Digital Commons Network^™

An Historical Perspective Of The One-Room School In North Dakota, Nancy Loney

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Case Study Of Interactions With Multicultural Literature In A College Freshman English Classroom, Joan Whitchurch Kopperud

Theses and Dissertations

This paper considers the perceptions and interactions of a teacher and students in a college freshman English course. The researcher examined how multicultural literature was incorporated into that course and how students responded to the selections and classroom activities.

The study followed an inductive methodology; that is, abstractions were based upon observations and experiences from the participants rather than deduced from prior theories. Classroom observations, in-depth interviews, and course written documents provided data for analysis.

Based on this study’s data collection and analysis, three themes emerged: First, the teacher’s authenticity as a person and teacher contributed to a meaningful learning …

Gender Differences In Risk Factors Related To Suicidal Behavior Among Adolescents, Rachel A. Vannatta

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify gender differences in self- reported suicidal beh avior in relation to risk factors among seventh through twelfth grade students (N=3,461). Data were gathered from the Survey Instrument of Attitude/Behavior administered in a school district located in a medium size Midwest city. Factor analyses reduced the 100 item survey to fifteen independent factors: cigarette use, smokeless tobacco use, alcohol use, alcohol behavior, hard drug use, marijuana use, over-the-counter drug use, school misconduct, academic difficulties, home environment, miscommunication with parents, unfair/strict rules of parents, sexual activity, forcible sex, and violence. The dependent variables were …

A Latter-Day Saint Home Education: Passing On A Goodly Heritage, Abbie Jane Birch

Theses and Dissertations

Education is examined within the context of religious beliefs and values found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Education is defined as the process of becoming like God. An investigation is conducted into the stewardship and responsibility parents have for the education of their children. This responsibility is determined to be a sacred stewardship that cannot simply be delegated to others in society. All education is shown to be religious in nature. Conflicts between the beliefs and values of different members of society are found to be at the heart of many of the difficulties in …

Use Of Infrared Spectrometry To Determine The Effect Of Temperature On The Description Rates Of Trichloroethylene From Plastic Clay 98b, Abdellatif Fares

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigated the influence of temperature on the desorption rated of trichloroethylene (TCE) from plastic clay. It was expected that an increase in temperature will cause an increase in both the desorption rates of TCE and in the desorbed quantity. Previous studies on other chemicals indicated a faster decrease in the remaining sorbed concentration with an increase in temperature. This research made use of the infrared optical absorption technique. IR spectroscopy was used to measure the concentration of the vapor TCE that desorbed from the soil. The soil was exposed to liquid TCE for 2 days then placed inside …

Modeling Of Ground Water Aquifer Remediation By Pulsed Pumping When Contaminant Transport Is Affected By Physical, Non-Equilibrium Sorption And Desorption, Jeffrey L. Caspers

Theses and Dissertations

This research postulates and demonstrates a modification incorporating rate-limited sorption effects in the USGS SUTRA code for cleanup of a hypothetical sandy aquifer by pump-and-treat remediation methods. Contaminant transport is assumed to be affected by advection, dispersion, and rate-limited sorption/desorption. Sorption is assumed to be either equilibrium or rate-limited, with the rate-limitation described by either a first-order law, or by Fickian diffusion of contaminant through a spherical immobile pore region. Solutions are arrived at by split operator methods for the transport and one-dimensional Galerkin solutions for the solute concentration equations. The resulting model is tested against an analytical Laplace transform …

Analysis Of The Air Force's Clean Water Act Notice Of Violations As A Managerial Tool In Achieving Compliance, Sandra J. Beneway

Theses and Dissertations

In 1988, the General Accounting Office released the report Water Pollution: Stronger Enforcement Needed to Improve Compliance at Federal Facilities. The report claimed Federal Facilities were in noncompliance of environmental statutes at twice the rate of nonfederal facilities. The Air Force chain of command, from Chief of Staff to Commander and Chief, emphasize environmental compliance is expected at all Air Force Facilities. To enhance the Air Force's Clean Water Compliance Program, past noncompliance violations were compiled and an analysis performed assessing the value of the past violation trends as managerial tools in achieving compliance. The database chosen for the analysis …

Use Of Infrared Spectrometry To Determine The Effect Of Trichloroethylene Resident Time On Desorption Rates From Flint Clay, Peter T. Lapuma

Theses and Dissertations

This laboratory based thesis investigated the desorption rate of trichloroethylene (TCE) from flint clay while varying the resident time of TCE exposed to the clay. It is thought that in long contaminated soil, a majority of contaminant mass will become entrained within the interior of the soil particles to slowly desorb out of the soil over long periods of time. Recent studies suggest that the longer a contaminant is resident in soil, the longer the contaminant will take to desorb from the soil. To understand more about soil desorption, this experiment was developed using infrared spectroscopy to detect TCE vapor …

