in a number of ways by elders in the community. The results show that collaborative measure need to be supported between elders in the Santeria community and the social work profession, in order to establish culturally competent and therapeutic results to …

Standing On The Edge Of The "Rubyfruit Jungle" : Lesbians Recall The Experience Of Questioning In Therapy, Emily Willstatter

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

The purpose of this study was twofold: to pursue an existing gap in the literature on therapy with people questioning their sexuality; and to represent a lesbian perspective on the experience of questioning one’s sexual orientation. A previous study (Jones et al., 2003) found that gay and bisexual people who were uncertain of their sexual orientation at the start of therapy rated the treatment as overall less beneficial than gay and bisexual people who had begun therapy while certain of their identities. This study explored the possible reasons behind this finding by investigating a small (N=13) but diverse group of …

In Their Skin : A Discourse On The Modern Tattoo Experience For Adults Aged Thirty And Over, Margaret Feeney

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative study was undertaken to determine what meaning individuals aged 30 and over with large scale tattoos place upon those tattoos. More specifically, to establish the motivating factors led these individuals to get tattooed, along with the meaning, if any, is placed upon them. Ten individuals aged 32-64 were interviewed regarding their tattoos. Half of the individuals were tattooed for the first time during adolescence. All individuals were interviewed regarding their motivations for getting tattooed as well as any meanings they place on specific pieces. The findings of the research showed the driving force behind getting tattooed to be …

Simulating Behavioral Microcystin Impairment In Fish, Nicholas Richard Keeney

LSU Master's Theses

Fish experiencing blooms of the cyanobacteria genera Microcystis and Anabaena acquire microcystin and saxitoxin through ingestion of contaminated food and absorption of dissolved toxin. Even low chronic doses induce sensory and motor impairment—the impact of which is unquantified in wild populations. Here, I introduce Lagrangian particle models for cyanobacteria and fish which test the hypotheses that impairment symptoms suppress movement and growth. This is implemented within the Finite-Volume Coastal Ocean Model (FVCOM). Cyanobacteria particles move vertically according to mixing and buoyancy (a function of cellular reservoirs). Fish navigate the horizontal domain, foraging in high growth areas, and fleeing when toxin …

Evaluating Survival Of Released Ranched American Alligator In Coastal Louisiana, Kristy Durham Capelle

LSU Master's Theses

Since 1986, Louisiana’s American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) ranching program has required the release of alligators produced from eggs collected from wild nests to maintain wild populations. This project assessed long-term harvest data (1991-2010s) to estimate survival of released alligators. First, wildlife and fishery harvest models and general inter-disciplinary survival models were evaluated to determine best fit to the data. Second, once the best fitting model was selected, release length, precipitation and temperature from release sites, and an index of hunter effort were added to investigate influences on survival estimates. Release length was included because over time the proportion and size …

The Impact Of A Visualizing And Verbalizing Language Intervention On Reading Ability In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Amy Rachel Lemelman

All ETDs from UAB

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often exhibit deficits in language ranging from lack of functional speech to difficulties with pragmatic aspects of language. Notably, language comprehension is often impaired in individuals with ASD. Deficits in language processing frequently result in problems with reading, with the most common reading profile in children with ASD being that of adequate decoding abilities accompanied by poor comprehension. While language processing is an area of deficit, visuospatial processing is noted to be an area of strength for children with ASD. Therefore, an important question is whether a strength-oriented approach can be used to address …

The Evaluation Of Eprinomectin (Longrange®) On Long-Term Parasitic Infection In Nursing Calves During Summer Grazing®, Lyndsea D. Seibert

LSU Master's Theses

One of the most significant threats to the well-being and performance of grazing livestock are gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) parasitic infections. Allowing a large GIN burden to manifest can cause a significant cost in terms of productivity in grazing cattle. Beef producers commonly rely greatly on the efficacy of broad-spectrum anthelmintics, to not only kill resident worms but to also prevent the establishment of ingested infective stage larvae (L3) for a period following treatment. Eprinomectin (LONGRANGE®, E-LR) is the first extended-release injectable cattle dewormer that claims to provide cattle producers season-long persistent parasite control for 100 to 150 d in a …

