A Guide To Chinese Art Songs From 1970 To 2010, Tingyu Yan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study aims to provide a repertoire guide of Chinese art songs for the pedagogy and research of musicians. The world is becoming more open to accepting and embracing different social and cultural elements, and diverse musical styles and repertoire are now being showcased internationally. There are more opportunities for musicians who wish to perform their homeland's music in public concerts around the world, and repertoires from different languages (e.g., Japanese, Spanish, Russian, and Czech) are more widely seen. However, there is still a lack of repertoires in other languages not very common internationally, and one of them is the …

Intercultural Competence In The Esl Classroom: Challenges And Successes, Breno Santos Rodrigues Pereira

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This action-based research study investigated the challenges and successes involved in the teaching of intercultural competence in the English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom. Most studies on intercultural competence take place in English as a foreign language classroom, and very few are centered on ESL instruction. It is this gap in the research that motivated the present study, in which the following research questions were posed: 1) How do targeted training practices in the classroom promote the development of intercultural competence as demonstrated by quantitative data?; 2) What challenges are associated with teaching intercultural competence to ESL learners?; 3) …

A Computer Vision-Based Method For Tack Coat Coverage Inspection Using Drone-Collected Images, Aida Da Silva

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Tack coat is a thin asphalt applied between the existing surface and asphalt overlay during road rehabilitation. The uniformity of tack coat coverage plays a vital role in providing adhesive bonding between the two layers in the pavement structures. To ensure tack coat uniformity, the current practice primarily relies on manual inspection during construction by field experts. This process is time-consuming and tedious, and the results can be subjective and error-prone. Drones have emerged as a non-destructive sensing technology in the construction industry for many inspection practices. Unlike other non-destructive inspection technologies, drones offer benefits ranging from accelerating data collection …

Community And Key Player Detection For Disrupting Illicit Drug Supply Networks In Social Media Platforms – Especially On Instagram, Akassi Rachel Niamke Aman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis focuses on the pressing issue of illicit drug trafficking and its impact on public health and safety at a global level. With the advent of digital technologies and social media platforms, combating drug trafficking has become increasingly challenging for law enforcement and researchers alike. Among these platforms, Instagram, a popular photo and video-sharing social networking platform, has emerged as a prominent hub for drug trafficking activities.

In this study, we delve into the effectiveness of community and key player detection algorithms in identifying and disrupting illicit drug supply networks on Instagram. To conduct our research, we collected real …

How Do College Student-Athletes’ Understanding And Expectations Of Mindfulness And Self-Compassion Change Through An Intervention?, Blake Costalupes

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In the last two decades, mindfulness has permeated sport, exercise, and performance psychology (SEPP). Mindfulness research in SEPP primarily focuses on the efficacy of manualized protocols on various outcomes related to performance and wellbeing; how athletes understand this complex construct, though, is largely unexplored in the literature. Additionally, some researchers suggest that the potentially paradoxical adoption of mindfulness in Western psychology may be contributing to limited outcomes, low engagement in, and poor adherence to mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs). In addition, the exploration of self-compassion as a mechanism for change through mindfulness practice has increased in recent years, making it an important …

Generative Adversarial Network And Its Application In Aerial Vehicle Detection And Biometric Identification System, Moktari Mostofa

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In recent years, generative adversarial networks (GANs) have shown great potential in advancing the state-of-the-art in many areas of computer vision, most notably in image synthesis and manipulation tasks. GAN is a generative model which simultaneously trains a generator and a discriminator in an adversarial manner to produce real-looking synthetic data by capturing the underlying data distribution. Due to its powerful ability to generate high-quality and visually pleasing
results, we apply it to super-resolution and image-to-image translation techniques to address vehicle detection in low-resolution aerial images and cross-spectral cross-resolution iris recognition. First, we develop a Multi-scale GAN (MsGAN) with multiple …

Visual Sensing For Comprehensive Granular Traffic Data Collection In Support Of Intelligent Transportation Applications, Linjun Lu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Comprehensive granular traffic data collection has been identified as one of the most essential tasks in the development of intelligent transportation systems (ITS). With the recent advances in electro-optical sensors and computational capacities, machine vision is regarded as cost-efficient for traffic data collection. However, the existing vision-based methods are only applicable for collecting limited types of traffic data, and a unified method allowing for comprehensive traffic data collection is still missing in the existing literature. Moreover, there are still challenges that exist for the use of the existing vision-based methods in real settings, including low accuracy and compromised applicability due …

Examining The Use Of Social Media Applications By West Virginia Agriculture Producers, Mikayla Rae Hargis

