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- Title
- Testing a pilot intervention aiming to increase transgender allyship among future healthcare providers
- Creator
- Yoder, Wren
- Date
- 2021
- Description
-
Transgender individuals often experience poor health outcomes related to a lack of provider knowledge and comfort around transgender issues. ...
Show moreTransgender individuals often experience poor health outcomes related to a lack of provider knowledge and comfort around transgender issues. Ally identity development and cultural humility theories have been used to develop interventions shown to improve attitudes, knowledge, and skills related to being an ally to the transgender community. Additionally, healthcare providers have reported a desire for online tools related to transgender healthcare, and online interventions can be more cost effective than traditional in-person trainings. The current study developed an hour-long online intervention composed of six activities aiming to increase attitudes, knowledge, skills, and identification as an ally to the transgender community. Tests were conducted to assess whether these domains increased significantly from baseline to post in the intervention condition compared to the control condition and whether the increase was maintained at 2-week follow up. The sample included cisgender (i.e., male or female) students studying a subject related to healthcare recruited online through Prolific (N = 78). Results indicated that knowledge and skills increased significantly from baseline to post in the intervention condition compared to the control condition, and increases were maintained at 2-week follow up. However, this was not the case for attitudes and identity. These findings largely replicate existing research on knowledge about transgender individuals and provide new insights into skills, attitudes, and identity related to transgender allyship. Findings can inform future research on transgender allyship intervention design and allyship theory as well as support improvements in clinical practice and policy related to transgender healthcare services.
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- Title
- HIGH-THROUGHPUT FIRST-PRINCIPLES STUDY ON HIGH-ENTROPY ALLOYS
- Creator
- Zhang, Jie
- Date
- 2021
- Description
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This research thesis discusses the current ecosystem surrounding a new type of alloy: high entropy alloys (HEA) or multi-element crystalline...
Show moreThis research thesis discusses the current ecosystem surrounding a new type of alloy: high entropy alloys (HEA) or multi-element crystalline materials and lays out the high-throughput first-principles calculation as a valuable approach to study these materials. The density function theory (DFT) from computational material science prospect was implemented to investigate the HEAs. Using EMTO-CPA algorithm, high-throughput DFT calculations were conducted. A total of 1958 HEA systems including equimolar and non-equimolar systems were studied with respect to the varies properties, including lattice parameters, bulk moduli, elastic constants, and elastic anisotropy. The first-principles HEA dataset was employed as the training set for the DeepSets a machine learning model. DeepSets, in combination with EMTO-CPA high-throughput calculation, successfully predicted the mechanical properties of specific HEA composition. This paves a promising new path of designing, investigating, and validating the HEA system compared to the time-consuming conventional HEA design method. The doping effect of Vanadium (V) and Titanium (Ti) to NbMoTaW HEA, as well as V or Ti as the fifth element with different molar fraction to the NbMoTaW HEA system, were studied. The phase stability of the new systems was discussed and concluded that all proposed systems tend to form single-phase solid solution. Though the addiction of V only slightly enhances the system’s ductility, the addition of Ti not only enhances the quinary system NbMoTaWTiX (X =0.25, 0.5,0.75, 1.0) ductility, but enables the system to be closer to fully isotropic.
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- Title
- Sex Differences in a Network Model of Depressive Symptoms
- Creator
- Ginger, Emily J
- Date
- 2021
- Description
-
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is one of the most prevalent mental health disorders, with a lifetime prevalence rate of 13-16% and 12-month...
Show moreMajor Depressive Disorder (MDD) is one of the most prevalent mental health disorders, with a lifetime prevalence rate of 13-16% and 12-month prevalence rates of 5-7%. It has long been established that the rates of MDD in females is two to three times that of males. Previous research has examined sex differences in the occurrence and severity of MDD symptoms, primarily indicating greater severity of appetite increase and weight gain in females compared to males. The majority of previous research has been conducted assuming the latent factor model that MDD accounts for the symptoms of depression, and sex operates as a mediator or moderator between the latent variable and MDD, or between MDD and its symptoms. The present study used network analysis to examine whether there are sex differences in the relations between symptoms of depression, which might be an important factor for understanding sex differences in prevalence rates of MDD. The present study compared networks of DSM MDD symptoms between currently depressed females and males, and separate networks that also included other symptoms commonly associated with depression (e.g., anxiety, anger). Sex differences were examined using jointly estimated networks, and a Network Comparison Test (NCT) for the independently estimated networks. Results indicated no sex differences in depression symptom networks. These results indicate that depressive symptom networks, or the relations between symptoms are not an important factor for understanding the disparity in sex differences in MDD prevalence rates. Interestingly, non-DSM symptoms were among the strongest and most important symptoms within the network, suggesting future research and diagnostic criteria should consider inclusion of non-DSM symptoms associated with MDD.
