Digital Commons Network^™

Voices Of Striving Elementary Readers: An Exploration Of The Enhancement Of Struggling Reader Research Through Portraiture Methodology, Roland Kerry Schendel

Dissertations

This investigation was conducted to determine the value of using self-reports to elicit participant views of their reading struggles and to explore the potential benefits of using portraiture methodology as a means for illuminating the goodness inherent to struggling reader experiences in school. Three fourth grade participants were purposefully selected from one public and two charter elementary schools. Approximately three hours of interviews and 20 hours of observations were completed to collect data from each student over a 20 week period. With the participating students' teachers, approximately two hours of interview data were collected. Artifact gathering and the researcher journal …

Improved Hydrogeophysical Parameter Estimation From Empirical Mode Decomposition Processed Ground Penetrating Radar Data, Adrian Addison, Bradley M. Battista, Camelia C. Knapp

Faculty Publications

Various techniques have been designed to maximize the use of ground penetrating radar (GPR) as an exploration tool. Improvements in signal processing are expected to further facilitate the accuracy of parameters derived from using GPR in certain geologic environments. Common-offset GPR data were collected at the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) in Beaufort, South Carolina, and dielectric constants were calculated following the application of the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) for dewowing GPR traces. Conventional signal processing is applied to the GPR traces to provide hydrogeophysical parameter estimates such as volumetric water content, porosity, and hydraulic conductivity. The results are validated …

Full Issue 4.3

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Samuel Totten And Eric Markusen, Eds., Genocide In Darfur: Investigating The Atrocities In The Sudan, Justyna Klaczany

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Edited by the two prominent genocide scholars Samuel Totten and Eric Markusen, Genocide in Darfur: Investigating the Atrocities in the Sudan is an outstanding collec- tion of essays that describes in great detail the genesis, design, implementation, re- sults, and ramifications of the Darfur Atrocities Documentation Project (ADP). What makes this work significant is the fact that the essays are written not only by many noted scholars, US government and non-governmental organization officials, but also by the ADP designers and investigators. The perspectives of the latter is extremely valuable, since they were the people who conducted the interviews with the …

The Use Of Classroom Walk-Through Observations As A Strategy For Improving Teaching And Learning: Teacher Perspective, Leslie Mcentire, Mark Weller, Thomas R. Sorensen

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of classroom walk-through observations and their effect on Communication Arts and Mathematics Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) scores, summer school placement, discipline referrals, and retention. This study was conducted in three Midwestern Middle Schools. This study focused on classroom walk-through observations. If the principal increased the number of classroom walk-through observations, would it have an impact on Communication Arts and Mathematics MAP scores, summer school placement, discipline referrals and retention? This study will attempt to determine if classroom walk-through observations had an impact on Communication Arts MAP scores, Mathematics MAP scores, …

What Makes Strategy Making Across The Sales-Marketing Interface More Successful?, Avinash Malshe, Ravipreet S. Sohi

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

Extant research on marketing strategy making (MSM) lacks process-based theoretical frameworks that elucidate how marketing strategies are made when sales and marketing functions are involved in the process. Using a grounded theory approach and data collected from (a) 58 depth interviews with sales and marketing professionals and (b) a focus group with 11 marketing professionals, we propose that MSM within the sales-marketing interface is a three-stage, multifaceted process that consists of Groundwork, Transfer and Follow-up stages. Our process-based model explicates the specific activities at each stage that are needed to develop and execute marketing strategies successfully, the sequence in which …

Community Structure And Seasonal Dynamics Of Dactylogyrus Spp. (Monogenea) On The Fathead Minnow (Pimephales Promelas) From The Salt Valley Watershed, Lancaster County, Nebraska, Alaine Knipes, John J. Janovy Jr.

