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Detecting Hot Spots Of Mountain Pine Beetle Infestations In The Forests Of British Columbia: An Approach Using Local Spatial Autocorrelation, Rodrigo Tapia-Mcclung

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) is an endemic species in the forests of British Columbia that has become epidemic and reached infestation levels like never before. Different approaches have been taken in order to try and manage the forest and understand the processes affecting the behavior of mountain pine beetle. No single model has been entirely successful in unearthing the complexity of mountain pine beetle behavior. In this thesis, large spatial data sets of mountain pine beetle attacks, obtained from helicopter and ground surveys, and further adjusted for the incorporation of uncertainty, are studied using a spatial autocorrelation approach …

Of Fish And People: Managerial Ecology In Newfoundland And Labrador Cod Fisheries, Dean Louis Yelwa Bavington

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation aims to understand the history of, and possible alternatives to, managerial responses to socio-ecological issues by examining one of the largest natural resource management failures of the twentieth century—the collapse of the Northern cod fisheries off Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. In 1992, the Northern cod fishery off Newfoundland and Labrador (the world's largest ground fishery) was shut down. The Northern cod had been reduced to 1% of their historic spawning biomass and cod fishing as a way of life had come to an end after a 500 year history. The dissertation develops and applies a critical theory of …

Harding University Catalog 2006-2007, Harding University

Harding Academic Catalogs

Academic catalog for the undergraduate programs at Harding University.

Electronic And Optical Processes In Fullerene Films, Naomi Brant

Masters

This work primarily focuses on the archetypal fullerene, which is C60. C60 is electron rich and yet can be six fold reduced, taking on up to six additional electrons. Interest in the electrical properties of the solid state C60 were intensified when it was observed that it could be chemically doped with alkali metals, producing a metallic state A1C60, and even a superconducting state A3C60, where A indicates an alkali metal such as potassium or rubidium. Previous work has demonstrated that such a conductive state can also be achieved by optical pumping or by electron injection. The electronic properties of …

Standard Of Care For Residents And Other Medical School Graduates In Training, Joseph H. King

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Demise Of Native American Mascots: It's Time To Do The Right Thing, Joyce M. Wolburg

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose – The intent of this article is to show why the use of Native American mascots, logos, and nicknames by sports teams perpetuates depictions that are perceived as harmful and racist by Native Americans.

Design/methodology/approach – This article examines data from published research, personal correspondence, and essays by Native Americans so that non-natives can understand the issue from the native perspective. It also calls into question previous communication efforts that may have limited the voices of Native Americans.

Findings – By examining the meaning of warriors and other cultural symbols for Native Americans and by exploring the different views …

The University Library: The Center Of A University Education?, Patricia A. Frade, Allyson Washburn

Faculty Publications

During 2001-2002, a formal study was conducted jointly by Brigham Young University's Office of Planning and Assessment (OPA) and the Harold B. Lee Library (HBLL) to determine the value of the library to the university community. The study described in this paper was undertaken at a time when some experts were predicting the demise of the academic library, and university administrators were questioning the need for new building, budget, and personnel requests. This paper will present a description of the study and its results, a comparison of similar data collected two years later, and a description of two new student …

Design And Implementation Of Preparation Strategies For Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System Stakeholders, Judith Josephs

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to provide better access to current preparation strategies for passing the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test. The test preparation strategies did not meet the needs of the students. The students did not know how to use the computer to study for the test and did not know how to study at home for the test. Teachers also did not know of the availability of electronic information to enrich their lessons and increase the achievement of vocational high school students.

The researcher developed strategies to train students and teachers on Bridges Transitions (1999) testGEAR and …

Evaluating Support Services For African American Females At A Historically Black College, Sabrina Ferguson Edwards

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effectiveness of the Women’s Resources Assistance Program (WRAP), a support service for African American females attending a historically black college or university (HBCU). The study included 230 participants. The purpose of the study was to gauge, through the use of surveys, each participant’s knowledge and level of participation in the WRAP.

