Digital Commons Network^™

Discovery From Failure: Understanding Developing Countries' Battles With Poverty And Culturally Appropriate Answers To Them, Daniel Tennant

Honors Theses

This paper is an examination of a failed research attempt, followed by examination of successful research literature on the subject of the informal economy and poverty. The research is centered on peripheral regions of the world, namely in Sub-Saharan countries such as Senegal. The informal economy continues to grow without thorough understanding or measurement of it creating greater problems in the future. The examination highlights the need for culturally appropriate questions, methodologies, and answers to issues of poverty in developing countries. Western World bias needs to be considered when creating and executing research in developing countries if the results are …

Optimal Selection Of Test Designs And Sensor Sets For Active Fault Diagnosis, Kyle Palmer

Doctoral Dissertations

Fault detection and isolation (FDI) is crucial to identifying problems that can occur in complex systems. Many industrial systems require the implementation of model-based FDI to reduce the risk of system failure and increase good performance while minimizing the use of additional hardware. Active FDI has become increasingly popular as it uses auxiliary tests to reduce the impact of uncertainty and improve fault diagnosis. A methodical approach is needed to consistently generate feasible test designs for the optimal detectability and isolability of faults in targeted systems. The focus of this dissertation is to design a general framework that improves the …

Canvass: A Crowd-Sourced, Natural-Product Screening Library For Exploring Biological Space, Sara E. Kearney, Gergely ZahoráNszky-KőHalmi, Kyle R. Brimacombe, Mark J. Henderson, Caitlin Lynch, Tongan Zhao, Kanny K. Wan, Zina Itkin, Christopher Dillon, Min Shen, Dorian M. Cheff, Tobie D. Lee, Danielle Bougie, Ken Cheng, Nathan P. Coussens, Dorjbal Dorjsuren, Richard T. Eastman, Ruili Huang, Michael J. Iannotti, Surendra Karavadhi, Carleen Klumpp-Thomas, Jacob S. Roth, Srilatha Sakamuru, Wei Sun, Steven A. Titus, Adam Yasgar, Ya-Qin Zhang, Jinghua Zhao, Rodrigo B. Andrade, M. Kevin Brown, Robert B. Grossman

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Natural products and their derivatives continue to be wellsprings of nascent therapeutic potential. However, many laboratories have limited resources for biological evaluation, leaving their previously isolated or synthesized compounds largely or completely untested. To address this issue, the Canvass library of natural products was assembled, in collaboration with academic and industry researchers, for quantitative high-throughput screening (qHTS) across a diverse set of cell-based and biochemical assays. Characterization of the library in terms of physicochemical properties, structural diversity, and similarity to compounds in publicly available libraries indicates that the Canvass library contains many structural elements in common with approved drugs. The …

Analysis Of Land Surface Temperature Over Urban Landcover Types Using Satellite Remote Sensing And Ground-Based Applications, Makini Valentine, Justine Ginchereau

Publications and Research

Urban areas have discrete differences in their land surface temperatures (LST) compared to rural areas. These regions are covered with impermeable materials with less vegetation and moisture. Consequently, this phenomenon causes major thermal intensities of different land surfaces, negatively impact people and environment. The objective of this project is to examine and to compare land surface temperature obtained from in-situ data and satellite-based observations in order to understand the diurnal variation and heat transfer at each surface type. The study utilizes series of hand held thermal infrared cameras and one Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) infrared camera to find land surface …

Computational Studies Of Fullerene-Porphyrin Dyads, Sumreen Gul

Theses and Dissertations

Fullerene (C60) has generated much scientific interest since its discovery due to its novel optical, electronic, and physical properties. Fullerene has been shown to be an excellent electron acceptor and as a result is the acceptor of choice in organic photovoltaics. Porphyrins are excellent electron-donors due to their stability, low ionization potential, and excellent light absorption properties. As a result, fullerene-porphyrin dyads form unique donor-acceptor systems that can be useful for a variety of photoactive applications. In this research, computational studies have been performed on different varieties of C60-Porphyrin dyads and the relationship between molecular topology and the properties of …

Synthesis, Characterization And Enhanced Electrochemical Performance Of Amide-Based Metal Complexes As Electrocatalysts In Energy Devices And Non-Enzymatic Sensor, Charlette Parnell

Theses and Dissertations

The use of metal catalysts supported on the carbon nanomaterials as electrocatalysts has propelled the development of modified electrodes for electrochemical studies. They have been shown to increase sensitivity and electrical conductivity making them advantageous in applications for fuel cells, sensors and supercapacitors. In this dissertation, the synthesis and characterization of metal catalysts supported on carbon nanomaterials will be discussed and their electrochemical activity towards fuel cells, sensor and supercapacitor studies will be explored. Due to the great need for energy efficient and environmentally benign energy devices that can replace the use of fossil fuels in energy production, fuel cells …

