Digital Commons Network^™

Relationship Between Standardization Critical Success Factors (Csfs) And Project Performance, Binit Kumar Shrestha

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Facility standardization strategy is defined as the development and use of consistent designs to align project stakeholders, objectives, and scope to capture and optimize schedule, cost, and value. The implementation and proper execution of this strategy can lead to considerable benefits, such as design once and reuse multiple times, along with learning curve benefits in fabrication, operations, and construction, as well as accelerated responds to schedule needs. Although standardization strategy is not a new idea; capital projects have failed to achieve high levels of facility standardization. The primary reason for this is the industry’s struggle to execute standardized projects successfully. …

On-Chip Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy, Randy Sterbentz

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) allows the direct measurement of optical and charge carrier properties of materials in a region of the electromagnetic spectrum inaccessible to most other spectroscopic techniques. We have adapted the technique to an on-chip arrangement that allows us to measure these properties in nanoscale materials with dimensions below the diffraction limit. In this thesis, we present the operation of instruments and the mechanics behind performing on-chip terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. Three materials were tested to confirm the capabilities of our system to measure THz radiation: indium selenide (InSe), radiation-damaged silicon-on-sapphire (RD-SOS), and an erbium arsenide:gallium arsenide superlattice. Preliminary …

The Development Of Prerequisite Skills And Concepts From Task-Based Interviews In Calculus Students With Low-Levels Of Prerequisite Skills, Nicholas Wong

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This task-based interview study examined the development of prerequisite skills and concepts and calculus skill and concepts of students who entered a first-semester calculus course with a low level of prerequisite skills. The participants in this study completed three task-based interviews with two tasks in each interview. The research question addressed by this study was, To what extent do task-based interviews reveal students’ prerequisite skills and conceptual understanding for applications of the derivative and how do these skills and understanding develop for students who have been classified as having low levels of prerequisite skills upon entering a calculus course? The …

Analysis Of 316 Omnitrophota (Op3) Genomes Reveals A Diverse And Ubiquitous Candidate Phylum Of Putative Syntrophs, Predators, And Free-Living Nanobacteria Encoding Giant Open-Reading Frames., Cale O. Seymour

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Candidate bacterial phylum Omnitrophota has never been isolated and is poorly understood. In this study, we explored the genomics, phylogeny, taxonomy, distribution, cell size, and predicted physiology of Omnitrophota based on 316 genomes. Phylogenomic concordance identified seven classes accommodating 144 species. Calibration of genome-based taxonomy to ribosomal SSU profiling revealed most Omnitrophota classes are prevalent in the Earth Microbiome Dataset, particularly in soils and sediments. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting and differential size filtration experiments showed ultra-small (<400 >nm) cells are common across the phylum, as are parasitism-related genes, including a conserved tight adherence (Tad) complex and ATP/ADP translocase. However, nucleotide and …

Crowd Monitoring For Pandemic Using Mask R-Cnn, Db Chen, H Samani, Cy Yang, Ge Jan

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

In this research, a vision system based on pixel-level deep learning image recognition algorithm is proposed. This system can be used to identify whether people entering and exiting a building are wearing a mask, and to calculate the cumulative number of people in a specific space. The system monitors and analyses crowd entering and exiting and as soon as finds that they are not wearing mask or the number of people in a specific space has reached the upper limit, the system sends a warning notification to the administrator. Through advanced detection systems, personnel can be controlled, especially for the …

Teaching Learning Newsletter Vol 1 Issue 3, Sastra Deemed To Be University

TLC Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Cradle To Gate Life Cycle Assessment (Lca) Of 3d Printing Houses, Elias Ali

Faculty Scholarship

This paper presents a comparative “cradle to gate” life cycle assessment (LCA) of 3D printing houses and conventional buildings using SimaPro software, as a tool to model and compare the two alternatives. The study considered a terraced type of buildings with a floor area of 60 m2 (functional unit), which could occupy 2-3 households. The results indicated that 3D printing houses have a smaller environmental impact than conventional buildings in all impact categories except in terrestrial ecotoxicity, in which both alternatives resulted in 172 kg 1,4-DB eq. 3D printing houses exhibit a higher climate impact from Timber floorboards, window frames, …

Black And Indigenous Theoretical Considerations For Higher Education Sustainability

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

No abstract provided.

