Digital Commons Network^™

Acid Mine Drainage: Sludge Dewatering, Metal Recovery And Synthesis Of Magnetite Nanoparticles, Xinchao Wei

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Acid mine drainage (AMD) is one of the significant environmental challenges for the coal and hard-rock mining industry. Traditional AMD treatment generates large volumes of sludge with low solids which are difficult to dewater. In this study, a systematic investigation was carried out on the characteristics and dewaterability of AMD sludge produced from an ammonia neutralization operation, and the dewatering performance of different treatment options. In order to mitigate the AMD sludge problem, a selective precipitation process was developed to recover Fe and Al while AMD was treated simultaneously. In conjunction, a low-cost synthesis approach was examined to prepare magnetite …

The Impact Of Points Of Impasse On Conflict Escalation During The Special Education Conflict Resolution Process, Deedra Jane Lundeen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Current literature reveals the disparity between the knowledge that strong parent-school partnerships are integral to planning and implementing educational programming for exceptional children, and the ability of parents and school personnel to identify and deescalate conflict when it occurs. Several studies acknowledged variables that helped build and maintain strong parent-school collaboration, and identified factors that escalated or de-escalated parent conflict. However, the research is sparse regarding factors that impact points of impasse on conflict escalation between parents and school districts during the special education conflict resolution process. Such information could provide stakeholders with deeper insight into the dynamic aspects of …

Understanding Mindfulness: Implications For Instruction And Learning, Todd Lyle Stoops

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This Dissertation examines the literature concerning Mindfulness as it relates to Educational Psychology and overviews a research study conducted to add empirical research on Mindfulness instruction and learning. The literature review is divided into three categories of Mindfulness which are defined and discussed according to applications and implications for education. These three categories are (a) Mindfulness as a meditative practice for teachers and in its use in teacher education programs, (b) clinical and therapeutic applications of Mindfulness in contemporary psychology, and (c) Mindfulness in Educational Psychology. Established constructs from the literature of psychology and education are related to the concepts …

Learner Satisfaction And Learning Performance In Online Courses On Bioterrorism And Weapons Of Mass Destruction, Tatiana I. Solovieva

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study examined the relationships between measures of (a) learner satisfaction with online courses on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and bioterrorism intended to address the educational needs of responder Communities of Practice (CoP) and (b) degrees of accomplishment by the learner with those online courses. Provided that course design characteristics were similar between courses and that content was different, it was important to examine learner satisfaction with course common aspects in relation to learning outcomes and identify the predictors of effectiveness and relations between the learner satisfaction with the course characteristics and the learner achievement for potential design improvements …

Perceptions Of Directors Of Special Education Related To Their Knowledge And Training, Francis J. Super

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study investigates the perceptions of the knowledge base that are held by directors of special education. The study focuses on one main research question: What is the knowledge base special education directors feel they need to know in the field of special education? Mixed methodology, constant comparative method as described by Maycut and Morehouse (1994) and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, is used to analyze data from a survey and interviews. Survey data was collected from 45 current special education administrators along with in-depth interview data from 6 directors. The interviewees were chosen randomly using selective sampling based …

Effectiveness Of The "Common" Method In Balancing Exhaust Ventilation Systems, Vivek Balasubramanian

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Dampers are used to adjust the distribution of airflows in duct systems. The "common"(i.e., most commonly used) method is to adjust each damper in turn so that the airflow through its branch equals the desired level. Typically, the airflow through each branch duct is estimated from the centerline velocity pressure. To test the effectiveness of that approach, dampers were adjusted on a seven branch, full-sized experimental duct system. After adjusting the dampers for a given condition, the percent excess airflow (%Qexcess) for the system was estimated as the amount above the ideal fan airflow that would exist if the fan …

Software Tools For Real-Time Simulation And Control, Raghu Sankarayogi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The objective of this thesis is to design and simulate a multi-agent based energy management system for a shipboard power system in hard real-time environment. The automatic reconfiguration of shipboard power systems is essential to improve survivability. Multi-agent technology is used in designing the reconfigurable energy management system using a self-stabilizing maximum flow algorithm. The agent based energy management system is designed in a Matlab/Simulink environment. Reconfiguration is performed for several situations including start-up, loss of an agent, limited available power, and distribution to priority ranked loads. The number of steps taken to reach the global solution and the time …

