Digital Commons Network^™

Implementation Of Algorithms For Sorting By Strip Swaps Using Alternating Cycle Graphs, Harsh S. Bhakharia

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Challenges in computational biology, such as genome rearrangement, and applications in optical character recognition, like zoning techniques, often require solving optimization problems. These involve reordering scrambled sequences of numbers into a sequential arrangement known as the identity permutation.

Rearranging any given permutation into the identity permutation with the minimum number of specific operations related to strips gives rise to various combinatorial optimization scenarios. Operations such as strip moves, transpositions, reversals, and block interchanges have been extensively researched.

This thesis builds on the foundational work of Roy et al., targeting the refinement of their cycle graph algorithm for sorting by strip …

A New Perspective On Teacher Attrition And Retention: What Can Be Learned From Teachers That Continue In The Profession, The Stayers?, Haley M. Vogel

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological research study focuses on closing the divide between ongoing teacher shortages created by labor market cycles and teacher attrition with retention practices that keep qualified teachers in K-12 public schools. The literature review of this study identified a gap in research related to teacher shortages. Significant research exists around why teachers leave the profession, however, research related to why teachers stay is limited. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to better understand the lived experiences (Moustakas, 1994, van Manen, 2023, Creswell & Poth, 2018) of K-12 secondary public-school teachers continued decision to remain in the profession. The …

Critical Belief Analysis For Security Studies, Barnet D. Feingold, Michael W. Collier

EKUOPEN: Open Textbooks

Critical Belief Analysis for Security Studies is a companion volume to Security Analysis: A Critical-Thinking Approach. Critical Belief Analysis (CBA) is an emerging analytic technique for describing, explaining, and predicting decisions and actions of agents (actors, believers, decision-makers). CBA provides analysts a deeper understanding of agents’ points of view, assumptions, and the webs of belief supporting those points of view and assumptions. CBA also provides a framework for analysts to assess the quality of their final analytic efforts. While this volume is adapted to security studies and foreign policy analysis, the techniques included apply to any social science field analyzing …

Teacher Self-Efficacy And Teaching Experience, Nicholas Daniel Hafner

Masters Theses

Teacher self-efficacy significantly impacts student learning in a variety of ways. High levels of teacher self-efficacy can lead to improved student outcomes and act as a protective factor for multiple stressors. The present study investigated the associations between teachers’ years of experience and their hours of professional development concerning a teacher’s overall self-efficacy and its three domains: student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management. It was hypothesized that years of experience and hours of professional development would predict overall self-efficacy and its three domains. A survey was utilized to gather demographic, experience, and self-efficacy information. A total of 194 teachers …

Identification Of Novel 3d-Genome Altering And Complex Structural Variants Underlying Retinitis Pigmentosa Type 17 Through A Multistep And High-Throughput Approach, Suzanne E De Bruijn, Daan M Panneman, Nicole Weisschuh, Elizabeth L Cadena, Erica G M Boonen, Lara K Holtes, Galuh D N Astuti, Frans P M Cremers, Nico Leijsten, Jordi Corominas, Christian Gilissen, Anna Skowronska, Jessica Woodley, Andrew D Beggs, Vasileios Toulis, Di Chen, Michael E Cheetham, Alison J Hardcastle, Terri L Mclaren, Tina M Lamey, Jennifer A Thompson, Fred K Chen, John N De Roach, Isabella R Urwin, Lori S Sullivan, Susanne Roosing

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa type 17 (adRP, type RP17) is caused by complex structural variants (SVs) affecting a locus on chromosome 17 (chr17q22). The SVs disrupt the 3D regulatory landscape by altering the topologically associating domain (TAD) structure of the locus, creating novel TAD structures (neo-TADs) and ectopic enhancer-gene contacts. Currently, screening for RP17-associated SVs is not included in routine diagnostics given the complexity of the variants and a lack of cost-effective detection methods. The aim of this study was to accurately detect novel RP17-SVs by establishing a systematic and efficient workflow.

METHODS: Genetically unexplained probands diagnosed with adRP …

Research Progress And Perspectives On The Application Of Tyramide Signal Amplification-Based Multiplex Immunohistochemistry/Immunofluorescence: A Bibliometrics Analysis, Xiaotong Yu, Chen Huang, Yan Song, Chun Zhang, Debo You, Xuran Dong, Defu Wu, Alan Keith Meeker, Hao Feng, Yuqing Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background and aims: Multiplex immunohistochemistry/immunofluorescence (mIHC/IF), which uses the tyramide signal amplification (TSA) technique, enables sequential staining of multiple targets in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples without worrying about cross-reactivity. This approach has received considerable attention from researchers over the past decades. This article aims to provide a bibliometric analysis of the research progress and perspectives on the application of TSA-based mIHC/IF.

