Digital Commons Network^™

Local Binary Pattern Based Algorithms For The Discrimination And Detection Of Crops And Weeds With Similar Morphologies, Vi Nguyen Thanh Le

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In cultivated agricultural fields, weeds are unwanted species that compete with the crop plants for nutrients, water, sunlight and soil, thus constraining their growth. Applying new real-time weed detection and spraying technologies to agriculture would enhance current farming practices, leading to higher crop yields and lower production costs. Various weed detection methods have been developed for Site-Specific Weed Management (SSWM) aimed at maximising the crop yield through efficient control of weeds. Blanket application of herbicide chemicals is currently the most popular weed eradication practice in weed management and weed invasion. However, the excessive use of herbicides has a detrimental impact …

Group Cohesion And Collaborative Information Behaviour: An Exploration Of Student Experiences Of University Group Work, Parisa Khatamian Far

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Modern organisations heavily rely on using interdisciplinary teams to accomplish intellectually demanding tasks. The advent of the World Wide Web, the advancements in communication technological tools and easy access to high volumes of information through the Web provide expanded capacity for individuals to work together and fulfil their shared goal but true collaboration is far from straightforward. Teamwork skills are identified as a desirable and distinguishing attribute of the graduates whom employers seek to employ. Accordingly, higher education institutions lay particular emphasis on developing students’ collaborative skills by designing and incorporating group projects into courses. The findings of relevant research …

Modernising Conservation Through Technology: A Metabolomic Investigation Of A Critically Endangered Freshwater Crayfish, Emily D. Lette

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

BACKGROUND: The Anthropocene has seen extinction rates orders of magnitude higher than the background rate; a trend that has been seen in all ecosystems. As a result of human activities, freshwater resources, and many of the species dependent on them have become imperilled. Freshwater crayfish are a dominant aquatic invertebrate due to their significant biomass, and they are globally distributed, highly speciose, and ecologically important. They have been referred to, inter alia, as bioindicators, keystone species, ecosystem engineers, and umbrella species and are also a valuable human food source. However, currently one-third of freshwater crayfish species worldwide are classified …

Contextual Factors Impacting On Research Performance At A Young Australian University, Johannes Pieter Groenewald

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

High-quantitative and quality research performance is critical to the reputation and success of a university and plays a vital role in developing the socio-economic status of a country. There is, however, limited knowledge about the contextual factors that impact on research performance, especially in universities that are new or not yet research-intensive. One such young university is the Another New Research University (ANRU), the setting for this research. To become competitive and sustainable, especially young universities, need to increase both the quality and volume of their research to improve research performance.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify …

The Importance Of Telehealth In The Implementation Of Best Practice In Paediatric Burn Management By Non-Burn Specialist Clinicians, Tania Mcwilliams

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Introduction: Burns are a leading cause of injury worldwide, yet the initial assessment and management of patients following burn injury is often performed by non-burn specialist clinicians. Using the Gilbert Behaviour Engineering Model as a framework, strategies were introduced to support these clinicians. A better understanding was needed, however, of the effectiveness of these strategies, and the experiences of clinicians who provide this initial care.

Aims: This study aims to contribute new knowledge related to paediatric burn care through the evaluation of a state-wide burns telehealth program in Western Australia; specifically, develop a deeper and more relevant understanding of a …

Software Rejuvenation Under Persistent Attacks In Constrained Environments, Raffaele Romagnoli, Paul Griffioen, Bruce H. Krogh, Bruno Sinopoli

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Software rejuvenation has been proposed to guarantee safety of cyber-physical systems (CPSs) against cyber-attacks. Recent work has demonstrated how this method can be applied to more general control problems such as tracking control. Despite this progress, there are still limitations in applying software rejuvenation to real situations where the presence of persistent attacks and physical environment constraints exist. In this paper we address these issues and propose a secure recovery algorithm that can be deployed not only for recovery against persistent attacks but also in situations where physical environment constraints do not allow the system to tolerate any attack. The …

Development Of Smartphone-Based Ecl Sensor For Dopamine Detection: Practical Approaches, Hyun J. Kwon, Elmer Rivera, Mabio R. Cohelo Neto, Daniel Marsh, Jonathan Swerdlow, Rodney Lee Summerscales, Padma P. Tadi Uppala

