Digital Commons Network^™

Enhanced Content-Based Fake News Detection Methods With Context-Labeled News Sources, Duncan Arnfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work examined the relative effectiveness of multilayer perceptron, random forest, and multinomial naïve Bayes classifiers, trained using bag of words and term frequency-inverse dense frequency transformations of documents in the Fake News Corpus and Fake and Real News Dataset. The goal of this work was to help meet the formidable challenges posed by proliferation of fake news to society, including the erosion of public trust, disruption of social harmony, and endangerment of lives. This training included the use of context-categorized fake news in an effort to enhance the tools’ effectiveness. It was found that term frequency-inverse dense frequency provided …

Proteomics And Machine Learning For Pulmonary Embolism Risk With Protein Markers, Yaa Amankwah Awuah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates protein markers linked to pulmonary embolism risk using proteomics and statistical methods, employing unsupervised and supervised machine learning techniques. The research analyzes existing datasets, identifies significant features, and observes gender differences through MANOVA. Principal Component Analysis reduces variables from 378 to 59, and Random Forest achieves 70% accuracy. These findings contribute to our understanding of pulmonary embolism and may lead to diagnostic biomarkers. MANOVA reveals significant gender differences, and applying proteomics holds promise for clinical practice and research.

The Impact Of Aces On College Students And Their Major Choice, Britten Harrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research examining Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) has mostly focused on the long-term effects of these experiences on adult mental and physical health. Less attention has been focused on the impact of ACEs on college student satisfaction, dropout rates, and major choice. The overarching questions for the current study sought to further research by (1) assessing if there is a relationship between the ACE scores of college students and their mental and physical health, (2) if ACEs play a role in student satisfaction or desire to drop out, and (3) determining if there is a connection between students with high ACE …

Explainable Artificial Intelligence: Approaching It From The Lowest Level, Ralf P. Riedel

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

The increasing complexity of artificial intelligence models has given rise to extensive work toward understanding the inner workings of neural networks. Much of that work, however, has focused on manipulating input data feeding the network to assess their affects on network output or pruning model components after the often-extensive time-consuming training. It is postulated in this study that understanding of neural network can benefit from model structure simplification. In turn, it is shown that model simplification can benefit from investigating network node, the most fundamental unit of neural networks, evolving trends during training. Whereas studies on simplification of model structure …

Remote Side-Channel Disassembly On Field-Programmable Gate Arrays, Brandon R. Baggett

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Over the last two decades, side-channel vulnerabilities have shown to be a major threat to embedded devices. Most side-channel research has developed our understanding of the vulnerabilities to cryptographic devices due to their implementation and how we can protect them. However, side-channel leakage can yield useful information about many other processes that run on the device. One promising area that has received little attention is the side-channel leakage due to the execution of assembly instructions. There has been some work in this area that has demonstrated the idea’s potential, but so far, this research has assumed the adversary has physical …

Impact Of Using Gagne’S Nine Events Of Instruction On Student’S Academic Achievement And Satisfaction In An Online English Course For French Speakers, Yara Olive Paterne Loua

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

This dissertation explored the effect of Gagne's nine events of instruction on student academic achievement and satisfaction during an online English class for French speakers. A group of 30 Facebook users from French-speaking countries in North and Sub-Saharan Africa participated in the research. They were divided randomly into two groups: one receiving traditional instruction through an asynchronous online lecture with PowerPoint presentation, and the other using instruction utilizing Gagne's nine events of instruction integrated with an LMS designed for this purpose. This mixed methods study explored several hypotheses related to academic achievement and satisfaction in the two groups. While the …

Electrical Characteristics Of In-House Produced Micro/Nanodielectrics, Dewan Mahmudullah

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Dielectric characterization is very important across a wide range of applications, including the design and optimization of capacitors, electrical insulation, and electronic devices. It plays a vital role in providing valuable insights for material selection, performance evaluation, and the development of advanced dielectrics. The permittivity of dielectrics is a fundamental property of dielectric materials that quantifies their ability to store and dissipate energy in the presence of an electric field. Studies for developing advanced dielectrics and accurate measurements of the dielectric constant are essential for understanding and optimizing the performance of various electrical and electronic systems. The objective of this …

