Digital Commons Network^™

Mss0210. Winona Jehl Family Records Finding Aid

Special Collections Finding Aids

This collection consists of papers recording receipts and land transfers in Lauderdale County, Alabama, concerning various families during the mid to late 19^th century.

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Mss0396. Tennessee Document Collection Finding Aid

Special Collections Finding Aids

The collection comprises deeds, depositions, warrants, tax receipts, court orders, accounts and correspondence concerning individuals living in Tennessee in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

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Mss0233. Kenneth R. Petrucci Papers Finding Aid

Special Collections Finding Aids

This collection contains the papers of Kenneth R. Petrucci regarding his poetry writings, correspondence with publishers, book signings, and features in newspaper articles in Memphis, Tennessee, and Houston, Texas.

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Mss0238. Voices Of American Homemakers Collection Finding Aid

Special Collections Finding Aids

The Voices of American Homemakers collection (1981-1983) consists of interviews with 196 women throughout the United States about homemaking in the first half of the twentieth century. The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded a major grant to the National Extension Homemakers Council for a three-year nationwide project to collect, process, and disseminate representative oral histories from rural homemakers throughout the country.

Mss0508. Paul Erdős Collection Finding Aid

Special Collections Finding Aids

The collection is composed of documents related to Paul Erdős¹, his work, and his relationships with other mathematicians. It includes correspondence, obituaries, articles, and other material related to Paul Erdős.

¹ Paul Erdős’ surname in this collection is spelled using the Hungarian “ő” (o with double acute accent) to match Hungarian orthography. Alternate spellings, used primarily by Western presses, include “Erdos” (o without marks) or “Erdös” (o with umlaut) due to spelling errors, limited key options, or limited browser compatibility.

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Mss0008. Hamilton Parks Papers Finding Aid

Special Collections Finding Aids

The collection comprises legal documents including deeds, receipts and other documents, and fourteen notebooks that served as financial records and diaries.

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How Do Team Workloads And Team Staffing Affect The Audit? Archival Evidence From U.S. Audits, Brant E. Christensen, Nathan J. Newton, Michael S. Wilkins

Faculty Publications

We use U.S. data from a global accounting firm to investigate how two key elements of audit teams eworkloads and staffing continuity e affect the audit. We find that heavier team workloads are associated with lower audit quality, particularly when team members have lower performance ratings or have total workloads that exceed 60 h per week. In addition to finding evidence of employee burnout, we also document an incremental distraction effect. Specifically, we find that audit quality on the primary client suffers when team members spend more time during busy season on other concurrent clients. Regarding continuity, we find that …

A Modified Delphi Approach To Develop A Trial Protocol For Antibiotic De-Escalation In Patients With Suspected Sepsis, Michael E Yarrington, Rebekah W Moehring, Michael Z David, Keith W Hamilton, Michael Klompas, Chanu Rhee, Kevin Hsueh, Elizabeth Dodds Ashley, Ronda L Sinkowitz-Cochran, Matthew Ryan, Deverick J Anderson, Detours Expert Panel Of The Cdc Prevention Epicenters Program

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Background: Early administration of antibiotics in sepsis is associated with improved patient outcomes, but safe and generalizable approaches to de-escalate or discontinue antibiotics after suspected sepsis events are unknown.

Methods: We used a modified Delphi approach to identify safety criteria for an opt-out protocol to guide de-escalation or discontinuation of antibiotic therapy after 72 hours in non-ICU patients with suspected sepsis. An expert panel with expertise in antimicrobial stewardship and hospital epidemiology rated 48 unique criteria across 3 electronic survey rating tools. Criteria were rated primarily based on their impact on patient safety and feasibility for extraction from electronic health …

Evaluation Of A Hybrid Antimicrobial Restriction Process At A Large Academic Medical Center, Jesse D Smith, Linh H Nguyen, Tamara Krekel, Jerrica Waggoner, David J Ritchie, Michael J Durkin, Kevin Hsueh, Elizabeth A Neuner

2020-Current year OA Pubs

We conducted a retrospective review of a hybrid antimicrobial restriction process demonstrating adherence to appropriate use criteria in 72% of provisional-only orders, in 100% of provisional orders followed by ID orders, and in 97% of ID-initiated orders. Therapy interruptions occurred in 24% of provisional orders followed by ID orders.

