Digital Commons Network^™

A High-Resolution Microscopic Electrical Impedance Imaging Modality: Scanning Impedance Imaging, Hongze Liu

Theses and Dissertations

Electrical impedance imaging is an imaging technique which has the capability of revealing the spatial distribution of the electrical impedance inside biological tissues. Classical electrical impedance imaging including Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) typically has low resolution. Advances in electrical impedance imaging typically involve methods that either increase image resolution or image contrast. This study investigates the possibility of the resolution improvement for electrical impedance imaging using motion, and presents a novel high-resolution and calibrated impedance imaging method called Scanning electrical Impedance Imaging (SII). SII uses an electrical probe held at a known voltage and scanned over a thin sample immersed …

Use Of Thrust Vectors In Support Of The Cybercraft Initiative, Michael Stevens

Theses and Dissertations

The CyberCraft Initiative is designing a framework for command and control of future Air Force Cyber-weapon systems, that autonomously operate and defend the Air Force networks and information systems to provide Cyberspace Superiority in support of the defense of the United States. The fundamental research question of the CyberCraft Initiative is "What is required for a commander to trust a CyberCraft to autonomously defend military information systems?" The Trust Vector model is one method of integrating trust into the CyberCraft fleet. Trust Vectors define trust and distrust between agents based on three components; current and historical data, intrinsic knowledge of …

A Future-Based Risk Assessment For The Survivability Of Long Range Strike Systems, William D. Heuck Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Air Force today faces the challenge of allocating development resources to prepare for future force projection requirements. In particular, the Air Force's core competency of Global Attack implies a future capability that can quickly and successfully deliver combat effects anywhere in the world with impunity. Understanding that the future threat environment is dynamic and that continued advancements by adversaries will likely degrade the technical superiority of today's weapon systems, the need arises for a planning model to direct development funding to areas with the greatest probability of successfully defending the strike vehicle of 2035. Examining this problem …

Improved Hyperspectral Image Testing Using Synthetic Imagery And Factorial Designed Experiments, Joseph P. Bellucci

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of any remote sensing system is to gather data about the geography it is imaging. In order to gain knowledge of the earth's landscape, post-processing algorithms are developed to extract information from the collected data. The algorithms can be intended to classify the various ground covers in a scene, identify specific targets of interest, or detect anomalies in an image. After the design of an algorithm comes the difficult task of testing and evaluating its performance. Traditionally, algorithms are tested using sets of extensively ground truthed test images. However, the lack of well characterized test data sets and …

Hidden Doublings: A Context For Understanding Jean D'Arras's Mélusine Ou La Noble Histoire De Lusignan, Kathryn Rimmasch

Theses and Dissertations

At the end of the fourteenth century Jean d’Arras rewrote a popular folktale. The tale told how Mélusine, a fairy who was serpent from the navel down every Saturday, married a knight and founded the fortress of Lusignan. In his introduction to the tale Jean d’Arras presents the ideas of four authority figures to convince the reader that fantastical things are possible and that his work should be taken seriously. These authority figures are David, Aristotle, Paul and Gervaise de Tilbury. It is the contention of this thesis that Jean d’Arras presents these figures in his introduction to provide context …

Stratification Of Southern Georgia Streams For Rapid Bioassessment Focusing On Differences In Structure And Function Of Black Water And Clear Water Streams, Salini Pradeep Pillai

Theses and Dissertations

As part of a rapid bioassessment project for the state of Georgia, relatively unimpaired reference streams and impaired sites were sampled for biological, chemical and physical parameters, and macroinvertebrates were identified. The metrics, biological, physical and chemical metrics, were selected using Ecological Data Application System Version 3.3.2k (EDAS). Discrimination efficiency and correlations were performed to determine the best metrics that separated impaired streams from reference streams and later on to form the index of stream water quality. Principal components analysis of the selected metrics showed that some of the blackwater reference streams and clearwater reference streams are randomly placed over …

