Digital Commons Network^™

Digital Design And Thermomechanical Process Simulation For 3d Printing With Abs And Soyhull Fibers Reinforced Abs Composites., Saleh Khanjar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent demonstrations with fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing have shown to produce prototypes as well as production components. Additionally, due to the FFF process platforms being low-cost and readily available there has been a high-demand to produce on-demand parts for various applications in automotive, in-space manufacturing and electronic industries. However, current limitations such as limited availability of advanced composites materials, and guidelines for design-for-manufacturing make the process prone to trial-and-error experiments both at the materials development, product design and manufacturing stage. In this work, new thermomechanical process simulations platform, Digimat-AM has been evaluated to address and demonstrate digital design …

Hybrid Structural Health Monitoring Using Data-Driven Modal Analysis And Model-Based Bayesian Inference., Jice Zeng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Civil infrastructures that are valuable assets for the public and owners must be adequately and periodically maintained to guarantee safety, continuous service, and avoid economic losses. Vibration-based structural health monitoring (VBSHM) has been a significant tool to assess the structural performance of civil infrastructures over the last decades. Challenges in VBSHM exist in two aspects: operational modal analysis (OMA) and Finite element model updating (FEMU). The former aims to extract natural frequency, damping ratio, and mode shapes using vibrational data under normal operation; the latter focuses on minimizing the discrepancies between measurements and model prediction. The main impediments to real-world …

Distinguishing Mustela From Neogale (Mustelidae) Through Both A Qualitative And Quantitative Analysis Of Skull And Tooth Morphology, Ronald W. Peery

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Weasels and mink (Mustela and Neogale) can be difficult to distinguish osteologically due to similarities in morphology, thus suggesting the need for an accurate tool in distinguishing among taxa. This study utilized a combination of character state and stepwise discriminant function (DFA) analyses to examine potential distinguishing features of skull and tooth morphology. Measurements and ratios were collected from all 18 extant musteline species, as well as the extinct Neovison macrodon, Mustela rexroadensis, Mustela meltoni, Mustela gazini, and Mustela jacksoni. Unidentified musteline specimens from the Gray Fossil Site were also included. Results of …

Examining Psilocybin And Lsd Consumption Through A Geographical Lens, Nicole Sarah Caruana

Geography ETDs

n recent years, the study of psychedelic science has reemerged across a variety of fields. Psilocybin and LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide) are two psychedelic substances receiving an influx of attention for their success treating issues such as depression, post-traumatic stress, and addiction. Psilocybin and LSD are still widely used despite their classification as illegal Schedule I substance. This study aims to learn more about current users with the following questions guiding this research: What are barriers limiting psilocybin and LSD consumption? What are the motivations behind use? What impacts are psilocybin and LSD having on users lives? I used Qualitative …

Statistical Mediation Analysis In Regression Discontinuity Design For Causal Inference, Donna Chen

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Regression discontinuity designs (RDDs) are the most robust quasi-experimental design, but current statistical models are limited to estimates for the simple causal relationship between only two variables: the independent and dependent variables. In practice, intervening variables (or mediators) are often observed as part of the causal chain. Mediators explain the why and how a treatment or intervention works. Therefore, mediation and RDD analysis combined can be a useful tool in identifying key components or processes that make intervention programs effective while making causal inferences for improving student achievement, despite natural constraints, limitations, and ethical considerations. Without an integrated framework of …

Comparing Machine Learning Techniques With State-Of-The-Art Parametric Prediction Models For Predicting Soybean Traits, Susweta Ray

Department of Statistics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Soybean is a significant source of protein and oil, and also widely used as animal feed. Thus, developing lines that are superior in terms of yield, protein and oil content is important to feed the ever-growing population. As opposed to the high-cost phenotyping, genotyping is both cost and time efficient for breeders while evaluating new lines in different environments (location-year combinations) can be costly. Several Genomic prediction (GP) methods have been developed to use the marker and environment data effectively to predict the yield or other relevant phenotypic traits of crops. Our study compares a conventional GP method (GBLUP), a …

An Analysis Of Performance-Based Funding Policies At An Open Access Institution, John Brady

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Performance-based funding policies have become popular among state legislators seeking ways to hold public higher education institutions accountable. Approximately 30 states currently use performance-based funding policies to tie state appropriations to institutional outcomes according to a defined set of metrics. Despite the popularity of the policy approach, very little empirical evidence exists to suggest that performance-based funding is effective in producing the often-intended outcomes of increased student retention and degree attainment rates. Numerous studies have indicated that these policies may produce unintended outcomes including the restriction of access, the gaming of performance-based funding systems, and the widening of equity gaps. …

A Tribute To Professor Gaetano Granozzi And His Contributions To Surface Science On The Occasion Of His 70th Birthday, Kurt W. Kolasinski

Chemistry Faculty Publications

On the occasion of his 70th birthday, we celebrate the career of our Editor-in-Chief, Professor Gaetano Granozzi. Prof. Granozzi’s work is marked by his dedication to the fundamental understanding of technologically relevant systems through the lens of surface science.