Harvesting Heat From Safer, Energy-Dense Slow Pyrolant Mixtures For Future Space Missions, Katerina Chagoya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Energy sources powering space missions range from highly energetic nuclear reactions to short-lifetime and low-output batteries. The proper selection of a power system is dependent on the mission duration and destination and oftentimes energy sources that may be optimal for the former may be unsuitable for the latter. Various limitations of these power sources hinder the capacity for regular and frequent space exploration. However, the ability to harvest heat for electrical power generation would allow for long-distance and long-duration missions at a reduced cost. By employing a regulated, self-propagating, exothermic chemical reaction between solid fuel and oxidizer, we hope to …

Implication Of Manifold Assumption In Deep Learning Models For Computer Vision Applications, Marzieh Edraki

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The Deep Neural Networks (DNN) have become the main contributor in the field of machine learning (ML). Specifically in the computer vision (CV), there are applications like image and video classification, object detection and tracking, instance segmentation and visual question answering, image and video generation are some of the applications from many that DNNs have demonstrated magnificent progress. To achieve the best performance, the DNNs usually require a large number of labeled samples, and finding the optimal solution for such complex models with millions of parameters is a challenging task. It is known that, the data are not uniformly distributed …

Evaluating Carbon Uptake And Storage Potential Of Three Pine Species Across Environmental Gradients In Florida, Alicia Formanack

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Natural climate solutions, such as reforestation, are increasingly called for to lower atmospheric CO2 concentrations and prevent further warming of the climate. Predictive modeling of forest stand dynamics provides a quantitative framework that can be used to select the tree species with the highest carbon (C) uptake potential for restoration efforts based upon site-specific and species-specific data. To simulate stand dynamics and compare C uptake and storage potential of three pine species across Florida, I developed individual-based models that combined environmentally-sensitive tree growth models with background mortality taken from the literature. Growth model parameters were estimated using space for time …

High Risk Environmental Conditions Attenuate Distance, Speed, And Performance Efficiency Index In Ncaa D1 Female Soccer Players, Maxine Furtado Mesa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of environmental conditions on running performance and performance efficiency index (Effindex). METHODS: Performance data recorded using Polar Pro sensors from eight collegiate female soccer players in nine matches were analyzed during the 2019 competitive season. Effindex and running performance, including total distance covered relative to minutes played (TDREL) and distance covered in five-speed thresholds, were examined for indications of fatigue with rising environmental conditions, including ambient temperature and relative humidity. Matches were separated into three groups based on environmental condition risk: low (Low-Risk; n= 2 matches), moderate (Moderate-Risk; n=3 matches), or high (High-Risk; n=4 matches). …

Evaluating Ozone And Granular Activated Carbon Treatment For Control Of Disinfection By-Product Formation For A Central Florida Groundwater Supply, Devon Higgins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

A pilot investigation that compared ozone oxidation with an integrated ozone and granular activated carbon (GAC) process for the control of regulated disinfection by-products at the University of Central Florida's water plant located at the Orlando campus has been completed. Treatment effectiveness was measured by monitoring the parameters pH, temperature, non-purgeable dissolved organic carbon (DOC), ultraviolet absorbance at a wavelength of 254 nm (UV254), specific ultraviolet absorbance (SUVA), excitation emission matrices (EEMs) and the associated formation of the DBP chemical groups total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs). Groundwater that contained an average of 2.5 milligrams per liter (mg/L) DOC …

