Digital Commons Network^™

Acorporation, Inc.: Corporate Form As Art Project And Advocacy, Chad Erpelding, Ruth Jebe, Jeff Lingwall

Art, Design & Visual Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Development of the corporation was a key turning point in the institutional history of business. The concepts of life beyond the existence of its founders, limited liability, and the ability to accumulate massive amounts of capital through stock ownership changed the nature of commercial practice in the United States and around the world. This has not been without controversy, particularly as large corporations began to capture much of modern economic life. Great economic power has not always meant great responsibility, and concepts of corporate citizenship and legal “personhood” remain subjects of debate. Similarly, how corporations do, or ought to, navigate …

Encoding And Storage Of Information In Mechanical Metamaterials, Zhiqiang Meng, Hujie Yan, Mingchao Liu, Wenkai Qin, Guy M Genin, Chang Qing Chen

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Information processing using material's own properties has gained increasing interest. Mechanical metamaterials, due to their diversity of deformation modes and wide design space, can be used to realize information processing, such as computing and storage. Here a mechanical metamaterial system is demonstrated for material-based encoding and storage of data through programmed reconfigurations of the metamaterial's structured building blocks. Sequential encoding and decoding are achieved in the three-dimensional (3D) printed pixelated mechanical metamaterial via kirigami-based "pixels" with programmable, temperature-dependent bistability. The mechanical metamaterial is demonstrated via a multistep deformation of encoding messages of texts and surfaces with arrays of binary data, …

Teaching About Transfer: Making The Invisible Visible Through Explicit Instruction, Brittany Morgan Capps

Theses and Dissertations

Transfer of learning—or the act of adapting previously learned knowledge to new contexts—is an inherently complex process made even more mystifying by its often unconscious and therefore “invisible” occurrence. Writing, too, is a complicated activity that depends on and responds to a number of internal and external factors. Transferring writing knowledge, then, is a challenging task for writers of all experience levels. Researchers in writing studies have designed curricula intended to help college students transfer writing skills, knowledge, and practices from the writing classroom to other disciplinary and workplace contexts. Those teaching for transfer (TFT) and writing about writing (WAW) …

Long-Chain Fatty Acid Sensing And Catabolism In Commensal Escherichia Coli Impact Murine Gut Colonization, Tessa Carolina Cox

Theses and Dissertations

The gastrointestinal tract is home to trillions of microbes that collectively influence host physiology, immunity, nutrient metabolism, and infectious disease. The overgrowth of naturally-occurring Escherichia coli in the gut is a common signifier of microbiome dysfunction and occurs in many chronic diseases including obesity. Recent studies have shown that higher fat intake is associated with increased gut E. coli growth. However, it remains unknown whether gut E. coli utilize lipids such as long chain fatty acids (LCFAs) as carbon sources to colonize the mammalian gut. Therefore, the central objective of my dissertation was to utilize bacterial genetics and various mouse …

Study Of Digital Algan Alloy Based Heterostructures Using Aln/Gan Short Period Superlattice, Mohammad Kamal Hussain

Theses and Dissertations

Ultrawide Bandgap (UWBG) and Extreme Bandgap (EBG) AlxGa1-xN (x > 0.40) alloys with EG > 4.2 eV are potential candidates for high temperature and high voltage applications, compared to Wide Bandgap (WBG) GaN-based lateral channel devices. Since critical electric field (Ec) scales as (Eg)^2.5, theoretically AlGaN alloys can sustain large electric field before breaking down. However, achieving linear ohmic contacts to the 2-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) formed at the interface of AlyGa_1-xN/ Al_xGa_1-xN (y – x ≥ 0.20) High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) is challenging. Direct contact through the AlGaN barrier is difficult due …

The Impact Of Progerin On Genome Maintenance In Mammalian Cells, Liza Alexandra Joudeh

Theses and Dissertations

Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS) is a rare genetic condition characterized by accelerated aging. The cause of HGPS is a point mutation in the LMNA gene, which encodes lamins A and the splice variant lamin C. Lamins are components of the nuclear lamina, a complex that plays structural and catalytic roles in the nucleus that are essential to chromatin organization, DNA replication, and DNA repair. The mutation associated with HGPS activates a cryptic splice donor site which alters the lamin A protein in a way that does not allow prelamin A to be fully processed, and ultimately results in the accumulation …

