Digital Commons Network^™

Final-Stage Densification Kinetics Of Direct Current–Sintered Zrb2, Austin D. Stanfield, Steven M. Smith, Suzana Filipović, Nina Obradović, Vladimir Buljak, Gregory E. Hilmas, William Fahrenholtz

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Final-stage sintering was analyzed for nominally phase pure zirconium diboride synthesized by borothermal reduction of high-purity ZrO₂. Analysis was conducted on ZrB₂ ceramics with relative densities greater than 90% using the Nabarro–Herring stress–directed vacancy diffusion model. Temperatures of 1900°C or above and an applied uniaxial pressure of 50 MPa were required to fully densify ZrB₂ ceramics by direct current sintering. Ram travel data were collected and used to determine the relative density of the specimens during sintering. Specimens sintered between 1900 and 2100°C achieved relative densities greater than 97%, whereas specimens sintered below 1900°C failed to …

Morphological And Structural Characterization Of Mgal2o4 Spinel, Nina Obradović, Suzana Filipović, William Fahrenholtz, Bojan A. Marinkovic, Jelena Rogan, Steva Lević, Antonije Đorđević, Vladimir B. Pavlović

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Magnesium aluminate has the spinel structure along with good mechanical, chemical, and thermal properties. Magnesium aluminate has a wide range of applications including refractory ceramics, optically transparent ceramic windows, and armors. Its low dielectric permeability and low loss tangent enable its applications for integrated electronic devices, as well. In this paper, MgO and Al₂O₃ powders were mixed in a one-to-one molar ratio and calcined at temperatures ranging from 1500 to 1800o C to produce phase pure spinel. Thereafter, pellets were crushed and treated in a planetary ball mill for 60 min to obtain a fine powder. All …

Strength Retention Of Single-Phase High-Entropy Diboride Ceramics Up To 2000°C, Lun Feng, William Fahrenholtz, Gregory E. Hilmas, Yue Zhou, Jincheng Bai

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The mechanical properties of single-phase (Hf_0.2,Nb_0.2,Ta_0.2,Ti_0.2,Zr_0.2)B₂ ceramics with high purity were investigated. The resulting ceramics had relative density greater than 99%, and an average grain size of 4.3 ± 1.6 μm. At room temperature (RT), the Vickers hardness was 25.2 ± 0.6 GPa at a load of 0.49 N, Young's modulus was 551 ± 7 GPa, fracture toughness was 4.5 ± 0.4 MPa m1/2, and flexural strength was 507 ± 10 MPa. Flexural strength increased by more than 50% from 507 ± 10 MPa at RT to 776 ± …

Strengths-Based Leadership Traits In Intercollegiate Student-Athletes, Caitlin Thilges

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to examine the top five HIGH5 leadership strengths of collegiate level student-athletes in relation to formal and informal leaders. Collegiate student-athletes (N = 97) completed the HIGH5 Test, designed to assess leadership strengths. A frequency analysis was conducted on the whole population resulting in the strengths of: Coach, Empathizer, Deliverer, Time Keeper, and Philomath emerging as prominent. Formal and informal leaders’ strengths were also analyzed. Emergent strengths shared between formal and informal leaders were: Deliverer, Time Keeper, Coach, and Empathizer. Whereas the strength of Believer emerged in formal leaders and Optimist and Thinker emerged …

No Need To Set The Alarm, I’Ve Been Up Since 2:30am! Why My Teaching Job Keeps Me Up At Night: A Phenomenological Research Study On Empathic Strain Of Iowa Educators, Lindsey Cornwell

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Empathic strain describes a stressor on individuals in professions in which one cares for others who have endured their own trauma or stress (Mathieu, 2021). While previous studies have looked mainly at medical, social work and law enforcement fields as being some of the most impacted by empathic strain, more recently educators have been identified as those challenged with this phenomenon.

