Digital Commons Network^™

Containers And Reproducibility In Scientific Research, Sara Faraji Jalal Apostal, David Apostal, Ronald Marsh

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Numerical reproducibility has received increased emphasis in the scientific community. One reason that makes scientific research difficult to repeat is that different computing platforms calculate mathematical operations differently. Software containers have been shown to improve reproducibility in some instances and provide a convenient way to deploy applications in a variety of computing environments. However, there are software patterns or idioms that produce inconsistent results because mathematical operations are performed in different orders in different environments resulting in reproducibility errors. The performance of software in containers and the performance of software that improves numeric reproducibility may be of concern for some …

October 22, 2018- Board Of Trustees Meeting Minutes, Regular And Special Meetings, Central Washington University Central Washington University

Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes

Meeting minutes for Regular Session of the Board of Trustees at Central Washington University, October 22, 2018.

Current Issues In Emerging Elearning, Volume 5, Issue 1: Special Issue On Leveraging Adaptive Courseware

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

This special edition of Current Issues in Emerging eLearning comprises new empirical research focused on strategies for implementing and scaling personalized and adaptive courseware solutions. A special call for studies related to adaptive courseware implementation was announced broadly.

The Personalized Learning Consortium (PLC) at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) was solicited for research originating from institutions who participated in a postsecondary success initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As evidenced in the research in this edition, high-enrollment foundation or gateway courses are of particular interest for pioneering initiatives regarding adaptive courses, given these courses …

Design Of An Automatic Defect Identification Method Based Ecpt For Pneumatic Pressure Equipment, Bo Zhang, Yuhua Cheng, Chun Yin, Xuegang Huang, Sara Dadras, Hadi Malek

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In this paper, in order to achieve automatic defect identification for pneumatic pressure equipment, an improved feature extraction algorithm eddy current pulsed thermography (ECPT) is presented. The presented feature extraction algorithm contains four elements: data block selection; variable step search; relation value classification; and between-class distance decision function. The data block selection and variable step search are integrated to decrease the redundant computations in the automatic defect identification. The goal of the classification and between-class distance calculation is to select the typical features of thermographic sequence. The main image information can be extracted by the method precisely and efficiently. Experimental …

Stem Stories, October 2018, Special Edition, Elise Leasure, Sabine Martin, Katherine Mauss

STEM Stories

Special Edition - Cedar Falls Fights Drinking Water Nitrates Battle

The Daily Gamecock, Monday, October 22, 2018, University Of South Carolina, Office Of Student Media

October

No abstract provided.

Manipulation Of Human Verticality Using High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation, Taiza E. G. Santos, Diandra B. Favoretto, Iman Ghodratti Toostani, Diego C. Nascimento, Brunna P. Rimoli, Eduardo Bergonzoni, Tenysson Will Lemos, Dennis Quangvinh Truong, Alexandre C. B. Delbem, Bahador Makkiabadi, Renato Moraes, Francisco Louzada, Marom Bikson, Joao P. Leite, Dylan J. Edwards

Publications and Research

Background: Using conventional tDCS over the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) we previously reported that it is possible to manipulate subjective visual vertical (SVV) and postural control. We also demonstrated that high-definition tDCS (HD-tDCS) can achieve substantially greater cortical stimulation focality than conventional tDCS. However, it is critical to establish dose-response effects using well-defined protocols with relevance to clinically meaningful applications.

Objective: To conduct three pilot studies investigating polarity and intensity-dependent effects of HD-tDCS over the right TPJ on behavioral and physiological outcome measures in healthy subjects. We additionally aimed to establish the feasibility, safety, and tolerability of this stimulation protocol.

Methods: …

Oa Week Slideshow: Oa Journals From Around The World (Background)

Open Access Week 2018

A slideshow created by Scholarly Communication Initiatives staff highlighting several open access journals from around the world. This slideshow played in the background during the awards reception.

