Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 30 of 30

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Convergent Validity Of Conjoint Values For Farmland Conservation Easement Programs, Semra Ozdemir Dec 2003

Convergent Validity Of Conjoint Values For Farmland Conservation Easement Programs, Semra Ozdemir

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conversion of farmland has recently become an important policy issue in the US. Between 1982 and 1997, over seven million acres of prime farmland was converted to developed land in the US, which is a 3% decrease in total farmland. This is also the case in Maine, where forty thousand acres of prime farmland has been converted to non-farm uses over the same time period. This constitutes about an 8% decrease in total farmland, where farmland is only 6% of the total land in Maine. A decrease in the amount of farmland, along with the increased public support for farmland …


An Egocentric Spatial Data Model For Intelligent Mobile Geographic Information Systems, Christopher E. Frank Dec 2003

An Egocentric Spatial Data Model For Intelligent Mobile Geographic Information Systems, Christopher E. Frank

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Individuals in unknown locations, such as utility workers in the field, soldiers on a mission, or sightseeing tourists, share the need for an answer to two basic questions: "Where am I?" and "What is in front of me?Because such information is not readily available in foreign locations, aids in the form of paper maps or mobile GISs, which give individuals an all-inclusive view of the environment, are often used. This panoptic view may hinder the positioning and orienteering process, since people perceive their surroundings perspectively from their current position. In this thesis, I describe a novel framework that resolves this …


Perceptual Sketch Interpretation, Markus Wuersch Dec 2003

Perceptual Sketch Interpretation, Markus Wuersch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sketching is a creative form of describing a spatial scene. People perceive such a scene in a straight forward way and build a mental model of the objects contained in a sketch. Whereas these objects might be regions, a sketch only contains lines and, therefore, developing automated sketch interpretation means outlining a rationale to grouping lines according to the objects they belong to. Automated sketch interpretation allows efficient processing of sketches. Labor intensive manual extraction could be brought to a minimum and, therefore, spatial data in form of sketches and spatial information extracted from sketches would be available more readily. …


Can Dairy Manure Be Profitably Composted In Maine?, Anne Grant Dec 2003

Can Dairy Manure Be Profitably Composted In Maine?, Anne Grant

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Manure contains many important nutrients that are vital to the growth of crops. When this material is applied to fields in an inappropriate manner or in quantities too large for the soil to handle, this leads to pollution in the form of leaching and runoff, which causes contamination of ground and surface waters. An average cow produces one hundred pounds of manure per day (1 8 tons per year). Composted manure could provide farmers with a more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional manure management practices. A review of the composting literature determined that a wide variety of markets do exist …


The Role Of Cognitive Factors In The Development Of Seasonal Affective Disorder Episodes, Stacy Whitcomb-Smith Dec 2003

The Role Of Cognitive Factors In The Development Of Seasonal Affective Disorder Episodes, Stacy Whitcomb-Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent literature on Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) has begun to focus on diathesis stress models, including Young and colleagues' (1 991) Dual Vulnerability Hypothesis (DVH). The DVH posits that individuals must possess both a biological vulnerability to developing vegetative symptoms and a psychological vulnerability to developing mood symptoms in order to develop SAD episodes. Such a model addresses SAD as well as non-seasonal depression, and suggests that there may be an as yet unidentified group suffering fiom only the biological vulnerability (i.e., winter anergia). However, until very recently few studies have directly tested this model, and most have focused on …


Emotion Management In Children With Anxiety Disorders: A Focus On The Role Of Emotion-Related Socialization Processes, Cynthia M. Suveg Aug 2003

Emotion Management In Children With Anxiety Disorders: A Focus On The Role Of Emotion-Related Socialization Processes, Cynthia M. Suveg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined emotion management skills in anxious children and their mothers and investigated factors within the child and the parent, and the child-parent relationship that may relate to the development of adaptive emotion management. Three methods of emotion socialization were examined: parental reactions to children's emotions, discussion of emotion, and family expressivity. Children ages 8-1 1 years old were first screened for anxious syrnptomatology in their classrooms within the public school system. Children who scored in the clinical range on the self-report measure were then administered a semi-structured diagnostic interview. Those who met criteria for an anxiety disorder were …


Public Commons For Geospatial Data: A Conceptual Model, Chakravarthy Namindi Sharad Aug 2003

