Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Information Technology Infrastructure: Global Economy And National Development In Haiti, Reynolds Alcena

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Political and environmental chaos recently experienced in Haiti has damaged the economic sector and telecommunication infrastructure. Developmental data from Haiti show 3 major trends: inadequate social and economic development, insufficient benefits from the global economy, and poorly planned information technology infrastructure (ITI). The specific problem addressed in this study is a knowledge gap in the views of stakeholders within Haiti's national culture on how the country's ITI can be developed to better engage Haiti in 21st century global and digital economy. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the views of 48 expert participants regarding ITI development …

Staff Education Module For Bar Code Medication Administration, Francoise Juste

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA) is a technology-supported nursing tool that has become the standard of practice for medication administration. When used effectively and efficiently, this tool has the potential to reduce medication errors in acute care settings. In a pediatric unit at a major urban hospital in the northeast region of the United States, the absence of a BCMA nursing staff educational module affected the use of this safety tool leading to an increase of medication errors. The purpose of this DNP project was to develop a comprehensive educational module to promote BCMA in the pediatric unit of the …

Equity Trading Evaluation Strategies In Switzerland After The European Mifid Ii, Linn Kristina Karstadt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Swiss bank traders are affected by technological and regulatory challenges, which may affect their broker voting process and may result in a change of trading and evaluation behavior in 2018. Compounded challenges exist when broker evaluation strategies are not effective or Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) II compliant. This qualitative, single case study, built on efficient capital market hypothesis and innovative disruption theory, was focused on effective broker evaluation strategies after MiFID II in Switzerland. The sample consisted of 4 buy-side traders, who shared their unique perspectives. Methodological triangulation was achieved through semistructured interviews, a review of the institution's …

Successful Strategies For Implementing An Enterprise Resource Planning System, Arrogah Adade-Boafo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation success rate is as low as 30%. Researchers have shown that ERP system implementation could cause both system and organization failures, affecting operations and stakeholders, alike. The technology-organization-environment conceptual framework was used to ground this qualitative single-case study. The purpose of the study was to explore strategies that a manufacturing firm in Ghana used to implement ERP systems successfully. The population of this case study comprised 5 stakeholders from a manufacturing firm in Ghana who had success in implementing an ERP system. Data were collected using face-to-face semistructured interviews and review of various corporate …

Influence Of Reading Proficiency On Placement And Success In Online Developmental Mathematics, Diane Marie Stryk

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Community college leaders have spent years trying to improve success rates for students in developmental mathematics (DM) courses, but with little progress. This quantitative study, using a pre-experimental static-group research design, examined if a change in a community college district's policy and practices for student placement into DM courses could improve student success in online DM courses. Bounded rationality theory provided the lens to view how students' decision making is influenced by the lack of timely and appropriate information during the placement process. The study addressed whether a composite placement score, the result of combining the ACCUPLACER placement scores for …

Strategies To Sustain Small And Medium-Size Manufacturing Enterprises In Jamaica, Hugh Anthony Blake

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Jamaica's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have a high failure rate. In 2016, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) recorded Jamaica's SME start-up rate at 4.06% and the discontinuance rate at 9%. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive multiple case study was to explore the strategies some Jamaican SME owners used to achieve business sustainability in the manufacturing sector for longer than 5 years of operation. The conceptual framework used was the entrepreneurship theory, which provided insights into business sustainability. A purposive sample of 5 owners of SMEs who had achieved business sustainability in the manufacturing sector for longer than 5 …

Detection Of Cyanotoxins (Microcystins/Nodularins) In Hepatic Tissues And Epidermal Mats Of Stranded Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus) In Northeast Florida, Amber Brown

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The St. Johns River (SJR; Jacksonville, FL, USA) is a large, brackish, estuarine system characterized by considerable anthropogenic pollution, recurrent harmful algal blooms (HABs), and diverse toxin-producing cyanobacteria. The most prevalent toxins in SJR water samples are microcystins/nodularins (MCs/NODs). Additionally, the SJR provides critical habitat for a genetically and behaviorally distinct estuarine community of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) that routinely uses and strands in low mesohaline and oligohaline areas of the river. This population has been subject to two unusual mortality events (UME) since 2010 and has since been described as having substantial declines in population health, characterized …

Particle Filters For State Estimation Of Confined Aquifers, Graeme Field

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mathematical models are used in engineering and the sciences to estimate properties of systems of interest, increasing our understanding of the surrounding world and driving technological innovation. Unfortunately, as the systems of interest grow in complexity, so to do the models necessary to accurately describe them. Analytic solutions for problems with such models are provably intractable, motivating the use of approximate yet still accurate estimation techniques. Particle filtering methods have emerged as a popular tool in the presence of such models, spreading from its origins in signal processing to a diverse set of fields throughout engineering and the sciences including …

Holistic Model Of Website Design Elements That Influence Trustworthiness, Christopher Travis Lavalley

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Trustworthiness of a website relies foremost on a good first impression which includes the visitor’s perception of the user interface. The focus of this research is to investigate the effects of website design elements on user perception of trustworthiness of a site and provide a set of guidelines for website designers.

