Theses and Dissertations
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Development of an Effective Organizational Performance Instrument to Facilitate Post-Secondary Institutional Change: A Variation on Likert's Management Systems 1-5
(2020-10-13)This study stemmed from the need to develop an instrument for assessing the characteristics of an organization in terms of internal consistency of leadership behavior, interaction-influences between colleagues, communication ... -
FPGA Acceleration on Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) Neural Network for Handwritten Digit Recognition
(2020-05-13)This dissertation presents a hardware implementation of a Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) network used for the purpose of low-latency, high-accuracy digit recognition. The accuracy of various network designs was compared in ... -
Classification of Positive and Negative Stimuli Using EEG Data Functional Connectivity and Machine Learning
(2019-12-06)Electroencephalography (EEG) provides electrical measures of brain activity by monitoring voltage fluctuations of the collective neural activity in different parts on the cortex of the brain. Recently, there have been ... -
A Framework for Planetary Resource Classifications to Further Sustainability in Space Exploration Missions
(2020-12-21)The long-term impacts and overall sustainability of space exploration missions in the space environment were often unknown in past space missions. Historically, the space exploration vision of various space-faring agents ... -
The Impact of Teacher Perceptions About Student Socioeconomic Status on Grading Practices
(2020-12-04)The current study investigated if teachers’ perceptions of student socioeconomic status (SES) resulted in higher grades for high-SES students compared to low-SES students. Sixty-nine participants read one of two nearly ... -
The Role of Remorse and Gender in Juror Decision Making for Capital Punishment
(2020-12-03)While defendants are expected to show remorse for committing a crime (Sundby, 1998) and remorse is particularly important during the sentencing phase of a trial (Zhong et al., 2014), there is little systematic evidence to ... -
The Effects of Pimavanserin on Corticosterone Levels in a Rodent Model of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
(2020-12-07)PTSD can affect individuals that have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, resulting in numerous physical and psychiatric symptoms. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and behavior therapy are often ... -
Exploratory Analysis of Delay Discounting and Cognitive-Affective Regulation Measures in Cocaine Users
(2020-12-04)Research investigating addiction across populations suggests that identifying high-risk behavioral factors within a population may help identify key areas to target during treatment. Delay discounting, the measure of the ... -
Exploiting Area-Speed-Power Tradeoff of FPGA Designs on Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) Neural Network
(2020-12-21)This dissertation presents four Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) design architectures for handwritten digit recognition, in order to improve hardware efficiency in terms of resources, power, and speed of the neuromorphic ... -
Tradeoff FPGA Cost of Sobel Implementation Using Approximate Designs
(2020-12-21)This dissertation proposes a scalable algorithm for tuning the tradeoff of space, energy, and quality for the implementation on Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). First, an approximate design library including exact and ... -
Fractional Fluxon Dynamics in Long Josephson Junctions
(2020-12-16)In this thesis, I investigate the dynamics of fractional fluxons in two-gap Long Josephson Junctions (LJJs). Due to time reversal symmetry (TRS) breaking within the LJJ, a single fluxon may split into a bound pair of ... -
Revisiting Neutron Star Physics Including Finite Temperature and Density Effects on the Medium
(2020-08-17)Neutron stars are highly compact stellar evolutionary endpoints whose formation and existence rely on a complex interplay between the overall hydrodynamic equilibrium and the local approach of quantum mechanics. The extreme ... -
The Relationship of Parental Involvement and Latino Students Academic Achievement, Absenteeism, and Behavior
(2020-05-28)The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Hispanic parental involvement and Hispanic students’ academic achievement, absenteeism, and behavior. Fifth grade parents from four elementary schools in a ... -
Current Perceptions of Science as a Career Choice of Underrepresented 11th and 12th Grade Students in a Low Socioeconomic Area High School
(2020-05-13)The United States has a shortage of qualified workers in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields (Zhang & Barnett, 2015). There is a critical shortage of underrepresented students seeking science ... -
The Relationship Between the Use of Metacognitive Reading Strategies and Student Retention in Higher Education
(2020-05-13)Student retention is a major issue that has spanned multiple decades in higher education in the United States, corresponding with greater access to higher education and a rise in non-traditional students. Innumerable ... -
The Influence of Extrinsic Motivational Factors on Upper Elementary Students in Reading
(2020-04-17)The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of extrinsic motivational factors on upper elementary students who are reading at least two grade levels below their current grade. Research was conducted using a mixed ... -
Correlation of Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning as a Writing Framework and Students’ Success Rates in High School Science District Standardized Tests
(2020-04-15)The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine the relationship between science writing and student science achievement and how teachers implement the writing strategy claim, evidence, and reasoning (CER) in their ... -
High School Administrator Gender and the Impact on School Factors
(2020-04-13)Female representation in leadership position around the country is on the rise. More and more females hold CEO positions, political leadership, and partnerships in law firms, fields typically dominated by males. It would ... -
Teacher Awareness of STEM Education: Industry, Resources and Student Preparation for Success in College and Career
(2020-02-25)This study examined science teachers’ perceptions and determined their level of STEM awareness and support. Survey, interview, and demographic data were collected from a purposeful sample of 124 high school science teachers ... -
Helicopter parenting: Exploring the motivations and defining behaviors of parents who hover
(2019-08-08)Helicopter parenting is defined by popular culture as a set of parenting practices characterized by overinvolvement which reduce child autonomy and are potentially associated with a host of negative child outcomes. However, ...