Digital Commons Network^™

Hardware-Oriented Protection And Acceleration For Machine Learning Application, Antian Wang

All Dissertations

The security of Machine Learning (ML) grows along with the development of high-performance models and expanding application scenarios. Numerous users are benefiting from the convenience brought by transformative ML applications. In the meantime, various attackers are trying to find vulnerabilities within ML deployment service models, thereby undermining the performance of ML and jeopardizing stakeholders’ interests. The dissertation focuses on the two aspects of secure ML applications: acceleration and protection. Homomorphic Encryption (HE) emerges as a widely recognized security primitive suitable for the cloud computing service model, where the computation can be performed over ciphertext without decryption. However, evaluations in the …

On Counter-Memes: A Rhetorical Study Of Allyship In Social Media Memetics From 2015-2024, Kaitlyn Samons

All Dissertations

This dissertation examines the importance of Online allyship through a newly coined term in Memetics and Mis- and Disinformation: “Counter-Memeship.” This work combines previous contributing works on “memes,” “counter-memes,” “counter-stories,” and “allyship” through the lens of feminist, white, and communication theories. Internet memes and studies are explored by looking at how Online participants in internet spaces interact with each other in modern-day protests in memetic ways. The researcher utilizes descriptive and exploratory methods to articulate better how internet memes work between 2015 and 2024. The primary purpose of this research is to see whether Online protests can be considered non-performative …

Artificial Intelligence Integration, Concerns, Benefits, And The Need For Ethical Policies For Community Foundations And Nonprofit Organizations, Venera Balidemaj

All Dissertations

This study describes the nature and extent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration in philanthropic organizations and assesses the capacity and readiness of nonprofits in adopting AI for philanthropic use. Additionally, the study explores the nature and extent of perceived concerns, risks, and benefits of AI use in philanthropy and describes the current state of and need for ethical guidance. Specifically, 31 community foundation leaders and 11 nonprofit organization leaders in the United States completed an online survey. Results indicate that organizations report low readiness for AI integration as well as concerns about confidentiality and bias in the data upon which …

Using Mixed-Reality Simulation To Teach Job Interview Skills To Young Adults With Intellectual Disabilities, Alex Carlson

All Dissertations

Job interviews are a critical step to obtaining employment, however, the social demands of job interviews are often difficult for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID). Both the use of technology (e.g., mixed-reality simulation, video modeling, virtual reality) and attending inclusive postsecondary education programs that teach independent living skills and employment skills have been effective in improving job interview skills and employment outcomes. Using an underpowered randomized-control trial research design, the researcher examined whether using mixed-reality simulation technology to practice job interview skills improved job interview skill acquisition for young adults with ID compared to face-to-face practice that is typically conducted …

Exploring The Use Of Social Media Among Theme Park Guests: A Uses And Gratification Theory Approach, William J. Henderson

All Dissertations

Theme parks have provided billions of dollars to the local economies of tourist destinations (Blair & Rush, 1998; Warden, 2019). In the digital age, the theme park experience is shared with vast online audiences and so there is a need to understand how theme parks are presented on social media from the guest perspective. Specifically, it is vital to understand the uses and gratifications of social media use and content creation from guests and influencers within a theme park context.

The Uses and Gratifications Theory serves as a foundational theory for this research to understand the psychological gratifications found through …

Getting Better Faster: An Examination Of Instructional Specialist Role Clarity And Efficacy, Jasmine J. Scott

All Dissertations

An instructional specialist, sometimes also known as an instructional coach or curriculum specialist, plays a pivotal role in improving the quality of education. To fulfill the role of an instructional specialist, the educator must understand the expectations of their role and have the capacity to coach teachers. Effective coaching can play a significant role in leveling the educational playing field. Equitable instructional support requires acknowledging and addressing teachers' diverse needs and contexts (Desimone, 2009). This study is designed to capture and quantify the effectiveness of instructional specialists. This study addresses missing data gaps by providing data from instructional specialists on …

Identification And Validation Of A Measurement Of Emergency Physician Workload During End Of Shift Patient Handoffs, Steven Foster

All Dissertations

Recent increases in emergency physician (EP) workload have been identified as contributors to increased EP burnout, increased staff attrition, decreased patient safety, and increased patient admission rates. Patient handoffs have been extensively researched as critical points in patient care, with existing research primarily focusing on communication errors and interventions designed to standardize handoff communication protocols.

