Digital Commons Network^™

Early Childhood Program Director Leadership Characteristics And Program Quality, Barbara J. June

Dissertations

This phenomenological research study was conducted to explore and describe how the characteristics, traits, and styles of directors, as described and perceived by the teachers, reflect the factors that are currently addressed in the indicators forming the basis for evaluating program quality. Teacher participants from six sites participated in a survey, questionnaire, and interview to determine director and program profiles. The Program Quality Assessment score was used as a standardized data source.

The data were collected, coded, and analyzed to determine the director and program profiles for each of the sites. The director and program data for each site were …

A Narrative Inquiry Of Teachers’ Perceptions Regarding Their Professional Development Experiences, Theresa Andrea Nugent

Dissertations

The purpose of this narrative inquiry study was to explore teachers' perceptions of their professional development experiences. Qualitative studies are needed to truly understand through "thick rich" descriptions (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) what is happening (or not) from the viewpoint of the classroom teacher in reference to their professional development experiences and related impact on student outcomes. In an era of accountability, teachers' voices are essential for understanding potential connections between teacher learning, via professional development experiences, and improved student outcomes.

This research project involved a purposeful sample of 8 1st-grade and 2nd-grade teachers, identified by their principals as "committed" …

Application Of Remote Sensing Lidar Data For The Detection Of Cultural Resources In A Forested Environment: An Example From Isle Royale National Park, Michigan, Julie M. Gallagher

Theses and Dissertations

There has been growing interest in the application of an effective remote sensing strategy for conducting cultural site detection surveys. Light Detecting and Ranging (LiDAR) imagery has demonstrated potential for identifying archaeological sites in remote areas with dense vegetation and surface disturbances. Research was conducted to determine the viability of using LiDAR to detect the presence or absence of pre- and post-European contact archaeological sites in forested environments on Isle Royale, Michigan. LiDAR bare-earth models were used to “see” past the vegetation in an effort to: 1) identify cultural features before the implementation of a ground-truthing survey; 2) develop a …

Nonlinear Approximation Using Blaschke Polynomials, Daniel Van Vliet

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation, entitled Nonlinear Approximation Using Blaschke Polynomials, is motivated by questions arising from Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD). EMD is a signal processing method which decomposes input signals into components called intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). These IMFs often have the desirable property that the instantaneous frequency of their analytic signals is positive. However, this is not always the case.;The first two chapters are introductions to approximation in general, and Empirical Mode Decomposition, respectively.;The third chapter presents a characterization of which analytic signals have the property of non-negative instantaneous frequency. These 'analytic signals with non-negative instantaneous frequency' (ASNIFs) are described using …

Characterization Of Metalferroelectric–Insulator–Semiconductor Structures Based On Ferroelectric Langmuir-Blodgett Polyvinylidene Fluoride Copolymer Films For Nondestructive Random Access Memory Applications, Timothy J. Reece

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Ferroelectric field effect transistors (FeFETs) have attracted much attention recently because of their ability to combine high speed, low power consumption, and fast nondestructive readout with the potential for high density nonvolatile memory. The polarization of the ferroelectric is used to switch the channel at the silicon surface between states of high and low conductance.

Among the ferroelectric thin films used in FET devices; the ferroelectric copolymer of Polyvinylidene fluoride, PVDF (C₂H₂F₂), with trifluoroethylene, TrFE (C₂HF₃), has distinct advantages, including low dielectric constant, low processing temperature, low cost and compatibility …

Detection And Removal Of Eyeblink Artifacts From Eeg Using Wavelet Analysis And Independent Component Analysis, Jimy Pesin

Theses

Electrical signals generated by brain activity that are measured by the electroencephalogram can be distorted by electrical activity originating from eyeblinks and eye movements. This thesis proposes a new technique to identify and remove eyeblink artifacts from EEG data. An algorithm using a combination of wavelet analysis and independent component analysis (ICA) is implemented to detect the temporal location of the eyeblink artifact and eliminate it without compromising the integrity of the primary EEG data. The discrete wavelet transform is performed on 10 second epochs of data to detect the occurrence of ocular artifact. ICA is used to separate out …

Bridging Cultural Barriers In Bicultural Projects: More Than Translation And Interpretation Of Language, Taira Koybaeva

Global Business Languages

No abstract provided.