Quantitative Appraisal Of Non-Irrigated Cropland In South Dakota, Shelby Riggs

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This appraisal attempts to remove subjectivity from the appraisal process and replace it with quantitative analysis of known data to generate a fair market value of the subject property. Two methods of appraisal were used, the income approach and the comparable sales approach. For the income approach, I used the average cash rent for the region, the current property taxes for the subject property, and a capitalization rate based on Stokes' (2018) capitalization rate formula to arrive at my income-based valuation. For the comparable sales approach, I utilized Stokes' (2018) research in optimization modeling to estimate a market value for …

Alireza Asiaee Joins Chemical Engineering Department, Edwin B. Smith

University of Mississippi News

Newest instructor brings professional experience, research expertise to UM students

Oa Week Panel Opening Remarks, Andrea Wirth

Open Access Week 2018

These remarks were delivered as an introduction to the UNLV University Libraries 2018 Open Access Panel on The Intersection of Scholarly Publishing and Open Access with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Visual Biofeedback Training Reduces Quantitative Drugs Index Scores Associated With Fall Risk, Eric Anson, Elizabeth Thompson, Samuel C. Karpen, Brian L. Odle, Edith Seier, John Jeka, Peter C. Panus

ETSU Faculty Works

Objective: Drugs increase fall risk and decrease performance on balance and mobility tests. Conversely, whether biofeedback training to reduce fall risk also decreases scores on a published drug-based fall risk index has not been documented. Forty-eight community-dwelling older adults underwent either treadmill gait training plus visual feedback (+VFB), or walked on a treadmill without feedback. The Quantitative Drug Index (QDI) was derived from each participant's drug list and is based upon all cause drug-associated fall risk. Analysis of covariance assessed changes in the QDI during the study, and data is presented as mean ± standard error of the mean. Results: …

Adaptive Learning Courseware As A Tool To Build Foundational Content Mastery: Evidence From Principles Of Microeconomics, Karen Gebhardt

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

Adaptive courseware has the potential to increase content mastery through assessment and personalized remediation. In this study, content mastery is determined by assessment items developed in alignment to learning outcomes using Bloom’s Taxonomy. This study tracks freshmen and sophomore students enrolled in the foundations course, Principles of Microeconomics at Colorado State University. The researcher finds that students who complete adaptive assignments show higher mastery on formative assessments.

Passing The Baton: Digital Literacy And Sustained Implementation Of Elearning Technologies, Lauren Herckis

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

Evidence-based eLearning tools have proliferated in recent decades, but adoption at scale remains elusive. Educator buy-in is important for successful implementation of eLearning tools, and is often engaged through peer discussion, learning communities, and other educator network engagement. These non-expert sources of motivation and support for adoption, however, rarely embed specific implementation-related knowledge which eases initial phases of adoption and pedagogical integration. Such information is rarely missed but often missing from casual, technological, and pedagogical support. This represents a special kind of digital literacy which is integral to successful dissemination of educational innovations. The presence of implementation models or detailed …

Aplu Adaptive Courseware Grant, A Case Study: Implementation At The University Of Mississippi, Patti O’Sullivan

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

Learning Management Systems (LMS) have been the main vehicle for delivering and managing e-learning courses in educational, business, governmental and vocational learning settings. Since the mid-nineties there is a plethora of LMS in the market with a vast array of features. The increasing complexity of these platforms makes LMS evaluation a hard and demanding process that requires a lot of knowledge, time, and effort. Nearly 50% of respondents in recent surveys have indicated they seek to change their existing LMS primarily due to user experience issues. Yet the vast majority of the extant literature focuses only on LMS capabilities in …

Keyword-Based Patent Citation Prediction Via Information Theory, Farshad Madani, Martin Zwick, Tugrul U. Daim

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Patent citation shows how a technology impacts other inventions, so the number of patent citations (backward citations) is used in many technology prediction studies. Current prediction methods use patent citations, but since it may take a long time till a patent is cited by other inventors, identifying impactful patents based on their citations is not an effective way. The prediction method offered in this article predicts patent citations based on the content of patents. In this research, Reconstructability Analysis (RA), which is based on information theory and graph theory, is applied to predict patent citations based on keywords extracted from …

Image Zooming Using Corner Matching, Ronald Marsh, Md Nurul Amin, Charles Crandall, Raymond Davis

