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Frsc 480-002: Forensic Microscopy, Fisher David

Chemistry, Environmental and Forensic Science Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Biol 337-002 Collective Intelligence In Biological Systems, Simon Garnier

Biology Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Biol 150-004: Living In A Variable Universe, Eric Fortune

Biology Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment And Dye Trace Of War Fork River In Daniel Boone National Forest, Will Hemenover

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Daniel Boone National Forest plays a key role in preserving much of Kentucky’s karst regions, natural resources including timber, mineral deposits, and biodiversity, including over 300 species of concern. The health of these environments is determined by surface and groundwater streams in the forest, and karst systems are an integral environment where these systems are active. War Fork, a tributary to the Kentucky River in Jackson County, Kentucky, is a remote and understudied hydrologic system in the Daniel Boone National Forest that contains recreational and logging land uses. Due to karst areas being susceptible to contamination because of rapid water …

The Effect Of Ions On The Adsorption Of So2 On A Water Nanoparticle, Nathaniel W. Gillispie

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Secondary Organic Aerosols (SOAs) have been of interest to atmospheric chemists for their harmful effects on human health and implications for climate change. Here, we explore a likely system from the early stages of SOA formation. Using compu- tational methods, water nanoparticles with and without ions were simulated. We observe the effects of ions on the adsorption of SO2 on this system. SO2 in the at- mosphere is associated with greater production of SOAs, so its study is important to SOA formation. We find that the overall structure of water is the most important observable affecting the location of SO2 …

Fact Book, Academic Year 2023, Systems Intelligence And Data Analytics, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Fact Book

The Fact Book presents important campus information in data tables and charts. Included are details regarding students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Generally, data are broken out by college, rank, level, gender, age and ethnicity for both spring and fall semesters, past to present. There are a few academic year tables that include information on tuition & fees, student credit hours by program, and degrees conferred. We wish to thank the many individuals and departments at the University for their contributions to the Fact Book.

Discrete Mathematics In A Nutshell Or Theoretical Foundations Of Computer Science, Yuliya Lierler

Computer Science Faculty Books and Monographs

Contents 1. Basic Structures: Sets, Function, Sequences, Sums 4 1.1. Sets Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.2. Sets Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …

Analysis And Detection Of Cyber Attacks In Multi Vehicle Systems Using Macroscopic Models, Abhishek Kashyap

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The study of potential cyber-attacks in different domains is an active area of research. Given that systems are becoming more and more interconnected, cyber physical systems that operate infrastructure and/or plants can make these assets more vulnerable and open to different attack vectors. The primary focus of this research is the modeling, analysis and detection of cyber-attacks on platoons of autonomous cars and swarms of UAVs. In this work, we consider scenarios wherein an attacker may hack into a subset of vehicles in a multi-vehicle system and make subtle modifications in their parameters. Due to the interconnected nature of the …

Negotiating Quotidian Justice In The Science Classroom, Christopher Irwin, Joshua Ellis

Faculty Publications

In this conceptual paper, we explore how science teachers might enact social justice through their everyday science instruction. Drawing on empirical literature and our own K-12 teaching experience, we develop a heuristic for mapping classroom discourses to engage in action and reflection to change both the world of the classroom community, and the world beyond the school. We suggest how this heuristic can be used for justice-oriented science teaching independently of (or as a supplement to) any existing frameworks for science teaching to promote social justice. Our proposed model for social justice through disciplinary science teaching frames justice not as …

Behavioral Outcomes In Patients With Metopic Craniosynostosis: Relationship With Radiographic Severity, Mariana Almeida

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Children with metopic nonsyndromic craniosynostosis have been found to have more neurocognitive and behavioral difficulties, when compared to other types of nonsyndromic craniosynostosis. These neurocognitive and behavioral difficulties can be apparent later in life even following surgical correction of the cranial dysmorphology at infancy. The factors that may be contributing to these difficulties have not been fully elucidated. In metopic craniosynostosis, radiographic severity can be measured using computed tomography imaging. Pre-operative radiographic severity has been demonstrated to be associated with worse reading abilities at school age. However, these studies have had limited sample sizes. Furthermore, the impact of radiographic severity …

Volumetric Assessment Of Imaging Response In The Pnoc Pediatric Glioma Clinical Trials, Divya Ramakrishnan

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Response assessment in neuro-oncology relies on radiographic assessment of tumor burden on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The most widely used criteria were developed by the Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology (RANO) group. The RANO criteria rely on bidimensional (2D) measurements of tumor on MR images. The RANO criteria were originally developed to assess response in adult high-grade glioma. However, the heterogeneous appearance of pediatric low-grade gliomas make application of RANO criteria challenging. Volumetric assessment of pediatric gliomas may offer a more comprehensive method for characterizing response.

