Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Triple Bottom Line And Social Responsibility Framework In Public Sector Management, Matthew Ajiake

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Leaders of public sector agencies must incorporate the voices of diversified stakeholders into planning and decision-making processes. With aging infrastructures around the world, public agencies are challenged to move public benefit projects forward when citizens are not engaged or empowered to participate in the process. The purpose of this triple bottom line (social, ecological, and financial) and social responsibility study was to explore whether public sector organizations are socially responsible by law. A case study was developed using data from publicly available documents and interviews that explored how the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) implemented a social responsibility framework …

Diffusion Of Electronic Health Records In Rural Primary Care Clinics, Patricia Lynn Mason

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

By the end of 2015, Medicare-eligible physicians at primary care practices (PCP) who do not use an electronic health record (EHR) system will incur stiff penalties if they fail to meet the deadline for using EHRs. Yet, less than 30% of rural primary clinics have fully functional EHR systems. The purpose of this phenomenology study was to explore rural primary care physicians and physician assistants' experiences regarding overcoming barriers to implementing EHRs. Complex adaptive systems formed the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with a purposeful sample of 21 physicians and physician assistants across 2 …

Automated Medication Dispensing Cabinet And Medication Errors, Marie Helen Walsh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The number of deaths due to medical errors in hospitals ranges from 44,000 to 98,000 yearly. More than 7,000 of these deaths have taken place due to medication errors. This project evaluated the implementation of an automated medication dispensing cabinet or PYXIS machine in a 25-bed upper Midwestern critical access hospital. Lewin's stage theory of organizational change and Roger's diffusion of innovations theory supported the project. Nursing staff members were asked to complete an anonymous, qualitative survey approximately 1 month after the implementation of the PYXIS and again 1 year later. Questions were focused on the device and its use …

Information Operations Under International Law: A Delphi Study Into The Legal Standing Of Cyber Warfare, Kenneth Gualtier

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The ever-growing interconnectivity of industry and infrastructure through cyberspace has increased their vulnerability to cyber attack. The lack of any formal codification of cyber warfare has led to the development of contradictory state practices and disagreement as to the legal standing of cyber warfare, resulting in an increased risk of damage to property and loss of life. Using the just war theory as a foundation, the research questions asked at the point at which cyber attacks meet the definition of use of force or armed attack under international law and what impediments currently exist in the development of legal limitations …

Exploring Strategies For Retaining Information Technology Professionals: A Case Study, Shannon J. Thomas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the 21st century, retaining information technology (IT) professionals is critical to a company's productivity and overall success. Senior IT leaders need effective strategies to retain skilled IT professionals. Guided by the general systems theory and the transformational leadership theory, the purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to explore the retention strategies used by 2 senior IT leaders in Atlanta, Georgia to retain IT professionals. Semistructured interviews were employed to elicit detailed narratives from these IT leaders on their experiences in retaining IT professionals. A review of company documents, as well as member-checking of initial interview transcripts, helped …

Correlations Between Childhood Obesity And Obesogenic Environmental Variables Within Durham County, North Carolina, Eureka Capri Daye

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The application of geographic information systems was used to map obesogenic conditions by zip code tabulation areas in Durham County, North Carolina and evaluated associations between those conditions and the understudied area of early childhood obesity. Of the thirty one percent of the children in Durham County, North Carolina who were considered obese in 2010, four hundred and thirty three (1:5) 2 - 4 year old children who received supplemental nutrition services for women, infants and children were obese with BMI levels greater or equal to the 95th percentile and were used as the criterion variable in the study (N=433). …

Technological Factors For The Sustainability Of The Small Business Entrepreneur, Noghor Pessu

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Technical innovation creates challenges for the small business entrepreneur who uses global activities in the marketplace. Information technology and the technological innovations of the World Wide Web are driving competitiveness in the marketplace with a loss of market share for the individual business owner. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences and perceptions of a purposive sample of 20 small business owners in the metropolitan Atlanta area regarding the effect of technology, technological insertion, and application for long-term sustainability. Rogers's diffusion of innovations theory served as the conceptual framework of this study. Data were gathered …

