Digital Commons Network^™

Determining Feasibility Resilience: Set Based Design Iteration Evaluation Through Permutation Stability Analysis, James E. Ross

Dissertations

The goal of robust design is to select a design that will still perform satisfactorily even with unexpected variation in design parameters. A resilient design will accommodate unanticipated future system requirements. Through studying the variations of system parameters through the use of multi objective optimization, a designer hopes to locate a robustly resilient design, which performs current mission well even with varying system parameters and is able to be easily repurposed to new missions. This ability to withstand changes is critical because it is common for the product of a design to undergo changes throughout its life cycle. This subject …

Influence Of Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes On Corrosion Performance And Water Hydrogen Bonding Of Epoxy-Amine Thin Films, Greg William Curtzwiler

Dissertations

This dissertation research sought to provide a fundamental basis of understanding to commence the systematic investigation of developing economically viable fully formulated epoxy-amine coating systems containing multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). Namely, a facile and rapid method for multiwall carbon nanotube surface modification and molecular structure interpretation was developed to assist in designing MWCNT-polymer interactions and achieving high levels of dispersion. Additionally, a rapid and quantitative method was developed to investigate the dispersibility potential of MWCNTs possessing a given surface modification in combination with a dispersion protocol which can further be utilized as a quality control metric in commercial applications. It …

Advancing Structure-Property Relationships In Functional Materials Via Thiol-Ene Photopolymerization, Brian Richard Donovan

Dissertations

Thiol-ene photopolymerizations provide a robust and versatile synthetic pathway to functional materials, and owing to the radical step-growth nature of polymerization and the resulting homogenous network structure, provide non-convoluted insight into how network chemistry influences and dictates macromolecular properties.

The first facet of this dissertation focuses on the design and synthesis of bio-inspired, thin film adhesives for dry and aqueous adhesion. Drawing inspiration from the intertidal marine mussel, Chapter II details the synthesis of adhesive networks containing a monofunctional catechol-based monomer. The inclusion of a catechol group resulted in significant improvements in adhesion on a variety of substrates. In Chapter …

Effect Of Chain Rigidity On Network Architecture And Deformation Behavior Of Glassy Polymer Networks, Kyler Reser Knowles

Dissertations

Processing carbon fiber composite laminates creates molecular-level strains in the thermoset matrix upon curing and cooling which can lead to failures such as geometry deformations, micro-cracking, and other issues. It is known strain creation is attributed to the significant volume and physical state changes undergone by the polymer matrix throughout the curing process, though storage and relaxation of cure-induced strains remain poorly understood. This dissertation establishes two approaches to address the issue. The first establishes testing methods to simultaneously measure key volumetric properties of a carbon fiber composite laminate and its polymer matrix. The second approach considers the rigidity of …

Exploring The Experiences And Insights Of A Twice-Exceptional Student Finishing A College Teacher Preparation Program: A Case Study, Hussain Abdullah Alamer

Dissertations

Twice-exceptionality is the phenomenon of a student with one or more disabilities who is also gifted and talented. Identification of twice-exceptionality is difficult and only recently has there been a greater awareness of the needs of twice-exceptional students. There is empirical research about twice-exceptionality but little research exists on how twice-exceptional individuals perceive and attribute meaning to their lived experiences. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the experiences of one university student identified as gifted and learning disabled to understand how personal experiences influenced his identity development, his perspectives on teaching and education, and, ultimately, his …

Physical Education Teacher Education Student Teaching Placement Procedures, Leann Elizabeth Kesselring

Dissertations

The student teaching experience is widely regarded as the most formative aspect of a teacher preparation program. This practicum is the final opportunity to occupationally socialize a teacher candidate with the attitudes and values of the teacher preparation program. Knowing this, careful selection of student teaching placements is imperative. However, little research has been conducted regarding placement procedures in general teacher education, and even less in physical education teacher education (PETE). The purpose of this paper was to explore placement procedures of PETE teacher candidates in CAEP accredited programs at state classified universities/colleges within the United States. The research was …