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Social media has become part of the typical individual’s everyday routine, with no exception to those in the agricultural industry. The purpose of this study was to examine social media usage by West Virginia agricultural producers. The population for this study consisted of agricultural producers in West Virginia. The study yielded 44 responses from those who attended the 2022 West Virginia Farm Bureau meeting. An explanatory sequential design methodology was employed for this study. After the initial quantitative phase, a qualitative phase was conducted with producers who use social media in their operations. Based on the results, there is much …

Specialized Metabolism In Retina, Retinal Pigmented Epithelium, And Testis, Siyan Zhu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The retina and its neighboring retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) are high energy-demanding and metabolically active tissues with specialized and complementary metabolism. They are metabolically interdependent and impact each other’s viability. Interestingly, many of the metabolic features in the retina and RPE are shared with the testis. For example, testis is also energy costly due to continuous sperm differentiation and it has similar metabolic inter-dependence between different testis cells. Both the retina and testis are vulnerable to mitochondrial metabolic impairments.

We conducted three research projects to understand 1) the nutrient utilization and communication in retina and RPE; 2) The profiling of …

Il-27 Negatively Impacts Immunity Developed Following Bcg Administration, Shelby D. Bradford

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), a predominantly respiratory pathogen responsible for over ten million infections and one million deaths last year. Despite it being a primary objective of the World Health Organization (WHO) for several decades to irradicate TB, progress toward this objective has fallen short of the 2020 target to end TB by 2035. Meeting this goal will require advancements in diagnostic tools, education, healthcare access, and treatments and preventatives. Regarding prevention, the primary tool for this strategy is through vaccination. Currently, the only licensed vaccine for protection against TB is the century old …

Effects Of Invasive Species On Ohio River Zooplankton, Samuel John Johnston

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Invasive species have the potential to dramatically change both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems with rates of introduction only expected to increase across the Globe. In the Mississippi River basin filter feeding silver (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) and bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) collectively known as invasive carp were introduced into aquaculture ponds where they subsequently escaped and spread to interconnected basins. Invasive carp have not yet completely established throughout the entire Ohio River. Managers recognize three distinct phases of carp invasion: establishment front, invasion front and presence front. In the Illinois River invasive carp are very well established and …

An Assessment Of The Forensic Aspects Of Genetic Genealogy, Sarah Hester

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Forensic genetic genealogy has grown in both popularity and controversy in recent years. The genetic information comes from large numbers of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. Polymorphism variations can be traced through familial lineage, determining how closely individuals are related to each other based on the similarities and differences in SNPs within their DNA. Polymorphisms account for approximately 85% of human variation. Genealogy and ancestry determination companies trace the lineage of a person back through multiple generations using polymorphisms. As more individuals submit their DNA for analysis the genealogical profile databases continue to grow in size. Law enforcement uses genealogical …

Unconventional Wisdom In Resonating Echoes Of The Past: A Memoir On The Life And Music Of Royal Hartigan, Joseph Elias Boulos

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Unconventional Wisdom in Resonating Echoes of the Past:

A Memoir on the Life and Music of royal hartigan

Joseph Elias Boulos

Detailed fieldwork achieved by people in the discipline of social/humanistic studies, specifically ethnomusicologists, in any form: book, biography, documentary, etc., have contributed to the strengthening the understanding of any group of people, community, or culture. This research project is a co-authored memoir grounded in oral history and collaborative ethnography on, and with, Dr. royal hartigan. The purpose of this ethnographic research is to fill in the lack of information readily available on royal, from his sole perspective, and to …

The Investigation Of Novel Bovine Oocyte-Specific Long Non-Coding Rnas And Their Roles In Oocyte Maturation And Early Embryonic Development, Jaelyn Zoe Current

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Early embryonic loss is a significant factor in livestock species' infertility, resulting in an economic deficit. In cattle, the in vivo fertilization rate is ~90%, with an average calving rate of about 55%, indicating an embryonic-fetal mortality rate of roughly 35%. Further, 70-80% of total embryonic loss in cattle occurs during the first three weeks after insemination, particularly between days 7-16. Growing evidence indicates that the oocyte plays an active role in regulating critical aspects of the reproductive process required for successful fertilization, embryo development, and pregnancy. However, defining oocyte quality remains enigmatic. Recently, many have abandoned the notion that …

Longest Path And Cycle Transversal And Gallai Families, James A. Long Jr

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A longest path transversal in a graph G is a set of vertices S of G such that every longest path in G has a vertex in S. The longest path transversal number of a graph G is the size of a smallest longest path transversal in G and is denoted lpt(G). Similarly, a longest cycle transversal is a set of vertices S in a graph G such that every longest cycle in G has a vertex in S. The longest cycle transversal number of a graph G is the size of a smallest longest cycle transversal in G and …

Selective Recovery Of Rare Earth Elements From Acid Mine Drainage Treatment Byproduct, Zeynep Cicek