Computer Science Faculty Publications

This work was intended to direct the choice of an image interpolation/zoom algorithm for use in UND’s Open Prototype for Educational Nanosats (OPEN) satellite program. Whether intended for a space-borne platform or a balloon-borne platform, we expect to use a low cost camera (Raspberry Pi) and expect to have very limited bandwidth for image transmission. However, the technique developed could be used for any imaging application. The approach developed analyzes overlapping 3x3 blocks of pixels looking for “L” patterns that suggest the center pixel should be changed such that a triangle pattern results. We compare this approach against different types …

The Free Press Vol. 50, Issue No. 06, 10-22-2018, Julie Pike

Free Press, The

What's on the ballot -- USM urges community to approve Question 4 -- University wide effort to encourage students to vote -- How to register to vote for upcoming elections -- USM addresses Portland parking issues

Reinforcement Learning In Robotic Task Domains With Deictic Descriptor Representation, Harry Paul Moore

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the field of reinforcement learning, robot task learning in a specific environment with a Markov decision process backdrop has seen much success. But, extending these results to learning a task for an environment domain has not been as fruitful, even for advanced methodologies such as relational reinforcement learning. In our research into robot learning in environment domains, we utilize a form of deictic representation for the robot’s description of the task environment. However, the non-Markovian nature of the deictic representation leads to perceptual aliasing and conflicting actions, invalidating standard reinforcement learning algorithms. To circumvent this difficulty, several past research …

A Sensitivity Analysis For Mixed Criticality: Trading Criticality With Computational Resource, Luca Santinelli, Zhishan Guo

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Mixing workloads with multiple criticality levels raises challenges both in timing analysis and schedulability analysis. The timing models have to characterize the different behaviors that real-time tasks can experience under the various criticality modes. Instead, the schedulability analysis has to combine every task and task interactions providing several guarantees, depending on the criticality level demanded at runtime. With this work, at first, we propose representations to model every possible system criticality mode as a combination of task criticality modes. A set of bounding functions is obtained, a bound for each mode combination thus corresponding to a system criticality level. Secondly, …

The 'New Normal' Of Flooding In Portsmouth, Virginia: Perspectives, Experiences, And Adaptive Responses Of Residents And Business Owners In Low To Moderate-Income Communities, Donta Council, Michelle Covi, Wie Yusuf, Joshua Behr, Makayla Brown, Old Dominion University Resilience Collaborative, Virginia Sea Grant

Presentations, Lectures, Posters, Reports

[First three paragraphs from the Summary]

This project is a part of a broader initiative - the Resilience Adaptation Feasibility Tool (RAFT) - that addresses the daunting challenges coastal communities are facing related to sea level rise and climate change (more information about RAFT is available here: https://ien.virginia.edu/raft).

This aim of this project was to investigate how residents and business owners in low-to-moderate income communities in Portsmouth, Virginia cope with flooding, and to assess implications for how the local government can better engage with residents to better meet their information needs so they can be more resilient to flooding. The …

Observation Of High-Energy Gamma-Rays With The Calorimetric Electron Telescope (Calet) On-Board The International Space Station, Nicholas Wade Cannady

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) is a multi-instrument high-energy astrophysics observatory deployed to the International Space Station (ISS) in August 2015. The primary instrument is the calorimeter (CAL), which is intended for measurement of the cosmic ray electron flux in the energy range 10 GeV - 20 TeV. The CAL is also sensitive to gamma-rays in the energy range 1 GeV - 10 TeV and protons and nuclei up to PeV energies. Also present on the CALET payload are an Advanced Stellar Compass (ASC) for the fine determination of the pointing direction and the CALET Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (CGBM) for …

A Humanized View Of Second Language Learning Through Creative Writing: A Korean Graduate Student In The United States, Kyung Min Kim

Journal of Creative Writing Studies

This case study traces the journey of a Korean graduate student’s English learning experience, drawing on autobiographical poetry, self-narrative, and interviews. Through a series of snapshot recollections, it illustrates the participant’s evolving subject position with English over the years from his childhood to graduate school. The article concludes that language learning is a transformative experience of constructing translingual identities which entails a wide spectrum of emotion, desire, and dedication: desire to understand the world; to be included in the world; to empower oneself as a user.