Investigation Into The Application Of Personality Insights And Language Tone Analysis In Spam Classification, Colm Mcgetrick

Dissertations

Due to its persistence spam remains as one of the biggest problems facing users and suppliers of email communication services. Machine learning techniques have been very successful at preventing many spam mails from arriving in user mailboxes, however they still account for over 50% of all emails sent. Despite this relative success the economic cost of spam has been estimated as high as $50 billion in 2005 and more recently at $20 billion so spam can still be considered a considerable problem. In essence a spam email is a commercial communication trying to entice the receiver to take some positive …

“Their Whole World At School”: Portraits Of Students, Their Teacher, And Emerging Culture In A Middle School Newcomer Program, Megan Finney Edmiston

Dissertations

This dissertation utilizes ethnographic and portraiture as complementary methodologies to explore the individual and group cultures of emergent multilingual immigrant students in a public middle school newcomer program. Research questions focus on how these students negotiate their multiple identities individually and collectively. Postmodernism and a critical perspective form the conceptual framework to support the theoretical lenses of Culturally Responsive/Sustaining Pedagogy and Sociocultural Positioning Theory. Six newcomer students and the newcomer teacher are explored through individual portraits and through five emergent themes shared among the group in their constructed newcomer cohort culture. Results suggest greater recognition of the differences among newcomer …

The Design Of An Instrument To Assess Clinical Laboratories Efficacy Post Implementation Of The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, Harry Mcdonald Jr.

Dissertations

The healthcare system in the United States has undergone substantial changes in support of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). On March 23, 2010, the implementation of the new healthcare law brought universal healthcare access to all Americans, while attempting to increase quality and decrease medical costs. The new law promotes more of a quality-focused, outcome-based model rather than a pay-for-fee service model; thus, moving the paradigm from infrequent to preemptive healthcare. The PPACA postulates as the only way to achieve cost savings while increasing quality and access. Never before has there been such an extensive change to …

An Investigation Of The Use Of Cerium And Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxanes For The Protection Of Polymeric Epoxy Compounds In The Low Earth Orbit Environment, Jessica Miriam Piness

Dissertations

Low Earth orbit presents many hazards for composites including atomic oxygen, UV radiation, thermal cycling, micrometeoroids, and high energy protons. Atomic oxygen and vacuum ultraviolet radiation are of concern for space-bound polymeric materials as they degrade the polymers used as matrices for carbon fiber composites, which are used in satellites and space vehicles due to their high strength to weight ratios. Epoxy-amine thermosets comprise a common class of matrix due to processability and good thermal attributes. Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) have shown the ability to reduce erosion in polyimides, polyurethanes, and other polymers when exposed to atomic oxygen. The POSS …

Disorder In Cysteine-Rich Granulin-3 And Its Implication In Alzheimer Disease, Gaurav Ghag

Dissertations

Granulins (GRNs) are a family of small, cysteine-rich proteins that are generated upon proteolytic cleavage of their precursor, progranulin (PGRN) during inflammation. All seven GRNs (1 – 7 or A – G) contain twelve conserved cysteines that form six intramolecular disulfide bonds, rendering this family of proteins unique. GRNs play multiple roles and are involved in a myriad of physiological as well as pathological processes. They are known to a play role in growth and embryonic development, wound healing, and signaling cascades as well as in tumorigenesis. They are also implicated in neurodegenerative diseases like frontotemporal dementia (FTD), Alzheimer disease …

Formation Of Nanostructured Epoxy Networks Containing Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane (Poss) And Silica Nanoparticles, Amit K. Sharma

Dissertations

This dissertation is focused on structure-property-processing relationship studies based on well-defined polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) modified epoxy networks to present a comprehensive understanding of hybrid network behavior. In this research, a monoamine functional POSS molecule is incorporated into the epoxy monomer as pendant unit to mimic common epoxy structures and then crosslinked to form well-defined epoxy hybrid networks. The POSS cages behave as nanosized pendant unit in the epoxy matrices, while the mass fraction of POSS cages is varied and the effects on physical properties are examined with respect to changes in network architecture.

