Digital Commons Network^™

Activist, Entrepreneur, Leader: The Influence Of Social Justice Advocacy And Entrepreneurial Orientation On Leader Self-Efficacy, Kathleen Q. Johnson

Dissertations, 2020-current

This quantitative study examined individual entrepreneurial orientation and social justice advocacy as antecedents to leader self-efficacy in the complex and dynamic context of the opioid epidemic. Throughout history, leaders have emerged in response to societal challenges; leadership is not restricted to the boundaries of hierarchical, administrative, bureaucratic organizational frameworks. Complexity leadership theory and its recognition of leadership in complex adaptive systems provides an overarching framing. Five characteristics of individual entrepreneurial orientation were incorporated: risk-taking, innovativeness, perseverance, passion and proactiveness (Santos et al., 2020). Social advocacy activity was measured using the social issues advocacy scale (Nilsson et al., 2011). The dependent …

Development Of An Active Vacuum Insulation Panel For Use In Building Applications, Haley D. Nelson

Engineering

Vacuum insulation panels, or VIPs, are among the highest performing forms of building insulation available on the commercial market, with some per inch R-values advertised as 60°F·ft²·hr/(BTU·inch). Though there is strong market demand for high-performing forms of insulation, the adoption of VIPs is hindered by their relatively high costs, uncertain service lifespans, sensitivity to internal pressure changes, susceptibility to thermal bridging along their edges, and other issues. Particularly in building applications, typical VIPs are often passed over in favor of insulation types that can be easily customized on-site, are produced to larger dimensions, and are not as vulnerable to damage …

Toward An Informal Informed Classrooms: Professional Musicians' Informal Music Learning Experiences, Rachel M. Smith

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Authors have studied informal music learning with different age groups. Lucy Green (2005) studied the topic with adolescents and identified it an intuitive and natural way children learn. Chad West and Radio Cremata (2016) studied informal music learning at the collegiate level, and Martina Vasil (2019) studied secondary music teachers who implemented informal music learning strategies in their teaching practices. Informal music learning in adults is relatively under-explored compared to adolescent and collegiate age groups. Utilizing lenses drawn from John Dewey’s curricular ideas to help students find meaning in learning and motivation as viewed through Self-Determination Theory, I sought to …

Two Studies On Binary Program Stylometry: A White-Box Analysis And A Deep Learning Analysis On Some Crypto Ransomware, Alexander Mitchell

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Computer programmers often leave their individual programming styles in source code. Recent studies show that contrary to a popular belief, many of such programming styles can survive, in controlled environments, code compilation into binary. From the binary programming styles can be effectively retrieved for enhanced binary authorship attribution; such binary authorship attribution is often called binary program stylometry. In this thesis, we first perform a white-box impact analysis of various factors in code compilation on programming styles. For the MS Windows platform, we study the impact of multiple compilers, including gcc, Clang, and MSVC, their optimization levels, symbol stripping, and …

Design And Operation Of Ice Roads, Steven Daly, Billy Connor, Jessica Garron, Svetlana Stuefer, Nathan Belz, Kevin Bjella

AIDC Project Reports

This manual provides for the safe and efficient design, construction, maintenance, and operation of ice roads over freshwater. As such, it provides the parties responsible for the ice road guidelines for ensuring the safe operation of the ice road including route selection, minimum ice thicknesses, repair strategies, maximum vehicle weights and speed, and proper signage. The information provided in the manual represents best practices compiled from existing literature and from those who have experience working on ice roads. While every scenario cannot be foreseen, the information contained in this manual should provide sufficient knowledge to extrapolate safe solutions which are …

Length-Weight Relationships Of The Bream Abramis Brama (Linnaeus, 1758) In Beni- Haroun Dam Of Mila City (North-East Of Algeria), Tolba Mounia, Hadjab Ramzi, Chikara Bouziani Mohamed, Berrouk Houda, Kaouachi Nouha

Journal of Bioresource Management

The study of fish growth is a valuable tool in providing good understanding on the general biology and growth of fish populations, in addition to the comparison of the same fish species populations living in remote geographic areas. Thus, the present work was designed to study the age and growth of Abramis brama species newly introduced in Beni-Haroun dam (Mila department, Northeast Algeria). Here, the study was conducted on sampling of 141 individuals from July 2015 to October 2016. The age of fishes was determined according to scalimetric method, since the fish sex was determined by macroscopic method, showing that …

2022 Fall Commencement, Harding University

Commencement Programs

Program for the Harding University Commencement on December 17.

