Digital Commons Network^™

Circumscribing The Spider: Trademark Law And The Edge Of Data Scraping, Michael Goodyear

Articles & Chapters

The practice of web scraping — extracting online data from websites — has become a key strategy and business for many companies. Yet while many profit from scraping, those same organizations and others also wish to resist it. In additional to technical measures, companies have utilized a series of legal claims, such as copyright infringement and violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”), to attempt to block the scraping of their publicly available data. Several of these traditional claims have been foiled or met with mixed results, suggesting that companies wishing to block scraping practices may wish to …

Shipboard Lidar As A Tool For Remotely Measuring The Distribution And Bulk Characteristics Of Marine Particles, Brian Leigh Collister

OES Theses and Dissertations

Light detection and ranging (lidar) can provide remote estimates of the vertical distribution of optical properties in the ocean, potentially revolutionizing our ability to characterize the spatial structure of upper ocean ecosystems. However, challenges associated with quantifying the relationship between lidar measurements and biogeochemical properties of interest have prevented its adoption for routinely mapping the vertical structure of marine ecosystems. To address this, we developed a shipboard oceanographic lidar that measures attenuation (α) and linear depolarization (δ) at scales identical to those of in-water optical and biogeochemical measurements. The instrument’s ability to resolve the distribution of optical and biogeochemical properties …

Closing The Contextual And Chronological Gap: A Design And Development Study Of A Systematic Tool For The Selection Of Learning And Performance Support Interventions, James Knapp Iii

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Gaps in human performance resulting from a lack of skills and knowledge require solutions – interventions. The process of selecting the most effective intervention (solution) for closing a skills and knowledge gap—such as classroom training, e-Learning, Structured on-the-job Training (SOJT), or job-aid—is a fundamental and vital practice for Human Performance Technology (HPT) practitioners. Unlike other activities in the Performance Improvement/HPT (PI/HPT) model, the activity of intervention selection is ambiguous. Meaning, there is currently no systematic process or tool in place for selecting learning and performance-improvement solutions that is reflective of the learning science. Consequently, the critical activity of intervention selection …

Hydrothermal Processes For Extraction And Conversion Of Biomass To Produce Biofuels And Value-Added Products, Anuj Hemant Thakkar

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

An integrated biorefinery approach based on subcritical hydrothermal processes was developed to maximize utilization of biomass components by producing multiple products. Biomass from various sources like agricultural waste (lignocellulose), food waste (spent yeast), and dedicated cultivation (micro-algae) was used in this research.

Corn stover (agricultural waste) was hydrothermally pretreated to remove lignin and xylan while preserving most of the glucan. The pretreated corn stover was utilized to produce levulinic acid (thermochemically) and fermentable sugars (biochemically). The solid residue generated during levulinic acid production was utilized to produce biocarbon electrode material. The results generated from the experiments were used for designing …

Data-Driven Operational And Safety Analysis Of Emerging Shared Electric Scooter Systems, Qingyu Ma

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The rapid rise of shared electric scooter (E-Scooter) systems offers many urban areas a new micro-mobility solution. The portable and flexible characteristics have made E-Scooters a competitive mode for short-distance trips. Compared to other modes such as bikes, E-Scooters allow riders to freely ride on different facilities such as streets, sidewalks, and bike lanes. However, sharing lanes with vehicles and other users tends to cause safety issues for riding E-Scooters. Conventional methods are often not applicable for analyzing such safety issues because well-archived historical crash records are not commonly available for emerging E-Scooters.

