Institutional Repository

The UDSpace Institutional Repository collects and disseminates research material from the University of Delaware.

  • Faculty, staff, and graduate students can deposit their research material directly into UDSpace. Faculty may use UDSpace to fulfill the University of Delaware Faculty Senate Open Access Resolution, and in many cases may use it to fulfill open access requirements from grant funding agencies.
  • Departments can use UDSpace to publish or distribute their working papers, technical reports, or other research material.
  • UDSpace also includes all doctoral dissertations from winter 2014 forward, and all master's theses from fall 2009 forward.

To learn more about UDSpace, and how you can make your research openly accessible to the public, visit our UDSpace Policies website.

 

Recent Submissions

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Resource Optimization of MAB-based Reputation Management for Data Trading in Vehicular Edge Computing
(IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 2023-01-09) Xiao, Huizi; Cai, Lin; Feng, Jie; Pei, Qingqi; Shi, Weisong
Vehicles are hesitant to upload data to edge servers in vehicle edge computing (VEC) as many vehicle data collected and perceived by various on-board sensors contain sensitive and personal information and lack economic incentive. Instead of free access to shared data, encrypted data trading will alleviate security and privacy concerns and provide an incentive for vehicle owners to share their data. The edge server needs to pay the price in data trading, and reputation management is a great method to help it trade with reliable and available vehicles. In this paper, we propose a multi-armed bandit (MAB)-based reputation management scheme, so the edge servers can select the high reputation vehicles for data trading, which can ensure the credibility and reliability of the data. The encryption scheme is applied to achieve the required transmission security level and defend the rights and interests of the edge server. On the other hand, implementing security measures will consume the computation and communication resources of the vehicles. We formulate an optimization problem that maximizes the revenue of vehicles in data trading under the constraints of time delay, energy consumption, and security level. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme is effective and efficient for vehicle reputation management, data trading selection, and resource allocation.
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Authentication of edible oils using an infrared spectral library and digital sample sets: A feasibility study
(Journal of Chemometrics, 2023-03-19) Sota-Uba, Isio; White, Collin G.; Booksh, Karl; Lavine, Barry K.
A potential method to determine whether two varieties of edible oils can be differentiated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is proposed using digitally generated data of adulterated edible oils from an infrared (IR) spectral library. The first step is the evaluation of digitally blended data sets. Specifically, IR spectra of adulterated edible oils are computed from digitally blending experimental data of the IR spectra of an edible oil and the corresponding adulterant using the appropriate mixing coefficients to achieve the desired level of adulteration. To determine whether two edible oils can be differentiated by FTIR spectroscopy, pure IR spectra of the two edible oils are compared with IR spectra of two edible oils digitally mixed using a genetic algorithm for pattern recognition to solve a ternary classification problem. If the IR spectra of the two edible oils and their binary mixtures are differentiable from principal component plots of the spectral data, then differences between the IR spectra of these two edible oils are of sufficient magnitude to ensure that a reliable classification by FTIR spectroscopy can be obtained. Using this approach, the feasibility of authenticating edible oils such as extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) directly from library spectra is demonstrated. For this study, both digital and experimental data are combined to generate training and validation data sets to assess detection limits in FTIR spectroscopy for the adulterants.
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Adult social-emotional learning in the elementary school setting
(University of Delaware, 2022) Foskey-Raimer, Donald C.
Throughout the 2021-2022 school year, I implemented the strategies within this Educational Leadership Portfolio with the support of my SEL leadership team in my effort to improve adult understanding of social-emotional learning (SEL) in the elementary school setting. Research shows that not much attention has been given to SEL in pre-service and in-service training for educators (State et al., 2011; Stipp, 2019). Studies also support the claim that SEL is important to the development of students and their success in the social experience that is learning in the school setting (Durlak et al., 2011). My work addresses the professional learning needs of school staff members in regard to SEL and social-emotional competence (SEC) development. ☐ The improvement goal of this ELP was to increase staff understanding of SEL, its importance, and how to provide effective instruction of SE competencies. To accomplish this goal, I implemented three improvement strategies. My first strategy was to develop an improved understanding of the knowledge and needs of school staff members. This was done through a staff survey that greatly influenced the development of a professional learning plan (Appendix E) and a communication plan (Appendix F). The second strategy was to find, enhance, and