Digital Commons Network^™

Multilevel Runtime Verification For Safety And Security Critical Cyber Physical Systems From A Model Based Engineering Perspective, Smitha Muralidhar Gautham

Theses and Dissertations

Advanced embedded system technology is one of the key driving forces behind the rapid growth of Cyber-Physical System (CPS) applications. CPS consists of multiple coordinating and cooperating components, which are often software-intensive and interact with each other to achieve unprecedented tasks. Such highly integrated CPSs have complex interaction failures, attack surfaces, and attack vectors that we have to protect and secure against. This dissertation advances the state-of-the-art by developing a multilevel runtime monitoring approach for safety and security critical CPSs where there are monitors at each level of processing and integration. Given that computation and data processing vulnerabilities may exist …

Western Representation On Twitter In Relation To Orientalism And Framing: A Content Analysis Of #Saudi Arabia And #Saudis, Wedyan A. Kattan

Theses and Dissertations

Based on framing theory, Said’s Orientalism, and Hall’s theory of representation, this dissertation explores how the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is represented on the social media platform Twitter. Specifically, the study aims to identify how Saudi Arabia and Saudis are represented in English-language tweets by Western media in the years after several political incidents in the region, such as the Yemen war, and new political leadership in Saudi Arabia that has introduced many economic and social reforms. Thus, the overarching research question in this study is, how have Saudi Arabia and Saudis been presented on Twitter recently? This study sheds …

Separate And Unequal: Latinx Access, Enrollment And Completion Of Ap Coursework In The State Of Virginia, Virginia Elizabeth Palencia

Theses and Dissertations

In response to the national problem of overrepresentation of Latinx students in general education classes, this study addresses Latinx access to Advanced Placement (AP) coursework, enrollment, and completion patterns in Virginia, a growing destination state for many Latinx families and students. Through a secondary data analysis of both the Civil Rights Data Collection (2015-6) and College Board data (2016), this quantitative study mapped patterns of disproportionality in AP access, enrollment, and completion for Latinx students, who comprise 13% of enrollment in Virginia public high schools. In addition, a case study of two diverse school districts provides evidence of segregation and …

Development And Validation Of Predictive Risk And Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis Models To Evaluate Cardiovascular Outcomes Among Cancer Patients, Purva N. Parab

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: The objectives of our study were to characterize the study population with cancer and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) both as compared to those without and to build a predictive model using machine learning (ML) algorithms that can predict the risk of CVD in cancer patients. In addition, our objective was also to evaluate characteristics associated with cardiotoxic adverse events of breast cancer therapies and develop a multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) model to conduct benefit-risk assessment of breast cancer therapy regimens. Methods: We used Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) and FDA Adverse Events Reporting System (FAERS) 2005-2015 files along with …

An Online Mindfulness Training For Improved Eudaimonic Well-Being And Sleep Outcomes In Caregivers: A Preliminary Study, Tarah L. Raldiris

Theses and Dissertations

As the United States population continues to age, the number of older adults with dementia is projected to rise. Much of the care for those with dementia is provided by unpaid, informal caregivers who are typically family members. Unfortunately, these informal caregivers express significantly higher levels of negative psychological and physical health outcomes compared to non-caregivers. One potential pathway for improving caregiver outcomes may be through increased mindfulness. Using a two-week, online-based mindfulness training program and a structurally equivalent cognitive reappraisal training program, study aims were to: 1.) investigate the acceptability and feasibility of using an online intervention format for …

Characterizing Patterns Of Cannabis Use And Related Health Effects Among Young Adults Using Ecological Momentary Assessment, Alyssa Rudy

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Rapid changes in cannabis use policy and prevalence, particularly among young adults, and the lack of information regarding cannabis harms warrant investigation regarding the daily use patterns of cannabis users. Little is known regarding how variability in cannabis use frequency and administration method use patterns may be associated with differential acute cannabis-related health effects (i.e., subjective intoxication and respiratory symptoms). The purpose of the study was to characterize daily and weekly cannabis use patterns and associated cannabis-related intoxication and respiratory symptoms and test the interactions of cannabis use frequency and cannabis administration method use on cannabis-related intoxication and respiratory …