Constitutive Activity In Orphan G Protein Coupled Receptors, Adam Lee Martin

Doctoral Dissertations

"The goal of this research was to use a distal signaling pathway analysis to evaluate the extent of agonist independent constitutive signaling among orphan class-A G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). These receptors translate extracellular signals via conformational change into intracellular activation of different G proteins and subsequent second messenger synthesis. These small molecules regulate cellular biochemistry, eventually leading to nuclear signaling that results in changes in gene expression. Some GPCRs are capable of signaling in the absence of an activating ligand, a phenomenon called constitutive activity that is inhibited via an "inverse-agonist". The use of cAMP dependent Luciferase expression is …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Vanadium Oxide Nanomaterials, Tyler M. Fears

Doctoral Dissertations

"This dissertation focuses on the synthesis and characterization of vanadium oxide nanomaterials and neutron-transparent Li-ion battery electrolytes.

Vanadium oxide gels were synthesized via the epoxide-assisted gelation of VOCl₃ using epichlorohydrin in ethanol. This represents the first epoxide-assisted gelation developed for vanadium oxide gels and serves as a potential economical replacement for the fabrication of vanadium oxide gels via the hydrolysis of vanadium alkoxides. Though epoxide-assisted gelation has been demonstrated for a number of transition metal oxides, the gelation mechanism observed here for VOCl₃ appears to be unique.

While investigating the electrochemical and structural properties of lithium vanadates, it …

History And Climate Science: A Collaborative Relationship For The Twenty-First Century, Fiona Williamson

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

History as a subject for higher education (and beyond) has often been criticized for failing to be relevant to the demands of the twenty-first century. This paper argues that not only is learning from our past a valuable exercise in any time period, but that historical research can provide modern sciences with the much needed data and contextual analysis crucial to understanding many of the problems facing our world today. Based on research from historic archives in the UK and Malaysia, this paper explains how historians are recovering historic data invaluable to modern climate science, and demonstrates just how this …

Privacy-Preserving Power Usage Control In Smart Grids, Huchun

Doctoral Dissertations

"The smart grid (SG) has been emerging as the next-generation intelligent power grid system because of its ability to efficiently monitor, predicate, and control energy generation, transmission, and consumption by analyzing users' real-time electricity information. Consider a situation in which the utility company would like to smartly protect against a power outage. To do so, the company can determine a threshold for a neighborhood. Whenever the total power usage from the neighborhood exceeds the threshold, some or all of the households need to reduce their energy consumption to avoid the possibility of a power outage. This problem is referred to …

Elastic Personalized Nonfunctional Attribute Preference And Trade-Off Based Service Selection, Kenneth K. Fletcher, Xiaoqing F. Liu, Mingdong Tang

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

For service users to get the best service that meet their requirements, they prefer to personalize their nonfunctional attributes, such as reliability and price. However, the personalization makes it challenging for service providers to completely meet users' preferences, because they have to deal with conflicting nonfunctional attributes when selecting services for users. With this in mind, users may sometimes want to explicitly specify their trade-offs among nonfunctional attributes to make their preferences known to service providers. In this article, we present a novel service selection method based on fuzzy logic that considers users' personalized preferences and their trade-offs on nonfunctional …

Pulses And Snakes In Ginzburg-Landau Equation, S.C. Mancas, Roy S. Choudhury

Publications

Using a variational formulation for partial differential equations combined with numerical simulations on ordinary differential equations (ODEs), we find two categories (pulses and snakes) of dissipative solitons, and analyze the dependence of both their shape and stability on the physical parameters of the cubic-quintic Ginzburg–Landau equation (CGLE). In contrast to the regular solitary waves investigated in numerous integrable and non-integrable systems over the last three decades, these dissipative solitons are not stationary in time. Rather, they are spatially confined pulse-type structures whose envelopes exhibit complicated temporal dynamics. Numerical simulations reveal very interesting bifurcations sequences as the parameters of the CGLE …

