Digital Commons Network^™

Lighting The World Of Urinetown: The Musical By Greg Kotis And Mark Hollman, Justin Brett Ashley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will describe the lighting design process for the production of Urinetown: the musical produced at the University of Arkansas, University Theatre, October 2010. The thesis will detail the process that was followed to create and produce the lighting design from original idea to completed production. The process covers visual and textual research, artistic process, technical process, development of light plot and associated paperwork.

An Empirical Investigation Of Supply Chain Excellence In Healthcare, Brian Keith Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research is motivated by opportunities to improve the cost and quality of healthcare delivery through improved supply chain processes. This research assesses the quality of the healthcare supply chain and identifies factors that are driving supply chain excellence among organizations in the healthcare industry. The first objective of this research is to assess the state of quality measurement in the healthcare supply chain. The achievement of this first objective is presented in Chapter 3 of this dissertation in the form of a manuscript accepted for publication in The Quality Management Journal. The second research objective is to develop …

Purchaser Preferences On Carbon Labels: Conventional Vs. Organic Milk, Mustafa Ozkan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past several years, there has been growing attention concerning global warming/climate change and how humans are contributors. It is known that agricultural production is a main contributor of greenhouse gas emissions and the livestock sector is particularly significant because it is quoted as having between 3 and 18% of greenhouse gas emissions measured in CO2 equivalent pending different assumptions. Due to this, carbon footprint labeling has been described as a potential tool to inform consumers about greenhouse gases associated with food products and assist them with the necessary information to purchase products that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. …

Multiple Literacies, Fragmented Identities: Arab Students At American Universities, Gamil Mohammed Al-Amrani

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a combination of ethnography and case study which describes the Social and cultural context of literacy acquisition among Arab students at the University of Arkansas. I examine the power relations that define this minority group in the larger Social context and describe how these relations shape, transform, and sometimes threaten their cultural identities in the classroom. The dissertation investigates the different Social and cultural factors that facilitate or obstruct their learning process, factors such as age, gender, religion, and marital status. It explains how the students' acquisition of literacy exists within a larger dynamic process of Social …

Effect Of Handedness On Gross Motor Skill Acquisition Among College Undergraduates, Anthony Paul Parish

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is little applicable research investigating educational adaptation for handedness and even less research dealing with physical skill development. Given that PE teachers and students frequently rely on demonstrations to enhance learning, this study sought to determine if the congruence between teacher and student handedness is important? It was hypothesized that performance and form scores of left-handers that see a right-handed demonstration would be significantly higher than those of right-handers that see a left-handed demonstration.

A lacrosse shot was demonstrated to a group of 69 college-aged participants that were equally split in numbers between male and female and left and …

Athletic Training Students' Ability To Identify Scapular Dyskinesis, Priscilla M. Dwelly

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Scapular dyskinesis refers to abnormal movement patterns of the scapula, which have been associated with injury. Previous investigations have validated the scapular dyskinesis test as a visual assessment method using physicians, physical therapists, and certified athletic trainers. Through educational programs, athletic training students should be taught what scapular dyskinesis is and how to identify it. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to (a) evaluate entry-level graduate athletic training students' ability to identify scapular dyskinesis, (b) assess their reliability, and (c) determine if they were able to correctly identify the muscles involved in rehabilitating an individual with scapular dyskinesis. Follow-up …

Foam Rolling As A Warm-Up: The Effect On Lower Extremity Flexibility Compared To Aerobic And Stretching Protocols, Jeremy Ray Bushong

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Foam rolling has recently become popular in the realms of athletic training, strength and conditioning, and fitness enthusiasts as a means to decrease stiffness, improve flexibility, and manage pain . However, little is known about the physiological effects of foam rolling or its role in improving flexibility pre- or post-exercise. The purpose of this project is to examine and compare the effects of foam rolling, aerobic cycling, and stretching on lower extremity flexibility. Nineteen participants (10 female, 9 male) volunteered to test sit-and-reach flexibility after performing four different warm-up protocols on different days. The warm-up protocols were: Foam Rolling for …

On The Complexity Of Grid Coloring, Daniel Christopher Apon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies problems at the intersection of Ramsey-theoretic mathematics, computational complexity, and communication complexity. The prototypical example of such a problem is Monochromatic-Rectangle-Free Grid Coloring. In an instance of Monochromatic-Rectangle-Free Grid Coloring, we are given a chessboard-like grid graph of dimensions n and m, where the vertices of the graph correspond to squares in the chessboard, and a number of allowed colors, c. The goal is to assign one of the allowed colors to each vertex of the grid graph so that no four vertices arranged in an axis-parallel rectangle are colored monochromatically. Our results include: 1. A conditional, …

