bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Measurement of Paraphotons in the Double Chooz Experiment Using Articulated Arm Calibration Methods
Authors:   , Damon Edward Angus , Maricic Jelena , Lane Charles E.
Published: July 2021

This thesis details the design, development, and use of a novel calibration system for the Double Chooz experiment, the Articulated Arm. The Articulated Arm is capable of making radioactive source deployments throughout the volume of the Double Chooz Neutrino Target with a precision of < 1 cm. The Articulated Arm is a powerful asset, able to validate detector response through direct comparison of on-axis and off-axis points. This thesis also details a search for paraphoton signals in the Double Chooz 3rd publication dataset. The paraphoton is a light, electrically neutral, axion-like particle, generated from adding a new U(1) symmetry of Baryon number - Lepton Number, with a Lagrangian of the form: L = -(1/4)F^([mu][nu])F_([mu][nu]) - (1/4)B^([mu][nu])B_([mu][nu]) - (1/2)[chi]F^([mu][nu])B_([mu][nu]) + (1/2)(m_([gamma][prime]))²B_[nu]B^[nu]. We search for decays of these particles inside the Double Chooz Far Detector using a rate-based method. We observed no events in excess of background, giving a new laboratory limit on the photon-paraphoton mixing angle [chi] at the 95% confidence level for paraphoton masses between 26 and 30 keV. Our limiting value was [chi] > 4.23 x 10⁻³ for m_para = 26 keV paraphotons.
Mean and Extreme Radio Properties of Quasars and the Origin of Radio Emission
Authors:   , Kratzer Rachael Marie , Richards Gordon T.
Published: July 2021

I investigate the evolution of both the radio-loud fraction (RLF) and, using a stacking analysis, the mean radio-loudness of quasars. I consider how these values evolve as a function of redshift and luminosity, black hole (BH) mass and accretion rate, and parameters related to the dominance of a wind in the broad emission line region. I match the FIRST source catalog to samples of luminous quasars (both spectroscopic and photometric) primarily from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. After accounting for catastrophic errors in BH mass estimates at high-redshift, I find that both the RLF and the mean radio-loudness increase for increasing BH mass and decreasing accretion rate. Similarly, both the RLF and mean radio-loudness increase for quasars that are argued to have weaker radiation line-driven wind components of the broad emission line region. In agreement with past work, I find that the RLF increases with increasing optical luminosity and decreasing redshift while the mean radio-loudness evolves in the exact opposite manner. This difference in behavior in the L-z plane may indicate selection effects that bias an understanding of the evolution of the RLF; deeper surveys in the optical and radio are needed to resolve this discrepancy. Finally, I argue that radio-loud (RL) and radio-quiet (RQ) quasars may be parallel sequences. Only RQ quasars at one extreme of the distribution are likely to become RL through slight differences in spin and/or merger history.
Examining the Nature of Kindergarten Teacher and Parent Expectations for Reading Readiness
Authors:   , Royer Wendy R. , Gullo Dominic F.
Published: July 2021

The purpose of this concurrent embedded mixed methods study was to investigate the relationship between parent and teacher expectations of kindergarten reading readiness and how those expectations affect kindergarten student early literacy performance. Research in the areas of emergent literacy, the home learning environment, and expectations of reading readiness were examined to provide material germane to addressing the problem that an apparent discrepancy exists between the expectations that parents and teachers hold regarding adequate kindergarten reading readiness levels, possibly contributing to students entering school without the necessary skills to be academically successful. The study sought to answer the following research questions: 1. What is the relationship between kindergarten parent and teacher reading readiness expectations in one south central suburban Pennsylvania school district? 2. What are the differences in kindergarten student literacy skills when parent expectations are high or low? 3. What are the differences in kindergarten student literacy skills when teacher expectations are high or low? 4. What are kindergarten teachers' views about problems concerning reading readiness in one south central Pennsylvania school district?Kindergarten parents and teachers were surveyed to gather quantitative and qualitative data. Correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between these two stakeholder groups. Student data in the form of DIBELS assessment scores were reviewed to evaluate the effect these expectations have on student literacy performance. Data were analyzed utilizing correlation and inferential statistics and thematic coding to inform results. The findings revealed one weak significant correlation between parent expressive language skill expectations and teacher fine motor skill expectations. There were no significant correlations between parent expectations and student DIBELS scores, and parent expectation levels had no effect on student DIBELS scores. However, there were negative correlations between teacher expectations and DIBEL LNF scores in the areas of Social/Emotional/Attitudinal, Fine Motor, Alphabetic Concept, and Writing Concepts skill domains. The findings also indicated that higher teacher expectation levels had a significant effect on LNF scores. The desired outcome of the study was to use these findings to guide future practice in the area of school-home communication and kindergarten reading readiness preparation. Keywords: reading readiness, early literacy, school readiness, kindergarten readiness, parent expectations, teacher and school expectations, expectations vs. performance.
Facilitating mobile intellectual teamwork
Authors:   , Belov Nadya , Krandick Werner
Published: July 2021

