Digital Commons Network^™

Analysis Of Bus Ride Comfort Using Smartphone Sensor Data, Hoong-Chor Chin, Xingting Pang, Zhaoxia Wang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Passenger comfort is an important indicator that is often used to measure the quality of public transport services. It may also be a crucial factor in the passenger’s choice of transport mode. The typical method of assessing passenger comfort is through a passenger interview survey which can be tedious. This study aims to investigate the relationship between bus ride comfort based on ride smoothness and the vehicle’s motion detected by the smartphone sensors. An experiment was carried out on a bus fixed route within the University campus where comfort levels were rated on a 3-point scale and recorded at 5-second …

Synthesis And Applications Of Ceramic (Silicon Carbide And Silicon Nitride), Metallic (Cobalt(0)) And Polymeric (Polyurethane) Aerogels, Parwani M. Rewatkar

Doctoral Dissertations

"A new method has been demonstrated for the synthesis of monolithic ceramic and purely metallic aerogels from xerogel powder compacts, and the use of polyurethane aerogels based on cyclodextrins as efficient desiccants.

I. Highly porous ( > 80%) monolithic SiC and Si₃N₄, aerogels were prepared from compressed compacts of polyurea-crosslinked silica xerogel powders. The process is time efficient as solvent-exchange through powders is fast, and energy efficient as it bypasses drying with supercritical fluids. The final ceramic objects were chemically pure, sturdy, with compressive moduli at 37 ±7 MPa and 59 ± 7 MPa, and thermal conductivities …

A Computational Study Of Sleep And The Hemispheres Of The Brain, Tera Ashley Glaze

Doctoral Dissertations

"Sleep and sleep cycles have been studied for over a century, and scientists have worked on modeling sleep for nearly as long as computers have existed. Despite this extensive study, sleep still holds many mysteries. Larger and more extensive sleep-wake models have been developed, and the circadian drive has been depicted in numerous fashions, as well as incorporated into scores of studies. With the ever-growing knowledge of sleep comes the need to find more ways to examine, quantify, and define it in the context of the most complex part of the human anatomy -- the brain. Presented here is the …

Vireo @ Video Browser Showdown 2019, Phuong Anh Nguyen, Chong-Wah Ngo, Danny Francis, Benoit Huet

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, the VIREO team video retrieval tool is described in details. As learned from Video Browser Showdown (VBS) 2018, the visualization of video frames is a critical need to improve the browsing effectiveness. Based on this observation, a hierarchical structure that represents the video frame clusters has been built automatically using k-means and self-organizing-map and used for visualization. Also, the relevance feedback module which relies on real-time supportvector-machine classification becomes unfeasible with the large dataset provided in VBS 2019 and has been replaced by a browsing module with pre-calculated nearest neighbors. The preliminary user study results on IACC.3 …

Online Burst Events Detection Oriented Real-Time Microblog Message Stream, Guozhong Dong, Jun Gao, Liang Huang, Chunlei Shi

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The rapid spread of microblog messages and sensitivity of unexpected events make microblog become the public opinion center of burst events. Online burst events detection oriented real-time microblog message stream has become an important research problem in the field of microblog public opinion. Because of the large amount of real-time microblog message stream and irregular language of microblog message, it is important to process real-time microblog message stream and detect burst events accurately. In this paper, an online burst events detection framework is proposed. In this framework, abnormal messages are detected based on sliding time window and two-level hash table. …

A Design Of A Material Assembly In Space-Time Generating And Storing Energy, Mihhail Berezovski, Stan Elektrov, Konstantin Lurie

Publications

The paper introduces a theoretical background of the mechanism of electromagnetic energy and power accumulation and its focusing in narrow pulses travelling along a transmission line with material parameters variable in 1D-space and time. This mechanism may be implemented due to a special material geometry- a distribution of two different dielectrics in a spatio-temporal checkerboard. We concentrate on the practically reasonable means to bring this mechanism into action in a device that may work both as energy generator and energy storage. The basic ideas discussed below appear to be fairly general; we have chosen their electromagnetic implementation as an excellent …