Perceiving the growth of such a micro-mobility …

Synthesis And Characterization Of 4,6-Protected Glucosamine Derivatives And Branched Glycoconjugates, Jonathan Bietsch

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Low molecular weight gelators (LMWGs) are small molecules that self-assemble in appropriate solvents to form three dimensional networks that immobilize the solvent, creating a supramolecular gel. The self-assembly of LMWGs occurs through non-covalent interactions such as hydrogen bonding, aromatic interactions, donor-acceptor interactions, Van der Waals interactions, hydrophobic forces, halogen bonding, etc. Due to self-assembly occurring through reversible non-covalent interactions, supramolecular gels can undergo a gel to solution transformation. Because of this, these materials can be sensitive to external stimuli such as temperature changes, pH changes, and other stimuli that effect non-covalent interactions. This makes the synthesis of LMWG’s an appealing …

The Negative Side Of A Student-Athlete, Mickey Strauss

Student Works

College athletes have different levels of success and failures throughout their college careers. These successes and failures can easily determine if an athlete is happy, can build up or break down self-esteem and confidence. In addition to student-athlete having many positive benefits like developing healthy lifestyle habits, increase happiness, increase self-esteem and self worth. The challenges that a college athlete faces are the benefits and hazards of physical activity, factors that lead to happiness or depression.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has reported an increase in suicide in student-athletes, causing it to be the fourth leading cause of death …

Breastfeeding Media Coverage And Beliefs During The Covid-19 Pandemic In Mexico: Implications For Breastfeeding Equity, Mireya Vilar-Compte, P. Gaitán‐Rossi, E. C. Rhodes, V. Cruz‐Villalba, R. Pérez‐Escamilla

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Background: Because breastfeeding offers short- and long- term health benefits to mothers and children, breastfeeding promotion and support is a public health priority. Evidence shows that SARS-CoV-2 is not likely to be transmitted via breastmilk. Moreover, antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 are thought to be contained in breastmilk of mothers with history of COVID-19 infection or vaccination. WHO recommends direct breastfeeding as the preferred infant feeding option during the COVID-19 pandemic, even among women with COVID-19; but conflicting practices have been adopted, which could widen existing inequities in breastfeeding. This study aims to describe how information about breastfeeding was communicated in Mexican …

The Christian Right In Translation: Christian Conservative Discourse In Contemporary American Literature, Elizabeth Richardson Duke

English Theses and Dissertations

Religion in contemporary American politics and religion in contemporary American Literature: are they independent phenomena? Literary scholars have largely assumed so. Scholars have attended to nontraditional, liberal religion in postwar American literature, while overlooking how this literature represents and critiques the rise of the Christian Right. Since white evangelical and fundamentalist Christians allied with the Republican party in the late 1970s, Christian conservatives have transformed American politics. As the GOP’s most influential interest group, the Christian Right has set the terms for many of the last four decades’ most contentious and consequential debates. Historians, political scientists, and contemporary American writers …

The Relationship Between Trauma, Attachment, Self-Compassion, And Emotion Regulation: A Structural Equation Model, Susanna Jane Turner

Dissertations

Previous research has examined the relationship between trauma, attachment, selfcompassion, and emotion regulation, but never with an incarcerated population. Given the link between emotion regulation and illegal behaviors, it may be helpful to more fully understand this relationship in order to lay the groundwork for future intervention research. I gathered data from 378 participants. I then examined the relationships between these constructs on data from 204 participants, the number that remained after cleaning the data, by way of a structural equation model. Findings suggest that greater experiences of trauma may lead to insecure attachment styles, impacting individuals’ ability to trust …

An Investigation Of Outsourcing Ticket Sales In Division I College Athletics, Kyle John Brannigan

Dissertations

Understanding the phenomenon of outsourcing ticket sales in collegiate athletics can help athletic departments make more informed ticketing decisions. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological research study was to help create new and emerging knowledge of outsourcing ticket sales in collegiate athletics from the interactions with the study’s participants. The study had 15 participants who experienced the decision-making process as well as the stakeholder impact of outsourcing ticket sales in collegiate athletics. After doing a thematic analysis of the data, eight final themes were used to help describe the phenomenon. It was clear that the importance of being able to …

Heartbeat In The Sole: A Study Of How Appalachian Dance Preserves, Shapes, And Enriches The Culture In Which It Is Performed, Rachel Marlowe