As wireless smartphones accompany increasing numbers of users at all times the devices offer themselves as the medium of choice for improvised synchronous collaboration between two or more participants. However, the small size of smartphones-while necessary for their ubiquity-seems to limit the complexity of collaborative tasks that can be carried out. In order to explore-and push-those limits we investigate how smartphones can support intellectual teamwork. Intellectual teamwork places high cognitive demands on the participants and requires high-quality input and display facilities. In addition, the work of the participants must be coordinated. We present some of the features a virtual collaboration system must support in order to provide efficient and effective collaboration. As a prototypical implementation we present the Wireless Internet Collaborative System (WICS) which incorporates these features.
Low temperature setting polymer-ceramic composites for bone tissue engineering
Authors:   , Sethuraman Swaminathan , Laurencin Cato T.
Published: July 2021

Tissue engineering is defined as "the application of biological, chemical and engineering principles towards the repair, restoration or regeneration of tissues using scaffolds, cells, factors alone or in combination". The hypothesis of this thesis is that a matrix made of a synthetic biocompatible, biodegradable composite can be designed to mimic the properties of bone, which itself is a composite. The overall goal was to design and develop biodegradable, biocompatible polymerceramic composites that will be a practical alternative to current bone repair materials. The first specific aim was to develop and evaluate the osteocompatibility of low temperature self setting calcium deficient apatites for bone tissue engineering. The four different calcium deficient hydroxyapatites evaluated were osteocompatible and expressed the characteristic genes for osteoblast proliferation, maturation, and differentiation. Our next objective was to develop and evaluate the osteocompatibility of biodegradable amino acid ester polyphosphazene in vitro as candidates for forming composites with low temperature apatites. We determined the structure - property relationship, the cellular adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation of primary rat osteoblast cells on two dimensional amino acid ester based polyphosphazene films. Our next goal was to evaluate the amino acid ester based polyphosphazenes in a subcutaneous rat model and our results demonstrated that the polyphosphazenes evaluated in the study were biocompatible. The physio-chemical property characterization, cellular response and gene expression on the composite surfaces were evaluated. The results demonstrated that the precursors formed calcium deficient hydroxyapatite in the presence of biodegradable polyphosphazenes. In addition, cells on the surface of the composites expressed normal phenotype and characteristic genes such as type I collagen, alkaline phosphatase, osteocalcin, osteopontin, and bone sialoprotein. The in vivo study of these novel bone cements in a 5mm unicortical defect in New Zealand white rabbits showed that the implants were osteoconductive, and osteointegrative. In conclusion, the various studies that have been carried out in this thesis to study the feasibility of a bone cement system have shown that these materials are promising candidates for various orthopaedic applications. Overall I believe that these next generation bone cements are promising bone graft substitutes in the armamentarium to treat bone defects.
An observability formulation for nonlinear power systems modeled as differential algebraic systems
Authors:   , Dafis Chris J. , Nwankpa Chikaodinaka Okechi Dike
Published: July 2021

Recently the power system industry has witnessed an increase in system automation affecting all aspects of operation and requiring knowledge of system states that are typically provided by system state estimators. Traditionally, if the state estimation problem is solvable, the power system is considered observable. The state estimation problem considers a static model of the power system (static state estimation), represented mathematically by a nonlinear algebraic model, derived from the system measurements, and ignores the nonlinear dynamics of the system. This research presents a case for dynamic state estimation and nonlinear observer-based controllers that are required for advanced system control, by first addressing the problem of qualifying and quantifying system observability for dynamic power systems, and incorporating the ability to track system observability along trajectories of the dynamic system states in time. The formulation is derived from a Differential Algebraic Equation (DAE) model of the power system, accounting for both the nonlinear dynamics and algebraic constraints of the system. Computer simulations outlining the importance and benefits of the new method are presented, emphasizing on three main aspects of the formulation: a) the effects of the power system models, b) the effects of the measurement system, and c) the dimensionality of the observability problem. To illustrate the characteristics of the observability formulation, results were obtained using typical power systems.
Molecular simulations and modeling of HIV-1 gp41 membrane spanning domain (MSD) in a model viral bilayer
Authors:   , Baker Michelle Katherine , Abrams Cameron F.
Published: July 2021

