Digital Commons Network^™

The Perceived Effectiveness Of One-To-One Technology In Smallwood High School, Jason Michael Clemensen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Administrator, teacher, and student perceptions of one-to-one technology were studied in a single case study approach at one rural Midwest high school. Interviews were conducted with six teachers, two administrators, and a survey was given to 185 student participants. The data collected indicated that while participants perceived success with the one-to-one initiative, there were differing opinions on why they perceived the one-to-one initiative to be successful. Teacher and administrator participants discussed implementation strategies, professional development, community and parent involvement, and pedagogical changes in teaching practice. The student participant survey was designed around student perceptions of one-to-one technology and teacher usage …

Development Of An Internal Camera-Based Volume Determination System For Triaxial Testing, Sean Elliott Salazar

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Accurate measurement of axial, radial, and volumetric strain parameters are critical to the understanding of phase relationships and the constitutive behavior for saturated and unsaturated soils. The use of photographic monitoring techniques for laboratory-based measurement of these parameters have become common. A novel technique that utilized camera instrumentation located within the triaxial testing cell was developed and validated. By placing the instrumentation inside of the cell, instead of the instrumentation being located outside of the cell, the technique eliminated cumbersome corrections required to account for optical distortions due to 1) the refraction of light at the confining fluid-cell wall-atmosphere interfaces, …

Cost-Savings Of Implementing Site-Specific Ground Motion Response Analysis In Design Of Mississippi Embayment Bridges, Ethan Ryan Benton Baker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Deep dynamic site characterization and a site-specific ground motion response analysis (SSGMRA) were conducted for a bridge site in Monette, Arkansas. The SSGMRA indicated the design acceleration response spectrum determined using the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) general seismic procedure could be reduced by 1/3 for the short period range due to attenuation of the short-period ground motions. The steel girder pile-bent bridge, originally designed using the AASHTO general seismic design procedure, was redesigned using the updated seismic demands estimated from SSGMRA. A cost-savings analysis was then conducted to determine the potential savings associated with conducting …

Evaluation Of Water Resources And Hydraulic Influences In The Restoration Of The Western Part Of The Mesopotamian Marshlands, Ali Kareem Al-Quraishi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to assess the water resources and water conveyance system of the western part of the Mesopotamian marshes (Al-Hammar marsh) as well as develop a water conveyance system to distribute water throughout the western Al-Hammar marsh. These processes are significant to identify the current restoration problems and help to create restoration strategies for the marsh. Also, proper management strategy to the Al-Hammar marsh is necessary to preserve the marsh ecosystem, irrigate lands, and provide domestic necessities in the villages.

The overall project is divided into three main chapters which address the current ecological and hydrological …

Be Here Now, Katrina Luehrmann Rattermann

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Drawing from my religious upbringing and my identity as a millennial, Be Here Now investigates my personal conflicts with the Art object. The exhibition, comprised of two pink, celebratory installations made-on-site and displayed in adjacent spaces, is an exploration of superficiality. Displayed in spaces that are externally visible from the street, the installations invite audience participation. Through the use of placement, color, construction and material make up, the works provoke visceral reactions from the viewer. Though viewers are able to approach the installations from various vantage points, they are unable to physically enter the works and become immersed within the …

Dem Study Of A Single Stone Column In A Clayey Stratum, Anibal Enrique Santos

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Aggregate piers are an alternative ground improvement technique used for improving the bearing capacity and reducing the total and differential settlement of foundations supported on compressible soils. The piers are composed of a series of vibrationally compacted aggregate lifts from a desired depth up to the finished foundation level. The shear strength of the coarse-grained material comprising an aggregate pier is defined by its internal friction angle. There are several factors affecting the friction angle of the granular material that include: confining stress, particle shape, relative density and particle distribution (gradation). These factors are not directly considered in the design …

Offside, Maryamsadat Amirvaghefi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

OFFSIDE highlights the parallels between artists and athletes, as well as the professional communities in which both operate. Through the use of sports related imagery, the artwork explores notions of ethnicity, gender, and politics. While much of the work is autobiographical, OFFSIDE is able to consider the political and personal views surrounding a young Muslim woman while lives with constant uncertainty in the United States and trying to start a career in one of the most competitive cultural fields.

