Digital Commons Network^™

The Application Of Visual Phonics And Phonological Awareness Interventions To Address Emergent Literacy Development In Speech-Language Impaired Preschoolers, Elizabeth K. Gergits

Masters Theses

This study investigated the effectiveness of phonological awareness intervention versus phonological awareness intervention supplemented by visual phonics han,d cues upon emergent literacy skill development in preschool children with speech and/or language impairment. A pretest - posttest control group design was used to compare the effectiveness of phonological awareness intervention and visual phonics in promoting the development of the following emergent literacy skills: alphabet knowledge, beginning sound awareness, print awareness, rhyme awareness, nursery rhyme awareness, phonological awareness at the syllable level, and name writing abilities. Three groups were formed from twenty-four subjects from at-risk early childhood programs in central Illinois. The …

The Effect Of Person Versus Aac Directed Apraxia Therapy On Elicited Imitation For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jeanna Rachelle Probst

Masters Theses

There is limited research in the area of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) and autism spectrum disorder with childhood apraxia of speech. The current research project was designed to evaluate the amount of elicited imitation produced when using a person-directed stimulus mode versus an AAC-directed stimulus mode. The dependent variable was elicited imitations. The independent variables were the AAC-directed condition and the person-directed condition.

The subjects were six school-aged children with the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS). The subjects were pulled out of their regular 45 minute individual speech therapy and randomly presented …

Oral Reading Fluency And Maze Selection For Predicting 5th And 6th Grade Students' Reading And Math Achievement On The Illinois Standards Achievement Test, Samuel Whitley

Masters Theses

This study sought to examine the relationship between two reading curriculum based measures ( oral reading fluency and MAZE) and the reading and mathematics subsections of the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISA T) at the 5th and 6th grades. It was predicted that MAZE would be better at predicting who would pass the ISAT than oral reading fluency. Bivariate correlations were conducted between each curriculum based measure and each subsection of the ISA T. Simple linear regression analyses were also conducted to derive cut scores for predicting ISAT performance. The ability of each curriculum based measure to predict student performance …

The Role Of Remedial Work: A Look At Re-Offending, John M. Koth

Masters Theses

Many studies have evaluated the usefulness of remedial work ( apologies, excuses, and justifications) after a transgression or injustice has been committed. The present study tested the effectiveness of remedial work after a first, and then a second transgression. One hundred and sixty undergraduates read a vignette describing a social transgression. This was followed by either an apology, an excuse, a justification or no remedial work. After completing variables rating their reactions to the vignette, participants were asked to read a second vignette and to answer the same questions. During the analyses, two justifications used in the study were found …

Facial Recognition System Screening Evaluation Methodology For Complexion Biases, Harold Harris

Masters Theses

Over the years, facial recognition systems (FRS) have come under scrutiny from watchdog groups who voice their complaints concerning the potential existence of FRS biases towards certain cultures of people when deployed in security screening situations. Psychology has used the term "other-race effect" to describe this occurrence in humans. Researchers of FRS have used the theory behind the other-race effect to describe the occurrence of bias associated with algorithms tested during the Face Recognition Vendor Test of 2006. In this thesis, we develop a scientific methodology based on the factors of illumination, distance, and angle to evaluate whether or not …

Development Of Novel Backscatter Communication Systems Using A Multi-Hop Framework And Distributed Beamforming, Vikram Reddy Surendra

Masters Theses

"The goal of this thesis it to develop a wireless networking framework for battery-free devices based on passive, backscatter communication. In contrast to traditional, active communication systems, where the radio signal has to be generated using large amount of energy from batteries, the passive systems reflect the RF signal. The information is encoded by modulating the reflected signal, which consumes significantly less energy than active transmission. The existing passive, backscatter systems have limited communication capabilities. For example, the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems support short-distance, direct communication between active reader and passive tags. The communication range is limited due to …

Efficient Modular Arithmetic Units For Low Power Cryptographic Applications, Rajashekhar Reddy Modugu

Masters Theses

"The demand for high security in energy constrained devices such as mobiles and PDAs is growing rapidly. This leads to the need for efficient design of cryptographic algorithms which offer data integrity, authentication, non-repudiation and confidentiality of the encrypted data and communication channels. The public key cryptography is an ideal choice for data integrity, authentication and non-repudiation whereas the private key cryptography ensures the confidentiality of the data transmitted. The latter has an extremely high encryption speed but it has certain limitations which make it unsuitable for use in certain applications. Numerous public key cryptographic algorithms are available in the …

Internet-Accessible Hot Cell With Gamma Spectroscopy At The Missouri University Of Science And Technology Research Nuclear Reactor, Edwin Grant

