Digital Commons Network^™

Investigation Of Robust And Adaptive Control Methods For Systems With Uncertain Equilibrium States, Muhammad Hamad Zaheer

Doctoral Dissertations

Equilibrium states represent the natural resting point of dynamic systems in their state-space and provide vital information for the design of stabilizing feedback controllers for these systems. Stabilizing a system at an equilibrium state is desirable as it requires a zero steady-state control signal, resulting in lower energy consumption by the actuator. Mathematical models of real systems usually contain uncertainties that make it difficult to determine the exact values of these equilibrium states. Therefore, control methods requiring precise knowledge of the equilibrium state are ineffective in controlling systems when uncertainties make determining the exact value of the equilibrium state challenging …

Thoughtful Learning: An Investigation Of The Relationships Between College Students’ Achievement Appraisals And Thinking Patterns During Lecture, Shelby Lynn Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

The current set of studies examined whether two common appraisals that students make during learning (whether they have control over their learning and whether they place value into learning the material) give rise to common types of thoughts students also experience (mind wandering, personal connections, and freely-moving thought). Study One naturistically examined students’ appraisals and thoughts while learning in a real classroom. Study Two attempted to experimentally manipulate students’ appraisals and thus their thoughts in an online learning environment. Overall, results suggest that appraisals do seem to influence the thoughts students report experiencing, although results differ between online and classroom …

Engineering Studies Of An Experimental Open Ocean Seaweed Farm Design, Zachary Moscicki

Doctoral Dissertations

An experimental seaweed cultivation system was designed for offshore and exposed locations. Novel features were incorporated to address major barriers to the expansion of seaweed, including limited nearshore and sheltered marine locations and risk of marine animal entanglement. A novel modular mooring geometry was developed to improve stability, reliability, and spatial efficiency to achieve an economical and robust structure viable in high wave energy environments. Stiff composite (e.g. fiberglass) rods were used to replace components typically made of rope, including mooring lines and seaweed growth substrate (cultivation lines), as a means to mitigate risk of marine animal entanglement.

This dissertation …

Discourses Across Periods Of Time, Amanda Raquel Moreno

Theses

This literature review explores the revolutionary effect of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) on digital art history, specifically concentrating on their capacity to enable dialogical exchanges with historical figures and deepen the understanding of artworks. This study considers the current state of research, detecting key methodologies, areas of improvement, and possible challenges and ethical concerns. The example historical figure used in this analysis is the iconic Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Kahlo’s refusal to correspond to a specific artistic style makes her an ideal subject for generative AI and VR-based investigation, offering fresh insights into her work. The …

Post-War Restitution In The Republic Of Croatia: Awareness Of The Komza And Reconciliation Of Moveable Property Through Public Sculpture, Anita Govic

Theses

This project is a public sculpture prototype focused on the need for post-war art restitution in the Republic of Croatia: it will have an impact by enhancing public knowledge of the KOMZA list, which offers legal proof for families to retrieve heirlooms taken during WWII and the wars of secession from Yugoslavia.

The sculpture design includes three pillars, two etched with the 1529 names from the KOMZA list and a third that will be progressively built, brick-by-brick, as artworks are restituted. The nature of viewers’ interaction includes access to QR codes that offer links to the KOMZA list, information about …

Sensitive Capacitance Measurements Of The Quantum Hall Effect In Graphene, Vergil Schreiber, Justin Alvarez, Joshua Island

Undergraduate Research Symposium Podium Presentations

Research on how electrons respond to confinement holds potential for breakthroughs in quantum computing and more energy efficient electronics. In intense magnetic fields and near-zero temperatures, electrons in confined to 2D display unique quantum behaviors. These conditions quantize electron motion into circular orbits, resulting in discrete Landau energy levels.

