7424 research outputs found
Sort by
Assessment Of Two Pedagogical Tools For Cybersecurity Education
Get PDFCybersecurity is an important strategic areas of computer science, and a difficult discipline to teach effectively. To enhance and provide effective teaching and meaningful learning, we develop and assess two pedagogical tools: Peer instruction, and Concept Maps. Peer instruction teaching methodology has shown promising results in core computer science courses by reducing failure rates and improving student retention in computer science major. Concept maps are well-known technique for improving student-learning experience in class. This thesis document presents the results of implementing and evaluating the peer instruction in a semester-long cybersecurity course, i.e., introduction to computer security. Development and evaluation of concept maps for two cybersecurity courses: SCADA security systems, and digital forensics. We assess the quality of the concept maps using two well-defined techniques: Waterloo rubric, and topological scoring. Results clearly shows that overall concept maps are of high-quality and there is significant improvement in student learning gain during group-discussion
Entwined Threads of Red and Black: The Hidden History of Indigenous Enslavement in Louisiana, 1699-1824
Get PDFContrary to nationalist teleologies, the enslavement of Native Americans was not a small and isolated practice in the territories that now comprise the United States. This thesis is a case study of its history in Louisiana from European contact through the Early American Period, utilizing French Superior Council and Spanish judicial records, Louisiana Supreme Court case files, statistical analysis of slave records, and the synthesis and reinterpretation of existing scholarship. This paper primarily argues that it was through anti-Blackness and anti-Indigeneity and with the utilization of socially constructed racial designations that “Indianness” was controlled and exploited, and that Native Americans and their mixed-race Black-Native descendants continued to be enslaved alongside the larger population Africans and African Americans in Louisiana. Lacking a decolonized lens and historiography inclusive of the enslavement of Indigenous peoples, the American story ignores the full impact of white settler colonialism and historical trauma
The Effects of Passive Integrated Transponder Tagging on Cortisol Release in the Gulf Killifish, Fundulus Grandis
Get PDFDue to its ease of use, low cost, and essentially limitless number of unique codes, PIT tagging has become the favored technique for tagging individuals in biological studies. However, studies employing PIT tagging generally assume that stress due to the implantation and presence of a PIT tag has no influence on the experimental results. This study investigated the effects of PIT tagging on levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the Gulf Killifish, Fundulus grandis, an estuarine fish of the Gulf of Mexico that is prone to daily or seasonal environmental stressors. Cortisol was measured non-invasively by extracting and assaying cortisol excreted by individual fish into their aquarium water. This technique was optimized by acidifying water cortisol samples and processing them by Oasis HLB 1cc solid phase extraction columns. Measurements of cortisol were taken from water samples prior to, immediately after, and over four weeks after PIT tagging. Overall, there was no significant effect of PIT tagging on cortisol release by fish. There was, however, a significant increase in cortisol release by control non-tagged, as well as PIT tagged fish, immediately after handling, suggesting a stress effect of capture, brief emersion from water, or anesthesia. Cortisol release returned to control levels within one week of the procedure, suggesting that fish be allowed to recover one week after handling prior to other experimental manipulations. Future work will measure cortisol release by uniquely PIT tagged fish exposed to natural and anthropogenic stressors
Solving Atomic Wave Functions Using Artificial Neural Networks
Get PDFCarleo and Troyer [3] have recently pointed out the possibility of solving quantum many-body problems by using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). Their work is based on minimizing a variational wave function to obtain the ground states for various spin-dependent systems. This work is primarily focused on developing efficient method using ANN to solve the ground state wave function for atomic systems. We have developed a theoretical groundwork to represent the wave function of a many-electron atom by using artificial neural network while still preserving its antisymmetric property. By using the Metropolis algorithm, Variational Monte Carlo (VMC), and Stochastic Reconfiguration (SR) methods for minimization, we were able to obtain a highly accurate ground state wave function for the He atom. To verify our optimization algorithm, we reproduced the results for the ground state of a three dimensional Simple Harmonic Oscillator (SHO) given by Teng [18]
The State and Place of Mindfulness in Modern Research
