Digital Commons Network^™

Wordmuse, John M. Nelson

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Wordmuse is an application that allows users to enter a song and a list of keywords to create a new song. Built on Spotify's API, this project showcases the fusion of music composition and artificial intelligence. This paper also discusses the motivation, design, and creation of Wordmuse.

The Bridge Newsletter Winter 2022, Missouri University Of Science And Technology

The Bridge Newsletter

-Missouri S&T CO2 research is rock solid
-Bringing circular economy to construction projects
-Ph.D. graduate wins Fellowship for solar farm protection research
-Rockne presents 2022 Mathes Lecture on ways to evolve engineering education
-Missouri S&T Ph.D. graduate wins $70,000 Laegeler Fellowship for solar farm protection research

Coupled Spherical-Cavities, Stanislav Kreps, Vladimir Shuvayev, Mark Douvidzon, Baheej Bathish, Tom Lenkiewicz Abudi, Amirreza Ghaznavi, Jie Xu, Yang Lin, Lev Deych, Tal Carmon

Publications and Research

In this work, we study theoretically and experimentally optical modes of photonic molecules—clusters of optically coupled spherical resonators. Unlike previous studies, we do not use stems to hold spheres in their positions relying, instead on optical tweezers to maintain desired structures. The modes of the coupled resonators are excited using a tapered fiber and are observed as resonances with a quality factor as high as 107. Using the fluorescent mapping technique, we observe families of coupled modes with similar spatial and spectral shapes repeating every free spectral range (a spectral separation between adjacent resonances of individual spheres). Experimental results are …

Using Landsat Satellite Imagery To Estimate Groundcover In The Grainbelt Of Western Australia, Justin Laycock, Nick Middleton, Karen Holmes

Resource management technical reports

Maintaining vegetative groundcover is an important component of sustainable agricultural systems and plays a critical function for soil and land conservation in Western Australia’s (WA) grainbelt (the south-west cropping region). This report describes how satellite imagery can be used to quantitatively and objectively estimate total vegetative groundcover, both in near real time and historically across large areas. We used the Landsat seasonal fractional groundcover products developed by the Joint Remote Sensing Research Program from the extensive archive of Landsat imagery. These products provide an estimate of the percentage of green vegetation, non-green vegetation and bare soil for each 30 m …

The Price Of Longevity - Empirical Evidence From Road Pavements, Hanna Kemaw

Lyles School of Civil Engineering Graduate Student Reports

The vast network of county, city and town roads, represent a big part of public assets in most states and often account for a significant share of the public spending on roads. This spending on local road infrastructure help to build, operate, and preserve such infrastructure and therefore provide critical accessibility and mobility to the residents of counties, towns and cities. With the ever-growing volumes of personal and commercial traffic at local roads, the task of maintaining satisfactory levels of service at local roads has become more challenging, and this issue is exacerbated by limited resources, asset aging, and increasing …

Lane Management In The Era Of Cav Deployment, Sania E. Seilabi, Mohammadhosein Pourgholamali, Jiaming Wang, Mohammad Miralinaghi, Shreyas Sundaram, Samuel Labi

Center for Connected and Automated Transportation

No abstract provided.

Adapting Land Use And Infrastructure For Automated Driving, Chaojie Wang, Einat Tenenboim, Srinivas Peeta

Center for Connected and Automated Transportation

No abstract provided.

Optimizing Building Layouts For Proper Self-Shading: A Computational Approach, Amr Mamdoh Ali Youssef

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Self-shaded buildings receive great attentions especially in high-rise building in hot climate zones. This paper introduces a novel optimization approach for reforming high-rise building layout shapes (BLSs) towards better self-shaded alternatives for a given shape, along with the determination of different treatments for optimizing a given shape using shape grammar theory; their performance have been simulated by Autodesk Revit. Variables considered during the generation process include different treatments, range of treatments’ ratios and orientations along with controlling shape area and circumference if required. High-rise buildings in Egypt are used to demonstrate/validate the approach applications. The study results, through many applications, …

Beyond The Numbers: A Deeper Dive Into The Dearth Of Girls And Women In Stem, Jennifer John Buck

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Despite decades of research attempting to better understand the dearth of girls and women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), gender imbalances persist in many STEM fields. This is particularly the case in math-intensive STEM fields. The current program of research used mixed-methods research to better understand these inequities. The first paper identified gender and ethnic variation in how undergraduates reason about STEM inequities. The second paper found that how emerging adults narrate “turning points” in their relationship with math was associated with their current math outcomes and future plans to pursue math. The final paper demonstrated that how …

