Digital Commons Network^™

The Role Of Amino Acids In The Nitrogen Cycle Of Peatlands, Tia Scarpelli

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Future release of carbon from peatlands in response to climate change may be impacted by nitrogen limitation. The current study considers the role of amino acids as a nitrogen source in peatlands. The total free amino acid (TFAA) concentration for peats ranged from 0-2.3 µM, and leucine was the primary contributor. The dominance of sedge or ericaceous shrub plant types did not significantly impact the TFAA pool. Ammonium concentrations were much greater than TFAA and nitrate concentrations. TFAA concentrations were greatest in spring and least in fall. The springtime maxima and summer decrease in concentrations were simulated in a modeling …

Extending Mathematic Learning Beyond The Classroom Through Online Discussion And Reflection, Linsey Zimmerman

Graduate Research Papers

This review explores the research (2002-2015) focusing on the use of writing in the high school mathematics classroom incorporating blogs and online discussion. Thirty articles were identified and analyzed which provided information on how writing in the math classroom was developed and carried out. The research found that extending the mathematical learning through writing creates a sense of community among students, allows student reflection and application, and helps students gain a deeper understanding of a mathematical concept. Implications of the research and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Sound : The Study Of Differentiating Pitch And Volume With Preschoolers, Jennifer Lyn Miller

Graduate Research Papers

I designed an exploratory study for adapting an early elementary physics of sound science module to use in preschool. The purpose of the study was to observe and collect data regarding the use of an inquiry-based physical knowledge activity, implemented in a play-based preschool setting, and how this knowledge could assist in advancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education in early childhood.

Using random sampling from a classroom of 20 students, I chose six participants between the ages of four and five. As prekindergarten children experimented with sound, I probed understanding of two of the main concepts in the …

The Effect Of Flipped Instruction On Student Learning : Perspectives From Students And Teachers, Britta Adams

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this literature review is to examine the effects the flipped classroom has on student achievement, student attitudes and teacher perceptions. Thirty peer-reviewed journal articles were reviewed and analyzed. Three themes emerged from the review: student achievement, student attitudes and teacher perception. It was found that the flipped classroom was a positive experience within a majority of the studies. Since little research has been done in the K-8 level for content areas outside of math and science, it is recommended that further research to be done in a larger variety of content areas at the primary and secondary …

The Impact Of Augmented Reality On Curriculum And Training Design, Destery K. Hildenbrand

Graduate Research Papers

Augmented reality (AR) is a relatively emerging technology that is being applied in a somewhat exploratory stage, for training design and curriculum development. In this review, 30 articles were selected and analyzed to identify some current uses of augmented reality in training and curriculum design. Four major themes were identified: 1) a brief introduction about AR; 2) the current uses of AR in curriculum and training development, 3) a review of the effects AR has on student engagement, and 4) the future implications of augmented reality in curriculum and training development. Recommendations for the future are also discussed.

Cinematherapy In Gifted Education Identity Development : Integrating The Arts Through Stem-Themed Movies, Timothy Carl Kangas

Graduate Research Papers

This paper examines the crucial need for inclusion of a curricular component within gifted and talented programming that addresses the social and emotional development of gifted students. This component, cinematherapy, addresses the asynchronous development of gifted students through the lives of gifted characters. This paper details the process for selecting STEM-themed movies to view with students, provides a table of relevant STEM films that feature gifted characters, and possible general discussion questions to be used after viewing.

Strengthening Early Mathematics In Early Childhood Classrooms : A Professional Development Project, Jennifer Lynn Jansen

Graduate Research Papers

This project outlines a series of professional development sessions for preschool teachers that focus on early mathematics. Each session emphasizes key mathematical content and builds teachers' understanding and positive attitudes toward mathematics. Teachers also explore how children's knowledge and skills in the content topics develops and examine examples of children at various levels of understanding and stages of learning with regard to mathematical content.

The sessions also emphasize how the mathematical content can be explored in preschool classrooms in ways that support children's foundational learning in the area of mathematics. Another element of this project is the use of site-based …

Optimization Of Automatic Steering Control On A Vehiclewith A Steer-By-Wire System Using Particle Swarm Optimization, Fachrudin Hunaini, Imam Robandi, Nyoman Sutantra

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

This paper presents a simulation of the automatic steering control system on a vehicle model using particle swarm optimization (PSO) to optimize the parameters of the control system. The control system involves fuzzy logic control (FLC) and proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control working in a cascade; the main control (FLC) is used to control lateral motion, and the secondary control (PID) is an enhancement to control the yaw motion in vehicle models representing 10 degrees of freedom of the vehicle dynamics system. Optimization by PSO is carried out simultaneously on both control systems. On FLC it is done by setting the width …

Design Of A Fuzzy Logic Controlled Thermoelectric Brain Hypothermia System, Abdullah Hakan Yavuz