HIV-1 envelope protein complexes known as "spikes" are trimers of gp120 and gp41 that mediate fusion and infection to target cell membranes. The membrane spanning domain (MSD) of gp41 contains several highly conserved residues important for fusion, however the structure and function of MSD are only partly understood. All-atom simulations can elucidate how the conserved residues affect MSD structure to provide atomistic insight into HIV-1 fusion. Extensive molecular dynamics (MD) of monomeric HIV-1 gp41 MSD in model viral bilayers was used to investigate the conserved midspan arginine and the requirement of cholesterol for fusion. All wild-type peptides were [alpha]-helical, remained membrane-spanning, and solvated their midspan arginines with a water defect that was independent of cholesterol. However, the simulations indicate that cholesterol may allow the spike to localize the water defect and to control the tilt of the helices. The dynamics of the model viral bilayer with ~50% cholesterol was explored with 3 systems and simulated for up to 10 [mu]s to explore the phase space of configurations, an order of magnitude greater than previous studies. This timescale allowed observation of diffusive motion and calculated diffusion coefficients agreed with experiments. Oligomeric forms of the MSD were then created to examine the GXXXG motif, known for helical, transmembrane, dimer interactions, but conserved in the MSD of the trimeric gp41. The lowest-energy trimeric MSD with interacting GXXXG residues could not mediate trimerization in a bilayer on 100 ns timescales. However, the lowest energy MSD dimer remained associated on similar timescales, suggesting a dimer form of the MSD during fusion. Finally, the trimeric MSD was stabilized by addition of the trimeric crystal structure of the gp41 membrane proximal external region (MPER). Simulation of the MPER-MSD trimer for 11 [mu]s showed relaxation towards a different, stable configuration in which the GXXXG motifs were not interacting but the cholesterol recognition motif (CRAC) sequestered water and cholesterol. This is the first simulation of a model of trimeric MPER-MSD in a cholesterol-containing bilayer and it may represent a point between the prefusion and the prefusion intermediate experimental trimeric structures.
Consensus building surrounding controversial public policy issues
Authors:   , Heppner Michelle , Bureau W. Edward
Published: July 2021

The arena of public policy is impacted by the effectiveness of the leadership to initiate and bring about changes in areas that have a direct bearing on its constituents, specifically in areas where issues are controversial in nature and cause a variety of concerns for opposing stakeholder groups in the same constituency. In a sea of change, the United States Attorney General announced in early 2009 a leniency in enforcement and prosecution in states where medical marijuana laws exist. As a result, many local government agencies in California experienced an immediate proliferation of medical marijuana dispensaries (storefronts) beginning to operate illegally within their jurisdictions. Consequently, public officials have found themselves in uncharted water when attempting to navigate conflicting state and federal laws that govern marijuana use and distribution as well as the leadership skills required for bringing a multitude of stakeholder groups to consensus. Using a case-study model and using the researcher's internal knowledge of the issue and by conducting individual interviews with relevant stakeholders, this research study documented the leadership strategies and policymaking processes used by the City of Sacramento in developing its medical marijuana ordinance. The research methodology resulted in four major findings: (a) Leadership team, (b) Communication is key, (c) Outreach and dialogue, and (d) Education and understanding of the problem. Eight recommendations emerged to aid other local jurisdictions in developing and implementing controversial public policy issues. The recommendations are as follows: (a) ensure all stakeholders are represented and are engaged from the beginning, (b) maintain status quo among the leadership team, (c) create a task force that includes members from the various stakeholder groups, (d) provide reports and materials well in advance of public meetings, (e) early and consistent convergence between government authorities, (f) define roles between policymakers and staff, (g) policymakers must respect the public addressing them and allow for two-way communication throughout the public meetings, and (h) policymakers must show empathy and compassion. There are few local jurisdictions that have successfully implemented regulations to control the use and distribution of medical marijuana. These findings and recommendations are significant in that other local jurisdictions can benefit from the findings by implementing the results and recommendations contained in the study.
Faculty communication in the undergraduate college classroom
Authors:   , Winters Frances Lampson , Bureau W. Edward
Published: July 2021

