Digital Commons Network^™

Sensor Tasking For Satellite Tracking Utilizing Observability Measures, Mitchel T. Mcdonald

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

In this thesis, novel observability-measure based sensor tasking methods are studied for satellite tracking applications. The tasking is performed by first computing the Hellinger Distance between ground/space based sensors and space objects, and then the measure is utilized for selecting the sensors that maximize observability. Several other measures such as the Fisher Information Gain, Largest Lyapunov Exponent, and Shannon Information Gain have also been utilized and the performance of these measures are computed against each other. The object's state estimates are obtained using nonlinear estimation techniques. The Extended Kalman Filter, Unscented Kalman Filter, and Bootstrap Particle Filter are compared within …

Design And Development Of Flexible Mems-Based Ph Sensor For Agricultural And Biomedical Applications, Shardul Sonu Pawar

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate a novel method of using a flexible MEMS-based pH sensor for agricultural and biomedical applications. The first part of the thesis involves demonstration of the capability of our pH sensor for monitoring pH level change in the food product. The pH sensor we have developed consists of Iridium Oxide (IrOx) and Silver Chloride (AgCl) sensing electrodes. The sensor is designed to monitor and sustain long-term continuous usage, which makes it suitable for a wide variety of agricultural based applications. The electrochemical potential generated between IrOx and AgCl electrode is monitored and further …

Thermodynamic And Phase-Field Analysis Of Domain Structures And Switching Kinetics Of Bismuth Ferrite Thin Films, Ryan T. Hart

Material Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

In this study, thermodynamic analysis and phase field simulation are utilized to study the polarization, phase transitions, and phase coexistence in BFO thin films. The effect of temperature, substrate strain, and electrical bias on the phase stability and the phase transformation pathways were studied. Existing thermodynamic analysis methods are supplemented by a phase destrain model, which determines free energy minima as a function of biaxial strain and the fractions of BFO’s ferroelectric phases in a thin film. The results of this methodology are compared with phase field modeling. The phase de-strain model shows reasonable accuracy in determining boundaries at which …

The Economic Impact Of Refugees On A Host Country, Zaid Ghaleb-Sharari-Al-Bakhit Alfayez

Public Affairs Dissertations - Archive

Refugee numbers are increasing around the world due to political instability. Host countries are encountering several issues such as socioeconomic challenges as a result of refugees. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the effects of the economic impact of refugees. The Middle East region has taken in a high number of these refugees, especially Jordan. This empirical research studies the impact for countries receiving refugees to help policy makers effectively regulate and deal with this challenge. This study analyzes the impact of refugees on the economy using Jordan as a case study. However, this research can be applied to other …

Differential Effects Of Local Identity And Global Identity On Two Important Aspects Of Consumer Behavior: Price-Quality Judgments And Creativity, Sijie Sun

Marketing Dissertations - Archive

Globalization has substantially influenced the world economy and also individuals. As a person with a cross-cultural background, it is fascinating to observe that different identities change individuals’ behavior. My dissertation focuses on cultural psychology and creativity with a specific focus on analyzing the effect of consumers’ local or global identity influences different aspects of consumer decision-making. In the first essay, consumers often rely on price to judge a product’s quality, especially when they do not have sufficient knowledge about attributes.However, how is such a tendency affected by consumers’ local-global identity, product type(e.g., services vs. goods; hedonic vs. utilitarian), and distribution …

A Staring Contest With The Self: Karl Ove Knausgaard, Linguistic Inquiry And Word Count, And Explanatory Style, Colton Tyler Royle

English Theses - Archive

Shame as an emotional response in the late 2010s has been discussed in both high and low sectors, from a high level of shame with social media use in high school classrooms, to the lack of shame by the president of the United States. My thesis addresses this question by analyzing Karl Ove Knausgaard’s two autobiographical works, My Struggle and his Seasonal Quartet. Readers, critics, and Knausgaard himself have described his work as a focus on the shameful moments of his life. Using positive psychology’s term “explanatory style,” coined by Martin E.P. Seligman, I do a structural reading of explicit …