Evaluating The Impact Of Oyster Reef Breakwaters On Hydrodynamics, Morphodynamics, And Sediment Transport Using Xbeach, Tabassum Islam

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Alabama Port is a unique marsh and sandy beach shoreline. Since the 1950s, substantial erosion has occurred along this shoreline due to storms, wind-generated waves, and ship wakes. This research focuses on evaluating the effect of oyster reef breakwaters on wave height attenuation and sediment stabilization through numerical modeling (XBeach) under three different synthetic storm scenarios coupled with three unique sea level rise projections near Alabama Port. This has been accomplished by comparing a with and without project condition using XBeach in a two-dimensional (2D) mode by analyzing wave height, velocity, and cumulative bed-level changes at the study site. The …

Interactions Between Sediment Mechanical Structure And Infaunal Community Structure Following Physical Disturbance, William Cyrus Roger Clemo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Shallow, river-influenced coastal sediments are important for global carbon storage and nutrient cycling and provide a habitat for diverse communities of invertebrates (infauna). Elevated bed shear stress from extreme storms can resuspend, transport, and deposit sediments, disrupting the cohesive structure of muds, and sorting and depositing sand eroded from beaches. These physical disruptions can also resuspend or smother infauna, decreasing abundances and changing community structure. Infaunal activities such as burrowing, tube construction, and feeding can impact sediment structure and stability. However, little is known about how physical disturbance impacts short and long-term sediment habitat suitability and whether disturbance-tolerant infauna influence …

Influences Of A Formal Mentoring Program On African American Male Achievement Throughout High School And Beyond, Justin Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

There has been a growing concern for African-American male students (Hawkins-Jones & Reeves, 2020) due to the fact that they maintain consistently low achievement levels throughout their education and graduate from high school at lower rates than their peers. Their failure rate in math and reading on the National Assessment of Educational Practice (U.S. Department of Education, 2017) is above average, and the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (Hussar et al., 2020) reported that they also have higher than average dropout, suspension, and truancy rates. The achievement and discipline gaps that African-American male students face in …

Perceptions Of College Students With Disabilities Regarding The Impact Of Instructional Supports On Academic Success, John O. Oreye

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

This qualitative phenomenological study explored how college students with disabilities (SWDs) accessed accommodations from their universities and their perceptions of service delivery by university faculty and staff. An additional purpose of this study was to seek the type and effectiveness of accommodations received by college SWDs. I recruited participants through the disability resource office of a regional university in the Southeastern United States. The diverse population studied was college SWDs, and the phenomenon of interest was their experience with receiving accommodations from their university. The seven participants who took part in interviews identified as college students with a disability that …

Initiation Criteria For The Onset Of Geomagnetic Substorms Based On Auroral Observations And Electrojet Current Signatures, Mayowa Michael Kayode-Adeoye

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

In recent years, several substorm onset criteria have been developed, either from auroral observations (many authors) or from auroral electrojet properties such as those described by (Forsyth et al., 2015; Maimaiti et al., 2019; Newell & Gjerloev, 2011; Partamies et al., 2011) The different criteria are being investigated using a low order physics model of the magnetosphere called WINDMI (Spencer et al., 2009) and inferences are being made in line with the WINDMI model. The model variables will be compared with the criteria for substorm onset proposed by examining the SML index.

The WINDMI model uses solar wind and IMF …

Examining The Efficacy Of Using Irt As An Nde Method For Cfrp And Ztcfrp Composites, William Wyatt Taylor

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

A film adhesive is commonly used to form the bond-line between composite parts. The bond-line's quality and performance can be affected by defects such as voids, impurities, and agglomerations. Identifying these defects is possible with non-destructive evaluation testing (NDE). In this thesis, the joule-heating effect (JH) through carbon nanofiber (CNF) and carbon nanotube (CNT) modified film adhesive bonded to control carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CCFRP) was used along with infrared thermography testing (IRT) for bond-line defect inspection as a preliminary study. Due to the difference in the electrical conductivity between the modified epoxy and the defect, JH can cause a …

