Digital Commons Network^™

Developing A B -Tagging Algorithm Using Soft Muons At Level-3 For The Dø Detector At Fermilab, Mayukh Das

Doctoral Dissertations

The current data-taking phase of the DØ detector at Fermilab, called Run II, is designed to aid the search for the Higgs Boson. The neutral Higgs is postulated to have a mass of 117 GeV. One of the channels promising the presence of this hypothetical particle is through the decay of b-quark into a muon. The process of identifying a b-quark in a jet using muon as a reference is b-tagging with a muon tag.

At the current data taking and analysis rate, it will take long to reach the process of identifying valid events. The triggering mechanism of the …

The Effect Of Literature Mapping Of Basal Vocabulary On Word Knowledge And Comprehension, Andrea Lynn Morris

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether two instructional interventions in reading that utilize literature mapping within a story element frame, T-CaPS MaP via transparency mapping, or computer-designed mapping via Inspiration, would affect reading ability of leveled sixth grade groups. T-CaPS MaP, designed by the researcher, is a combination of well-known story grammars that was used to expand and enhance basal vocabulary instruction. T represents the title of the story, C represents characters in the story; arepresents and; P represents point of view of the author; S represents setting of the story; M represents the mood of …

Obstruction Sets For Classes Of Cubic Graphs, Joshua Hughes

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation establishes two theorems which characterize the set of minimal obstructions for two classes of graphs. A minimal obstruction for a class of graphs is a graph that is not in the class but every graph that it properly contains, under some containment relation, is in the class. In Chapter 2, we provide a characterization of the class of cubic outer-planar graphs in terms of its minimal obstructions which are also called cubic obstructions in this setting. To do this, we first show that all the obstructions containing loops can be obtained from the complete set of loopless obstructions …

Differences In Teacher Qualifications And The Relationship To Middle School Student Achievement In Mathematics, Carrie R. Ferguson

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to compare mathematics teacher preparation and experience to the achievement of middle school students (grades 6–8) on the mathematics section of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). Using a theoretical framework, the research examined the extent to which the teacher qualification variables were related to the student achievement. Measures of teacher qualifications included four independent variables: (a) number of mathematics content hours, (b) level of teaching certification, (c) number of years teaching experience, and (d) number of years teaching middle school/junior high mathematics. Participants in this causal-comparative study included 97 teachers and …

Relationships Among Classroom Technology Utilization, Professional Development, And Knowledge About Technology For Secondary Teachers, Stacy L. King

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of technology professional development for secondary teachers toward the usage of that technology in the classroom to assist with the teaching/learning process. This research also examined the effects of knowledge about technology for secondary teachers on the utilization of technology in the classroom. Data were gathered from the Technology Proficiency Self Assessment Instrument issued by the Louisiana State Department of Education. The target population consisted of secondary school teachers in Louisiana from 202 secondary schools in twenty-eight parishes. From the 202 secondary schools in Louisiana, a sample of teachers (n …

A Numerical Method For Obtaining An Optimal Temperature Distribution In A 3d Triple-Layered Cylindrical Skin Structure, Le Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

In recent years, it has been interesting to research hyperthermia combined with radiation and cytotoxic drugs to enhance the killing of tumors. The crucial problem is that when heating the tumor tissues, one needs to keep the surrounding normal tissue below a temperature that will produce harm. Thus, it is important to obtain the temperature field of the entire treatment region. The objective of this dissertation is to develop a numerical model for obtaining an optimal temperature distribution in a 3D triple-layered cylindrical skin structure. To this end, we pre-specify the temperatures to be obtained at the center and perimeter …

Intelligent Control Of Nonlinear Systems With Actuator Saturation Using Neural Networks, Wenzhi Gao

Doctoral Dissertations

Common actuator nonlinearities such as saturation, deadzone, backlash, and hysteresis are unavoidable in practical industrial control systems, such as computer numerical control (CNC) machines, xy-positioning tables, robot manipulators, overhead crane mechanisms, and more. When the actuator nonlinearities exist in control systems, they may exhibit relatively large steady-state tracking error or even oscillations, cause the closed-loop system instability, and degrade the overall system performance. Proportional-derivative (PD) controller has observed limit cycles if the actuator nonlinearity is not compensated well. The problems are particularly exacerbated when the required accuracy is high, as in micropositioning devices. Due to the non-analytic nature of the …

The Bipartite Clique: A Topological Paradigm For Web User Search Customization And Web Site Restructuring, Brenda F. Choyce-Miles

Doctoral Dissertations

The objective of this dissertation research is to aid the Web user to achieve his search objective at a host Web site by organizing a strongly connected neighborhood of Web pages that are thematically and spatially related to the user's search interest. Therefore, methods were developed to (1) find all Web pages at a given Web site that are thematically similar to a user's initial choice of a Web page (selected from the set of Web pages returned in response to a query by any popular search engine), and (2) organize these pages hierarchically in terms of their relevance to …

Integrated Modeling And Parallel Computation Of Laser-Induced Axisymmetric Rod Growth, Hong Lan

Doctoral Dissertations

To fully investigate a pyrolytic Laser-induced chemical vapor deposition (LCVD) system for growing an axisymmetric rod, a novel integrated three-dimensional mathematical model was developed not only to describe the heat transport in the deposit and substrate, but also to simulate the gas-phase in the heated reaction zone and its effect on growth rate. The integrated model consists of three components: the substrate, rod, and gas-phase domains. Each component is a separate model and the three components are dynamically integrated into one model for simulating the iterative and complex process of rod deposition.