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Rare earth elements (REEs) are critical in emerging clean energy, advanced technologies, and military defense applications due to their unique physical, chemical, optical, and luminescent properties. Given the potential supply chain restrictions imposed by one country's dominance in the global REE market and the consistently growing demand for REEs, developing the US domestic REE supply chain is imperative. Thus, alternative sources are crucial to supply the demand and prevent interruption in manufacturing products that consume REEs. Concurrently, acid mine drainage (AMD) is a long-standing and widespread global challenge the mining industry encounters. AMD is generated in large volumes and continuously …

Expansion On The Use Of The Novel Compound, Elp-004, Using A Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Experimentation Model, Kendyl Marie Berry

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Osteoarticular tuberculosis (OAT) is a bone degenerative disease that results in bone erosion, joint effusion, joint swelling, and sometimes, nerve compression. OAT occurs from the hematogenous dissemination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) bacilli spreading from the primary site of infection to the bones and joints; the primary site of infection tends to be the lungs as pulmonary tuberculosis infections are the most common. OAT can occur as the result of an active or latent infection. Latent infections result in OAT when bacilli are able to escape granulomas. The incidence of OAT is not as high as pulmonary infections, making up about …

Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis And Control Of Chemical Processes Using Dynamic Operability, San Quan Dinh

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Nonlinear dynamic analysis serves an increasingly important role in process systems engineering research. Understanding the nonlinear dynamics from the mathematical model of a process helps to find the boundaries of all achievable process conditions and identify the system instabilities. The information on such boundaries is beneficial for optimizing the design and formulating a control structure. However, a systematic approach to analyzing nonlinear dynamics of chemical processes considering such boundaries in a quantifiable and adaptable way is yet to exist in the literature. The primary aim of this work is to formulate theoretical concepts for dynamic operability, as well as develop …

Influences On Perceptions Of Students With Disabilities Regarding Services And Supports Rendered At Their Collegiate Institution, Taylor Leanne Mikalik

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Over the past several generations numerous policies and laws have been established that have allowed people with disabilities to further their education. Students with disabilities enter higher education with varied experiences, which allow for a wide array of perceptions of the services and supports provided on this level. The purpose of this dissertation was to study what these perceptions are and how these perceptions were formed; in hopes to encourage more students with disabilities to self-disclose and access beneficial services in the future. A semi-structured narrative interview was conducted with 8 students willing to self-disclose and who received services and …

Pedagogical Piano Works By Four Contemporary Composers: Emma Lou Diemer, Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee, Karen Tanaka And Chee-Hwa Tan, Manuel Alejandro Molina Flores

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research document aims to help diversify the pedagogical piano repertoire by featuring four contemporary composers living in the United States: Emma Lou Diemer, Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee, Karen Tanaka, and Chee-Hwa Tan. Their commitment to the creation of pedagogical works at the elementary, intermediate, and early-advanced levels gives students the opportunity to develop their piano technique while learning beautifully crafted pieces. The present document covers the life, formal education, important influences, and the compositional style of each composer. Additionally, it includes selected pieces at the late-elementary and early-intermediate levels where a discussion about their pedagogical benefits is included. Lastly, a …

Source Credibility And Trust Of Media Information Based On Gender Of Reporter, Madison R. Urse

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

An experiment was used for this study to explore if the gender of a reporter impacts perceived source credibility and thus trust in information. Previous research has shown how gender biases can affect how topics are covered, reported on, perceived and marketed in the journalistic world. Modern media and newsrooms are meant to mirror reality as they convey information to the public, yet women continue to be gatekept out of reporting on certain types of news. Further, changes in the mode of delivery of news are also impacting the journalism landscape. Thus, this study employed a digital stimulus to explore …

A Study Of Accidental Daughter Crystals In Fluid Inclusions In Bedded Halite From The Permian Opeche Shale And Cedar Hills Sandstone Of The Midcontinental United States, Ryan James Prchlik

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Ancient acid-saline lakes of the midcontinental United States deposited bedded halite during Permian time. These deposits are not typically preserved at the surface, but drill cores of the Opeche Shale of North Dakota and Cedar Hills Sandstone of Kansas contain preserved beds of halite. Halite from these ancient lakes have primary fluid inclusions that contain Permian lake water. Also included are accidental daughter crystals that were trapped inside the fluid inclusions at time of halite precipitation. Both the fluid and daughter crystals inside bedded halite can tell us about the geochemistry of original lake waters of Pangea.