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Brain cooling in medicine is the most effective method in protecting brain cells during strokes, heart attacks, and brain traumas. This method, called brain hypothermia, is based on the principle that the brain is superficially cooled under controlled conditions in order to minimize cell death. In this study a helmet was designed to locally cool the brain and an effective controller was designed and tested using fuzzy logic in order to test the effectiveness of the helmet for brain hypothermia. For testing the cooling and heating performances of the helmet, currents between 0 and 60 A were applied to the …

Cherry Tree Growth Models For Orchard Management Improvement, Mirjana Ljubojevic, Vladislav Ognjanov, Goran Barac, Jovana Dulic, Maja Miodragovic, Mirjana Sekulic, Natasa Jovanovic Ljeskovic

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Twelve cultivars and selections of sweet and sour cherries were surveyed and characterized agromorphologically. A total of 33 characters, mainly defined by the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute and the International Union for the Protection of New Cultivars of Plants, were used to describe the tree, branches, leaves, blooming, and fruits. This allowed unequivocally clear separation between six distinct growth forms-compact, dwarf, upright (pillar), columnar, weeping, and standard form-as well as evaluation of their interaction with four rootstocks of different vigor. Natural tree habit diversity within distinct growth forms has the potential to reduce pruning and training requirements in cherry, …

The Effects Of Argumentation On Student Motivation In Mathematics, Julie Kirkpatrick

Honors Program Theses

As a future educator, I am going to need to motivate my students to learn mathematics and be engaged deeply with the material. Because mathematics is a required subject for students, mathematics teachers must employ various strategies to motivate their students. Something that has motivated me in past mathematics courses has been the chance to form arguments and defend them in class. Argumentation in mathematics classrooms has been included in the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice as Practice Standard 3: “Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others” (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of …

The Efficient Recovery Of Deleted Data From Nand Flash Memory, Lisa Diercks

Honors Program Theses

NAND flash memory is used in flash drives, smart phones, and memory cards for digital cameras. While there are ways to recover data from deleted memory, there are no universal or efficient ways to recover data from NAND flash memory. When a user clicks “delete” on a file in this type of memory, the file is not necessarily deleted, but may just be hidden. This means these files are still on the chip, but are inaccessible through normal means. The ability to recover this lost data could help computer forensic examiners during investigations and corporations working to use secure deletion …

Global Mortality Impact Of The 1957–1959 Influenza Pandemic, Cecile Viboud, Lone Simonsen, Rodrigo Fuentes, Jose Flores, Mark A. Miller, Gerardo Chowell

Global Health Faculty Publications

Background. Quantitative estimates of the global burden of the 1957 influenza pandemic are lacking. Here we fill this gap by modeling historical mortality statistics.

Methods. We used annual rates of age- and cause-specific deaths to estimate pandemic-related mortality in excess of background levels in 39 countries in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, and the Americas. We modeled the relationship between excess mortality and development indicators to extrapolate the global burden of the pandemic.

Results. The pandemic-associated excess respiratory mortality rate was 1.9/10 000 population (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2–2.6 cases/10 000 population) on average during 1957–1959. Excess mortality rates varied 70-fold …

Hamiltonian Formulation For Wave-Current Interactions In Stratified Rotational Flows, Adrian Constantin, Rossen Ivanov, Calin-Iulian Martin

Articles

We show that the Hamiltonian framework permits an elegant formulation of the nonlinear governing equations for the coupling between internal and surface waves in stratified water flows with piecewise constant vorticity.

On The N-Wave Equations With Pt-Symmetry, Vladimir Gerdjikov, Georgi Grahovski, Rossen Ivanov

Articles

We study extensions of N-wave systems with PT-symmetry. The types of (nonlocal) reductions leading to integrable equations invariant with respect to P- (spatial reflection) and T- (time reversal) symmetries is described. The corresponding constraints on the fundamental analytic solutions and the scattering data are derived. Based on examples of 3-wave (related to the algebra sl(3,C)) and 4-wave (related to the algebra so(5,C)) systems, the properties of different types of 1- and 2-soliton solutions are discussed. It is shown that the PT symmetric 3-wave equations may have regular multi-soliton solutions for some specific choices of their parameters.