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- Title
- TASK-BASED LOAD FORECASTING AND ROBUST RESOURCE SCHEDULING IN SMART GRID
- Creator
- Han, Jiayu
- Date
- 2021
- Description
-
In microgrids, the uncertainty of load and renewables and lack of generation capacity will lead to a wide variety of operation problems in...
Show moreIn microgrids, the uncertainty of load and renewables and lack of generation capacity will lead to a wide variety of operation problems in both grid-connected mode and islanded mode. This motivates the design of the state-of-art microgrid master controller for microgrid energy management, load forecasting, and demand response. Uncertainty in renewables and load is a great challenge for microgrid operation, especially in islanded mode as the microgrid may be small in size and has limited flexible resources. A multi-timescale, two-stage robust dispatch model is proposed to optimize the microgrid operation. The proposed one uses only one model to combine the hourly and sub-hourly dispatch together, which means the day-ahead hourly dispatch results must also satisfy the sub-hourly conditions. At the same time, the feasibility of the day-ahead dispatch result is verified in the worst-case condition considering the high-level uncertainty in renewable energy output and load consumptions. In addition, battery energy storage system (BESS) and solar PV units are integrated as a combined solar-storage system in the proposed model and the output power of the combined solar-storage system remains unchanged on an hourly basis. Furthermore, both BESS and thermal units provide regulating reserve to manage solar and load uncertainty. The model has been tested in a controller hardware in loop (CHIL) environment for the Bronzeville Community Microgrid system in Chicago. The simulation results show that the proposed model works effectively in managing the uncertainty in solar PV and load and can provide a flexible dispatch in both grid-connected and islanded modes.When the generation capacity of an islanded microgrid is less than the load demand, load curtailment is inevitable. This dissertation proposes a multi-objective optimization model to minimize the load curtailments. Specifically, the proposed model minimizes the generation cost and total load curtailments and also minimizes the maximum load curtailment. Furthermore, the impact of the penalty coefficients of total load curtailment and maximum load curtailment is analyzed, which provides a strategy to choose the value of the two penalty coefficients according to different practical purposes. The proposed model can be used in both microgrid generation scheduling and microgrid planning problems. It was tested in the Bronzeville Community Microgrid system and the results showed that the proposed model can reduce the total load curtailment and maximum load curtailment.Load forecasting is one of the most important and studied topics in modern power systems. However, traditional load forecasting is an open-loop process as it does not consider the end use of the forecasted load. This dissertation proposes a closed-loop task-based day-ahead load forecasting model labeled as LfEdNet that combines two individual layers in one model, including a load forecasting layer based on deep neural network (Lf layer) and a day-ahead stochastic economic dispatch (SED) layer (Ed layer). The training of LfEdNet aims to minimize the cost of the day-ahead SED in the Ed layer by updating the parameters of the Lf layer. Sequential quadratic programming (SQP) is used to solve the day-ahead SED in the Ed layer. The test results demonstrate that the forecasted results produced by LfEdNet can lead to lower cost of day-ahead SED at the expense of slight reduction in forecasting accuracy.
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- Title
- TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION OF SYNCHRONOUS ELECTRIC MACHINES
- Creator
- Guo, Feng
- Date
- 2021
- Description
-
Topology optimization of electric machine is attractive because of the increased design degree of freedom compared to conventional electric...
Show moreTopology optimization of electric machine is attractive because of the increased design degree of freedom compared to conventional electric machine design techniques. Also, a topology optimization approach does not necessarily require the use of a geometric template where dimensions are controlled by parameters. In this dissertation, a density-based magneto-structural topology optimization approach for the design of synchronous reluctance machine (SynRel), interior permanent magnet synchronous machine (IPMSM), and wound field synchronous machine (WFSM) rotors is developed. Depending on the electric machine type, the optimization problems are divided into single material and multi-material topology optimizations. A mass thresholding function is introduced to overcome the intermediate density issue which is caused by combining the magnetic and structural topology optimization problems. SynRel and IPMSM optimization examples are presented in the single material topology optimization section. For the multi-material topology optimization, in order to properly define the boundary conditions between multiple materials, a virtual region calculation approach is proposed. In the WFSM topology optimization, the copper field winding is represented by a virtual region. The contact and frictionless boundary conditions between the copper field winding and the electrical steel is defined and the centripetal load of the copper winding are equivalently calculated and applied on the elements on the electrical steel next to the boundary between the copper field winding and the steel of the WFSM pole tip. In additional to the total free-form magneto-structural topology optimization, a density-based combined dimensional and topology optimization is developed for the design of IPMSM and WFSM rotors. Both the dimensional and topological control variables are integrated to simplify the optimization problem. For IPMSM rotor design, the permanent magnet (PM) block shape is preferred to be retained where dimensional optimization could be used. The proposed dimensional topology optimization approach can fit in this design situation, where the PM is designed using dimensional control variables where the rest of the design domain is optimized using topology optimization. To allow the block or rectangular magnet to move and change size, the surrounding design domain mesh must deform or distort. The Laplace's smoothing mesh deformation technique is used in this approach and helper lines are connected to allow greater mesh deformation range and to avoid over mesh distortion. In addition to IPMSMs, a WFSM example is presented optimizing the winding region using dimensional optimization and the rotor core using topology optimization. An alternative combined dimensional and topology optimization approach has also been developed primarily for the design of the IPMSM rotors. In this approach, the mesh deformation is not required but there is no explicit geometric boundary between the rectangular permanent magnet and the surrounding electrical steel and air. In this approach, the PM density is expressed as a Heaviside rectangular function of dimensional variables. The function is projected onto the rotor mesh. Modified material penalizations are used. Topology optimization then controls the deposition of electrical steel and air. Three different IPMSM examples are presented with different dimensional control variables, including the PM position, size and angle.
