Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Overcoming Foreign Language Anxiety In An Emotionally Intelligent Tutoring System, Daneih Ismail

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

Learning a foreign language entails cognitive and emotional obstacles. It involves complicated mental processes that affect learning and emotions. Positive emotions such as motivation, encouragement, and satisfaction increase learning achievement, while negative emotions like anxiety, frustration, and confusion may reduce performance. Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) is a specific type of anxiety accompanying learning a foreign language. It is considered a main impediment that hinders learning, reduces achievements, and diminishes interest in learning.

Detecting FLA is the first step toward reducing and eventually overcoming it. Previously, researchers have been detecting FLA using physical measurements and self-reports. Using physical measures is direct …

Depaul Digest

DePaul Magazine

College of Education Professor Jason Goulah fosters hope, happiness and global citizenship through DePaul’s Institute for Daisaku Ikeda Studies in Education. Associate Journalism Professor Jill Hopke shares how to talk about climate change. News briefs from DePaul’s 10 colleges and schools: Occupational Therapy Standardized Patient Program, Financial Planning Certificate program, Business Education in Technology and Analytics Hub, Racial Justice Initiative, Teacher Quality Partnership grant, Intimate Partner Violence and Brain Injury collaboration, School of Music Career Closet, Sports Photojournalism course, DePaul Migration Collaborative’s Solutions Lab, Inclusive Screenwriting courses. New appointments: School of Music Dean John Milbauer, College of Education Dean Jennifer …

Link Tank

DePaul Magazine

A new JD certificate program in information technology, cybersecurity and data privacy provides DePaul University students with proficiency in both law and tech.

Designing Depaul

DePaul Magazine

DePaul’s comprehensive, collaborative plan creates a road map that positions the university for monumental impact.

Experiential Humanitiesx

DePaul Magazine

DePaul University's HumanitiesX program promotes project-based learning through innovative community collaborations.

Interposition Based Container Optimization For Data Intensive Applications, Rohan Tikmany

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

Reproducibility of applications is paramount in several scenarios such as collaborative work and software testing. Containers provide an easy way of addressing reproducibility by packaging the application's software and data dependencies into one executable unit, which can be executed multiple times in different environments. With the increased use of containers in industry as well as academia, current research has examined the provisioning and storage cost of containers and has shown that container deployments often include unnecessary software packages. Current methods to optimize the container size prune unnecessary data at the granularity of files and thus make binary decisions. We show …

Instrument Building For Detection Of Triplet Signal From Quinolinone Molecules, Brooke Weitzel

DePaul Discoveries

Conjugated organic molecules such as the 2-quinolinone family can be used as energy-donor molecules in photocatalysis because of their light absorbing and energy transmitting qualities. Good donor molecules have triplet excited states that are useful for photocatalysis due to their long lifetimes. The goal of this research was to build a near-infrared emission spectroscopy instrument to observe a triplet signal in a set of five previously synthesized 2-quinolinone molecules. A near-infrared absorbance instrument was built successfully with accurate measurements; however, there was no detection of the desired triplet emission signal.

The Influence Of Vehicular Traffic And Land Use Typology On The Spatial Patterns And Concentrations Of Soil Lead (Pb) In The Uptown Community Area Of Chicago, Andreas 'Dre' Harris

DePaul Discoveries

Lead (Pb) is a harmful element whose presence threatens the well-being of living organisms and their environments. There are higher concentrations and an increased risk of Pb exposure in areas that provide fewer natural pathways for Pb to accumulate into. In urban areas, the soil is one of the most common and available environmental sinks for Pb accumulation. This study examines the total soil Pb concentrations in relation to land-use types and average daily traffic volumes (cars/day) in each census tract in the Uptown Community Area of Chicago. This study provides insight into how land use and traffic volume may …

Particulate Matter Emissions From Prescribed Burns In The Chicagoland Area, Katherine Petralia

DePaul Discoveries

Prescribed burns are a land management tool currently used to aid in fire mitigation and promotion of plant growth of desired species and reduction of undesired species, which are often invasive species. Currently there is public stigma surrounding prescribed burns which limits their use in certain parts of the US. There are also particular challenges of conducting prescribed burns in urban and suburban areas. A better understanding of prescribed burns and their impact on atmospheric chemistry and air quality can allow for better communication with the public about their positive impacts and also acknowledge and quantify any potential drawbacks. This …

