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Graduate Theses and Dissertations

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Satellite-Based Estimation Of Seasonal Surface Water Change And Its Relationship To Climate Variability In A Tropical Open Basin Lake, Osnar Mondragon Grios Dec 2023

Satellite-Based Estimation Of Seasonal Surface Water Change And Its Relationship To Climate Variability In A Tropical Open Basin Lake, Osnar Mondragon Grios

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the spatiotemporal dynamics of climate variability and water surface area in Lake Nicaragua, one of the largest tropical lakes on Earth. The significance of this study lies in its potential to provide valuable insights into the hydroclimatic patterns and water availability, vital for Nicaragua’s water supply. Monthly and seasonal time series of precipitation, land surface temperature, and evapotranspiration (ET), acquired from the Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), were analyzed in Google Earth Engine using a non-parametric Mann-Kendall trend test and Sen's slope. The second aim of this …

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Assessing The Evaporation Method For Soil-Water Retention Curve Development And Comparison Of Soil-Water Characteristics Across Different Tillage Practices In A Furrow-Irrigated Corn (Zea Mays L.) System, Jeferson Prass Pimentel Dec 2023

Assessing The Evaporation Method For Soil-Water Retention Curve Development And Comparison Of Soil-Water Characteristics Across Different Tillage Practices In A Furrow-Irrigated Corn (Zea Mays L.) System, Jeferson Prass Pimentel

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The thesis comprises three studies. The first study in this thesis (Chapter I) focused on a six-year corn field experiment to assess the influence of conservation agricultural practices on soil properties and their long-term effects on water-use efficiency and yield. Non-tillage management did not significantly reduce soil bulk density compared to conventional tillage, as no differences were observed between non-tillage and tillage systems throughout the 6-year experiment. There was no difference in total water-use efficiency among soil management practices in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. Even though in one year of the study, a significant 24 kg ha-1 mm-1 improvement …

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Environmental And Agronomic Evaluation Of Struvite In Rice Production Systems, Diego Della Lunga Dec 2023

Environmental And Agronomic Evaluation Of Struvite In Rice Production Systems, Diego Della Lunga

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Furrow-irrigation constitutes an alternative water regime that has been increasingly adopted in Arkansas. Among the management of nutrients in furrow-irrigated systems, phosphorus (P) represents a substantial challenge. The environmental sustainability of rice (Oryza sativa) production systems needs to be evaluated across different water regimes and fertilizer-P sources. Therefore, the objectives of the following studies were to: i) evaluate season-long carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions and global warming potential (GWP) under different tillage treatments [i.e., conventional tillage (CT) and no-tillage (NT)] and at different site positions (i.e., up-, mid-, down-slope) along the predominant slope of a production-scale, furrow-irrigated rice …

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Examining The Effects Of Mental Health Barriers On Black Undergraduate Students Attending Predominantly White Institutions, Patrice N. Storey Dec 2023

Examining The Effects Of Mental Health Barriers On Black Undergraduate Students Attending Predominantly White Institutions, Patrice N. Storey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Black college students are experiencing mental health issues at an alarming rate. There is, however, a reluctance among Black college students to seek assistance. There is a stigma surrounding mental health. An individual with a mental illness is often stereotyped as weak, uncontrollable, or paralyzed by demons. Historical incidents such as slavery, the Tuskegee Experiment, Jim Crow, and the forced sterilization of Black women have led the Black community to distrust the medical system. The stigma embedded in the Black community is passed down from generation to generation. This literature review examines existing research on Black students and their perception …

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Quantification Of Dye Degradation On Titanium Dioxide-Based Membranes, Elizabeth Carol Wood Dec 2023

Quantification Of Dye Degradation On Titanium Dioxide-Based Membranes, Elizabeth Carol Wood

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the dye degradation on the titanium dioxide (TiO2)-based membranes. While many studies have shown photocatalytic degradation of dye on TiO2 in solution, few studies have been reported on the solid TiO2 substrate. In this work, a new method is developed to quantify the dye degradation on TiO2-based membranes. A hydrothermal method is used to synthesize the photocatalytic TiO2 nanofibers; vacuum filtration is applied to fabricate a self-assembled membrane. Silver is incorporated into the nanofibers through in situ reduction before vacuum filtration to fabricate Ag/TiO2 membrane in an attempt to red shift the …

