Digital Commons Network^™

Mixed Signals, Elizabeth Snipes

All Theses

My oil on wooden panel paintings demonstrate a curiosity and fondness for a traditional subject, the human figure, and utilize a representational vocabulary to examine an interest in current modes of interpersonal interaction. The work has evolved in conjunction with an investigation of contemporary figurative painting with the purpose of translating a traditional genre and subject matter into a present context of remediation and digital social networking. The resulting paintings utilize recurrent art historical themes of the isolated figure and the sublime, and also contribute to a contemporary conversation surrounding painting's relationship to new media and photography in the twenty-first …

Formulation Of Integral Equations Using Analytic Green's Functions In Elliptic Cylindrical And Prolate Spheroidal Coordinates, Adam Schreiber

All Theses

It is desired to develop and present techniques, using analytic Green's functions in elliptic cylindrical coordinates and in prolate spheroidal coordinates, for formulating integral equations for physically practicable structures and sources. Equivalent models for two structures are introduced which serve as guides in the derivation of analytic Greens functions, comprising special functions and satisfying required boundary conditions. Expressions for needed field components are represented in terms of integrals of Greens functions times unknowns, and integral equations follow from the proper relationships among sources and field components needed to satisfy Maxwell's equations.

Prickled Lilly Perch, Jillian Ludwig

All Theses

The Prickled Lilly Perch series consist of graphite drawings and designed wallpaper, functioning as a device to mediate and reflect on morality. This work illustrates and investigates the cyclical system of birth, life, and death through multivalent, polar conditions. These opposing implications of birth, life, and death are investigated through concept and form, and can be seen through the visual language of whimsy, fantasy, subtle narration, symbols, decoration, and delicate detailing. Operational tools to suggest birth, life, and death are described through transitioning forms, an implied direction upon the human form, aging of a plant, portals, an irrational use of …

Reading Comprehension By People With Chronic Aphasia: A Comparison Of Three Levels Of Visuographic Contextual Support, Aimee R. Dietz

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This repeated measures investigation evaluated the impact of three levels of visuographic context—(a) photos of high-context scenes, (b) photos of low-context scenes, and (c) no-context—on the reading comprehension of narratives by people with chronic aphasia. The researcher defined high-context scenes as photographs in which people interact with each other, the natural environment, and the central action of the scene and low-context scenes as photographs with no central action and limited-to-no interaction between the people and the natural environment. Participants included 10 medically-stable adults with chronic aphasia and concomitant reading comprehension deficits. The participants read three different narratives, each presented with …

Examining The Role Of Reciprocity Within The Formative Assessment Process Alongside Prospective Teachers, Juliann M. Kaftan

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This self-study examines the role of reciprocity within the formative assessment process in order to explore preservice teacher understandings of the complexities of the teaching/learning/assessment process. I study myself in relation to my practice in order to provide an account of how my knowledge of teaching is lived out in practice. Through the various chapters, I give the reader glimpses of my background and the particular situations that draw out theory/practice relations. The conceptual framework gives the reader an idea of the assumptions that frame my thinking. In particular, I articulate knowledge as experiential and perception as multi-layered. Self-study methodology …

Measurement Of The Parameter Kappa, And Reevaluation Of Kappa For Small To Moderate Earthquakes At Seismic Stations In The Vicinity Of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, Glenn Biasi, John G. Anderson, Amy J. Smiecinski, Nevada Seismological Laboratory

Publications (YM)

We address two primary questions. First, what are the values of seismic spectral decay parameter kappa at stations on and around Yucca Mountain. Second, can small and/or moderate earthquakes provide estimates of kappa that are valid for conditions of strong ground motion.