Master's Theses

The purpose of this research was to both provide space for and aid in the preservation of stories of southern Appalachian dancers. Southern Appalachian dance, also referred to as flat-footing, buck dancing or clogging depending on the region and the individual, is a tradition often passed from family member to family member and in social environments or communal gatherings. In collecting and grouping these stories, the researcher hoped to identify and categorize the impact that southern Appalachian dance in southern Appalachia had on what the dancers perceive as their personal values and successes. The researcher used a short demographic survey …

Evaluation Of Recommended Modular Email Building Approaches, Palak Sadhwani

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Customer relationship management acts as the backbone of marketing. For any company marketing is the most important sector to promote a company and attract customers. Email marketing is one of the most effective ways of digital marketing. However, the cost of design and development is time consuming and redundant. Marketers and project managers are frequently unassertive about how to solve these issues. Although there are blogs, articles and services available for marketing email development, the lack of research in the effectiveness of email building architecture bolsters the need for this study. The project presents an architecture that modularizes the way …

A Study In Applications Of Continued Fractions, Karen Lynn Parrish

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This is an expository study of continued fractions collecting ideas from several different sources including textbooks and journal articles. This study focuses on several applications of continued fractions from a variety of levels and fields of mathematics. Studies begin with looking at a number of properties that pertain to continued fractions and then move on to show how applications of continued fractions is relevant to high school level mathematics including approximating irrational numbers and developing new ideas for understanding and solving quadratics equations. Focus then continues to more advanced applications such as those used in the studies of number theory …

Human Resource Information Systems: Implementing Data Analytics Techniques In Human Resource Functions, Prachi Tembhekar

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This project investigated analytical techniques used by organizations across many industries for HR functions, and how data analytical techniques can help HR departments work efficiently. The goal was to look into the obstacles and opportunities that companies have when using HR analytics as a tool in their businesses. This project used secondary data acquired from earlier research articles, journals from the years 2016 to 2019, blogs, and websites to investigate theories and applications of HR analytics. It also examined the need of analytics to assist HR leaders in thinking about the implications of these technologies in future work and how …

An Overview On Why Electric Cars Are The Future Of Transportation, Saqlain Ali

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The motor vehicle industry has been the leading consumer of fossil fuel worldwide resulting in adverse effects on the environment. This study used secondary sources of information from previous research in scholarly journals, Google scholar as well as eBooks, case studies, science direct, research gate, and google books to investigate. The findings show that some of the major milestones achieved in the electric car development include: the reduction of charging time for effectiveness in use, the introduction of supercapacitors that ensures increased charge storage, and with greater effective electromotive force. Additionally, some governments in developed countries do offer subsidies to …

Spirituality, Inclusivity, Workplace Well-Being, And Organizational Citizenship Behavior, Rebecca Williams

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to better understand how workplace well-being (WWB) and inclusivity may impact the relationship between employee spirituality and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Given the valuable contribution of a diverse workforce, and the importance of fostering spirituality and OCBs in the workplace, this research focused on examining whether WWB would help explain the relationship between spirituality and OCB intentions and the influence of an inclusive climate on spirituality and WWB. Theoretical framework was provided to help explain linkages in the model, which included the broaden and build theory (BBT) and the integrative transcendent models of …

How Couples Youtube Channels Forge "Friendships" With Their Viewers: A Thematic Textual Analysis, Marisol Botello

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

A “couples YouTube channel” is a YouTube channel where a real-life romantic couple posts videos about their relationship. On YouTube there are hundreds of such channels, and some are so popular that those couples actually make a living creating and sharing their stories. How do they do this? More specifically: what marketing techniques, specifically storytelling practices, do these YouTube couples use to resonate with audiences?

