TTU Published Journals @ Volpe Library
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*WINNER* An Introduction to Wavelets and Multiresolution Analyses with an Application to Digital Signal Processing
No full textIn this project we explore properties of the Haar wavelet and how it is used in multiresolution analysis. Using insights gained from the Haar wavelet, we look at wavelets in a more general sense, deriving crucial properties. To investigate these properties, we often look through the lens of the Fourier transform. Due to the convolutional structure of many of our identities, taking the Fourier transform creates simpler multiplicative identities that we can prove. The multiresolution analysis of a function is determined by the wavelet used. We will investigate an example of decomposing a signal using its multiresolution analysis via the Haar wavelet. Other types of wavelets will be discussed briefly. Wavelets also give rise to wavelet transforms. This project will then cover some basic properties of wavelet transforms and an introduction to their applications in digital signal processing
Today's Fast Fashion
No full textIs there a need for fast fashion? Fast fashion is around because retailers have to cater to growing fashion trends. Fast fashion is all about the quick response, and it is becoming the most popular shopping demand. This allows retailers to fill their stores with clothing for their target market to benefit the consumers. Not only is fast fashion popular now, but it is predicted to continue growing more in the future. Fast fashion does not stray off from the traditional standards and concepts of clothing. This research aims to show that fast fashion is not as durable as people think, but it has potential to serve a purpose
The Short-Term and Long-Term Health Effects of Breastmilk Versus Formula for Infants
No full textThe purpose of this review of literature was to explore the short-term and long-term health effects of breastmilk versus formula. Proper nutrition in the early months and years of a child's life is critical to his or her development. Both breast milk and formula provide essential calories, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients to infants for survival, and there are known benefits to both. Many articles are focused on the benefits of breastfeeding as opposed to formula, but the choice between the milk itself, from the breast, versus formula is less discussed. The Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Tennessee Technological University Library Database Eagle Search were searched to find the research literature that included either breastmilk or formula use in regard to health effects. The goal in searching was to find the most specific, credible, and informative articles on the short-term and long-term effects of the two infant nutrition methods that could be used to make a hypothesis. Articles that met the criteria were analyzed and placed in categories supporting either formula or breastmilk as the better choice for infant nutrition. Results showed that the majority of articles support breastmilk. Although there are limitations to the research conducted, it can be concluded that breast milk is the most beneficial method of infant nutrition focusing on short- and long-term health
The Feasibility of Wind Power for Bridgestone Nature Reserve at Chestnut Mountain
Get PDFThis project involved researching the feasibility of bringing wind power to The Nature Conservancy's Bridgestone Nature Reserve at Chestnut Mountain. The Nature Conservancy tasked us with finding a renewable source of energy for their property to lower their carbon footprint. Wind energy has many benefits, such as being renewable and producing much fewer carbon emissions than fossil fuel energy. However, Sparta, TN has much lower wind speeds than areas that effectively utilize wind power. Wind is also intermittent and may not align with demand. Wind turbines require regular maintenance, and any failure has the potential to destroy the turbine system. The small amount of electricity produced by the turbine would not offset the high installation and maintenance costs. At Sparta's average wind speed of 4.7 mph, a small wind electric system could have a potential payback period of over thirty years. Additionally, we identified two endangered bat species on the property that may be negatively impacted by a wind turbine. There is currently no system in place to easily recycle turbine parts at the end of their lives, and most of them end up in landfills. Ultimately, we decided that wind power would not be the best solution at this time
Tennessee AFNR Teachers' Perceived Level of Competence in Teaching Food Chemistry
No full textThe purpose of this study was to determine Tennessee Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources (AFNR) high school teachers' perceived level of competence in teaching the standards associated with the TN Department of Education Food Science program of study. More specifically, one of the research objectives was to determine in-service training needs associated with 26 items linked to food chemistry, and food safety and microbiology. Teachers completed the survey instrument via Qualtrics, and the teacher's self-reported that they felt not competent or minimally competent (percent of teachers indicating either level in parentheses) in performing the following: equipping my classroom with food chemistry equipment (52%), explaining the procedures for completing ServSafe training (43%), effectively explain safety issues associated with food additives (39%), teaching/explaining chemical processes and interactions of constituent components of foods, and teach students to identify chemical properties of food that are affected by production, processing, and storage (35%), describing the basic chemical principles of fermentation (34%), and teaching about the principles and applications of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system (27%). These results indicate that Tennessee Department of Education staff and university teacher educators need to offer summer in-service training sessions that target the aforementioned items
