Digital Commons Network^™

The Effect Of Interactivity And Instructional Exposure On Learning Effectiveness And Knowledge Retention: A Comparative Study Of Two U.S. Air Force Computer-Based Training (Cbt) Courses For Network User Licensing, Matthew J. Imperial

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Air Force (USAF) currently employs the use of computer-based training (CET) across a host of requirements. One such requirement is in the Information Assurance (IA) arena and involves the training/licensing of over one-million computer network end-users. USAF use of CETs has been shown to possess a potential for substantial fiscal savings. However, studies investigating the learning outcomes of learning effectiveness (initial learning) and knowledge retention (sustained learning) associated with USAF CETs are lacking.

Perceptions Vs Reality: A Longitudinal Experiment In Influence Judgment Performance, Monti L. Knode

Theses and Dissertations

Government reliance on computer-mediated information has transformed it from "enabler" to "target" which now demands the detection of manipulated and deceptive measures a primary security objective. As people are not inherently good performers at detecting deceptive communications, this study draws on interpersonal deception theory (Burgoon, 1986) and social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986) to measure personal perceptions that influence decisions operationalized as the successful detection of a deceptive measure. Department of Defense personnel (N--119) participated in a longitudinal experiment that measured detection performance before and after training and feedback treatments. Self-efficacy and perceived training effectiveness emerged as dominant factors in predicting …

Training Effects On Judgment Accuracy In A Computer-Mediated Environment, Mark M. Lankowski

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Air Force (AF) has named Information Superiority the core competency "upon which all the other core competencies rely". In order to achieve Information Superiority, deceptive communication must be minimized. According to researchers, deception occurs when communicators control the information contained in their messages to convey a meaning that departs from the truth. This research draws on Biros, George, and Zmuds' (2002) deception research model to determine if training to detect deception will improve a person's deception detection performance in a computer-mediated environment. A longitudinal experiment was conducted with AF participants (N=119) where three separate training plans were …

Analyzing Differences Between Public And Private Sector Information Resource Management: Chief Information Officer Challenges And Critical Technologies, Scott M. Mitchell

Theses and Dissertations

The office of the Chief Information Officer is still new within public sector organizations. Further, the office of the CIO was hastily created by Federal laws that provide only broad direction for its implementation and practice while at the same time limiting each office's power and reach within Federal agencies. Presently, because of broadly defined scope and the newness of the office in the public sector, Federal CIOs now face many challenges and critical technologies in managing their agency's information resources. Private sector organizations have a valuable knowledge base from their CIO office implementation efforts and subsequent operations. This private …

Text Manipulation Judgment Accuracy: An Exploratory Study, Randy S. Wardak

Theses and Dissertations

Deception aims to affect a decision-making process in a way that somehow benefits the deceiver. More knowledge is desired in the area of purely text-based scenarios. Thirty-seven graduate students at the Air Force Institute of Technology participated in an experiment in order to gain an initial understanding of how people determine whether text has been manipulated, and to identify specific areas that may be more closely investigated in future research. Excerpts were drawn from editions of a current-events newsletter that the participants receive on a weekly basis as part of their enrollment in the graduate program. Some of the excerpts …

The Air Force Operational Risk Management Program And Aviation Safety, Matthew G. Cho

Theses and Dissertations

Aviation mishaps are extremely costly in terms of dollar value, public opinion, and human life, The Air Force drastically reduced Class A mishap rates in its formative years. The rate plummeted from 44.22 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours in 1947 to 2.33 mishaps in 1983 and has held steady around 1.5 mishaps since. The Air Force implemented the Operational Risk Management (ORM) program in 1996 in an effort to protect their most valuable resources: aircraft and aviators. An AFIT thesis conducted in 1999 by Capt Park Ashley studied the Army similar Risk Management (RM) program. Ashley concluded that since his …

Multiple Case Comparison Of The In-Transit Visibility Business Process, Michael L. Horsey

Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade, the Department of Defense has developed an In-transit Visibility capability. Despite significant funding and research in developing this capability, the initial deployment in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF) in 2001 highlighted an ongoing problem to achieve ITV within the U.S. Air Force. Initial results from Headquarters USAF initiated studies point to a need to focus on business processes related ITV management. This research employed a multiple case study design embedded in a functional benchmarking process to solicit ITV management "best practices" from leaders in the civilian logistics industry and to identify gaps between their practices …

Participation's Effect On Organizational Readiness For Change: An Empirical Study, Jonathon F. Flanders

Theses and Dissertations

Organizational change management is a principal issue in virtually every organization. This cross sectional correlation study examined an array of variables (i.e., process, personality, and context -specific) that influence organizational readiness for change. Participation (process variable) was related to higher mean scores in each of the four distinct readiness for change scales and explained a significant amount of incremental variance in appropriateness, valence, and efficacy.