Differential Identification Of Hyperacusis And Misophonia: Implications Of Discrete Decreased Sound Tolerance (Dst) Condition Subtypes, Rachel E. Wallace

Theses and Dissertations

Hyperacusis and misophonia are two conditions of decreased sound tolerance (DST) studied in the psychological literature due to their association with psychological symptoms and mechanisms. DSTs are differentiated from normal sound sensitivity due to the reported impairment and distress individuals experience. Researchers suggest that DSTs are differentiated by types of sounds and emotional reactions elicited, such that hyperacusis is a fear and pain response to ordinary environmental sounds perceived as uncomfortably loud, and misophonia is an anger and disgust response to human-made sounds, but these distinctions, and associated characteristics, have not been empirically demonstrated. Undergraduate students (N = 1572) …

Ca2+/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type Ii (Camkii) Regulates Histone Methylation To Promote Zebrafish Hematopoietic Stem Cell Specification, Sanyam Patel

Theses and Dissertations

Ca²⁺/calmodulin dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is an important signaling molecule involved in many developmental processes. This project aims to understand the role of CaMKII in specification of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in zebrafish. HSCs undergo hematopoiesis to specify all cells that constitute blood. The process of hematopoiesis along with the specification of hematopoietic stem cells is conserved in vertebrates. CaMKII is expressed in tissues important for HSC specification, including the somites, notochord, and dorsal aorta. The dorsal aorta is the site of HSC specification in zebrafish. Injection of camk2g1 translational blocking antisense oligonucleotides (MO) or Cas9 guide …

Sparsity And Weak Supervision In Quantum Machine Learning, Seyran Saeedi

Theses and Dissertations

Quantum computing is an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of computer science, mathematics, and physics that studies information processing tasks on a quantum computer. A quantum computer is a device whose operations are governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. As building quantum computers is nearing the era of commercialization and quantum supremacy, it is essential to think of potential applications that we might benefit from. Among many applications of quantum computation, one of the emerging fields is quantum machine learning. We focus on predictive models for binary classification and variants of Support Vector Machines that we expect to be …

The Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Interactome: Insights Into Srna-Mediated Regulatory Networks, Christine M. Van Duyn

Theses and Dissertations

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative bacterium found in various environmental niches including soil, water, hospital environments, and within a broad range of hosts. It is well known for its metabolic versatility and intrinsic and acquired resistance to a variety of antimicrobial agents. Moreover, this bacterium has a remarkable ability to adapt and survive in suboptimal environments by altering its transcriptional profile in response to nutrient deprivation, changes in temperature and pH, osmotic stress, the presence of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and exposure to antibiotics and host defenses. P. aeruginosa colonizes individuals with compromised immune systems and severe burn injuries and …

The Role Of Receptive Reasoning In The Development Of Intellectual Humility, Cathryn Richmond

Theses and Dissertations

Intellectual humility (IH) develops throughout childhood and adolescence and is critically important for effective learning, particularly with regard to science; however, the research examining the development of IH in children is quite limited. As such, this study utilized an exploratory, mixed methods, community-engaged research design with children ages three to 10 (n = 60; M_age = 5.98; 69.6% female) and their parents/guardians recruited from a public children’s museum.. As the construct of IH is intended to describe adult cognition, I operationalized the set of components that may lead to the development of IH in preschool children as Receptive …

Interpersonal Competency Configurations And The School Adjustment Of Early Adolescents With Disabilities: A Person-Centered Approach, Brittany I. Sterrett

Theses and Dissertations

The transition to middle school is a critical time in adolescence. The more complex school environment provides opportunities for growth and challenges for students with disabilities. Although special education strives to provide individualized supports to students with disabilities through data-based decision-making, the tools used to understand and meet the needs of these students are often unresponsive to the dynamic nature of development and student adjustment as they age. Grounded in developmental science, this study sought to create a data collection framework through a person-centered approach to inform the individualization process. Specifically, this study: 1) explored a decision process that allows …

Mechanistic Study Of C-H Activation By Iridium Complexes, Rozalie S G Corea

Theses and Dissertations

C-H activation is considered the “holy grail” of chemistry. Remote, selective C-H activation has many applications such as modifying precursors, adding complexity to molecules, and modifying pre- existing structures in a reduced number of steps. Previous work by Swift and Gronert identified an iridium(III) phenanthroline complex that can activate C-H bonds of cyclohexane. The objective of this dissertation is to study the mechanism and regioselectivity of this complex in common precursors, namely 1-butanol, 1-methoxybutane and butyl acetate.

