Digital Commons Network^™

Jews And Science, Sander L. Gilman

The Jewish Role in American Life: An Annual Review

Jews and Science examines the complicated relationship between Jewish identities and the evolving meanings of science throughout the history of Western academic culture. Jews have been not only the agents for study of things Jewish, but also the subject of examination by “scientists” across a range of disciplines, from biology and bioethics to anthropology and genetics. Even the most recent iteration of Jewish studies as an academic discipline—Israel studies—stresses the global cultural, economic, and social impact of Israeli science and medicine.

The 2022 volume of the Casden Institute’s Jewish Role in American Life series tackles a range of issues that …

The Impacts Of Phone Use In The High School Mathematics Classroom, Kaitlin Rubash

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This study investigated the impact, both academic and emotional, of phone use on tenth through twelfth grade students in a high school Advanced Algebra class. The research was carried out through comparing quizzes and the unit test scores from the second unit of the school year. The scores were compared between classes that had access to their phones and those that were required to place their phone in a holder at the start of each class period throughout the unit. The researcher also had students fill out two surveys to see how they felt the impact of not having their …

The Impact Of Flexible Seating On Academic Performance Within An Elementary Classroom, Austin Hendershot

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This study examined how the implementation of flexible seating in an elementary classroom impacted academic achievement. The focus for this study was to determine if allowing students the opportunity to choose the type of seating they use is more beneficial than having every student sit in traditional seating arrangements of desks and chairs. Data was collected through pre- and post-tests via the STAR Reading and Math assessments, and analyzed in a Google Sheet. This nine-week study took place within two 3rd grade classrooms, with a total of 38 participants, in a small school in west-central Minnesota. The results of this …

Temporal Optical Activity And Chiral Time-Interfaces [Invited], Shixiong Yin, Yao-Ting Wang, Andrea Alù

Advanced Science Research Center

Time-interfaces, at which the optical properties of a medium undergo abrupt and spatially uniform changes, have attracted surging interest in optics and wave physics. In this work, we study wave scattering at time-interfaces involving chiral media. Dual to spatial interfaces involving chiral media, we show that a propagating wave is split upon a chiral time-interface into two orthogonal circular polarization waves oscillating at different frequencies. We formulate the temporal scattering boundary-value problem at such time-interfaces, and then demonstrate the effect of temporal optical activity through a chiral time-slab. The effect of material dispersion is also analyzed, highlighting interesting opportunities in …

A Deep Learning-Based Model For Plant Lesion Segmentation, Subtype Identification, And Survival Probability Estimation, Muhammad Shoaib, Babar Shah, Tariq Hussain, Akhtar Ali, Asad Ullah, Fayadh Alenezi, Tsanko Gechev, Farman Ali, Ikram Syed

All Works

Plants are the primary source of food for world’s population. Diseases in plants can cause yield loss, which can be mitigated by continual monitoring. Monitoring plant diseases manually is difficult and prone to errors. Using computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI) for the early identification of plant illnesses can prevent the negative consequences of diseases at the very beginning and overcome the limitations of continuous manual monitoring. The research focuses on the development of an automatic system capable of performing the segmentation of leaf lesions and the detection of disease without requiring human intervention. To get lesion region segmentation, we …

Fourier Acceleration In The Linear Sigma Model, Cameron Cianci

Honors Scholar Theses

The linear sigma model is a low energy effective model of Quantum Chromodynamics. This model mimics the breaking of chiral symmetry both spontaneously and explicitly through the quark condensate and pion mass matrix respectively. Fourier acceleration is a method that can be implemented in the Hybrid Monte-Carlo algorithm which decreases autocorrelations due to critical slowing down through tuning the mass parameters in the HMC algorithm. Fourier acceleration is applied to the linear sigma model with a novel mass estimation procedure, by assuming the modes behave approximately like simple harmonic oscillators. The masses are chosen by sampling the expectation values of …

Big Data Analytics Of Medical Data, Ashwin Rajasankar

Masters Projects

Data has become a huge part of modern decision making. With the improvements in computing performance and storage in the past two decades, storing large amounts of data has become much easier. Analyzing large amounts of data and creating data models with them can help organizations obtain insights and information which helps their decision making. Big data analytics has become an integral part of many fields such as retail, real estate, education, and medicine. In the project, the goal is to understand the working of Apache Spark and its different storage methods and create a data warehouse to analyze data. …

Analyzing Patterns Of Complexity In Pre-University L2 English Writing, Zachary M. Lambert

Theses and Dissertations

The present study involves the creation and analysis of a corpus containing 7747 samples of timed, pre-matriculated L2 English writing from an IEP. The focus of the analysis is on three phrasal complexity measures with time and proficiency as fixed effects, examining their impact on each measure. Results of the analysis suggest that this is true for some phrasal measures, such as nominalizations and attributive adjectives, while others, such as noun-noun phrases, may indicate a lower level of proficiency or lesser allotted writing time. Nominalizations in particular demonstrated a strong relationship with both allotted time and proficiency, further suggesting that …

