Digital Commons Network^™

Attitudes Toward Using And Teaching Confidence Intervals: A Latent Profile Analysis On Elementary Statistics Instructors, Hyung Won Kim, Woo Jin Kim, Aaron T. Wilson, Ho Kyoung Ko

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

The use of confidence intervals (CIs) for making a statistical inference is gaining popularity in research communities. To evaluate college statistics instructors’ readiness to teach CIs, this study explores their attitudes toward teaching CIs in elementary statistics courses, and toward using CIs in inferential statistics. Data were collected with a survey that classifies instructors’ attitudes on the basis of three previously established pedagogical components: affective, cognitive, and behavioral. Based on the survey responses from 270 participants, we created three profiles (subgroups) via latent profile analysis, and identified each profile’s pattern of attitudes toward CIs and common characteristics of the instructors …

Functionalism And The Infield Fly Rule, Mark A. Graber

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Training Peer Tutors: An Evaluation Of Best Practices In Speaking Centers, Rachel Sieczkowski

Open Access Master's Theses

As an article published in the 2015 issue of the Communication Center Journal points out, "it would be useful to assess the different ways in which those [NACC Tutor Training Certification] guidelines might be implemented, and what variables should be considered in different contexts" (Turner, p. 5). The same article asks the question "how can we determine and improve the effectiveness of our training of tutors" (Turner, p.5). While not required, the National Association of Communication Centers (NACC) has a process in place to certify tutor training programs, but the application form is unclear in its definitions. This study aims …

The Influence Of Plastic Bag Bans On Pro-Environmental Behaviors In Rhode Island Coastal Communities, Eva Touhey

Open Access Master's Theses

One of the greatest threats to the natural environment is marine debris pollution. Single-use plastics, one of many contributors to marine debris, are causing the greatest harm, affecting the well-being of humans and animals. In an effort to mitigate plastic pollution, environmental policies are implemented to reduce the availability of single-use plastic products to the consumer. This research looks explicitly at single-use plastic bag policies to see if implemented plastic bag bans promote pro-environmental behaviors and broader support for plastic bag policies. This study sampled two communities in Rhode Island, one with a single-use plastic bag ban, Middletown, and one …

Transformational Leadership Theory And The Characteristics Of Holistic Coaching In Sports, Evan Flanagan

Open Access Master's Theses

For this study I developed two hypotheses. The first is that the four characteristics of Transformational Leadership Theory represent a guideline for holistic coaching in sports because as of now, there is only a definition of holistic coaching, not a set of characteristics. These characteristics of Transformational Leadership Theory are Individualized Consideration, Intellectual Stimulation, Inspirational Motivation, and Idealized Influence. The second hypothesis, that Transformational Leadership would relate more to holistic coaching than Transactional Leadership. In order to do this, I surveyed 25 athletes from various athletic teams at the University of Rhode Island. I also interviewed five coaches of various …

Coastal Zone Access And The Pell Elementary School Sail Newport Program: Experiential Education Outcomes In Newport, Rhode Island, Leah Feldman

Open Access Master's Theses

Newport, Rhode Island is a diverse community. Although there is a population of very wealthy households in Newport, roughly 11% of the population lives below the poverty line. Newport is one of the more demographically diverse communities in Rhode Island, with 49.7% of its populous identifying as white, 27.1% identifying as black, and 18.2% identifying as Hispanic. The state of Rhode Island consists of 81% white, 6.5% African American and 5.8% other races and ethnicities. In this thesis I discuss the effects of a place-based experiential environmental education program, the Pell Elementary School Sail Newport Program, on this diverse demographic …

Plastic Perceptions: Surveying Public Opinion Of Plastic Pollution In Rhode Island, Sabrina Pereira