An Exploration Of Conventional Beamforming Applied To A Phase Measuring Sonar, Joao Celso Silva De Deus

Master's Theses and Capstones

Brazilian rivers are a particularly challenging navigation environment because of frequentchanges in bathymetry due to sediment transport. To accelerate the production of hydrographic information for these regions, the Brazilian Hydrographic Office has been investigating efficient ways of riverine surveying. In this context, Phase Measuring Bathymetric Sonars (PMBS) are being considered because of their potential to provide wider swaths than traditional Multibeam Echo Sounders (MBES) in shallow waters. Although these systems historically had severe limitations in sounding quality and nadir density, new models with multiple stave pairs are being built to overcome these issues, including the EdgeTech 6205, which claims to …

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R5 Tr_B1 Report Fy2023 - Book Requests (Excluding Oa_Gold) By Platform, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R5 Report TR_B1 for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023. The TR_B1 report is defined as "Book Requests (Excluding OA_Gold)." This report presents an annual total only and only includes those platforms successfully configured for automated harvesting via SUSHI.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results:

Total Item Requests - 118,197

Unique Title Requests - 46,803

Letter From The Vice President Of Research And Innovation, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of The Esol Program On African American Vernacular Speaking Students Reading, Marquice Clark

All Dissertations

South Carolina’s public education system is broken. For the past several years, the State of South Carolina and the nation have somehow managed to do the nearly impossible. Both have produced more English Language Learning (ELL) students to be proficient in English Language Arts (ELA) (i.e., reading, writing, and usage) than native English speakers. The issue of low black performance on state and national standardized assessments has always been a cumbersome task for America's public school system. Although Black students comprise more than 30 percent of the total student population in America, more Limited English students are demonstrating a higher …

Design And Modeling Of A Hybrid-Electric Drone System For Conversion, Mark Atttaalla

Electrical Engineering

With the increased use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the need for long range high capacity (>1kg) drones has also increased. While these drones do exist, they use complicated and complex technology that proportionately increases the price and barrier to entry for these drones. The goal of this paper is to look at different designs for hybrid electric drones, model the series-hybrid design, and create a low-cost alternative drone that uses off the shelf components. A primary purpose for this document is to present the information required to recreate a similar

Electronic Note-String Detector, Gavin Garcia-Rossi, Tommy Smail

Electrical Engineering

As the virtual space has become a dominant part of everyone’s day-to-day lives, many normal face-to-face interactions and services have not yet been facilitated by adapting technology. One of these prevailing areas is music lessons. Over Zoom meetings, or other virtual platforms, it is tremendously challenging to teach students. These challenges include recognizing student mistakes audibly and visually, and being able to give confident feedback on the incorrect notes played by learning musicians. Without having to delve into improving the complex systems that would be required to improve audio, video, and connection quality of these connections, we have another solution …

Examining The Inter-Consistency Of Large Language Models: An In-Depth Analysis Via Debate, Kai Xiong, Xiao Ding, Yixin Cao, Ting Liu, Bing Qin

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown impressive capabilities in various applications, but they still face various inconsistency issues. Existing works primarily focus on the inconsistency issues within a single LLM, while we complementarily explore the inter-consistency among multiple LLMs for collaboration. To examine whether LLMs can collaborate effectively to achieve a consensus for a shared goal, we focus on commonsense reasoning, and introduce a formal debate framework (FORD) to conduct a three-stage debate among LLMs with real-world scenarios alignment: fair debate, mismatched debate, and roundtable debate. Through extensive experiments on various datasets, LLMs can effectively collaborate to reach a consensus …

Ionically Crosslinked Cellulose Nanocrystals By Metal Nitrates For The Preparation Of Stable Emulsions With Tunable Interface Properties, Joseph Batta-Mpouma, Gurshagan Kandhola, Jin-Woo Kim

