Digital Commons Network^™

Understanding Student And Teacher Perceptions Of A Checking For Accuracy Method In Algebra Class, Abigail A. Jameson

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

Mathematics encompasses learning from one’s mistakes and developing accuracy with problem-solving. This action research study analyzed the classroom teacher’s and students' perceptions of a checking for accuracy math method that was implemented in an eighth-grade algebra classroom. Additionally, the researcher wanted to understand how the participants felt about the accuracy method and its influence on students’ attitudes toward math and mastery of math concepts. Student surveys, individual teacher (with student artifacts) and student interviews and focus groups (with individual artifacts) were the qualitative data collected using the constant comparative method. Descriptive statistics was used to collect quantitative data with calculated …

Learning Contracts In A Fourth-Grade Math Classroom, Kaylyn M. Hays

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

This study explored fourth-grade students’ and their teacher’s perceptions of learning contracts in a math classroom, as well as their potential impact on assessment scores. Over four weeks, students alternated between using and not using contracts. During week three, participants completed a survey of Likert scale and open-ended questions; select students and the teacher were then interviewed. Field notes were taken weekly. Initial data was coded with level 1 codes, followed by level 2 codes derived from the first round. Themes were developed through indexing and analytical memos. Findings showed that students’ opinions of learning contracts were mixed: roughly equal …

Guest Speakers In The Classroom: Student Perceptions Of Expertise, Lauren Angle

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

Guest speakers are frequently used at the collegiate level and have clear benefits for students. However, little research has been conducted about the use of guest speakers in a high school social studies setting. The purpose of this study was to understand how participation in an expert guest speaker discussion influenced high school freshmen’s understanding of conflict in the Middle East as well as their perceptions of expertise. Data was collected through student artifacts, surveys, observations, and focus group interviews and analyzed using the constant comparative method as well as descriptive statistics. The major themes of improved knowledge, desired changes, …

Optimized Student Grouping For Enhanced Classroom Performance, Kathryn E. Reardon

Honors Theses

Effective grouping methods enhance classroom collaboration and allow for a student-centered teaching approach; however, traditional grouping methods are time-consuming, subjective, and can create inconsistent group dynamics. This project addresses these challenges by employing a data-driven approach to optimize student groups based on academic performance, behavior, attendance, language barriers, and teacher preferences. The minimum viable product is a web application with an algorithm-driven system to group students and a database storage for group results. During the initiation phase, a problem was defined with a proposed solution. During the planning phase, potential design choices and grouping methods were researched and assessed. During …

Interpreting Imu Data: Applications In Baseball Injury Analysis And Prevention, Levi Gingerich

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

Biomechanical analysis of baseball pitching has traditionally relied on laboratory-based motion capture and high-speed video. However, wearable IMUs, containing accelerometers, gyroscopes, and sometimes magnetometers, have the potential to revolutionize on-field data collection, enabling real-time kinematic and kinetic assessments in game or practice scenarios. These technological advances are particularly crucial as they allow for continuous monitoring of the substantial mechanical stresses imposed on pitchers' elbows and shoulders, helping identify potential injury risks such as UCL tears, rotator cuff strains, and tendon overuse before they become severe.

This paper provides a high-level framework for integrating IMU data with tendon-remodeling principles specific to …

Master’S In Social Work: Professional Portfolio, Josephine Star Lange

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Synthesis Of Sensitive Oligodeoxynucleotides Containing Acylated Cytosine, Adenine, And Guanine Nucleobases, Komal Chillar, Rohith Awasthy, Marina Tanasova, Shiyue Fang