Public Commons For Geospatial Data: A Conceptual Model, Chakravarthy Namindi Sharad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A wide variety of spatial data collection efforts are ongoing throughout local, state and federal agencies, private firms and non-profit organizations. Each effort is established for a different purpose but organizations and individuals often collect and maintain the same or similar information. The United States federal government has undertaken many initiatives such as the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, the National Map and Geospatial One-Stop to reduce duplicative spatial data collection and promote the coordinated use, sharing, and dissemination of spatial data nationwide. A key premise in most of these initiatives is that no national government will be able to gather …


User Controlled Privacy Protection In Location-Based Services, Anuket Bhaduri Aug 2003

User Controlled Privacy Protection In Location-Based Services, Anuket Bhaduri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The rapid development of location-determining technologies has enabled tracking of people or objects more accurately than ever before and the volume and extent of tracking has increased dramatically over time. Within the broader domain of tracking technologies, location-based services (LBS) are a subset of capabilities that allow users to access information relative to their own physical location. However, the personal location information generated by such technologies is at risk of being misused or abused unless protection capabilities are built into the design of such systems. These concerns may ultimately prevent society from achieving the broad range of benefits that otherwise …


The Psychological Correlates Of Asymmetric Cerebral Activation, Lisle R. Kingery Aug 2003

The Psychological Correlates Of Asymmetric Cerebral Activation, Lisle R. Kingery

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the psychological correlates of asymmetric cerebral activation as measured by electroencephalograph (EEG) recordings. Five content areas were investigated in the context of EEG asymmetry: hierarchical visual processing, creative potential, mood, personality, and EEG asymmetry, and the effect of a mood induction procedure on cognition and EEG asymmetry. Undergraduate participants completed two experimental sessions separated by two to three weeks. Participants completed a comprehensive set of emotion, personality, and creative potential measures, a cognitive task assessing individual differences in hierarchical visual processing. and a short form of the Rorschach inkblot test. Additionally. each participant underwent either a happy …


Language In Social Contexts: An Examination Of The Effects Of The Linguistic Intergroup Bias On Social Categorization And Interpersonal Behavior, Virginia Ann Cylke Aug 2003

Language In Social Contexts: An Examination Of The Effects Of The Linguistic Intergroup Bias On Social Categorization And Interpersonal Behavior, Virginia Ann Cylke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the role of language in social contexts. Specifically, two experiments were designed to extend our understanding of the Linguistic Intergroup Bias (LIB) by elucidating its effects on stereotype application and social behavior. The LIB is the tendency to describe positive in-group and negative out-group behaviors more abstractly than negative in-group and positive out-group behaviors. The first experiment examined the extent to which the LIB augments intergroup categories and perpetuates stereotype use. When asked to match positive and negative behavioral descriptions written at different levels of abstraction to in-group and out-group faces, participants tended to categorize abstract negative …


Evaluating Attitudes Of Obesity And Their Change Processes Among Student Teachers And School Teachers On The World Wide Web Using The Elaboration Likelihood Model, Anne L. Hague Aug 2003

Evaluating Attitudes Of Obesity And Their Change Processes Among Student Teachers And School Teachers On The World Wide Web Using The Elaboration Likelihood Model, Anne L. Hague

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teachers have an active role in helping to prevent and deter stigmatizing acts toward children labeled as "fat." The objective was to examine attitudes of obesity and their change processes among student teachers and schoolteachers, when exposed to a Web-based educational module promoting size acceptance, using the Elaboration- Likelihood Model (ELM). The ELM is a theoretical approach to message-based persuasion specifying conditions under which attitude change occurs. The theory was used to explain the impact of the module (content included etiological factors of obesity, implications of weight loss efforts, and emotionaVpsychosocia1 effects of obesity), high nutrition credibility of the module …


Mentoring Relationships For The New Graduate Assistant: The Role Of Communication Apprehension And Information Seeking Strategies, Sara Cyr Aug 2003

Mentoring Relationships For The New Graduate Assistant: The Role Of Communication Apprehension And Information Seeking Strategies, Sara Cyr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Graduate assistants are in unique positions within the university system as they may teach or conduct research as well as complete their own coursework. As a newcomer, graduate assistants learn about the university's culture and history, the norms and expectations of their peers, and their own job duties. To reduce the uncertainty that surrounds a new environment, a new graduate assistant may enact different information seeking strategies. For example, they may directly ask questions from a supervisor, quietly observe their co-workers, or ask indirect questions about a topic. These strategies can vary from person to person, depending on the type …


