Efficient Processing Of Convolutional Neural Networks On The Edge: A Hybrid Approach Using Hardware Acceleration And Dual-Teacher Compression, Azzam Alhussain

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

This dissertation addresses the challenge of accelerating Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for edge computing in computer vision applications by developing specialized hardware solutions that maintain high accuracy and perform real-time inference. Driven by open-source hardware design frameworks such as FINN and HLS4ML, this research focuses on hardware acceleration, model compression, and efficient implementation of CNN algorithms on AMD SoC-FPGAs using High-Level Synthesis (HLS) to optimize resource utilization and improve the throughput/watt of FPGA-based AI accelerators compared to traditional fixed-logic chips, such as CPUs, GPUs, and other edge accelerators. The dissertation introduces a novel CNN compression technique, "Two-Teachers Net," which utilizes …

Investigating Emerging Technologies In Civil Structural Health Monitoring: Generative Artificial Intelligence And Virtual Reality, Furkan Luleci

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Condition assessment of civil engineering infrastructure systems is of growing importance as they face aging and degradation due to both human-made activities and environmental factors. Nevertheless, challenges persist in data collection, leading to "data scarcity", and the need for frequent site visits in inspections, presenting significant obstacles in the assessment of the civil infrastructure systems. This dissertation aims to overcome these challenges by exploring the potential of two emerging technologies: Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR). In tackling the issue of data scarcity, the research question revolves around how Generative AI can be utilized to mitigate data collection-related …

Privacy And Security Of The Windows Registry, Edward L. Amoruso

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

The Windows registry serves as a valuable resource for both digital forensics experts and security researchers. This information is invaluable for reconstructing a user's activity timeline, aiding forensic investigations, and revealing other sensitive information. Furthermore, this data abundance in the Windows registry can be effortlessly tapped into and compiled to form a comprehensive digital profile of the user. Within this dissertation, we've developed specialized applications to streamline the retrieval and presentation of user activities, culminating in the creation of their digital profile. The first application, named "SeeShells," using the Windows registry shellbags, offers investigators an accessible tool for scrutinizing and …

Psychometric Evaluation Of A Brief Measure For Body Image Concerns Related To Breast Appearance, Sivanne Mendelson

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

The complexity of breast-specific body image concerns among women considering cosmetic breast surgery (CBS) underscores the need for a nuanced assessment tool. Despite numerous existing body image measures, there remains a need for a concise, validated instrument focusing on satisfaction with breast appearance. The development of the Breast Appearance Concerns Scale (BACS) aimed at assessing the multifaceted nature of breast-specific concerns through a patient centered lens within a population of otherwise healthy young adult women. The BACS was developed through a comprehensive review of existing literature and refined using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, in addition to Rasch measurement analysis. …

Oer For Building Bridges To Knowledge Orientation Slides, Ann Fiddler

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

A Handheld, Biomimetic, Phase Change Microsystem For Breath Condensate Based Point-Of-Use (Pou) Diagnostics Assays, Pablo Morales-Cruz

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

A variety of biomimetic [Stenocara gracilipes (Namib desert beetle), Dendrocalamus brandissii (Velvet Leaf Bamboo), and Opuntia microdasys (Bunny Ear Cactus)]-based microsystems, were developed to collect exhaled breath for use in point-of-use (POU) settings. The overall platform consists of a 50 x 50 mm 3D printed micro-chamber which is decorated with a PDMS micromolded Breath Condensate Collection Chip (BCCC) emulating the morphology of the biomimetic architectures. The micro-chamber and BCCC are further treated with a nanoscale superhydrophobic coating and infused with oil for enhancement in condensate collection. Different designs and setups were tested for optimum breath collection along with different …

Industrial Safety: How Complacency At Industrial Facilities Has Evolved As A Result Of Widespread Corporate Leadership Induced Reductions In Force Of Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers, Christina Kniffin-Downs

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

With the renewal of interest in nuclear energy as a green energy source, battery plant manufacturing for electric vehicles, and semiconductor fabrication plant construction, it is necessary to address the evolution of complacency as it relates to industrial facility leadership and the widespread reduction in force of essential critical infrastructure workers. As a skilled craft person in the piping trades, with almost two decades of experience in mechanical construction, ten of those years as a nuclear worker, and as a traveling pipefitter working at chemical, refinery, and gasification plants, I am intimately aware of the behaviors, practices, and procedures inherent …

A Case Study Examining The Implementation Of Multi-Tiered System Of Supports During Mathematics Intervention In Grades 3-5, Sarah Lumpkin

