Digital Commons Network^™

Stability Analysis And Parameter Estimation Of A Stochastic Logistic Growth Model With Multiplicative Α-Stable Lévy Noise, Bikram Bhusal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Since the population growth systems may suffer impulsive environmental disturbances such as earthquakes, epidemics, tsunamis, hurricanes, and so on, stochastic differential equations(SDEs) that are driven not only by Brownian motion but also by α-stable Lévy noises are more appropriate to model such statistical behavior of non-Gaussian processes with heavy-tailed distribution, having infinite variance and in some cases infinite first moment. In this dissertation, we study stochastic processes defined as solutions to stochastic logistic differential equations driven by multiplicative α-stable Lévy noise. We mainly focus on one-dimensional stochastic logistic jump-diffusion processes driven by Brownian motion and α-stable Lévy motion. First, we …

Stochastic Methodology To Quantify Flood-Risk For Coastal And Inland Areas, Eva L. Suarez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Current flood-risk models lack fidelity at the neighborhood level. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) develops flood maps based on experts’ experience and estimates on the probability of flooding. First Street Foundation evaluates flood risk with regional and subjective measures, without impact from torrential rain and nuisance flooding. The purpose of this research is to develop a data-driven method to determine a comprehensive flood-risk that accounts for severe, moderate, and nuisance flood events at the single-family home level, while also estimating the recovery time from the specified flood event. The method developed uses the Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) …

Swimming Control Of An Underwater Vessel With Elongated Ribbon Fin Propulsion, Mohammad Irfan Uddin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Navigation of unmanned underwater vehicles in coastal zones, tight spaces and close to structures such as ports, ship hulls and pipelines remains a difficult challenge. Currently Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) use a variety of techniques for motion control, including single thrusters with diving planes or hydrofoils, robotic wrists, or a moving mass. However, these techniques provide limited maneuverability. The objective of this work was to understand the mechanics of elongated fin propulsion for swimming and motion control of underwater vehicles. This bio-inspired propulsion is used by several fishes that swim by undulating a thin and elongated median fin that allow …

The Relationship Between Florida Accountability Programs And Merit-Based Pay In Two Large Urban Based School Districts, Nicole Michelle Walkinshaw

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

The purpose of this study was to ascertain insightful knowledge through the analysis of teacher pay across two similar K-12 public school districts that reflect the current evaluation methodology being utilized within the State of Florida. The two districts were selected because they are among the largest public school districts in the nation (Florida Department of Education [FLDOE], 2021a), have comparable student demographics and utilize contrasting weighted merit pay salary schedule profiles and algorithms which could provide insights into the relationship between accountability and merit-based pay. The Florida Standards Assessment (FSA) student assessments in (English [R%H] and Mathematics [M%H]) as …

The Role Of Relationship Alternatives In Susceptibility To Friend Inlufence, Sharon Faur

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

In the social world of adolescents, friends play an integral role in shaping adjustment. Little is known about what differentiates those who influence from those who are influenced. The current study examined the role of relationship alternatives to determine whether a relative lack of friends increases susceptibility to influence over adjustment outcomes in a sample of adolescents (N=794). Findings suggest that partners with relatively fewer friends were susceptible to influence from partners with relatively more friends over social anxiety and prosocial behavior. Both partners influenced each other’s academic engagement over time. Multiple group analyses indicated that patterns of susceptibility to …

Privacy Concerns With Using Public Data For Suicide Risk Prediction Algorithms: A Public Opinion Survey Of Contextual Appropriateness, Michael Zimmer, Sarah Logan

Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose

Existing algorithms for predicting suicide risk rely solely on data from electronic health records, but such models could be improved through the incorporation of publicly available socioeconomic data – such as financial, legal, life event and sociodemographic data. The purpose of this study is to understand the complex ethical and privacy implications of incorporating sociodemographic data within the health context. This paper presents results from a survey exploring what the general public’s knowledge and concerns are about such publicly available data and the appropriateness of using it in suicide risk prediction algorithms.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was developed to measure …

A Novel Framework For Mixed Reality–Based Control Of Collaborative Robot: Development Study, Md. Tanzil Shahria, Md. Samiul Haque Sunny, Md. Ishrak Islam Zarif, Md. Mahafuzur Rahaman Khan, Preet Parag Modi, Sheikh Iqbal Ahamed, Mohammad H. Rahman

Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

Background:

Applications of robotics in daily life are becoming essential by creating new possibilities in different fields, especially in the collaborative environment. The potentials of collaborative robots are tremendous as they can work in the same workspace as humans. A framework employing a top-notch technology for collaborative robots will surely be worthwhile for further research.

Objective:

This study aims to present the development of a novel framework for the collaborative robot using mixed reality.