A novel continuous reactor method is …

A Comparative Study Teaching Chemistry Using The 5e Learning Cycle And Traditional Teaching With A Large English Language Learner Population In A Middle School Setting, Cynthia Nicole Mcwright

Dissertations

For decades science educators and educational institutions have been concerned with the status of science content being taught in K-12 schools and the delivery of the content. Thus, educational reformers in the United States continue to strive to solve the problem on how to best teach science for optimal success in learning. The constructivist movement has been at the forefront of this effort. With mandatory testing nationwide and an increase in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) jobs with little workforce to fulfill these needs, the question of what to teach and how to teach science remains a concern among …

Bioinspired Design Of Wetting And Anti-Wetting Surfaces Via Thiol-Ene Photopolymerization, Li Xiong

Dissertations

Surface wettability is known to have a profound influence in both academic study and industrial application of materials. Superhydrophobic surfaces, with a static contact angle higher than 150° and a contact angle hysteresis lower than 10°, have received continued attention for their broad applications, such as self-cleaning, antifogging and frosting, and drag reduction. The continuous development of materials and approaches that used to create superhydrophobic surfaces has led to further exploration of coatings with other desirable properties such as superamphiphobicity, mechanical robustness and thermal stability.

In this work, coatings with super wetting and super anti-wetting properties were designed and fabricated …

Krylov Subspace Spectral Methods For Pdes In Polar And Cylindrical Geometries, Megan Richardson

Dissertations

As a result of stiff systems of ODEs, difficulties arise when using time stepping methods for PDEs. Krylov subspace spectral (KSS) methods get around the difficulties caused by stiffness by computing each component of the solution independently. In this dissertation, we extend the KSS method to a circular domain using polar coordinates. In addition to using these coordinates, we will approximate the solution using Legendre polynomials instead of Fourier basis functions. We will also compare KSS methods on a time-independent PDE to other iterative methods. Then we will shift our focus to three families of orthogonal polynomials on the interval …

Uncovering The Identity And Metabolism Of Bacterial Coa-Rna, Joseph R. Spangler

Dissertations

Coenzyme A is an indispensable molecule in all known life with roles in metabolism, gene regulation, and macromolecule synthesis. As CoA is derived from RNA itself, it’s incorporation into RNA by in vitro methods has proven useful in research probing the origin of life based on the RNA World theory. The discovery in contemporary bacteria of RNA modified with CoA, however, provided an unexpected twist to previously well-characterized bacterial systems. The identity of sequences associated with CoA-RNA has been elusive since their discovery in 2009 based on the difficulties in isolation while maintaining RNA quality. The aim of this study …

Educating Students With Visual Impairments In The General Education Setting, Kerri Janae Johnson-Jones

Dissertations

This research study was aimed at describing the experiences of visually impaired students and their teachers about their experiences within the general education setting. The purpose of this study was to collect and report interview data, corroborated with observational data in order to provide rich, descriptive data based on the participants’ experiences. A case study approach was used to gather the data in a naturalistic setting. In this case study, all student participants were individuals with visual impairments along the spectrum of being legally blind.

Findings of this study revealed four emerging themes that produced evidence of the unique participant’s …

The Disadvantaged Status In The American Medical College Application Service: Medical Students Reflect On Their Experiences, Adam M. Lowrance

Dissertations

The option to identify as disadvantaged in the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) primary application may lead to unclear expectations for applicants. Despite its inception more than a decade ago, there are no published materials containing either a comprehensive definition, or explanation of the role of the Disadvantaged Status in student selection. Research on the Disadvantaged Status is similarly lacking. The purpose of this interpretivist case study was to explore how current students made meaning of the option to identify as disadvantaged when they were applying to medical schools. Through this research I uncovered meanings applicants ascribed to the …