There has been much research recognizing the importance of communication between students and faculty in the classroom environment. A positive climate and sense of belonging influence students' perceptions of a supportive community in the college classroom. In these supportive classrooms, students are able to express themselves freely and openly in nonjudgmental ways that allow strong bonds to exist. Interpersonal relationships between instructors and students create a unique culture that can impact learning in the classroom. Although it has been argued the primary job of instructors is to promote learning (Ellis, 2004), research shows a link between interpersonal relationships and learning (Worley, Titsworth & Cornett-Devito, 2007). This phenomenological study explored how student perceptions of instructor communication behaviors in undergraduate college classrooms influence the communication climate. Eight participants, all in their last semester of college, were asked a series of semistructured questions to further understand their communication interactions with professors. The findings were classified into three themes. First was evidence of the importance of professor communication traits as demonstrated by both nonverbal and verbal means. The second theme was the presence of supportive behaviors shown by professors in and out of the classroom and the final theme was the presence of defensive behaviors shown in and out of the classroom. Results flowing from these themes showed, 1) Instructors exhibiting a friendly mood, showing happiness, approachability, and flexibility are more likely to create a positive communication climate, 2) Found the lack of verbal and nonverbal instructor communication reflecting the lack of desire to interact with students leads to a more negative and defensive communication climate, 3) Superiority to be a common theme among students when expressing negative interactions in the undergraduate college classroom. Recommendations are made at both the individual and institutional level and center around the further development and understanding of the crucial role communication plays in the college classroom.
Creating 3D tutorial system for facial animation
Authors:   , Li Bolun , Mauriello David A.
Published: July 2021

Facial expression animation is an essential component of the current digital media industry. It brings a vivid, anthropomorphic and evolutionary reality to a multitude of digital fields, such as 3D computer character animations, video games, and interactive multimedia. FACS, short for Facial Action Coding System, is an emotion model proposed by Paul Ekman and Wallace V. Friesen and proven to be instrumental to animators. Therefore, the author feels it necessary to establish a visualization of the FACS system to facilitate people's understanding of it by visualizing the muscles underneath the face. This project aims to explain the facial muscular system and its relationships with the six basic human emotions of anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness and surprise. Through examining the related fields with different approaches, the author will produce an anatomically correct skeletomuscular facial rig to demonstrate each of the Action Units of FACS, as well as how they can be used to produce facial expressions of the six basic human emotions.
Performance leakage for biospan-covered electrospun vascular stents in a pulsatile flow bioreactor
Authors:   , Thompson Patrick Robert , Lelkes Peter I.
Published: July 2021

In-stent restenosis occurs in 15-20% of "simple" coronary lesions, and in 30-60% of patients with complex lesions. Covered-stents reduce the rates of in-stent restenosis by providing a membrane barrier which prevents late tissue ingrowth. In developing covered-stents it is vital to ensure that these novel stents are capable of enduring physiological conditions before implantation. This thesis focuses on quantifying the performance of polyurethane covered stents when placed under a variety of physiological and pathological conditions. Commercially available Ephesos coronary stents (4 mm diameter following inflation) were covered by electrospinning polyurethane onto a bare-metal stainless steel stents for 6, 8, and 10 minutes. The inflated polyurethane covered-stents were placed into a custom-modified Tissue Growth Technologies LumeGen bioreactor, which allows for independent control of key parameters of fluid flow, such as continuous vs. pulsatile f low, flow rate and pressure. The polyurethane covered-stents were exposed to various physiological and pathological conditions in a controlled setting focusing on flow rate, pressure, pulsatility, and amplitude of oscillation allowed as design criteria. The readout for the performance of these polyurethane stents was the fluid leakage as a function these various parameters. Our data showed no difference in leakage in terms of the duration of the electrospun coating, the fluid flow rate or the amplitude of the oscillations of the pulsatile flow. The leakage increased with increasing pressure, while increased fluid viscosity resulted in reduced leakage. These preliminary results indicate that electrospun polyurethane covered-stent can withstand significant physiological and pathophysiological fluid flow conditions. Such covered stents may find applications in reducing restenosis.
Assessing the use of creative problem solving skills and generic influences on learning in clinical reasoning by physician assistant students
Authors:   , Auth Patrick Clifford , Reisman Fredricka K
Published: July 2021

The current research assessed the use of creative problems skills (flexibility, fluency, originality, elaboration, resistance to premature closure, and synthesis) and generic influence on learning traits (cognitive, synthesis, emotional, social physical and sensory) in clinical reasoning in physician assistant students. A grounded-theory study was conducted and data was obtained using quantitative and qualitative methods. Thirty physician assistant students from the Drexel University Physician Assistant Program participated in the study. The findings in this study concluded that physician assistant that physician assistant students are using creative problem solving traits in clinical reasoning. This was evident in the Auth's Diagnostic Thinking Inventory, clinical essays and standardized patient exercise. Fluency, synthesis, and resistance to premature closure are the most prevalent constructs of creativity in assessing clinical reasoning in physician assistant students. In addition, the findings in this study concluded that physician assistant are using generic influence on learning in clinical reasoning in the Reisman's Generic Influences on Learning Instrument, clinical reasoning essay and standardized patient exercise. Social, emotional and cognitive are the most prevalent constructs of generic influences on learning in assessing clinical reasoning in physician assistant students. The findings fonn this study provide physician assistant educators with tools necessary to better understand the clinical reasoning process in physician assistant students and to design a new standard for physician assistant curriculum.
African American Heterosexual Men's Experiences of Emotionally and Sexually Intimate Relationships with Women
Authors:   , Davis Zupenda Malaika Imani , Villanueva Augusta M.
Published: July 2021