Meming And Enthymeming: Persuasion In The Age Of Social Media, Taylor R. Parrish

English Theses - Archive

While rhetoric as a field of study has existed for several millennia, social media can prove to be a difficult medium to analyze rhetorically. This thesis examines some traditional elements of rhetoric, including the rhetorical triangle as well as the canons of rhetoric, and weaves them together with the narrative paradigm theory, as posited by Walter Fisher in his 1987 book Human Communication as Narration: Toward a Philosophy or Reason, Value, and Action. Together, rhetoric and the narrative paradigm provide some useful tools for analyzing the world of social media, helping users to more accurately ascertain the veracity of posting; …

Creativity And Budgeting: Improving The Budget Process With Creativity, Janet K. Stormes

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

In this master’s project I explore ways to improve a budget process by integrating the principles and tools of creativity and Creative Problem Solving. I do this by prototyping, testing, and revising a creativity-budget model. The creativity-budget prototype model was based on my professional experience in federal budgeting and a literature review on topics including governance, the budget process, stakeholders, collaboration, the impact of the budget process on the creativity of an organization, and the principles of creativity and creative problem solving. In July 2018, I tested the prototype model by conducting creativity-budget workshops in Myanmar. Based on my experience …

Between The Facts And Norms Of Police Violence: Using Discourse Models To Improve Deliberations Around Law Enforcement, Franciska Coleman

Hofstra Law Review

Police violence and protests of police violence have become a common feature of today's news cycles and have led to widespread critique and distrust of the law enforcement apparatus and police practice. States and municipalities have responded to the delegitimization of police practice with community-police dialogues. This Article argues that such dialogues can only restore the legitimacy of the police practice if they are deliberative in the Habermasian sense and also address the entrenched power asymmetries between communities and the police. This Article uses the community listening sessions of the Minnesota Governor's Council on Law Enforcement and Community Relations to …

The Banner - V. 153, No. 11 - (December 2018), Christian Reformed Church In North America

The Banner

No abstract provided.

White-Nose Syndrome Detected In Bats Over An Extensive Area Of Russia, Veronika Kovacova, Jan Zukal, Hana Bandouchova, Alexander D. Botvinkin, Markéta Harazim, Natália Martínková, Oleg L. Orlov, Vladimir Piacek, Alexandra P. Shumkina, Mikhail P. Tiunov, Jiri Pikula

KIP Articles

No abstract provided.

Testing Caldor's Hypothesis To Estimate The Relationship Between The Industrial Production And Growth In Gross Domestic Product In Iraq, Ali Wahaib Abdallah

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

The study aimed to test the hypothesis of Caldor to estimate the relationship between industrial production and GDP growth in Iraq using with Integration Framework and to determine the causal relationship in the short and long term using the error correction vector model for the period 1990-2016. the results showed a long-term equilibrium relationship between GDP and industrial output, while Ganger causality tests showed a causal relationship in the long run of GDP to output Subliminal thus illustrated the extent of the recession suffered by the industrial sector, which is supposed to be the driving force of the economy and …

Hexaco Personality Predicts Counterproductive Work Behavior And Organizational Citizenship Behavior In Low-Stakes And Job Applicant Contexts, Jeromy Anglim, Filip Lievens, Lisa Everton, Sharon L. Grant, Andrew Marty

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study examined the degree to which the predictive validity of personality declines in job applicant settings. Participants completed the 200-item HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised, either as part of confidential research (347 non-applicants) or an actual job application (260 job applicants). Approximately 18-months later, participants completed a confidential survey measuring organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). There was evidence for a small drop in predictive validity among job applicants, however honesty-humility, extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness predicted lower levels of CWB and higher levels of OCB in both job applicants and non -applicants. The study also informs the use …

Executive Overconfidence And Securities Class Actions, Suman Banerjee, Mark Humphery-Jenner, Vikram Nanda, T. Mandy Tham

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Overconfident CEOs/senior executives tend to have excessively positive views of their own skills and their company’s future performance. We hypothesize that overconfident managers are more likely to engage in reckless or intentional actions/disclosures that give rise to securities class actions (SCAs). Empirical evidence is supportive: Overconfident CEOs/senior executives increase SCA likelihood, though litigation risk is ameliorated through improved governance, such as following the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002. Post-SCA, companies are less likely to hire an overconfident CEO. Following an SCA, overconfident CEOs appear to moderate behavior and to reduce their litigation risk.

