5063 research outputs found
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Association vs connection: understand gene sets, diseases and aging from network permutations
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Nerd alert: geek out and learn how UTC’s data can enhance strategic decision making
No full textLearn about current research projects in OPEIR and how the data can used to enhance your strategic decision making. Presentations will feature retention of TN Promise students, distance learning successes, and attrition of students in good standing
Molecular dynamics simulations of apolipoprotein A1 in ionic liquids
Get PDFHigh-density lipoprotein function is essential for the healthy processing of fats in the blood. The function of these proteins is determined by their conformational structure of chains of amino acids. Certain ionic liquids have been shown to interact with individual amino acids to affect the tertiary shape of the protein. These interactions can disrupt the native hydrogen bonds between amino acids which can either promote folding or denaturing of the protein. Our work focused on apoA-1, a high-density lipoprotein that binds to cholesterol for efflux from the body. We studied this protein in different ion-based liquids with sodium, chloride, and 1-ethly-3-methylimidazolium (EMIM). The different solutions will be studied at different concentrations in water. This work will be done using molecular dynamic simulations of apoA-1 immersed in solution. Our simulations revealed which ions promote folding and which would be potential candidates for making solutions that stabilize apoA-1. The systems with sodium cations and others with chloride anions in solution reveal the effects of charge on the shape of the protein. EMIM cation with chloride counter anions in solutions shows that as the solvent concentration increases, the protein folds unstably but maintains its native secondary structures
Conceal, Don\u27t Feel: Gender Differences in Implicit and Explicit Expressions of Emotions
Get PDFPrevious studies revealed that gender-role conforming men rated themselves lower on emotional scales (Etherton, Lawson, & Graham, 2014) and expressed emotion less freely than women in experimental situations (Brody, Lovas, & Hay, 1995). Further, men with high gender-role stress indicated fear of losing control over emotions (Jakupcak, 2003). The purpose of the current study was to explore if the physiological response to emotional suppression is similar to that associated with fear and anxiety. Gender-role conforming men and women experienced fearful and emotional stimuli. Experimenters recorded explicit and implicit reactions before and after exposure. Results showed females experienced greater changes in response after stimuli exposure compared to males. Implications of this research may indicate that males experience increased stress associated with emotional suppression
Handwashing song: an arts and literacy strategy for toddlers
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The problem-solving workshop: adapting process improvement methodologies for K-12 educators
Get PDFLean and Six Sigma have been lauded in the manufacturing sector for their ability to streamline processes, reduce waste, minimize variation and defects, and improve the bottom line. Although these methodologies have begun to spread to other industries, their impact has been relegated to certain areas and has largely missed others. One area that bears strong consideration is education. Education is heavily process-based and notoriously tight on resources. It is hypothesized that if educators were taught the basics of these strategies and were able to implement them in the classroom setting, the effectiveness of both teaching strategies and classroom operations would improve, saving teachers time and improving school performance in a number of areas. This study focused on developing and testing a workshop-based method for teaching the process improvement methods to K-12 teachers and administrators with the goal of finding a method that could be scaled. Engagement emerged as a significant obstacle, but based the workshop results and feedback from educators, the study found that overall, the workshop is a viable method for communicating these skills. Alternate ideas for future programs are presented based on the challenges encountered with the pilot study
Modular multilevel converters for solar photovoltaic - battery energy storage system integration
Get PDFPV systems have intermittency and partial shading challenges which endanger the stability and reliability of electric grids. Due to their scalable and modular structure, modular multilevel converters (MMC) are suitable for grid integration of PV and battery energy storage system (BESS). This thesis proposes a novel half-bridge submodule MMC (HBMMC) solution to connect distributed PV systems using distributed maximum power point tracking across the MMC submodules (SM) hence, addressing the partial shading challenge. To address PV power fluctuation due to intermittency, a novel solution to interconnect PV-BESS to the power grid through full-bridge submodule MMC (FBMMC) is proposed. In this solution, PV modules are distributed across the FBMMC SMs and a fully controllable large BESS is connected to the FBMMC DC-link to support the grid ancillary services. Full control over BESS is achieved by the full control over the MMC DC-link voltage as a result of the proposed MMC solution
Understanding resilience as a mediator on mindfulness and burnout
Get PDFResilience is a protective factor that allows an individual to overcome adversity such as trauma and large workloads. Resilience has been heavily studied both from the viewpoint of its countering effects to unfavorable outcomes and its relation to personality and other intraindividual variables. Mindfulness is one intraindividual trait that has been previously shown to be positively related to resilience. Mindfulness has also been negatively related to measures of psychological adjustment such as burnout. Past studies have failed to evaluate the relationship between these as resilience may mediate these relationships. A model proposed by Rees et al. (2015) to explain resilience as a mediator between these intraindividual variables and psychological adjustment. The current study seeks to evaluate one portion of this model utilizing mindfulness and burnout. Participants will complete a survey consisting of the Brief Resilience Scale, the Mindfulness Skill Scale, the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and demographic information. Testing this portion of the workforce resilience model will help to illustrate how resilience acts on these relationships and the underlying processes towards a more complete theory on resilience
Will the Number of Behavioral Anchors Increase Rater Accuracy in Performance Evaluations?
Get PDFThis research project assesses whether the number of behavioral anchors increases rater accuracy in performance evaluations. Specifically, it observes whether a behavioral anchor rating scale (BARS) with five behavioral anchors will be more accurate in scoring performance evaluations than BARS with three behavioral anchors. The accuracy of the ratings is assessed in terms of scale alphas, absolute differences between ratings and true score estimates, and over and under rating. In addition, this study explores whether rating accuracy varies among raters with different degrees of conscientiousness. All participants will be recruited from Middle Tennessee State University and Amazon’s MTurk. The study will use a between-subjects design to assess the accuracy of performance evaluations ratings on a computerized assessment. Participants will be randomly assigned to evaluate the performance of University professors using either BARS with five behavioral anchors or BARS with three behavioral anchors. The study will use videos as stimulus material which will involve University professors lecturing about a topic in a course at the undergraduate level. Prior to viewing the stimulus material and providing performance ratings, all participants will complete a short personality inventory, specifically assessing four facets of conscientiousness, by responding to items based on the HEXACO personality model. Performance evaluation ratings are often used in organizations to make decisions regarding promotion, training, and compensation. Therefore, the outcome of this study could provide organizations with a better performance evaluation technique that yields increased rater accuracy
Second-generation polyalgorithms for parallel dense-matrix multiplication
Get PDFThe polyalgorithm library, originally designed in 1991-1993 by Robert Falgout, Jin Li, and Anthony Skjellum, includes fourteen dense matrix multiplication algorithms mapped onto two-dimensional process grids using the Message Passing Interface (MPI). This thesis\u27 goal is to achieve optimized performance of parallel, dense linear algebra algorithms by varying the algorithm as a function of problem size, shape, data layout, concurrency, and architecture. We integrate these algorithms with an intra-node BLAS DGEMM kernel designed by Thomas Hines (Tennessee Tech), which improves the BLAS DGEMM performance in fat-by-thin dense matrix multiplication region. We add a rank-k-based SUMMA algorithm, which performs better than rank-1-based SUMMA. We studied performance on two cluster systems and results show the performance and improvements achieved. We compare and contrast our results with COSMA, a recent, highly optimized approach, and verify that COSMA, using optimal 3D grid decompositions, has significant advantages provided its preferred data layouts can be used