Fayetteville State University

About: Fayetteville State University is a education organization based out in Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Corporate governance & Population. The organization has 611 authors who have published 1706 publications receiving 27020 citations. The organization is also known as: Fayetteville State & FSU.

Privacy-Preserving and Efficient Aggregation Based on Blockchain for Power Grid Communications in Smart Communities

Abstract: Intelligence is one of the most important aspects in the development of our future communities. Ranging from smart home to smart building to smart city, all these smart infrastructures must be supported by intelligent power supply. Smart grid is proposed to solve all challenges of future electricity supply. In smart grid, in order to realize optimal scheduling, an SM is installed at each home to collect the near-real-time electricity consumption data, which can be used by the utilities to offer better smart home services. However, the near-real-time data may disclose a user's private information. An adversary may track the application usage patterns by analyzing the user's electricity consumption profile. In this article, we propose a privacy-preserving and efficient data aggregation scheme. We divide users into different groups, and each group has a private blockchain to record its members' data. To preserve the inner privacy within a group, we use pseudonyms to hide users' identities, and each user may create multiple pseudonyms and associate his/ her data with different pseudonyms. In addition, the bloom filter is adopted for fast authentication. The analysis shows that the proposed scheme can meet the security requirements and achieve better performance than other popular methods.

Parental Involvement, Instructional Expenditures, Family Socioeconomic Attributes, and Student Achievement

Abstract: The influence of parental involvement, socioeconomic status of parents, and instructional supplies expenditures on mathematics achievement scores of Grade 4 students in a low-income county in North Carolina were examined. An educational production function framework was used to analyze the influence of educational resources on mathematics achievement scores. Pearson product-moment correlation and ordinary least squares regression were used to determine the overall strength of each relation and the variables with the greatest impact on mathematics achievement. Results indicated that instructional supplies expenditures per pupil and parental volunteer hours were not statistically significant in explaining mathematics test scores. Furthermore, results showed that the percentage of students in free/reduced-price lunch programs was related negatively to students' academic performance in mathematics. This finding supports the notion that economic circumstances are correlated with academic achievement.

Teaching Science in Higher Education: Faculty Professional Development and Barriers to Change

Abstract: The focus of this research was to better understand the change processes necessary for university science teaching reform to be successful. The professional development processes involved faculty cognitive perceptions of learning, teaching skills, and pedagogical knowledge, as well as faculty culture in teaching science courses. A series of faculty development programs were conducted at nine U.S. locations to explore, develop strategies, and implement changes in science classrooms. A review of research and these professional development experiences provided a base to carry out research activities related to understanding change in science faculty. Faculty participants in the program from 30 institutions were selected to be involved in the study. Ethnographic and case study approaches were used to collect and analyze data. Many faculty members encountered in this study had conceptions of the change process that inhibited successful action. These research efforts provide a predictive model for assisting faculty change and help determine which faculty professional development efforts may be successful in overcoming barriers to change in undergraduate science classrooms.

Magnetic polyaniline nanocomposites toward toxic hexavalent chromium removal

Abstract: The removal of toxic hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) from polluted water by magnetic polyaniline (PANI) polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) was investigated. The PNCs were synthesized using a facile surface initiated polymerization (SIP) method and demonstrated unique capability to remove Cr(VI) from polluted solutions with a wide pH range. Complete Cr(VI) removal from a 20.0 mL neutral solution with an initial Cr(VI) concentration of 1.0–3.0 mg L−1 was observed after a 5 min treatment period with a PNC load of 10 mg. The PNC dose of 0.6 g L−1 was found to be sufficient for complete Cr(VI) removal from 20.0 mL of 9.0 mg L−1 Cr(VI) solution. The saturation magnetization was observed to have no obvious decrease after treatment with Cr(VI) solution, and these PNCs could be easily recovered using a permanent magnet and recycled. The Cr(VI) removal kinetics were determined to follow pseudo-first-order behavior with calculated room temperature pseudo-first-order rate constants of 0.185, 0.095 and 0.156 min−1 for the solutions with pH values of 1.0, 7.0 and 11.0, respectively. The Cr(VI) removal mechanism was investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and energy-filter transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM). The results showed that PANI was partially oxidized after treatment with Cr(VI) solution, with Cr(VI) being reduced to Cr(III). The EFTEM observation indicated that the adsorbed Cr(III) had penetrated into the interior of the PNCs instead of simply adsorbing on the PNC surface. This synthesized material was found to be easily regenerated by 1.0 mol L−1p-toluene sulfonic acid (PTSA) or 1.0 mol L−1 hydrochloric acid (HCl) and efficiently reused for further Cr(VI) removal.

Electropolymerized Polyaniline Stabilized Tungsten Oxide Nanocomposite Films: Electrochromic Behavior and Electrochemical Energy Storage

Abstract: Polyaniline (PANI)/tungsten oxide (WO3) nanocomposite films were fabricated by electropolymerization of aniline monomers onto WO3 coated indium tin oxide (ITO) glass slides, which were prepared by spin coating technique and followed by annealing at 500 °C for 2 h. The morphology and crystalline structure of the composite films were studied using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results confirm chemical interactions between the polymer matrix and the WO3 particles and reveal a well crystallized PANI/WO3 nanocomposite structure. The optical properties and electrochemical capacitive behaviors of the composite films for electrochromic (EC) and energy storage devices applications were investigated using spectroelectrochemistry (SEC), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge–discharge measurements. The composite films show dual electrochromism at both positive and negative potentials a...