The goal of this thesis was to compare 2D and volumetric assessment methods in two …

Machine Learning And Risk Prediction Tools In Neurosurgery: A Rapid Review, Josiah Sherman

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

INTRODUCTION: Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques have become highly visible in society and medicine, with some AI/ML-enabled devices receiving approval by the Federal Drug Administration for use in direct patient care. In neurosurgery, ML algorithms have been developed for clinical outcome prediction, many of which have achieved higher predictive ability than standard statistical analysis techniques. However, few have synthesized the ML literature in neurosurgery and its subspecialties. Given the rapid rate at which ML algorithms for outcome prediction and prognostication have developed in neurosurgery, additional synthesis of the current ML landscape in this area is necessary. The …

Regionalization Strategy To Optimize Inpatient Bed Utilization And Reduce Emergency Department Crowding, Ragini Luthra Vaidya

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Aims:Pooling inpatient bed resources for more efficient bed management is a promising solution to the pervasive problem of Emergency Department crowding. This study aims to characterize a regionalization protocol in place for ED-to-inpatient disposition between a tertiary academic medical center (AMC) and an urban community teaching hospital in an integrated health system, overseen by a single Bed Management Department. An additional purpose of this study is to investigate transfer decisions from a health equity perspective.

Methods:This is a retrospective observational study utilizing electronic admissions records from the two hospitals’ Emergency Departments to general medicine floors between January 1, 2020 and …

Probing Ligands To Reaction Centers To Limit The Photocycle In Photosynthetic Bacterium Rubrivivax Gelatinosus, Mariann Kis, James L. Smart, Péter Maróti

Faculty Publications - Department of Biological & Molecular Science

Light-induced electron flow between reaction center and cytochrome bc1 complexes is mediated by quinones and electron donors in purple photosynthetic bacteria. Upon high-intensity excitation, the contribution of the cytochrome bc1 complex is limited kinetically and the electron supply should be provided by the pool of reduced electron donors. The kinetic limitation of electron shuttle between reaction center and cytochrome bc1 complex and its consequences on the photocycle were studied by tracking the redox changes of the primary electron donor (BChl dimer) via absorption change and the opening of the closed reaction center via relaxation of the bacteriochlorophyll fluorescence in intact …

Using The Electronic Medical Record To Improve Nurse Workload, Sharon C. Le Roux

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects - Archive

Background

Equitable nurse-patient assignments have been associated with improved nurse well-being, patient satisfaction and outcomes. Despite this, in an academic medical center in the southwestern United States, there is no standardized process to create equitable nurse-patient assignments.

Objectives

The aim of this project was to improve inpatient oncology nurse well-being and satisfaction through the implementation of an EMR based nurse-patient assignment tool.

Methods

The IOWA Model-Revised for evidence-based practice was used as the basis for this project. Data collected included demographics, the Well-Being Index Survey, perception of satisfaction with manual workload tool, along with knowledge and use of the …

Implementation Of Prognosticator Algorithm For Initiation Of Serious Illness Discussions And Improving The Rate Of Palliative And Hospice Referrals, Joy Isebor

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects - Archive

Context: Early serious illness conversations related to end-of-life and goals of care with seriously ill patients have been associated with improving patients' outcomes and quality of care (Bernacki et al., 2015). However, initiating these serious illness discussions has been challenging in the home-based primary care setting.

Objectives: To train and support home-based primary care clinicians in integrating best practices in serious illness discussions and decision-making engagement among patients sixty-five and older with serious illnesses, optimize the alignment between patient goals and the medical care they receive, improving their quality of life and the rate of palliative care and hospice referrals. …

Student Performance In Modern Physics In An Active, Partially-Flipped Classroom, Scott Yarbrough

Physics Dissertations - Archive

The effectiveness of the flipped classroom and hybrid-flipped (partially flipped, partially lecture-based) method of instruction has been extensively studied for high school and introductory undergraduate physics courses, and it has been shown to increase student understanding and performance. However, few studies have been done for upper-level undergraduate courses, and even fewer have been done for virtual courses. In Spring 2021 and Fall 2023, a fully virtual, hybrid-flipped Modern Physics course was taught, primarily to a class of primarily juniors and seniors, with some sophomores. All were STEM majors. The same course, with a similar enrolment and demographic of students, was …