Methods:

The framework uses Unity and Unity Hub as a cross-platform gaming engine and project management tool to design the mixed reality interface and digital twin. …

Guest Editorial: Introduction To Aoir 2021 Papers On Emerging Ethical Practices And Platform Challenges, Michael Zimmer

Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of Two Generalizations To The Linear Sampling Method For Inverse Scattering, Yeasmin Sultana, James E. Richie

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The linear sampling method (LSM) is a very popular method for determining the boundary of an object from the scattered field. However, there are instances where LSM provides the convex hull of the boundary rather than the true boundary. There are two common generalizations to LSM: the Generalized Linear Sampling Method (GLSM) and the Multipoles-based Linear Sampling Method (MLSM). In this paper, the ability of GLSM and MLSM to overcome some of the deficiencies of LSM are investigated. It is found that GLSM may be ideal for imaging thin features of scatterers and that MLSM can provide an improvement over …

Innovation's Hidden Externalities, Stephanie Plamondon Bair

Faculty Scholarship

When commentators discuss innovation’s externalities, they often classify them into one of two categories. On the positive externalities, or “spillovers” side, legal and economics scholars often speak of the benefits innovation confers on other innovators. Future innovators profit from past innovation as they “stand on the shoulders of giants” to develop progressively new and better innovation. Discussion of innovation’s negative externalities, on the other hand, has mainly focused on social harms not directly related to future innovation that particular advances impose on third parties—the classic example being pollution. Thus, the common understanding is that innovation’s spillovers positively impact innovation (among …

Contractual Evolution, Matthew C. Jennejohn, Eric Talley

Faculty Scholarship

Conventional wisdom portrays contracts as static distillations of parties’ shared intent at some discrete point in time. In reality, however, contract terms evolve in response to their environments, including new laws, legal interpretations, and economic shocks. While several legal scholars have offered stylized accounts of this evolutionary process, we still lack a coherent, general theory that broadly captures the dynamics of real-world contracting practice. This paper advances such a theory, in which the evolution of contract terms is a byproduct of several key features, including efficiency concerns, information, and sequential learning by attorneys who negotiate several deals over time. Each …

Actively Achieving Greater Racial Equity In The Law School Classroom, Catherine Bramble

Faculty Scholarship

2020 and 2021 continue to illustrate the pervasiveness of implicit and explicit racism in our society. Less well-acknowledged and recognized is the extent to which Socratic pedagogy also reflects those pervasive racist realities while simultaneously resulting in inferior learning based on a teaching method invented 150+ years ago. Despite this racist and outdated reality, the legal academy has been reluctant to alter the traditional method of teaching. Tangible, empirical evidence obtained from data-driven cognitive learning science research demonstrates that active learning not only improves learning outcomes for all students, but also mitigates the structural effects of racism in the classroom …

Synthetic Assembly Dna Cloning Of Multiplex Hextuple Luciferase Reporter Plasmids, Alejandro Sarrion-Perdigones, Yezabel Gonzalez, Koen J T Venken

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Multiplex hextuple luciferase assaying allows monitoring the activity of five experimental pathways against one control at the same time. To perform multiplex hextuple luciferase assaying, six orthogonal luciferase reporter units are needed of which five are pathway-specific and one acts as a control for normalization. To ensure stoichiometric delivery of all six luciferase reporters in every transfected cell, synthetic assembly DNA cloning is used to stitch together all six luciferase reporter units into a single vector. Here, we provide a detailed three-step synthetic assembly DNA protocol to generate multiplex hextuple luciferase reporter plasmids for any five cellular signaling pathways of …

The Resilience Adaptation Feasibility Tool (Raft) As An Approach For Incorporating Equity Into Coastal Resilience Planning And Project Implementation, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf, Tanya Denckla Cobb, Elizabeth Andrews, Sierra Gladfelter, Gray Montrose

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

As coastal communities across the U.S. and worldwide undertake efforts to enhance their resilience to coastal hazards, they must do so while ensuring that all voices are heard, addressing and preventing disparate impacts, and, ultimately, increasing resilience in an equitable way. The Resilience Adaptation Feasibility Tool (RAFT) assists coastal communities in incorporating equity into resilience planning and implementation of projects to increase resilience. The RAFT includes social and economic dimensions in assessment of resilience and focuses on how localities can build resilience equitably. The RAFT process has three phases -- a scorecard assessment, development of a resilience action checklist that …

Gut Microbiota From Sjögren Syndrome Patients Causes Decreased T Regulatory Cells In The Lymphoid Organs And Desiccation-Induced Corneal Barrier Disruption In Mice, Laura Schaefer, Claudia M Trujillo-Vargas, Firas S Midani, Stephen C Pflugfelder, Robert A Britton, Cintia S De Paiva