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Biologically extracted cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are rod-like and amphiphilic materials with surface-exposed (hydrophilic sites) and hidden (hydrophobic sites) hydroxyl groups. These physicochemical characteristics make CNCs suitable for use as emulsifying agents to stabilize emulsions. Stable oil-in-water emulsions, using sulfated (i.e., – SO₃−) CNCs that were ionically crosslinked with alkaline-earth (i.e., Mg ²⁺) or transition-d-block (i.e., Zn ²⁺) metal cations, were developed without the use of any synthetic surfactants or prior functionalization of pure CNCs with hydrophobic molecules. Various emulsion surface properties such as interfacial tension, surface charge, surface chemistry, as well as rheology were characterized. Ionically …

The Drying Of Dry Creek: A Paired Catchment Experiement Assessing Non-Perennial Headwater Streams, Elizabeth Crowther

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Intermittent streams make up the majority of waterways in the United States and are becoming more common in a changing climate, yet they lack stream gaging and habitat data compared to their perennial counterparts. Headwater streams in the western US can be classified as intermittent through seasonal contraction of flowing streams. Although small, they provide critical habitat for fish species and contribute to larger downstream systems. Predictive models, such as the Probability of Stream Permanence (PROSPER) model, have been created to map dry and intermittent reaches at the regional scale, yet they lack large-scale spring data sets as inputs for …

Seasonality In Terminus Ablation Rates For The Glaciers In Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland), Aman K. C.

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Since the 1990s, the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) has undergone accelerated mass loss, with a substantial portion due to the dynamic effects of terminus retreat. Conventional assessments of dynamic mass loss, however often overlook the critical aspect of terminus change, focusing primarily on inland ice flow. In this thesis, I construct and analyze mass loss due to both temporal variations in ice flow and detachment of ice from the glacier terminus, called terminus ablation, for 55 marine-terminating glaciers in Greenland over a ten-year period from 2013 to 2023. I calculated terminus ablation rates using openly accessible data for terminus positions, …

Uas-Based Quantification Of Dynamic Lahar Channel Morphology At Volcán De Fuego, Guatemala, Jerry Clay Mock

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Lahars are responsible for 26% of the deaths associated with volcanic activity reported since 1500 AD, and are extremely destructive to infrastructure (Thouret et al., 2020). Secondary lahars are volcanic mudflows commonly triggered by rainfall. Valuable land and buildings may be covered or destroyed by thick deposits including heavy boulders, mud, and debris. Bridges and roads can be washed out, cutting people off from vital services and potentially placing them in danger from other hazards. Volcán de Fuego in Guatemala actively produces pyroclastic material in small Strombolian eruptions every 15-20 minutes. Fuego occasionally has larger eruptions and has produced over …

Pedagogical Approaches To Polytempor- Ality And Form Process In György Ligeti’S Études Pour Piano, Premier Livre, Dielan Wu

Dissertations

The first book of Études pour piano is the only cycle considered by the composer György Ligeti (1923–2006) among his eighteen piano études. The formal classification of the cycle, the six études fail to fit in the term of classical form due to its highly conceptual nature. According to Ligeti’s description on temporal concept in his études, an examination of the temporal issues is in need to decode the complex rhythmic structures from the perceptual perspective. Through the examination of the temporal organization, the Études is a compilation of in non-directed linear processes, and each étude is a self-containment via …

An Investigation Of State Teacher Licensure Renewal Policies Related To Students With Disabilities, Lindsey Evelyn Hayes

Dissertations

State teacher licensure renewal policies set standards for continued professional practice while promoting ongoing professional learning and growth. The purpose of this study was threefold: to describe the requirements related to students with disabilities (SWDs) in state teacher licensure renewal policies; to explore how states with high-performing SWDs relicensed teachers; and to investigate the relationship between the rigor of relicensure requirements and student achievement. This study investigated the extent to which current state licensure renewal policies encourage the development of expertise and skills that general and special education teachers need to effectively serve students with disabilities. In the first phase …