The Direct And Inverse Scattering Problems For The Third-Order Operator, Ivan Toledo

Mathematics Dissertations - Archive

We consider the full-line direct and inverse scattering problems for the third-order ordinary differential equation containing two potentials decaying sufficiently fast at infinity. The direct scattering problem consists of the determination of the scattering data set when the two potentials are known. The scattering data set is made up of the corresponding scattering coefficients and the bound-state information. On the other hand, the inverse scattering problem involves the recovery of the two potentials when the scattering data set is available. We formulate the inverse scattering problem via a related Riemann--Hilbert problem on the complex plane. We describe the recovery of …

A Novel K-Nearest Neighbors Method Based On Generalized Feature Optimization For Precipitation Forecasting, Sean Guidry Stanteen

Mathematics Dissertations - Archive

This study introduces a novel k-nearest neighbors (kNN) method of forecasting precipitation at weather-observing stations. The method identifies numerous monthly temporal patterns to produce precipitation forecasts for a specific month. Compared to climatological forecasts, which average the observed precipitation over the prior thirty years, and other existing contemporary iterations of kNN, the proposed novel kNN method produces more accurate forecasts on a consistent basis. Specifically, the novel kNN method produces improved root mean square errors (RMSE), mean relative errors, and Nash-Sutcliffe coefficients when compared to climatological and other kNN forecasts at five weather …

A New Mechanistic Model Of Brain Metabolism With Optimal Parametrization, Alice Lubbe

Mathematics Dissertations - Archive

Models of glucose metabolism in the brain often focus on chemical exchanges and reactions that occur as part of the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA cycle). Experiments involving nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to detect and measure carbon-labeled isotopomers of metabolites such as glutamate in vivo inform kinetic, mechanistic models used to study metabolic pathways. In the present work, a new model with two compartments, astrocytic and neuronal, is developed using known biochemical processes and fit to experimental data coming from fully labeled glucose infusions. A gradient descent method is introduced and employed to obtain optimal flux parameter values involved in …

Using Multiview Polynomial Learning To Estimate The Planting Dates Of Crops, Angela A. Avila

Mathematics Dissertations - Archive

This study presents a novel approach to predicting crop planting dates by integrating ground-based Leaf Area Index (LAI) measurements with satellite images through a method we term Multiview Polynomial Learning. The research leverages precise time-series LAI data. Third-degree polynomials are used to describe each year's crop growth. Due to the scarce availability of ground LAI data, synthetic polynomial curves are created to mimic a third-degree polynomial space representing any crop growth.

Since ground LAI data collection is not feasible, we turn to the abundant satellite images. To connect satellite information with LAI, we use Orthogonal Canonical Correlation Analysis (OCCA), …

Integrating Machine Learning With Cure Models And Associated Inference, Wisdom Aselisewine

Mathematics Dissertations - Archive

Recent advancements in medical treatments have significantly enhanced the rates of recovery for numerous chronic illnesses. This progress has sparked growing interest in developing suitable statistical models capable of handling survival data that includes substantial cure fractions. The mixture cure model finds extensive application in analyzing survival data when there exists a cured subgroup. Standard logistic regression-based approaches for modeling the incidence part of the mixture cure model may suffer from poor predictive accuracy, especially in the presence of high dimensional covariates and/or non-linear covariate effects. To overcome this limitation, we propose the integration of distinct machine learning algorithms with …

Soil Biogeochemistry In Riparian And Restored Tidal Wetlands: Monitoring And Method Evaluation, Joseph Anthony Loffredo

Open Access Master's Theses

Although soils are essential for sustaining ecosystems, they are often overlooked in routine monitoring efforts during restoration projects. This thesis tries to address the interest in and challenges of measuring and monitoring soil biogeochemical properties and processes to evaluate restoration trajectories. In the first part of this thesis (Chapter 1), I monitored tidal marsh vegetation and soil biogeochemical responses to restoration by thin-layer placement (TLP) of dredged sediments in a greenhouse mesocosm study and a parallel field study at an active restoration site in southern RI. In the greenhouse, aboveground plant biomass in mesocosms treated with +5 cm and +10 …

Markerless Motion Capture For Dual-Handed Teleportation Of Industrial Robots, Michael F. Vallaro