Exploring How Social Media Can Be Used To Promote Space Awareness: A Case Study Of The Yuri's Night Web 2.0, Alan Steinberg, Jeffrey Alles, Ryan L. Kobrick

Publications

Despite the importance of social media as an inexpensive and efficient means of communication, it is not clear to what degree space advocacy groups are making a strong organized effort to use the resources available to them. Moreover, there is no previous literature that specifically examines the use of social media tools by space organizations. This study seeks to start a larger dialog regarding how the space advocacy community can make use of these tools to promote their mission. Using a case study approach, this article focuses specifically on the organization of Yuri’s Night to explore how this group is …

Nano-Structured Materials For Energy Storage Applications, Dongxue Zhao

Doctoral Dissertations

"Hydrogen is a non-polluting and efficient energy carrier. One barrier to utilizing hydrogen is a reliable storage method. NaAlH₄ is the prototypical example of a complex metal hydride with high hydrogen storage capacities (~ 5.5 wt.%) and acceptable reaction temperatures of around 100⁰ when using catalyst. On decomposition of these complex hydrides, such as NaAlH₄, one is left with monohydride NaH. The kinetics of diffusion in the monohydrides is important because reversibility hinges on mass transport and the formation of [AlH₄]^- anions that must structurally coordinate with the alkali metal cation on hydrogen absorption. …

Dynamic Behavior Of Operational Wind Turbines Considering Aerodynamic And Seismic Load Interaction, Mohammad-Amin Asareh

Doctoral Dissertations

"With the advancements in the wind energy production industry, the demand for a cost effective and safe design of wind turbine structures is growing rapidly. The wide deployment of wind turbines in locations with high seismic hazard has lead engineers to take into account a more comprehensive seismic design of such structures. In response to the need for a computational tool that can perform coupled simulations of wind and seismic loads, a seismic module has been developed for the publicly available National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) code, FAST, at the first step of this research. This achievement allows engineers working …

Enabling Near-Term Prediction Of Status For Intelligent Transportation Systems: Management Techniques For Data On Mobile Objects, Lasanthi Nilmini Heendaliya

Doctoral Dissertations

"Location Dependent Queries (LDQs) benefit from the rapid advances in communication and Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies to track moving objects' locations, and improve the quality-of-life by providing location relevant services and information to end users. The enormity of the underlying data maintained by LDQ applications - a large quantity of mobile objects and their frequent mobility - is, however, a major obstacle in providing effective and efficient services. Motivated by this obstacle, this thesis sets out in the quest to find improved methods to efficiently index, access, retrieve, and update volatile LDQ related mobile object data and information. …

Synthesis, Characterization And Application Of Acrylic Colloidal Unimolecular Polymer (Cup), Ameya Manohar Natu

Doctoral Dissertations

"Colloidal Unimolecular Polymer (CUP) particles were prepared by the process of water reduction on amphiphilic acrylic copolymers prepared via free radical polymerization technique. The formation of CUP particles was driven by the polymer-polymer interaction being greater than the polymer-solvent interaction and entropically favored by release of the water. It was demonstrated by Dynamic Light Scattering technique that CUP particles based on copolymers below 13,000 MW were unstable and the particles aggregated to a higher particle size. For the polymers with molecular weight (MW) above 13,000, a good correlation between the theoretical and experimental CUP particle size was observed. The rheology …

Performance Analysis And Modelling Of Hybrid Photovoltaic-Thermal Solar Panels, Nicole C. Annis

Doctoral Dissertations

A photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) panel was constructed, tested, and modelled using both MATLAB and TRNSYS. During the experimental testing, which took place on the Missouri University of Science and Technology campus in Rolla, Missouri; two identical PVT panels were tested alongside two PV panels to gather an electrical baseline for comparison. Approximately 69 days’ worth of data were of data were collected during the summer of 2014. The PV electrical, PVT electrical, PVT thermal and PVT combined (electrical and thermal) efficiencies were 3.5-5.6%, 3.4-5.4%, 20.9-11.6%, and 24.3-17.0%, respectively.

