Digital Commons Network^™

Investigation Of Sense Of Place Effects In An Online Learning Environment, Jeanne Lambert Sumrall

Theses and Dissertations

In relation to the constructivist learning theory, understanding what a student may already know in order to use this knowledge as a scaffold for further education is imperative. The online classroom offers a unique and challenging environment for the evaluation of a student’s previous knowledge, especially in the field of geosciences where knowledge may be associated with geographic affiliation. An individual’s geological and meteorological sense of place may play an important role in evaluating a student’s previous knowledge in this field of study. To test this hypothesis, students in an online master’s program were given pre-knowledge surveys to evaluate their …

A Gis Analysis Of Sidewalk Infrastructure In Starkville, Ms, Robert Devon Bise

Theses and Dissertations

Sidewalks provide many community services, yet not much geospatial research exists regarding sidewalks, especially in Mississippi. The purpose of this thesis was to use geographic information systems to inventory and map sidewalks for Starkville, MS and to compare sidewalk availability and quality to 2010 US census block demographics. In Starkville, sidewalks served 28% of the census block population, which classifies the city as “Car-Dependent” according to a Walk Score criteria. Majority minority census blocks and majority white census blocks had similar proportions of sidewalks. However, 97% of “Excellent” quality and 64 more sections of ADA compliant sidewalks were within majority …

Stratigraphy, Environments Of Deposition, And Mineralogical Characterization Of Heavy Minerals From Selected Cretaceous Formations Of The Eastern Mississippi Embayment, David Luke Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the mineral suite of undeveloped heavy-mineral deposits in the Cretaceous of the Northern Mississippi Embayment and compares them to the developed deposits of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The hypothesis presented here is that Cretaceous heavy-mineral deposits of the eastern Mississippi Embayment had the same provenance, the Appalachian Piedmont, as did the younger sediments of the U.S. Atlantic Coast. Kyanite/sillimanite and staurolite were recognized in all samples, and represent strong evidence for an Appalachian Provenance. Alternatively, the overall lack of epidote in the HM suite points away from a Mississippi River related provenance. The dominant heavy minerals found …

A Comprehensive Study Into Quinone Outside Inhibitor Resistance In Cercospora Sojina From Mississippi Soybean, Jeffrey Russell Standish

Theses and Dissertations

Frogeye leaf spot, caused by Cercospora sojina Hara, is a foliar disease affecting soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.), often managed by applications of quinone outside inhibitor (QoI) fungicides. In 2013 and 2014, symptomatic leaf samples were collected from Mississippi soybean fields leading to the collection of 634 mono-conidial C. sojina isolates. In vitro bioassays were performed to evaluate the sensitivity of 14 isolates plus a baseline. Resistant and sensitive isolates were characterized by determining the effective fungicide concentrations at which 50% of conidial germination was inhibited (EC50). Additionally, the molecular mechanism of resistance was determined for all 634 isolates. Greater …

Theoretically Tested Remediation In Response To Insect Resistance To Bt Corn And Bt Cotton: A New Paradigm, Jeannette C. Martinez

Theses and Dissertations

Various models of density dependence predicted different evolutionary outcomes for Helicoverpa zea, Diabrotica virgifera, and Ostrinia nubilalis using simple and complex resistance evolution models, different dose assumptions and refuge proportions. Increasing available refuge increased durabilities of pyramided Plant-Incorporated-Protectants (PIPs), especially between 1-5%. For some models of density dependence and pests, additional refuge resulted in faster adaptation rates. Significant considerations should be given to a pest’s intra-specific competition in simple and complex theoretical models when designing insect resistance management plans. Life-history, refuge, and dose characteristics of a PIP had different effects on the adaptation rate of a generic pest of Bt, …

Natural Predators, Marie-Claire Churchouse

Theses and Dissertations

Natural Predators is a collection of short stories that take place in various countries including Japan, Russia, Hong Kong, and England. Though the stories are not explicitly linked, they share themes of violence, power dynamics, and the failures of community. The collection begins with the story that features the youngest protagonist, and ends with the eldest. Food, animals, and the human relationship with nature are also major themes throughout the collection.

