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Synthesis And Characterization Of A Zirconium (Zr) Thin Film On Si(100) Via Pulsed Laser Deposition, Zikrulloh Khuzhakulov

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study investigates the synthesis and characterization of zirconium (Zr) thin films deposited on Si(100) substrates using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The effects of two laser wavelengths (1064 nm and 532 nm), various substrate temperatures (25 °C, 300 °C, and 500 °C), and different laser fluences (0.25, 0.5, 1.0 J/cm²) on the properties of the Zr films were examined. Results indicated that smoother films were achieved with the 1064 nm wavelength, while surface roughness increased with higher fluences. Optimal crystalline films were obtained at a substrate temperature of 300 °C for both wavelengths. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), …

Parameter Estimation For Stroke Patients Using Brain Ct Perfusion Imaging With Deep Temporal Convolutional Neural Network, Shake Ibna Abir

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Acute ischemic stroke, caused by cerebral artery blockage, is a leading cause of long-term disability and mortality. Effective management relies on accurate, timely assessments from neuroimaging data. Computed tomography perfusion (CTP) imaging is crucial in evaluating stroke patients, offering detailed maps of cerebral perfusion to identify irreversibly damaged tissue and at-risk areas. This detailed assessment is essential for informed therapeutic decisions.

Key perfusion parameters derived from CTP imaging, including cerebral blood volume (CBV), cerebral blood flow (CBF), time to peak (TTP), and mean transit time (MTT), are crucial for understanding the extent and nature of cerebral ischemia, providing valuable insights …

Assessing Regional Responsibility Of Plecoptera (Stoneflies) Across Two U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service Regions, Josie Griffith

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Developing an objective metric to designate taxa that are the responsibility of the region is imperative for the proper allocation of conservation funding. This project focused on stoneflies (Order Plecoptera), an imperiled group of aquatic insects at the global scale, in two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regions. At the regional scale, a baseline designation of Regional Species of Greatest Conservation Need (RSGCN) was applied to each species where their range included at least 75% of states within either the Midwestern or Northeastern regions. Two sets of data were accumulated for each RSGCN. One, distributional information was collected from valid …

Landuse And Microplastic Transport In Karst Groundwater Of South-Central Kentucky, Katie Norman

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Groundwater in karst areas is susceptible to contamination from various sources of pollution. Microplastics are a prevalent source of pollution entering groundwater. This study examines karst groundwater in three areas of investigation. One point of interest is an area that is impacted by urban activities, the Lost River Groundwater Basin, which includes water drainage from the City of Bowling Green, Kentucky. Another study location is Great Onyx (GO) Spring, which is a part of the Great Onyx Groundwater Basin located in Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, and that is relatively unimpacted by urban activities. The third point of interest is …

Feature Importance In The Context Of Traditional And Just-In-Time Software Defect Prediction Models, Susmita Haldar, Luiz Fernando Capretz

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Software defect prediction models can assist software testing initiatives by prioritizing testing error-prone modules. In recent years, in addition to the traditional defect prediction model approach of predicting defects from class, modules, etc., Just-In- Time defect prediction research, which focuses on the change history of software products is getting prominent. For building these defect prediction models, it is important to understand which features are primary contributors to these classifiers. This study considered developing defect prediction models incorporating the traditional and the Just-In-Time approaches from the publicly available dataset of the Apache Camel project. A multi-layer deep learning algorithm was applied …

An Analytical Framework For Making Sense Of Students’ Graphical Representations With Attention To Frames Of Reference And Coordinate Systems, Hwa Young Lee

The Mathematics Enthusiast

Graph literacy, the ability to interpret and create graphical representations, is an important skill for students to learn mathematics and to succeed in STEM coursework and careers. Additionally, with the rapid development of technological devices and media, students are encountering increasingly more situations in which graph literacy is needed to make sense of and respond to information. In this paper, I present a conceptual analysis of what I consider the three layers constituting a graphical representation: frames of reference, coordinate system, and graph. Relatedly, I synthesize relevant literature and propose an analytical framework that could be used to make sense …

Development And Evaluation Of An Instrument For Exploring Achievement Emotions Of General Chemistry Students: General Chemistry Achievement Emotions Questionnaire, Alexander Graves