The Value Of Using Popular Music And Performers On Brand And Message Recall In Television Advertising Jingles, Ahmed Taher, Heba Y. El Badawy

Faculty Journal Articles

This study offers insights into two critical decisions in jingle-based advertising. How much more could the producer pay to buy the rights to popular music to add to advertising jingles? And how much more could they pay a popular performer to sing the jingle? Will doing so enhance the brand or message recall to justify the investment? Based on 300 interviews that measured unaided and aided day-after recall of five jingle ads concurrently aired on television, popular music and performers increased unaided and aided recall of brand name and ad message. Compared to the base case, a popular performer can …

Docker Container Image – Vulnerability Scanning, Joseph U. Ohaeche

Masters Projects

The technology landscape for container adoption has greatly evolved over the years from the first known Unix U7 container concept introduced in 1979 to the most utilized docker container concept which emerged in 2013. Docker container image is essentially a lightweight, standalone executable software package with capabilities to run an application. It is important to know that container images become containers when deployed, and simultaneously docker container images become docker containers when deployed on Docker Engine. This project paper aims, evaluates, and presents a methodology useful in vulnerability scanning of docker container images and suggests possible fixes based on OWASP …

Hybrid Life Cycles In Software Development, Eric Vincent Schoenborn

Masters Projects

This project applied software specification gathering, architecture, work planning, and development to a real-world development effort for a local business. This project began with a feasibility meeting with the owner of Zeal Aerial Fitness. After feasibility was assessed the intended users, needed functionality, and expected user restrictions were identified with the stakeholders. A hybrid software lifecycle was selected to allow a focus on base functionality up front followed by an iterative development of expectations of the stakeholders. I was able to create various specification diagrams that express the end projects goals to both developers and non-tech individuals using a standard …

Predictors Of Covid-19 Vaccination Rate In Usa: A Machine Learning Approach, Syed M. I. Osman, Ahmed Sabit

WCBT Faculty Publications

In this study, we examine state-level features and policies that are most important in achieving a threshold level vaccination rate to curve the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. We employ CHAID, a decision tree algorithm, on three different model specifications to answer this question based on a dataset that includes all the states in the United States. Workplace travel emerges as the most important predictor; however, the governors’ political affiliation (PA) replaces it in a more conservative feature set that includes economic features and the growth rate of COVID-19 cases. We also employ several alternative algorithms as a robustness check. …

A Bayesian Susceptible-Infectious-Hospitalized-Ventilated-Recovered Model To Predict Demand For Covid-19 Inpatient Care In A Large Healthcare System, Stella Coker Watson Self Ph.D., Ms, Rongjie Huang, Shrujan Amin, Joseph Ewing, Caroline Rudisill, Alexander C. Mclain

Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has strained healthcare systems in many parts of the United States. During the early months of the pandemic, there was substantial uncertainty about whether the large number of COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization would exceed healthcare system capacity. This uncertainty created an urgent need to accurately predict the number of COVID-19 patients that would require inpatient and ventilator care at the local level. As the pandemic progressed, many healthcare systems relied on such predictions to prepare for COVID-19 surges and to make decisions regarding staffing, the discontinuation of elective procedures, and the amount of personal protective equipment (PPE) …

Survival Of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer In Black Women: A Society To Cell Approach In The African American Cancer Epidemiology Study (Aaces), Joellen M. Schildkraut, Courtney Johnson, Lauren F. Dempsey, Bo Qin, Paul Terry, Maxwell Akonde, Edward S. Peters, Hannah Mandle, Michele L. Cote, Lauren Peres, Patricia Moorman, Ann G. Schwartz, Micheal Epstein, Jeffrey Marks, Melissa Bondy, Andrew B. Lawson, Anthony Alberg, Elisa V. Bandera

Faculty Publications

Purpose

The causes for the survival disparity among Black women with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) are likely multi-factorial. Here we describe the African American Cancer Epidemiology Study (AACES), the largest cohort of Black women with EOC.

Methods

AACES phase 2 (enrolled 2020 onward) is a multi-site, population-based study focused on overall survival (OS) of EOC. Rapid case ascertainment is used in ongoing patient recruitment in eight U.S. states, both northern and southern. Data collection is composed of a survey, biospecimens, and medical record abstraction. Results characterizing the survival experience of the phase 1 study population (enrolled 2010–2015) are presented.

