Digital Commons Network^™

Sbc/Butte Area Npl Site Final Bpsou Interim Site-Wide Surface Water Monitoring Qapp 2020 And 2021 Monitoring Period, 10/14/20, Nikia Greene

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Custom Tendon Explant Frame Compatible With Reflectance Quantitative Polarized Light Imaging, Matthew Riak, Lila Dickstein

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

Tendons and ligaments are collagenous tissues in the body which attenuate load. Reflectance quantitative polarized light imaging (rQPLI) is being developed to combat some of the issues present in many of the current imaging modalities used to study tendons and ligaments. To establish its utility in continuous monitoring of tendon healing, rQPLI will be used to monitor a tendon explant defect over a four week period in both normal and super healer mice strains. In this study, we discuss fabrication of a custom frame built to exert a constant force on tendon explants for these imaging studies. Additionally, the frame …

Ultrasonic Droplet Generation Of Phase Change Materials, Angelo Hawa

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

Droplet-on-demand (DOD) generation is a widely studied phenomenon with useful applications across many fields in engineering. While some devices incorporate thermal or electrical aspects to induce droplet ejection, this report details the use of ultrasonic waves emitted by a piezoelectric transducer. An existing experimental setup to eject and visualize droplets was modified to incorporate phase change materials, such as wax. Simulations using COMSOL Multiphysics indicated a desired frequency range of 120 kHz to 140 kHz for a liquid layer height of 4 mm to 12 mm. However, ejection ultimately occurred briefly at an operating frequency of 178 kHz. The ejected …

Localized Brightness Adjustment Method, Sianyi Huang

Defensive Publications Series

This publication describes systems and techniques directed at minimizing display panel power consumption by selectively reducing a brightness of on-screen content. In aspects, within a display pipeline, display data ordered in hierarchical layers having objects can be passed to a content detector. The content detector may be configured to calculate a probability that objects within each of the hierarchical layers correspond to a visual element being a particular type of content. Each of the hierarchical layers can then be passed to a layer color converter. Based on the probabilities of each of the hierarchical layers, the layer color converter can …

Privacy-Preserving Application Programming Interface For Discovery Of Features, Eugenio Marchiori

Defensive Publications Series

This publication describes methods, implemented through an application programming interface (API) on a computing device, for handling application feature discovery requests while preserving user privacy. To preserve user privacy, responsive to receiving a request (call) from an application (a caller) relating to the availability of a feature, the API provides a response indicating that the feature is not available and that it will query a service to make the feature available (e.g., download a module). The response is provided by the API regardless of whether or not the feature is currently available on the device. In aspects, the API then …

Normalizing Non-Linear Speech Speed For Maintaining Listener Comprehension At Increased Playback Speeds, Malcolm Slaney

Defensive Publications Series

This publication describes methods of normalizing the speed of non-linear speech by applying an algorithm to allow for improved listener comprehension at increased playback speeds. The algorithm computes an amount of tension for a given audio file and subsequently computes a running average of the tension. A high-pass filter is then applied to the tension to remove the average tension. The resulting audio file allows a listener to increase playback speed or maintain a desired average speed while retaining comprehension.

Enabling Enhanced Super-Resolution Photography Using Haptics Motor Vibration During Burst-Mode Capture On Smartphones, D Shin

Defensive Publications Series

This publication describes implementing enhanced super-resolution photography using haptics motor vibration during burst-mode capture on computing devices (e.g., smartphones). A novel framework generates sub-pixel shifts in burst-mode capture by activating a smartphone haptics motor to move a camera in a particular haptic pattern while capturing multiple images. Information regarding the haptic pattern is used to compensate for the sub-pixel shifts during image processing to generate an image with increased resolution.

Fully Integrated On-Device Search And Web-Based Search Framework Incorporating Privacy Controls, Eugenio Marchiori, Donghui Feng, Trystan Upstill

Defensive Publications Series

This publication describes a framework, implemented on a computing device, for integrating search results provided by a user device system-level search with internet-based search results provided by an internet search engine application, while retaining the privacy of a user of the device. The search results may be ranked based on both the user device system-level search and the internet search.