A MATLAB program was developed using existing equations for one-dimensional, quasi-steady model of …

Selective Solid Phase Extraction Of Uranium Using An Aminophosphonic Acid Functionalized Composite Material, Ranalda Tsosie

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Uranium is an element of interest because it is an abundant source of concentrated energy. In 1948 the US offered money for uranium ore mined in the US, which created a mining boom in the southwest that included the Navajo Reservation. During the late 1960s the demand for uranium decreased and many mining operations shutdown and left behind a legacy of contamination. As a result many Navajo communities have numerous water sources that exceed established maximum contamination levels for uranium and other toxic metals. These contaminations are a direct result of abandoned Cold War uranium mines and mill waste sites …

Infinite Product Representations For Kernels And Iteration Of Functions, Daniel Alpay, Palle Jorgensen, Izchak Lewkowicz, Itzik Marziano

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

We study infinite products of reproducing kernels with view to their use in dynamics (of iterated function systems), in harmonic analysis, and in stochastic processes. On the way, we construct a new family of representations of the Cuntz relations. Then, using these representations we associate a fixed filled Julia set with a Hilbert space. This is based on analysis and conformal geometry of a fixed rational mapping R in one complex variable, and its iterations.

Logical Pre- And Post-Selection Paradoxes Are Proofs Of Contextuality, Matthew F. Pusey, Matthew S. Leifer

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

If a quantum system is prepared and later post-selected in certain states, “paradoxical” predictions for intermediate measurements can be obtained. This is the case both when the intermediate measurement is strong, i.e. a projective measurement with Lüders-von Neumann update rule, or with weak measurements where they show up in anomalous weak values. Leifer and Spekkens [Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 200405] identified a striking class of such paradoxes, known as logical pre- and postselection paradoxes, and showed that they are indirectly connected with contextuality. By analysing the measurement-disturbance required in models of these phenomena, we find that the strong measurement version …

Business Reputation Of Social Networks Of Web Services, Zakaria Maamar, Gianpiero Costantino, Marinella Petrocchi, Fabio Martinelli

All Works

© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license. This paper introduces a set of criteria that are used to establish the reputation of a social network from a business perspective. This network is populated with social Web services. Compared to regular Web services, social Web services establish and maintain networks of contacts, count on their (privileged) contacts when needed, etc. These criteria are membershipCost, demandLevel, satisfactionLevel, and retentionLevel, and assist a social Web service in selecting the best social network in which it will sign up. Similar criteria have …

Aerosol Optical Properties Over Mount Song, A Rural Site In Central China, Lunche Wang, Wei Gong, Ramesh P. Singh, Xiangao Xia, Huizheng Che, Ming Zhang, Hong Lin

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Seasonal variations of aerosol optical depth (AOD), Ångström exponent (α), single scattering albedo (SSA), water vapor content (WVC), aerosol size distribution and refractive index at Mount Song, a rural site in Central China are analyzed using ground-based sunphotometer data for the period April 2012 to May 2014 for the first time. The results show that the area is highly polluted even the major anthropogenic emission sources are far away. Seasonal mean AOD is high (0.72 ± 0.52) during summer (June–August) season and low (0.51 ± 0.38) during autumn (September–November) season. The monthly mean α is very low (0.81 ± 0.30) …

E-Mail Authorship Attribution Using Customized Associative Classification, Michael R. Schmid, Farkhund Iqbal, Benjamin C.M. Fung

All Works

E-mail communication is often abused for conducting social engineering attacks including spamming, phishing, identity theft and for distributing malware. This is largely attributed to the problem of anonymity inherent in the standard electronic mail protocol. In the literature, authorship attribution is studied as a text categorization problem where the writing styles of individuals are modeled based on their previously written sample documents. The developed model is employed to identify the most plausible writer of the text. Unfortunately, most existing studies focus solely on improving predictive accuracy and not on the inherent value of the evidence collected. In this study, we …