Although HIV infection is relatively low among heterosexual men overall compared with other groups of men, HIV infection in heterosexual men is highest among African American heterosexual men. Research has demonstrated that intimate relationships with women among African American heterosexual men have influenced sexual risk behaviors, such as engaging in unprotected sex and having concurrent sexual partnerships; as well as protective behaviors, such as condom use. The Close Relationship Context was utilized to frame this study. This dissertation consisted of secondary data analysis of 30 semi-structured interviews conducted for the qualitative phase of REPRESENT, a mixed methods study conducted in Philadelphia (2007 - 2009). The REPRESENT study was conducted to examine the effects of gender role norms, sexual scripts and structural factors on sexual HIV risk behaviors of low-income African American heterosexual men who reside in Philadelphia. NVivo 10.0 software was used to code narratives stemming from the interviews relevant to sexually and emotionally intimate relationship experiences with women among this sample of men. The codes were subsequently refined to generate themes derived from the data. There were five dominant themes and two non-dominant themes related to relationship experiences that increased sexual risk, and four dominant themes related to relationship experiences protecting against sexual risk. Participants cited trust and length of relationship as reasons for non-condom use with main sexual partners, but cited length of association of sexual partner as reasons for non-condom use with casual sexual partners. Participants cited relationships that have developed over time as reasons for non-condom use with both main and casual sexual partners. Participants identified monogamy and HIV/STI testing in committed relationships serving as protective sexual behaviors. They also cited that having sex with casual sexual partners and complying with partners' requests and demands to use condoms as reasons to do so with their sexual partners.
A comparative study about the different modes of measurement of social media incorporated with television
Authors:   , Kandath Nikita , Tedesco Albert S.
Published: July 2021

The growth in social media of audience-generated opinion about television has made it difficult for broadcasters and researchers to assimilate this data to understand the popularity of ratings of the brand they are promoting. Therefore various social media analytical tools have been created. The biggest challenge for broadcasters is to understand and deliberate which mode of analysis works best for easy assimilation. This study gathers data on this information and tries to identify a solution of data that might prove to be suitable for researchers to understand what mode is the most appropriate to deliberate the popularity of television branding according to audience opinions and the current trend.
Aereo and its impact on broadcast television
Authors:   , Miao Baihui , Salas Philip W.
Published: July 2021

This thesis introduces a new form of television distribution developed by Aereo, Inc. Millions of dime-sized antenna have been designed, assembled on circuit boards, shelved together in warehouses, and connected to DVR machines. Each of these antenna, capable of receiving local television channels, can be offered to Internet users who do not have an antenna nearby. Aereo offers the recorded television performances on a near-real-time basis (much like a video streaming service), or on a delayed basis (like an on-line digital video recorder, DVR) (Castaldo, 2014). The technology used by Aereo greatly affects the traditional television broadcasters' business, and has the potential to harm the profitability of the television industry. Broadcasting companies have filed various local and federal lawsuits against Aereo. Debates have centered on the definition of "public performance" in the Copyright Law's transmit clause (United States Copyright Law, Chapter 1, 2014), and whether it applies to Aereo. There is no doubt about the ownership of copyright, however, to "publicly perform" the recorded television programs makes it illegal (Nathan, 2012). On June 25, 2014, the United States Supreme Court made a 6-3 decision against Aereo. Upon that decision, Aereo shut down its website and terminated all services (Liptak, 2014). Though this case has been determined, Aereo represents the current trend of the migration from traditional television sets to secondary screens. As of September 5, 2014, Aereo was still seeking alternate solutions so that its services could remain operating legally
Medical television programming in China
Authors:   , Xiao Yumeng , Salas Philip W.
Published: July 2021

Yang-sheng television shows are health-related programs that introduce suggestions on Chinese medicine, diet and fitness, generally targeted to senior audiences. There are over 1300 yang-sheng programs on Chinese television, but only a few can be named by audiences. Most of the shows are not well-produced and have no specific characters. The format lacks creativity. These shows are very similar to each other, because once a program gains popularity, it is often imitated. By studying four well-known shows, Yang Sheng Tang, The X Doctor, The Encyclopedia Talk Show and Health Matters the Most, the research concludes that there should be more medical professionals joining the production teams, not as consultants, but highly involved in the production process.
Paths to the Principalship
Authors:   , Martinez Martin E. , Bureau W. Edward
Published: July 2021