Using Google’S Mobility Data To Understand Park Visitation During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Note Of Caution, William Rice, Bing Pan

Society and Conservation Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted park visitation around the globe. In an effort to un-derstand the factors influencing these changes, nu-merous attempts have been made to use big data to monitor changes in park use (e.g., Venter et al., 2020). Google's Community Mobility Reports repre-sent a dataset with significant potential in this re-gard. Released in April 2020, these reports were gen-erated on the hypothesis that "aggregated, anony-mized data could be helpful [to] make critical deci-sions to combat COVID-19" (Fitzpatrick & DeSalvo, 2020, para. 1). The heading on the reports' website asks browsers to "see how your community is mov-ing …

An Adaptive Data-Driven Controller For Underwater Manipulators With Variable Payload, Ignacio Carlucho, Dylan W. Stephens, Corina Barbalata

Faculty Publications

The underwater environment poses a complex problem for developing control systems for underwater manipulators. Modeling the system is a complicated and costly process due to the highly nonlinear dynamics and the presence of unknown hydrodynamical effects. Furthermore, manipulators are usually deployed on Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) which further influence and change the dynamics of the arm. This is aggravated in underwater operations where manipulating different objects is necessary. These diverse manipulation tasks introduce external disturbances to the system and can lead to a fast degradation of the control system performance. In this article, we propose a novel adaptive controller for …

A Financial Analysis Of Five Different Firms, Shane Sazzman

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

There are several ways to analyze a business. Looking at a company’s risk position. Measuring a businesses profitability, liquidity, stock prices, bankruptcy, and leverage. Overall, using historical and current data to predict future success. This report conducts a business analysis by looking at the impact of the coronavirus for five different companies in five different industries that are in five different countries. It has looked at financial results during the periods of pre-coronavirus, throughout, and after. Through this, a financial analysis was created to look at the long-term impacts and results of the coronavirus for these five conglomerates. The companies …

Bilateral Privacy-Utility Tradeoff In Spectrum Sharing Systems: A Game-Theoretic Approach, Mengmeng Liu, Xiangwei Zhou, Mingxuan Sun

Faculty Publications

In spectrum sharing systems based on spectrum trading, user locations are vital for the efficiency of dynamic channel reuse. However, both primary users (PUs) and secondary users (SUs) undertake the risk of location information leakage: a malicious PU may illegally collect SUs' location information to manipulate market decisions; a malicious SU would threat a PU's operational privacy by inferring the PU's location through seemingly inoffensive queries. To protect both PUs' and SUs' location information in spectrum trading, a bilateral privacy preservation framework is introduced in this paper. A game-theoretic approach based on the Stackelberg model is proposed to achieve the …

Indigenous Women In Science: A Proposed Framework For Leadership, Knowledge, Innovation, And Complexity, Tracy Woodroffe, Ruth Wallace, Kathy Guthadjaka, Johanna Funk, Elaine L. Maypilama, Sarah Ireland, Renee Adair, Robyn Ober, Samantha Armstrong, Anne Lowell, Kellie Pollard

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

Indigenous engagement in tertiary education has been contentious in Australia for many years. This was brought sharply into focus with the 2012 review into higher education, which highlighted a lack of parity for Indigenous Australians. One of the solutions to a lack of parity in participation could be the concept of a dual academy. A dual academy approach to higher education would incorporate both Indigenous and Western knowledge systems equally. Conversations and thinking about Indigenous participation and engagement in higher education led to an opportunity to coordinate a series of workshops. These workshops, conducted in Darwin, Alice Springs, and Galiwin’ku …

Effect Of Social Media Marketing On Online Retail Performance Of Konga Nigeria Ltd, Abubakar A. Adamu, Muhammed Yazeed, Mohammed A. Dantsoho, Jamilu Abdulkadir, Aliyu A. Gemu

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

In Nigeria, e-commerce companies treat estimated delivery dates with a lack of confidence, as some industry insiders suggested. In an already small and addressable market, potential customers can shop on international e-commerce platform alternatives far more conveniently than on local, fragmented ones. With a market unsuitable for e-commerce, underdeveloped digital payment services and poor logistics and shipping infrastructure have resulted in high operating costs. With that in mind, this study examines the effect of social media marketing on the online retail performance of Konga Nigeria Ltd. In this study, data was collected using a questionnaire technique and a sample size …

Ai As A Boost For Startups Companies: Evidence From Italy, Irene Di Bernardo, Marco Tregua, Greco Fabio, Ruggiero Andrea

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

Innovative startups are growing everywhere; clearly, digital transformation is imperative for all businesses to compete, or better survive. Institutions prompt companies and businesses to adopt digital transformation tools, providing funds too, especially to startups (MISE, 2019).In particular, this study analyzes Artificial Intelligence, understanding its implications, ties and features in startups. No commonly agreed definitions are given about AI and startups, thus the tie between them should be deepened. One of the most cited definitions considers startup as a temporary organization looking for scalable business models (Blank, 2013). In literature little attention has been paid to the connection between startup and …

