Digital Commons Network^™

Jesus Walks On The Waters Of Change, Natali Chung '22

History of the Environment

This painting is inspired by the miracle of Jesus walking on waters in the New Testament. My religious affiliation holds great importance to me— and learning about the ties of religion and nature in Wille's History of the Environment class has spurred me to think of religion in a different way. I hope you enjoy this modern spin on this religious event.

How To Select Typical Objects, Mariana Benitez, Jeffrey Weidner, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many practical situations, we have a large number of objects, too many to be able to thoroughly analyze each of them. To get a general understanding, we need to select a representative sample. For us, this problem was motivated to analyze the possible effect of an earthquake on buildings in El Paso, Texas. In this paper, we provide a reasonable formalization of this problem, and provide a feasible algorithm for solving thus formalized problem.

How To Simulate If We Only Have Partial Information But We Want Reliable Results?, Vladik Kreinovich, Olga Kosheleva

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

The main objective of a smart energy system is to make control decisions that would make energy systems more efficient and more reliable. To select such decisions, the system must know the consequences of different possible decisions. Energy systems are very complex, they cannot be described by a simple formula, the only way to reasonably accurately find such consequences is to test each decision on a simulated system. The problem is that the parameters describing the system and its environment are usually known with uncertainty, and we need to produce reliable results -- i.e., results that will be true for …

(R1471) Mhd Reiner-Rivlin Liquid Flow Through A Porous Cylindrical Annulus, Satya Deo, Satish Kumar

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

The present work concerns the steady and unsteady flow of an incompressible Reiner- Rivlin liquid in the porous annular region of two concentric rotating cylinders, which is moving parallel to their axis, about the common axis of these cylinders under uniform magnetic field acted in perpendicular direction of the axis. The electrically conducting flow of Reiner-Rivlin liquid in the annular porous region is governed by the Brinkman equation with the consideration that the effective viscosity of liquid is same as viscosity of the liquid. Analytical expressions for velocity components, pressure gradient and volumetric flow rate are established. Effects of the …

(R1523) Abundant Natural Resources, Ethnic Diversity And Inclusive Growth In Sub-Saharan Africa: A Mathematical Approach, Juliet I. Adenuga, Kazeem B. Ajide, Anthonia T. Odeleye, Abayomi A. Ayoade

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

The sub-Saharan African region is blessed with abundant natural resources and diverse ethnic groups, yet the region is dominated by the largest number of poor people worldwide due to inequitable distribution of national income. Existing statistics forecast decay in the quality of lives over the years compared to the continent of Asia that shares similar history with the region. In this paper, a-five dimensional first-order nonlinear ordinary differential equations was formulated to give insight into various factors that shaped dynamics of inclusive growth in sub-Saharan Africa. The validity test was performed based on ample mathematical theorems and the model was …

Clmm: A Lsst-Desc Cluster Weak Lensing Mass Modeling Library For Cosmology, H. Wu

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We present the v1.0 release of CLMM, an open source PYTHON library for the estimation of the weak lensing masses of clusters of galaxies. CLMM is designed as a stand-alone toolkit of building blocks to enable end-to-end analysis pipeline validation for upcoming cluster cosmology analyses such as the ones that will be performed by the Vera C. Rubin Legacy Survey of Space and Time-Dark Energy Science Collaboration (LSST-DESC). Its purpose is to serve as a flexible, easy-to-install, and easy-to-use interface for both weak lensing simulators and observers and can be applied to real and mock data to study the systematics …

Apache Science Team, Denise L. Jameson

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

Sanger High school has the unique opportunity to offer a wide array of classes and pathways for students to take so that they can meet their educational goals of graduation the move on to higher education or starting a career right out of high school. Students have all these opportunities and benefits to have a strong start out of high school, but ultimately students are unaware of what jobs are related to those choices or pathways that they have decided to take part in. Apache Science Team allows for students to experience and learn about many different careers and opportunities …