Determining Fuel Quality, Sean Keys

Defensive Publications Series

The quality of gasoline and other fuel used in vehicles may vary with some gas stations selling higher quality fuels than other gas stations. This disclosure describes techniques for determining the quality of fuel sold by gas stations using existing vehicle sensors to monitor the fuel composition and combustion. The sensors may include harmonic and fuel sensors, such as water and ethanol sensors. The vehicle may determine the fuel quality by at least applying a machine learning algorithm to the collected combustion and fuel compensation information and/or may send the collected combustion and fuel compensation information to a remote computing …

Globally Non-Deterministic, Locally Deterministic Unique Identifier To Enable Local Tracking Of A Connected Wi-Fi Access Point, Chinmay Dhodapkar

Defensive Publications Series

This publication describes methods of preserving user privacy through the prevention of Wi-Fi location tracking by generating a unique identifier (UID) for a Wi-Fi access point (AP) on a per-computing device basis (e.g., a first UID is generated for use by a first computing device, a second UID is generated for use by a second computing device). The generated UIDs are locally deterministic (unique to a specific computing device), but globally non-deterministic (different UIDs are generated for different computing devices).

Smart Muting Of Safety Sensors To Enable White Ink Printing, Hp Inc

Defensive Publications Series

Safety sensors are used to continuously monitor the Intermediate Transfer Member (ITM) drum for

possible presence of media (substrate). When sensors are triggered, printing stops immediately, and the

user must inspect the drum and potentially remove the media prior to continuing print. This

functionality is called “PSTB [Paper Stuck to Blanket] Detection”.

High opacity white ink printing on a cut‐sheet press requires a “One‐Shot” printing process ‐ i.e., all the

colorants are gathered on the ITM drum prior transfer to the substrate. The safety sensors often

mis‐identify the high opacity white ink on the drum as printable media and trigger …

Method To Facilitate A Concurrent Telephone Call And Conference Meeting, Rafal Pilarczyk, Hui-Ling Lu, Piotr Rozen

Defensive Publications Series

In order to answer a telephone call on a mobile telephone during an online video collaboration session or meeting, an individual must first mute their meeting, then remove their headphones, and finally answer their mobile telephone. While answering the telephone call, the individual is disconnected from the conference meeting audio channel, prohibiting them from participating in the meeting. For example, they would not know if someone in the meeting called upon them. To address such challenges, techniques are presented herein that enable the automatic switching between different communication mediums within a video collaboration environment. Aspects of the presented techniques support …

Support Bottom Heater: Embossments For Stackability - Id-05632, Christian Mohr

Defensive Publications Series

The present invention relates to a support frame and a bottom heater thereof, wherein the support frame comprises a bottom plate, flanges, and embossment elements. The flanges are inclinedly extended from the side edges of the bottom plate. The embossment elements are arranged on the flanges. During a process of stacking at least two support frames, a holding mechanism is formed by the embossment elements of one of the two support frames. The embossment elements of one of the two support frames hold the bottom plate of the other support frame. Preferably, the support frame further comprises cut-out portions arranged …

Cultivating Classroom Interactions Online During Covid-19: A Case For Using Team-Based Learning, Amanda Olsen, Candace Joswick

Journal of Practitioner Research

Team-based learning, an evidence-based collaborative learning teaching strategy, is a popular instructional model commonly used at the post-secondary level. While this model has shown success in traditional, face-to-face courses, and reports of use in hybrid and asynchronous online settings exist, though are few, no reports of which we are aware account for use in synchronous online teaching and learning. This paper introduces a tool developed to help higher education instructors plan for the implementation of team-based learning in their synchronous online courses along with an illustration of the use of the template planning tool from our own application for a …

Justice Through Practice: Inquiry On The Development Of Preservice Teachers’ Teaching For Social Justice, Bethany Silva, Elyse L. Hambacher, Ruth Wharton-Mcdonald

Journal of Practitioner Research

This article reports on a collaboration among three teacher educators to facilitate pre-service teacher (PST)s’ equity literacy through a social-justice themed afterschool program for elementary-aged children that was embedded in PSTs’ coursework. The teacher educators engaged in practitioner inquiry (e.g., Anderson, Herr, & Nihlen, 2007; Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009), posing the question, “What happens when preservice teachers use justice-oriented children’s literature to facilitate discussions about inequity with young children?” We used inductive analysis (Miles, Huberman, & Saldaña, 2014) to observe themes across 17 PSTs’ written and videotaped reflections, collected over two semesters. Reflections pointed to a fear of the unknown …

Making Sense Of Methods: What Does Systematic And Intentional Practitioner Research Look Like?, Maida A. Finch

Journal of Practitioner Research

The purpose of this study is to understand what empirical practitioner research looks like, specifically to document and describe the methodological qualities of it. The author used content analysis to examine 74 accounts of practitioner’s systematic and intentional inquiry in literacy contexts. Findings offer evidence that can enhance the credibility of empirical practitioner research. For example, practitioner researchers often being their inquiry with a research question or goal, are more likely than not to identify a research design, tend to collect multiple sources of data, and analyze the data in appropriate ways. Less common was attention to trustworthiness considerations. The …

Supporting El Student Success During An Intervention Block, Lindsay Vecchio

Journal of Practitioner Research

Learning both language and content simultaneously is a challenge for all English Learner (EL) students, especially those with very low proficiency. In public elementary school settings, classroom teachers have traditionally taught content, while EL teachers have taught language. In this practitioner inquiry project, an EL teacher explores strategies for collaborating with a mainstream classroom teacher to teach both language and content to low proficiency second grade EL students during an EL intervention block.