Dissertations

General Chemistry, a course that is required for many STEM degree programs, is often perceived as a difficult and stress-inducing course by students. One aspect of a student’s course experiences that can be measured are achievement emotions. Emotions that students can experience that can affect and are affected by academic performance are called achievement emotions. Achievement emotions, such as anxiety, have been extensively studied in recent years in relation to student performance and retention in different courses. Instruments that have been developed to measure achievement emotions in broad academic settings. However, achievement emotions have been determined to be domain-specific, meaning …

Effects Of School-Based Physical Activity On Children’S Core Executive Function Abilities, Jessie Katelyn Johnston

Dissertations

Children in the United States are becoming increasingly sedentary, linked to detrimental effects on both physical and mental health. Introducing physical activity interventions in schools offers a promising approach to address this trend, while also enhancing children’s executive functioning abilities. Executive functioning abilities are crucial for social-emotional development and academic success. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore whether a 6-week physical activity intervention at moderate intensity was associated with increases in executive functioning among girls who are enrolled in third through fifth grade. It was hypothesized that executive functioning abilities (working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility) would …

Proceedings Of The 2024 Berry Summer Thesis Institute, University Of Dayton. University Honors Program, Magdelyn Stewart, Noah Clemens, Sarah Theewis, Henry Salisbury, Kevin Johnston, Adin Stoller, Meggie Bailey, Erin T. Flaherty, Adelyn Hughes, Marc Nya

Proceedings of the Berry Summer Thesis Institute (2013-Present)

Thanks to a gift from the Berry Family Foundation and the Berry family, the University Honors Program launched the Berry Summer Thesis Institute in 2012. The institute introduces students in the University Honors Program to intensive research, scholarship opportunities and professional development. Each student pursues a 12-week summer thesis research project under the guidance of a UD faculty mentor. This contains the product of the students' research.

Contents:

Testing the Influence of Lithology and Ice Sheet Dynamics on Waterfall Formation in Hocking Hills State Park // Magdelyn Stewart

Step-Rate Manipulation for Improved Performance: A Review// Noah Clemens

Alfred Rosenberg: An …

Embodied Explorations Of Slope, Rebecca Hudson, Payeton Stevens-Balducci, Liza Bondurant, Lee Dean, Catherine Putnam

CoE Publications

Promote student engagement and deep thinking about the meaning of slope.

Covid-19 Prevention Behaviors And Dietary Habits Among Undergraduate Students: A Health Belief Model Approach, Doreen Liou

Department of Nutrition and Food Studies Scholarship and Creative Works

Physical and social disruptions resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting young adults in higher education. The purpose of this survey research is to unveil COVID-19 related beliefs using the Health Belief Model, and COVID-19 prevention behaviors, including self-reported fruit and vegetable consumption among university students. A cross-sectional survey was administered to 304 male and female undergraduate students from diverse ethnic backgrounds and majors at a New Jersey state university using convenience sampling. Variables measured included frequency of COVID-19 prevention behaviors (e.g.: wearing indoor mask, handwashing), and consumption of fruit and vegetables (dark green and orange vegetables) over the previous week. …

Labor Market Alignment And Social Outcomes, Holly Katherine Schmitt

Dissertations

The purpose of this interpretive case study was to investigate how several community colleges work with local industry partners to create market alignment and uncover the social outcomes within their communities. Most studies within labor market alignment focus on the economic outcomes, but this study sought to review the social outcomes. This study explored practitioners’ commitment and their pursuit to further students' career opportunities through increased stakeholder engagement and credential alignment by investigating how industry initiatives impact diverse groups of students, creating new opportunities for career and social impacts. Some outcomes include status markers of economic freedom, while others seek …

An Investigation Of The Effect Of Performance Engineered Mixture (Pem) Design On Durability And Air Void Matrix Of Concrete Pavements, Jacob Ortlieb

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Performance Engineered Mixture (PEM) design is a novel method of creating concrete pavement that is economical achieving desirable performance properties such as durability, strength, and workability. Performance-based design is critical for concrete pavements, so the fresh concrete can be placed without issue and the hardened concrete can withstand deterioration and environmental damage such as freezing and thawing. To achieve economical concrete, PEM utilizes tools such as the tarantula curve for aggregate grading, and the Super Air Meter (SAM) test, providing information regarding the air void matrix while the concrete is fresh. To achieve these properties with less cement will lead …