Evaluation Of The Influence Of Inertial Force In The Vat Of Underground Pipelines In Seismic Impact, D. Bekmirzayev, N. Nishanov

Problems of Architecture and Construction

Evaluation of the influence of the power of inertia on the mode of deformation of underground pipelines under seismic exposure. The article analyzes the equations for the evaluation of the effect of inertia in seismo-dynamics of underground pipelines using analytical and numerical methods. The effects of the force of inertia are obtained by drawing a number of graphical results and estimating the underground pipelines.

Calculation Of Thick Plates Of Variable Thickness In Three-Dimensional Formulation, D. Usarov, A. Yuvmitov

Problems of Architecture and Construction

Three-dimensional problem of bending and oscillations of orthotropic plates of variable thickness is considered in the paper. The problem is solved on the basis of the method of displacements expansion into an infinite series, which allows it to be reduced to solving a system of two-dimensional infinite recurrent equations.

Banking On Blockchain: A Grounded Theory Study Of The Innovation Evaluation Process, Priya D. Dozier

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Blockchain technology emerged as the underlying database structure for Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, in 2008. Interest in blockchain by the Financial Services industry grew because of its purported transparency, security, and trust elements which resulted in over $240 million in venture capital funds raised by blockchain firms mostly from banks in the first half of 2017.

The purpose of this study was to examine the underlying innovation evaluation process that Financial Services organizations employed as they evaluated blockchain technology. In this research study, blockchain was considered a technology innovation, which drove the research question: “How do financial services organizations evaluate blockchain …

Mapping Knowledge Units Using A Learning Management System (Lms) Course Framework, Casey Rackley

KSU Proceedings on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to examine the outcomes of using a Learning Management System (LMS) course as a framework for mapping the Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD) 2019 Knowledge Units (KU) to college courses. The experience shared herein will be useful to faculty who are interested in performing the mapping and applying for CAE-CDE designation.

Hijacking Wireless Communications Using Wifi Pineapple Nano As A Rogue Access Point, Shawn J. Witemyre, Tamirat T. Abegaz, Bryson R. Payne, Ash Mady

KSU Proceedings on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

Wireless access points are an effective solution for building scalable, flexible, mobile networks. The problem with these access points is often the lack of security. Users regularly connect to wireless access points without thinking about whether they are genuine or malicious. Moreover, users are not aware of the types of attacks that can come from “rogue” access points set up by attackers and what information can be captured by them. Attackers use this advantage to gain access to users’ confidential information. The objective of this study is to examine the effectiveness of the WiFi Pineapple NANO used as a rogue …

Towards A Development Of Predictive Models For Healthcare Hipaa Security Rule Violation Fines, Jim Furstenberg, Yair Levy

KSU Proceedings on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s (HIPAA) Security Rule (SR) mandate provides a national standard for the protection of electronic protected health information (ePHI). The SR’s standards provide healthcare covered entities (CEs’) flexibility in how to meet the standards because the SR regulators realized that all health care organizations are not the same. However, the SR requires CEs’ to implement reasonable and appropriate safeguards, as well as security controls that protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CIA) of their ePHI data. However, compliance with the HIPAA SR mandates are confusing, complicated, and can be costly to CEs’. Flexibility in …

Using Project Management Knowledge And Practice To Address Digital Forensic Investigation Challenges, Steven S. Presley, Jeffrey P. Landry, Michael Black

KSU Proceedings on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

The management of digital forensics investigations represents a unique challenge. The field is relatively new, and combines the technical challenges of Information Systems with the legal challenges of forensics investigations. The challenges for the Digital Forensics Investigators and the organizations they support are many. This research effort examines the characteristics and challenges of Digital Forensics Investigations and compares them with the features and knowledge areas of project management. The goal was to determine if project management knowledge, as defined in a common body of knowledge, would be helpful in addressing digital forensics investigation challenges identified in the literature. The results …