Digital Commons Network^™

A Performer's Analysis And Comparison Of Hindemith's Piano Sonata For Four Hands (1938) Transcription For Wind Band By Mark Spede To The Original Piano Work., Michael Ray Beard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The works of Paul Hindemith have become a staple of the wind band repertoire. The number of works is just a handful but there have been some interest in transcribing more of his works for teh wind band. This document explores and discusses a new transcription by Mark Spede of Hindemith's Piano Sonata for Four Hands that will expand teh available the available repertoire for wind ensembles.During this process, the biographical information about Hindemith, his compositional style as it relates to the Sonata, and an analysis of the work. Also discussed is the progression Dr. Spede went through to create …

Bullying Behavior: Perspectives On Implementation Of Policy From Building Level Administrators And School Counselors, Christopher Michael Barnes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between anti-bullying policies developed and implementation of those policies in the state of Arkansas. The researcher used quantiative research methods to determine the extent of relationship between anti-bullying policies developed and implemented. A self-administered survey was constructed for data collection purposes using methods described by Fowler (2008) and Maronick (2009) and was distributed through Survey Monkey to all school counselors and building administrators in the state of Arkansas. Data analysis was conducted on responses received from 547 building administrators and school counselors to determine if there are relationships between administrators' …

Autonomous Wireless Radar Sensor Mote For Target Material Classification, Muhammad Mahmudur Rahman Khan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

An autonomous wireless sensor network consisting of different types of sensor modalities is a topic of intense research due to its versatility and portability.These types of autonomous sensor networks commonly include passive sensor nodes such as infrared,acoustic,seismic and magnetic.However,fusion of another active sensor such as Doppler radar in the integrated sensor network may offer powerful capabilities for many different sensing and classification tasks.In this work,we demonstrate the design and implementation of an autonomous wireless sensor network integrating a Doppler sensor into wireless sensor node with commercial off the shelf components.We also investigate the effect of different types of target materials …

Parental Involvement: A Qualitative Case Study Of Parent Involvement In Two Rural Mid-South Middle Schools, Tishsha Tanay Hopson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain a better understanding of what parental involvement means to parents and what influences them to become involved in a school. Joyce Epstein's Six Types of Parent Involvement Typology provided a guiding framework to assess terms and categories commonly used in parent involvement research. This study was guided by two research questions: What does parental involvement mean to parents? What influences parents to engage in parent involvement? The researcher conducted interviews, focus groups, and took field notes as primary sources of data to answer the two reserach questions.The researcher interviewed six …

The Chestershaw: The Views And Ideas That Shaped The Friendly Rivalry Of G.K. Chesterton And George Bernard Shaw, Jonathan Vowell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

G.K. Chesterton and George Bernard Shaw both lived at the turn of the twentieth century, which was a time of incredible social and philosophic change and upheaval. In reaction to the social chaos and uncertainty, both men sought to change the world through their artistic and polemical works and thus were friends, yet both men wanted to change the world into different things for different reasons and thus were enemies. Their intellectual, friendly rivalry was a hallmark of early twentieth-century public discourse and English letters. Unfortunately, while their artistic contributions remain, most of their intellectual contributions have been either misunderstood …

"The Young Blood Hungers": Mapping Young Black Manhood In Marita Bonner's Frye Street Fiction, Rachel Leigh Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Marita O. Bonner, early twentieth century African American public intellectual and creative writer, wrote particularly about the experiences of blacks in Chicago. Though most Bonner scholarship focuses primarily on her working class female characters, this study provides close readings of the young male figures in the short stories, "One Boy's Story," "The Makin's," "The Whipping," "There Were Three," "Tin Can," and "Nothing New." I analyze how these texts confront notions of family, personal identity, and violence, and how Bonner configures young life as a volatile liminal space of human development. As seen in Bonner's short stories and in her essay …

An Examination Of Early Literacy In An Early Childhood Classroom, Fawna Ann Lovelace

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how one early childhood education teacher promotes her first graders' early literacy skills. Reading is a major component for students' successful learning and development. The female participant taught at a private, Catholic school. Research questions were: What assumptions does an early childhood education make about early literacy? How does an early childhood teacher promote early literacy through phonemic awareness activities? What role does the classroom environment play in the children's acquisition of early literacy skills? Data for this qualitative study were collected from aquestionnaire, interviews, videotaped observations, lesson plans, photos, and …