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Geochemistry Of Metal-Rich Black Shales And Their Genetic Relationship To Mississippi Valley-Type Pb-Zn Ore Deposits, Midcontinent U.S., Noah S. Morris Dec 2023

Geochemistry Of Metal-Rich Black Shales And Their Genetic Relationship To Mississippi Valley-Type Pb-Zn Ore Deposits, Midcontinent U.S., Noah S. Morris

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The formation of Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) lead-zinc (Pb-Zn) ores is complex, involving an interaction of tectonic compression, hydrothermal fluid migration, and geochemical processes within the subsurface. Fundamental questions regarding this interaction remain unclear, including the source(s) of the Pb and Zn ions that make up the ores. A genetic link between black shales and MVT ores has been thought to exist because of (1) the presence of mature hydrocarbon and brine fluid inclusions within many MVT ores, (2) the association of the hydrothermal fluids that are linked to MVT ore formation with organic compounds and oil-like droplets, and (3) the …

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Exploring The Interrelationships Among Structural Complexity, Multi-Trophic Biodiversity, And Ecosystem Productivity In Forested Ecosystems., Ayanna St. Rose Dec 2023

Exploring The Interrelationships Among Structural Complexity, Multi-Trophic Biodiversity, And Ecosystem Productivity In Forested Ecosystems., Ayanna St. Rose

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Forests play a pivotal role in sustaining global biodiversity and mitigating the global climate, as they serve as the primary refuge for terrestrial biodiversity and effectively capture and store atmospheric carbon dioxide. However, changing climate and land use are altering the geographic distribution, physical structure, and productivity of forested ecosystems that can have profound impacts on biodiversity conservation, forest productivity, and global climate. This dissertation contributes to our understanding of multifaceted interactions between the physical and biological structural complexity and ecosystem functions in forested landscapes across the United states by using openly available data from two national networks: the National …

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A Simulated Qualitative Study Exploring Higher Education Faculty's Perceptions Of Factors That Influence Dynamic Decision-Making When Choosing Opportunities For Student Engagement In Asynchronous Online Courses, Leticia De La Garza Dec 2023

A Simulated Qualitative Study Exploring Higher Education Faculty's Perceptions Of Factors That Influence Dynamic Decision-Making When Choosing Opportunities For Student Engagement In Asynchronous Online Courses, Leticia De La Garza

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore higher education faculty’s perceptions of factors that influence dynamic decision-making when choosing opportunities for student engagement in asynchronous online courses. More specifically, this study sought to understand how faculty in higher education perceived these factors to prevent and facilitate dynamic decision-making when designing instructor presence, student-to-student collaboration, and student-to-academic content engagement opportunities in asynchronous online courses, as Garrison et al. (1999) suggest, for a community of inquiry. There has not been much focus on the dynamic decision-making of online instructors in higher education and a call to continue exploring factors that influence …

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Towards Long-Term Fairness In Sequential Decision Making, Yaowei Hu Dec 2023

Towards Long-Term Fairness In Sequential Decision Making, Yaowei Hu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the development of artificial intelligence, automated decision-making systems are increasingly integrated into various applications, such as hiring, loans, education, recommendation systems, and more. These machine learning algorithms are expected to facilitate faster, more accurate, and impartial decision-making compared to human judgments. Nevertheless, these expectations are not always met in practice due to biased training data, leading to discriminatory outcomes. In contemporary society, countering discrimination has become a consensus among people, leading the EU and the US to enact laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination based on factors such as gender, age, race, and religion. Consequently, addressing algorithmic discrimination has …

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Towards Multi-Modal Interpretable Video Understanding, Quang Sang Truong Dec 2023

