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Functional Dissociation Of The Posterior And Anterior Insula In Moral Disgust, Xiaoping Ying, Jing Luo, Chi-Yue Chiu, Yanhong Wu, Yan Xu, Jin Fan

Publications and Research

The insula is thought to be involved in disgust. However, the roles of the posterior insula (PI) and anterior insula (AI) in moral disgust have not been clearly dissociated in previous studies. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, the participants evaluated the degree of disgust using sentences related to mild moral violations with different types of behavioral agents (mother and stranger). The activation of the PI in response to the stranger agent was significantly higher than that in response to the mother agent. In contrast, the activation of the AI in response to the mother agent was significantly higher …

Homelessness Predicts Attrition But Not Alcohol Abstinence In Outpatients Experiencing Co-Occurring Alcohol Dependence And Serious Mental Illness., Emily Leickly, Jordan Skalisky, Oladunni Oluwoye, Sterling M Mcpherson, Debra Srebnik, John M Roll, Richard K Ries, Michael G Mcdonell

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

BACKGROUND: Adults experiencing homelessness and serious mental illnesses (SMI) are at an increased risk of poor mental health and treatment outcomes compared with stably housed adults with SMI. The additional issue of alcohol misuse further complicates the difficulties of those living with homelessness and SMI. In this secondary data analysis, the authors investigated the impact of homelessness on attrition and alcohol use in a contingency management (CM) intervention that rewarded alcohol abstinence in outpatients with SMI.

METHODS: The associations between housing status and attrition and alcohol abstinence during treatment, as assessed by ethyl glucuronide (EtG) urine tests, were evaluated in …

Experimental Evaluation Of A Naca 0021 Airfoil Employing Shape-Memory Alloy For Active Flow Control, Adam James Stolt

Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

Current aircraft use actuators to alter the wing geometry and generate the ideal flight characteristics which is known to be a method of active flow control. By replacing the heavy electric and hydraulic actuators currently used in aircraft wings with lighter and smaller shape memory alloys (SMAs), the mass of an aircraft can be reduced. Therefore, research was conducted to design and build an airfoil using SMAs as the actuator for improving the airfoil’s aerodynamic performance. The SMA actuated airfoil was evaluated using advanced flow diagnostic methods and was found to operate with a higher lift coefficient than the non-actuated …

Improving Performance Characteristics Of Poly (Lactic Acid) (Pla) Based Nanocomposites By Enhanced Dispersion Of Modified Cellulose Nanocrystals (Cncs), Jamileh Shojaeiarani

Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

Poly(lactic acid), (PLA) is a biodegradable and biocompatible polymer which has attracted significant attention as a promising substitute for petroleum-based polymers. To optimize the usage of PLA in a wide range of applications, different methods such as polymer blending and the incorporation of traditional and nanofillers have been extensively explored. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), rod-like nanoparticles with a perfect crystalline structure, are considered as outstanding reinforcing agent owing to the excellent mechanical properties. The optimal characteristics of CNCs as a reinforcing agent in the polymer can be achieved through homogeneous dispersion within the polymeric matrix. However, the strong hydrophilic character of …

Unsteady Aerodynamics And Turbulent Near-Wake Characterization Of Static And Rotating Cylinder Sytems, Braden Rostad

Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

External flows around bluff bodies have been broadly investigated due to their great importance in engineering applications including aircraft and missile development, marine and naval structures, vehicle aerodynamics, wind power generation, and turbulence near suspension bridge cables. The circular cylinder has been the topic of a significant portion of this research due to its simple geometry and its ability to generally represent numerous engineered and natural structures. The goal of Phase 1 of this is to capture and analyze wake structures formed by variations on the geometry of a circular cylinder. The goal of Phase 2 is to observe the …

Characterization Of Regenerated Silk Material For Biomimetic Spinning And Film Casting, Bradley Thomas Hoffmann

Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

Natural silks produced by spiders and silkworms exhibit tailorable mechanical performance yet to be achieved synthetically. This phenomenon is derived from a biological system that has been evolutionarily optimized. In efforts to harness this elusive promise of tailorable bio-material fabrication, a study was conducted to investigate: 1) silk solution processing, 2) silk spinning via a biomimetic spinning system, [and] 3) dispersions of carbon nanotubes into regenerated silk by spinning and casting. A formic acid calcium chloride solvent system was chosen by rheological characterization for further processing. Fibers were spun through the biomimetic system using hydrodynamic fluid focusing (HF) yielding predictable …

What Kinds Of Comparison Are Most Useful In The Study Of World Philosophies?, Nathan Sivin, Anna Akasoy, Warwick Anderson, Gérard Colas, Edmond Eh

Publications and Research

Cross-cultural comparisons face several methodological challenges. In an attempt at resolving some such challenges, Nathan Sivin has developed the framework of “cultural manifolds.” This framework includes all the pertinent dimensions of a complex phenomenon and the interactions that make all of these aspects into a single whole. In engaging with this framework, Anna Akasoy illustrates that the phenomena used in comparative approaches to cultural and intellectual history need to be subjected to a continuous change of perspectives. Writing about comparative history, Warwick Anderson directs attention to an articulation between synchronic and diachronic modes of inquiry. In addition, he asks: If …

Experimental Analysis Of Unsteady Aerodynamic Covert Feather Behavior, Laura J. Ordaz

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The interest in man-made flying vehicles has existed for over 100 years. Bird flight has been the major inspiration for the creation of such vehicles. More recently, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) have become more popular and their use in more applications has developed the need for improved maneuverability. UAVs are also decreasing in size which has allowed them to operate within similar flight conditions as birds. Studying bird feather behavior may open doors and shed some light as to how the bird achieves such agility and control, which may then be adapted to UAV flight. In this research, the motion …

Machine Learning Approaches To Human Body Shape Analysis, Marco Piccirilli

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Soft biometrics, biomedical sciences, and many other fields of study pay particular attention to the study of the geometric description of the human body, and its variations. Although multiple contributions, the interest is particularly high given the non-rigid nature of the human body, capable of assuming different poses, and numerous shapes due to variable body composition. Unfortunately, a well-known costly requirement in data-driven machine learning, and particularly in the human-based analysis, is the availability of data, in the form of geometric information (body measurements) with related vision information (natural images, 3D mesh, etc.). We introduce a computer graphics framework able …

Scenic Design For Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters, James Vincent Raymond

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis document is a written account of my scenic design process. The initial discussions with the director led to the finished set onstage for a production of Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov. The Play was produced by West Virginia University's School of Theatre & Dance, presented in the Gladys G. Davis Theater at the Creative Arts Center in Morgantown, WV. The production dates ran from November 16th-30th and December 1st - 2nd, 2017. This document comprises the scenic design appointment through my analysis of the script, the design process, the execution of the design, and finally my analysis of …

Britishers In Two Worlds: Maltese Immigrants In Detroit And Toronto, 1919-1960, Marc Anthony Sanko

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation looks at the immigration of Maltese laborers and their families to North America, chiefly Detroit and Toronto, between 1919 and 1960. While the Maltese migration followed similar patterns to other Southern European Catholic or skilled laborers in general, it is different in both their timing and colonial association. Most migrants came to North America in the late 19th and early 20th century, but the Maltese migration occurs largely after World War I and extends through the 1960s---the exact time frame of immigration restrictions imposed by both the governments of the United States and Canada. How the Maltese immigrants …

Attributions Online: An Examination Of Time Stamps, Read Receipts, And Ellipses In Text-Based Communication, Kelsey Kathleen Earle