The studies were carried out in the gas phase on a modified mass spectrometer. Selectively deuterated alcohol, ether and ester were used to …

Development Of A Screening Assay For Type Iii Secretion System Inhibitors And High Throughput Screening Campaign Of Inhibitors Of Prp Of Staphylococcus Aureus, Heather A. Pendergrass

Theses and Dissertations

Antibiotics inhibit the growth or survival of bacteria by targeting their essential functions.¹ Due to weaknesses in traditional antibiotics and the increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes, virulence factors are being targeted for therapeutic treatment of bacterial infection.² We have developed an assay to quantify and observe type III secretion system (T3SS) activity. The type III secretion system (T3SS) is a virulence factor present in some Gram-negative pathogens including enteropathogenic and enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EPEC and EHEC, respectively),³ and others.^4–9 The T3SS between EPEC and EHEC are highly conserved and share over 90% sequence identity with …

A Longitudinal Test Of Mexican Teen Mothers’ Cultural Characteristics And Children’S Language Skills Via Mothers’ Language, Arlenis A. Santana

Theses and Dissertations

The current study includes 204 Mexican teen mothers and their children from a larger study who were interviewed when children were 3 years old (Wave 4; W4), 4 years old (W5), and 5 years old (W6). The current study is guided by the integrative model of developmental competencies (García Coll et al., 1996), which suggests that parents’ adaptive cultural characteristics and exchanges with their children inform children’s developmental competencies. Thus, the current study examined whether teen mothers’ adaptive cultural characteristics (i.e., familism values, language competency pressures, and involvement in Mexican culture and U.S. mainstream culture) at W4 informed mothers’ Spanish …

Dating Violence Victimization And Posttraumatic Stress Outcomes Among Urban Adolescents: The Moderating And Mediating Role Of Positive Outlook, Carine Leslie

Theses and Dissertations

Adolescent dating violence occurs far too frequently in early adolescence and is related to adverse mental health outcomes, including posttraumatic stress symptoms. One focus within this literature has been to determine and better understand how protective processes may function in influencing relations between risk factors and dating violence victimization. A protective factor that has not been explored in the dating literature is positive outlook. The current short-term longitudinal study investigated whether dating violence victimization at Time 1 predicted posttraumatic stress symptoms at Time 2 among African American middle school students and examine whether positive outlook moderated or mediated this relation. …

Comorbidity In Context: Identifying Patterns Of Depressive And Anxiety Symptoms In African American Early Adolescents, Kathryn Behrhorst

Theses and Dissertations

Depression and anxiety during adolescence includes symptoms of irritability, sleeplessness, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, worry, avoidance, and/or restlessness. Anxiety and depressive symptoms are often comorbid and are associated with impairments across academic, social, and emotional areas of functioning. No studies to date have examined patterns of depressive and anxiety symptoms together for African American adolescents using person-centered analyses. The current study examined patterns of symptoms and domains of anxiety and depression during early adolescence using latent profile analyses (LPA). A sample of 196 African American early adolescents in grades six through eight (M_age = 12.6; 50% female) were …

The Influence Of Peers On Adolescents' Physical Aggression: The Moderating Roles Of Parental Messages Supporting Fighting And Nonviolence, Jasmine Coleman

Theses and Dissertations

There is substantial support for the link between peer factors and adolescents’ aggression. Less is known about protective factors that may mitigate the relation between peer factors and aggression. Parental influences, such as parental messaging supporting fighting, have been directly associated with aggression. What remains unclear is the extent to which parental messages supporting fighting and nonviolence might serve as protective factors in relations between negative peer interactions and aggressive behavior. The purpose of this study was to investigate longitudinal effects of peerson adolescents’ physical aggression and to examine the extent to which parental messages supporting fighting and nonviolence moderated …

Kinematic And Coordination Variability In Runners With And Without Patellofemoral Pain, Jessica Mutchler, Klarie Macias, Barry Munkasy, Samuel J. Wilson, John C. Garner Iii, Li Li