A Solid State Nitrogen Gas Generating Chip And Applications For Picosatellites, Kyle Godin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A microscale gas generating chip has many applications; in this study, applications relating to picosatellites have been considered. Cube satellites, a type of picosatellite, are of mass around one kilogram and side length 10cm x 10cm x 10cm. Their launches are becoming more numerous since their debut ten years ago. Their low cost and deployment system makes space accessible to agencies hitherto barred from it, such as universities and small governments. However, their power, mass, and volume budget is extremely tight. A microscale gas chip could compete with other designs for attitude control devices, most not flown yet as cube …

File System Simulation: Hierarchical Performance Measurement And Modeling, Hai Quang Nguyen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

File systems are very important components in a computer system. File system simulation can help to predict the performance of new system designs. It offers the advantages of the flexibility of modeling and the cost and time savings of utilizing simulation instead of full implementation. Being able to predict end-to-end file system performance against a pre-defined workload can help system designers to make decisions that could affect their entire product line, involving several million dollars of investment. This dissertation presents detailed simulation-based performance models of the Linux ext3 file system and the PVFS parallel file system. The models are developed …

Ozark Highland Cunaxidae (Acari: Prostigmata): Descriptions And Keys To Genera Found To Occur In The Region And A New Phylogenetic Hypothesis For The Family, Michael Joseph Skvarla

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fourteen genera of Cunaxidae (Acari: Prostigmata) are reported from the Ozark Highlands for the first time. Descriptions, diagnoses, and illustrated keys to genera and world species are given. Five new species are described and illustrated and an additional 6 known species are recorded from the region. The first rigorous phylogenetic hypothesis for Cunaxidae is presented. Based on morphology, it suggests the current subfamilial classification scheme does not reflect the evolutionary history of the family. Unfortunately, bootstrap values and resolution are low, suggesting the need for further indepth molecular analyses.

Dietary And Behavioral Strategies Of Neandertals And Anatomically Modern Humans: Evidence From Anterior Dental Microwear Texture Analysis, Kristin Lynn Krueger

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The extreme gross wear of Neandertal anterior teeth has been a topic of debate for decades. Several ideas have been proposed, including the excessive mastication of grit-laden foods and non-dietary anterior tooth use, or using the anterior dentition as a clamp or tool. This second idea has been the most examined, and was taken from analogy of Arctic populations who used their anterior dentition in this manner. However, combining wear variables and examining them in relation to important factors, such as climate, location, and time, has been challenging to incorporate into interpretive models. The present study seeks to better understand …

Stealth Carbon Nanotubes: Strategies To Coat Carbon Nanotubes To Prevent Opsonization And Improve Biodistribution, Nalinikanth Kotagiri

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have recently been in the limelight for its potential role in disease diagnostics and therapeutics. Even before these medical applications can be realized, there is a need to address issues like opsonization, phagocytosis by macrophages and sequestration to liver and spleen for eventual elimination from the body. We believe coating CNT with biocompatible and opsonin resistant moieties will not only help CNT in traversing the blood stream to reach the target organ, but also improve biodistribution tremendously. We set out to achieve this by firstly identifying a new compound, mAmp, which is a fluorescent derivative of the …

Mitigation Of Bovine Respiratory Disease Complex: Interactions Of Physiology, Immunology, Nutrition And Management, John Thomas Richeson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A series of experiments were conducted to determine the effects of on-arrival vs. delayed respiratory vaccination and exposure to persistently infected bovine viral diarrhea virus challenge on health, gain performance, and physiological and immunological measurements in newly received stocker cattle. Two experiments evaluated timing (d 0 vs. 14) of respiratory, clostridial, or both vaccinations in newly received stocker calves during stress-induced immunosuppression. In Exp. 1, calves receiving 14-d delayed vaccination of a pentavalent modified-live respiratory virus (MLV) vaccine had greater ADG during the 42-d receiving period and antibody titers against infectious bovine rhinotracheitis on d 42; however, morbidity rate did …

Early Modern Evil Genius: Hyperconformity And Objectivity In Sixteenth And Seventeenth-Century English Literature, Christine Hoffmann