California schools have undergone an exponential demographic shift in the past decades with Latino students now comprising about 53% of the student population. While research shows positive benefits to minority students whose schools are led by minority principals, we lack a clear understanding of the primary factors influencing Latino educators' progression to the P-12 school principalship. The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to describe the lived experiences of Latino public school principals and their perception of the primary factors that supported them in becoming a P-12 principal. This study investigated the experiences of 10 Latino public school principals representing three large school districts in Sacramento County, California to understand their perceptions of the processes involved in advancing to the P-12 principalship. Data were gathered through a series of in-depth interviews, observations, and artifact review and analyzed for emergent codes, themes and trends. The study's results indicated parental expectations and the influences of adult and peer role models and school agents were significant to the development of a positive academic identity. Programs aimed at supporting the transition from high school to college and experiences working with young people and with Latino colleagues were all described as supportive factors. Additionally, strong collegial relationships and administrators who served as role models were described as factors influencing participants' successful teaching career and their path to the school principalship. Challenges related primarily to the lack of social capital in areas such as college admissions requirements, financing college, social and emotional aspects of attending college, and a lack of support from primary familial networks in terms of academic language and academic role modeling. Underlying their path to the principalship and participants' perceptions of their role as principal is a strong Latino identification. Principals overwhelmingly see themselves as role models and bridges to the Latino and minority students and communities they serve. Major recommendations from the study include supporting first-time college families with college and career awareness early in the P-12 experience, developing district-wide focus on supporting Latino students and families and further research focused on Latino parents and their perceptions of the factors that support their development of the academic and social capital needed for school success.
The Evolution of a Partnership
Authors:   , Ruvalcaba R. Lynne , Bureau W. Edward
Published: July 2021

Special education has undergone a tumultuous evolution as American society grapples with the most appropriate way to educate students with special needs. Schools and school districts, guided by state and federal regulation, have begun integrating special needs students into general education classrooms as a means of providing a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. While this inclusion has taken many forms, co-teaching is currently the most popular methodology employed in secondary schools. In the co-taught classroom, all students are served by both a general and a special educator tasked with providing access to the curriculum and appropriate modifications to make access possible for special education students. Research on the practice of co-teaching has, to date, been inconclusive. Little is understood about how co-teaching partnerships mature and how the evolution of those partnerships impacts teachers participating in those relationships. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to examine the perceptions and behaviors of teachers involved in co-teaching partnerships, the evolution of those partnerships, and the effects of teacher perceptions on instructional methodologies employed in the classroom. Sixteen teachers involved in eight different co-teaching partnerships at the secondary school level participated in the study. Analysis of data collected through interviews, classroom observations, and collection of artifacts yielded four major themes and sixteen sub-findings as part of those themes. The key findings of this study emphasized the need for strong personal bonds between educators in co-teaching partnerships, the relatively short span of maturation for successful pairings, the powerful role co-teaching plays in professional development of the participants, and the institutionalized disparity between general and special educators. These findings were the foundation of recommendations for improving the co-teaching experience as well as suggestions for further research to better understand the co-teaching phenomena.
The Role Online Television Viewing has in the Future of Television and Audience Measurement
Authors:   , Smith Kendra Unique , Tedesco Albert S.
Published: July 2021

This study examines major issues facing the television industry, particularly those affecting audience measurements along with issues surrounding Nielsen. Most of this research was done online, through books and in conversation with various television executives. This information is constantly changing therefore most of the research relied heavily on things being published online and interviews with television executives from major broadcast television networks.
A Competitive Analysis of Original Content on Chinese Video Streaming Websites
Authors:   , Yang Aoran , Salas Philip W. , Tedesco Albert S.
Published: July 2021

In the first 15 years of the 21st century, the Chinese video industry continued growing and evolving at a rapid pace. With the changes in the video streaming market, producing original content became a hot topic within major video streaming websites. This study provided a competitive analysis of Chinese video streaming websites. The research applied a comparison study to understand the differences of original content on Chinese video streaming websites. A survey about the online audience's using habits, attitudes toward original contents and ads on video streaming websites was conducted. SWOT analyses in this research also provided an overall understanding of the competitiveness of major video streaming websites. Facing diverse internal and external challenges, the original content on major video platforms had to overcome serious weaknesses such as a lack of creativity, an unstable user experience, and a short life cycle. Therefore, increasing audience loyalty is a critical goal. The main recommendations would be to improve the quality of original content and branding which are the most important aspects for the future development of Chinese video streaming websites.
Many-to-many feature matching for structural pattern recognition
Authors:   , Demirci Muhammed Fatih , Shokoufandeh Ali
Published: July 2021

