Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Effects Of Metacognitive Training On Algebra Students’ Calibration Accuracy, Achievement, And Mathematical Literacy, Deana J. Ford

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation describes an empirical study that investigated how metacognitive training influenced lower achieving Algebra students’ calibration accuracy, achievement, and development of mathematics literacy. Multiple methods were used to collect and analyze the data. Close analysis of students’ work and classroom observations revealed that students that were exposed to the metacognitive training had significantly higher prediction accuracy and made gains in their understanding of the mathematics word problems than did students who did not receive the metacognitive training. Overall, however, both the intervention and comparison groups improved in their academic performance and became more mathematically literate and accurate in their …

Fabrication Of An Apparatus For All-Optical Production Of Metastable Krypton, Lindsay M. Thornton

Physics Theses & Dissertations

Atom Trap Trace Analysis (ATTA) has made radiokrypton dating of polar ice and groundwater samples a possibility for scientists all over the world, allowing them to date samples further back in time and more accurately than other methods. However, this technique is hampered by the 36-hour cleaning process required for production of metastable-state krypton atoms via a radio-frequency driven plasma. Production of metastable krypton all-optically would dramatically increase the rate at which samples could be measured. Attempts to build an apparatus that could accomplish this have been done in the past but were lacking in aordability and practicality for widespread …

Security Risk Tolerance In Mobile Payment: A Trade-Off Framework, Yong Chen

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Security is identified as a major barrier for consumers in adopting mobile payment. Although existing literature has incorporated security into the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Unified Theory of Acceptance, and the Use of Technology (UTAUT) and it has investigated the way in which security affects consumers’ acceptance of mobile payment, security is a factor only in diverse research models. Studies of mobile payment that focus on security are not available. Additionally, previous studies of mobile payment are based on Direct Carrier Billing- (DCB)-based mobile payment or Near Field Communication- (NFC)-based mobile payment. The results regarding security might not be …

Generation Of Large-Volume Diffuse Plasma By An External Ionization Wave From A Single-Electrode Plasma Jet, Seyed Hamid Razavi Barzoki

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A non-thermal transient diffuse plasma can be generated remotely in a nonconductive reduced pressure chamber by an external guided fast ionization wave (FIW). We found that an atmospheric-pressure low-temperature plasma jet (APPJ) can be a source of FIW which transfers an enhanced electric field at the wave front across a reduced pressure Pyrex glass chamber with no electrical connection to the chamber. Here, we studied the formation and propagation of the APPJ plasma, the interaction of atmospheric-pressure guided FIW with a dielectric surface which forms the wall of the reduced-pressure system, and the formation and propagation of the reduce-pressure FIW …

Extended Poisson Models For Count Data With Inflated Frequencies, Monika Arora

Mathematics & Statistics Theses & Dissertations

Count data often exhibits inflated counts for zero. There are numerous papers in the literature that show how to fit Poisson regression models that account for the zero inflation. However, in many situations the frequencies of zero and of some other value k tends to be higher than the Poisson model can fit appropriately. Recently, Sheth-Chandra (2011), Lin and Tsai (2012) introduced a mixture model to account for the inflated frequencies of zero and k. In this dissertation, we study basic properties of this mixture model and parameter estimation for grouped and ungrouped data. Using stochastic representation we show …

Ion Bunch Formation Strategies For The Jleic Collider, Bamunuvita Randika Prasad Gamage

Physics Theses & Dissertations

An Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) has been proposed and supported as the next major nuclear physics facility in the United States, with very high design luminosities of 10³³ − 10³⁴ cm⁻² s⁻¹. The Jefferson Lab EIC concept, JLEIC, includes construction of a new ion beam accelerator complex. To achieve the required luminosity, the JLEIC ion collider requires unprecedentedly short ion bunches of 1 cm length at a high repetition frequency of 476 MHZ. However, only much longer ion bunches are formed by the ion injector complex producing beams for the collider ring. Formation of short ion …

Characterizing The Activity Of Antimicrobial Peptides Against The Pathogenic Bacterium Clostridium Difficile In An Anaerobic Environment, Adenrele Mojeed Oludiran

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Clostridium difficile is an anaerobic Gram-positive pathogen with high treatment costs and mortality and very high antibiotic tolerance. Antimicrobial host-defense peptides (HDPs) produced naturally by animal immune systems are promising candidates to develop novel therapies for bacterial infection because they cause oxidative stress that damages multiple targets in bacterial cells, so it is difficult for bacteria to evolve resistance to these attacks.