Investigating Hydrophilic Channels In Polymer Composites Using Atomic Force Microscopy., Matthew David Cummins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nanoscience is not about products becoming smaller and smaller, but about new material properties being exploited for new and enhanced product applications. Liquid crystalline materials are one branch of "nanomaterials" that has promise of highly useful products. Liquid crystalline materials are soft materials that can respond to external stimuli and form ordered structures. Liquid crystals have applications as templates for more complex nanostructures as well as sensing devices. The purpose of this study was to investigate, using atomic force microscopy, the characteristics of a liquid crystalline, nanoparticle, composite material to determine whether or not it was indeed forming ordered, hydrophilic …

A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of German And American Graduate Business Students, Stefanie Borst

Global Business Languages

This paper reports on results of a comparative assessment of MBA students at highly ranked business schools in Germany and the USA. The results from a demographic and attitude questionnaire, and the results from a reading and writing assessment are discussed, and areas of significant variation between the German and American students are highlighted. Striking differences were found in several areas, even though the German and American students were similar with respect to educational level and professional goals. Since international MBAs like these students will ultimately work with each other in the global business community, I propose that understanding these …

Creativity, Culture, Business German, And A Moo? Integrating On-Line Technology Into Foreign Language Instruction, Margaret Setje-Eilers

Global Business Languages

No abstract provided.

Library Marketplace -- Looking Forward-Looking Back, John D. Riley

Against the Grain

No abstract provided.

Group Therapy -- Database Trials, Christine Fischer

Against the Grain

No abstract provided.

Unfolding Polyhedra Via Cut-Tree Truncation, Alex Benton, Joseph O'Rourke

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

We prove that an infinite class of convex polyhedra, produced by restricted vertex truncations, always unfold without overlap. The class includes the "domes," providing a simpler proof that these unfold without overlap.

The Slider-Pinning Problem, Audrey Lee, Ileana Streinu, Louis Theran

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

A Laman mechanism is a flexible planar bar-and-joint framework with m ≤ 2n-3 edges and exactly k = 2n-m degrees of freedom. The slider-pinning problem is to eliminate all the degrees of freedom of a Laman mechanism, in an optimal fashion, by individually fixing x or y coordinates of vertices. We describe two easy to implement O(n2) time algorithms.

Proportionality And The Supreme Court's Jurisprudence Of Remedies, Tracy A. Thomas

Akron Law Faculty Publications

The evolution of the Supreme Court’s remedial jurisprudence evinces a quest for the ultimate judicial measure of appropriate relief, emerging as a norm of remedial proportionality. The Court’s decisions since 2000 on punitive damages, injunctions, and remedial legislation, all mandate a strict balance and precise measurement in the formulation of civil remedies. These cases have often fallen below the radar of general interest or have been ignored for their remedial significance. However, these cases demonstrate, somewhat surprisingly, the manner in which the Court has ventured into the arena of common-law remedies to unexpectedly alter the foundational principles of crafting remedies. …

Templated Fabrication Of Large Area Subwavelength Antireflection Gratings On Silicon, Chih-Hung Sun, Wei-Lun Min, Nicholas C. Linn, Peng Jiang, Bin Jiang

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We report a cheap and scalable bottom-up technique for fabricating wafer-scale, subwavelength-structured antireflection coatings on single-crystalline silicon substrates. Spin-coated monolayer colloidal crystals are utilized as shadow masks to generate metallic nanohole arrays. Inverted pyramid arrays in silicon can then be templated against nanoholes by anisotropic wet etching. The resulting subwavelength gratings greatly suppress specular reflection at normal incidence. The reflection spectra for flat silicon and the templated gratings at long wavelengths agree well with the simulated results using a rigorous coupled wave analysis model. These subwavelength gratings are of great technological importance in crystalline silicon solar cells.