The participants were issued questionnaires and interview forms to complete during the study. The questionnaires contained 11 closed-ended questions that were designed to determine the participating students’ attitude towards WRAP as well as their level of participation. Similarly, oral interviews were conducted to ascertain the …

Study Of Metals In Leached Soils Of A Municipal Dumpsite In Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico: Preliminary Results, P. F. Rodríguez-Espinosa, D. Chazaro Mendoza, J. A. Montes De Oca, G. Sánchez Torres E., Alejandro Fierro-Cabo

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The Zapote dumpsite measures 420000 m 2 and is 28 years old; an estimated 2.5 millions tons of waste have accumulated on the site (household waste, clinical waste, commercial waste). The thickness of the waste is 3 to 9 meters. Since operations began, no control regulations have existed on the residues received. The Zapote dumpsite is located within a salt-marsh between a system of channels and river lagoons of brackish water, located in a tropical sedimentary environment in the urban zone of Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Recently, the Zapote has been closed and work is presently underway in its rehabilitation since …

Design And Implementation Of 8 Bit Successive Approximation Adc At 1mhz, Sesha Smuruti Akkinapally

Open Access Master's Theses

Successive Approximation Analog to Digital converters (ADCs) are very popular for reasonably quick conversion time and good resolution yet moderate circuit complexity. This thesis describes the design and implementation of a Successive Approximation ADC with 8-bit resolution at lMHz speed in 0.5 um CMOS technology. Design, architecture, methodology and performance of the proposed ADC are presented.

The main features of the Successive Approximation (SAR) ADC architecture designed are very low power dissipation and small chip area because of the comparatively simple circuit implementation. The internal Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) is the most important block of the SAR ADC. Division …

Multi-Model Kalman Filtering For Adaptive Nonuniformity: Correction In Infrared Sensors, Jorge E. Pezoa, Majeed M. Hayat, Sergio N. Torres, Md. Saifur Rahman

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

This paper presents an adaptive technique for the estimation of nonuniformity parameters of infrared focal-plane arrays that is robust with respect to changes and uncertainties in scene and sensor characteristics. The proposed algorithm is based on using a bank of Kalman filters in parallel. Each filter independently estimates state variables comprising the gain and the bias matrices of the sensor, according to its own dynamical-model parameters, which underly the statistics of the scene and the nonuniformity as well as the temporal drift in the nonuniformity. The supervising component of the algorithm then generates the final estimates of the state variables …

Novel Sol-Gel Titania-Based Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Coatings For On-Line Capillary Microextraction Coupled To High-Performance Liquid Chromatography, Tae-Young Kim

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Novel sol-gel titania-poly(dimethylsiloxane) (TiO2-PDMS) and titania-silica-N-(triethoxysilylpropyl)-O-polyethylene oxide urethane (TiO2-SiO2-TESP-PEO) coatings were developed for capillary microextraction (CME) to perform on-line preconcentration and HPLC analysis of trace impurities in aqueous samples. Due to chemical inertness of titania, effective covalent binding of a suitable organic ligand to its surface is difficult via conventional surface modification methods. In this research, sol-gel chemistry was employed to chemically bind hydroxy-terminated poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) and N-(triethoxysilylpropyl)-O-polyethylene oxide urethane (TESP-PEO) to sol-gel titania and sol-gel titania-silica network, respectively. A method is presented describing in situ preparation of the titania-based sol-gel PDMS and TESP-PEO coatings and their immobilization on the …

Control Of Lysogeny In Marine Bacteria: Studies With Φhsic And Natural Populations, Amy K. Long

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Viruses have an estimated global population size of 10 to the 31st, with a significant proportion found in the marine environment. Viral lysis of bacteria affects the flow of carbon in the marine microbial food web, but the effects of lysogeny on marine microbial ecology are largely unknown. In this thesis, factors that influence the control of lysogeny were studied in both the phiHSIC/Listonella pelagia phage-host system and in bacterioplankton populations in the Gulf of Mexico. Using macroarrays dotted with phiHSIC amplicons, viral gene expression over the course of a synchronous infection experiment was measured. Early, middle, late, and continually …

Patterns And Dynamics Of Ocean Circulation Variability On The West Florida Shelf, Yonggang Liu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Patterns of variability and the dynamics of the ocean circulation on the West Florida Shelf (WFS) are investigated using multi-year, shelf-wide oceanographic observations from moored Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) arrays,hydrographic cruises, High-Frequency (HF) radars, satellites, and coastal tide gauges.Novel neural network techniques, Self-Organizing Map (SOM) and Growing Hierarchical Self-Organizing Maps (GHSOM), are introduced as feature extraction methods in physical oceanography. The SOM is demystified and demonstrated to be a useful feature extraction method in a series of performance evaluations using artificial data sets comprising known patterns. It is then applied to velocity time series from moored ADCP arrays and …

Statistical Models In Environmental And Life Sciences, Lakshminarayan Rajaram

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation focuses on developing statistical models in environmental and life sciences. The Generalized Extreme Value distribution is used to model annual monthly maximum rainfall data from 44 locations in Florida. Time dependence of the rainfall data is incorporated into the model by assuming the location parameter to be a function of time, both linear and quadratic. Estimates and confidence intervals are obtained for return levels of return periods of 10, 20, 50, and 100 years. Locations are grouped into statistical profiles based on their similarities in return level graphs for all locations, and locations within each climatic zone. A …

