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Economic And Demographic Projections For Alaska And Greater Anchorage 2010–2035, Oliver Scott Goldsmith

ISER Reports

This report describes three economic, demographic, and fiscal projections for the state of Alaska and the Greater Anchorage region consisting of the Municipality of Anchorage and the Matanuska- Susitna Borough. These projections have been prepared by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) of the University of Alaska Anchorage as part of the development of the Seward Highway to Glenn Highway Connection (H2H) Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Department of Transportation and Facilities. These projections will be used to estimate future travel demand within the study area. The assumptions driving the three projections were developed by ISER in …

2009 Alaska Health Workforce Vacancy Study, Beth Landon, Sanna Doucette, Rosyland Frazier, Meghan Wilson, Darla Silver, Alexandra Hill, Kate Sanders, Suzanne Sharp, Kristin Johnson, Patricia Deroche, Stephanie Martin, Donna Prator

ISER Reports

Alaska continues to experience health professional shortages. The state has long had a deficient “supply side” characterized by insufficient numbers of key health workers whose recruitment, retention, and training have been impeded by Alaska’s remoteness, harsh climate, rural isolation, low population density, and scarce training resources. Alaska is the only state without a pharmacy school and lacks its own dental and physical therapy schools as well. Health professional shortages can be decreased through the start of new training programs, the expansion of existing programs, and the improvement of the effectiveness of recruitment and retention efforts. However, strategic planning and the …

Studies On Inositol Polyphosphates And Their Role In Programmed Cell Death, Rakhee Agarwal

Theses and Dissertations

The agents that induce apoptosis in cancerous cells are considered as potential candidates for cancer therapy. Inositol polyphosphates, the naturally occurring compounds, regulate diverse cellular processes including induction of apoptosis in certain cancerous cells and hence can be considered as potential anticancer agents. The aim of this research dissertation was to establish firmly the role of inositol polyphosphates in induction of apoptosis by examining their mechanism of action. The overall hypothesis was that alterations in intracellular levels of inositol polyphosphates would bring about apoptotic changes. The hypothesis was tested by changing endogenous inositol polyphosphates by way of chemical treatments known …

Transparency And City Government Communications, Jennalande Oswald

Theses and Dissertations

This study expresses the need for a communications model created specifically for government communications that is centered on the concept of transparency. However, it also recognizes the previous research done pertaining to government communications and public relations. Importantly, the study recognizes the lack of trust in American government at city, state and federal levels and the need to improve trust, which is very closely related to transparency. The study focuses primarily on a model created in 2007 called the three-dimensional model for government communications. The model has four parts: the base of the model is the need to value transparency; …

Application Of 3d Zernike Descriptors To Shape-Based Ligand Similarity Searching., Vishwesh Venkatraman, Padmasini Ramji Chakravarthy, Daisuke Kihara

Department of Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Background

The identification of promising drug leads from a large database of compounds is an important step in the preliminary stages of drug design. Although shape is known to play a key role in the molecular recognition process, its application to virtual screening poses significant hurdles both in terms of the encoding scheme and speed.

Results

In this study, we have examined the efficacy of the alignment independent three-dimensional Zernike descriptor (3DZD) for fast shape based similarity searching. Performance of this approach was compared with several other methods including the statistical moments based ultrafast shape recognition scheme (USR) and SIMCOMP, …

Influence Of Soil Water Repellency On Post-Fire Revegetation Success And Management Techniques To Improve Establishment Of Desired Species, Matthew D. Madsen

Theses and Dissertations

The influence of soil water repellency (WR) on vegetation recovery after a fire is poorly understood. This dissertation presents strategies to broaden opportunities for enhanced post-fire rangeland restoration and monitoring of burned piñon and juniper (P-J) woodlands by: 1) mapping the extent and severity of critical and subcritical WR, 2) determining the influence of WR on soil ecohydrologic properties and revegetation success, and 3) evaluating the suitability of a wetting agent composed of alkylpolyglycoside-ethylene oxide/propylene oxide block copolymers as a post-fire restoration tool for ameliorating the effects of soil WR and increasing seedling establishment. Results indicate that:

• Post-fire patterns …

A Closer Look At One Elementary School's Use Of Informational Text In Classroom Instruction, Marjean Sorensen