Proposed Database Image Index Key Extracting Algorithm Based On Image Contents (Iike), Emad K., Adulmunea'm S. Rhama

Iraqi Journal of Computers, Communications, Control and Systems Engineering

The images have large amount of information and they are important object in modern database system, so there is a great need for efficient image indexing key as access and retrieval tool. In database systems the index key is an attribute which has unique value for all tuples of the relation by “ name“ , “ numbers“ or any codes, this key aids to identify the tuples. In archive system a vast amount of digital images it is very necessary to find unique image index key to store it corresponding to its image and can use it to retrieval documents. …

Malicious Mobile Code Related Experiments With An Extensible Network Simulator, Attila Ondi

Theses and Dissertations

The automated spread of worms such as Code-Red, SQL/Slammer, and Nimda have caused costly problems to computers connected to the Internet. Even users whose machines were not vulnerable to these threats suffered a loss of productivity and experienced great frustration as connectivity and network traffic were negatively impacted during outbreaks. Although the number of new worm attacks reported in the media seems to be declining, it is vital that researchers study the effects of malicious code on the global network to understand how to defend against future threats. The choice of system for studying the spread of worms and viruses …

Fractal Analysis Of Fingerprints, John C. Deal

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Current methods for comparing fingerprints have weaknesses that have opened them to criticism. Current methods concentrate on the comparison of minutia in the print either manually or with the assistance of a computer algorithm. This causes these methods to depend highly on the presence of minutia and their relationship to one another. Absence or rotations of minutia can prevent current methods form making accurate comparisons. The goal of this process is to develop a new method for analyzing fingerprints that addresses many of the concerns with current methods.;The developed process uses an iterated function sequence (IFS) to convert the image …

Color Space Analysis For Iris Recognition, Matthew K. Monaco

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis investigates issues related to the processing of multispectral and color infrared images of the iris. When utilizing the color bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, the eye color and the components of texture (luminosity and chromaticity) must be considered. This work examines the effect of eye color on texture-based iris recognition in both the near-IR and visible bands. A novel score level fusion algorithm for multispectral iris recognition is presented in this regard. The fusion algorithm - based on evidence that matching performance of a texture-based encoding scheme is impacted by the quality of texture within the original image …

Selected Topics In Video Coding And Computer Vision, Congxia Dai

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Video applications ranging from multimedia communication to computer vision have been extensively studied in the past decades. However, the emergence of new applications continues to raise questions that are only partially answered by existing techniques. This thesis studies three selected topics related to video: intra prediction in block-based video coding, pedestrian detection and tracking in infrared imagery, and multi-view video alignment.;In the state-of-art video coding standard H.264/AVC, intra prediction is defined on the hierarchical quad-tree based block partitioning structure which fails to exploit the geometric constraint of edges. We propose a geometry-adaptive block partitioning structure and a new intra prediction …

Theoretical And Experimental Evaluation Of Spatial Resolution In A Variable Resolution X-Ray Computed Tomography Scanner, Roman Melnyk

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

A variable resolution x-ray (VRX) computed tomography (CT) scanner can image objects of various sizes with greatly improved spatial resolution. The scanner employs an angulated discrete detector and achieves the resolution boost by matching the detector angulation to the scanner field of view (FOV) determined by the size of an object being imaged. A comprehensive evaluation of spatial resolution in an experimental version of the VRX CT scanner is presented in this dissertation. Two components of this resolution were evaluated – the pre-reconstruction spatial resolution, described by the detector presampling modulation transfer function (MTF), and the post-reconstruction spatial resolution, given …

Dna Binding Specificity Of Mu Transcription Factor C And Crystallization Of C : Dna Complex, Karthik Shanmugantham

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

The lytic cycle of phage Mu is regulated by a transcriptional cascade consisting of early, middle and late transcription. The Mor protein is an activator of the middle promoter Pm and is encoded by the last gene of the early transcript. The C protein is an activator of the four late promoters Plys, PI, PP, and Pmom and is expressed from the middle transcript. Both Mor and C proteins bind an imperfect dyad-symmetry element just upstream and overlapping the –35 region of Pm and Plys respectively. The main aims of this study was, (1) To understand the binding specificity of …

Spatial And Temporal Analysis Of Pharmaceutical Concentrations And Chitobiase Activity In The Upper Tennessee River, Justin M. Conley

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Tennessee currently has the 3rd highest per capita prescription drug usage rate in the United States, yet no published studies have analyzed Tennessee surface waters for the presence of pharmaceuticals. Composite surface samples were collected upstream and downstream of sewage treatment plants and at the inflow of major tributaries to the Tennessee River to determine the presence and potential sources of pharmaceuticals. Subsurface samples were collected at 7 meters depth to determine differences in occurrence and potential natural degradation. All samples were collected once during each of the four seasons (winter, spring, summer, and fall) to determine yearly variations. Aliquots …