Methods: We collected all the TSA-based mIHC/IF documents published between 2007 and 2023 from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database. CiteSpace, VOSviewer and Bibliometrix R Package were used to perform the bibliometrics analysis, including details about annual …

Hybrid Triboelectric-Piezoelectric Nanogenerator For Long-Term Load Monitoring In Total Knee Replacements, Mahmood Chahari, Emre Salman, Ryan Willing, Shahrzad Towfighian

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Scholarship

A self-powered and durable pressure sensor for large-scale pressure detection on the knee implant would be highly advantageous for designing long- lasting and reliable knee implants as well as obtaining information about knee function after the operation. The purpose of this study is to develop a robust energy harvester that can convert wide ranges of pressure to electricity to power a load sensor inside the knee implant. To efficiently convert loads to electricity, we design a cuboid-array-structured tribo-pizoelectric nanogenerator (TPENG) in vertical contact mode inside a knee implant package. The proposed TPENG is fabricated with aluminum and cuboid-patterned silicone rubber …

Generalized Conditional Feedback System With Model Uncertainty, Chengbo Dai, Zhiqiang Gao, Yangquan Chen, Donghai Li

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Model uncertainty creates a largely open challenge for industrial process control, which causes a trade-off between robustness and performance optimality. In such a case, we propose a generalized conditional feedback (GCF) system to largely eliminate conflicts between robustness and performance optimality. This approach leverages a nominal model to design an optimal control in the virtual domain and defines an ancillary feedback controller to drive the physical process to track the trajectory of the virtual domain. The effectiveness of the proposed GCF scheme is demonstrated in a simulation for six typical industrial processes and three model-based control methods, and in a …

Trio Rvemvs: A Bayesian Framework For Rare Variant Association Analysis With Expectation-Maximization Variable Selection Using Family Trio Data, Duo Yu, Matthew Koslovsky, Margaret C Steiner, Kusha Mohammadi, Chenguang Zhang, Michael D Swartz

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

It is commonly reported that rare variants may be more functionally related to complex diseases than common variants. However, individual rare variant association tests remain challenging due to low minor allele frequency in the available samples. This paper proposes an expectation maximization variable selection (EMVS) method to simultaneously detect common and rare variants at the individual variant level using family trio data. TRIO_RVEMVS was assessed in both large (1500 families) and small (350 families) datasets based on simulation. The performance of TRIO_RVEMVS was compared with gene-level kernel and burden association tests that use pedigree data (PedGene) and rare-variant extensions of …

Beyond The Classroom: Unraveling The Impact Of Student Engagement On Graduation Rates In New York City, Kimberly Mccall

Theses and Dissertations

This study critically examined the impact of student engagement on high school graduation rates amidst the educational disruptions ushered in by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a concentrated focus on the United States. It evaluated the essential engagement factors--rigorous instruction, collaborative teaching, supportive environments, and trust--and their role in addressing disparities in graduation outcomes (New York City Panorama, 2022; Wang & Degol, 2014). Anchored in the theoretical frameworks of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), social-emotional learning theory (Durlak et al., 2011; Williamson et al., 2015), and Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1987), this research utilized a comprehensive quantitative analysis of data …

Student Engagement In Model School Math: A Phenomenological Study Of Student Perspectives At A Model Continuation High School, James Robert Coles Iii

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the perspectives on engagement of students who had passed Model School Math (Integrated Math 1 or Algebra 1) and graduated within the years 2015 to 2019 from a Model Continuation High School in California. This study sought to discover the strategies, policies, and procedures which best supported at-risk students and adequately prepared them for college and career after attending a continuation high school. The theoretical framework used for this study was flow theory. This phenomenological qualitative study was conducted in one school district with students who attended a single site. Each …

The Black Experiences Of Education In The Southern United States Of America: Retracing The Geographical Impacts Of Family, History, And Society On Academic Achievement, Chanel L. Fort

Theses and Dissertations

In today's global digital knowledge economy, we need learners to achieve academically toward the expectations of the future of work. Therefore, academic achievement is critical. Yet, academic achievement disparities exist globally. In the United States of America, the Black-White academic achievement gap has persisted since the beginnings of the achievement movement in 1970. The widening gaps of interest for this study focused on the U.S. Black-White achievement differences in the Southern U.S. states. The study analysis was quantitative and used t-test, ANOVA, and multiple regression as the statistical analysis techniques, analyzing the parent, family, community, and regional relationships with Grade …