American International Group Investor Meeting - Final, Charlene Hamrah, Martin Sullivan, Joseph Cassano, Andrew Forster, Gary B. Gorton, Tom Cholnoky, Bob Huttinson, James Bridgewater, Dan Lifschitz, Josh Smith, Jeffrey Bronchick, Win Jay Neuger, Richard Scott, Craig Mitchell, Gary Ransom, Richard Scott, Jay Gelb, Jason D'Angelo, Jeffrey Shanker, Billy Nutt, Eric Berg, Len Sweeney, Al Copersino, Dan Johnson, Craig Giventer, Andrew Kligerman, Charles Gates, Rick Geissinger, Dave Sochol, Bob Lewis, Alex Block, Ray Joseph, Kevin Mcginn

Documents

No abstract provided.

Phylogeography Of The Livebearer Xenophallus Umbratilis (Teleostei: Poeciliidae): Glacial Cycles And Sea Level Change Predict Diversification Of A Freshwater Tropical Fish, Carissa Poole Jones

Theses and Dissertations

The biogeography of Central America is considered a classical case study in understanding the impact of vicariant events on patterns of biotic dispersal. While many biogeographers have focused on community composition and geographic limits of species at broad scales across Central America, much less work has focused on post-colonization diversification patterns at finer scales. The livebearing freshwater fish Xenophallus umbratilis presents an ideal system for determining the impact of recent earth history events on biodiversity in northern Costa Rica. Here, we test the hypothesis that marine inundation of the San Carlos and Northern Limón basins during the Miocene has caused …

Pioneers In Twentieth Century Mormon Media: Oral Histories Of Latter-Day Saint Electronic And Public Relations Professionals, Jonice L. Hubbard

Theses and Dissertations

The project consists of three parts: a summary of the research, a collection of sixteen oral histories of Latter-day Saint Electronic Media and Public Relations professionals who contributed to the development and growth of media in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a one-hour documentary film, Pioneers in Mormon Media, which gives a brief history of the development of modern mass communications and its use by the Church. This qualitative study investigates who has been involved in Church media, what projects have been accomplished and provides some explanation as to why the Church uses media. The oral …

Reputation-Based Resilient Data Aggregation In Sensor Network, Carlos R. Perez

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Masters Theses

Data aggregation, or the fusing of many sensor measurements into a single summary, has been proposed as an important primitive in wireless sensor networks. But data aggregation is vulnerable to security attacks and natural failures where a few nodes can drastically alter the result of the aggregation by reporting erroneous data. In this thesis we present RDAS, a robust data aggregation protocol that uses a reputation-based approach to identify and isolate malicious nodes in a sensor network. RDAS is based on a hierarchical clustering arrangement of nodes, where a cluster head analyzes data from the cluster nodes to determine the …

Volumetric Visualization Of Nexrad Level Ii Doppler Weather Data From Multiple Sites, Yi Ru

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

Weather visualization is critical for operational forecasters and weather researchers to analyze, monitor, and predict severe weather events such as storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Usually measured weather datasets such as NEXRAD Level II radar data contain some errors and have temporal aliasing issues, so that the raw data cannot represent the true meteorological patterns. Existing weather visualization packages usually ignore these problems, thus they fail to unveil some detailed information and cannot meet the needs of professional meteorologists. Most displays generated by those packages are limited to 2D images, 3D point clouds, or iso-surfaces. Those displays are not able to …

Volume 45, Number 16: December 05, 2007, University Of North Dakota

University Letter Archive

No abstract provided.

Numerical Simulation Of Gas-Solid Dynamics In A Circulating Fluidized-Bed Riser With Geldart Group B Particles, S. Vaishali, Shantanu Roy, Satish Bhusarapu, M. (Muthanna) H. Al-Dahhan, M. P. Dudukovic

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Circulating Fluidized-Bed (CFB) Risers with Geldart Group B Particles Have Found Significant Application in Combustion Reactions. the Present Work Attempts to Study the Solids Flow Dynamics in a CFB Riser that is Operated with Group B Particles, using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Techniques. the Key Feature in the Present Study is that the Various Closure Schemes in the CFD Model Have Been Evaluated Against Data from Non-Invasive Experimental Techniques: Computer Automated Radioactive Particle Tracking (CARPT) for Solids Velocity Field and Computed Tomography (CT) for Solids Holdup. Since Solids Flow in a Riser is Multiscale in Character, in Addition to the …

