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2009

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An Ecological Examination Of Dropout Rates And Multiple Level Measures Of Social Integration In Mississippi School Districts 2005-2008: Does Career And Technical Education Play A Part?, Jacob Travis Walker Dec 2009

An Ecological Examination Of Dropout Rates And Multiple Level Measures Of Social Integration In Mississippi School Districts 2005-2008: Does Career And Technical Education Play A Part?, Jacob Travis Walker

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to conduct an ecological examination of the relationship between social integration and dropout rates at the school and community level, and the role of career and technical education in this relationship. This paper also attempts to determine if this relationship changes depending on how urbanicity is operationalized. This study adds to the existing research concerning the ecological relationships between dropout rates, community social integration, school social integration, and urbanicity in Mississippi. Three-year averaged event dropout rates for 2005-2008, multiple community and school measures of social integration, and three different operationalizations of urbanicity were used. …

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Parallel Viterbi Search For Continuous Speech Recognition On A Multi-Core Architecture, Naveen Parihar Dec 2009

Parallel Viterbi Search For Continuous Speech Recognition On A Multi-Core Architecture, Naveen Parihar

Theses and Dissertations

State-of-the-art speech-recognition systems can successfully perform simple tasks in real-time on most computers, when the tasks are performed in controlled and noiseree environments. However, current algorithms and processors are not yet powerful enough for real-time large-vocabulary conversational speech recognition in noisy, real-world environments. Parallel processing can improve the real-time performance of speech recognition systems and increase their applicability, and developing an effective approach to parallelization is especially important given the recent trend toward multi-core processor design. In this dissertation, we introduce methods for parallelizing a single-pass across-word n-gram lexical-tree based Viterbi recognizer, which is the most popular architecture for Viterbi-based …

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Implantable Antennas For Wireless Data Telemetry: Design, Simulation, And Measurement Techniques, Tutku Karacolak Dec 2009

Implantable Antennas For Wireless Data Telemetry: Design, Simulation, And Measurement Techniques, Tutku Karacolak

Theses and Dissertations

Recent advances in electrical engineering have let the realization of small size electrical systems for in-body applications. Today’s hybrid implantable systems combine radio frequency and biosensor technologies. The biosensors are intended for wireless medical monitoring of the physiological parameters such as glucose, pressure, temperature etc. Enabling wireless communication with these biosensors is vital to allow continuous monitoring of the patients over a distance via radio frequency (RF) technology. Because the implantable antennas provide communication between the implanted device and the external environment, their efficient design is vital for overall system reliability. However, antenna design for implantable RF systems is a …

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Information Processing System To Security Standard Compliance Measurement: A Quantitative Approach Using Pathfinder Networks (Pfnets), Elaine Hulitt Dec 2009

Information Processing System To Security Standard Compliance Measurement: A Quantitative Approach Using Pathfinder Networks (Pfnets), Elaine Hulitt

Theses and Dissertations

Continuously changing system configurations and attack methods make information system risk management using traditional methods a formidable task. Traditional qualitative approaches usually lack sufficient measurable detail on which to base confident, cost-effective decisions. Traditional quantitative approaches are burdened with the requirement to collect an abundance of detailed asset value and historical incident data and to apply complex calculations to measure the data precisely in work environments where there are limited resources to collect and process it. To ensure that safeguards (controls) are implemented to protect against a majority of known threats, industry leaders are requiring information processing systems to comply …

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Small Signal And Transient Stability Analysis Of Mvdc Shipboard Power System, Seetharama Raju Rudraraju Dec 2009

Small Signal And Transient Stability Analysis Of Mvdc Shipboard Power System, Seetharama Raju Rudraraju

Theses and Dissertations

Recent developments in high power rated Voltage Source Converters (VSCs) have resulted in their successful application in Multi-Terminal HVDC (MTDC) transmission systems and also have potential in the Medium Voltage DC (MVDC) distribution systems. This work presents the findings of stability studies carried out on a zonal MVDC architecture for the shipboard power distribution system. The stability study is confined to rotor angle stability of the power system, i.e. the transient and small signal stability analysis. The MTDC ring structure similar to MVDC shipboard power system was implemented in MATLAB/Simulink to look at the transient behavior of the MVDC system. …

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Fall Commencement Ceremonies, University Of North Florida Dec 2009

Fall Commencement Ceremonies, University Of North Florida

Commencement Printed Materials

Program for the Fall Commencement.

