Digital Commons Network^™

Two Um Law Students Land Steiger Fellowship, Christina Steube

University of Mississippi News

Natalie Lowry and Madison Reightler are spending their summer in state attorney general offices

Reducing “Treble” With Performance Focused Music Programs In Medical School: A Student Driven Needs Assessment To Clarify Participation Barriers Amongst Undergraduate Medical Students, Alexander Tu, Tiffany Truong, Kristy J. Carlson, Matthew J. Brooks, Jayme R. Dowdall

Music Faculty Publications

Introduction: The beneficial impact of performing arts involvement within undergraduate medical education, such as music, has been studied, but support for the arts varies significantly by institution. Research has suggested that medical student involvement in the arts can help develop their identities as physicians and may reduce stress and burnout, an increasingly difficult problem within the medical student community.

Methods: We used a mixed-method cross-sectional study design, using a questionnaire and semi-structured interview designed amongst a team of music professionals and healthcare providers with music backgrounds. Out of 511 enrolled medical students, 93 students participated in the study for a …

Embedded Curriculum With Industry-Recognized Certifications To Improve The Marketability Of Engineering Technology Graduates, Immanuel Edinbarough, Jesus A. Gonzalez-Rodriguez

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

Embedded Curriculum with Industry Recognized Certifications to Improve the Marketability of Engineering Technology Graduates

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is challenging the industries to change the way they manage and operate the manufacturing environment. This leads to the transformation of the world through artificial intelligence, next-generation robotics, automation, big data analytics, 5G technology and Internet of Things. This idea of Industry 4.0 forces the change in the industries of today and tomorrow. In this, cyber physical systems communicate with one another using the Internet of Things. The manufacturing sector takes full advantage of these technologies to produce innovative products to enhance …

Peer-Led-Team Learning In Introductory Engineering Courses: An Analysis Of An Interventional Method Of Support For Underrepresented Students At A Two-Year, Hispanic-Serving Public Institution, Kimberly T. Luthi, Lisa Macon, Mohua Kar

Publications

The three-year project entitled Engagement in Engineering Pathways funded by the National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM education grant explored the conditions that led to increased academic outcomes and non-cognitive factors related to persistence of nontraditional undergraduate students in engineering education. The study was conducted at a multicampus, federally-designated, Hispanic-serving, public, two-year college in the southeast United States. This paper presents one aspect of the effects of peer-led team learning (PLTL) on academic success through the inclusion of active learning modules in introductory undergraduate engineering course. The researchers found that PLTL introduced in engineering courses, to include statics and dynamics, …

An Evolving Face-To-Face Freshman Experience Course During A Pandemic, Allen Estes, John Lawson

Architectural Engineering

With the full effect of the COVID-19 pandemic reaching the United States in March 2020, almost all colleges and universities went exclusively to virtual on-line instruction during the spring semesters and quarters. In the fall, according to the College Crisis Initiative study at Davidson College of 3000 schools, as colleges opened back up 4% were fully in person, 23% primarily in person, 21% were hybrid, 34% primarily on line, 10% fully on line and 8% either undetermined or other. Some colleges selectively reopened specific classes for face-to-face instruction with varying degrees of success and some had to quick shut down …

Water Regulation For Enhancing Soil Quality Using Cactus Mucilage: A Theoretical And Experimental Analysis, Khuloud Alrashdi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As water is one of the primary sources of life, it is essential in an endless number of systems and processes to be utilized efficiently in nature and in practical applications. One of these applications includes farming, which depletes a lot of water as the water irrigation systems cover large soil areas. While water is a critical factor in growing crops, a question here stands, can the irrigation process be transformed? This is the overarching goal of my work since it is centered on studying if cactus mucilage, a natural substance, is capable of improving water absorption processes on crops …

Content Analysis Of Two-Year And Four-Year Data Science Programs In The United States, Elizabeth Milonas, Duo Li, Qiping Zhang

Publications and Research

Data has grown exponentially in the last decade, and this growth has resulted in vast challenges for both business and IT domains (Hassan & Liu, 2019). This growth has given rise to the Data Science field, which has also grown exponentially in the last few years (Hassan & Liu, 2019; Song & Zhu, 2016). The Data Science field has its origins in the statistics and mathematics domain (Cao, 2017b), but is now considered a multidisciplinary field (Aasheim et al., 2015). Data Science warrants knowledge of data analytics, programming, systems, applications, informatics, computing, communication, management, and sociology (Aasheim et al., 2015; …

It’S A Context Gap, Not A Competency Gap: Understanding The Transition From Capstone Design To Industry, Marie C. Paretti, Julie Dyke Ford, Susannah Howe, Daria A. Kotys-Schwartz, Robin Ott