Graph matching is an important component in many object recognition algorithms. Although most graph matching algorithms seek a one-to-one correspondence between nodes,it is often the case that a more meaningful correspondence exists between a subset of nodes in one graph and a subset of nodes in the other. In this thesis we aim to develop a framework to establish many-to-many correspondences between the nodes of two noisy, vertex-labeled weighted graphs. The difculty of providing such correspondences is due to the fact that any subset of nodes in one graph may correspond to any subset of nodes in another. To overcome this combinatorial challenge, we transform the graphs into an alternative domain in which the many-to-many graph matching becomes that of matching point sets. Our interest in transforming the many-to-many graph matching problem into that of many-tomany point matching is motivated by the fact that a number of algorithms have proven useful in establishing such correspondences in the geometric space in polynomial-time. Our goal is to use one such algorithm to approximate the solution for the original graph representations. The algorithm is based on recent developments in efcient low-distortion metric embedding of graphs into normed vector spaces. We present two such embedding algorithms, beginning with Matousek's algorithm [66], in which the dimensionality of a graph's embedding is graph-dependent. Two graphs to be matched may yield embeddings with different dimensionality, requiring a projection step to bring them to the same space. We overcome this problem by introducing a novel embedding technique, using a spherical encoding of graph structure, that embeds both graphs into a single space of prescribed dimensionality. By embedding weighted graphs into normed vector spaces, we reduce the problem of many-to-many graph matching to the problem of computing a distributionbased distance measure between graph embeddings. We use a specic measure, the Earth Mover's Distance, to compute distances between sets of weighted vectors. The computed massflows yield a set of many-to-many node correspondences between the original graphs. Empirical evaluation of the algorithm on an extensive set of recognition trials, including a comparison with competing graph matching approaches, demonstrates both the robustness and efciency of the overall approach.
The role of Syk kinase in UV mediated skin damage
Authors:   , Huang Zhenyu , Papazoglou Elisabeth S.
Published: July 2021

Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation is the main cause of skin photo-damage with resulting modulation of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) leading to collagen degradation. There is no easily accessible molecular indicator of early skin UV damage. In this study, we investigated the effects of Spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) on MMP expression and evaluated the sensitivity and usefulness of Syk as an early indicator of skin UV damage. Human Dermal Fibroblasts (HDFs) were transfected with Syk cDNA to overexpress Syk. MMP-1 expression and Syk activity were determined by western blot after UV exposure. The effect of Syk on MMP-1 expression in HDFs or human dermal keratinocytes (HDKs) was further explored by either Syk siRNA or a selective Syk inhibitor. Possible downstream molecules of Syk were also evaluated in HDFs upon UV exposure. The relationship between Syk and collagenase was further explored in vivo (MMP-13, hairless mice). Our studies in HDFs and HDKs demonstrated that both a Syk inhibitor and Syk siRNA were able to inhibit MMP-1 expression in these cells in response to UV exposure and that overexpression of Syk increased MMP-1 expression and the activity of JNK kinase, but not p38 or Erk1/2 MAP kinase. UV exposure enhanced both expression and activity of Syk in HDFs and HDKs. Experiments with hairless mice suggest that Syk expression is an earlier indicator of UV exposure than MMP-13 expression. Furthermore, the results of Syk inhibitor (piceatannol) in hairless mice indicated that MMP-13 expression was reduced in the presence of piceatannol. It suggests that not only Syk expression but its activity is important for the effect on UV induced skin damage. Finally, our data from human biopsies demonstrate that elevated Syk expression can be found in UV exposed skin compared to skin unexposed to UV. Although the evaluated sample number is not large, the difference is statistically significant. Our results demonstrate that Syk expression correlates well with increase of MMPs (MMP-1 in humans and MMP-13 in mice) in response to UV exposure. The findings suggest that Syk may be a novel target for the prevention and treatment of skin photodamage by modulating MMPs.
Multimodal Information Retrieval and Classification
Authors:   , Aryafar Kamelia , Shokoufandeh Ali
Published: July 2021