A Collaborative Conceptual Aircraft Design Environment For The Design Of Small-Scale Uavs In A Multi-University Setting, Joseph Samuel Becar

Theses and Dissertations

In today's competitive global market, there is an ever-increasing demand for highly skilled engineers equipped to perform in teams dispersed over several time-zones by geography. Aerospace Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering (AerosPACE) is a senior design capstone program co-developed by academia and industry to help students develop the necessary skills to excel in the aerospace industry by challenging them to design, build, and fly an unique unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Students with little to no experience designing UAVs are put together in teams with their peers from geographically dispersed universities. This presents a significant challenge for the students …

The Effectiveness Of Alternative Dissertation Models In Graduate Education, Rebecca Arlene Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

Historically, the doctoral dissertation has had two purposes: to train young scholars in proper research methodology, and to contribute original findings to research. However, some feel that the traditional dissertation format falls short of these goals for two reasons. First, the majority of dissertations never get published in academic journals, and dissertations are unlikely to get cited in academic articles. Second, many students in doctoral programs see little authenticity in traditional dissertations because the writing style and process differ from that of academic articles. In response to these concerns, many Instructional Technology programs have implemented alternative dissertation formats. This study …

The Effects Of Open Educational Resource Adoption On Measures Of Post-Secondary Student Success, Thomas J. Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether the adoption of Open Educational Resources had a significant effect on student learning outcomes in seven courses taught at seven post-secondary institutions. The use of open educational resources (OER) is increasing in the United States. Initiatives focusing on expanding the use of OER as a replacement for traditional textbooks at the post-secondary level include OpenStax, Project Kaleidoscope, Open Course Library, and others. While researchers have begun to explore OER, few have sought to evaluate the quality of OER as a function of student academic success. In this dissertation, I examined measures …

A Multi-Level Analysis Of Collaborations In Computer Science, Pramod Divakarmurthy

Theses and Dissertations

Working in collaboration is common in today’s highly connected scientific community. By collaborating, researchers can solve challenging multi-disciplinary problems, increase knowledge dissemination as well as productivity. These and other advantages motivate the study of the collaboration patterns of researchers. Such patterns can be observed directly in networks of manuscript co-authorship. In such a network, nodes represent authors and the links between them indicate that they have co-authored a paper. Several researchers constructed and studied large-scale networks representing collaborations in Mathematics, Biology, Physics, and Neuroscience. Most studies have performed bibliometric analysis of scientific publications, evaluated and ranked scholars on their research …

Utilizing Remote Sensing Imagery To Monitor Vegetation Change Within World Heritage Sites, Mimi Eve Hatzis

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

World Heritage sites provide a glimpse into the stories and civilizations of the past. There are currently 1007 unique World Heritage properties with 779 being classified as cultural sites, 197 as natural sites, and 31 falling into the categories of both cultural and natural sites (UNESCO & World Heritage Centre, 1992-2015). However, of these 1007 World Heritage sites, at least 46 are categorized as in danger and this number continues to grow. These unique and irreplaceable sites are exceptional because of their universality. Consequently, since World Heritage sites belong to all the people of the world and provide inspiration …

Revisiting Tired Old Fields With New Technologies: Three Dimensional Modeling And Structural Analysis Of The Dudley Pool Oil Reservoir, Edgar County, Il, Jordan M. Martin

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to better understand the Dudley Pool oil reservoir, a small, mature oil field, using geologic and geophysical data. The research focused on three-dimensional subsurface modeling of stratigraphy, structure, and porosity, to establish a more thorough understanding of oil occurrence at the Dudley Pool. An emphasis was placed on calculations of potential recoverable oil in order to determine implications on future production possibilities. This thesis also discusses the efficacy of three-dimensional modeling as an effective tool for evaluating, and potentially modifying, production efforts in mature petroleum fields with limited and/or poor-quality data. The modeling and …