While end of shift handoffs in hospital emergency departments (EDs) intuitively represent a transfer of patient caseload from an outgoing EP to an incoming EP, there is a fundamental lack of literature examining how such handoffs contribute to EP workload, and a similar lack of …

Studying The Chemistry-Property Relationship In Magnetic And Optical Materials: Spin S = 3/2 Systems Of Neodymium, Manganese, And Cobalt Oxyanions, Xudong Huai

All Dissertations

This dissertation describes the design and tunability of new magnetic and optical materials, emphasizing the intricate relationship between their crystal structures and their optical, electronic, and magnetic properties.

Two new frustrated magnets, ANd(SO₄)₂ (A = Rb, Cs), were designed and synthesized to examine the influence of the the counter cation A site in Nd lanthanide materials featuring a distorted triangular magnetic lattice with S = 3/2. This work demonstrates how the tunability of magnetic and photoluminescent properties can be achieved through the A sites, with findings validated through density functional theory calculations.

AMnTeO₆ (A = Ca, …

Pelvic Sucker Form And Function In Waterfall Climbing Gobies: Variation In Morphology And Adhesive Performance Can Inspire Biomimetic Innovation, Amanda Palecek Mcclung

All Dissertations

Adhesive systems have evolved in many animal lineages and have appeared multiple times among the fishes. Bioadhesion in the gobies, a group found around the world, plays a role in both station-holding and even climbing. Among the Hawaiian streams, we find four species of amphidromous gobies which must face predators as juveniles and climb streams up to hundreds of feet tall to reach adult habitats. These gobies exhibit a range of climbing and adhesive abilities that result in an elevation-dependent species stratification, in which increasingly proficient climbing species are found in streams at increasingly higher elevations. This group is therefore …

Value Of Transportation Information Systems: Implications Of Digital Platforms, Third-Party Forecasting, And Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems, Ali Shirzadibabakan

All Dissertations

This three-essay dissertation focuses on understanding the impacts of IT, or IT enabled business models, on transportation and supply chains. Specifically, it empirically examines the market and societal implications of digital freight platforms, third-party forecasting, and cyber-physical systems in the transportation and supply chain sectors. Leveraging the entry of the Amazon Freight platform into the trucking freight industry as an exogenous shock, the first essay finds that adding a digital platform-enabled spot marketplace addresses the prevalent problem of the performance (rejection) of nonbinding contracts in the trucking industry. Specifically, the platform’s effect manifests through two primary mechanisms: increasing suppliers’ transportation …

Some Experiments In Additive Number Theory, Yunan Wang

All Dissertations

This dissertation explores fundamental conjectures in number theory, focusing on the distribution patterns of representation functions in prime pairs. The work concentrates on twin primes, cousin primes, and primes separated by six units, offering a fresh heuristic interpretation of the Hardy-Littlewood correction factor. The analysis progresses to investigate the partition function for prime pairs in the form $(p, p+k)$, specifically for $k = 2, 4, 6$. The study culminates in the derivation of a general formula for prime pairs $(p, p+d)$, where $d$ is an even integer. Drawing on the insights gleaned from examining the correction factor, this dissertation proposes …

Monitoring Vehicle Seat Occupancy Status And Tracking Human Passenger Activities Inside Vehicle Passenger Cabins, Rahul Prasanna Kumar

All Dissertations

An autonomous vehicle (AV) is a promising engineering innovation that can operate without a human driver. Nonetheless, to ensure passenger safety and comfort in the absence of human drivers, the vehicle must continuously monitor and predict how the cabin’s state will evolve in the immediate future. The two major factors influencing the cabin’s state are the occupancy statuses of vehicle seats and the activities of human passengers occupying them. Therefore, this dissertation presents a system employing a capacitance-sensing mat and a machine learning unit to monitor vehicle seat occupancy status and track passenger activities non-intrusively. While the mat integrates with …