This exploratory, qualitative study seeks to answer this question through a thematic textual analysis of three couples YouTube channels. Using narrative theory and parasocial interaction as theoretical frameworks, the study interpretively analyzes a total of …

The Role Of The Erbb Signaling Pathway In Cardiovascular Progenitor Cell-Based Repair, Christopher Ramos

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Adult mammalian hearts lack self-renewal and proliferative capabilities necessary for cardiovascular regeneration. Current treatments using cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) for cell-based repair do not restore cardiac function in patients who experience a myocardial infarction (MI). Our laboratory has been studying Islet-1+ neonatal CPCs as a promising candidate for cell-based repair due to their ability to significantly improve cardiac function after MI in sheep. The current study addresses the hypothesis that the ERBB pathway is linked to the Hippo-pathway to activate YAP1 by the involvement of an autocrine loop that upregulates neuregulin (NRG). In our sheep model of MI and cardiovascular …

Beginning The Information Security Journey For Small And Medium Enterprises Through Business Continuity Planning And Infrastructure Automation, Aaron Chamberlain

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Technology has become an essential component of enterprises, driving productivity, innovation, and defining entire processes and product categories. However, these advances come with additional risk; the devices that drive an enterprise can fail at any time or be attacked by malicious actors. Larger enterprises have learned to deal with these risks, but small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been largely left behind. This project sought to investigate the cybersecurity-related problems SMEs experience and what SMEs can do to solve them. In addition, the project examines the types of information security incidents that occur within SMEs and their financial preparedness for …

A Small Molecule Produced By Lactobacillus Species Blocks Candida Albicans Filamentation By Inhibiting A Dyrk1-Family Kinase, Jessie Macalpine, Martin Daniel-Ivad, Zhongle Liu, Junko Yano, Nicole M. Revie, Robert T. Todd, Peter J. Stogios, Hiram Sanchez, Teresa R. O’Meara, Thomas A. Tompkins, Alexei Savchenko, Anna Selmecki, Amanda O. Veri, David R. Andes, Paul L. Fidel, Nicole Robbins, Justin Nodwell, Luke Whitesell, Leah E. Cowen

School of Dentistry Faculty Publications

The fungus Candida albicans is an opportunistic pathogen that can exploit imbalances in microbiome composition to invade its human host, causing pathologies ranging from vaginal candidiasis to fungal sepsis. Bacteria of the genus Lactobacillus are colonizers of human mucosa and can produce compounds with bioactivity against C. albicans. Here, we show that some Lactobacillus species produce a small molecule under laboratory conditions that blocks the C. albicans yeast-to-filament transition, an important virulence trait. It remains unexplored whether the compound is produced in the context of the human host. Bioassay-guided fractionation of Lactobacillus-conditioned medium linked this activity to 1-acetyl-β-carboline (1-ABC). We …

Trained Immunity Enhances The Immune Response And Maintains Microbiome Diversity In Aging And Sepsis, P. Spencer Gill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The global population is rapidly aging. It is estimated that over the next thirty years, the number of individuals >60 years of age will increase by over a billion, and the number of individuals over age 80 may increase by 300 million. As humans age, our immune system becomes progressively weaker through a process called immune senescence. This age-related decrease in immune function increases susceptibility to infection and chronic diseases. Sepsis is a leading cause of death worldwide. Over the past two decades, there has been an increased incidence of sepsis which is due, in part, to our aging population …

Developing A Process To Select B2b Target Markets With A Focus On Siemens Simatic Controllers, Eva Limbrunner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The process to identify and describe target markets can be challenging for marketers due to the complexity of B2B markets and industrial products. This case-based study aims to bridge the gap between theory and praxis by developing a process to determine target markets for Siemens SIMATIC controllers, which are highly technological products designed for process control and used in industrial applications. The author conducted a literature review to investigate the current understanding of B2B market segmentation and target marketing and collected qualitative data from Siemens. This study defines segmentation variables leveraging segmentation models as a foundation to build and describe …