Results …

Development Of Novel Nucleophile-Intercepted Beckmann Fragmentations And Progress Toward The Total Synthesis Of 2(S)-Cathafoline, Evan M. Dunkley

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

This thesis is comprised of two chapters, the first being the discovery of a novel nucleophile-intercepted Beckmann fragmentation of [2.2.1] indoline systems that resulted in highly stereo- and regioselective reactions. Chapter one details the exploration of this reaction as well as its relevant background information detailing its significance. Chapter two describes the application of the novel nucleophile-intercepted Beckmann fragmentation in the context of a total synthesis of akuammilline alkaloid 2(S)-cathafoline. While the target natural product was never synthesized, unpredicted reactivity resulted in interesting discoveries worthy of discussion.

2022 December 15 - Tennessee Weekly Drought Summary, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Weekly Drought Summaries

No abstract provided.

Korelasi Hasil Padi Sawah Dengan Sulfur Tersedia Dan Sifat Kimia Tanah Sawah, Purwandaru Widyasunu, Rosi Widarawati

Jurnal Kultivasi

Pemberian belerang dapat digunakan untuk mengatur sifat kimia tanah sawah. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui: (1) distribusi unsur hara S tanah di lahan sawah yang digunakan untuk budidaya tanaman padi sawah, (2) sifat kimia tanah meliputi pH H2O, pH KCl, Potensial redoks dan DHL (Daya Hantar Listrik) pada lahan sawah, (3) hubungan S-tersedia, sifat kimia tanah, dengan hasil tanaman. Penelitian dilaksanakan di lahan sawah di Sub DAS Serayu Hilir Wilayah Kecamatan Maos, Kabupaten Cilacap dengan ketinggian tempat 8 m dpl dan Laboratorium Ilmu Tanah, Fakultas Pertanian, Universitas Jenderal Soedirman pada Juni hingga September 2021. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan metode survei …

Exploring Coral Reefs With Interactive Geospatial Visualizations, David Nicolas Tonning

Masters Projects

This project uses geospatial data to generate custom polygons in an interactive setting to represent the size and location of coral reefs to extract insights from coral reef-centered data sets. Historically, the data used by the Reef Restoration Group Bonaire exists in disparate sources, making it difficult to track and analyze the outcomes of their restoration work. Additionally, this information is not available in a digestible format for other audiences who would be interested in this data, such as citizen scientists seeking coral reef health statistics, the general public wanting to better understand the coral reefs surrounding Bonaire or recreational …

Devops: Course Development, James Lee Vanderzouwen

Masters Projects

DevOps has become somewhat of a buzzword amongst software engineers in the industry. Often developers do not have a dedicated DevOps engineer let alone a DevOps team. Developers benefit when they know what happens between ‘works on my machine’ and production. Making sure those steps make sense and are safe benefits the operations team. From compliance to code review to regression testing, understanding the full SDLC, employing DevOps concepts, and minimizing overhead from dependencies is quickly becoming a pre-requisite for the modern software engineer. This project attempts to bridge the gap between buzzword and best practice by developing a college-level …

Curriculum Development In Technical Education For Boys And Girls Club, Damanpreet Singh

Masters Projects

Technical education has been and will continue to be more and more important to succeed in the future. The Boys and Girls Club, founded in 1860, is a national organization of local chapters which provide voluntary after-school programs for young individuals. The Boys and Girls Club have life-changing programs that prepare the young individuals in the club for their future whether it’s for college, career, or life. The perfect way to prepare best prepare these kids for the future is to develop their technical education. Unfortunately, the boys and girls club of Muskegon has a lack of educational resources for …

Malware Detection And Analysis, Namratha Suraneni

Masters Projects

Malicious software poses a serious threat to the cybersecurity of network infrastructures and is a global pandemic in the form of computer viruses, Trojan horses, and Internet worms. Studies imply that the effects of malware are deteriorating. The main defense against malware is malware detectors. The methods that such a detector employ define its level of quality. Therefore, it is crucial that we research malware detection methods and comprehend their advantages and disadvantages. Attackers are creating malware that is polymorphic and metamorphic and has the capacity to modify their source code as they spread. Furthermore, existing defenses, which often utilize …

Notebooks Web Application, Vivekananda Marellali

Masters Projects

In our day-to-day activities we often need to make quick short notes related to our work, study, or other activities. Later, those notes should be easy to access, modify, delete, share with others, or create PDF documents as and when required. It is ideal if the note content is rich text format such as HTML, as it provides many text formatting options and provide better view and readability. The Notes are better organized if they are grouped into notebooks where each notebook consists of related topic note pages and multiple users can create such notebooks and share with other users …

College Job Portal, Harikrishna Gonuguntla

Masters Projects

Through this project, I am producing a portal called "College Job Portal" that will make life easier for students, colleges, and the companies who hire the students by handling the hiring process. On-campus job placements are a crucial component in contemporary educational institutions. By entering information about their educational history, grades, technological abilities, and CV, students would register with the portal. Like students, companies would sign up with the site by supplying basic details like their address and contact information for human resources. The college would be the portal's administrator. Companies can advertise job openings using this site by including …

