University of Maryland, Baltimore County
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Using an Intelligent Interviewer to Conduct Cognitive Assessments
No full textCognitive assessments are conducted in one of two ways; a trained professional will conduct a face-to-face interview, collecting the answers from the interviewee during the interaction; or a computer will present an inventory as a list of questions and multiple-choice answers. While a trained professional can provide an individualized assessment there is also concern that the interviewee can appear different while interacting with different assessors. Although conducting the assessment using a computer provides a consistent and cost-effective way of conducting an inventory this static process affects interpretation because it does not provide a means of clarification either for the user or the computer: the user to clarify ambiguous wording, or the computer to clarify potential conflicting responses from the user. This dissertation researches an Intelligent Interviewer conducting a cognitive assessment, specifically a learning style inventory. The Intelligent Interviewer was presented to the participants in two forms: an Embodied Interviewer, where the user and computer conversed vocally and visually; and a Text Interviewer, where the user and computer conversed by typing and reading text. Both the subjective and objective evaluation metrics were studied to determine the user experience, effectiveness, and efficiency of the Intelligent Interviewer
Images and Reality: War Brides and Media Representation
No full textThis project contains three parts: a discussion of the historiography on war brides, an essay about the growth and variety of war bride memoirs, and a lecture about World War Two war brides and the media. The lecture argues that various media sources tended to depict war British, German, and Japanese brides in a negative light, but they by and large shifted to more positive representations as the numbers of war brides increased. Though there were a number of explanations for this, the primary one is that U.S. government officials came to see war brides as a bridge toward improved relationships between the United States and the sending countries
How to Generate Repeatable Keys Using Physical Unclonable Functions: Correcting PUF Errors with Iteratively Broadening and Prioritized Search
No full textI present an algorithm for repeatably generating keys using entropy from a physical unclonable function (PUF). PUFs are logically identical devices with challenge- response pairs unique to each device. PUF errors inhibit key repeatability. My algorithm corrects PUF errors, enabling repeatable cryptographic key generation. Repeatedly sampling the PUF and correcting errors with prioritized iteratively broadening and exhaustive search recreate seeds. Repeated sampling determines the most likely bit values and error probabilities. The search ends if a test indicates the seed is correct. The iteratively broadening search tests seeds with up to two errors. The exhaustive search tests seeds until the correct seed is found or failure is declared. PUF bit error rates prioritizes the searches. Previous algorithms often omit noisy PUF bits or use error correcting code and helper data. The presented algorithm uses all PUF bits regardless of noise. Non-volatile data for key regeneration is either a plaintext-ciphertext sample or, for public-key cryptography, the public key. I implemented a latch-based PUF on FPGAs and measured PUF characteristics to analyze the effectiveness of the algorithm. Tests show repeated sampling nearly eliminating the probability of errors. However, the FPGA-based PUFs did not exhibit ideal behavior. Extrapolation to error rates reported by other publications shows relatively few samples drives the error probability to near zero. The probability is not zero. The iterative broadening and exhaustive searches further reduce failure rates
Characterizing the role of ribosomal proteins in modulating Ty1 mobility in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
No full textRetrotransposons are genetic elements capable of moving to new locations within the genome. Due to their similarity with retroviruses, retrotransposons are well suited to study virus-host interactions. The Ty1 element is a retrotransposon of yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Various genetic screens have identified many genes involved in either suppression or enhancement of Ty1 transposition in yeast. Though most of the ribosomal protein genes are non essential (85%), deletion of some of these genes affect Ty1 mobility. 59 of the 78 ribosomal protein genes exist in two copies and were the result of a whole genome duplication event that took place about 100 million years ago. In spite of the massive loss of duplicated genes at the genome level (ninety percent), about seventy percent of the duplicated genes coding ribosomal proteins were retained. Whether these ribosomal protein paralogs have retained similar functions (gene dosage) or if they have attained distinct functions (neofunctionalization), is still an unresolved question. Interestingly, in most of the genetic screens of genes affecting Ty1 mobility, only one of the paralog pairs have been reported. In this project, apart from validating some of the previously identified ribosomal proteins which act as co-factors of Ty1, we have identified some new ones too. We have also analyzed the roles of about 12 ribosomal protein paralog pairs in Ty1 mobility. This effort is also a primary step towards understanding the reasons behind the disproportionate retention of ribosomal protein paralogs in yeast
