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Investigations On The Effect Of Nano Titanium Oxide On The Properties Of Nickel Alloy Using Powder Metallurgy Technique, Sawsan F. Ahmed, Muaamar A .Kamil

Al-Bahir

Powder metallurgy method was used to prepare nickel-based samples enriched with nano-chromium at a fixed ratio of 5 %wt. Different percentages of nano-titanium oxide were added at (0, 5, 10, 15, 20) %wt. . A 10 mm diameter die was used and the pressing process was carried out with a hydraulic press in one direction at a pressure of 10 tons. The resulting alloys were sintered at 1000°C for two hours. Several tests were performed, including X-ray diffraction of the primary and post-mixed powders, which showed that the nickel was in the FCC (Cubic) system and completely pure, the nano-chromium …

Engineering And Geochemical Assessment Of Grey Clay From Iko Town, South-South Nigeria, For Building Construction Applications, Ubong Williams Robert, Sunday Edet Etuk, Okechukwu Ebuka Agbasi, Grace Peter Umoren

Al-Bahir

Grey clay is abundantly available in Iko Town in South-South Nigeria. However, there is no scientific information on its potentialities. Hence, this research has been designed to determine its suitability for building purpose, considering how necessary shelter is for the survival of man. The flowability, gradation, and geochemistry of the clay were assessed. Also, samples were prepared from the clay under same conditions, dried sufficiently, and then subjected to various tests to examine their heat transfer and strength behaviors. For each test category, ten samples were prepared and used and the data obtained were averaged per test. It was found …

Physical Modeling By Froude Number Similarity Law: Experimental Apparatus For Tests With Offshore Structure Anchors Penetrated With Water Jet, Alana Stern Retzlaff, Adriana Thais Mendes Kich, Caroline Peter, Karina Retzlaff Camargo, Diego De Freitas Fagundes

Seatific Journal

The torpedo pile is a Brazilian technology widely employed for anchoring offshore structures. Studies indicate that the use of vertical water jets applied at the pile tip can increase penetration efficiency and reduce inclination during installation. Considering the high costs and logistical challenges of full-scale testing, investigations using reduced physical models become a viable alternative. This study presents the development and application of an experimental apparatus based on the Froude Number Similarity Law, designed to perform penetration and pullout tests on reduced-scale torpedo pile models without fins, at a 1:76 length scale. To validate the system, an initial series of …

Analysis On Thermo-Viscous Steady Fluid Motion Over An Impermeable Infinitely Stretched Horizontal Moving Rectangular Surface, P. Krishna, N. Pothanna, K. Spandana

Mansoura Engineering Journal

This study presents analysis on thermo-viscous steady fluid motion over an impermeable infinitely stretched horizontal moving rectangular surface. The numerical results have been found employing R-K method of order 6 shooting techniques developed in Mathematica software ND solve for the flow adaptable equations comprising temperature and velocity. The flow behavior and the impacts of material constraints on the flow region have been analyzed and deliberated taking the help from the generated graphs. The variations of these flow fields have been studied for wide spectrum of physical characteristics which influences the nature of thermo-viscous fluid. The impact of viscosity, constant pressure …

Factors Influencing Tourist Interest In Walking Tours In The Kota Tua Area, Novi Handayani, Adrian Hartanto

Journal of Indonesian Tourism and Policy Studies

This study aims to analyze the extent to which the variables of Attraction, Accessibility, Cost and Tarif, Facilities, and Information contribute to Walking tour Interest, both individually (partially) and collectively (simultaneously).  As previous research states that Indonesia has one of the lowest levels of mobility. The average Indonesian walks only 3513 steps per day, while the recommended daily step count for maintaining good health is 5000. This study uses Multiple Linear Regression Analysis as its analysis method using partial hypothesis testing (t-test) and simultaneous hypothesis testing (f-test).. Data were collected through an online questionnaire distributed via Google Form to …

A Conceptual Model Of The External Costs Of Truck Overloading On Road Damage, Emissions, And Traffic Congestion: A Systematic Literature Review, Aleksius Sitepu, Sutanto Soehodho, Andyka Kusuma

