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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Can Ai Become An Information Literacy Ally? A Survey Of Library Instructor Perspectives On Chatgpt, Melissa S. Del Castillo, Hope Y. Kelly May 2024

Can Ai Become An Information Literacy Ally? A Survey Of Library Instructor Perspectives On Chatgpt, Melissa S. Del Castillo, Hope Y. Kelly

Works of the FIU Libraries

Libraries can play a role in navigating the AI era by integrating these tools into information literacy (IL) programs. To implement generative AI tools like ChatGPT effectively, it is important to understand the attitudes of library professionals involved in IL instruction toward this tool and their intention to use it for instruction. This study explored perceptions of ChatGPT using survey data that included acceptance factors and potential uses derived from the emerging literature. While some librarians saw potential, others found it too unreliable to be useful; yet the vast majority imagined utilizing the tool in the future.


Chatgpt Is A Liar And Other Lessons Learned From Information Literacy Instructors, Melissa S. Del Castillo, Hope Y. Kelly Jan 2024

Chatgpt Is A Liar And Other Lessons Learned From Information Literacy Instructors, Melissa S. Del Castillo, Hope Y. Kelly

Works of the FIU Libraries

Wondering where generative artificial intelligence (AI) fits in information literacy instruction? This session will share findings from a recent survey of library professionals on how they are already teaching about and using AI powered ChatGPT in information literacy instruction and where they see potential opportunities and areas of concern. Survey analysis will include information about attitudes, current and anticipated use, and descriptions of teaching methods that leverage the technology. As we navigate the survey results, attendees will have the opportunity to share their own perspectives on the same questions via live polling. We will then turn to attendees to share …


Beyond The Tide: A Comprehensive Guide To Sea-Level-Rise Inundation Mapping Using Foss4g, Levente Juhasz, Jinwen Xu, Randall W. Parkinson Nov 2023

Beyond The Tide: A Comprehensive Guide To Sea-Level-Rise Inundation Mapping Using Foss4g, Levente Juhasz, Jinwen Xu, Randall W. Parkinson

GIS Center

No abstract provided.


Towards Understanding The Geospatial Skills Of Chatgpt: Taking A Geographic Information Systems (Gis) Exam, Peter Mooney, Wencong Cui, Boyuan Guan, Levente Juhasz Nov 2023

Towards Understanding The Geospatial Skills Of Chatgpt: Taking A Geographic Information Systems (Gis) Exam, Peter Mooney, Wencong Cui, Boyuan Guan, Levente Juhasz

GIS Center

This paper examines the performance of ChatGPT, a large language model (LLM), in a geographic information systems (GIS) exam. As LLMs like ChatGPT become increasingly prevalent in various domains, including education, it is important to understand their capabilities and limitations in specialized subject areas such as GIS. Human learning of spatial concepts significantly differs from LLM training methodologies. Therefore, this study aims to assess ChatGPT's performance and ability to grasp geospatial concepts by challenging it with a real GIS exam. By analyzing ChatGPT's responses and evaluating its understanding of GIS principles, we gain insights into the potential applications and challenges …


Data Ethics And Privacy For Researchers, Kelley F. Rowan Sep 2023

Data Ethics And Privacy For Researchers, Kelley F. Rowan

Works of the FIU Libraries

This workshop addresses specific data privacy and anonymization standards and techniques for researchers that are collecting personally identifiable information as well as sensitive information. The workshop covers federal, state, and international laws and regulations governing data privacy, the development of an impact assessment and privacy policy. The second half of the workshop focuses on ethical workflows, anonymization techniques and related resources.


“I Think I Discovered A Military Base In The Middle Of The Ocean”—Null Island, The Most Real Of Fictional Places, Levente Juhasz, Peter Mooney Aug 2022

“I Think I Discovered A Military Base In The Middle Of The Ocean”—Null Island, The Most Real Of Fictional Places, Levente Juhasz, Peter Mooney

GIS Center

This paper explores Null Island, a fictional place located at 0° latitude and 0° longitude in the WGS84 (World Geodetic System 1984) geographic coordinate system. Null Island is erroneously associated with large amounts of geographic data in a wide variety of location-based services, place databases, social media and web-based maps. Whereas it was originally considered a joke within the geospatial community, this article will demonstrate implications of its existence, both technological and social in nature, promoting Null Island as a fundamental issue of geographic information that requires more widespread awareness. The article summarizes error sources that lead to data being …


Integrating Cultural Knowledge Into Artificially Intelligent Systems: Human Experiments And Computational Implementations, Anurag Acharya May 2022