Teachers' Perceived Understanding Of Formative Assessment And How This Understanding Impacts Their Own Classroom Instruction, Melanie K. Brink

Dissertations

The key purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain an understanding of classroom teachers’ perceptions of the process and impact of formative assessment on classroom instruction in a secondary school. The study was designed to obtain information about how teachers view formative assessment as part of their everyday planning and preparation, as well as sought to determine whether or not there was a correlation between teachers’ perceived understanding of formative assessment and their implementation of formative assessment in the classroom. The three main research questions that guided this study were: 1) How do teachers’ perceptions of their own …

Polyisobutylene Telechelic Prepolymers By In Situ End-Quenching And Post-Polymerization Modifications, Bin Yang

Dissertations

This volume focuses on the development of telechelic polyisobutylene (PIB) prepolymers by combining end-capping of living carbocationic polymerization of isobutylene (IB) with suitable reactants and post-polymerization modifications. Alkylation kinetics of PIB tert-chloride with alkoxybenzenes using either TiCl₄ or AlCl₃ were investigated. Quantitative para-position end-capped products were only achieved if the alkoxybenzene/AlCl₃ molar ratio was greater than unity; while no such molar ratio is required for TiCl₄, but the alkylation rate was slower than AlCl₃ under the same conditions. Photopolymerization kinetics analysis of PIB triphenol tri(meth)acrylates with low and high M_ns, …

Exploring The Rhizomatic Literacy Practices Of Uae High Schools, Mona Humaid Abdulrahim Aljanahi

Dissertations

New trends in literacy studies shifted their focus from looking at the consequences and gains of literacy to examining its uses by various cultural groups. These new trends try to situate literacy practices in different spheres and contexts as literacy varies across cultural, social, individuals, geographical, and historical timeframes. Wittingly, some scholars argue that the field of education seems to have downplayed the development of adolescents’ literacies since major literacy projects and initiatives seem to favor either child’s early and emergent literacy or remediated adults. This study tried to trace the myriad of literacy practices of high school students at …

Education From The "Bottom" Up: Black Women Navigating The Community College Transfer Experience, Kristin Dade

Dissertations

This study looks at the experiences of 11 Black women as they transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions. This study employs Black Feminist Thought to help analyze the experiences of Black women who transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions. This framework is particularly applicable to this study because Black Feminist Thought recognizes the varied experiences that women encounter based on their intersecting identities (such as race and gender). Although Black women share some common racial and gender experiences, Black Feminist Thought acknowledges the fact that each woman ultimately has her own narrative, which influences how she perceives and …

Comparative Assessment Of Agricultural Literacy In Selected K-5 Classrooms Employing Agriculture In The Classroom Methodologies: A Solomon Four-Group Analysis, Mary Margaret Fischer

Dissertations

The significance of agriculture to future generations is unparalleled. The United Nations projects the global population to swell to 9.75 billion people by 2050, and to proliferate to 11.2 billion by 2100. The non-agricultural population has little to no understanding or comprehension of the complexities of sustaining a viable agricultural system. Agricultural literacy is an area often unseen and rarely discussed outside specific agricultural disciplines. Society does not view agriculture as being important, yet it is important that society be properly educated on issues in order to reach well-informed decisions and render prudent choices that impact the world around them. …

Exemplary Nonprofit Leaders And The Behaviors They Use To Create Personal And Organizational Meaning, Candice Flint

Dissertations

Exemplary Nonprofit Leaders and the Behaviors They Use to Create Personal and Organizational Meaning

by Candice Flint

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed method case study was to identify and describe the behaviors that exemplary nonprofit leaders use to create personal and organizational meaning for themselves and their followers through character, vision, relationships, wisdom and inspiration. In addition, it was the purpose of this study to determine the degree of importance to which followers perceive the behaviors related to character, vision, relationships, wisdom and inspiration help to create personal and organizational meaning.