3d Printed Pcu/Uhmwpe Polymeric Blends For Artificial Knee Meniscus, Raissa Araujo Borges

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

3D printing was used to fabricate porous artificial knee meniscus material from biocompatible polymeric blends of polycarbonate-urethane (PCU) and ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) to enable “weep” lubrication that mimics the native meniscus. 3D printed and molded pure PCU, as well as molded PCU and UHMWPE, were used for comparison. Preliminary printing was done to evaluate the impact of process parameters on the results. The samples were subject to a variety of rotational oscillating friction and wear tests under simulated body fluid and loading conditions to replicate the natural motion of the knee. Results show that 3D printed PCU samples yielded a …

Investigating Fate Of Silver Nanoparticles In Wastewater Biofilms, Connie Marie Walden

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As industrial advances make everyday life easier for human kind, the processes by which we need to maintain sanitary conditions for both water and wastewater treatment will become increasingly complex. Innovations in food packaging and textile design incorporate engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) to increase antimicrobial properties of clothing, maintain product color, and keep food in packaging from spoilage. For most products, ENPs released will enter the sanitary sewer system, and ultimately wastewater treatment plants. Biofilms grow universally on surfaces where a protective layer of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) shields attached cells from stressors. In wastewater treatment, complex biofilms are utilized as …

Presidential Fundraising: A Multiple Case Study Of Rural Serving Oklahoma Community Colleges, Jason Daniel Falkner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Community college presidents serving rural populations in the state of Oklahoma have been forced to take on new responsibilities related to institutional fundraising due to multiple economic challenges including continued budgetary shortfalls and limited resource allocation. Review of the academic literature addressing this subject exposed a wide variety of rationales associated with this leadership shift, as well as successful presidential approaches to fundraising in modern higher education. This qualitative study of rural community college presidents in Oklahoma examined the rationale for expanded presidential roles in fundraising, while outlining a number of other essential roles, characteristics, professional backgrounds, and stressors that …

Writing For Keeps-Instruction And Achievement, Jason Adams

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The study was conducted in a small rural Texas district. Students within the district were struggling with successful writing initiatives. Achievement and accountability within the district were below state and regional averages consistently for many years. Writing instruction in the district needed attention to help students and teachers experience writing success. The study aimed to answer the following research questions: (1) What instructional practices do Frazier ISD teachers utilize to teach writing? (2) What aspects of writing do Frazier ISD students struggle to understand? (3) To what extent does the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) test impact …

The Diffusion Of Veterans Treatment Courts: An Examination Of Political, Social, And Economic Determinants At The County Level, Eric D. Button

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 2008, leading U.S. counties adopted innovative treatment courts specializing in the unique needs of veterans with substance abuse and other legal issues. Since then, pro-veteran advocacy has aided in the continued diffusion of additional veterans treatment courts (VTCs), with more than 300 county and state-level VTCs currently operating in 46 states across the country. Though the lens through which veterans are viewed may be positive in the public eye, institutional support for these wayward veterans appears to vary across levels of government; therefore, while some posit the increased social utility of budget-friendly VTCs, others suggest that VTCs offer favorable …

In The Field The Women Saved The Crop: The Women’S Land Army Of World War Ii, Denna M. Clymer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Women’s Land Army brought together rural and urban sectors of the United States in a climate of national and regional crisis. By the time the country was cast into war, the agricultural sector was already caught in a downward economic spiral that drove away laborers. With demand falling, and farms propped up only by experiments in subsidy and parity, when military and industrial jobs emerged in urban areas, farm laborers became scarce. At the same time the war created jobs for men outside of the agricultural sector, farm prices recovered and demand soared, forcing farmers to look to women …

Native Advertising And Disclosure, Katherine Alexis Hunt

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper reviews the growing combination of advertising and editorial content in the converged paid media form of native advertisements. Because native advertisements have the potential to negatively impact the credibility of traditional news organizations by misleading consumers through hidden persuasion attempts, this text reviews native advertisements in five prominent online newspapers for disclosure and source credibility.

Through a content analysis of 130 online newspaper native ads, this paper reviews disclosure according to FTC guidelines for native advertising proximity and placement, prominence, reputation, and language. In addition, this text reviews source credibility by attribution and source status: executives, professionals, public …

The Perception Of The Freshman Transition: Taking A Closer Look At The Freshman Academy, Frankie Jo Lizar

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine teacher, student, and parent perceptions of the high school transition program within a Freshman Academy at one Midwest high school using a mixed-methods approach with a convergent design. Interviews were done with teachers that teach primarily freshman students, and perception surveys were used with teachers, students, and parents to answer the following research questions:

a) How do freshman teachers believe the Freshman Academy interventions influence students’ successful transition into high school?

b) What are staff’s perceptions of the Freshman Academy in preparing students for success in high school?

c) What are students’ …

The Impact Of A Positive Environment And Shared Leadership To Empower Collegial School Culture, Ben Pretz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to develop an empowered collegial school culture to systemically improve the function of the academic institution through the impact of a positive environment and shared leadership. When compared to the other middle schools in the district, Eagle Middle School had the lowest math achievement growth index during the 2014-2015 school year. The discrepancy in math achievement is one element that has created a culture problem for the building. Additionally, the building has a reputation of poor customer service and not serving the community effectively. Because of the poor culture the staff had a lack …