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Analysis Of Electromagnetic And Seismic Geophysical Methods For Investigating Shallow Sub-Surface Hydrogeology, Eric M. Parks Dec 2009

Analysis Of Electromagnetic And Seismic Geophysical Methods For Investigating Shallow Sub-Surface Hydrogeology, Eric M. Parks

Theses and Dissertations

An integrated electromagnetic (EM) and seismic geophysical study was performed to evaluate non-invasive approaches to estimate depth to shallow groundwater in arid environments with elevated soil salinity where the installation of piezometers would be impractical or prohibited. Both methods were tested in two study areas (semi-arid and arid respectively), one in Palmyra, Utah, USA near the shore of Utah Lake where groundwater is shallow and unconfined in relatively homogeneous lacustrine sediments. The other area is Carson Slough, Nevada, USA near Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Amargosa Valley. The area is underlain by valley fill, with generally variable shallow depths …

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Solar Technology Innovation Meeting Summary, Solar Innovation And Technology Center Dec 2009

Solar Technology Innovation Meeting Summary, Solar Innovation And Technology Center

Meetings (SI)

On December 11, 2009, Senator Harry Reid and President Neal Smatresk (UNLV) conveyed a group of approximately 60 people (see attached lists) from the public and private sector to provide input on the structure, focus, and need for a Solar Innovation Technology Center. At this meeting, there were small group discussions followed by a larger group discussion on the needs in the areas of Workforce / Training, Marketing and Finance, Economic and Policy Making, Infrastructure and Manufacturing, Technology Transfer and Commercialization, and Research. The notes below summarize the major comments from the group. This represents individual comments and in other …

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The Ecological Importance Of Extrinsic And Intrinsic Drivers Of Animal Movement, Josh Earl Rasmussen Dec 2009

The Ecological Importance Of Extrinsic And Intrinsic Drivers Of Animal Movement, Josh Earl Rasmussen

Theses and Dissertations

The movement of individuals is foundational to many ecological processes. For example, the movement of an organism from one place to another alters population density at both sites and has potential for affecting the genetic dynamics within the new population. Individual movement events may be in synchrony with overall trends in populations, e.g. spawning migrations, or may be atypical (asynchronous). This latter movement type can affect population and metapopulation dynamics, depending on its prevalence within a population. Nevertheless, given the complexity of interactions, the causative factors of movement are understood vaguely, much less for aquatic organisms. Drivers of movement are …

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Incorporating Multiresolution Analysis With Multiclassifiers And Decision Fusion For Hyperspectral Remote Sensing, Terrance Roshad West Dec 2009

Incorporating Multiresolution Analysis With Multiclassifiers And Decision Fusion For Hyperspectral Remote Sensing, Terrance Roshad West

Theses and Dissertations

The ongoing development and increased affordability of hyperspectral sensors are increasing their utilization in a variety of applications, such as agricultural monitoring and decision making. Hyperspectral Automated Target Recognition (ATR) systems typically rely heavily on dimensionality reduction methods, and particularly intelligent reduction methods referred to as feature extraction techniques. This dissertation reports on the development, implementation, and testing of new hyperspectral analysis techniques for ATR systems, including their use in agricultural applications where ground truthed observations available for training the ATR system are typically very limited. This dissertation reports the design of effective methods for grouping and down-selecting Discrete Wavelet …

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The Baryon Content Of Cosmic Structures, Stacy S. Mcgaugh Dec 2009