Open Access Master's Theses

This research surveyed 200 coastal and noncoastal Rhode Island residents to determine their perceptions of marine plastic debris and their support for plastic and paper bag legislation. The results suggest that one’s residency, or geographic distance from the coast, has no bearing on plastic and paper bag policy support and that most participants, 77%, classify plastic pollution as a serious threat to various types of wildlife, the marine environment, human health, and Rhode Island’s economy. The data also seems to suggest support for a statewide plastic bag ban and a statewide fee of 10 cents on paper bags as a …

The Role Of Ethnic/Racial Classroom Dynamics In The Learning Environment And Mathematics Achievement, Christina Stephens

Open Access Master's Theses

In the U.S., ethnic and racial disparities in education persist throughout K-12 education. Empirical research has linked classroom ethnic/racial structures and achievement, and the learning environment and achievement. However, few studies have considered the complex manner in which ethnicity/race may interact with the learning environment and its relation to student success across diverse groups. The current study investigated the role that ethnic/racial congruence between the student, teacher, and classroom could have on the learning environment and mathematics achievement. A multilevel regression approach examined if these factors predicted academic achievement. Secondary data were from The National Center for Teacher Effectiveness, collected …

Ugv Direction Control By Human Arm Gesture Recognition Via Deterministic Learning, Xiaotian Chen

Open Access Master's Theses

With the recent development of machine learning and neural networks, different applications have been developed to improve the intelligence of unmanned robotic systems. In this thesis, we present a novel method for controlling an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) by using a new machine learning technique, called deterministic learning [1], to learn and recognize four specifically designed body language, which represent four corresponding moving directions (i.e., left, right, up, and down) of the controlled UGV. The Microsoft Kinect sensor is employed to collect the human body skeleton data, including (x, y, z) coordinates of the human arm …

Effects Of Incorporating Inertial Measurements On The Localization Accuracy Of The Seaglider Auv, Wendy Snyder

Open Access Master's Theses

The Kongsberg Seaglider M1 is a commercially available autonomous under- water vehicle (AUV) primarily used as a platform for oceanographic measurements of salinity, temperature, and oxygen. The Seaglider currently uses two different dead-reckoned solutions, the glide slope model (GSM) and the hydrodynamic model (HDM), to provide a localization solution for each dive. While the accuracy of these solutions was not previously known explicitly, for the purposes of oceanographic profiling they were generally deemed sufficient. As the platform matures, there has been a growing interest in expanding its application and measurement capabilities. With some of the desired new applications, such as …

Polyethylene Passive Sampler Method Development For Fluorotelomer Alcohols And Other Neutral Perfluorinated Alkyl Substances, Erik R. Dixon-Anderson

Open Access Master's Theses

Fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs) and other poly- and per-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs) are common and ubiquitous by-products of various industrial telomerization processes. This class of volatile and semi-volatile compounds has been shown to degrade into a wide variety of perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs) including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), persistent organic pollutants. Recent atmospheric studies have shown fluorotelomer alcohols and their degradation products present in high concentrations spreading out from point sources in North America, Europe, and Asia. This study developed a method for measuring fluorotelomer alcohols through the use of polyethylene (PE) passive samplers coupled to their analysis …

Identification Of 15 Phthalate Esters In Commercial Cheese Powder Via Cyclodextrin-Promoted Fluorescence Detection, Benjamin B. Cromwell

Open Access Master's Theses

Human exposure to toxicants such as environmental pollutants, carcinogens, and endocrine disruptors occurs via a variety of mechanisms, including through the use of commercial products that contain these toxicants. Among such commercial products, many classes of food products have been found to contain toxicants, including phthalate and phthalate esters, which have traditionally been detected using mass spectrometry-based techniques. Reported herein is the use of gas chromatography mass spectrometry and cyclodextrin-promoted fluorescence detection to accomplish the sensitive (0.124µM limits of detection) detection of 15 phthalate esters in commercial cheese powder used in macaroni and cheese products. These results highlight the versatility …

Investigating Lava Balloon Formation: New Exploration Of The 1993 Submarine Vent Site At Socorro Island, Mexico, Megan Lubetkin