The Dynamics Of Flat Surface Internal Geophysical Waves With Currents, Alan Compelli, Rossen Ivanov

Articles

A two-dimensional water wave system is examined consisting of two discrete incompressible fluid domains separated by a free common interface. In a geophysical context this is a model of an internal wave, formed at a pycnocline or thermocline in the ocean. The system is considered as being bounded at the bottom and top by a flatbed and wave-free surface respectively. A current profile with depth-dependent currents in each domain is considered. The Hamiltonian of the system is determined and expressed in terms of canonical wave-related variables. Limiting behavior is examined and compared to that of other known models. The linearised …

Motion Virtual Manipulatives In The Elementary Math Classroom, Cole Boudreau

Honors Program Theses

An application was developed to aid in teaching core mathematical concepts to kindergarten through third grade students. This software would be available at minimal cost when compared to current alternatives, and was designed specifically with effectiveness in mind. A framework called motion virtual manipulatives was developed, allowing to the creation of a touch-based application on any flat wall or surface. The application developed implemented multiple forms of manipulatives, each designed to allow for ease-of-use. The application is planned to be tested in classrooms with the aid of a secondary application developed to analyze the use of this project’s application.

Keywords: …

Equitable Discourse In Middle School Mathematics Classrooms: With Emphasis On Girls And The Mathematically Gifted, Merci F. Day

Honors Program Theses

Discourse is a tool used by mathematics teachers to help deepen mathematical understanding and build students’ mathematical identities. Teachers face the challenge of establishing and maintaining classroom norms that help discussions deepen mathematical understanding as well as meet the needs of all of their students. The researcher focused on what girls and the mathematically gifted need from discourse and how to create an equitable environment for all students. Girls need to be given equitable opportunities to voice their thoughts, and mathematically gifted students need to be adequately challenged, not just given more work. The researcher interviewed three teachers who employ …

Proportional Reasoning In Middle Level Mathematics Textbooks, Rebecca Holzrichter

Honors Program Theses

Since textbooks are common tools used by teachers to organize what they teach, including proportional reasoning, it would be beneficial to teachers if these materials could provide a useful framework to help students meet the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (National Governor’s Association, 2010). Therefore the purpose of my research is to critically analyze middle school textbooks. To be able to accomplish that task I will first identify critical components of proportional reasoning. Identifying the critical components will provide a framework in which to assess the tasks in the middle level mathematics textbooks. I will then evaluate the tasks …

Interactive Learning: Developing An Esimulation Portal Framework, Ayman Tobail, John Crowe, Amr Arisha

Articles

The emerging eLearning paradigm is becoming increasingly used in many academic disciplines. The concept acknowledges learning processes that no longer deploy only traditional teaching methods. It can be argued that today’s third level education students are part of a new virtual era where the blackboard has been replaced by the interactive whiteboard, so more interactive and virtually orientated teaching aids are required to assist in the transition from traditional learning to eLearning. The key objective of this paper is to propose a simulation-based learning framework that integrates web-based simulation and a web content management hierarchy model. Using the highly complex …

Statistical Modeling Of Earthquake Damage, Allison Nicole Waters

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of this study was to build a statistical model of the economic damage that arises from earthquakes in order to better predict losses from future earthquakes. Though earthquakes are essentially a random event and cannot be fully anticipated, analyzing historical data and creating a statistical model can provide researchers with a more accurate estimate of future losses. The data set from which this model was built incorporated earthquakes occurring worldwide from 1915-2015 in which the total damage was recorded. The final model was a multiple linear regression model explaining total damage resulting from an earthquake through four independent …

A Grading Catalogue Of Selected Works For Solo Trombone And Piano, Brent Michael Mead

Honors Program Theses

The current status of graded repertoire lists for trombonists is almost nonexistent. Selecting works for students can be difficult especially when you are unfamiliar with the large body of solo literature. I created a list of solo trombone works all graded with the same system in which students and teachers could utilize when selecting new pieces of music to perform. Teachers could more readily find new pieces for their students to study by using this grading scale. It can be difficult for trombone teachers to find easier solo literature for students because of the fact that most works that are …

Magnetic Properties Of Polymeric Framework Materials With Cobalt, Cassara Higgins

Honors Program Theses

Single molecule magnets (SMM) are a new class of materials that have not been well studied. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) created with cobalt(II) metal centers have unpaired 3d electrons, which gives the frameworks interesting magnetic properties. Cobalt(II) nitrate centers can be linked together by varying numbers of 4,4´-bipyridine (bpy) ligands to create six different framework structures: four-coordinate 1D chain, five-coordinate 1D ladder, 2D bilayer, and 3D brick wall, and six-coordinate 2D square grid and 2D rhombic grid. The effects of framework structure and Co(II)-Co(II) distance on Weiss temperatures and μeff were investigated. By understanding which parameters of a framework has the …

Adjusting Production Processes For Use In Engineering And Testing Environments, Jordan Proctor

Graduate Research Papers

The goal of this research was to find examples of traditionally production-oriented systems, particularly Continuous Improvement methods, being applied in engineering environments. On top of finding examples of CI tools being used outside of production, there was heavy focus on finding out how the systems were tweaked to reach the goals of different environments. A literature review was done to identify 5S and Six Sigma basics and cite examples of their use outside of traditional manufacturing. Examples of two separate projects done at the engineering center of a large Midwest manufacturer were evaluated for their effectiveness and the adjustments that …