Understanding Differences In Underrepresented Minorities And First-Generation Student Perceptions In The Introductory Biology Classroom, Jacob Jantzer, Thomas W. Kirkman, Katherine L. Furniss

Biology Faculty Publications

We used quantitative methods to better understand the perceptions of students in an introductory biology course (Biology 101) at a small, liberal arts college (SLAC) that is also a primarily white institution (PWI). In pre/post surveys, we asked students questions related to their attitudes and beliefs about their professor, classmates, and Biology 101. We were especially interested in the responses and outcomes of underrepresented minorities (URM) and first-generation (FG) students. Our findings suggest URM and FG students have a decreased sense of belonging and increased perceptions of exclusion and differential treatment due to race. These findings can explain, in part, …

Book Review: Is Law Computable?: Critical Perspectives On Law And Artificial Intelligence, F. Tim Knight

Librarian Publications & Presentations

No abstract provided.

Natively Implementing Deep Reinforcement Learning Into A Game Engine, Austin Kincer

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Artificial intelligence (AI) increases the immersion that players can have while playing games. Modern game engines, a middleware software used to create games, implement simple AI behaviors that developers can use. Advanced AI behaviors must be implemented manually by game developers, which decreases the likelihood of game developers using advanced AI due to development overhead.

A custom game engine and custom AI architecture that handled deep reinforcement learning was designed and implemented. Snake was created using the custom game engine to test the feasibility of natively implementing an AI architecture into a game engine. A snake agent was successfully trained …

Black And Bold Zine, Ramsey Bennani, Mariela Mariano, Britaney Mckinney, Natalia Muro

Student Zines

Two years into the pandemic caused by COVID-19, an unprecedented health crisis that has caught us al l off guard, we look back at how the world has changed since then and in what direction we are moving now.

The purpose of our magazine in the fol lowing pages is to delve into the social, political and economic dimensions of the coronavirus crisis, with special emphasis on the effects this devastating pandemic has had on the African-American community in the United States.

The future will depend on how we react to this event. Solidarity, leadership and generosity as an effective …

Validation Of Landsat 8 High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature Using Surfers, Quinton Vanhellemont, Robert J. W. Brewin, Philip J. Bresnahan, Tyler Cyronak

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Nearshore coastal waters are highly dynamic in both space and time. They can be difficult to sample using conventional methods due to their shallow depth, tidal variability, and the presence of breaking waves. High resolution satellite sensors can be used to provide synoptic views of Surface Temperature (ST), but the performance of such ST products in the nearshore zone is poorly understood. Close to the shoreline, the ST pixels can be influenced by mixed composition of water and land, as a result of the sensor’s spatial resolution. This can cause thermal adjacency effects due to the highly different diurnal temperature …

Toi-1201 B: A Mini-Neptune Transiting A Bright And Moderately Young M Dwarf, D. Kossakowski, J. Kemmer, P. Bluhm, S. Stock, J. A. Caballero, V. J. S. Béjar, C. Cardona Guillén, N. Lodieu, K. A. Collins, M. Oshagh, M. Schlecker, N. Espinoza, E. Pallé, T. Henning, L. Kreidberg, M. Kürster, P. J. Amado, D. R. Anderson, J. C. Morales, S. Cartwright, D. Charbonneau, P. Chaturvedi, C. Cifuentes, D. M. Conti, M. Cortés-Contreras, S. Dreizler, D. Galadí-Enríquez, P. Guerra, R. Hart, C. Hellier, C. Henze, E. Herrero, S. V. Jeffers, J. M. Jenkins, Eric L.N. Jensen, A. Kaminski, J. F. Kielkopf, M. Kunimoto, M. Lafarga, D. W. Latham, J. Lillo-Box, R. Luque, K. Molaverdikhani, D. Montes, G. Morello, E. H. Morgan, G. Nowak, A. Pavlov, M. Perger, E. V. Quintana, A. Quirrenbach, S. Reffert, A. Reiners, G. Ricker, I. Ribas, C. Rodríguez López, M. R. Zapatero Osorio, S. Seager, P. Schöfer, A. Schweitzer, T. Trifonov, S. Vanaverbeke, R. Vanderspek, R. West, J. Winn, M. Zechmeister