Analysis Of The Potential For Plant Uptake Of Trichloroethylene And An Assessment Of The Relative Risk From Different Crop Types, Roy-Alan C. Agustin

Theses and Dissertations

This research expands our limited knowledge on the influence of plants on the fate and effects of trichloroethylene (TCE), providing a screening tool on which to base decisions regarding the need for actual sampling of plants. First, physicochemical properties of TCE--vapor pressure, Henry's Law constant, water solubility, octanol-water partition coefficient, molecular weight, and half-life--were screened against relationships reported in literature to evaluate TCE plant uptake potential. This screening approach indicated TCE may be transferred to plants via retention by root surfaces, root uptake and translocation, and foliar uptake. Next, the PLANTX model developed by Trapp and others was applied to …

Numerical Simulation Of Dynamic-Stall Suppression By Tangential Blowing, Matthew C. Towne

Theses and Dissertations

The use of tangential blowing to suppress the dynamic stall of a pitching airfoil is investigated numerically. The laminar two-dimensional, compressible Navier-Stokes equations are solved time-accurately using a Beam- Warming algorithm. A slot is located at four different positions along the surface of a NACA 0015 airfoil and air is injected in a nearly tangential sense along the upper surface. Suction control is also employed at one of these slot locations to directly compare with tangential-blowing control. Solution sensitivity to grid refinement, time-step size, numerical smoothing, and initial conditions is investigated at a Reynolds number of 2.4 x 10exp 4. …

The Application Of A Readiness-Based Sparing Model To Foreign Military Sales, Karen M. Klinger

Theses and Dissertations

Current Foreign Military Sales FMS models provide stock levels that result in a very low system availability or a funding requirement that exceeds the overall budget. The purpose of this research was to determine if an inventory model exists that can be used in FMS reparable sparing to provide a more efficient and economical inventory purchase. The Aircraft Sustainability Model ASM is such a model, providing the most aircraft availability possible from a given inventory investment by computing the optimal number of spare parts to buy for each item. FMS data was obtained from two sources - the International Data …

Calibration And Initial Testing Of A New Hydraulic Simulator, Cristian A. Puebla

Theses and Dissertations

In the present research, the flow field associated with the ejection of a crew capsule from the fuselage of a high speed generic aircraft was experimentally investigated by means of the modified gas hydraulic analogy. For this, an existing hydraulic simulator was calibrated and modified to adapt it to the needs of the experiment. The analogy was evaluated for a five-sided capsule alone, and good quantitative agreement with the 2-D shock-expansion theory was obtained. It was found that the size of the model played a key role in the determination of good quantitative data. The analysis of the capsule interacting …

Feature And Model Selection In Feedforward Neural Networks, Jean M. Steppe

Theses and Dissertations

This research advances feature and model selection for feedforward neural networks. Feature selection involves determining a good feature subset given a set of candidate features. Model selection involves determining an appropriate architecture number of middle nodes for the neural network. Specific advances are made in neural network feature saliency metrics used for evaluating or ranking features, statistical identification of irrelevant noisy features, and statistical investigation of reduced neural network architectures and reduced feature subsets. New feature saliency metrics are presented which provide a more succinct quantitative measure of a features importance than other similar metrics. A catalogue of feature saliency …

The Application Of Nepa Requirements To Cercla Remedial Actions, Connie L. Strobbe

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the application of National Environmental Policy Act NEPA requirements to Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act CERCLA actions. Similarities in the documentation and public participation requirements of NEPA and CERCLA include identification and evaluation of alternatives and public participation. Differences include document contents and timing of public participation. This study presented four options for ensuring NEPA compliance at CERCLA sites. Option one included a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement PEIS with subsequent combined FSEIS report for each subunit. Option two eliminated the PEIS, but retained a stand-alone NEPA document for each CERCLA subunit. Option three included a …

The Excitation Mechanism Of Praseodymium-Doped Semiconductors, Paul L. Thee

Theses and Dissertations

This study on praseodymium Pr luminescence in Al_xGa_1-xAs was conducted to enhance the understanding of the excitation mechanism. Pr was implanted at 390 keV with doses from 5 x 10¹² to 5 x 10¹³ cm² into Al_xGa_1-xAs x0.0 to 0.50 wafers which were annealed using the rapid thermal annealing RTA method. Low temperature photoluminescence PL was conducted using an Ar-ion laser and Ge detector. PL emissions of Pr from all hosts include peaks near 1.3 and 1.6 µm which are assigned to the intra-4f transitions of 1G4 yielding 3H5 …

