Digital Commons Network^™

Arguing For The Philosophy Of Political Science, Robert Herold

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

While there are many working scientists who engage in things like theory building and empirical testing, there has also been a group of scientists who sought to better understand the philosophy behind science. This philosophical study of science as a project is referred to as the philosophy of science and there are different sub-fields for each of the natural and social sciences, except for political science. This lack of an explicit sub-field dedicated to reflecting on our philosophy of science, i.e., our beliefs, values, methods, etc., has caused this knowledge to become tacit within our community. Because the knowledge of …

The Matrix Sortability Problem, Seth Cleaver

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Sorting is such a fundamental component of achieving efficiency that a significant body of mathematics is dedicated to the investigation of sorting. Any modern textbook on algorithms contains chapters on sorting.

One approach to arranging a disorganized list of items into an organized list is to successively identify two blocks of contiguous items, and swap the two blocks. In a fundamental paper D.A. Christie showed that a special version of block swapping, in recent times called context directed swapping and abbreviated cds, is the most efficient among block swapping strategies to achieve an organized list of items. The cds …

Rapid, Reliable Tissue Fractionation Algorithm For Commercial Scale Biorefineries, Rahul Reddy Kancharla

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Increasing demand, limited supply, and the impact on the environment raise significant concerns about the consumption of fossil fuels. Because of this, global economies are facing two significant energy challenges: i) securing the supply of reliable and affordable energy and ii) achieving the transformation to a low-carbon, high-efficiency, and sustainable energy system. Recently, there has been growing interest in developing portable transportation fuels from biomass in order to reduce the petroleum consumption in the transportation sector - a major contributor to greenhouse gas emission. A cost-effective conversion process to produce biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass material relies not just on the …

Millimeter-Wave Channel Measurements In Airport Environment, Mahfuza Khatun

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The wide spectrum available at millimeter-wave (mmWave) bands promises very high data rates and has been proposed as an attractive solution to provide high-speed and reliable wireless communication. Further, there are various potential usages of mmWave technology in transportation, aviation, autonomous vehicles, robotics, etc. Specifically, it is anticipated that automation through this technology will affect and improve the operations in every phase in airport environments. Consequently, the extended autonomous capabilities at airports will generate and consume more information and increase the demand for robust data transfer, which requires larger data rates than ever before. Hence, mmWave frequency, due to its …

Modeling Developmental, Molecular, And Behavioral Effects Of An Apolipoprotein-E4 Fragment On The Embryogenesis Of Zebrafish, Madyson Mccarthy

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Although the increased risk of developing sporadic Alzheimer’s disease (AD) associated with the inheritance of the apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) allele is well characterized, the molecular underpinnings of how ApoE4 imparts risk remains unknown. Enhanced proteolysis of the ApoE4 protein with a toxic-gain of function has been suggested and a 17 kDa amino-terminal ApoE4 fragment (nApoE4_1-151) has been identified in post-mortem human AD frontal cortex sections. Recently, we demonstrated in vitro, exogenous treatment of nApoE4_1-151 in BV2 microglial cells leads to uptake, trafficking to the nucleus and increased expression of genes associated with cell toxicity …

Design And Analysis Of Beam Steering Antennas For Next-Generation Wireless Communication, Shafaq Kausar

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Reconfigurable antennas have gained immense interest since the last few decades. Reconfigurable antennas can steer beams dynamically in response to the signal environment, they can also support multiple simultaneous beams. This research work aims to make considerable advancements in the design and analysis of low cost and low power beam steerable antennas. It focuses on the design and demonstration of several prototypes with advanced functionalities, such as passive (broadband, multi-beam, shapable beams) and active (electronically reconfigurable) antennas. The first part of this dissertation covers the design and development of passive metamaterial based multibeam antenna at 30 GHz. Designed antenna is …

The Risk Of Adolescent Victimization: Assessing Elements Of The Social Bond Theory, Jaime Antonio Negrete

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Travis Hirschi’s social bond theory holds that the social bonds (attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief) individuals have with parents, friends, extracurricular activities, work, and school can affect an individual’s life choices. When social bonds are weakened, broken, or nonexistent, the lack of these bonds can explain why crime and delinquency occur. Therefore, Hirschi believed that asking why offenders “do it” when it comes to crime is irrelevant. Rather, we should be asking “why don’t we do it” when it comes to crime and delinquency, which lead Hirschi to believe that the answer to that question could be answered by the …

Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy Of Zirconium Oxidation For In-Situ Nuclear Sensing Applications, Michael Andrew Reynolds

