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Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

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Influence Of The West Virginia Dome On Paleocurrent Patterns In The Upper Devonian-Lower Mississippian Price Formation In The Central Appalachians, Sheldon James Murphy Dec 2001

Influence Of The West Virginia Dome On Paleocurrent Patterns In The Upper Devonian-Lower Mississippian Price Formation In The Central Appalachians, Sheldon James Murphy

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Upper Devonian-Lower Mississippian sedimentation was influenced by a positive area known as the West Virginia Dome located in the Central Appalachians of West Virginia. Paleocurrent data collected from the Price Formation demonstrates the significance of the dome on paleoflow patterns. Exposures in West Virginia are located along the Allegheny Front and include the lowermost marine Oswayo Member, Riddlesburg Shale Member, unnamed Upper Member and the uppermost non-marine Rockwell Member. These units overlie the Devonian Hampshire Formation or Greenland Gap Formation and underlie the Mississippian Greenbrier Limestone or Maccrady Formation. At the center of the dome the Price Formation is absent …

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Pest Management Practices Used By West Virginia Corn Growers, Leasa Dianne Wilkerson Dec 2001

Pest Management Practices Used By West Virginia Corn Growers, Leasa Dianne Wilkerson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study was to provide information that might be useful to researchers and extension personnel at West Virginia University in developing and designing educational programs concerning pest management for corn farmers. This research identified current trends in management practices, insect, fungal, and weed problems, and educational needs so that instructional materials can be designed to meet clientele needs. Data were collected via 100 questionnaires mailed to farmers in the top ten corn producing counties in West Virginia. Of these, thirty-three useable surveys were returned.;It was found that Gray leaf spot and Maize virus were the most prevalent …

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Robust Decentralized Control Of Power Systems Through Excitation Systems And Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitors, Lingling Fan Dec 2001

Robust Decentralized Control Of Power Systems Through Excitation Systems And Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitors, Lingling Fan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The objective of this work is robust decentralized control of power systems through excitation systems and Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitors (TCSC). Hence the dissertation consists of two parts. In the first part an algorithm for the design of nonlinear decentralized excitation control is developed based on a feedback linearization technique. Feedback linearization technique is applied in excitation control of each generator to obtain an interconnected system where subsystems have linear system matrices and interconnections are represented by nonlinear terms. Different ways of achieving decentralization are investigated: (1) linear robust control combined with observer decoupled state space; (2) disturbance accommodation control. …

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Spatial And Temporal Analysis Of Radial Growth In An Appalachian Watershed, Desta Beyene Fekedulegn Dec 2001

Spatial And Temporal Analysis Of Radial Growth In An Appalachian Watershed, Desta Beyene Fekedulegn

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dendrochronological study used dated and measured tree-ring data to examine relationships between radial growth and climate for four hard wood species, yellow-poplar, northern red oak, chestnut oak and red maple, growing on contrasting topographic aspects of a watershed in north-central West Virginia.;The study showed that all species except northern red oak showed significant differences in growth between the mesic and xeric aspects. Where significant differences were found all except chestnut oak exhibited higher growth rates at the mesic aspect.;Yellow-poplar showed a sharp decline in growth from late 1950's to late 1960's, which was evidently caused by several years of …

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Dutch Women In New Netherland And New York In The Seventeenth Century, Michael Eugene Gherke Dec 2001

Dutch Women In New Netherland And New York In The Seventeenth Century, Michael Eugene Gherke

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The European settlers who emigrated to America in the seventeenth century were decidedly patriarchal. Nevertheless, significant cultural differences in expressions of patriarchy among them existed. Specifically, the Dutch of New Netherland defined the gendered roles of women differently than did other European cultures. More than deputy-husbands, but less than full partner, seventeenth-century Dutch women in New Netherland were integral to the survival and promotion of their families' interests and preservation of the colony. English expropriation of New Netherland in 1664 and permanent acquisition in 1674 inaugurate a process of patriarchal acculturation that over time submerged the roles of Dutch women. …

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Women And Physical Culture In Modern Poland, Nameeta Mathur Dec 2001

Women And Physical Culture In Modern Poland, Nameeta Mathur

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation examines the interaction between the various forces of Polish "nationalism" and "feminism" in the construction of women's physical culture in modern Poland from the late nineteenth century until the end of the twentieth century. The basic premise of this work is that unlike most western countries where sportswomen have typically been marginalized in their athletic endeavors, Polish female athletes have earned far greater respect and recognition in the development of their physical culture. On many occasions, women's athleticism in Poland was a source of immense pride and prestige for both the state and society, albeit for varied reasons …