Masters Theses

A dual-chambered internet-accessible heavily shielded facility with pneumatic access to the University of Missouri Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) 200 kW Research Nuclear Reactor (MSTR) core has been built and is currently under low level irradiation testing. The facility allows distance users doing collaborative work with Missouri S&T researchers to manipulate and analyze neutron irradiated samples remotely. The system consists of two shielded compartments, one for multiple sample storage (up to 11 samples), and the other for isolated radiation measurements and spectroscopy. The second chamber has multiple detector ports, graded shielding, and has the capability to support gamma spectroscopy using …

Analysis Of Eurycea Hybrid Zone In Eastern Missouri, Bonnie Jean Beasley

Masters Theses

"Evolutionary mechanisms are often difficult to observe in action because evolution generally works slowly over time. Hybrid zones provide a unique opportunity to observe many evolutionary processes, such as reinforcement, because of the rapid changes that tend to occur in these zones. Salamanders provide an ideal model for examining the rapid changes in populations that result from hybridization because many closely-related species lack reproductive barriers. In Missouri, a well-documented hybridization zone exists among the two subspecies Eurycea longicauda longicauda (long-tailed salamander) and E. L. melanopleura (dark-sided salamander). These salamanders inhabit caves, limestone creek beds, and abandoned mine shafts. A closely …

Dynamic Ant Colony Optimization For Globally Optimizing Consumer Preferences, Pavitra Dhruvanarayana

Masters Theses

"Consumer preference for any product or product feature can be expressed in the form of a utility function. Many such utility functions form a part of a preference map, where each of these are expressed in terms of the attributes defining the product or the product feature. In order to optimize the design, it is required to optimize the overall utility function obtained by a mathematical combination of individual utility functions defined in the preference map. The objective of this research is to devise and implement an algorithm to optimize all the individual utility functions comprised in a preference map …

Reverberation Reduction In A Room For Multiple Positions, Raghavendra Ravikumar

Masters Theses

"Reverberation in a room occurs when the direct path sound from a sound source undergoes multiple reflections from the walls of the room before reaching the listener. An impulse response of the room can be measured called the room impulse response (RIR) which captures the effects of the room. This can be represented digitally on a computer. A filter is designed to cancel the effects of the room using the information in the room impulse response. This filter is called an equalization filter and is usually placed between the source signal and loudspeaker to perform the equalization. The RIR changes …

Strategic Process Integration Of Energy And Environmental Systems In Wastewater Treatment Plants, Bharath Kumar Gangichetty

Masters Theses

"Green environmental practices are increasingly important in combating serious global energy and environmental issues. Most wastewater treatment facilities were built when energy costs were not a concern; however, an increasing demand for energy, changing climatic conditions, and constrained energy supplies have resulted in the need to apply more energy-conscious choices in the maintenance or upgrade of existing wastewater treatment facilities. A detailed analysis of the majority of water and wastewater treatment services shows that most facilities operate far below the efficiency levels needed for effective energy use. Failure to comply with regulated environmental standards is also a problem. Although standards …

The Mitigation Effects Of A Barrier Wall On Blast Wave Pressures, Nathan Thomas Rouse

Masters Theses

"The study examined the mitigating effects of a blast barrier wall. This area of blast mitigation is of interest due to the many different applications involved in protecting a specific target from an explosive attack. The research follows a 1:50 scale layout using 73 gram, hemisphere-shaped, Composition-4 charges detonated at combinations of three standoff distances from a blast barrier wall set at three different heights. This project used 45 data points for each combination of standoff distance and wall height. This project expanded prior research conducted by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) by increasing the database of …

Population Control In Evolutionary Algorithms, Jason Edward Cook

Masters Theses

"Traditional evolutionary algorithms (EAs) are powerful robust problem solvers that have several fixed parameters which require prior specification. Having to determine good values for any of these parameters can be problematic, as the performance of EAs is generally very sensitive to these parameters, requiring expert knowledge to set optimally without extensive use of trial and error. Parameter control is a promising approach to achieving this automation and has the added potential of increasing EA performance based on both theoretical and empirical evidence that the optimal values of EA strategy parameters change during the course of executing an evolutionary run. While …

Multi Axis Slicing For Rapid Prototyping, Divya Kanakanala

Masters Theses

"With multi-axis capability, direct laser deposition process can produce a metal part without the usage of support structures. In order to fully utilize such a capability, a slicing method for multi-axis metal deposition process is discussed. Using the geometry information of adjacent layers, the slicing direction and layer thickness can be changed as needed. A hierarchy structure is designed to manage the topological information which is used to determine the slicing sequence. The parallel slicing process is studied to build hollow type structure. With such a character, the hole like feature can be deposited directly to save the required machining …

The Effects Of Personal Protective Equipment Level A Suits On Human Task Performance, Yvette L. Simon