Smarthelp: Smartphone-Based Hemoglobin Level Prediction Using An Artificial Neural Network, Md Kamrul Hasan, Md. Munirul Haque, Riddhiman Adib, Jannatul F. Tumpa, Azima Begum, Rechard M. Love, Young Kim, Sheikh Iqbal Ahamed

Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

Blood hemoglobin level (Hgb) measurement has a vital role in the diagnosis, evaluation, and management of numerous diseases. We describe the use of smartphone video imaging and an artificial neural network (ANN) system to estimate Hgb levels non-invasively. We recorded 10 second-300 frame fingertip videos using a smartphone in 75 adults. Red, green, and blue pixel intensities were estimated for each of 100 area blocks in each frame and the patterns across the 300 frames were described. ANN was then used to develop a model using the extracted video features to predict hemoglobin levels. In our study sample, with patients …

Historical Effects Of Electronic Interfaces, G James Mitchell

Publications and Research

Electronic interfaces are a primary tool for most professional and personal communication currently happening. Electronics, like the human mind, are limited by the understanding of executing will, or commands. This can be characterized as “interface limitations” of digital technology. Identifying this bottleneck in technological development has been critical in historical changes to both hardware and software technology. Recent medical research examines a novel user interface to reduce task load. I hypothesize, interface developments that take cues from nonverbal human communication enhance and sustain the significance of those technologies in society. By examining pivotal moments of historical technology we can identify …

Peer-Leaders’ Perceptions Of Learning After A Semester Of Peer Facilitation, Yasmine A. Soofi, Nadia Kennedy

Publications and Research

The study examines the perceptions of a group of new peer-leaders of their learning during a semester of peer-leading training and experience working with a group of students. Data was collected through individual interviews in the beginning of the semester and through administering a survey at the end of the semester. The data was organized, analyzed and presented at the poster session.

Transverse Anderson Localization In Optical Fibers: High-Quality Wave Transmission And Novel Lasing Applications, Behnam Abaie

Optical Science and Engineering ETDs

In this dissertation, transverse Anderson localization (TAL) of light mediated by disordered optical fibers is exploited for high-quality optical wave transmission and novel random lasing applications. En route, we first establish a powerful numerical platform for detailed investigation of TAL optical fibers (TALOF). Our approach is based on a modal perspective as opposed to beam propagation method (BPM) which was primarily used in the previous studies of TAL in disordered optical fibers. The versatile numerical tools developed in our simulations result in a potent methodology for simulation of TALOFs; the result is a fast and effective algorithm which can be …

Light Eaters: A Study On The Affect Of Light Depicted Through Different Art Mediums, Samuel Dyck

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Humankind has spent its entire history defining and creating the things that make up our physical world. Everyday, humanity continues to discover and create, furthering society’s knowledge and understanding of existence. However, there are facets of nature that have never been entirely understood by mankind, because they have a unique affect on each individual. It is known how a tree manifests and grows but no one can explain the feeling of relief that comes in the shade of a long limbed oak on a cloudless day. Nature is unique in its simplicity and mystery. Artists often use aspects of nature …

Tcp Server And Client: Bookstore Enquiry, Fawaz Bukhowa

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

An application called "Bookstore Enquiry", and it is implemented in Java using TCP client-server program. It contains two programs; one program is called "Server" and another one is called "Client". In this application, the 'server' maintains information about books and for each book it stores information like 'BookId', 'BookName', 'BookEdition', 'AvailableStock', 'UnitPrice', 'Discount'. This application works in such a way that, the server runs indefinitely and waits for client requests. The Client will accept the BookId & BookName from console and send it to server. If the server finds any books that matches with sent details, then it shows "BOOK …

Statistical Aspects Of Music Mining: Naive Dictionary Representation, Qiuyi Wu

Theses

Extensive studies have been conducted on both musical scores and audio tracks of western classical music with the finality of learning and detecting the key in which a particular piece of music was played. Both the Bayesian Approach and modern unsupervised learning via latent Dirichlet allocation have been used for such learning tasks. In this research work, we propose and develop the novel idea of treating musical sheets as literary documents in the traditional text analytics parlance, to fully benefit from the vast amount of research already existing in statistical text mining and topic modeling.

