Digital Commons Network^™

Assessing Renewable Technologies At Wild Mountain Cooperative, Kyra Bleicher, Connor Gray, Korbin Houston

Community Engaged Research Reports

This report is a renewable energy analysis for an intentional community, Wild Mountain, who would like to decrease their dependence on fossil fuel sources for energy. The homestead’s goal is to further move toward targets of environmental sustainability and eco-justice. Our methods involved a partial energy audit recording the energy usage at the homestead, focusing on the electricity usage, and energy consumption used for heating. Three renewable energy sources were researched and evaluated to assess their viability for offsetting estimated fossil-fuel based energy usage. These three technologies are solar electricity production, methane digestion, and compost heap heating. Calculations and data …

Why Rectified Linear Neurons Are Efficient: Symmetry-Based, Complexity-Based, And Fuzzy-Based Explanations, Olac Fuentes, Justin Parra, Elizabeth Y. Anthony, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Traditionally, neural networks used a sigmoid activation function. Recently, it turned out that piecewise linear activation functions are much more efficient -- especially in deep learning applications. However, so far, there have been no convincing theoretical explanation for this empirical efficiency. In this paper, we show that, by using different uncertainty techniques, we can come up with several explanations for the efficiency of piecewise linear neural networks. The existence of several different explanations makes us even more confident in our results -- and thus, in the efficiency of piecewise linear activation functions.

Progress Notes, Lehigh Valley Health Network

Progress Notes

No abstract provided.

Telomerase Activity Is Required For The Telomere G-Overhang Structure In Trypanosoma Brucei, Ranjodh Sandhu, Bibo Li

Biological, Geological, and Environmental Faculty Publications

Trypanosoma brucei causes fatal human African trypanosomiasis and evades the host immune response by regularly switching its major surface antigen, VSG, which is expressed exclusively from subtelomeric loci. Telomere length and telomere proteins play important roles in regulating VSG silencing and switching. T. brucei telomerase plays a key role in maintaining telomere length, and T. brucei telomeres terminate in a single-stranded 3′ G-rich overhang. Understanding the detailed structure of the telomere G-overhang and its maintenance will contribute greatly to better understanding telomere maintenance mechanisms. Using an optimized adaptor ligation assay, we found that most T. brucei telomere G-overhangs end in …

Katherine Dunn’S Geek Love And The Question Of Being Human In Freak Form, Abigail Hess

Master’s Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Newsroom Convergence Of Print And Online Media: A Study Of The Gulf News And Alittihad In The Uae, Ahmed Saddiq Mohamed Mansoori

Philosophy Dissertations

The media industry in the UAE, like elsewhere in the world, is experiencing significant changes due to the innovations brought by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Newsrooms are especially the center of such changes, forcing media owners and managers to recognize that convergence of print and online media is inevitable to sustain their newspapers. This research intends to develop an assessment method to determine how newspapers are performing in a convergent media environment. To investigate the three types of newsroom convergence levels (coordination, cross-media, and full integration); the study develops an assessment model for the ten dimensions of newsroom convergence …

General Survey Of Fructus Psoraleae From The Different Origins And Chemical Identification Of The Roasted From Raw Fructus Psoraleae, Junjun Yang, Jing Yang, Jie Du, Benjamin Feng, Xin Chai, Mingming Xiao, Yuefei Wang, Xiumei Gao

Peer Reviewed Articles

Fructus Psoraleae, a traditional Chinese medicine, is widely used for preventing and treating various diseases such as vitiligo, osteoporosis and psoriasis. Coumarin, such as psoralenoside, isopsoralenoside, psoralen and isopsoralen, are important compounds in Fructus Psoraleae. In our study, ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector was employed for an excellent method validation for simultaneous quantification of psoralenoside, isopsoralenoside, psoralen and isopsoralen, which was further applied in performing general survey of Fructus Psoraleae from the different origins and chemical identification of the roasted from raw Fructus Psoraleae in the light of illuminating the transformed rule of psoralenoside and isopsoralenoside. …