John J. Janovy, Jr. Publications

The gill monogene communities of Pimephales promelas (fathead minnow) in three distinct sites on converging streams were investigated from 2004 to 2006 in three different seasons. Thirty collections of P. promelas were made in southeastern Nebraska along three converging tributaries: Elk Creek (40.88534°N, 96.83366°W), West Oak Creek (40.9082°N, 96.81432°W), and Oak Creek (40.91402°N, 96.770583°W), Lancaster County, Nebraska. In all, 103 P. promelas were collected from Elk Creek, 115 from West Oak Creek, and 78 from Oak Creek and examined for gill monogenes. Among the P. promelas collected, 93.5% were infected with up to three species of Dactylogyrus, including Dactylogyrus …

Efficacy Of A Manualized And Workbook-Driven Individual Treatment For Social Anxiety Disorder, Deborah Roth Ledley, Richard G. Heimberg, Debra A. Hope, Sarah A. Hayes, Talia I. Zaider, Melanie Vandyke, Cynthia L. Turk, Cynthia Kraus, David M. Fresco

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Social anxiety disorder is a prevalent and impairing disorder for which viable cognitive-behavioral therapies exist. However, these treatments have not been easily packaged for dissemination and may be underutilized as a result. The current study reports on the findings of a randomized controlled trial of a manualized and workbook-driven individual cognitive-behavioral treatment for social anxiety disorder (Hope, Heimberg, Juster, & Turk, 2000; Hope, Heimberg, & Turk, 2006). This treatment package was derived from an empirically supported group treatment for social anxiety disorder and intended for broad dissemination, but it has not previously been subjected to empirical examination on its own. …

Pic Controlled Two-Band Stereo Audio Equalizer, Tim Brown

Electrical Engineering

The purpose of this project is to build a PIC (Peripheral Interface Controlled) controlled two-band stereo audio equalizer. The input audio from each stereo channel is separated into four different analog filters. The PIC has been programmed in BASIC and is used to route the audio signal to one of the four analog filters. Three of the filters have been preset to a certain frequency response (Jazz, Natural, and Bass), and the fourth filter has the unique ability to be controlled manually. Stereo potentiometers have been installed on the “Manual” filter to allow the user to change the frequency response …

Counting Girls In - Gender Issues In Science And Mathematics: An Examination Of The Research Concerning Innate And Socio-Cultural Gender Differences In The Fields Of Science And Mathematics In An Effort To Promote More Female Participation, Valerie R. Mackin

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

In today's world, there is an increasing demand for people in the technological fields. Fewer females than males pursue careers in physical sciences, engineering, and computer science in the United States presenting a loss of needed mathematicians and scientists. Gender differences related to mathematics and science is a complex arena of study, involving both innate biological differences combined with socially constructed ideas about gender in society. Through an in-depth investigation from educational, cognitive, and social psychology perspectives one will be able to determine how innate and socio-cultural factors contribute to the shortage of needed mathematicians and scientists in the United …

Rhode Island's Greatest Natural Tragedy, Stephanie N. Blaine

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

The infamous hurricane of 1938 accelerated the ongoing transformation of Rhode Island’s way of life.

Security Requirements Engineering-The Reluctant Oxymoron, Michael N. Johnstone

Australian Information Security Management Conference

Security is a focus in many systems that are developed today, yet this aspect of systems development is often relegated when the shipping date for a software product looms. This leads to problems post-implementation in terms of patches required to fix security defects or vulnerabilities. A simplistic answer is that if the code was correct in the first instance, then vulnerabilities would not exist. The reality of a complex software artefact is however, driven by other concerns. Rather than probing programs for coding errors that lead to vulnerabilities, it is perhaps more beneficial to look at the root causes of …

The Truth About Physician Participation In Lethal Injection Executions, Ty Alper

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

To Form A More Perfect Union: Taxation, Economic Efficiency, And The Dormant Commerce Clause In Department Of Revenue V. Davis, Casey J. Jennings

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Damages Under The Privacy Act: Is Emotional Harm Actual, Nicole M. Quallen

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Myspace, Write Space: An Analysis Of Student Achievement In Texts For Digital Audiences, Stephanie Marie Sauceda

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This thesis study analyzes students’ connection to audience in writing samples, gauging the performance of texts written for an actual audience, the classroom teacher and an implied audience, the web. Using Steven Toulmin’s concepts of intimate and stranger interactions, this study suggests that students may make an intimate connection with the mass web audience, thereby allowing an increase in writing performance. On the other end, students identify assignments for classroom teachers as work for the stranger audience, thus creating a writing performance gap. The following is a discussion of possible factors and elements creating this particular paradox in audience identification.

