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2007

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The Expert Ceiling In Epistemological Beliefs, Lucy Barnard Jan 2007

The Expert Ceiling In Epistemological Beliefs, Lucy Barnard

Essays in Education

Paulsen and Wells (1998) stated that, “it seems unlikely that substantial differences in epistemological beliefs across domains would persist in studies of faculty or other more advanced experts,” (p. 380). This statement implies the existence of an upper limit or ceiling effect in the epistemological beliefs among experts. Faculty members are ostensibly considered experts in their fields of study. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in the epistemological beliefs of faculty members as a matter of gender and academic discipline while controlling for years of experience in higher education so as to discern whether the hypothesis that …


Differentiated Instruction: Flexibility Without Breaking, Shellie Hipsky Jan 2007

Differentiated Instruction: Flexibility Without Breaking, Shellie Hipsky

Essays in Education

Teachers are often challenged by the wide variety of student’s ability levels and backgrounds. This essay reflects on the practical strategies for classroom teachers to differentiate lessons to meet the needs of all students. Suggestions and approaches include: tiered instruction, flexible grouping, anchor activities, and learning contracts.


Heavy Mineral Analysis Of The Pecan Island Complex, Louisiana Chenier Plain, Southwest Louisiana, Cherie' Jenae Lee Jan 2007

Heavy Mineral Analysis Of The Pecan Island Complex, Louisiana Chenier Plain, Southwest Louisiana, Cherie' Jenae Lee

LSU Master's Theses

This study reports the results of a heavy mineral analysis of samples from Pecan Island and associated ridges on the Louisiana Chenier Plain. The goal of the study is to provide additional insight on the origins of the sand comprising the ridges. Chenier plains are multi-membered, progradational ridge-interridge mudflat sequences (Augustinus, 1989). The various suggested sources of the sand grains include: the Mississippi River, especially the Teche sub-delta; the Mermentau and Calcasieu Rivers; and the reworking of older mudflat and chenier ridges. Several liters of sand were collected from a depth of 0.5 to 2.0 meters at locations near the …


Secure Image Processing, Nan Hu Jan 2007

Secure Image Processing, Nan Hu

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

In todays heterogeneous network environment, there is a growing demand for distrusted parties to jointly execute distributed algorithms on private data whose secrecy needed to be safeguarded. Platforms that support such computation on image processing purposes are called secure image processing protocols. In this thesis, we propose a new security model, called quasi information theoretic (QIT) security. Under the proposed model efficient protocols on two basic image processing algorithms linear filtering and thresholding are developed. For both problems we consider two situations: 1) only two parties are involved where one holds the data and the other possesses the processing algorithm; …


Study Of Half-Order Bod Reactions, Nicole Plauche Lirette Jan 2007

Study Of Half-Order Bod Reactions, Nicole Plauche Lirette

LSU Master's Theses

Appropriate modeling of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, BOD, is an important part of understanding the character of a wastewater. Much necessary information is gleaned and extracted from the kinetic equation chosen for modeling, especially when a BOD model is included in a dissolved oxygen model. Some information includes the ultimate level of BOD exerted, the rate the BOD demand for dissolved oxygen is exerted, and the critical time at which the minimum level of dissolved oxygen occurs. Although widely used, the first-order kinetic BOD model is not suited for all situations. In some instances, as is the case with constituents found …


Measuring Skeletal Kinematics With Accelerometers On The Skin Surface, Kevin Curtis Ayer Jan 2007

Measuring Skeletal Kinematics With Accelerometers On The Skin Surface, Kevin Curtis Ayer

LSU Master's Theses

The most common motion analysis method uses cameras to track the position of markers on bodily surfaces over time. Although each species has a common skeletal frame to reference recorded motions, the soft tissue covering each is not rigid. Markers, therefore, experience motion relative to the bone and do not accurately portray underlying bone activity. This limits clinical use of motion studies and the understanding of joint motion. Use of MEMS accelerometers for removing soft tissue artifact, motion relative to the bone, from surface measurements and determining the position of the underlying bone was investigated. An animal limb was modeled …