Open Access Master's Theses

The third of five known lava balloon eruptions occurred January 1993 to March 1994 west of Socorro Island, Mexico. Large highly-vesicular basaltic scoria rose to the sea surface in pulses. Buoyant samples were collected and studied, but the submarine vent was never precisely located. New multibeam mapping and remotely operated vehicle exploration in 2017 by E/V Nautilus located and sampled the 1993 vent site, a volcaniclastic cone at 250 m depth with pillow lava and large scoria blocks. An active, low-temperature hydrothermal system (0.2°C above ambient) with white filamentous bacteria and yellow microbial mats occurs over the roughly 4000 m …

Dredging For Environmental Benefit: Models Of Circulation And Flushing Dynamics In The Providence River Estuary, Grace Elizabeth Medley

Open Access Master's Theses

In estuarine dynamics, circulation in the form of mixing and exchange have a direct link to the water quality. Edgewood Shoals is a highly anthropogenically impacted region of the Providence River bordered by three cities, and receives the outfall from six wastewater treatment facilities. Edgewood Shoals also has low dissolved oxygen levels during the summer months. The Shoal is classified as a circulation-restricted zone, where hydrodynamic exchange is limited due to the steep bathymetric gradient created by an adjacent federal shipping channel. The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is in the process of determining if there are options for …

Localization Of A Drifting Underwater Vehicle Using A Terrain-Based Particle Filter, Emanuele Raggi

Open Access Master's Theses

In this paper we present a terrain-aided particle filter to localize a freely drifting underwater vehicle. The vehicle is a bottom imaging Lagrangian float used for habitat classification, monitoring and fish abundance. During operation the vehicle captures down looking images at a controlled altitude above the bottom. Direct navigation information is often, but not always, recorded with a ultra short baseline (USBL) acoustic system. The presented methodology provides an alternate method for georeferencing when USBL is unavailable. The implemented particle filter utilizes a background bathymetry map and visual odometry as a motion mode. The particle filter is implemented using the …

Exploring Typology Categorizations Of Male Perpetrators: A Methodology Study, Emilyl N. Weber, Ashely R. Taylor, Arturo L. Cantos, Barbara G. Amado, K. Daniel O'Leary

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrators were categorized based on whether they were generally violent (GV) or family only violent (FO) using self-report or arrest records. Classification criteria to assess recidivism in perpetrators of IPV were evaluated herein to determine the incremental validity of using a perpetrator’s criminal history in addition to their self-report information for categorization purposes. The concordance rates for categorizing subtypes of male perpetrators were compared for two methods, namely, self-report versus criminal history data. Categorizations were made based on self-reported history of violence and federal criminal records separately. Between measures consistency was defined as whether or not …

Online Symptom Checker Diagnostic And Triage Accuracy For Hiv And Hepatitis C, A. C. Berry, B. D. Cash, B. Wang, M. S. Mulekar, A. B. Van Haneghan, Kyle Yuquimpo, A. Swaney, M. C. Marshall, W. K. Green

Student Publications

We sought to address the prior limitations of symptom checker accuracy by analysing the diagnostic and triage feasibility of online symptom checkers using a consecutive series of real-life emergency department (ED) patient encounters, and addressing a complex patient population - those with hepatitis C or HIV. We aimed to study the diagnostic and triage accuracy of these symptom checkers in relation to an emergency room physician-determined diagnosis. An ED retrospective analysis was performed on 8363 consecutive adult patients. Eligible patients included: 90 HIV, 67 hepatitis C, 11 both HIV and hepatitis C. Five online symptom checkers were utilised for diagnosis …

Academic Experiences In Policy Development: A Grounded Theory Study Across Three Higher Education Institutions, Marie Brennan

Irish Journal of Academic Practice

The National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030 (Hunt Report, 2011) suggested that a framework should be put in place to facilitate institutional mergers. Subsequently, three institutes of technology in Dublin signed a memorandum of understanding establishing the Technological University for Dublin Alliance (Dublin Institute of Technology, the Institute of Technology Tallaght and the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown.) The presidents from each institute formed a steering group that consisted of a team of staff from across the three campuses. The role of this team was to launch the foundation themes that were necessary for designation. One of these themes was …

