Digital Commons Network^™

The Effect Of In-Situ Activated Carbon On Biodegradation Of Tce, Sreedhar Harigovind

All Theses

Contaminants pose a serious concern due to their relative ease of transport through groundwater, where they can accumulate and become a plume (i.e. dissolved contaminants that move with groundwater flow). Chlorinated solvents are contaminants of concern due to their potential for causing cancer, organ disease, and other ailments. Due to improper storage and disposal, these solvents find themselves in groundwater reserves, and thus warrant the need for finding treatment options to remove them from the water. In-situ biodegradation of TCE is a respiratory process consisting of electron donors, acceptors, and microorganisms that are either native or introduced into the system. …

The Effect Of Entry Of Generic Antibiotics On Prescriptions Of The Antibiotic: The Case Of Sulfamethoxazole-Trimethoprim, Ian James Davis

All Theses

The nonrenewable nature of antibiotic therapy has led many medical professionals, policy makers, and researchers to questions regarding the optimal use of antibiotics. To build out a more robust understanding of antibiotic usage and its contributing factors, careful attention must be paid to the study of antibiotic demand and its characteristics. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the effect of generic entry on antibiotic demand through changes in the probability of prescription using sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim as a case study. The data used are visits where sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim could have been prescribed pooled from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys over …

A Reconsidering Of Place And Space, Megan Ashley Waller

All Theses

A Reconsidering of Place and Space is an autobiographical body of paintings that challenges the notion that the home is a place of familiarity, peace, connection, and comfort. I unmake the predictability of the spaces through either subtle or overt alterations of these once commonplace areas. While these spaces are grounded in observable reality, they are not entirely logical and operate as psychological environments that often enter the realm of the uncanny or melancholic.

This work operates within the context of the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. Lockdowns, health conditions, and virus spikes have pushed people to stay home more. This …

A Study Of The Synthesis Of Cellulose By The Bacteria Komagataeibacter Xylinus (K. Xylinus) When Under The Action Of An Electric Field In A Microfluidic Reactor, Sindora Baddam

All Theses

Dielectrophoresis (DEP) is an established technique used as a label-free method to manipulate microorganisms by exploiting the interaction of targeted microorganisms with a non-uniform electric field. The strength and direction of the DEP force on a targeted cell, specifically Komagataeibacter xylinus (K. xylinus), is dependent on the frequency of the applied electric field as well as the dielectric properties of the bacterial cell and suspending media.

K. xylinus is a microorganism that can synthesize a fibrous, web-shaped organic material called bacterial cellulose (BC), which contains desirable properties such as high mechanical strength and increased water holding capabilities. By …

An Appetite For The Tasteless: An Evaluation Of Off-Color Humor In Adult Animations And Video Games, Presented Through A Proposed Interactive Narrative Via A Procedurally Generated Material Library, Mark William Keller

All Theses

Off-color humor has propelled adult animation into its Golden Age. The success of this genre has prompted media studios to begin developing original series for subscription video-on-demand services. The technology used for these over the top (OTT) streaming services have improved to the point that providers have begun developing cloud-based gaming. These improvements, along with developments in rendering systems, have made it possible to create interactive media across both video and gaming platforms using similar assets. This document will detail the successes of adult animation and the proposal for more interactive narrative media within this category. Accompanying the text will …

An Efficient Distance Tracking Algorithm Using Near-Infrared Light For Biomedical Applications, Steven Thomas Manz

All Theses

In this article, a method for tracking distance between a medical scope and a subject is introduced. The method considers optical coherence of light scattering due to the topography of the subject and post-processing techniques to decrease high reflection interference. The application of distance tracking is extremely important in biomedical imaging because of the effect on variance and resolution due to a non-stationary scope. Near Infrared light is considered in this article because of the application to Near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent imaging in an emerging biomedical imaging field. Many scopes currently use time-of-flight sensors to track distance, but the increasing importance …

Experimental And Computational Analysis Of Progressive Failure In Bolted Hybrid Composite Joints, John S. Brewer

Theses and Dissertations

Composite materials are strong, lightweight, and stiff making them desirable in aerospace applications. However, a practical issue arises with composites in that they behave unpredictably in bolted joints, where damage and cracks are often initiated. This research investigated a solution to correcting the problem with composite bolted joints. A novel hybrid composite material was developed, where thin stainless steel foils were placed between and in place of preimpregnated composite plies during the cure cycle to reinforce stress concentrations in bolted joints. This novel composite was compared to control samples experimentally in quasi-static monotonic loading in double shear configuration in 9-ply …

Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery Pipeline For Air Force Distributed Common Ground System (Af Dcgs), Carolyn W. Fuller

Theses and Dissertations

AF DCGS has a recognized need to improve speed of delivery for modification and sustainment of the weapon system. Given that the program office implemented a Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) process for the sole purpose of delivering capability to the field faster, there is a need to measure and report the pipeline throughput. This research conducts an independent evaluation of the newly implemented pipeline within AF DCGS’s existing integration and test laboratories. Actual project data from the agile development work environments is studied and hypothesis tests are conducted to substantiate that the CI/CD pipeline improved the speed of delivery. The …

Improved Virus Isoelectric Point Estimation By Exclusion Of Known And Predicted Genome-Binding Regions, Joe Heffron, Brooke K. Mayer

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Knowledge of the isoelectric points (pIs) of viruses is beneficial for predicting virus behavior in environmental transport and physical/chemical treatment applications. However, the empirically measured pIs of many viruses have thus far defied simple explanation, let alone prediction, based on the ionizable amino acid composition of the virus capsid. Here, we suggest an approach for predicting the pI of nonenveloped viruses by excluding capsid regions that stabilize the virus polynucleotide via electrostatic interactions. This method was applied first to viruses with known polynucleotide-binding regions (PBRs) and/or three-dimensional (3D) structures. Then, PBRs were predicted in a group of 32 unique viral …

Student Senate Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020, Student Senate-Winona State University

Student Senate Meeting Minutes

This document is the official Winona State University Student Senate Meeting Minutes for December 01, 2020.

Nonlinear Multigrid Based On Local Spectral Coarsening For Heterogeneous Diffusion Problems, Chak Shing Lee, Francois Hamon, Nicola Castelletto, Panayot S. Vassilevski, Joshua A. White

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This work develops a nonlinear multigrid method for diffusion problems discretized by cell-centered finite volume methods on general unstructured grids. The multigrid hierarchy is constructed algebraically using aggregation of degrees of freedom and spectral decomposition of reference linear operators associated with the aggregates. For rapid convergence, it is important that the resulting coarse spaces have good approximation properties. In our approach, the approximation quality can be directly improved by including more spectral degrees of freedom in the coarsening process. Further, by exploiting local coarsening and a piecewise-constant approximation when evaluating the nonlinear component, the coarse level problems are assembled and …

Fruit Bagging: A Small-Grower And Consumer Horticultural Practice Across The Southeastern United States, Ann Katherine Kule

All Theses

Fruit bagging is a simple method used to protect fruit from pests and diseases. It is popular among backyard gardeners in Asia and there is an increasing interest in the United States, especially in regions with warm and humid climates where pests and diseases thrive (Gorsuch and Scott 2020). Two different surveys were created and conducted two consecutive years (2019 and 2020) using Survey Monkey. Separate surveys were sent out: one was for assessing consumer perception at farmer’s markets in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, and the other was for evaluating bagging success among backyard growers across the nation. Each …

Exploring Uncertainties In Households’ Hurricane Evacuations, Jiayun Shen

All Theses

Hurricane Matthew was the most powerful hurricane during the Atlantic Hurricane Season in 2016. It caused tremendous damages to infrastructure and coastal areas of the United States. This thesis uses survey data collected in 2017 from residents in the Jacksonville Metropolitan Area after Hurricane Matthew. Survey questions were designed to capture evacuation-related decisions, information sources usage, socio-economic factors, perceived certainty and intra-familial interactions. The first part of the thesis modeled households’ perceived certainty to identify factors that affect different perceived certainty topics. Certainty topics included were: whether one lives in an evacuation zone, time of hurricane impact, evacuation preparation time …

Cost-Benefit Analysis Of Constructing And Operating A Streetcar System In Buffalo, Ny, Daniel Kevin Zielinski

Applied Economics Theses

In about 30 of the largest 300 US metro areas, fixed-rail electric streetcars have been reintroduced or refurbished after 75 years of policy favoring petroleum-powered buses. Unlike buses, new streetcar systems are designed to enhance or regenerate economic activity along their routes in urban centers that lack the population density to support subway systems. This paper assesses the criteria utilized by the US Department of Transportation in its decision-making process for supporting streetcar projects. Using multi-factor cost-benefit analysis, a model of a potential streetcar reintroduction for Buffalo, New York is presented.