Communication

According to social information processing theory (SIPT), humans are actively encoding and decoding information when communicating through technology (Walther, 1992). This study uses SIPT as a theoretical guideline and examines the type of attributions formed when elements such as time stamps, read receipts, and ellipses are present in text-based communication. Malle’s (2006) categorization of attribution types was used to analyze attributions from a free response section of an online experiment. Various chi-square tests were used to determine if attributions differed when various chronemic cues were present. Only one hypothesis was supported, but results provide opportunities for future research in this …

Impact Of Inquiry-Based, Question-And-Answer Instruction In High-Enrollment Classes, Matthew R. Schraeder

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Lecturing is a common way to teach large classes, especially in mathematics. Other styles of instruction have been proven to be more effective in small classroom settings, but those styles are not always practical (or even feasible) in classes with 200+ students. The lecturing dialogue primarily exists at the intersection of Spectrum Theory and the Socratic Method, utilizing inquiry-based learning within the realm of active learning, experiential learning, and constructivism to appeal to learners with various learning styles, which helps students to discover new information (specifically, why things occur in the way that they do) and make connections between old …

Study Of The Resonance Spectrums Of The Flute And The Effect Of Different Stable Vowels On Formant Tuning With Violin And Clarinet, Alyssa M. Schwartz

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

"In the long history of scientific investigation of musical instruments, the flute has been given particular attention, primarily because of its apparent simplicity. Yet many of the physical factors that determine its behavior have not been well documented." This is especially true when it comes to modern understanding of the way in which changes in the shape of the oral cavity affect the resonance spectrum of the flute.;Creating different monophthongs, or stable-vowel positions, while playing the flute changes the spectral slope and strength of the overtones in the flute tone. This affects the ability of the flute to successfully blend …

Comparison Of Rnn, Lstm And Gru On Speech Recognition Data, Apeksha Nagesh Shewalkar

Computer Science

Deep Learning [DL] provides an efficient way to train Deep Neural Networks [DNN]. DDNs when used for end-to-end Automatic Speech Recognition [ASR] tasks, could produce more accurate results compared to traditional ASR. Normal feedforward neural networks are not suitable for speech data as they cannot persist past information. Whereas Recurrent Neural Networks [RNNs] can persist past information and handle temporal dependencies. For this project, three recurrent networks, standard RNN, Long Short-Term Memory [LSTM] networks and Gated Recurrent Unit [GRU] networks are evaluated in order to compare their performance on speech data. The data set used for the experiments is a …

Understanding Human Errors To Improve Requirements Quality, Kavitha Manjunath

Computer Science

Requirements engineering is the first and perhaps the most important phase of software life cycle. Software faults committed during the requirements development, if left undetected can affect downstream activities. While previous research has developed fault-detection techniques, they are inadequate because they lack an understanding of root cause of faults to be able to avoid its future occurrences. Our research is aimed at helping software engineers understand human errors (i.e., the root cause) that cause faults that are inserted into Software Requirements Specification (SRS). This can help software engineers become more aware and reduce the likelihood of committing human errors during …

Know What Is, And Know What Ain't An Actor's Exploration Into Developing The Topdogunderdog Character Lincoln, Lonnie Devaughan Simmons

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The playwright Suzan Lori-Parks is known for writing intense, psychological plays featuring mostly characters of color who have depth and emotional richness. Topdog/Underdog is a prime example of this. The play features two brothers who live in a cramped apartment and deal with issues of their past and their relationship with each other. I would like to argue that portraying Lincoln in the West Virginia University production of Topdog/Underdog was an intense and rewarding process where I had to consider race and what it means to be performing this play with the state of our country at the time, utilize …

Reducing Spatial Stochastic Models Of Membrane Receptors To Approximately Equivalent Chemical Reaction Networks Through Coarse Graining, Christopher Short

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Computational models are necessary for understanding how biological functionality emerges from a complex network of molecular interactions such as in cell signaling. Due to the complexity of biological systems, the normal scientific method of hypothesizing then testing predictions is becoming increasingly difficult. The large number of processes limits the level of modeling detail; signaling models typically adopt a non-spatial representation where each molecular process is characterized by a few parameters.;However, modern microscopic imaging of receptors on cell membranes reveals an intricate structure of microdomains. Receptors, such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR), and others, …