College And Career Ready Through Personalized Learning: Business And Industry Perspective Of The Don Tyson School Of Innovation, Joe R. Rollins

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative research study describes perceptions of Northwest Arkansas’ business, industry and post-secondary institutions as to the Don Tyson School of Innovation (DTSOI) and its ability to prepare students for Northwest Arkansas’ college and career needs. Designated as one of the first schools of innovation in Arkansas through ACT 601 of 2013 by the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE), the DTSOI employs Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in every aspect of curriculum. The DTSOI represents the first school in Arkansas to hold the distinction of holding both school of innovation status as well as being a public, district- conversion …

Potential Relationships Of Community College Faculty Credentials And Measures Of Instructional Effectiveness: Student Survey Of Instruction And Grades, Marc Alan Willis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine what, if any, relationship existed when considering instructor credentials in relation to student surveys of instruction (SSOI), instructor credentials in relation to grade distribution, and the relationship between SSOI and grade distribution. The case study college is a two-year rural institution in Oklahoma employing 53 full-time faculty in Fall 2016. Eighteen of those faculty lack the adequate credentials as required by the Higher Learning Commission, the accrediting body for the college. Very little information was discovered verifying the impact of credentials on effectiveness, and what was located was anecdotal rather than data …

Free-Space Measurements Of Dielectrics And Three-Dimensional Periodic Metamaterials, Clifford E. Kintner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the free-space measurements of a periodic metamaterial structure. The metamaterial unit cell consists of two dielectric sheets intersecting at 90 degrees. The dielectric is a polyetherimide-based material 0.001” thick. Each sheet has a copper capacitively-loaded loop (CLL) structure on the front and a cut-wire structure on the back. Foam material is used to support the unit cells. The unit cell repeats 40 times in the x-direction, 58 times in the y-direction and 5 times in the z-direction. The sample measures 12” × 12” × 1” in total. We use a free-space broadband system comprised of a pair …

Shallow Aggregate Ebb-And-Flow System For Greenhouse Lettuce Production, Joseph Chidiac

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A novel soilless technique for the production of lettuce was developed and evaluated for its viability for ornamental greenhouse growers adapting their ebb-and-flood irrigation benching systems to diversify into growing lettuce, without having to purchase the conventional nutrient film technique (NFT) or deep flow technique (DFT) hydroponic systems. The experimental design was a three by four factorial, with three treatments for aggregate depth (19, 38, and 57 mm) and four treatments for irrigation frequency (once every 1, 2, 4, or 8 hours), for a total of twelve treatment combinations. Each treatment was replicated three times in a randomized complete block …

Identifying Genetic Factors Influencing Sperm Mobility Phenotype In Chicken Using Genome Wide Association Studies, Primordial Germ Cell Transplantation, And Rnaseq., Sohita Ojha

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sperm mobility is a major determinant of male fertility in chicken. In spite of low heritability of reproductive traits, sperm mobility has high heritability index which suggests presence of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) governing the trait. Our research focused on three objectives: i) to identify the QTLs affecting low mobility phenotype in chicken, ii) to understand the impact of Sertoli-cells and germ cells interactions in influencing the mobility phenotype and iii) to identify the genes and gene networks differentially expressed in male and female PGCs. To detect the QTLs, genome wide association studies (GWAS) was conducted which revealed the presence …

Cellular Mechanisms Of Ionoregulation In The Gill Of Japanese Medaka And Rainbow Trout, Rebecca Jo Bollinger

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Euryhaline fishes are capable of adapting to a wide range of salinities such as freshwater, brackish water or seawater. Through the combined effort of the gill, kidney and intestine, they are able to osmoregulate to maintain a constant internal hydromineral balance. As the gill is in direct contact with the external environment, it is continuously working to maintain ion and acid/base balance, gas exchange and eliminate nitrogenous waste. Fish in freshwater are subjected to osmotic water gain and diffusional ion loss across the gill and experience the opposite in seawater. Therefore, the gill exhibits extreme plasticity when experiencing a change …

Time Series Forecast Analysis In Wholesale Broiler Markets, Christopher R. Sims

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 2016 the chicken industry provided nearly 1.2 million jobs, 68 billion dollars in wages, 313 billion dollars in economic activity and 24 billion dollars in government revenue (John Dunham & Associates, Inc., 2016). Broiler production has changed dramatically from the early 90’s to the turn of the 21st century. Technological advancements, continuous improvements, production efficiencies and industry changes have made the industry the global market it is today. The poultry industry is an extremely volatile market with prices constantly fluctuating in response to input price volatility and demand and supply changes. These changes are often driven by world economic …