Vision-Based Autonomy Stacks For Farm Tractors And Intelligent Spraying Systems In Orchards, Shengli Xu

All Dissertations

Autonomous tractors equipped with intelligent sprayers have become a pivotal aspect of smart farming (SF), marking a transformative shift in traditional agricultural practices and holding the potential to revolutionize the farming industry. With 2,453,620 fruit-bearing acres in the United States as of 2022, there is a pressing need for the implementation of autonomous systems for farm tractors and intelligent spraying systems in orchards. These advancements can significantly reduce labor costs, address labor shortages, and minimize spray loss. Furthermore, to enhance profitability and productivity, it is essential to develop low-cost yet effective vision-based autonomy systems that can operate efficiently across various …

Efficient And Secure Data Transmissions In Emerging Heterogeneous Wireless Networks, Sihan Yu

All Dissertations

The widespread deployment of wireless devices facilitates the Internet of everything, greatly enhancing communication efficiency and improving people’s daily experiences. The interconnectivity of wireless devices relies on wireless communication technologies. With the development of various emerging communication technologies, wireless networks have become increasingly vast and complex, giving rise to numerous new challenges such as efficiency and security concerns.

In wireless networks, different devices may utilize different communication protocols, resulting in heterogeneous wireless networks. Communication among heterogeneous devices is challenging, often leading to conflicts and low communication efficiency when utilizing limited communication resources (e.g., spectrum resources). Moreover, the coexistence of heterogeneous …

Essays In Industrial Organization And Regulation, Micah D. Thomas

All Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of two essays; in the first, I develop a model to show that when there is a sufficiently large segment of uninformed consumers and an existing norm regarding the advertising of bundled good prices that price obfuscation through base good advertisements can be both: (1) profit maximizing, and (2) result in an equilibrium where only some firms obfuscate. I provide the first empirical evidence of this setting by estimating the increase in prices charged by retail gasoline stations, finding a statistically and economically significant obfuscating premium of 5-7 cents per gallon. I also provide evidence of …

Virtually Coached Nature-Based Activities For Perceived Stress In Rural-Dwelling Families With A Teenager With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Deborah R. Logan

All Dissertations

Families with teenagers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can experience more stress than families without teenagers with ASD due to individuals with ASD often exhibiting social behaviors that differ from social norms, and parents having to adjust their expectations and future goals for their child with ASD. Rural-dwelling families of teenagers with ASD may experience additional stress due to their having to travel to access therapeutic services. Research focused on family-based services aimed at decreasing stress among rural-dwelling families of teenagers with ASD is lacking. The purpose of this convergent mixed methods study was to explore the feasibility of an …

Determinants And Consequences Of Engaging With Multiple Auditors In The Mutual Fund Industry, Chelsea Mae Anderson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mutual funds are an important industry and component of capital markets, with $34 trillion in assets under management that hold 32 percent of exchange-traded common equities. In this industry, there are often multiple auditors serving the same client concurrently, which could impact auditor behavior. I examine the determinants of engaging with multiple auditors, finding that it is driven by fund complex size, recent merger activity, and having multiple locations. I also examine the consequences of this dynamic, finding that funds in multiple auditor complexes pay lower audit fees and have higher audit quality, as proxied by audit adjustments. I find …

Evaluating The Use Of The Braden Scale For Predicting Pressure Sore Risk© In Residents Of A Short-Term Rehabilitation Facility, Amelia Simmons

All Dissertations

Background: Pressure injuries are significant health issues and one of the biggest challenges organizations face on a day-to-day basis. Aside from the high cost of treatment, pressure injuries also have a great impact on patients’ lives and on the provider’s ability to render appropriate care to patients The keys to preventing the development of pressure ulcers is to identify at-risk individuals as soon as possible so that measures can be implemented.