Environmental Factors Influencing The Siting Of Temporary Housing In Orleans Parish, Philip J. Chandler Jan 2007

Environmental Factors Influencing The Siting Of Temporary Housing In Orleans Parish, Philip J. Chandler

LSU Master's Theses

The disaster in New Orleans due to Hurricane Katrina showcased the city's many environmental problems. The industrial history of the city, subsidence of the city causing it to be below sea-level, and the fact that the city is protected by levees and pumps were critical elements of the disaster and played a large role in the emergency response. The disaster led to an enormous emergency response by many entities, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has the lead in these actions. In response to the large number of homes being flooded and unlivable in Orleans Parish, FEMA implemented its …


Interrelationships Between Demographic, Psychosocial, And Academic Characteristics And Ged Attainment Among At-Risk Youth, Judith L. Rhodes Jan 2007

Interrelationships Between Demographic, Psychosocial, And Academic Characteristics And Ged Attainment Among At-Risk Youth, Judith L. Rhodes

LSU Master's Theses

This exploratory-descriptive research examines demographic, psychosocial, and academic characteristics of at-risk youth (N = 111) who attempted the General Educational Development (GED) Tests. Among students who passed and did not pass the GED Tests, numerous significant relationships emerged. Non-passers were more likely than passers to leave school for academic environment reasons (t = 2.21, df = 109, p < .05). As compared with those who passed the GED Tests, a greater number of moderately strong interrelationships among demographic, psychosocial, and academic characteristics emerged among students who did not pass. Most notably, for non-passers, significantly strong and positive relationships emerged between academic environment reasons for leaving school and two other variables: family reasons for leaving school (r = .55, p < .01) and psychosocial reasons for leaving school (r = .57, p < .05). In addition, a very strong and negative interrelationship emerged among non-passers between academic environment reasons for leaving school and the poverty indicator of status (r = -.68, p < .01). A multivariate perspective is critical for increasing knowledge regarding the social problem of dropout. Such knowledge is crucial for research and policy formation at the local, state, and national levels as well as for school social work practice and education.


Biogeomorphic Evaluation Of Caminada-Moreau Maritime Beach Ridges With Respect To Future Restoration Initiatives, Hannon Didier Jan 2007

Biogeomorphic Evaluation Of Caminada-Moreau Maritime Beach Ridges With Respect To Future Restoration Initiatives, Hannon Didier

LSU Master's Theses

Restoration efforts within the coastal zone of southern Louisiana have assumed greater importance in the wake of recent storms and ever increasing sea level rise. A poorly studied geomorphic structure known as the Caminada-Moreau maritime beach ridge complex exists along the southeastern Louisiana coastline between Grand Isle and the Port of Fourchon. Active subsidence in the area has reduced the overall elevation of these structures, decreasing the live cover of its most noticeable feature, stands of Quercus virginiana (live oak), along the ridge spines. Elevation data was gathered along and across four randomly selected ridges in the study area with …


Chumming On The Chesapeake Bay And Complexity Theory: Why The Precautionary Principle, Not Cost-Benefit Analysis, Makes More Sense As A Regulatory Approach, Hope M. Babcock Jan 2007

Chumming On The Chesapeake Bay And Complexity Theory: Why The Precautionary Principle, Not Cost-Benefit Analysis, Makes More Sense As A Regulatory Approach, Hope M. Babcock

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Estuaries like the Chesapeake Bay ("Bay") and Puget Sound are in grave trouble. They each suffer from poor water quality, loss of habitat, and declining biodiversity, and efforts to restore their health are straining both public and private resources. While accomplishments are often recorded in the fight against these ills, it is clear these accomplishments "are not yet equal to the scale of the problems." The focus of this article is on the nation's largest estuary, the Bay. Despite the investment of billions of dollars to improve water quality, the Bay continues to suffer from severe environmental degradation that impairs …


Administering The Clean Water Act: Do Regulators Have "Bigger Fish To Fry" When It Comes To Addressing The Practice Of Chumming On The Chesapeake Bay?, Hope M. Babcock Jan 2007