Michigan Tech Publications

Background/Objective: Oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) containing base-labile modifications such as N4-acetyldeoxycytidine (4acC), N6-acetyladenosine (6acA), N2- acetylguanosine (2acG), and N4-methyoxycarbonyldeoxycytidine (4mcC) are highly challenging to synthesize because standard ODN synthesis methods require deprotection and cleavage under strongly basic and nucleophilic conditions, and there is a lack of ideal alternative methods to solve the problem. The objective of this work is to explore the capability of the recently developed 1,3-dithian-2-yl-methoxycarbonyl (Dmoc) method for the incorporation of multiple 4acC modifications into a single ODN molecule and the feasibility of using the method for the incorporation of the 6acA, 2acG and 4mcC modifications into ODNs. Methods: …

Architecture Of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Glutamyl-Trna Synthetase Defines A Subfamily Of Dimeric Class Ib Aminoacyl-Trna Synthetases, Michael K. Fenwick, Stephen J. Mayclin, Steve Seibold, Amy E. Derocher, Sandhya Subramanian, Isabelle Q. Phan, David M. Dranow, Donald D. Lorimer, Ariel B. Abramov, James M. Bullard

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Chemistry)

The aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (AaRSs) are an ancient family of structurally diverse enzymes that are divided into two major classes. The functionalities of most AaRSs are inextricably linked to their oligomeric states. While GluRSs were previously classified as monomers, the current investigation reveals that the form expressed in Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a rotationally pseudosymmetrical homodimer featuring intersubunit tRNA binding sites. Both subunits display a highly bent, “pipe strap” conformation, with the anticodon binding domain directed toward the active site. The tRNA binding sites are similar in shape to those of the monomeric GluRSs, but are formed through an approximately 180-degree rotation …

Detection, Analysis, And Modeling Of Time-Scale Separated Modulatory Brain Dynamics: Methods And Applications In Neurocritical Care, Maren Elizabeth Loe

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Clinical monitoring of patients with neurological disease generates large volumes of data, including electrophysiology (e.g. EEG), heart rate, blood pressure, and other physiological measures. The use of these data to generate actionable prognostic measures is a long-held goal in clinical neurophysiology. In this regard, the use of engineering theory, including signal processing methods and computational modeling paradigms, is providing new ways of interpreting neurological data and yielding new insights into brain mechanisms and disease pathophysiology. This research focuses on the analysis and modeling of aberrant brain dynamical phenomena that occur over hours-long temporal epochs. Particularly, we consider time-scale separated electrophysiological …

Effective And Efficient Graph Foundation Model, Lecheng Kong

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Graph data has emerged as a central component in numerous real-world applications, spanning recommender systems, drug discovery, social networking, and traffic forecasting. While traditional and modern graph learning techniques—ranging from graph kernels to Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) and graph transformers—have achieved significant success, their task-specific nature and reliance on supervised learning limit their adaptability to new, unseen tasks. This rigidity becomes especially problematic in dynamic environments where retraining for every new task is costly and often infeasible. Inspired by the transformative impact of foundation models in natural language processing, this thesis explores the feasibility of developing a graph foundation model—a …

System Security Foundations For Ai-Enabled Systems, Yuhao Wu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

AI is being deployed broadly, from conventional computing systems like IoT systems to more advanced agentic systems. It is shifting from being a specialized component responsible for specific functions to becoming the core of agentic systems, where it drives autonomous decision-making and task execution. These AI-enabled systems bring tremendous benefits. For example, large language models can interpret user intent, select appropriate tools, and access data to complete tasks with minimal human guidance. However, they also introduce new security, privacy, and safety risks. These risks arise not only from the models themselves but also from the broader system design and integration. …

Towards Secure And Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning Systems, Han Liu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, machine learning (ML) has advanced at an unprecedented pace, driving the widespread adoption of increasingly sophisticated models across a broad range of real-world applications, including healthcare, finance, autonomous systems, and critical infrastructure. While these models have delivered remarkable benefits and transformed numerous industries, they remain inherently vulnerable to a variety of security and privacy threats. Given their growing role in safety-critical domains, ensuring their security and privacy has become imperative. Systematically addressing these vulnerabilities requires comprehensive adversarial analyses to uncover weaknesses and inform the design of robust defenses. This dissertation systematically investigates ML vulnerabilities in adversarial settings …