Objective: To evaluate use of the Braden Scale© on admission and weekly for three weeks in residents admitted to a short-term rehabilitation facility for two months immediately following a …

Data-Driven Enhanced Energy Management System Applications For Energy Control Centers, Dulip Madurasinghe

All Dissertations

This dissertation explores the pressing needs of modern bulk power system operation and control and delves into enhancements to EMS applications with minimal infrastructure development. The dissertation investigates three main EMS application enhancements. The transmission network topology processing (TNTP) is a foundational application of the EMS. A physics-based hierarchical transmission network topology processing (H-TNTP), including substation configuration identification, to improve efficiency and reliability is proposed. Secondly, a multi-level distributed linear state estimation (D-LSE) approach solely based on PMUs is proposed utilizing H-TNTP as the network modeling tool. The D-LSE can conduct linear state estimation (LSE) at either substation, area or …

Fantastic Trolls And Where To Find Them: Problem Framing In The Defense Against The Informational Dark Arts, Jayson M. Warren

All Dissertations

In the wake of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the notion of state-sponsored trolls engaging in information operations on social media has captured the attention of society. Yet eight years after this policymaking focusing event, sustainable solutions prove elusive and there is still much that is not known about the underlying phenomenon. This dissertation is part explanatory and part exploratory in its attempts to answer the overarching research question: What is the Relationship Between How the Problem of State-Sponsored Trolls on Social Media is Framed & the Way U.S. Federal Policy Attempts to Solve It? Using …

Ah, You’Re One Of Those Entrepreneurs: An Investigation Into Investors’ Evaluations And Support Of Typecasted Entrepreneurs, Jonathan C. Preedom

All Dissertations

Chapter 1: In this qualitative study, I examine how entrepreneurial investors assess and decide which early-stage ventures to support based on the entrepreneurial pitch. These decisions are made in highly uncertain environments where the risk of incorrect evaluations is significant. Drawing on the literature on categorization and sensemaking, I induce a typology of five common ways investors typecast entrepreneurs based on salient auditory and visual cues from the pitch. This work provides an important foundation for understanding biases in the investor-entrepreneur dynamic, as well as the implications of such typecasting for entrepreneurial resource support.

Chapter 2: In this quantitative study, …

Integrating Artificial Intelligence And Augmented Reality For Enhanced Task Performance In The Construction Industry, Aasish Chandrika Bhanu

All Dissertations

The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) sector, characterized by its complex tasks, often faces challenges in adopting cutting-edge technologies, a trend that can significantly hinder productivity improvements compared to other industries. This dissertation explores the emerging integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR) within the AEC domain, investigating how effectively this can be implemented to potentially revolutionize industry practices. AI could be used in the AEC domain for advanced analytical and decision-making processes, while AR could be used for training, visualization, and remote collaboration.

In scenarios where construction site workers require expert guidance, these technologies could be helpful. …

A Comparative Study Of Hpv Vaccine Acceptability Across Global North And South Countries: Usa And Kenya, Robert Nyaga, Prince Adu Gyamfi

Faculty Publications

This study examined the HPV vaccine landscape in Kenya and the USA with

a focus on if differences exist in the perceptions of HPV knowledge, vaccine

attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and vaccine

intention among students across country and gender. It also provides useful

findings that can inform the design of persuasive health messages to promote

the uptake of HPV vaccines among college students in Kenya and the USA.

The study used surveys to recruit 1,033 participants (511 Kenyan and 522 USA

students). The two-way MANOVA analysis revealed that the multivariate

main effects showed no significant differences for gender, …

Detection Of Arrhythmias And Myocardial Infarction Using Svm And Ann Algorithms, Mohammad Issa, Ghada Saad, Mohammad Abdo, Aous Mohammad

Baghdad Science Journal

The heart is one of the most vital organs in humans, and any defect in its function is reflected in the general health of the patient. Therefore, the heart and its diseases have been largely studied in order to help the doctors diagnose heart diseases and reduce errors as much as possible. This study aims to investigate and suggest a method for diagnosing heart diseases from electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. Initially, noise was removed from the signal and the morphological and dynamic features of the ECG signal were extracted by an appropriate feature extraction algorithm and wavelet transformation. A support vector …

Segmentation And Isolation Of Brain Tumors Using Different Images Segmentation Methods, Ahlam A. Hussain, Sarmad.H. Mahal, Ban S. Ismael