Beneficial Fungal Interactions Resulting In Accelerated Germination Of Astragalus Utahensis, A Hard-Seeded Legume, Sean D. Eldredge

Theses and Dissertations

Seed germination is pivotal in the life cycle of native plants in a restorative context because initiation of the metabolic processes critical to establishment is key to survival in such a competitive environment. Dormancy characteristics of some native plants including the subject species, Astragalus utahensis, have evolved mechanisms to control germination in order to maintain a seed bank and ensure germination at the right time under optimal conditions. In vitro germination studies confirm beneficial interactions between Alternaria and Aspergillus fungi and Astragalus utahensis seed. Inoculated seed trials (1.0 x 106 spores/mL) exhibited a highly significant difference in percent germination between …

The Colby Echo (2007-12-05), Colby College

The Colby Echo

Published by the students of Colby College since 1877, The Colby Echo is the weekly, editorially independent student-run newspaper of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Published monthly, 1877-1886; semi-monthly, 1886-1897; and weekly, during the academic year, 1898-present.

The Advocate (Vol. 5, Issue 7)

Student Newspaper (Amicus, Advocate...)

No abstract provided.

Modeling And Analysis Of Resolve And Morale For The `Long War', Michael J. Artelli

Theses and Dissertations

In The Art of War, Sun Tzu begins by stating: "War is a matter of vital importance to the State; the province of life or death; the road to survival or ruin. It is mandatory that it be thoroughly studied." Sun Tzu follow's this opening by stating five fundamental factors a commander must master to be successful in combat. The first of these factors is moral influence which Sun Tzu defines as "that which causes the people to be in harmony with their leaders, so they will accompany them in life and death without fear of mortal peril." In the …

Impurity And Back Contact Effects On Cdte/Cds Thin Film Solar Cells, Hehong Zhao

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

CdTe/CdS thin film solar cells are the most promising cost-effective solar cells. The goal of this project is to improve the performance for CdS/CdTe devices by improving the open circuit voltage V_oc and current density J_sc. Efforts focused on increasing the V_oc, which include increasing the doping concentration by introducing Phosphorus and Antimony, finding and testing new back contact materials, and varying the ambient of CSS CdTe. In addition, the effect of Zn₂SnO₄ on the cells' performance was also studied.

Electrical characterization of the thin films and completed devices were carried out …

It's Happening At State: December 05, 2007

It's Happening at State

Provides summary information of news and events of interest to the faculty and staff of NDSU.

Using Scissors To Quantify Hardness Of Insects: Do Bats Select For Size Or Hardness?, Patricia W. Freeman, Cliff A. Lemen

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

Scissors are used to determine the hardness of fresh insects of different size and taxa. Our results indicate a strong relationship between the size of an insect and its hardness, which can be expressed as log(F_max) = 0.65 × log(V) + α. F_max is the maximal force needed to cut the insect and is our measure of insect hardness. V is the volume of the insect and α is a constant that can be derived for different insect taxa. The value of 0.65 was found as an average of beetle and moth samples, and this …

Digital Library Initiatives At Higher Education And Research Institutions In India, N. Varatharajan, M. Chandrashekara

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Digital libraries and Digitisation play an important role in preserving and disseminating knowledge in art and culture, education, science and technology, literature and humanities, media and entertainment, cultural heritage, and history. In India, a substantial number of libraries and information centres have initiated digital library activities. Indian society has created and preserved the resources of traditional and cultural heritage in various forms; however, thousands of ancient books and manuscriptsl remain in perishable palm leaves and urgently need digitization. This article describes some of the digital libraries and institutional repositories of India.