Scaling Quantum Systems: Quantum Networks, Distributed Quantum Computing, And Security, Zebo Yang

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Recent advancements in quantum computing have opened up new possibilities across various fields, offering significant potential to enhance computation, communication, cryptography, and applications in areas like sensing, medicine, and chemistry. However, the capabilities of individual quantum devices are still limited, and scaling quantum hardware monolithically presents substantial challenges. Interconnecting quantum systems offers a promising alternative by aggregating capabilities across a network, thereby enabling quantum advantages for larger and more practical problems. This interconnection is achieved through quantum networking, which links external quantum systems, and Distributed Quantum Computing (DQC), which connects quantum processors within a system, such as in quantum data …

Trustworthy Autonomy Through Robust Control And Alignment, Junlin Wu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

As artificial intelligence systems are increasingly applied in safety critical domains such as robotics, autonomous driving, and decision making under uncertainty, ensuring their trustworthiness has become a central challenge. This dissertation addresses two major facets of trustworthy AI: reliable control through formal guarantees and alignment against adversarial manipulation. The first part of the dissertation focuses on provably stable, robust, and safe control for nonlinear systems using learning based methods. We introduce the first general framework for synthesizing neural Lyapunov controllers in discrete time systems. This method combines a sound verifier based on mixed integer linear programming with gradient based counterexample …

Understanding And Mitigating Timing Issues In Autonomous Systems, Ao Li

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Autonomous systems, such as self-driving cars and drones, have become a part of our daily lives. Since these systems operate in and interact with the physical world, their correctness depends on both functional and temporal aspects. However, the increasing complexity of modern computing hardware and software often leads to unpredictable timing behavior in these systems, making temporal properties particularly challenging to ensure. This dissertation proposes novel approaches to specify and enforce temporal properties based on a comprehensive empirical study of real-world issues. The first half of this dissertation presents an empirical study that dissects the timing issues. The dissection begins …

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) 2025 Monthly Progress Report. Consent Decree For The Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit. Civil Action No. Cv 89-039-Bu-Seh, Josh Bryson

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Crystallization Of The Quantized Function Algebras Of Suq(N + 1), Manabendra Giri

Doctoral Theses

The $q$-deformation of a connected, simply connected Lie group $G$ is typically studied through two Hopf algebras associated with it: the quantized universal enveloping algebra $\mathcal{U}_q(\mathfrak{g})$ and the quantized function algebra $\mathcal{O}(G_q)$. If $G$ has a compact real form $K$, one can use the Cartan involution to give a $*$-structure on $\mathcal{O}(G_q)$. The QFA $\mathcal{O}(G_q)$ with this $*$ structure is denoted by $\mathcal{O}(K_q)$ and its $C^*$-completion by $C(K_q)$. Here we study the crystal limits of $\mathcal{O}(SU_q(n+1))$ and $C(SU_q(n+1))$ and classify all irreducible representations of the crystallized algebras. We also prove that the crystallized algebra carries a natural bialgebra structure.

Meritocracy Unmasked: Oppression And Its Links To Abuses Of African Americans From 1865 To 1930, Madison Zada Cothern

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Meritocracy has often been a foundational aspect of Western society and legal development. However, this foundation is a façade to uplift those in power while leaving others oppressed. This project critically examines the myth of meritocracy in the context of the Reconstruction and Great Migration eras, with dates spanning from 1865 to 1930. Using an interdisciplinary approach, this study is an intellectual history of the use of meritocracy in correlation to the maintenance of social hierarchies. Through exploring the role of Enlightenment era philosophers, racial violence, and legal developments, this project explores the failures of policies such as the Fourteenth …

