Digital Commons Network^™

Hyperspectral Properties Of Date Palm Trees (Phoenix Dactylifera L.), Mohamed Ali Saeed Ahmed Al Abdouli

Theses

The goal of this study is to classify the Date Palm varieties based on hyperspectral signature technology since it is difficult to identify the Date Palm cultivars without fruits. It will also help to obtain the hyperspectral signature for different types of date palm trees. Moreover, it also assists to determine the wavelength fingerprint of each cultivar and to recommend the best classification protocol differentiating among different cultivars based on spectral signature. Utilizing the Hyperspectral imaging technology precisely on the leaves of different Date Palm cultivars, thus facilitating identification of date palm cultivars without the fruits and make the spatial …

Accessibility In User Reviews For Mobile Apps: An Automated Detection Approach, Murtaza Tamjeed

Theses

In recent years, mobile accessibility has become an important trend with the goal of allowing all users the possibility of using any app without many restrictions. Recent work demonstrated that user reviews include insights that are useful for app evolution. However, with the increase in the amount of received reviews, manually analyzing them is tedious and time-consuming, especially when searching for accessibility reviews. The goal of this thesis is to support the automated identification of accessibility in user reviews, to help practitioners in prioritizing their handling, and thus, creating more inclusive apps. Particularly, we design a model that takes as …

Population Genetics Of Rice Rats (Oryzomys Palustris) At The Northern Edge Of The Species Range, Phillip Conrad Williams

Theses

The marsh rice rat (Oryzomys sp.) is a semiaquatic rodent native to wetlands in the southeastern United States. The northwestern-most part of the rice rat’s range extends to Illinois where rice rats are found in wetlands across the southern part of the state. Recent studies have shown that rice rats in the United States can be divided into two species: O. palustris and O. texensis, but the taxonomic status of rice rats in Southern Illinois is unclear. To resolve this, I sequenced cytochrome-b and the control region, two regions of mitochondrial DNA, for 16 rice rats and constructed a phylogeny …

Quantifying The Offset Of Greenhouse Gas Emissions At The University Of North Alabama, Paul Dunn Graham

Theses

No abstract provided.

Evaluative Measures: Assessing The Effectiveness Of Exhibits And Programs In Zoos, Drew Johnson

Theses

This thesis examines program and exhibition evaluation as pertaining to zoos and aquariums in the United States from the 1960’s to the present. Research conducted for this thesis focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of zoological programs and exhibitions. Also examined are studies of zoo and aquarium visitors related to audience research, informal learning, and psychographics. Case studies as well as published procedural and evaluative methods from zoos and aquariums across the United States are used to identify best practices. In addition, two evaluation tool kits are presented to assist the Seneca Park Zoo with evaluative measures for exhibits …

Using Word And Phrase Abbreviation Patterns To Extract Age From Twitter Microtexts, Nathaniel Moseley

Theses

The wealth of texts available publicly online for analysis is ever increasing. Much work in computational linguistics focuses on syntactic, contextual, morphological and phonetic analysis on written documents, vocal recordings, or texts on the internet. Twitter messages present a unique challenge for computational linguistic analysis due to their constrained size. The constraint of 140 characters often prompts users to abbreviate words and phrases. Additionally, as an informal writing medium, messages are not expected to adhere to grammatically or orthographically standard English. As such, Twitter messages are noisy and do not necessarily conform to standard writing conventions of linguistic corpora, often …

The Perceived Value Of Videogame Packaging Among Young Adults, Colby Kibbe

Theses

Numerous forms of media content that once utilized physical distribution, such as music, movies, and publications, are now being distributed digitally. Videogames are the latest media content to be distributed in this manner, thus removing suppliers--such as packaging printers--who played a role in traditional physical distribution. With the U.S. printing industry projected to decline by 15% by 2015 (Romano & Broudy, 2010), the loss of packaged videogames as a source of revenue for packaging printers may further threaten the viability of the industry. The purpose of this research was to determine the current perceived value of packaged vs. digitally distributed …

Relative Abundance, Population Structure, And Habitat Utilization Of The Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys Temminckii) And Eastern Snapping Turtle (Chelydra Serpentina) In Southeastern Missouri, Timothy Charles Lescher

Theses

GENERAL ABSTRACT---Alligator Snapping Turtles have not been surveyed extensively in Missouri since 1993-94. Six sites that were sampled in the early nineties were re-sampled in 2009 at the same locations where previous researchers trapped. Significantly fewer significantly fewer Alligator Snapping Turtles were captured per trapnight at all six sites. The population structure of the Alligator Snapping Turtles had a significantly different distribution in 2009 compared to 1993-94. The population structure had shifted toward smaller individuals, and fewer adult males and adult females were captured in 2009 compared to 1993-94. The 1993-94 structure was normally distributed while the 2009 structure exhibited …