Faculty Publications

In this work, a compact, mobile phone-based ECL sensor apparatus was developed using the phone cameras, screen-printed electrodes (SPE), and mobile app for dopamine detection. Methods of DC voltage application for ECL reaction were comprehensively studied from the mobile phone itself or external power. Under optimized sensing conditions, with disposable carbon SPE and 20 mM coreactant tri-n-propylamine (TPrA), acceptable repeatability and reproducibility were achieved in terms of relative standard deviation (RSD) of intra- and interassays, which were 6.7 and 5.5%, respectively. The biochemical compound dopamine was measured due to its ECL quenching characteristics and its clinical importance. The …

Identifying Active Kelvin–Helmholtz Vortices On Saturn's Magnetopause Boundary, B. L. Burkholder, P. A. Delamere, Jay R. Johnson, C.- S. Ng

Faculty Publications

For Cassini magnetopause encounters, we analyse plasma and magnetic fields. The boundary can be unstable to the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability (KHI), which can drive large‐scale flows identifiable in plasma measurements. Bulk flow reversed from the expected direction near the magnetopause can indicate vorticity associated with active KH, and events are found dominantly in the dawn–subsolar region. KHIs are also responsible for magnetic field fluctuations, and hybrid simulations indicate heating, and transport is significant in an actively growing vortex. Cassini observations are filtered for disturbed magnetic fields near the magnetopause, similar to the signatures from hybrid simulations, with significant fluctuation and current …

Teaching Students How To Think, Not What To Think: Pedagogy And Political Psychology, Gabriel M. Velez, Seamus A. Power

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

Academia is often critiqued as an “ivory tower” where research, thinking, and teaching are isolated from the complexity and everyday experience of so many people. As instructors of political and other psychology courses, we strive to break down these barriers and engage with the dynamic and nuanced nature of phenomena as situated in lived social and political contexts. In this report, we unpack and detail how we strive to achieve this goal by expanding on Plous’ articulation of action teaching (2012). We first define our pedagogical focus on active engagement, critical thinking, and staying on the move between multiple perspectives. …

Incorporação De Resíduos De Construção E Demolição E Pó-De-Pedra Em Dosagens Experimentais De Argamassa Para Mitigação De Impactos Ambientais, Henrique Gomes

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.

Beyond The Crossroads Of Magic, Health, And Well-Being, Steven Bagienski, Gustav Kuhn

School of Psychology

Magicians and scientists have begun collaborating to gain insight into various psychological functions. However, one underexplored area is the use of magic tricks to enhance health and well-being. Several magic programmes currently use magic tricks to enhance cognitive, emotional, social, and physical well-being. The applications of these magic programmes range from physical and psychological therapies to gang prevention, hospitals and classrooms. A few programmes have been empirically investigated and there is now a growing number of empirical studies that explore the well- being value of magic. Therefore, we conducted an up-to-date summaryreview of magic, health, and well-being. These studies are …

Bioactive Lead Compounds And Molecular Targets For The Treatment Of Heart Disease.Phytochemicals As Lead Compounds For New Drug Discoverys, Maha Salama, Shahira Mohammed Ezzat, Mohamed Salem

Pharmacy

natural products ranking in contemporary medicine is now well recognized and continues to be of interests as a source of novel lead compounds. Moreover, by applying molecular docking which is an effective approach to identify compounds that could conform to the site of interest of the target proteins. Thus, the potency of the compound is estimated by researchers and hence clinical application are achieved based on these biological discoveries. Accordingly, using the virtual screening based on natural product database could also be an encouraging approach for drug discovery, especially for complex diseases such as CVD

Progressive Collapse Assessment Of Post-Tensioned Reinforced Concrete Flat Slab Structures Using Aem, Amgad Mahrous, Mariam Ehab, Hamed Hadhoud

Civil Engineering

Progressive collapse is defined as the failure of a primary vertical element of a structure, which may result in the failure of adjoining elements, consequently, leads to a partial or total collapse of the structure. Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC) and General Services Administration (GSA) guidelines used to assess the behavior of structures subjected to progressive collapse as a result of the loss of primary vertical support. For the current case study, numerical analysis is carried out for a typical ten-story reinforced concrete post-tensioned flat slab structure subjected to primary vertical element loss (corner column, edge column, internal column, edge shear …

Hypothetical Human Immune Genome Complex Gradient May Help To Explain The Congenital Zika Symdrome Catastrophe In Brazil: A New Theory, F. R. S. Oliveira, C. C. Bresani-Salvi, C. N. L. Morais, A. W. Bigham, U. Braga-Neto, Gladys E. Maestre, John L. Vandeberg, E. T. A. Marques, B. Acioli-Santos