Nitrogen Fixation Mutants Of The Actinobacterium Frankia Casuarinae Cci3, Ken-Ichi Kucho, Daiki Tamari, Shintaro Matsuyama, Takeshi Nabekura, Louis S. Tisa

Molecular, Cellular & Biomedical Sciences

Frankia is a representative genus of nitrogen-fixing (N2-fixing) actinobacteria; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying various phenomena such as the differentiation of a N2 fixation-specific structure (vesicle) and the regulation of N2 fixation (nif) genes, have yet to be elucidated in detail. In the present study, we screened hyphal fragments of Frankia casuarinae that were mutagenized by 1-methyl-3-nitro-1-nitrosoguanidine or gamma rays, and isolated 49 candidate N2 fixation mutants. Twelve of these mutants were selected for further study, and their abilities to grow in NH3-deficient (N-) liquid media and their rates of acetylene reduction activities were evaluated. Eleven mutant strains were confirmed …

From Replication To Assembly, A Thesis On The Fate Of The Alphavirus Rna Genome During Infection, Adriano Mendes

Open Access Dissertations

Positive strand RNA viruses employ a similar strategy with regards to their replication cycle. Generally, these viruses insert their RNA genome into a cell, followed by the replication of the genome and then the assembly of a particle. This pathway makes the genomic RNA of the virus, a substrate for at least three different reactions within an infected cell. These being translation, RNA synthesis/ RNA replication and assembly of a virion. This thesis will outline studies, which aimed at understanding how a model RNA virus controls when and where each process is carried out. The alphaviruses are a group of …

Measurement Of Airport Operations Using A Low-Cost Transponder Data Receiver And Collection Unit, John H. Mott

Open Access Dissertations

Accurate counts of aircraft operations at unmonitored or partially-monitored general aviation airports are important due to their role in the allocation of funds for airport development and improvement. While the Federal Aviation Administration annually invests approximately $1B in small commercial and general aviation airports, fewer than 270 of these 2,950 airports have either full- or part-time air traffic personnel available to register operations counts. Aircraft operations at airports with limited personnel may be counted using temporary acoustic, pneumatic, or video devices, and observations from contract staff. The related sample sizes are inherently small, leading to inaccuracies in the extrapolation of …

A Scoping Review Of Health Outcomes Examined In Randomized Controlled Trials Using Guided Imagery, Peter R. Giacobbi Jr., Jonathan Stewart, Keeley Chaffee, Anna-Marie Jaeschke, Meagan Stabler, George A. Kelley

Clinical and Translational Science Institute

Introduction—Guided imagery involves the controlled visualization of detailed mental images. This integrative health technique is used for healing, health maintenance, or the treatment of specific conditions. Guided imagery is an integral part of mindfulness meditation, hypnosis, and various relaxation exercises. However, evidence to support the widespread use and dissemination of guided imagery interventions has been lacking. The purposes of this scoping review were to document the scope of health outcomes and disease processes examined by guided imagery researchers and the journal outlets where this work has been published. Secondary purposes were to review the efficacy of guided imagery, risk of …

Writing Coaches Of Montana: Providing In-Class Support To Middle And High School Writers, Beverly Ann Chin Ph.D, Catherine Filardi Ph.D

The Montana English Journal

Teachers of writing know the importance of giving students feedback throughout the writing process. Teachers of writing also know the value of having students write for authentic audiences. However, classroom teachers often face challenges in these two areas. Writing Coaches of Montana (WCM) is a non-profit, independent, community-based organization that addresses these challenges. WCM’s mission is to help Montana students write competently, think critically and express themselves confidently. WCM supports teachers by recruiting, training and supervising community volunteers who work individually with students in middle and high school classrooms on writing assignments that require critical thinking and revision. The success …