Sprinting Toward Genre Knowledge: Scaffolding Graduate Student Communication Through "Sprints" In Finance And Engineering Courses, Lindsey Ives, Jayendra Gokhale, William C. Barott, Michael V. Perez

Publications

This article evaluates the use of biweekly deadlines called “Sprints” to scaffold the development of conference papers in graduate-level courses in econometric modeling and electrical engineering through analysis of faculty assessment reports, observation notes, and transcripts of two audio-recorded class sessions. Data were analyzed to identify Tardy’s (2009) four dimensions of genre knowledge: subject-matter, rhetorical, process, and formal knowledge. We found that Sprints provide consistent opportunities for students to provide and receive helpful formative feedback that builds disciplinary genre knowledge in each of the four dimensions. We conclude by recommending strategies for maximizing Sprints’ benefits while minimizing potential drawbacks in …

Modelling Of Aerodynamic Process For Coal Waste Dump Located In Geodynamically Dangerous Zone, Elena Vishnevskaya, Alexander Kobylkin, Valeriya Musina, Andrian Batugin, Vladimir Ponomarev, Oksana Vorobyeva

Publications

Previously made evaluations show confinement of fire coal waste dumps to geodynamically dangerous zones which in this work are considered as borders of active blocks of the earth crust. According to the hypothesis under development, when disposing the dumps in geodynamically dangerous zones (GDZ), which have a high penetrating, aerodynamic relation of the dumps with the environment occurs, making the dumps firing possible. Firing of the dumps inflicts environmental, social and material damage. This research is aimed to study possible mechanism of gas mass transfer through GDZ into the body of dump on the base of computer modeling of aerodynamic …

Artificial Intelligence In The Aviation Manufacturing Process For Complex Assemblies And Components, Elena Vishnevskaya, Ian Mcandrew, Michael Johnson

Publications

Aviation manufacturing is at the leading edge of technology with materials, designs and processes where automation is not only integral; but complex systems require more advanced systems to produce and verify processes. Critical Infrastructure theory is now used to protect systems and equipment from external software infections and cybersecurity techniques add an extra layer of protection. In this research, it is argued that Artificial Intelligence can reduce these risks and allow complex processes to be less exposed to the threat of external problems, internal errors or mistakes in operation.

Flavin Oxidation In Flavin-Dependent N-Monooxygenases, Reeder M. Robinson, Catherine A. Klancher, Pedro J. Rodriguez, Pablo Sobrado

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Siderophore A (SidA) from Aspergillus fumigatus is a flavin-containing monooxygenase that hydroxylates ornithine (Orn) at the amino group of the side chain. Lysine (Lys) also binds to the active site of SidA; however, hydroxylation is not efficient and H₂O₂ is the main product. The effect of pH on steady-state kinetic parameters was measured and the results were consistent with Orn binding with the side chain amino group in the neutral form. From the pH dependence on flavin oxidation in the absence of Orn, a pKa value >9 was determined and assigned to the FAD-N5 atom. In the …

Bending Wave Based Characterization Of Viscoelastic Materials, Max Miller, Sadeq Malakooti, Tahereh Taghvaee, Ning Xiang, Hongbing Lu, Nicholas Leventis

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Obtaining broadband dynamic mechanical properties of viscoelastic materials is challenging. Commercially available characterization equipment is typically limited to about 500 Hz. Ultrasonic testing is a common strategy but requires time-temperature superposition extrapolation to audible frequencies. These techniques are indirect and sensitive to inhomogeneities. Modal methods do not yield broadband data and can fail for materials with high loss factors. A new relatively simple characterization method, relying on bending wave excitation and laser Doppler vibrometer measurement, is proposed. Complex elastic moduli and phase speeds are now attainable over the entire range of building acoustics frequencies. The materials under test are an …

Mass Spectrometry Analysis Of Contaminants Of Emerging Concern: Nanoparticles, Algal Toxins, And Cyanotoxins In Natural Waters And Their Potential Health Impacts, Ariel R. Donovan

Doctoral Dissertations

“The analysis of contaminants of emerging concern is critical to protecting environmental health. In the presented dissertation, two groups of contaminants of emerging concern were assessed using mass spectrometry methods: nanoparticles and algal and cyanotoxins.

