Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of A High Performance Parallel Computing Platform And Its Use In The Study Of Nanostructures : Clusters, Sheets And Tubes ., S. Gowtham

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Small clusters of gallium oxide, technologically important high temperature ceramic, together with interaction of nucleic acid bases with graphene and small-diameter carbon nanotube are focus of first principles calculations in this work. A high performance parallel computing platform is also developed to perform these calculations at Michigan Tech. First principles calculations are based on density functional theory employing either local density or gradient-corrected approximation together with plane wave and gaussian basis sets.

The bulk Ga₂O₃ is known to be a very good candidate for fabricating electronic devices that operate at high temperatures. To explore the properties of …

Risk Assessment For Invasive Exotic Plants Using Multi-Criteria Risk Models, Lindsey Marie Shartell

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Invasive exotic plants have altered natural ecosystems across much of North America. In the Midwest, the presence of invasive plants is increasing rapidly, causing changes in ecosystem patterns and processes. Early detection has become a key component in invasive plant management and in the detection of ecosystem change. Risk assessment through predictive modeling has been a useful resource for monitoring and assisting with treatment decisions for invasive plants.

Predictive models were developed to assist with early detection of ten target invasive plants in the Great Lakes Network of the National Park Service and for garlic mustard throughout the Upper Peninsula …

Real-World Context, Interest, Understanding, And Retention, Annikka Chrestensen

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This study investigated the use of real-world contexts during instruction in a high school physics class - through building file folder bridges- and the resulting effect upon student interest in the subject matter, level of understanding, and degree of retention. In particular, the study focused upon whether increases in student interest were attained through the use of real-world contexts, and if the elevated interest level led to a higher degree of subject matter understanding than would be achieved using more traditional teaching methods. The study also determined whether using real-world contexts ultimately resulted in achievement of greater levels of knowledge …

Regulation Issues And Prediction Of Natural Estrogen Loads For Wastewater Treatment Plants, Michelle E. Jarvie

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

No abstract provided.

Temperature Effect On Tert-Butyl Alcohol (Tba) Biodegradation Kinetics In Hyporheic Zone Soils, M. H. Greenwood, Ronald C. Sims, J. E. Mclean, W. J. Doucette

Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

Background

Remediation of tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) in subsurface waters should be taken into consideration at reformulated gasoline contaminated sites since it is a biodegradation intermediate of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE), and tert-butyl formate (TBF). The effect of temperature on TBA biodegradation has not been not been published in the literature.

Methods

Biodegradation of [U ¹⁴C] TBA was determined using hyporheic zone soil microcosms.

Results

First order mineralization rate constants of TBA at 5°C, 15°C and 25°C were 7.84 ± 0.14 × 10^-3, 9.07 ± 0.09 × 10^-3, and 15.3 ± 0.3 …

Mental And Physical Conditions Encountered In Child Protection And Juvenile Justice, 2007 Edition, Gregg Wright, Victoria Weisz, Christine Wiklund

Center on Children, Families, and the Law (and Related Organizations): Publications

Any grouping of mental and physical conditions risks overemphasizing or mischaracterizing distinctions between mind and body, between thought and emotion, between environment and heredity, even between causes and symptoms. For convenience, and to reflect common usage, we have chosen to group chapters in this book under five headings: Physical Problems, Cognitive Problems, Emotional and Behavioral Problems, Assessments, and Therapies.

Hydrodynamics Of Topographically Closed Lakes In The Ethio-Kenyan Rift: The Case Of Lakes Awassa And Naivasha

Journal of Spatial Hydrology

The hydrodynamics and the long-term water balance of two topographically closed crater lakes is presented in a comparative manner using a spread-sheet hydrological model. The main objective of the work is to study the role of groundwater and the effect of water abstraction from lakes Awassa and Naivasha. The rationale of selection of the two lakes separated by thousands of kilometers is the striking similarity of their hydrogeological and geomorphological setting and future intended water uses for large-scale abstraction from the lakes and feeder rivers. The net groundwater outflow from Lake Awassa and the effect of water abstraction from Lake …

Converting Brownfield Environmental Negatives Into Energy Positives, Steven Ferrey

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

There is a new paradigm for evaluating landfills. While landfills are contaminated repositories of hazardous wastes, they also are brownfields that can be redeveloped for renewable energy development. It is possible to view landfills through a new lens: As endowed areas of renewable energy potential that can be magnets for a host of renewable development incentives. Landfills also are critical resource areas for the control of greenhouse gases. Landfill materials decompose into methane, a greenhouse gas that is more than twenty times more potent -- molecule for molecule -- than carbon dioxide. This Article traces the molecular composition of waste …