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Rates Of Adoption In A University Course Management System, David Russell Feeney Dec 2001

Rates Of Adoption In A University Course Management System, David Russell Feeney

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research focuses on diffusion of an education innovation in a large, traditional University. In March 1999, the Blackboard digital course management system was installed for enterprise-wide availability at Temple University, the 39th largest university in the United States. The web-enabled database of Temple Blackboard logs the adoption date, course ID, and course title for every Blackboard course, unobtrusively, twenty-four hours a day. Temple Blackboard serves as 4 digital approximation of the cumulative recorder pioneered by B. F. Skinner, recording more than 2800 course adoptions across 30 months, in real time. Temple Blackboard course records provide unprecedented quantity and quality …

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Development Of Instrumentation For The Investigation Of Surface Regeneration For Candle Filters, Sean Patrick Gregory Dec 2001

Development Of Instrumentation For The Investigation Of Surface Regeneration For Candle Filters, Sean Patrick Gregory

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Two methods of improving efficiency of coal based power generation are integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) and pressurized fluidized-bed combustion (PFBC). Both of these options require high-temperature gas stream particle cleanup for optimum efficiency. Candle filters in a pressurized vessel have received the greatest amount of attention in dealing with this topic, but problems still persist and there does not seem to be clear-cut answer to the problem. This research is an investigation of the candle filter cleaning process, a process known as surface regeneration.;The objective of this research program has been to develop the instrumentation necessary to investigate the surface …

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Parent Distress, Parent Behavior, And Infant Distress During Pediatric Immunizations, Rebecca Suzanne Bernard Dec 2001

Parent Distress, Parent Behavior, And Infant Distress During Pediatric Immunizations, Rebecca Suzanne Bernard

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Infant procedural distress historically has been ignored, and the importance of reducing infant distress only recently has been addressed. To understand and manage infant procedural distress, it is essential to examine the correlates and potential predictors of this distress. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of parent distress on infant procedural distress, the effects of parent behavior on infant distress, and the combined impact of parent distress and behavior on infant distress for 37 parent-infant dyads. Results demonstrated that infant measures were not intercorrelated, only parent self-report measures were intercorrelated, and several measures of parent distress …

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Development Of Environmental Health And Safety Database For Small Communities, Ragava S. Nadig Dec 2001

Development Of Environmental Health And Safety Database For Small Communities, Ragava S. Nadig

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The National Environmental Services Center (NESC) is a group of programs, national in scope, that provide a variety of environmental services directly to small community officials, engineers, technicians, regulatory officials, and private citizens.;The primary mission of each of the NESC programs is to protect public health and the environment of America's small and rural communities-those communities of less than 10,000 people. The NESC programs provide information, technical assistance, and training to help small communities deal with their wastewater, drinking water, and solid waste treatment issues.;Thousands of informational materials pass through the organization each year. This material ranges from manufacturing product …

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Friendship Characteristics Associated With Adolescent Friendship Maintenance And Dissolution, Rebecca A. Owens Dec 2001

Friendship Characteristics Associated With Adolescent Friendship Maintenance And Dissolution, Rebecca A. Owens

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study examined the association between early adolescents' friendship features and friendship outcomes (maintenance vs. dissolution and overall quality) following friendship problems. Also of interest was whether the reported causes of friendship problems and friendship dissolution differed. Early adolescents' (mean age = 12.45 years; 118 girls, 82 boys) experiences with their friends were assessed through several written questionnaires. Six friendship features were used to predict friendship outcomes following problems: length of friendship, closeness, common experiences, balance of costs and rewards, personal characteristics, and expected ease of finding a new friend. Length of friendship and approval of a friend's personal characteristics …

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Exploring Object-Oriented Gis For Watershed Resource Management, Nalishebo Nally Kaunda Dec 2001

Exploring Object-Oriented Gis For Watershed Resource Management, Nalishebo Nally Kaunda

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The adoption of object-oriented programming for spatial technological advancement is an emerging trend in GIS. This research seeks to explore Object-Oriented GIS (OOGIS) and its potential application in watershed resource management. OOGIS provides a more intuitive and realistic abstraction of real world features as intelligent objects. The ability to embed behavior, geometry, and attribution with the objects provides considerable advantages in the processing and analysis of geospatial data. The main objective of this research was to design a prototype OOGIS for watershed resource management using the object relational Arclnfo 8.1 Geodatabase. The study builds on the OOGIS concepts of inheritance, …