Analysis of metal oxide nanoparticles in environmental matrices has been a challenging issue, as most traditional methods require complicated sample preparation methods or that can alter or destroy the nanoparticles in the system. Single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SP-ICP-MS) methods were used to detect metal oxide nanoparticles in surface waters and their removal through drinking water treatment simulations while retaining all information regarding …

New Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces On Plane Regions, Their Properties, And Applications To Partial Differential Equations, Jabar S. Hassan

Doctoral Dissertations

"We introduce new reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces W₂^(m,n) (D) on unbounded plane regions D. We study linear non-homogeneous hyperbolic partial differential equation problems on D with solutions in various reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces. We establish existence and uniqueness results for such solutions under appropriate hypotheses on the driver. Stability of solutions with respect to the driver is analyzed and local uniform approximation results are obtained which depend on the density of nodes. The local uniform approximation results required a careful determination of the reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces on which the elementary …

Ferrite Characterization Techniques & Particle Simulations For Semiconductor Devices, Nicholas Erickson

Doctoral Dissertations

"This dissertation is divided into three papers, covering two major topics. The first topic, techniques for ferrite characterization, is discussed over the course of two papers. The second topic, particle simulations for semiconductor devices, is discussed in the last paper. In the first paper, the method for extracting permeability from ferrite materials is discussed for the Keysight 16454A permeability extraction fixture, where the ferrite material to be characterized is assumed to be homogeneous. Then the method is updated to account for layered materials. The updated method is verified through full-wave simulations. In the second paper, a planar printed circuit board …

Wavelength-Selective Metamaterial Absorber And Emitter, Zhigang Li

Doctoral Dissertations

"Electromagnetic absorbers and emitters have been attracting interest in lots of fields, which are significantly revitalized because of the novel properties brought by the development of the metamaterials, the artificially designed materials. Metamaterials broadens the approaches to design the electromagnetic absorbers and emitters, making it possible to obtain the perfect absorption or emission at the wavelengths covering a wide range. Metamaterial absorbers and emitters are promising for various applications, including solar thermal-photovoltaics and thermal-photovoltaics for energy harvesting, chemical and biomedical sensors, nanoscale imaging and color printing. This work focuses on three aspects (materials, structures and design methods) to improve the …

Seismic Attribute Assisted Depositional Facies Identification And Stratigraphic Correlation In The Central Gulf Coast Region Of Texas, Yani Lin

Doctoral Dissertations

"The sandstone deposits in the fluvial-dominated delta systems in the Lower Wilcox Group above the Cretaceous carbonate shelf edges of the Texas Gulf Coast Region are considered as high exploration potential reservoir bodies. However, the multi-phase regression and transgression during the late Paleocene to the early Eocene complicate the local depositional structure. The depositional facies is hard to be identified in details using the traditional seismic stratigraphic interpretation method. Seismic attributes are effective in detecting depositional facies, especially in mapping channels and investigating reservoir characteristics. In this study, we utilize seismic attributes to identify the principal depositional facies in the …

Ucc Minutes, January 2019, University Curriculum Council

UCC Agendas/Minutes

No abstract provided.

Methods For The Visualization Of Placental Vasculature In Fetoscopic Surgery, Praneeth Sadda

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome is a potentially fatal disease of placental vasculature in twin pregnancies. It is treated with fetoscopic laser photocoagulation surgery, a procedure in which a surgeon uses an endoscope to find and cauterize abnormal vascular anastamoses on the placental surface. However, even after surgery, mortality remains as high as twenty to forty-eight percent, largely due to anastamoses being missed during the operation. Many technical challenges contribute to anastamoses being missed, including poor endoscopic image quality and a limited field of view. Any tools capable of addressing these challenges would be clinically valuable. This thesis presents the design and …