Real-Time Barge Detection Using Traffic Cameras And Deep Learning On Inland Waterways, Geoffery Eyram Agorku

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Inland waterways are critical for freight movement, but limited means exist for monitoring their performance and usage by freight-carrying vessels, e.g., barges. While methods to track vessels, e.g., tug and tow boats, are publicly available through Automatic Identification Systems (AIS), ways to track freight tonnages and commodity flows carried on barges along these critical marine highways are non-existent, especially in real-time settings. This paper develops a method to detect barge traffic on inland waterways using existing traffic cameras with opportune viewing angles. Deep learning models, specifically, You Only Look Once (YOLO), Single Shot MultiBox Detector (SSD), and EfficientDet are employed. …

How Can Event Attribution Science Underpin Financial Decisions On Loss And Damage?, Dim Coumou, Paola A. Arias, Ana Bastos, Charlotte Kendra Z. Gotangco Gonzales, Gabriele C. Hegerl, Pandora Hope, Christopher Jack, Friederike Otto, Fahad Saeed, Olivia Serdeczny, Theodore G. Shepherd, Robert Vautard

Environmental Science Faculty Publications

With climate extremes hitting nations across the globe, disproportionately burdening vulnerable developing countries, the prompt operation of the Loss and Damage fund is of paramount importance. As decisions on resource disbursement at the international level, and investment strategies at the national level, loom, the climate science community’s role in providing fair and effective evidence is crucial. Attribution science can provide useful information for decision makers, but both ethical implications and deep uncertainty cannot be ignored. Considering these aspects, we articulate a vision that integrates established attribution methods and multiple lines of evidence within a coherent logical framework.

Fog To Pyre: The Impact Of Supreme Court Judgment Complexity On Dowry Deaths, Abhinav Anand, Sanchit Jain, Jalaj Pathak, Sheetal Sekhri

Working Papers

We use Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to examine if judgments’ complexity in Supreme Court cases influences dowry deaths in India.Leveraging the quasi-random assignment of judges to cases, we find that aone-unit increase in the complexity of judgments captured by the Fog Index ina state year increases dowry deaths by 2% in the subsequent period. Based onestimates of the Value of Statistical Life (VSL), this increase in dowry-relatedhomicides of women costs $1.83 million in a state year or 51 million USD forthe country annually. In otherwise similar judgments, very high complexity increases the incidence of future dowry deaths by 15%. …

Developing A Controlled Traffic (Tramline) Farming System, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Grains and other field crops factsheets

Controlled traffic farming (CTF) is a farming system built on permanent wheel tracks where the crop zone and traffic lanes are permanently separated. It can improve profitability and sustainability.

Implements for seeding, spraying, spreading and harvesting have a particular span, or multiple of it, and all wheel tracks are confined to specific traffic lanes.

CTF increases profit by more yield, better grain quality, improved operation timeliness, and reduced costs. The environment can improve, with less nutrient leaching, less water erosion, better water infiltration, and less greenhouse gas emission. Implementation needs a clear, long-term plan, and prioritisation of soil health.

Another …

Shapley Value Under Interval Uncertainty And Partial Information, Kittawit Autchariyapanikul, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In the 1950s, the future Nobelist Lloyd Shapley solved the problem of how to fairly divide the common gain. Namely, he showed that some reasonable requirements determine a unique division -- which is now known as the Shapley value. The main limitation of Shapley's solution is that it assumes that for each subgroup of the original group of participants, we know exactly how much this group could gain if it acted by itself, without involving others. In practice, we rarely know these exact values. At best, we know the bounds on each such value -- i.e., in other words, an …

Assessing Soil Properties & Suitability For Optimized Irrigation Development In Sudan, Northern Africa, Suhib O. Hamid

