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Sensor Relationship Inference in Single Resident Smart Homes Using Time Series
Get PDFDetermining sensor relationships in smart environments is complex due to the variety and volume of time series information they provide. Moreover, identifying sensor relationships to connect them with actuators is difficult for smart home users who may not have technical experience. Yet, gathering information on sensor relationships is a crucial intermediate step towards more advanced smart home applications such as advanced policy generation or automatic sensor configuration. Therefore, in this thesis, I propose a novel unsupervised learning approach, named SeReIn, to automatically group sensors by their inherent relationships solely using time series data for single resident smart homes. SeReIn extracts three features from smart home time series data - Frequent Next Event (FNE), Time Delta (TD), and Frequency (FQ). It then applies Spectral Clustering, K-Means clustering, and DBSCAN to group the related sensors. The application of unsupervised learning enables this approach to operate anywhere in the smart home domain regardless of the sensor types and deployment scenarios. SeReIn functions on both large deployments consisting of around 70 sensors and small deployments of only 10 sensors. Evaluation of SeReIn on real-world smart home datasets has shown that it can recognize inherent spatial relationships. Using three different unsupervised clustering evaluation metrics: Calinski-Harabasz Score, Silhouette Score, and Davies-Bouldin Score, I ensure that SeReIn successfully builds clusters based on sensor relationships
How to Become a Fairy Godmother
No full textThe following thesis is the beginning of a sweet, clean, and wholesome romance time-travel fairy-tale retelling novel of how the first fairy godmother came into being. The underlying story is about two young people who find themselves time traveling together while attempting to fulfil the promises they made to their loved ones before they left. Subjects introduced include learning to take care of yourself and others, learning to be alone, learning to be dependable, and providing an alternative path when life happens differently than you planned. This fairy-tale retelling novel, How To Become a Fairy Godmother, is from the first of five books that will each take one tiny aspect of growing up and shape it into something new
Measuring Microaggressions in the Advisor Advisee Relationship: Preliminary Scale Development
No full textA number of survey instruments exist to measure microaggressions across various contexts and across numerous historically underrepresented groups. However, no such scale exists to assess microaggressions within the advisor-advisee relationship. The academic advisor-advisee relationship can make—or break—a student’s experience at a university, both personally and academically. Thus, microaggressions in the advisor-advisee relationship could impose numerous negative implications, both psychologically and academically. The goal of the present study aimed to develop a psychometrically sound scale to measure microaggressions in this association. Overall, findings from the present study offer preliminary support of a two-factor measure to assess microaggressions within the advisor-advisee relationship along with evidence that microaggressions in this association negatively influence students’ basic psychological needs satisfaction
Propagation, Physiology and Biomass of Giant Cane (Arundinaria Gigantea) for Conservation and Restoration
No full textGiant cane (Arundinaria gigantea) is a native species to 22 states in the U.S. The species and its ecosystem are considered critically endangered, and the species has been reduced to 2% of its original extent. The species has a long cultural and conservation history. Large canebrakes were commonly found in Missouri in bottomland forests, stream and riverbanks, and margins of lakes. My research goals were to: 1) examine methods for propagation success from field to greenhouse to field; 2) examine the physiology of cane at one of the few current canebrakes, for greenhouse propagated plants, and field planted cane; and 3) develop an allometric equation to estimate biomass of a current canebrake allowing biomass estimation from non-destructive measurements. I used the number of shoots produced (new growth) as a metric for propagation success. The number of new shoots depended on rhizome length, watering regime, and whether propagation was attempted with the rhizome alone or with an existing culm. I recorded 100% propagation success from every rhizome with culm cut at 2nd internode, 25% propagation success from non-regular watering rhizome alone and 90% propagation success with regular watering on rhizome alone. Leaf chlorophyll of A. gigantea values ranged from 329 umol/m2 in sun leaves to 354 umol/m2 in shade leaves in October 2022. During a mild drought summer 2022, leaves-maintained water potential of -1.8 MPa with photosynthetic rates as high as 12 umol CO2/m2 /s. Biomass models based on pole diameter and height were established, allowing an estimate of carbon storage. I estimated that 5.8 metric tons of carbon was stored by a 0.17 ha canebrake at Mincy Conservation Area. My data provide baseline data for understanding the role of A. gigantea and canebrakes in ecosystem functioning in existing canebrakes, and habitats where A. gigantea could be restored
Exploring Growth, Integration, & Play Working in Clay: Finding Pathways to Healing and Hope
No full textI find therapeutic qualities in all the aspects of my studio practice and haptic experience: from the grounding sensory experience of clay, the quiet meditative motions of creating and constructing, acceptance or repair of mistakes, and the integration of failures which may occur. Specifically, I channel my experience to explore the themes of growth, integration, and play. By exploring these themes in the quiet and safety of my clay-studio, I engage in the opportunity to investigate these themes on a formal, practical, and personal level. I create the forms by hand or on the potter’s wheel. After constructing the forms, I employ various methods of deconstructing, reconstructing, integrating, and repairing them if breakage occurs. On a practical level, I explore these themes through mixing various ceramic materials to create desired properties and workability in my clay. Or I may be inspired by an imperfection, failure, or mistake during or after the creation of a ceramic-object. On a personal level, being in my studio engages my senses and encourages me to slow down, be mindful, and reflect on recent events or interactions in my life. Through the processes and experiences inside the studio with an intrapersonal orientation—I intend to find pathways towards healing and hope for interpersonal connection and community outside the studio