Laws Against Bubbles: An Experimental-Asset-Market Approach To Analyzing Financial Regulation, Erik F. Gerding

Faculty Scholarship

This article analyzes the effectiveness of proposed and actual securities, financial, and tax laws designed to prevent, or dampen the severity of asset price bubbles, including laws designed to mitigate excessive speculation. The article employs experimental asset market research to measure the effectiveness of these anti-bubble laws in correcting mispricings. Experimental asset markets represent complex simulations of stock markets in which subjects trade securities over a computer network. These markets allow scholars to test causal links between legal policies and market effects in ways that empirical research alone cannot. With these virtual markets, researchers can identify asset price bubbles-when prices …

Wireless Video Telephony Performance Enhancements: Towards Applied Network Engineering Approach, Justin Madigan, Fei Hu

Articles

The aim of this network engineering research is to improve video transmission performance (such as end-to-end delay) in video telephony applications in cellular network scenarios. There exists a definite need for quality-of-service (QoS) and guaranteed throughput when using streaming media. However, in wireless environments where resources are precious, this is often not possible, especially with a large user base that is communicating simultaneously. Not only does traffic load pose a problem, but also the inherent instability of the radio links makes the task considerably more difficult. This presents the need for a new method for undertaking the task of wireless …

Decision Theoretic Agent Design For Personal Rapid Transit Systems, Iheanyi Umez-Eronini, Ferat Sahin

Articles

This paper details a learning decision-theoretic intelligent agent designed to solve the problem of guiding vehicles in the context of Personal Rapid Transit (PRT). The intelligent agents are designed using Bayesian Decision Networks. The agents are designed to utilize the known methods of machine learning with Bayesian Networks (BN): parameter learning and structure learning. In addition, a new method of machine learning with BNs, termed utility learning in this paper, is introduced. BN software for Matlab is used to realize the proposed agent. Additional software is written to simulate the PRT problem using various intelligent agents that utilize one or …

The Acs Virgo Cluster Survey Xii: The Luminosity Function Of Globular Clusters In Early Type Galaxies, Andrés Jordán, Dean Mclaughlin, Patrick Côté, Laura Ferrarese, Eric W. Peng, Simona Mei, Daniela Villegas, David Merritt, John L. Tonry, Michael J. West

Articles

We analyze the luminosity function of the globular clusters (GCs) belonging to the early-type galaxies observed in the ACS Virgo Cluster Survey. We have obtained maximum likelihood estimates for a Gaussian representation of the globular cluster luminosity function (GCLF) for 89 galaxies. We have also fit the luminosity functions with an “evolved Schechter function”, which is meant to reflect the preferential depletion of low-mass GCs, primarily by evaporation due to two-body relaxation, from an initial Schechter mass function similar to that of young massive clusters in local starbursts and mergers. We find a highly significant trend of the GCLF dispersion …

Individual Differences And The Impact Of Forward And Backward Causal Relations On The Online Processing Of Narratives, Stephen W. Briner, Christopher A. Kurby, Danielle S. Mcnamara

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper investigated the impact of causality on reading time by examining the contributions of forward antecedent and backward consequence connections. Undergraduate students read four narrative texts, sentence by sentence. Reading times for each sentence were regressed onto the number of antecedents connecting forward to a sentence and backward to prior sentences. Overall, forward antecedents and backward consequences explained unique variance in reading times, with increases in antecedents and consequences predicting decreases in reading time. However, causal consequences did not contribute unique variance to participants with higher literature knowledge. Further, the presence of forward antecedents significantly attenuated reading time differences …

More Complex Photogrammetry Projects, Andrew Davidhazy

Articles

Photography can be used for more than simply recording subjects and this article describes how it might be used in a science classroom as the basis for making measurements "on a shoestring". Added here in April 2007 although probably written in the early 1980s.