Hyperspectral Clustering And Unmixing Of Satellite Imagery For The Study Of Complex Society State Formation, Justin Kwong

Theses

This project is an application of remote sensing techniques to the field of archaeology. Clustering and unmixing algorithms are applied to hyperspectral Hyperion imagery over Oaxaca, Mexico. Oaxaca is the birthplace of the Zapotec civilization, the earliest state-level society in Mesoamerica. A passionate debate is ongoing over whether the Zapotecs' evolution was environmentally deterministic or socioeconomic. Previous archaeological remote sensing has focused on the difficult tasks of feature detection using low spatial resolution imagery or visual inspection of spectral data. This project attempts to learn about a civilization on the macro level, using unsupervised land classification techniques. Overlapping 158 band …

Modified Art Curriculum For Deaf Students With Secondary Disabilities, Laural Hartman

Theses

This capstone_masters_project focuses on creating a modified art curriculum for deaf students with secondary disabilities. From personal experiences, there are art curriculums designed for special education students in general and art curriculums for deaf students, but there is no art curriculum for deaf students with disabilities. Since deaf students with disabilities at residential schools already face a limitation by not being able to hear, they shouldn't face more limitations due to another disability. This paper will present what researchers have said about teaching art to both special education students and deaf students. This paper will also include how deaf and …

Parents' Perceptions On The Quality Of Information Given By Professionals Regarding Their Deaf Children, Charles Phillips

Theses

Many deaf children have delayed language development that would greatly affect their future academic success (Marschark, Lang, & Albertini, 2002). Information given by professionals to parents could be a significant factor in overcoming this delay. To assess the quality of this information six parents of deaf children in the Rochester NY area, three deaf parents and three hearing parents were selected to participate in an interview and survey. After the data was examined, it was found that the majority of the parents in this study felt that the information they received from professionals concerning their child's language development was adequate …

Multiculturalism: Role Models For Deaf Students And The Recruiting Practices Of Minority Teachers In Deaf Education, Karen Barkley

Theses

This study examined 22 of the 62 Teachers of the Deaf Educational programs listed in the American Annals of the Deaf (Vol. 142No.2) with regard to recruitment of teachers with minority ethnic backgrounds. The underlying hypothesis is that teachers serve as role models for their students (Deaf, African Americans, Asian/Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, and Native Americans). Therefore, the ethnicity of all qualified and talented educators should be as diverse as the student population it serves. Thus, the question: Using enrollment as a base to determine the number of minority students qualifying for the professional role as an educator of the deaf, …

Structural Advances For Pattern Discovery In Multi-Relational Databases, Juveria Kanodia

Theses

With ever-growing storage needs and drift towards very large relational storage settings, multi-relational data mining has become a prominent and pertinent field for discovering unique and interesting relational patterns. As a consequence, a whole suite of multi-relational data mining techniques is being developed. These techniques may either be extensions to the already existing single-table mining techniques or may be developed from scratch. For the traditionalists, single-table mining algorithms can be used to work on multi-relational settings by making inelegant and time consuming joins of all target relations. However, complex relational patterns cannot be expressed in a single-table format and thus, …

Identifying Characteristics Of Deaf Poor Readers, Susan Post

Theses

This study is a spelling recall task. Stimulus words will be presented in three conditions - fingerspelling, sign and print. All subjects will encounter all three lists, presented serially, with brief pauses in between. Each list will comprise 18 words. In order to control for the familiarity effect, no word will be included in more than one list. Students will be instructed to write down the word they see. Data will be analyzed to determine whether or not "poor" readers evidence a different spelling error "profile" than "good readers." Spelling performance will also be correlated with Digit Span (OS) and …

Perception Vs. Reality.. What Do Athletes Really Eat And Why?, John Kralles

Theses

This study demonstrated an inconsistency between perception and reality concerning the diet of today's amateur athlete as well as the reasons why this disparity may occur. Here, a gap opens between perception and reality. A review of current literature and case study sets the stage for parameters of judgment. This study also exhibits the forms of misinformation that amateur athletes utilize to construct tainted views on their dietary endeavor. This study established that the perceptions of the amateur athletes studied concerning their diet are skewed and the causation is the effect of poor hand me down information, illegitimate press and …

Differences In Attitude Between Black And White Women Towards Domestic Violence, Paula Ellis

Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the similarities and/or differences between African American and White women in their level of acceptance and personal experience regarding domestic violence. This study compared 62 women, 31 African American and 31 White women, ages ranging from 18 to over 58, employed at an area hospital in St. Louis. The study addressed their experiences and attitudes toward domestic violence. The data was analyzed through descriptive statistical comparisons between the two groups, using the Chi-Square procedure. The results of the study indicate no significant difference in the level of acceptance of violence between the …

Marketing Of Bed And Breakfasts: A Study In Advertising And Promotions, Marc Lubetkin

Theses

The purpose of this study is to identify and scale advertising and promotional characteristics used most frequently by Bed & Breakfasts (B&B's). The study involved 2 surveys that questioned both Managers and Guests of B&B's from Professional Association of Innkeepers International member properties. The surveys were conducted 9/96-4/97 for the preceding calendar year. Advertising and promotional characteristics were cross-tabulated with B&B qualifiers such as the size of the property and occupancy rates. The study found that the following characteristics were used most frequently: Word of mouth, B&B guide books, Mobil & AAA, the Internet, chambers of commerce, travel agencies, and …

Trauma Symptoms In Sexual Abuse Counselors At Centers Funded By The Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Cynthia Michele Presson

Theses

There were two purposes of this study . The first was to describe the demographic nature of counselors at the 30 Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault (!CASA) funded centers and their responses to a trauma symptom checklist developed for use with sexual abuse victims. The second purpose was to determine if there is a significant difference in the means of responses to the Trauma Symptom Checklist=33 when sub jects were divided into two categories . Subjects (N=81) were placed in the nominal categories of Victims (those who reported personal sexual trauma, N=41, 50.6%) and Non-Victims (those who did not report …

Senior Wellness Prescription, Theresa Schnabel James

Theses

The St. Joseph Health Center and St. Joseph Hospital West mission statement commissions the Hospital to be an advocate for, and agent of change in the community health-care system, and to provide a holistic health-care philosophy to the community. The Hospital's goal is to promote the health and well-being of the community by delivering effective institutional services.

Service to the community is at the philosophical core of St. Joseph Health Center and St. Joseph Hospital West. The Hospital will serve by becoming a leading provider of health-care. It will meet the needs of the patients and the community by providing …

A Guide To Computer-Based Training For The Graphic Arts Industry, David E. Pease

Theses

Industry in the United States is facing one of the greatest hurdles of all time, that of retraining its work force. The printing industry, in particular, faces a continuing lack of experienced and knowledgeable people. It has begun cooperative efforts to retrain workers in the basic skills needed to run a printing operation. Subjects like basic math, accounting, writing, and sciences round out the curriculum. Also on the scene are entrepreneurial training firms. Off-site training typically goes for $250-350 per person per day; the on-site instruction goes for $400 and up. And then there are options like computer-based tutorials. A …

Caregiver Education Program, Lesli Demers

Theses

Alzheimer's Disease is a progressive, irreversible disease of the brain. It is not a normal or inevitable result of the aging process. However, as more people live to advanced age, the susceptible population will increase, as will the number of people afflicted with this disease. Alzheimer's Disease presents a challenge by taking away the patient's ability to remember, as well as the ability to learn.

Alzheimer's Disease has been characterized by many professionals as "the thief of minds" (Gewertz 23). Memories of life experiences and even one's own family members fade away leaving the person a stranger to those who …

Discounting Undivided Minority Interests, John J. Schlueter Iii

Theses

The thesis explores how real estate ownership, when held as undivided minority interests (i.e., shared ownership where individual shares are not physically divided), leads to valuation challenges. Schlueter argues that such interests are typically worth less than a simple proportional share of the full property’s value due to factors like lack of control, marketability issues, and limited access to financing. He supports his case with legal definitions, historical context, valuation theory, interviews with real estate professionals, and analysis of real market data—including discounted sales of partial interests. Ultimately, the thesis concludes that discounting is necessary to reflect the real-world limitations …

Deregulation Of The Telecommunications Industry And The Bell System Divestiture - Impact On The Universal Service Concept, Edward H. Hancock

Theses

The Communications Act of 1934 established the principle that our nation' s future telecommunications policy was to be structured on the concept of "Universal Service", i.e. that telephone service is essential, and as such , should be made available and affordable for all . Deregulation of the telecornmunications industry and the soon to be accomplished Bell System divestiture will have a significant adverse impact on the universal service concept. The rationale for this premise is presented as follows . First, a theoretical analysis is made of the changes in the regulated utility revenue requirement which will result from deregulation and …