Enhancing Social Science Research In The Uae: An Open Source Software Solution University Of Sharjah (Uos) Case Study, Manar Abu Talib, Muhammed Abuodeh, Adhraa Almansoori, Arwa Alnauimi

All Works

© 2015 The Manar Abu Talib, Muhammed AbuOdeh, Adhraa Almansoori and Arwa AlNauimi. Researchers, practitioners and social scientists all agree on the enormous importance of social science research in advancing human knowledge and informing public policy makers. The National Research Foundation, along with other organizations in the UAE, is leading the initiative to integrate the efforts of social research institutions in order to support the decision making process in the UAE. As indicated by a number of social researchers during the last forum held on May 29-30, 2012, at the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, Abu Dhabi, UAE, …

Factors Influencing Digital Forensic Investigations: Empirical Evaluation Of 12 Years Of Dubai Police Cases, Ibtesam Alawadhi, Janet Read, Andrew Marrington, Virginia Franqueira

All Works

In Digital Forensics, the number of person-hours spent on investigation is a key factor which needs to be kept to a minimum whilst also paying close attention to the authenticity of the evidence. The literature describes challenges behind increasing person-hours and identifies several factors which contribute to this phenomenon. This paper reviews these factors and demonstrates that they do not wholly account for increases in investigation time. Using real case records from the Dubai Police, an extensive study explains the contribution of other factors to the increase in person-hours. We conclude this work by emphasizing on several factors affecting the …

Monolithic Optofluidic Ring Resonator Lasers Created By Femtosecond Laser Nanofabrication, Hengky Chandrahalim, Qiushu Chen, Ali A. Said, Mark Dugan, Xudong Fan

Faculty Publications

We designed, fabricated, and characterized a monolithically integrated optofluidic ring resonator laser that is mechanically, thermally, and chemically robust. The entire device, including the ring resonator channel and sample delivery microfluidics, was created in a block of fused-silica glass using a 3-dimensional femtosecond laser writing process. The gain medium, composed of Rhodamine 6G (R6G) dissolved in quinoline, was flowed through the ring resonator. Lasing was achieved at a pump threshold of approximately 15 μJ/mm². Detailed analysis shows that the Q-factor of the optofluidic ring resonator is 3.3 × 10⁴, which is limited by both solvent …

Network And Device Forensic Analysis Of Android Social-Messaging Applications, Daniel Walnycky, Ibrahim Baggili, Andrew Marrington, Jason Moore, Frank Breitinger

All Works

In this research we forensically acquire and analyze the device-stored data and network traffic of 20 popular instant messaging applications for Android. We were able to reconstruct some or the entire message content from 16 of the 20 applications tested, which reflects poorly on the security and privacy measures employed by these applications but may be construed positively for evidence collection purposes by digital forensic practitioners. This work shows which features of these instant messaging applications leave evidentiary traces allowing for suspect data to be reconstructed or partially reconstructed, and whether network forensics or device forensics permits the reconstruction of …

Facies, Architecture, And Sequence Stratigraphy Of The Devonian-Mississippian Sappington Formation, Bridger Range, Montana, Anna S. Phelps

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Late Devonian-Early Mississippian Sappington Formation in Montana is a marine unit comprised of lower and upper organic-rich shale members and a middle calcareous siltstone member. The Sappington Formation was deposited during a period of complex paleogeography in Montana, characterized by deposition in sub-basins and onlap onto structural highs, and eustatically- and tectonically-driven transgressive-regressive cycles. Detailed outcrop analysis was conducted on the Sappington Formation across the Bridger Range in southwestern Montana to better understand the Sappington Formation depositional system and changing regional paleogeography. The Sappington Formation is further interpreted in a stratigraphic architectural framework to improve the ability to predict …