Through a phenomenological qualitative study, which included a Facebook marketed Qualtrics survey on empathic strain, four individual interviews and a metaphorical data analysis focus group experience, the lived experiences of educators with empathic strain were collected. Each of the …

Delivering Broadband Light Deep Into Diffusive Media, Rohin Mcintosh, Nicholas Bender, Alexey Yamilov, Arthur Goetschy, Chia Wei Hsu, Hasan Yilmaz, Hui Cao

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Waves propagate diffusively through disordered media, such as biological tissue, clouds, and paint, due to random scattering. Recent advances in optical wavefront shaping techniques have enabled controlling coherent light propagation in multiple-scattering samples. We overcome wave diffusion to deliver optical energy into a target region of arbitrary size and shape anywhere inside a strong-scattering system. This is particularly important for applications such as photoacoustic microscopy and optogenetics, where light needs to be deposited deep into biological tissue. For monochromatic light, we previously introduced the deposition matrix (DM) Z(ω), which maps its input wavefront to the field distribution in the target …

Nanomaterial Payload Delivery To Central Nervous System Glia For Neural Protection And Repair, Jayant Saksena, Adelle E. Hamilton, Ryan J. Gilbert, Jonathan M. Zuidema

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Central nervous system (CNS) glia, including astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes, play prominent roles in traumatic injury and degenerative disorders. Due to their importance, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are being developed to modulate CNS glia in order to improve outcomes in traumatic injury and disease. While many of these APIs show promise in vitro, the majority of APIs that are systemically delivered show little penetration through the blood–brain barrier (BBB) or blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB) and into the CNS, rendering them ineffective. Novel nanomaterials are being developed to deliver APIs into the CNS to modulate glial responses and improve outcomes in …

Unifying Threats Against Information Integrity In Participatory Crowd Sensing, Shameek Bhattacharjee, Sajal K. Das

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

This article proposes a unified threat landscape for participatory crowd sensing (P-CS) systems. Specifically, it focuses on attacks from organized malicious actors that may use the knowledge of P-CS platform's operations and exploit algorithmic weaknesses in AI-based methods of event trust, user reputation, decision-making, or recommendation models deployed to preserve information integrity in P-CS. We emphasize on intent driven malicious behaviors by advanced adversaries and how attacks are crafted to achieve those attack impacts. Three directions of the threat model are introduced, such as attack goals, types, and strategies. We expand on how various strategies are linked with different attack …

Preserving Privacy In Image Database Through Bit-Planes Obfuscation, Vishesh K. Tanwar, Ashish Gupta, Sanjay Kumar Madria, Sajal K. Das

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

The recent surge in computer vision applications has caused visual privacy concerns to people who are either users or exposed to an underlying surveillance system. To preserve their privacy, image obfuscation lays out a strong road through which the usability of images can also be maintained without revealing any visual private information. However, prior solutions are susceptible to reconstruction attacks or produce non-trainable images even by leveraging the obfuscation ways. This paper proposes a novel bit-planes-based image obfuscation scheme, called Bimof, to protect the visual privacy of the user in the images that are input into a recognition-based system. By …

Lasa: Location-Aware Scheduling Algorithm In Industrial Iot Networks With Mobile Nodes, Marco Pettorali, Francesca Righetti, Carlo Vallati, Sajal K. Das, Giuseppe Anastasi

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Synchronized Single-hop Multiple Gateway (SHMG) is a framework recently proposed to support mobility into 6TiSCH, the standard network architecture defined for Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) deployments. SHMG supports industrial applications with stringent requirements by adopting the Shared-Downstream Dedicated-Upstream (SD-DU) scheduling policy, which allocates to Mobile Nodes (MNs) a set of dedicated transmission opportunities for uplink data. Such allocation is performed on all the Border Routers (BRs) of the network without considering the location of MNs. Transmission opportunities are reserved also in BRs far from the current location of the MN, resulting in a waste of resources that limits …

Promoting Change In The Face Of Retrenchment, Marcia Mccormick

FIU Law Review

This article delves into the challenges of teaching antidiscrimination law and the complexities students face in reconciling legal doctrines with their expectations of justice. It explores the persistent inequalities embedded in wage gaps, labor market segregation, and more, highlighting the transformative potential of addressing stereotypes. Professor Kerry Stone's book, "Panes of the Glass Ceiling," is lauded for unveiling deeply ingrained cultural assumptions, offering tools to challenge them. The article reflects on hidden assumptions exposed in Stone's work and discusses the ideological pushback against education aimed at revealing and dismantling stereotypes. It concludes with a call for a nuanced understanding of …