Commencement Speaker: Susan Hutchinson

On The Effects Of Geometrical And Fluid Conditions On Thermal-Hydraulics Of Miniature Heat Sinks, Mahyar Pourghasemi

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

During the past three years, miniature heat sinks have been integrated into the cooling loop of devices such as MW-class gyrotron resonators and high-power laser arrays. These applications involve high cooling rates in the range of 20-25 MW/m². Liquid metals such as Na and NaK offer very high thermal conductivity in the range of 16-79 W/mK, while their dynamic viscosities are only slightly higher than water viscosity. They can also be used in applications with operating temperatures varying from 25 ^oC to as high as 800 ^oC due to their very high boiling points. Several research …

Cyber-Secure Distributed Control Of Microgrids With Improved Communication And Control Protocols, Jee Won Choi

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

This dissertation proposes a cyber-secure distributed control of microgrids with improved communication and control protocols. The finite-time event-triggered control protocol for islanded AC and DC secondary control is introduced. For AC microgrids, the proposed strategy can effectively perform frequency restoration and voltage regulations while sharing the active and reactive power among the distributed generators (DGs) based on their power ratings. For DC microgrids, the proposed control protocol can provide accurate current sharing and critical bus voltage regulation. The finite-time control enables a system to reach a consensus in a finite period of time enhanced from asymptotic convergence. The event-triggered communication …

Spatial Single-Cell Identification Of Cell Layers Within Mouse Brain Using A Novel Spatially Resolved Transcriptomics Technology, Radha Swaminathan

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

Spatially resolved transcriptomics technologies investigate gene expression in the context of a tissue. While imaging-based technologies enable gene expression quantification at a single-cell level, only two NGS-based technologies are currently capable of single-cell resolution. Both Stereo-seq and Seq-Scope involve two rounds of sequencing: one to sequence the location of spatial barcodes and the other to obtain sequence of cDNA. Thus, the objective of the research study is to develop a technology that can capture transcripts from every cell of a tissue without the need for two rounds of sequencing. To this end, a capture surface or barcoded array (similar to …

Reinforcement Learning-Based Demand Response Management In Smart Grid Systems With Prosumers, Jenilee Jao

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

In this thesis, we introduce a reinforcement learning-based price-driven Demand Response Management (DRM) mechanism in smart grid systems consisting of prosumers. Our proposed approach accounts for the prosumers behavioral characteristics and models the emerging interactions among all the involved actors in the smart grid system, i.e., prosumers, Energy Management System (EMS) and utility companies. In particular, an off-policy reinforcement learning is introduced enabling the EMS to determine the optimal price that should be announced to the prosumers on an hourly-basis towards minimizing the overall systems cost. In this process, the utility companies hourly-based wholesale price and the prosumers energy generation …

A Horn Microstrip Transmission Line For The Characterization And Investigation Of Multipactor At Various Pressure And Power, Shaho Hamadamin

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

The University of New Mexico is designing, building, and testing a multipactor testbed based on a horn-microstrip transmission line to characterize and investigate the multipactor effect for a range of vacuum pressures and power. A horn-shaped, 50 Ω Al microstrip line is positioned inside a six-way cross stainless-steel chamber that is vacuumed down to low ~10−7 torr. A 100 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀 sine signal is fed to a rf amplifier with a bandwidth of 250 − 105 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀, that can reach 120𝑊𝑊 average (CW) power. Two multipacting detection methods, i.e., global, and local methods, are implemented for accurate multipaction detection. The former …