Data Mining Atmospheric/Oceanic Parameters In The Design Of A Long-Range Nephelometric Forecast Tool, Richard F. Benz

Theses and Dissertations

The Department of Defense calls for long-range forecasts to aid in the planning of operations. The goal of this research was to explore the feasibility of predicting, one month in advance, the total monthly cloud cover over the country of Afghanistan. In an attempt to reach this goal, the following objectives were achieved: (1) climatological synoptic study of Afghanistan; (2) survey of Real Time Nephanalysis, outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), and surface observational data; (3) examination of teleconnection indices and sea surface temperatures; (4) standard statistical analysis for prediction; and (5) classification tree analysis (CART), In addition, due to current world …

Calculation Of The Actual Cost Of Engine Maintenance, Oguz Ezik

Theses and Dissertations

The cost of military operations has been difficult to determine, yet considered of high importance. The cost of an operation is largely dependent upon the answers to subordinate questions involving the discrete costs of military activities, like supporting individual items, While different cost estimates have received attention from the media, the question arises as to how accurate these figures are, There have been numerous studies performed by the Operations Research analysts to minimize costs while allocating scarce resources, However, the values of these studies are dependent upon whether or not the cost figures used are sufficiently "true" or accurate, This …

Determining The Value Of Automation In Commercial And Usaf Supplier Evaluation Systems, Michael E. Knipper

Theses and Dissertations

The US Air Force has determined that improving the way we manage our supply chain is key to reducing operating costs and subsequently providing better support to the warfighter. One method of improving supply chain management is to streamline the way suppliers are evaluated. This study compared the efforts of private industry with government program offices in terms of supplier evaluation techniques. The expert panel from private companies was identified because of their association with the aerospace industry. Government employees were identified because of their recent contract pre-award and post-award experience. Input was received through the use of open-ended interview …

Satisficing Applied To Simulated Soccer, Jay Packard

Theses and Dissertations

Satisficing was introduced by the economist Herbert Simon to allow for decisions that are "good enough" when there are insufficient computational resources and knowledge to obtain the optimal outcome. Autonomous multi-agent systems often require such decision making because of the complexity and unknown factors present in such an environment. Satisficing has been extended significantly by Wynn Stirling. Through extended satisficing, he has departed from conventional approaches to autonomous multi-agent systems, based as they usually are on the assumption that each participant is motivated exclusively by its own self interest, and will therefore attempt to maximize its benefit, regardless of the …

The Characterization Of The Expression And The Function Of Slrps In The Human Sclera., Janell Mae Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The collagenous network of the extracellular matrix (ECM) contributes to the strength and organization of connective tissues. Interspersed among this collagenous network, are a number of tissue specific proteoglycans (PG's) that are thought to guide matrix assembly and organization through protein/protein and/or protein/carbohydrate interactions. In recent literature, attention has been focused on a small leucine rich PG family (SLRPS) found to bind a variety of ECM components via their core proteins. The family is made up of nine members including: decorin, biglycan, lumican, fibromodulin, proline arginine end leucine rich repeat protein (PRELP), keratocan, chondroadherin, epiphycan, and osteoglycin. Recent studies have …

Control Of Type Iii Secretion In Yersinia Pestis By The Negative Regulator, Lcrg., Jyl S. Matson

Theses and Dissertations

Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of bubonic plague, downregulates the host immune response using a type III secretion system. The activity of the type III secretion system of Y. pestis is regulated by several proteins, including the negative secretion regulator, LcrG. LcrG has been proposed to block the secretion apparatus from the cytoplasmic face of the inner membrane under conditions that do not favor Yops secretion. LcrG has been demonstrated to interact and form a stable complex with a positive regulator of secretion, LcrV. Under secretion-permissive conditions, it is thought that increased levels of LcrV titrate LcrG away from the …

Memory-Based Tone Recognition Of Cantonese Syllables, Michael William Emonts

Theses and Dissertations

Speech recognition has only recently been applied to Cantonese. Considerable effort, however, has been spent in recognizing Mandarin, the standard dialect of Chinese. Prior to this thesis, the only published work on monosyllabic Cantonese tone recognition is from Tan Lee et al. (1993,1995). This thesis is the first of its kind in that it explores memory-based learning as a viable approach for Cantonese tone recognition. The memory-based learning algorithm employed in this thesis outperforms the highly respected and widely used neural network approach. Various numbers of tones and features are modeled to find the best method for feature selection and …

Bounding The Number Of Graphs Containing Very Long Induced Paths, Steven Kay Butler

Theses and Dissertations

Induced graphs are used to describe the structure of a graph, one such type of induced graph that has been studied are long paths.