Administering The Clean Water Act: Do Regulators Have "Bigger Fish To Fry" When It Comes To Addressing The Practice Of Chumming On The Chesapeake Bay?, Hope M. Babcock

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The Chesapeake Bay is one of the country's most productive estuaries. However, for decades the health of the Bay has been declining due in large part to nutrification. Excessive nutrients encourage algal blooms, which lower dissolved oxygen and increase turbidity in the Bay's waters. More than 40% of the Bay's main stern is now dead largely as a result of this problem. The practice of chumming, the discarding of baitfish, usually menhaden, over the sides of fishing boats to attract game fish like striped bass, is contributing to the Bay's nutrification problem because the decomposing chum raises the waters biological …


Using Innovative Technologies To Analyze For Similarity Between Musical Works In Copyright Infringement Disputes, Yvette Joy Liebesman Jan 2007

Using Innovative Technologies To Analyze For Similarity Between Musical Works In Copyright Infringement Disputes, Yvette Joy Liebesman

All Faculty Scholarship

Courts continue to struggle with discerning the level of substantial similarity between musical compositions in infringement analyses, which is related to their difficulty in determining the portion that is available for the public to use, and where that permission stops. This paper argues that, under the current policies regarding copyright protection and unauthorized copying, the current test is inadequate and a new infringement test should be considered. Two alternatives are proposed. The first test uses objective mapping of a song’s artistic elements. The second considers the link between wave motion theory of physics and music and proposes comparing the mathematical …


Online Reinforcement Learning Neural Network Controller Design For Nanomanipulation, Qinmin Yang, Jagannathan Sarangapani Jan 2007

Online Reinforcement Learning Neural Network Controller Design For Nanomanipulation, Qinmin Yang, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a novel reinforcement learning neural network (NN)-based controller, referred to adaptive critic controller, is proposed for affine nonlinear discrete-time systems with applications to nanomanipulation. In the online NN reinforcement learning method, one NN is designated as the critic NN, which approximates the long-term cost function by assuming that the states of the nonlinear systems is available for measurement. An action NN is employed to derive an optimal control signal to track a desired system trajectory while minimizing the cost function. Online updating weight tuning schemes for these two NNs are also derived. By using the Lyapunov approach, …


Drift Tube Ion Mobility Measurements For Thermochemistry, Kinetics And Polymerization Of Cluster Ions, Ridha Ben Mohsen Mabrouki Jan 2007

Drift Tube Ion Mobility Measurements For Thermochemistry, Kinetics And Polymerization Of Cluster Ions, Ridha Ben Mohsen Mabrouki

Theses and Dissertations

In this work, the Drift Tube Ion Mobility technique is used to study the hydrophobic hydration and solvation of organic ions and measure the thermochemistry and kinetics of ion-molecule reactions. Furthermore, an exploratory study of the intracluster polymerization of isoprene will be presented and discussed. The ion hydration study is focused on the C3H3+ cation1 and Pyridine▪+ radical cation.2 The chemistry of the cyclic C3H3+ cation1 has received considerable attention and continues to be an active area of research.3-7 The binding energies of the first 5 H2O molecules to c-C3H3+ were determined by equilibrium measurements. The measured binding energies of …


Observational Intelligence: An Overview Of Computational Actual Entities And Their Use As Agents Of Artificial Intelligence, Brandon Scot Saunders Jan 2007

Observational Intelligence: An Overview Of Computational Actual Entities And Their Use As Agents Of Artificial Intelligence, Brandon Scot Saunders

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis' focus is on the use of Alfred North Whitehead's concept of Actual Entities as a computational tool for computer science and the introduction of a novel usage of Actual Entities as learning agents. Actual Entities are vector based agents that interact within their environment through a process called prehension. It is the combined effect of multiple Actual Entities working within a Colony of Prehending Entities that produces emergent, intelligent behavior. It is not always the case that prehension functions for desired behavior are known beforehand and frequently the functions are too complex to construct by hand. Through the …


Cafm Studies Of Epitaxial Lateral Overgrowth Gan Films, Vishal P. Kasliwal Jan 2007