Overcoming Catastrophic Forgetting: Geometric Techniques In Incremental Machine Learning, Sahil Nokhwal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Neural network (NN) models have made remarkable strides in outperforming humans in a wide array of discrete tasks. These models excel in specific, well-defined domains where they can leverage vast amounts of data to make highly accurate predictions. However, despite impressive achievements, the scope of NN remains limited when compared to the vast, multifaceted cognitive abilities of humans. While machine learning models excel at specialized tasks, humans possess an extraordinary capacity to acquire knowledge and perform a nearly infinite variety of tasks across diverse domains. The ability to learn over time is a core attribute of human cognition. This lifelong …

Derived $P$-Adic Heights And The Leading Coefficient Of The Bertolini–Darmon–Prasanna $P$-Adic $L$-Function, Francesc Castella, Chi-Yun Hsu, Debanjana Kundu, Yu-Sheng Lee, Zheng Liu

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Let E/Q be an elliptic curve and let p be an odd prime of good reduction for E. Let K be an imaginary quadratic field satisfying the classical Heegner hypothesis and in which p splits. The goal of this paper is two-fold: (1) we formulate a p-adic BSD conjecture for the p-adic L-function LBDP p introduced by Bertolini–Darmon–Prasanna [Duke Math. J. 162 (2013), pp. 1033–1148]; and (2) for an algebraic analogue F BDP p of LBDP p , we show that the “leading coefficient” part of our conjecture holds, and that the “order of vanishing” part follows from the expected …

A Novel Method For Information Hiding In Images, Ali Al-Nuaimi, Shaymaa Al-Juboori

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Information security is a fundamental principle during data transmission. The main threat to information security is hacking. They are focusing on finding new techniques to breach encryption methods. Therefore, developing new approaches for hiding information against hacker attacks is a potential solution. Different steganography methods are available for hiding information, such as in texts, disk space, network packets, audio and images. In contrast to cryptography, which is concerned with data encryption. Steganography is the art of hiding transmitted information by using seemingly harmless carriers to hide the presence of information. Steganography is cost-effective and unrelated to hardware components. This study …

A Novel Way To Understand And Communicate The Burden Of Antipsychotic Prescribing For Adults Across Specialist Intellectual Disability Services In England And Wales: The Aphid Feasibility Study Protocol, Rohit Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

Background: The stopping overmedication of people with a learning disability, autism, or both (STOMP) programme was launched in 2016 in response to concerns about the over-prescribing of medication in people with intellectual disability. The programmes focus has been on the withdrawal of antipsychotic treatment for the individual person than the service or dosage optimisation. It could be that cumulative service level antipsychotic treatment converted and presented as chlorpromazine units could allow for comparison of services on how antipsychotic treatment is being utilised and allow for comparing of practices between services in different regions. The aim of this feasibility study is …

Wooden Spatial Analogies: Playful, Transformative Design Process Kit With Inclusion In Mind, Sarah R. Baxter

Theses

This paper concerns solutions to insufficient support in educational inclusivity through the subject of the five design process steps. It leverages the insights of researchers, such as Linda Silverman, regarding ‘visual-spatial learners’, individuals who perceive the world through images rather than words and thrive in navigating complex tasks, yet often face challenges with linear, step-by-step processes. This work critiques the conventional educational methods that frequently overlook the profound potential of spatially adept students. A final prototyped solution was assembled. The outcome was shaped, sanded, and painted wooden spatial analogies of play, designed for rearrangement, and interactively representative of the design …

Restoring Context: Interdisciplinary Approaches To Art Conservation And Registration Challenges In Rural Museums, Jade Karas '25

Senior Scholarly and Creative Symposium

A prevalent issue for museums in rural areas is a lack of reliable registration methods. This occurs for a number of reasons whether it be a lack of resources (human, financial, spacial, etc.) or the erosion of knowledge overtime due to cultural reliance on generational knowledge. Additionally, different registrars often develop new methods for inventory without leaving behind instructions, leading subsequent registrars to devise their own methods. These gaps in the registration process frequently result in “registration problems”, objects that don’t get properly inventoried and thus have little to no context for their origins. This thesis aims to fill in …