Smart City

Freight transport services cannot be separated from the infrastructure and facilities involved, each of which faces its own challenges in delivering optimal performance in the logistics sector. A common challenge in Indonesia’s road sector is the presence of overloaded freight vehicles, which has become a national issue. This phenomenon has a negative impact not only on road infrastructure but also on the environment and traffic. This study aims to develop a conceptual model of the external costs caused by truck overloading practices in terms of road infrastructure damage, increased exhaust emissions, and traffic congestion through a systematic literature review. This …

Leveraging A Centralized Fleet Assignment Management For An Aviation Resilience, Inof Seno Acton Mr., Sutanto Soehodho, Nahry Yusuf

Smart City

Since deregulation in the aviation industry, competition among airlines has intensified. This competition is shown by the increasing number of routes, service times, aircraft, and airports served. This competition causes not all flight services to meet their targets, resulting in aircraft operating less efficiently. Passenger seats are not filled, and flight delays are becoming more frequent. Obviously, this will negatively impact consumers and the airline's finances. The study focused on assigning the fleet used to serve flights to maintain existing aviation services and improve aircraft operational efficiency. This study aims to maximize profits by optimizing fleet assignments through the Centralized …

Decarbonizing Electrical Substations: An Integrative Review Of Green Technologies And Sustainable Practices Across The Infrastructure Life Cycle, Sulthan Syah Ali, Mohammed Ali Berawi, Mustika Sari

Smart City

Decarbonization of electrical infrastructure s becoming increasingly important in efforts to meet climate change mitigation targets, particularly in reducing emissions from substations. However, conventional substations continue to release significant quantities of GHG emissions throughout their life cycle As an example, a typical 500 kV substation emits around 150,000 tCO2e from construction to decommissioning. In addition, the development of green substation concepts remains limited, particularly in Indonesia where standardized approaches are not yet established. In response to the need for more sustainable power infrastructure, this study aims to identify, classify, and review all types of green technologies, practices, and innovations that …

Optimization Of Sea Transportation Services In The Kepulauan Seribu Using The Vehicle Routing Problem (Vrp) Model, Darmadi Darmadi, Sutanto Soehodho, Nahry Nahry

Smart City

The Kepulauan Seribu regency relies heavily on sea transportation for passenger mobility and goods distribution. However, current systems face efficiency challenges, high operational costs, and potential imbalances between demand and service capacity. This study proposes a framework to optimize sea transportation services in the Kepulauan Seribu using the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) method, especially the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem – Many Single Depot (CVRP–MSD) model with heterogeneous fleets and mixed cargo (passenger and goods). The main objective is to minimize total operating costs, which include fixed costs of using the vessel and variable travel costs, and unmet demand, both passenger …

Galaxy Morphology Classification Using Deep Learning, Dipanwita Kundu Roy

Master’s Dissertations

Galaxy morphology is the study of the shape and visual appearance of galaxies, such as spiral, smooth, edge-on, and other morphological types. Morphological classification plays an important role in understanding how galaxies form and evolve over cosmic time. Most existing machine learning approaches for galaxy morphology classification rely solely on RGB galaxy images, which primarily capture spatial information and lack the physical spectral context of galaxies. In contrast, astronomical spectral datacubes contain rich information across multiple wavelengths, providing insights into the internal and physical properties of galaxies. However, such spectral observations are available for only a limited number of objects. …

Relay Selection And User Scheduling In Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Assisted Millimeter-Wave D2d Communication, Lakshmikanta Sau

Doctoral Theses

Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) assisted millimeter wave (mmWave) device to device (D2D) communication has recently been proposed as a viable solution to support the overwhelming data traffic in fifth-generation (5G) and beyond wireless networks. However, due to the substantial propagation and penetration losses of mmWave, a direct line of sight (LoS) link between a pair of proximity devices is required for effective communication. Static obstacles like trees and buildings can easily obstruct the direct LoS connectivity between a device pair. In such cases, RISs help to establish an indirect LoS link between an obstructed device pair by reflecting the signals …

Urban Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Influence Of Their Alternate Route Certification Programs On Their Retention, Jenifer Phillips

Student Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study explored how secondary teachers in one urban public school system described their experiences in alternate-route certification programs and how those experiences shaped their decisions to stay in the classroom. As districts continue relying on alternate-route teachers to address ongoing shortages, it is important to understand how teachers interpret their preparation, coaching, and early classroom experiences through the lens of adult learning, or andragogy, and what supports they believe actually helped them succeed with students, particularly in areas such as phonological awareness, classroom management, and foundational instructional practices. A total of 196 teachers met the study’s criteria …