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- Title
- Child Temperament, Attachment, and Loneliness: The Mediating Effects of Social Competence
- Creator
- Evans, Lindsey M
- Date
- 2021
- Description
-
Chronic loneliness is a risk factor associated with adverse psychological, physical, and academic outcomes. Converging evidence suggests that...
Show moreChronic loneliness is a risk factor associated with adverse psychological, physical, and academic outcomes. Converging evidence suggests that young children experience and can reliably report on their own loneliness. Due to the significant negative sequalae associated with childhood loneliness, it is critically important to examine risk factors for child loneliness. The aims of this study were two-fold: (a) to examine if temperament (i.e., negative affect, effortful control, and inhibitory control) and attachment security assessed at 4 years of age predict loneliness at age 6; and (b) to determine if social competence at age 5 mediates the relation between temperament and attachment security at age 4 and loneliness at age 6. Participants included a diverse sample of 796 4-year old children, about half of whom were male. At age 4, temperament was assessed with the Rothbart Child Behavior Questionnaire and three inhibitory control tasks, and attachment security was assessed with the Attachment Q-Sort. At age 5, the Social Skills Rating Scale was used to assess social competence, and, at age 6, loneliness was assessed with the Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Questionnaire. Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that lower levels of effortful control and inhibitory control at age 4 significantly predicted higher levels of loneliness at age 6. Also, lower levels of negative affect and higher levels of effortful control and attachment security at age 4 significantly predicted higher levels of social competence at age 5. However, social competence at age 5 did not predict loneliness at age 6. There was no evidence that social competence at age 5 mediated the relation between age 4 temperament, attachment security and age 6 loneliness. These findings reveal that early self-regulation is associated with later child-reported loneliness and that intervention for children who struggle with cognitive regulation may be effective in decreasing risk for later loneliness.
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- Title
- Inviscid Shock Propagation within a Variable-Geometry Scramjet Inlet
- Creator
- Grybko, Maciej
- Date
- 2021
- Description
-
The study concerns the propagation of shockwaves within an inlet of a scramjet engine and effect of inlet geometry variation on performance. A...
Show moreThe study concerns the propagation of shockwaves within an inlet of a scramjet engine and effect of inlet geometry variation on performance. A Python code was developed to simulate and visualize a flowfield within a scramjet inlet, based on inviscid oblique shock theory. The program was validated against NASA Shock software, and the results differed only by round-off error (0.05%). Subsequently a geometric sensitivity study was conducted, showing that throughout acceleration from Mach 5 to Mach 20 parameters like inlet height could be varied to ensure constant number of shocks within an inlet (preventing discontinuous changes of flowfield), whereas lower wedge angle could control compression required for optimal combustion. Correspondingly, a trajectory was determined with a constraint on static pressure entering combustion chamber (100 kPa). For an arbitrary baseline inlet geometry, it was established that beyond Mach 10 the scramjet would exceed structural load limit, despite delivering sufficient conditions for rapid combustion. Nevertheless, below Mach 10 it would operate efficiently, proving that hydrocarbon-fueled scramjets can have a fixed geometry. For higher speeds, a variable geometry is a necessity.
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- Title
- ARE SUPPORTIVE FOSTER CAREGIVERS ASSOCIATED WITH IMPROVED FOSTER CARE ALUMNI OUTCOMES? A LONGITUDINAL EXAMINATION OF THE EFFECT OF SUPPORTIVE FOSTER CAREGIVERS ON MENTAL HEALTH OUTCOMES IN A NATIONALLY REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE
- Creator
- Dunn, Megan Reeves
- Date
- 2021
- Description
-
Foster youth are a vulnerable population associated with poor health outcomes, but relatively little research has identified factors that may...
