Digital Commons Network^™

An Analysis Of Scholarship Distribution By Division I Softball Coaches, Donovan James Nelson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore fairness factors used by NCAA Division I head softball coaches in scholarship distribution. Research by Hums & Chelladurai introduced Distributive Justice principles to intercollegiate athletics; indicating need was a popular distribution principle. Continued research by Mahony, Hums, & Riemer determined need as a common distribution principle in athletics. Prior to this study, no research has been done to examine distribution principles by NCAA Division I softball coaches based on distributive justice principles. This study used a single scenario of grant-in-aid distribution with six possible decisions coaches make to determine fairness of grant-in-aid …

The Potential For Phosphorus Release From Floodplain Soils: Temporal Variability And Management Strategies, Megan Amanda Reavis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Soils may contain large amounts of legacy phosphorus (P) due to past application of excess fertilizers, releasing P during runoff and flood events. As the level of P in soils increases, the release of P from the soils increases, but the temporal fluctuations of this release are not well known. Experiments were conducted to examine 1) the variability of soluble reactive P (SRP) release from the soil throughout a year and 2) the effect of repeated flooding and drying cycles on release rates. Soil cores were collected 7 times throughout a year from 2 sites within the Watershed Research and …

A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment Of Nutritionally Equivalent Meals With And Without Pork, Kelli Young

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following report details a life cycle assessment of several dietary and meal scenarios with and without pork. The goal of the LCA was to identify the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and land use of pork containing and porkless diets and meal plans in a field-to-fork analysis. The dietary and meal plan scenarios are iso-caloric meaning they contain the same number of calories. The first set of diets is based on a USDA consumption pattern, 2000 kcal per day. This diet was used to create three other dietary scenarios with and without pork. The USDA recommended food …

Economic And Policy Evaluations And Impacts Of The National Rice Development Policy Strategies In Malaysia: Self-Sufficiency, International Trade, And Food Security, Roslina Binti Ali

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the fact that the recent rice policy has been moving to a strategy of self-sufficiency while the status quo of the national rice economy remains ambiguous, Malaysia has made an extreme policy decision to pursue an autarky economy in its rice sector, thus closing borders from the international markets in the future. The goal of this dissertation research is to comprehensively evaluate a deep-rooted rice policy in Malaysia and analyze the holistic impacts of the self-sufficiency and international trade policies at the national and farm-household levels, utilizing economic frameworks. The protectionist policy measures using a Policy Analysis Matrix reveals …

Developing Methods Of Obtaining Quality Failure Information From Complex Systems, Oladapo Olalekan Bello

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The complexity in most engineering systems is constantly growing due to ever-increasing technological advancements. This result in a corresponding need for methods that adequately account for the reliability of such systems based on failure information from components that make up these systems.

This dissertation presents an approach to validating qualitative function failure results from model abstraction details. The impact of the level of detail available to a system designer during conceptual stages of design is considered for failure space exploration in a complex system. Specifically, the study develops an efficient approach towards detailed function and behavior modeling required for complex …

Soil-Structure Interaction Effects On The Seismic Response Of Low-Rise Eccentrically Braced Frames, Luis Gerardo Buitrago Goyez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The importance of soil-structure interaction (SSI) effects on the seismic response of buildings has been long recognized and has been researched for over 40 years. However, SSI analysis has only been applied in a few building projects because the fixed base condition is considered to provide a conservative estimation for the response of buildings under seismic loads. This assumption of a fixed base condition adopted by practitioners is not always conservative or cost-effective, especially for rigid buildings over soft soils. Additionally, for the case of ductile steel frames with eccentric configurations, the influence of SSI on their seismic performance has …

A Spreadsheet Algorithm For Determining The Economic Feasibility Of Micro-Chp Systems In The Arkansas Manufacturing Sector, Ford R. Lewallen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Combined heat and power (CHP) systems are not new to the market. However, advances in technology, specifically MicroTurbines, have presented new opportunities for installations of micro-CHP units - defined as 50 kWe to 300 kWe, specifically at small- to medium-sized industrial facilities. One pressing concern is whether or not an industrial plant has a high enough process thermal load requirement to fully utilize the energy output.