School of Medicine Publications

There are few data considering human genetics as an important risk factor for birth abnormalities related to ZIKV infection during pregnancy, even though sub-Saharan African populations are apparently more resistant to CZS as compared to populations in the Americas. We hypothesized that single nucleotide variants (SNVs), especially in innate immune genes, could make some populations more susceptible to Zika congenital complications than others. Differences in the SNV frequencies among continental populations provide great potential for Machine Learning techniques. We explored a key immune genomic gradient between individuals from Africa, Asia and Latin America, working with complex signatures, using 297 SNVs. …

Lifestyle Gambling, Indebtedness And Anxiety: A Deviant Leisure Perspective, Thomas Raymen, Oliver Smith

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Expanding The Frontiers Of Directorship In Nigeria: Lessons From United Kingdom, India And South Africa, Goodtime Okara

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Coseismic And Monsoon-Triggered Landslide Impacts On Remote Trekking Infrastructure, Langtang Valley, Nepal, J. N. Jones, M. Stokes, S. J. Boulton, G. L. Bennett, M. R.Z. Whitworth

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

A Novel Tri-Unsaturated Highly Branched Isoprenoid (Hbi) Alkene From The Marine Diatom Navicula Salinicola, Simin Gao, Lukas Smik, Maxim Kulikovskiy, Nataliya Shkurina, Evgeniy Gusev, Nikolai Pedentchouk, Thomas Mock, Simon T. Belt

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Leisure Craft Sacrificial Anodes As A Source Of Zinc And Cadmium To Saline Waters, Aldous B. Rees, Anthony Gallagher, Laurance A. Wright, Jonathan Wood, Timothy Cathery, Bradley Harrison, Chloe Down, Sean Comber

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Exploiting Feedback Information In Cognitive Radio Systems, Sara Abozeid Attlla

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we consider a cognitive radio (CR) network where the primary network's feedback information is utilized to design access schemes for the secondary network, to exploit the underutilized primary spectrum resources. Secondary users (SUs) identify the spectrum opportunities by sensing the spectrum for primary users (PUs) activities and by listening to the PUs feedback. The feedback signals monitored in this research work are the channel quality indicator (CQI) and automatic repeat request (ARQ) available in the PUs network. For detecting the PUs activities, SUs employ hard/soft energy sensing. The secondary access decisions are optimized to maximize the SUs …

Environmental Restoration Operations Consolidated Quarterly Report, January 2020, Sandia National Laboratories/Nm

Environmental Restoration

Environmental Restoration Operations Consolidated Quarterly Report, January 2020 for the Department of Energy Natural Nuclear Security Administration, Sandia National Laboratories that addressees all quarterly reporting (July to September 2019) required under the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments Module of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Permit and the Compliance Order on Consent for SNL/NM. EPA ID# NM5890110518

Preparation And Characterization Of Ceramic Nanofiltration Membrane Prepared From Hazardous Industrial Waste, Shereen Kamel Amin, Mai Hassan Roushdy, Heba Mohamed Abdallah, Ahmed Mostafa, Magdi Fouad Abadir

Chemical Engineering

Kiln rollers, which are widely used in ceramic tiles production, are usually subjected to surface grinding to remove the contaminations. The resulted fine powder is considered useless waste and a hazardous source of environmental pollution particularly as it contains health‐threatening fine free silica. In the present paper, the grind waste from kiln rollers was reused as raw material in the fabrication of nanofiltration cerramic membrane. The samples of produced ceramic membranes were formed into disks by adding 15% (by weight) organic binder solution with 2% concentration, then pressed at 35 MPa, dried and fired at temperatures range from 1100°C to …

Preparation Of Ceramic Membranes From Sludge Waste, Mai H. Roushdy

Chemical Engineering

Ceramic tiles industry produces industrial waste wit large amount which become a worldwide problem. Ceramic sludge produced from ceramic tiles wastewater treatment plant is routinely discarded as a useless waste. The aim of this paper is to recycle the ceramic sludge waste to be used as raw material for ceramic membrane production. The ceramic sludge was collected, dried, and characterized by mineralogical composition (XRD), thermal analysis (DTA and TGA), and chemical composition determination (XRF). The support ceramic membrane samples were formed, pressed, dried then fired using temperatures from 1050 to 1200 °C for 1 to 3 hours. Verification parameters were …