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

We present the discovery of a transiting mini-Neptune around TOI-1201, a relatively bright and moderately young early M dwarf (J ≈ 9.5 mag, ~600–800 Myr) in an equal-mass ~8 arcsecond-wide binary system, using data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, along with follow-up transit observations. With an orbital period of 2.49 d, TOI-1201 b is a warm mini-Neptune with a radius of R_b = 2.415 ± 0.090 R_⊕. This signal is also present in the precise radial velocity measurements from CARMENES, confirming the existence of the planet and providing a planetary mass of M_b = …

Students' Definitions Of Academic Success, Brent Kelderman

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

Academic success has not been well defined consistently, and when definitions have been proposed (e.g. Kuh, Kinzie, Buckley, Bridges, & Hayek, 2006 ; York, Gibson, & Rankin, 2015), they are not always measured consistently. Is it good grades (Parker, Summerfeldt, Hogan, & Majeski, 2004), and if so, what constitutes a good grade and what should be graded? Is it understanding the material, and if so, is understanding shown by simply completing the academic tasks (Choi, 2005)? Is it perseverance and grit (Tang, Wang, Guo, & Salmela-Aro, 2019), and if so, why do many other definitions and views focus so much …

Complete Modeling Of The Chondrogenic Environment Under Continuous Low-Intensity Ultrasound, Heather Newell

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Articular cartilage is an avascular tissue that requires therapeutic intervention methods. This work answers the following: determine transducer operation to optimize the bioeffects; calculate the magnitude of pressure exerted on chondrocytes at an injury site; and confirm the theoretical findings by an animal model.

Earlier work has shown that cellular response to US is maximized at the resonance frequency of the cells. Resonance frequencies were calculated for chondrocytes in various layers. The latter configuration closest resembles in vivo conditions and the resonance occurred at 3.8±0.3 ������. The 3D model of US propagation in a rabbit knee was constructed from MRIs …

Implications Of Condition Shifts On Shallow Lakes, Alicia Skolte

Biology Graduate Theses

Shallow lakes have undergone condition shifts throughout time by natural causes, management actions, or a combination of the two. Because shallow lakes are especially vulnerable to shifts towards turbid conditions, management actions on shallow lakes have focused on water level/retainment, biomanipulations, the management/removal of non-native species, and land-use changes. This review compiles a summary on ecosystem shifts including a discussion on the frequency of shifts historically and the importance and causes of those shifts, trophic cascades, and the influence of introduced species in shallow lakes. This review will then examine case-studies of management-linked shifts and explain current shift theory. Next, …

Feeding Patterns And Diet Overlap Of Muskellunge And Co-Occurring Piscivores In Minnesota Lakes, Kamden Glade

Biology Graduate Theses

Muskellunge Esox masquinongy are the largest member of the family Esocidae found in Minnesota and are managed for trophy angling opportunities with large minimum size requirements, limited harvest, and stocking to support existing populations or expand angling opportunities. While Muskellunge impacts at the community level appear minimal based on available literature, relatively little is known about Muskellunge diets, eat the le particularly in Minnesota. In this study, we used gastric lavage to examine gut contents of Muskellunge, Northern Pike Esox lucius, Walleye Sander vitreus, and Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides. Diets were quantified using an index of relative importance (IRI) and …

Extracting Clinical Event Sequence By Using Association Rule Mining To Predict Clinical Events From Health Records, Aashara Shrestha

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Data mining is the process of extracting useful information from large amounts of data. Data mining has been around for a long time, and there are many multiple methods of performing data mining. However, the abundance of data that has become available in the last decade has made it possible to mine through this data to uncover important patterns and sequences. The relationship between variables and the way in which they can lead to a specific outcome is an interesting area of research. Today's healthcare industry faces a number of challenges. Providers must reduce costs, improve transparency, and improve the …