In this thesis we show a way to represent such graphs in terms of an array with two colors and a labeled graph. Using this representation and the techniques of Polya counting we will then be able to get upper and lower bounds for graphs containing a long path as an induced subgraph.

In particular, if we let P(n,k) be the number of graphs on n+k vertices which contains P_n, a path on n vertices, as …

Time Aliasing Methods Of Spectrum Estimation, Jason F. Dahl

Theses and Dissertations

Time aliasing methods of spectrum estimation alter the time representation of a signal for the purpose of improving its frequency domain representation. Time aliasing allows characteristics of longer time window functions to be used with shorter DFT length. Windows designed specifically for use with time aliasing have improved properties compared to conventional windows. Many previous uses of time aliasing, including overlap-and-add methods of digital filtering, have focused on the elimination of time aliasing effects in the frequency domain in order to improve the representation of reconstructed signals in the time domain and have not addressed the issues associated with spectrum …

Tools And Metrics For Evaluating Modular Product Concepts Based On Strategic Objectives, Matthew Bailey Strong

Theses and Dissertations

The design of modular products has recently become the focus of significant research in the area of design theory and methodology. This focus is the result of increased awareness of the potential power of modularity to achieve certain product objectives. However, there continues to be a gap between the results of academic research and industrial application. The refinement, consolidation, and extension of this academic research would help design teams who are charged with developing modular products to use these academic findings in real world, industrial applications. The research presented in this document focuses on developing design tools, based on past …

Philip Morris Faces "The Truth": A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Persuasiveness Of Two Teen-Targeted Anti-Smoking Advertising Campaigns, Marybeth Mcmurray

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the persuasiveness of anti-smoking television advertisements aimed at teens and produced by Philip Morris's Youth Smoking Prevention Program and the American Legacy Foundation's truth campaign. The advertisements are analyzed rhetorically using Kenneth Burke's dramatistic approach, supplemented by theory related to persuasive advertising, characteristics of at-risk adolescents, persuasive attack, and persuasive defense (apologia).

The analysis indicates that strong central themes present in both the Philip Morris and truth campaigns act as a means of rhetorical persuasion, but are not necessarily rhetoric designed to persuade adolescents not to smoke cigarettes. The truth campaign advertisements contain both strengths and weaknesses. …

Marriage Moments: A New Approach To Strengthening Couples' Relationship Through The Transition To Parenthood, Tamara Gilliland

Theses and Dissertations

Strengthening marriages is important to the well-being of individuals, families and communities. The transition to parenthood brings with it particular risks and opportunities for marriage relationships, yet no interventions have been successful in accessing a large number of couples during this critical time prepare and strengthen them for the challenges of becoming parents. The healthcare system has an established education infrastructure (childbirth education) that interacts with a significant number of couples during the transition to parenthood and has become increasingly open to incorporating relationship strengthening efforts into existing programs. The Marriage Moments program was designed to access couples through this …

Social Integration Of Hispanic Adolescents In A Predominately White Public School., Terri L. Eide

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify those factors that affect the social integration of Hispanic adolescents in a predominately white public school. The sample includes seventh through twelfth grade students (N = 954) in two school districts located in small size Midwest cities. Subjects completed a questionnaire about themselves, their family and their educational experiences. Survey items specifically addressed the student’s sense of belonging to the school environment, their perceptions o f peers and school staff, their social involvement in school-sponsored activities, substance use, and experiences of being bullied. Factor analysis reduced the 64-item survey to eight dependent …

Copper Deficiency In Hl-60 Cells Increases Their Susceptibility To Apoptosis When Treated With Antioxidants., Laura Jean Raymond

Theses and Dissertations

The location and function of the electron transport chain render the mitochondria the primary source for potentially damaging reactive oxygen species in aerobic cells. Normally, the concentration of superoxide anion in mitochondria is controlled, at least in part, by the sequential action of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase. However, when the terminal steps of the electron transport are impaired or inhibited, superoxide anion production may rise to levels that overwhelm the normal protective enzymes. Studies have shown that copper deficiency causes a reduction in the activity of cytochrome-c oxidase, the copper dependent, terminal respiratory complex of the electron transport chain. …