Place Recognition In Challenging Conditions, Saravanabalagi Ramachandran, John Mcdonald

Session 2: Deep Learning for Computer Vision

Place recognition in a visual SLAM system helps build and maintain a map from multiple traversals of the same environment while closing loops to correct drift accumulated over time. Despite the marked success in visual place recognition research over the past decade, it remains a challenging problem in the context of variations caused due to different times of the day, weather, lighting and seasons. In this paper, we address this problem by progressively training convolutional neural networks in a siamese fashion to generate embeddings that encode semantic and visual features for sequence-aligned image pairs taken at different timescales and viewpoints. …

Deep Convolutional Neural Networks For Estimating Lens Distortion Parameters, Sebastian Lutz, Mark Davey, Aljosa Smolic

Session 2: Deep Learning for Computer Vision

In this paper we present a convolutional neural network (CNN) to predict multiple lens distortion parameters from a single input image. Unlike other methods, our network is suitable to create high resolution output as it directly estimates the parameters from the image which then can be used to rectify even very high resolution input images. As our method it is fully automatic, it is suitable for both casual creatives and professional artists. Our results show that our network accurately predicts the lens distortion parameters of high resolution images and corrects the distortions satisfactory.

Principles Or Templates? The Antecedents And Performance Effects Of Cross-Border Knowledge, James B. Oldroyd, Shad Morris, Jeff P. Dotson

Faculty Publications

Managers understand the importance of knowledge management systems for project-based work. Efforts are often made to ensure knowledge is codified and disseminated throughout the firm so employees can draw upon them to complete their projects. Unfortunately, however, such efforts often lead to stockpiles of information that remain untapped and underutilized. This study seeks to answer two questions. First, how can managers influence workers to utilize different types of codified knowledge in the first place? Second, do different types of codified knowledge have differential effects on performance? We find that increased individual experience drives the use of knowledge principles while workers …

On-Road Remote Sensing Of Automobile Emissions In The Chicago Area: Fall 2018, Gary A. Bishop

Fuel Efficiency Automobile Test Publications

No abstract provided.

Monitoring Melanoma Recurrence With Circulating Tumor Dna: A Proof Of Concept From Three Case Studies, Ashleigh C. Mcevoy, Michelle R. Pereira, Anna Reid, Robert Pearce, Lester Cowell, Zeyad Al-Ogaili, Muhammad A. Khattak, Michael Millward, Tarek M. Meniawy, Elin S. Gray, Melanie R. Ziman

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background: A significant number of melanoma patients experience recurrence to distant sites, despite having had surgical treatment of the primary lesion, with curative intent. Monitoring of patients for early evidence of disease recurrence would significantly improve management of the disease, allowing timely therapeutic intervention. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is becoming a well-recognized biomarker for monitoring malignancies and has, in a few studies, been shown to signify disease recurrence earlier than conventional methods.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of plasma ctDNA using droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) in 30 primary melanoma patients with tumors harboring BRAF, NRAS or TERT promoter mutations. …

Association Between Preseason Training And Performance In Elite Australian Football, Callum J. Mccaskie, Warren B. Young, Brendan B. Fahrner, Marc Sim

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Purpose: To examine the association between preseason training variables and subsequent in-season performance in an elite Australian football team.