Modeling Capacity: Multiple Weaving Areas, Sheida Khademi

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Systematic, well-designed research provides the most effective approach to the solution of many problems facing highway administrators and engineers. Traffic congestion on freeway systems is one significant concern in urban areas throughout the U.S.A. In this era, building new freeways to reduce congestion is less feasible due to the high capital and social costs. Thus, the effective management and operation of existing freeway facilities has become a preferred approach to reduce traffic congestion. A weaving section is a common design on major highway facilities that always has been an interest to researchers. Weaving areas are characterized by frequent lane changes, …

Mechanical Response Of Chemically Treated Sulfate-Rich Clay Under Multiple Triaxial Stress Path, Azadeh Asghariastaneh

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Expansive clayey soils, which are abundant in arid and semi-arid areas, including the state of Texas, can lead to excessive distress in pavements, foundations, embankments, earth retaining systems and other civil infrastructure that is either made of or supported by this type of soils. Calcium-based stabilizers, such as lime, cement and fly ash, have become popular soil stabilizers due to their ready availability and relatively low cost; however, myriad cases of failures of pavements and foundation built over sulfate-rich treated clay have led researchers to search for more efficient substitutes for calcium-based stabilizers. A very limited number of studies, however, …

Transmission Telescope Optical Dynamic Alignment, Viviana Vladutescu, Aaron J. Swank, Dzu K. Le, Calvin R. Robinson, O. Scott Sands

Publications and Research

The Integrated Radio Optical Communication System (iROC) is designed to transmit data between Mars and Earth by means of radio waves at 32.67 GHz (Ka band) and laser beam (LB) at 1550 nm, both transmitted via a combined telescope/antenna called a teletenna. The iROC terminal will provide “beaconless” operations to allow full function from the outer planets. In order to point without the aid of an uplink beacon, the proof of concept presented here is addressing the need for an accurate determination and control of the relative position of the LB with respect to a reference star.

The experiment presented …

Development Of A Hybrid Hydrogel Drug Delivery System For Treatment Of Ischemic Injury, Andrew Demaria

All Dissertations

In the United States, ischemia resulting from cardiovascular disease and acute trauma affects nearly 50% of all adults. Therapeutic angiogenesis aims to stimulate the formation of new microvasculature that alleviates hypoxia, reduces tissue morbidity, and improves wound healing. The current primary therapeutic approach is vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) injection therapy but is hindered by several challenges. Consequently, bioactive small molecules are being used to target hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), the master regulator of oxygen-sensing pathways that is responsible for activating angiogenesis in response to tissue hypoxia. However, successful clinical translation of small molecules for therapeutic angiogenesis still faces several challenges …

Investigating The Detoxification Of Cadmium By The Tardigrade Hypsibus Exemplaris., Adedamola Olatoregun

Dissertations (2016-Present)

Heavy metals such as Cadmium are known stressors in aquatic environments due to being persistent in nature and the ability to bioaccumulate in organisms. Cadmium ranks 7th on the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry’s 2019 Substance Priority List. It is also listed as a substance of very high concern by the European Chemicals Agency. Thus, it is considered one of the most important environmental and occupational pollutants existing. This study aimed at investigating the cellular responses to the heavy metal Cadmium (Cd) and observe the processes that are involved in its detoxification. Tardigrade specimens (Hypsibius exemplaris) were exposed …

Mitigating Roadway Disasters In Extreme Flooding Events: A Critical Case Study Of Flood Fatalities In Harris County, Texas, Liza T. Powers

Dissertations (2016-Present)

From 1959 – 2009, Texas has annually led the nation in the number of flood fatalities. On average the number of deaths in Texas was three times the amount of the second leading state (Sharif, Hossain, Jackson & Bin-Shafique, 2012). Quantitative studies have attempted to construct the definition of when, how and the likelihood that a person dies in a flood event, why they made the fatal decision to drive, and who is particularly vulnerable to making this decision. This dissertation used a qualitative approach to explore this occurrence in a deeper and more meaningful context. This dissertation includes four …

The Constitution Of Mathematical Knowledge With Augmented Reality, Rosa Monteiro Paulo, Anderson Luís Pereira, Elisangela Pavanelo

The Mathematics Enthusiast

Digital Technologies are increasingly present in our activities. Many things we do we are not even able to imagine how they would be done, if we did not have the technological resources at hand. However, perhaps in the opposite direction of this, in the school context, or in teaching and learning, the discussion about the potential and the viability of these resources is still subject of a non-consensual discussion. When this context is Higher Education, specifically in undergraduate courses, the situation is even worse, as stated by research that we bring in this text. In disciplines such as Differential and …

An Analysis Of The Influences Of A Hybrid Learning Environment In The Solution Of Vector Tasks According To The Anthropological Theory Of The Didactic (Atd), Jany Santos Souza Goulart, Luiz Márcio Santos Farias, Hamid Chaachoua

