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Case Study and Fidelity Assessment Development for the Family Intervention Specialist (FIS) Program
No full textThis dissertation involved an in-depth analysis of the Family Intervention Specialist (FIS) program and the development of an FIS fidelity assessment. Three studies were conducted for this analysis. Study one analyzed FIS administrative data from one Managing Entity to determine the extent that the quality assurance measures align with the core program policies and procedures established by the Department of Children and Families. Study two included a content analysis of FIS policies and procedures manuals for alignment regarding implementation practices and qualitative interviews with FIS stakeholders regarding FIS implementation, strengths, challenges, and adherence to established policies and procedures. Study three developed and tested interrater reliability of a fidelity assessment for the FIS program. Overall findings indicated that stakeholders find this program effective for families, and that while not all caregivers will maintain sobriety, without the FIS program caregivers and families would experience a higher likelihood of negative outcomes
Fuzzy KC Clustering Imputation for Missing Not At Random Data
No full textResearch has a variety of difficulties, especially when involving human subjects, and one of the most prevalent is the issue of missing data. Missing data will always be present in research due to the fact there is no perfect method for collecting data and protecting against human error or mechanical failure. This requires researchers to be able to mitigate the problems that come along with missing data; reduction in power of an analysis and bias introduced by the missing pattern. This research investigated a non-parametric method using a nested approach of fuzzy K-Modes and fuzzy C-Means clustering to impute missing data in an effort to reduce the issues introduced by the most severe type of missing data, missing not at random. This method was compared to complete case analysis and Latent Class Imputation. The results of the simulation showed that the proposed method did not sufficiently remove the bias imposed by the missing not at random pattern and could not successfully detect statistically significant regression coefficients. The method showed better results working with continuous variables and proved to be a more efficient estimation method than Latent Class Imputation, by having lower standard errors of the estimates in every scenario. Latent Class Imputation when the priors are not correctly specified also failed to sufficiently mitigate the issues of the missing not at random pattern. The proposed method being more efficient than Latent Class Imputation and requiring no outside assistance beyond refinement of the algorithm holds promise that with further tuning will successfully mitigate the problems of data that is missing not at random
The Redesign and Evaluation of a Higher Education Online Instructor Certification Program
No full textThe following exploratory case study is a program evaluation of a certification program for online instructors at a high-enrollment, 4-year research-intensive university in the southeast. Since 2014 the Online Instructor Certification (OIC) has operated as the predominant platform for preparing faculty to teach online at the site of study. The OIC contributes to meeting institutional strategic initiatives including accreditation and goals from the state board of governors. Using the Kirkpatrick training evaluation model, this study evaluated the OIC on the first three levels including how participants perceived the certification (Level 1), what participants learned (Level 2), and how participants applied what they learned (Level 3). This exploratory case study incorporated several data sources, including quantitative and qualitative questions from a pre-existing survey (OIC Feedback Survey), performance data of the certification, and semi-structured interviews of five participants who were certified through the OIC. I analyzed the quantitative survey questions using SPSS and analyzed the qualitative questions and participant interviews through recursive rounds of open and axial coding. The quantitative descriptive statistics scores from the OIC Feedback Survey demonstrated that participants positively perceived the OIC organizational structure and presentations. The analysis of the qualitative comments (over 300) within the OIC Feedback Survey revealed a diverse set of emergent themes: (1) Appreciation, (2) Recommendations/Critique, (3) Peer Interaction/Discussion Assignments, (4) Organization and Flow, (5) Canvas, (6) Presentations, (7) Expressed Concerns. Similarly, three themes emerged from semi-structured participant interviews: (1) Appreciation, (2) Recommendations/Critique, and (3) Peer Interaction/Discussion Assignments. The analysis also demonstrated that the OIC reframed participants’ perception of the online teaching environment, enhanced their pedagogical skills, and prompted several areas of application including course enhancements and expanded professional development. These findings were comparatively examined against the findings from other studies of online