This thesis will discuss simulations that were run on several actual electric and thermal load combinations, which correspond to types of manufacturing facilities commonly found in Arkansas. Analysis of the plant usage profiles will …

Laboratory Resistivity Measurements For Soil Characterization, Behdad Mofarraj Kouchaki

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Field based electrical resistivity measurements, such as electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and capacitively coupled resistivity (CCR), are geophysical methods that offer a non-destructive and rapid means to collect continuous data. As such, ERT and CCR are becoming increasingly popular tools for geotechnical engineers; however, it is challenging to derive geotechnical information such as soil type, density, and water content from the data. A laboratory geophysical investigation was carried out to gain a better understanding of the parameters that affect the electrical resistivity of soils and devise a relationship between resistivity and soil type or classification. In this study, a soil …

Geophysical Assessment Of Kinion Lake Dam, Tim Allen Moody

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Geophysical methods including Capacitively-Coupled Resistivity (CCR), Electrical Resistivity Tomography/Imaging (ERT/ERI), Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) with Love and Rayleigh waves and a Full-Waveform Inversion (FWI) were performed on Kinion Lake Dam, an earth-filled embankment dam that has historically experienced significant seepage and internal erosion issues. Surveys were completed along the crest and downstream toe of the dam. Results from the surveys indicate that each method is capable of resolving the bedrock depth within 1-2 m of locations shown on previous drilling logs, though some discrepancies between the methods exist. A weathered bedrock layer is believed to have led to …

Mitigation And Evaluation Of Alkali-Silica Reaction (Asr) And Freezing And Thawing In Concrete Transportation Structures, Richard Albert Deschenes Jr.

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An evaluation of alkali-silica reaction (ASR) and freezing and thawing (F/T) in concrete transportation structures is presented along with mitigation methods for slowing the rate of deterioration in concrete. A combination of field and laboratory testing confirms ASR deterioration is exacerbated by exposure to F/T. Laboratory testing indicates an aggregate previously deemed inert to ASR, caused ASR deterioration in several concrete pavement and transportation structures. Existing standard test methods deem this aggregate safe for use in concrete. A modified test method shows the concrete can deteriorate rapidly when subjected to cycles of conditions promoting ASR and F/T. Several structures containing …

The Effects Of Sprayer Speed And Droplet Size On Herbicide Burndown Efficacy, Justin Carroll

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An Apache AS1220 self-propelled boom sprayer with a 27.4 m (90 ft) boom was equipped with different sizes (02, 04 and 06) and types (TeeJet AI, XR, AIXR and TTI) of nozzles to achieve medium, very coarse and ultra coarse droplet sizes traveling 11 km/h (7 mph), 19 km/h (12 mph), and 29 km/h (18 mph). These combinations of speed and droplet size were evaluated for percent coverage of the spray and percent control of targeted weeds 3, 7, and 15 days after treatment (DAT). Four replications were conducted for each speed and droplet size combination except for at 19 …

Swedish Social Welfare And Its Application To American Welfare Systems, Ben Wilson Galloway

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Swedish Social Welfare and its Application to American Welfare Systems concerns itself with the issue of determining the origins of the modern Swedish social welfare system. Additionally, the causes behind the formation of the system are evaluated for their relevancy concerning the formation of the American welfare system. Multiple areas of study are considered, including racial impacts, economic factors, sociological impactors, and demographic variables.

The Role Of Attention And Memory In Prospective Person Memory, Kara Nicole Moore

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I examined the role of memory and attention in prospective person memory. Prospective person memory involves being on the lookout for a person with the goal of completing some task (i.e., contacting the authorities) upon encountering the person. Success at prospective person memory tasks in lab and field based studies is rather low (i.e., less than 10% of people report encountering the person). In the current study the prospective person memory task involved a simulated search for a missing person. I manipulated attention to the missing person and strategic monitoring, which involves being in retrieval mode and searching for cues. …

A Social Marketing Plan For The Children's Safety Center, Morganne Kaylyn Rhodes

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Children’s Safety Center (CSC) is a nonprofit organization in Springdale, Arkansas, that advocates for child abuse victims in Northwest Arkansas. This thesis project includes a social marketing plan that aims to increase the overall awareness of the CSC and its new prevention programs used to decrease the number of child abuse victims in Northwest Arkansas. The social marketing plan also aims to create behavioral changes that increase participation in prevention programs and social media engagement, in addition to volunteers and donors. The plan was developed based on research on effective nonprofit social marketing plans, research on efficient communication efforts …

Attitudes Of Students With And Without Disabilities Toward Physical Education And Their Sports And Activities Preferences In Saudi Arabia, Zuhair Abdaladeem Al Salim

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest countries in the Middle East, and it has paid particular attention to public education to prepare students to become good citizens. Physical education (PE) can have a vital influence on all children and adolescents’ lifestyles, including those with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to examine attitudes of Saudi Arabian students with and without disabilities toward PE as well as their sport and activities preferences. A second purpose was to investigate the effect of school levels and student participation in physical activity after school on students’ attitudes in PE. A final purpose …