"They Were Her Daughters:" Women And Grassroots Organizing For Social Justice In The Arkansas Delta, 1870-1970, Jayme Millsap Stone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The Arkansas Delta has a rich history of struggle and resistance, however, little is known about how local people organized for social justice. The widely-held belief is that black, male church pastors defined civil rights issues in their communities and led the people to action when they believed it was appropriate. This study is a corrective for this assumption and illustrates how black women--activist mothers--used the churches and African American religion as launching points for activist activities that they deemed critical to survival. As grassroots caretakers of the black community, local personalities---as teachers and tenant farmers, as club women, race …

Osteoblast Precursors Respond To Cyclic Mechanical Compressive And Tensile Strains At The Bone-Implant Interface, Andrew Phillip Noblett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Stromals cells, W-20-17, were subjected to daily 30 minute doses of 800microstrain at 1Hz for six consecutive days on a commercially pure titanium substrate with a custom 4-point-bend cell strain system to simulate the bone-implant interface in vivo. The loading schemes include continuous and intermittent (15minutes of strain, 15 minutes of rest, 15 minutes of strain) dosing in both compresssive and tensile strain. Cell lysates and media were collected after 12hrs on the plate and after 1, 3, and 6 days of straining. DNA, total protein, and ALP concentrations were assayed to assess the results of the different strains. Overall …

Assessing Awareness Of Local Nutrition Education Programs Among Memphis' Low Socioeconomic Adults, Josephine Marie Haller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Objective: To evaluate awareness of local nutrition programs in Memphis, TN in low socioeconomic status populations.Design: This study is a cross sectional survey design evaluating the knowledge of nutrition education resources available for low socioeconomic (SES) groups with high nutrition related health risks.Participants:66 participants recruited at a local grocery store met low SES eligibility criteria.Results: Overweight and obesity prevalence in the sample population matched national and state averages. 60% of the participants surveyed were aware of the Hope and Healing Center in general, however, there was little awareness (40%) of the nutrition education programs that they provide. 67% of the …

Improving Reading Comprehension Through Prior Knowledge Acquisition Via Digital Game Based Learning, Julie Hooker Forbess

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

As a result of the Tennessee Diploma Project, Tennessee students must meet ACT standards in order to achieve high school graduation. However, the reading level of the ACT is beyond that of many average students enrolled in high school. The reading section of the ACT in fact, utilizes many excerpts from classic literature. Classic literature is also included on the reading lists of most school systems across Tennessee as well as the entire country. Many students are unable to connect to the characters and contexts of classic literature because they lack the necessary prior knowledge to make this type of …

Supporting The Expression Of Sadness: A Moderator In The Association Between Parents' Discouragement Of Sadness And Child Internalizing Symptoms, Katianne Marie Howard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Recent literature in the field of emotion contingent responses has found associations between parent responses that discourage the expression of emotion and children’s negative emotional outcomes, as well as significant interactions between responses that support the expression of emotion and other types of responses in predicting emotional and behavioral outcomes. The present study investigated parents’ discouragement and support of children’s expression of sadness in relation to several indicators of internalizing behaviors in middle childhood. Children responded about their mothers’ emotion contingent responses and children and parents completed measures of children’s emotional and behavioral functioning. Results supported the association between discouraging …

Engaging Rural Community Members As Problem Solvers: Application Of Health Communication To Improve The Quality Of Health Care In Southwest Uganda, Tesfa N. Alexander

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Using communication theories and anthropological models, I analyze the narratives of community members who are caretakers of children ages 5 and under in Southwest Uganda to situate rural community members as problem solvers whose insights can be used to inform sustainable and effective public health strategies that can lead to improved health outcomes. Throughout my analysis, I uncover themes and concepts from community members' narratives that demonstrate that health-seeking behaviors of rural community members are largely shaped by perceptions of interpersonal and social trust in local health care practitioners. Additionally, an analysis of discourse from patient-provider interactions in biomedical and …