Development Of Novel Adsorbent For Industrial Waste Water Treatment, Hassaan M. Shehata, Dalia A. Ali, Islam M. Al-Akraa Dr, Hany A. Elazab, Hoda A. Elsawy Dr

Chemical Engineering

The main objective of this research project is to perform some experimental procedures to inform the ability of the novel adsorbent used in this project. The chemical modification of the adsorbent is the chemical oxidation of pure powder chitosan using some specific redox pairs which are potassium dichromate and sodium bisulphite. After preparing the modified chitosan, there are some parameters that must be discussed during the adsorption process. The first parameter is the time parameter, showing experimentally the optimum time for adsorption under certain conditions by collecting values of absorbance and concentration of thymol blue adsorbed after the process from …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Chitosan Based Catalyst For Catalysis Applications, Mostafa Radwan

Chemical Engineering

In this research, chitosan based catalyst synthesis and characterization was investigated for different application in catalysis as chitosan based catalyst was combined with metal oxides in order to be used in dye removal of methyl orange (MO). Diluted acetic acid was used to dissolve chitosan then different percentages for metallic ions were mixed with diluted chitosan and then, 500 μL were added to the sample to reduce the metal salts then, microwave was used to heat the mixture for 5 minutes and then dried at 80-100 °C. Finally, X- ray diffraction was used to confirm the catalyst prepared. The aim …

Tuning The Activity And Stability Of Platinum Nanoparticles Toward The Catalysis Of The Formic Acid Electrooxidation, Islam M. Al-Akraa, Bilquis A. Al-Qodami, Santosh Sridhar Mysore Dr, R. Viswanatha Dr, Abdul Kareem Thottoli, Ahmad M. Mohammad

Chemical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Repository Analytics And Metrics Portal (Ramp) Workflow Documentation And Data Definition, Jon Wheeler, Kenning Arlitsch

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The Repository Analytics & Metrics Portal (RAMP) is a web service that leverages Google Search Console (GSC) data to provide a set of baseline search engine performance metrics for a global, cross-platform group of institutional repositories (IR). Since launching in 2017, RAMP has grown from 3 to more than 50 participating repositories. The underlying data are unique in scope and size, and offer many opportunities for novel analyses of IR search engine performance. The data may be augmented to enable additional analyses including metadata mining and bibliometrics. In November 2019, the RAMP team released a publicly available subset of the …

Distributed Co-Mentoring As A Means To Develop Culturally Inclusive Online Learning Communities, Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena, Gayathri Jayatilleke, Geetha Kulasekara, Malinda Kumarasinha

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Transformative online pedagogies call for innovative ways of conceptualizing the online environment and the student, teacher, and peer relationships. In this paper, we focus on how distributed co-mentoring can scaffold both social and knowledge building processes to develop culturally inclusive online learning communities. We critique traditional mentoring relationships, which have often sustained a biased class structure exclusive of diverse populations. We conceptualize co-mentoring drawing from the perspectives of two alternative mentoring theories: (1) feminist postmodern values that bring women and minorities into educational networks, and (2) mentoring mosaic where a diverse range of individuals of different ranks, ages, genders, ethnicities, …

From Theory To Platform: Designing Software To Support Online Wisdom Communities, Casey Frechette, Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena, Ludmila Layne

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Online wisdom communities provide virtual spaces for diverse learners to discover collaborative solutions to real-world problems. Working for the common good, communities based on wisdom encourage both individual and collective growth. Based on sociocultural theory, we developed an instructional design framework, “WisCom,” that guides educators in cultivating culturally inclusive online environments, such as courses and web-based training sessions. Within the WisCom framework, practitioners can tailor existing tools and platforms, such as Moodle and Sakai, to encourage collaborative discussion and problem-solving. However, a platform created with the tenets of WisCom in mind has not yet been designed. Based on our previous …

Instructional And Institutional Planning Guide For Online And Blended Instruction, Stephanie L. Moore Phd

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

This job aid is designed to support programs, universities, and schools in developing quality online learning and engage in online or blended program and institutional planning. Part 1 is a Planning Guide for Institution / District level planning. Part 2 is a worksheet for online and blended instructional design and planning. It includes sections on teamwork and collaboration online, interaction and engagement, materials, technology selection, assessment, and development and implementation checklists to facilitate the design and development process. Part 3 is a coordination guide to help align instructional and institutional planning. This is a companion to workshops where material is …