Sex At The Park: Stories From My Days With Ninfa, Dalel Serda

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This creative nonfiction manuscript chronicles the burgeoning relationship between the narrator and her subject, Ninfa—the folkloric, enduring and elusive Harlingen, Texas prostitute. This project aims to document the process of demystification the narrator undergoes as the women get to know each other. Furthermore, in the process of gathering the materials that will tell her subject’s story, the narrator attempts to tell the story about getting the story, about what led to this story and of what resulted. In sum, this work explores the often-blurry boundaries and complexities of what is inevitably a friendship.

Denial-Of-Service Attacks On Host-Based Generic Unpackers, Limin Liu, Jiang Ming, Zhi Wang, Debin Gao, Chunfu Jia

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

With the advance of packing techniques, a few generic and automatic unpackers have been proposed. These unpackers are designed to automatically unpack packed binaries without specific knowledge of the packing techniques used. In this paper, we present an automatic packer with which packed malware forges spurious unpacking behaviors that lead to a denial-of-service attack on host-based generic unpackers. We present the design, implementation, and evaluation of the proposed packer and malware produced using the proposed packer, and show the success of denial-of-service attacks on host-based generic unpackers.

On Strategies For Imbalanced Text Classification Using Svm: A Comparative Study, Aixin Sun, Ee Peng Lim, Ying Liu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Many real-world text classification tasks involve imbalanced training examples. The strategies proposed to address the imbalanced classification (e.g., resampling, instance weighting), however, have not been systematically evaluated in the text domain. In this paper, we conduct a comparative study on the effectiveness of these strategies in the context of imbalanced text classification using Support Vector Machines (SVM) classifier. SVM is the interest in this study for its good classification accuracy reported in many text classification tasks. We propose a taxonomy to organize all proposed strategies following the training and the test phases in text classification tasks. Based on the taxonomy, …

Identification Of A Conserved Cluster In The Rh Domain Of Grk Critical For Activation By Gpcrs, Faiza Baameur

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

One of the most critical aspects of G Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) regulation is their rapid and acute desensitization following agonist stimulation. Phosphorylation of these receptors by GPCR kinases (GRK) is a major mechanism of desensitization. Considerable evidence from studies of rhodopsin kinase and GRK2 suggests there is an allosteric docking site for the receptor distinct from the GRK catalytic site. While the agonist-activated GPCR appears crucial for GRK activation, the molecular details of this interaction remain unclear. Recent studies suggested an important role for the N- and C-termini and domains in the small lobe of the kinase domain in …

The Physiological And Biochemical Understanding Of 5’-Amp Induced Deep Hypometabolism, William G. O'Brien

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Our laboratory’s ability to induce deep hypometabolism (DH) via an injection of adenosine monophosphate (5’-AMP) followed by placement in an ambient temperature (Ta) around 15oC currently can last about 3-9 hours. While we have insight into how 5’-AMP induced hypometabolism is initiated, it remains unclear how arousal from hypometabolism is controlled. Other laboratory members have been unable to prolong this process safely and effectively with previous attempts of re-injecting a dose of 5’-AMP upon arousal or by decreasing the Ta. While these methods worked in suppressing arousal, the mortality rate is also increased. To gather a better understanding of the …

Corporeal Man: A Latter-Day Saint Perspective, Todd S. Davis

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the Latter-day Saint theology and teachings concerning the physical nature of man.Exploring the Latter-day Saints' theological approach to corporeal man and God's designs regarding the physical nature of man is significant because of the unique Latter-day Saint belief that God, Himself, is an exalted, corporeal man and that the physical body of man was created by God to enable humans to become like Him in all aspects. Latter-day Saints believe that Heavenly Father created spirit bodies for His sons and daughters in a pre-mortal state.The physical earth was then created through Jesus …

Comparison Of Cephalometric Norms Of Esthetically Pleasing Faces, Attiya Jawaid Shaikh, Arif R Alvi

Section of Dental-Oral Maxillofacial Surgery

OBJECTIVE: To establish cephalometric norms of a sample of aesthetically pleasing Pakistani faces and to analyze differences and similarities with accepted standards for Caucasians.

STUDY DESIGN: Analytical cross sectional study.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Carried out at Alvi Dental Hospital, Karachi, from August 2007 to February 2008.