Engineering: Faculty Publications

This paper describes the completion of a multi-year, multi-institution study to explore students’ transitions from capstone design courses into engineering workplaces. Numerous studies and industry reports point to gaps between school and work with respect to engineering practice. Such misalignment poses a serious challenge to the professional formation of engineers within the academy. Industry-oriented capstone courses are key opportunities to bridge these gaps. These courses provide a direct connect to industry, and faculty view them as vehicles to help students synthesize prior coursework and engage in real-world projects. Yet few if any studies have examined the effectiveness of capstone courses …

Raising Awareness Of Diversity And Inclusion In One-Shot Information Literacy Classes, Anamika Megwalu

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

A Knowledge Graph Based Method On Language Understanding For Customer Service, Lingyun Yang, Meng Han, Jing (Selena) He

Master of Science in Computer Science Theses

Understanding on customer service with comprehensive information has become attracted in recent years due to its importance to business and consumers. Traditional method, which collect questionnaires in paper-format from consumers, is considered to inefficient and time-consuming. As Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies developing, sentiment analysis and emotion detection has been demonstrated to understand customers’ satisfaction effectively. However, these popular methods only devote the polarity or emotional expression of products or service, they have limitations on exploring relevant knowledge as side information in specific domain. Therefore, a specific knowledge graph can be utilized to construct a question and answering system on …

The Impact Of Micro Porous Layer On Liquid Water Evolution Inside Pemfc Using Lattice Boltzmann Method, Mitchell Sepe, P. Satjaritanun, I. V. Zenyuk, N. Tippayawong, Sirivatch Shimpalee

Faculty Publications

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) require a gas diffusion layer to aid in fuel transport to the catalyst sites. A microporous layer (MPL) is often added to the GDL to improve liquid saturation inside gas diffusion media. In this work, the lattice Boltzmann method was applied to four GDL samples with the addition of an MPL. Three injection orientations were used to study liquid evolution through the samples. Each orientation used four different injection pressures, ranging from 5,000 Pa to 8,000 Pa. Saturation data for GDL samples with and without an MPL were compared. Results showed that when adding …

Hydrolearn: Improving Students’ Conceptual Understanding And Technical Skills In A Civil Engineering Senior Design Course, Melissa Ann Gallagher, Jenny Byrd, Emad Habib, David G. Tarboton, Clinton S. Wilson

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Engineering graduates need a deep understanding of key concepts in addition to technical skills to be successful in the workforce. However, traditional methods of instruction (e.g., lecture) do not foster deep conceptual understanding and make it challenging for students to learn the technical skills, (e.g., professional modeling software), that they need to know. This study builds on prior work to assess engineering students’ conceptual and procedural knowledge. The results provide an insight into how the use of authentic online learning modules influence engineering students’ conceptual knowledge and procedural skills. We designed online active learning modules to support and deepen undergraduate …

Building A Functional Cardiograph Over Four Semesters, Part 3: Estimating Heart Rate And Respiration Rate In The Time And Frequency Domains Using Matlab, Gail Baura, Francisca Fils-Aime, Vincent Chiun-Fan Chen, Leanne Kallemeyn

Engineering Science Faculty Publications

At Loyola University Chicago (LUC), all engineering courses are taught using a mandatory minimal lecture style, where the majority of course meeting time is devoted to group activities. Each activity may take place during that course meeting only, over the entire semester, or over multiple semesters. Curricular contextual threads take place over multiple semesters. One such contextual thread is the cardiograph project, whereby students build a functional cardiograph that estimates heart rate (HR) and respiration rate (RR) over four semesters (first, third, fifth, and sixth semesters). In Part III, students acquire their own electrocardiogram (ECG) using a custom motherboard, with …

How Can A Non-Profit Empower Community Through Childcare?: An Analysis On The Impacts Childcare And Workforce Development Has On The Lives Of Immigrant Families, Jose Molina

Student Research – Stevenson Center

No abstract provided.

Solar Energy Certificate For Engineering Technology Students, Jesus A. Gonzalez-Rodriguez, Immanuel Edinbarough

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

Solar Energy is the fastest-growing energy resource in the United States and the world. This industry just hit an important milestone in 2019 of completing two million solar systems installations in the country and is expected to duplicate this quantity by 2023.

Organizations and home and business owners in our South Texas region are starting to recognize the benefits of this type of renewable energy. And with the drop in the cost of the components and installation of the solar system, the future for this industry seems promising.