The Mathematics Enthusiast

This paper discusses a part of a doctoral study based on the theoretical pillars of the Anthropological Theory of the Didactic (ATD). Supported by this theory, our research interest followed a path that led us to the teaching of the mathematical object vector and its institutional configuration in a Mathematics Teaching course at Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana (UEFS), in the state of Bahia, Brazil, centered on two dichotomous aspects. The first one refers to the possibility of application and institutional relevance of this mathematical object. The second aspect is related to the obstacles encountered in the didactical scope, …

Characterizing Bacterial Communities Across A Nutrient Gradient Over Winter Months, Emily Jin Searles Stone

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

When trying to understand how anthropogenic activities affect patterns in community ecology, bacterial communities are frequently neglected. These bacterial communities are essential to the overall health and stability of several different ecosystems. As nutrient pollution increases, some bacterial taxa may increase, causing an imbalance in food web dynamics and disrupting biogeochemical cycles. Next-generation sequencing coupled with water chemistry measurements has allowed for association testing between site water characteristics and bacterial taxa. By examining bacteria along a natural nutrient gradient over winter months in Overpeck Creek in northern New Jersey, this research shows that anthropogenic activities, specifically nutrient pollution, can alter …

Severity Analysis Of Large Truck Crashes- Comparision Between The Regression Modeling Methods With Machine Learning Methods., Jinli Liu

Theses (2016-Present)

According to the Texas Department of Transportation’s Texas Motor Vehicle Crash Statistics, Texas has had the highest number of severe crashes involving large trucks in the US. As defined by the US Department of Transportation, a large truck is any vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 10,000 pounds. Generally, it requires more time and much more space for large trucks to accelerating, slowing down, and stopping. Also, there will be large blind spots when large trucks make wide turns. Therefore, if an unexpected traffic situation comes upon, It would be more difficult for large trucks to take …

The Art Of The Climbing Wall, Gavin P. Day

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The aim of my thesis is to share the intricacies of climbing wall design, and the building blocks of art, science, and philosophy that go into the work. I will also be detailing my journey of learning through mentorship, trial and error, and my own experience with climbing. All of this culminates in a redesign of the current climbing wall at ETSU’s Basler Center for Physical Activity. While there is limited information on climbing wall design theory, insight is given through industry standards, competition regulations, and interdisciplinary design philosophies

Indigenous Science Network Bulletin - August 2021

Indigenous Science Network

In this edition of the bulletin, we present another collection of items related to First Nations peoples and their science for an audience of teachers, scientists and interested community members from across the globe.

Local Style Preservation In Improved Gan-Driven Synthetic Image Generation For Endoscopic Tool Segmentation, Yun Hsuan Su, Wenfan Jiang, Digesh Chitrakar, Kevin Huang, Haonan Peng, Blake Hannaford

Engineering: Faculty Publications

Accurate semantic image segmentation from medical imaging can enable intelligent vision-based assistance in robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery. The human body and surgical procedures are highly dynamic. While machine-vision presents a promising approach, sufficiently large training image sets for robust performance are either costly or unavailable. This work examines three novel generative adversarial network (GAN) methods of providing usable synthetic tool images using only surgical background images and a few real tool images. The best of these three novel approaches generates realistic tool textures while preserving local background content by incorporating both a style preservation and a content loss component into …

Long Term Recovery From Cattle Grazing Disturbance And Climate Impacts At Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, Erin Tessens

Master's Theses

Cattle grazing has influenced the environment in the western United States since European settlement in the 1800’s. Continuous and heavy grazing on arid and semi-arid rangelands has resulted in decreased biodiversity, changes in vegetation structure, and vulnerability to exotic plant invasion. Heavy grazing has also been linked to decreased cryptobiotic soil due to trampling and susceptibility to erosion. With a lack of effective means of successful habitat restoration, there is a rising concern among land managers to maintain these intricate systems, notably under the threat of climate change. Consequently, there is a critical need to understand these system’s response to …

Towards Real-Time Energy Efficiency Analysis Of A Hydraulic System, Montasir Mamun Mithu

Masters Theses

The study aims at developing a real-time data analysis system for the energy efficiency study of hydraulic systems. It also aims at implementing automation for hydraulic systems so that energy efficiency can be improved using the real-time approach. This research uses a system-level experimental methodology. A linear push system hydraulic prototype is developed for the study. The prototype contains hydraulic actuator, shock absorber, electronic flow control valve, and electronic sensor. This prototype is used to experiment with different operating conditions to characterize hydraulic system behavior. A real-time data analysis system is developed using LabVIEW and an Open Platform Communication (OPC) …