Searching For Plans Using A Hierarchy Of Learned Macros And Selective Reuse, Douglas E. Dyer

Theses and Dissertations

This research presents a new approach to improving the performance of a macro planner: selective reuse. In macro planning, reuse can result in poorer performance than when planning with only primitive operators, a phenomenon that has been called the utility problem. The utility problem arises because the benefits of reuse are outweighed by the cost of retrieving a macro to reuse and the cost of searching through the larger search space caused by considering reuse candidates. Selective reuse contains the expansion of the search space by limiting the number of reuse candidates considered and limits the search required by considering …

Spatio-Temporal Pattern Recognition Using Hidden Markov Models, Kenneth H. Fielding

Theses and Dissertations

A new spatio-temporal method for identifying 3D objects found in 2D image sequences is presented. The Hidden Markov Model technique is used as a spatio-temporal classification algorithm to identify 3D objects by the temporal changes in observed shape features. A new information theoretic argument is developed that proves identifying objects based on image sequences can lead to higher classification accuracies than single look methods. A new distance measure is proposed that analyzes the performance of Hidden Markov Models in a multi-class pattern recognition problem. A three class problem identifying moving light display objects provides experimental verification of the sequence processing …

Embedded Chaotic Time Series: Applications In Prediction And Spatio-Temporal Classification, James R. Stright

Theses and Dissertations

The Deterministic Versus Stochastic algorithm developed by Martin Casdagli is modified to produce two new, methodologies, each of which selectively uses embedding space nearest neighbors. Neighbors which are considered prediction relevant are retained for local linear prediction, while those which are considered likely to represent noise are ignored. For many time series, it is shown possible to improve on local linear prediction with both of the new algorithms. Furthermore, the theory of embedology is applied to determine a length of test sequence sufficient for accurate classification of moving objects. Sequentially recorded feature vectors of a moving object form a training …

A Diffraction-Based Model Of Anisoplanatism Effects In Adaptive Optic Systems, Steven E. Troxel

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a new model for computing the angle dependent performance measures of an adaptive-optics system. By incorporating diffraction caused by the index-of-refraction variations of the atmosphere, the phase and amplitude fluctuations of the propagating wave are computed. New theory is presented, that uses the diffraction-based propagation model to yield optical transfer function (OTF) expressions that are more accurate as compared to current theory that neglects diffraction. An evaluation method for calculating the OTF is presented that utilizes a layered atmospheric model and normalized OTF expressions. The diffraction model is also used to present the first OTF signal-to-noise ratio …

H2 Optimal Control With H∞, Μ, And L1 Constraints, David E. Walker

Theses and Dissertations

H₂ optimization with convex constraints is considered. The optimal order-free solution is shown to be unique through convex analysis. H_∞ constraints with feedforward terms and singular constraints are also allowed. The optimal fixed-order solution is shown to have the same characteristics as a mixed problem with regular H_∞ constraints. Furthermore, these results are shown to hold for controller orders as low as the optimal H₂ order. A numerical method is developed based on analytical gradients which results in sub- and super-optimal fixed-order controllers. The problem is extended to include an upper bound on a mu constraint …

Noise Reduction For Speech Enhancement Using Non-Linear Wavelet Processing, Hassan Dehmani

Theses and Dissertations

The problem of speech enhancement presents many obstacles in the speech processing field. This thesis develops several speech de-noising systems that can be used in the time, fourier, and wavelet domains. We present two thresholding techniques soft and hard. The application of these thresholding techniques to noisy speech data is discussed. The combination of both wavelets and the Fourier domains with noisy phase restoration proves to yield the best results in terms of intelligibility. Informal listening tests were conducted in order to compare the effects and differences between the speech de-noising systems.

Computational Investigation Of An Improved Cowl Concept For Hypersonic Propulsive Nozzles, Mark C. Butler

Theses and Dissertations

The effects of placing a gas generator into the cowl of a hypersonic nozzle/afterbody were investigated computationally. Gas generator mass flow and deflection angle effects were analyzed for two nozzle/cowl geometries; an experimentally validated nozzle/cowl configuration evaluated at off-design conditions and a generic hypersonic propulsive nozzle evaluated at more realistic on design conditions. A combination of Van Leer flux-vector splitting and Roe flux-difference splitting finite volume computational algorithms were used to solve the unsteady two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations based on planar, laminar flow, perfect gas equation of state assumptions. For the low speed off-design cases analyzed, gas generator effects on nozzle …

Effects Of Thickness And Curvature On The Natural Frequencies Of Cylindrical Composite Shells, Jose L. Monteverde E.