Model Of Residence Time And Analysis Of Nitrogen Removal For Two Constructed Wetlands At The Franklin Demonstration Farm In Lexington, Illinois, Emma Singh Baghel

Theses and Dissertations

Pollution from nonpoint agricultural runoff has become a major problem facing our streams and rivers today. Not only are fish and aquatic life affected, but so is the quality of our drinking and recreational water resources. Studies have shown that wetlands have proven to be the most cost-effective and low maintenance method of removing nonpoint or diffused contaminate inputs. The biological processes and removal of nutrients in wetlands depend on the total surface area available for microbial activity in the soil and a certain period of water retention time. Since chemical processes take time, the measure of residence time is …

Ways In Which Participation In Intercollegiate Athletics Contributes To The Learning And Development Of Student-Athletes, R. Chad Good

Theses and Dissertations

WAYS IN WHICH PARTICIPATING IN INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS CONTRIBUTES TO THE LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENT-ATHLETES

R. CHAD GOOD

155 pages May 2015

The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to investigate the impact of Division I intercollegiate athletic participation on the student learning and development of former student-athletes. More specifically, in what did ways these student-athletes perceive gains and losses as related to their overall life and career skills repertoire. The study is somewhat unique considering there is a dearth of qualitative research available regarding this particular research topic.

The study focused on the specific ways in which former …

Effects Of Physical Characteristics Of Urban Storm Sewersheds On Water Quality In Bloomington, Il, Alicia Terese O'Hare

Theses and Dissertations

Increasing urbanization has consequences for surface water quality. Stormwater is a large component of urban water degradation that is poorly understood. Precipitation is quickly transported via underground pipes, from the land to the stream without following water's natural flow path. Studies have correlated detention ponds with improved water quality and impervious surface cover with degraded water quality. However, other physical characteristics within a storm sewer shed including the presence of sump pumps, area and pipe miles may also affect the stormwater quality. We chose 18 storm sewer systems in Bloomington, IL. We measured pH, temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, chloride, nitrate, …

Developing A Fuzzy Expert System To Examine Hazard Analysis In The United States Army, Charles J. Karels

Theses and Dissertations

The research conducted in this thesis is an attempt to determine if there are any biographical similarities between second lieutenants in the US Army who view risk in a similar manner and if so, which are the most significant. A study was conducted using in-group surveys of 72 second lieutenants receiving training in Infantry Basic Officer Leader Course (IBOLC). The participants were provided with two written surveys each presenting a scenario based on military activities. They were asked to evaluate the scenarios and fill out Risk Management (RM) worksheets based on the US Army's doctrinal process for conducing RM. The …

A Predictive Logistic Regression Model Of World Conflict Using Open Source Data, Benjamin C. Boekestein

Theses and Dissertations

Nations transitioning into conflict is an issue of national interest. This study considers various data for inclusion in a statistical model that predicts the future state of the world where nations will either be in a state of violent conflict or not in violent conflict based on available historical data. Logistic regression is used to construct and test various models to produce a parsimonious world model with 15 variables. Further analysis shows that nations differ significantly by geographical area. Therefore six sub-models are constructed for differing geographical areas of the world. The dominant variables for each sub-model vary, suggesting a …

An Optimization Of The Maintenance Assets Distribution Network In The Argentine Air Force, Santiago Hernandez

Theses and Dissertations

The Argentine Air Force Materiel General Directorate is responsible for the supply and distribution of reparable and consumable assets to support the operations of more than thirty different weapons systems. The Materiel General Directorate recently initiated an effort to assure logistic support and to gradually increase the productivity and efficiency of the related processes. The distribution of consumable and reparable assets was a key process identified as inefficient and targeted for improvement, and a recommendation was made to consider organic or private transportation and reduce transportation time in order to improve responsiveness and drive down logistic pipeline costs. This thesis …