Understanding Educational Burnout: An Analysis Of The Perceptions Of K-5 Elementary Teachers, Melody Sebastian

Student Theses and Dissertations

Burnout in the educational environment is highly prevalent among teachers. Studies reveal that workplace burnout is characterized as chronic stress while on the job that persists over time. Although research has examined this issue, there remains a need for further studies focused specifically on elementary teachers’ perceptions and experiences with burnout. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study aimed to understand the perceptions of K-5 elementary classroom teachers’ experiences with burnout and how they informally built support systems to mitigate burnout. Maslach’s Multidimensional Theory of Burnout served as the theoretical framework for this study. The methodological approach utilized semi-structured, one-on-one …

The Influence Of Leadership Styles On Teacher Motivation And School Climate In Urban Schools From Three South-Central Region States, Jennifer L. Thomas

Student Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study explored how leadership styles influenced teacher motivation and school climate across three Southern South-Central region states. Through an analysis of 15 interviews, the research explored teachers' lived experiences and interactions with administrators that shaped their motivation, work efficacy, sense of value, and emotional well-being. Three states served as the data pool for the study: Arkansas, Texas, and Tennessee. Seven themes emerged related to motivation and school climate: Teacher Voice, Support, Empowerment, Relational Confidence, Feeling Valued, Emotional Safety, and Building Community. These themes illuminated how leadership behaviors can either strengthen or hinder teachers’ professional commitment, instructional effectiveness, and …

Impact Of Expanded Core Curriculum On College And Job Placement For The Blind And Visually Impaired, Susan Drake

Student Theses and Dissertations

Students who are blind or visually impaired face persistent barriers in postsecondary education and employment, despite access to academic instruction and legally mandated supports. Although academic accommodations are often provided, less is known about how instruction in nonacademic skill areas influences long-term outcomes. . This study addressed a critical gap by examining the perceived impact of Expanded Core Curriculum instruction on college readiness, employment attainment, and adult independence for blind or visually impaired high school graduates. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how former students described their access to, understanding of, and benefit from Expanded Core Curriculum …

Vibrations Of Tapered Beam Via The Exterior Matrix Method, Simranjit Kaur

Student Theses and Dissertations

Cell phone towers, utility poles, and traffic signal poles all use hollow, tapered beams as their main structural element. Because these structures are tall and exposed to wind forces, understanding their vibration behavior is important for ensuring stability and safety. We will use the Exterior Matrix Method to analyse a single beam, which can be used to analyse compound structures involving tapered beams. First, we find the system of four equations satisfied by the tapered beam, which can be converted to a 4 x 4 matrix. Then we find the exterior matrix, which is a 6 x 6 matrix, corresponding …

Educator Perceptions Of The Impact Of The Avid Program On Minority Students’ School Achievement, Genia Smith

Student Theses and Dissertations

While Hispanic and African American college enrollment rates have increased over the past 20 years, minority students continue to face structural and educational barriers that make it more challenging for them to prepare for and gain entry to college. The Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program is a college preparatory initiative designed to provide additional academic and social support for historically disadvantaged students. Guided by a socio-cultural theoretical framework, this mixed-methods survey-based study explored the perceptions of 10 administrators and 10 teachers in a Southeast region school district regarding the impacts of AVID on minority students’ achievement. The findings revealed …

The Impact Of Academic Advising Models On Undergraduate Student Performance: A Multiple Regression Analysis, Kayla Meaders

Student Theses and Dissertations

Institutions of higher education continue to seek effective strategies to improve student persistence, academic performance, and degree completion. Academic advising is widely recognized as a key institutional support that helps students navigate academic requirements and institutional expectations. However, universities organize advising services using different structural models, and limited empirical evidence exists regarding how these models influence measurable student outcomes. This study examined the predictive relationship between academic advising models and undergraduate student success outcomes at a public university in North Texas. The study investigated the extent to which advising models, centralized or decentralized, predict cumulative grade point average, first-to-second-year retention, …

"Using A Sledgehammer To Crack A Nut" A Proposal To Re-Frame The Media Industry's Perspective On Generative Ai, Reace Barnett