Piscidins, fish-derived HDPs that can also form complexes with copper (Cu) to enhance their activities, are very active against multiple bacterial species in an aerobic environment. We examined their activity against C. difficile and other species in an …

A Framework For Executable Systems Modeling, Matthew Amissah

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Systems Modeling Language (SysML), like its parent language, the Unified Modeling Language (UML), consists of a number of independently derived model languages (i.e. state charts, activity models etc.) which have been co-opted into a single modeling framework. This, together with the lack of an overarching meta-model that supports uniform semantics across the various diagram types, has resulted in a large unwieldy and informal language schema. Additionally, SysML does not offer a built in framework for managing time and the scheduling of time based events in a simulation.

In response to these challenges, a number of auxiliary standards have been offered …

Identification And Optimal Linear Tracking Control Of Odu Autonomous Surface Vehicle, Nadeem Khan

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) are being used for diverse applications of civilian and military importance such as: military reconnaissance, sea patrol, bathymetry, environmental monitoring, and oceanographic research. Currently, these unmanned tasks can accurately be accomplished by ASVs due to recent advancements in computing, sensing, and actuating systems. For this reason, researchers around the world have been taking interest in ASVs for the last decade. Due to the ever-changing surface of water and stochastic disturbances such as wind and tidal currents that greatly affect the path-following ability of ASVs, identification of an accurate model of inherently nonlinear and stochastic ASV system …

New Methods To Improve Protein Structure Modeling, Maha Abdelrasoul

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Proteins are considered the central compound necessary for life, as they play a crucial role in governing several life processes by performing the most essential biological and chemical functions in every living cell. Understanding protein structures and functions will lead to a significant advance in life science and biology. Such knowledge is vital for various fields such as drug development and synthetic biofuels production.

Most proteins have definite shapes that they fold into, which are the most stable state they can adopt. Due to the fact that the protein structure information provides important insight into its functions, many research efforts …

Novel Technique For Gait Analysis Using Two Waist Mounted Gyroscopes, Ahmed Nasr

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Analysis of the human gait is used in many applications such as medicine, sports, and person identification. Several research studies focused on the use of MEMS inertial sensors for gait analysis and showed promising results. The miniaturization of these sensors and their wearability allowed the analysis of gait on a long term outside of the laboratory environment which can reveal more information about the person and introduced the use of gait analysis in new applications such as indoor localization.

Step detection and step length estimation are two basic and important gait analysis tasks. In fact, step detection is a prerequisite …

Identifying Marine Key Biodiversity Areas In The Greater Caribbean Region, Michael S. Harvey

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Anthropocene biodiversity extinction rates are increasing, suggesting a possible sixth global mass extinction event. Biological conservation planners are consequently seeking ways to more effectively protect species at national, regional and global scales. In 2010, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) issued a number of conservation goals (Aichi Targets), including the establishment of protected areas (PA) in terrestrial, freshwater and marine areas of eminent conservation concern by 2020 to reduce and eventually eliminate species’ extinctions, as well as preserve hotspots of biodiversity and dynamic ecosystems. While well-established, adequately enforced PAs increase the likelihood of preserving species and habitats most at risk …

The Effect Of Soxhlet Extraction And Synthesis Temperature On Properties Of Polyaniline, Samuel Watson Stahl

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Polyaniline was synthesized by the chemical oxidation of aniline in an HCl solution by ammonium persulfate. The temperature of the synthesis was varied to increase the molecular weight of the polymer from 37,600 Da to 52,400 Da. Soxhlet extraction using methanol as the primary solvent was performed on half the sample in order to further increase the average molecular weight by approximately 3150 Da and decrease the polydispersity index by 0.8. Films were cast from 1,3-dimethyl-3,4,5,6-tetrahydro-2(1H)-pyrimidinone (DMPU) and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and then doped with trifluoromethanesulfonic acid.

The effect of the soxhlet extraction and synthesis temperature on the polymer’s properties …

Non-Destructive Evaluation For Composite Material, Desalegn Temesgen Delelegn

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The Nondestructive Evaluation Sciences Branch (NESB) at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center (LaRC) has conducted impact damage experiments over the past few years with the goal of understanding structural defects in composite materials. The Data Science Team within the NASA LaRC Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) has been working with the Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) subject matter experts (SMEs), Dr. Cheryl Rose, from the Structural Mechanics & Concepts Branch and Dr. William Winfree, from the Research Directorate, to develop computer vision solutions using digital image processing and machine learning techniques that can help identify …

Advances In Amino Acid Analysis For Marine Related Matrices And Its Application To Coastal Shelf Settings In The Canadian Arctic, Rachel M. Mcmahon

OES Theses and Dissertations

Amino acids comprise up to 50% of organic matter in cellular material and are a major fraction of oceanic organic carbon. Amino acids are also considered highly labile during organic matter recycling, making them useful proxies for organic carbon cycling. Nevertheless, analysis of individual amino acids has been burdened by lengthy derivatization and complex analysis since the 1950s. In this thesis, I describe the modification of advanced analytical techniques, developed in the biomedical field, for analysis of marine matrices which allow the determination of at least 40 amino acids without the need for lengthy sample preparation and derivatization, twice the …

Plastics And Microplastics As Vectors For Bacteria And Human Pathogens, Amanda Lee Laverty

OES Theses and Dissertations

Since plastics degrade very slowly, they remain in the environment on much longer timescales than most natural substrates and can thus provide a novel habitat for colonization by bacterial communities. The full spectrum of relationships between plastics and bacteria, however, is little understood. The objective of this study was to examine marine plastic pollution as a substrate for bacteria, with particular focus on Vibrio spp., including the human pathogens, Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and Vibrio vulnificus.