Modeling Exciton Migration In Two-Dimensional Space, Christian D. Etnyre

DePaul Discoveries

Computational analysis through density matrix quantum mechanics was performed to model exciton migration in two-dimensional space for a zinc-substituted tetraazaphthalocyanine. The model produced resembles a two-dimensional sheet of molecules. Energy transport mechanisms, controlled by point dipole couplings, were evaluated while altering the size of the crystal lattice. It was determined that energy transport was much more significant with a decreasing size of the crystal lattice. Likewise, the result of increasing the size of the crystal lattice had the effect of dampening the rate of energy transport. It was of interest to determine, with varying crystal lattice dimensions, the time that …

Calculating And Comparing Bioaccessible Lead Concentrations In Soils From The Garfield Ridge, West Elsdon, And Lakeview Community Areas Using A Pbet And A Mehlich-3 Digestion Method, Emma Sznewajs

DePaul Discoveries

Lead exposure through soil poses potential health risks to those in areas with higher soil-Pb levels, specifically urban areas. The soil-lead concentrations recommended by the EPA are based on measurement of total lead concentration, yet only a percentage of the total lead can actually be absorbed into the body. The percentage of lead in soil that can be absorbed into the blood through ingestion is reffered to as bioaccessible lead and can be a more accurate way of measuring potential dangers of lead in soils. This study measured the amount of bioaccessible lead in the community areas of West Elsdon, …

Understanding The Effect Of Ranching On Quercus Brandegeei Recruitment In The Sierra La Laguna Biosphere Reserve, Xavier O. Espinoza

DePaul Discoveries

In this study, we attempt to deepen our understanding of the mechanisms responsible for Quercus brandegeei’s observed lack of regeneration by identifying which animal species (wild and domesticated) most frequently were observed eating, passing by, or searching for seeds and seedlings. We established 10 paired plots (10 enclosed and 10 immediately outside enclosures) and positioned one motion-activated camera in each plot to observe animal visitations to Quercus brandegeei individuals over the course of several months (October 2019 – March 2020). No seeds and seedlings survived outside of enclosed areas at the end of the study based on their absence. Very …

Depaul Discoveries Volume 12 Cover Art, Katherine Petralia

DePaul Discoveries

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Lichen Presence On Quercus And Non-Quercus In Chicagoland Area, Shelby Johnson

DePaul Discoveries

Both anthropogenic change and the spread of invasive species have led to changes in urban and forest tree diversity. Oak rust, acute oak decline, and emerald ash borer have all had a detrimental effect on tree species in the Chicagoland area. Quercus species are well known habitats for lichen species including Physcia millegrana, Physcia stellaris, Punctelia rudecta, Flavoparmelia caperata, Xanthomendosa, and Candeleria concolor. Due to the decrease in the traditional Quercus habitats for lichen and the increase in nonnative and nontraditional tree species being introduced, particularly in cities, this study aimed to compare the number and diversity of …

Monitoring Personal Exposure To Air Quality Gradients While Biking On An Elevated Urban Trail, Gavin D. Salas

DePaul Discoveries

Air pollution is a major global health concern, specifically as it relates to the human exposome. The EPA criteria pollutants, including particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂), and NO_x can have severe impacts on respiratory and cardiovascular health, particularly in populations with chronic illnesses such as asthma, those facing economic hardships and individuals who frequently spend time outdoors, such as bicyclists and runners. To understand the impact of air pollution on human health, it is essential to assess personal exposure. This study aimed to investigate personal exposure to air pollution levels while biking along …

Attention Visual, Baris Dingil

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

This research presents an innovative approach to improving visual-spatial attention using a research tool based on the web. Recognizing the significant role visual-spatial attention plays in everyday life and cognitive function for humans, this research was undertaken with the aim of developing a user-friendly, accessible web-based tool called Attention Visual (attentionvisual.com) to enhance this crucial cognitive skill. This tool also facilitates data collection, potentially accelerating the pace and enhancing the quality of related research. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were utilized for data collection and analysis. In order to stimulate improvements in visual-spatial attention, the tool’s algorithm was structured to …