Adaptive Human-Robot Motion Transfer For Complete Body Imitation, Francisco Villa

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

Programming robot systems to perform certain tasks is a big challenge especially if such programming is to be performed by persons who are not experts in robotics. For example, when programming a robot to serve as an exercise trainer, the person defining the motions might more naturally be a person in the exercise domain rather than a robotics expert. To address this, this thesis investigates programming by demonstration or teleoperation using full direct body motion. The goal is to reproduce gaits, gestures, and postures on a humanoid robot from observed human demonstrations. Fine motor movements such as movement of fingers …

Translation Of Array-Based Loop Programs To Optimized Sql-Based Distributed Programs, Md Hasanuzzaman Noor

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Most programs written to operate on data are usually expressed in terms of array operations in sequential loops. However, these programs do not scale to large amount of data generated by scientific experiments and industrial and commercial markets. Given the success of machine learning algorithms on large amount of data and the recent shift of industries to data-driven decision making, the data scientists who are not familiar with Big Data frameworks have to rewrite the sequential programs to distributed data-parallel programs by hand. We present a novel framework, called SQLgen, that automatically translates sequential loops to distributed data-parallel programs. SQLgen …

Language Pre-Training And Auxiliary Tasks For Vision And Language Navigation, Saumya Bhatt

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

The Vision and Language Navigation task came to life from the idea that we can build a robot or an autonomous system that can be instructed in human language and that will navigate using the instructions given. For example, we tell the agent to “Go down past some room dividers toward a glass top desk and turn into the dining area. Wait next to the large glass dining table” and not only does it reach the goal state but it follows the instructions while navigating. With the current developments, this may not seem like a distant problem anymore and in …

Characterization And Enhancement Of Fatigue And Fracture Properties In Thermoplastic Fff Parts Using In-Situ Annealing, Manjarik Mrinal

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Fused filament fabrication (FFF) show high anisotropy and reduced mechanical properties as compared to conventional manufacturing techniques. This happens due to the poor interlaminar bonding between the layers, as a result of premature halt of bond healing process. Previous research works show multiple approaches to improve the bond quality to enhance the mechanical properties of FFF parts, however these are complex and expensive techniques. In this work a novel print head assembly is presented to offer a simple and effective solution by applying a thermal field to the part as it is being printed to preheat the previously deposited layer, …

Prediction Of Solder Joint Fatigue Life Of Photonic Package Using ?-? Materials, Ojas Tyagi

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Fatigue life prediction has become very important factor in reliability of any electronic components to withstand extreme thermal stresses in industrial standard. Hence, photonic packages are widely used in telecommunication and computer applications. The primary focus of this study is to determine the thermal cycles to crack initiation of solder bump used in laser array waferboard for telecommunication applications. This includes GaAs Laser chip on waferboard and Si substrate with pure Indium solder balls in between. Indium has proved higher fatigue life in various experimental studies in the field of reliability and lead-free material. Therefore, a solder ball was designed …

Guidance Laws For N-Mobile Agents To Grip A Moving Target, Pranay Gadiya

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

In this thesis, we consider the problem of n mobile agents carrying a gripper, with the objective of gripping a moving circular target. The target may move with constant velocity, or even maneuver. We develop guidance laws by which the agents can first cage the target and subsequently grip it. These guidance laws are developed based on a collision cone framework, using which the mobile agents cooperatively steer their velocity vectors in an appropriate fashion to meet their objective. It is assumed that each of the mobile agents are equipped with a lidar sensor, using which they obtain the range …

Buckling Load Optimization Of Variable Stiffness Composite Plate Using Fem And Semi-Analytical Method, Jeegar Vallabhbhai Patel