The Baryon Content Of Cosmic Structures, Stacy S. Mcgaugh

Faculty Scholarship

We make an inventory of the baryonic and gravitating mass in structures ranging from the smallest galaxies to rich clusters of galaxies. We find that the fraction of baryons converted to stars reaches a maximum between M 500 = 1012 and 1013 M ·, suggesting that star formation is most efficient in bright galaxies in groups. The fraction of baryons detected in all forms deviates monotonically from the cosmic baryon fraction as a function of mass. On the largest scales of clusters, most of the expected baryons are detected, while in the smallest dwarf galaxies, fewer than 1% are detected. …

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The Effectiveness Of Distance Education For Computer Application Software Instruction Versus The Cost Of Development And Implementation, Martha Anne Brock Dec 2009

The Effectiveness Of Distance Education For Computer Application Software Instruction Versus The Cost Of Development And Implementation, Martha Anne Brock

Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to determine if various types of distance education formats would be suitable for conducting a training course for a computer application. The study sought to determine if a face-toace format, interactive video format, minimally interactive online format or highly interactive and multimedia rich online format produced similar results in student performance in a training course for a computer application. The secondary purpose of this study was to determine if the increased cost of development of a highly interactive and multimedia rich online format was justified based on observed differences in student achievement in …

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The Role Of Cattle And Gulf Coast Ticks (Amblyomma Maculatum) In The Epidemiology Of Rickettsia Parkeri Infection, Kristine T. Edwards Dec 2009

The Role Of Cattle And Gulf Coast Ticks (Amblyomma Maculatum) In The Epidemiology Of Rickettsia Parkeri Infection, Kristine T. Edwards

Theses and Dissertations

I hypothesized cattle and Gulf Coast ticks (GCT), Amblyomma maculatum, may be involved in epidemiology of Rickettsia parkeri infection. I demonstrated transient rickettsemia by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the 17 kilodalton (kDa) gene in 33% (2/6) of calves experimentally exposed to R. parkeri either by direct inoculation or by placement of R. parkeri-infected GCT on calves’ ears. Calves (4/4) receiving GCT developed lesions at attachment sites consistent with a pathologic condition known as “gotch” ear whether or not GCT were infected with R. parkeri, suggesting the condition is related to GCT attachment and not to rickettsial infection. In calves …

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Rapid Identification Of Aspergillus Spp. Using A Pcr Based Melting Curve Method And Characterization Of A Novel Chitinase In Insect Resistant Maize Lines, Biing-Ru Wu Dec 2009

Rapid Identification Of Aspergillus Spp. Using A Pcr Based Melting Curve Method And Characterization Of A Novel Chitinase In Insect Resistant Maize Lines, Biing-Ru Wu

Theses and Dissertations

Identification of fungal isolates is critical in studying Aspergillus flavus ecology and for developing methods to reduce aflatoxin contamination. In our efforts to track biocontrol applications of the atoxigenic A. flavus K49 (NRRL 30797), we have developed a rapid and accurate classification system for A. flavus based on PCR product melting temperatures (Tm). Using 18 primers and a total of 59 Aspergilli strains, including all 49 representatives of the Georgian peanut Vegetative Compatibility Groups (VCGs), a decision tree Tm flowchart was generated. The decision tree can classify all 59 strains using only 9 of the SSR primers and an average …

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Social Networking Systems Success Model: Assessment And Validation Of The Is Success Model In Social Context, Aaron Michael French Dec 2009

Social Networking Systems Success Model: Assessment And Validation Of The Is Success Model In Social Context, Aaron Michael French

Theses and Dissertations

Developments such as the ubiquity of electronic networks and the breadth of digital platforms beyond simple forums have lead to major economic and social transformations worldwide (Agarwal et al, 2008). This research will explore developments in the area of social networking using Internet technology in order to determine factors that lead to success. Despite considerable growth among the number of online communities available, very few are successful at retaining members and continued usage by its members (Ma & Agarwal, 2007). The purpose of this dissertation is to determine factors leading to a successful social networking site (SNS). Through the unification …

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Obstacle Array Drag Coefficient Parametric Response Surface Analysis, Mouthgalya Ganapathy Dec 2009

Obstacle Array Drag Coefficient Parametric Response Surface Analysis, Mouthgalya Ganapathy