Migration Of University Of Maine 2002 Graduates, Ewa Jadwiga Kleczyk Aug 2003

Migration Of University Of Maine 2002 Graduates, Ewa Jadwiga Kleczyk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the context of today's tight labor market and increasing demand for highly skilled workers, Maine is considering how to attract and retain college graduates in the state. The educational system and economic opportunities such as the job market, wage levels, and taxes, as well as other factors impacting the migration trends of college graduates are evaluated. Understanding the patterns of educated people's relocation decisions, and the reasons influencing them, are concerns not just of government officials. Students with bachelor and advanced degrees are thought to be an asset to the community and the state since they add to the …


Spatial Aspects Of Metaphors For Information: Implications For Polycentric System Design, Paul Charles Schroeder Aug 2003

Spatial Aspects Of Metaphors For Information: Implications For Polycentric System Design, Paul Charles Schroeder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents three innovations that suggest an alternative approach to structuring information systems: a multidimensional heuristic workspace, a resonance metaphor for information, and a question-centered approach to structuring information relations. Motivated by the need for space to establish a question-centered learning environment, a heuristic workspace has been designed. Both the question-centered approach to information system design and the workspace have been conceived with the resonance metaphor in mind. This research stemmed from a set of questions aimed at learning how spatial concepts and related factors including geography may play a role in information sharing and public information access. In …


Exploring Early Adolescents' Adjustment Across The Middle School Transition: The Role Of Peer Experiences And Social-Cognitive Factors, James E. Newman Aug 2003

Exploring Early Adolescents' Adjustment Across The Middle School Transition: The Role Of Peer Experiences And Social-Cognitive Factors, James E. Newman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to consider the role of early adolescents' peer experiences (i.e., peer acceptance, number of mutual hends, friendship quality) in predicting their adjustment across the transition from elementary to middle school, and to examine whether students' goals and attributions added to the prediction of adjustment, above and beyond the peer variables. The second goal was to include a comprehensive assessment of participants' adjustment (i.e., loneliness, depression, self-esteem, school involvement, academic achievement, school avoidance) and to investigate changes in the adjustment variables across the transition to middle school. Finally, this study examined potential gender differences …


The Effects Of Stress Induction On Pre-Attentive And Attentional Bias For Threat In Social Anxiety, Kristen M. Maki May 2003

The Effects Of Stress Induction On Pre-Attentive And Attentional Bias For Threat In Social Anxiety, Kristen M. Maki

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current investigation is a test of the vigilance-avoidance model of attentional processing in a socially anxious sample (Mogg, Bradley, de Bono, & Painter, 1997). The theory proposes that individuals with social phobia possess a pre-attentive bias for social threat cues in their environment, however, they subsequently fail to process this information due to strategic cognitive avoidance, that is, conscious efforts to disengage attention from threatening information. A combined subliminal/supraliminal emotional Stroop paradigm was employed in order to examine patterns of pre-attentive and attentional processing of threat cues in an analogue sample of undergraduate students with high versus low levels …


Friendship Formation And Maintenance: Examining Friendship Patterns Of Homosexual Men And Heterosexual Women In Close Relationships, Amanda G. Goodwin May 2003

Friendship Formation And Maintenance: Examining Friendship Patterns Of Homosexual Men And Heterosexual Women In Close Relationships, Amanda G. Goodwin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study of friendship has focused on various types of relationships involving same-sex and cross-sex friends. Heterosexuality has usually been assumed in these relationships, although recently research has been done involving homosexual friendships. The present study provides a quantitative analysis of personal-social characteristics and relational expectations, and a qualitative analysis of friendship formation, maintenance strategies, and relational importance of homosexual men and heterosexual women in close relationships with each other. These analyses help in understanding why and how close friendships between homosexual men and heterosexual women are formed and maintained. A questionnaire combining elements of one developed by Savin-Williams (1990) …


Lessons From Ellen: A Case Study Investigation Of Comprehension Strategy Instruction In Action, Suzanne Kaback May 2003

Lessons From Ellen: A Case Study Investigation Of Comprehension Strategy Instruction In Action, Suzanne Kaback

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the past ten years, reading comprehension instruction has received significant attention from educational researchers. Drawing on studies from cognitive psychology, reader response theory, and language arts research, current best practice in reading comprehension instruction is characterized by a strategies approach in which students are taught to think like proficient readers who visualize, infer, activate schema, question, and summarize as they read. Studies investigating the impact of comprehension strategy instruction on student achievement in reading suggest that when implemented consistently the intervention has a positive effect on achievement. Research also shows, however, that few teachers embrace this approach to reading …