Three Essays On The Effect Of Overconfidence On Economic Decision Making, Klajdi Bregu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation uses experimental evidence to explore the effects of overconfidence on economic decision making. In Chapter 1 I provide experimental evidence of the effects of alcohol on overconfidence and several other important tasks. I also explore the relationship between overconfidence and the behavior in the other tasks. The data from this experiment show that an alcohol level of 0.08 does not have a systemic effect on behavior and more importantly it does not affect one’s level of overconfidence. I also show that overconfidence is not significantly correlated with risk preferences, math, strategic behavior, anchoring, altruism, and food choices. In …

Persistence Of Memory: Revision, Nostalgia, And Resistance In Contemporary American Drama, Sinan Gul

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the usages of memory in contemporary American drama. Analyzing selected mainstream and alternative dramatic texts, The Persistence of Memory is a study of personal and communal reflections of the past within contemporary plays. The introduction provides examples from modern plays, major terms, and vital concepts for memory studies and locates their merits in dramatic texts. The first chapter makes a critique of family plays, which uses historical elements to indicate a revisionist yearning for the past as well as the American Dream. Similarly, the second chapter contains business plays, which implement a heavy feeling of nostalgia …

Modeling Ozark Caves With Structure-From-Motion Photogrammetry: An Assessment Of Stand-Alone Photogrammetry For 3-Dimensional Cave Survey, Joseph H. Jordan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nearly all aspects of karst science and management begin with a map. Yet despite this fact, cave survey is largely conducted in the same archaic way that is has been for years - with a compass, tape measure, and a sketchpad. Traditional cave survey can establish accurate survey lines quickly. However, passage walls, ledges, profiles, and cross-sections are time intensive and ultimately rely on the sketcher’s experience at interpretively hand drawing these features between survey stations.

This project endeavors to experiment with photogrammetry as a method of improving on traditional cave survey, while also avoiding some of the major pitfalls …

And They Entered As Ladies: When Race, Class And Black Femininity Clashed At Central High School, Misti Nicole Harper

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

“And They Entered as Ladies: When Race, Class and Black Femininity Clashed at Central High School,” explores the intersectionality of race, gender and class status as middle-class black women led the integration movement and were the focal point of white backlash during the 1957 Little Rock Central High School crisis. Six of the nine black students chosen to integrate Central High School were carefully selected girls from middle-class homes, whose mothers and female family members played active parts in keeping their daughters enrolled at Central, while Daisy Gatson Bates orchestrated the integration of the capital’s school system. Nevertheless, these women …

Comparing Reaction Time And Postural Stabilization Based On Activity Groups In Older Adults, Lauren Marie Merk

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare reaction time and postural stabilization between activity groups in older adults. These variables are important because older adults are at a high fall risk and two major contributors to fall risk are postural stabilization and reaction time. This study examined if the activity group of an older adult had any influence on reaction time and postural stabilization. Fifty-nine older adults aged 66.46 ± 9.47 years old were used in the study. Thirteen subjects were in the master’s athletes which are individuals over the age of 40 who competed in a nationally sanctioned …

Operating System Identification By Ipv6 Communication Using Machine Learning Ensembles, Adrian Ordorica

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Operating system (OS) identification tools, sometimes called fingerprinting tools, are essential for the reconnaissance phase of penetration testing. While OS identification is traditionally performed by passive or active tools that use fingerprint databases, very little work has focused on using machine learning techniques. Moreover, significantly more work has focused on IPv4 than IPv6. We introduce a collaborative neural network ensemble that uses a unique voting system and a random forest ensemble to deliver accurate predictions. This approach uses IPv6 features as well as packet metadata features for OS identification. Our experiment shows that our approach is valid and we achieve …

Uas As An Inventory Tool: A Photogrammetric Approach To Volume Estimation, Richard Kramer Rhodes

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), also referred to as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or remotely piloted vehicles (RPV), are associated with unmanned aircraft either controlled by a pilot on the ground or pre-programmed with specific flight paths. Small UASs have seen a massive increase in public interest in recent years as hobbyist platforms; they are, however, a potentially powerful tool in remote sensing and geospatial applications. Due to the increased availability of low-cost UAS, this technology could soon revolutionize many industries, including those that require volumetric estimation. Traditionally volumetric inventories have been performed with tape measurements, and in some instances where …

Effects Of Upward Football Reclassification On Revenues, Football Attendance, And Enrollment, Charles Bell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With an ever increasing chasm between the have and have nots in college athletics, athletic directors and university administrators view reclassification as a way to increase financial standing and gain valuable exposure for their school despite mixed findings by recent studies. The process of reclassification costs schools sizable financial and labor investments detracting from their academic endeavors. The schools at the highest level of collegiate football competition enjoy constant national television exposure for their school resulting in many direct and indirect benefits. A repeated measures ANOVA was utilized to assess the change in athletic department revenues, student enrollment and football …