Health Sciences & Kinesiology: Faculty Publications

Background: Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is a common overuse injury that has been suggested to cause abnormal gait kinematics and variability in runners with PFP. Conflicting results have been presented as to the variability of joint kinematics and joint coordination. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the variability of lower extremity kinematics and joint coordination in the presence of PFP and exertion. Methods: Six female runners with PFP and matched controls (CON) ran at a self-selected pace on an instrumented treadmill until exertion or pain criteria was met. Sixteen anatomical retroreflective markers and seven tracking clusters were placed …

Cardiometabolical Risk Factors Associated With Renal Function In Apparently Healthy Young Students: A Cross-Sectional Study, Lucia M. Perez-Navarro, Rafael Valdez-Ortiz, Araceli Alegria-Diaz, Miguel Murgia-Romero, Rafael Jimenez-Flores, Rafael Villalobos-Molina, Srinivas Mummidi, Ravindranath Duggirala, Juan C. Lopez-Alvarenga

School of Medicine Publications

Background: Cardiometabolic risk factors (CMRFs) appear decades before developing chronic kidney disease (CKD) in adulthood.

Objective: The objective of the study was to identify the prevalence and association between CMRFs and kidney function in apparently healthy young adults (18-25 years old).

Methods: We included 5531 freshman year students. Data collected on CMRFs included central obesity, high body mass index (hBMI >25), blood pressure, glycemia, lipids, uric acid (UA >6.8 mg/dL), and insulin. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was estimated by CKD-Epidemiology Collaboration formula. We used logistic regression and a log linear for odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence level) and probabilities.

Results: …

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. …

Uncovering The Complex Genetics Of Human Personality: Response From Authors On The Pgmra Model, Igor Zwir, Pashupati Mishra, Coral Del-Val, C. Charles Gu, Gabriel A. De Erausquin, Terho Lehtimäki, C. Robert Cloninger

School of Medicine Publications

Following publication of our two articles [1, 2], a critique of the methodology of Phenotype-Genotype Many-to-Many Relations Analysis (PGMRA) [1, 3, 4] questioned the validity of our results from the perspective of polygenic risk scores (PRS) [5]. We appreciate the importance of these questions, and here provide a concise discussion of the assumptions and mathematical constraints of both approaches. We thank this commentator and others who have discussed our articles with us for their thoughtful questions and critiques

Breaking The Silence On Father-Daughter Sexual Abuse Of Adolescent Girls: A Case Law Study, Janine Benedet, Isabel Grant

All Faculty Publications

Adolescent girls are targeted for sexual violence at a rate higher than females at any other life stage. Girls most often face sexual violence at the hands of men that they know and trust within their own families, yet this type of abuse has largely evaded scrutiny from the #MeToo movement. In this article, the authors seek to revitalize the discussion of sexual abuse against adolescent girls by their fathers. The article is part of a larger study that examined all Canadian judicial decisions involving sexual offences against girls between the ages of twelve and seventeen inclusive over a three-year …

Incorporating A Canopy Parameterization Within A Coupled Fire-Atmosphere Model To Improve A Smoke Simulation For A Prescribed Burn, Derek V. Mallia, Adam K. Kochanski, Shawn P. Urbanski, Jan Mandel, Angel Farguell, Steven K. Krueger

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Forecasting fire growth, plume rise and smoke impacts on air quality remains a challenging task. Wildland fires dynamically interact with the atmosphere, which can impact fire behavior, plume rises, and smoke dispersion. For understory fires, the fire propagation is driven by winds attenuated by the forest canopy. However, most numerical weather prediction models providing meteorological forcing for fire models are unable to resolve canopy winds. In this study, an improved canopy model parameterization was implemented within a coupled fire-atmosphere model (WRF-SFIRE) to simulate a prescribed burn within a forested plot. Simulations with and without a canopy wind model were generated …

An Ultra-Low-Power Area-Efficient Non-Coherent Binary Phase-Shift Keying Demodulator For Implantable Biomedical Microsystems, Milad Ghazi, Mohammad Hossein Maghami, Parviz Amiri, Sotoudeh Hamedi-Hagh