Show moreFoster youth are a vulnerable population associated with poor health outcomes, but relatively little research has identified factors that may mitigate adverse outcomes for these youth. The present study augments previous research by utilizing a nationally representative, longitudinal study (The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health or Add Health) to investigate whether foster youth in the United States face significantly different mental and behavioral health outcomes compared with same-age peers, and second, whether presence of a supportive foster caregiver may predict better mental and behavioral health outcomes in the foster youth subsample. Using data from Waves III and IV of the Add Health study (N = 12,288 participants, of which n = 282 were foster youth), analyses examined whether foster status and higher caregiver support was related to rates of depression symptoms, suicidal ideation, marijuana use, and alcohol use. Surprisingly, there were few differences between those with and without a foster history; higher frequency of marijuana use among foster youth was the only significant difference. However, analyses in the foster youth subsample indicated that the presence of a supportive caregiver was associated with lower rates of depression symptoms and lower endorsement of suicidal ideation, demonstrating caregiver support as a possible protective factor for foster youth. Future research must continue to explore potential benefits of caregiver support, as it may inform policy that can improve long-term outcomes for foster youth.
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- Title
- THE EFFECTS OF MODIFIED SURFACES ON INSULIN CRYSTALLIZATION
- Creator
- Hammadi, Okba Tahar
- Date
- 2021
- Description
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Engineered nucleation features (ENFs) were designed with the hope to improve the efficiency of protein crystallization and increase...
Show moreEngineered nucleation features (ENFs) were designed with the hope to improve the efficiency of protein crystallization and increase reproducibility both in quality and quantity. These ENFs were tested with human insulin as the protein of choice since it has flexible parameters, only one cofactor, and a large amount of commercially available crystal ready protein. Insulin crystallization on the ENFs will produce more crystals while also having a reduced crystallization on-set time compared to the control glass surface. The ENFs were compared to control surfaces under similar conditions and observed over time to record both onset-times and end times. The ENFs performed markedly better in on-set times, having an overall 87%-time reduction when compared to the control drops. The drops placed on the ENF produced more than 2.5x the number of crystals in the control drops.
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- Title
- THE EFFECTS OF COMMUNICATION MODALITY ON PRESENCE, COGNITIVE LOAD AND RETENTION IN SECOND LIFE
- Creator
- WILKES, STEPHANY FILIMON
- Date
- 2009-12
- Description
-
This thesis reports findings from a study (N = 60) of the impact of three communication modalities (voice only, text only, and voice and text...
Show moreThis thesis reports findings from a study (N = 60) of the impact of three communication modalities (voice only, text only, and voice and text simultaneously) on cognitive load, as measured by subjective reports of mental effort; on learning, as measured by tests of recall and retention; and on perceptions of presence as measured by a Presence Questionnaire (Witmer & Singer, 2005). Based on the results of prior empirical research, it is hypothesized that retention scores will be higher for voice participants and voice-and-text participants than for text-only participants; that cognitive load will be lower for voice participants and higher for text conditions; that voice will contribute to greater perceptions to presence; and that higher perceptions of presence will not correlate with deeper learning. Study results indicate that communication modality significantly effected cognitive load (F(2, 54) = 4.58, p = .01) and retention (F(2, 54) = 3.53, p = .04), and that experience with and time spent in the virtual environment had significant effects on measures of cognitive load, retention, and presence: Significant between-subjects effects were found for cognitive load and time (p = .23), for retention and time (p = .21), and for retention and experience (p — .03).
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- Title
- From Critical to Transformative Pedagogy in Architectural Education
- Creator
- Jones, Kristin
- Date
- 2019, 2019
- Publisher
- Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Washington, DC
- Collection
- 2019 ACSA/EAAE Teachers Conference Proceeding
- Title
- QUANTIFYING UNCERTAINTY IN RANDOM ALGEBRAIC OBJECTS USING DISCRETE METHODS
- Creator
- Wilburne, Dane
- Date
- 2018, 2018-05
- Description
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This thesis consists of two parts. Part 1 is concerned with the study of random algebraic objects and Part 2 deals with statistical modeling...
Show moreThis thesis consists of two parts. Part 1 is concerned with the study of random algebraic objects and Part 2 deals with statistical modeling for networks. Part 1 begins with the study of random monomial ideals. We define several models for generating random monomial ideals, illustrate their connection with models of random simplicial complexes, and study the behavior of various algebraic invariants of interest (e.g., Krull dimension and first Betti numbers) in the ER-type model. Next we consider a model for random numerical semigroups. In order to understand their properties, we introduce a family of simplicial complexes whose algebraic and combinatorial properties encode probabilistic information about random semigroups from the model. In Part 2, we introduce two exponential random graph models. The first is the shell distribution model. The sufficient statistics of this model are related to the k-cores of a network, which is a graph-theoretic concept designed to capture connectivity information in a more refined way than node degrees. We study the theoretical properties of the shell distribution model, develop an MCMC algorithm for sampling from the model, give an algorithm for sampling from the space of graphs with a fixed shell distribution, and present several simulation studies. The second model is the edge-degeneracy model, whose sufficient statistics are related to the density of edges in the graph. For this model, we prove several theoretical results concerning the model polytope and how it governs the asymptotic behavior of the model as the parameters diverge along infinite rays.
Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics, May 2018
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- Title
- Quantification of Vascular Permeability in the Retina Using Fluorescein Videoangiography Data as a Biomarker for Early Diabetic Retinopathy
- Creator
- Kayaalp Nalbant, Elif
- Date
- 2023
- Description
-
Diabetic retinopathy, which is the most common reason for blindness in the working-age population, affects over one-third of those who have...
Show moreDiabetic retinopathy, which is the most common reason for blindness in the working-age population, affects over one-third of those who have had diabetes for over ten years. High blood sugar level (hyperglycemia) in the blood damages blood vessels and tight junction at the blood-retinal barrier (BRB). Chronic inflammation leads to changes in vascular health, and over time blood vessels tend to get damaged and exhibit higher “leakage” or permeability. In the late stage of DR, hemorrhages can occur, leading to irreversible damage of neuronal tissue in the retina and vision loss. In the clinic, there are some biomarkers and imaging modalities used to diagnose DR based on some of the more severe products of DR (e.g., hemorrhage), but there is no non-invasive, highly sensitive method to detect diabetic retinopathy before clinical signs occur, when mitigating therapies could be more effective. In this thesis, indicator dilution theory was explored to modeling the temporal dynamics of fluorescein in the retina after intravenous injection, with an aim to quantitatively map subtle changes in retinal blood flow and vascular permeability that could preempt subsequent irreversible damage. Specifically, a simplified version of indicator dilution theory—namely the “adiabatic approximation in tissue homogeneity” (AATH) model—was used to estimate physiological parameters such as the blood flow (F) and the extraction fraction (E: a parameter coupled with vascular permeability) from retinal fluorescein videoangiography data. The AATH fitting protocol was optimized through simulations using a more complex model (the AATH-vascular heterogeneity model, AATH-VH). It was determined that a two-step least square fitting method was more sensitive than a single-step least square fitting of AATH to simulated data to evaluate vascular permeability in early diabetic retinopathy. The optimized data analysis protocol was then evaluated in an initial clinical study comparing healthy control subjects to those with moderate non-proliferative DR. Volumetric blood flow and retinal vascular permeability maps were compared between patient groups with clear increases in extraction fraction observed in the mild NPDR patients compared to control. These promising early data have been the foundation to an ongoing 5 year study tracking 100 Diabetic patients with no DR so see if early changes in vascular permeability can predict which patients are more likely to progress to DR.
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- Title
- Efficient management of uncertain data
- Creator
- Feng, Su
- Date
- 2023
- Description
-
Uncertainty arises naturally in many application domains. It can be caused by an uncertain data source (sensor errors, noise, etc.). Data...
Show moreUncertainty arises naturally in many application domains. It can be caused by an uncertain data source (sensor errors, noise, etc.). Data preprocessing techniques (data curation, data integration, etc.) can also results in uncertainty to the data. Analyzing uncertain data without accounting for its uncertainty can create hard to trace errors, with severe real world implications. Certain answers are a principled method for coping with the uncertainty that arises in many practical data management tasks. Unfortunately, this method is expensive and may exclude useful (if uncertain) answers. Other techniques from incomplete database record and propagate more detailed uncertainty information. However, most of these approaches are either too expensive to be practical, or only focus on a narrow class of queries and only work for a specific representation. In this thesis, we investigate models and query semantics for uncertain data management and present a framework that is general and practically efficient, backed up by fundamental theoretical foundations and with formally proven correctness guarantees. We first propose Uncertainty Annotated Databases (UA-DB), which combine an under- and over-approximation of certain answers to combine the reliability of certain answers with the performance of a classical database system. We then introduce attribute-annotated uncertain databases (AU-DB), which extend the UA-DB model with attribute-level annotations that record bounds on the values of an attribute across all possible worlds. AU-DB extends UA-DBs to encode a compact over-approximation of possible answers which is necessary to support non-monotone queries including aggregation and set difference. With a further extension to AU-DB that supports ranking and windowed aggregation queries using native implementation on modern DBMS, our approaches scale to complex queries and large datasets, and produces accurate results. Furthermore, they significantly outperforms alternative methods for uncertain data management.