Is Bog Water Chemistry Affected By Increasing N And S Deposition From Oil Sands Development In Northern Alberta, Canada?, R. Kelman Wieder, Melanie A. Vile, Kimberli D. Scott, James C. Quinn, Cara M. Albright, Kelly J. Mcmillen, Caitlyn Herron, Hope Fillingim

Public Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Nitrogen and sulfur emissions from oil sands operations in northern Alberta, Canada have resulted in increasing deposition of N and S to the region's ecosystems. To assess whether a changing N and S deposition regime affects bog porewater chemistry, we sampled bog porewater at sites at different distances from the oil sands industrial center from 2009 to 2012 (10-cm intervals to a depth of 1 m) and from 2009 to 2019 (top of the bog water table only). We hypothesized that: (1) as atmospheric N and S deposition increases with increasing proximity to the oil sands industrial center, surface porewater …

Activity Series Of The Central Bank Of Nigeria's Development Finance Interventions, Xavier-Itam A. Okoh, George N. Ude

Bullion

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) aggresively pursues credit and interest rate policies to promote inclusive economic growth. Through this, it aims to expand availability, access, and affordability of financial capital for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) With a least 24 MSMEs financing programmes of its own, the Bank manages one of the largest suites of developmental programmes among central banks. This paper attempted to serialize and characterize these programmes, hence determine their activity status and discover patterns of implementation effort patronage, and responsiveness of target enterprises to available incentives. Applying Z-score and min-max methods of normalization and geometric …

Creasing Of Polyimide Thin Film For Use In Solar Sails, Andrew Allen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Polymer thin membranes are used in a variety of deployable structures that require large areas and compact stowage. Packaging membrane structures often involves creasing the membrane along predefined fold lines to enforce the desired kinematics under folding action. Inducing permanent deformation by folding to a high curvature is a common method to create creases, particularly in the design of solar sails. The distinct mechanical characteristics at the crease regions have a profound effect on the subsequent deployment and tensioning of the membrane structures. The mechanical and geometric properties at the crease are related to the crease formation process, but the …

How Does A Veteran Teacher Implement A Prekindergarten Math Curriculum?, Heidi Butterfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The purpose of this study was to explore how a veteran teacher implemented a state-approved commercial math curriculum in a prekindergarten classroom. In this action research study, guided by ethnographic principles, I employed Spradley's (2016) developmental research sequence to study what resources from the curriculum the teacher used, how the teacher adapted the curriculum, and what influenced the decisions the teacher made while implementing the curriculum. Data collected for this study included: the teacher guide provided by the commercial curriculum; teacher lesson plans; photographs of student created artifacts; the teacher's reflection journal and notes; and videos of a teacher implementing …

An Exploration Of Enrollment And Graduation Rates As A Result Of Title V Funding At Hispanic-Serving Four-Year Universities, Kelly D'Agostino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

While the Latinx population continues to grow faster than any other racial population in the United States, Latinx students are graduating from four-year institutions at a rate 12 percent lower than their White peers (Excelencia in Education, 2020b). As first defined in 1992 by the Higher Education Act reauthorization, Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) are accredited, degree-granting, non-profit institutions with undergraduate populations made up of at least 25 percent Latinx students. The role of HSIs is important because the majority (66 percent) of Latinx students enrolled in college attend an HSI (Excelencia in Education, 2019). The problem under investigation is that HSI …

Tailoring Of The Left Ventricular Assist Device Cannula Implantation Using Coupled Multi-Scale Multi-Objective Patient Specific Optimization., Abubakar Dankano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Despite advancements in device design and anti-coagulation treatments, there are numerous adverse events that may occur following implantation of LVADs. The most devastating involves the embolization of thrombus into the brain causing a stroke, with incidence of up to 14-47% over a 6–12-month period. This study aims to elucidate ways to reduce this risk by surgical maneuvers guided by a multi-scale computational fluid dynamics analysis wrapped around a multi-objective shape optimization scheme which optimizes the anastomosis location of the VAD outflow graft (OG) along the ascending aorta to minimize the incidence of thrombi reaching the cerebral vessels and reduce particle …