Petrography and laser …

Optimal Path Planning For Aerial Robots Using Genetic Algorithm, Anna Puigvert I Juan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis presents a path optimization solution for a robot in two different constrained 3-dimensional (3D) environments. The robot is required to travel from its current position to a goal position following minimum cost paths (optimal paths). The first environment has 3D obstacles that interfere with the robot’s path. The path cost for this environment accounts for the minimum distance traveled by the robot from the start to the goal position while avoiding obstacles. The second environment is the atmosphere of Venus, specifically a flyable region of this atmosphere with characteristics similar to Earth’s. This environment has strong westward winds …

Physics Infused Lstm Network For Track Association Based On Marine Vessel Automatic Identification System Data, Tasmiah Haque

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In marine surveillance, a crucial task is distinguishing between normal and abnormal vessel movements to timely identify potential threats. Subsequently, the vessels need to be monitored and tracked until necessary action can be taken. To achieve this, a track association problem is formulated where multiple vessels' unlabeled geographic and motion parameters are associated with their true labels. These parameters are typically obtained from the Automatic Identification System (AIS) database, which enables real-time tracking of marine vessels equipped with AIS. The parameters are time-stamped and collected over a long period, and therefore, modeling the inherent temporal patterns in the data is …

Sequence Checking And Deduplication For Existing Fingerprint Databases, Tahsin Islam Sakif

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Biometric technology is a rapidly evolving field with applications that range from access to devices to border crossing and entry/exit processes. Large-scale applications to collect biometric data, such as border crossings result in multimodal biometric databases containing thousands of identities. However, due to human operator error, these databases often contain many instances of image labeling and classification; this is due to the lack of training and throughput pressure that comes with human error. Multiple entries from the same individual may be assigned to a different identity. Rolled fingerprints may be labeled as flat images, a face image entered into a …

Synthesis And Pharmacology Of Illudalic Acid And Analogous Chemical Structures, Robert Gaston Jr

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Natural products are the foundation of modern medicine and an inspiration for chemical innovation. Developing new synthetic strategies to complex natural products drives synthetic innovation and promotes pharmacological exploration. As bioactive secondary metabolites of fungi, illudalic acid and associated analogs have unrealized medicinal potential due to synthetic limitations. Illudalic acid is notably the first selective covalent inhibitor of the LAR-PTPs, a class of enzymes linked to many human illnesses, including stimulant addiction. The chemistry herein focuses on optimizing synthetic routes to illudalic acid and associated analogs toward exploring their pharmaceutical potential. We report a second-generation synthesis of illudinine (55% overall …

Computational Mechanisms Of Face Perception, Jinge Wang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The intertwined history of artificial intelligence and neuroscience has significantly impacted their development, with AI arising from and evolving alongside neuroscience. The remarkable performance of deep learning has inspired neuroscientists to investigate and utilize artificial neural networks as computational models to address biological issues. Studying the brain and its operational mechanisms can greatly enhance our understanding of neural networks, which has crucial implications for developing efficient AI algorithms. Many of the advanced perceptual and cognitive skills of biological systems are now possible to achieve through artificial intelligence systems, which is transforming our knowledge of brain function. Thus, the need for …

Clinical And Economic Burden Of Inflammatory Chronic Conditions Among Adults In The United States: Evidence From Three Nationally Representative Surveys, Mohammad Ikram

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A significant proportion of adults in the United States (US) suffer from various inflammatory chronic conditions (ICCs). They include a wide range of diseases such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. ICCs are not curable, and their management typically involves medications such as NSAIDs and corticosteroids. Recently, a whole health approach that places patients’ well-being at the center is increasingly being used for better management of ICCs. The whole health approach uses an integrated approach that includes multimodal management with complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) and prescription drugs. However, the use of CAM and prescription drugs …

Drought Effects On Biofuel Feedstock Production By Populus Trichocarpa, Marvin Jacob Wright

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

As the world population continues to increase, so does the need for sustainable sources of fuel. Biofuels are of particular interest and could be an economically feasible fuel source given the right conditions. Populus trichocarpa, is a rapidly growing plantation species that, in addition to having a fully sequenced genome available for study, displays a wide range of phenotypic traits among genotypes. By analyzing these differences in both plantation and more controlled greenhouse settings, we aimed to discover which genotypes performed the best under drought conditions, and which physiological mechanisms granted them that high performance. In the field, differences in …

Structural Health Monitoring Using Machine Learning And Synthetic Data, Michail Tzimas

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Structural health monitoring spans many decades of research across multiple engineering fields. However, typical monitoring processes for damage detection of complex structures usually prohibit real-time or fast detection of debilitating damage to the structure. One of the major issues of real-time detection of damage is the enormity of data that needs to be processed, which is worsened by the relative inability of fast relaying of data to structural engineers. With the rapid advancement of Machine Learning, both issues can be overcome, and detection of failure is achieved with non-invasive techniques. This dissertation explores the applicability of Machine Learning as a …