Predicting Citizen Satisfaction With Government Services In Belize, Samuel W. Logan

Theses and Dissertations

Assessing the effectiveness of humanitarian assistance and foreign aid has presented a challenge to personnel tasked with these operations. Answering the question "are we winning hearts and minds" has similarly eluded military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. This research presents a review of humanitarian assistance and foreign aid conducted by the U.S. government and literature on U.S. military doctrine regarding humanitarian assistance and infrastructure investment. The research builds upon expectancy disconfirmation theory to determine the strongest predictors of citizen satisfaction with government services. Case study data was collected in Belize before and after a U.S. military humanitarian and civil assistance …

Modeling Navigation System Performance Of A Satellite-Observing Star Tracker Tightly Integrated With An Inertial Measurement Unit, Scott J. Pierce

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation evaluates a navigation system using satellite observations from a star tracker tightly-integrated with an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and a barometric altimeter using an extended Kalman filter. The star tracker measurement accuracy of a satellite is derived. Several system configurations are simulated comparing the performance of the estimate with respect to system parameters of the IMU, and star tracker, as well as comparing performance when providing a remote sensor satellite ephemeris error correction. Experimental observations are used to evaluate the model performance. Additionally, power requirements were calculated for a satellite signal operating in imaging bands, such that a …

Utilizing Illinois State University's Environmental Legacy And Historical Collections To Sustain A Global Future, Melissa Nergard

Theses and Dissertations

The scholarly capital of materials at Illinois State University includes numerous natural history collections from the mid-nineteenth century that hold significant research and historical value. Changes in pedagogical methods and academic leadership, however, created confusion and territorial competition in who would preserve and manage the collections. Consequently some specimens from those early collections have been both lost and forgotten. This thesis used a systems approach to track the material losses incurred when institutional support shifted in the 1870s, and the original collectors and curators left Central Illinois for national interests in Washington, D.C. Yet, historical environmental collections have become increasingly …

Marriage And The City: Fatal Displacement In La Maison Du Chat-Qui-Pelote, Laurel Cummins

Theses and Dissertations

The following is a meta-commentary of the article, “Marriage and the City: Fatal Displacement in La Maison du chat-qui-pelote,” co-authored by Dr. Anca Mitroi Sprenger and myself, Laurel Cummins. The article will soon be submitted for publication, and this commentary contains an annotated bibliography of all our primary and secondary sources as well as an account of the origin of the argument and the process of writing the article. Our article is based upon an analysis of La Maison du chat-qui-pelote, a story authored by Honoré de Balzac within his seminal collection La Comédie humaine. In the …

Prototype For Zion: The Original Provo Tabernacle And The Construction Of Mormon Zion In The American West, Ryan W. Saltzgiver

Theses and Dissertations

During the winter of 2011–2012, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and Office of Public Archaeology (OPA) at Brigham Young University (BYU) conducted archaeological explorations in urban Provo, Utah. The purpose of the research was to uncover and document the extant remains of the Original or Old Provo Tabernacle (OPT; 42UT1844). The data recovered from that excavation was the impetus for the current study. Through a combination of documentary and archaeological evidence, and using Mormon theology as a lens through which to interpret the actions of nineteenth century Latter-day Saints, this thesis demonstrates the important role …

Influenza, Heritage, And Magical Realism In Katherine Anne Porter's Miranda Stories, Katherine Snow Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the devastating scope of the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918, curiously few references to the flu exist in literature. Katherine Anne Porter offered one of modernism's only extensive fictional treatments of the pandemic in her short novel “Pale Horse, Pale Rider,” decades after her own near-death encounter with the flu. Porter was able to give voice to an experience that had traumatized others into silence by drawing on an early form of magical realism. Magical realism's ghosts—everyday presences rather than otherworldly beings to be feared—are of particular relevance to “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” since ghosts “haunt” Porter's semi-autobiographical Miranda …