implement a research-based professional learning program. I worked collaboratively with my SEL leadership team to provide professional learning about adult SEL and SEC development, how to provide SEL instruction to students, and about the benefits of SEL for students. The third strategy was conducting a review of Second Step Elementary SEL program evaluations to further evaluate the merit of the program that was implemented in the elementary school setting. ☐ To support the improvement strategies and measure their effectiveness to achieve the improvement goal, a family event was facilitated, professional learning took place, and feedback was gathered in the form of a staff survey, staff focus groups, and a student focus group. Staff and students reported finding value in the work and the SEL instruction that took place. They expressed a desire to continue the work, and school staff members requested additional professional learning opportunities that support collaboration and discussion about SEL and SEC development. This project’s research and findings highlight the need for stakeholder collaboration, consistent SEL program implementation with fidelity, and continual necessity for professional learning opportunities that support the needs of school staff members in the area of SEC development and how to best provide SEL instruction for students.
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Geologic characterization of the Asmari Formation, United Arab Emirates: the roles of depositional environment and diagenesis in determining the porosity and permeability properties of an important reservoir
(University of Delaware, 2022) Al-Ali, Alanoud M.
The shallow marine carbonates of the Asmari Formation were deposited in an environment which varied from a deep lagoon to a reef-front margin with a local topographic restriction (Whittle et al., 1995). In the present study, we examined the depositional microfacies, biostratigraphy, and reservoir characteristics of three stratigraphic sections of the Lower Oligocene Asmari Formation in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates (UAE) to 1) determine the microfacies and the corresponding depositional environment within the Asmari Formation, and 2) to evaluate its microfacies characteristics and their quality as a reservoir for oil production. ☐ A multidisciplinary approach and an integration of sedimentology, biostratigraphy, geochemical and petrophysical analyses were used to achieve the research goal and answer the research questions. ☐ Ten microfacies were identified in the Senayah stratigraphic section: 1) lime mudstone, 2) packstone, 3) wackestone, 4) boundstone, 5) nummulitic packstone/grainstone, 6) coral algal grainstone, 7) coral algal boundstone, 8) coral algal wackestone/packstone, 9) coral algal packstone/grainstone and 10) reefal boundstone. These microfacies ranged from an open marine to mid-ramp with shallowing upward depositional trend, which implies a marine regression with the oscillations of the sea level. ☐ In the Mezyad stratigraphic section, three microfacies were distinguished: 1) coral algal boundstone, 2) molluscan packstone, and 3) oölitic grainstone. These microfacies were deposited in an inner ramp environment. Three microfacies were also recognized in the inner ramp carbonate environment preserved in the Malaqet stratigraphic section: 1) nummulitic grainstone, 2) highly fossiliferous wackestone/packstone with algal peloidal packstone, and 3) lime mudstone. ☐ The depositional model derived from the studied stratigraphic sections is closely aligned with that proposed by Whittle et al. (1995), though with some modifications. ☐ A total of forty-four species of benthic foraminifera belonging to twenty-five benthic foraminifera genera and two planktonic species belonging to one planktonic foraminifera genus were identified. The identified foraminifera mark the Early Oligocene and confirm the age of the studied section and were preserved within the shallow marine deposits. ☐ Porosity and permeability in the Asmari Formation ranged from 3.5% -19.98% and 0.11 mD - 9.17mD, respectively. The best reservoir microfacies within the Asmari Formation were found in the coral algal boundstone microfacies. The oil production from the grain-supported microfacies could also be improved with the hydraulic fracturing technique.
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Imaging the mechanical properties of the pediatric brain
(University of Delaware, 2022) McIlvain, Grace
Brain mechanical properties can be measured in vivo using a phase contrast MRI technology known as magnetic resonance elastography (MRE). Mechanical properties describe underlying neural tissue microstructural composition, and they have been found to sensitively describe changes in aging, neurodegenerative disease, and tumors. Interestingly, mechanical properties have recently been found to relate to cognitive function, highlighting the sensitivity of MRE to individual differences. However, brain mechanical properties have not previously been measured in vivo in any pediatric population, as MRE is an inherently long acquisition technique which was previously ill-suited for scanning challenging populations such as children. Pediatric elastography has tremendous potential to aid in understanding neural tissue differences in neurodevelopmental disorders, and to help expand scientific understanding of how tissue mechanical maturation contributes to maturation of cognitive function. The goal of this dissertation is to develop fast acquisition MRE techniques which are specifically tailored for the pediatric population and for the first time, characterize normal regional brain mechanical maturation from childhood to adulthood.