Classification optimizations are the corner stone of machine learning models. The main goal of classifiers is to utilize all available data modalities in training to boost the classification performance metrics. This thesis deals with classification and retrieval models from two different perspectives: (1) the single modality classification optimizations where only one data channel can be used; (2) the multimodal classification methods where more than one data channel is available; A classification system is composed of two main steps: extraction of meaningful features to represent the dataset in a feature space and the classification optimization. The first contribution of this thesis is based on sparse approximation techniques introduced by Donoho, namely the l1- regression. We introduce a sparsity-eager support vector machine optimization that combines the ideas behind l1-regression and SVM to boost the classification performance. We show that the optimization of sparsity-eager SVM can be relaxed and formulated as a linear program. This linear program is then solved by fast gradient descent techniques, yielding an optimal set of classifier coefficients. We compare the performance of this classifier with state-of-the-art deep neural networks and baseline models on various public datasets. The second contribution of this thesis is a vector space model of feature vectors to boost the classification performance. This representation is similar to the explicit semantic analysis modeling of text documents introduced by Evgeniy Gabrilovich and Shaul Markovitch. In essence, the explicit semantic analysis representation is an extension of term frequency inverse document frequency modeling to multi-dimensional feature vectors. Through a set of experiments, we show that this representation can boost the classification accuracy. The explicit semantic analysis can also provide an efficient cross-domain information retrieval framework. We combine this representation with a canonical correlation optimization to achieve this. The third contribution of this thesis is based on multimodal approaches to classification: sparse linear integration model and l1-SVM. We extend the sparsity-eager support vector machine optimization to deal with more than one data modality. Again we formulate this optimization as a linear combination of the training samples in multimodal settings. We then relax this optimization by replacing the l0-norm. The final optimization is solvable using convex optimization methods. We show that combining all available data channels can boost the classification accuracy of the sparsity-eager support vector machine classifier in comparison with baseline classifiers.
A Study of Leadership and Charter School Community Outreach
Authors:   , Feagle Jonathan , Bureau W. Edward
Published: July 2021

Few topics in education are more polarizing than school choice and charter schools. Charter schools are on the one hand hailed as a continuation of the civil rights movement and on the other criticized for destroying the common school ideal. Much of this debate hinges on claims of accessibility. Some claim that charter schools provide students in underserved areas with additional access to a quality education. Others claim that charter schools are less accessible to socioeconomically disadvantaged students and English Language Learners. However, charter school theory implies a principle of equal access insofar as any student may apply and enrollment is determined by a public random lottery. This research explored particular cases of leaders who are or have had an opportunity to significantly influence a charter school's outreach policy. By doing so, the findings of this study shed light on the constraints and advantages that charter school leaders perceive as being relevant to charter school community development. There are two main results of this study. The first result of this study is that charter schools have two primary purposes for carrying out community outreach: a) to create personal meaning for stakeholders, b) to communicate the purpose of the charter school. The second result of this study is that charter school leaders struggle to satisfy differing notions of equity and access. The general conclusion of this study is that more attention needs to be trained on the nature of the relationship between charter schools and their authorizers. Not only is antagonism at this level unproductive, it ignores the potential lessons that both parties can learn from one another. This is an important topic in the light of recent policy shifts in education at both the state and federal levels emphasizing greater local control.
On the Applications of Metric Trees and Metric Labeling to Hard Combinatorial Optimization Problems
Authors:   , Osmanlioglu Yusuf , Shokoufandeh Ali
Published: July 2021

Matching of metric distributions is a fundamental problem in computer science having numerous real life applications including computer vision, pattern recognition, and natural language processing. The problem can be reduced to graph matching since arbitrary metrics can be represented using graphs. Exact graph matching is known to be computationally intractable which motivates inexact matching approaches. Although graphs structurally represent metric data without losing information, processing data over graphs is prone to entail performance problems. Specifically, running time of many graph algorithms depend on the number of edges and vertices of the input graph which increases quadratically by the number of nodes on the extreme case of complete graphs. Thus, it is desirable to obtain a sparse representation of the data while preserving the quality of information. A common technique to achieve this is through representing graphs by metric trees which recently became defacto metric structures for embedding problems. In this dissertation, we focus on problems involving data that can be represented by graphs. As a general theme, we concentrate on approximation of graphs by trees for improving the performance of certain algorithms using topological structure of trees. We also focus on the fundamental problem of inexact graph matching, efficient approximation algorithms for the problem and its applications. Specifically, we present an inexact graph matching problem referred to as multilayer matching, which utilizes the structure of hierarchical metric trees. We represent graphs as trees and achieve matching over the trees to improve the performance and accuracy of inexact matching. We also establish a relationship between the well known metric labeling problem and inexact graph matching. We propose efficient approximation algorithms for both multilayer matching and metric labeling using the primal-dual approximation scheme. We provide application of the proposed methods to image matching, pattern recognition, and question answering problems. Finally, we present a novel motion segmentation method utilizing metric trees which provides tracking of objects in a video sequence without a priori knowledge of number of objects in the scene.