The Metabolic Change Of Lipid Species In Stam Mice With Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Devin J. Peart

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Primary liver cancer hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. In the US, primary liver cancer is the most rapidly increasing type of cancer due to increases in hepatitis B and C and the continued trend of greater and greater percentages of the population suffering from obesity, diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome. The prognosis for this disease is poor, with a 5-year survival rate of 26% as compared to only 2% when the cancer is metastatic. Unfortunately, current strategies for early detection of HCC, including routine CT imaging or alpha-fetoprotein biomarker, are suboptimal and tend …

What Can General Chemistry Students Learn From External Representations Of Acid- Base Titrations?, Nicole Baldwin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Laboratory activities are a prevalent and essential part of chemistry learning because of their potential to help students develop problem solving abilities, visualize chemistry concepts learned in lecture, and gain practical skills. However, learning in the laboratory environment is not without its challenges. For example, cookbook-style chemistry laboratories can promote superficial learning, and cognitive overload can result from the study of new concepts and the use of new procedures in this environment. Multiple pedagogies and supports have been developed to address challenges such as these. The current research focuses upon external representations that are commonly used to support learning in …

Deep Learning Of Microstructures, Amir Abbas Kazemzadeh Farizhandi

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The internal structure of materials also called the microstructure plays a critical role in the properties and performance of materials. The chemical element composition is one of the most critical factors in changing the structure of materials. However, the chemical composition alone is not the determining factor, and a change in the production process can also significantly alter the materials' structure. Therefore, many efforts have been made to discover and improve production methods to optimize the functional properties of materials. The most critical challenge in finding materials with enhanced properties is to understand and define the salient features of the …

Meshfree Methods For Pdes On Surfaces, Andrew Michael Jones

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on meshfree methods for solving surface partial differential equations (PDEs). These PDEs arise in many areas of science and engineering where they are used to model phenomena ranging from atmospheric dynamics on earth to chemical signaling on cell membranes. Meshfree methods have been shown to be effective for solving surface PDEs and are attractive alternatives to mesh-based methods such as finite differences/elements since they do not require a mesh and can be used for surfaces represented only by a point cloud. The dissertation is subdivided into two papers and software.

In the first paper, we examine the …

Hate Speech Detection Using Textual And User Features, Rohan Raut

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Social media platforms provide users with a powerful platform to share their ideas. Using one’s right to expression to incite hatred toward a particular group of people is inappropriate. However, hate speech is pervasive in our society. Spreading hate through online social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok, and Instagram is commonplace in today’s milieu. One such case is the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, which engendered anti-Asian hate.

In current literature, there is limited study on using user features in conjunction with textual features to detect hate. This thesis aims to combine textual features with user features to improve the state-of-the-art hate …

The Role Of Radiomics And Ai Technologies In The Segmentation, Detection, And Management Of Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Dalia Fahmy, Ahmed Alksas, Ahmed Elnakib, Ali Mahmoud, Heba Kandil, Ashraf Khalil, Mohammed Ghazal, Eric Van Bogaert, Sohail Contractor, Ayman El-Baz

All Works

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary hepatic neoplasm. Thanks to recent advances in computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), there is potential to improve detection, segmentation, discrimination from HCC mimics, and monitoring of therapeutic response. Radiomics, artificial intelligence (AI), and derived tools have already been applied in other areas of diagnostic imaging with promising results. In this review, we briefly discuss the current clinical applications of radiomics and AI in the detection, segmentation, and management of HCC. Moreover, we investigate their potential to reach a more accurate diagnosis of HCC and to guide proper treatment planning.

Carbon Sinks And Sources In Great Salt Lake: Consequences Of Declining Lake Levels, Melissa Cobo Arias

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Globally, saline lakes are experiencing declining water level as a consequence of climate change, water diversions for human consumption, and management strategies that do not account for changing climate and drought conditions. Great Salt Lake (GSL) is a large saline lake in Utah, USA, and is, as most saline lakes, experiencing decreasing lake levels which may impact local carbon cycling. It is unknown how lakebed drying affects processes that control carbon sequestration and carbon emissions to the atmosphere. The goal of this research was to measure various biological processes that use, create, and transform carbon in GSL to understand the …

Interacting With A Chatbot-Based Advising System: Understanding The Effect Of Chatbot Personality And User Gender On Behavior, Mohammad Amin Kuhail, Justin Thomas, Salwa Alramlawi, Syed Jawad Hussain Shah, Erik Thornquist