Integrating Cultural Knowledge Into Artificially Intelligent Systems: Human Experiments And Computational Implementations, Anurag Acharya

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the advancement of Artificial Intelligence, it seems as if every aspect of our lives is impacted by AI in one way or the other. As AI is used for everything from driving vehicles to criminal justice, it becomes crucial that it overcome any biases that might hinder its fair application. We are constantly trying to make AI be more like humans. But most AI systems so far fail to address one of the main aspects of humanity: our culture and the differences between cultures. We cannot truly consider AI to have understood human reasoning without understanding culture. So it …


Osm Science - The Academic Study Of The Openstreetmap Project, Data, Contributors, Community, And Applications, A. Yair Grinberger, Marco Minghini, Levente Juhasz, Godwin Yeboah, Peter Mooney Mar 2022

Osm Science - The Academic Study Of The Openstreetmap Project, Data, Contributors, Community, And Applications, A. Yair Grinberger, Marco Minghini, Levente Juhasz, Godwin Yeboah, Peter Mooney

GIS Center

This paper is an Editorial for the Special Issue titled “OpenStreetMap as a multidisciplinary nexus: perspectives, practices and procedures”. The Special Issue is largely based on the talks presented in the 2019 and 2020 editions of the Academic Track at the State of the Map conferences. As such, it represents the most pressing and relevant issues and topics considered by the academic community in relation to OpenStreetMap (OSM)—a global project and community aimed to create and maintain a free and editable database and map of the world. In this Editorial, we survey the papers included in the Special Issue, grouping …


Building Capacity For Data-Driven Scholarship, Jamie Rogers Mar 2022

Building Capacity For Data-Driven Scholarship, Jamie Rogers

Works of the FIU Libraries

This talk provides an overview of "dLOC as Data: A Thematic Approach to Caribbean Newspapers," an initiative developed to increase access to digitized Caribbean newspaper text for bulk download, facilitating computational analysis. Capacity building for future research in Caribbean Studies being a crucial aspect of this initiative, a thematic toolkit was developed to facilitate use of the project data as well as provide replicable processes. The toolkit includes sample text analysis projects, as well as tutorials and detailed project documentation. While the toolkit focuses on the history of hurricanes and tropical cyclones of the region, the methodologies and tools used …


Do Home Invasion Serial Killers Warrant A Distinct Classification From Other Serial Killer Location Types? A Retrospective Comparative Examination, Caroline V. Comerford Mar 2022

Do Home Invasion Serial Killers Warrant A Distinct Classification From Other Serial Killer Location Types? A Retrospective Comparative Examination, Caroline V. Comerford

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to address the research gap in serial homicide regarding home invasion serial killers (HISKs) and add to existing policy by providing insight and approaches to assist in serial murder investigations of such killers. Data for the study was obtained from the 2019 Radford University/Florida Gulf Coast University Serial Killer Database (RU/FGCU SKD) and additional public information searches. A retrospective comparative design and proportionate stratified random sampling of 326 serial killers from the RU/FGCU SKD (2019) were used to examine the differences and classifications of HISKs and non-home invasion serial killers (non-HISKs) in three investigations: (1) common characteristics; …


Bridges And Barriers: An Exploration Of Engagements Of The Research Community With The Openstreetmap Community, A. Yair Grinberger, Marco Minghini, Godwin Yeboah, Levente Juhasz, Peter Mooney Jan 2022

Bridges And Barriers: An Exploration Of Engagements Of The Research Community With The Openstreetmap Community, A. Yair Grinberger, Marco Minghini, Godwin Yeboah, Levente Juhasz, Peter Mooney

GIS Center

The academic community frequently engages with OpenStreetMap (OSM) as a data source and research subject, acknowledging its complex and contextual nature. However, existing literature rarely considers the position of academic research in relation to the OSM community. In this paper we explore the extent and nature of engagement between the academic research community and the larger communities in OSM. An analysis of OSM-related publications from 2016 to 2019 and seven interviews conducted with members of one research group engaged in OSM-related research are described. The literature analysis seeks to uncover general engagement patterns while the interviews are used to identify …


Towards Understanding The Temporal Accuracy Of Openstreetmap: A Quantitative Experiment, Levente Juhasz Jul 2021

Towards Understanding The Temporal Accuracy Of Openstreetmap: A Quantitative Experiment, Levente Juhasz

GIS Center

No abstract provided.