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Masters Project Reports

In Chapter 1, soil properties essential for efficient irrigation are thoroughly assessed. Factors such as soil texture, infiltration rates, and nutrient content are analyzed to provide insights into the selection of modern irrigation systems. Utilizing data collected from 3,192 locations through GPS and laboratory analyses, alongside sophisticated ranking systems, the research determines the most suitable irrigation methods for specific soil series. Findings highlight the remarkable efficiency of drip irrigation across various soil types, contrasting with the consistently lower performance of surface irrigation. The chapter emphasizes the significance of considering soil variability, evapotranspiration, and investment factors in selecting irrigation methods for …

Key Uncertainties And Modeling Needs For Managing Living Marine Resources In The Future Arctic Ocean, Julia G. Mason, Andrea Bryndum-Buchholz, Juliano Palacios-Abrantes, Renuka Badhe, Isabella Morgante, Daniele Bianchi, Julia L. Blanchard, Jason D. Everett, Cheryl S. Harrison, Ryan F. Heneghan, Camilla Novaglio, Colleen M. Petrik

Faculty Publications

Emerging fishing activity due to melting ice and poleward species distribution shifts in the rapidly-warming Arctic Ocean challenges transboundary management and requires proactive governance. A 2021 moratorium on commercial fishing in the Arctic high seas provides a 16-year runway for improved scientific understanding. Given substantial knowledge gaps, characterizing areas of highest uncertainty is a key first step. Marine ecosystem model ensembles that project future fish distributions could inform management of future Arctic fisheries, but Arctic-specific variation has not yet been examined for global ensembles. We use the Fisheries and Marine Ecosystem Intercomparison Project ensemble driven by two Earth System Models …

Lactoferrin And Lysozyme To Promote Nutritional, Clinical And Enteric Recovery: A Protocol For A Factorial, Blinded, Placebo-Controlled Randomised Trial Among Children With Diarrhoea And Malnutrition (The Boresha Afya Trial), Ruchi Tiwari, Kirkby Tickell, Emily Yoshioka, Joyce Otieno, Adeel Shah, Barbra Richardson, Lucia Keter, Maureen Okello, Churchil Nyabinda, Indi Trehan

Paediatrics and Child Health, East Africa

Introduction: Children with moderate or severe wasting are at particularly high risk of recurrent or persistent diarrhoea, nutritional deterioration and death following a diarrhoeal episode. Lactoferrin and lysozyme are nutritional supplements that may reduce the risk of recurrent diarrhoeal episodes and accelerate nutritional recovery by treating or preventing underlying enteric infections and/or improving enteric function.

Methods and analysis: In this factorial, blinded, placebo-controlled randomised trial, we aim to determine the efficacy of lactoferrin and lysozyme supplementation in decreasing diarrhoea incidence and improving nutritional recovery in Kenyan children convalescing from comorbid diarrhoea and wasting. Six hundred children aged 6–24 months with …

Does The Level Of Learning Affect The Accuracy And Cue Use For Teachers’ Judgments Of Students’ Performance?, Kyle Lyons

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Teachers make a variety of judgments as they teach. The accuracy of these judgments may influence instruction and student achievement. Furthermore, research shows that teachers use cues to make these judgments, and the type of cues significantly impact the accuracy of their judgments. (Koriat, 1997). The present investigates (a) how accurately participating teachers judge student performance across levels of learning, (b) what cues teachers report using for these judgments, and (c) whether the cues teachers use influence the accuracy of judgments of student performance on tests of knowledge and application. This study shows that levels of learning did not affect …

Development Of A Turning Movement Estimator, Somayeh Nazari Enjedani

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Turning Movement (TM) counts at intersections are crucial for several reasons. There has been extensive research on this topic throughout the history of traffic research, which reflects its importance in transportation engineering and urban planning. It can be said that one of the most significant applications of TMs is signal timing at intersections. Signal timing design requires data on the turning decisions of vehicles that travel through intersections to allow enough time for each movement at the intersection. Most of organizations around the USA are still applying traditional methods for collecting TM data, such as manual counts. These methods are …

On The Right Track? Energy Use, Carbon Emissions, And Intensities Of World Rail Transportation, 1840–2020, Bernardo Tostes, Sofia T. Henriques, Paul E. Brockway, Matthew Kuperus Heun, Tiago Domingos, Tânia Sousa