Optical Thickness Determination Of Graphene By Color, Caleb A. Woodcock, Michael S. Crosser

Linfield University Student Symposium: A Celebration of Scholarship and Creative Achievement

Graphene, and multi-layered graphene, are single atomic layers of carbon, with remarkable electrical properties. This makes it a highly valuable material across scientific and technological fields. Accurate thickness determination is essential, as many of the electrical properties are layer dependent; however, typical methods are slow. This thesis investigates a non-invasive optical method for estimating graphene thickness by correlating RGB color values from microscope images with step height measurements obtained via atomic force microscopy (AFM). Graphene flakes were exfoliated onto a SiO₂/Si substrate, imaged under white light illumination, and analyzed using ImageJ to extract color values. Results show that red-channel contrast …

Preparation, And Characterization Of Gypsum-Levan Composites And Evaluation Of Their Preliminary In Vitro And Antibacterial Characteristics, Jamileh Sultan El Arab

Thesis/ Dissertation Defenses

Orthopedic surgery has to contend with a myriad of issues with bones, injuries such as fractures as well as chronic ailments, like osteoporosis. There is a widespread understanding and execution of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) bone cement and calcium phosphate cements (CPCs), however their drawbacks like being non-biodegradable, generating heat, low bioactivity, and other issues reserve the development of better substitutes This study intends to develop and incorporate microbial levan squaring as a β-2,6-linked fructan polysaccharide into gypsum-based formulations of bone cements to make them biodegradable, bioactive and amplify their mechanical properties. The research aims to address the performance drawbacks of traditional …

Tax Trends, Nicholas J. Fiore

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Text-To-Image Model-Based Image Segmentation For Scene Understanding In Autonomous Robot Navigation, Stéphane Lee, Hakki Erhan Sevil

Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

Image segmentation is essential for navigation and scene understanding in autonomous systems, particularly in un- structured outdoor environments. This study investigates the seg- mentation capabilities of DALL-E 3, a generative text-to-image model, that is not explicitly trained for semantic segmentation. A custom segmentation pipeline was developed to evaluate and refine DALL-E 3 outputs on outdoor images from the RELLIS- 3D dataset. The post-processing workflow includes morphological operations with varied structure elements to enhance segmenta- tion accuracy. Segmentation accuracy was assessed using mean Intersection over Union (mIoU) across selected terrain classes. Results show that the raw DALL-E 3 outputs were improved …

Law Of Rebuttable Presumptions In Maine, Curtis L. Bourdon

Maine Law Review

In Hinds v. John Hancock Mut. Life Ins. Co., the Maine Supreme Judicial Court sought to clarify and simplify the law of rebuttable presumptions as to the quantum of evidence that must be introduced before a presumption is dispelled. The Maine court adopted a rule which states that a presumption is rebutted when the probability of the nonexistence of the presumed fact is as probable as its existence. Stated another way, a presumption is rebutted when the jurors' minds are placed in equilibrium. Ten years later, in State v. O'Clair, the court expressly incorporated the Hinds rule into criminal procedure. …

Reliability Analysis Of The Porto Velho Pier - Rio Grande/Rs Throughlimit Equilibrium And Finite Element Method, Luiza Antiqueira Da Silva Neta, Diego De Freitas Fagundes, Antônio Marcos De Lima Alves

Seatific Journal

This study analyzes the global stability of the Porto Velho pier, a structure in the port complex of the city of Rio Grande - RS, Brazil. This structure is a gravity pier with a length of 640 m which has been showing excessive displacements in a 150 m stretch. Limit Equilibrium and Finite Element tools associated with the Monte Carlo and FOSM Methods were applied. Four scenarios will be analyzed that represent the evolution of the erosion of the base of the pier structure, in which it can be concluded that as the loss of soil and rockfill of the …