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Simulation Based Modeling Of The Elastic Properties Of Structural Wood Based Composite Lumber, Laszlo Bejo Aug 2001

Simulation Based Modeling Of The Elastic Properties Of Structural Wood Based Composite Lumber, Laszlo Bejo

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The importance of wood-based composite lumber is increasing in the US market for construction materials. Manufacturers of such composites strive to make their products more competitive by increasing their value. This dissertation describes the development of simulation models that can aid these efforts by estimating the elastic characteristics of composite lumber products. The study included the assessment of the orthotropic mechanical properties of the raw material, the effect of densification it experiences during the hot-pressing procedure, and the geometric structure of the composites. Using the results of these investigations, computer models were created based on principles of deterministic and stochastic …

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Changes In Stand Structure And Species Diversity Following Clearcutting In Central Appalachian Hardwoods, Mark Benjamin Brashears Aug 2001

Changes In Stand Structure And Species Diversity Following Clearcutting In Central Appalachian Hardwoods, Mark Benjamin Brashears

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The clearcutting of second-growth Appalachian hardwood forests may cause a reduction in species diversity of the new cohort. This study measured changes in species composition, diversity, and stand structural characteristics following clearcutting of a second-growth hardwood forest. To evaluate the temporal changes in importance of central Appalachian hardwood tree species, thirteen clearcuts on good excellent sites in West Virginia were inventoried before harvesting and 2--26 years after harvesting. Shannon-Weaver's diversity index (H'), Pielou's evenness index (E), and species richness (S) were calculated before and after clearcutting. Species diversity and evenness has decreased, and species richness has remained stable following clearcutting. …

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Hybrid Arq With Parallel And Serial Concatenated Convolutional Codes For Next Generation Wireless Communications, Naveen Chandran Aug 2001

Hybrid Arq With Parallel And Serial Concatenated Convolutional Codes For Next Generation Wireless Communications, Naveen Chandran

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research focuses on evaluating the currently used FEC encoding-decoding schemes and improving the performance of error control systems by incorporating these schemes in a hybrid FEC-ARQ environment. Beginning with an overview of wireless communications and the various ARQ protocols, the thesis provides an in-depth explanation of convolutional encoding and Viterbi decoding, turbo (PCCC) and serial concatenated convolutional (SCCC) encoding with their respective MAP decoding strategies.;A type-II hybrid ARQ scheme with SCCCs is proposed for the first time and is a major contribution of this thesis. A vast improvement is seen in the BER performance of the successive individual FEC …

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Mobile Agent-Based Attack-Resistant Architecture For Distributed Intrusion Detection System, Sentil Kumar Selliah Aug 2001

Mobile Agent-Based Attack-Resistant Architecture For Distributed Intrusion Detection System, Sentil Kumar Selliah

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The majority of the Distributed Intrusion Detection systems lack measures for providing security and integrity to their own components. The hierarchical organization and the static nature of the intrusion detection components in a largely distributed environment make them the likely targets of attacks. By disabling few operationally critical components along the hierarchy, an attacker can succeed in disabling the system's capability to correctly detect intrusions. One solution to this problem is to eliminate the system components' static nature by wrapping them as mobile agents. Through mobility we achieve an attack resistant architecture for the hierarchical distributed intrusion detection components. As …

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Modeling And Control Of A Wind Turbine As A Distributed Resource In An Electric Power System, Bongani Malinga Aug 2001

Modeling And Control Of A Wind Turbine As A Distributed Resource In An Electric Power System, Bongani Malinga

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Deregulation of electric utilities has led to consideration of new distributed resources (DRs) such as wind turbines. The DR dynamics have to be studied carefully to avoid unpredictable outputs and unknown interferences as well as to make sure that consistent and efficient power is supplied according to the load requirements.;The objective of this thesis is to make a contribution to the ongoing wind turbine research in the areas of modeling, control and implementation of wind turbines as DRs in deregulated electric power systems. A model of complete open-loop wind turbine system consisting of a rotor, a gearbox and a three-phase …

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Curriculum Alternatives In Graduate Dental Hygiene Education, Jennifer Hubbard Grilli Aug 2001

Curriculum Alternatives In Graduate Dental Hygiene Education, Jennifer Hubbard Grilli