All Works

Chatbots with personality have been shown to affect engagement and user subjective satisfaction. Yet, the design of most chatbots focuses on functionality and accuracy rather than an interpersonal communication style. Existing studies on personality-imbued chatbots have mostly assessed the effect of chatbot personality on user preference and satisfaction. However, the influence of chatbot personality on behavioral qualities, such as users’ trust, engagement, and perceived authenticity of the chatbots, is largely unexplored. To bridge this gap, this study contributes: (1) A detailed design of a personality-imbued chatbot used in academic advising. (2) Empirical findings of an experiment with students who interacted …

Addressing The Teacher Shortage: A Study Of Local School Human Resource Efforts In Illinois, Sean C. Potts

Dissertations

Shortages of highly qualified teachers may be one of the greatest challenges school districts face today. This study is an exploration of how eight school districts in Illinois, ranging from rural to suburban and encompassing elementary, high school, and unit organizations, experienced the effects of a teacher shortage in 2021. The three primary research questions of this study included: (1) To what degree were local districts feeling the impact of the teacher shortage in Illinois, and how did those shortages manifest themselves?; (2) What factors did local human resource directors believe to be contributing most to any obstacles they may …

Integrating Media Literacy Into General Education Core Courses For Undergraduates, Christen Embry

Dissertations

This study aimed to understand the essential nature of media literacy, evaluate pre-developed higher education classes for existing media literacy context, and recommend best practices for incorporating media literacy into an undergraduate curriculum. This mixed-methods study of media literacy in undergraduate college courses explored the presence and absence of media literacy lessons within core classes by auditing 15 online course shells accessed through the university’s Learning Management System (LMS). Specifically, all the courses surveyed included the first skill of media literacy, Access; 33% of the classes included Analyze; 27% included Creation; 20% included Reflection; and 20% included Action. Once the …

Community College Success: Reexamining Metrics Of Success Through A Cohort Cluster Analysis Of Student Stakeholders, Abigail D. Baird

Education Doctoral

Community college success is measured by graduation rates. This metric of success does not account for the diverse types of students attending community colleges and all the outcomes that result. The purpose of this quantitative cohort cluster analysis is to analyze course taking behavior, and outcomes of various student stakeholders, to better understand the students and how successful community colleges are. Using archival student enrollment data, the study focused on a relatively recent cohort of students enrolled at community colleges in New York State for the first time in fall 2014. The five clusters were identified as: minimally committed, high …

Optimization For A Sturm--Liouville Problem With The Spectral Parameter In The Boundary Condition, Tanner Smith

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

We find an optimal mass of a structure described by a Sturm-Liouville (S-L) problem with a spectral parameter in the boundary conditions. While previous work on the subject focused on a somewhat simplified model, we consider a more general S-L problem. We use the calculus of variations approach to determine a set of critical points of a corresponding mass functional, yet these critical points - which we call \textit{predesigns} - do not necessarily themselves represent meaningful solutions. It is natural to expect a mass to be real and positive. To this end, we additionally introduce a set of solvability conditions …

Landscape Genomics Of The Tussock Cottongrass (Eriophorum Vaginatum) And The Dwarf Birch (Betula Nana) In North Central Alaska, Elizabeth Stunz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Global climate change has resulted in geographic range shifts of flora and fauna at a global scale. Extreme environments, like the Arctic, are seeing some of the most pronounced changes. This region covers 14% of the Earthâ??s land area, and while many arctic species are widespread, understanding ecotypic variation at the genomic level will be important for elucidating how range shifts will affect ecological processes. Increase in shrub cover is a major effect of ongoing climate change in arctic tundra ecosystems. The relative increases in abundance and cover of shrub species such as birch, willow, and alder (Betula, Salix, and …

Rethinking Committee Work In The Research Enterprise: The Case Of Regenerative Gatekeeping, Jonathan C. Lewis, Aixa Alemán-Díaz, Mona Behl, Sarah Kolesar, Lisa White, Brandon Jones, Corey Garza, Sharon Cooper

Marine Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Committees touch nearly every facet in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics research enterprise. However, the role of gatekeeping through committee work has received little attention in Earth and space sciences. We propose a novel concept called, “regenerative gatekeeping” to challenge institutional inertia, cultivate belonging, accessibility, justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion in committee work. Three examples, a hiring committee process, a seminar series innovation, and an awards committee, highlight the need to self-assess policies and practices, ask critical questions and engage in generative conflict. Rethinking committee work can activate distributed mechanisms needed to promote change.