Rna Sequencing In The Development Of Cancer-Cachexia, Thomas Allen Blackwell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Cancer is a major public health problem in the U.S. and the world. In 2013 there were an estimated 1,660,290 new cases of cancer in the U.S. Cancer-Cachexia (CC) is a common effect of many cancers, and is directly responsible for 20-40% of cancer-related deaths. The mechanisms that control the development of CC are not well understood. Most investigations of CC focus on the post-cachectic state and do not examine the progression of the condition. The purpose of this study was to utilize RNA sequencing to analyze transcriptomic alterations throughout the progression of CC. Methods: Lewis Lung Carcinoma cells …

Enforcing Database Security On Cloud Using A Trusted Third Party Based Model, Victor Fuentes Tello

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cloud computing offers a considerable number of advantages to clients and organizations that use several capabilities to store sensitive data, interact with applications, or use technology infrastructure to perform daily activities. The development of new models in cloud computing brings with it a series of elements that must be considered by companies, particularly when the sensitive data needs to be protected. There are some concerns related to security that need to be taken into consideration when a service provider manage and store the data in a location outside the company. In this research, a model that uses a trusted third …

Instrumental Aspects Of Oxygen Sensing: Quantitation And Recalibration Of A Biofouled Oxygen Sensor, Marlena Patrick

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In vivo oxygen sensing is a critical area of research for medical applications, such as ischemic stroke, but this important topic is not fully understood or resolved. In addition, the best method for calibration of in vivo sensors is as yet undetermined. For all implantable devices, biofouling, the adsorption of biological material to the device surface, is another significant problem with no clear or well-defined solution. One method employed is to apply a protective polymer membrane to the sensor surface in order to minimize the adsorption of biological material. The work described here investigates two polymers applied to a gold …

Characterization Of The Thermal Environment During Transport Of Commercial Broiler Chickens, Douglas J. Aldridge

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Transport of commercial broiler chickens from the farm to the processing plant is perceived to compromise welfare under some circumstances. Research has been conducted using European standard equipment to characterize the environment experienced by poultry during broiler transport. In contrast no studies have been reported on the environment experienced by broilers under United States standard industry practices during transport. Moreover, microenvironment temperatures within industry trailers have not been reported.

The present study characterized the thermal micro-environment experienced by broiler chickens during transport across different seasons. The temperatures were influenced by temperature mitigation practices (plastic wrap, double side board, single side …

An Investigation Of Sport Sponsorship Antecedents And Outcomes Through Levels Of Sponsor Prominence, Benjamin Colin Cork

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Currently, global sport sponsorship is a multi-billion dollar industry that continues to show strong year-to-year growth (IEG, 2016). Additionally, the current body of sport sponsorship literature has reported the effects of salient attitudinal and behavioral constructs on sponsorship effectiveness. For example, previous studies have indicated that the perceived sincerity and attitude toward a sponsor do positively effect a consumer's behavioral intentions toward a sponsor (Speed & Thompson, 2000; Biscaia, Correia, Rosado, Ross, & Maroco, 2013). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to measure consumer attitudes and behavioral intent toward sponsor, through experimental design, when exposed to one of three …

A Mixed-Methods Study Of Sexual Assault In Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Adults In The U.S., Sasha Nichole Canan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background. Previous research finds that (1) lesbian and bisexual (LB) women as well as gay and bisexual (GB) men have higher rates of rape victimization compared to their heterosexual (H) peers and (2) perceived familial support reduces the impact of some of rape’s negative health outcomes in heterosexual victims. However, specific contextual factors regarding rape and assessment of familial support for LGB victims are severely lacking. Also, measurements of sexual assault victimization have yet to be validated in this population.

Methodology. The current study used a mixed-methods design that included two phases of data collection. Phase 1 was a national …

Optimization Of Miniaturized Resonant Microwave Cavities For Use In Q-Thrusters, Joshua Steven Pennington

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A gedankenexperiment was considered to compare a hypothetical thruster that used no reaction mass to propulsion methods currently in use. A brief discussion of previous research work done on closed resonant cavity thrust devices was conducted. Using the previous work as a template, a simulation plan was devised. Computational models of resonant microwave cavities were constructed and investigated using COMSOL software. These COMSOL simulations were verified against known analytical solutions using Matlab software as a computational tool. Multiphysics simulations were created to study the microwave heating environment of the resonant cavities. From the COMSOL study outputs, the electromagnetic field magnitude, …