The Relationship Between Level Of Empathy And Stress Contagion, Heather Lynn Kirby

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Although potential benefits associated with social support are well documented, it is also the case that social networks expose an individual to the stressful life events of others. Studies have shown that the stressful life events of others are positively related to negative affect. It has been theorized by several researchers that relationships between, for example, stressful life events of others and negative affect are evidence of a stress contagion process that may occur through empathy. The current study addressed this idea by testing whether the positive relationship that exists between network stress and depressive symptoms varied dependent upon (ie. …

Spatial And Temporal Relationships Of Adult Male Black Bears To Roads In Northwest Montana, 2003-2004, Tonya Chilton-Radandt

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Chilton-Radandt, Tonya. M.S., Autumn 2006 Spatial and Temporal Relationships of Adult Male Black Bears to Roads in Northwest Montana Chairperson: Dr. Elizabeth Crone Roads have direct and indirect consequences for wildlife. Vehicle collisions are a direct cost of roads on wildlife. Indirectly, roads may increase mortality of game species by increasing hunting pressure along these roads. Adult male black bears (Ursus americanus) are the most desirable age and sex class to many hunters, which may lead to over-harvest of this sex and age class. Road closures (permanently closing or seasonally restricting roads) are used to mitigate impacts of roads on …

Reducing Dental Mercury Discharge In Missoula, Montana: Collaborative Opportunities, Jamie Elaine Silberberger

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this paper is to provide assistance in developing a program to control the release of dental mercury amalgam in Missoula, Montana. To do this, three research components were carried out. The first consisted of a survey to determine whether Missoula dentists are following the American Dental Association’s (ADA) recommended Best Management Practices (BMPs) for mercury amalgam waste. The second component involved interviewing local dentists in an effort to include their voice in the process, as well as to determine what may motivate them to comply with a dental mercury control program. The final component of research involved …

A Return To Descartes: Property, Profit, And The Corporate Ownership Of Animals, Darian M. Ibrahim

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Practical Approaches To Treating Patients With Bipolar Disorder, Jane E. Neu, Susan M. Denisco

Nursing Faculty Publications

Many patients present to a primary care setting with symptoms of a mood disorder. These symptoms may be indicative of an anxiety disorder or a depressive disorder, but they may also represent bipolar disorder, which is more common than many practitioners think. Correctly diagnosing bipolar disorder can be complex, because patients tend to seek treatment when they are experiencing the symptoms of depression or anxiety rather than mania or hypomania. Comorbid disorders such as substance abuse and anxiety disorders may complicate the clinical presentation. Failing to correctly diagnose bipolar disorder can have serious consequences in terms of patients' morbidity and …

From Immunity To Impunity: Charles Taylor And The Special Court For Sierra Leone, James L. Miglin

Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies

The indictment and arrest of Charles Taylor for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed while Taylor was President of Liberia mark a significant development in the accountability of Heads of State. Yet the process by which the Special Court for Sierra Leone indicted Taylor and then attempted to have him arrested and delivered to the Court, as well as the Appeals Chamber’s analysis of the legality of the indictment, revealed serious flaws and deficiencies. The Appeals Chamber misconstrued the legal foundation of the Special Court in deciding that Taylor, as a sitting Head of State, was not entitled to …

Externalizing The Duty: A Cause Of Action Where Crown Failure To Consult First Nations Results In Third Party Loss, Ashley B. Ayliffe

Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies

The decision-making process underlying Crown authorization of natural resource industry activity may trigger an obligation on the part of the Crown to consult First Nations. Consultation must accord with constitutional standards. Non-compliance can result in restriction of previously authorized third party undertakings. This can be costly and harmful to the industry. This paper assesses the prospects of a cause of action against the Crown in negligence as a potential avenue of compensation for third parties who suffer loss as a result of inadequate Crown consultation. The analysis incorporates relevant facts from several recent cases regarding ‘Haida motions’ and concludes that, …

Sobeys Group Inc. V. Nova Scotia (Attorney General), 2006 248 N.S.R. (2d) 149 (S.C.), Ryan O'Connor

Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies

The debate over Sunday shopping in Nova Scotia, Canada’s last bastion of Sunday closing laws, has polarized the province during the last half-decade. Traditionalists supported the status quo for, inter alia, religious reasons, to reject consumerism, or to protect workers. These individuals were pitted against business groups, who favoured a market-based approach to determining retail hours; and some citizens, who desired greater consumer choice. It not often that a curt first-instance decision on an application challenging the validity of an order-in-council might warrant the attention of a case comment. Nevertheless, the decision of Richard J. in Sobeys Group Inc. v. …

The Poverty Of Posner's Pragmatism: Balancing Away Liberty After 9/11, David Cole