Cafm Studies Of Epitaxial Lateral Overgrowth Gan Films, Vishal P. Kasliwal

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses the techniques of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and conductiveAFM (CAFM) to study defect sites on GaN films. In particular, these defect sites demonstrate current leakage under reverse-bias conditions that are detrimental to device fabrication. Two growth techniques that were used to improve this leakage behavior for samples in this study included: epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) and nano-ELO using a Si3N4 film. Both techniques decrease defects such as threading dislocations by controlling the nucleation and growth behavior of the GaN films. The EL0 technique uses a patterned dielectric film to laterally grow micron-wide regions (referred to as 'wings') …


Pi-Calculus In Logical Form, Marcello M. Bonsangue, Alexander Kurz Jan 2007

Pi-Calculus In Logical Form, Marcello M. Bonsangue, Alexander Kurz

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Abramsky’s logical formulation of domain theory is extended to encompass the domain theoretic model for picalculus processes of Stark and of Fiore, Moggi and Sangiorgi. This is done by defining a logical counterpart of categorical constructions including dynamic name allocation and name exponentiation, and showing that they are dual to standard constructs in functor categories. We show that initial algebras of functors defined in terms of these constructs give rise to a logic that is sound, complete, and characterises bisimilarity. The approach is modular, and we apply it to derive a logical formulation of pi-calculus. The resulting logic is a …


Prediction Of Interference Pathloss Inside Commercial Aircraft Using Modulated Fuzzy Logic And Neural Networks, Madiha Jamil Jafri Jan 2007

Prediction Of Interference Pathloss Inside Commercial Aircraft Using Modulated Fuzzy Logic And Neural Networks, Madiha Jamil Jafri

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Although several modeling techniques have been used to model indoor radio wave propagation and coupling patterns, to date no efficient model exists that calculates indoor-outdoor radio wave propagations on commercial aircraft. Due to the complexity of an aircraft structure, with the additive introduction of creeping wave phenomenon and unknown back-door propagation values from the exterior aircraft antenna to the avionics bay, numerical modeling approaches using Method of Moments (MoM) or Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) prove too complex with limitations. This dissertation presents an expert neuro-fuzzy (NF) model for Interference pathloss (IPL) predictions inside an Airbus 320 (A320) airplane, for …


Plant Assemblage Structure On Barrier Island ‘Pimple’ Dunes At The Virginia Coast Reserve Long-Term Ecological Research Site, Brett A. Mcmillan Jan 2007

Plant Assemblage Structure On Barrier Island ‘Pimple’ Dunes At The Virginia Coast Reserve Long-Term Ecological Research Site, Brett A. Mcmillan

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The habitats at the VCR LTER that were the focus of the current study are the Hog Island and Parramore Island 'pimples', small, rounded dunes forming along main dune ridges of the barrier islands. There are distinct plant assemblage zones found on pimples, although most of these dunes are 10–20 m in diameter. Hypotheses of the study were that fresh water availability was a main determinant of differences between assemblages and that pimple size and location would influence diversity and assemblage structure. Research goals were (1) to describe the plant assemblages on pimples, (2) to relate edaphic and geomorphological factors …


Characterization Of Power Induced Heating And Damage In Fiber Optic Probes For Near-Field Scanning Optical Microscopy, Nicholas E. Dickenson, E. S. Erickson, O. L. Mooren, R. C. Dunn Jan 2007

Characterization Of Power Induced Heating And Damage In Fiber Optic Probes For Near-Field Scanning Optical Microscopy, Nicholas E. Dickenson, E. S. Erickson, O. L. Mooren, R. C. Dunn

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Tip-induced sample heating in near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) is studied for fiber optic probes fabricated using the chemical etching technique. To characterize sample heating from etched NSOM probes, the spectra of a thermochromic polymer sample are measured as a function of probe output power, as was previously reported for pulled NSOM probes. The results reveal that sample heating increases rapidly to ~55–60°C as output powers reach ~50 nW. At higher output powers, the sample heating remains approximately constant up to the maximum power studied of ~450 nW. The sample heating profiles measured for etched NSOM probes are consistent with …