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation studies the response among early modern and postmodern audiences to the experience of information overload, and suggests that the most appealing response to living in a communications network that appears both systematic and random is to use a rhetoric of struggle that is ambiguous in the same way. >The reasons for this appeal are twofold: firstly, the rhetoric of struggle is a way to cope with the difficulty of situating oneself within a system of circulating information that operates according to its own arbitrary rules. Mimicking that arbitrariness is a way of finding aesthetic synchronicity between how one's …

Measuring Intervention Success In Countering Terrorism, Summer Marie Jackson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the shift of Attorney General Guidelines in the wake of September 11th, 2001, and the consequences for both federal law enforcement and federal prosecutors. Previous research has found that prosecutors are more apt to use an exceptional vagueness approach and try terrorists like traditional offenders. Likewise, terrorist are more likely to act like traditional offenders and plead guilty in the post-9/11 era. This study further supports the existing knowledge by providing evidence of increased plea bargain rates post-9/11 of terrorists. In addition, this study is important because it examines the consequences of the early intervention approach and …

Kinematic And Electromyographic Description Of Baseball And Softball Catching, Hillary Ann Plummer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The catcher is actively involved, defensively, in every pitch that is thrown during the duration of a baseball or softball game. Because catchers play such an active role, the outcome of the game can be decided on their ability to keep base runners from stealing and advancing into scoring position. The ability to throw out a stealing runner is a necessary skill that catchers must possess in order to be successful at their position. To keep a base runner from stealing catchers have the option of throwing down to second base from either their stance or their knees. Despite the …

Geochemical Controls On Mercury Methylation In Backwaters Of A Gulf Coastal Plain River System, Implications For Water Column Processes, Liam N. Schenk

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The abundance and distribution of mercury and methyl mercury were investigated at three sites in the lower Ouachita River in the summer of 2010 in an effort to provide the first characterization of the extent of mercury contamination in this river system, and to investigate the potential for mercury methylation in the water column of backwaters off of the main channel. Results showed that filtered methyl mercury was positively correlated to dissolved organic carbon (r2=0.76) for water samples taken from the bottom 1 ft of the water column at three sites, suggesting the importance of dissolved organic carbon in mercury …

The Influence Of Simulation-Based Information Systems Education On Enterprise Systems Knowledge And User Satisfaction, Pamela Jeanne' Schmidt

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Enterprise systems implementations are often high cost and high risk with many companies failing to achieve their targeted business objectives. At the individual level, negative user reactions to enterprise systems lead to resistance to IT use, counter-productive adaptations, and reduced job satisfaction. Factors that contribute to these individual level effects include a lack of understanding of reengineered business processes and a lack of understanding of economic interdependencies. In this research, a computer-based business simulation educational intervention is investigated to determine its effectiveness in facilitating enterprise systems knowledge acquisition and promoting job satisfaction. Simulation-based education utilizes an experiential learning model, immersing …

An Empirical Investigation Of Emotional Reactivity And Elevated Mental Contamination: A Comparison Of Sexual And Physical Assault, Christal Badour

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although evidence suggests that disgust and disgust-related phenomena such as mental contamination should be associated with the experience of sexual assault, there has been relatively little direct examination of this relation. Consequently, the primary aim of the current study was to conduct a multimodal assessment of disgust and mental contamination-based reactivity to an individualized script-driven imagery procedure. Participants included 27 sexually assaulted, 25 physically assaulted, and 30 non-traumatized control female adults. Subjective reactivity (i.e., ratings of disgust, anxiety, feelings of dirtiness, and urges to wash), physiological reactivity (i.e., electromyogram activity of the right levator labii superioris and medial frontalis regions) …

Spatial Variations In Willingness To Pay For Water At The Local And Regional Scales Using Geographically Weighted Regression, Robyn Lane Dennis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Two decades of rapid urban growth and increasing per capita water consumption has left water providers in Northwest Arkansas concerned about their ability to meet future demand for water. Beaver Water District (BWD) is the largest of four regional water providers that draw from Beaver Lake, the only source of potable water in the region. Growth projections and per capita consumption patterns indicate that BWD could exhaust its raw water allocation as early as 2031. Municipal water customers served by BWD were surveyed about their stated priorities for water use, their water conservation behaviors, and their attitudes and perceptions about …

An Examination Of The Application Of The Chevron Doctrine In U.S. District Courts, Rebekah Ruth Prince

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper is an examination of the case Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council (1984). Using cases from the U.S. Ninth District Circuit Courts, from the years 2008 and 2009,1 examine how this case is being used today. Both behavioral models and models made explicitly to study the use of Chevron were used in order to determine not only how a judge cites this case but also whether their political orientation plays a role.