Adipocyte Response To Injectable Beads Engineered For Breast Tissue Reconstruction, Katherine Neser

All Theses

It is estimated that over 150,000 patients will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 2007. Patients must undergo a mastectomy or a lumpectomy to remove the cancerous tissue, but only a mastectomy allows breast reconstructive surgery. Due to the limitations of current reconstruction options, new alternatives are being explored. Injectable materials have been suggested for breast tissue reconstruction because of their versatility. Cells cultured on injectable beads form cell carriers that may be mixed with a hydrogel, resulting in a construct that may be injected through a syringe to restore normal tissue mass. This solution offers breast cancer patients …

Spartan Daily, December 5, 2007, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily (School of Journalism and Mass Communications)

Volume 129, Issue 52

The Bates Student - Volume 137 Number 09 - December 4, 2007, Bates College

The Bates Student

No abstract provided.

Production Offshoring And The Skill Composition Of Italian Manufacturing Firms: A Counterfactual Analysis, Roberto Antonietti, Davide Antonioli

Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Working Papers

This work explores the effects of cross-border relocation of production on the skill composition of Italian manufacturing firms. Its aim is to assess if the firms’ strategy to offshore production activities towards cheap labor countries determines a bias in the relative employment of skilled versus unskilled workers. Using a balanced panel of firm-based data across the period 1995-2003, we test this skill-bias hypothesis by means of a counterfactual experiment in which we employ a difference-in-differences propensity score matching estimator in order to control for selectivity bias without relying on a specific functional form of the relations of interest. In line …

The Computational Difficulty Of Bribery In Qualitative Coalitional Games, Andrew J. Dowell, Michael Wooldridge, Peter Mcburney

Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Working Papers

Qualitative coalitional games (QCG) are representations of coalitional games in which self interested agents, each with their own individual goals, group together in order to achieve a set of goals which satisfy all the agents within that group. In such a representation, it is the strategy of the agents to find the best coalition to join. Previous work into QCGs has investigated the computational complexity of determining which is the best coalition to join. We plan to expand on this work by investigating the computational complexity of computing agent power in QCGs as well as by showing that insincere strategies, …

Benthic Macroinvertebrate Exploration In The Rumford River

Watershed Access Lab Projects

The students of Qualters Middle School performed a study called “Benthic Macroinvertebrate Exploration in the Rumford River”. The study was conducted on October 16, 2007 in Mansfield, Massachusetts. The study location consisted of one site located at 143 Chauncy Street.

The purpose of this study was to introduce benthic macroinvertebrates and their role as indicators for evaluating stream water quality. Students utilized state of the art methods and techniques during all aspects of this study.

The Rumford River is listed on the Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA) National Priority List (NPL). The river was polluted with dioxins, furans and phenols by …

Comparative Nutrient Data For Two Locations On The Marstons Mills River

Watershed Access Lab Projects

On October 30, 2007, we deployed water samplers at two locations along the Marstons Mills River: River Road and Hyrdo Dam/Route 28. We programmed a Sigma at each location to take a water sample each hour for 24 hours, to determine the amount of dissolved nutrients in the water in the course of one day. When compared to the discharge at each site, we found that the Hydro Dam location moved nearly 117 000 000 liters of water, 10 000 grams of phosphorus, and 25 000 grams of nitrogen-nitrate each day. Only a short distance upstream, the River Road location …

How Healthy Is Furnace Brook

Watershed Access Lab Projects

Located across the street from the High school is Furnace Brook. Mike Gilbert and I are conducting an independent Study to determine the relative health of the Furnace Brook. This small stream is a tributary of the South River in Marshfield, Ma. To access the health will we be using a macro-invertebrate biological index as our primary tool? We will also be conducting a riparian survey as well as both a stream profile and flow. To start with we scouted the watershed using both aerial photos and Google earth. After driving to several potential areas we designated three sample sites: …

Rumford River Monitoring Project

Watershed Access Lab Projects

Land use within a watershed can negatively impact water quality. Students investigated these impacts by collecting water samples at one sample site along the Rumford River at Route 123, Norton, MA. These samples were analyzed for phosphorus and nitrogen levels, as well as temperature and dissolved oxygen. Results of these tests are as follows:

The greatest potential impacts come from run off. Most of the land around the Rumford River has been developed for residential housing. These houses have septic systems for waste disposal. The TCP golf course is also located near the Norton Reservoir. Potential sources of nitrogen come …