Gravel Conveyance System: An Evaluation On E. Coli Removal Capabilities, Madison Grace

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

In many rural, low-income communities such as the Black Belt of Alabama, there is a lack of wastewater infrastructure and solutions leaving homeowners non-compliant to state and federal law and with potential health risks on their property. New regulations have allowed for onsite, surface discharge for single family homes that are not connected to a centralized sewer or large flow development. These new regulations also contain strict disinfection criteria for the treated wastewater that will be discharged. A low-cost and low-maintenance treatment system that provides adequate disinfection is necessary to allow homeowners to take advantage of the new opportunity for …

Parent Choice: Learning Pods Or Public Education During Covid-19 Pandemic, Shari Kinney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to examine the decision-making process of K-12 parents living in the Appalachian Highlands who chose to remove their children from traditional public schools to join learning pods (sometimes referred to as pandemic pods) during the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to answer this overarching question, the researcher focused her study on two areas: first, what were the possible push factors that influenced parents to remove their children from public schools, and secondly, what were the pull factors that lead parents to choose learning pods over other school choice options. Through the data collected …

A Bridge Between Graph Neural Networks And Transformers: Positional Encodings As Node Embeddings, Bright Kwaku Manu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Graph Neural Networks and Transformers are very powerful frameworks for learning machine learning tasks. While they were evolved separately in diverse fields, current research has revealed some similarities and links between them. This work focuses on bridging the gap between GNNs and Transformers by offering a uniform framework that highlights their similarities and distinctions. We perform positional encodings and identify key properties that make the positional encodings node embeddings. We found that the properties of expressiveness, efficiency and interpretability were achieved in the process. We saw that it is possible to use positional encodings as node embeddings, which can be …

Falling Down The Rabbit Hole: World Building In Ya Literature, Claire Webb

Undergraduate Honors Theses

World building is a key component to many young adult novels, but what is world building and what are some different styles and techniques that authors use when constructing fictional universes? In this thesis, Falling Down the Rabbit Hole: World Building Techniques in YA Literature, I will examine Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865), The Princess Bride by William Goldman (1973), and my own unpublished novel, The Sun Kingdom, to compare different techniques and styles of world building. These works will be explored through the aspect of world building, focusing specifically on the importance of the geography, language, …

Temporal Dynamics Of Faculty Hiring In Mathematics, Cody Fitzgerald, Yitong Huang, Katelyn Plaisier Leisman, Chad M. Topaz

Mathematics Sciences: Faculty Publications

University faculty hiring networks are known to be hierarchical and to exacerbate various types of inequity. Still, a detailed, historical understanding of hiring dynamics lacks in many academic fields. We focus on the field of mathematics, analyzing over 120,000 records from 150 institutions over seven decades to elucidate the temporal dynamics of hiring doctoral-granting (DG) faculty at the individual and departmental levels. We demonstrate that the disparity between the number of mathematics Ph.D.s awarded and the number of DG faculty positions filled has grown over time. Even institutions with the best records of DG faculty placement have experienced a temporal …

Preparing Teaching Assistants To Facilitate Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (Cures) In The Biological Sciences: A Call To Action, Erin Shortlidge, Amie M. Kern, Emma Goodwin, Jeffrey T. Olimpo

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) offer an expanding avenue to engage students in real-world scientific practices. Increasingly, CUREs are instructed by graduate teaching assistants (TAs), yet TAs may be underprepared to facilitate and face unique barriers when teaching CUREs. Consequently, unless TAs are provided professional development (PD) and resources to teach CUREs effectively, they and their students may not reap the assumed benefits of CURE instruction. Here, we describe three perspectives – that of the CURE TA, the CURE designer/facilitator, and the CURE student – that are collectively intended to inform the development of tentative components of CURE TA PD. …