Sediment Delivery To Sustain The Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta Under Climate Change And Anthropogenic Impacts, Jessica L. Raff, Steven L. Goodbred, Jennifer L. Pickering, Ryan S. Sincavage, John C. Ayers, Md Saddam Hossain, Carol A. Wilson, Chris Paola, Michael S. Steckler, Dhiman R. Mondal, Jean Louis Grimaud, Celine Jo Grall, Kimberly G. Rogers, Kazi Matin Ahmed, Syed Humayun Akhter, Brandee N. Carlson, Elizabeth L. Chamberlain, Meagan Dejter, Jonathan M. Gilligan, Richard P. Hale, Mahfuzur R. Khan, Md Golam Muktadir, Md Munsur Rahman, Lauren A. Williams

Faculty Publications

The principal nature-based solution for offsetting relative sea-level rise in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta is the unabated delivery, dispersal, and deposition of the rivers’ ~1 billion-tonne annual sediment load. Recent hydrological transport modeling suggests that strengthening monsoon precipitation in the 21st century could increase this sediment delivery 34-60%; yet other studies demonstrate that sediment could decline 15-80% if planned dams and river diversions are fully implemented. We validate these modeled ranges by developing a comprehensive field-based sediment budget that quantifies the supply of Ganges-Brahmaputra river sediment under varying Holocene climate conditions. Our data reveal natural responses in sediment supply comparable to …

Robot Job Destroyers, Henry H. Perritt Jr.

Louisiana Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of The Number Of Hidden Layers On The Performance Of Deep Q-Network For Traveling Salesman Problem, Benzfica Hanif, Aisyah Larasati, Rudi Nurdiansyah, Trung Le

Knowledge Engineering and Data Science

The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) effectively represents the complex distribution issues encountered by couriers, who must carefully plan a route that includes all customer addresses while minimizing the distance traveled. As the magnitude of deliveries and the range of destinations expand, the courier's responsibility becomes progressively challenging. In this particular context, the objective of our research is to expand the existing knowledge and explore the complete capabilities of Deep Q-Network (DQN) models in order to achieve the most efficient route determination. This endeavor can potentially bring about significant changes in the courier and delivery service sector. The foundation of our …

Stacked Lstm-Gru Long-Term Forecasting Model For Indonesian Islamic Banks, Yayat Sujatna, Adhitio Satyo Bayangkari Karno, Widi Hastomo, Nia Yuningsih, Dody Arif, Sri Setya Handayani, Aqwam Rosadi Kardian, Ire Puspa Wardhani, L.M Rasdi Rere

Knowledge Engineering and Data Science

The development of the Islamic banking industry in Indonesia has become a significant concern in recent years, with rapid growth in the number of banks operating based on Sharia principles. To face emerging challenges and opportunities, a deep understanding of the long-term financial behavior of Islamic banks is becoming increasingly important. This study aims to predict the share price of PT Bank Syariah Indonesia Tbk, over 28 days using the LSTM-GRU stack. The observation stage includes importing the dataset, data separation, model variations, the training process, output, and evaluation. Observations were conducted using 10 model variations from 4 stacks of …

Motion Simulation And Risk Assessment Of Dropped Objects In Offshore Operations, Hanqi Yu

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Subsea pipelines are a cost-effective and reliable way to transport hydrocarbons in offshore oil and gas development. However, dropped objects can pose hazards and cause damage to pipelines. This dissertation briefly introduces the hazards and hidden dangers caused by dropped containers, discusses motion simulation methods for different object shapes, and reviews risk assessment procedures for handling dropped objects in offshore operations. Ongoing research at the University of New Orleans' towing tank on dropped container models is also discussed. Using ANSYS Fluent, we simulate trajectories of container models and calculate relevant hydrodynamic coefficients for different dropped angles. We then apply risk …

Investigating Van Der Waals Josephson Junctions With 2h-Nbse2 And 1t’-Wte2, Kristine Lorraine Haley

