Gyrus Higher Learning Management System

Our project was to develop a prototype learning management system for use of higher education for our sponsor, Gyrus Systems. This consisted of creating a MySQL relational database to store user and class information, to design and code a user interface that emphasized user experience, and to implement functionalities for each user role. Early in the design phase we outlined which features were must haves, in order to demonstrate an adequate prototype, and had this list approved by our sponsor. They were then divided into two roles. The role of “student” has the ability to submit assignments, get information from their instructor, and receive and review grades for submitted assignments. The role of “professor” has the ability to post assignments, receive and grade student submissions, send their students information about the class, and post materials for the students to review. The application is hosted on a shared web server and the work was done through a cPanel Portal. The UI is constructed with a custom bootstrap and our functional code is in jQuery. Transactions between our front-end and the MySQL database are handled in PHP. Our final product is a functional web-application that accommodates the must haves outlined in our original design. The main pages are the page for class information, the page for viewing grades, the page for viewing announcements, and the dashboard containing quick information. The pages are designed for the fulfillment of the different roles’ unique needs.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1168/thumbnail.jp

Assessment of Real-World Upper Limb Activity in Adults with Chronic Stroke

Hemiparesis is a common motor impairment following stroke that leads to disability. The goal of stroke-related physical rehabilitation is to reduce the severity of motor-related disability in hopes that improved motor capacity (i.e. what one can do) will generalize to improved motor performance (i.e. what one actually does) in everyday activities. Recent studies have demonstrated that motor capacity and motor performance are distinct domains of motor function, but few have objectively measured motor performance. Furthermore, even though many studies have demonstrated that motor capacity is only moderately associated with motor performance, few studies have examined other factors that might influence motor performance. The purpose of this dissertation was to characterize motor performance, and potential modifying factors of motor performance, in nondisabled adults and adults with chronic stroke, and to develop and validate a novel, accelerometry-derived assessment methodology to quantify motor performance. Using wrist-worn accelerometry, we characterized duration of upper limb (UL) activity that occurred in everyday environments (i.e. real-world activity) as an index of motor performance. We also characterized several potential modifying factors of UL activity [i.e. self-reported time spent in sedentary activity, cognitive impairment, depressive symptomatology, number of comorbidities, living arrangement, age, motor capacity, pre-stroke hand dominance, and Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) status]. Increased self-reported time spent in sedentary activity was associated with decreased UL activity in nondisabled adults. Decreased motor capacity and dependence in ADLs were associated with decreased UL activity in adults with chronic stroke. These results identify potential factors that could be targeted during rehabilitation in patient populations. Additionally, duration of UL activity obtained from nondisabled adults could be used as a referent value for setting outcome goals for patients with UL impairment. We also developed and validated a novel, accelerometry-based methodology to quantify real-world bilateral UL activity. This methodology was first validated in a laboratory setting in nondisabled adults. We derived two accelerometry-based metrics to quantify intensity of bilateral UL activity and contribution of each UL to activity. The accelerometry-derived metrics distinguished between high- and low-intensity UL activity, and between UL activities that were completed using both ULs versus one UL. The accelerometry-derived metrics were also strongly correlated with secondary measures (i.e. convergent validity was established). Having established the validity of the accelerometry-based methodology, we characterized real-world bilateral UL activity during a typical day in nondisabled adults and adults with chronic stroke. We demonstrated that duration and intensity of UL activity were lower in adults with stroke than in nondisabled adults, and that UL activity was more lateralized (i.e. unaffected UL activity exceeded affected UL activity) in adults with stroke. We also demonstrated that motor capacity and motor performance were not associated in a subset of adults with stroke. Taken together, our results suggest that motor capacity and motor performance are distinct domains of motor function that should be assessed separately. Furthermore, factors other than motor capacity should be identified and targeted during rehabilitation to improve motor performance above that which can be obtained by improvement in motor capacity alone

Limits on violations of Lorentz Symmetry from Gravity Probe B

Generic violations of Lorentz symmetry can be described by an effective field theory framework that contains both general relativity and the standard model of particle physics called the Standard-Model Extension (SME). We obtain new constraints on the gravitational sector of the SME using recently published final results from Gravity Probe B. These include for the first time an upper limit at the 10^(-3) level on the time-time component of the new tensor field responsible for inducing local Lorentz violation in the theory, and an independent limit at the 10^(-7) level on a combination of components of this tensor field.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur

Regional selenium cycling in an irrigated agricultural groundwater system: conceptualization, modeling, and mitigation