Assessment And Development Of Collaboration Framework For Less-Than-Truckload Carriers, Bhavya Padmanabhan

Theses and Dissertations

The growth of e-commerce is changing consumer expectations for delivery services. Competition is making “faster and cheaper” a nonnegotiable part of success; hence, retailers are seeking carriers that can deliver with ever-shorter lead times and at the lowest possible cost. In this environment, large carriers have a competitive advantage due to their market power. For small-to-medium-sized less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers to stay in business, they must improve their efficiency and lower cost. A potential strategy to achieve these goals is to collaborate with other carriers. In collaborating, carriers would exchange and perform certain jobs for each other to lower their transportation …

Complementary And Integrative Health (Cih) And Opioid Use Among Adults With Chronic Noncancer Pain In The Us, Yi-Wen Shih

Theses and Dissertations

Chronic noncancer pain (CNCP) is defined as persistent pain lasting for more than three months due to conditions other than malignancy. This condition affects one in five American adults annually. The prescribing of opioids to individuals experiencing CNCP has been recognized as a critical contributor to the ongoing opioid crisis. In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended Complementary and Integrative Health (CIH) as a nonpharmacologic treatment to be used among adults with CNCP. Despite the potential benefits of CIH for pain relief, there may be a discrepancy between individuals with CNCP and their insurance coverage for …

First Principles Doping Analysis Of Perovskite- And Ruddlesden-Popper-Based Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, Nicholas Alexander Szaro

Theses and Dissertations

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have shown significant promise as a high efficiency energy conversion technology. SOFCs are solid-state, high temperature (600 – 1000 °C), and electrochemical conversion devices that can operate with a wide variety of fuels such as hydrogen, syngas, and hydrocarbon feedstocks. The state-of-the-art SOFC is manufactured with a lanthanum strontium manganite (LSM) cathode, an yttria-stabilizedzirconia electrolyte (YSZ), and a nickel on yttria-stabilized-zirconia (Ni/YSZ) cermet anode. LSM || YSZ || Ni/YSZ SOFCs operate at or above 800 °C to achieve sufficient oxide mobility. The high temperatures introduce problems such as long device start-up, particle sintering, and material …

1, 2, 3: Counting On Problem Based Learning To Improve Mathematical Achievement In African American Students, Kelley P. Spahr

Theses and Dissertations

Mathematics is an important component of our everyday lives. It involves necessary skills, such as computation, problem solving, and critical thinking. In spite of this, a significant portion of our students are unable to demonstrate proficiency. These students are typically the underserved, marginalized students who are over represented in remedial classes and behavioral statistics (Gibson, 2022; Harper, 2010, 2021; Zilanawala, et al., 2018). This research study presented two instructional interventions, culturally relevant pedagogy and problem-based learning, to examine the impact of self-efficacy, critical thinking, and mathematical achievement. This study utilized a mixed-methods triangulation design. The participants of this study were …

Tip Of The Iceberg In Changing School Culture: Acknowledging And Addressing Microaggressions, Nicole Lauren Becker

Theses and Dissertations

Providing a culturally responsive learning environment that allows students and faculty to feel safe and welcomed is essential. This action research study examined the harmful impact of microaggressions in the school and how providing targeted and comprehensive professional development sessions helped faculty members be able to acknowledge and address microaggressions. The research study was conducted in a large elementary school in the northeast United States that serves approximately 800 students. The researcher worked with the school administration team to identify microaggressions as a problem of practice. The focus group interviews, and six-week professional development series aided in the participants’ journey …

Liquid Cooling System For A High Power, Medium Frequency, And Medium Voltage Isolated Power Converter, Hooman Taghavi