A Diachronic Analysis Of North And South Korean Monophthongs: Vowel Shifts On The Korean Peninsula, Jessica M. Morgan

Theses and Dissertations

The linguistic situation on the Korean peninsula is one ripe for research. For the past 70 years the two halves of the peninsula have been isolated from one another, thus creating two very different environments for development and change within the Korean language. It is hypothesized that due to conflict, divide, and social turmoil on the peninsula, the Korean language will have undergone a period of change in the last 70 years. This particular investigation looks at North and South Korean monophthong systems for evidence of a phonological shift. Studies of North Korea's language planning (Yong, 2001; Kumatani, 1990) will …

The Greco-Roman Water Catchment Theater: Identification And Distribution, Allison Nicole Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Water has always been a necessity for human beings. How individuals and populations have reacted to, adapted, and manipulated water is apparent in the archaeological record. Ancient urban water systems often utilized a number of components, including aqueducts, siphons, underground tunneling, and cisterns. This thesis proposes that Greco-Roman theaters were utilized as components of ancient urban water systems in specific environments, and that this theater type may be identified in the archaeological and literary record as a water catchment theater. The goal of my thesis was to define, describe, identify, and plot the distribution of water catchment theaters in …

The Terrifying And The Beautiful: An Ecocritical Approach To Alexandre Hogue's Erosion Series, Ann K. Hartvigsen

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the work of Texan painter Alexandre Hogue, and specifically how his 1930s Erosion Series, paintings of wind-ravaged farms during the Dust Bowl, promotes environmental attitudes long before America had a well developed ecological language. It analyzes the Erosion Series in the context of Hogue's personal land ethics and those of his artistic contemporaries, showing that the 1930s series strives to depict the devastation caused by both drought and aggressive farming practices. A comparison of Hogue's work to Regionalist artists like Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood reveals that Regionalists' depictions of land during the 1930s created an …

Illinois Teacher Evaluation Student Growth Component: A Predecision-Making Policy Analysis, Joshua Robert Olsen

Theses and Dissertations

ILLINOIS TEACHER EVALUATION STUDENT GROWTH COMPONENT:

A PREDECISION-MAKING POLICY ANALYSIS

Joshua R. Olsen

122 Pages May 2015

Public school districts in Illinois are going to face massive changes to their evaluation systems in the coming years. Thanks to the adoption of the Performance Evaluation Reform Act of 2010 and Senate Bill 7 of 2011, teacher evaluation must contain student growth as a significant factor, beginning with the 2016-2017 school year. Not only must student performance on tests become part of the evaluation of teachers, but, moreover, teacher evaluation will play a greater role in the hiring, retention, and release of …

Media Policies And The Quest For Freedom Of Expression In Tunisia's Democratic Process, Olfa Rashid El Sellami

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines media policies in the context of Tunisia’s democratic process. It describes and analyzes these policies and to what extent they answer the quest for freedom of expression. The relation between media policies and democratization shows the role of media policy change in enhancing the democratic process and its consolidation. While applying several theories, this study emphasizes the role of free press for a sustainable democracy. The significance of this study is to call attention towards the function and the responsibility of media freedom during the country’s transitional period to be a contributor to the consolidation of policy …

A Mnemonic Topology Of The Eighteen Days In Egypt (25th January-11th February 2011), Sara Verderi

Theses and Dissertations

The aftermath of the eighteen days in Egypt constitutes a moment in which it is possible to study the entanglement between evolving political imaginations, techniques of governability and capital processes of restructuring. Focusing on the stories of activists who took part in the 25th January uprising, this thesis examines the conflicting representations thriving to establish a mnemonic "truth" about a moment of political transformation. In using memory as a methodological lens, this thesis proposes to consider the operational aspect of memory, thinking about memory as a usable knowledge in the present. This approach to memory re-discusses its use as category …