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

The advent of new composite manufacturing techniques like Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) offers greater flexibility in structural designs by allowing curvilinear fiber paths. Hence, it is now possible to change laminate stiffness locally, thereby enabling Variable Stiffness (VS) composite structures. Such structures demonstrate superior buckling performance over traditional constant stiffness structures. However, obtaining the optimum fiber paths to improve buckling performance remains an open area of research due to the complexity of determining such fiber paths. This research investigated two approaches for optimizing fiber paths; First, a Finite Element Method (FEM) approach that utilizes linear shape functions to interpolate local …

Accessibility And The Implementation Of The Americans With Disabilities Act In Small And Medium-Sized Municipalities In The Dallas/Fort Worth Metropolitan Area, John C. Powers

Public Affairs Dissertations - Archive

People with disabilities face daily physical challenges posed by inaccessible buildings and unsafe sidewalks or public parks. These barriers prevent millions of people from enjoying resources provided by municipalities across the countries, such as public parks, libraries, and community centers. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, later amended in 2008, was designed to guide municipalities in the removal of those barriers to offer a more inclusive living environment for people with disabilities. Title II of the ADA requires municipalities to ensure that their sidewalks, public parks, and public buildings are accessible. Additionally, public programs such as city council …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of Professional Development: A Narrative Inquiry Examining Insights From Middle School Teachers, Julie Hatling

Dissertations and Theses

Throughout their careers, teachers seek professional growth opportunities to continually improve their craft. This quest has resulted in various learning experiences for teachers that have impacted their practice in differing ways. Bayar (2014) writes that schools traditionally provide training for teachers, professional development (PD), to help in-service teachers grow as professionals. To gain further insight into the topic of teacher PD, this narrative inquiry sought to obtain a better understanding of PD based on teachers’ perceptions of their past PD experiences and how those experiences impacted their professional practice. This study was guided by a central question and sub-questions. The …

Multi-Dimensional Leaf Phenotypes Reflect Root System Genotype In Grafted Grapevine Over The Growing Season, Zachery N. Harris, Mani Awale, Niyati Bhaakta, Daniel H. Chitwood, Anne Fennell, Emma Frawley, Laura L. Klein, Laszlo G. Kovacs, Misha Kwasniewski, Jason P. Londo, Qin Ma, The Ohio State University Miogicovsky, Joel F. Swift, Allison J. Miller

Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science Faculty Publications

Modern biological approaches generate volumes of multi-dimensional data, offering unprecedented opportunities to address biological questions previously beyond reach owing to small or subtle effects. A fundamental question in plant biology is the extent to which below-ground activity in the root system influences above-ground phenotypes expressed in the shoot system. Grafting, an ancient horticultural practice that fuses the root system of one individual (the rootstock) with the shoot system of a second, genetically distinct individual (the scion), is a powerful experimental system to understand below-ground effects on above-ground phenotypes. Previous studies on grafted grapevines have detected rootstock influence on scion phenotypes …

Reconfigurable Antennas & Matching Networks For Cubesats, Marios Patriotis

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Telecommunication has rapidly evolved in the past decades, quickly becoming one of the most expansive industries, especially with the presence of new attractive eras like 5Gnetworks, automotive radars, and CubeSats. The use of miniaturized satellites such as CubeSats for cheaper and wider communication coverage has opened the possibilities for cluster satellite communication. These units exist in a continuously varying environment as much physical as electromagnetic. Hence, the establishment of a successful communication link among the space units but also ground stations becomes challenging. This new situation can be confronted with the installation of new reconfigurable antennas. These are emitting units …

Harnessing Digitalization For Sustainable Economic Development: Insights For Asia, John Beirne, David Fernandez

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Digitalization has helped to transform economies by enhancing competitiveness and productivity across a wide range of sectors. The use of big data and the rise of online platforms have accelerated this process over the past decade. In addition, the adoption of digital solutions in the face of social distancing and lockdown measures introduced due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been integral to the economic recovery process. The shift to a digitalized economy has also reduced barriers to market entry for firms, lowered inequality, and led to a promotion of social and economic inclusion. Advances in digital technology …