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

To meet the ever-growing energy demands of the modern world, alternative forms of producing power are necessary, and the field of nuclear engineering holds promise to answer this call. Nuclear fuel cladding in light water reactors (LWRs) currently draws a large amount of attention from scientists and researchers, as it provides many challenges to design around. Since the 1950s, zirconium and its protective oxide layer have been utilized as an effective material for the task, possessing good mechanical strengths, high corrosion resistance, and a low neutron absorption cross section. Despite these beneficial properties, however, fuel cladding remains vulnerable to several …

Understanding The Radiation Effects On Fiber Optic Sensors, Sohel Rana

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, the effects of radiation (gamma, neutron or mixed gamma and neutron) on optical fiber sensors are studied and new techniques for real-time measurement of radiation-induced macroscopic changes in optical fibers are presented. It is crucial among the research and development efforts in the nuclear energy field to conduct experiments in Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) to support lifetime extension, novel fuels and materials development, better fuel management, and enhanced safety of existing as well as future nuclear power plants (NPP). Due to their unparalleled and unique advantages over traditional sensors, optical fiber sensors are deemed potential candidates for …

Characterization And Mitigation Of False Information On The Web, Anu Shrestha

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Social media and Web sources have made information available, accessible, and shareable any time and anywhere nearly without friction. This information can be truthful, falsified, or can only be the opinion of the writer as users in such platforms are both information creators and consumers. In any case, it has the power to affect the decision of an individual, the beliefs of the society, activities, and the economy of the whole country. Thus, it is imperative to identify false information and mitigate the effects of false information that are ubiquitous across the Web and social media. Therefore, the main goal …

Security Analysis Of Lightweight Cryptographic Primitives, William Unger

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Symmetric key cryptographic primitives are essential to encrypt data and protect communication between parties. Due to resource constraints, some modern devices are not capable of executing traditional cryptographic algorithms. This fact necessitates new lightweight cryptographic algorithms. Current research into lightweight cryptology is vast, in part due to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) lightweight cryptographic standardization process.

There is not much research into the vulnerability to a power analysis attack created by the choice of parameters of lightweight symmetric ciphers. This dissertation develops and demonstrates white box and black box cryptanalysis models for power analysis attacks on lightweight …

Error Level Analysis Technique For Identifying Jpeg Block Unique Signature For Digital Forensic Analysis, Nor Amira Nor Azhan, Richard Adeyemi Ikuesan, Shukor Abd Razak, Victor R. Kebande

All Works

The popularity of unique image compression features of image files opens an interesting research analysis process, given that several digital forensics cases are related to diverse file types. Of interest has been fragmented file carving and recovery which forms a major aspect of digital forensics research on JPEG files. Whilst there exist several challenges, this paper focuses on the challenge of determining the co-existence of JPEG fragments within various file fragment types. Existing works have exhibited a high false-positive rate, therefore rendering the need for manual validation. This study develops a technique that can identify the unique signature of JPEG …

Raman Spectroscopy Of Aged Waterlogged Bones: Protocol Optimization, Bailey Hoplight

Chemistry

Current methods used for determining the age buried bones for forensic purposes are heavily affected by environmental conditions, can be susceptible to scientific bias and the interpretation can vary from investigator to investigator. Raman Spectroscopy can potentially be used as an automatic method to analyze the composition of bone eliminating the human factor. To test this hypothesis, we will use Raman spectroscopy to potentially identify the burial time of bones. The change in the chemical composition of the pig bones was probed using a Raman spectrometer with a 785nm excitation wavelength. Other parameters of the Raman instrument were optimized to …

Assessing The Potential Effectiveness Of Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy For Quantifying Neonatal Skin Properties Using Tissue Phantoms, Jack Murphy

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) has previously been shown to be effective at analyzing the optical characteristics of a wide variety of biological tissues, including the skin. In addition to being sensitive to the amount of blood and its oxygenation, DRS can be used to extract bilirubin levels and assess jaundice, a common complication in newborn infants. To assess its potential for being utilized in applications involving neonatal skin, we evaluated the utility of DRS for extracting hemoglobin and bilirubin concentrations from tissue phantoms. Phantom sets were created by including a known amount of scattering and by varying known concentrations of …

Investigating The Impact Of Hypoxia On Reactive Oxygen Species Generation Within Murine Breast Cancer Cells, Jared Mcpeake

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

When cancer metastasizes from a primary tumor site to secondary site through the bloodstream or lymph, the cancer becomes more difficult to treat. For this reason, it is vital to study what indicates the metastatic potential of a tumor. Current research has shown that cell lines with high metastatic potential display increased levels of metabolic adaptability over their nonmetastatic counterparts after undergoing hypoxic conditions. One method of assessing this adaptability is to measure the concentration of reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by the cells while undergoing oxidative stress. In highly adaptable metastatic cells, an increase of ROS buildup within the …