Recognizing And Promoting Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Leadership, And Impact: Award For Interdisciplinary Excellence In Mathematics Education (Ieme Award), Yeping Li, W. James Lewis

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

The presentation of the Award for Excellence in Mathematics Education to Roger E. Howe in 2015 officially launched the award, with the goal of recognizing work of lasting significance and impact in advancing mathematics education as an interdisciplinary field, linking mathematics, educational studies, and practice. From the beginning, this unique award has emphasized interdisciplinarity in mathematics education, highlighting the importance of boundary-crossing collaborations among mathematicians, mathematics educators, scholars in other related fields, and practitioners of mathematics. To emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in mathematics education, starting in 2019, the name of the award is changed from “Excellence in Mathematics …

Sliding Into An Equitable Lesson, Kelley E. Buchheister 6872059, Christa Jackson, Cynthia E. Taylor

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

A kindergarten teacher uses Gutierrez's four dimensions of equity to design and facilitate geometry instruction.

Equitable instruction is reflected in how students are positioned in the classroom and how their identities evolve through purposeful interactions that value and recognize the intellectual capacity of each student (Gutiérrez 2013; Lemons-Smith 2008). These integral interactions occur when teachers and students exchange problem-solving strategies, discuss relations among various mathematical representations, and listen to the viewpoints of others (NCTM 2000; 2014).

The Experience Of Co-Teaching For Emergent Arabic-English Literacy, Anna M. Dillon, Kay Gallagher

All Works

© 2019: Anna M. Dillon, Kay Gallagher, and Nova Southeastern University. In this paper we explore teachers' experiences of co-teaching within a new bilingual (Arabic/English) model in public Kindergarten schools in the United Arab Emirates. The main objective was to understand teachers' experiences with intercultural teaching for biliteracy in this context. We interviewed six pairs of co-teachers. These co-teachers represent six of the nationalities of teachers working in public Kindergartens in Abu Dhabi, thereby representing a cross-section of the cultural context of teaching in the reformed public schools. The data highlight teachers' varied co-teaching practices and point to aspects such …

Using Mobile Learning Tools In Higher Education: A Uae Case, Jenny Eppard, Zeina Hojeij, Pinar Ozdemir-Ayber, Marlieke Rodjan-Helder, Sandra Baroudi

All Works

© International Association of Online Engineering. Research indicates that mobile learning (ML), has the potential to transform teaching and learning. Despite its benefits, mobile learning adoption is a challenging process which requires support to facilitate its integration. The focus of this article is to investigate the factors that could affect ML acceptance. The quantitative and qualitative data collected from the surveys revealed additional information regarding the pedagogical benefits of and obstacles to mobile learning integration. Even though participants in this study reported to be late adopters of technology, they maintained that ML is useful for learning, specifically ubiquitous learning. Teachers …

Enlightened Agricultural Improvement In Eighteenth-Century Scotland, Amanda M. Widney

All Master's Theses

Eighteenth-century Scotland is marked by the impact of new ideas from the Scottish Enlightenment that influenced agricultural revolution. Practices that had been used for over hundreds of years with little change, went through a dramatic agricultural reimagining during this time period. Scottish Enlightenment “improvers,” like Henry Home, Lord Kames, demonstrate this push towards “progress.” In particular, Lord Kames represents a conundrum. He, like many other Scots, believed in the authenticity of Ossian’s translated poems by James Macpherson. This patriotic devotion to Scottish culture influenced the way that Kames went about “improving” his own lands and who he chose to work …

Virtual Environments Testing As A Cloud Service: A Methodology For Protecting And Securing Virtual Infrastructures, Elhadj Benkhelifa, Anoud Bani Hani, Thomas Welsh, Siyakha Mthunzi, Chirine Ghedira Guegan

All Works

© 2013 IEEE. Testing is a vital component of the system development life cycle. As information systems infrastructure move from native computing to cloud-based and virtualized platforms, it becomes necessary to evaluate their effectiveness to ensure completion of organizational goals. However, the complexity and scale of virtualized environments make this process difficult. Additionally, inherited and novel issues further complicate this process, while relatively high costs can be constraining. Enabling service-driven environments to provide this evaluation is therefore beneficial for both providers and users. No such complete service offering currently exists. This paper is therefore aimed to benefit industry and academia …