An Analysis Of The Stability And Transport Of Co2 On Mars And Iapetus: Increasing Accuracy Via Experiments And Photometry, David Garrison Blackburn

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Volatile transport of carbon dioxide is most relevant on two planetary bodies in our solar system: Mars and Iapetus. We experimentally measured the sublimation rate of CO2 ice under simulated martian conditions and developed a model based on our experimental results. We experimentally verified that solar irradiance is the primary control for the sublimation of CO2 ice on the martian poles with the amount of radiation striking the surface being controlled by variations in the optical depth, ensuring the formation and sublimation of the seasonal cap. Our model, supported by comparison of MGS-MOC and MRO-HiRISE images, shows that ~ 0.4 …

A Restarted Homotopy Method For The Nonsymmetric Eigenvalue Problem, Brandon Hutchison

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a Hessenberg matrix, H, are computed with a combination of homotopy increments and the Arnoldi method. Given a set, Ω, of approximate eigenvalues of H, there exists a unique vector f = f(H,Ω) in Rn where λ(H-e_{1ft)=Ω. A diagonalization of the homotopy H(t)=H−(1−t)e1ft at $t=0$ provides a prediction of the eigenvalues of H(t) at later times. These predictions define a new Ω that defines a new homotopy. The correction for each eigenvalue has an O(t2) error estimate, enabling variable step size and efficient convergence tests. Computations are done primarily in real arithmetic, and …}

Reactivation Of Negated Concepts Over Time, Kevin Autry

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research on the mental representation of negated concepts in written texts has yet to reach a consensus about the effects of negation. MacDonald and Just (1989) reported that after reading a sentence with a negation, negated words took longer to recognize than non-negated words, which suggests that the negated concepts became less active. However, Hasson and Glucksberg (2006) found that after reading negative metaphors (e.g., This surgeon isn't a butcher), lexical decisions about words consistent with the affirmative sense of the negated word (e.g., clumsy) took less time than for control words. To reconcile these (and other) incompatible findings, two …

The Effects Of A Lumbopelvic Hip Complex Conditioning Program On Dynamic Knee Valgus In Female Tennis Players, Katelyn Marie Roling

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Female athletes have a four-to-six times greater risk of sustaining a lower extremity injury than their male counterparts (Hewett, 2000). One explanation for the discrepancy in injury rates is increased dynamic knee valgus angles caused by neuromuscular imbalances of the lumbopelvic hip complex (LPHC). The purpose of this study was to determine if implementing a LPHC conditioning program improved neuromuscular deficiencies. Seven female collegiate tennis players competitive at the NCAA Division I level volunteered for the study (19.7 + .95 years, 167.3 + 7.4 cm, and 60.72 kg + 6.71 kg). The subjects participated in a 16 week LPHC conditioning …

College Student Mental Health: The Relationship Between Depression And Emotional Intelligence Using The Student Relationships Assessment, Andre George Broquard

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose for conducting this study was to investigate the relationship between emotional relational intelligence (ERQ) and depression in college students. The significance of this study is based on the additional support that can be provided to students with increased information and understanding of emotional relational intelligence and depression. In an effort to help college students achieve their educational goals and aspirations, the researcher suggests that emotional relational intelligence can be beneficial. The relationship between depression and emotional relational intelligence may provide insight on how to support and care for college students who are struggling with depressive symptomology. The results …

Kalon And The Symphony Of Lament": The Integration Of Cosmology And Social Ethics In Cappadocian Thought ", Adam Sheridan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of The Keyword And Semantic-Context Method For Forward And Backward Recall Of Vocabulary Items, Fitore Musmurati

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Factors That Influence The Adoption Of Agricultural Conservation Programs In Northwest Arkansas, Edison Anthony Froelich

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A survey was developed and administered to agricultural producers in Northwest Arkansas in order to better understand producer awareness of, application for and participation in six federal and state conservation programs available in Arkansas: the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, the Arkansas Revolving Loan Program, the Arkansas Nonpoint Pollution Management Program , the Arkansas Soil Nutrient and Poultry Litter Application and Management Program, and the Surplus Poultry Litter Removal Incentives Cost Share Program. Survey results found that less than half of the sample was aware of any one of the programs. A logit model was developed …