Judging Better Together: Understanding The Psychology Of Group Decision-Making On Panel Courts And Tribunals, Brian M. Barry Dr

Articles

While the psychological phenomena that affect group decisionmaking have been thoroughly investigated for decades, how these phenomena apply to decision-making by judges on panel courts is under-examined. This article examines the main psychological phenomena of group decision-making, both positive and negative, and considers their implications for panel courts and other groups of professional legal decision-makers such as adjudicators serving on tribunals. This article argues that experimental studies on judges and adjudicators testing the effects of these phenomena would improve understanding of legal decision-making by these groups and could help to devise ways to improve their decision-making processes to reach higher …

Gender Inequality In Contracts Casebooks: Representations Of Women In The Contracts Curriculum, Deborah Zalesne

FIU Law Review

Gender has always explicitly or implicitly played a critical role in contracting and in contracts opinions—from the early nineteenth century, when married women lacked the legal capacity altogether to contract, through the next century, when women gained the right to contract but continued to lack bargaining power and to be disadvantaged in the bargaining process in many cases, to today, when women are present in greater numbers in business and commerce, but face continued, yet less overt, obstacles. Typical casebooks provide ample offerings for discussions of the ways in which parties can be and have been disadvantaged because of their …

"Covid-19 Was The Publicist For Homeschooling" And States Need To Finally Take Homeschooling Regulations Seriously Post-Pandemic, Kristia Hoffman

FIU Law Review

Homeschooling was rapidly growing in the U.S. even before COVID-19. The pandemic accelerated this growth by quickly exposing nearly every American family to homeschooling in some form. The pandemic has ushered in a new age of homeschooling characterized by flexibility, technology, collaboration, and alternative forms of schooling beyond the traditional parent-teaching-child framework. Although the Supreme Court has never recognized a fundamental right of parents to homeschool their children, it has repeatedly recognized that parents have the right to direct their children’s education and to choose to educate them in the way they deem fit. There is debate as to what …

Feminist Legal Theory And Stone’S Panes Of The Glass Ceiling, Rona Kaufman

FIU Law Review

This comprehensive analysis, divided into three parts, navigates the intricate tapestry of discrimination against women in the American workplace. Part I elucidates the historical and theoretical foundations, spanning feminist theory evolution, the modern women's movement, and the trajectory of women's labor force participation. In Part II, the discussion delves into the critical insights of Professor Kerri Stone's groundbreaking work, "Panes of the Glass Ceiling," connecting each identified glass pane to feminist theory. Part III introduces a novel perspective by appending a 10th pane to the glass ceiling: Patriarchal Violence. This addition underscores the pervasive impact of gender-based violence on women's …

Beyond The Glass Ceiling: Panes Of Equity Partnership, Rachel Arnow-Richman

FIU Law Review

This Article, prepared for a “micro-symposium” on Professor Kerri Stone’s monograph Panes of the Glass Ceiling (2022), explores the partnership pay gap in large law firms and the role of high-profile litigation in facilitating pay equity. There is a rich literature and extensive data on the gender attainment gap in elite law firms, particularly with regard to women’s attrition from practice and poor representation within the partnership ranks. Less attention has been paid to the way in which the exceptional women who achieve equity partner status continue to lag behind their male peers. This Article explores “Women v. BigLaw,” a …

Four Basic Postulates Concerning Women And Workplace Bullying In The United States, David C. Yamada

FIU Law Review

Responding to Kerri Lynn Stone's "Panes of the Glass Ceiling," this article delves into the pervasive issue of workplace bullying and its nuanced impact on women in professional settings. Stone's book identifies distinct "panes" of gender bias hindering women's progress, with a focus on workplace bullying as a major sub-theme. The essay proposes four postulates, drawing on national surveys by the Workplace Bullying Institute and articles from the author's professional blog, Minding the Workplace. Emphasizing the disproportionate targeting of women, the role of male perpetrators, complexities surrounding female perpetrators, and the potential of anti-bullying laws, the essay contributes to understanding …