Capsule Networks For Video Understanding, Kevin Duarte

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

With the increase of videos available online, it is more important than ever to learn how to process and understand video data. Although convolutional neural networks have revolutionized the representation learning from images and videos, they do not explicitly model entities within the given input. It would be useful for learned models to be able to represent part-to-whole relationships within a given image or video. To this end, a novel neural network architecture - capsule networks - has been proposed. Capsule networks add extra structure to allow for the modeling of entities and has shown great promise when applied to …

Topology Optimization Of Internal Cooling Channels In Turbulent Flows, Shinjan Ghosh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Topology optimization, introduced by Bendsoe and Sigmund in 1988 has been a topic of research in the structural mechanics field for several decades. This technique is commonly used to optimize system performance of structural components with minimum material usage by varying the distribution of materials in a given domain. Fluid dynamic topology optimization, a relatively new research topic uses a method of adding or subtracting materials to a given flow domain to obtain an optimal flow-path for a given objective function. While the structural TO creates a solid structure by introducing holes into the domain, fluid TO introduces solid into …

An Exploration Of The Impact Of Student Employment And Retention: A Correlational Analysis, Noreen Lewis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

"With so many students working, and such large numbers devoting a considerable amount of time to one or more jobs, work is – after going to class- the most common activity in which undergraduates engage" (Kuh, 2018, p. ix). An under-researched factor to investigate why students retain, is participation in an on-campus student employment program. The purpose of the study is to explore the relationship between a student's participation in student employment and if the student retains from their first to second year. Understanding this relationship can provide an opportunity to create positive impact for both the student and institution …

Data Driven Methods For Large Scale Network Level Traffic Modeling, Rezaur Rahman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Rapid growth in population along with urban-centric activities impose a massive demand on existing transportation systems, thus increasing traffic congestion and other mobility related challenges. To overcome such challenges, we need network-scale models to accurately predict real-time traffic demand and associated congestion. However, traditional network modeling approaches have shortcomings due to the complexity in traffic flow modeling, limited scope to incorporate real-time data available from emerging data sources and requiring excessive computation time to generate accurate estimation of traffic flows. Advancement in traffic sensing technologies with big data has created a new opportunity to overcome these challenges and implement deployable …

Self Adaptive Reinforcement Learning For High-Dimensional Stochastic Systems With Application To Robotic Control, Sayyed Jaffar Ali Raza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

A long standing goal in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) is to develop agents that can perceive richer problem space and effortlessly plan their activity in minimal duration. Several strides have been made towards this goal over the last few years due to simultaneous advances in compute power, optimized algorithms, and most importantly evident success of AI based machines in nearly every discipline. The progress has been especially rapid in area of reinforcement learning (RL) where computers can now plan-ahead their activities and outperform their human rivals in complex problem domains like chess or Go game. However, despite encouraging …

University Of Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Department Of Music, University Of Richmond

Music Department Concert Programs

No abstract provided.

Ai, On The Law Of The Elephant: Toward Understanding Artificial Intelligence, Emile Loza De Siles

Buffalo Law Review

Machine learning and other artificial intelligence (AI) systems are changing our world in profound, exponentially rapid, and likely irreversible ways.3 Although AI may be harnessed for great good, it is capable of and is doing great harm at scale to people, communities, societies, and democratic institutions. The dearth of AI governance leaves unchecked AI’s potentially existential risks. Whether sounding urgent alarm or merely jumping on the bandwagon, law scholars, law students, and lawyers at bar are contributing volumes of AI policy and legislative proposals, commentaries, doctrinal theories, and calls to corporate and international organizations for ethical AI leadership. Unfortunately, erroneous, …

Equitable Preference Relations On Infinite Utility Streams, Ram Sewak Dubey, Giorgio Laguzzi

Department of Economics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

We propose generalized versions of strong equity and Pigou–Dalton transfer principle. We study the existence and the real-valued representation of social welfare relations satisfying these two generalized equity principles. Our results characterize the restrictions on one period utility domains for the equitable social welfare relations (i) to exist; and (ii) to admit real-valued representations.

Understanding International Joint And Dual Degree Programs: Opportunities And Challenges During And After The Covid-19 Pandemic

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

No abstract provided.