What To Keep And How To Keep It: A Case Study Of Archival Material Related To The Richardson Olmsted Campus, Isabelle C. Bateson-Brown

Museum Studies Projects

Museums come in all shapes and sizes but do museum standards? The purpose of this thesis is explore the importance of adapting museum industry standards to the distinctive mission, collection, and feasibility of a specific institution. This research was exemplified by a case study of the historical and archival materials related to the Richardson Center Corporation and Richardson Olmsted Campus. The unique situation of the Richardson Olmsted Campus as a site-specific arts and cultural organization related to the adaptive reuse of a historic landmark was also contextualized within the trend of historic reuse and the larger scope of museum industry …

System And Method For Bio-Inspired Filter Banks For A Brain-Computer Interface, Ali Fatih Demir, Ismail Uysal, Huseyin Arslan

USF Patents

A system and method of steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) frequency detection using bio-inspired filter banks (BIFB) includes, acquiring electroencephalographic (EEG) signals from a subject in response to a repetitive visual stimulus, estimating the power spectral density (PSD) of the channel of the EEG signals including at least one SSVEP response, extracting one or more SSVEP response features from the estimated PSD of the channel using a bio-inspired filter bank (BIFB) and classifying the extracted SSVEP response features to determine if the detected SSVEP response frequency from the EEG signals acquired from the subject substantially matches the repetition frequency of …

La Virgen María Y El Niño Fidencio: Un Análisis Literario Y Cultural De Figuras Veneradas, Emily Schahrer

World Languages and Cultures Student Papers and Posters

Famous historical and literary figures who display characteristics of empathy, wisdom and compassion inspire a great sense of faith in humanity and hope for the future. There are two exemplary figures explored in this study that embody these characteristics. The first is the Virgin Mary, a saint widely known and recognized by the Catholic Church since the 4th century. The other is Niño Fidencio: a famous healer, man of God, nicknamed a “saint of the people” from Espinazo, Mexico who lived in the 20th century. Although Niño Fidencio is not officially recognized by the Catholic Church, he names the source …

My Covid Pause, Jennifer Nedelsky

Articles & Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Is2020 A Competency Model For Undergraduate Programs In Information Systems: The Joint Acm/Ais Is2020 Task Force, Paul Leidig, Hannu Salmela

College of Computing Peer-Reviewed Articles

The IS2020 report is the latest in a series of model curricula recommendations and guidelines for undergraduate degrees in Information Systems (IS). The report builds on the foundations developed in previous model curricula reports to develop a major revision of the model curriculum with the inclusion of significant new characteristics. Specifically, the IS2020 report does not directly prescribe a degree structure that targets a specific context or environment. Rather, the IS2020 report provides guidance regarding the core content of the curriculum that should be present but also provides flexibility to customize curricula according to local institutional needs.

Economic Impact Study: Grand Rapids Public Museum Proposed Redesign And Expansion, Christian Glupker, Paul Isley, Julie Cowie, Grand Valley State University

Other Faculty Publications

The Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) has formalized a proposal to renovate and expand the current building (built in 1994). The proposed redesign and expansion include:

• A $39.8M addition to the south end of the building;
• Expanding rental space to accommodate larger groups and allow multiple events simultaneously;
• Different pricing strategies for each floor of the museum.

Identification Of Bovine T-Cell Populations Involved In Placental Growth And Development, Kelsy A. Leppo

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Today, the dairy industry is comprised of cows that can produce around 20,000 pounds of milk in a year, yet producers often see only 30% to 50% of animals produce a live calf after each breeding. While many factors may be at play, there is evidence that the immune system plays a large role in regulating pregnancy and in preventing immune mediated abortions. Maternal immune system changes during pregnancy have been shown to occur both locally in the uterus, which is in direct contact with the placenta, and systemically in the blood. Research in humans and mice has shown that …

Manipulating Air-Gap Electrospinning To Create Aligned Polymer Nanofiber-Wrapped Glass Microfibers For Cortical Bone Tissue Engineering, Houston R. Linder, Austin A. Glass, Delbert E. Day, Scott A. Sell

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Osteons are the repeating unit throughout cortical bone, consisting of canals filled with blood and nerve vessels surrounded by concentric lamella of hydroxyapatite-containing collagen fibers, providing mechanical strength. Creating a biodegradable scaffold that mimics the osteon structure is crucial for optimizing cellular infiltration and ultimately the replacement of the scaffold with native cortical bone. In this study, a modified air-gap electrospinning setup was exploited to continuously wrap highly aligned polycaprolactone polymer nanofibers around individual 1393 bioactive glass microfibers, resulting in a synthetic structure similar to osteons. By varying the parameters of the device, scaffolds with polymer fibers wrapped at angles …