Methods: Data from 41 elite male Australian footballers (mean [SD] age = 23.4 [3.1] y, height =188.4 [7.1] cm, and mass = 86.7 [7.9] kg) were collected from 1 Australian Football League (AFL) club. Preseason training data (external load, internal load, fitness testing, and session participation) were collected across the 17-wk preseason phase (6 and 11 wk post-Christmas). Champion Data© Player Rank (CDPR), coaches’ ratings, and round 1 selection were used as in-season performance measures. CDPR and coaches’ ratings were examined …

Fake News And Propaganda: Trump’S Democratic America And Hitler’S National Socialist (Nazi) Germany, David E. Allen, Michael Mcaleer

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper features an analysis of President Trump’s two State of the Union addresses, which are analysed by means of various data mining techniques, including sentiment analysis. The intention is to explore the contents and sentiments of the messages contained, the degree to which they differ, and their potential implications for the national mood and state of the economy. We also apply Zipf and Mandelbrot’s power law to assess the degree to which they differ from common language patterns. To provide a contrast and some parallel context, analyses are also undertaken of President Obama’s last State of the Union address …

Essays: Color-Blind Or Race-Conscious Policies, Gus Castro, Hannah Lyons, Anna Eager, Jonathan Panton

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

The debate between advocates color blind and race conscious policies has been perennial in the United States since Reconstruction and has recently been resuscitated in the popular press with the publication of Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness (2010). Alexander’s book provided support for the race conscious side and students read Nathan Glazer’s Affirmative Discrimination: Ethnic Inequality and Public Policy (1975) for a defense of the color blind side. The debate was framed in an even-handed manner by a selection from Desmond King and Rogers M. Smith’s Still a House Divided: Race …

To Accept Or Decline Academic Remediation: What Difference Does It Make?, Catherine Coelho, Daniel Zahra, Kamran Ali, Christopher Tredwin

Peninsula Dental School

AbstractIntroduction: Academic remediation offered after failure in a knowledge-based progress-test assessment is voluntary and involves student-centered individualized support that helps students to learn most effectively for themselves. This paper explores whether accepting or declining the offer of academic remediation given to struggling students impacts their outcomes both short-term and longitudinally.Method: Data was collated from 2015–16, 2016–17, and 2017–18 and included all students offered academic remediation in the third, fourth, and fifth years of a five-year Dentistry program. Z-scores for each stage and test were calculated and centered on a triggering point; the point at which the offer of remediation was …

Facial Identification For Digital Forensic, Hiba Al-Kawaz

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Forensic facial recognition has become an essential requirement in criminal investigations as a result of the emergence of electronic devices, such as mobile phones and computers, and the huge volume of existing content. Forensic facial recognition goes beyond facial recognition in that it deals with facial images under unconstrained and non-ideal conditions, such as low image resolution, varying facial orientation, poor illumination, a wide range of facial expressions, and the presence of accessories. In addition, digital forensic challenges do not only concern identifying an individual but also include understanding the context, acknowledging the relationships between individuals, tracking, and numbers of …

Computational Study Of Neuronal Oscillations In Motor Control Circuits, Andrea Ferrario

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

In this thesis we used mathematical and computational models to study neuronal net- works that control motor behaviours. Specifically, we modelled two neuronal circuits from two opposite ends of the brain complexity spectrum: the swimming circuit of the hatchling Xenopus tadpole and the human basal ganglia. Due to its relative simplicity, tadpole is a unique animal for studying locomotion us- ing both experiments and models. This allowed us to define three biologically-realistic spiking models to clarify the interplay between the architecture of synaptic connections (structure) and the network’s ability to generate activities that correspond to its swim- ming behaviour (function). …

Does Audit Committee Accounting Expertise Help To Promote Audit Quality? Evidence From Auditor Reporting Of Internal Control Weaknesses*, Ling Lei Lisic, Linda A. Myers, Timothy Seidel, Jian Zhou

Faculty Publications

In this study, we examine whether audit committee accounting expertise helps to promote audit quality by motivating auditors to conduct diligent internal control audits and make appropriate internal control assessments because audit committee accounting expertise safeguards auditors from dismissal following adverse internal control opinions. Among clients with existing and likely internal control material weaknesses (as proxied by future restatements of audited financial statements), we find a greater likelihood of adverse internal control audit opinions when the audit committee has greater accounting expertise (measured by the proportion of accounting experts on the audit committee). Among all clients, we find a lower …