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Josephson junctions have garnered significant attention due to their unique electronic properties and applications in quantum devices. In this thesis, we investigate the fabrication processes and characterization of two-dimensional (2D) Josephson junctions consisting of layered van der Waals materials: niobium diselenide (2H-NbSe₂) and few layered tungsten ditelluride (1T’-WTe₂). The reduction of dimensionality can bring forth unique characteristics in certain materials that are not seen in their bulk counterparts, making them prime candidates for physical exploration. 2H-NbSe₂ is an s-wave superconductor at temperatures near and below 7 K. 1T’-WTe₂ is a semimetal in bulk but …

On The Synthesis Of Heavy Rare Earth Solid Solutions And Their Hydrides, Joshua R. Van Cleave

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The theoretical predictions and results from the (La,Y)Hx ternary hydride solution provided evidence toward phase stability at comparatively lower pressures, as consequence the (Yb,Lu)H_x and (Tm,Lu)H_x ternary hydrides are studied here with pressures up to 25 GPa in the diamond anvil cell. The onset of an unknown feature in the XRD pattern coincides with crystallographic plane distortions in the tetragonal lattice of ytterbium hydride at their laser-heated interface, possibly driven by a solid solution of Lu-Yb. Findings in collected Raman spectra and X-ray diffraction patterns in an Ar environment suggest potential stability of the FCC and high-temperature HCP …

Three Essays On Work And Marital Satisfaction In China, Peng Luo

Dissertations

This dissertation comprises three research papers that delve into the relationship between the work characteristics of married Chinese employees and their individual satisfaction in both marriage and work. A common feature of these papers is the meticulous pairing of data, which ensures that each observation includes vital information about their respective spouses. This dataset allows me to conduct a comprehensive exploration of how spouses' work attributes influence individuals.

The first paper employs cross-sectional data to study whether how spouses met through work, and differences in their respective industries are related to their marital satisfaction. The results reveal that how spouses …

Extremum Seeking Control Algorithms For Extremely High Frequency Antenna System Pointing, Scott Shore

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

The research examines the application of extremum seeking control (ESC) algorithms to ground station antenna pointing for extremely high frequency (EHF) communication systems. ESC algorithms search for local maxima or minima by locating where an objective function gradient goes to zero. With wireless communication expanding into higher frequencies, the ground station pointing requirement is increasing. ESC presents a method which utilizes available equipment and information to perform ground station pointing. Additionally, ESC algorithms do not rely on assumptions or approximations needed for other techniques. The dissertation demonstrates ESC algorithm feasibility for the ground station pointing problem, benchmarks the ESC algorithms …

Representativeness Evaluation Of Delta-Flux Eddy Covariance Towers For Assessing Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Rice Fields In The Mid-South Region, Katherine Skiles

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Rice grown in 5 states across the Mid-South (AR, LA, MS, TX, and MO) account for nearly 80% of all domestic U.S. rice production. Methane emissions produced during rice farming and the large seasonal water demand to maintain flooded fields have created a need for alternative irrigation research that can reduce methane emissions and conserve water. Structures called eddy covariance towers (ECTs) can observe methane and other flux responses to changing irrigation styles, and their data is shared across flux tower networks such as Delta-Flux in the Mid-South. The Delta-Flux network is relatively new, and its data-sharing capacity is not …

Toward Privacy-Preserving Electronic Voting With Ballot-Spoiling Using Blockchain, Yoonsu Ra

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Several voting techniques have been presented in recent years to address the security and privacy concerns associated with electronic voting. Some of these systems have used blockchain technology to reduce the requirement for centralized authority trust while maintaining voter privacy and ballot confidentiality. Existing methods, however, neglect to comply with government standards and therefore are unsuitable for real-world election settings. They often overlook essential attributes such as ballot spoiling and voter-to-ballot unlinkability, dismissing them as conflicting features. In this thesis, we introduce ORBIT, a cryptographic voting scheme that complies with regulations outlined in the Idaho state law while achieving receipt-freeness …