Methodology: A mixed method case study was utilized …

Syntheses, Structures And Magnetic Properties Of Cyano-Bridged Transition Metal Compounds, Uma Prasad Mallik

Dissertations

To investigate the hypotheses, that systematically changing the electronic and relative sizes of tricyanido building blocks will tune magnetic properties of their cluster derivatives, we prepared two new tricyanido pyrazolylborate complexes, [NEt₄][(Tp*^Me)­Fe(CN)₃]­·H₂O and [NEt₄]­[(Tp^*Bn)­Fe^III(CN)₃]­·H₂O·MeOH, and investigated their self-assembly. The new building blocks were prepared, structurally characterized, and their coordination chemistry explored to prepare small molecule-based magnetic materials.

Three bent trinuclear ferromagnetic cluster derivatives of {[(Tp^*Me)­Fe^III(CN)₃]_2­[Ni^II(L)₂]}·n(solvent) [L = …

White And African American Elementary Aged Student Perspectives Of School Climate And The Relationship To Academic Achievement, Jeremy Spoor, Rachel Turney

Dissertations

The achievement gap between White and African American students on the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) is an educational phenomenon that has been around for generations and yet to be fully understood or eliminated. This study investigated the difference in school climate perceptions between African American and Caucasian (sic) students on a district climate survey and the possible connections to the achievement gap on the MAP tests. The 2015-2016 student perceived school climate survey data from a mid-sized Midwestern urban school district was disaggregated and analyzed to identify specific differences in perception of school climate among the study groups.

MAP test …

The Missouri Student Transfer Program, Howard E. Fields Iii

Dissertations

In 1993, the state of Missouri passed the Outstanding Schools Act. This law was created as a means to ensure that “all children will have quality educational opportunities, regardless of where in Missouri they live.” Section 167.131 of this law states that an unaccredited district must pay the tuition and transportation cost for students who attend an accredited school in the same or adjoining district. This portion of the law became known as the Student Transfer Program.

The Riverview Gardens School District (RGSD) was one of three unaccredited school districts in the state of Missouri in 2013. With close to …

Mathematical Approaches To Digital Image Inpainting, Sumudu S. Kalubowila

Dissertations

Image inpainting process is used to restore the damaged image or missing parts of an image. This technique is used in some applications, such as removal of text in images and photo restoration. There are different types of methods used in image inpainting, such as non-inear partial differential equations(PDEs), wavelet transformation and framelet transformation.

We studied the usage of the current image inpainting methods and solved the Poisson equation using a five-point stencil method. We used a modified five-point stencil method to solve the same equation. It gave better results than the standard five-point stencil method. Using modified five-point stencil …

Correspondence Between Multiwavelet Shrinkage/Multiple Wavelet Frame Shrinkage And Nonlinear Diffusion, Hanan Ali Alkhidhr

Dissertations

There are numerous methodologies for signal and image denoising. Wavelet, wavelet frame shrinkage, and nonlinear diffusion are effective ways for signal and image denoising. Also, multiwavelet transforms and multiple wavelet frame transforms have been used for signal and image denoising. Multiwavelets have important property that they can possess the orthogonality, short support, good performance at the boundaries, and symmetry simultaneously. The advantage of multiwavelet transform for signal and image denoising was illustrated by Bui et al. in 1998. They showed that the evaluation of thresholding on a multiwavelet basis has produced good results. Further, Strela et al. have showed that …

Towards An Informatics Competent Nursing Profession: Validation Of The Self-Assessment Of Nursing Informatics Competency Scale (Sanics) Before And After Online Informatics Training, Judi Allyn Godsey

Dissertations

Nurses should be involved in healthcare initiatives that incorporate informatics as an essential tool for improving health outcomes (IOM, 2010). However, nurses frequently report lack of competency to perform the most basic computer functions, outside of those required within their work environment (Hwang, 2011). Without educational or training interventions, nurses are limited in their ability to effectively use information technology in practice (Greiner, 2003). This study explored the psychometric performance of the Self-Assessment of Nursing Informatics Competencies Scale (SANICS) when used to measure informatics competency in a population of entry-level nursing students.