Towards Robust Channel Dynamics: Photoionization In Nitrogen And Air, Justin K. Smith

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

In present photoionization models used in computational studies, there is a lack of experimental data and several assumptions pertaining to photo-electron production in the gas. It is widely accepted that wavelengths between 98 nm and 102.5 nm are the primary contributors to photoionization of oxygen in an air plasma. In air, the collisional kinetics of nitrogen provide the photons, which results in the ionization of oxygen. Photoionization rate measurements from a low current corona discharge in synthetic air mixtures are reported to provide new empirical data. In addition, this provides a method to estimate the scaling parameter w/a. Concurrently, vacuum …

Acoustic And Seismic Signature Of Sustained Volcanic Eruptions, Julia E. Gestrich

Geosciences

Volcanic eruptions of any size can pose a significant risk to the life and livelihood of humans, as well as to infrastructure and the economy. Understanding the dynamics of an eruption is crucial to providing timely and accurate assessments of the eruption and associated hazard. Ideally the monitoring of volcanic unrest and eruption dynamics is done remotely to minimize exposure to volcanologists and maximize the spatial monitoring coverage of instruments. Another important factor is to have real-time data to facilitate rapid analysis and interpretation. Seismic and acoustic (infrasound) waves have proven useful in terms of remote real-time volcano monitoring. However, …

Research Infrastructure Core Facilities At Research Centers In Minority Institutions: Part I-Research Resources Management, Operation, And Best Practices, Paul B Tchounwou, Mohamad Malouhi, Elizabeth O Ofili, Emma Fernández-Repollet, Daniel F Sarpong, Richard Yanagihara, Renato J Aguilera, Cecilia Ayón, Xiaoxin Chen, Asok Dasmahapatra, Song Gao, Cimona V Hinton, Robert Holt, Vladimir Kolesnichenko, Michael D Powell, Fatima Merchant, Kinfe K Redda, Abiel Roche-Lima, Cecilia M Shikuma, Jacqueline J Stevens, Jose A Torres, Robert T Trotter, James Wachira, Paul Wang, Kristen J Wells, Jason White, Yanyuan Wu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Program fosters the development and implementation of innovative research aimed at improving minority health and reducing or eliminating health disparities. Currently, there are 21 RCMI Specialized (U54) Centers that share the same framework, comprising four required core components, namely the Administrative, Research Infrastructure, Investigator Development, and Community Engagement Cores. The Research Infrastructure Core (RIC) is fundamentally important for biomedical and health disparities research as a critical function domain. This paper aims to assess the research resources and services provided and evaluate the best practices in …

Nineteenth-Century Bread Ovens Of The Blackwater Valley In County Waterford, Richard Tobin

European Journal of Food Drink and Society

The emphasis placed on the baking of traditional soda-bread in a Bastable oven on the open hearth has created a charming image of spartan self-sufficiency throughout rural Ireland in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. But shop-bought bread, produced in small-scale commercial ovens located in villages and towns, was a common item of both rural and urban diet throughout the nineteenth century. This paper explores both the means of production and the possible scale of production in a cluster of villages in the Blackwater valley in the west of county Waterford. An important implication may be that the traditional soda-bread …

Journal Of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-Peer) Annual Report From January 1, 2021, To December 31, 2021, Senay Purzer, Urvi Gupta

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

This annual report includes the Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research’s readership metrics and statistics, authorship metrics and trends, and our reflections on 2021. In the last year, the Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research started to publish special issues and the editorial team has been working to transform pre-college engineering education.

Understanding Suicide And Its Prevention In The Indian Context: Mental Health Perspective, Dushad Ram, Akash Mathew, Muath A Alammar

International Journal of Health and Allied Sciences

In India, suicide research has largely concentrated on the prevalence, method, psychological, and demographic risk factors. Suicide processes, paradigms, prevention strategies, and other features of suicide that are common in the West may not be applicable in India. It is vital to study potential underlying processes, various suicide prevention methods, and suicide prevention in general, as well as what more work has to be done in the Indian context. Suicide, on the other hand, is a cross-sectoral public health issue that demands collaboration across all key sectors, and its prevention should engage all stakeholders in India.

Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning Based Techniques In Analyzing The Covid-19 Gene Expression Data: A Review, Santhosh K, Ajitha S, Sushma Pradeep, Kuralyanapalya Putta Honnappa Suresh, Sharanagouda S Patil, Shiva Prasad Kollur, Chandan Shivmallu

International Journal of Health and Allied Sciences

The novel Coronavirus associated with respiratory illness has become a new threat to human health as it is spreading very rapidly among the human population. Scientists and healthcare specialists throughout the world are still looking for a breakthrough technology to help combat the Covid-19 outbreak, despite the recent worldwide urgency. The use of Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in earlier epidemics has encouraged researchers by providing a fresh approach to combating the latest Coronavirus pandemic. This paper aims to comprehensively review the role of AI and ML for analysis of gene expressed data of COVID-19

Swosu Fall 2022 Convocation, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Graduation Programs

This is the program for the SWOSU Fall 2022 Convocation Exercises, held at the Pioneer Cellular Events Center on Friday, December 16, 2022, at 6:00 pm. Opening Remarks were presented by President Diana Lovell.

Transparency And The Future Of Semantic Searching In Academic Libraries, Daniel Wayne Eller

College of Science and Engineering Faculty Research and Scholarship

“Semantic search” is a fairly broad term without a fixed goal amongst developers. Most agree that semantic searching should reach beyond simple keyword or text/string matching in order to provide more robust taxonomies and relevant information retrieval systems. Many novice users and first-year students struggle to retrieve the scholarly sources they desire because they lack the specialized vocabulary attained through advanced years of study. Most students are used to the dominant semantic search discovery system, Google and Google Scholar, but few students understand how these systems work. Query parsing, fuzzy matching, and understanding how semantic searching utilizes taxonomies for more …

Special Topics In Neuroendocrinology Allopregnanolone: Pathophysiology, Effects On Mood, Emerging Treatments, Sarah Jane Lance, Justin Gambini

Doctor of Medical Science (DMSc)

KEY POINTS

● Allopregnanolone is a neurosteroid and metabolite of progesterone that has been shown to play a role in mood regulation.

● Low levels and rapid declines in this neurosteroid are associated with mood disorders such as those within the menstrual cycle, postpartum depression, chronic stress, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and major depression. Studies have also linked it to moodrelated aspects of addiction.

● Medications that increase allopregnanolone, such as serotonin reuptake inhibitors and Brexanolone, are correlated with improved symptoms. These medications represent established and newly developed drugs that increase its level and are currently used for treatments of …

Israeli Democracy: Its Institutions And The Impact Of The 1948 Palestine War, Grant P L Goral

Honors Capstones

This research project utilizes primary sources from diplomatic communiques, public speeches, political debates, and autobiographies of Israeli political elites in an attempt to better understand early Israeli democracy. Specifically, this project aims to frame this development of Israeli democracy and its institutions in the context of the 1948 Palestine War. The political elites of the Palestinian Jewish community who established the State of Israel came from various political, ethnic, religious, and linguistic backgrounds. This diversity in thought, combined with the threat of violence both within the new Israeli borders and outside of them, elevated the problem of creating a stable, …

Reproductive Health: A Literature Review On Reducing Maternal Mortality Rates Among Afghan Women Using A Tiered Process Of Interventions, Shirley C. Lam

Master's Projects and Capstones

This literature review examines the risk factors associated with pregnancy that contribute to high maternal mortality rates in Afghanistan and women’s limited access to adequate health services and education. Some of the factors contributing to high maternal mortality rates are political instability/civil conflict, current policies and legislation, workforce shortages in the healthcare field, as well as socioeconomic levels. The underlying theme which influences each of these factors are Afghanistan’s culture and religion. To reduce the rising maternal mortality rates for Afghan women and girls, there must be a shift in mindset from within the culture. A three-layered tiered intervention which …