Investigating Autophagy Dysfunction Induced By A Parkinson's Disease-Causing Mutation In Vps35, Abir Ashfakur Rahman

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is an idiopathic disorder with no known cure. With number of cases steadily rising around the world, it is imperative to turn to the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms of the disease manifestation and neurodegeneration to craft novel modes of therapy. VPS35 is one of the few genes that have identified and definitively linked to familial PD. The particular mutation that has been associated is known to cause dysfunction of a key cellular process known as autophagy. This process is primarily responsible for clearance of unwanted, damaged or misfolded proteins, among other things. Our study reveals an …

Injecting Control Commands Through Sensory Channel: Attack And Defense, Farhad Rasapour

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Industrial Control System (ICS) is responsible for controlling and managing critical infrastructures like nuclear plants and power plants. ICS is equipped with various devices like communication media, Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), actuators, and sensors. Sensors are used to measure a physical phenomenon and send these measurements through the sensory channel to the control devices so they can make decisions on the movements of the actuators in the systems. While tampering with the sensor measurements has been the focus of many studies, there is some research that has concentrated on misusing a sensor and sensory channel as an axillary attack device …

Effect Of Subsurface Conditions On Flexible Pavement Behavior: Non-Destructive Testing And Mechanistic Analysis, Md. Fazle Rabbi

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The behavior of flexible pavements under traffic and environmental loading can be significantly affected by subsurface conditions. Inadequate support conditions under the surface can lead to excessive pavement deformations, often leading to structural and functional failure. This research effort focused on assessing the effects of base/subbase and subgrade layer conditions on flexible pavement behavior. The results of this study are presented in the form of two journal manuscripts.

The first manuscript focuses on utilizing pavement structural and functional evaluation data in making pavement rehabilitation decisions. Visual distress surveys and Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) testing are often carried out by agencies …

Local Peer-To-Peer Communication To Improve Demand Response In Residential Neighborhoods, Ryan Schwartz

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Increased electricity production from intermittent renewables presents a challenge to utilities. Since the grid has little ability to store energy, fluctuations in solar and wind generation require either an increase in generation from expensive sources or a reduction of demand. Demand Response (DR) programs focus on the latter and are designed to increase grid flexibility by allowing grid operators to modify when or how customers use electricity. For residential customers, this typically means shedding load during periods of high demand through a central controller temporarily shutting off air conditioning (AC) compressors. This type of DR can cause spikes in demand …

Improving Teamwork And Timeliness Of Insulin Administration In The Respiratory Rehabilitation Unit, Jessie Ventura

Master's Projects and Capstones

The microsystem assessment conducted by a Clinical Nurse Leader student at an acute care hospital in the Respiratory Rehabilitation Unit (RRU) revealed that two of eight patients were diagnosed with diabetes. The RRU nursing staff was 80% compliant with best practices related to insulin coverage administration within 30 minutes after a point of care blood glucose check. The practice improvement project aims to increase staff awareness and timely administration of insulin coverage by introducing situation monitoring, a core component of Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS). After baseline data collection, a 30-minute education intervention was …

Technology And The American Criminal Justice System, Taylor Hunt

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

The American prison population has grown to over 2.3 million citizens incarcerated (“United States of Incarceration,” 2016) and there are more than 900,000 police officers in the nation (“Law Enforcement Facts,” n.d.). These over 3 million people use technology every day in either their work or incarcerated lives. As the effectiveness of the criminal justice system is being questioned, now is the time to perform an assessment of the technology used and make technological recommendations to lower crime, incarceration, and recidivism rates simultaneously. To obtain that technology assessment, a student research study was conducted and consisted of research and interviews …

Development And Validation Of Hybrid Continuum/Structural Finite Element Model For Evaluating Foot And Ankle Biomechanics, Saif Alrafeek

Dissertations

Bone is composed of two structures: compact bone and spongy bone. Spongy bone porosity highly affects the strength and the physical endurance of bone to carry loads. Most studies use continuum finite element (FE) approaches to model spongy bone and neglect porosity. Neglecting porosity may not efficiently assist orthopaedic surgeons to treat patients who experience bone physical disability. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate an inexpensive approach that simulates spongy bone with more accurate capturing of porosity and less requirements of bone information. The approach is developed through investigating the mechanical characteristics of spongy bone; that is, by …

Retinex-Based Visibility Enhancement System For Inclement Weather With Tracking And Distance Estimation Capabilities, Marwan S. Alluhaidan