We specifically introduce the idea …

Synthesis And Integration Of Oligoviologens Into Hydrogel Actuators, Kevin Liles

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Interest in the development of soft-material artificial molecular muscles has inspired scientists to pursue novel stimuli-responsive systems capable of undergoing change in the physical and mechanical properties of a material in response to external stimuli. This interest has been driven primarily by advances, or the desire for advances, in fields such as soft robotics, microfluidics, and bio-compatible drug-delivery systems. In this work, redox-responsive viologens and their ability to form stable radical-cation complexes were evaluated as a method of actuation in stimuli-responsive materials, specifically hydrogels. First, a brief overview of hydrogel actuators is covered, with some examples given of the broad …

Using Deep Learning To Forecast Spatiotemporal Crime Patterns, Shuzhan Fan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The distributional patterns of crime occurrences are closely related to their spatial, temporal, and environmental contexts. It has been a hot topic for researchers and crime analysts to discover such complex relationships in order to forecast crime, both spatially and temporally. Many factors play a role in the occurrences of crimes. Conventional crime forecasting research has primarily relied on historical crime records and socioeconomic data, while ignoring the rich social media and other environmental context data. The large volume of data requires a more appropriate forecasting framework with the ability to take in massive multimodal data and possibly achieve better …

Simulating A Day In The Life Of Lynx: Delta Iv Second-Stage System, Sharon Adaobi Balogun

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

Data-Driven Characterization Of Technical Debt In A Complex Information System, Abhishek Pathak, Hossein Moosavi Kooshki, Mazhar Haque, Girish Babu

Defensive Publications Series

Presented herein are techniques that provide a holistic and integrated abstraction among different categories of technical debt (TD) in a complex software system, as well as among different TD-related data sources such as logs, traces, telemetry, and metrics. The techniques presented herein allow for accelerated, automated, and evolutionary TD management in a complex software development life cycle (SDLC). The techniques learn the context throughout the SDLC pipeline and turn this context into actionable insights for use in repaying the technical debt at the earliest stages of the development process. The techniques presented herein provide an automated and low cost mechanism …

Mapping The Research Productivity In University Of Petroleum And Energy Studies: A Scientometric Approach, Jayanta Bhakta, Trishna Bhui

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study showcases the escalation of research productivity of UPES (University of Petroleum and Energy Studies), Dehradun for the time span of 10 years from 2008 to 2017. In total 892 publications has been retrieved from the Scopus database. Amongst them, 54.82 % are research articles published in scholarly journals and 36.32 % in Conference proceedings. This paper also highlights the research fraternity of UPES who all are active in the research domain, their collaborative works, their productivity in terms of publications, journal citations etc. Findings also reveal that the International Journal of Applied Engineering Research is the most preferred …

Bots, Bias And Big Data: Artificial Intelligence, Algorithmic Bias And Disparate Impact Liability In Hiring Practices, Mckenzie Raub

Arkansas Law Review

This discussion is divided into three basic parts. Part one will provide a brief overview of artificial intelligence technology, its societal implications, and use emerging uses in hiring. Part two will discuss the potential for Title VII disparate impact arising from the use of artificial intelligence in hiring. Finally, part three will discuss proposed solutions to the challenges associated with the use of artificial intelligence technology, ultimately advocating for an approach that involves careful selection of the artificial intelligence program and balancing the use of artificial intelligence technology with human intuition.

Green Supply Chain Management: A Perspective On Best Practices In Gscm Design, Leroy Paddock, Natasha Rao

Arkansas Law Review

Greening of company supply chains has become almost de rigueur for large, publicly facing companies. One indication of this situation is the fact that 35 of the Fortune 50 companies and at least 58 of the Fortune 100 companies discuss at least some aspects of their green supply chain management (GSCM) activities on their public websites, primarily under the heading of “responsible sourcing.” These GSCM activities ] have the potential to contribute in very important ways to meeting societal sustainability goals, influencing suppliers that are beyond the reach of the national laws of consumer nations, and driving changes in environmental …

Reclaiming Energy Efficiency In An Age Of Petroleum Exclusion, Monika Ehrman

Arkansas Law Review

The principal tasks of the chief executive officers of publicly-traded exploration and production companies is to guide senior management and the company through various operational, regulatory, and financial challenges, all the while mitigating risk and providing shareholders with an expected return on their investment. Executives face declining reserves, increased funding and development costs, and some shareholder and public opposition to oil and gas development or hydraulic fracturing based on climate change or negative environmental externalities. Although these oil and gas companies are familiar with technical and financial challenges, public opposition to extractive industries is a newer barrier to entry and …

Contracting For Sustainable Surface Management, Tara Righetti

Arkansas Law Review

This article examines the surface damage agreement as an instrument of private governance. Part I describes split-estate ownership of oil and gas and the historic dominant-servient ordering of the mineral and surface estates. Part II explores the rebalancing of power effectuated by split estate acts and statutory requirements to contract for surface damages in both state and federal law. Part III examines the surface damage agreement and provides a catalog of common environmental provisions and covenants within those agreements. Part IV analyses surface damage agreements within the framework of private governance instruments, identifying their benefits and exploring the limitations of …

