Proceedings 2021: 17th Annual Symposium on Graduate Research and Scholarly Projects

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Board Members for 2021 GRASP Symposium



Chair

Kerry Wilks, Professor & Associate Dean of the Graduate School

Members

George Dehner, Associate Professor, History

Anthony DiLollo, Professor, Communication Sciences and Disorders

Deepak Gupta, Associate Professor & Associate Chair, Industrial, Systems, and Manufacturing Engineering

Bryan Lehecka, Associate Professor, Physical Therapy

Susan Matveyeva, Associate Professor, University Libraries

Anthony May , Associate Professor, Finance Real Estate & Decision Science

Jennifer Pearson, Associate Professor & Graduate Coordinator, Sociology

Cynthia Richburg, Professor & Graduate Coordinator of Audiology, Communication Sciences & Disorders

Aleks Sternfeld-Dunn, Associate Professor, School of Music

Heidi VanRavenhorst-Bell, Assistant Professor and Undergraduate Coordinator, Human Performance Studies

John Watkins, Professor, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

With much appreciation to Sheree Smith, Graduate Student Success Specialist, for her substantial administrative contributions.

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Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 5 of 65
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    Understanding spatial constraints for autonomous robotic assembly with neural logic learning
    (Wichita State University, 2021-04-02) Yan, Fujian; He, Hongsheng
    Spatial constraints of objects are one of the key elements that are required in industrial assembly. Robots deployed in conventional assembly lines are based on schema by referring to computer-aided design (CAD) software. Spatial constraints are modeled by computer-aided design (CAD) software. Compared with conventional assembly lines, autonomous robotic assembly requires robots to learn spatial constraints intelligently. Therefore, understanding spatial constraints are critical for autonomous robotic assembly. This work proposed a method to address the critical need of enabling robots to comprehend spatial constraints with a single RGB-D scan. The proposed method contains two parts: the first one generates 3D models to fulfill the missing point-cloud of a single RGB-D scan of objects with an extended generative adversary network (GAN). The second part enables robots to comprehended spatial constraints with a neural-logic network. The spatial constraints include left, right, above, below, front, behind, parallel, perpendicular, concentric, and coincident. The 3D composition model achieved 57.23% intersection over union (IoU), and the neural logic model that can learn spatial constraints achieved over 99% in comprehending all spatial constraints.
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    Communication apprehension and mindfulness: Can a negative correlation help us improve?
    (Wichita State University, 2021-04-02) Willett, Brandy; Parcell, Lisa; Xiao, Min
    Strong communication skills are vital in the modern workplace, and in fact impact numerous aspects of a person's life. In order to prepare students, many colleges and universities require an introductory-level communication or public speaking class. Unfortunately, for a significant portion of these students, their communication apprehension level -- defined as the fear and avoidance of real or perceived communication interactions -- is already so high that they have difficulty benefiting from these courses. This study explores the idea that adding basic level mindfulness skills and techniques to introductory-level communication courses may help students cope with their apprehension and as a result be more successful at developing communication skills. Mindfulness techniques and skills have been found to benefit college students in other areas where they face anxiety. This study looks for a link between a student's level of communication apprehension and their mindful mindset. This will be done by administering the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension -- (PRCA-24) and the Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale- Revised (CAMS-R) to undergraduate students taking an introductory-level communication course. The results of the CAMS-R will then be compared with students overall PRCA-24 score, which determines their level of communication apprehension, and a subscale which looks only at public speaking anxiety. The goal being to determine if those with high communication apprehension and/or public speaking anxiety score low in the area of mindful mindset. An inverse correlation between the scores would suggest that further study of mindfulness intervention in introductory communication courses would be warranted.
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    Shapley value-based satellite communication bandwidth allocation strategy
    (Wichita State University, 2021-04-02) Yarlagadda, Maha Lakshmi; Watkins, John Michael; Sawan, M. Edwin; Lakshmikanth, Geethalakshmi S.