A Study Of Avian Nest Predation At Audubon Acres In Chattanooga, Tn, Melea R. Langley

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Predation is believed to be the primary cause of nesting mortality among North American migratory land birds. High rates of nest predation can jeopardize avian reproductive biology by affecting life histories and habitat selection. Artificial nests are commonly used to study nest predation because they allow the researcher to investigate comparative treatments and their impact on predation. Relative nest predation was studied at Audubon Acres in Chattanooga, TN using artificial nests. The study investigated differences in habitat types,nest heights, egg types, and predator types.

A Search For The Higgs Boson In Its Associated Production With A W Vector Boson In P¯P Collisions At √S = 1.96 Tev, Venkatesh S. Kaushik

Physics Dissertations - Archive

We present the results of a search for the Standard Model Higgs boson in its associated production with a W vector boson in p¯p collisions at √s = 1.96 TeV using the complete Run IIA dataset with an integrated luminosity of 1.04 fb−1 collected by the DØ experiment. The salient features of this analysis are the extended geometric acceptance by including the pseudorapidity covered by the end cap calorimeter, optimization in b-tagging and event selection criteria. We observe very good agreement in the data compared to the expectation form the modeling of Standard Model background for the WH signal. No …

The Effects Of Classical Versus Electronic Music On Learning And Recall, Samantha Domingo

Mako: NSU Undergraduate Student Journal

Research about the possible positive effects of classical music on learning and recall has been quite extensive in the past few years; this phenomenon is known as the Mozart effect. The present study attempted to evaluate the theory that listening to classical music enhances the learning and subsequent recall of new information. Twenty-four undergraduate students participated in this study. In a between-participants design, all participants were assigned to read a short passage while listening to one of four types of music: classical music at either high or low volume, or electronic music at either high or low volume. Subsequently, participants …

Diagnosis Of The July 6, 2002 Ogallala, Nebraska Flash Flood, David B. Radell, Mark R. Anderson, John W. Stoppkotte, James R. Mccormick

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

During the early morning hours of 6 July 2002, a mesoscale convective system (MCS) traversed southwestern Nebraska and produced more than 40 cm of precipitation, resulting in a flash flood that closed Interstate 80 and caused one fatality near Ogallala, Nebraska. Regional climatology yields that this flash flood ranked first in precipitation amount for a 24 hour period over the past one hundred years. Synoptic and mesoscale features similar to other flash flooding events and conducive to extremely heavy precipitation were in place over the Central Plains, including a weak upper level ridge, high precipitable water values (180% of normal), …

The Tri-Frame Model, Elsje Pienaar, Hendrik J. Viljoen

Hendrik J. Viljoen Publications

The tri-frame model gives mathematical expression to the transcription and translation processes, and considers all three reading frames. RNA polymerases transcribe DNA in single nucleotide increments, but ribosomes translate mRNA in pairings of three (triplets or codons). The set of triplets in the mRNA, starting with the initiation codon (usually AUG) defines the open reading frame (ORF). Since ribosomes do not always translocate three nucleotide positions, two additional reading frames are accessible. The -1RF and the +1RF are triplet pairings of the mRNA which are accessed by shifting one nucleotide position in the 5’ and 3’ directions respectively. Transcription is …

Making Meaning Of Graduate Students’ And Preservice Teachers’ E-Mail Communication In A Community Of Practice, Janet C. Richards, Susan V. Bennett, Kim T. Shea

The Qualitative Report

This inquiry examined graduate students ’ and preservice teachers’ e-mail communication as they made decisions about supporting the instructional needs of children at-risk in a community of practice summer literacy camp. The correspondence gradually evolved from impersonal to interpersonal communication over a ten-week time span, and influenced the preservice teachers’ responses. S even themes were identified in the graduate students’ messages that ranged from questioning and complaining to promoting collaboration. The study illuminates the developmental stages of interpersonal relationships and demonstrates the reciprocal nature of interactive dialogue through the medium of e-mail communication. Conclusions are that long-term e-mail exchanges can …