Theses and Dissertations

Controlling and transforming electrical power from one form into another is the Primary function of the power electronics systems that are employed today. These systems have a wide variety of applications and are utilized in things like industrial automation, electric cars, consumer electronics, and renewable energy systems, among other things. The functioning of power electronics systems results in the production of a substantial quantity of heat, despite the fact that these systems are very dependable and efficient. This heat must be dispersed to preserve system performance and avoid component damage. By ensuring that the working temperature of the components stays …

Utilizing Case Studies To Increase Critical Thinking In An Undergraduate Anatomy & Physiology Classroom, Sarah E. Lehman

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the implementation of case-based learning compared to traditional lecture in increasing critical thinking skills in an undergraduate Anatomy & Physiology I classroom. Throughout the course of one semester, five units were taught with the addition of a case study as an instructional tool while the other four units were taught utilizing only didactic (lecture) methods and did not teach content utilizing case study methodology. Two types of content-specific critical thinking data were analyzed: selected multiple-choice exam questions and End of Chapter (EOC) assignments. The Cornell Critical Thinking Test (CCTT) …

Leveraging Programmable Switches To Enhance The Performance Of Networks: Active And Passive Deployments, Elie Kfoury

Theses and Dissertations

The performance of networks today is drastically affected by: 1) switches equipped with large buffers, referred to as “bloated buffers”: due to the lack of programmability and traffic visibility in legacy switches, operators nowadays configure large buffers statically without considering the characteristics or dynamics of flows. Such buffers increase the delays on packets, causing the Quality of Service (QoS) of networked applications (e.g., voice over IP, web browsing) to degrade; 2) switches forwarding packets on a best-effort basis: traffic crossing a switch is heterogeneous in many ways. Mixing such traffic in a single queue without any QoS measures can drastically …

Deep Learning Methods For Some Problems In Scientific Computing, Yuankai Teng

Theses and Dissertations

Deep learning has emerged as a powerful approach for solving complex problems in scientific computing due to the increasing availability of large-scale data and computational resources. This thesis explores the potential of deep learning methods for three specific problems in scientific computing: (i) reducing the dimensions of variables in function approximation, (ii) solving linear reaction-diffusion equations, and (iii) finding the parametric representations of parameters in the numerical schemes for solving time-dependent partial differential equations.

For the first problem, a novel deep learning architecture is developed for reducing the dimensions of variables in function approximation. The proposed method achieves state-of-the-art performance …

Revisiting The Volumetric Swing Frequency Response Method For The Determination Of Limiting Mass Transfer Mechanisms Of N2 And O2 In Carbon Molecular Sieve 3k172, Adam Marshall Burke

Theses and Dissertations

Adsorption-based separations processes, along with the adsorbents that enable them, have benefited from a greater particular focus in recent years, following a desire to improve process energy efficiencies and cost economics. One such adsorbent, carbon molecular sieves (CMS), have likewise been a greater focus. CMS materials offer several key practical uses, such as the separation of nitrogen and oxygen, and the removal of carbon dioxide from methane process streams. In order to effectively design and implement an industrial scale process using a CMS material, the behavior of these gases on the chosen material must be known, including the limiting mass …

The Role Of Geographic Context In Tornado Risk, Risk Perception, And Protective Action Behavior, Sarah L. Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

Our current understanding of tornado risk, risk perception, and protective action behavior lacks proper spatial consideration of local physical and social geographic contexts. This investigation asks how the conceptual drivers of tornado risk (geographic context, risk perception, and response) interact to create the spatiality of tornado risk. The study proposes that the inclusion of geographic context and its influence on perception and behavior produces differential tornado risk and seeks to determine which factors contribute to such variability. A novel, researcher-designed Tornado Risk of Place (TROP) conceptual model guides the methodological framework, incorporating statistical and geospatial analytics in an Illinois State …

Laboratory Management Models In Core Facilities, Karmen Michael Owen

Theses and Dissertations

Core biotechnology facilities are often defined as laboratories that house shared resources for research. These laboratories are of great importance to research communities because a large portion of scientific research data is generated at these facilities. Different investigators can use core facilities to help further their research. In a university setting, there are several management strategies from small cores that house a specific type of instrument, to large cores that house many different technologies. Funding strategies also differ significantly, from those that are funded by a small group of well-funded investigators, to cores managed by a specific department or school, …