Pulse Rate Variability Analysis During Hemorrhage In An Experimental Porcine Model, Gabbie Bonvillain, Lauren Crimmins, Md Abul Hayat, Adria Abella Villafranca, Sam Stephens, Hanna K. Jensen, Joseph A. Sanford, Jingxian Wu, Kevin W. Sexton, Morten Jensen

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

During the acute phase of hemorrhage, heart rate and peripheral resistance increases to maintain proper oxygen delivery to vital organs. This response is mediated by the autonomic nervous system. Heart rate variability (HRV) has become a widely utilized measure to determine the autonomic nervous system control over the heart. Recently, pulse rate variability (PRV) has been suggested to serve as a surrogate for HRV. This study evaluates the ability of PRV obtained from peripheral arterial pressure waveforms as a method for detecting hemorrhage. Time domain and frequency domain metrics were evaluated for 5-minute and 15-minute arterial pressure waveform signals prior …

Effect Of Larval Experience On Learning Mate Preference In Bicyclus Anynana, Taryn Tibbs

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Phenotypic traits are shaped by the interaction of an organism's genes and the environment they experience. The plasticity of phenotypic traits is particularly responsive to developmental environments which can shape adult traits, such as expressed behaviors like mate choice and the ability to learn preferences. The Lepidoptera species Bicyclus anynana has been shown to learn mate preference based on social interaction following emergence from the chrysalis, however if and how the social complexity of the larval experience affects this ability to learn is less understood. Here I test the effects of isolation during the larval period on a female’s ability …

Utilization Of The Fundamental Attribution Error With Increased Immune System Inflammation, John Odom

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Immune system inflammation is associated with sickness behavior, depressive mood, and alteration of decision-making processes. Because of these cognitive effects, inflammation may also lead to increased use of heuristics, for example the Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE). In the current research, inflammation was experimentally increased using the influenza vaccine, with participants receiving either the vaccine or a placebo injection and completing a measure that tests for the FAE. There were no significant differences between the two conditions regarding the number of personal, situational, or overall attributions made by the participants in the measure that would indicate use of the FAE. However, …

Effects Of A Leucine Supplementation On Mitochondrial Markers In Pre-Cachectic Female Mice, Breanna Williams

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Cancer cachexia is a wasting syndrome characterized by extreme weight and skeletal muscle loss that results in death in many tumor bearing individuals. Because skeletal muscle requires a high amount of energy to function, skeletal muscle fiber cells need healthy mitochondria to function. When skeletal muscle loss atrophy occurs, the mitochondrial network is degraded. Different treatments for this muscle atrophy are being studied, one of which is a leucine supplementation since leucine has been found to stimulate skeletal muscle growth in other studies. However, current data suggests that a leucine supplementation in cachexic individuals exacerbates this atrophy. PURPOSE: This study …

Spike Protein Structural Dynamics Of Sars-Cov-2 Coronaviruses Studied Using Molecular Dynamics, William Strickland

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has overwhelmingly impacted the global population, accounting for millions of confirmed infections and deaths over the last year. The virus’s influence on the health and safety of individuals, the economy, and daily life has been disruptive and devastating. While SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1, two closely related members of the SARS coronaviruses, have shown the ability to cross the species barrier and infect humans, SARS-CoV-2 has predominantly been the virus responsible for the number of infections presently known. SARS-CoV-2 has also proven to be volatile, as many variants have …

The Influence Of Temperature And Body Size On Food Consumption In Prairie Lizards (Sceloporus Consobrinus), Morgan Pelley

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Understanding the effect of temperature on physiological and digestive processes, such as voluntary consumption rate, is critical for assessing the impact of climate change. Food consumption is required for lizard survival and reproduction and its rate is dependent on temperature. For ectotherms, as temperatures increase, the amount of food consumed to meet the energy requirements related to survival and reproduction must also increase. Information on the amount of food voluntarily consumed may aid in determining if lizards can meet energy requirements. Such information could also aid in predicting survival of lizard populations, through construction of predictive climate change models. In …

The Effects Of Time Restricted Feeding On Markers Of Type 2 Diabetes, Brooke Martin

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Type 2 diabetes is one of the fastest growing chronic diseases in the country, comprising 10% of the American population. Obesity rates are at an all-time high and greatly increase risk factors for developing diabetes. Insulin resistance is the main feature of type 2 diabetes and causes management of the disease to be extremely difficult. Currently there are different possible treatments for type 2 diabetes including medication and dieting. However, diets involving fasting, though high in popularity, do not have a lot of evidence regarding their ability to prevent the development of type 2 diabetes.