Save Your Rights: How Florida And Other States Have Targeted Voting Access Following The 2020 Election, Francisco Varona

FIU Law Review

Following the 2020 general election, Florida’s Republican led legislature introduced Senate Bill 90 (“S.B. 90”), which seeks to put many restrictions on various aspects of the voting process. S.B. 90 limits ballot drop-off boxes, restricts mail-in voting, proscribes “line-warming,” increases registration difficulty, and expands identification requirements. Despite lauding Florida’s election as a gold standard for the rest of the country, Governor Ron DeSantis approved this bill in May of 2021, explaining that Florida should not become complacent despite its success. The Republican Governor approved this law against the backdrop of record voter turnout for Black and Latino voters and record …

Attitudes, Beliefs, And Perceptions On Cannabis Among Older Adults Aged 65 And Older: A Cross-Sectional Survey., Alex M Kleidon, Andrew M Peterson, Ilene Warner-Maron, Allen Glicksman

PCOM Scholarly Works

OBJECTIVE: With the rise of medical and recreational cannabis use among older adults, concerns about the potential risks and benefits of cannabis use are increasing. This pilot study aimed to determine the attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions of older adults toward cannabis as a medicinal product, to establish a foundation for future research on how healthcare providers communicate with this population regarding cannabis.

METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on adults aged 65 and older living in Philadelphia. The survey included questions related to participants' demographics, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions of cannabis. Participants were recruited via flyer distributions, publications in …

How It Course Improves Digital Competencies: An Experimental Study In Science Education, Mustafa Tevfik Hebebci, Helen Crompton

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The rising significance of technology in society has caused a surge in the requirement of individuals possessing digital competencies. In the current era, digital skills are progressively vital for both personal and occupational growth. Governments have acknowledged the value of digital competencies and have incorporated them as part of fundamental proficiencies in numerous countries. Pre-service teachers have a paramount role in molding forthcoming generations, highlighting their necessity to possess robust digital competencies. This research centers on how an "Information Technologies in Science Education" course influences the digital competency progression in pre-service teachers. The study deployed a pre-test post-test experimental design …

Improving Reliability In Assessing Integrative Learning Using Rubrics: Does Group Norming Help?, Lanah Stafford, Erin Cousins, Linda Bol, Megan Mize

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Integrative learning is an important outcome for graduates of higher education. Therefore, it should be well-defined and assessed reliably. The American Association of Colleges & Universities has developed a rubric to define and assess integrative learning, but it has low reliability. This pilot study examines whether this rubric's reliability can be improved by training users on how to use the rubric in a group setting rather than individually. Twelve faculty were trained to score undergraduate ePortfolios using the Integrative and Applied Learning VALUE Rubric. Half of the faculty were trained in an individual setting and half in a group setting …

Ireland: Context - Sociopolitical Background, Tanya Dean

Books/Book Chapters

The period from the 1990s through to 2020 saw a profound shift in the identity of the Republic of Ireland. The early twentieth century was focussed on the move from a colonial to a postcolonial existence, and the majority of the first decades of independence were spent struggling as one of the poorest countries in Western Europe and taking tentative steps onto the single market as a member of the EU (then EEC) after 1973. However, the period of the 1990s to late 2000s saw the nation gradually assert itself as an increasingly liberal, notionally secular, economically vigorous member of …

China Maritime Report No. 25: More Chinese Ferry Tales: China's Use Of Civilian Shipping In Military Activities, 2021-2022, J. Michael Dahm

CMSI China Maritime Reports

This report provides a comprehensive assessment of Chinese civilian shipping support to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), examining civil maritime-military activities from October 2021 through September 2022. As of 2022, the PLA and its reserve civilian merchant fleet are still probably unable to provide significant amphibious landing capabilities or the maritime logistics in austere or challenging environments necessary to support a major cross-strait invasion of Taiwan. However, large volume lift exercises conducted in 2022 suggest that the PLA has made significant progress in the use of civilian vessels for the large-scale lift of PLA troops and equipment into undefended ports, …

The Suitability Of Demand-Controlled Sensor Based Ventilation Systems In Retrofit Dwellings - A Longitudinal Study., Seamus Harrington, Mark Mulville