Co-Ward: Records Of A Fugitive Heart, Melodie Serena Reay

LSU Master's Theses

Co-ward: Records of a Fugitive Heart is a collection of objects that are themselves collections of events both internal and external. Each object, hand-made and/or un-made, is a record of a moment of vulnerability, in regards to moving away from, or towards, another.

The Merging Of Ornamentation, Artistic Competence, And Social Structure In The Portraiture Oi Jeremiah Theus In Charleston, South Carolina, Tania Inniss

LSU Master's Theses

Previous research into the art of Jeremiah Theus has often left much to be desired. A common choice of historians is to discuss how he differs from artists of his time, or discuss him solely in the context of other artists. However, it is important to study Theus within his own framework. A study of his particular location, time period, family history, the subjects he elected to portray and the way he chose to portray them all help in understanding and recognizing what makes Theus unique as an artist. This thesis aims not only to address the research undertaken by …

Human-Machine And Human-Human Authentication Through Active User Interaction, Manar Mohamed

All ETDs from UAB

Authentication is a fundamental security component of various critical applications. It is essential to differentiate a human user from a bot (human-machine authentication) to prevent against automated mechanisms that attack and abuse the resources of an online entity. Authentication is also essential to differentiate one human user from another (human-human authentication) to securely control the access of online accounts and computer terminals. Unfortunately, the security and usability requirements of authentication have not been adequately addressed. The current and almost universally deployed techniques, CAPTCHAs for human-machine authentication, and passwords or biometrics for human-human authentication, all suffer from numerous well-documented usability and …

What Is Digital Rights Management?, Frederick W. Dingledy, Alex Berrio Matamoros

Library Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

A Reader's Experience: How Teachers Can Utilize Literature Circles And Reader Response Theory In An All-Male Environment To Evaluate Reader Engagement, Motivation, And Identifying With A Text, Langley Pierre

LSU Master's Theses

This teacher-research project was implemented in an all-male eighth grade English Language Arts classroom in order to identify reader motivation, engagement, and identifying with a text through literature circles; utilizing reader response theory. The researcher wanted to discover if the pedagogical practice of literature circles was effective in motivating and engaging readers so that they could better identify with a text and their peers in a classroom setting. The researcher is defining reader response theory as an examination of the transaction between a reader and a text. To determine the effectiveness of these strategies, the researcher introduced a unit that …

Detecting The Spatial Patterns Of Blue-Green Algae In Harsha Lake Using Landsat 8 Imagery, Jing Huang

LSU Master's Theses

The incidence of harmful algal blooms (HABs) caused by blue-green algae has been increasing in coastal and freshwater ecosystems of the United States in recent years, and has had great influence on ecosystem, economic, and public health. This thesis aims at testing the feasibility of using machine learning methods in comparison to traditional regression models to detect and map the blue-green algae distribution in low-medium biomass waters (Chl-a < approx. 20 μg/L) from a Landsat 8 image with the support of some in situ Chl-a measurements in Harsha Lake, Ohio. Two algorithms were compared: one is the conventional empirical method – Stepwise Multiple Linear Regression – to see if there is a strong linear relationship between measured Chl-a concentrations and the Landsat 8 spectral data in the study area, and the other is one of the most popular machine learning methods–Random Forests. Major findings include: (1) both a conventional linear regression model and a Random Forests model worked well in mapping the extent and biomass of blue-green algae in Harsha Lake on September 21, 2015, but the Random Forests model outperformed the linear regression model; (2) the prediction surface from the Random Forests method illustrated that 89.30% of Harsha Lake’s area had Chl-a values less than 10 µg/L on the sampling date, while only 10.70% of the entire study area had Chl-a concentrations between 10 µg/L and 20 µg/L. Higher Chl-a values (especially for Chl-a larger than 10 µg/L) were mostly distributed in the mouths of rivers or streams, which might be caused by the influx of nutrients from agricultural or urban land use by rivers and streams. The results show the utility of the Random Forests approach based on Landsat 8 imagery in detecting and quantitatively mapping low biomass HABs, which is considered to be a challenging task.

