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Deep Learning Enhancement and Privacy-Preserving Deep Learning: A Data-Centric Approach
No full textDeep Learning and its applications have become attractive to a lot of research recentlybecause of its capability to capture important information from large amounts of data. While most of the work focuses on finding the best model parameters, improving machine learning performance from data perspective still needs more attention. In this work, we propose techniques to enhance the robustness of deep learning classification by tackling data issue. Specifically, our data processing proposals aim to alleviate the impacts of class-imbalanced data and non- IID data in deep learning classification and federated learning scenarios. In addition, data pre-processing strategies such that dimensionality reduction is also enhanced using a proposed deep learning-based technique for a scenario of data privacy preservation. By conducting several experiments and comparisons, we show that our approaches yield good performance and constantly outperform many state-of-the-art methods
Communicating for Success: The Importance of Fairness in Pre-Merger Communication
No full textThis phenomenological study explores the complexities and influences of pre-merger communication on M&A outcomes from a stakeholder perspective, using the Fair Process Theoretical Framework. The study identified the following six key themes related to pre-merger communication broken down into two distinct categories: important aspects to employees, which include Open and Honest Communication, Engagement and Clarity, Participation and Collaboration, and best practices managers can implement, such as Undertake Fair and Engaging Communication, Prioritize Strategic and Cultural Communication, Ensure Effective and Compliant Communication. The study also found that effective pre-merger communication can positively influence perceptions of fairness in the merging process. These findings have theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, the study supports the Fair Process Theoretical Framework and contributes to organizational communication theory by emphasizing fairness, transparency, and engagement as essential elements in communication processes. Practically, the study emphasizes the need for organizations to prioritize effective pre-merger communication strategies to enhance employee satisfaction, commitment, and overall organizational performance. This research can serve as a valuable resource for organizations in developing communication strategies during the M&A process, ultimately leading to improved desired outcomes and value creation
Evaluating a Behavioral Intervention for Performance Blocks in Gymnastics
No full textThe purpose of this study was to evaluate a gradual exposure and thought training treatment package to increase gymnasts’ successful completion of a performance block skill. Following baseline, the researchers implemented both a thought training procedure to alter participants’ negative thoughts into positive thoughts, and a gradual exposure procedure which included gymnastics drills that were small approximations to the performance block skill. A 2-point rating scale was used to indicate successful completion of the skills: 0= refusal, 1= the participant initiated the skill but failed to complete it successfully, 2= the participant initiated the skill and completed it successfully. Rating scale scores, latency, and Subjective Units of Discomfort Scale (SUDS) (Abramowitz et al., 2011) were measured during baseline, the gradual exposure and thought training package, and follow-up. The Sport Anxiety Scale-2 (SAS-2) (Smith et al., 2006) was used to measure anxiety levels of the gymnasts at baseline and follow-up. The results showed that all three participants completed their performance block skill successfully during the post-treatment and follow-up sessions
Understanding Urban Warfare. By John Spencer and Liam Collins. Hampshire, England: Howgate Publishing Limited, 2022.
No full textHow Some Arboreal Salamanders (genus \u3cem\u3eAneides\u3c/em\u3e) Jump, Glide, and Generate Lift
No full textThe jumping and subsequent aerial behaviors of arboreal lungless salamanders (genus Aneides) had never been investigated or described. The aims of this research were to (1) compare jumping performance within the family Plethodontidae with a special focus on arboreal species from genus Aneides, (2) describe the biomechanics and kinematics of aerial behaviors after a jump or extended fall, and (3) model airflow over the morphology of the most aerially adept salamanders to investigate if they are capable of generating lift. First, I recorded salamanders jumping, locomoting vertically, dropping, and flying in a vertical wind tunnel. Then, I laser-scanned and reconstructed salamanders to compare morphological contributions to aerodynamics with computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Arboreal salamanders (genus Aneides) jump slower but assume skydiving postures more quickly. In Aneides, aerial performance follows an arboreality gradient with the more arboreal A. vagrans and A. lugubris capable of aerial righting, parachuting, and gliding; the less arboreal A. flavipunctatus and E. eschscholtzii rarely parachute, never glide, and display erratic aerial behaviors, such as flailing. CFD simulations predict a stronger dorso-ventral pressure gradient and a positive lift (Cl) and drag (Cd) coefficient for A. vagrans, suggesting a higher capacity for lift. The highly arboreal A. vagrans has a positive predicted Cl:Cd ratio of 0.40 that increases with angle of attack up to 10º. The long limbs and active tail of arboreal salamanders, often cited as adaptations for climbing, may also contribute to parachuting and gliding when falling from trees
Of \u3cem\u3eMētis\u3c/em\u3e and Cuttlefish: Employing Collective \u3cem\u3eMētis\u3c/em\u3e as a Theoretical Framework for Marginalized Communities
No full textThis LGBTQ+ rhetoric of health and medicine (RHM) community-based research explores the ways community members and queer community participants communicate about potential intimate partner selection in Central Florida. The dissertation introduces the theoretical framework of “collective mētis” as a way to analyze and discuss community communication against Florida’s required HIV disclosure laws that attempt to medicalize this and control this community’s intimate partner selection. Research questions include: 1) How do people in counterpublic enclaves (Chávez, 2011) communicate their potential intimate partner desires to others in the community including the types of disclosures they express and negotiate, and how? 2) How do the dynamics of potential intimate partner selection (online or in person) affect one another and in what ways? 3) Starting from the premise that disclosure is communicated in various ways, how does this community employ individual and collective rhetorical and discursive practices that disrupt the medicalization and policing of their HIV disclosure practices? More particularly, how are HIV disclosure laws circumvented? 