Women In Nontraditional Careers, Teresa Ann Roche

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In a traditional male dominated field such as construction, and automotive technology, artificial barriers and attitudes have often prevented qualified females from reaching their full potential. The late entrance of females into these fields has created very few role models for nontraditional younger females entering these professions. This study was designed to create a profile for nontraditional females working in a male dominated work force. A large percentage of females have experienced some barriers due to discrepancies in gender performance. Acceptance by peers, community and administrators, combined with the challenge of balancing family and career appears to be areas of …

An Analysis Of The Legal Contexts Of Public Education Law: Its Judicial Interpretations And Applications With Regard To Discipline And Special Education And Non-Special Education Students In K-12 Public Schools, Janet Marie Roland

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated legal implications of differential disciplinary treatment of special education and non-special education students in K-12 public schools. It focused on interpreting and applying federal and state education legislation by courts and how various judicial decisions affect discipline practices in public school systems, asking if preferential treatment was afforded to students with disabilities through implementation and interpretation of educational legislation.The historical myriad of complex legislation passed before and after inception of Public Law 94-142 in 1975 was studied, exploring relationships between school discipline of children who do and do not receive special education services. Research included review of …

Precipitation Variability Of Streamflow Fraction In West Central Florida, Michael H. Scott

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a strong interest to develop a method to estimate mean annual ungaged streamflow with varying precipitation. A method was developed utilizing GIS and other statistical analysis to estimate ungaged mean annual streamflow. This method utilizes a normalized streamflow fraction (NSF) method previously developed which relies on drainage basin area, coupled with mean annual local precipitation, to estimate the ungaged streamflow variability. This method has been applied to west central Florida.The test of the method yielded an R squared value of 0.9894, proceeded by a verification that yielded an R squared value of 0.998. This method is believed to …

Spin Polarization Measurements And Sensor Applications In Thin Films And Carbon Nanotube-Based Devices, Jeff T. Sanders

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The unique properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) show a great deal of potential for nanoelectronic devices, spintronic devices, biosensing and chemical sensing applications. Their applicability as interconnects for spintronic devices derives from their one-dimensionality and theoretically predicted preservation of spin current. In this work, we combine an investigation of spin polarization in materials such as half metallic oxides in thin film and bulk form with studies on several aspects of CNTs for sensing and spin transport applications. These two areas of study are intimately related within the umbrella of spin-electronics and nanoscale sensors that are being pursued with great topical …

A Descriptive Study Of Students’ Perspectives On Controversial Issues Embedded In A College Environmental Science Course, Chyrisse P. Tabone

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study described non-science undergraduate majors' responses to controversial issues embedded in an introductory level environmental science course in a liberal arts college located in the southeastern United States. Participants enrolled in this 12-week summer course were both traditional college-age (late teens to early twenties) and non-traditional age student (thirties to fifties). Approximately 76 percent were female. Students demonstrated various lifestyles (e.g., gay, single-parent, living at home), socioeconomic statuses (e.g., middle-income, low income), employment (e.g., employed, unemployed, ex-military) and ethnicities. The structure of the environmental science course was consistent with the science education reform movement standards applied to K-12 …

Community Of Practice As Community Of Learners: How Foreign Language Teachers Understand Professional And Language Identities, Ruth Ban

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to understand the transmogrification of four Mexican foreign language teachers as they participate in a teaching exchange in American schools throughout the United States. Previous research into development of competent membership in given communities of practice points to the need for mutual engagement with other community members, an understanding of the community activity, and a shared repertoire among community members. Framed within an activity theory perspective, the present study examined how the teachers's socio-historical background, cultural tools and artifacts, along with other pedagogical activities, community rules, and division of labor mediated the teachers' understanding of their professional …

Teaching Philosophy And Practices Among Chemistry Faculty Attending Mid Project Workshops : Implications For Reform In Chemistry, Beverly Dee Barker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade over 600M in funding has been devoted to bringing about reform in science education, but little is known about who is implementing reform, the extent of reform implementation and how educational contexts differentially impact reform innovations. This dissertation explores the results of the Multi-Initiative Dissemination Project (MID Project), a national curriculum reform program that was designed to propagate reform pedagogy among undergraduate chemistry faculty in faculty development workshops. We analyzed data from surveys, in-class observations and faculty interviews to explore the relationships between the participant faculty demographic features and their pedagogy and teaching philosophy before and …

Investigation Of Normalized Streamflow In West Central Florida And Extrapolation To Ungaged Coastal Fringe Tributaries, Kim Beth Clayback