Training Supervisors To Provide Feedback Using Video Modeling, Natalie Jones Shuler

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Supervisors commonly use feedback to teach staff members to accurately implement behavioral interventions. However, few studies have evaluated methods to teach supervisors to provide effective feedback. In the current study, we used a multiple-baseline design to evaluate the use of video modeling to train four supervisors to provide performance feedback to therapists working with children with autism. We assessed the supervisors' accuracy with implementing eight feedback component skills (e.g., behavior-specific praise, describing incorrect performance, demonstrating correct performance) during simulated role-plays before and after the video-modeling intervention. Following the intervention, we assessed the extent to which the supervisors' skills generalized when …

Analysis Of Dimensionless Scaling Relationships For Rotating Free Flight Bodies, Shawn A. Smearcheck

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Though more obscure than traditional flight analysis, the tendency for a rigid body to flutter or tumble in flight during unstable conditions has been analyzed through physical experiments since the 1960s. In more recent years, similar conditions have been subjected to numerical simulation to further understand the effects of dimensionless properties on unstable body motion. It is important to understand dimensionless scaling relationships to compare properties of a body to that of a scaled model or for adjusting data when manufacturing limitations exist. For example, if the geometry of a scaled object could easily be manufactured, within tolerance, but material …

Agent Based Modeling For Simulation Of Microbial Community, Noah Daniel Tekeste

Computer Science

Agent based modeling uses interacting agents and a governing rule to understand a complex phenomenon. It is an important mode of inquiry in the field of life sciences. For this paper a Haploid Evolutionary Constructor (HEC) tool was used for modeling and simulation of two sample models. The model samples were analyzed under the same and varying level of specific and non-specific substrates. In the first part of each experiment, the survival rate of the models was examined based on the model’s inputs and outputs. However, since close association of microbes enhances the probability of Horizontal Gene Transfer (HGT) between …

Development Of Hydraulic Models, Mass Transfer Models, And Dynamic Models Of Solvent-Based Carbon Capture Processes With Uncertainty Quantification And Validation With Pilot Plant Data, Anderson Soares Chinen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

To accelerate the development and commercial deployment of CO2 capture technologies, computational tools and models are being developed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy's Carbon Capture Simulation Initiative (CCSI). The CCSI process modeling team was tasked with developing a "gold-standard" model that will serve as a definitive reference for benchmarking the performance of solvent-based CO2 capture systems under steady-state and dynamic conditions over a large operating-range. The main three areas that this work focused on are: development of the hydrodynamic and mass transfer submodels for a monoethanolamine (MEA) solvent system, uncertainty quantification of these submodels, development of …

Dispositional Optimism And Autonomic Reactivity During Difficult And Easy Stress Tasks, Daniel Stephenson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Studies examining the association between dispositional optimism and autonomic reactivity to stress have yielded mixed results, with some studies finding associations between optimism and less reactivity, some studies finding no association between optimism and reactivity, and some finding that optimism was associated with greater reactivity. One factor not considered previously in this literature is difficulty of the stressful task employed to elicit autonomic reactivity. The current study was based on Carver and Scheier's Behavioral Self-Regulation Model (Carver & Scheier, 2000), that states that optimists are more likely to persist in overcoming challenging obstacles than pessimists. The current study investigated whether …

Performance Comparison Of Apache Spark Mllib, Pallavi Sharma

Computer Science

This study makes an attempt to understand the performance of Apache Spark and the MLlib platform. To this end, the cluster computing system of Apache Spark is set up and five supervised machine learning algorithms (Naïve-Bayes, Decision Tree, Random Forest, Support Vector Machine and Logistic Regression) were investigated. Among the available cluster modes, these algorithms were implemented on two cluster modes, Local and GPU Cluster mode. The performance metrics such as classification accuracy, area under ROC and area under PR for the algorithms were investigated by considering three datasets. It is concluded that the algorithms are computed in parallel in …

