Digital Commons Network^™

Field Ecology Patterns Of High Latitude Coral Communities, Kristi A. Foster

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Some climate models predict that, within the next 30-50 years, sea surface temperatures (SSTs) will frequently exceed the current thermal tolerance of corals (Fitt et al. 2001; Hughes et al. 2003; Hoegh-Guldberg et al. 2007). A potential consequence is that mass coral bleaching may take place (i) during warm El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events which are predicted to occur in some regions more frequently than the current 3-7 year periodicity (Hoegh-Guldberg 1999; Sheppard 2003) or (ii) perhaps as often as annually or biannually if corals and their symbionts are unable to acclimate to the higher SSTs (Donner et al. 2005, …

Nudibranch Predators Of Octocorallia, Eric Brown

HCNSO Student Capstones

Nudibranchs are soft-bodied marine heterobranch gastropod molluscs which lack a shell and mantle cavity. The basic body plan is bilaterally symmetrical with an expanded notum, but in regards to other physical characteristics they exhibit a wide range of forms. Compared to other molluscs, evolutionarily the head and body became flattened and streamlined and tentacles have been lost or shifted to different areas of the body. Nudibranchs are found in many variations of size and color; despite the fact that these animals in general are noted for flamboyant colors and prominent external anatomical structures, many species rely upon a more cryptic …

Automated Support For Model Selection Using Analytic Hierarchy Process, Mario Sarkis Missakian

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Providing automated support for model selection is a significant research challenge in model management. Organizations maintain vast growing repositories of analytical models, typically in the form of spreadsheets. Effective reuse of these models could result in significant cost savings and improvements in productivity. However, in practice, model reuse is severely limited by two main challenges: (1) lack of relevant information about the models maintained in the repository, and (2) lack of end user knowledge that prevents them from selecting appropriate models for a given problem solving task. This study built on the existing model management literature to address these research …

A Domain Aware Genetic Algorithm For The P-Median Problem, Dennis Vickers

CCE Theses and Dissertations

The p-median problem is an NP-complete combinatorial optimization problem often used in the fields of facility location and clustering. Given a graph with n nodes and an integer p < n, the p-median problem seeks a set of p medians such that the sum of the distances of the n nodes from their nearest median is minimized. This dissertation develops a genetic algorithm that generates solutions to the p-median problem that improves on previously published genetic algorithms by implementing operators that exploit domain specific information. More specifically, this GA explores the following:

(1) The advantages of using "good" solutions generated using extant heuristics in the initial generation of chromosomes.

(2) The effectiveness of a crossover operation that exchanges centers in the same neighborhood rather than exchanging arbitrarily chosen subsets of centers.

(3) The efficacy of using a biased mutation operator that favors replacing existing medians from less fit chromosomes with non-median nodes from the same neighborhood as the median being replaced.

Using published …

An Empirical Investigation Of The Relationship Between Computer Self-Efficacy And Information Privacy Concerns, Mohammad Abdul Awwal

CCE Theses and Dissertations

The Internet and the growth of Information Technology (IT) and their enhanced capabilities to collect personal information have given rise to many privacy issues. Unauthorized access of personal information may result in identity theft, stalking, harassment, and other invasions of privacy. Information privacy concerns are impediments to broad-scale adoption of the Internet for purchasing decisions. Computer self-efficacy has been shown to be an effective predictor of behavioral intention and a critical determinant of intention to use Information Technology. This study investigated the relationship between an individual's computer self-efficacy and information privacy concerns; and also examined the differences among different age …

The Blended Learning Experience Of Community College Students, Anita Bleffert-Schmidt

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Blended learning has sometimes been calledthe best of both worlds, combining the advantages of face-to-face instruction with the advantages of online learning. It has been in existence for over a decade, and more research needed to be done to determine its efficacy and desirability for community colleges. The goal of this dissertation was to document the ways in which blended learning has changed the community college learning experience.

The investigation took place at Ulster County Community College, a small rural college in upstate New York. A mixed method, triangulation design was used. Quantitative data were collected from the college's student …

The Impact Of An Osteopathic Medical Program On Information Technology Skills Of Physicians Entering The Workforce, Stephen Edward Bronsburg

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Increasingly, the health care field is utilizing information technology (IT) to help manage large volumes of medical data. This has created a need for health care workers to learn IT skills, which include information gathering skills (IGS), information analysis skills (IAS), and technology skills (TS). Research focused on medical students learning IT skills seems limited, while research focused on IT skills, age, and gender appear contradictory. Research suggests that physicians lack necessary health care industry specific IT skills.