Electronic Media And The Novice-Level Esl Textbook, Jacob Selz Brown

Theses and Dissertations

The past decade had seen a re-evaluation in both foreign language, and English as a Second/Foreign Language, instruction methods due to the new technology available to aide in this instruction. While different institutions have access to different levels of technology, the adoption of basic technology for the classroom will eventually happen in the entire developed world. The purpose of this thesis is to wed the new technology available to a traditional textbook. It offers guided instruction to help a facilitator who may have never taught English as a Second/Foreign Language before, along with the actual electronic media needed to supplement …

Examining Spatiotemporal Change In Neighborhood Crime Using Social Disorganization As A Theoretical Framework: A 10-Year Analysis Of Homicide In The City Of Richmond, Va, Suleyman Demirci

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates both space and time aspects of neighborhood crime distributions using social disorganization as a theoretical framework in the City of Richmond, VA. Neighborhood crime, in this study, might be considered as any type of index crime aggregated to neighborhood level. For the purpose of the present study, however, neighborhood crime only includes "homicide" categorized as an index crime in the Uniform Crime Report (UCR). Homicides in neighborhoods have been realized as rare events, and have become problematic to establish robust statistical models in the literature. With the focus of neighborhood homicide, this study questions the consistency of …

"Shut It Down, Open It Up": A History Of The New Left At The University Of Virginia, Charlottesville, Thomas M. Hanna

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a history of social and political activism in Charlottesville during the 1960s focusing on new left student organizing at the University of Virginia. It is a work of social history that establishes a community that has been generally ignored in traditional histories of the new left as one of the most influential centers of new left activism in the South and asserts that this prominence was due to years of activism by local liberals, civil rights advocates, and students during the city's unique experiences on the front lines of the southern desegregation, civil rights, and anti-war struggles. …

A Bioinformatic Approach To Constructing A Regional Species Pool : Odonata At The Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge, Inga Foster

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Online Issues For Students Seeking Mentors, Rule A. Hiuallah-Messiah

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Commemoration Practices Of The Roman Soldier, Brandon R. Olson

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Predicting Selenium In Pinto Beans Using Linear Regression And Gis, Kristofor P. Parson

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Human Landscape Features And Associated Predator Influences On Duck Nest Survival In The Prairie Pothole Region, Scott A. Abel

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Remote Sensing-Based Study Of Land-Cover Changes Related To Mining And Its Impacts On Marine Fauna : A Case Study In Goa, India, Lisa M. Kuchy

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Instructional Choices Of Mississippi Foreign Language Teachers, Elizabeth Anne Harrison

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to survey Mississippi foreign language teachers in regards to demographic information pertaining to their educational and professional experiences and how often they employ certain activities taken from the Mississippi Foreign Language Curriculum Framework (2000). The data were then examined to see if a relationship existed between specific teacher demographic data and how they implemented the state-mandated curriculum. A researcher-designed survey instrument was developed. In order to establish the validity and reliability of the instrument two samples were taken: Mississippi foreign language teachers and teachers subscribing to the on-line listserv FLTEACH. A total sample of …

Financial Analysis And Fiscal Viability Of Secondary Schools In Mukono District, Uganda, Janet Jeffery Tanner

Theses and Dissertations

Within the worldwide business community, many analysis tools and techniques have evolved to assist in the evaluation and encouragement of financial health and fiscal viability. However, in the educational community, such analysis is uncommon. It has long been argued that educational institutions bear little resemblance to, and should not be treated like, businesses. This research identifies an educational environment where educational institutions are, indeed, businesses, and may greatly benefit from the use of business analyses. The worldwide effort of Education for All (EFA) has focused on primary education, particularly in less developed countries (LDCs). In Sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda increased its …

Shape Matching, Relevance Feedback, And Indexing With Application To Spine X-Ray Image Retrieval, Xiaoqian Xu