Brazilian Surrealism: The Art Of Walter Lewy, Glauco Adorno

LSU Master's Theses

Walter Max Lewy (1905 – 1995) was a Surrealist painter and graphic designer who worked in Brazil for most of his career. Born in Germany to a Jewish family, the artist was forced to flee Europe in the eve of the Second World War, finding a safe haven in the city of São Paulo. The city’s budding modern art scene provided solid ground for Lewy’s art to flourish. His achievements epitomize the global occurrence of Modernism, in its manifestations outside the traditional Western artistic centers of the world. This thesis is the first comprehensive analysis of Walter Lewy’s life and …

Treating Attention Deficits In Individuals With Parkinson's Disease, Mora Johanna Mahoney

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the presence and degree of treatment effects found for direct attention training on three individuals with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD) using the Attention Process Training, Third Edition (APT-III; Sohlberg & Mateer, 2010). APT-III was designed for use with individuals who have sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI), and was selected for this study because of the similarities in cognitive deficits between those with TBI and those with PD. Methods: This study was designed as a phase 2, randomized baseline, A1-B-A2-A3 (baseline, treatment, post-treatment, and follow-up assessment), single-subject experimental design. The study …

A Crow And A Hanger, Kelsey Ann-Morgan Livingston

LSU Master's Theses

A Crow and A Hanger is a body of work that explores and illustrates the nature of life and death through the use of mixed-media drawing and printmaking techniques. My intention for this work, and this thesis paper, is to explain my thought process and how the imagery came to be. For me it is not at all important for every viewer to fully understand each image and the thoughts that went into the body as a whole. I let the images and their titles lead the viewer in a general direction and allow for their personal history and biases …

Semiparametric Regression Analysis Of Panel Count Data And Interval-Censored Failure Time Data, Bin Yao

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation discusses three important research topics on semiparametric regression analysis of panel count data and interval-censored data. Both types of data arise commonly in real-life studies in many fields such as epidemiology, social science, and medical research. In these studies, subjects are usually examined multiple times at periodical or irregular follow-up examinations. For panel count data, the response variable is the counts of some recurrent events, whose exact occurrence times are usually unknown. For interval-censored data, the response variable is the time to some events of interest, often called survival time or failure time, and the exact response time …

Presenting Image/Presenting Symptoms : Clinicians' Diagnoses Of Black Women In The Therapeutic Space, Kim Teresa Dubose

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This was a mixed methods study that used both random and non-random purposive snowball convenience sampling. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether clinicians issue more severe psychotic DSM diagnoses (schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders) to Black female clients than to White female clients when implicitly primed with cultural archetypes unique to Black women. The research questions were, “Do clinicians issue more severe and stereotype-consistent diagnoses to Black female clients than they do to White female clients;” and “Is there a difference in reaction time in clinician diagnosis of severe psychotic disorders between a clinically-identical Black female vignette and …

Writing Practice: Invention And Pedagogy In Composition, Nathaniel Street

Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation re-engages a central question of composition and rhetoric – can writing be taught? – as a means of interrogating the relationship between form and response. In so doing, I argue that writing can be trained as a set of capacities and dispositions through repeated practice with rhetorical forms. In advancing this claim, I demonstrate that formal practices, such as modal writing, imitation, and repetition, have been unfairly dismissed as overly rote and mechanical because form has traditionally been understood as a technical means of achieving a particular end. I argue that, instead, repeated engagement with and movement between …