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

A novel non-coherent, low-power, area-efficient binary phase-shift keying demodulator for wireless implantable biomedical microsystems is proposed. The received data and synchronized clock signal are detected using a delayed digitized format of the input signal. The proposed technique does not require any kind of oscillator circuit, and due to the synchronization of all circuit signals, the proposed demodulator can work in a wide range of biomedical data telemetry common frequencies in different process/temperature corners. The presented circuit has been designed and post-layout-simulated in a standard 0.18 µm CMOS technology and occupies 17 × 27 µm2 of active area. Post-layout simulation results …

Screening Gender Minority People For Harmful Alcohol Use, Annesa Flentje, Branden T. Barger, Matthew R. Capriotti, Micah E. Lubensky, Matthew Tierney, Juno Obedin-Maliver, Mitchell R. Lunn

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

This study identifies how to screen for harmful alcohol use among gender minority (e.g., transgender and gender-expansive) people using brief screening methods and identifies which screening methods perform best among gender-expansive, transfeminine, and transmasculine subgroups, as screening recommendations are not currently available. Using 2018 Annual Questionnaire data from The PRIDE Study, area under the curve (AUC) values were compared to identify which screening methods (“4 or more” or “5 or more” drinks on one occasion in the past year, or one or more items from the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test [AUDIT]) best predicted (i) harmful alcohol use and (ii) …

Research On Alcohol And Other Drug (Aod) Use Among Sexual Minority Women: A Global Scoping Review, Tonda L. Hughes, Cindy B. Veldhuis, Laurie A. Drabble, Sharon C. Wilsnack

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Until the 1980s, the limited research on alcohol and other drug (AOD) use among sexual minority women (SMW) focused on alcohol and used samples recruited from gay bars, resulting in inflated estimates of hazardous drinking. Over the past several decades the number of AOD studies with SMW has increased dramatically. To characterize this literature, we conducted a scoping review to answer the following questions: What do we know, and what are the gaps in research about AOD use among SMW? We searched multiple electronic databases (Medline [PubMed], CINAHL, PsycInfo, and Web of Science) for peer-reviewed research articles about AOD use …

Ecg Biometric Authentication: A Comparative Analysis, Mohit Ingale, Renato Cordeiro, Siddartha Thentu, Younghee Park, Nima Karimian

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Robust authentication and identification methods become an indispensable urgent task to protect the integrity of the devices and the sensitive data. Passwords have provided access control and authentication, but have shown their inherent vulnerabilities. The speed and convenience factor are what makes biometrics the ideal authentication solution as they could have a low probability of circumvention. To overcome the limitations of the traditional biometric systems, electrocardiogram (ECG) has received the most attention from the biometrics community due to the highly individualized nature of the ECG signals and the fact that they are ubiquitous and difficult to counterfeit. However, one of …

Determination Of Demagnetizing Factors Using First-Order Reversal Curves And Ferromagnetic Resonance, K. S. Muster, R. Heindl

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

We present a method to quantitatively analyze magnetizing or demagnetizing interactions in arrayed nano-magnets by combining first-order reversal curve (FORC) and ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurement data. We develop a function to predict the resulting FORC distribution given: (1) a Gaussian intrinsic distribution in terms of the internal field and (2) a mean interaction field proportional to the sample's magnetic moment. We then perform least-squares regression of our model on experimental FORC measurements of a nanowire array and of a thin film. Combining the obtained interaction field with an FMR fit result allows us to algebraically solve for the effective axial …

The Relationship Between Workload, Performance And Fatigue In A Short-Haul Airline, Lucia Arsintescu, Ravi Chachad, Kevin B. Gregory, Jeffrey B. Mulligan, Erin E. Flynn-Evans

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between pilot workload, performance, subjective fatigue, sleep duration, number of sectors and flight duration during short-haul operations. Ninety pilots completed a NASA Task Load Index, Psychomotor Vigilance Task and a Samn-Perelli fatigue scale on top-of-descent of each flight and wore an activity monitor throughout the study. Weak, but significant, correlations were revealed between workload and all factors. Subjective fatigue, number of sectors and lapses were significant predictors of workload. Pilots reported higher workload when fatigue increased, the number of sectors were higher, and objective performance was worse.