instructor certification programs within the literature. The case study includes a literature review examining the major facets of online faculty professional development (OFPD), its frameworks, approaches, and a comprehensive investigation of studies evaluating other online instructor certification programs. I provide an analysis of these existing studies and compared them against the OIC based on the certifications’ structure, competencies, assessment approach, presentations, and findings. This study ends with relevant reflections, recommendations, and implications. Overall, the findings of this case study have both practical and theoretical implications and may serve several audiences: (1) current, present, or future online instructors, (2) learning design consultants, faculty advisors, or anyone operating in the role of OFPD, and (3) college and departmental administers or leaders who provide support to online faculty
The Effects of Divided Attention in Free Recall: Affecting Trace Accumulation by Dividing Attention
No full textHow environmental information stores in memory directly affects our ability to retrieve the information. This thesis investigates the effects that dividing attention during study has on the storage of contextual information. Through several experiments, participants were asked to study and later recall word lists using a mixed-pure design with strengtheners varying as either repetition or study time. Experiment 1 investigates the effects of divided attention on the formation of inter-item associations and Experiments 2-6 manipulate strengthening item and context information in a memory trace when cognitive load is strained at various levels. Experimental results indicated that dividing attention during study impairs the ability of a subject to form inter-item associations and additionally dampens the ability to store trace information that can be successfully retrieved later. However, there was promising evidence showing that reducing the perceived predictability of study may help prevent against the effects of divided attention and create strong independent traces in both full and divided attention conditions
Multiple Access Techniques Enabling Diverse Wireless Services
No full textThe growing interest in diverse wireless applications such as virtual reality (VR), digital twin, ultra-massive broadband communication (u-MBB) has led the cellular industry to look for new multiple accessing schemes and new signal processing techniques for utilization of next-generation wireless technologies. Throughout the PhD duration, different studies are performed in regards to dual-functional and interference robust multiple accessing and control of electromagnetic radiation for cognitive radio systems. Firstly, a novel concept on non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), which is the coexistence of different waveform structures in the same resource elements is proposed. Secondly, a novel JCR waveform is proposed to serve both communication and radar applications with the same resources. Thirdly, rate-splitting (RS) in OFDM waveform is investigated. It is shown that even in single-input single-output (SISO) BC scenario, the proposed OFDM-RSMA outperforms OFDM-NOMA and OFDMA in diverse channel conditions. Finally, the formation of smart radio environment is introduced considering efficient utilization of radio spectrum in any given geographical area, which can be also viewed as a generalization of cognitive radio technology
Diazirines and Oxaziridines as Nitrogen Transfer Reagents in Drug Discovery
No full textSynthetic organic chemistry has long served as a driver of innovation in the drug discovery and development process. Given the prevalence of the nitrogen atom in small molecule drugs, improved methods for C–N bond installation are in high demand. Heteroatom transfer reagents such as oxaziridines and diazirines can be used to selectively deliver nitrogen atom(s) to organic compounds. Herein, I’ll describe my work utilizing Armstrong’s oxaziridine (TBDOT) in peptide backbone modification, and diazirines (TPD) in the development of a hydroamination reaction.
Peptide backbone N-amination has emerged as an attractive peptidomimetic strategy in the design of amyloid aggregation inhibitors. In addition to maintaining sidechain functionality, critical for biomolecular recognition, the incorporation of α-hydrazino acid residues to the backbone of a peptide conserves key hydrogen-bonding interactions, important not only for peptide folding, but target binding. The work detailed below describes the synthesis of chiral α-hydrazino acids using TBDOT as a nitrogen transfer reagent. These N-aminated monomers were used in the synthesis of N-aminated hexapeptide mimics modeled after the core hydrophobic sequence of amyloid beta (Aβ42). A key design feature was the incorporation of N-amino substituents at alternating backbone amides, allowing for an intact hydrogen-bonding edge and an N-aminated inhibitor blocking edge. Thioflavin T fluorescence assays, circular dichroism measurements, and transmission electron microscopy were used to evaluate the inhibition potential of these mimics, and one di-aminated analog emerged from this study as an effective inhibitor of Aβ42 aggregation.