Towards Multi-Modal Interpretable Video Understanding, Quang Sang Truong

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis introduces an innovative approach to video comprehension, which simulates human perceptual mechanisms and establishes a comprehensible and coherent narrative representation of video content. At the core of this approach lies the creation of a Visual-Linguistic (VL) feature for an interpretable video portrayal and an adaptive attention mechanism (AAM) aimed at concentrating solely on principal actors or pertinent objects while modeling their interconnections. Taking cues from the way humans disassemble scenes into visual and non-visual constituents, the proposed VL feature characterizes a scene via three distinct modalities: (i) a global visual environment, providing a broad contextual comprehension of the …

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Maximum Depositional Age Analysis Using Paired La-Icp-Ms And Ca-Id-Tims Detrital Zircon U-Pb Geochronology, Benjamin L. Howard Dec 2023

Maximum Depositional Age Analysis Using Paired La-Icp-Ms And Ca-Id-Tims Detrital Zircon U-Pb Geochronology, Benjamin L. Howard

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The “law of detrital zircons” states that a sedimentary unit cannot be older than its youngest detrital zircon. The youngest U-Pb date(s) from detrital zircon may thus be used to infer a given sedimentary deposit’s maximum depositional age (MDA). MDAs may be calculated in various ways using dates from zircon U-Pb geochronology. Common dating methods used for U-Pb geochronology are laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) and chemical abrasion-isotope dilution-thermal ionization mass spectrometry (CA-ID-TIMS), a low- and high-resolution instrument type, respectively. Chapter 2 will systematically compare paired LA-ICP-MS and CA-ID-TIMS dates from the same zircon grains to assess the agreement …

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Deep Learning For Photovoltaic Characterization, Adrian Manuel De Luis Garcia Dec 2023

Deep Learning For Photovoltaic Characterization, Adrian Manuel De Luis Garcia

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis introduces a novel approach to Photovoltaic (PV) installation segmentation by proposing a new architecture to understand and identify PV modules from overhead imagery. Pivotal to this concept is the creation of a new Transformer-based network, S3Former, which focuses on small object characterization and modelling intra- and inter- object differentiation inside an image. Accurate mapping of PV installations is pivotal for understanding their adoption and guiding energy policy decisions. Drawing insights from current Deep Learning methodologies for image segmentation and building upon State-of-the-Art (SOTA) techniques in solar cell mapping, this work puts forth S3Former with the following enhancements: 1. …

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Bayesian Learning Of Spatiotemporal Source Distribution For Beached Microplastic In The Gulf Of Mexico, David Pojunas Dec 2023

Bayesian Learning Of Spatiotemporal Source Distribution For Beached Microplastic In The Gulf Of Mexico, David Pojunas

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the last several decades, plastic waste has gradually accumulated while slowly degrading in terrestrial and oceanic environments. Recently, there has been an increased effort to identify the possible sources of plastic to understand how they affect vulnerable beaches. This issue is of particular concern in the Gulf of Mexico due to the presence of oil, natural gas, and plastic production. In this thesis, we expand upon existing Bayesian plastic attribution models and develop a rigorous statistical framework to map observed beached microplastics to their sources. Within this framework, we combine Lagrangian backtracking simulations of floating particles using nurdle beaching …

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Reliability Modeling And Improvement Of Critical Infrastructures: Theory, Simulation, And Computational Methods, José Carlos Hernández Azucena Dec 2023

Reliability Modeling And Improvement Of Critical Infrastructures: Theory, Simulation, And Computational Methods, José Carlos Hernández Azucena

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a framework for developing data-driven tools to model and improve the performance of Interconnected Critical Infrastructures (ICIs) in multiple contexts. The importance of ICIs for daily human activities and the large volumes of data in continuous generation in modern industries grant relevance to research efforts in this direction. Chapter 2 focuses on the impact of disruptions in Multimodal Transportation Networks, which I explored from an application perspective. The outlined research directions propose exploring the combination of simulation for decision-making with data-driven optimization paradigms to create tools that may provide stakeholders with optimal policies for a wide array …

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Data-Centric Image Super-Resolution In Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Challenges And Opportunities, Mamata Shrestha Dec 2023

Data-Centric Image Super-Resolution In Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Challenges And Opportunities, Mamata Shrestha