Influence Of Three Soil Types On The Physical, Chemical, And Organoleptic Characteristics Of Two Varieties Of Kidney Tomato Hydroponically Cultivated Under A Panqar Huyu System, Carlos Fernando Yepez Vallejo

Theses and Dissertations

One of the largest problems that face communities located high in the Andres Mountain range is the lack of crop diversity due to the climate characteristics of this zone. Because of this, the Benson Institute created a small subterranean greenhouse called a "panqar-huyu," which in Aymara means "flower garden," that allows cultivation of small and medium-sized crops. This study's objective is to modify and adapt this system to cultivate table (kidney) tomatoes, for which one was enlarged, a drip irrigation system was installed, channels were dug to drain groundwater from the interior, etc. This study was done in the community …

Comparison Of Education Level, Intelligence Quotient, And Higher Education Courses Of Individuals Who Commit Violent Crimes And Those Individuals Who Commit Nonviolent Crimes In Arkansas, W. Andranette Anderson-Blackwell

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine and compare education levels, intelligence quotients, and college courses taken or are being taken by criminal offenders who commit violent versus nonviolent crimes. One hundred males and 100 females from the states' correctional facilities were used as the sample. The sample was stratified according to four characteristics: type of crime committed (violent or nonviolent), ethnicity, age, and gender. The null hypothesis tested in this study was that there is no statistically significant difference, at the 0.05 level, in the educational levels or intelligence quotients of criminal offenders as to age, ethnicity, gender, …

Legislative Voting Record Regarding Independent Pharmacy Ownership In North Dakota, Damian Schlinger

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Social, Political & Economical Environment Surrounding The Development Of The Accountant Code Of Ethics : 1900-Present, Liu Liu

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Costs Of Feeding Guinea Pigs In Two Meat-Producing Populations In The Field And Experimental Station, Sara Taborga Galindo

Theses and Dissertations

The cost of feeding has been pointed out as the most trascendet investment inside a guinea-pig production. The present work carries out with the purpose to determine and to quantify feeding costs, total costs of production and profitability of Tamborada and MEJOCUY guinea-pig populations. In the stage of suckling period, breed and gestation, experimental station and field. The result of feeding cost was 0.05 and 0.03 $US in suckling period (14 days) for Tamborada and MEJOCUY population, in breeding (42 days) it was 0.14 $US in both populations and in gestation (67 days), it was 0.42 and 0.40 $US. In …

Determination Of The Botanical And Chemical Composition Of The Pasture Diet Selected By Llamas (Lama Glama) During The Rainy Season In The Community Of Pujrata, Cristóbal Achu Nina

Theses and Dissertations

Llamas (Lama glama) take advantage of poor natural forage (grasses and others) due to their efficient digestive physiology that is adapted for this type of forage. The problem now faced is the gradual exhaustion of the native grassland (low phytomass production). The vegetation does not cover the dry matter consumption requirements, and less so the nutrient requirements, of these animals. Because of this there is the necessity of determining the botanical composition, pasture selection by plant parts, and chemical composition of what llamas ingest in order to improve these animals' nutrition in the pasture. This study occurred at the Larqa …

Determination Of Seric Retinol Levels In Relation To Consumed Diet And The Prevalence Of Anemia In Preschool- And School-Aged Children In The Communities Of Cuambo And La Rinconada, Imbabura Province, Verónica Chávez

Theses and Dissertations

In this investigation the seric retinol levels were determined in order to relate them with consumed diets by preschool- and school-aged children and the prevalence of anemia in the communities of Cuambo and La Rinconada, Imbabura province, in order to later compare them with reference values. Blood samples were taken from 74 children from the two communities, 30 in La Rinconada and 44 in Cuambo, beneficiaries of the Benson Institute, to determine retinol, ferritin, hemoglobin, and hematocrit. Also, a 24-hour record with frequency of food consumption survey was given to the studied children's parents, making a sample of 56 families. …

Digestibility Of Legumes And Grassy Forages In Guinea Pig Feeding, Javier Americo Campos Villarroel

Theses and Dissertations

With the objective to determine guinea pig digestibility of the nutritive components of Vicia villosa, red clover, and Lolium multiflorum in relation to alfalfa, the digestibility coefficients were evaluated for fiber, protein, dry matter, energy, and dry matter consumption in these three species in a completely random block design with four repetitions. The results showed that for alfalfa digestibility coefficients of 85.7% of the protein and 2806.6 kcal/kg of digestible energy, plus an economic substitution value (ESV) of fiber, protein, and energy of US$0.41 and $0.38/kg and US$0.009/1000 kcal, respectively. Lolium multiflorum had the highest tendency toward digestibility with 60.7% …