Developing A Vision-Based Framework For Measuring And Monitoring Water Resource Systems Using Computer Vision And Deep Learning Techniques, Seyed Mohammad Hassan Erfani

Theses and Dissertations

Increased vulnerability of water systems to extreme events and climate change is among the profound challenges facing the management of water resource systems around the world. Extreme events, including droughts, floods, and natural hazards have become more frequent and intensive, particularly in coastal regions. Floods, for instance, caused tens of billions of US dollars losses and put the lives of thousands in danger, globally. To cope with the adverse consequences of floods, a wide range of structural, non-structural, and emergency measures are studied and deployed by flood management sectors. Various flood simulation, mapping, and forecast systems have been developed to …

Conceptual Design And Preliminary Safety Analysis Of A Proposed Nuclear Microreactor For Mobile Application, A. S. M. Fakhrul Islam

Theses and Dissertations

Conceptual design and preliminary safety analysis of a proposed helium-cooled Micro Nuclear reactor In ONe megawatt (MINION) thermal output is done through three-dimensional computational analysis. Compared with the conventional high temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGR) that use tri-structural or bi-structural isotropic (TRISO or BISO) fuel particles, MINION uses traditional clad fuel pellets. This greatly simplifies the core design and allows for a substantially more compact design thanks to the fuel’s signif-icantly higher U-235 atom density. Uranium carbide (UC) enriched up to 19.75% in U-235 is used as fuel. In the power-flattened design, U-235 enrichment varies radially between 19.75% and 10.5% in …

Increasing Math Knowledge In 3Rd Grade: Evaluating Student Use & Teacher Perceptions Of Imagine Math, Paoze Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Students across the nation struggle with learning mathematics for a variety of reasons such as the abstract nature, there is only one correct answer and how math is foundational. With the recent increase in the use of digital programs, school districts across the nation have turned to digital math programs for math intervention and learning. School district leaders must weigh costs, effectiveness, and teacher perceptions. Eighty-seven percent of the third grade students at Reyes Elementary nearly met or did not meet California math standards, prompting the school to adopt Imagine Math. The purpose of this research was to evaluate if …

Extending The Convolution In Graph Neural Networks To Solve Materials Science And Node Classification Problems, Steph-Yves Mike Louis

Theses and Dissertations

The usage of graph to represent one's data in machine learning has grown in popularity in both academia and the industry due to its inherent benefits. With its flexible nature and immediate translation to real life observed objects, graph representation had a considerable contribution in advancing the state-of-the-art performance of machine learning in materials.

In this dissertation proposal, we discuss how machines can learn from graph encoded data and provide excellent results through graph neural networks (GNN). Notably, we focus our adaptation of graph neural networks on three tasks: predicting crystal materials properties, nullifying the negative impact of inferior graph …

Digital Health Design For Improving Treatment Decisions, Akanksha Singh

Theses and Dissertations

In the age of artificial intelligence and large datasets, information retrieval by querying large databases is an impossible task for the common user due to the information overload. Recommender Systems (RS) for commercial applications like YouTube, Amazon and Netflix were designed to support users by finding items of interest based on their user profiles and various filtering techniques. Health Recommender Systems (HRS) is a category of RSs that provides immense opportunities for application across several healthcare domains and contexts including treatment decision support. Unlike RS applications that focus on analyzing consumer choices, a key differentiator for HRS applications is the …

Impact Of Dam Height And Grain Size Distribution On Breaching Of Non-Cohesive Dams Due To Overtopping, Heather O'Donal

Theses and Dissertations

The National Inventory of Dams reports 74,400 earthen dams in the United States in 2021, of these dams approximately 27% are considered at high or significant hazard risk, that is dam failure will cause widespread damage and loss of lives. The most frequent cause of dam failure is breaching caused by overtopping. Accurate predictions of breach evolution are thus crucial to determine flood hydrographs for the safety of communities and properties at risk. Laboratory experiments were conducted on non-cohesive, compacted embankments to understand the role of dam height and sediment grain size on breaching caused by overtopping. Dam heights varied …