Colonization experiments were set up in a tributary of the lower Chesapeake Bay to follow Vibrio spp. colonization and …

Analysis Of Bulk Power System Resilience Using Vulnerability Graph, Md Ariful Haque

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Critical infrastructure such as a Bulk Power System (BPS) should have some quantifiable measure of resiliency and definite rule-sets to achieve a certain resilience value. Industrial Control System (ICS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) networks are integral parts of BPS. BPS or ICS are themselves not vulnerable because of their proprietary technology, but when the control network and the corporate network need to have communications for performance measurements and reporting, the ICS or BPS become vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Thus, a systematic way of quantifying resiliency and identifying crucial nodes in the network is critical for addressing the cyber …

The Importance Of Keeping The Big Ones: Harvest Slot Limits And Marine Protected Areas For The Management Of The Caribbean Spiny Lobster, Gayathiri Gnanalingam

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Fishing typically removes the oldest and/or largest individuals from populations undermining stability and reproductive success. Traditional fisheries management tools fail to protect these oldest and/or largest individuals, but two less conventional tools: marine protected areas (MPAs), and harvest slot limits have the potential to do so. Here I tested the possible use of these tools for the Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus, an iconic and economically valued species. After decades of intense fishing, the largest lobsters have largely been wiped out. The loss of the largest lobsters is significant as large lobsters have considerably greater reproductive potential than their …

Deep Learning For Segmentation Of 3d Cryo-Em Images, Devin Reid Haslam

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is an emerging biophysical technique for structural determination of protein complexes. However, accurate detection of secondary structures is still challenging when cryo-EM density maps are at medium resolutions (5-10 Å). Most existing methods are image processing methods that do not fully utilize available images in the cryo-EM database. In this paper, we present a deep learning approach to segment secondary structure elements as helices and β-sheets from medium- resolution density maps. The proposed 3D convolutional neural network is shown to detect secondary structure locations with an F1 score between 0.79 and 0.88 for six simulated test cases. …

Potential Interaction Analysis Of Offshore Wind Energy Areas And Breeding Avian Species On The Us Mid-Atlantic Coast, Jeri Lynn Wisman

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Due to increasing US interest in developing wind energy sites in offshore waters, we synthesized existing data on colonial breeding seabird populations with the potential risk of interacting with lease areas in the mid-Atlantic. Previous efforts by BOEM and NOAA have predicted avian density using at-sea survey data; we seek to complement this work by focusing specifically on birds during the critical and energetically demanding breeding life history stage. We combined colony size and location for each species along the mid-Atlantic coast with buffers around the colonies that correlate with the species’ foraging range. We integrated population size, vulnerability to …

Statistical Analysis And Comparison Of Optical Classification Of Atmospheric Aerosol Lidar Data, Kwasi Gyening Afrifa

Electrical & Computer Engineering Projects for D. Eng. Degree

This dissertation presents a new study for the analysis and classification of atmospheric aerosols in remote sensing LIDAR data. Information on particle size and associated properties are extracted from these remote sensing atmospheric data which are collected by a ground-based LIDAR system. This study first considers optical LIDAR parameter-based classification methods for clustering and classification of different types of harmful aerosol particles in the atmosphere. Since accurate methods for aerosol prediction behaviors are based upon observed data, computational approaches must overcome design limitations, and also consider appropriate calibration and estimation accuracy. Consequently, two statistical methods based on generalized linear models …

Single-Stage, Venturi-Driven Desalination System, Brandon Proetto

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Water demand is increasing at a rapid pace due to population increase, industrial expansion, and agricultural development. The use of desalination technology to meet the high water demands has increased global online desalination capacity from 47 million m^3/d in 2007 to 92.5 million m^3/d as of June 2017 [49]. Membrane and thermal processes are the two mainstream desalination categories used worldwide for desalination plants. Reverse Osmosis (RO) is the most widely used membrane process and it has become the dominant technology for building desalination plants over recent decades. Thermal distillation, however, has become less and less competitive due to its …