Theses and Dissertations

Throughout literature, one finds where numerous methodologies and models have been developed to predict the effect of surface roughness on a flat surface. Many of the models utilize a drag coefficient as one of the necessary parameters. In urban settings with groups of buildings, the drag coefficient on an individual obstacle would be determined by parameters like wind direction and the relative positioning of a building, in addition to Reynolds number and shape. Computational experiments were performed to simulate the fluid flow around a single row and two rows of “cube” obstacles. Based on dimensional analysis, the drag coefficient was …

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Dynamic Message Sign And Diversion Traffic Optimization, Jizhan Gou Dec 2009

Dynamic Message Sign And Diversion Traffic Optimization, Jizhan Gou

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation proposes a Dynamic Message Signs (DMS) diversion control system based on principles of existing Advanced Traveler Information Systems and Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS). The objective of the proposed system is to alleviate total corridor traffic delay by choosing optimized diversion rate and alternative road signal-timing plan. The DMS displays adaptive messages at predefined time interval for guiding certain number of drivers to alternative roads. Messages to be displayed on the DMS are chosen by an on-line optimization model that minimizes corridor traffic delay. The expected diversion rate is assumed following a distribution. An optimization model that considers …

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Current Sharing To Minimize Power Losses In Parallel Converters Using Pso, Dan Li Dec 2009

Current Sharing To Minimize Power Losses In Parallel Converters Using Pso, Dan Li

Theses and Dissertations

The Power Electronic Building Block (PEBB) concept leads to multifunctional converter systems, which provide robustness and flexibility in heavily power electronics based power systems. Systems comprised of flexible modular converters may have multiple possible operation conditions with respect to individual converters that meet the overall system goals. In this thesis, an optimization method for such flexible online power electronic systems is developed to minimize power losses of the overall group of converters in the system. Here the objective is to allocate sharing such that compensation objectives are met while the power loss of the entire parallel group of compensators is …

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Determining South Mississippi Forest Susceptibility To Windthrow And Shear Damage In A Hurricane Environment Through Data Mining Of Meteorological, Physiographical, Pedological, And Tree Level Data, Jared Seth Allen Dec 2009

Determining South Mississippi Forest Susceptibility To Windthrow And Shear Damage In A Hurricane Environment Through Data Mining Of Meteorological, Physiographical, Pedological, And Tree Level Data, Jared Seth Allen

Theses and Dissertations

An estimated 39 million m3 of timber was damaged across the Southeast Forest District of Mississippi due to Hurricane Katrina. Aggregated forest plot-level biometrics was coupled with wind, topographical, and soil attributes using a GIS. Data mining through Regression Tree Analysis (RTA) was used to determine factors contributing to shear damage of pines and wind-throw damage of hardwoods. Results depict Lorey’s Mean Height (LMH) and Quadratic Mean Diameter (QMD) are important variables in determining the percentage of trees and basal area damaged for both forest classes with sustained wind speed important for wind-throw and peak wind gusts for shear. Logistic …

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A Study On The Progress Toward Implementation Of Learning-Centered Approaches At A Large Urban Community College, Carmen Hawkins Walters Dec 2009

A Study On The Progress Toward Implementation Of Learning-Centered Approaches At A Large Urban Community College, Carmen Hawkins Walters

Theses and Dissertations

Faculty facing challenges of teaching students in a post-Katrina environment used learning-centered approaches to restore educational opportunities to its populations of hurricane-displaced students, the growing population of Hispanic students, and the business community. The study sought to determine if the faculty members had made progress toward implementing learning-centered activities and strategies into the classroom after attending seminars and workshops that covered the learning-centered principles. Additionally, the research sought to determine if there were differences among academic disciplines in the implementation of the learning-centered principles in the classroom at the college. The study used quantitative research methods. To collect the quantitative …

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An Assessment Of Reading Programs In North Mississippi Elementary Schools: A Comparative Analysis, Angela Delentheia Bluitt Dec 2009