Lipidomic Analysis Of Various Developmental Stages Of Physcomitrium Patens, Deepshila Gautam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lipids maintain fluidity of the cell membrane during the lifetime of all organisms. The moss Physcomitrium patens, an early land plant, enters reproductive phase under cold (15°C) conditions relative to its gametophytes (22°C). Thus, we hypothesized that their lipid content and composition would be distinct. Using ESI-MS/MS, we showed that the content and acyl composition of 11 lipid classes varied during development. Galactolipids were abundant in gametophytes but insignificant in sporophytes; among phospholipids, phosphatidylcholine was predominant in both phases. Although, sporophytes contained around five-fold less lipids than the gametophyte, their phosphatidic acid content, which accumulates during stress, was 18-fold …

Movies That Sell: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Product Placements In Marvel Movies, Andrew Nii Okai Okai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The advancement of digital entertainment media has given audiences the ability to skip ads that do not interest them. Consequently, brands face the challenge of creating ads that can compel audiences and finding media outlets that can effectively reach target audiences. Brands today use product placements to promote their products because movie audiences are generally attentive to ads when they are incorporated in a movie’s narrative. Marvel Cinematic Universe is a globally recognized entertainment franchise that uses product placements strategically to promote brands in their movies and TV shows. In this study, I conduct rhetorical analyses of select product placements …

Traditional And Non-Traditional Gender Role Stereotypes In Children’S Animated Films, Rachael Davidson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As gender stereotypes could lead to adherence to rape myths later in life, it is important to study the potential development of gender role stereotypes. Based on the theoretical approach of Bandura’s social learning, this mixed methods study sought to expand the literature on children observing gender stereotypes through film viewing. A content analysis of verbal and body language of the highest grossing animated films between 2017-2019 was conducted. The results indicated that most main characters displayed both traditional and non-traditional gender role stereotypes, which is indicative of gender role flexibility. This shows promise that there could be a moderating …

Electronic Evidence Locker: An Ontology For Electronic Evidence, Daniel Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the rapid growth of crime data, overwhelming amounts of electronic evidence need to be stored and shared with the relevant agencies. Without addressing this challenge, the sharing of crime data and electronic evidence will be highly inefficient, and the resource requirements for this task will continue to increase. Relational database solutions face size limitations in storing larger amounts of crime data where each instance has unique attributes with unstructured nature.

In this thesis, the Electronic Evidence Locker (EEL) was proposed and developed to address such problems. The EEL was built using a NoSQL database and a C# website for …

Functional Mixed Data Clustering With Fourier Basis Smoothing, Ishmael Amartey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Clustering is an important analytical technique that has proven to affect human life positively through its application in cancer research, market segmentation, city planning etc. In this time of growing technological systems, mixed data has seen another face of longitudinal, directional and functional attributes which is worth paying attention to and analyzing. Previous research works on clustering relied largely on the inverse weight technique and B-spline in smoothing data and assessing the performance of various clustering algorithms. In 1971, Gower proposed a method of clustering for mixed variable types which has been extended to include functional and directional variables by …

Nonprofit Narratives: How Two Organizations Use Social Media And Rhetorical Appeals To Address Issues Of Sexual And Domestic Violence, Samuel Hiester

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Though often seen as a panacea for organizational objectives, nonprofits must be judicious in deploying social media, particularly due to resource limitations. Nonprofits deploy many types and styles of digital texts, including social media. Classical rhetorical appeals can be effective means for achieving positive impact in that context. When used correctly, these ‘digital texts’ can be leveraged for maximum engagement with audiences. This study examines both a large, national organization – the National Sexual Violence Resource Center – and a small, regional one – Branch House Family Justice Center – for not only what sort of digital texts are utilized, …

Familial Regulation Of Young Children's Tv Viewing In Ghana, Clara Puni-Nyamesem

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined familial regulation of young children's TV viewing in Ghana. Participants were families with young children four through eight years enrolled at a school in the south of Ghana. An online survey of TV regulation practices of families (restrictive, coviewing, and instructive), TV viewing hours of young children, and families' perception of TV influence on their children was completed by 158 family members (mostly parents). Results showed that restrictive regulation is the most predominately used strategy in Ghana, although all 3 regulation styles were used. College educated families were significantly more likely to use restrictive regulation than families …