Activity Patterns Of Whiptail Lizards (Aspidoscelis) Found In The Northern Chihuahuan Desert, Guillermo Alvarez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Traditional lizard pitfall traps were modified to allow organisms to escape, while collecting valuable ecological data. Modified camera traps were capable of detecting the same species as traditional traps in a semi-arid environment, without posing the associated mortality risks. Pitfall-camera traps were used to sample the activity of the Side-blotched Lizard (Uta stansburiana) and the Southwestern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus cowlesi) in an urban wetland during four continuous years. Evaluations on activity pattern and the activity overlap between the two species revealed extensive overlap, with minor but significant seasonal shifts mediating coexistence. Traps were also effective at detecting other reptiles, invertebrates, …

Exploring The Misalignment Between State And Federal Policies: Trials And Tribulations In A West Texas School District, James Dustin Anderson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

AbstractThis dissertation examines the complex interplay between state and federal educational policies and their real-world implications within the Texas public education system. Utilizing an autoethnographic approach, the study delves into the experiences of an educational leader during the so-called West Texas School District Cheating Scandal. This event was not an instance of academic dishonesty but rather a significant misalignment between state mandates and federal requirements, specifically surrounding standardized testing protocols. The narrative, constructed through detailed vignettes, brings to life the educator's struggle against the backdrop of this policy dissonance, offering a rich analysis of the situation's ethical, administrative, and systemic …

Upcyclying Of Polyethylene Terephtalate By Addition Of Thermoplastic Elastomer, Diego Francisco Bermudez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Continual overconsumption of single-use plastics has generated challenges of solid waste management across the United States. Common plastic waste management solutions, such as landfill, have caused the migration of contaminants into the environment consequently affecting not only the health of wildlife, but also that of human beings. Alternative strategies for the handling of single-use plastic such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), used in the food packaging industry, can ultimately help mitigate the noxious consequences of single-use plastics affecting entire ecosystems. This study demonstrates a potential avenue of materials upcycling by studying the effects of coupling PET with the thermoplastic elastomer styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene …

Addressing Current Security And Privacy Limitations In Iot Applications With Differential Privacy, Nicholas Anthony Lopez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Over the last decade, billions of devices have been developed to run on the Internet of Things (IoT) domain. IoT has been embedded into everyday tasks so much that the number of devices has outpaced the global population. Some of the main areas of IoT include healthcare, industry, communications, transportation, logistics, and environmental awareness, to name a few. With this greater demand for devices comes an even greater demand for privacy and security. The three main principles of security include confidentiality, integrity, and availability. However, there is no “one size fits all” solution regarding privacy or security. When applied across …

Additive Manufacturing Of Composites For Sensing And Harsh Environments Application, Md Sahid Hassan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Composite materials are made by combining two or more materials, such as fibers and resins to create a material system that has improved mechanical and physical properties compared to its individual components. The use of 3D printing technology in composite manufacturing allows for the creation of complex and custom shapes with precise control over the placement of the materials. This makes it possible to create composite parts with enhanced performance characteristics and reduced weight. The work presented in this dissertation lies in the design and development of highly flexible impact propagation sensor through material extrusion 3D printing technique. By using …

Southern Rio Grande Rift Kinematics And Geochronology, Big Bend Fold Geometry, And The Use Of Real Data In Geoscience Education: Contributions To The Understanding Of Big Bend Geology And To Public Geoscientific Literacy, Jessica Kelsch

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Big Bend region of Trans-Pecos Texas preserves a rich record of Rio Grande rifting and Laramide-age contraction that provide intrigue to national and state park visitors and field trips for undergraduate geology students. Despite its well-exposed geologic record, the Big Bend region remains an underutilized natural laboratory for studying these two tectonic events. This dissertation combines structural studies of Rio Grande rift and Laramide structures with public outreach and geoscience education studies focused on the Big Bend region. In Chapter 2, existing extensional-kinematic studies from parts of this region are compiled with new fault kinematic and U-Pb geochronologic data …

Enhancing Power System Flexibility Through Efficient Integration Of Facts And Electric Vehicles, Izaz Zunnurain

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The global transition towards a cleaner and sustainable energy landscape has led to the integration of renewable energy sources and electric vehicles (EVs) into the modern power system, along with their complexities. Due to the high penetration of renewable energy sources and rapid growth of EVs, the power grid often experiences congestion, increasing the overall operating cost of the power system and directly jeopardizing the power stability and quality of the grid. A flexible and resilient power infrastructure that can accommodate the intermittency of renewable energy sources and the adoption of EVs is very much required to ensure the reliability …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Acetaminophen-Derived Nanoparticles: A Novel Approach To Inhibit Fibril Formation, Hannia Elena Mendoza-Dickey