The survey instrument used the three aforementioned skills (IGS, IAS, & TS), based on the Learning Skills Profile (LSP), to measure IT …

The Effects Of Coursecasting In International Freshman Students' Perceptions Of Marginality And Isolation, Anxiety, And English Language Oral Proficiency And Comprehension, Alberto Fernandez

CCE Theses and Dissertations

The influx of international students attending American universities has put the U.S. at the forefront of international education, generating over $14.5 billion yearly.

International students often face adjustment issues impacting their level of satisfaction with their experience. These involve oral language proficiency, as well as feelings of anxiety and isolation resulting from language deficiencies, which increase their feelings of marginality. Engaged learning, which is dependent on comprehension, is affected by the anxiety students bring to class. It is believed that coursecasts may alleviate anxiety, thus improving student engagement in learning.

A pre-experimental research design investigates whether coursecasting mitigates feelings of …

Wiki Behavior In The Workplace: Emotional Aspects Of Content Development, Deborah A. Gears

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Wikis have been found to be an easy-to-use, low-cost, and Internet-based technology useful in creating and mobilizing knowledge. Wikis hosted within firms (corporate wikis) have become a popular way for employees to share information and collaborate.

Preliminary research suggested that as few as 6% of wiki consumers contributed to the development of wiki pages. Conventional approaches argued that employees judged the costs of participating in wikis (e.g., authoring or changing material, reading messages, following an argument, and posting responses) to exceed the benefits of participating in wikis (e.g., recognition, reputation etc.) - thus many people "lurked" but did not post. …

Computer Music Composition Using Crowdsourcing And Genetic Algorithms, Jessica Faith Keup

CCE Theses and Dissertations

When genetic algorithms (GA) are used to produce music, the results are limited by a fitness bottleneck problem. To create effective music, the GA needs to be thoroughly trained by humans, but this takes extensive time and effort. Applying online collective intelligence or "crowdsourcing" to train a musical GA is one approach to solve the fitness bottleneck problem. The hypothesis was that when music was created by a GA trained by a crowdsourced group and music was created by a GA trained by a small group, the crowdsourced music would be more effective and musically sound. When a group of …

The Relationship Between Personality Type And Software Usability Using The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Mbti®) And The Software Usability Measurement Inventory (Sumi), William H. Lindsey

CCE Theses and Dissertations

This study attempted to determine if there is a relationship between user's psychological personality types, measured by the Myers Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) and distinct measures of usability measured by the Software Usability Measurement Inventory (SUMI). The study was expected to provide an answer to the following basic research question: When interacting with a typical user interface, do different users perceive usability differently? Specific hypotheses were formulated to answer this research question. Hypotheses were tested to determine if there was any statistically significant relationship between specific MBTI® personality types and individual measure of usability as measured by the SUMI.

Each …

Interoperability Gap Challenges For Learning Object Repositories & Learning Management Systems, Robert T. Mason

CCE Theses and Dissertations

An interoperability gap exists between Learning Management Systems (LMSs) and Learning Object Repositories (LORs). Learning Objects (LOs) and the associated Learning Object Metadata (LOM) that is stored within LORs adhere to a variety of LOM standards. A common LOM standard found in LORs is the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) Content Aggregation Model (CAM). In contrast, LMSs are independent computer systems that manage and deliver course content to students via a web interface. This research addressed three important issues related to the interoperability gap: (a) a lack of a metadata standard that defined the format of how student assessment …

The Impact Of The User Interface On Simulation Usability And Solution Quality, Bruce Ray Montgomery

CCE Theses and Dissertations

This research outlines a study that was performed to determine the effects of user interface design variations on the usability and solution quality of complex, multivariate discrete-event simulations. Specifically, this study examined four key research questions: what are the user interface considerations for a given simulation model, what are the current best practices in user interface design for simulations, how is usability best evaluated for simulation interfaces, and specifically what are the measured effects of varying levels of usability of interface elements on simulation operations such as data entry and solution analysis. The overall goal of the study was to …

Comparison Of Wetland Assessment Methods, Kerstin Green

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

After many decades of being considered useless and often destroyed wetlands have become valued for the many functions they provide. To make informed wetland management decisions biologists have to develop practical, rapid, and inexpensive ways to assess biological conditions and functions. Ideally these assessment methods have to measure more than one attribute of the wetland to represent the overall condition of the biological community. For this project I conducted field assessments at mitigation sites in Pembroke Pines, Florida, to see how the newest method used in the State of Florida, the Uniform Mitigation Assessment Method (UMAM), compared to the older …