The gas-phase reaction is modeled by the gas-phase …

Evaluating The Middle School Mathematics Teacher Preparation Program At Riyadh Teachers' College, Maher M. Alghanem

Doctoral Dissertations

Continuous evaluation and feedback are essential to improving the quality of teacher preparation programs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perceptions of various aspects of the preparation of preservice middle school mathematics teachers at Riyadh Teachers' College, Saudi Arabia, from the perspective of both preservice middle school mathematics teachers and mathematics department faculty members. The focus of this study was on the mathematics department's theoretical framework, its governance and resources, faculty qualifications and performance, courses and field experiences, approaches of teaching, and assessment forms. Two research questionnaires were developed for the purpose of collecting research data: one …

Interstellar Helium Pickup Ion Flux Variations Observed With Soho/Celias, Lukas A. Saul

Doctoral Dissertations

Interstellar pickup ions are formed when neutral atoms freely enter the heliosphere and are subsequently ionized. Once these particles are charged they become a component of the interplanetary plasma and are transported outward with the solar wind (SW). Measurements of these particles give information about the local interstellar gas in which our sun resides. However, fluxes of pickup ions in the solar wind are observed to vary substantially in both magnitude and energy spectrum.

Hypothesized is that the main causes of these variations are transport phenomenon in the solar wind, determined by the solar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field. …

Burnside Factors, Amenability Defects And Transitive Families Of Projections In Factors Of Type Ii(1), Jon P. Bannon

Doctoral Dissertations

We introduce a notion of transitive family of projections in a type II1 factor and prove that there exists (i) a 5 element transitive family in the hyperfinite II1 and (ii) a 12 element free transitive family. We then prove that the group von Neumann algebras of the known infinite free Burnside groups are all type II1 factors. Our investigation of weak-amenability properties of Burnside groups leads us to consider the Connes theory of correspondences. From this investigation we are able to define a new Folner invariant for type II1 factors. We prove a monotonicity result and find a positive …

Third Graders Speak: Experiences And Perspectives Of Reading And Writing In Urban Public Schools, Kimberly A. Boothroyd

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences and perspectives of reading and writing among third grade students attending urban public schools. The study took place in a large urban district in the Northeastern United States and included two elementary schools, four classrooms, and 24 students. The study was designed and conducted as qualitative research. 24 students were interviewed at two different times in the school year using (1) a picture protocol for the first interview and (2) a semi-structured interview protocol for the second interview. Analysis of the 48 interviews yielded findings in three areas: (1) The …

Chemical Sensors Based On Swelling Polymer Microspheres And Uncrosslinked Fluorescently-Labelled Molecularly Imprinted Polymers, George K. Mwangi

Doctoral Dissertations

Polymer swelling can be achieved by derivatizing a functional group onto the polymer that selectively binds a particular analyte. For example, at low pH, the particles in a hydrogel membrane swell in response to the increased hydrogen ion concentration and the membrane reflects less light. When the refractive index of the membrane is less than that of the particles, swelling decreases the refractive index of the particles. This brings it closer to the refractive index of the membrane, and decreases the scattering of light making the membrane more transparent.

On the other hand if the refractive index of the membrane …

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 …

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 …

Bootstrap Prediction Intervals For Multivariate Time Series, Florian Sebastian Rueck

Doctoral Dissertations

"The theory and methodology of obtaining bootstrap prediction intervals for univariate time series using the forward representation of the series is extended to vector autoregressive (VAR) models. Kim has shown that simultaneous prediction intervals based on the Bonferroni method and the backward representation of the time series achieve coverage close to nominal when the parameter estimates are corrected for small sample bias. To utilize his method, it is necessary to assume that the innovations are normally distributed to maintain independence of the innovations associated with the backward representation of the time series. This assumption is not necessary if the forward …

The Relationships Of Teachers' Levels Of Technology Integration On Student Achievement In Reading And Mathematics, Valerie S. Fields

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent the level of technology integration of fourth and eighth grade teachers in eleven rural school districts in northeastern Louisiana related to student achievement in reading and mathematics.

The sample consisted of 123 fourth and eighth grade teachers and their students from the eleven rural school districts in northeastern Louisiana. Fifty-eight percent of the teachers represented the fourth grade and 42% of the teachers represented the eighth grade. The teachers served a school age population in which 20% or more was from families with incomes below the poverty line.

Mean …

Computational Approaches To The Design And Analysis Of Stability Of Polypeptide Multilayer Thin Films, Bin Zheng

Doctoral Dissertations

The focus of this research is the development of computational approaches to understanding the physical basis of layer-by-layer assembly (LBL), a key methodology of nanomanufacturing. The results provided detailed information on structure which cannot be obtained directly by experiments.

The model systems chosen for study are polypeptide chains. Reasons for this are that polypeptides are no less polyelectrolytes than the more usual polyions, and one can control the primary structure of a polypeptide on a residue-by-residue basis using modern synthetic methods. Moreover, as peptides constitute one of the four major classes of biological macromolecules, research in this direction is expected …

Sense -Based Text Classification By Semantic Hierarchy Representation, Xiaogang Peng

Doctoral Dissertations

Automatic classification of web pages is an effective way to facilitate the process of retrieving information from the Internet. Currently, two major classification methods are used in this area: keyword-based classification and sense-based classification. For keyword-based classification, keywords often have different semantic meanings, and the correct keyword matching is largely based on using exactly the same keywords. Thus, the classification results of keyword-based classification are not always satisfying. Many sense-based classification algorithms and systems have been presented, but they pay little attention to the relationship between senses. In this dissertation, we present a method to automatically classify documents based on …