Dissertations

Road conditions affected by weather are well known to have an impact on the number of vehicle accidents and fatalities, due to low- to no-visibility conditions. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, there are more than 1,259,000 crashes each year. On average, 6,000 people are killed and more than 445,000 people are injured annually due to severe weather conditions. These accidents could be significantly reduced if real-time visibility enhancement systems were made available. However, eliminating the impact of weather conditions on visibility is still lacking and beyond our control. The time has come to develop technology that is capable …

Assessing The Supports And Variables Needed For Graduation Of Students Receiving Special Education Service: A Longitudinal Study, Jennifer Dewaard

Dissertations

Graduation from high school is an important measure of success for both schools and individuals. While requirements for graduation change, the rate at which students receive a diploma within four years is on the rise. But students who receive special education services continue to have a lower graduation rate than the general population. It is imperative for both schools and individual students to increase this rate and close the gap for those receiving a diploma.

The purpose of this study is to examine that gap between graduation rates for the total population of a high school in West Michigan compared …

Vision-Based Framework For Monitoring Of Eating Behavior Of Persons With Alzheimer’S Disease, Haitham Al-Anssari

Dissertations

Dementia is a syndrome used to describe an array of significant declines in cognitive abilities due to progressive and irreversible loss of neurons and brain functioning. This neurodegeneration seriously affects daily life activities like driving, shopping, working and speaking. Among these, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, with individuals experiencing loss of memory and thinking and reasoning skills. Due to cognitive decline, individuals with Alzheimer’s often suffer from malnutrition, since they do not eat, even when food is presented, and must be fed with assistance. This assistance presents a significant burden of time to caregivers, and consequently …

Stakeholder Perspectives: Implementation Of Local School Wellness Policies In The Kent Intermediate School District, Adrienne A. Wallace

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore attitudes and perception of stakeholders (teachers, principals, nutrition service directors, nutrition service supervisors, school nurses, nutrition specialists and administrators) toward the implementation of the local school wellness policy in public schools within Kent County, Michigan. The subjects of interest were stakeholders from more than 300 schools and 20 public school districts within the Kent Intermediate School District. Subjects responded to a survey assessing their perspectives regarding the implementation of the local school wellness policy pursuant to the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 an Obama-era policy, the results were then examined using …

Radiative Double Electron Capture (Rdec) By Fully-Stripped Fluorine Ions In Collisions With Nitrogen, Nuwan Sisira Kumara

Dissertations

Radiative double electron capture (RDEC) by highly-stripped ions in collisions with atomic targets is a fundamental process that can be used to study electron-electron correlation, the interaction between two electrons, in the vicinity of the Coulomb field of a bare ion. In this process two electrons from the target are captured to bound states of the projectile with the simultaneous emission of a single photon. RDEC is closely related to the well-known one-step atomic process of radiative electron capture (REC), in which a target electron is captured to the projectile and a photon is simultaneously emitted. REC and RDEC can …

Implication Of Item And Test Differential Functioning In Criterion-Referenced Tests, Xiaojie Hu

Dissertations

In a compensatory criterion referenced test (CRT) it is common that the test developer maximizes the test information at or near the cut score location. This is believed to produce the highest classification accuracy. However, a recent study showed that the optimal location to maximize test information for highest classification accuracy (CA) and consistency (CC) also depends on factors such as test length, cut score location, the examinee ability distribution, and the test model applied for latent trait estimation (Wyse & Babcock, 2016). Moreover, when unintentional secondary dimensions are also measured (nuisance dimension caused by test construction, test standardization, or …

Lieutenant Colonel Donn A. Starry, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Performance Of A Wind Torch Under Varying Test Conditions, Sumukh Surya

Manipal Journal of Science and Technology

In an earlier effort, feasibility and proof of the concept for generating wind power to provide a torch-light for cyclists was reported. Performance of the device was proved in a low-speed wind tunnel at the National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore. In order to achieve a sufficient confidence level in the performance and assess the reliability of the device, it is essential and desirable to verify the performance in another test facility. Therefore, tests were repeated in the low-speed wind tunnel at the Manipal Institute of Technology. It was found that the device underperformed in the latter, apparently due to the reduced …

A Note On Algebraic Structures, Kuncham Syam Prasad

Manipal Journal of Science and Technology

In this paper, we introduce the idea of 2-Banach algebra and 2-C*-algebra with suitable examples and some related results are established. We provide the recent developments and related results in near-algebra. We also give a generalization of gamma nearring and a module over a gamma nearring with suitable illustration.