Masters Theses

"First response teams dealing with hazardous substances often require the highest level of protection provided by Level A suits. These suits are fully encapsulating, bulky, and heat retentive. The effect of these suits on the wearer's ability to perform various tasks is of interest when it comes to human performance analysis. This research effort examined the effect of the Level A suit on fine motor and gross motor dexterity. Seven members of the National Guard's Civil Support Team (CST) performed a battery of six tasks designed to test these abilities. Tasks comprised the Minnesota Dexterity test and the Mirror Tracer …

Incorporating New Technology Into Healthcare: An Analysis Of Performance, Acceptance, And Safety, Anthony Joseph Strawhun

Masters Theses

"Each year, advances in the healthcare industry allows for better patient care and increased ability to save lives. Looking at standardized and common healthcare devices for both inside and outside the hospital environment, this research studied the tradeoffs and human factors that affect operator performance and patient survival. This research studied the impact of human factors and technology in the development and implementation of the automated external defibrillator for out-of-hospital use and the incremental advantages of SMArT infusion pump technology over traditional intravenous infusion pumps for in-hospital care. The study highlights the complex human factors of both products and establishes …

Inverse Limits With Upper Semi-Continuous Set Valued Bonding Functions: An Example, Christopher David Jacobsen

Masters Theses

"While there is a wealth of information pertaining to inverse limits with single valued bonding maps, comparatively little is known about inverse limits with upper semi-continuous set valued bonding functions. In order to add somewhat to the communal knowledge on the subject, this paper provides an example of an inverse limit with a single upper semi-continuous set valued bonding function. It is then shown that the space is a continuum, and its structure is examined via its arc components and through various of its properties, such as dimension and decomposability"--Abstract, page iii.

Resistance Switching In Electrodeposited Magnetite Thin Films, Samantha Glen Matthews

Masters Theses

"The resistance switching phenomenon has been extensively studied in metal oxide thin films for its applications in the non-volatile memory industry. The research presented here focuses on magnetite thin films which have been electrodeposited onto gold-sputtered glass substrates via the electrochemical reduction of a Fe(III)-triethanolamine complex in aqueous alkaline solution. Magnetite was chosen for its usefulness in read/write memory applications, its high Curie temperature, its metal-to-insulator (Verwey) transition, and its half-metallic character and attendant spintronic properties. Resistance switching behavior caused by a reversible redox reaction at the anode was observed in the films, demonstrating that electrodeposited films show the same …

Full Wave Simulation Of An Electrostatic Discharge Generator Discharging In Air Discharge Mode Into A Product And Quantify Channel Performance Utilizing Novel Time Domain Convolution Method, Dazhao Liu

Masters Theses

"In the first section, it introduces a methodology to simulate the currents and fields during an air discharge ESD into a product by combining a linear description of the behavior of the DUT with a non-linear arc resistance equation. The most commonly used test standard IEC 61000-4-2 requires using contact mode discharges to metallic surfaces and air discharge mode to non-conducting surfaces. In contact mode, an Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) generator is a linear system. In air discharge mode, a highly non-linear arc is part of the current loop. This paper proposes a method that combines the linear ESD generator full …

Quantification Of Channel Performance And Development And Characterization Of Small Magnetic Field Probes, Surbhi Mittal

Masters Theses

"This thesis presents a new approach to quantifying channel performance using a transmitter waveform and dispersion penalty (TWDP) with frequency domain S-parameter data. Initially TWDP was defined to characterize the performance of a transmitter in optical links. More recently its use has been extended to include the quantification of channel performance, especially in high-speed copper links. This project focused mainly on channel characterization. Instead of using the time-domain oscilloscope measurements involved in the original approach, it proposes a new method that relies on frequency-domain S-parameter data obtained either from measurements or simulations. It included a parametric study of TWDP with …

Contribution-Based Priority Assessment In A Web-Based Intelligent Argumentation Network For Collaborative Software Development, Maithili Satyavolu

Masters Theses

"Decision making is an important aspect of the collaborative software development process which usually involves complex process of conflict resolution. Stakeholders approach decision making process from multiple perspectives and their priorities play a vital role in it. The priority assessment methods used in the argumentation process so far are usually static. Priorities remain constant throughout the decision making process. In order to make the collaborative system more closely replicate real-world scenarios, this work incorporates dynamic priority assessment into a web-based collaborative system which is based on intelligent computational argumentation. It evaluates priorities dynamically for each cycle of decision process based …

Application Of Quality Function Deployment In New Product And Service Development, Anusha Uppalanchi