Theses and Dissertations

The National Library of Medicine (NLM), an institute in the National Institutes of Health (NIH), maintains a collection of 17,000 digitized spine X-ray images obtained from the second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES II). Research effort has been devoted to develop a web-accessible retrieval system that allows retrieval of images from the NHANES II database on relevant and frequently found pathologies. A comprehensive and successful image retrieval system requires effective image representation and matching methods, relevance feedback algorithms to incorporate user opinions, and efficient indexing schemes for fast access to image databases. This dissertation studies and develops approaches …

Phylogenetics Of North American Psoraleeae (Leguminosae): Rates And Dates In A Recent, Rapid Radiation, Ashley N. Egan

Theses and Dissertations

The scientific discipline of phylogenetics involves understanding the diversity of life in the context of history. Technological advances in molecular biology and computational power have created an exponential increase in the number and kind of phylogenetic studies, allowing exploration of all manner of questions concerning the evolutionary history of a group. This dissertation research is focused on phylogenetic theory and applying these methods to the plant tribe Psoraleeae (Leguminosae; Fabaceae) with an emphasis on North American (NAm) members. First, theory of phylogeny estimation is explored in a review chapter focusing on strengths and weaknesses of phylogenetic methodology. Second, methods are …

Teacher Preparation Reform Efforts: Perceptions Of School Leaders And Teacher Educators, Ann Beste-Guldborg

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of teacher educators and school leaders regarding various proposed reform recommendations to the field of teacher preparation. School leaders and teacher educators, employed at public institutions in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana were surveyed. Data were analyzed statistically to determine differences in perceptions between groups.

The findings of the study indicate that school leaders and teacher educators agreed more often than not regarding the importance of the various reform recommendations. Among the differences between groups, school leaders favored accountability measures and alignment with K-12 standards while teacher educators preferred advancing …

Static From Under The Snow, John Early

Theses and Dissertations

Static From Under the Snow, a creative dissertation, is a collection of poems that discusses perceptions of culture and identity. The manuscript employs a framing poem to open this inquiry into how culture produces an identity that isn't always what it appears to be. The narrator invites an unnamed Asian woman (who, as an immigrant, has expressed a desire to be a part of the dominant white, patriarchal culture) to accompany him as he shows her how he became the man he is, and the resultant disappointment and anger. He invites her to listen to the many voices (poems) that …

On-Line Electronic Document Collaboration And Annotation, Trev R. Harmon

Theses and Dissertations

The Internet provides a powerful medium for communication and collaboration. The ability one has to connect and interact with web-based tools from anywhere in the world makes the Internet ideal for such tasks. However, the lack of native tools can be a hindrance when deploying collaborative initiatives, as many current projects require specialized software in order to operate. This thesis demonstrates, with the comparably recent advances in browser technology and Document Object Model (DOM) implementation, a web-based collaborative annotation system can be developed that can be accessed by a user through a standards-compliant web browser. Such a system, demonstrated to …

Dynamics And Control Of Tethered Satellite Formations For The Purpose Of Space-Based Remote Sensing, Kurt A. Vogel

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation assesses the utility of tethered satellite formations for the space-based remote sensing mission. Energy dissipation is found to have an adverse effect on foundational rigid body (Likins-Pringle) equilibria. It is shown that a continuously earth-facing equilibrium condition for a fixed-length tethered system does not exist since the spin rate required for the proper precession would not be high enough to maintain tether tension. The range of required spin rates for steady-spin motion is numerically defined here, but none of these conditions can meet the continuously earth-facing criteria. Of particular note is the discovery that applying certain rigid body …

Navigation Using Signals Of Opportunity In The Am Transmission Band, Jonathan A. Mcellroy