Meta-Analysis Of The Association Between Acute Particulate Matter Exposure And Cardiovascular Disease, Issa El-Kildani

Masters Theses

Cardiovascular disease, which involves a wide range of conditions, including narrowed or blocked coronary arteries, has remained the leading cause of death in the United States for over 50 years. The majority of cardiovascular conditions are preventable, which can be identified through risk factors. However, maintaining healthy life choices can be difficult for most Americans, as the vast majority live in populated urban cities. Urban life can pose hazardous conditions to individuals, especially air pollution. Air pollution includes gaseous pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone and sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter. Of these pollutants, particulate matter has become …

When Technology Works: A Case Study Using Instructional Rounds And The Samr Model, Gregory Warsen, Richard Vandermolen

Peer Reviewed Articles

Billions of dollars are spent each year in the United States on technology for schools, and researchers in this case study wanted to determine the degree to which individual computing devices (ICDs) enhance the learning experience of students in grades six to twelve. The leadership practice of instructional rounds (City, Elmore, Fiarmen & Teitel, 2011) combined with the SAMR model (substitution, augmentation, modification and redefinition) (Puentadura, 2014) of technology integration was utilized in this case study to capture how ICDs are being used and the impact this use is having on learning. This method detected use rates far above what …

Raman Spectroscopic Investigation Of The Speciation Of Uranyl (Vi) And Thorium (Iv) Ions In Chloride-Bearing Aqueous Solutions Under Hydrothermal Conditions, Nadib Akram

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Raman spectra were acquired for a uranyl chloride aqueous solution at temperatures ranging from 25°C to 500°C at the chloride concentration of 6M and uranium (vi) concentration of 0.05M. The measurements were taken by sealing the sample in a hydrothermal diamond anvil cell (HDAC) which enabled spectra acquisition at non-ambient conditions. The pressure inside the cell was measured by estimating the liquid-vapor homogenization temperature (T_H) and using the isochoric equation of state diagram of water. The acquired spectra were then fitted to determine the speciation distribution of the various uranyl chloride species for the mentioned concentration. The developed …

Between The Lines: Reflexive Misogyny And Remediated Forms In A Secret Online Group Of Women Poets, Rae Elizabeth Snobl

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis examines an online, secret writing community for 1,800+ women-only poets called “The Retreat.” Analysis of two years of Facebook posts and interviews with group members revealed a noticeable membership split between those publishing through conventional literary venues, the “traditional poets,” and social media poets. These “Instapoets,” as labeled by popular media each had between 10,000 to 125,000+ followers on sites like Instagram and Facebook—significant numbers when seen in the context of readership and monetizing. Yet, their digital, snippet poems did not hold to the literary norms of poetry, both in form and publishing method. This led to a …

Understanding Grief In Adults Whose Sibling Died During Childhood: A Qualitative Study, Amanda Marie Mccarthy

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This retrospective, phenomenological study investigated how bereaved siblings believe the death of their brother impacted their development. Through semi-structured interviews, five adults whose brother died during their adolescence discussed how their grief changed over time and the factors that influenced changes in grief. Participants experienced periods of lack of acceptance, independence and isolation, and finding contentment. Factors that influenced changes in grief include sibling’s cause of death, family reaction, establishment of a support network, remembering the deceased, and milestones and dates. These findings provide a glimpse into how grief changes over time in the context of development. Furthermore, the results …

The Impacts Of Race And Video Angle On Judgments Of Police Interactions, Shelby Gabrielle Wynn

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

With the invention of video recording on cell phones and the increased use of social media, the ability to record and distribute instances of police misconduct has become much easier. In recent years, such videos have captured White police officers using extreme force towards black citizens, many times leading to their deaths. Despite the increase in access to these videos, many of the officers involved are not convicted (or even indicted) of any crimes. Researchers have begun to examine variables that impact how people judge videotaped police/civilian interactions. For example, it has been found that when viewing interrogation videos, people …

Latin American Banders Need Bands!, C. J. Ralph

North American Bird Bander

No abstract provided.

Humboldt Bay Bird Observatory, Amaya Bechler, Jayde Blair, Kimberly Hollinger

North American Bird Bander

No abstract provided.