The research design is based on Yosef Jabardeen’s (2009) “conceptual framework analysis”. In this research paper, a holistic model is developed to depict the relationships among website design elements and trustworthiness. The model was tested, validated and updated using the results of the repertory grid technique, a process that …

Investigation Of Near-Bottom Current Characteristics Along An Open-Ocean Coast, Nikole S. Ward

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Near-bottom current data was collected over a period of 8 years at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility in Duck, North Carolina. This data set consisted of currents measured up to three elevations above the bottom at deployment depths of 5 meters, 8 meters and 13 meters, as well as continuous real-time wind and wave data collected at the pier. The data was collated, quality checked and analyzed to define a climatology of near bottom currents along the study area using current moments. This data set had previously never been available for analysis due to the large …

A Consideration Of Mason’S Ethical Framework: The Importance Of Papa Factors In The 21st Century: A Seven-Year Study, Katharine Creevey Brown

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Richard Mason proposed a social framework for addressing the major ethical issues of the information age in his pivotal 1986 article “Four Ethical Issues of the Information Age.” In 2006, Alan Peslak validated the framework by measuring the current attitudes of students, IT professionals, and university faculty and staff toward the four key issues proposed by Mason: privacy, accuracy, property, and accessibility (referred to as PAPA). This study continues this inquiry into the seven-year period after Peslak’s research. Previously collected data was analyzed for 312 university computing majors taking a senior-level ethics course where Mason was taught and discussed. Demographic …

On The Effectiveness Of An Iot - Fog - Cloud Architecture For A Real-World Application, Nathan Wheeler

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fog Computing is an emerging computing paradigm that shifts certain processing closer to the Edge of a network, generally within one network hop, where latency is minimized, and results can be obtained the quickest. However, not a lot of research has been done on the effectiveness of Fog in real-world applications. The aim of this research is to show the effectiveness of the Fog Computing paradigm as the middle layer in a 3-tier architecture between the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Cloud. Two applications were developed: one utilizing Fog in a 3-tier architecture and another application using IoT and …

Self-Assembly Of Dna Graphs And Postman Tours, Katie Bakewell

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

DNA graph structures can self-assemble from branched junction molecules to yield solutions to computational problems. Self-assembly of graphs have previously been shown to give polynomial time solutions to hard computational problems such as 3-SAT and k-colorability problems. Jonoska et al. have proposed studying self-assembly of graphs topologically, considering the boundary components of their thickened graphs, which allows for reading the solutions to computational problems through reporter strands. We discuss weighting algorithms and consider applications of self-assembly of graphs and the boundary components of their thickened graphs to problems involving minimal weight Eulerian walks such as the Chinese Postman Problem and …

On Representations Of The Jacobi Group And Differential Equations, Benjamin Webster

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In PDEs with nontrivial Lie symmetry algebras, the Lie symmetry naturally yield Fourier and Laplace transforms of fundamental solutions. Applying this fact we discuss the semidirect product of the metaplectic group and the Heisenberg group, then induce a representation our group and use it to investigate the invariant solutions of a general differential equation of the form .

Strategies To Implement Succession Planning In A Nonprofit, Talecia Y. Parks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Surveys of nonprofit organizations conducted between 2004 and 2014 showed that 74% of the 6,923 leaders surveyed did not have a succession plan. In this qualitative single case study, the human capital theory was used as a guide to explore strategies used to implement a succession plan by 3 nonprofit leaders in a single nonprofit organization in a large metropolitan city in Southeastern Georgia. The participants were selected based on their implementation of succession plan strategies and geographical location. Semistructured interviews and document review were used to collect the data, which were analyzed using Yin's 5-step approach. Three themes emerged: …

Employee Retention Strategies In The Information Technology Industry, Corey Harris

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Productivity declines when employees voluntarily leave an organization. The purpose of this case study was to explore strategies that business leaders use to reduce turnover among their skilled information technology (IT) professionals in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Six business leaders were selected because they had implemented strategies to retain skilled IT professionals. Herzberg's 2-factor theory was the conceptual framework for this doctoral study. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and review of the organization's policies, procedures, and personnel handbook. Data analysis consisted of assembling the data, organizing the data into codes, compiling the data into themes, and interpreting and disclosing …

Public Health Providers' Perceptions Of Electronic Health Records In A Disaster, Sherhonda Yvette Harper

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The introduction of federal initiatives and incentives regarding health information technology fostered a movement towards the adoption of electronic health records (EHR). Implementation of EHRs sparked discussions among healthcare providers, patients, and others about the benefits or challenges of the move from the traditional paper method to the electronic version in healthcare settings. A knowledge gap in research involving the usefulness of EHRs and their impact to the delivery of care in other settings exists. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore public health providers' perceptions of the meaningful use of EHRs in a disaster setting. Study participants …