Through The Looking Glass: Assessing And Enhancing The Effectiveness Of Bourdieu’S Theory Of Practice To Understand The Achievement Gap In British Columbia's Inner-City Schools, Victor Brar

Journal of Practitioner Research

This paper emerges from a 2016 conceptual study borne out of an ongoing practitioner inquiry in which I, as a practicing K-12 inner-city Canadian teacher, tried to understand, on a theoretical level, why the children at my inner-city school in Vancouver consistently underperform in an academic sense in spite of being provided with additional learning resources. The achievement gap that exists between British Columbia’s inner-city children and their more affluent peers cannot be adequately explained by differences in finances alone, but it has sociological roots, which I explored in this study. To understand the achievement gap, I chose to filter …

Scorpions Of The Horn Of Africa (Arachnida: Scorpiones). Part Xxvii. Lanzatus Huluul Sp. N. From Somaliland (Buthidae), František Kovařík, Graeme Lowe

Euscorpius

The rare Horn of Africa buthid genus Lanzatus Kovařík, 2001 was newly collected in Somaliland in two localities. We describe a new species Lanzatus huluul sp. n. fully illustrated with color photos showing its morphology, habitus, hemispermatophore and collection areas.

Customer Churn Prediction In Telecommunication Industry Using Deep Learning, Samah Wael Fujo, Suresh Subramanian, Moaiad Ahmad Khder

Information Sciences Letters

Without proper analysis and forecasting, industries will find themselves repeatedly churning customers, which the telecom industry in particular cannot afford. A predictable model for customers will allow companies to retain current customers and to obtain new ones. Deep-BP-ANN implemented in this study using two feature selection methods, Variance Thresholding and Lasso Regression, in addition, our model strengthened by early stopping technique to stop training at right time and prevent overfitting. We compared the efficiency of minimizing overfitting between dropout and activity regularization strategies for two real datasets: IBM Telco and Cell2cell. Different evaluation approaches used: Holdout, and 10-fold cross-validation to …

Study And Evaluation Of The Assumptions Of Statistical Methods In Published Educational Research: Al-Mandumah Database As A Model: Review Study, Ejteyad A. Abo Thabit, Nizar N. Ismaeal, Aziz I. Abdulla

Information Sciences Letters

The aim of this research is to study and evaluate the assumptions of statistical methods in educational research published in the Dar Al-Mandumah Database. The non-probability purposive sample was used in the study, and it consisted of 301 educational research divided into three categories (PhD and Masters theses, educational research in curricula, teaching methods and educational issues, and educational research in statistical subjects). To achieve the goal of the research, the “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P2015) method” was used, and it consists of two phases. The first phase dealt with the study of the statistical methods …

Storytelling During Pandemics– A Focused Review, Mohamed Buheji

Information Sciences Letters

Stories have shaped people life since the beginning of humanity. Telling and sharing stories during pandemics and unprecedented times is an inspiring way. In this paper, we study how storytelling could play an essential role in mitigating, and absorbing the challenges or the spillovers of the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The influence of storytelling on mental health and wellness during the pandemic is reviewed. The paper focuses on how storytelling could be optimised as an effective tool for changing attitudes and behaviours, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, where the public is forced to change their lifestyle, over the short …

Awareness Of Gender Equality During First Wave Of Corona Virus: A Case Study, Asma Rebhi Al Arab, Alaa Zuhir Al Rawashdeh, Osman Sirajeldeen Ahmed

Information Sciences Letters

There has been an increasing concern that the global shutdown period during the spread of the COVID -19 epidemic will widen the gender gap, and that the gains of women before the epidemic will decline. Since COVID-19 crisis affects men and women in different ways, measures to solve it must take into account the gender. This study clarifies the student community’s interest and awareness of gender equality issues during the initial lockdown period by selecting a representative sample of the student community at Ajman University,362 students out of a 6,042 students, the total number of students, according to Yamani mathematical …

