Digital Commons Network^™

The Nature Of Dissection: Exploring Student Conceptions, Katharine York

Doctoral Dissertations

The model of conceptual change in science describes the process of learning as a complete restructuring of knowledge, when learners discover or are shown more plausible, intelligent alternatives to existing conceptions. Emotions have been acknowledged as part of a learner's conceptual ecology, but the effects of emotions on learning have yet to be described. This research was conducted to examine the role that emotions have on learning for thirteen high school students, as they dissected cats in a Human Anatomy and Physiology class. The project also investigated whether a student's emotional reactions may be used to develop a sense of …

Creativity Or Creativities: A Study Of Domain Generality And Specificity, Zorana Ivcevic

Doctoral Dissertations

A series of studies investigated domain generality and specificity in creativity. Preliminary studies developed behavior report measures based on act-frequency and life-space approaches. The main studies examined two aspects of generality and specificity in creativity. A first group of studies analyzed the structure of creative behavior and the second group of studies concerned personality correlates of creativity. Dimensions of creative behavior were identified in a factor analysis of behavior reports and referred to creative life-style, arts, and intellectual achievement. Moreover, these dimensions were replicated in college students and professional adults. Groups of individuals with similar patterns of behavior were identified …

Pole -Mounted Sonar Vibration Prediction Using Cmac Neural Networks, Chunshu Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

The efficiency and accuracy of pole-mounted sonar systems are severely affected by pole vibration, Traditional signal processing techniques are not appropriate for the pole vibration problem due to the nonlinearity of the pole vibration and the lack of a priori knowledge about the statistics of the data to be processed. A novel approach of predicting the pole-mounted sonar vibration using CMAC neural networks is presented. The feasibility of this approach is studied in theory, evaluated by simulation and verified with a real-time laboratory prototype, Analytical bounds of the learning rate of a CMAC neural network are derived which guarantee convergence …

Nonunital Multiplier Pairs And Remarks On Generalized Group C*-Algebras, Sandra E. Zak

Doctoral Dissertations

In the first part of this paper we will consider a generalization of D. Hadwin and E. Nordgren's work on multiplier pairs. Here we will not assume the existence of an identity, but rather just ask for the existence of a bounded approximate identity. Without the assumption of the identity, we find a new result concerning the relationship between the norm closure of the left multiplication operators and the approximate double commutant of the left multiplication operators.

In the second part we will suppose f, g : T→T are continuous functions on the unit circle T and let B (f, …

Documentation Panels: Evidence Of Scientific Literacy In A Primary Multi Age Classroom: Teaching At The Edge Of Magic, Charlene Garhart Kohn

Doctoral Dissertations

This project is the result of a question I raised about using documentation panels in my classroom; it is teacher research. Teacher researchers participate in their own inquiries, participating as both teacher and researcher in the study. Teacher research provides practitioners a method for investigating a question or wondering that arises from the classroom. This project aims to explicate the science learning demonstrated by 5, 6, 7, and 8 year old students through the use of student created documentation panels while at the same time providing me with an insightful and critical look at my pedagogy. Within the context of …

Applications Of Fluorescence Detected Sedimentation I Studying The Thermodynamic Impact Of Valence In Non-Ideal Solutions Ii High Affinity Interactions And Biological Media, Rachel R. Kroe

Doctoral Dissertations

The recent addition of the fluorescence detection optical system (FDS) to the currently available absorbance and interference optical systems on the analytical ultracentrifuge has greatly expanded the wide application of this technique. The new FDS is able to detect very low concentrations of fluorophore allowing the study of high affinity interactions (Kd ∼ pM) not previously accessible with the absorbance optics. The types of high affinity interactions that can be explored include drug-protein interactions, lipid-receptor interactions, DNA-protein interactions and protein-protein interactions. Selective labeling of one or both of the macromolecules can allow elegant dissection of complex assemblies. The only limiting …

Boundary -Work In United States Psychology: A Study Of Three Interdisciplinary Programs, Michael J. Root

Doctoral Dissertations

Between 1970 and 2000 scientists from three interdisciplinary programs---evolutionary psychology, cognitive science, and chaos theory---contributed to changing U.S. psychology's disciplinary boundaries. These interdisciplinary scientists brought about this change through their conceptual, material, and social practices. Psychologists used "boundary-work" as a means to control the influx of these various practices. Boundary-work connotes activities that promote scientists' epistemic authority in society. Boundary-work also serves to demarcate a science's particular collection of knowledge from other collections. Through their boundary-work activities, various psychologists resisted some of the practices of these interdisciplinary scientists while making accommodations for other types of practices. These resistances and accommodations …

Contributions To Modeling And Computer Efficient Estimation For Gaussian Space -Time Processes, Veronica Pocsik Hupper

Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis research provides several contributions to computer efficient methodology for estimation with space-time data. First we propose a parsimonious class of computer-efficient Gaussian spatial interaction models that includes as special cases CAR and SAR-like models. This extended class is capable of modeling smooth spatial random fields. We show that, for rectangular lattices, this class is equivalent to higher-order Markov random fields. Thus we capture the computational advantage of iterative updating of Markov random fields, while at the same time provide the possibility of simple interpretation of smooth spatial structure.