Theses and Dissertations

An analytical study is performed to determine the dynamic response, natural frequencies and mode shapes, of deep composite cylindrical shells, including the effect of through the thickness shear strain. The DSHELL finite element program is used to predict the first four natural frequencies and the results are compared to a reference using the Galerkin technique. The program was extended to problems considering simply supported-free boundary conditions. As is well know, the free boundary is rather difficult to represent using the Galerkin technique approach. The mode shapes are created by plotting a surface-contour plot of the eigenvector output from DSHELL.

A …

Mixed H2-H∞ Optimization With Multiple H Infinity Constraints, Julio C. Ullauri

Theses and Dissertations

A general mixed H₂/H_∞ optimal control design with multiple H_∞ constraints is developed and applied to two systems, one SISO and the other MIMO. The SISO design model is normal acceleration command following for the F- 16. This design constitutes the validation for the numerical method, for which boundaries between the H₂ design and the H_∞ constraints arc shown. The MIMO design consists of a longitudinal aircraft plant (short period and phugoid modes) with stable weights on the H₂ and H_∞ transfer functions, and is linear- time-invariant. The controller order is reduced …

Dynamic Load Balancing For A Parallel Discrete-Event Battlefield Simulation, Seth R. Guanu

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates issues involved in developing a dynamic load balancing model for a parallel discrete event battlefield simulation. The research covers issues in task management, discrete-event simulation, parallel simulation, and load balancing. There are four primary issues discussed concerning the design of a dynamic load balancing model. The first issue is processor load evaluation which deals with the calculation of the amount of work on a processor. The second issue is load balancing profitability determination which deals with the decision to load balance or not based on some cost-gain relationship. The third issue is task migration which deals with …

Design And Analysis Of A Mode B And Mode Jd Satellite Earth Station, Dennis J. Hance

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the design, integration, and analysis of an amateur radio service mode B and mode JD satellite earth station. Preliminary designs were investigated to determine the optimum configuration for the earth station. Modern digital modems, cabling structures, an 80386-based computer system, satellite tracking software, transmission and reception antennas, preamplifiers, and sophisticated performance measurement technologies were integrated into a functioning earth station. Initially, component availability and station design dictated the selection and acquisition of the requisite station equipment, integration of the transmitter, receiver preamplifiers, antennas, and computer equipment followed. Preliminary testing of the various components in the integration …

Genetic, Structural, And Two-Dimensional Protein Electrophoretic Characterization Of Normal And Dek23 Mutant Embryogenesis In Maize (Zea Mays L.), Guy E. Farish

Theses and Dissertations

Embryogenesis in maize (Zea mays L.) is a genetically regulated process that gives rise to a large embryo with shoot and root apical meristems, a large scutellum, and five or six leaf primordia. An embryo-lethal defective kernel mutation dek23, located on chromosome arm 2L, affects the formation of the shoot apical meristem, coleoptilar ring, and leaf primordia in mutant embryos. Comparison of mutant and normal embryo development at the structural and biochemical levels should give insight into the role of the dek23 normal gene product in normal development. Fresh dissection, light microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy of normal and mutant …

Portrait Of Michael Corleone In The Godfather Trilogy, By Francis Ford Coppola, Jean Mccrowell

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to show a correlation between the statements and actions of the character of Michael Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather trilogy and the six phases of the romantic myth, as defined by Northrop Frye. During the evaluation the following premise was developed: Michael Corleone can be considered a hero despite his violent nature.

The procedure of this study was to examine the dialogue and behavior of the character of Michael Corleone in the Godfather trilogy. I have demonstrated that his speech and actions show he is what Frye calls a demonic, romantic hero who …

The Evolving Forms Of Humor In The Donald Duck Cartoons, James Earl Smith Iii

Theses and Dissertations

This historically based study involves a variety of critical devices to examine the evolving types of humor in the Donald Duck shorts. This investigation encompasses his first appearance in 1934's The Wise Little Hen to his later appearances in the late fifties and early sixties. Part of this study will focus on discovering just what forms of humor were used and to establish working definitions for exaggeration, understatement, black humor, and reversal and see how they function in the Donald Duck cartoon.

In addition, the character of Donald will be examined to see how he is used as a solitary …

The Relationship Between Receptive Language And The Sensory Measures Of Vision And Hearing, Nanette M. Spooner

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between receptive language, cognition, and the sensory measures of audition and vision among primary elementary students. Thirty-two students between the ages of 6.3 and 9.9 years were placed into one of two groups. One group was identified to be language delayed through special service placement and formal test results in the area of receptive language.

The formal language test administered was the Test of Auditor/ Comprehension for Language-Revised (TACL-RV Cognitive status was assessed by administering the vocabulary portion of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised ( WISC-R). The relationship between …