Keynote: Motivating Private Climate Governance: The Role Of The Efficiency Gap, Michael P. Vandenbergh

Arkansas Law Review

The topic of this symposium, “Environmental Sustainability and Private Governance,” is important and timely. In response to the shrinking federal role in environmental protection, many policy advocates have focused on the role of states and cities, but this symposium focuses on another important source of sustainability initiatives: the private sector, including corporations, households, civic and cultural organizations, religious organizations, private hospitals, colleges and universities, and other organizations. States, cities, and other subnational government responses are increasingly important, but the limited geographic reach of subnational governments constrains their ability to address many environmental problems. For instance, although twenty states have set …

The Great Divide: What Dr. Moreau Tells Us About Posthumanism And The Anthropocene, Cynthia Rosenfeld

Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research

This critique of three films of The Island of Dr. Moreau, a classic story that keeps resurfacing in popular culture, aims to shed light on the geologic era in which we live, the Anthropocene. What do these films reveal about the Western conceptualization of the differences between “human” and “animal,” and what does this conceptualization reveal about the Anthropocene? The post-human analysis primarily employs concepts from Lacan, Derrida, and Eagleton, and includes a detailed look at the role of language. Dr. Moreau’s conceit of human uniqueness (and superiority) fosters the kind of thinking that allows humanity to ignore the …

Incentives For Coastal Persistence, Porter Hoagland

Sustainability Seminar Series

Inundation, erosion, and property damages and losses are being observed at increasing rates in coastal areas. It is now well-recognized that rising sea levels, increases in storm intensities, and inadequate structural protections are contributing to the significant physical destruction of and economic losses to coastal properties. Scientists, coastal zone managers, and the general public have begun to call for implementing policies of resilience and adaptation to these losses, including retreating from the coast, yet humans continue to live—and even increase their presence—along the nation’s shorelines. What causes such persistence? It has become commonplace to identify lower-than-actuarially-fair premiums for participation in …

Growing Student Leaders As Part Of A School-Wide Pbis Program, Melanie D. James, Nora Fowler

Georgia Association for Positive Behavior Support Conference

In efforts to build students' capacity, instill a sense of responsibility, and involve students in decision-making, we began a Student Leadership Program at Winterville Elementary. Students in fourth and fifth grade have the opportunity to apply to one of six student leader positions: Safety Patrol, Green Team Member, Student Ambassador, Flag Attendant, Classroom Role Model, or Peer Mediator. Students undergo an application process and those who are selected receive training specific to their leadership role. A sub-committee of our PBIS team oversees the Student Leaders Program. In our first year of implementation, we have seen the positive effect of the …

#Happyinhappyout - Improving School Climate Through Pbis Implementation, Caitlin Sabers, Lauren Girard, Aimee Range

Georgia Association for Positive Behavior Support Conference

An interactive session to guide participants in utilizing PBIS to foster a more positive school climate. PBIS Team members from Woodland Elementary School, a Fulton County Title 1 school with a diverse population, will describe our journey from 48% to 88% PBIS fidelity in just one school year. We will share how we increased staff implementation, parent involvement, and student support through PBIS. Participants will receive concrete strategies and resources to optimize their school climate.

We will provide examples of:

• Digital content curation for schoolwide behavior resources
• Behavior matrices for students, staff, and parents
• How to explicitly teach and reinforce …

Building Teacher Efficacy In A School-Wide Pbis Program, Melanie D. James, Nora Fowler

Georgia Association for Positive Behavior Support Conference

In order for a school's PBIS program to be effective, teachers and staff members must be equipped with the tools to engage positively with their students. Many PBIS programs fail because teacher buy-in and preparation have not occurred. At Winterville Elementary School, we feel that our PBIS program is successful because teachers receive regular training and updates on topics such as establishing effective classroom management procedures, building positive relationships with students, working with students with difficult behaviors, and knowing functions of behavior. We conduct PBIS walkthroughs, our UGA behavior analyst records positive vs. negative comments from teachers, administrators conduct classroom …

Weather And Climate Summary And Forecast: December 2018 Report, Gregory V. Jones

Linfield University Wine Studies Reports

This report provides a summary of the weather and climate forecast for December 2018. It includes forecast information specific to the Pacific Northwest and the western United States, as well as forecast information for other portions of the United States and abroad.

The Perspective Of Place And Landscape, Dylan Langschwager

English Department: Traveling American Modernism (ENG 366, Fall 2018)

The topic of Subjective vs. Objective has a broad connotation across a multitude of different works that can be viewed as abstract due to it's broad, but rooted nature within this work.