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This review of Richard Posner's Not a Suicide Pact: The Constitution in a Time of National Emergency argues that Posner's particular brand of pragmatic utilitarianism is particularly ill-suited to constitutional interpretation, as it seems to negate the very idea of precommitment that is so essential to constitutionalism. Instead, Posner treats the Constitution as little more than an invitation to pragmatic policy judgment, and then employs that judgment through speculative cost-benefit balancing to find constitutionally unobjectionable most of what the Bush Administration has done thus far in the war on terror, including coercive interrogation, incommunicado detention, warrantless wiretapping, and ethnic profiling. …

Use And Macro-Molecular Structure Of Silica Polyamine Composites, William J. Gleason

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The use and macro-molecular structure of silica polyamine composites was examined through a series of experiments. Precious metals were removed from both prepared and industrial solutions to gain familiarity with the composites and to develop separation procedures. A number of methods were developed to utilize the properties of the silica polyamine composites in separating and recovering precious metals in a variety of circumstances. Using a gold sulfate leachate developed at the Center for Advanced Mineral and Metallurgical Processing, gold was removed from solution and subsequently recovered from the composites using several methods, the most successful being a cyanide stripping regimen. …

Seismic Reflection And Gravity Constraints On The Bedrock Configuration In The Greater East Missoula Area, Frank Janiszewski

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The greater East Missoula, MT area is the site of numerous studies to track possible groundwater contamination from the EPA Superfund Site at the Milltown Dam. The accuracy of these groundwater models depends on many factors, one of which is the accuracy to which the bedrock topography is mapped. Currently, a map based heavily on a gravity survey provides the most detailed map of the bedrock. The accuracy of this map may be improved through the use of seismic reflection techniques, better estimates of the density contrast used in the gravity modeling, and by extending the gravity survey to include …

A Venture In Native American Shield Making, Mary Margaret Hinojosa

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Hinojosa, Mary, Master of Arts, Summer 2007 Integrated Arts and Education Change in Focus Chairperson: Dr. Randy Bolton Our school district has an exceptionally low rate of parental involvement in the educational process of our students. Establishing a “Parent Corner” in the lobby of our school would aid in the solution of this dilemma. What a perfect undertaking for a final project. The intent of this project would be to make parents feel welcome, comfortable and a part of their child’s educational experience. From the beginning it was apparent things were not going to work out as planned. Some items …

Umfc #66 A Comprehensive Case Report, Jeffery Adam Schiel

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

University of Montana Forensic Case #66 has been used as a teaching tool for many years. Little written information is available on the origin of this case. Information on the date of recovery is not available, nor are the circumstances surrounding the recovery. My goal in this report is to understand more about this case, particularly age at death, ancestry, and pathology. This case is particularly intriguing because it presents a textbook example of osteomyelitis, a pathological condition. Additionally, it is of significance to the history of the area because of its recovery in the state of Montana. As a …

The Use Of Mathematics Dialogues To Support Student Learning In High School Prealgebra Classes, Susann Meachelle Bradford

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study explored the use of mathematics dialogue activities as an intervention for low achieving mathematics students. These activities consisted of short scripts that portrayed mathematics students working together to solve problems like those in their lessons. These were accompanied by discussion questions and mathematics problems intended to facilitate student discourse in small groups. This intervention strategy was based on the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics, which recommends the use of teaching methods that provide opportunities for student discourse. The purpose of the study was to help teachers and schools identify whether the use of discourse could provide an effective …

Probing Isoforms Of The Prion Protein Through Tyrosine Nitration, Christopher William Lennon

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The prion protein (PrP) has multiple stable isoforms. When PrP misfolds, it aggregates and causes neurological disease and death in mammals. The structure of the non-pathogenic isoform has been determined while the structures of the disease related isoforms are unknown. The nitration labeling patterns of three PrP isoforms with peroxynitrite and tetranitromethane, as detected by mass spectrometry, are reported. Two conserved tyrosine residues (tyrosines 149 and 150) are not labeled by either reagent in the normal cellular form of the prion protein but these residues become reactive after the protein has been converted to one of two aggregated isoforms. Another …

Public Relations In Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide To Establishing Public Relations Programs In Nonprofit Settings, Megan Kate Gale

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Public relations has become an increasingly popular topic in the nonprofit community, and the demand for developing piblic relations as a core competency has increased as well. Since many nonprofit organization have limited time and resources for developing fuull-scale public relations programs, many rely on information obtained during one-day workshops or conference presentations presented by public relations professionals who have little or no experience with the concerns of the nonprofit setting. Using a program planning model, this paper describes how nonprofit organizations can increase the capacity and effectiveness of their public relations efforts by building relationships with key stakeholders.