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The nursing profession has designed a variety of curriculum options for individuals who wish to pursue graduate education in nursing. These options have been created to meet the changing needs of their profession, society, and potential students in the field. The profession of dental hygiene has similar needs. Presently there are only nine programs granting graduate degrees in dental hygiene. More graduate programs are needed to fulfill the future demands for educators, researchers, and practitioners with the knowledge and skills necessary to provide advanced levels of care in a variety of practice settings. Unfortunately, a mean of only 20 students …

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Effect Of Concentrations Of Progesterone On Follicular Development And Fertility In Beef Cows, Jason Brian Candler Aug 2001

Effect Of Concentrations Of Progesterone On Follicular Development And Fertility In Beef Cows, Jason Brian Candler

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The present study was performed to investigate the effects of low ascending concentrations of progesterone on fertility in lactating beef cattle. Cows on the low ascending progesterone treatment received PGF2alpha from days 3 to 4 after estrus. All cows received PGF2alpha on day 9, and estradiol benzoate on day 11. Cows were inseminated artificially 12 hours after estrus. Concentrations of progesterone were lower in treated versus control cows. Pregnancy rate did not differ between treated and control cows. Pregnancy rate was greater in cows that ovulated a follicle from the right (78%) versus left (52%) ovary (p < 0.01). Low ascending progesterone early in the estrous cycle did not decrease fertility to the same extent seen with extended periods of low progesterone.

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Using Virtual Reality For Requirements Validation, Dejan Desovski May 2001

Using Virtual Reality For Requirements Validation, Dejan Desovski

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Failures of high consequence systems are intolerable. Studies have shown that a significant percentage of safety problems can be traced back to errors in the specification. An important problem that arises during validation is how to include a domain expert in this process. Although the domain experts have exclusive knowledge about the system operation, they may not understand formalisms used for system specification.;Essential type of "evidence" of the correctness of the formalization process must be provided by human-based calculation. Human calculation can be significantly amplified by shifting from symbolic representation to graphical representations. This, in turn, provides an environment for …

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Pattern Recognition In Software Engineering Trend Adapting, Dapeng Chen May 2001

Pattern Recognition In Software Engineering Trend Adapting, Dapeng Chen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Whether and when to adapt to certain software engineering trends are difficult questions to be answered by many decision-makers. The main reasons are due to the fact that evolution of software engineering trends itself is determined by various factors, many of which come from the fields outside of the software technology, thus hard to predict. So it is even harder to estimate the cost and benefit when adapting to certain trends. This paper is intended to study ways to decrease the risk involved in such decision making processes, by developing a pattern from past software engineering trends. While the pattern …

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Comparison Study Of The Savings Between A Single And A Double Step Toll Systems, Juan Arturo Kuthy-Saenger May 2001

Comparison Study Of The Savings Between A Single And A Double Step Toll Systems, Juan Arturo Kuthy-Saenger

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Solving the problem of highway congestion requires solutions that go beyond the capacity expansion of the roadway and towards effective capacity expansion though innovative operations of facilities. One such innovation is the implementation of congestion tolls in order to set volume levels at economically optimal levels. Transportation researches, for some time, have known the potential of congestion tolls as one solution to the congestion problem, and we are now seeing several cases of facilities operating under a congestion toll. However, essentially all of these cases operate under a single toll, i.e. the toll is fixed and does not change with …

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Student Variables As A Predictor Of E -Course Completion, Norma Helen Hodge-Thompson May 2001

Student Variables As A Predictor Of E -Course Completion, Norma Helen Hodge-Thompson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study is to determine student variables that predict E-course completion. Research questions were defined for investigating the relationship between student demographics and E-course completion. Student demographics include age, gender, GPA, student major, access to technology and employment. The student demographic variables were correlated with course completion and through logistic regression were determined to be predictors of E-course completion. The research population for this study was 3453 Marshall University students enrolled in E-courses from the spring semester of 1998 through the fall semester of 2000. Data for the study was obtained from the Marshall University Institutional Research …

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Essays On The Restructuring Of The Electricity Industry In The United States, Vladimir V. Starkov May 2001

Essays On The Restructuring Of The Electricity Industry In The United States, Vladimir V. Starkov

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The dissertation explores several issues that arise from the restructuring of the American electricity industry. The first chapter discusses economic reasons for deregulation, describes possible deregulation scenarios, and outlines potential pitfalls of deregulation.;Chapter 2 develops a forecast of electricity prices after the transition to retail competition. The equilibrium prices are found from an n -firm Cournot model of oligopoly with non-uniform marginal costs. It is further shown how the translog cost function can be used in the traditional solution of the Cournot model. Major empirical findings include marginal cost functions of every producer and forecast prices of electricity after deregulation …