Parental Engagement In Distance Education: A Phenomenological Study Of Middle School Parents’ Perspectives During Unanticipated School Closures Due To Covid-19, Williams Alberto Olmedo

Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic, a significant disruptor of traditional educational environments, has led to a notable shift in parental involvement in children’s education, particularly in middle schools. This study, therefore, delves into the dynamics of parental engagement during remote learning, focusing on the challenges parents faced and the strategies they employed to support their children's academic needs. The research questions aimed to understand how parents adapted their involvement in their children’s education during the pandemic, and the study also scrutinized successful communication strategies between parents and schools.

Data was collected through interviews with 11 middle school participants to understand how parents …

Molecular Understanding And Design Of Deep Eutectic Solvents And Proteins Using Computer Simulations And Machine Learning, Usman Lame Abbas

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have emerged as excellent extractants. A major challenge is the lack of an efficient tool to discover DES candidates. Currently, the search relies heavily on the researchers’ intuition or a trial-and-error process, which leads to a low success rate or bypassing of promising candidates. DES performance depends on the heterogeneous hydrogen bond environment formed by multiple hydrogen bond donors and acceptors. Understanding this heterogeneous hydrogen bond environment can help develop principles for designing high performance DESs for extraction and other separation applications. This work investigates the structure and dynamics of hydrogen bonds in hydrophobic DESs …

Classification Of White Blood Cells (Leucocytes) From Blood Smear Imagery Using Machine And Deep Learning Models: A Global Scoping Review, Rabia Asghar, Sanjay Kumar, Arslan Shaukat, Paul Hynds

Conference papers

Machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) models are being increasingly employed for medical imagery analyses, with both approaches used to enhance the accuracy of classification/prediction in the diagnoses of various cancers, tumors and bloodborne diseases. To date however, no review of these techniques and their application(s) within the domain of white blood cell (WBC) classification in blood smear images has been undertaken, representing a notable knowledge gap with respect to model selection and comparison. Accordingly, the current study sought to comprehensively identify, explore and contrast ML and DL methods for classifying WBCs. Following development and implementation of a formalized …

Individual Dignity As The Foundation Of An Inclusive Society, Cory R. Liu, Anthony Pericolo

SMU Law Review

In Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, the Supreme Court considered voluminous evidence that Harvard discriminated against Asian Americans to keep the racial composition of its student body similar year after year. The Court held that Harvard engaged in unlawful discrimination, providing clarity to an area of the law that was filled with ambiguities and self-contradictions. The Court’s decision made clear that discrimination in favor of some racial groups necessarily inflicts discriminatory, race-based harms on others.

This Article explores how Fair Admissions sheds light on the failure of identity politics to create a genuinely …

The Digitalization Of Litigation, Manuel A. Gómez

Emory International Law Review

The development of digital tools that enhance communications, security and decision making have caught the attention of international development agencies, national governments, civil society organizations, and the private sector. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has highlighted the importance of digital tools as a means “to improve justice sector efficiency, transparency and access to justice[,]” while the European Commission has aligned them with “a new push for European democracy in line with the political priority of a Europe fit for the digital age[.]” With these observations in mind, this article focuses on the unique advantages and challenges presented by the …

Becoming A Good Creature (2020) By Sy Montgomery, Samantha Piede

Picture Books

Becoming a Good Creature outlines moral lessons Sy Montgomery has learned from interactions with animals, both domestic and wild, such as “Love Little Lives,” “Don’t Be Afraid,” and “Make Your Own Family.” Our willingness to be attentive to other creatures – not just the ones like us with “two legs,” but also “four or even eight” – opens up the possibility of finding something ethically significant in these encounters. She tells us that “all have taught me something important about how to be a good creature in the world.”

On The Modes Of Nanosecond Pulsed Plasmas For Combustion Ignition Of Quiescent Ch₄-Air Mixtures, Chunqi Jiang, Akash C. Dhotre, Meimei Lai, Sayan Biswas, James R. Macdonald, Isaac W. Ekoto

Bioelectrics Publications

The effect of transient plasma modes on ignition kernel development are discussed here for a quiescent CH₄-air combustion model system. A 10 ns high-voltage pulse was applied to a pin-to-pin electrode in lean fuel-air mixtures at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. High-impedance streamer, transient spark and low-impedance spark discharges were identified based on pulse waveforms of voltage and current. A sustained ignition kernel expansion was observed when the plasma discharge transitioned into a transient spark or spark discharge. The minimum ignition energy was obtained at the transient spark mode, which has less than a third of the energy …

Internal Funding Newsletter, Academic Year 2023-2024, Uno Office Of Research And Creative Activity

Internal Funding Newsletters

The University of Nebraska at Omaha is committed to providing students and faculty unique, hands-on opportunities, internships, service learning, applied research, and other collaborative activities that enhance time in and out of the classroom. The 2023-2024 Academic Year saw many exciting opportunities for us to invest into even more programs promoting research and creative activity. This year's programs provided over $800,000, more than double the funding in 2022-2023, for student and faculty projects.