Exploring the Role of Social Capital in Beginning Farmer Success in the State of Missouri
Get PDFAs the average age of the American farmer continues to increase (NASS, 2019), concerns about attracting future agriculturalists remain. Several governmental programs exist to assist beginning farmers and ranchers (generally defined as those with 10 years or less experience as a principal operator), but unfortunately numerous barriers remain. Using focus groups and qualitative analysis, this research aims to identify critical factors of success. Focus group participants were farmers who participated in beginning farmer and rancher programs, those who had not participated in beginning farmer and rancher programs, and program administrators . Attention was paid to their use of social capital as they entered the industry
On Covering Groups With Proper Subgroups
No full textIn this paper, we explore groups that can be expressed as a union of proper subgroups. Using “covering number” to denote the minimal number of proper subgroups required to cover a group, we explore the nature of groups with covering numbers 3 and 4, while also finding covering numbers for p-groups, dihedral, and generalized dihedral groups
Modeling Growth and Stress Factors for Converted Silvopasture Systems in the Missouri Ozarks
No full textSilvopasture systems are becoming increasingly popular among sustainable agriculture ranchers, due to the increase in knowledge of benefits to the cattle and ability to grow cool season grasses beneath the canopy. This project focuses on the forest crop aspect of silvopasture systems from monitoring of the health of the trees over time to recommendations for thinning management to keep it functioning as viable silvopasture. The study site consists of five acres of upland hardwood forest area in Southern Missouri with 18 monumented fixed area plots. Arial and ground data was collected at each plot throughout the growing season, along with data from a weather station located in the stand. Multispectral indices and cover percentages were extracted from aerial data through Metashape and ArcGIS processing. The data was used to develop prediction models for chlorophyll and water potential as well as canopy cover percentages. An additional analysis was conducted, comparing data from our drone operations with publicly accessible data through Landsat and local weather stations. It was determined that with multiple years of data collected from the same month, strong prediction models are achievable for all three of the variables in question. While ground metrics do improve the models, they can be removed when modeling over multiple years, with little decrease in model predictive power. Climate metrics had little influence on any of the models and were therefore not used for most final predictions. Similarly, Landsat multispectral indices are also able to predict strong models without the inclusion of weather station or ground metrics
Domesticity and Religion: Women in Italian American Literature and Culture of the 1930s
No full textThe lives of Italian American women of the early twentieth century have been documented in fragments in histories of immigration and in the literature written by the children of first-wave immigrants. This documentation often leaves an incomplete picture of how Italian women lived and moved in their new American context in the first decades of the twentieth century. This thesis examines Pietro Di Donato’s portrayal of Annunziata in his 1939 novel Christ in Concretealongside the journals of Elba F. Gurzau, a real-life, second-generation Italian woman living in New York City during the 1930s. By holding these women up next to each other, this thesis shows how the confines of domesticity hindered the first-generation of Italian American immigrant women and left them unable to preserve the homeland values and traditions they were tasked with handing down, whereas the educational freedom and literacy attained by many members of the second generation allowed for women like Gurzau to effectively promote Italian culture in America. Likewise, these women’s relationships with Italo-Catholic religious practices determine the fluency with which they are able to interact and evolve in the New World. Annunziata is left, in both the domestic and religious realms, unable to find meaning and substance in her work because she is unable to recreate Italy in America. Elba Gurzau’s ability to find harmony between the two cultures and her freedom to explore outside of Cultural Catholicism breathe life into her work and allow her to effectively bridge the gap between Old World Italy and a quickly modernizing America
Investigating Relations Regarding the Religious Ought, Ideal, and Actual Self Using a Relational Density Theory Approach
No full textReligiosity may produce positive outcomes (e.g., greater life satisfaction, hope, and optimism) or negative outcomes (e.g., psychological distress), especially if the individual’s identity is in conflict (Koenig, 2001). This distress, as explained by self-discrepancy theory, is caused by inconsistency between the self-concept (attributes the individual believes they currently possess) and the self-guides, consisting of the ‘ought’ self (attributes the individual believes they ought to -or should- possess) and the \u27ideal\u27 self (attributes the individual desires to possess) (Higgins, 1987). Exploring stimulus relations related to these ‘selves’ using a relational density framework (Belisle & Dixon, 2020) may provide insight regarding relational networks, including the three versions of the self, agitation-related emotions, and their antonyms. In the present study, I utilized a multidimensional scaling procedure (MDS) to consider both a general life outlook and a religious outlook. I analyzed this data, comparing the relations between general life and religious outlooks, as well as comparing the differences for highly religious, religious, and non-religious participants. Findings showed differences did occur when the religious context was specified, indicating that religion (or lack of religion) does affect the way in which the participants relate to each of their identities. The life in general context produced a tight cluster of negative affect terms and a cluster of positive affect terms. The ought, ideal, and actual self clustered closest to or within positive affect terms. When religious context was applied, the positive affect terms became less dense. When comparing religiosity levels of participants, notable differences among the nature and density of identity-based relations were observed. Non-religious participants demonstrated the most religious identity clarity, followed by highly religious participants. Religious individuals had the least identity clarity and were the group who related most to negative affect