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the realm of nanotechnology, nanoparticles (NPs), have garnered significant notoriety in recent scientific research due to their unique physical and chemical properties, such as fluorescence emissions, nanoscale dimensions (typically <1000 nm), ease of surface modification, and biocompatibility. Nanoparticles have shown their potential across a variety of areas, including advanced industrial applications and cutting-edge biomedical research. Considering their cost-effective synthesis, they have shown promise as therapeutic agents for a variety of bioimaging and biomedical applications. This thesis describes the synthesis and detailed analysis of acetaminophen-derived nanoparticles. Techniques such as Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Thioflavin T (THT) assay, Attenuated Total Reflectance Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-IR), 1H NMR spectroscopy, and Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy (UV-VIS) were utilized for structural and functional assessments. Acetaminophen derived nanoparticles (ANPs) exhibit potential to hinder the amyloidogenic conversion of soluble amyloid-forming proteins into their toxic form. The novelty of this research focuses on the utilization of chemical structures capable of traversing the Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) to mitigate xenotoxicant-induced neuronal damage, a notable contributor to neurodegenerative disorders. This thesis describes the synthesis and characterization of acetaminophen derived-nanoparticles (ANPs). Our nanoparticles possess anti-amyloidogenic properties as evidenced by their ability to disrupt in the soluble-to-toxic trajectory of HEWL. The prevalence and evolution of amyloid fibrils are consistent features in the pathology of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimerâ??s Disease (AD), and Huntingtonâ??s Disease (HD), as well as metabolic disorders like Type 2 diabetes (T2D). The relationship between amyloidogenic pathways and these disorders highlights the imperative for enhanced understanding and the formulation of specific therapeutic interventions.

Addressing Binational Issues For Water Quality Along The United States-Mexico Border And The Use Of The 1944 Water Treaty As A Means For Developing Transboundary Aquifer Agreements, Gilbert Anaya

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The water resources of the United States (U.S.) and Mexico are under tremendous pressure due to declining reservoir levels, changes in climate, and prolonged drought. The U.S.-Mexico border region relies on the Rio Grande and Colorado River, and shared groundwater resources that are transboundary in nature. These resources are vital to the U.S.-Mexico border and are susceptible to drought that leads to reduced flow and allocation to the users. In addition, there are impacts to water quality caused by return flows and from failing sanitation infrastructure. In this study, we focus on 1) the contribution of springs in an area …

An Optimization Procedure To Design Nozzle Contours For Hypersonic Wind Tunnels, Omar Antonio Dominguez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Supersonic wind tunnels allow scientists and researchers to evaluate and analyze the behaviors of objects under real-life conditions when subjected to supersonic speeds. One of the main complexities when building a wind tunnel is the design of the convergent-divergent nozzle that is used to produce high-speed and high-quality flows. To achieve supersonic speeds, this nozzle adopts a specialized approach that incorporates the complexities of flow compressibility. The compressible effect is accurately evaluated using isentropic relations, allowing for precise determination of stagnation pressure and temperature, and static pressure and temperature relevant to the desired Mach number. Isentropic equations used to define …

Evaluation Of Evapotranspiration Estimates Using An Existing Hybrid Machine Learning Model In A Natural And A Managed Dryland Site, Katya Esquivel Herrera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Evapotranspiration (ET) is a critical component of the hydrologic cycle, encompassing both evaporative water loss from surfaces and transpiration through plant stomata. The environmental factors influencing ET include water and energy availability, atmospheric capacity for water uptake, and various meteorological variables. ET serves as a unique climate variable linking water, energy, and carbon cycles. In agroecosystems, accurate ET quantification is vital for optimizing water use efficiency, irrigation management, and crop yield. Traditional methods for ET estimation involve direct measurements and indirect models, with both presenting limitations.

Recent years have witnessed the integration of remote sensing and machine learning (ML) algorithms …