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Sjögren syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune inflammatory disorder characterized by secretory dysfunction in the eye and mouth; in the eye, this results in tear film instability, reduced tear production, and corneal barrier disruption. A growing number of studies show that homeostasis of the ocular surface is impacted by the intestinal microbiome, and several 16S sequencing studies have demonstrated dysbiosis of the intestinal microbiota in SS patients. In this study, we utilized metagenomic sequencing to perform a deeper analysis of the intestinal microbiome using stools collected from sex- and age-matched healthy (n = 20), dry eye (n = 4) …

Current State Of The Art In Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, Aditya K Birla, Sunita Brimmer, Walker D Short, Oluyinka O Olutoye, Jason A Shar, Suriya Lalwani, Philippe Sucosky, Anitha Parthiban, Sundeep G Keswani, Christopher A Caldarone, Ravi K Birla

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) is a complex congenital heart condition in which a neonate is born with an underdeveloped left ventricle and associated structures. Without palliative interventions, HLHS is fatal. Treatment typically includes medical management at the time of birth to maintain patency of the ductus arteriosus, followed by three palliative procedures: most commonly the Norwood procedure, bidirectional cavopulmonary shunt, and Fontan procedures. With recent advances in surgical management of HLHS patients, high survival rates are now obtained at tertiary treatment centers, though adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes remain a clinical challenge. While surgical management remains the standard of care for …

Climate Adaptation For Tropical Island Land Stewardship: Adapting A Workshop Planning Process To Hawai'i, Ryan J. Longman, Courtney L. Peterson, Madeline Baroli, Abby G. Frazier, Zachary Cook, Elliott W. Parsons, Maude Dinan, Katie L. Kamelamela, Caitriana Steele, Reanna Burnett, Chris Swanston, Christian P. Giardina

Geography

No abstract provided.

Screening For Balance In Children And Adults In A Community Science Education Setting: Normative Data, Influence Of Age, Sex, And Body Mass Index, And Feasibility, Phyllis Friello, Nathan Silver, Haleh Sangi-Haghpeykar, Helen S Cohen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Screening standing and walking balance is useful for people suspected of having vestibular disorders, a variety of neurologic and musculoskeletal disorders, and for screening astronauts returning after exposure to microgravity. Visitors to a community science education center children and adults, aged 4 to 85, were tested on tandem walking with eyes closed and the modified Romberg test on compliant foam. They were then asked about their experience participating in research, many people for the first time.

METHODS: Subjects performed 10 steps of tandem walking with eyes closed, and three trials of the modified Romberg, or Clinical Test of Sensory …

Optimal Fenestration Of The Fontan Circulation, Zan Ahmad, Lynn H Jin, Daniel J Penny, Craig G Rusin, Charles S Peskin, Charles Puelz

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

In this paper, we develop a pulsatile compartmental model of the Fontan circulation and use it to explore the effects of a fenestration added to this physiology. A fenestration is a shunt between the systemic and pulmonary veins that is added either at the time of Fontan conversion or at a later time for the treatment of complications. This shunt increases cardiac output and decreases systemic venous pressure. However, these hemodynamic benefits are achieved at the expense of a decrease in the arterial oxygen saturation. The model developed in this paper incorporates fenestration size as a parameter and describes both …

A Pantropical Assessment Of Deforestation Caused By Industrial Mining, Stefan Giljum, Victor Maus, Nikolas Kuschnig, Sebastian Luckeneder, Michael Tost, Laura J. Sonter, Anthony J. Bebbington

Geography

Growing demand for minerals continues to drive deforestation worldwide. Tropical forests are particularly vulnerable to the environmental impacts of mining and mineral processing. Many local- to regional-scale studies document extensive, long-lasting impacts of mining on biodiversity and ecosystem services. However, the full scope of deforestation induced by industrial mining across the tropics is yet unknown. Here, we present a biome-wide assessment to show where industrial mine expansion has caused the most deforestation from 2000 to 2019. We find that 3,264 km2 of forest was directly lost due to industrial mining, with 80% occurring in only four countries: Indonesia, Brazil, Ghana, …

Sidebar: Observations Of Declining Primary Productivity In The Western Bering Strait, Karen E. Frey, Jaclyn Clement Kinney, Larry V. Stock, Robert Osinski

Geography

No abstract provided.