Analyzing Opinions in the Mom Community on YouTube
No full textThe Mom Community on YouTube consists of a large group of parents who share their parenting beliefs and experiences to connect and share information with others. Although there is a lot of positive support in this community, it is often a hotspot for debate of controversial parenting topics. Many of these topics have one side that represents the belief of crunchy moms. Crunchy is a term used to describe parents who intentionally choose natural parenting methods and eco-friendly products to raise their children. Debate over these practices has led to mompetition and the idea that there is a right way to parent. This research investigates questions such as how different crunchy topics are discussed and how the community has changed over time. Video comments and user data are collected from YouTube and used to understand parenting practices and opinions in the mom community. Results show that YouTube data can be used for understanding communities based on comment interactions. Content creators are shown to be crunchier than viewers for selected parenting topics. The mom community has low reciprocity and network structure similar to other social networking sites
The Use of Gender During the E.G. Wharton Trial
No full textIn 1871, in Baltimore, Maryland, Mrs. Elizabeth Wharton was accused of poisoning General Ketchum and arrested. The trial became a sensation in the national press, with newspapers across the country publishing daily updates on the trial. The primary reason for the attention surrounding the case was Mrs. Wharton's social status. She was extremely wealthy and well-connected in Baltimore society. After her arrest, rumors surrounding other potential victims began to surface, and many suspected her to be guilty. An examination of Wharton's trial proceedings and the surrounding press coverage reveals a defense built primarily upon Victorian notions of femininity, and ultimately the literal power of true womanhood in nineteenth century American jurisprudence. Despite overwhelming evidence of her guilt, Wharton's acquittal as an upper class white woman whose virtue was seen as beyond reproach differs significantly from contemporaneous cases of black or lower class women who were convicted of similar crimes, and largely lived beyond the definitions and protections of true womanhood
Skin tone, Socioeconomic Status, and Ambulatory Blood Pressure among African-Americans: The Racism, Coping, and Ambulatory Blood Pressure Study
No full textThe purpose of the present study was to examine the potential relation between skin tone and ambulatory blood pressure (ABP), and if this relation was moderated by socioeconomic status (SES) among participants enrolled in the Racism, Coping, and Ambulatory Blood Pressure Study. 332 participants aged to 65 years old (M = 40 years, SD = 9.40). The main analyses consisted of multiple regressions with skin tone as a predictor of ABP (24hr, daytime, nighttime and dipping blood pressure). The main analyses also consisted of interactions of skin tone and SES indicators (poverty level, education and a composite) as predictors of ABP. Additional exploratory analyses investigated a three-way interaction between skin tone, SES indicators and gender as predictors of ABP. Controlling for standard cardiovascular risk factors, results indicated no association between skin tone and ABP or an interaction effect between skin tone and the SES indicators. However, controlling for standard cardiovascular risk factors, results indicated complex associations between skin tone, the SES indicators and gender as predictors of ABP. It is concluded that the relation between skin tone, SES indicators and gender as predictors of ABP is complex and may support the notion that the social experience at various permutations of these predictors may distinctly differ and affect ABP
The Visual Ecology of Stomatopod Larvae