Our Land Is Not Just Soil: Knowing, Feeling, And Doing Environmental Activism In The Arkansas Ozarks, Ramey Arlen Moore

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Ozarks is a holey place, an ancient plateau formed from ancient rocks and the sediment of millions of years of living things. The Ozarks is also, from another perspective a place made from a mesh of overlapping lines, lines of migration, lines of living things, lines of water movement over and through the land. This dissertation engages with the practice of conservation and environmentalism as it is performed and lived by Ozarkers and Arkansawyers, natives and transplants. Based on more than a year of ethnographic fieldwork conducted with the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, Save the Ozarks, Arkansas Master Naturalists, …

Promoting Biliteracy And Biculturalism In Bilingual-Maintenance Secondary Classes: A Key Measure In The Creation Of A Gateway To Post-Secondary Education For First And 1.5 Generation Latino Students In Northwest Arkansas Public Schools, Jeanette A. Arnhart

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the context of the Northwest Arkansas (NWA) regional setting, this study examines the effects of the Spanish for Heritage and Native Speakers (SHNS) model from multiple vantage points. Educational capital and biculturation approaches are employed to help theoretically frame post-secondary educational success and ethnic identity, respectively.

Study methods are briefly described and paired with a description of the NWA region as an ideal southern Latino emerging community in which to conduct research on educational outcomes. The manuscript then turns to an ethnographic examination of how and the extent to which curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular aspects of a Spanish for …

Animal Welfare Frames: How Social Media Messages Bridge The Gap Between The Protein Industry And Consumers, Olivia Norton

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The two articles in this thesis used content analysis to analyze and compare animal welfare related website and Twitter content of the top five animal protein producing companies in the United States. In the first article, the animal welfare website content of Cargill, Tyson Foods Inc., Smithfield, JBS® and Sysco were analyzed for persuasive frames, common topics, and key terminology to describe their corporate positions on animal welfare. Sysco’s main page devoted to animal welfare dominated the word count with 1,045 words, while JBS®’s main animal welfare page used only 265 words to communicate the company’s views. The most commonly …

The Postmodern Novel In Saudi Arabia And America, Mohammed Lafi Alshammari

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the early twenty-first century, Saudi Arabia is a global economic power that stands as an equal among the other members of the most powerful economic organizations, including as the Group of Twenty and The World Trade Organization. As a result of this economic status and of Saudi Arabia never having been colonized, recent Saudi novels (especially those published after 2001) can usefully be read postmodern, rather than as postcolonial—the usual paradigm in readings of contemporary Arab novels. To establish a reference point, a comparative approach that engages Saudi and American postmodern novels is applied in this dissertation through the …

Detection Of Survival And Proliferation Of Sulfate Reducers Under Simulated Martian Atmospheric And Soil Conditions, Sergio Mosquera Mora

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Numerous studies have tried to determine the survivability and proliferation of microorganisms under simulated Martian conditions. Furthermore, most of them have been focused on the ability of these microbes to cope with high brines’ salt (NaCl) concentrations inherent of the Martian surface. However, there are not studies related to the ability of bacteria to survive on subsurface environments that have increasing concentrations of sulfate compounds. For this research, a group of microorganisms known as sulfate-reducing bacteria or simply sulfate reducers were chosen due to their ability to use sulfate compounds as terminal electron acceptors to produce metabolic energy, their tolerance …

Literary And Cinematic Representations Of Neoliberal Forms Of Contemporary Violence In Latin America With Special Interest In Mexico And Colombia, Ivan De Jesus Iglesias

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the last decades, with an increased rhythm and greater intensity, the so-called neoliberal violence has come to play a relevant role within the history of world societies. The Latin American institutional, political, social, and economic changes of the 1970’s and 1980’s, especially those produced under dictatorships, contributed to create the conditions for the implementation of the processes of economic liberalization and global market as part of the concept of institutional modernization and cultural globalization that gave rise to the neoliberal mentality. In this context, neoliberalism becomes hegemonic as a mode of discourse and is incorporated into the way individuals …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Online Education Experiences Of College Students With Learning Disabilities, Michael Murders

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The body of research concerning college students with learning disabilities is sparse relative to the percentage of college students with learning disabilities who attend college. Further, the majority of existing research fails to capture the student voice and the lived experiences of the students themselves. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of college students with learning disabilities who utilized online education at a public university centrally located in the United States, resembling numerous comprehensive regional universities. Using a qualitative, phenomenological research framework, this study uses in-depth individual interviews to collect data from eight participants. Interviews were …