Baghdad Science Journal

Brain tumors are an anomaly growth or mass of cells in or around the brain tissues. Brain tumors are two types either malignant (cancerous) or benign (noncancerous), all of these can affect children and adults. Tumors of the brain can impact human brain function if they grow large enough to press on surrounding tissues. Brain tumor is an inherently serious and life threatening. The brain tumor diagnosis is depending on the specialist, but it may give different diagnoses which may vary from one specialist to another depending on the accurate diagnosis of tumor size. To avoid that, in many cases …

Estimation Of Some Biochemical Markers In Acute Myeloid Leukemic Patients Before And After Chemotherapy, Ayinda Mariwan Mohsen, Zeyan Abdullah Ali

Baghdad Science Journal

The aim of this study was to measure the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), peroxynitrite (PN), homocysteine (HCY), and uric acid (UA) in acute myeloid leukemic patients (AML) (before and after taking chemotherapy) and compare results with a healthy control group. The present study includes 120 age ranged 18-70 years old suffered from AML as well as 40 healthy group. Subjects were collected from patients and a control group at Erbil’s Nanakali Hospital, they were classified into four groups: Group 1 (G1) which includes 40 healthy subjects, Group 2 (G2) includes 40 AML patients before taking chemotherapy (newly diagnosed cases), Group …

Wavelet-Attention Swin For Automatic Diabetic Retinopathy Classification, Rasha Ali Dihin, Ebtesam N. Alshemmary, Waleed A. M. Al-Jawher

Baghdad Science Journal

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a complication of diabetes that affects the eyes by damaging the blood vessels in the retina. High blood sugar levels can cause leakage or blockage of these vessels, leading to vision loss or blindness. Early detection of DR is crucial to prevent blindness, but manually analyzing fundus images can be time-consuming, especially with a large number of images. Swin-Transformers have gained popularity in medical image analysis, reducing calculations and yielding improved results. This paper introduces the WT Attention-Db5 Block, which focuses attention on the high-frequency domain using Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). This block extracts detailed information …

Fake News Detection Model Basing On Machine Learning Algorithms, Mohammed A. Taha, Haider D. A. Jabar, Widad K. Mohammed

Baghdad Science Journal

The rapid growth of the internet and easy communication has made it quick and simple to create and spread news. Social media users now generate and share more information than before, but some of it is false and unrelated to reality. Detecting false information in text is challenging, even for experts who need to consider multiple factors to determine authenticity. Malicious misinformation on social media negatively affects societies, especially during crises like terrorist attacks, riots, and natural disasters. To minimize the harmful impact, it is crucial to identify rumors quickly. This study aims to build a learning model for detecting …

Development Of Iiot-Based Pd-Maas Using Rnn-Lstm Model With Jelly Fish Optimization In The Indian Ship Building Industry, Pnv Srinivasa Rao, Pvy Jayasree

Baghdad Science Journal

Building and repair of ships are considered the Evergreen industry nationally as well as globally. The ships are generally gone in by the periodic scheduled repairs by the Indian shipbuilding industries. Sometimes industries lack productivity and lack of modernization some modern methods should be followed. The study focuses on the optimization of predictive maintenance as a service on the industrial Internet of Things by machine learning algorithms. The main contribution of the study is the use of optimization techniques for feature selection and RNN-LSTM for improved accuracy. The selected data set is pre-processed and feature selection for the optimization for …

[Proposed] Brief Of Amici Curiae Professors William Araiza, Jeffrey Lubbers, And Peter M. Shane In Support Of Defendant's Opposition To Plaintiff's Motion For Stay Of Effective Date And For Preliminary Injunction, Jeffrey Lubbers, William Araiza, Peter M. Shane

Amicus Briefs & Court Filings

Amici are law professors who teach and write in the fields of administrative law and statutory interpretation. Amicus William Araiza is the Stanley A. August Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School. Amicus Jeffrey Lubbers is Professor of Practice in Administrative Law at American University, Washington College of Law. Amicus Peter M. Shane is the Jacob E. Davis and Jacob E. Davis II Chair in Law Emeritus at Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law.

Amici have a strong interest in the sound development of administrative law in the federal courts and are submitting this brief because of the importance …