Full-Text Search Using Elasticsearch, Akash Shrestha

Masters Projects

Search engines have changed the way we use the internet. They can search or filter out relevant and valuable content of interest to the users. But many of the applications we use today lack search or are just poor. So how can we leverage the same power of search engines in our applications? This project aims to look at “Full-Text Search” which allows us to do a text-based search in text-intensive data. The search will be performed by matching any, or all words of the query exactly or with some relevancy against the indexes created by the searching tool. The …

Effects Of Surface Ligation On Charge Extraction From Wurtzite Cadmium Selenide Quantum Platelets And Quantum Belts, Hailey Meyer

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents the synthesis of flat, colloidal wurtzite CdSe quantum platelets and quantum belts for ligand exchange to novel and existing organic and inorganic L-, X-, and Z- type ligands. Use of these ligands in conjunction with the semiconductor nanocrystals allows for examination of their ligand exchange abilities, photoluminescence quenching efficiencies, and charge transfer properties.First, zinc and cadmium dithiocarbamate compounds [M(S2CNR1R2)2] are used as ligands on wurtzite CdSe quantum belts. Complete ligand exchange is achieved when the belts are initially ligated with Cd(oleate)2, a Z-type ligand, prior to the exchange, as opposed to n-octylamine or ammonia, which are both …

Tracking Reducing Equivalents Between Cellular Compartments To Understand The Metabolic Demands Of Proliferation, Yahui Wang

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Proliferating cancer cells compartmentalize metabolic reactions, many of which require reducing equivalents. This compartmentalization is functionally important, but it is challenging to study with current technologies. As a consequence, our understanding of proliferating metabolism has been limited. Here, I developed an approach to track reducing equivalents between cellular compartments. By applying this method to a panel of different cell lines under various conditions, I investigated a dysregulated metabolic phenotype in proliferating cells known as “aerobic glycolysis”. Aerobic glycolysis is characterized by an elevated rate of glucose fermentation to lactate irrespective of oxygen availability. Using the NCI-60 cell lines, I first …

The Effect Of Ionization Density In Applications Of Radiation Detection, Dosimetry, And Therapy, Daniel Mulrow

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation covers a wide range of topics but is linked by the common theme of radiation interacting with materials and studying the result of those interactions. The introduction describes the fundamentals of how radiation interacts with material and how we are able to detect that radiation and the application of how we use those interactions in radiation oncology. The thesis starts with a chapter detailing the temperature dependence of the photophysics in two organic scintillators. This chapter is the foundation for a future study that will look the degree to which these scintillators can distinguish between gammas and neutrons …

Non-Canonical Beta-Lactam Antibiotics, Brett Wesley Virgin-Downey

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

In canonical β-Lactam antibiotics, such as penicillin, the strained nature of the β-Lactam ring leads to acylation of the catalytic serine in the active site of transpeptidases. In 2018, our lab reported a novel mechanism for monocyclic β-lactam antibiotics in the inhibition of glutamine synthetase (GS) by a natural product, tabtoxinine-β-lactam (TβL) using a 3-hydroxy-β-lactam pharmacophore. This work aims to generalize the β-lactam scaffold from TβL to act as a warhead against ATP-dependent carboxylate-amine ligase enzymes, with dihydrofolate synthetase (DHFS) as the test case. A pure 3-hydroxy-β-lactam warhead was synthesized and ligated both chemically and chemoenzymatically to different pteridine mimics. …

Systems Level Analysis Of Organelle Biogenesis In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Kiandokht Panjtan Amiri

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Eukaryotic cells contain hundreds of subcellular structures that serve different functions to maintain cellular homeostasis. A hallmark of Eukaryotic cells is its compartmentalization into membrane-bound organelles. One of the grand challenges in quantitative cell biology is understanding the precision with which cells assemble and maintain subcellular organelles. Despite identification of numerous molecular factors that regulate organelle sizes we lack insight into the quantitative principles underlying organelle size control. We examine organelle sizes from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and human iPS cells with mathematical theory to show that cells can robustly control average fluctuations in organelle size. By demonstrating that organelle sizes obey …

The Isotropic And Anisotropic Structure Of Antarctica From Seismic Inversion, Zhengyang Zhou

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation utilizes multiple techniques of earthquake tomography to investigate the seismic structure of the crust and mantle beneath Antarctica. The isotropic structure of the Antarctic crust and upper mantle is now constrained by several seismic studies, but until now few studies have investigated the anisotropic structure. Therefore, in this study, I focus on the anisotropic structure, which is crucial information to understanding current or historic deformation and flow patterns, as well as the organic process of Antarctica. I use the data from the seismic stations deployed on the Antarctica continent during the past 20 years, as well as other …