Facing Truths: Facial Recognition Software In Digital Archives, Rebecca Bakker, Kelley Flannery Rowan Jun 2021

Facing Truths: Facial Recognition Software In Digital Archives, Rebecca Bakker, Kelley Flannery Rowan

Works of the FIU Libraries

This presentation discusses research conducted on various facial recognition software and was funded by a LYRASIS Catalyst Fund grant. The goal of the research was to determine whether facial recognition software could be adapted to work with older, often faded or discolored historical photos and still accurately identify faces in photographs. Such software capabilities would be highly beneficial for librarians and archivists in creating quality metadata by identifying unknown people in photos. It would also assist archivists in finding the photos patrons and partners are seeking. The research brought to light the many ethical controversies associated with facial recognition technology, …


Reimagining The Archive For Computational Analysis At Scale, Jamie Rogers Jun 2021

Reimagining The Archive For Computational Analysis At Scale, Jamie Rogers

Works of the FIU Libraries

This presentation was part of a three-segment panel discussion sponsored by IS&T, the Society for Imaging Science and Technology, titled "OCR and Text Recognition: Workflows, Trends, and New Applications." This segment covers ways in which we have re-conceptualized archive materials as computationally useful data as well as the value of utilizing data at scale to impact research possibilities. We have been able to accomplish this through an ongoing project "dLOC as Data: A Thematic Approach to Caribbean Newspapers," a collaborative initiative between the Digital Library of the Caribbean, University of Florida, and Florida International University.


Exercise, Cognition, And Cannabis Use In Adolescents, Ileana Pacheco-Colón May 2021

Exercise, Cognition, And Cannabis Use In Adolescents, Ileana Pacheco-Colón

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Heavy and/or chronic cannabis use has been associated with neurocognitive impairment and decline, often in domains such as memory and executive functioning. On the other hand, exercise has been linked to positive effects on brain and cognitive health across the lifespan, as well as to better substance use outcomes. Despite this, little is known about the ways in which exercise could help prevent or ameliorate adverse cannabis-related outcomes among adolescents.

Through three separate studies, the current dissertation examines interrelations among exercise, cognition, and cannabis use in children and adolescents in an effort to determine whether exercise can prevent or ameliorate …


Collections As Data At Florida International University, Jamie Rogers Apr 2021

Collections As Data At Florida International University, Jamie Rogers

Works of the FIU Libraries

This presentation provides an overview of the concept of collections as data; shares information about our "dLOC as Data" grant initiative, a collaboration between the Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC), the Florida International University (FIU) Libraries Digital Collections Center, and the University of Florida Libraries, funded by the Mellon sub-award program, "Collections as Data: Part to Whole" ; as well as provides an opportunity to talk about how we can share more collections as data resources and undertake new and exciting projects at FIU.

Although the concept of collections as data isn't new, it is becoming more mainstream. As …


Sea Level Rise Impact Assessment Tool – A Web-Based Application For Community Resilience In Coral Gables, Florida, Levente Juhasz, Hartwig H. Hochmair, Sheyla Aguilar De Santana, Zhaohui J. Fu Nov 2020

Sea Level Rise Impact Assessment Tool – A Web-Based Application For Community Resilience In Coral Gables, Florida, Levente Juhasz, Hartwig H. Hochmair, Sheyla Aguilar De Santana, Zhaohui J. Fu

GIS Center

No abstract provided.


Ai For Archives: Using Facial Recognition To Enhance Metadata, Rebecca Bakker, Kelley Rowan, Liting Hu, Boyuan Guan, Pinchao Liu, Zhongzhou Li, Ruizhe He, Christine Monge Jul 2020

Ai For Archives: Using Facial Recognition To Enhance Metadata, Rebecca Bakker, Kelley Rowan, Liting Hu, Boyuan Guan, Pinchao Liu, Zhongzhou Li, Ruizhe He, Christine Monge

Works of the FIU Libraries

The goal of this research project was to determine the most effective facial recognition applications that could be implemented into digital archive image collections from libraries, museums, and cultural heritage institutions. Computer scientists and librarians at Florida International University collaborated to conduct qualitative assessments of both face detection and face search using photographs from FIU’s digital collections. Specifically, the facial recognition platforms OpenCV, Face++, and Amazon AWS were analyzed. This project seeks to assist LYRASIS community members who wish to incorporate facial recognition and other artificial intelligence technology into their digital collections and repositories as a method to reduce research …


Adopting Machine Learning At The Fiu Libraries, Jamie Rogers Jul 2020

Adopting Machine Learning At The Fiu Libraries, Jamie Rogers

Works of the FIU Libraries

Over the past five years, the FIU Libraries have developed and implemented various machine learning and AI technologies with the goal of improving discovery and access to materials as well as provide new methods for analysis of content. A sampling of these projects include the development of resource recommendation functionality using machine learning, which is embedded into our digital library system; the use of Microsoft's Cognitive Services AI for transcription of audio files as well as translation of text in over 60 languages; the evaluation of serval AI systems and training data sets for facial recognition in archive photographs; and …