Reducing The Risk Of Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infection With Chlorhexidine Gluconate Education, Scarlett Ocon

Master's Projects and Capstones

Problem: A nosocomial central line-associated bloodstream infection is a preventable infection that is costly and potentially fatal. In order to combat bloodstream infections chlorhexidine gluconate wipes have been used as antiseptic. Medical surgical units do not have accessible CHG for bathing purposes. In addition, the staff lacks knowledge of how to use CHG wipes. The current standard bathing practice on this unit consists of using soap and water or disposable washcloths spontaneously without a predetermined time. The aim of this quality improvement project is to educate the registered nurses (RNs) and certified nurse assistants (CNAs) on the benefits of daily …

Reduction Of Embodied Carbon In Buildings Through Use Of Low Carbon Strategies And Standardization And Enforcement Of Life Cycle Assessment, Bhargavi Sai Sudhakar

Master's Projects and Capstones

The building and construction industry is energy intensive and as of 2021, this industry is responsible for 37% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions. In previous studies of conventional buildings, the operational energy of a building contributed to 80% and the embodied energy contributed to 20% of the total life cycle energy. With increase in policies and standards that focus on reducing the operational energy, low energy and certified green buildings have emerged where the operational energy has considerably reduced. The relative and absolute share of embodied energy in these energy efficient buildings have increased due to excessive use …

Interpretable Network Representations, Shengmin Jin

Dissertations - ALL

Networks (or interchangeably graphs) have been ubiquitous across the globe and within science and engineering: social networks, collaboration networks, protein-protein interaction networks, infrastructure networks, among many others. Machine learning on graphs, especially network representation learning, has shown remarkable performance in network-based applications, such as node/graph classification, graph clustering, and link prediction. Like performance, it is equally crucial for individuals to understand the behavior of machine learning models and be able to explain how these models arrive at a certain decision. Such needs have motivated many studies on interpretability in machine learning. For example, for social network analysis, we may need …

An Interdisciplinary Understanding Of The Economic And Political Policies Behind Network Neutrality In The United States, Eli T. Bedford

Whittier Scholars Program

The focus of this paper is to explore the associative benefits to why network neutrality in the U.S. benefits the fundamental principles of freedom of speech and expression. While at the same time gaining a deeper understanding of why politics may incentivize or undermine data collection by billion-dollar conglomerate companies such as Tiktok and other internet service provider companies. In doing so, this paper will review internet privacy regulations on a federal level and examine the history of the FCC’s regulatory practices on ISPs over the last three decades. Lately, this paper will discuss the economics behind network neutrality and …

Blockchain For Patient Safety: Use Cases, Opportunities And Open Challenges, Dounia Marbouh, Mecit Can Emre Simsekler, Khaled Salah, Raja Jayaraman, Samer Ellahham

Industrial Engineering: Faculty & Staff Publications

Medical errors are recognized as major threats to patient safety worldwide. Lack of streamlined communication and an inability to share and exchange data are among the contributory factors affecting patient safety. To address these challenges, blockchain can be utilized to ensure a secure, transparent and decentralized data exchange among stakeholders. In this study, we discuss six use cases that can benefit from blockchain to gain operational effectiveness and efficiency in the patient safety context. The role of stakeholders, system requirements, opportunities and challenges are discussed in each use case in detail. Connecting stakeholders and data in complex healthcare systems, blockchain …

Adaptive Microlearning: An Empirical Study Among The Students In The Rural Areas Of China, Jingwei Liu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Through multiple educational reforms, China has pursued developing well-rounded learners with solid content knowledge, higher-order thinking skills, and the ability to transfer knowledge to real-world problem spaces. The imbalance of learning resources between urban and rural China, however, has caused disadvantages for learners in rural China to gain access to quality educational opportunities necessary for becoming well-rounded learners. Luckily, the quickly growing Internet service coverage in rural China makes educational interventions possible. Online intervention aiming for many qualities of well-rounded learners, such as deeper learning, is particularly promising.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential of adaptive …