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

Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Internal Consistency Of The Self-Perception Profile For Children: Using Covariance Structure Modeling To Overcome The Limitations Of Cronbach's Α, Ian Cero Jan 2012

Internal Consistency Of The Self-Perception Profile For Children: Using Covariance Structure Modeling To Overcome The Limitations Of Cronbach's Α, Ian Cero

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Self-perception is linked to a variety of psychosocial outcomes and its measurement has become a priority across a several disciplines. The Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPP-C) is commonly utilized to measure both global self worth and several important sub-domains of self-perception. Although much research has suggested this instrument possesses good internal consistency, previous investigations have primarily employed Cronbach's α; to estimate the stability of responding across items. This represents an important limitation, as α; is vulnerable to mis-estimation in the presence of correlated errors and non-τ-equivalent indicators, neither of which have been ruled out for the SPP-C. The present investigation …


An Exploratory Study Of A User's Facebook Security And Privacy Settings, Brandon Charles Hoffmann Jan 2012

An Exploratory Study Of A User's Facebook Security And Privacy Settings, Brandon Charles Hoffmann

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

There are many potential security risks with social networking sites and the individuals who use them. These sites have been adopted by people of all ages worldwide, empowering new opportunities for the presentation of the self-learning, construction of a wide circle of relationships, and the management of privacy and intimacy. This study analyses the effect of social networking security practices, more specifically Facebook and its security and privacy settings. We identify four hypotheses: The more important Facebook users believe security is an important factor in choosing a social network, the more often they will change their security settings, the more …


Spring-Block Models Of Earthquake Dynamics, Ashley E. Mccall Jan 2012

Spring-Block Models Of Earthquake Dynamics, Ashley E. Mccall

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

In this paper, the dynamics of spring-block models are studied. A brief overview of the history of spring-block models relating to earthquakes is presented, along with the development of friction laws. Several mathematical topics relating to dynamical systems are also discussed. We consider two spring-block models; one with Dieterich-Ruina rate and state dependent friction and another with a modified Dieterich-Ruina style friction. For each system, the qualitative behavior and numerical solutions are presented. In the first case, we find that the system undergoes a Hopf bifurcation from a stationary solution to a periodic orbit, and eventually transitions to chaos. In …


Comparing Ai Archetypes And Hybrids Using Blackjack, Robert Edward Noonan Jan 2012

Comparing Ai Archetypes And Hybrids Using Blackjack, Robert Edward Noonan

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The discipline of artificial intelligence (AI) is a diverse field, with a vast variety of philosophies and implementations to consider. This work attempts to compare several of these paradigms as well as their variations and hybrids, using the card game of blackjack as the field of competition. This is done with an automated blackjack emulator, written in Java, which accepts computer-controlled players of various AI philosophies and their variants, training them and finally pitting them against each other in a series of tournaments with customizable rule sets. In order to avoid bias towards any particular implementation, the system treats each …


Trap Efficiency Of A Silted Prairie Reservoir: Rapidan Reservoir, Blue Earth County, Minnesota, Katherine Brosch Rassmussen Jan 2012

Trap Efficiency Of A Silted Prairie Reservoir: Rapidan Reservoir, Blue Earth County, Minnesota, Katherine Brosch Rassmussen

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Rapidan Dam and Reservoir are located along the Blue Earth River south of Mankato, Minnesota. The dam was constructed in 1911 as a source of hydroelectric power to supplement the surroundings communities. Currently, the reservoir is heavily silted and provides little hydroelectric benefit while proving costly to maintain. This study (1) defines the sedimentary, geomorphic, stream flow and suspended load characteristics of the reservoir for 2008-2009 and (2) compares these parameters with those available from 1985 (23 years prior). Stream gauging and sediment sampling took place in 2008 and 2009 at three monitoring locations (two upstream and one downstream of …


Communication Effectiveness And The Emerald Ash Borer Mitigation Campaign, Jonathon Heide Jan 2012

Communication Effectiveness And The Emerald Ash Borer Mitigation Campaign, Jonathon Heide

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Environmental risk communication is scrutinized by several research fields including, as Herndl and Brown (1996) show, technical communications. This technical communications thesis rhetorically analyses how large and small government agencies in the State of Minnesota communicate a specific environmental risk: emerald ash borer (EAB). EAB is an insect native to Asia and arrived in Detroit on a cargo ship sometime in the 1990s (Cappaert 2005, 153; Poland 2011, 46). By 2012, it spread to the 15 states and two Canadian provinces (USDA--APHIS 2012). EAB's life cycle will causes tree decline in Minnesota, the state with the most ash (MNDNR 2012). …


Modeling Potential Impacts Of Heavy Metals And Btex Compounds From The Former Year-A-Round Cab Company On Hiniker Pond, Jason Nolan Jan 2012

Modeling Potential Impacts Of Heavy Metals And Btex Compounds From The Former Year-A-Round Cab Company On Hiniker Pond, Jason Nolan

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The Year-A-Round Cab Company (an industrial metal preparation, painting, and welding facility) in Mankato, MN has a history of numerous environmental violations. The site is located 300 yards north of Hiniker Pond, a popular swimming spot. The primary purposes of my research were to determine if BTEX (ethyl benzene, toluene, and xylenes) and heavy metals had reached Hiniker Pond, and model estimated contaminate plumes from the Year-A-Round Cab Company. Lead, cadmium, and chromium were found in sediments at levels of up to 30 times higher near the site as compared to the control lake, Hallett's Pond. Although BTEX were not …