No full textDespite researchers' interest in adult stomatopod vision, only a handful of studies have investigated stomatopod larval visual ecology, the function of the larval compound eye, or its transition into the adult eye structures. In order to address this knowledge deficit, I tested several hypotheses surrounding larval eye physiology and ontogeny using microspectrophotometry (MSP) and electroretinography (ERG). MSP was used to investigate visual pigment diversity in the retinas of different species of stomatopod larvae. Together with data previously published, these data provide further support that larvae possess a single spectral class of photoreceptor. Surprisingly, the peak spectral absorbance varied significantly among sympatric species, with four species falling into a short-wavelength and the remainder into a long-wavelength sensitivity class. These results may be explained by differences in behavioral ecology or by different developmental stages of individual test subjects. To investigate ontogenetic changes in retinal function, ERG intensity responses were measured from different stage retinas of a single species, Squilla empusa. Initial MSP data from transitioning retinas found no evidence of visual pigment absorption in newly emerged adult retinas, implying a putative delay in photoreceptive function. Robust ERG responses to light stimuli, however, were observed from the earliest presence of emerging adult retinas, rejecting this hypothesis. These data also suggest an increase in the response dynamics of stomatopod retinas with ontogeny as well as an increase in irradiance sensitivity during the double-retina phase. To investigate the visual ecology of stomatopod larval light-reflecting structures, I characterized the function and structure of eyeshine overlying the retina. In situ photography of larvae eyeshine demonstrated its function as a contrast reducer, or camouflage. Calculations of eyeshine reflectance spectra in their natural setting revealed novel, spectral matching with the background environment. Eyeshine structures were characterized via transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and identified as amorphous, three-dimensional photonic crystal arrays of spherical vesicles that coherently scatter light. The photonic mechanism of eyeshine production was tested using a modified Bragg-theory model and dimensions from TEM micrographs. These eyeshine data as well as data regarding the physiology of stomatopod larval vision provide a strong foundation for future investigations into the ontogeny of vision in stomatopod crustaceans
Schema Free Interface And the Analysis of Semantic Datasets
No full textDBpedia is a project aiming to extract structured content from the information created as part of the Wikipedia. DBpedia extracts factual information from Wikipedia pages, allowing users to find answers to questions where the information is spread across many different Wikipedia articles. This information is present in the form of RDF data that is accessed using SPARQL query language thus making it difficult for naive users to retrieve the contents from the semantic datasets available over the web like DBpedia. The schema free querying approach allows users to search information from a single semantic dataset without querying the dataset with Sparql queries. It would be convenient if we provide an interactive interface to naive users for accessing this semantic data. To achieve this, we have a schema free interface where users can insert their search query in the form of nodes and links between nodes. This interface will further sort the available semantic datasets to find the most relevant datasets to be provided to the `Schema free querying of semantic data' system. The Lucene Api implemented in Java is being used for the quick indexing and searching of the big datasets like DBpedia, DBLP, LinkedMDB to find the most relevant datasets for the user query
The Relation of Motivation and Self-efficacy to Consistency of Condom Use: The Role of Sex Under the Influence of Alcohol
No full textYouth ages 15 to 24 account for half of the estimated 20 million new cases of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) that occur each year (CDC, 2013). Consistent condom use is an important intervention target to prevent STI contraction among youth. The present study evaluated whether motivation and self-efficacy to use condoms predict subsequent consistency of condom use in a community sample (N=166) of female youth (ages 13-21) at increased risk for STI contraction. Additionally, the current study investigated if these relations are moderated by frequency of sex under the influence. Exploratory analyses investigated these relations in sex events with steady boyfriends only separately from sex events with other guys only. Data were analyzed from Project SAFE, a randomized controlled clinical trial investigating the efficacy of a Computer-Assisted Motivational Intervention compared to Didactic Educational Counseling for sexual risk and protective behaviors. Both motivation and self-efficacy to use condoms demonstrated a significant positive linear relation with subsequent consistency of condom use. However, there was limited evidence for the moderating effect of frequency of sex under the influence. There was some indication that the pattern of results differed in exploratory analyses including only sex events with steady boyfriends compared to sex events with other guys. Analyses were re-estimated including past consistency of condom use as a covariate. In these analyses there was some evidence for a negative main effect of frequency of sex under the influence. These finding have implications for the development of tailored interventions and future research