Action Research Analysis Of The Forces Affecting Farmer Participation In A West Virginia Cooperative Extension Service Farmer Education Program, John Robert Edalgo

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study uses action research principles and Kurt Lewin's field theory to investigate the forces dictating farmer participation in the Decision Enabling Data Collection and Management System Initiative (DEDCMSI). These forces were classified in Chapter IV under the following project categories: Hardware, Software, Perception of DEDCMSI, Perception of Technology, and Sociocultural. This West Virginia University Cooperative Extension Service (WVUCES) initiative organized four farm finance groups located in the following counties: Ohio, Jefferson, Mineral, and Monroe. Data collection methods used to identify forces occurring within this seven-month pilot project is listed here as follows: structured, semi-structured, and un-structured interviews. A total …

Software Project Management Plan For System Management Tool (Smt), Diana J. Marrs

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

The University of Kansas Edwards Campus expanded from one building with three computer labs to two buildings with six computer labs, doubling the number of computers that must be managed, yet there is no funding for additional IT staff. The campus will add a third building in the next five years. The current method for maintaining computers, service packs, updates, and software is to manually check them. There is no systematic method for keeping track of license counts and maintaining virus protection and updates. A more efficient method of managing computers was needed. We examined commercial products and determined that …

Economics Of Information Security - Developing A Model For Information Security Cost Minimization, Solomon Ogara

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

In an increasingly global environment, any organization and or individual who seek to make a positive difference cannot ignore the need for an information strategy that would position them to be winners rather than losers in the market place. Given the growing scarcity of resources, such a strategy has to be carefully planned in such a way that it is cost effective and financially sustainable. The internal security measures should be such that they don't consume the resources of the organization and leave it unable to build a sustainable information security base. On the other hand there is always the …

Selecting And Implementing A Large Scalable File System At Mayo Clinic, Charles S. Brust

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

In the healthcare field, information is paramount to making correct decisions. Thus, healthcare organizations have historically kept all possible data, and applied it toward diagnosis, and later to research. In past years, the storage of these records meant large warehouses filled with folders of papers. In the early 1990s, healthcare companies began a conversion to electronic medical record keeping. With this conversion the stacks of records took on a new form: millions of files spread over many servers. The proliferation of these files has, over time, become unmanageable due to the large volume and the aging of support infrastructure. As …

Website Development For E-Gardening Nursery Online Store, Jun Mou

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

This project successfully develops a web-based database-driven information system (an E-commerce website) with good quality. This website is developed for a small virtual online store and the key goal of this project is that the project must be completed at quite low developing cost. The project design and implementation are superior, because the project goal is very well achieved at a very low developing cost, by appropriately using some high-quality open­source resources (such as MySQL, JSP, Java Servlet, and Tomcat server). This website also realizes quite low maintenance cost, because of its effective "code-reuse implementation". In addition, the whole project …

Implementation Of A Browser-Based Application For Students, Parents, And Employees Of The Sioux City Community School District, Dan R. Spahn

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

This paper presents in detail the process taken to implement a browser-based application for teachers, students, and parents of the Sioux City Community School District. The Sioux City Community School District values technology as a force in educating its students. This project encompasses the ability for the entire district, as well as students and parents, to utilize a web­based application to view and manage student data. Before this project teachers had to record attendance and grades on paper forms and submit the forms to the office to be inputted into the DBMS. Students and parents had no online access for …

Wireless Protected Access, Abhishek Neelakanata

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

The researcher identified security issues in the wireless network, and discussed methods and the importance of a securing wireless network. Wireless network encryption in use today were examined for their vulnerabilities and the researcher determined that most of the wireless security features in use today do not provide adequate security measure. The researcher recommended that home or Small Office/ Home Office (SOHO) environment users to make the best of what is available for securing wireless networks i.e. upgrade to WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2), or use WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) with truly random value with minimum 20 characters of PSK …

Inbound Express Reservation & Management Systems, Kei Kagawa

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

This document describes my final project which I am completing at my employer, JTN. This project changes the company client website, Inbound Express, from a static one to a dynamic one supporting B to C with full function to meet the demands of the JTB Travel Network. This document describes the problem, the solution, the methodology and the technique including the current NYC travel industry business trends for 2005, a quick sketch of JTN, the demands of JTN, the network system, the business rules and the final product.