    Satellite technology is essential in the field of communications and is popularly called SATCOM, short for Satellite Communication. Bandwidth and connectivity needs are the two main expensive resources in SATCOM that are constantly changing and therefore need to be efficiently managed. An expensive resource that we manage every day is money. Needs and priorities where this money can be spent are constantly changing in most of our lives. Budgeting and money management are very essential to achieve financial peace and freedom. Likewise, in SATCOM we use resource managers (like financial advisors) to adaptively adjust the bandwidth based on needs and priorities. The available research is very low on a combination of demand-driven resource allocation and satellite communication based on control theory concepts. Our goal is to support SATCOM network operation centers by proposing a very systematic framework that integrates the available controller design architectures (Linear Quadratic Regulator LQR) with a fair and adaptive resource allocation algorithm (Shapley Value-based Algorithm). This is achieved by following the rules of co-operative game theory where the competitors work in the direction of winning by forming coalitions or groups. Figure 1 shows a satellite network with Remote Terminals (RT), who are the players. When the sum of requested data rates of some of the RTs passes the threshold of the majority level, the formation of a winning coalition is enabled and this will help to evaluate the resource to be allocated to each player. The Shapley Value-based resource allocation establishes socially fair and high standard bandwidth allocation for each remote terminal and the average fairness of the complete system is high. The Satellite System Controller (SSC) is like the Money manager who decides what proportion of the available budget gets assigned based on need and priority while making sure that the quality of communication is not compromised, in any way. Mathematical modeling and simulation of the entire SATCOM network along with Shapley Value-based resource allocation are carried out using MATLAB.
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    Effects of Aphasia-Friendly Readings: Responsive reading for couples
    (Wichita State University, 2021-04-02) Zwanziger, Madison; Nicks, Lindsey; Bailey, Brittney; Powell, Addison; Keese, Daphne; Recker, Breanna; O'Bryan, Erin
    INTRODUCTION: This is a presentation that shows the progress of a person with aphasia after having eight weeks of Aphasia-Friendly Readings Therapy, a family-centered therapy approach developed by the spouse of a person with aphasia (Regier, 2019). PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to determine if Aphasia-Friendly Readings is a successful therapy process for improving speech among those with expressive aphasia, while also being an enjoyable activity for both the person with aphasia and their partner. METHODS: A 70-year-old female with expressive aphasia and her husband participated in the current study to test the effects of Aphasia-Friendly Readings. Before therapy began, the participant was administered the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised (WAB-R), the Reading Comprehension Battery for Aphasia (RCBA), and the Assessment for Living with Aphasia (ALA). After the pre-testing, the clinician worked with the couple to compose a script in the Aphasia-Friendly Readings format. The couple met with the clinician once a week for an average of 60 minutes per session to practice reading the script together aloud. During the session, the clinician provided cues for the participant, while also training the husband, so that he could use the cues while they practiced at home. The pre-treatment tests were readministered as post-treatment tests in order to measure progress. RESULTS: Prior to the treatment, the participant was given a variety of pre-tests. The results of the pre and post-test of the WAB-R show that she improved her aphasia quotient score by 4.5%. Her WAB-R post-test aphasia quotient of 52.2 out of 100 is indicative of expressive aphasia and is classified as severe Broca's aphasia. Her pre-test and post-test results from the RCBA show that her reading comprehension ability moved up from the 55th percentile to the 56th percentile. The results of the pre-test and post-test of the ALA show that she reported improved quality of life by 0.16 points on a 5-point scale. During the first treatment session, the participant independently read 4.6% of the words correctly from the script. During the seventh week of the treatment, she was able to independently read 73.5% of the words correctly. A follow-up reading showed that four weeks after treatment ended, she was able to independently read 69.9% of the words correctly. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the person with aphasia showed an increase in the number of words she could read independently from the script. The couple expressed that they were very pleased with what they accomplished. In an interview, the husband shared, "Her communication, in the time that we have done this research and working on the story, at home she, instead of just using words or I mean, even a couple words, she's trying to put things together in a sentence structure to communicate with me which, that's one of the reasons why I'm so excited [about it]."
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    Acute appendicitis: Surgical intervention vs. effective antibiotic use
    (Wichita State University, 2021-04-02) Pham, Kieu; Valentine, Corey; Rogers, Corey
    Acute appendicitis has successfully been treated with appendectomy for over a century. With the rise of antibiotic treatment, a debate has emerged over the superior treatment. This literature review analyzes antibiotic treatment of acute appendicitis and its potential benefits and risks compared with open and laparoscopic appendectomy. This literature review also evaluates the indications and contraindications; complications; recurrence; and cost of surgical and antibiotic treatment of acute appendicitis. Antibiotic treatment has a lower complication rate than surgical treatment but a 27% chance of recurrence within one year; whereas, surgical treatment has a near-perfect resolution rate. Antibiotic treatment has a smaller financial burden due to lower treatment and societal costs. Providers and patients should factor these results into their joint decision, selecting either appendectomy to reduce recurrence risk, or antibiotic treatment to limit costs and complication risk.