Can Pushing Employees To Recover From Work Backfire? The Joint Effect Of Perceived Pressure From The Supervisor To Perform And To Recover On Daily Employee Outcomes, Reka Lassu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

High performance demands made to employees by supervisors can be perceived as motivating or abusive depending on the "eye of the beholder" (Bies et al., 2016). One of the ways in which supervisors make high performance demands is by putting pressure on their employees to successfully complete their job tasks. However, the extant literature is inconsistent in terms of the outcomes of experiencing general performance pressure. Some studies show that it leads to functional outcomes (e.g., Eisenberger & Aselage, 2009), while others show that it leads to dysfunctional ones (e.g., Mitchell et al., 2018). Recent work integrates these findings, explaining …

Characterization Of Hydrogenated Boron Carbide And Boron Carbon Nitride Thin Films And Applications, Shraddha Dhanraj Nehate

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Dimension scaling has been the driving force for improved performance of semiconductor integrated circuits (ICs) for the past few decades. While the semiconductor industry continues to achieve returns on Moore's law, the resistance-capacitance (RC) delay remains a critical bottleneck towards further performance improvement. To support advanced computing performance, the development and integration of new low dielectric (low-k) materials to reduce the capacitance of interconnects are crucial. Apart from the low dielectric constant value, one of the other vital parameters to replace the current dielectric material is mechanical stability. Materials in the boron, carbon, and nitrogen ternary triangle have emerged promising …

Long-Term Changes In Juvenile Green Turtle Abundance And Foraging Ecology In The Indian River Lagoon, Florida, Christopher Long

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Marine turtles are distributed in temperate, sub-tropical and tropical waters and beaches worldwide, often in areas heavily impacted by humans. Although there are many threats to marine turtle populations, the growing threats of nutrient pollution and harmful algal blooms are relatively understudied despite their widespread impacts on coastal marine ecosystems that marine turtles depend on. By studying juvenile green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, where nutrient pollution and HABs are a widespread and longstanding issue, I aimed to conduct a case study of how these threats may affect this federally Threatened species. In Chapter 2, I …

Spermidine Rescued Ptpn2/22 Function In Crispr-Cas9-Edited T-Cells With Ptpn2/22 Snps Linked To Crohn's Disease And Rheumatoid Arthritis, Ameera Shaw

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Inflammatory autoimmune diseases like Crohn's Disease (CD) and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) share some of the same single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor types 2 and 22 (PTPN2/22), which contribute to their pathogenesis. In clinical CD and RA samples, PTPN2:rs478582 and PTPN22:rs2476601 were found to exacerbate a number of inflammatory processes associated with CD and RA. To confirm the role of these SNPs in CD and RA pathogenesis, CRISPR-Cas9 was used to induce the SNPs in T-cells. Cells were also treated with the naturally occurring polyamine, spermidine, to restore PTPN2/22 function and reverse the inflammatory effects of the …

A Comparison Of The Foraging Biology Of Two Tropical Gecko Species In Disturbed Areas, Charles Cummings, Tony Gamble, Michael Wells

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

The traditional foraging mode dichotomy in lizards has been one of ambush predators vs. wide ranging predators. Each mode has been associated with its own suite of other complementary characteristics, including metabolic rates, sensory capacities, as well as predator and prey species. While foraging mode within lizard families is often consistent, few studies have compared the foraging modes of sympatric members of a clade in which one species is nocturnal and the other diurnal. Hemidactylus frenatus, an introduced, nocturnal house gecko, and Gonatodes albogularis, a native, diurnal species, inhabit disturbed habitats in Costa Rica. Using traditional movement-based indices, moves per …

Sperm Fate Is Promoted By The Mir-44 Microrna Family In The Caenorhabditis Elegans Hermaphrodite Germline, Katherine Ann Maniates, Benjamin S. Olson, Allison L. Abbott