Applying Electronic Commerce To Property Management, Paul Weist

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

This project will step through the business analysis process involving the application of e-commerce usage in the management of real estate. Each step of the analysis process is examined to understand and prove that web based property management is a viable approach. First the current process of property management is evaluated. This normally involves an intermediary, the real estate agent. They assist the buyer and seller in the buy/sell transaction. This is of course done for a fee. Usually the fee is calculated based on the selling price. Requirements of both the buyer and seller are defined and analyzed as …

Marketing Campaign Intranet Portal, Dalene K. Schramm

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

The Avera corporate marketing department tracks the marketing campaigns of the corporate office, four regional Avera hospitals, as well as the small hospitals and clinics in the health system. Currently, the process is very manual with data gathered primarily from the marketing directors and then recorded in several formats including an Excel spreadsheet and on paper. The underlying research question is if proper project management and good portal design can lead to an easy-to-use marketing campaign tracking tool that will be implemented and used successfully by the Avera corporate marketing deprutment and eventually the entire Public Relations & Marketing Committee. …

From “Separate But Equal,” To Tracking To “Choice”: Perceptions Of Different Stakeholders On The Impact Of Magnet Schools On High School Students, Minerva Medrano Villarreal

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this research was to examine and compare the impact of magnet-vocational high schools on the perceptions of seniors from the magnet schools and on those from the comprehensive/host schools. Additionally, the study examined the perceptions that several stakeholders of those schools and of the services and opportunities presented to the students were also investigated. Finally, the perceptions or parents were also investigated.

The Mixed-Methods Design study used several instruments as the primary sources of self-reported data: school district course listing guides, annual progress reports, official district Web sites and literature about district magnet schools. The second component …

How Optional Usage Of The Web Affects Reading Comprehension, Jocelyn K. Tenorio

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this investigation is to consider whether using web-enhanced material improves proportionally students' reading comprehension skills. In addition student attitudes are considered. Two groups of students at the University of Montemorelos, Nuevo Leon, Mexico were chosen as a census: a group of nursing students taking a course on reading comprehension of nursing articles in English and a group of students studying to be teachers of English as a foreign language. Reading selections were uploaded on the internet using the WebCT platform. The students were to read the selections and answer quizzes. The students took a pre- and post-test …

Politics As Usual: Franklin Roosevelt, Thomas Dewey And The Wartime Presidential Campaign Of 1944, Michael A. Davis

Faculty Dissertations

This dissertation examines the U.S. wartime presidential campaign of 1944. In 1944, the United States was at war with the Axis Powers of World War II, and Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, already serving an unprecedented third term as President of the United States, was seeking a fourth. Roosevelt was a very able politician and-combined with his successful performance as wartime commander-in-chief-- waged an effective, and ultimately successful, reelection campaign. Republicans, meanwhile, rallied behind New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey. Dewey emerged as leader of the GOP at a critical time. Since the coming of the Great Depression -for which Republicans …

Uncle Sam Meets Uncle Scrooge - The Temporary Regulations On Foreign Partner Withholding (Part 2), Alan Appel

Articles & Chapters

Part 1 of this article in the October issue reviewed the final Regulations under Section 1446 of the Internal Revenue Code published by the IRS in the federal Register on May 18, 2005.2 In this second part, we review the Temporary Regulations (also TD 9200) and Proposed Regulations (REG-108524-00, with cross-reference to TD 9200) issued at the same time and redeem our promise to offer some comments on the future of this tangled area of the law.