Biogeochemical Cycling Of Selenium In The Arctic Ocean, Kyle M. Mcquiggan

OES Theses and Dissertations

Changes in the global climate may have a pronounced effect on the biogeochemical cycling of trace elements like selenium (Se) in the Arctic Ocean. This study described the first quantitative examination of the biogeochemical cycle of selenium in the Amerasian Basin, providing the baseline from which future changes can be identified. Aerosol, dissolved and particulate water samples were collected for Se determinations during the U.S. GEOTRACES GN01 Arctic expedition that sampled the two parts of the Amerasian Basin in 2015: The Makarov Basin on the way to the North Pole and the Canada Basin on the return trip to Dutch …

Throw Me A Lifeline: A Comparison Of Port Cities With Antithetical Adaptation Strategies To Sea-Level Rise, Claudia Marie Risner

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Sea-level rise (SLR) is a manifestation of climate change that is particularly hazardous to port cities that must remain on the waterfront to function, yet are increasingly battered and flooded by encroaching storms, and sinking into the rising saltwater. Despite sharing a common high level of risk, port cities are choosing antithetical adaptation strategies that range from hard-engineered structural flood protection, to behavioral modifications, to innovative soft-engineered measures, to doing nothing at all. Why is this? Are transnational city networks, such as C40 Cities, a lifeline to drowning cities? Do differences in governance structure, financial capacity, risk tolerance to the …

When The Wind Blows: An Evaluation Of Key Factors That Enabled The Proliferation Of Wind Energy Generation In The United States Through 2016, Mary Sodini Bell

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Increasing CO₂ emissions have led to extreme weather phenomena labeled as climate change. Energy consumption and the burning of fossil fuels are primary contributors to climate change, which necessitates finding ways to decrease fossil fuel consumption critical to preserving the planet while helping nations reduce dependence on costly fossil fuels. Renewable energy is one part of the solution to reducing CO₂ emissions. Wind energy is the fastest growing form of renewable energy across the world and within the U.S., but the key factors that enabled the U.S. wind industry to grow from zero installed capacity at the beginning …

Behavior Of Piled Raft Foundation In Partially Saturated Soils, Salman Alrubaye

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Current foundation design practice considers conventional pile group foundation when simpler and rather economical raft foundations do not meet one of the design criteria. However, design requirements could be met by incorporating a reduced number of piles with the raft. Piled Raft foundation (PRF) is a composite foundation in which, the piles and the raft contribute to the total resistance of the foundation.

The objective of this dissertation is to study the behavior of PRF in fully and partially saturated soils. The primary purpose of this study is to develop models capable of estimating the resistance of different types of …

Effectiveness Of Social Media Analytics On Detecting Service Quality Metrics In The U.S. Airline Industry, Xin Tian

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Theses & Dissertations

During the past few decades, social media has provided a number of online tools that allow people to discuss anything freely, with an increase in mobile connectivity. More and more consumers are sharing their opinions online with others. Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) is the virtual communication in use; it plays an important role in customers’ buying decisions. Customers can choose to complain or to compliment services or products on their social media platforms, rather than to complete the survey offered by the providers of those services. Compared with the traditional survey, or with the air travel customer report published …

Modeling Effects Of Rainwater Harvesting Systems On Water Yield Increase And Non-Beneficial Evaporation Reduction To Sustain Agriculture In A Water-Scarce Region Of China, Tennille Wade

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The northwestern region of China, which has an arid/semiarid climate, relies heavily on agriculture to provide food for the growing population. Climate change is affecting water availability in the region, causing long periods of drought and water scarcity followed by shorter periods of heavy rainfall and excess water availability. The ridge and furrow rainwater harvesting systems (RFRWHS) are a means of solving the problem of water scarcity; the systems can replenish soil moisture, reduce non-beneficial evaporation from bare soils, and increase surface water yield. In such a region, the hydrologic cycle is dominated by soil evaporation, leading to minimal surface …

Leveraging Resources On Anonymous Mobile Edge Nodes, Ahmed Salem

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Smart devices have become an essential component in the life of mankind. The quick rise of smartphones, IoTs, and wearable devices enabled applications that were not possible few years ago, e.g., health monitoring and online banking. Meanwhile, smart sensing laid the infrastructure for smart homes and smart cities. The intrusive nature of smart devices granted access to huge amounts of raw data. Researchers seized the moment with complex algorithms and data models to process the data over the cloud and extract as much information as possible. However, the pace and amount of data generation, in addition to, networking protocols transmitting …

Flexstream: Sdn-Based Framework For Programmable And Flexible Adaptive Video Streaming, Ibrahim Ben Mustafa

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

With the tremendous increase in video traffic fueled by smartphones, tablets, 4G LTE networks, and other mobile devices and technologies, providing satisfactory services to end users in terms of playback quality and a fair share of network resources become challenging. As a result, an HTTP video streaming protocol was invented and widely adopted by most video providers today with the goal of maximizing the user’s quality of experience. However, despite the intensive efforts of major video providers such as YouTube and Netflix to improve their players, several studies as well as our measurements indicate that the players still suffer from …