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Deriving accurate streamflow estimates for ungaged watersheds provides a challenging task for water resource engineers. Traditional methods include correlation to the nearest USGS streamflow station or numeric simulation of watershed rainfall-runoff processes. Mean annual flow, ten percent exceedance and other streamflow indices can be normalized and non-dimensionalized by dividing by the watershed drainage area and the mean annual precipitation rate. Obtaining non-dimensional parameters can be especially useful for extrapolation of flows to downstream, ungaged, coastal fringe regions. Florida and other states along the Gulf Coast exhibit strong variability in the magnitude of streamflow fraction of precipitation. The irregular patterns created …

Implementing School-Wide Positive Behavior Support: Exploring The Influence Of Socio-Cultural, Academic, Behavioral, And Implementation Process Variables, Rachel Mara Cohen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluated the influence of academic, behavioral, and sociocultural variables on the implementation of Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS), a system intended to improve discipline in school buildings. The number of schools that are implementing SWPBS has been increasing dramatically over the years as school violence continues to rise and solutions are needed to improve school climate. This study examined the relationship between three categories of variables and the level of implementation of SWPBS in three multiple regression analyses. The categories were school demographic variables (i.e., ethnicity, socio-economic status, teacher: student ratio, percentage of teachers who are out-of-field), severity …

The Effects Of Community-Based Service-Learning On Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs About Equitable Science Teaching And Learning, Neporcha T. Cone

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996) and Science for all Americans (AAAS, 1989) explicitly state that all students regardless of their age, cultural or ethnic backgrounds, gender, abilities, aspirations, or interest in science should have access to equitable educational resources in science. These equitable resources also include access to efficacious teachers of all students. However, the Standards fail to explicate what practices, if any, lead to the development of these teachers. The primary purpose of this study was to identify teacher education practices that positively influenced preservice elementary teachers' self-efficacy beliefs about equitable science teaching and learning. More specifically, …

Biomechanical Evaluation Of Independent Transfers And Pressure Relief Tasks In Persons With Sci: Pilot Study, Tony J. Cresta

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Persons with paraplegia who use a manual wheelchair for mobility are at high risk for overuse injuries in the upper extremities. Years of shoulder overuse performing transfers, wheelchair propulsion, dressing, bathing, and household chores, (activities of daily living or ADL) leads to an increased incidence of cumulative trauma to the shoulders. Few studies have addressed the stressful task of wheelchair transfers among SCI individuals. The goal of this pilot study is to develop valid and reliable measurement technologies to quantify shoulder musculoskeletal stressors during wheelchair transfers and pressure relief tasks among individuals with SCI. Using a standard wheelchair, 10 participants …

Evaluation Of The Long-Term Effect Of Inorganic Leachate On Geosynthetic Clay Liners, Darwish El-Hajji

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Because of its low permeability and high swelling characteristics, bentonite is used in various hydraulic barrier systems and in the manufacturing of Geosynthetic Clay Liners (GCLs). Exposure to inorganic solutions containing elevated concentrations of electrolyte can significantly increase their permeability. To enhance the bentonite's chemical resistance to inorganic solutions, the manufacturers of GCL materials introduced propriety soluble polymeric compounds as an additive to bentonite. The resulting materials are referred to as polymer-treated, chemically-enhanced, or contaminant-resistant clays, and are arguably resistant to a host of inorganic chemicals. In this study, the response of both regular and polymer treated bentonite clays to …

Asymptotes And Metaphors: Teaching Feminist Theory, Michael Eugene Gipson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As we move through our daily lives, the cogency of the world shifts and changes. Many constructs exist to explain and account for how we view and interact with our environment. Education is where our understandings become formalized and are challenged. To this end, a plethora of pedagogical tools are made available to aid educators in illuminating the world(s) around and within each student. However, there is always room for new ways of presenting information, concepts, and ideas. I put forth the mathematical trope of asymptotes as a new pedagogical tool. Asymptotes, as metaphor, work as a pedagogical tool for …

A Finite Family Of Q-Orthogonal Polynomials And Resultants Of Chebyshev Polynomials, Jemal Emina Gishe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Two problems related to orthogonal polynomials and special functions are considered. For q greater than 1 it is known that continuous q-Jacobi polynomials are orthogonal on the imaginary axis. The first problem is to find proper normalization to form a system of polynomials that are orthogonal on the real line. By introducing a degree reducing operator and a scalar product one can show that the normalized continuous q-Jacobi polynomials satisfies an eigenvalue equation. This implies orthogonality of the normalized continuous q-Jacobi polynomials. As a byproduct, different results related to the normalized system of polynomials, such as its closed form,three-term recurrence …