Me-Em Enewsbrief, December 2023, Department Of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering eNewsBrief

No abstract provided.

Biom 1720: Introduction To Biomedical Engineering Tools, Stephen Strain

Biomedical Engineering Syllabi Archive

Course Description: Use of computer tools for data analysis, presentation, documentation; introduction to programming; individual and group design projects.

Biom 3110: Medical Physiology (Syllabus), Bradford D. Pendley

Biomedical Engineering Syllabi Archive

Course Description: Basic principles of human physiology and how these are applied in medicine and biomedical engineering problem and devices; physiological principles using appropriate mathematical and engineering models to construct an understanding of how the body works as an integrated system.

On The Structure Of Repeated-Root Polycyclic Codes Over Local Rings, Maryam Bajalan, Edgar Martinez-Moro, Reza Sobhani, Steve Szabo, Guelsuem Goezde Yilmazguc

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This paper provides the Generalized Mattson Solomon polynomial for repeated-root polycyclic codes over local rings that gives an explicit decomposition of them in terms of idempotents. It also states some structural properties of repeated-root polycyclic codes over finite fields in terms of matrix product codes. Both approaches provide a description of the perpendicular to 0-dual code for a given polycyclic code. (c) 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Review Of Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto, Michael Kirby

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Inscape

No abstract provided.

Blockchain As A Newer More Economic Form Of Data Services For Large Organizations

Journal of Economics and Finance Education

Blockchain can be used in Academia to create an alternative to the operating systems of a college. This helps reduce the economic and financial costs of operating. Blockchain also enables businesses in the area to connect to the college in a more economically efficient way. To complete these objectives, a prototype blockchain was created using Docker and Python. Blockchain improves the efficiency and security of data transfer within these institutions while providing additional features that will enhance operations for Institutional stakeholders and connected businesses. These additional features can solve issues within collegiate systems through financial assistance transparency and efficiency.

The Problem Of Teaching The Science Of Climate Change: A Call For Critical Thinking In Teacher Education And Professional Development, Isidoro Talavera

All Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This article discusses how to teach the science of climate change as a call for introducing critical thinking in science teacher education programs and professional development. It can be argued that to get a science student to develop his/her critical thinking skills to think outside the box, teachers must work to overcome the student’s and their own dogmatic beliefs, hardened biases, and motivated and/or distorted reasoning. The article shows how teacher education programs and professional development providers should change their methods and strategies by providing a framework to overcome the key elements of the problem of teaching the science of …

Andragogy In The Age Of Ai: Transformative Pathways For Adult Education, Valerie A. Storey, Amiee Wagner

All Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This chapter explores the transformative impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on adult education, drawing on the foundational work of Malcolm Knowles, who emphasized the necessity for adaptive and self-directed learning practices. It examines the rapid technological advancements since Knowles' time, highlighting how modern AI technologies, particularly Generative AI, are reshaping the landscape of adult education. By aligning AI with andragogical principles, educators can enhance the learning experience while addressing potential challenges such as algorithmic bias and inequity. The chapter is structured into three sections: the first explores AI-based learning science and its congruence with Knowles' principles; the second assesses the …

A Benchmark Framework For Data Visualization And Explainable Ai (Xai), Murat Kuzlu, Gokcen Ozdemir, Umut Ozdemir

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

This research introduces a benchmark framework, called EDUMX, designed for machine learning (ML)- based forecasting and XAI tasks, leveraging the Streamlit open-source Python library. The framework offers a comprehensive suite of functionalities, including data loading, feature selection, relationship analysis, data preprocessing, model selection, metric evaluation, training, and real-time monitoring. Users can easily upload data in diverse formats, explore relationships between variables, preprocess data using various techniques, and assess the performance of the ML model using customizable metrics. With its user-friendly interface, this framework offers invaluable insights for forecasting tasks in various domains, catering to the evolving needs of predictive analytics. …