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- Title
- High School Mathematics Teachers’ Conceptions of Nature of Mathematics (NOM) and How Prior Learning Environments Affect These Conceptions
- Creator
- Elefteriou, Katherine
- Date
- 2023
- Description
-
Literature shows that the Nature of Mathematics Knowledge (NOMK) dates back to the era of Plato and Aristotle (Dossey, 1992). It suggests that...
Show moreLiterature shows that the Nature of Mathematics Knowledge (NOMK) dates back to the era of Plato and Aristotle (Dossey, 1992). It suggests that mathematics teachers’ beliefs, views, conceptions, and preferences about NOM influence the way in which they teach mathematics. It is important to understand how these conceptions are formed, which may evolve consciously or unconsciously from their experiences. Teachers’ experiences as students of mathematics, their family, school environment, cultural, and social experiences influence their behavior including their decisions, actions, class organization, learning activities, and students’ achievement (Beswick, 2012; Ernest, 2008; Thompson1984). Yet, there is no NCTM standard on NOM (Gfeller, 1999).The purpose of the present study was to assess high school mathematics teachers’ NOMK conceptions, and to explore how these conceptions have been influenced by their personal and educational experiences as students in learning mathematics. Another objective of this study was to explore whether the teachers’ years of mathematics teaching experience, and their level of education have any influence on their NOMK beliefs. The sample consisted of 52 high school mathematics teachers, who were certified to teach secondary mathematics, and who had at least three years of mathematics teaching experience. Two instruments were used to collect the data, 1) the VNOM D instrument to assess the teachers’ beliefs regarding the NOMK aspects, and 2) the demographics instrument to collect information on the teachers’ demographics, and on their experiences as students of mathematics. Interviews were also used to enhance the findings. Results showed that participants had strong beliefs regarding their NOMK, and that their years of experience, and level of education influenced their NOMK beliefs.
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- Title
- Effects of Microstructure Engineering on Laser Powder Bed Fusion Processed Superalloy IN718 through Inoculant Addition
- Creator
- Ho, I-Ting
- Date
- 2023
- Description
-
Additive manufacturing (AM) techniques can now be utilized as innovative tools that provide unlimited design flexibility for the fabrication...
Show moreAdditive manufacturing (AM) techniques can now be utilized as innovative tools that provide unlimited design flexibility for the fabrication of geometrically complex metallic structures. For production of Ni-base superalloy components used in advanced gas turbine engines, laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF), which is one of the AM techniques, is frequently used as it allows good metallurgical bonding of powder feedstock and simultaneously enables development of ultra-efficient power systems for aerospace propulsion, space exploration and power generation. One of the major challenges associated with additively manufactured Ni-base superalloy components is that the extreme temperature gradients encountered during processing negatively impact the underlying microstructure and mechanical properties of the material. Although the macroscopic shape and chemistry of the additively fabricated part may be identical to the conventionally manufactured part, the resulting properties are usually compromised. In an effort to make Ni-base superalloys more amenable for processing via additive manufacturing, varying levels of benign inoculants that promote may heterogeneously grain nucleation were blended into Inconel 718 (IN718) powder feedstock and used for processing via L-PBF to characterize the microstructural evolution. In the first study, 0.2 wt. % of micron-sized CoAl2O4 flakes was found to effectively change the grain morphology during the L-PBF process leading to significant reduction in crystallographic texture and thus resulting elastic anisotropy. Dispersion of nano-oxides resulting from the reduction of CoAl2O4 particles also contributed to improved tensile strength and steady creep strain rate. It should be noted, however, that, the multiple iterations of remelting as the result of deposition of new layers dissolved the Co-rich particles reduced from CoAl2O4 inoculants. Instead of having nucleation events contributed by elemental Co, the oxide agglomerates as a result of Marangoni convection seemed to be the major contribution to facilitating grain refinement by inhibiting the heat transfer in the surroundings. On the other hand, addition CoAl2O4 particles appeared to generally reduce the melt pool width while increase the melt pool depth by inhibiting the degree of heat transfer and Marangoni flow. The changes in melt pool dimension aided in improving the relative density and surface roughness of the bulk samples by generating better metallurgical bonding to the subsequent layers. As the trade-off, however, the changes in melt pool physics also enhanced the tendency for epitaxial growth and hence retarded the columnar-to-equiaxed transition unless oxide agglomerates are present. In addition to CoAl2O4, candidates including Co, TaCr2, TiB2, and CeO2 particles were also considered to be blended with the powder feedstock of IN718. After the L-PBF process, different degree of microstructural evolution was characterized with the addition of Co, TaCr2, TiB2, or CeO2 particles. It was found that the physical presence of inoculants may change the melt pool geometries that accounted for a comparatively more columnar-grained structure with <101> texture in samples containing Co and TaCr2 particles while a relatively equiaxed-grained structure with <001> texture in samples containing TiB2. The comparison between samples containing TiB2 and CeO2 further indicates that the phase transformation induced agglomeration will also reduce the effectiveness of inoculants due to decreasing nuclei density. Findings from this investigation demonstrate the resulting grain structure upon L-PBF can be profoundly impacted by both chemistry and physical properties of the inoculants. These effects may potentially be harnessed to effectively engineer the microstructure and optimize the properties of L-PBF processed Ni-base superalloys.