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

The history of rail transport can offer valuable insights for future energy transitions due to its importance in promoting clean mobility. There is a complex interplay between the evolution of the railway network, fuel consumption, efficiency, energy service, and CO2 emissions that requires further exploration. We developed a dataset that covers energy use in all stages of rail transportation, as well as the length of track, energy service, and CO2 emissions at the world scale. To deal with missing data we utilized machine learning techniques for the first time in a historical energy reconstruction study. Our analysis reveals that …

Predicting Personality Or Prejudice? Facial Inference In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence, Shilpa Madan, Gayoung Park

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Facial inference, a cornerstone of person perception, has traditionally been studied through human judgments about personality traits and abilities based on people's faces. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have introduced new dimensions to this field, employing machine learning algorithms to reveal people's character, capabilities, and social outcomes based just on their faces. This review examines recent research on human and AI-based facial inference across psychology, business, computer science, legal, and policy studies to highlight the need for scientific consensus on whether or not people's faces can reveal their inner traits, and urges researchers to address the critical concerns …

Assessing Gtfs Accuracy, Gregory L. Newmark

Mineta Transportation Institute

The promised benefits of the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) Schedule and Realtime standards are dependent on the underlying quality of the data. Despite this fundamental reliance, there has been relatively little research on techniques and strategies to assess GTFS accuracy. The need for such assessment is growing as federal and state governments increasingly require transit agencies to make these data available to the public. This research fills this gap by presenting a suite of methods and metrics to assess the temporal accuracy of GTFS Realtime and the spatial accuracy of GTFS Schedule feeds. The temporal assessment demonstrates an approach …

Time-To-Failure Prediction Of Fine-Grained Soil Slopes Subject To Weather-Driven Deterioration, Arm M. Morsy

Mineta Transportation Institute

Embankments have been widely used in the construction of transportation and flood defense infrastructure. Embankments constructed from clays experience a suite of weather-driven deterioration processes that lead to a progressive loss of hydromechanical performance, causing potentially severe and costly consequences. This study aimed to predict the time to failure of aging, deteriorating clay embankments supporting transportation infrastructure. A multi-phase numerical modeling approach was developed to replicate the long-term, weather-driven, hydromechanical behavior of clay embankments. This model simulated the behavior of a number of well-documented embankment failure case studies that had sufficient data to derive the necessary soil properties and climate …

Advancing Prediction And Decision Analytics Techniques To Improve Treatment Of Tuberculosis, Maryam Kheirandish Borujeni

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global health challenge, significantly impacting morbidity and mortality rates worldwide. Despite advancements in diagnosis and treatment, TB continues to pose substantial challenges, particularly in low-resource settings. This dissertation aims to develop a robust treatment monitoring framework for TB patients to ensure personalized and effective treatment using demographic and clinical information. The current standard TB treatment framework, recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), involves monitoring patients through laboratory tests such as smear and culture sputum tests at specific time points during treatment. These tests, however, are not fast and accurate enough to determine the severity of …

Leveraging Machine Learning And Stochastic Programming To Address Vaccine Hesitancy In Public Health Resource Allocation, Hieu Trung Bui

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Infectious disease outbreaks highlight the urgent need for effective strategies to distribute vaccines and allocate critical healthcare resources to contain the disease and reduce its negative impacts on the population. Managing these allocations is a significant challenge, especially in marginalized communities facing uncertainty in healthcare demand and logistical constraints. This dissertation addresses these challenges by investigating factors that influence dynamic changes in vaccine hesitancy (VH) and its implications for disease spread and healthcare resource demand. It develops optimization models for vaccine distribution and resource allocation under uncertainty, validated with data from the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. The first study …

Evaluating Margin Protection (Mp) Crop Insurance As A Risk Management Tool For Rice Producers In Arkansas, Kaleem Azmat Chattha

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Agricultural producers bear many risks, including production risks stemming from uncertainty in weather and pest pressure and price risks arising from market volatility. Federal Crop Insurance has become one of the most popular tools to manage these risks. While yield and revenue crop insurance tend to be the most popular production and price risk management tools provided by the government, participation in Margin Protection insurance lags far behind despite providing production, crop price, and input price risk protection. This study aims to uncover whether Margin Protection crop insurance is an effective risk management tool by estimating the optimal coverage level …