Fod-A: A Dataset For Foreign Object Debris In Airports, Travis Munyer, Pei-Chi Huang, Chenyu Huang, Xin Zhong

Aviation Institute Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Foreign Object Debris (FOD) detection has attracted increased attention in the area of machine learning and computer vision. However, a robust and publicly available image dataset for FOD has not been initialized. To this end, this paper introduces an image dataset of FOD, named FOD in Airports (FOD-A). FOD-A object categories have been selected based on guidance from prior documentation and related research by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In addition to the primary annotations of bounding boxes for object detection, FOD-A provides labeled environmental conditions. As such, each annotation instance is further categorized into three light level categories (bright, …

Autonomous Guidance Of Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles In Basic Fighter Maneuvering, Jeffery G. Dean

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Basic fighter maneuvering, or BFM, is the dynamic engagement of two or more aircraft in close-range air combat. The relatively recent introduction of advanced unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs) has opened the possibility for automated systems to be players in this arena of air-to-air combat, which has thus far been limited to manned aircraft. In order to design an unmanned system that could fight and win a BFM engagement, the system must include an advanced system for guidance. This dissertation leverages techniques from gain scheduling and incorporates adjustable aimpoint guidance, in order to address the capability for UCAVs to execute …

Barriers To Dance Education: An Exploration Into The Beliefs Of Dance Educators And Non-Dance Familiars On Dance And Its Place In The Public-School System, Brianna Michelle Miller

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate differing views on the value of dance and its place within the public-education system. The researcher crafted three research questions to guide her research:

Q1 What barriers or objections exist when it comes to incorporating dance within the public-school setting? Q2 What discrepancies exist between the viewpoints of dance educators and non-dance familiars when it comes to dance and its value within the public education system? Q3 What specific steps can be taken to highlight the importance of dance education in the public-school setting?

Nine dance educators and twelve non-dance familiars completed …

Investigation And Discovery Of Novel Transition Metal Cysteamine Systems With Halogens From The First Principles Calculations, Noura Dawas Alkhaldi

Physics Dissertations - Archive

Cu-cysteamine (Cu-Cy) is a material that has the cysteamine bonded with Cu. It is a molecular photosensitizer which can be activated by visible, ultraviolet light, and X-rays to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). Cu-Cy has been used in various applications such as solid-state lighting, radiation detection, and as treatment of both shallow and deep cancers. Hence, it is important to study the stability, electronic and optical properties of Cu-Cy as well as finding other possible cysteamine systems. The first principle theoretical investigations of novel transition metal cysteamine systems with halogens are performed by density functional theory. In the first part …

Orbital Evolution Studies And Radio Searches Of Extra-Solar Moons, Marialis Rosario-Franco

Physics Dissertations - Archive

Exoplanetary research has undergone a great deal of development and growth. Achievements in theoretical studies and detection techniques have led to the discovery of 4,000+ exoplanets in ~3, 000 planetary systems to date. Despite this great success, and though candidates have been proposed, the confirmation of the first exomoon is yet to be accomplished. Understanding the constraints under which extrasolar moons form around exoplanets can provide insight into the overall formation of the system, the host planet’s habitability, and could even aid the process of drawing out the best observational candidates for exomoon searches. This work entails the use of …

Modeling Ingestive Behavior On Free-Grazing Through Acoustics And Its Relationship To Ph In The Reticulum, Johnathan Alexander Andres

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Proliferation Of Chondrodonta As A Proxy Of Environmental Instability At The Onset Of Oae1a: Insights From Shallow-Water Limestones Of The Apulia Carbonate Platform, G. Del Viscio, G. Frijia, R. Posenato, P. Singh, Daniel J. Lehrmann, J. L. Payne, K. Al-Ramadan, U. Struck, K. P. Jochum, M. Morsilli

Earth and Environmental Geosciences Faculty Research

Chondrodonta is an opportunistic, oyster-like bivalve, common in shallow-water carbonates of the Cretaceous Tethyan Realm. Despite its high abundance and widespread geographic distribution, the precise relationship between the early Aptian proliferation and environmental perturbations resulting from the Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE1a), has not been investigated. Stratigraphic and geochemical analyses of the lower Aptian Chondrodonta bedsets within the inner platform limestones of the Apulia Carbonate Platform (Gargano Promontory, southern Italy) are conducted to assess the environmental controls on the Chondrodonta proliferation and its timing and causal relationship to OAE1a. Chondrodonta occurs with sparse to common individuals within requieniid rudist floatstone–rudstones, …