Altered Cerebellar Circuitry Following Thoracic Spinal Cord Injury In Adult Rats, Nishant P. Visavadiya, Joe E. Springer

ETSU Faculty Works

Cerebellar function is critical for coordinating movement and motor learning. However, events occurring in the cerebellum following spinal cord injury (SCI) have not been investigated in detail. We provide evidence of SCI-induced cerebellar synaptic changes involving a loss of granule cell parallel fiber input to distal regions of the Purkinje cell dendritic tree. This is accompanied by an apparent increase in synaptic contacts to Purkinje cell proximal dendrites, presumably from climbing fibers originating in the inferior olive. We also observed an early stage injury-induced decrease in the levels of cerebellin-1, a synaptic organizing molecule that is critical for establishing and …

St Segment Elevation With Normal Coronaries, Pooja Sethi, Ghulam Murtaza, Ashwini Sharma, Timir Paul

ETSU Faculty Works

Noncardiac causes should be kept in the differential while evaluating ST elevation on EKG. Rarely abdominal pathologies like acute pancreatitis can present with ST elevation in the inferior leads. Once acute coronary syndrome is ruled out by emergent cardiac catheterization alternative diagnosis should be sorted. Abdominal pathologies, like acute pancreatitis and acute cholecystitis, can present with ST elevation in the inferior leads. Treating the underlying condition would result in resolution of these EKG changes.

Cardiac Arrest As A Consequence Of Air Embolism: A Case Report And Literature Review, Zia Ur Rahman, Ghulam Murtaza, Mohsin Pourmorteza, Wael K. El Minaoui, Pooja Sethi, Peyman Mamdouhi, Timir Paul

ETSU Faculty Works

Air embolism is an infrequent but potentially catastrophic complication. It could be a complication of invasive procedures including surgery, central line placement, positive pressure ventilation, trauma, hemodialysis, pacemaker placement, cardiac ablation, and decompression sickness. Usually, it does not cause any hemodynamic complication. In rare cases, it could lodge in the heart and cause cardiac arrest. We present a case of an 82-year-old white female who underwent computed tomography (CT) guided biopsy of right lung pulmonary nodule. When she was turned over after the lung biopsy, she became unresponsive and developed cardiopulmonary arrest. She underwent successful resuscitation and ultimately was intubated. …

Isolated Ventricular Noncompaction Cardiomyopathy Presenting As Recurrent Syncope, Sukhdeep Bhogal, Vatsal Ladia, Puja Sitwala, Kais Albalbissi, Timir Paul

ETSU Faculty Works

Isolated ventricular noncompaction (IVNC) occurs because of interruption of trabecular morphogenesis in the myocardium leading to ventricular noncompaction. Patients present with heart failure or with systemic complications secondary to thromboembolism or arrhythmias. High index of suspicion is necessary for early diagnosis. We present a case of 48-year-old male with unexplained recurrent syncope who was eventually diagnosed with IVNC.

Hsp27 Alleviates Cardiac Aging In Mice Via A Mechanism Involving Antioxidation And Mitophagy Activation, Shenglan Lin, Yana Wang, Xiaojin Zhang, Qiuyue Kong, Chuanfu Li, Yuehua Li, Zhengnian Ding, Li Liu

ETSU Faculty Works

Aging-induced cardiac dysfunction is a prominent feature of cardiac aging. Heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) protects cardiac function against ischemia or chemical challenge. We hypothesized that HSP27 attenuates cardiac aging. Transgenic (Tg) mice with cardiac-specific expression of the HSP27 gene and wild-type (WT) littermates were employed in the experiments. Echocardiography revealed a significant decline in the cardiac function of old WT mice compared with young WT mice. In striking contrast, the aging-induced impairment of cardiac function was attenuated in old Tg mice compared with old WT mice. Levels of cardiac aging markers were lower in old Tg mouse hearts than …

The Effect Of Long-Term Exercise On The Production Of Osteoclastogenic And Antiosteoclastogenic Cytokines By Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells And On Serum Markers Of Bone Metabolism, John K. Smith, Rhesa Dykes, David S. Chi

ETSU Faculty Works

Although it is recognized that the mechanical stresses associated with physical activity augment bone mineral density and improve bone quality, our understanding of how exercise modulates bone homeostasis at the molecular level is lacking. In a before and after trial involving 43 healthy adults, we measured the effect of six months of supervised exercise training on the spontaneous and phytohemagglutinin-induced production of osteoclastogenic cytokines (interleukin-1α, tumor necrosis factor-α), antiosteoclastogenic cytokines (transforming growth factor-β1 and interleukins 4 and 10), pleiotropic cytokines with variable effects on osteoclastogenesis (interferon-γ, interleukin-6), and T cell growth and differentiation factors (interleukins 2 and 12) by peripheral …