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

ABSTRACT

This case study examined how Multi-Tiered System of Supports were implemented in mathematics at an elementary school, the factors that influenced teachers’ instructional choices, and how school leadership impacted implementation. Participants consisted of four elementary school teachers and four members of the school’s leadership team. The study focused specifically on mathematics teachers in grades 3-5. These three research questions guided the study: (1) How do mathematics teachers implement MTSS in grades 3-5? (2) What influences the teachers’ choices during MTSS implementation? and (3) How does school leadership impact the implementation of MTSS in mathematics intervention? A triangulation of data …

An Analysis Of The Relationship Between A Novice Educator Support Team And The Self-Efficacy Of Beginning Teachers In Elementary, Middle, And High Schools, Bailey Holmquist

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Over the last twenty years, there has been an increase in teacher turnover and, in attempts to mitigate this issue, states and school districts have developed novice teacher mentoring programs. A Large Suburban School District implemented a novice teacher mentoring program during the 2021–2022 school year with the goal of providing novice teachers with a larger system of support to increase retention rates. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between novice teacher perceptions of a mentoring program and novice teacher perceptions of self–efficacy. Novice teachers (i.e., 1 to 3 years of teaching experience) received a survey …

Acquiring, Appraising, And Applying Evidence To Facilitate Evidence-Based Medical Education, Meredith Ratliff

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

This study explored evidence-based education in health professions education through three interrelated manuscripts. First, a scoping review of evidence-based medical education examined the use of the term “evidence-based” in the literature and the presence of evidence-based practices. The review analyzed numerous studies to understand how evidence-based education is defined and applied within the medical education community, highlighting key trends, gaps, and inconsistencies in the application of evidence-based principles. Next, a study employed an agile evidence-based instructional design (AVIDesign) model to create an evidence-based course in palliative care for medical students. This model integrated iterative development processes with evidence-based educational strategies, …

The Scope Of Election Litigation, Michael T. Morley

Scholarly Publications

One way to think about the scope of a case is based on the range of parties who are or must be involved in it. The broader a case's scope in this regard, the more burdensome and costly it can be for plaintiffs to file and the more complicated and time consuming it may be for a court to adjudicate. Requiring large numbers of parties to be involved in a case can sometimes effectively preclude otherwise meritorious suits from being filed. This is especially true in election law disputes which often arise under harried circumstances and can be subject to …

Earth Mri Western Kentucky Fluorspar District 3d Geological Modeling, Devan M. Robinson, Anna Pearson, John B. Hickman, Georgina Lukoczki, William Morton Andrews Jr.

Research Data--KGS

The Illinois–Kentucky Fluorspar District (IKFD) three-dimensional (3D) geological data model plays a critical role in the EarthMRI IKFD project, which aims to utilize the vast and detailed geologic maps and datasets that the Kentucky and Illinois state geological surveys possess to develop a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based 3D geological framework model for the district. The model serves as a framework in which to view the subsurface geological and geochemical data, and to better comprehend the structural and other geologic processes acting on the region as they relate to the locations of critical minerals. The development of the model will also …

Chatgpt Wrote This Title: Redefining “Human” Authorship, The Continuation Of The Black Box Problem, Deepfakes, And Ai-Generated Content Liability, Shannon Macdonald

Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law—Sms Mess: Circuits Disagree On Article Iii Standing For Claim Under Telephone Consumer Protection Act—Cross V. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., No. Civ. 1:20- Cv-01047, 2022 U.S. Dist. Lexis 10676 (W.D. Ark. Jan. 20, 2022), Molly Lane

Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy

No abstract provided.

Student Academic Success System, Brandi Castle

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

This project aimed to enhance academic success and retention rates in a practical nursing program through the implementation of a Student Academic Success System (SASS), utilizing evidence-based teaching strategies. A quality improvement design using both the Iowa Model of Evidence-Based Practice and the Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) framework was guided by Kolb’s Model. Nurse faculty saw a need for increased student retention among practical nursing students; the student then proposed a plan, translated evidence, created a pre- and post-survey, and carried out SASS with the use of trained nurse faculty coaches. The goal of the project was to reduce …

Capable Rhetoric: Embodied Rhetorical Listening And Midwives' Arguments For The Maternal Body On Instagram, Aminta C. Quintero-Jackson

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

When women find out they are pregnant, they encounter discourse about their bodies they may not have consciously considered before. Frequently, the information is based on ideologies that consider maternal bodies to be inherently problematic. The discourse in this information informs and shapes women’s choices about the role of medical oversight in their pregnancies and impacts the perceptions they have of themselves.