Historically, diazirines have been used in chemical biology as carbene precursors, however, Krespan and Barton showed, over 30 years ago, that diazirines can also be used as electrophilic sources of nitrogen. In both reports, however, only a single nitrogen atom was retained in the imine products. In addition, either an excess of substrate or reagent was necessary for the transformation to occur in an efficient manner. Our group has demonstrated that diazirines can be used in an efficient decarboxylative amination reaction where both nitrogen atoms are retained in the highly diversifiable diaziridine products. In addition, we showed applications of this work to fluorous phase synthesis, and demonstrated our method’s utility in the synthesis of a wide array of heterocycles.
In an attempt to further expand the diazirine chemical space, we sought to develop a hydroamination reaction, employing diazirines as nitrogen transfer reagents. We began the method development process by reacting TPD with unsymmetrical olefins under manganese catalysis. Although this transformation was very robust, no regioselectivity was observed. Both the Markovnikov and anti-Markovnikov products were isolated in a 1:1 ratio, nevertheless, this method worked well in the hydroamination of symmetrical olefins. After a series of additional optimization experiments, we were able to develop a completely regioselective hydroamination reaction. When the model substrate was reacted under cobalt catalysis, the Markovnikov addition product was isolated in excellent yield. With optimized conditions in hand, we next set out to examine the functional group tolerance of the reaction conditions, the utility of our method in the synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant compounds, and applications of our method to the 15N stable isotopic labeling of pharmaceutical compounds
Restoration and Modification of a Sputter Tool for the Deposition of a ZnO Guiding Layer via RF Sputtering
No full textIn this thesis, a novel sputter tool was restored and modified to deposit a ZnO film for future applications as a guiding layer on a surface acoustic wave (SAW) device. Some restorations and modifications included a water chiller being sized and added to the tool, leak checks to establish an ultra-high vacuum of 10-6 Torr, then finally heat lamps for temperature control were installed. Once modified, one of the preexisting magnetrons was utilized to deposit a ZnO via RF sputtering onto a quartz substrate. The layer was characterized via energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy which showed the existence of Zn on the substrate, suggesting the sputter tool was working as intended. Further experiments were conducted to maximize the ZnO dep rate to roughly 7.22 nm/min. A thicker layer of 1300um was deposited and underwent x-ray diffraction and showed a small peak at 34.222°, showing the existence of (002) ZnO. However, a larger peak was seen at 55.483° that suggests the existence of (110) or (102) ZnO crystallization or even perhaps contamination. Unfortunately, the SAW devices were destroyed in the process. A third deposition was attempted with the same deposition conditions but included modifications to the SAW devices to protect them. The third attempt resulted in another broken device and a contaminated one. Future considerations and improvements were then suggested to modify the process for the application of applying a guiding layer to a SAW device
Urban Security: From High-Intensity Crime to Large-Scale Combat Operations and Everything in Between
No full textDiode-pumped multipass cavity raman gas sensor and method of use
No full textA method for enhancement of spontaneous Raman scattering (SRS) from gases comprising a multimode blue laser diode which receives feedback from a near concentric bidirectional multipass cavity in such a way as to generate a circulating power of order 100 W for a sample volume of 10 mm3. The feedback, provided via a volume Bragg grating, reduces the laser bandwidth to 4 cm−1. Spectra of spontaneous Raman scattering from ambient atmospheric air, detected collinearly with the pump, were recorded with a limit of detection below 1 part-per-million
Systems and methods for at-home monitoring of an individual
No full textIn one embodiment, a sensor unit includes an outer housing including a top plate and a base member that together define an interior space, the top plate being configured to directly receive and support the leg of the piece of furniture, a load cell provided within the interior space configured to measure forces imposed by the leg on the top plate, the load cell including a planar metal plate having a deformable element to which the top plate is mounted and a sensor element mounted to the planar metal plate at a location at which the deformable element extends from the remainder of the planar metal plate, and an internal platform provided within the interior space and associated with the base member that supports the planar metal plate of the load cell in a manner in which the deformable element of the planar metal plate is free to deform when a force is imposed by the leg on the top plate