An Analysis Of Air Pollution From Recreational Vehicle Use In Maine, Erin R. Bock May 2003

An Analysis Of Air Pollution From Recreational Vehicle Use In Maine, Erin R. Bock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recreational vehicles produce a significant amount of air pollution. Despite this fact, only recently has regulation been placed into effect by the EPA on air emissions from these sources. Maine has a high amount of recreational vehicle use, and many people travel fiom out of state to utilize Maine's resources in this manner. Until now, there has been no research done to examine the impact of Maine's recreational vehicle sector on air pollution. This thesis focuses on air emissions from several types of recreational vehicles. These are gasoline-powered snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), and noncommercial watercraft. There were several goals that …


Future Of South Korean National Parks -- A Delphi Study, Byung-Kyu Lee Jan 2003

Future Of South Korean National Parks -- A Delphi Study, Byung-Kyu Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In a three-wave Delphi survey of a panel of 40 key experts of Korean National Parks conducted between February 2001 and March in 2002, four major issues -- (A) Park philosophy not clearly articulated; (B) Inadequate emphasis on ecosystem protection; (C) Widespread deficiency of management tools; and (D) Visitor services needed -- were asked to get the panel's opinions regarding 'importance' (1 = most important; 4 = least important) and 'likelihood' of being resolved (1= resolved in 5 years; 4 = not resolved in 5 years) of these four issues in Wave 3. In terms of 'importance,' Issue A (Park …


Solar And Wind Energy Development In Maine: 1973-1997, Evan Rallis Jan 2003

Solar And Wind Energy Development In Maine: 1973-1997, Evan Rallis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Focusing on how Maine reflected, as well as stood out from national trends in the development of wind and solar energy, this study concentrates particularly on how Maine state government and environmental groups contributed to this development, as well as on the technological progress of these energy sources. It draws primarily on state government documents, newspapers, and periodicals for evidence. The 1973-74 energy crisis, combined with the rise of the environmental movement, led to an increased exploration of alternative energy sources, in particular those that were relatively friendly to the environment like solar and wind energy. Attempts to utilize these …


12,000-Year Record Of Lake-Level And Vegetative Change At Mathews Pond, Piscataquis County, Maine, Usa, Andrea Masterman Nurse Jan 2003

12,000-Year Record Of Lake-Level And Vegetative Change At Mathews Pond, Piscataquis County, Maine, Usa, Andrea Masterman Nurse

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study of late-glacial and Holocene changes in lake-level and vegetation at Mathews Pond contributes new information about Holocene environments in northeastern North America. The research establishes a 12,000-year record of paleohydrology for the watershed adjacent to Big Reed Forest Reserve, the largest stand of old-growth forest in the northeastern United States. Mathews Pond is a 7.4 ha, closed-basin, groundwaterseepage lake located in an upland, forested region of the Aroostook River drainage system. Glacial meltwater briefly filled the basin - 13.0 ka (1 ka = 1000 I4C yr BP)). The lake existed as a shallow pool in the deep area …


A Descriptive Study: Selection And Use Of Art Mediums By Sexually Abused Adults: Implications In Counseling And Art Psychotherapy, Frances Harlow Clukey Jan 2003

A Descriptive Study: Selection And Use Of Art Mediums By Sexually Abused Adults: Implications In Counseling And Art Psychotherapy, Frances Harlow Clukey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research was designed to explore what happens in the process of therapy when clients, having persisting symptoms of sexual abuse and having disclosed that abuse, have access to a wide variety of art materials to select and use in treatment. A blend of qualitative and quantitative research in design, the study is an initial step towards a greater understanding of the potentially transformative experience of art making and the role of art mediums in the practice of therapy. Treatment for abuse is a long, complex and arduous process. Persistent aspects of abusive experience remain deeply buried within the body …


Why Does He Hit Her? Content Analysis Of Protection From Abuse Orders, Robin Y. Brown Jan 2003

Why Does He Hit Her? Content Analysis Of Protection From Abuse Orders, Robin Y. Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

According to FBI statistics, each year 3.3 million wives and 250,000 husbands receive severe beatings from their spouses. This research tries to answer the question of why one human being would want to abuse another. More specifically, what is the function, purpose, or pay off of all this violence? This research identifies key features in Protection from Abuse Order Affidavits that are indicative of motives underlying interpersonal abuse. This was done by using content analysis that will aim to uncover such motives by relating the abusive behavior to the circumstances under which the perpetrator enacted them and the personal and …