Statistical Modeling Of Influenza-Like-Illness In Montana Using Spatial And Temporal Methods, Benjamin A. Stark

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Studying air pollution and public health has been a historically important question in science. It has long been hypothesized that severe air pollution conditions lead to negative implications in basic human health. Primarily, areas thats are prone to severe degrees of human pollution are the focus of such studies. Such research relating to less populated areas are scarce, and this scarcity raises the question of how such pollution dynamics (human-made and natural) influence human health in more rural areas.

The aim of this study is to explore this hole in research; in particular we explore possible links between air pollution …

Laying The Foundation To Improve Literacy In A K-12 Islamic School Through The Introduction Of A Professional Learning Community: A Formative Evaluation, Hanan Matari, Ruqia Ali

Dissertations

To improve professional development, a professional learning community (PLC) was initiated at a small, K–12 Islamic school in northwest suburban Chicago, IL. This evaluation describes and assesses the initiation and year-one implementation of the PLC, and focuses on teachers’ literacy instruction skills. A formative evaluation approach was used to monitor and assess progress and encourage teachers’ ownership of their learning. Teachers collaborated in large and smaller grade or subject area PLC groups to identify, chart, and implement new teaching strategies under peer observation for feedback. Teachers succeeded in establishing school-wide literacy strategies; however, issues challenged the PLC’s future—time, resources, and …

Examining Partisan Advantage In Congressional Maps Using Simulations Based On Election Data, Zachary James Morgan

Online Theses and Dissertations

Partisan gerrymandering has been and will continue to be a topic of interest in the coming years. States will soon begin their redistricting process following the 2020 Census. We introduce a method of simulating Congressional elections which provides a new way of examining and visualizing the votes-to-seats relationship for a state Congressional map using past election data. We are able to build upon Mira Bernstein's method of uniformly simulating elections by injecting a data-driven component of variation into the simulations. Additionally, we are able to directly evaluate the accuracy of our simulations using a type of cross-validation. We compare our …

Prison Siting In Appalachia: Carceral Expansion, Neoliberalism, And Environmental Harm, Macey Logan Hall

Online Theses and Dissertations

Since 1991, 14 state and federal prisons have been built in Appalachia with a recent proposal for a federal prison to be constructed in Letcher County, KY. Contradicting the narrative that Appalachia remains separated from the national economy, the ills of carceral growth are apparent throughout the region. This study examines the proposal to build a federal prison in Letcher County, KY. The purpose of this study is to gain further insight into the impact that the carceral state, including its promise of economic development, has on environmental harm and land exploitation in the region. The proposed federal prison would …

The Impact Of Blended Learning On Measures Of Academic Progress (Map) Based On Student Growth, Molly Elizabeth Mccomas

Online Theses and Dissertations

Blended learning in the secondary setting is a growing and evolving method of instructional delivery. Current research continues to focus on the post-secondary setting and often neglects the impact on student growth in the secondary settings. The combination of technology and teacher involvement to deliver high quality instruction is important in 21st century learning. This quantitative, non-experimental, causal-comparative study analyzes student growth scores on Measures of Academic Progress in the area of mathematics for 8th grade students after two consecutive years in a blended learning instructional setting as compared to 8th grade students after two consecutive years in a traditional …

Efficient Local Comparison Of Images Using Krawtchouk Descriptors, Julian Deville

Online Theses and Dissertations

It is known that image comparison can prove cumbersome in both computational complexity and runtime, due to factors such as the rotation, scaling, and translation of the object in question. Due to the locality of Krawtchouk polynomials, relatively few descriptors are necessary to describe a given image, and this can be achieved with minimal memory usage. Using this method, not only can images be described efficiently as a whole, but specific regions of images can be described as well without cropping. Due to this property, queries can be found within a single large image, or collection of large images, which …