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Super-resolution has emerged as a crucial research topic in the field of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) where it plays an important role in understanding and analysis of complex, qualitative, and quantitative characteristics of tissues at high resolutions. Deep learning techniques have been successful in achieving state-of-the-art results for super-resolution. These deep learning-based methods heavily rely on a substantial amount of data. Additionally, they require a pair of low-resolution and high-resolution images for supervised training which is often unavailable. Particularly in MRI super-resolution, it is often impossible to have low-resolution and high-resolution training image pairs. To overcome this, existing methods for …

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Patterns In Winter Stonefly Distribution Along A River Continuum And Land-Use Gradient In Northwest Arkansas Streams, Zachary Tipton Dec 2023

Patterns In Winter Stonefly Distribution Along A River Continuum And Land-Use Gradient In Northwest Arkansas Streams, Zachary Tipton

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Freshwater ecosystems are facing a crisis with extinction rates of aquatic species exceeding those of their terrestrial counterparts by up to fivefold. This decline is predominantly attributed to evolving land use patterns within watersheds, leading to chemical and physical transformations in freshwater habitats. Northwest Arkansas (NWA) represents one of the fastest-growing regions in the United States, undergoing substantial shifts in land use. Consequently, the status of aquatic life in this region remains uncertain. Addressing this concern, the latest Arkansas Wildlife Action Plan emphasizes the necessity of distribution and population data to guide conservation efforts for Species of Greatest Conservation Need …

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Shallow Groundwater Distributions And Changes With Sea Level Rise In Seattle, Washington, Taylor L. Watson Dec 2023

Shallow Groundwater Distributions And Changes With Sea Level Rise In Seattle, Washington, Taylor L. Watson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sea level rise (SLR) associated hazards, such as coastal flooding and erosion, are pressing issues of great concern for coastal communities across the globe. Shallow and emergent groundwater can contribute to groundwater hazards such as flooding, landslides, or damage to shallow infrastructure. This study investigates the shallow groundwater within Seattle, Washington, and projects how it will respond to SLR using interpolation and numerical groundwater modeling methods. Then, a geologic modeling method is presented as a preliminary investigation of heterogeneity and anisotropy within the aquifer system. In the results for the present-day interpolation, ~6 % of the coastal buffer –the total …

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Understanding The Kinetics Of Laser-Induced Nanowelding Of Nanoparticles And The Motility Of Bacteria When Faced With Obstacles, Ariel Rogers Dec 2023

Understanding The Kinetics Of Laser-Induced Nanowelding Of Nanoparticles And The Motility Of Bacteria When Faced With Obstacles, Ariel Rogers

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation has two focus areas: nanoparticle nanowelding and bacteria motility in the presence of micrometer sized structures. There are two main projects for the nanoparticle nanowelding studies: “Real-time imaging of laser-induced nanowelding in solution” and “Two-color laser-induced nanostructure shape modulation.” For the real-time imaging project, I used a fluorescence microscope, a 405 nm laser, and various python packages to quantify the average size of nanowelded nanostructures as a function of time and found that the average nanostructure growth over time fit the parameters of A¯(t) ∝ c0(1−e−t/τ), where c0 represents the initial concentration of nanoparticles in the solution and …

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Modeling The Peak Ground Acceleration And Assessing The Economic Loss And Casualty Due To Potential Earthquakes Of Various Magnitudes In The New Madrid Seismic Zone, Mahmud Afroz Dec 2023

Modeling The Peak Ground Acceleration And Assessing The Economic Loss And Casualty Due To Potential Earthquakes Of Various Magnitudes In The New Madrid Seismic Zone, Mahmud Afroz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) is one of the active tectonic zones capable of producing big earthquakes in the southcentral USA. The objective of this study was to assess the economic losses and casualties that might be caused by various magnitudes of seismic events in the NMSZ. The manifestation is the estimation for each magnitude which is using the Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) that might occur during an earthquake. It is calculated using an attenuation function that correlates the intensity of local ground movement, the earthquake magnitude, and the distance from its epicenter. The assessment of casualties was conducted …

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The Study Of The Polarization Domains Of Mbe-Grown Barium Titanate Thin Films And Nanodots Using Pfm, Mohammad Zamani-Alavijeh Dec 2023