Midwives argue that mothers and their bodies are not inherently problematic but are powerful and capable of childbirth. They argue that medical oversight has been too aggressive in birth management, interrupting the natural process of birth and causing …

Commencement Program (Fall 2024), Csusb

CSUSB Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Māyā And Mokṣa: Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya's Spiritual Philosophy As A Vedāntin Critique Of Kant, Nalini Bhushan, Jay L. Garfield

Philosophy: Faculty Publications

The Subject As Freedom (1930) is correctly regarded as Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya’s (henceforth KCB) magnum opus. This text relies on a set of ideas and evolves from a set of concerns that KCB develops more explicitly in two essays written both before and after that text, which might be regarded as its intellectual bookends. Those ideas are important and fascinating in their own right. They also illuminate KCB’s engagement with Kant and with the Vedānta tradition as well as his understanding of freedom itself, including its soteriological dimension. These two essays are “Saṅkara’s Doctrine of Māyā” (1930) and “The Advaita and …

The Less Visible Side Of Transhumanism Is Dangerously Un-Radical, Susan B. Levin

Philosophy: Faculty Publications

According to transhumanists who urge the radical enhancement of human beings, humanity’s top priority should be engineering “posthumans,” whose features would include agelessness. Increasingly, transhumanism is critiqued on foundational grounds rather than based largely on anticipated results of its implementation, such as rising social inequality. This expansion is crucial but insufficient because, despite its radical aim, transhumanism reflects beliefs and attitudes that are evident in the broader culture. With a focus on the yearning to eliminate aging, I consider four of these: a disproportionate reliance on science and technology to address major human challenges; the conceptualization of human beings in …

Do Networks Matter In Real Estate? Real Estate Agent Performance Through Network Analysis, Ani Khachatryan

Finance and Real Estate Dissertations - Archive

The role of real estate agents as intermediaries in property transactions is well-established. However, the extent to which their positioning within professional networks influences transaction outcomes remains to be discovered. Drawing inspiration from network theory, this dissertation explores the relationship between real estate agent networks and performance metrics. Using a comprehensive dataset of Tarrant County, Texas, MLS transactions spanning 2002-2022, I test how agent network size and position relate to the property sale price and time on the market (TOM). The analyses suggest that network positioning could be pivotal in determining transactional outcomes. This study promises to fill a gap …

Capitalism, Colonial Expansion, And Forced Child Indenture In The British Atlantic, 1618-1776, Angela Austin

History Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation examines colonial child servants from the British Isles between the years 1618-1776, illustrating how economic demands, colonial ambitions, and capitalistic drives combined with ethnic and class prejudices to perpetuate the indenture of children irrespective of individual or parental consent. An examination of legislative actions, legal enforcement, and governmental complicity reveals both direct and indirect government involvement in perpetuating involuntary child labor across the British Isles. In fact, the volume of this human trafficking required some level of awareness and support from legislators and officials at both the local and national levels. In some cases, officials removed children from …

Coral Scar Investigation: An Application Of Machine Learning And Computational Biology Methods To Understand Coral Holobiont Response To Various Tissue Loss Diseases, Emily W. Van Buren

Biology Dissertations - Archive

Coral disease is one of the biggest challenges facing coral reefs that actively changes biodiversity resulting in coral decline. With the rising threat of diseases, corals require biomarkers that reflect the immune systems and differences between common coral tissue loss diseases to best assist in coral restoration efforts. To obtain these biomarkers, my dissertation leverages two previously published datasets from two tissue loss disease exposure studies to investigate genes that are relevant for coral immune pathways, disease susceptibility, and classification between the diseases. In Chapter 2, I use comparative computational biology tools and protein assays to identify the melanin cascade …

Termite Gut Microbe (Tav5) Application To Pulp & Paper Wastewater And Sugarcane Bagasse: Enhancing Lignin Degradation And Methane Generation During Anaerobic Digestion, Doreen Ntiamoah-Asare, Melanie Sattler Ph.D, P.E.

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

TAV5 is a bacterium strain of the family Opitutaceae from Termite-Associated Verrucomicrobium isolated from the hindgut of Reticulitermes Flavipes, the most common subterranean termite in North America. The genome of TAV5 contains genes coding for enzymes that could structurally modify lignin.

Pulp & paper wastewater and Sugarcane bagasse contain high levels of cellulose (44-46%) and hemicellulose (27-32% ), as well as lignin (17-23%) which is recalcitrant to biodegradation. The lignin tend to shield the cellulose and hemicellulose making them inaccessible for biodegradation.