An Assessment Of Reading Programs In North Mississippi Elementary Schools: A Comparative Analysis, Angela Delentheia Bluitt

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare the impact of reading programs of students who used the Reading Program One, Reading Program Two, and Reading Program Three reading programs and those students who were taught using no basal reading program in North Mississippi. The study also assessed teachers’ perceptions of the various reading programs based on gender, age, educational attainment, and years of teaching experience. The research design for this study included a descriptive analysis. Ten elementary schools in North Mississippi using the Reading Program One, Reading Program Two, Reading Program Three, and no basal reading program were analyzed. …

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An Examination Of Crisis Preparedness At Christian-Affiliated Institutions Of Higher Education, Stacy M. Burrell Dec 2009

An Examination Of Crisis Preparedness At Christian-Affiliated Institutions Of Higher Education, Stacy M. Burrell

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine crisis preparedness at Christian-affiliated institutions of higher education. Second, this study examined Christian-affiliated institutions of higher education presidents’ perspective of their institution’s ability to prepare for crises based upon the four critical indicators of organizational crisis preparedness as described by Zdziarski (2001): a) the types of crisis institutions prepare for, b) the phase of crisis prepared for, c) the systems in place to respond to crisis, and d) the stakeholders involved and considered in preparations. Implications from this study provided recommendations for crisis preparedness that are specific to Christian-affiliated colleges and universities. …

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Attitudes Of Female Faculty Toward The Use Of Computer Technologies And The Barriers That Limit Their Use Of Technologies In Girls' Colleges In Saudi Arabia, Taghreed Abdulaziz Almuqayteeb Dec 2009

Attitudes Of Female Faculty Toward The Use Of Computer Technologies And The Barriers That Limit Their Use Of Technologies In Girls' Colleges In Saudi Arabia, Taghreed Abdulaziz Almuqayteeb

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine female faculty members’ use of computer technologies, their attitudes toward computers, the factors that best predict their attitudes toward computers, and the barriers that limit their use of computer technologies in girls’ colleges in Dammam and Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Also, this study examined how female faculty members’ attitudes and use of computer technologies differ according to their demographic characteristics. 206 female faculty members participated in this study, and only 197 usable questionnaires were analyzed and used in this study. Descriptive statistics, a one-way ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis were conducted to analyze …

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Visual Perception And Gestalt Grouping In The Landscape: Are Gestalt Grouping Principles Reliable Indicators Of Visual Preference?, Mark Reinhardt Levy Dec 2009

Visual Perception And Gestalt Grouping In The Landscape: Are Gestalt Grouping Principles Reliable Indicators Of Visual Preference?, Mark Reinhardt Levy

Theses and Dissertations

Landscape visual preference research has indicated many potential indicators of preference; however a comprehensive framework concerning the relationship between visual preference and perception has not been solidified. Gestalt psychology, the predecessor to visual perception, proposes certain visual grouping tendencies to explain how humans perceive the world. This study examines if Gestalt grouping principles are reliable indicators of preference, and if they may be used to develop a broad context for visual assessment. Visual preference for 36 landscape scenes testing the proximity and similarity of landscape elements were ranked one through five by 1,749 Mississippi State University undergraduate, graduate, and faculty …

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Flow Structure/Particle Interaction In The Small Bronchial Tubes, Belabahen Soni Dec 2009

Flow Structure/Particle Interaction In The Small Bronchial Tubes, Belabahen Soni

Theses and Dissertations

The laminar flow in the small bronchial tubes is quite complex due to the presence of vortex-dominated, secondary flows. Contributing to this complexity are the geometrical characteristics of the bronchial tubes that include asymmetric and nonplanar branching. These secondary flow fields play a crucial role in particle deposition; however, the actual mechanisms that determine the particle distributions are not fully understood. The research reported here increases understanding of this phenomenon by studying flow structure/ particle interaction in the small bronchial tubes for steady and unsteady respiratory conditions. Specifically, the effects of simultaneous nonplanar and asymmetric branching were investigated. The nonplanar …