This class of spatial models is defined via a spatial …

Transition Voices: Perspectives, Concerns, And Discontinuities Expressed By Children, Parents, And Teachers As Children Transition From A University -Affiliated Kindergarten To A Public School First Grade, Laurie J. Harper

Doctoral Dissertations

Transition encompasses the events and experiences that occur as a child moves from kindergarten to first grade. Transition marks the time when children are separated from a familiar routine and environment and placed into an environment of uncertainty, changing roles, and expectations. Children who experience continuity with earlier educational experiences show increased motivation, improved relationships with peers and adults, and higher achievement.

Using a constructivist grounded theory approach this study documented the perspectives, concerns, and experiences of ten children and their parents as children transitioned from a University-affiliated kindergarten program to a public school first grade. Data were gathered using …

The Process Of Integration And The Concept Of Integral: How Does Success With Applications And Comprehension Of Underlying Notions Such As Accumulation Relate To Students' Mathematical Fluency, Mariana Montiel

Doctoral Dissertations

At the end of the standard first calculus course, the student is expected to learn the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, and to be able to use the integral to produce new functions, or numbers which, they are told, represent the "area under the curve". At the beginning of the standard second calculus course, students are expected to generalize their knowledge, and use the integration process to generate solids of revolution, surface areas, arc length and work, among other applications. Looking at students' success or failure in these endeavors, it was detected that there are marked differences in an aspect that, …

Nonlinear Dynamics Of Blood Flow In Simple Microvascular Networks, Fan Wu

Doctoral Dissertations

It has been found that spontaneous oscillations of nodal pressures, hematocrit, and blood velocity can occur in microvascular networks in the absence of biological control. In this paper, both analytical and numerical methods have been used to investigate the nonlinear dynamics of microvascular blood flow in simple networks. First, the steady state solutions for the system are found. Then the governing coupled PDE's are transformed into state dependent time delay differential equations, DDE's. The DDE's are then linearized about a steady state and normalized.

The characteristic equation for the network is found by assuming the linearized DDE's have a nontrivial …

First And Second Majors In Baccalaureate Programs Fall Semesters, 1991-2004, University Of New Hampshire. Institutional Research And Assessment

UNH Factbooks

University of New Hampshire factbook data from the 2004-2005 academic year

Spatial Distribution Of Land Type In Regression Models Of Pollutant Loading, Evan J. Fedorko, Robert Gilmore Pontius Jr., Stephen P. Aldrich, Luc Claussens, Charles S. Hopkinson, Wilfred M. Wollheim

Faculty Publications

This paper proposes a method to improve landscape-pollution interaction regression models through the inclusion of a variable that describes the spatial distribution of a land type with respect to the pattern of runoff within a drainage catchment. The proposed index is used as an independent variable to enhance the strength, as quantified by R² values, of regression relationships between empirical observations of in-stream pollutant concentrations and land type by considering the spatial distribution of key land-type categories within the sample point’s drainage area. We present an index that adds a new dimension of explanatory power when used in conjunction with …

The Graduate School, University Of New Hampshire Catalog, 2005-2007, University Of New Hampshire

Graduate Catalog

No abstract provided.

Graduate Degree Completions, 1991-2005, University Of New Hampshire. Institutional Research And Assessment

UNH Factbooks

University of New Hampshire factbook data from the 2004-2005 academic year

University Of New Hampshire Undergraduate Catalog, 2005-2006 Bulletin, University Of New Hampshire

Undergraduate Catalog

No abstract provided.

Bachelor Degree Completions By College, 1991-2005, University Of New Hampshire. Institutional Research And Assessment

UNH Factbooks

University of New Hampshire factbook data from the 2004-2005 academic year

Town Of Brentwood. Annual Town And School District Reports For The Year Ending December 31, 2004., Brentwood Town Representatives

Brentwood, NH Annual Reports

This is an annual report containing vital statistics for a town/city in the state of New Hampshire.