METHODOLOGY: Cephalometric tracings were analyzed on a sample of 40 (20 males and 20 females) Pakistani young adults, aged 18-25 years, with full complement of permanent teeth, no previous orthodontic treatment and pleasing profile. To check the reliability of the measurements, 20 randomly selected cephalograms were retraced. None of the measurements showed …

Sexual Orientation And Outcomes In College, Christopher (Kitt) Carpenter

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

It has been well documented that sexual minority individuals are significantly more likely to be college educated than heterosexual individuals [Black, D., Gates, G., Sanders, S., & Taylor, L. (2000). Demographics of the gay and lesbian population in the United States: Evidence from available systematic data sources. Demography, 37(2), 139–154; and others]. Yet there is very little scholarship on the experiences of sexual minorities in college. We discuss several ways that sexual orientation could matter for college outcomes, and we provide the first empirical evidence on this question by using confidential data on over 40,000 students from …

A Practical Solution To The Reference Class Problem, Edward K. Cheng

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The "reference class problem" is a serious challenge to the use of statistical evidence that arguably arises every day in wide variety of cases, including toxic torts, property valuation, and even drug smuggling. At its core, it observes that statistical inferences depend critically on how people, events, or things are classified. As there is (purportedly) no principle for privileging certain categories over others, statistics become manipulable, undermining the very objectivity and certainty that make statistical evidence valuable and attractive to legal actors. In this paper, I propose a practical solution to the reference class problem by drawing on model selection …

The Political Economy Of Energy And Its Implications For Climate Change Legislation, Jim A. Rossi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Public choice themes have arisen throughout the history of U.S. energy regulation and continue to be relevant today, particularly with widespread discussion of deregulation and increased attention to climate change. This Article surveys how public choice themes are relevant to understanding a host of issues of importance to the electric power industry today, including the structure of the industry, the significance of wholesale markets, and the division of regulatory power between state and federal authorities. The Article highlights how an understanding of how public choice has contributed to these features of the electric power industry will prove important to the …

'Light, More Light': The 'Light' Newspaper, Spiritualism, And British Society, 1881 - 1920., Brian Glenney

All Theses

This thesis looks at the spiritualist weekly Light through Late Victorian, Edwardian, and World War I Britain. Light has never received any extended coverage or historical treatment yet it was one of the major spiritualist newspapers during this part of British history. This thesis diagrams the lives of Light's first four major editors from 1881 till the end of World War I and their views on the growth of science, God, Christ, evolution, and morality. By focusing on one major spiritualist newspaper from 1881 till 1920, this thesis attempts to bridge the gap in spiritualist historiography that marks World War …

The Macroeconomy And Health In The United States, Elizabeth Herring

All Theses

The economy affects everyone as it expands and contracts. This paper will look at the effects that economic downturns have on the health of Americans. It will analyze the number of deaths per year caused by certain causes of death and determine the extent to which a downturn affects these numbers. This paper also looks at the cause and effect relationship between antidepressants and suicide. The empirical results indicate that the state of the economy affects the health of the nation.

Linguistic Analysis Of Natural Language Engineering Requirements, Carl Lamar

All Theses

In engineering design, the needs of the customer are expressed through engineering requirement statements. These requirement statements are often expressed using natural language because they are easily created and read. However, there are several problems associated with natural language requirements including but not limited to ambiguity, incompleteness, understandability, testability and over specificity. Several representation and analysis tools have been proposed to address these problems within a requirement statement. These tools include formal languages, such as UML and SysML, requirement management tools, such as IBM Telelogic Doors, and natural language processors such as QuARS. These tools assist in the systematic elicitation …

The Development Of A Mechatronics And Material Handling Course: Laboratory Experiments And Projects, James Shirley

All Theses

Mechatronic systems integrate technologies from a variety of engineering disciplines to create solutions to challenging industrial problems. The material handling industry utilizes mechatronics to move, track, and manipulate items in factories and distribution centers. Material handling systems, because of their use of programmable logic controllers (PLC), PLC networks, industrial robotics, and other mechatronic elements, are a natural choice for a college instructional environment. This thesis offers insight and guidance for mechatronic activities introduced in a laboratory setting. A series of eight laboratory experiments have been created to introduce PLCs, robotics, electric circuits, and data acquisition fundamentals. In-depth case studies synthesize …