Time restricted feeding (TRF) is …

A Co-Evolutionary Approach To Test Case Generation For Safety-Critical Systems, Brad Thomas Costa

Theses and Dissertations

Safety-critical software development is a costly and time-consuming process that involves thousands of hours dedicated to test development. Tests must meet stringent developmental guidelines to verify the correct and complete implementation of their parent requirements. Further compounding any such effort is the tendency towards requirement churn or the frequent change to the software and other system requirements. This thesis presents a solution, PyTcGen, that alleviates these challenges by processing natural language requirements and programmatically generating the requisite test cases to ensure the software meets all of the conditions of that requirement. The solution uses template matching to marry requirements to …

Iot Security For Iotmon Attacks Based On Devices’ App Description, Raghad Jameel A. Alhazmi

Theses and Dissertations

There are concerns associated with ”inter-app” interactions, which occur when many independently developed home automation apps interact and affect one another, causing possibly dangerous unexpected app action. We extended a security tool named IoTMon, an IoT device management system capable of identifying all potential cross-app communication paths and analyzing their danger status. As part of our work, we keep an eye on the app description and safeguard IoTMon from being altered in any way that could obscure the real interaction related to another app action. We validate the IoTMon system’s integrity by applying the hash algorithm SHA512 with digital signature …

Testicular Torsion Education: Improving Awareness Among Boys And Their Caregivers Regarding The Urgency Of Evaluating Scrotal Pain, Abby Taylor

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Introduction: Testicular torsion is a urologic emergency that requires prompt medical evaluation and surgical intervention. The length of time from onset of the torsion to evaluation in the emergency department is often delayed due to lack of knowledge of the urgency of the situation amongst boys and their caregivers. We hypothesize that an animated educational video will increase awareness of the condition and prompt urgent evaluation in the emergency department.

Methods: A 5-minute animated educational video was created following a boy, Danny, as he develops testicular torsion. Four population groups: boys, parents, school nurses, and pediatricians, completed group-specific pre- and …

Assessing Nutritional Health Knowledge In Sharing Clinic Patients With Diabetes, Minden Huntrods

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Effective diabetes prevention and management relies on nutritional behaviors, thus a basic level of health knowledge is important for patients with diabetes and their caregivers in their quest to acquire acute glycemic control and minimize negative health outcomes (Ley et al., 2014). The purpose of this study was to assess the nutrition-related health knowledge of patients living with diabetes who are seen at the UNMC Sharing Clinic by use of a verbal questionnaire. This nutritional health knowledge assessment was a quantitative, prospective, survey-based study utilizing descriptive statistics. Approximately 86% of patients were proficient in food group and nutritious foods knowledge …

The Perception Of Technology On Continuous Health And Environmental Monitoring For Professional Drivers, Troy Suwondo

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Due to the sedentary nature of professional truck driving (among other high-risk behaviors and hazardous exposures) many suffer from acute and chronic health conditions. There are many potential hazards in the professional driving profession. Many of these hazards come from those that transport hazardous materials. Figuring out what health and environmental indicators are important to measure can be a way to minimize hazards. Continuous health monitoring technology may be an option to detect disease and alert professional drivers when vital signs indicate impending health crises. Before this can be implemented, it will be important to evaluate the perception of wearable …

Interventional Radiology Procedures Without Sedation: The Nurse Experience, Catherine De Leon

Dissertations

Background: Many IR procedures offer a less invasive and economical alternative to some open or laparoscopic surgeries. Patients undergoing a procedure without moderate sedation are awake, alert, with heightened sensory perceptions, and vulnerable to their surroundings. There is a gap in the current body of literature relating to the IR nurse’s experience of caring for patients during procedures without the use of moderate sedation.

Purpose/Aims: The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experience of Interventional Radiology (IR) nurses caring for conscious patients undergoing a procedure without the use of sedation. This phenomenological study aimed to describe the …

Framework Of Hardware Trojan Detection Leveraging Structural Checking Tool, Rafael Dacanay Del Carmen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since there is a significant demand for obtaining third-party soft Intellectual Property (IP) by first-party integrated circuit (IC) vendors, it is becoming easier for adversaries to insert malicious logic known as hardware Trojans into designs. Due to this, vendors need to find ways to screen the third-party IPs for possible security threats and then mitigate them. The development of the Structural Checking (SC) tool provides a solution to this issue. This tool analyzes the structure of an unknown soft IP design and creates a network of all the signals within the design and how they are connected to each other. …

The Art Of Nutrition, Kylanna Hardaway

Human Nutrition and Hospitality Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

Many colleges and universities offer students access to on-campus food pantries, yet very few students utilize these services despite reporting high rates of food insecurity. Considering the importance of a healthy diet on the developing minds of young adults, it is pertinent that colleges and universities find innovative ways to reach food insecure students. The purpose of this hybrid creative-research project was to creatively address commonly cited barriers of seeking food assistance (i.e., negative stigma, embarrassment, unknown location, awareness of resource, etc.) using public art. A mural was designed to encourage healthy eating behaviors and provide signage for the Jane …