Translating Genetic And Preclinical Findings Into Autism Therapies, Maria Chahrour, Robin Kleiman, M Chiara Manzini

Pharmacology and Physiology Faculty Publications

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social deficits and repetitive/restrictive interests. ASD is associated with multiple comorbidities, including intellectual disability, anxiety, and epilepsy. Evidence that ASD is highly heritable has spurred major efforts to unravel its genetics, revealing possible contributions from hundreds of genes through rare and common variation and through copy-number changes. In this perspective, we provide an overview of the current state of ASD genetics and of how genetic research has spurred the development of in vivo and in vitro models using animals and patient cells to evaluate the impact of genetic mutations …

Graduate News, Graduate School, Old Dominion University

Graduate News

December 2017 issue of Graduate News from the ODU Graduate School.

Identifying Problems And Solutions In Changing State Legislation Regarding Licensed Clinical Social Workers Providing Private Independent Mental Health Services, Dianna Cooper-Bolinskey

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

State regulated social work practice began in the 1960s; by the mid-1990s, all of the states within the United States regulated the profession through licensure. The purpose of licensure was ostensibly to protect the public and the profession; however, legislation defining social work practice varied vastly from state to state. The variation existed not only between states, but also within licensure categories with regard to the scope of practice of the social work profession. Licensed clinical social workers in some states could practice relatively independently, as they had the ability to diagnose, provide psychotherapy, and bill Medicaid, Medicare, and third …

An Exploratory Study Of The Five-Factor Personality Traits Model As Predictors Among Women In Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics Fields At Indiana State University, Sowmya Challa

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to identify any trends in personality traits of students at a mid-western university along with the influence of gender, choice of STEM or non-STEM academic major, and level of education on personality traits. The chosen mid-western university is Indiana State University (ISU) located in Terre Haute, Indiana. This study investigated the personality traits of student’s through administering Goldberg’s (1999) International Personality Item Pool of the Big Five Broad Domains of Personality. The personality profiles of students at ISU who have taken the questionnare are summarized. The personality profiles of female students were analyzed further …

Inferential Procedures For Log Logistic Distribution With Doubly Interval Censored Data, Yue Fang Loh, Jayanthi Arasan, Habshah Midi, M. R. Abu Bakar

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

The log logistic model with doubly interval censored data is examined. Three methods of constructing confidence interval estimates for the parameter of the model were compared and discussed. The results of the coverage probability study indicated that the Wald outperformed the likelihood ratio and jackknife inferential procedures.

On Poisson Quasi-Lindley Distribution And Its Applications, Razika Grine, Halim Zeghdoudi

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

This paper proposes a recent version of compound Poisson distributions named the Poisson quasi-Lindley (PQL) distribution by compounding Poisson and quasi-Lindley distributions. Some properties of the distributions are given with estimation and some illustrative examples.

Detection Of Outliers In Univariate Circular Data Using Robust Circular Distance, Ehab A. Mahmood, Sohel Rana, Habshah Midi, Abdul Ghapor Hussin

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

A robust statistic to detect single and multi-outliers in univariate circular data is proposed. The performance of the proposed statistic was tested by applying it to a simulation study and to three real data sets, and was demonstrated to be robust.

Jmasm 47: Anova_Hov: A Sas Macro For Testing Homogeneity Of Variance In One-Factor Anova Models (Sas), Isaac Li, Yi-Hsin Chen, Yan Wang, Patricia RodríGuez De Gil, Thanh Pham, Diep Nguyen, Eun Sook Kim, Jeffrey D. Kromrey

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Variance homogeneity (HOV) is a critical assumption for ANOVA whose violation may lead to perturbations in Type I error rates. Minimal consensus exists on selecting an appropriate test. This SAS macro implements 14 different HOV approaches in one-way ANOVA. Examples are given and practical issues discussed.

State Of Our Estuaries Report 2018, Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership

PREP Reports & Publications

Every five years the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP) produces this condition and environmental trends report in an effort to provide communities and citizens with an informed and comprehensive evaluation of what is being observed in our estuaries.