Characteristics Of Cooked Chickpeas And Soybeans During Combined Microwave–Convective Hot Air Drying, Aoife Gowen, Nissreen Abu-Ghannam, Jesus Maria Frias, Jorge Oliveira Jan 2007

Characteristics Of Cooked Chickpeas And Soybeans During Combined Microwave–Convective Hot Air Drying, Aoife Gowen, Nissreen Abu-Ghannam, Jesus Maria Frias, Jorge Oliveira

Articles

Moisture content, shrinkage, water activity (Aw), color and texture of cooked chickpeas and soybeans during convective, microwave and combined microwave–convective drying were studied. Combined drying was significantly (P < 0.05) faster than either convective or microwave drying, and resulted in less shrinkage of the dehydrated product. Rapid burning occurred when samples were dried below a Aw of 0.27 ± 0.07 for chickpeas (P < 0.05), and 0.13 ± 0.04 for soybeans (P < 0.05). Both chickpeas and soybeans displayed a transitional behavior in texture when dried to a Aw below 0.40 ± 0.10 (P < 0.05) for chickpeas, and below 0.63 ± 0.15 (P < 0.05) for soybeans, when samples became brittle. Shelf stable dehydrated chickpea and soybean products with low water activity (Aw = 0.35) and good visual quality could be obtained within 14 min of combination drying.


Efficacy Of Steamer Jet-Injection As Alternative To Chlorine In Fresh-Cut Lettuce, Ana Belen Martin-Diana, Daniel Rico, Catherine Barry-Ryan, Jesus Maria Frias, Gary Henehan, J. Barat Jan 2007

Efficacy Of Steamer Jet-Injection As Alternative To Chlorine In Fresh-Cut Lettuce, Ana Belen Martin-Diana, Daniel Rico, Catherine Barry-Ryan, Jesus Maria Frias, Gary Henehan, J. Barat

Articles

Short-time steam processing was used as an alternative to chlorine (100 mg L−1) in sanitising fresh-cut lettuce. Quality (pH, water content, colour, potential browning, browning-related enzymes and texture), safety (mesophilic counts) and antioxidant markers (ascorbic and carotenoids) were monitored in lettuce stored for 10 days at 4 °C. The steam treatment produced a shocking effect on lettuce metabolism, showing a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in respiration (from day 3 to 7) and a partial inactivation of browning-related enzymes. Both effects were reflected in a significant reduction of browning. From a safety point of view, steam treatment kept the mesophilic load as low as chlorine treatment, and significantly lowers than the water control. However, antioxidant content, especially ascorbic acid but also carotenoids in a lower degree, showed a reduction compared with chlorine-treated samples. Despite the lower visual browning in steam-treated samples, the sensory panel scored similar values of acceptability and fresh appearance for both samples similarity.


Note On The Ndvi-Lst Relationship And The Use Of Temperature-Related Drought Indices Over North America, D. Sun, Menas Kafatos Jan 2007

Note On The Ndvi-Lst Relationship And The Use Of Temperature-Related Drought Indices Over North America, D. Sun, Menas Kafatos

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

A comprehensive evaluation of the relationship between vegetation and Land Surface Temperature (LST) over the North America is presented. It is found that the correlations between LST and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) depend on the season-of-year and time-of-day. For winter, the correlation between NDVI and LST is positive. The strong negative correlations between LST and NDVI are only found during the warm seasons. Thus temperature-related drought indices may only be used in the warm seasons from May to October, and should be used with caution during cold seasons in North America. The cooling effect of vegetation on LST is …


God Behind Bars: Race, Religion & Revenge, Spear It Jan 2007

God Behind Bars: Race, Religion & Revenge, Spear It

Seton Hall Law Review

No abstract provided.