4) To what extent are folks in the community aware of the collective agentive power of language practices within the community? This qualitative research study answers these research questions and argues that laws such as HIV disclosure laws in Florida attempt to regulate bodies, particularly queer ones in Central Florida. Participants use the practice of collective mētis to resist these laws and empower the community. Members of the community create a trickster-body that allows them to circumvent these laws when selecting a potential intimate partner. The trickster, or the discursive formation created collectively by community members, oscillates through publics and counterpublics in order to best serve community values, norms, and expectations that often include not disclosing a positive HIV status because of discursive and preventative ways around law language. This study then argues for a closer examination of theory-building as an effective community-based research methodology in rhetorical studies and RHM. Future research includes ethical implications of community-based research and comparing state laws, as technical documents, to HIV disclosure requirements for LGBTQ+ communities. Additionally, this research sets up future examinations of the trickster-body in rhetorical studies, the role of researcher positionality in RHM, testing the theory of collective mētis in other nonacademic contexts and connecting theory to practice, and the role of modalities reflected in marginalized community customs
Comparing mortality in response to simulated climate change in the harvester ant, \u3cem\u3ePogonomyrmex badius\u3c/em\u3e, and the fire ant, \u3cem\u3eSolenopsis invicta\u3c/em\u3e
No full textWith the rapid transport of plants, produce, and goods out of its South American home, the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, has invaded continents on a global scale. In the United States alone, S. invicta is responsible for an estimated $1 billion in damages annually. In contrast to the invasive fire ant, Florida’s native harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex badius, is a keystone seed disperser, providing seed relocation benefits to Florida’s sandhill wildfire-adapted habitats. Seed relocation reduces seedling competition for nutrients with the parent plant, reduces predation of seeds by rodents, increases nutrient loads associated with ant mound soils, and protects seeds from natural disasters. In short, P. badius is a desert ant adapted to dryer wildfire habitats. In contrast, S. invicta is a swamp ant adapted to wetter grassy habitats with seasonal floods. In this study of these two iconic Florida ant species, I explored the mortality of workers when exposed to extreme weather events. I simulated wildfires using a smoker, cold snaps using a refrigerator at 0.5oC, heat waves using a dry oven at 45.5oC, and floods using open containers of water. I tested three hypotheses: (H1) Larger ants are “less” likely to perish when exposed to temperature extremes in heat, flooding, and cold trials (Bergmann’s Rule; Gigantothermy). (H2) Larger ants are “more” likely to perish in smoke trials because they retain a greater portion of particulate matter (Kmoch et al. 1976). (H3) Ants in larger groups are “less” likely to perish when exposed to temperature extremes in heat, smoke, flooding, cold, and humidity trials (Koto et al. 2015). The percent mortality for P. badius workers did not differ from the control for cold, smoke and flooding. Morality during the heat treatment was 17%. Across treatments, smaller worker size and isolated workers were significant predictors of mortality. The percent mortality for S. invicta was between 30% and 80% across the four treatments. Smaller worker size, but not group size, was a significant predictor of mortality. However, because P. badius workers averaged 12 times the mass of S. invicta, the harvester ant survived at a rate averaging 10 times that of S. invicta workers. In the remaining sections of this thesis, I expand on each study species, their conservation value, theories related to the surface-area-to-volume ratio of animals (i.e. body size), the natural history of each ant species, and my study hypotheses. Finally, I discuss the implications of this study in light of expanding anthropogenic habitat encroachment and climate change
Deconstructing and Decolonizing Identities of “Gender” and “Sex” When Viewed as Anti-Black: Black Narratives Outside of the Binary
No full textHow is “Reality” experienced in the Black body? Is “Reality” an objective article which is outside of the realm of personal experience? Assigned sex is often assumed an objective biological phenomenon that exists everywhere and in all communities. Gender is often thought about as a socially constructed form of identity which is expressed in various ways. In this thesis, I critically examine the terror of “reality” on the Black body, looking at the ways that Black people who’ve experienced discomfort with gender and sex categories experience the “world” around them. Diving deeply into their own experiences and the meanings they make for the “reality” around them. This thesis looks at gender and sex not as identities, but rather as tools of white supremacy which were forced on Black bodies. I specifically engage in in-depth conversations with participants who have communicated these discomforts with gender and sex categories, to bridge the conversation into race/racial violence, and the “nature” of “reality”
Diffusion of Innovations in Digital Journalism: Technology, Roles, and Gender in Modern Newsrooms
No full textThis study examined journalists’ use of technology, their gender identity, and how they rate themselves as adopters of innovations. Through the lens of diffusion of innovations, this study conducted telephone interviews with 68 U.S.-based digital journalists and applied an explanatory mixed-method research design in order to examine journalists’ adoption of digital journalism technologies. Men and women did not significantly differ in their uses of most technologies and shared equivalence in terms of adoption ratings; however, men did use DSLR and video cameras more than women, while women used nonlinear video editing software significantly more than men. In addition, while men felt significantly less supported by their employers to learn new innovations, this did not lessen their self-evaluation as adopters of innovations. Men also showed significantly more personal agency in choosing stories to cover
System and method of dynamic light source control
No full textA system and method of adjusting a field of view in an imaging system includes transmitting light across a transmission optical path and defining a field of view encompassing both uniform and spatially tenuous target objects within the transmitted light. A sensor within a return optical path of reflected light from at least a portion of one of the target objects allows a data processing computer to compile an image from a series of data outputs from the sensor. The image is analyzed to determine a region of interest within the image and by dynamically adjusting the light source, the computer is configured to change the field of view of the light source such that the image includes a higher resolution and/or signal intensity for the region of interest. The region of interest may include at least one spatially tenuous target object