Asymptomatic And Pre-Symptoms Transmission Of Covid-19 In Heterogeneous Epidemic Network, H. A. A. El-Saka, Ayman Al-Dmour, Ibrahim Obaya

Information Sciences Letters

The diversity of the spread pattern of the Corona virus is one of the most important reasons for the seriousness of the virus. Therefore, in this paper, we present a fractional mathematical SEIAS model that studies many ways of spreading (asymptomatic and pre-symptoms transmission) with the hypothesis of the spread of the virus in a heterogeneous network of individuals. The system consists of nonlinear equations which formed in fractional order. And it turns out that the system has two equilibrium positions (free and endemic positions). We also calculated the disease prevalence threshold (R) within the network. The condition for the …

Remediation Of Pollution In A River By Releasing Clean Water, Ahmed Saleh, Fayez N. Ibrahim, Mohamed Kh. Hadhouda

Information Sciences Letters

Analytical solution has been obtained for one-dimensional advection-diffusion equation with constant coefficients by using Laplace transformation. Also numerical solution has been obtained by using explicit finite difference scheme. In this paper, the initial condition and the boundary condition at the source of pollution (x = 0) were applied to describe the exponential variation in pollutant concentration. Impacts of different parameters controlling the pollutant dispersion have been studied separately with the help of graphs. This publication proved mathematically the fact that the high concentration of pollutant can be reduced by releasing clean water discharges from barrage in a river. For a …

Creativity In Packaging Design As A Competitive Promotional Tool, Dina Elkhattat, Mervat Medhat

Information Sciences Letters

In line with the vast technology, and challenging competition among organizations in the field of industry, recently the food companies recognized the importance of innovative Packaging design as a vital solution and a competitive element among competitors, as it should be unique, adding value to consumers, and well reflects the brand’s identity. In that context, the study of factors affecting consumer attraction and intentions and behaviors will be very beneficial for food companies that tend to produce creative packaging to enhance their brand’s positioning by attracting consumers’ attention towards their products and influence the final purchase intentions. Hence, analyzing the …

A New Fractional Differential Approach: A Combination Between Usual Derivative And A Fractional Differential Operator Without Singular Kernel, Gustavo Asumu Mboro Nchama, Leandro Daniel Lau Alfonso

Information Sciences Letters

In this paper, authors introduce a new fractional differential order operator given as a combination between the usual derivative and a fractional differential operator without singular kernel. The new approach is defined through a fractional integral order and based on the Caputo viewpoint. Some properties are given to illustrate the results. Also calculus of integral of an interesting function is illustrated.

Dihedral Cohomology Of An Infinity Algebras, Alaa Hassan Noreldeen Mohamed, Samar A. Abo Quota

Information Sciences Letters

In this research, the basic definitions of an operad, graded algebra, and A∞-module are introduced. The A∞-algebras and their (co)homology are studied to obtain the relations between the cyclic and dihedral (co)homology. The L∞-algebras are discussed, and the relations of the isomorphism between primitive and indecomposable elements in the L∞-algebras are presented. We demonstrate the relation between cyclic and dihedral (co)homology of L∞-algebras. Finally, the Mayer-Vietoris sequence of L∞-algebras is investigated.

On Weighted Nwikpe Distribution: Properties And Applications, Maryam Mohiuddin, Shabir A. Dar, Arshad A. Khan, M. Ahajeeth

Information Sciences Letters

In this article, two-parameter continuous distribution is introduced. The proposed distribution is obtained by using a weight technique and is referred to as weighted Nwikpe distribution. This distribution is a generalization of baseline distribution that is Nwikpe distribution. Some structural properties of the distribution are derived. These are density function, distribution function, and reliability function, hazard rate function, moments, moment generating function, entropies, order statistics, Bonferroni and Lorenz curves. The method of maximum likelihood estimation has been established for investigating the parameters of the model. The behaviour of the parameters of the distribution is examined by a simulation study. Real …

The Phenomenographic Method: Principles And Applications In The Social Sciences, Hamed Mohamed Al-Azri, Nabhan Harith Al-Harrasi, Ali Saif Al-Aufi

Information Sciences Letters

The study aimed at introducing phenomenography as a qualitative methodology based on field research and its capacity to propose solutions based on the varying experiences of individuals about the studied phenomenon. The study used the content analysis method and highlighted findings of forty-one articles published in English that are directly related to the methodology. The study dealt with the definition of the methodology and discussed its philosophical framework, with clarification given to data collection, analysis, traits and most important challenges. The study also reviewed samples of published research that used the methodology to highlight the scientific contributions and emphasize the …