Student Theses and Dissertations

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) continues to be a divisive topic in the media industry and there are concerns about technical challenges that may affect GenAI’s trustworthiness and reliability. As such, fears of degraded public trust in media products and services have arisen, and while we have a tendency to trust machines, it is clear that public attitudes toward automated decision-making are contentious. Previous research on machine cues found that they are associated with increased perceived objectivity and willingness to disclose information. Conversational GenAI may reduce political polarization, yet many people remain worried about risks such as bias, hallucinations, improper attribution, …

The Ecotoxicological Implications Of Switching From Fluorescent To Light Emitting Diode Lighting For Zooplankton Culturing And Whole Effluent Toxicity Testing, Orithea Z. Regn

Student Theses and Dissertations

In the global transition toward light emitting diode (LED) lighting, an understudied area is the impact on the culturing and testing of Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) testing organisms, more specifically, the zooplankton species. Without comparison to the current lighting used for culturing and testing, it is unknown if there will be an impact on performance, which could affect effluent, regulatory, and product safety decisions. This dissertation investigated if culturing and reference toxicity testing using sodium chloride for Ceriodaphnia dubia, Daphnia magna, and D. pulex under LED lighting was comparable to fluorescent. Comparisons were made between two laboratories and by season, …

Operational Feasibility Of Reinforcement Learning For Vehicle Routing Under Heterogeneous Fleet Capacity Constraints, Freddy Giovanny Aviles Moreno

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Reinforcement learning methods have demonstrated strong performance on vehicle routing benchmarks, yet their behavior under severe capacity constraints remains unexplored. This dissertation investigates whether PPO-based neural routing policies maintain operational viability when vehicle capacity is severely constrained, as occurs in resource-limited rural logistics settings.

Through controlled experiments on synthetic instances and validation on real-world rural healthcare networks in Florida, this research reveals a critical capacity threshold effect. Moderate capacity reductions from 40 to 20 produce negligible performance loss (4.1%), while severe reductions to capacity 10 trigger catastrophic failure with 243% degradation, manifested through degenerate single-customer routing patterns. Convergence analysis identifies …

Neddylation Maintains Oocyte Quality By Stabilizing Mitochondrial Transcription, Avery A Ahmed, Tessa E Steenwinkel, Bethany K Patton, Peixin Jiang, Matthew D Meyer, Jaspreet K Rishi, Mei Leng, Alexander B Saltzman, Elizabeth S Anaya, Momal Sharif, Laurie J Mckenzie, Laura Detti, Anna Malovannaya, Sean M Hartig, Stephanie A Pangas

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Age-related decline in oocyte quality increases the risk of infertility, miscarriage, and birth defects. Mitochondrial dysfunction is a key contributor to this decline. Here, we report that oocyte-specific deletion of Uba3, which encodes the catalytic subunit of the E1 NEDDylation-activating complex, causes sterility in mice. Fully grown, germinal vesicle–stage Uba3 conditional knockout oocytes exhibit mitochondrial dysfunction, including elevated reactive oxygen species, impaired oxidative phosphorylation, and depletion of mitochondrially encoded RNA transcripts. Proteomic analysis identified alterations in mitochondrial-associated proteins, including enrichment of mitochondrial matrix and respiratory chain components and reduced abundance of electron transport chain complexes. These defects were associated …

Boiling Flow Estimation For Aero-Optic Phase Screen Generation, Jeffrey W. Utley, Gregery T. Buzzard, Charles A. Bouman, Matthew R. Kemnetz

Faculty Publications

Aero-optic effects due to turbulence can reduce the effectiveness of transmitting light waves to a distant target. Methods to compensate for turbulence typically rely on realistic turbulence data, which can be generated by i) experiment, ii) high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD), iii) low-fidelity CFD, and iv) autoregressive methods. However, each of these methods has significant drawbacks, including monetary and/or computational expense, limited quantity, inaccurate statistics, and overall complexity. By contrast, the boiling flow algorithm is a simple, computationally efficient model that can generate atmospheric phase screen data with only a handful of parameters. However, boiling flow has not been widely …

Integration Of Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies In High School Science Classes, Pamela Chanell Williams

Student Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study investigated the integration of culturally responsive teaching strategies in high school science classes. The problem addressed in this study is that teachers are underprepared to employ culturally responsive teaching strategies to facilitate academic success in science courses for culturally and linguistically diverse students. By investigating the integration of culturally responsive teaching strategies during instruction, improvements can be made to the effectiveness of professional development centered on culturally responsive teaching strategies found in the Ready for Rigor framework. The conceptual framework that served as the foundation for this study was Hammond’s (2015) Ready for Rigor framework. Questionnaires, …