Nebraska Bird Review (December 2005) 73(4), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Fall Field Report, August–November 2005 ... 134

Fall Field Days at Harlan County Reservoir ... 150

Snowy Plover Nesting at Lake McConaughy in 2004 and 2005 ... 154

Suggested Areas for Study ... 157

Index to Volume 73 ... 160

Subscription and Organization Information ... 171

Index To Volume 73

Nebraska Bird Review

Adams, Chris 32

Alexander,

George 32

Irene 32

Amiotte, Sue 97, 136

Anderson,

Kari 31

Riley 28

Anhinga 46, 51

Armknecht, Henry 4, 32, 96

Audubon Society 22

Aughey, Samuel 125

Avocet, American 46, 54, 87, 102, 140

Court Review: Volume 41, Issue 3-4 - Problem-Solving Courts: Do They Create Judicial Independence Problems Or Opportunities Or Both?, Michael R. Mcadam, Kevin S. Burke, Mary Campbell Mcqueen

Court Review: Journal of the American Judges Association

The third panel discussion at the National Forum on Judicial Independence explores the tension between setting up specialized, problem-solving courts and maintaining judicial independence for the judges assigned to such courts. The discussion was led by then-AJA president Michael R. McAdam, a judge on the Kansas City (Mo.) Municipal Court. Panelists were Kevin S. Burke, a district judge and past chief judge of the Hennepin County (Minn.) District Court, and Mary Campbell McQueen, president of the National Center for State Courts. The National Forum on Judicial Independence was supported by a generous grant from the Joyce Foundation of Chicago, Illinois.

Aids And Associated Malignancies, Charles Wood, William Harrington Jr.

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

AIDS associated malignancies (ARL) is a major complication associated with AIDS patients upon immunosuppression. Chronically immunocompromised patients have a markedly increased risk of developing lymphoproliferative disease. In the era of potent antiretrovirals therapy (ARV), the malignant complications due to HIV-I infection have decreased in developed nations where ARV is administered, but still poses a major problem in developing countries where HIV-l incidence is high and ARV is still not yet widely available. Even in ARV treated individuals there is a concern that the prolonged survival of many HIV-l carriers is likely to eventually result in an increased number of malignancies …

Assessing The Relationships Between The Spatial Variation In Land-Use Spatial Patterns And Surface Water Quality, Majed A. Khater

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the association between the spatial patterns of urban land uses and surface water quality parameters at the watershed outlet. The aim of the study was to understand the strength and nature of this relationship, and examine new methods of classifying and quantifying contributing urban land-uses and their spatial patterns. The hypothesis of this research was: in an urban watershed, the variation in the spatial patterns of contributing land uses will have a significant impact on the surface water quality parameters at the watershed outlet.

This relationship between urbanization and water quality is …

Rdr6 Has A Broad-Spectrum But Temperature-Dependent Antiviral Defense Role In Nicotiana Benthamiana, Feng Qu, Xiaohong Ye, Guichuan Hou, Shirley Sato, Thomas E. Clemente, Thomas Jack Morris

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

SDE1/SGS2/RDR6, a putative RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) from Arabidopsis thaliana, has previously been found to be indispensable for maintaining the posttranscriptional silencing of transgenes, but it is seemingly redundant for antiviral defense. To elucidate the antiviral role of this RdRP in a different host plant and to evaluate whether plant growth conditions affect its role, we down-regulated expression of the Nicotiana benthamiana homolog, NbRDR6, and examined the plants for altered susceptibility to various viruses at different growth temperatures. The results we describe here clearly show that plants with reduced expression of NbRDR6 were more susceptible to all viruses tested …

Introduction Of Gerardo Pérez-Ponce De León, The 2005 Henry Baldwin Ward Medalist, Scott Lyell Gardner

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Includes the text for the introduction for Gerardo Pérez-Ponce De León who was the 2005 recipient of the Henry Baldwin Ward Medal through the American Society of Parsitologists. [Note: The award introduction was not given in person due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Dennis in Mobile, Alabama, where the ASP meeting was being held that year.]

Deterrence And Implied Limits On Arbitral Power, Michael A. Scodro

Duke Law Journal

Employment, brokerage, and other contracts routinely include "predispute" arbitration clauses-provisions requiring the parties to submit any and all future disputes to arbitrators rather than courts. In recent years, courts have come to enforce these clauses in the vast run of cases, requiring parties to arbitrate even when the underlying dispute implicates employment discrimination, antitrust, or other "public law" rights. In response to this trend, interest has grown in the extent of courts' authority to overturn arbitral awards that do not give effect to such rights. At first blush, the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) does not appear to authorize any such …

Targeting Osama Bin Laden: Examining The Legality Of Assassination As A Tool Of U.S. Foreign Policy, Howard A. Wachtel

Duke Law Journal

No abstract provided.