Curbing Industry Sponsor's Incentive To Design Post-Approval Trials That Are Suboptimal For Informing Prescribers But More Likely Than Optimal Designs To Yield Favorable Results, Benjamin P. Falit Jan 2007

Curbing Industry Sponsor's Incentive To Design Post-Approval Trials That Are Suboptimal For Informing Prescribers But More Likely Than Optimal Designs To Yield Favorable Results, Benjamin P. Falit

Seton Hall Law Review

No abstract provided.


Legal Commitments And Religious Commitments, Jospeh Vining Jan 2007

Legal Commitments And Religious Commitments, Jospeh Vining

Articles

In his elegant and accessible new book, Law's Quandary, Steven Smith groups our various senses of what is real for us into ontological families: the mundane; the scientific, including mathematics; and the religious. These supply "lumberyards," as it were, for thought and discussion about the world and action in it. Law itself is not one of them. Those involved in law, as citizens or professionals practicing law or speaking for or about law, are presented in the book as looking out from law to the ontological resources available in the lumberyards he describes.


Stage Profiles And Predictors Of Exercise In A Multiple Risk Sample, Gabriela Dye Jan 2007

Stage Profiles And Predictors Of Exercise In A Multiple Risk Sample, Gabriela Dye

Open Access Dissertations

Cluster and Latent class analyses were used to examine within Stage profiles of individuals at-risk for three behaviors based on their perceived Pros, Cons, and Self-efficacy. In addition, Structural equation and Latent variable modeling were used to examine the predictors of 12 months exercise participation. The results of Cluster and Latent class analyses did not replicate the results of previous studies, which delineated at least four distinct profiles within the Stages. Only two to three profiles emerged within each Stage as well as within the full dataset. Most two-cluster/class, and three-cluster/class solutions consisted of at least one cluster with extremely …


Rescheduling Point Determination In Dynamic Fms Using A Flexiblility Metric Methodology, Pejman Hassanzadeh Mostafai Jan 2007

Rescheduling Point Determination In Dynamic Fms Using A Flexiblility Metric Methodology, Pejman Hassanzadeh Mostafai

Open Access Dissertations

In production environments, such as Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS), the production schedule can be disturbed by the occurrence of unplanned events. Machines stop due to failures, maintenance, tool changes due to wear, or tool reassignments. Because of the changing nature of an FMS, a global and static schedule created at time zero can only provide a rough guideline for the control activity. The rescheduling process, however, can be costly and time consuming. An updated schedule may require new tool assignments with more setup time. Hence, ideal rescheduling frequency is another unknown factor. In dynamic production environments, like FMS, selecting fixed …


Graph Coloring Algorithms For Tdma Scheduling In Wireless Sensor Networks, Tiegeng Ren Jan 2007

Graph Coloring Algorithms For Tdma Scheduling In Wireless Sensor Networks, Tiegeng Ren

Open Access Dissertations

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) as an emerging technique has received increasing attention in both research and application field. Since these Micro-Electro-Mechanical systems (MEMS) are constrained by power, physical size, and wireless communication range, efficient use of the technique leaves many challenges for researchers. One of the challenges comes from the medium access control (MAC), which determines the physical and network layer communication model within the network. In this research, we focus on MAC protocol, investigate into the mathematical model of the MAC protocols in graph theory, and develop the following algorithms that would improve the performance of data delivery applications …


Physical And Mechanical Properties Of Model Asphalt Systems Calculated Using Molecular Simulation, Liqun Zhang Jan 2007

Physical And Mechanical Properties Of Model Asphalt Systems Calculated Using Molecular Simulation, Liqun Zhang

Open Access Dissertations

Asphalt is a complex system. Based on solubility parameters, asphalt was classified into asphaltene, resin, and maltene. Using several compounds to represent each part and keeping carbon:hydrogen ratio and other elementary compositions close to real asphalts, three model asphalt systems were built for molecular simulations. Density, heat capacity, isothermal compressibility, thermal expansion coefficient, and bulk modulus were calculated at different temperatures. Glass transition temperature was analyzed based on physical property temperature dependence. Microstructures within model asphalt systems were calculated. Analyzing radial distribution functions between asphaltene and resin molecules and between asphaltene molecules, asphaltene aggregates and depletion of resin molecules surrounding …