Stable Invariant Subspaces, Reflexivity, And Bmo, Hassan Yousefi

Doctoral Dissertations

In the first part of the thesis we obtain some new results in Hadwin's general version of reflexivity and apply them in the classical cases. We prove that the image of any C*-algebra under any bounded unital homomorphism into B(W) is approximately reflexive, where W is a Banach space. We also introduce two new versions of reflexivity, approximate algebraic reflexivity and asymptotic reflexivity, and study their properties.

In the second part of the thesis we construct a general setting in which functions of bounded mean oscillation (BMO) and vanishing mean oscillation (VMO) can be studied. In this setting we prove …

Globalization, Ecological Security, And The Sustainability Of Human Societies, Mimi Larsen Becker

The University Dialogue

No abstract provided.

Strafford County 2004 Annual Report Of The Commissioners, Treasurer, Other County Officers And The Strafford County Delegation Strafford County, New Hampshire For The Year Ending December 31, 2004., Stafford County Representatives

Strafford County, NH Annual Reports

This is an annual report containing vital statistics for a county in the state of New Hampshire.

The Granite, 2005, University Of New Hampshire

The Granite – Yearbook

The yearbook of the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, 1909-1922, the University of New Hampshire, 1923-

New Views Of The Gulf Of Alaska Margin Mapped For Unclos Applications, Larry A. Mayer, James V. Gardner, Andy Armstrong, Brian R. Calder, Mashkoor A. Malik, Clive Angwenyi, Srinivas Karlapati, Hugo Montoro, Taisei Morishita, Abubakar Mustapha

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

No abstract provided.

Summertime Ozone At Mount Washington: Meteorological Controls At The Highest Peak In The Northeast, E V. Fischer, R. Talbot, Jack E. Dibb

Earth Sciences

This study examined the synoptic and regional-scale meteorological controls on summertime O₃ at Mount Washington, the highest peak (1910 m) in the northeastern United States. Analysis of air mass transport to Mount Washington was conducted for the summers of 1998–2003 using backward trajectories. Distinct patterns in air mass history were revealed using this approach that helped explain extreme variations in O₃ mixing ratios. Most enhanced (≥90th percentile) and depleted (≤10th percentile) O₃ events were short-lived and spread out over the summer months. Enhanced O₃ events at Mount Washington were generally associated with westerly transport, while depleted …

Snow Accumulation, Surface Height Change, And Firn Densification At Summit, Greenland: Insights From 2 Years Of In Situ Observation, Jack E. Dibb, Mark Fahnestock

Earth Sciences

Weekly measurements of surface height change were made at an accumulation forest of 100 stakes at Summit, Greenland, over a 2-year period (17 August 2000 to 8 August 2002). On average, the surface height relative to the stakes increased 64 (±4.8) cm in the first year and 65 (±5.3) cm in the second, identical to the average (65 ± 4.5 cm yr⁻¹) previously reported for the period 1991–1995 in a similar forest 28 km to the southwest. The continuous 2-year data set indicates that the rate of surface rise was not constant, with the summers of 2001 and …

Concord High Teacher Honored By Unh For Outstanding Service, David Sims

Media Relations

No abstract provided.

Unh Students, Including Several From Nh, Among 10,000 Geophysicists At Annual Science Meeting, David Sims

Media Relations

No abstract provided.

Unh To Acquire Supercomputing Cluster, David Sims

Media Relations

No abstract provided.

On The Mhd Boundary Of Kelvin-Helmholtz Stability Diagram At Large Wavelengths, F. T. Gratton, G. Gnavi, Charlie J. Farrugia, L. Bender

Coronal Mass Ejection Research Group

Working within the domain of inviscid incompressible MHD theory, we found that a tangential discontinuity (TD) separating two uniform regions of different density, velocity and magnetic field may be Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) stable and yet a study of a transition between the same constant regions given by a continuous velocity profile shows the presence of the instability with significant growth rates. Since the cause of the instability stems from the velocity gradient, and since a TD may be considered as the ultimate limit of such gradient, the statement comes as a surprise. In fact, a long wavelength (lambda) boundary for the …

A Statistical Study Of The Global Structure Of The Ring Current, A. M. Jorgensen, Harlan E. Spence, W. J. Hughes, H. J. Singer

Physics & Astronomy

[1] In this paper we derive the average configuration of the ring current as a function of the state of the magnetosphere as indicated by the Dst index. We sort magnetic field data from the Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES) by spatial location and by the Dst index in order to produce magnetic field maps. From these maps we calculate local current systems by taking the curl of the magnetic field. We find both the westward (outer) and the eastward (inner) components of the ring current. We find that the ring current intensity varies linearly with Dst as …