A Spectacle Of The Odd: Constructing Otherness In The Odditoriums Of Ripley’S Believe It Or Not!, Sarah Haughenbury

Theses and Dissertations

Since Robert Ripley’s inception of the concept behind Ripley’s Believe It or Not! in 1918, Ripley Entertainment Inc. has continued to capture the attention of the public with their display of purportedly strange and unbelievable people, animals, and artifacts from across the globe. Using theories of categorization, Othering, materiality, the grotesque, the carnivalesque, and the gaze, this ethnographic study examines how persons and things in the company’s odditoriums are constructed as odd through the arrangement and decoration of exhibits and odditorium space and through the language used in advertisements and information panels.

I argue that Ripley’s uses similar techniques as …

Review: Building The Human City: William Lynch’S Ignatian Spirituality For Public Life By John Kane, Julia Brumbaugh

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

No abstract provided.

Modernizing Pakistan's Blasphemy Law As Hate Speech, Farhan Raouf

LLM Theses

It is difficult to define blasphemy. What is regarded as blasphemous will depend on the values prevalent in a given society. In general, it includes denigrating and insulting expressions targeted toward God and other aspects of religion. My thesis is that blasphemy, to the extent it should be dealt with by the law, should be regarded a sub-category of hate speech. The law should concern itself only with those aspects of blasphemy which incite hatred against a group which is identifiable on the basis of religion. More specifically, I argue that Pakistan should repeal its blasphemy law (s. 295-c Penal …

Vol. 94, No. 1: Full Issue, Denver Law Review

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

Local Ecological Knowledge Of Fishermen In Rhode Island And The Dominican Republic: State Of Their Fisheries, Changes And Adaptations, Elizabeth Layli Mclean

Open Access Dissertations

The failure to sustain fisheries is attributed to simultaneous effects of overfishing and to natural disturbance on fish habitats. Many conservation and management efforts are not successful in sustaining the fisheries. There is a growing need to broaden our understanding of people’s knowledge and their fisheries and to consider new approaches that will lead to effective conservation that enables us to sustain fisheries and protect the environment. This study examines the use of fishers’ local ecological knowledge (FEK) to characterize fishing communities and their practices, to assess the state of the fisheries, and the usefulness of this knowledge for conservation …

Time-Frequency Based Methods For Non-Stationary Signal Analysis With Application To Eeg Signals, Amal Feltane

Open Access Dissertations

The analysis of electroencephalogram or EEG plays an important role in diagnosis and detection of brain related disorders like seizures. In this dissertation, we propose three new seizure detection algorithms that can classify seizure from nonseizure data with high accuracy. The first algorithm is based on time-domain features which are the approximate entropy (ApEn), the maximum singular value (MSV) and the median absolute deviation (MAD). These features were fed into the AdaBoost and the Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithms, which were used to classify the signal as either seizure or non-seizure. The accuracy of these classifications was summarized and compared …

Coordination Of Rna Polymerase Ii Pausing And 3' End Processing Factor Recruitment With Alternative Polyadenylation, Becky Fusby, Soojin Kim, Benjamin Erickson, Hyunmin Kim, Martha L. Peterson, David L Bentley

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Most mammalian genes produce transcripts whose 3' ends are processed at multiple alternative positions by cleavage/polyadenylation (CPA). Poly(A) site cleavage frequently occurs cotranscriptionally and is facilitated by CPA factor binding to the RNA polymerase II (Pol II) C-terminal domain (CTD) phosphorylated on Ser2 residues of its heptad repeats (YS₂PTSPS). The function of cotranscriptional events in the selection of alternative poly(A) sites is poorly understood. We investigated Pol II pausing, CTD Ser2 phosphorylation, and processing factor CstF recruitment at wild-type and mutant IgM transgenes that use alternative poly(A) sites to produce mRNAs encoding the secreted and membrane-bound forms of …