2012 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.Selenium (Se) is an element that occurs naturally as a trace constituent in geologic formations and associated soils and, although an essential nutrient for animals and humans, can prove detrimental to health at high concentrations. Over the previous decades, the presence of either deficient or elevated concentrations of Se in groundwater, surface water, and associated plants and cultivated crops has emerged as a serious issue in many regions of the world, including the United States, northern and western Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia. Regardless of the nature of concern regarding Se, whether concentrations are deficient or elevated in water supplies and cultivated crops, there is a basic need for a thorough description of the movement and chemical processes of Se within a dynamic soil-aquifer system influenced by agricultural practices, and for the development of numerical simulation tools that allow these processes to be simulated in assessing baseline conditions and exploring remediation best-management practices (BMPs). While the individual processes controlling Se speciation, transformation, and movement within soil systems have been well documented, their synthesis into a comprehensive numerical model of Se fate and transport within an alluvial aquifer system influenced by agricultural practices has not yet been realized. This dissertation presents the development of a numerical model that can simulate the fate and transport of Se species in irrigation-influenced agricultural soil and groundwater systems at a regional scale. The model was developed by first, linking RT3D, modified to handle multi-species reactive transport in variably-saturated porous media, to MODFLOW, which uses the UZF1 (Unsaturated Zone Flow) package to simulate groundwater flow in the unsaturated zone; and second, developing an Se reaction module for RT3D that accounts for the cycling, chemical activity, and transport of Se species in regional-scale agricultural soil and groundwater systems. The module also accounts for the influence of other chemical species such as dissolved oxygen and nitrate (NO3). The resulting model, referred to as UZF-RT3DAG, is applied to a 50,600 ha regional site in the Lower Arkansas River Valley (LARV) in southeastern Colorado for the years 2006 through 2009. Using the calibrated model, multiple BMPs for remediation of Se contamination in the LARV are investigated. These strategies include decreasing annual loading of nitrogen fertilizer, decreasing species concentration in canal water, decreasing applied volume of irrigation water, and increasing chemical activity within riparian areas. Research results are presented through a series of published and submitted articles and modeling results that outline the progression of model development and model application. Results of the BMP scenario testing indicate that alternative land-management practices can have a significant impact in decreasing the concentration of dissolved Se in groundwater by up to 5-8% as well as mass loadings of Se to the Arkansas River by as much as 20-30%. Practices also have a significant impact on decreasing NO3 concentrations and loadings by up to 50% and 45%, respectively. As the alluvial aquifer in the LARV is similar to other Se-contaminated aquifer systems, the results of this research are pertinent to the assessment and remediation of Se contamination world-wide

SEARCH MODELS OF A MOVING TARGET

Adversarial submarine activity in the Atlantic has steadily intensified over the past few years. Furthermore, strategic adversaries have developed sophisticated and stealthy submarines, making them much more difficult to locate. The heightened activity coupled with advanced platforms have allowed the United States' adversaries to challenge its dominance in the underwater domain. Though extensive research has been performed on optimized search strategies using Bayesian search methods, most methodologies in the open literature focus on searching for stationary objects rather than searching for a moving Red submarine conducted by a Blue submarine. Thusly motivated, we develop a model of an enemy submarine whose goal is to avoid detection. As the search effort is expended, a posterior probability distribution for the enemy submarine’s location is calculated based on negative search results. We present a methodology for finding a search pattern that attempts to maximize the probability of detection in a Bayesian framework utilizing Markovian properties. Specifically, we study three different running window methods: a simple network optimization model, a network optimization model that performs updates after every time period that is planning the entire route, and a dynamic program that only looks two time periods ahead.NPS Naval Research ProgramThis project was funded in part by the NPS Naval Research Program.Lieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Evaluating Farm Financial Performance Measures In Illinois

RYAN A. BAILEY, for the Master of Science degree in AGRIBUSINESS ECONOMICS, presented on APRIL 18th, 2017 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: EVALUATING FARM FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE MEASURES IN ILLINOIS MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Jebaraj Asirvatham The purpose of this paper is to conduct financial measure analysis specifically Return on Assets (ROA) and Asset Turnover Ratio (ATR) of the 102 counties throughout Illinois and give a better insight of how these farms are performing at the county level; the sample area consists of farms throughout the entire state of Illinois. However, data between counties throughout the state of Illinois have not been widely analyzed in terms of profitability and financial efficiency among counties throughout the state of Illinois. This research acquired data from the United States Department of Agriculture- National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA-NASS) census years 1997, 2002, 2007, and 2012, to analyze comparison and gauge the change in relationship in better understanding of county and regional performance across the Northern, Central and Southern parts of the state. This research study presents the profitability measure of Return on Assets (ROA) and financial efficiency measure Asset Turnover Ratio (ATR) and presents challenges that agricultural producers face from business, agricultural policy, and financial risk throughout Illinois at the county-level. With continually, changing market conditions this research, suggest the importance of measuring and analyzing county level data to support policy and programs in one of the United States top agricultural producing states of Illinois. Additional data is used to analyze existing and emerging relationships of farm size and assets throughout Illinois counties

Substitutability of Livestock Manure for Chemical Fertilizer: A Contingent Valuation Analysis of Crop Producers

The impact of new manure management regulations depends on the willingness of crop producers to accept manure. A contingent valuation analysis of crop producers was used to estimate the willingness of crop producers to accept or pay for manure. Results indicate that producers will pay a positive price on average, but some would require a payment before accepting manure.Farm Management,

Identifying Heirs’ Property: Extent and Value Across the South and Appalachia

A database of property tax records was used to locate and quantify the extent of heirs\u27 property across 11 states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia). Based on previously published work, an index of four variables was then developed to estimate the likelihood that a given parcel was heirs’ property. The authors conservatively estimate that there are at least 496,994 parcels of heirs’ properties with a combined total area of 5.3 million acres and a market value of $41.9 billion in these states

Constructing and testing a refined groundwater flow model for the LaSalle/Gilcrest area

August 2018.Series and series numbering taken from website.Project Completion Report, Project period: July 1 2017 – June 30 2018