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Problem -Solving Communication Training And Behavioral Exchange For The Treatment Of Parent -Adolescent Conflict, Ethan Sage Long May 2001

Problem -Solving Communication Training And Behavioral Exchange For The Treatment Of Parent -Adolescent Conflict, Ethan Sage Long

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Elevated levels of parent-adolescent conflict have been associated with a number of adolescent problem behaviors. One treatment that appears to be effective in reducing family conflict is Problem Solving Communication Training (PSCT). Research has indicated that PSCT appears to be an effective and acceptable treatment program for reducing parent-adolescent conflict. However, researchers have suggested some possible limitations associated with PSCT treatment. Many of the identified limitations of PSCT potentially may be addressed with the inclusion of a Behavioral Exchange (BE) treatment component. Evidence supporting this hypothesis is provided by the documented success of Behavioral Marital Therapy, a treatment package that …

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Generic Pronouns And Their Influence On The Speakers' Language Awareness, Maike Engelhardt May 2001

Generic Pronouns And Their Influence On The Speakers' Language Awareness, Maike Engelhardt

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The English language is a genderless language in which nouns receive grammatical gender through natural gender assignment. The generic pronoun encoded in English is the pronoun he, which next to its secondary meaning of the generic also has the primary meaning of the third person masculine singular. Following the moderate version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, English speaking societies may therefore be considered androcentric societies, since the unmarked use of the generic he makes everyone in this society male until explicitly proven otherwise. In this thesis I explore the history of the generic pronoun in English and offer suggestions for a …

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Relational Specification As A Testing Oracle, Harjinder Sandhu May 2001

Relational Specification As A Testing Oracle, Harjinder Sandhu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Software engineering community is well aware of the usefulness of formal methods for specifying, designing and testing of the software. Despite this testing literature rarely deals with specification based testing. Testing from formal specifications offers a simple, structured and more rigorous approach to the functional tests than testing techniques. An important application of specification in testing is providing test oracles. The rise of use of computers in control safety critical systems, i.e., flight control systems, necessitates that rigorous system testing is performed before the deployment. In flight control systems, requirements are mostly concerned with the safety and maneuverability of an …

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Dsp Implementation Of Trellis Coded Modulation And Distributed Space Time Coding, Yipeng Tang May 2001

Dsp Implementation Of Trellis Coded Modulation And Distributed Space Time Coding, Yipeng Tang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Trellis coded modulation (TCM) combines convolutional coding with modulation, and offers approximately 2--3 dB of coding gain without requiring a corresponding bandwidth expansion. This thesis describes the process of encoding TCM, convolutional codes, decoding using the Viterbi Algorithm (VA), M-ary modulation formats suitable for TCM, and the evaluation of TCM performance.;The concept of multiple TCM, which is a generalization of ordinary TCM, gives rise to the concept of space time codes (STC). With STC, coded signals are transmitted from multiple antennas at the same time over a Rayleigh fading channel. STC combines of transmit diversity, coding and M-ary modulation to …

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Teaching Web Design At The Higher Education Level, Randall Franklin Mull May 2001

Teaching Web Design At The Higher Education Level, Randall Franklin Mull

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

For the latter half of the last decade the new phenomenon known as the Internet has taken over media and journalism in many ways. It has changed the way that news and information is delivered to the public. It has made people also perceive the media in a new way. The public now, more than ever, demands information fast and accurately.;That is why it is critical that students of journalism today learn about this new tool which they can use to their advantage. In order to address this need within the P. I. Reed School of Journalism a new course …

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Unethical Practices In Exhibiting Animals As Observed By West Virginia Extension Agents And High School Agriculture Teachers, Jared Nathaniel Nestor May 2001

Unethical Practices In Exhibiting Animals As Observed By West Virginia Extension Agents And High School Agriculture Teachers, Jared Nathaniel Nestor

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of unethical practices in exhibiting animals observed by West Virginia extension agents and high school teachers. A researcher-created demographic sheet and a fifty-eight-statement Lickert type questionnaire were sent to all extension agents and high school agriculture teachers in West Virginia (N = 154). Descriptive data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSSpc). Frequencies, t-values and means were used to describe and analyze the research results.;There are unethical practices in West Virginia concerning cruelty to animals but these practices are not a problem that has a high rate …

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