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research study was to explore the use of informational text in kindergarten through sixth grade classrooms in one elementary school. The research was based on analyzing responses given by teachers on a self-report survey; which addressed various aspects of their use of informational texts. The survey included questions about the sources teachers used to find informational texts, the criteria used in selection of such texts, and the frequency and purposes for informational text use. These data were then compared according to teachers' years of teaching experience and grade level taught to see the influence of …

Ecological Linkages Between Headwater Streams And Riparian And Downstream Habitats In The Eastern Cascade Range, Washington, Usa, Elizabeth C. Green

Biological Sciences

"I examined how headwater streams are ecologically linked with the terrestrial environment and upstream waters. I examined relationships between fish (rainbow and cutthroat trout), invertebrates, and habitat in 15 headwater streams in two ecoregions (wet, dry) and timber harvest scenarios (logged, unlogged) in the Wenatchee River sub-basin in the eastern Cascade Mountain Range, Washington state, USA. Fish biomass, density, and size were not related to ecoregion or to logging history. Invertebrate drift manipulations in 13 streams influenced fish movement (fish moved downstream in sites that were not supplemented with food) and diet (fish consumed less prey when drifting invertebrates were …

Reproductive Patterns In King Eiders, Rebecca L. Bentzen

Biological Sciences

Mammalian predation, avian predation, female body condition and food availability on the breeding ground are likely the main factors influencing nesting success in tundra-nesting waterfowl. These driving factors are mediated by the primary life history characteristics; incubation behavior, female body size, nesting associations, and nest site selection. I created a conceptual model illustrating how these factors are interrelated and how they impact nest success through a variety of pathways to better understand the evolution of a species' nesting strategy and patterns observed in the field. The importance of the driving factors likely varies between sites and with the species nesting …

People And Nature: Toward An Ecological Model Of Health Promotion, Daniel L. Dustin, Kelly S. Bricker, Keri Schwab

Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration

Striving for a healthier relationship among individuals, families, communities, nations, and the environment is imperative at a time in history when humankind can change the face of the earth in monumental ways. This dynamic health relationship, with an emphasis on the contributions of parks, recreation, and tourism to health promotion, is the subject of this article. A broader conception of health that moves beyond human physical and mental health to include familial, communal, national, international, and global ecological health is called for, and a more comprehensive ecological model of health promotion, including consideration of health from a holistic ecological perspective, …

Expenditures, Efficiency, And Effectiveness In U.S. Undergraduate Higher Education: A National Benchmark Model, Brett A. Powell

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between expenditures and efficiency and effectiveness in U.S. higher education institutions and whether that relationship can begin to answer the accountability questions facing these institutions. Institutions are facing questions from federal legislators, state legislators, parents, students, and other stakeholders about the cost of U.S. higher education and whether these costs lead to success in educating students. Using the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (2003-04) and the National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (2004), canonical correlation analysis and structural equation modeling were used to define and determine the relationship among four constructs: …

Hybrid Matching And Risk Assessment Of The Misspelled Names Hmra, Cihan Varol

Theses and Dissertations

Companies acquire personal information from phone, World Wide Web, or email in order to sell or send an advertisement about their product. However, when this information is acquired, moved, copied or edited, the data may loose its quality. Often, the use of data administrators or a tool that has limited capabilities to correct the mistyped information can cause many problems. Moreover, most of the correction techniques are particularly implemented for the words used in daily conversations. Since personal names have different characteristics compared to general text, firstly, we proposed a hybrid matching algorithm (PNRS) which employs phonetic encoding, string matching …

No Child Left Behind: Perspectives And Knowledge Of Parental Involvement Component Section 1118 Among Administrators And Parents In Elementary Schools, Jill Yvette Brooks

Theses and Dissertations

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requires states, districts, and schools develop and implement parental involvement policies, yet, the extent of implementation remains largely unmeasured (United States Department of Education, 2002). Thus, the researcher surveyed 142 elementary school administrators and 639 parents in a southern state to determine if a statistically significant difference existed between parent and administrator perceptions and practices and current knowledge of parental involvement as outlined in NCLB and whether parental responses differed by demographics. The survey utilized a four-point Likert-type Scale with 12 questions measuring perceptions and practices (Cronbach's alpha = .84) and 8 measuring current knowledge …

Real Time Network Monitoring And Reporting System, Ricky Lee Massengale Sr.