A Practical Approach for Using Advanced Soil Constitutive Models by the Use of Parameters from Mohr-Coulomb Model
No full textThe primary objective of the current research was to develop a new method for utilizing the advanced soil constitutive models alongside the simple soil constitutive models used in everyday calculations of geotechnical engineers. In order to achieve this purpose, two advanced soil constitutive models: (1) Plastic Hardening Model and (2) Modified Cam-clay model are introduced. Then, the methods and procedures that are used to derive the parameters of these models are described. Finally, a comprehensive and applicable procedure is introduced to use these advanced models while having the parameter values of simple Mohr-Coulomb model
*WINNER* Role of Nanocellulose Hydrogels in Regenerative Medicine: Preliminary Observations
No full textHydrogels in regenerative medicine applications is a growing field. The similarities of the material characteristic and properties e.g., permeability, biocompatibility, and high-water content of hydrogels and the structure of a natural tissue make them attractive materials to mimic the environment of extra cellular matrix (ECM). Therefore, they are plying an increasing role in tissue engineering, cellular therapy, microfluidic devices, and 3D bioprinting. Furthermore, hydrogels allow scientists to study disease outside the body by developing cellular representative systems for human diseases, drug testing. Incorporating nanomaterials as "fillers" into hydrogels to obtain nanocomposite hydrogel scaffolds seems encouraging as an individual material might lack or have limited characteristics to a certain functionality. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) based hydrogels are very promising materials as scaffolds for many regenerative medicine applications, due to their biocompatibility, renewable raw material nature, and hydrophilicity. The goal of this study is to synthesize CNC-polyacrylamide gels containing varying concentrations of CNCs and investigate the influence of CNCs on the microstructural and rheological properties of polyacrylamide nanocomposite gels. Thus, CNC-polyacrylamide gels will be considered in this study as a potential material for tissue engineering applications. Details about preparation and characterization of these nanocomposite hydrogels will be discussed
*WINNER* Is there a relationship between lower body power and speed?
No full textThe purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between a person’s lower body power and speed. Fifteen Exercise Science students (8 male and 7 female) participated in the study with ages ranging from 20 to 41 (23 ± 1.2 years). The instruments used in this study were the Brower Timing System (for run times) and the Just Jump Mat (for vertical jump measurements). All participants performed high knees, butt kicks, lunges, and a light jog for a warm-up. Participants were then asked to perform two timed 40-yd dash runs (5.75 ± 0.71 s) with their fastest time being recorded. Following the timed runs, participants performed two vertical jumps (18.88 ± 5.04in) with their highest jump being recorded. A Pearson correlation coefficient was computed to assess the linear relationship between lower body power and speed. There was a negative correlation between the two variables , r(13) = -.75, p = < .05. The results also showed that lower body power was a good predictor of speed, but was found to not be the only underlying factor in an individual's top speed. Furthermore, lower body power could help an individual in achieving their top speed, but is not a factor in maintaining top speed. This topic could benefit from more research into other factors in an individual’s top speed
The Professional Role and Training of Counselors for Natural Disaster Response
No full textThis poster presentation aims to underline the role of counselors in response to natural disasters and propose developmental pathways for counselors in disaster response preparedness. Researchers have suggested a greater comprehensive intervention model is warranted for natural disaster response (Holder et al., 2017). Therefore, a conceptual counselor competence response model will be introduced. As natural disasters may impact the mental health wellness of survivors, this presentation also seeks to expound the importance of the dissemination of knowledge regarding available mental health resources within Tennessee and extend a discussion for organizing a community structure that connects natural disaster victims with qualified mental health professionals
Calculating Binary-Address Distance Between Functions: A New Approach to Rare Itemset Mining
No full textPrograms commonly follow many implicit programming rules, most of which are not defined by developers. As a security analyst, it is vital to understand and discover these implicit rules. Previous work on this topic has dealt specifically with itemsets that have an arbitrarily large support, which then produces fewer false positives. However, in many cases it can be trivial to determine implicit rules for itemsets with a high support. Within these tools there are many instances where a particular itemset of low support may not be determined to be actionable and therefore disregarded. This paper proposes a new, automated method to solve the issue of finding implicit programming rules with low support, namely Rare Itemsets, by adding an additional heuristic that computes the binary-address distance between functions of interest. Motivation for this research comes from the stance that it will improve the speed at which reverse engineers and vulnerability researchers can find software vulnerabilities in programs