Inspiring Students In Careers In Science, Technology, Engineering, And Math (Stem) Using Science Fairs, Sydney Ann Guire

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Science fairs have many benefits when it comes to students’ academic success. They are an opportunity for them to explore, experiment, and find their own interests. Science fairs help provide students with experiences and pursue future careers in STEM. Given the importance in STEM, not all school districts host science fairs for their students. The purpose of this capstone project is to examine the benefits of science fairs on students through the use of literature review, teacher and school administrator interviews, and student surveys. The findings indicate that science fairs inspire students to create a love for science and continue …

Modeling Of Laminar-To-Turbulent Transition Using A Hybrid Multi-Scale Simulation Strategy, Mickael Young

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Laminar-to-turbulent transition is a phenomenon observed in practical applications. Robust computational models are needed to predict the onset of transition and the associated flow dynamics. Direct numerical simulation (DNS), although suitable for fundamental studies, tends to be computationally expensive, thus making large-eddy simulations (LES) a viable strategy. In LES, large scales of the flow field are computed, and the effects of small scales are modeled. In this study, the hybrid two-level large-eddy simulation strategy (TLS-LES) is being assessed for its ability to predict features of transition. The TLS-LES strategy blends the two-level simulation (TLS) and LES models. TLS is a …

Addressing The Challenges Facing Deep Learning Based Specific Emitter Identification Via Preamble Based Waveforms, Joshua Tyler

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to conduct in-depth experiments that analyze the effects on Deep Learning (DL) based Specific Emitter Identification (SEI) and address three issues facing the field. SEI is targeted as a physical-layer security measure that can identify radios within an Internet of Things (IoT) deployment without the need of digital credentials. In the current space, DL SEI is still in its infancy, and has not had the incubation time for a tailor-suited approach to solve issues facing SEI. This thesis introduces methods of improving DL SEI using transforms to allow the networks to learn features that …

Predicting Enrollment In A Metropolitan University In Southeast Tennessee, Cynthia Williamson

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Institutions of higher education are tasked with making decisions that will impact their students, faculty, staff, and other stakeholders. Many of these decisions are focused on varying aspects of budgeting, and an institution’s sustainability and reputation could be impacted by misallocations of resources. Some of this risk could potentially be eliminated if there was a strategic way to predict which data points have meaningful impact on student enrollment. This study used data collected at a metropolitan university in Southeast Tennessee for six fall semesters to develop enrollment prediction models for the institution. The focus of the study was to determine …

Application Of Game Theory For Adaptive Energy Conscious Traffic Control At Isolated Intersections And Arterial Corridors, Jibril Babatunde

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Traffic congestion is a growing issue in many counties and cities in the United States and around the world. According to recent statistics [1], congestion costs the United States $74.1 billion every year, with $66.1 billion of this cost occurring in urban areas. This has led to a myriad of problems including environmental pollution, increased fuel consumption, increased crash probability, depression, and wasted work hours. Thanks to new technologies that have enabled data collection and processing, machine learning, and computer vision, new solutions can be proposed to tackle this multi-faceted challenge of congestion and rapidly improve the quality of life …

Dynamic Soil Properties In The Lower Rio Grande Valley: Understanding Responses Of Infiltration Rate, Bulk Density, Aggregate Stability To Different Tillage Practices, Temiloluwa Faith Awotoye

Theses and Dissertations

Dynamic Soil Properties (DSPs) are soil properties that change in response to both natural and human-caused interruptions and pressures such as agro-based and wildland management. These soil properties can transform for months or even years in response to the farm use and management procedures. This research project investigates the relationship between different dynamic soil physical properties and tillage practices in the Texas Hidalgo sandy clay loam benchmark soil series. Data analyses was done to compare the effect of tillage to these soil physical properties and build a discussion about relationships between on-farm practices to other aspects of farm viability. We …

Dynamic Soil Properties In The Lower Rio Grande Valley: Carbon And Nitrogen Responses To Different Tillage Practices, Luzyannet Ballesteros Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

There has been increased attention in utilizing agriculture for carbon sequestration. Soil carbon and nitrogen are two dynamic soil properties (DSPs) that are indicators of soil health and function and have overlapping cycles. These soil properties change frequently as a result of environmental conditions and agricultural management practices. This study focuses on the impact of tillage practices in unirrigated agricultural fields in Hidalgo and Willacy counties located in South Texas on Hidalgo Sandy Clay Loam; With a particular focus on Soil Total Carbon (TC), Soil Inorganic Carbon (SIC), Permanganate Oxidizable Carbon (POXC), Carbon and Nitrogen ratio (C:N), Soil Organic Matter …