Automatic Learning Of Document Section Structure For Ontology-Based Semantic Search, Deya Banisakher Jul 2020

Automatic Learning Of Document Section Structure For Ontology-Based Semantic Search, Deya Banisakher

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Modeling natural human behavior in understanding written language is crucial for developing true artificial intelligence. For people, words convey certain semantic concepts. While documents represent an abstract concept---they are collections of text organized in some logical structure, that is, sentences, paragraphs, sections, and so on. Similar to words, these document structures, are used to convey a logical flow of semantic concepts. Machines however, only view words as spans of characters and documents as mere collections of free-text, missing any underlying meanings behind words and the logical structure of those documents.

Automatic semantic concept detection is the process by which the …


Cartographic Vandalism In The Era Of Location-Based Games—The Case Of Openstreetmap And Pokémon Go, Levente Juhasz, Tessio Novack, Hartwig H. Hochmair, Sen Qiao Mar 2020

Cartographic Vandalism In The Era Of Location-Based Games—The Case Of Openstreetmap And Pokémon Go, Levente Juhasz, Tessio Novack, Hartwig H. Hochmair, Sen Qiao

GIS Center

User-generated map data is increasingly used by the technology industry for background mapping, navigation and beyond. An example is the integration of OpenStreetMap (OSM) data in widely-used smartphone and web applications, such as Pokémon GO (PGO), a popular augmented reality smartphone game. As a result of OSM’s increased popularity, the worldwide audience that uses OSM through external applications is directly exposed to malicious edits which represent cartographic vandalism. Multiple reports of obscene and anti-semitic vandalism in OSM have surfaced in popular media over the years. These negative news related to cartographic vandalism undermine the credibility of collaboratively generated maps. Similarly, …


Implementing Facial Recognition Technology In A Municipal Archives Digitization Project, Rebecca Bakker Sep 2019

Implementing Facial Recognition Technology In A Municipal Archives Digitization Project, Rebecca Bakker

Works of the FIU Libraries

This poster at the 2019 annual meeting of the South Florida Archivists highlights a project where the facial recognition technology of Adobe Lightroom CC is used to identify individuals in photographs held by a local municipal archive. The photographs contain hundreds of images showing unnamed commissioners and city workers from the 1970s to the 1990s, with most of the images lacking metadata or information. Various strategies are employed to identify key city officials in the photographs, allowing their names to be added to the metadata of the records hosted in a digital repository. The poster demonstrates the potential and limitations …


Generating Alternatives: The Possible Energy Transitions For France And Germany After The Paris Accord, Anna Fache Jun 2019

Generating Alternatives: The Possible Energy Transitions For France And Germany After The Paris Accord, Anna Fache

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Following the Paris Accord of 2015, multiple countries, including France and Germany, promised to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in order to slow down climate change. Current energy production and consumption patterns do not allow for such targets. Meeting these emission reduction goals requires a transition in energy production. Energy transitions can be inefficient and costly if not planned properly, and multiple constraints need to be taken into account when putting such a process in place. The model proposed in the present study aims to find the most cost-effective energy portfolios for France and Germany, two highly industrialized nations in …


Essays On Economic Valuation Of Water Resources, Christina Estela Brown Jun 2019

Essays On Economic Valuation Of Water Resources, Christina Estela Brown

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increased potential of flooding caused by heavy precipitation events and sea level rise, as well as growing risk of drought that are likely changes in the frequency and spatial distribution of climatic conditions, pose particular challenges to water management in coastal areas. Extreme events are expected to increase the complexity of managing scarce water resources for competing water users. South Florida, which is characterized by a mosaic of urban settlements, agricultural areas and natural areas, is served by a highly human-engineered water management system grappling to meet multiple objectives, including urban and agricultural water supply, flood control, and environmental restoration. …


Analysis Of Flickr, Snapchat, And Twitter Use For The Modeling Of Visitor Activity In Florida State Parks, Hartwig H. Hochmair, Levente Juhasz Jun 2019

Analysis Of Flickr, Snapchat, And Twitter Use For The Modeling Of Visitor Activity In Florida State Parks, Hartwig H. Hochmair, Levente Juhasz