Our Program of Engineering Technology, which is part of the College of …

Integrating Literature, Biodiversity Databases, And Citizen-Science To Reconstruct The Checklist Of Chondrichthyans In Cyprus (Eastern Mediterranean Sea), Ioannis Giovos, Fabrizio Serena, Dimitra Katsada, Athanasios Anastasiadis, Adi Barash, Charis Charilaou, Jason M. Hall-Spencer, Fabio Crocetta, Alexander Kaminas, Demetris Kletou, Mary Maximiadi, Vasileios Minasidis, Dimitrios K. Moutopoulos, Aga-Spyridopoulou R Naasan, Ioannis Thasitis, Periklis Kleitou

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Chondrichthyans are apex predators influencing the trophic web through a top-down process thus their depletion will affect the remaining biota. Notwithstanding that, research on chondrichthyans is sparse or data-limited in several biogeographic areas worldwide, including the Levantine Sea. We revise and update the knowledge of chondrichthyans in Cyprus based on a bibliographic review that gains information retrieved from peer-reviewed and grey literature, Global Biodiversity Information Facility (135 records of at least 18 species) and the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (65 records of at least14 species), and the citizen science project Mediterranean Elasmobranchs Citizen Observations (117 records per 23 species). Our …

Hardware Acceleration In Image Stitching: Gpu Vs Fpga, Joshua David Edgcombe

Masters Theses

Image stitching is a process where two or more images with an overlapping field of view are combined. This process is commonly used to increase the field of view or image quality of a system. While this process is not particularly difficult for modern personal computers, hardware acceleration is often required to achieve real-time performance in low-power image stitching solutions. In this thesis, two separate hardware accelerated image stitching solutions are developed and compared. One solution is accelerated using a Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ ZU3EG FPGA and the other solution is accelerated using an Nvidia RTX 2070 Super GPU. The image …

Learning From The Student Experience: Impact Of Shelter-In-Place On The Learning Experiences Of Engineering Students At Sjsu, Patricia R. Backer, Maria Chierichetti, Laura E. Sullivan-Green, Liat Rosenfeld

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

This is a research paper based on an in-depth study of the impact of COVID-19 on students and faculty in the San José State University (SJSU) College of Engineering completed in Spring and Summer 2020. In this paper, we report on the interviews we did with 40 students from the College. In March 2020, SJSU moved all of its classes to remote learning for the remainder of the Spring term. The students included freshmen (3 students), sophomores (2 students), juniors (7 students), seniors (11 students) and graduate students (17 students). During the interviews, the students reported more negative experiences with …

Challenges And Successes Of The Transition To Online Format Of A Lower Division Aerospace Engineering Class During Covid-19, Lucia Rut Capdevila

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

During the Spring 2020 semester, after the transition to online modality due to the COVID-19 pandemic, student engagement and participation level dropped significantly and student performance suffered in “Computer Programing for Aerospace Engineers” (AE 30), a lower division computer programming course in Aerospace Engineering. Cognitive empathy, metacognition, and zyBooks (specific brand of interactive online course material) are known to improve student engagement, participation, and performance. Thus, a cognitive empathy ice-breaker activity, a metacognition exam reflection exercise, and interactive zyBook exercises were incorporated and implemented in AE 30 to help mitigate the effects of the pandemic in the new online environment. …

Data-Driven Discovery Of The Governing Equation For The Transmission Lines System, Yanming Zhang, Lijun Jiang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Sophisticated structures in the transmission line system introduce the nonuniformity and nonlinearity, which brings the challenge for its characterization and modeling. In this work, a novel data-driven method is proposed to derive the governing partial differential equations of the transmission line. Based on the polynomial interpolation of the spatial-temporal samples of current and voltage, the time and spatial derivatives can be obtained. Then, the ridge regression algorithm is adopted to determine the active spatial differential terms from the candidate functions. Three benchmarks, the uniform and nonuniform transmission line, and a soliton generation system, are provided to demonstrate the validity of …

Improvement Of Spice Based Esd Protection Models For I/O Protection Modeling, Amin Pak, Seyed Mostafa Mousavi, David Pommerenke, Giorgi Maghlakelidze, Yang Xu

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Modeling ESD protection using the System Efficient ESD Design (SEED) methodology enables optimal protection of an IO using TVS and external components. The success of modeling depends on the accuracy of the models. This work shows improvements to SPICE models used to characterize TVS diodes and IC I/O. The improvement is twofold. The transition phases between snapback and main current flow have been adjusted to achieve realistic waveforms for the rise times from 500 ps to 5 ns in a voltage range from Vt1 to the high current region, and complex curvatures of the IV curve are included. The model …