If It Doesn't Hurt You Aren't Working Hard Enough: An Examination Of Coach Experience In High School Debate, Rosie Valdez Block

Student Theses and Dissertations

High school debate coaching constitutes a uniquely demanding educational role, defined by emotional labor, extended work hours, institutional precarity, and systemic inequities. Despite their significant contributions to students’ intellectual and personal growth, the professional sustainability of debate coaches remains underexamined. This dissertation investigates the conditions contributing to burnout among high school debate coaches through the theoretical lenses of Maslach’s Burnout Theory, as contemporized by Edú-Valsania et al. (2022), and teacher self-efficacy theory, to understand how emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished professional confidence emerge in this context. The study is further guided by constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2014), enabling a bottom-up, …

A Portable Device To Elicit Sensory Trick And Monitor Forearm Muscle Activity In Pianists With Musician’S Dystonia, Josef Franczak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Musician’s Dystonia (MD) is a condition that can be acquired in professional musicians,causing involuntary contractions and the loss of fine motor control. The most common pharmaceutical treatment, botulinum toxin injections, has been shown to have side effects of muscle weakness and atrophy. The sensory trick, shown to temporarily relieve symptoms of dystonia, has potential to be used as an alternative or alongside current therapies, allowing patients with MD to return to playing music professionally. To systematically deploy the sensory trick and monitor forearm muscle activity, the first prototype of the Wearable Sensorimotor Integrator (wSMI) has been developed.

The wSMI is …

College Success Comparison Between First-Generation College Students And Non-First-Generation College Students In The South Texas Plains, Obed Guerrero

Student Theses and Dissertations

This study examined differences in academic success between first-generation college students and non-first-generation college students enrolled in community colleges in the South Texas region. National research has consistently reported that first-generation college students tend to experience lower academic outcomes; however, limited empirical evidence exists regarding whether these disparities persist within South Texas, a region characterized by a high Hispanic student population and a substantial proportion of first-generation students. This gap limits the ability of institutions to make context-specific decisions that support student success. The purpose of this study was to compare grade point average, fall-to-fall retention, and graduation outcomes between …

American Sign Language Recognition And Analysis Using Deep Learning, Saurabh Kumar Soni

Master’s Dissertations

In this work I build a system that recognizes isolated American Sign Language (ASL) words, and I use it to ask one fairly direct question: when training data is scarce, is it better to look at the video pixels or at the geometry of the signer’s body? To find out, I train two very different models on exactly the same clips. The first is appearance-based. Every frame is run through standard preprocessing and a ResNet50 backbone pre-trained on ImageNet, which turns it into a 2048-dimensional feature vector, and a Bidirectional LSTM then reads that sequence over time. The second model …

An Empirical Study Of Rlvr Fine-Tuning For Mathematical Problem Solving In Llms, Rashmi Konnur

Master’s Dissertations

Large language models have shown immense improvement in coding and math performances thanks to reinforcement learning boosted algorithms. However, its true impact on broadening the reasoning and analytical capacities of an LLM is still contended. In this dissertation, we outline the foundations of Large Language Models, and delve into Reinforcement Learning with Verifiable Rewards (RLVR). We discuss various strategies to efficiently manipulate memory during a fine tuning update. We finally perform RLVR fine-tuning techniques on different models with varied use cases and compare their performances, which corroborate the efficiency of RLVR.

Enhancer Rna Transcription Near Segmentation Gene Enhancers Can Be Analyzed In Situ Using Fish, Christine Mau, Benjamin Schmid, Ezzat El-Sherif

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications

Enhancer RNAs (eRNAs) are non-coding transcripts produced at enhancer regions, which appear to be involved in transcriptional regulation. Up to date, these have been primarily investigated using labor- and cost-intensive genomic techniques. However, the precise mechanisms by which eRNA transcription or eRNA transcripts themselves mediate transcriptional regulation remain unclear. Here, we present a novel experimental approach that allows us to analyze characteristics of eRNA transcription in fixed and live whole Drosophila melanogaster embryos. We employ the anterior–posterior patterning genes as a model system to investigate the dynamics of eRNA expression, utilizing an imaging-based approach. We combined high-sensitivity fluorescence in situ …