GIS Center

Spatio-temporal information attached to social media posts allows analysts to study human activity and travel behavior. This study analyzes contribution patterns to the Flickr, Snapchat, and Twitter platforms in over 100 state parks in Central and Northern Florida. The first part of the study correlates monthly visitor count data with the number of Flickr images, snaps, or tweets, contributed within the park areas. It provides insight into the suitability of these different social media platforms to be used as a proxy for the prediction of visitor numbers in state parks. The second part of the study analyzes the spatial distribution …


Automated, Efficient, And Accelerated Knowledge Modeling Of The Cognitive Neuroimaging Literature Using The Athena Toolkit, Michael C. Riedel, Taylor P. Salo, Jason Hays, Matthew D. Turner, Matthew T. Sutherland, Jessica A. Turner, Angela Laird May 2019

Automated, Efficient, And Accelerated Knowledge Modeling Of The Cognitive Neuroimaging Literature Using The Athena Toolkit, Michael C. Riedel, Taylor P. Salo, Jason Hays, Matthew D. Turner, Matthew T. Sutherland, Jessica A. Turner, Angela Laird

Department of Physics

Neuroimaging research is growing rapidly, providing expansive resources for synthesizing data. However, navigating these dense resources is complicated by the volume of research articles and variety of experimental designs implemented across studies. The advent of machine learning algorithms and text-mining techniques has advanced automated labeling of published articles in biomedical research to alleviate such obstacles. As of yet, a comprehensive examination of document features and classifier techniques for annotating neuroimaging articles has yet to be undertaken. Here, we evaluated which combination of corpus (abstract-only or full-article text), features (bag-of-words or Cognitive Atlas terms), and classifier (Bernoulli naïve Bayes, k-nearest …


Best Probable Subset: A New Method For Reducing Data Dimensionality In Linear Regression, Elieser Nodarse Apr 2019

Best Probable Subset: A New Method For Reducing Data Dimensionality In Linear Regression, Elieser Nodarse

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Regression is a statistical technique for modeling the relationship between a dependent variable Y and two or more predictor variables, also known as regressors. In the broad field of regression, there exists a special case in which the relationship between the dependent variable and the regressor(s) is linear. This is known as linear regression.

The purpose of this paper is to create a useful method that effectively selects a subset of regressors when dealing with high dimensional data and/or collinearity in linear regression. As the name depicts it, high dimensional data occurs when the number of predictor variables is far …


Exploring The Neural Mechanisms Of Physics Learning, Jessica E. Bartley Nov 2018

Exploring The Neural Mechanisms Of Physics Learning, Jessica E. Bartley

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a series of neuroimaging investigations and achievements that strive to deepen and broaden our understanding of human problem solving and physics learning. Neuroscience conceives of dynamic relationships between behavior, experience, and brain structure and function, but how neural changes enable human learning across classroom instruction remains an open question. At the same time, physics is a challenging area of study in which introductory students regularly struggle to achieve success across university instruction. Research and initiatives in neuroeducation promise a new understanding into the interactions between biology and education, including the neural mechanisms of learning and development. These …


A Mixed Method Study Of Prospective Teachers' Epistemic Beliefs And Web Evaluation Strategies Concerning Hoax Websites, Jennifer Coccaro-Pons Oct 2018

A Mixed Method Study Of Prospective Teachers' Epistemic Beliefs And Web Evaluation Strategies Concerning Hoax Websites, Jennifer Coccaro-Pons

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teachers need to be equipped with the tools necessary to evaluate content on the Internet and determine if it is a credible source, or a hoax website since they are expected to instruct and prepare students on how to evaluate the sites which is now a relevant phenomenon. The purpose of the mixed‑method study was to obtain an understanding of the web evaluation strategies of prospective teachers regarding the evaluation of hoax websites and how their epistemic beliefs may influence their evaluation. Another aspect of this study was to find out what outcomes resulted from providing guidance, or not to …


Elemental Analysis Of Adhesive Tapes By Laser-Based Methods, Claudia Martinez Lopez Oct 2018

Elemental Analysis Of Adhesive Tapes By Laser-Based Methods, Claudia Martinez Lopez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Adhesive tapes are a common type of evidence involved in violent crimes and national security threats. This research evaluated the utility of LA-ICP-MS and LIBS for the characterization of the trace elemental signature in adhesive tapes for forensic comparisons. LA-ICP-MS and LIBS methods were developed, for the first time, for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of adhesive tapes.

The backings of 90 black electrical tapes, previously characterized by conventional techniques (physical examination, IR, Py-GC-MS, and SEM-EDS), were analyzed by LA-ICP-MS to evaluate the ability of the technique to discriminate samples originating from different sources and to associate pieces of tapes …