Theses and Dissertations

Maintaining a precision navigation solution both in a GPS hostile jamming environment and also in a GPS non-compatible terrain area is of great importance. To that end, this thesis evaluates the ability to navigate using signals from the AM band of the electromagnetic spectrum (520 to 1710 kHz). Navigation position estimates are done using multi-lateration techniques similar to GPS. However, pseudoranges are created using Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) distances between a reference receiver and a mobile receiver, allowing the mobile receiver to obtain absolute position estimates over time. Four methods were developed for estimating the cross-correlation peak within a …

No Child Left Behind: The Impact On Special Education Teachers At The Secondary Level, Stacey E. Gofberg

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative investigation was to explore how the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) has impacted special education teachers at the secondary level. Two research strategies were used for this study. First, surveys were given to eleven special education teachers at a southern New Jersey high school. Then, a veteran teacher and a novice teacher at the high school were interviewed. It was found that participants generally endorsed the overarching goals of NCLB, but they did not believe that all of the requirements were realistic for students with disabilities. Based on these …

Bahamian Cave And Karst Geodatabase, And Gis Analysis Of San Salvador Island, Bahamas, Adam Dennis Walker

Theses and Dissertations

A geodatabase and a data management program have been created to store and manipulate cave and karst feature data from the Bahamas. A geographic information system was used to recognize any spatial patterns in the cave and karst data from San Salvador Island. Elevation data for banana holes, vadose pits and flank margin caves were obtained from a digital elevation model and are consistent with values predicted by the Carbonate Island Karst Model. The slope and aspect of the hill on which a flank margin cave is found showed no relationship to cave sizes and shapes, emphasizing the hypogenic nature …

Jobs-Housing Balance & Individual Spatial Choices: A Case Study Of Saturn Workers In Spring Hill, Tennessee, Jonathan Del Bosco

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the jobs-housing balance and the excess commute of Saturn employees in Spring Hill. Until recently, the number of jobs has greatly exceeded the number of houses. In 2005 the balance is about even, however many newer residents are believed to be people who work in Nashville. Many Saturn employees live on the outskirts of Spring Hill and must commute longer distances to work. A spatial analysis using GIS of employee home locations shows that 74% of employees commute is in excess compared to if employees actually lived within Spring Hill. Surveys of Saturn employees shows traffic en …

Critical Leadership Traits And Characteristics Of Rural Mississippi Community College Presidents For The 21st Century, Jan Reid-Bunch

Theses and Dissertations

The development of effective and well prepared leaders is vital to the continued success of community colleges and their students. The community college movement boomed in the 1960s and 1970s, and it is now faced with massive numbers of retirements across the nation. Throughout its history, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) has made leadership development a priority and a central portion of its mission. Leadership roles are changing in the 21st century in America?s community colleges; therefore, we must reflect on our past to assist in directing our future. According to Young and Ewing (1978), a vast majority …

Intercultural Communication Needs Of Mississippi Agricultural Students, Employers, And Hispanic Workers, Rosa Elena Vozzo

Theses and Dissertations

As the inclusion of Hispanic labor in the Mississippi workforce increses, it is necessary to prepare our students to communicate with these workers. The purpose of this study was to determine the attitude toward Spanish speakers, their culture, and the study of Spanish among agricultural students at Mississippi State University. The study also sought to discover cultural differences that could affect communication between American managers and the Hispanic workforce.The Friedman (1997) questionnaire was administered to 204 students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Additionally, open interviews were conducted with 10 participants: four Mexican Hispanci workers, two community leaders, …

A Swarm-Based Model For Increasing Impulse Shopping In Supermarkets, Zeehan-Ul-Hassan Usmani

Theses and Dissertations

In today's supermarket multi-billion dollar industry, impulse shopping accounts for 2 out of 3 purchases. The phenomenon is so prominent that some consider high levels of it to be a disorder in the same group as Pyromania (the impulse to burn things) and Kleptomania (the impulse to steal). Despite the current situation, most retail stores attempt to benefit from the fact that people are impulsive in nature as a way to maximize their profits. In order to improve on current levels of sales, retail stores and supermarkets need to look at out-of-the-box to solutions that may, at first, not appear …