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression, typically effected by RNA-binding proteins, microRNAs (miRNAs), and translation initiation factors, is essential for normal germ cell function. Numerous miRNAs have been detected in the germline; however, the functions of specific miRNAs remain largely unknown. Functions of miRNAs have been difficult to determine as miRNAs often modestly repress target mRNAs and are suggested to sculpt or fine tune gene expression to allow for the robust expression of cell fates. In Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodites, cell fate decisions are made for germline sex determination during larval development when sperm are generated in a short window before the …

Early Olfactory, But Not Gustatory Processing, Is Affected By The Selection Of Heritable Cognitive Phenotypes In Honey Bee, Meghan M. Bennett, Chelsea N. Cook, Brian H. Smith, Hong Lei

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Associative learning enables animals to predict rewards or punishments by their associations with predictive stimuli, while non-associative learning occurs without reinforcement. The latter includes latent inhibition (LI), whereby animals learn to ignore an inconsequential ‘familiar’ stimulus. Individual honey bees display heritable differences in expression of LI. We examined the behavioral and neuronal responses between honey bee genetic lines exhibiting high and low LI. We observed, as in previous studies, that high LI lines learned a familiar odor more slowly than low LI bees. By measuring gustatory responses to sucrose, we determined that perception of sucrose reward was similar between both …

Kinematic And Acoustic Changes To Vowels And Diphthongs In Bite Block Speech, Christopher Dromey, Michelle Richins, Tanner Low

Faculty Publications

Purpose: We examined the effect of bite block insertion (BBI) on lingual movements and formant frequencies in corner vowel and diphthong production in a sentence context. Method: Twenty young adults produced the corner vowels (/u/, /ɑ/, /æ/, /i/) and the diphthong /ɑɪ/ in sentence contexts before and after BBI. An electromagnetic articulograph measured the movements of the tongue back, middle, and front. Results: There were significant decreases in the acoustic vowel articulation index and vowel space area following BBI. The kinematic vowel articulation index decreased significantly for the back and middle of the tongue but not for the front. There …

Prediction Of Emg Activation Profiles From Gait Kinematics And Kinetics During Multiple Terrains, Erika V. Zabre-Gonzalez, Diego Amieva-Alvarado, Scott A. Beardsley

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Continuous myoelectric prediction of intended limb dynamics has the ability to provide transparent control of a prosthesis by the user. However, the impact on these models of adding a human user into the control loop is less clear. Here, the ability of a User Response Model (URM) to continuously predict EMG activity from gait kinematics and kinetics collected during three mobility tasks (level-ground walking, stair ascent, and stair descent) was examined. Multiple-input, multiple-output NARX-based URMs were developed with two outputs (ankle plantarflexor and dorsiflexor) and variable inputs (ankle kinetics, and shank and/or ankle kinematics). Accuracy in predicting the tibialis anterior …

A Longitudinal Study Of Interprofessional Education In Graduate Students From Rehabilitation Sciences, Sarah Elkington, Connie Summers, Celia Pechak, Patricia Lara, Francesca Hernandez

Faculty Publications

• Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. A longitudinal study evaluated the effects of interprofessional education (IPE) experiences on 71 rehabilitation science graduate students' perceptions of interprofessional collaboration (IPC). Physical therapy, OT, and speech-language pathology students rated their perceptions of IPC and their knowledge of other disciplines' roles across their first year of graduate school. IPE experiences are an important aspect of professional preparation. Primary Author and Speaker: Sarah Elkington Contributing Authors: Connie Summers, Celia Pechak, Patricia Lara, and Francesca Hernandez

Media And Information Literate Citizens: Think Critically, Click Wisely!, Alton Grizzle, Carolyn Wilson, Ramon Tuazon, Chi Kim Cheung, Jesus Lau, Rachel Fischer, Dorothy Gordon, Kwame Akyempong, Jagtar Singh, Paul R. Carr, Kristine N. Stewart, Samy Tayie, Olunifesi Suraj, Maarit Jaakkola, Gina Thésée, Curmira Gulston

All Works

Can we improve our societies by clicking wisely?