TAV5 can breakdown lignin, making the cellulose and hemicellulose accessible to microorganisms for biodegradation into methane generation for …

Development Of A Real-Time Warning System For Bridge Icing Using Time Domain Reflectometry, Taryn Dilorenzo

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Treacherous driving conditions are a safety concern during the winter season where icing on roadways and bridges is of particular concern. The use of sensors to detect the presence or potential of surface ice formation is essential for efficient and effective winter road maintenance. However, there is a lack of ice detection systems that combine robust sensors, active warning signs and an ice detection algorithm that is reliable and economical. This study presents an innovative sensor that uses dielectric sensing to detect the onset of ice formation on a bridge deck. The sensor combines an automatic algorithm for ice detection …

Streamlining Public Engagement In Transportation Projects Using Text Analytics, Alireza Shamshiri

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Infrastructure projects impact a broad range of stakeholders, particularly local communities, whose engagement is critical for successful outcomes. Despite the importance of public engagement in these projects, traditional methods of capturing and analyzing public opinion often fail to fully represent the diverse, genuine perspectives involved. This has led to conflicts between community members and project sponsors. On the other hand, despite advancements in text analytics, including natural language processing (NLP) and its subfields such as topic modeling, sentiment analysis, and neural networks, their functionalities and effectiveness in analyzing public opinion in the domain of infrastructure projects have not been fully …

Roles Of Vegetation On Soil Moisture Dynamics In Transitional Climates- Lessons From Improving Phenology Representation In Land Surface Model And Retrieval Algorithm, Farhad Hassani

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Soil moisture is a critical component of the terrestrial water and energy cycles, influencing key hydrological and atmospheric processes such as infiltration, runoff generation, evapotranspiration, and atmospheric boundary layer dynamics. Accurate representation of soil moisture is essential for reliable hydrological modeling, drought monitoring, and seasonal to sub-seasonal (S2S) weather forecasting. Vegetation significantly affects soil moisture dynamics through processes like transpiration, canopy interception, and root water uptake, especially in transitional climates where conditions fluctuate between arid and humid states. However, errors in vegetation phenology representation can lead to substantial biases in soil moisture estimates within land surface models (LSMs) and satellite …

Mixed Messages: Reflections On Multiethnic Identity And Narratives In Youth Ministry Pedagogy, Joel Mayward

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Drawing upon the work of Gloria E. Anzaldúa and Paul Ricoeur, this article presents a personal and scholarly reflection on the author’s multiethnic identity and how such identities may benefit youth ministry pedagogies and perspectives. The author explains Anzaldúa’s notion of nepantla alongside Ricoeur’s concepts of “narrative identity” and “social imaginary,” then demonstrates how these two thinkers’ perspectives can be interwoven and applied by educators and youth ministry practitioners. Ultimately, in sharing about his “mixed” heritage, the author contends that multiethnic individuals can serve as bridge-builders between cultures and generations.

C.S. Lewis On Female Scholars: A Reply To John D. Rateliff, Jason Lepojärvi

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

In John D. Rateliff’s study ‘The Missing Women: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lifelong Support for Women’s Higher Education’, Tolkien’s support of women is unfavourably contrasted with the supposedly dismissive attitude of C.S. Lewis. Rateliff offers three pieces of evidence in support of his argument that Lewis held a contemptuous attitude towards female research students in particular: a private letter by Lewis written in mock late-medieval English; Lewis’s comments about Damaris Tighe, the heroine in Charles Williams’s novel The Place of the Lion; and the character Jane Studdock in Lewis’s own novel That Hideous Strength. This paper argues that Rateliff’s evidence is not …

The Effectiveness And Feasibility Of Telehealth Occupational Performance Coaching With Young Adults With Intellectual Disabilities: A Case Study, Mara Sampson

Occupational Therapy Doctorate Capstone Projects

Background: College students with intellectual disabilities (ID) experience occupational performance barriers, impeding participation. Limited evidence-based techniques are available to therapists working with this population. Telehealth Occupational Performance Coaching (OPC) has been found to be an effective treatment technique for improving occupational performance and self-determination for populations outside of college students with ID.

Purpose: The purpose of this experimental case study was to test whether participation in a telehealth OPC program for college students with ID increases occupational performance, occupational satisfaction, and self-determination.

Theoretical Framework: Self-Determination Theory and the Canadian Model of Occupational Performance and Engagement (CMOP-E) provide for the theoretical …

Water Education: Teaching And Learning About Socio-Hydrologic Systems In Formal K-16 Classroom Settings And Faculty Development, Silvia‑Jessica Mostacedo‑Marasovic

Earth & Environmental Sciences Dissertations - Archive

This article-based dissertation consists of six manuscripts related to teaching and learning about socio-hydrologic systems to address how to support the understanding of the interactions between human and water systems to support current and future evidence-based decision making related to water management across formal education. The first and second manuscripts introduce standards related to water education across K-12 grade bands. These standards focus on the relationship between water and natural (Chapter 2) and human (Chapter 3) systems. The third manuscript is about a longitudinal study of an undergraduate course – Water in Society – focused on students’ learning about human …