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Fusion Of Spectral Reflectance And Derivative Information For Robust Hyperspectral Land Cover Classification, Hemanth Reddy Kalluri Dec 2009

Fusion Of Spectral Reflectance And Derivative Information For Robust Hyperspectral Land Cover Classification, Hemanth Reddy Kalluri

Theses and Dissertations

Developments in sensor technology have made high resolution hyperspectral remote sensing data available to the remote sensing analyst for ground cover classification and target recognition tasks. Further, with limited ground-truth data in many real-life operating scenarios, such hyperspectral classification systems often employ dimensionality reduction algorithms. In this thesis, the efficacy of spectral derivative features for hyperspectral analysis is studied. These studies are conducted within the context of both single and multiple classifier systems. Finally, a modification of existing classification techniques is proposed and tested on spectral reflectance and derivative features that adapts the classification systems to the characteristics of the …

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Ged Students Versus Traditional High School Students: How Do The Ged Graduates Perform After The First Semester Of Attendance At A Rural Community College?, Ericka Akins Dec 2009

Ged Students Versus Traditional High School Students: How Do The Ged Graduates Perform After The First Semester Of Attendance At A Rural Community College?, Ericka Akins

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if freshman students based on their age, ethnicity, and gender who enter a community college with a GED credential will have a higher cumulative grade point average (GPA) after their first semester than traditional high school graduates. Findings from this study will aid individuals in developing a more accurate perception of the academic abilities of GED graduates. The academic performance of GED graduates was compared with traditional high school graduates after their first semester at a rural community college in the Fall 2007 semester. Intact data from the students f academic records …

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Gamma-Ray Bursts: New Parameters For Measuring Energy Dependent Spectral Lag Times, Phillip Jefferson Durst Dec 2009

Gamma-Ray Bursts: New Parameters For Measuring Energy Dependent Spectral Lag Times, Phillip Jefferson Durst

Theses and Dissertations

A new method for measuring the hardness-intensity correlation (HIC) present in gamma-ray bursts (GRB) is developed. This method is used to measure the HIC for 100 single-peak gamma-ray bursts, 17 with known redshifts. The HIC is thus shown to be a consequence of energy-dependent lag times between hard and soft photons. Parameters derived from time profile fits using a modified double sigmoidal function are used to calculate a new set of lag time parameters for bursts, and these parameters are analyzed statistically to look for correlations with intrinsic GRB properties. This analysis shows that GRB red shift is related to …

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Factors And Perceptions That Affect Enrollment In Career And Technical Education Programs In Rural East Central Mississippi, Aimee Chandler Brown Dec 2009

Factors And Perceptions That Affect Enrollment In Career And Technical Education Programs In Rural East Central Mississippi, Aimee Chandler Brown

Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the factors and perceptions that affect enrollment in career and technical education (CTE) programs in rural East Central Mississippi. Specifically, the study had four key purposes. First, the academic grades of CTE students and non-CTE students were examined to determine whether academic grades differ significantly between the CTE enrollers and non-CTE enrollers. Secondly, the study determined the perceptions that students in rural East Central Mississippi have toward CTE programs. Next, the study examined the internal and external factors that cause students to enroll or not enroll in a CTE program. Finally, …

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Labrat™: Miniature Robot For Students, Researchers, And Hobbyists, Paul Robinette, Ryan Meuth, Ryanne Dolan, Donald C. Wunsch Dec 2009

Labrat™: Miniature Robot For Students, Researchers, And Hobbyists, Paul Robinette, Ryan Meuth, Ryanne Dolan, Donald C. Wunsch

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

LabRat™ is an autonomous, self-contained mobile robot kit with batteries, motors, two bumper whisker sensors, and three infrared proximity sensors that double as channels for "Rat-to-Rat" communication. the vehicle determines its position with an optical sensor that detects movement in both lateral directions. the LabRat™ design is completely open source, including software examples and libraries. LabRat™ is designed to fit inside the body of a computer mouse and has applications in the classroom, the lab and the home. the device has been successfully used in an undergraduate robotics class. © 2009 IEEE.

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