Linkages Among Population, Food Production, And The Environment At Multiple Scales, Daniel Ervin Ph.D., Daniel López-Carr Ph.D.

Journal of International and Global Studies

Human population, its number and distribution on our planet, has a seemingly direct linkage to how much food we consume and how we practice agriculture. How this population-foodenvironment interface manifests across the globe is complex, non-linear, and both local- and scale-dependent. This essay is an overview of the population-food-environment nexus, providing recent history and statistics on these processes at several crude scales. We include a discussion of theory, review different drivers of the population-food-environment processes, provide a global overview of population and agricultural statistics from 1970 to 2010, and discuss trends and implications for Latin America, as well as some …

Hancock, J.F. Plantation Crops, Plunder And Power: Evolution And Exploitation. London And New York: Routledge, 2017., James H. Mcdonald Ph.D.

Journal of International and Global Studies

Book review.

Illuminator, Volume 1, Issue 3, Batten College Of Engineering & Technology

College of Engineering & Technology Newsletter

December 2017 issue of Illuminator, a monthly publication of ODU's Batten College of Engineering and Technology.

The Minutes Of The Marshall University Graduate Council Meeting, December 1, 2017, Marshall University Graduate Council

Graduate Council Minutes

No abstract provided.

Pittsburg State University Annual Commencement, Dec 2017, Pittsburg State University

Commencement, 1903-Present

Program of undergraduate and graduate commencement exercises at Pittsburg State University on December of 2017

Of Microbes And Men: The Effects Of Men, Meat, Media And A Microbe On An Industry, Rachel Marie Byrd

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

Calibration Of The Apex Model To Simulate Management Practice Effects On Runoff, Sediment, And Phosphorus Loss, Ammar B. Bhandari Ph.D., Nathan O. Nelson, Daniel W. Sweeney, Claire Baffaut, John A. Lory, Anomaa Senaviratne, Gary M. Pierzynski, Phillip L. Barnes

Agriculture Faculty Publications

Process-based computer models have been proposed as a tool to generate data for Phosphorus (P) Index assessment and development. Although models are commonly used to simulate P loss from agriculture using managements that are different from the calibration data, this use of models has not been fully tested. The objective of this study is to determine if the Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender (APEX) model can accurately simulate runoff, sediment, total P, and dissolved P loss from 0.4 to 1.5 ha of agricultural fields with managements that are different from the calibration data. The APEX model was calibrated with field-scale data …

Effects Of Trophic Relationships On Oyster Reef Restoration Success In The Mississippi Sound, Virginia Robin Fleer

Dissertations

Natural and anthropogenic changes resulting from altered hydrology, hurricanes, variable precipitation, and the BP oil spill have all taken their toll on oyster reefs in Mississippi. In response, oyster reef restoration efforts are currently underway within the Northern Gulf of Mexico. In order to understand why these efforts succeed or fail, it is crucial to consider predator-prey relationships within the context of the trophic dynamics of oyster reefs. Thus, for this dissertation study I integrated a multidisciplinary approach to understanding key trophic interactions affecting oyster recruitment, growth and survival, comprising field sampling, manipulative lab experiments, and individual-based modeling. Spat settlement …

Historical Change Of Seagrasses In The Mississippi And Chandeleur Sounds, Linh Thuy Pham

Dissertations

Seagrasses are important coastal resources facing numerous stressors, and losses have been documented from local to global assessments. Under the broad theme of habitat loss and fragmentation, a study of historical change in total area and landscape configuration of seagrasses in the Mississippi and Chandeleur Sounds was conducted. Mapping data was collated from a multitude of previous projects from 1940 to 2011.

Comparisons of seagrass area among various studies that used different mapping methods can result in overestimation of area change and misleading conclusions of change over time. The vegetated seagrass area (VSA) data were generalized to a common resolution …