Optical Variability Of Green Pea Galaxies, Julissa Marie Sarmiento

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I am investigating the optical variability of Green Pea galaxies (GPs). GPs are good analogs to high-redshift galaxies, enabling us to learn more about the first galaxies in the universe. One of their key properties is their strong emission lines, some of which indicate the presence of an active galactic nucleus (AGN). An effective way to identify AGN is to look for stochastic variability in the optical light from the galaxy. Finding AGN in these galaxies would help us learn more about the formation and evolution of the supermassive black holes that power AGN. In this thesis, …

Implementation And Assessment Of A Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (Cure) In General Chemistry, Alissa Potts

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are growing in popularity in the chemistry community to replace traditional laboratory courses. This approach creates a research experience for a larger number of students than traditional research mentorship experiences offered at universities. CUREs can help students take ownership of projects, learn to design and troubleshoot experimental setups, problem-solve experiments that don’t have a “known answer”, and gain confidence in the laboratory. To assess the effectiveness of a general chemistry laboratory-based CURE course with DePaul students, the Experimental Design Ability Test (EDAT) and the Meaningful Learning in the Laboratory Instrument (MLLI) survey were given to …

Towards Generalizable Machine Learning Models For Computer-Aided Diagnosis In Medicine, Yiyang Wang

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

Hidden stratification represents a phenomenon in which a training dataset contains unlabeled (hidden) subsets of cases that may affect machine learning model performance. Machine learning models that ignore the hidden stratification phenomenon--despite promising overall performance measured as accuracy and sensitivity--often fail at predicting the low prevalence cases, but those cases remain important. In the medical domain, patients with diseases are often less common than healthy patients, and a misdiagnosis of a patient with a disease can have significant clinical impacts. Therefore, to build a robust and trustworthy CAD system and a reliable treatment effect prediction model, we cannot only pursue …

Hacker, Influencer, Counter-Culture Spy: Cyberspace Actors’ Models Of Misinformation And Counter-Operations, Benjamin Kessell

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

As misinformation continues to spread on social media, its residents have begun to fight back, independent of any platform. This organic resistance to the diffusion of misinformation is a clearly observable phenomenon with roots in Anonymous’ distributed campaigns from the 2010s outwards. Hacker and information security communities are acting in defense of some of their favorite spaces, most notably, Twitter. Security researchers of all stripes use it for sharing indicators of compromise but, as the diffusion of misinformation becomes more problematic it becomes more difficult to find signals in the noise.

These actors’ response to the issues at hand is …

Tech Time

DePaul Magazine

DePaul is embracing tech more than ever, incorporating innovative devices and approaches into education in all corners of the university. Here are seven ways DePaul provides hands-on experiences with cutting-edge tools that position students and faculty in the forefront of their industries and disciplines.

Code Generation Based On Inference And Controlled Natural Language Input, Howard R. Dittmer

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

Over time the level of abstraction embodied in programming languages has continued to grow. Paradoxically, most programming languages still require programmers to conform to the language's rigid constructs. These constructs have been implemented in the name of efficiency for the computer. However, the continual increase in computing power allows us to consider techniques not so limited. To this end, we have created CABERNET, a Controlled Natural Language (CNL) based approach to program creation. CABERNET allows programmers to use a simple outline-based syntax. This syntax enables increased programmer efficiency.

CNLs have previously been used to document requirements. We have taken this …

Predicting Code Refactoring Via Analyzing The History Of Quality Metrics And Code Anti-Patterns, Sarah Alanqari

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

Code refactoring is the process of improving the internal structure of existing code without altering its functionality. Refactoring can help to reduce technical debt, enhance the quality of the code and make the code easy to evolve. However, the manual identification of the proper code refactoring operations to apply can be time-consuming and not scalable. In this thesis, we propose an approach based on data mining and machine learning techniques to analyze historical data and predict refactoring operations that may occur in a future release of a project. The approach uses a combination of techniques to identify patterns in the …