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- Title
- High-integrity modeling of non-stationary Kalman Filter input error processes and application to aircraft navigation
- Creator
- Gallon, Elisa
- Date
- 2023
- Description
-
Most navigation applications nowadays rely heavily on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs) and inertial sensors. Both of these systems...
Show moreMost navigation applications nowadays rely heavily on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs) and inertial sensors. Both of these systems are known to be complementary, and as such, their outputs are very often combined in an extended Kalman Filter (KF) to provide a continuous navigation solution, resistant to poor satellite geometry, as well as radio frequency interference. Additionally, recent development in safety critical applications (such as aviation) revealed the performance limitations of current algorithms (Advance Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring - ARAIM) to vertical guidance down to 200 feet above the runway (LPV-200). When nominal constellations are depleted, LPV-200 can only sparsely be achieved. Exploiting satellite motion in ARAIM (for instance using a KF) could help alleviate those limitations, but would require adequate modeling of the errors, including the error's time correlation.Power Spectral Density (PSD) bounding is a methodology that provides high integrity, time correlated error models, but this approach is currently limited to stationary errors (which is rarely the case with real data), and has never been applied to navigation errors. More generally, no high integrity, time correlated error models have ever been derived for navigation errors.As a result, in the first part of this thesis, a methodology for high integrity modeling of time correlated errors is introduced. The PSD bounding methodology is extended to both stationary and non-stationary errors. In the second part of this thesis, these methodologies are applied to the 3 main error sources impacting iono-free GNSS measurements (orbit and clock errors, tropospheric errors and multipath), as well as to inertial errors.The methodology introduced in this dissertation provides high integrity time correlated error models and is applicable to any type of applications where high integrity is required (e.g. Differential GNSS - DGNSS, Aircaft Based Augmentation System - ABAS, Ground Based Augmentation System - GBAS, Space Based Augmentation System - SBAS, etc...). Additionally, the error models derived here are not only limited to high integrity applications, but could also be used in applications were the correlation over time of the errors plays an important role (such as any KF integration).In the last part of this dissertation, we focus on a specific safety critical application: aviation, and in particular ARAIM. The dissertation is concluded with an assessment of the performance improvements provided by recursive ARAIM, using those bounding dynamic error models, with respect to those models, used for baseline snapshot ARAIM. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis is performed on each of the error model parameters to assess which of them impacts the KF performance (i.e. covariance) the most.
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- Title
- A Novel CNFET SRAM-Based Computing-In-Memory Design and Low Power Techniques for AI Accelerator
- Creator
- Kim, Young Bae
- Date
- 2023
- Description
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Power consumption and data processing speed of integrated circuits (ICs) is an increasing concern in many emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI...
Show morePower consumption and data processing speed of integrated circuits (ICs) is an increasing concern in many emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications, such as autonomous vehicles and Internet of Things (IoT). In addition, according to the 2020 International Technology Road map for Semiconductors (ITRS), the high power consumption trend of AI chips far exceeds the power requirements. As a result, power optimization techniques are highly regarded in nowadays AI chip designs. There are various low-power methodologies from the system level to the layout level, and we are focusing on transistor level and register transfer level (RTL) through this thesis. In this thesis, we propose a novel ultra-low power voltage-based computing-in- memory (CIM) design with a new SRAM bit cell structure for AI Accelerator. The basic working principle of CIM (Computing-in-memory) is to use the existing internal embedded memory array (e.g. SRAM) instead of external memory, and it reduces unnecessary access to external memory by calculating with internal embedded mem- ory. Since the proposed our SRAM bit cell uses a single bitline for CIM calculation with decoupled read and write operations, it supports much higher energy eciency. In addition, to separate read and write operations, the stack structure of the read unit minimizes leakage power consumption. Moreover, the proposed bit cell structure provides better read and write stability due to the isolated read path, write path and greater pull-up ratio. Compared to the state-of-the-art SRAM-CIM, our proposed SRAM-CIM does not require extra transistors for CIM vector-matrix multiplication. We implemented a 16k (128⇥128) bit cell array for the computation of 128x neurons, and used 64x binary inputs (0 or 1) and 64⇥128 binary weights (-1 or +1) values for the binary neural networks (BNNs). Each row of the bit cell array corresponding to a single neuron consists of a total of 128 cells, 64x cells for dot-product and 64x replicas cells for ADC reference. And 64x replicas cells consist