The Effect Of Visual Feedback On Vocal Compensation Abilities In Individuals With Post-Stroke Aphasia, Marissa Rylee Olson

Theses and Dissertations

Speech production is a complex and highly organized process comprised of various sensory and perceptual components. Post-stroke aphasia can impair speech production abilities by interrupting individuals’ ability to detect and correct speech errors and produce their targeted behavior. Contemporary models of speech production aim to understand the relationship between sensory systems and the human ability to produce perceptually accurate speech. This study seeks to understand the relationship between visual feedback and vocal compensation abilities in individuals with post-stroke aphasia to determine the effectiveness of incorporating visual feedback into therapeutic expressive language intervention. It was hypothesized that that the multi-sensory experimental …

Predicting Material Structures And Properties Using Deep Learning And Machine Learning Algorithms, Yuqi Song

Theses and Dissertations

Discovering new materials and understanding their crystal structures and chemical properties are critical tasks in the material sciences. Although computational methodologies such as Density Functional Theory (DFT), provide a convenient means for calculating certain properties of materials or predicting crystal structures when combined with search algorithms, DFT is computationally too demanding for structure prediction and property calculation for most material families, especially for those materials with a large number of atoms. This dissertation aims to address this limitation by developing novel deep learning and machine learning algorithms for effective prediction of material crystal structures and properties. Our data-driven machine learning …

A Systems Approach To Design And Plan Sustainable Antifragile Infrastructure Based On Aggregate Footprint And Satisfaction, Farboud Khatami

Theses and Dissertations

The concepts of robustness and sustainability in planning and design of water and energy infrastructures have been extensively explored in previous research, primarily focusing on system reliability, environmental considerations, and economic aspects. This study aims to broaden the understanding of these concepts by offering comprehensive frameworks that capture the essence of robustness and sustainability at two distinct levels.

The first level of investigation focuses on the performance of infrastructure networks during natural disasters. Traditionally, this has been addressed using reliability, resilience, and vulnerability metrics. However, these methods rely on static, deterministic, and non-stationary data, which is inadequate when dealing with …

Instructional Coaching: A Support For Increasing Engagement In Middle School Mathematics, Christi Ritchie Edwards

Theses and Dissertations

This observational case study employed a qualitative design to investigate the impact of student-centered instructional coaching and self-determined professional development on student engagement in middle school mathematics. Research demonstrates that engaging students in the learning process increases their attention and motivates them to engage in higher-level critical thinking. Teachers who adopt a student-centered approach to instruction increase opportunities for student engagement. Instructional coaches are used as a professional development tool to support teachers with student-centered instructional practices to engage students in their learning. This four-week study involved two sixth-grade mathematics teachers conducting Number Talks in one of their classes of …

Machine-Learning Classification To Predict The Dimensionality Of Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Halide Perovskites, Yatiwelle Koralalage Samuditha Sandaru Yatiwella

Theses and Dissertations

Low dimensional hybrid perovskites have demonstrated remarkable performance in photovoltaic applications, primarily due to their exceptional optical and electronic properties. As the search for potential candidates for novel materials continues, understanding the structure of these materials is crucial for investigating their stability. In this study, we implement a framework to find novel material based on a machine-learning model. The machine learning model was trained to predict the dimensionality of the polyhedral network based on the connectivity of the polyhedral network in different directions. The polyhedral connectivity of low-dimensional structures can be classified into three dimensions: 0D, 1D, and 2D. This …

Automated Fiber Placement Through Thickness Defect Stacking Optimization, Noah Christopher Swingle

Theses and Dissertations

In its 2022 commercial market outlook, Boeing forecasted an 80% increase in the global fleet through 2041 compared to 2019 pre-pandemic levels. This sharp rise in demand will drive pressure onto airframe manufacturers to ramp up production and find more efficient ways to design and manufacture airplanes. Complicating this challenge is the industry’s recent transformation from traditional metal-based airframes towards hybrid composite-metal aircraft. While composites have been used in aviation for decades, aircraft manufacturers are still struggling to design and manufacture quality parts at a high rate. Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) is one of the main manufacturing techniques used to …