Theses and Dissertations

With the ability of modern system developers to develop intelligent programs that allows machines to learn, modify and evolve themselves, current trends of reactionary methods to detect and eradicate malicious software code from infected machines is proving to be too costly. Addressing malicious software after an attack is the current methodology and should be a fallback approach. A modern approach should be to perpetually monitor the "enterprise network backbone" traffic and broadcast alerts while taking protective and pre-emptive measures, in the event that the traffic falls out of the bounds of pre-described norms. This work demonstrates that a synergy approach …

How To Study Lawyer-Client Meetings: From Video Recordings Without Sound?, Stephen J. Ellmann

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

The Doctor, The Publisher And The Curmudgeon: How Personalities, Politics And The Press Set The Stage For Alaska Statehood, Lynne M. Snifka

Arctic and Northern Studies

"Much has been written about Alaska's struggle for statehood in 1959. But before there was a unified push for statehood, before World War II changed the face of Alaska forever and people such as Bob Atwood, Bill Egan and Bob Bartlett fought the good fight, there was a "perfect storm" of personalities, politics and press coverage that prepared Alaska for what would become its greatest triumph. This thesis examines the lives, motives and politics of Territorial Governor John Troy, Territorial Governor Ernest Gruening and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. Their individual vendettas, drive and quests for power …

A Storm Like No Other: Changes That Shaped Seward Peninsula Communities At The Turn Of The 20th Century, Amy Russell

Arctic and Northern Studies

"This thesis explains how four events at the turn of the twentieth century--the start of an American administration, the introduction of schools and missions, the introduction of reindeer, and the 1918 influenza epidemic--brought sweeping changes to Inupiat on the Seward Peninsula, and contributed to the decline of two formerly-prominent Seward Peninsula communities: Kingegan and Kauwerak"--Leaf iii

Summer Burrows Of Ord's Kangaroo Rats (Dipodomys Ordii) In Western Nebraska: Food Content And Structure, Jeremy A. White

Western North American Naturalist

Extent of larder hoarding differs among species of kangaroo rats, and limited information is available for food stored in burrows by Ord's kangaroo rat (Dipodomys ordii)—the most widespread species of Dipodomys. I excavated 9 burrows recently used by adult D. ordii during summer in the Sandhill Region of Nebraska. I observed only small quantities of food stored in burrows. Eight of 9 burrows contained segments of sand dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus) in limited quantities. These segments consisted of upper leaves with fruits (containing seeds) housed in sheaths. My observations represent the first documentation of D. ordii storing …

Grassland Bird Associations With Introduced And Native Grass Conservation Reserve Program Fields In The Southern High Plains, Thomas R. Thompson, Clint W. Boal, Duane Lucia

Western North American Naturalist

We examined relative abundances of grassland birds among Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields seeded with 2 monocultures of introduced grass species and 2 mixes of native grasses in the Southern High Plains of Texas. We assessed bird compositions among these 4 cover types and between the cover types pooled into categories of introduced and native fields. Breeding season bird diversity and total abundance did not differ among cover types or between introduced and native fields. Grasshopper Sparrows (Ammodramus savannarum), Cassin's Sparrows (Aimophila cassinii), and Western Meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta) accounted for more than 90% of …

End Matter, Vol. 69 No. 4

Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Synoptic Climatology Of The Eastern Brooks Range, Alaska: A Data Legacy Of The International Geophysical Year, Jennifer R. March

Atmospheric Sciences

"Data from three International Geophysical Year (1957-1958) expeditions and one International Hydrological Decade National Science Foundation project (1969-1972) to the eastern Alaska North Slope have been rescued and made available in digital form: Chamberlain Glacier, Lake Peters, and McCall Glacier. Comparisons between these sites and US and Canadian Weather Service stations within 500km of McCall Glacier were conducted to determine the broad temperature climatology of the region. McCall Glacier is generally a swing site, and the climatology of the region often was linked most closely to the Beaufort Sea coast, though on some occasions, was more closely related to the …

Gospel Festival Celebrates 20th Anniversary, University Communications, Illinois Wesleyan University

News and Events (Discontinued Series)

No abstract provided.