Get PDFOriginally derived from Eastern religions, the concept of mindfulness has been adapted and validated by psychology and medical science within recent decades. This project describes some of the religious viewpoints associated with mindfulness and its related practices, such as meditation. The primary focus however, are the forays into scientific study using validated methodology to understand what mindfulness can and cannot affect as it relates to physical and mental health. The initial studies serve as proof of concept and cover simple reductions in symptomology and suffering for conditions like anxiety and depression. The scope of mindfulness application grew as research progressed, leading to more focused studies involving the extreme stress of medical students, the lifespan of the elderly, and autobiographical memory for those in remission who had depression. Like all respectable scientific experimentation, having the ability to quantify the results and observations seen is accounted for by these studies. Furthermore, a cohesive model and adapted measurement scale are discussed to denote the clout carried by mindfulness and related practices. In closing, discussion of current research directions are given along with a re-emphasis of conclusions established in the literature
Database Design and Optimization for Telemetric Aquatic Species-Tracking Systems
Get PDFTracking an individual species has always been a challenge for scientists, especially when one has to make sure to not change its natural movement pattern. When the number of individuals being tracked is increased and water is added to the equation, the task becomes next to impossible. But thanks to technologies and tracking methods like telemetry, the task of tracking any species without affecting the natural movement pattern has not only become a reality but easily accessible to scientists. Underwater acoustic telemetry has become a standard tool for fisheries biologist to study the movement pattern of the fish (Heupel). This project develops a minimalistic database designed to meet the needs of the telemetry systems. The database is optimized for storing a large number of datasets generated by the telemetry system and also for the most common queries run against the system
A SWOT Analysis of the Lodging and Tourism Industry in New Orleans
Get PDFThe objective of this paper is to analyze the resiliency of the New Orleans lodging and tourism industry by conducting a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is composed of four key parts: the internal influences that are the strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) and the external influences that are the opportunities (O) and threats (T). New Orleans is characterized by the ability to use its internal strengths to drive growth in its lodging and tourism market. The main internal strengths I identified were the city’s strong cultural identity, and destination attractiveness in both the convention and leisure markets.
However, New Orleans also has internal weaknesses that adversely affect the perception of the city: cultural arrogance, crime and cleanliness. Externally, the city is presented with several opportunities to become one of the top tourist destinations both nationally and internationally. The marketing opportunities available to New Orleans are through the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation, the healthcare and film industries, and the city’s accessibility. The city’s reach is limited by several key threats, such as short-term rentals, competing markets such as Charleston and Atlanta, and natural disasters that could disrupt New Orleans’ position as one of the top visitor markets in the United States
Land Use Planning & Historic Preservation Property Assessment Tool in New Orleans: The Algiers Main Street Demonstration Project
Get PDFService-learning is a critical component of the student-centered education model at the University of New Orleans (UNO). For students to apply their knowledge activities within, classes are developed to provide technical service and experiential knowledge for community organizations. In the fall of 2017 students in the MURP 4050/5050 “Urban Land Use Planning & Plan Making” course combined their recently acquired knowledge of how policy affects the use of applying new planning tools in practice. Specifically, the course focused on the application of Federal and State policies for identifying and evaluating the significance of properties under Historic Preservation (HP) guidelines. This training was complemented with the WhoData property survey (PS) methodology & image inventory which evaluated the use, condition, location in combination with public data identification sources.
In the fall of 2016 an initial field study in the French Quarter consolidated the HP and PS models but not in a consolidated fashion. The Algiers Historic Preservation Assessment & Land Use Planning Survey demonstration project is the first study which integrates the tools and techniques from two fields of study into a single model that can be replicated nationally. The students in MURP 4050/5050 aided in using, evaluating and improving the tools by applying their knowledge to an active project. Initially the demonstration project was aimed at providing the initial documentation and an implementation plan to expand the existing Algiers Historic District. However, the scope of work had to be changed. The ability to create the resources necessary would not be developed properly without additional training by the course team without further training on historic preservation theory and application.
As a result, additional teaching resources were obtained which provided guidance on how to conduct historic property research (The New Orleans Historic Collection), conducting HP & LUP surveys in Algiers (Jennie Garcia, MURP ’17) and State/Federal Historic Preservation guidelines (LA State Historic Preservation Office). The students moved to the role of Planning Analyst in order to complete the research and reporting required to complete the preliminary analysis necessary for community organizations, such as the Algiers Main Street Corporation, to consider the benefits of historic district expansion and the cost of developing the documents to do s