Open Access Master's Theses

The advancement of teleoperation systems has predominantly focused on single-robot or humanoid systems, leaving a gap in efficient control methods for dual-robot setups. Existing solutions lack the ability to integrate synchronized operations of two robots with intuitive and precise human inputs. This limitation limits the execution of tasks requiring simultaneous coordination, multitasking, and safety measures, particularly in environments that demand precision, such as hazardous material handling, industrial assembly, and automation workflows. To address this issue, a dual-robot teleoperation system is proposed, enabling a single operator to control two Niryo Ned 2 robotic arms using hand motion tracking via Leap Motion …

Estimation Of Mechanical Behavior Of Unsaturated Soils From A Soil-Water Characteristic Curve, Lucas Acheampong

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

The small-strain shear modulus and shear strength are two crucial mechanical behaviors used in the design of geotechnical structures and in the analyses of earth materials subjected to static and dynamic loadings. Traditional testing methods for these parameters are expensive and time-consuming. This research aimed to address these challenges by developing a model based on the inverse relationship between mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils and the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC). The proposed model integrates a scaling function to align the SWCC with the mechanical property curve. Empirical relationships were established for the scaling function, specifically aligning with the air-entry value …

Language Models For Rare Disease Information Extraction: Empirical Insights And Model Comparisons, Shashank Gupta

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

End-to-end relation extraction (E2ERE) is a crucial task in natural language processing (NLP) that involves identifying and classifying semantic relationships between entities in text. This thesis compares three paradigms for end-to-end relation extraction (E2ERE) in biomedicine, focusing on rare diseases with discontinuous and nested entities. We evaluate Named Entity Recognition (NER) to Relation Extraction (RE) pipelines, sequence-to-sequence models, and generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) models using the RareDis information extraction dataset. Our findings indicate that pipeline models are the most effective, followed closely by sequence-to-sequence models. GPT models, despite having eight times as many parameters, perform worse than sequence-to-sequence models and …

Recent Paleolimnological History Of Jackson Lake, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming (Usa), Hillary Johnson

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

This study utilizes a recently acquired, high-resolution CHIRP seismic reflection dataset and a deepwater sediment core to analyze the recent stratigraphy of Jackson Lake (Wyoming, USA). The western shoreline of Jackson Lake is situated adjacent to the Teton fault, a down-to-the-east normal fault that produces the spectacular high topography of Grand Teton National Park. The sediments of Jackson Lake are underexplored and consequently, their value as indicators of hydroclimatic and tectonic changes is unknown. Here, the sedimentary fill of Jackson Lake is explored as a natural archive of environmental change, specifically in reference to the influence of human outlet engineering …

Investigations Across Biology And Education: Exploring The Gut Microbiome Of Freshwater Mussels And Understanding Undergraduate Biology Student Motivation, Mary Foley

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

A PhD aims to make a unique contribution to the current body of knowledge while developing as an independent researcher and critical thinker. This dissertation covers a wide range of topics, from microbiome analysis to biology education. Although there is no broad overarching research theme, all the chapters are connected by the process of scientific inquiry and by their contribution to the completion of a PhD.

Chapter One serves as a comprehensive literature review, delving into the standard methods of measuring the health of at-risk species. It describes direct measures of health (e.g., birth and death rates) crucial for predicting …

Microstructural, Mineralogical, And Chemical Characterization Of The Handys Bend And Flax Creek Meteorites, Kentucky: Relevance For The Iron Meteorite Record, Ethan S.L. Davis

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Iron meteorites remain the only material view into planetary cores. Despite their scientific relevance, iron meteorites are relatively rare. In June 2021 and March 2022, the Kentucky Geological Survey received requests to identify two metallic specimens discovered in central Kentucky. The specimens were given the provisional names Handys Bend (3175.2 g) and Flax Creek (286.2 g). The goal of this project is to confirm meteoritic origin, characterize their structures and chemistry, assign genetic classifications, and examine potential relations to previous discoveries. Petrography was conducted using scanning electron microscopy. Mineral phases were examined using X-Ray diffraction crystallography. Chemical compositions were determined …

Thermal Alteration Of The Mineralogy Of Calcium Sulfoaluminate Cements: Implications For The Performance Of Rapid Repair Materials, Jillian Cavellier

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) was developed in part to lessen the environmental impact of cementitious materials compared to traditional Portland cements. CSA was first put into production in the 1970s and has been undergoing various performance testing to investigate its durability. Yet to be evaluated is CSA’s response to a rapid, high temperature event. In this study, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and scanning electron microscope imaging were used to analyze alterations in the mineralogy due to such an event. As found in previous studies, after ~125°C, ettringite has been completely dehydrated. Ettringite decomposes into bassanite and calcium …