The Study Of The Polarization Domains Of Mbe-Grown Barium Titanate Thin Films And Nanodots Using Pfm, Mohammad Zamani-Alavijeh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Polarization domains are the fundamental elements in ferroelectric materials that contribute to their properties. A natural polarization domain, which possesses a specific polarization direction or state, typically ranges in size from one unit cell to a few micrometers. Therefore, studying polarization domains requires the fabrication of materials and the measurement of ferroelectric properties at the nanoscale. In this study, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is employed to fabricate barium titanate (BTO) crystals, and piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) is used to measure the properties of polarization domains at the nanoscale. In the beginning, this study identifies the reflection of high-energy electron diffraction …

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Theistic Open Futurism: A Critical Philosophical Investigation, Elijah Hess Dec 2023

Theistic Open Futurism: A Critical Philosophical Investigation, Elijah Hess

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I critically evaluate and develop a model of God I dub “theistic open futurism”—the view that an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent being exists but fails to know future contingent statements because such statements are not true. Contrary to what their free will critics have supposed, I argue that theistic open futurists do not subscribe to a metaphysical vision of the future that is logically or religiously incoherent. With respect to the latter, I suggest that while some open theists have overstated their case concerning the amount of providential control God could have given the reality of an …

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Airbnb Valuation: A Machine Learning Approach, Katherine Wyatt Dec 2023

Airbnb Valuation: A Machine Learning Approach, Katherine Wyatt

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses a geospatially-enhanced, machine learning approach to investigate variations in rental success on the peer-to-peer property sharing website Airbnb.com. Geographic factors, listing attributes and amenities, customer response metrics, and host attributes are included in decision tree modeling to predict the short-term probability of receiving a review. The most important variables in increasing model accuracy are assessed and variations in the importance of these variables investigated using Shapley values.

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The Spatial And Temporal Distribution Of Large Rock Blocks And Control On Landscape Evolution In The Ozarks, Chelsea Moran Dec 2023

The Spatial And Temporal Distribution Of Large Rock Blocks And Control On Landscape Evolution In The Ozarks, Chelsea Moran

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Geologists often use landscape form to infer landscape processes through time. While climate and tectonics shape geomorphic form, the potential range of spatial or temporal scales that can shape any specific landscape can render landscape process-form based hypotheses too general for consideration. Contributions by mathematical modeling have helped bridge the gap between inferring processes from form, notably in how sediment transport dynamics shape hillslopes. However, few models encapsulate the movement of large rock blocks ( >2 meters across) and their potential impact as hillslope sediment transport disruptors. The Upper Buffalo River watershed (BRW) in the Ozarks of northern Arkansas has …

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Comparative Analysis Of Teacher Effects Parameters In Models Used For Assessing School Effectiveness: Value-Added Models & Persistence, Merlin J. Kamgue Dec 2023

Comparative Analysis Of Teacher Effects Parameters In Models Used For Assessing School Effectiveness: Value-Added Models & Persistence, Merlin J. Kamgue

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Longitudinal measures for students have become increasingly popular to estimate the effects of individual teachers and schools. Value-added models are one of the approaches using longitudinal data to evaluate teachers and schools. In the value-added model (VAM) literature, many statistical approaches have been developed and used to estimate teacher or school effects on student learning. This study opted to use a Bayesian multivariate model for evaluating teacher effects. The generalized persistence models can handle longitudinal data, not vertically scaled, allowing for a below-par teacher’s effects correlation across test administrations. This study first generated longitudinal students’ test score data and used …

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Geospatial Analysis Of Weathering And Recession On Architectural Limestone At The 1891 Powerhouse/Icehouse In Eureka Springs, Arkansas, Stuart Bruce Wright Dec 2023

Geospatial Analysis Of Weathering And Recession On Architectural Limestone At The 1891 Powerhouse/Icehouse In Eureka Springs, Arkansas, Stuart Bruce Wright