Deliberation Versus Dispute: The Impact Of Argumentative Discourse Goals On Learning And Reasoning In The Science Classroom, Mark Felton, Merce Garcia-Mila, Sandra Gilabert

Faculty Publications

Researchers in science education have converged on the view that argumentation can be an effective intervention for promoting knowledge construction in science classrooms.However, the impact of such interventions may be mediated by individuals’ task goals while arguing. In argumentative discourse, one can distinguish two overlapping but distinct kinds of activity: dispute and deliberation. In dispute the goal is to defend a conclusion by undermining alternatives, whereas in deliberation the goal is to arrive at a conclusion by contrasting alternatives. In this study, we examine the impact of these discourse goals on both content learning and argument quality in science.

Psychometrics Of The Missouri Student Survey: Examining Validity, Reliability And Consent, Susan Marie Depue

Dissertations

Risk and protective factors for adolescent drug and alcohol abuse have gained prominence in the prevention field as a framework for prevention. Communities that Care® is the original survey that collected data on risk and protective factors in the adolescent community. The Missouri Student Survey is based upon the Communities that Care® survey and is administered to students across the state of Missouri every two years. This study examines the reliability and validity of the Missouri Student Survey in a sample of 126,923 students from across the state of Missouri. In addition, this study also considers the question of active …

Adult Learning Satisfaction And Instructional Perspective In The Foreign Language Classroom, Linda Jo Ryan

Dissertations

Adult education literature suggests that the instructional perspective of the teacher has an important effect on adult satisfaction with learning. In this study, the relationships between instructional perspective, satisfaction with language learning, and certain teacher and student characteristics were investigated. Study participants were adult students enrolled in noncredit foreign language courses offered through a community college’s Continuing Education program and their teachers. Henschke’s Modified Instructional Perspectives Inventory (MIPI) was used to evaluate teacher-reported use of andragogical principles. The MIPI is comprised of seven subscales: Factor 1: Teacher Empathy with Learners, Factor 2: Teacher Trust of Learners, Factor 3: Planning and …

Kathryn M. Cavins Talks On College Students Risky Behaviors, Willis Kern

Interviews for WGLT

College aged kids often engage in daring and risky behavior. This means campus officials have to be ever mindful. Today during Morning Edition at the Garlic Press, GLT's Willis Kern talked about campus security with two central Illinois college administrators...

Variation In Age And Size At Maturity Of Lake Clark, Alaska Sockeye Salmon, Elizabeth B. Benolkin

Fisheries

Salmon returning to Lake Clark, Alaska are a valuable subsistence, commercial and ecological resource, and are an important component of the larger Kvichak River escapement. Average escapement to the Kvichak River declined sharply during 1996-2005, prompting studies to investigate age and size at maturity, key life history traits of salmon linked to reproductive success and survival. We examined potential factors which may influence sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka age and size at maturity: spawning habitat and ocean environment, and examined variation in both traits over time. Sockeye salmon age and length at maturity differed among spawning locations and between brood years, …

Analysis Of Adult Sport Fishing Lesson Choices And Their Application To Post-Secondary Curriculum Development, Shann Paul Jones

Fisheries

"Post-secondary angler education offerings have increased nationally, but little is known about what sport fishing skills anglers desire. I noticed variations in such curricula while developing the University of Alaska Fairbanks course, Fundamentals of Fly Fishing. My study objectives were to 1) determine what fly-fishing skills potential students desire so they invest both time and money attending my education events; 2) refine my offerings; and, 3) determine if students gained angling-related knowledge. I developed a questionnaire gauging the public's fly-fishing educational desires and requirements, and distributed it from 2003 to 2005. After analyzing the results, I revised my class to …

Age, Growth And Productivity Of Juvenile Sockeye Salmon In Two High Latitude Lakes, Alaska, Lorna I. Wilson

Fisheries

"The growth of Seward Peninsula sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) from Salmon and Glacial lakes is related to their physical environment. Dermal scales collected over many years were measured to document the annual age specific growth of smolts and adults. The effect of fertilization on fry growth was examined using the first year of growth. The growth histories of Salmon Lake sockeye salmon were compared to Glacial Lake sockeye salmon through smolting and in the marine environment. Annual age specific fry growth had no direct relationship to fertilization; however, there were interactions between biomass of salmon prey and fertilization, and between …

Helena Student Receives Um Scholarship, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of University Relations

University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present

No abstract provided.