An Historical Analysis Of The Fanny Edel Falk Laboratory School At The University Of Pittsburgh, Scott Meyer-Kukan

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Laboratory schools in the United States have been in existence in some form since the establishment of normal schools in 1839. Heavily criticized in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, many laboratory schools would close their doors for a variety of reasons. One laboratory school in particular, the Fanny Edel Falk Laboratory School, was established under a unique charter agreement between the Falk family and the University of Pittsburgh. The school opened its doors in the fall of 1931 and is still in operation today. The primary purpose of this qualitative historical analysis was to understand the functions and purposes of …

Irradiance Source For Exoplanet Atmospheric Spectra, Savannah Lyons

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The quantity and diversity of the known exoplanets have grown in recent years. This has brought about a need for more efficient methods of narrowing down the list to those exoplanets most likely to sustain life. The Atmosphere in a Test Tube project, which began at the University of Padova, Italy, is accomplishing this in a laboratory setting through examination of exoplanet atmospheric responses to photosynthetic bacteria under simulations of the irradiance conditions of a planet’s host star. The goal of this project was to design and construct a second-generation apparatus at Eastern Michigan University. The team focused on an …

A Comparison Of Forensic Populations Using The Validity Scales On The Mmpi-3, Steven W. Steinert

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Examining the impact of different factors influencing the validity of an individual’s self-report during a psychological assessment is important in ensuring valid clinical findings and useful recommendations. These factors are often referred to as response biases. There are multiple types of response bias that can negatively influence the validity of self-reports in clinical assessment contexts. Specifically, individuals undergoing an assessment can be impacted by non-contentbased response bias, overreporting, and underreporting of psychological impairment and/or distress. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) instruments are amongst the leading tools within professional psychology used to identify response bias. The most recent iteration, the MMPI-3, …

Examining The Intention-Behavior Gap: The Impact Of The Food Environment On The Eating Behaviors Of Low-Income African American Women, Karen Glownia

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The current study investigated environmental barriers to the intention-behavior gap. The food environment was examined as a moderator between motivation for healthy living and actual eating behavior. A sample of 55 low-income African American women (M_age = 30.25, SD = 7.46) completed self-report motivation and eating behavior questionnaires. The food environment was measured by the number and proportion of healthy and unhealthy food retailers in one’s neighborhood using ArcGIS mapping software. The results showed that greater motivation was associated with less unhealthy eating when there was relatively equal access to nearby unhealthy and healthy food retailers. When given …

The Promise And Perils Of Molecular Combing, Jeanmarie Mishler

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Dynamic Molecular Combing (DMC) is a method of making visible single molecules of DNA. The method stretches the molecules, attaching them to a glass coverslip; labels them with an intercalating dye or fluorescent antibodies; and images the molecules with fluorescent microscopy. After combing, fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) can be used to inspect regions on the DNA molecule. DMC is especially technically challenging for undergraduate research laboratories. To make the technique accessible to an undergraduate laboratory this project addresses three challenges: pH of buffer solution, NaOH exposure time, and halogenated thymidine exposure time in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). A serial pH …

Why Do I Teach Math This Way: A Qualitative Examination Of How Teacher Experiences Impact The Implementation Of Instructional Practices, Carrie A. Heaney

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Since the 1960s, there has been an effort among the mathematical education community to shift instructional practices from a focus on arithmetic, memorizing rules, and completing practice worksheets to instructional practices that allow students to see mathematics as content that requires thinking and pattern explorations. Many mathematics teachers have not fully embraced these shifts in instructional practice. This study aimed to examine secondary mathematics teachers’ experiences and how those experiences connect to teachers’ implementation of student-centered instructional practices in the lessons they design. This qualitative study utilized a grounded theory approach to examine how a teacher’s experiences as a student …

A Process-Model Perspective On Recent Changes In The Carbon Cycle Of North America, Guillermo Murray-Tortarolo, Benjamin Poulter, Rodrigo Vargas, Daniel Hayes, Anna M. Michalak, Christopher A. Williams, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Jonathan A. Wang, Kimberly P. Wickland, David Butman, Hanqin Tian, Stephen Sitch, Pierre Friedlingstein, Mike O’Sullivan, Peter Briggs, Vivek Arora, Danica Lombardozzi, Atul K. Jain, Wenping Yuan, Roland Séférian, Julia Nabel, Andy Wiltshire, Almut Arneth, Sebastian Lienert, Sönke Zaehle, Vladislav Bastrikov, Daniel Goll, Nicolas Vuichard, Anthony Walker, Etsushi Kato, Xu Yue, Zhen Zhang

Geography

Continental North America has been found to be a carbon (C) sink over recent decades by multiple studies employing a variety of estimation approaches. However, several key questions and uncertainties remain with these assessments. Here we used results from an ensemble of 19 state-of-the-art dynamic global vegetation models from the TRENDYv9 project to improve these estimates and study the drivers of its interannual variability. Our results show that North America has been a C sink with a magnitude of 0.37 ± 0.38 (mean and one standard deviation) PgC year−1 for the period 2000–2019 (0.31 and 0.44 PgC year−1 in each …