A Comparison Study Of Children's Cognitive Understanding Of Conception And Birth: England, Sweden And The United States, Carie Jo Ahigrim Jan 2003

A Comparison Study Of Children's Cognitive Understanding Of Conception And Birth: England, Sweden And The United States, Carie Jo Ahigrim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the extent to which early childhood understanding of conception and birth is increased by early sexuality education. The present study compares conception and birth understanding of primary-aged children in America with children in other countries. Specifically, this study compared prompted drawings done by 6 year-old children from England, Sweden, The Netherlands, and the United States. Prompts used to elicit these drawing were: "Where do babies come from?" and "How are babies made?" Controlled comparison data of the children's knowledge of conception and birth, were obtained through the application of the "Children's Sexuality Awareness Scale" (Koch 1974) and …


The Rogues Of 'Quoddy: Smuggling In The Maine New Brunswick Borderlands 1783-1820, Joshua M. Smith Jan 2003

The Rogues Of 'Quoddy: Smuggling In The Maine New Brunswick Borderlands 1783-1820, Joshua M. Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Smuggling has been an important problem in American-Canadian relations. Yet the nature of smuggling is little understood; it is by definition an elusive, secretive, and subtle practice. This dissertation explores smuggling as a social force within a border community on the United States-Canada boundary. Smuggling almost always involved the illicit crossing of political boundaries, and as such can be used as a means of studying popular attitudes toward the creation of national borders. Moreover, because smuggling is directly related to the transition to modem capitalism, this study sheds light on the roots of both American and Canadian economic development. The …


The Domestic Violence Myth Acceptance Scale: Development And Psychometric Testing Of A New Instrument, John Peters Jan 2003

The Domestic Violence Myth Acceptance Scale: Development And Psychometric Testing Of A New Instrument, John Peters

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since 1980, researchers and practitioners have had access to valid and reliable measures of myths about rape (Burt, 1980) and child sexual abuse (Collings, 1997). Despite the utility of such measures in research and program evaluation, no such measure of domestic violence myths currently exists. The present study was undertaken to fill this gap. In this study, domestic violence myths were defined as stereotypical attitudes and beliefs that are generally false but are widely and persistently held, and which serve to minimize, deny, or justify physical aggression against intimate partners. Based on defensive attribution and radical feminist theories, these myths …


Local 21'S Quest For A Moral Economy: Peabody, Massachusetts And Its Leather Workers, 1933-1973, Lynne Nelson Manion Jan 2003

Local 21'S Quest For A Moral Economy: Peabody, Massachusetts And Its Leather Workers, 1933-1973, Lynne Nelson Manion

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The industrial working class began the middle decades of the twentieth century with unlimited hope and possibility but ended them fraught with disillusionment and dismay. This marked a disjointed experience as optimism for the future gave way to disenchantment. With the ratification of the National Industrial Recovery Act in 1933 and the National Labor Relations Act in 1935, hundreds of thousands of workers across the United States became union members. The euphoria that this initial burst of unionization created, however, could not be sustained throughout the post-World War II years. The Cold War, McCarthyism and later the onset of de-industrialization …


People In Nature: Environmental History Of The Kennebec River, Maine, Daniel J. Michor Jan 2003

People In Nature: Environmental History Of The Kennebec River, Maine, Daniel J. Michor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The quality of a river affects the tributaries, lakes, and estuary it feeds; it affects the wildlife and vegetation that depend on the river for energy, nutrients, and habitat, and also affects the human community in the form of use, access, pride, and sustainability. In an age of mass consumerism and materialism, dwindling natural resources and wild spaces, and advanced technology, the ability to make a living and at the same time enjoy the benefits of rural living is increasingly difficult. Using the entire Kennebec River watershed as the scale of investigation with particular focus on the river corridor itself, …


An Exploratory Look At An Evolving Tourism Industry: Maine's Nature-Based Tourism Industry In Transition, Marc Edwards Jan 2003

An Exploratory Look At An Evolving Tourism Industry: Maine's Nature-Based Tourism Industry In Transition, Marc Edwards

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Maine's natural resources have been attracting visitors to the State for more than 150 years, from artists drawn to the beauty and wildness of the coast, such as Thomas Cole in 1844, to Henry David Thoreau's well-documented trip to Katahdin popularized in his collection of essays The Maine Woods. Early artists like Cole lodged with local farmers and Thoreau's journeys into the Maine woods were aided by Native American and local guides. These early artists and adventurers could be said to be among the first nature-based tourists in Maine, while those who provided lodging and guide services were among the …