of 32x cells for ADC reference and 32x cells for o↵set calibration. We used a row-by-row ADC for the quantized outputs of each neuron, which supports 1-7 bits of output for each neuron. The ADC uses the sweeping method using 32x duplicate bit cells, and the sweep cycle is set to 2N1 +1, where N is the number of output bits. The simulation is performed at room temperature (27C) using 32nm CNFET and 20nm FinFET technology via Synopsys Hspice, and all transistors in bitcells use the minimum size considering the area, power, and speed. The proposed SRAM-CIM has reduced power consumption for vector-matrix multiplication by 99.96% compared to the existing state-of-the-art SRAM-CIM. Moreover, because of the separated reading unit from an internal node of latch, there is no feedback from the read access circuit, which makes it read static noise margin (SNM) free. Furthermore, for the low power AI accelerator design, we propose a new AI accelerator design method that applies low power techniques such as bus specific clock gating (BSCG) and local explicit clock gating (LECG) at the register-transfer- level (RT-level). And evaluates them on the Xilinx ZCU-102 FPGA SoC hardware platform and 45nm technology for ASIC, respectively. It measures dynamic power using a commercial EDA tool, and chooses only a subset of FFs to be gated selectively based on their switching activities. We achieve up to a 53.21% power reduction in the ASIC implementation and saved 32.72% of the dynamic power dissipation in the FPGA implementation. This shows that our RTL low power schemes have a powerful possibility of dynamic power reduction when applied to the FPGA design flow and ASIC design flow for the implementation of the AI system.
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- Title
- Growth Kinetics of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella enterica on Rehydrated Enoki and Wood Ear Mushrooms during Storage
- Creator
- George, Josephina
- Date
- 2023
- Description
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Plant foods, such as fruits and vegetables, that have been dehydrated do not support the growth of pathogenic microorganisms. Recent...
Show morePlant foods, such as fruits and vegetables, that have been dehydrated do not support the growth of pathogenic microorganisms. Recent listeriosis and salmonellosis outbreaks in the U.S. have been associated with imported specialty mushrooms. These mushrooms are commonly sold fresh or dehydrated. This study evaluated the survival and growth of two foodborne pathogens Listeria. monocytogenes and Salmonella. enterica on dehydrated mushrooms during both rehydration at 25 or 5℃ and storage at 5, 10, or 25℃. Fresh enoki and wood ear mushrooms were dehydrated for 24 h at 60°C. Dehydrated mushrooms were inoculated with a four-strain cocktail of S. enterica or L. monocytogenes at 4 log CFU/g. Mushrooms were dried for 1 h, followed by rehydration for 2 h with 5 or 25°C (water and air temperature). Rehydrated mushrooms were stored at 5, 10, or 25°C for up to 14 d. The pathogens were enumerated at 0, 1, 3, 6, 9 and 14 d. Three independent trials with triplicate samples at each time point were completed. Population differences were evaluated via Student’s t-test; p<0.05 was considered significant. The growth rates were determined by DMFit in Excel. Overall, the growth rates of L. monocytogenes and S. enterica on enoki mushrooms were significantly higher when the mushrooms were rehydrated at 25℃ and stored at 25℃ (P<0.05). The growth rates were 2.69 log CFU/g per day and 3.56 log CFU/g per day, for L. monocytogenes and S. enterica respectively. Since the growth of pathogens on wood ear mushrooms during rehydration and storage was considerably less and below the level of enumeration, enrichment of the pathogens was conducted. The pathogens could be suppressed during rehydration due to less nutrient contents and antimicrobial properties of wood ear. The result of this study outlines the importance of refrigerated storage temperature and time combination for safety during rehydration and subsequent storage of the mushrooms.
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- Title
- Characterization and Migration of Silver Nanoparticles from Electron-Beam Irradiated Low-Density Polyethylene
- Creator
- Donovan, Dylan
- Date
- 2023
- Description
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Polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) and engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) may find use in a wide range of commercial applications, including food and...
Show morePolymer nanocomposites (PNCs) and engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) may find use in a wide range of commercial applications, including food and medical product packaging. Migration of nanofillers from polymer nanocomposites into food matrices could be a source of human dietary exposure to ENMs. Electron beam (e-beam) irradiation is a processing method used for microbial inactivation as well as for modifying properties of polymer films, such as stretch resistance and shrink tension. Process treatment of nanotechnology-based packaging materials either for sterilization or for strengthening of the polymer films may have a significant effect on the migration of ENMs into food matrices. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the effect of e-beam irradiation treatments of LDPE containing silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and the subsequent migration of AgNPs into a food simulant under intended use conditions. The study observes a correlation between e-beam irradiation dose quantity and the release of AgNPs into a food simulant.
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