Aligning Social Media, Mobile, Analytics, And Cloud Computing Technologies And Disaster Response, William Tuley Worthy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

After nearly 2 decades of advances in information and communications technologies (ICT) including social media, mobile, analytics, and cloud computing, disaster response agencies in the United States have not been able to improve alignment between ICT-based information and disaster response actions. This grounded theory study explored emergency response ICT managers' understanding of how social media, mobile, analytics, and cloud computing technologies (SMAC) are related to and can inform disaster response strategies. Sociotechnical theory served as the conceptual framework to ground the study. Data were collected from document reviews and semistructured interviews with 9 ICT managers from emergency management agencies in …

Initiating Factors Affecting Information Systems Project Success, Jonathan Olubunmi Afolabi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Information systems (IS) projects are complex and costly, but only a 3rd of IS projects are successful; the Standish Group reported that 32% of IS projects were successful in 2012. Although investments in research have led to improvements in practice, there is a general perception that management failures are responsible for the low rate of IS project success. The effects of initiating factors on project outcome had not been sufficiently explored; few IS researchers have explored the initiation phase. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore project initiation factors, including relational, as well as decision-making aspects, and …

Mechanistic Investigations Of The Iron(Iii)-Catalyzed Carbonyl-Olefin Metathesis Reaction, Susan Phan

Master's Theses

Iron(III)-catalyzed carbonyl-olefin ring-closing metathesis represents a new approach toward the assembly of molecules traditionally generated by olefinˆ’olefin metathesis or olefination. Herein, we report detailed synthetic, spectroscopic, kinetic, and computational studies to determine the mechanistic features imparted by iron(III), substrate, and temperature to the catalytic cycle. These data are consistent with an iron(III)-mediated asynchronous, concerted [2+2]-cycloaddition to form an intermediate oxetane as the turnover-limiting step. Fragmentation of the oxetane via Lewis acid-activation results in the formation of five- and six-membered unsaturated carbocycles.

A Study Into The Feasibility Of Using Natural Language Processing And Machine Learning For The Identification Of Alcohol Misuse In Trauma Patients, Andrew Phillips

Master's Theses

Alcohol misuse is a leading cause of premature death in the United States, with nearly a third of trauma patients found to have elevated blood alcohol levels upon admission. However, timely intervention has been shown to reduce this. It is thus important to be able to quickly screen patients to identify alcohol misuse. Many medical centers use standardized questionnaires to identify alcohol misuse, but since these instruments are not usually a part of routine care, there are many cases where it is not done.

In this study, large quantities of notes were processed with natural language processing and machine learning …

Toddler Activity Recognition Using Machine Learning, Pinky Sindhu

Master's Theses

Pinky Sindhu

Loyola University Chicago

TODDLER ACTIVITY RECOGNITION USING MACHINE LEARNING

Toddlers behave differently than adults, to say the least. It is valuable to accurately measure the specific types of physical activity (PA) in toddlers; such information can be analyzed to predict future health prospects in relation to conditions like obesity.

We attached ActiGraph accelerometers to the wrist and waist of toddlers and recorded PAs. Toddlers were videotaped, and their movements were annotated as 20 specific activities. These activities were classified into 3 summary activity intensities including sedentary, light intensity PA (LPA), and moderate to vigorous intensity PA (MVPA).

Automated …

Automating Ciri Ratings Of Human Rights Reports Using Gate, Joshua M. Joiner

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis involves parsing document-based reports from the United States Human Rights Reports and rating the human practices for various countries based on the CIRI (Cingranelli-Richards) Human Rights Data Project dataset. The United States Human Rights Reports are annual reports that cover internationally recognized human rights practices regarding individual, civil, political, and worker rights. Students, scholars, policymakers, and analysts used the CIRI data for practical and research purposes. CIRI analyzed the annual reports from 1981 to 2011 and then stopped releasing the dataset for any further years, but a possible reason is due to the manual process of scouring the …

Bimetallic Complexes: The Fundamental Aspects Of Metal-Metal Interactions, Ligand Sterics And Application, Michael Bernard Pastor

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Metal containing complexes have been used to catalyze various organic transformations for the past few decades. The success of several mononuclear catalysts led to transition metal catalysts used in pharmaceuticals, environmental, and industrial processes. While mononuclear complexes have been used extensively, bimetallic systems have received far less attention. Bimetallic or polynuclear sites are commonly found in metalloenzymes that perform elegant transformation in biological systems, underlying their significance. Inorganic chemists take inspiration from nature and design model bimetallic complexes to further study this cooperativity effect. A bimetallic platform offers many structural and functional differences such as the identity of the metal …