Study On Electrolyte-Gated Graphene Nanoelectronic Biosensors For Biomarker Detection, Jianbo Sun

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Biosensors are called upon to provide valuable benefits for human society in vital fields such as disease diagnosis, food inspection, environment monitoring, etc. Among the various biosensor architectures, the field effect transistor (FET) biosensors are promising as the next generation nanoelectronic biosensors, particularly attractive for point-of-care biomedical applications. The FET biosensors typically operate by measuring the conductance change of the semiconducting channel induced by the adsorption of the target biomolecules on it. The superior properties of graphene, including the unique electronic characteristics, facile functionalization and good biocompatibility, etc., make it an ideal building block for the FET biosensors. In this …

Characterization Of Marital Violence Using Data From Six Countries In The World Health Organization World Mental Health Survey Initiative, Cara Mangine Stokes

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive global public health problem that occurs in all settings and cultural groups. Traditionally, IPV research has largely focused on identifying risk factors from those who have already been victimized. In contrast to descriptive statistics, this project utilized predictive modeling methods to develop a robust model to predict risk for IPV, defined as moderate physical violence occurring within current marriages. Data for this project come from six countries participating in the World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative. Analyses capitalized on the availability of data containing detailed pre-marital factors from both …

Comparison Between Symfony, Asp.Net Mvc, And Node.Js Express For Web Development, Xiaoli Mao

Computer Science

Web development technologies have been developing tremendously in recent years. While new technologies such as Node.js come with various frameworks, traditional technologies such as ASP.NET and PHP are also being used with new frameworks to meet the increasing requirements. In this paper, three server-side frameworks, namely ASP.NET MVC 5, Symfony for PHP, and Node.js Express, are compared in terms of development, performance, and other aspects. For the development comparison, a hospital information management system was developed and it was found that Symfony is the most friendly to new developers. For the performance comparison, benchmark testing was used with two scenarios …

Mining Structure Patterns Based On 3d Features In The Protein-Dna And Protein-Protein Complex, Qing Sun

Computer Science

For a long time, researchers have been searching for the “recognition codes” of protein complexes, which determine what DNA sequence or other protein a protein can bind to. The binding part prediction of protein complexes have important applications in many biological research fields, such as cleavage enzyme design and drug design and so on. Most sequence-based and PWM methods only capture sequence features on the protein interfaces and ignore the crucial spatial attributes of the features. This study investigates the recognition codes from a new angle, in which the preferred binding modes are captured using local structural motifs spanning the …

Pressure-Based Authentication: A Secure And Usable Approach, Zhangyu Meng

Computer Science

Due to its invisibility feature, pressure force is useful to enhance the security of authentication, especially preventing shoulder surfing. However, it is challenging to memorize a pressure-based password. This paper presents a pressure-based authentication system with personalizing the detection of pressure force, which concretizes a pressure-based password as a decimal number to reduce the effort of memorization, improve the accuracy, and enhance the security. We conducted two user studies to compare the four-pin password with our pressure-based password regarding their usability performance and security evaluation. The results of the first study indicated that the pressure-based password is more secure, but …

Predicting Frac Hits Using Artificial Intelligence; Application In Marcellus Shale, Ryan Tyree

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This work introduces a process of using AI neural networks, for analyzing complex datasets, in order to achieve a higher prediction accuracy in regards to frac hits, at the individual stage level, in the Marcellus Shale when compared to traditional linear methods.;We examined 63 producing wells (parent) along with 79 completed wells (child) to determine the best predictors for accurate frac hit predictions. Our dataset consists of 959 records with 77 predictors and a single binary output (YES or NO) for a frac hit occurrence. Linear methods make analyzing these 77 predictors, along with their interactions, difficult. Neural networks, specifically …