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study of the architectural limestone of the 1891 Powerhouse/Icehouse in Eureka Springs, Arkansas was to analyze the environmental factors that influenced the deterioration and surface recession of this historical stone structure. The focus of this research was to examine and establish a baseline study that may assist in future monitoring and documentation of this historic limestone structure on stone weathering. A replicable methodology was specifically created toward this baseline research in hopes that it represented a solid baseline study. Observations and data analyses revealed the relationship between the architectural limestone building structure and the dominating recession …

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Trojan Detection Expansion Of Structural Checking, Zachary Chapman Dec 2023

Trojan Detection Expansion Of Structural Checking, Zachary Chapman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the growth of the integrated circuit (IC) market, there has also been a rise in demand for third-party soft intellectual properties (IPs). However, the growing use of such Ips makes it easier for adversaries to hide malicious code, like hardware Trojans, into these designs. Unlike software Trojan detection, hardware Trojan detection is still an active research area. One proposed approach to this problem is the Structural Checking tool, which can detect hardware Trojans using two methodologies. The first method is a matching process, which takes an unknown design and attempts to determine if it might contain a Trojan by …

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Tree-Ring Reconstruction Of Ouachita River Streamflow, Keaton Cade Jenkins-Joyce Dec 2023

Tree-Ring Reconstruction Of Ouachita River Streamflow, Keaton Cade Jenkins-Joyce

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Ouachita River drains the Ouachita Mountains and Upper Coastal Plain in Arkansas and Louisiana. The Ouachita River is used for navigation, power generation, recreation, water supply, and wastewater treatment. The river has been prone to low flows during drought and extreme flooding, which were principal justifications for the construction of three large multipurpose dams on the stream. It is likely that the use of the Ouachita River will be stressed by future population growth, economic expansion, and climate change. For this study, tree-ring chronologies from various locations in and near the Ouachita River drainage basin were used to reconstruct …

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Development Of A Historic Digital Elevation Model (Hdem) From Archival Aerial Imagery Over The Black Mountain Alluvial Fan, Canada, Emma Menio Dec 2023

Development Of A Historic Digital Elevation Model (Hdem) From Archival Aerial Imagery Over The Black Mountain Alluvial Fan, Canada, Emma Menio

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In a rapidly changing Arctic, reconstructing landscapes pre-warming is essential to understanding impacts due to climate-inducted geomorphic change. High-latitude elevation datasets extend temporally back to the 2000s, while region-wide warming became measurable in the 1980s. Historic aerial imagery archives provide datasets of high-resolution imagery from the mid- to late- 1900s with stereo-capability that can be harnessed to create historic digital elevation models, or hDEMs. A major issue with reconstructing a surface from the past is finding a way to constrain it in space, given a lack of ground control from that era, especially at high latitudes. The main purpose of …

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Exploring Success Factors Of Women Senior Leaders In The United States Paper Manufacturing Operations Industry: A Phenomenological Study, Ericka Eggleston Dec 2023

Exploring Success Factors Of Women Senior Leaders In The United States Paper Manufacturing Operations Industry: A Phenomenological Study, Ericka Eggleston

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to understand how women describe their journey to becoming senior leaders within the operations sector of the Paper Manufacturing Industry. This study will provide insights about how women in the male-dominated Paper Manufacturing Industry (PMI) assumed leadership positions. This pre-registered study will offer the framework for this study to be carried out at the University of Arkansas. The researcher will apply a descriptive phenomenological approach that will use semi-structured questions to understand the strategies they used to navigate their career path. Snowball sampling will be used to select 5-15 participants who provide their perceptions …

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Economic Analysis Of Solar Investment In An Agricultural Setting, Morgan King Dec 2023

Economic Analysis Of Solar Investment In An Agricultural Setting, Morgan King

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Robust financial modelling is critical for evaluating solar investments in agricultural applications. Agricultural producers with electricity-intensive systems (especially poultry houses but also, for example, irrigation pumps) face monthly electricity bills in the thousands of dollars. Further, volatile electricity bills, because of uncertain electric rate inflation, add to financial risk as utility costs make up a large portion of operating costs. While solar panels reduce input cost risk with certain installation cost up front, producers are hesitant to invest given long payback periods, uncertainty about the future of net metering, and high financial leverage. To enable producers to accurately assess the …

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