Conference papers

A fabric-first approach to dwelling retrofit results in increased airtightness, therefore there is an obligation to ensure that the upgrades do not lead to poor indoor air quality (IAQ) resulting from inadequate ventilation. The sensor-based demand-controlled ventilation (SBDCV) under review seeks to provide fresh air for breathing and to dilute and exhaust pollutants and odours. This system modulates the ventilation rate over time based on relative humidity levels and/or presence detection and considers that the level of ventilation provided is sufficient to control the concentration of all other indoor air pollutants, including those that are not a result of human …

Stories To Challenge The Status Quo - Experiences Of Black Minority Ethnic Social Care Students In Ireland, Margaret Fingleton

Doctoral

This study examines Black Minority Ethnic social care students’ experiences in Ireland and is located within the parameters of a number of key global events that occurred in the last decade. It provides critical insights into the students lived experiences of migration, resettlement, employment, higher education and social care scholarship.

Theoretically the thesis is grounded in Critical Race Theory (CRT) drawing on the key tenets of race as a social construction, interest convergence, White privilege, storytelling and intersectionality. A participatory research methodology was adopted which informed all phases of the study. Using a combined semi-structured interview/storytelling method the experiences of …

Music For Visual Media Of The 21st Century What Role Does Music Have In Visual Media, Sigrid Heugen

Doctoral

This research consists of a composition portfolio which examines new perspectives on musical experiences in virtual environments, through the exploration and development of immersive adaptive music for a visual medium. The research addresses the usage, adaptation, and creation of music in visual media such as Virtual Reality (VR) and other Extended Realities (XR).

Comparing The Meaning Of ‘Thesis’ And ‘Final Year Project’ In Architecture And Engineering Education, Rahman Tafahomi, Shannon Chance

Articles

Architectural education shares much in common with engineering, including the use of a culminating capstone experience in the final year. The form of this experience varies, with the research-based thesis and final-year project being most common. This paper explores the literature on traditions of enquiry and the meaning of research in various fields and the evolution of the ‘thesis’ and ‘final year project’ approaches over time. It then briefly summarises empirical research conducted on a case study institution struggling to bridge gaps in understandings of these distinct forms of learning and teaching. Throughout, the paper presents a comprehensive set of …

Walkable Neighborhoods: Linkages Between Place, Health, And Happiness In Younger And Older Adults, Kevin M. Leyden, Michael J. Hogan, Lorraine D'Arcy, Brendan Bunting, Sebastiaan Bierema

Articles

Problem, research strategy, and findings: We examined whether living in a walkable neighborhood influenced the happiness of younger and older city residents. The data for this study came from a comprehensive household population survey of 1,064 adults living in 16 neighborhoods in Dublin City (Ireland) and its suburbs. We used multigroup structural equation modeling to analyze the direct and indirect effects of walkability on happiness, mediated by health, trust, and satisfaction with neighborhood appearance. We found living in a walkable neighborhood was directly linked to the happiness of people aged 36 to 45 (p¼.001) and, to a lesser extent, those …

A Lak Of Direction Misalignment Between The Goals Of Learning Analytics And Its Research Scholarship, Benjamin A. Motz, Yoav Bergner, Christopher A. Brooks, Anna Gladden, Geraldine Gray, Charles Lang, Warren Li, Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos, Joshua D. Quick

Articles

Learning analytics defines itself with a focus on data from learners and learning environments, with corresponding goals of understanding and optimizing student learning. In this regard, learning analytics research, ideally, should be characterized by studies that make use of data from learners engaged in education systems, should measure student learning, and should make efforts to intervene and improve these learning environments.

Something Old, Something New: Two Library Building Projects Converting Old Buildings Into New Libraries, Allison Kavanagh

Articles

This paper describes two interrelated library building projects at Technological University Dublin. The first is the ongoing construction of an Academic Hub to accommodate the library and other academic support services, incorporating a protected structure into a new building. The second is the refurbishment of part of an office block, originally built in 1970 to be a hotel, to house an interim library until completion of the Academic Hub. This project has provided valuable information for the Academic Hub project.