Masters Theses

"Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a systematic process to integrate customer requirements into every aspect of the design and delivery of products and services. Understanding the customers wants or needs from a product or service is crucial to the successful design and development of new products and services. QFD is a system that utilizes customer demands to meet client missions by outlining what the customer wants in a service or product. QFD was used in this research to determine customer needs and thus to ensure that customer demands are met. This methodology is demonstrated using two case studies: Hydrogen Fuel …

Automation Of Cad Model Based Assembly Simulations Using Motion Capture, Anup Madhav Vader

Masters Theses

"The manufacturing industry often uses text and video as a supplement for worker training procedures. Unfortunately, text is often difficult to follow and video lends itself to occlusion issues. CAD based animations of assembly operations can overcome these shortcomings while offering greater potential for operations analysis and simulation flexibility. However, creating such CAD based training simulations manually is a time intensive task and many a times fail to reveal the practical assembly issues faced in the real world. Thus, it is highly beneficial to be able to automate these simulations using motion capture from a physical environment. This thesis research …

Methodology And Applications Of Electrostatic Discharge Current Reconstruction By Near-Field Scanning Technique, Wei Huang

Masters Theses

"Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can cause interference in or damage to circuits or systems in many ways e.g., by E- field or H- field coupling or via conduction paths. Although one can roughly estimate the voltage and current at the injection location during an ESD event, the real offending parameter is mostly the ESD current spreading throughout the system. Those currents can be simulated if great simplifications of the system are acceptable. However, even in moderately complex systems, the ability to simulate is limited by a lack of models and computational resources. Independent of the complexity, but obviously not free of …

Strength Evaluation And Transportation Behavior Of Preformed Particle Gel Using Screens And Tubes, Rajesh Sarma Challa

Masters Theses

"This research included a series of experiments, using screen models to evaluate the strength of swollen gel particles. It also includes the study of PPG propagation and extrusion behavior through tubes of various internal diameters. The effect of the particle gel swelling ratio (depending on brine concentration), flow rate; and mesh size on the gel injection pressure and injectivity were studied. The results show that gel injection pressure depends primarily on the swelling ratio and the mesh size. However, the injection pressure does not increase significantly with injection rates, behavior consistent with the real-time injection pressure and injection rate change …

"In Situ" Printed Circuit Board Material Extraction Procedure With Conductor Surface Roughness Study, Amendra Koul

Masters Theses

"Analysis of printed circuit board (PCB) behavior in a wide frequency range from tens MHz to at least 40 GHz is very important for modern high-speed digital design and assuring for signal integrity (SI). this analysis includes preliminary evaluation of per-unit-length parameters of the PCB transmission line and transmission line characteristics, such as propagation and attenuation constants, and also extraction of these parameters from measurements on real test vehicles. This thesis describes an impedance calculator tool, which can substantially speed up PCB design, and the second topic considered in this work is characterization of dielectric parameters of substrates of printed …

Innovative Concrete Bridging Systems For Pedestrian Bridges: Implementation And Monitoring, Kurt Edward Bloch

Masters Theses

"Two precast, prestressed pedestrian bridges were designed for rapid construction in Rolla, MO, utilizing high-strength concrete (HSC) and high-strength self-consolidating concrete (HS-SCC) with a target 28 day compressive strength of 68.9 MPa (10,000 psi) and release compressive strength of 24.1 MPa (3,500 psi). In addition, a glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) bar reinforced deck panel system was utilized in one of the two deck panels on each bridge.

Material properties were tested for compression, elastic modulus, modulus of rupture, splitting tensile strength, creep, and shrinkage following ASTM standards. Instrumentation systems within the spandrel beams and precast deck panels were implemented …

Application Of Life Cycle Assessment To Estimate Environmental Impacts Of Surface Coal Mining, Ofentse Ditsele

Masters Theses

"Coal plays an important role in meeting the energy needs of the World. Given its abundance and low cost, its use is bound to increase with the growing energy demand. Despite its importance, there are concerns over coal's environmental burdens. In order to extract and use coal in a sustainable manner, sustainability assessment has to be comprehensive. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) provides systematic and quantifiable measures for assessing environmental burdens of products and processes. Extensive LCA work has been done on coal use, particularly in electricity generation, but, the coal mining stage has been neglected, for the most part. This …

Simulation Of Pem Fuel Cells: Validation Of Model And Incorporation Of Humidity Dynamics, Steven Francis Rodgers

Masters Theses

"Fuel cell technologies have been receiving increased attention by industry and researchers due to growing societal and inevitable economic pressures to find an alternative for fossil fuels. At the forefront of this is the demand for fuel cell models: models to elucidate fundamental physical phenomena underlying fuel cell function and models that are not computationally demanding yet reasonably accurate to allow designers to incorporate fuel cells into consumer products. One of the latter type has recently been developed based on a software package that is already in widespread use in the automotive industry for the simulation of mechanical, thermal, electrical, …