Content providers such as libraries, archives, museums, media and digital communications companies can enable inclusive and sustainable development. However, they do not always live up to these ideals, which creates challenges for the users of these services. Content providers of all types open up new opportunities for lifelong learning. But at the same time, they open up challenges such as misinformation and disinformation, hate speech, and infringement of online privacy, among others.

Media and information literacy is a set of competencies that help people to maximize advantages and minimize harms. Media and …

Improving Higher-Order Comprehension Skills Of Grade 3 Learners In A Second Language At A Quintile 2 School, In Cape Town, South Africa, Vuyokazi Fatyela, Janet Condy, Lawrence Meda, Heather Phillips

All Works

Background: Developing higher-order comprehension skills of learners in primary schools is a challenge that faces many countries. South Africa is no exception. Primary school learners in South Africa have particularly low literacy and comprehension skills: many learners struggle to read for understanding. There is little published scholarship that focuses on developing the comprehension skills of Grade 3 learners in a second language. A lack of practical classroom knowledge in this area is what this article seeks to address. Objectives: To improve the higher-order comprehension skills of Grade 3 learners in a second language. Method: A qualitative approach, using a case …

A Novel Efficient Quantum Random Access Memory, Mohammed Zidan, Abdel-Haleem Abdel-Aty, Ashraf Khalil, Mahmoud Abdel-Aty, Hichem Eleuch

All Works

Owing to the significant progress in manufacturing desktop quantum computers, the quest to achieve efficient quantum random access memory (QRAM) became inevitable. In this paper, we propose a novel efficient random access memory for quantum computers. The proposed QRAM has a fixed structure and can be used efficiently to store both known and unknown classical/quantum data. The storage capacity of the proposed QRAM is more efficient than that of the classical RAMs and can be used to store both classical and quantum information. Furthermore, the proposed model can access an arbitrary location in O(1) compared with other state-of-the-art models.

Synergygrids: Blockchain-Supported Distributed Microgrid Energy Trading, Moayad Aloqaily, Ouns Bouachir, Öznur Özkasap, Faizan Safdar Ali

All Works

Growing intelligent cities is witnessing an increasing amount of local energy generation through renewable energy resources. Energy trade among the local energy generators (aka prosumers) and consumers can reduce the energy consumption cost and also reduce the dependency on conventional energy resources, not to mention the environmental, economic, and societal benefits. However, these local energy sources might not be enough to fulfill energy consumption demands. A hybrid approach, where consumers can buy energy from both prosumers (that generate energy) and also from prosumer of other locations, is essential. A centralized system can be used to manage this energy trading that …

Translanguaging And Reading Comprehension In A Second Language, Muhammad Asif Qureshi, Ahmad Aljanadbah

All Works

The current study examined the impact of translanguaging on second language reading comprehension. The study involved an experimental and a control group. The participants in the experimental group (n = 38) were offered four opportunities to engage Arabic–their first language–in comprehending a text in English. These occasions for translanguaging included: (a) receiving Arabic glosses (i.e., only meaning) for key terms in the text, (b) employing their first language for summarizing four paragraphs from the passage, (c) using their first language in discussion for comparing summaries with peers, and (d) consulting the Arabic meanings (provided) while attempting the vocabulary items. After …

China Between Iran And The Gulf Monarchies, Jonathan Fulton

All Works

China's deepening ties to Iran, evident in the comprehensive strategic partnership (CSP) signed in 2021 after five years of stalled progress, is not an indication of a revisionist Chinese approach to the Gulf region. In fact, its CSPs with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, already activated and implemented, are at far more mature levels, commensurate with China's deep levels of economic and political engagement with the Arab side of the Gulf. This is consistent with a strategic hedging approach that Beijing has used to build a sustainable presence without disrupting a competitive and fragile regional order. With far …