Types Of Models Identified By First-Year Engineering Students, Kelsey Joy Rodgers, Angela Thompson, Matthew A. Verleger, Farshid Marbouti, Nishith Shah, Pujan Thaker

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

This is a Complete Research paper. Understanding models is important for engineering students, but not often taught explicitly in first-year courses. Although there are many types of models in engineering, studies have shown that engineering students most commonly identify prototyping or physical models when asked about modeling. In order to evaluate students' understanding of different types of models used in engineering and the effectiveness of interventions designed to teach modeling, a survey was developed. This paper describes development of a framework to categorize the types of engineering models that first-year engineering students discuss based on both previous literature and students' …

Reducing “Treble” With Performance Focused Music Programs In Medical School: A Student Driven Needs Assessment To Clarify Participation Barriers Amongst Undergraduate Medical Students, Alexander Tu, Tiffany Truong, Kristy J. Carlson, Matthew J. Brooks, Jayme R. Dowdall

Journal of Wellness

Introduction: The beneficial impact of performing arts involvement within undergraduate medical education, such as music, has been studied, but support for the arts varies significantly by institution. Research has suggested that medical student involvement in the arts can help develop their identities as physicians and may reduce stress and burnout, an increasingly difficult problem within the medical student community.

Methods: We used a mixed-method cross-sectional study design, using a questionnaire and semi-structured interview designed amongst a team of music professionals and healthcare providers with music backgrounds. Out of 511 enrolled medical students, 93 students participated in the study for a …

Assessment Of Creative Thinking In An Introductory Robotics Course Using Final Project, Lili Ma, Jose Reyes Alamo, Yu Wang

Publications and Research

This study describes development of an assignment (the final project) used for assessment of creative thinking in an undergraduate robotic course. Robotics inherently demands creativity, requiring exploration and investigation among several different methods to eventually generate a satisfactory solution. Assessment of students’ creative thinking fits naturally into our robotic course, which has a 2.5-hour lab session each week for students to work on physical/simulated robots. Students are asked to complete three projects over one semester. This paper describes the re-design and fine-tuning of the final project such that assessment of creative thinking can be incorporated into this robotic course as …

Using Data Science To Create An Impact On A City Life And To Encourage Students From Underserved Communities To Get Into Stem, Elena Filatova, Deborah Hecht

Publications and Research

In this paper, we introduce a novel methodology for teaching Data Science. Our methodology relies on the outlook of the student body in our college. Our college is an urban, commuter, HSI (Hispanic Serving Institution) school with 34% Hispanic and 29% Black students. 61% of our students come from households with an income of less than $30,000+. Thus, many students in our college come from the communities that are underrepresented in the STEM fields and in the decision-making positions in the government (on the city level, state level, country level). However, in our methodology, we want to flip the situation …

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The Birds, The Bees, And Equitable Relief: Limitations And Restrictions On Judicial Relief Under Nepa, Through The Lens Of Lakes And Parks All. Of Minneapolis V. Fed. Transit Admin., 928 F.3d 759 (8th Cir. 2019), Wesley B. Hazen

Oil and Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Journal

No abstract provided.

Are You In Or Are You Out? An International Comparison Of Nuclear Integration Or Discontinuation, Tyler Self

Oil and Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Journal

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Rcra And Mcgirt On Tribal Solid Waste Regulations, Jonathan W. Reiswig

Oil and Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Journal

No abstract provided.

Appalachia: Putting The "Critical" In Race And Crowdsourcing A Pathway Model On Institutional Racism, Lauri Andress, Keri Valentine

Journal of Appalachian Health

As the website Understanding and Dismantling Racism: Crowdsourcing a Pathway Model in Appalachia explains, we are seeking assistance in refining a pathway model that elucidates institutional racism from the unique standpoint of Appalachia. We think that Appalachia has a distinctive cultural toolkit that shapes its orientation on issues. Our goal is to use crowdsourcing to harness this unique Appalachian ethos to refine the Pathway model on Institutional Racism based on comments, edits, questions, and ideas left on the website.

Covid-19 Impacts On University Research, Past, Present, And Future: A Case Study At Wilfrid Laurier University, Charity Parr-Vasquez, Jonathan Newman

Consensus

University research is one of the main drivers of knowledge creation, innovation, and economic development. In this essay, we examine the impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic on Wilfrid Laurier University’s (Laurier’s) research community. We provide a firsthand account of events and actions taken to support our researchers through this challenging time. We also reflect upon the near-term future and longer-term prospects for the recovery of research at Laurier. Our university’s experience is not unique in either the Ontario or Canadian contexts. We offer this essay as both a historical accounting and a case study of the pandemic’s impact on …