Modeling Light-Dark Cycle Memory In The Mammalian Scn, Benjamin L. Coffey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN), the principal mammalian circadian oscillator, contain several thousand clock neurons that oscillate spontaneously with ~24-hour periods in its ventrolateral region. Without light, this network synchronizes through action potentials releasing VIP, compromising on a free-running period near 24 hours. We entrained Siberian hamsters to various light-dark cycles and tracked their activity into constant darkness showing that they retain memory for a particular light-dark cycle to which they were entrained before returning to their own free-running period. Using Leloup-Goldbeter mammalian clock neurons, we model the ventrolateral SCN network and show that light acting weakly upon a strongly rhythmic …

Emove: Movement Detection And Classification For Tagged Assets On Embedded Platforms, Bhagavathy Krishna

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Most of the existing real-time asset tracking systems involves frequent communication of a device placed on the object to be tracked with a fixed infrastructure, which rapidly depletes the battery of the tag, due to the high energy demand of communication. This thesis presents emove, a system implemented on a low cost tag node that can be attached to assets. An emove tag autonomously detects and classifies movement of assets while being in deep sleep mode for most of its life. It communicates with the infrastructure only when it confirms the movement detected is of interest. Our design emphasizes energy-efficient …

A Community In Bloom: An Affordable Housing Needs Assessment Of West Bloomington, Stevenson Center For Community And Economic Development

Projects

This report was written in response to a request from Habitat for Humanity of McLean County. The report expands upon and updates an affordable homeownership needs assessment for the Bloomington-Normal community – with an emphasis on West Bloomington – that was created in 2004. Because the housing market and economic conditions of the area have changed drastically in the last 6 years, an updated report is necessary.

Native American Students: Perceptions Of Lived Experiences Attending A Small Predominantly White University In The Upper Midwest, Dennis Richard Simons

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand the lived experiences of Native American students when studying on a predominantly white campus at a small university in the Upper Midwest. Using a phenomenological approach, the researcher interviewed each of the eight participants for one hour, although there were two interviews that took longer. Two participants agreed to meet for a second interview and, again, the time taken was approximately one hour. The resulting audio-recorded interviews were then transcribed, coded, and analyzed.

Three themes emerged from the analysis of the data. Theme One: Participants depended on the support of …

Modeling A Longitudinal Relational Research Data System, Michelle D. Hunt Olsen

Theses and Dissertations

A study was conducted to propose a research-based model for a longitudinal data research system that addressed recommendations from a synthesis of literature related to: (1) needs reported by the U.S. Department of Education, (2) the twelve mandatory elements that define federally approved state longitudinal data systems (SLDS), (3) the constraints experienced by seven Midwestern states toward providing access to essential educational and employment data, and (4) constraints reported by experts in data warehousing systems.

The review of literature investigated U.S. government legislation related to SLDS and protection of personally identifiable information, SLDS design and complexity, repurposing business data warehouse …

The Changing Role Of The Pastor's Wife In Today's Evangelical Church, Debra D. Benoit

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this project is to explore the changes that have occurred in the lives of pastors' wives over the years in regards to her position in the church, her role within the family and her life outside of the church. Research will be conducted through interviews of pastors' wives in various stages of ministry and church experience, as well as a research/literature review of materials showing the historical role of the pastor's wife and how her role has continually developed and changed over the years. The underlying goal of this thesis is to provide a framework for teaching …

Does Setting Affect Achievement Of Students With Disabilities: Comparing Co-Teaching To Resource, Sarah Yvonne Mote

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This causal comparative study compared reading achievement of middle school students with disabilities (SWD) who were served in the resource class with the reading achievement of middle school SWD who were served in the co-teaching class. Reading achievement of SWD in grades six through eight was statistically analyzed to measure gains made by both groups of students. The learning outcomes were compared using reading assessment scores from the Georgia Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) and student Lexile levels. The participants were 157 sixth through eighth grade SWD. The findings suggest that SWD may benefit equally from either instructional setting. Students from …

Trade And Divergence In Education Systems, Pao Li Chang, Fali Huang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper presents a theory on the endogenous choice of a country's education policy and the two-way causal relationship between trade and education systems. The setting of a country's education system determines its talent distribution and comparative advantage in trade; the possibility of trade by raising the returns to the sector of comparative advantage in turn induces countries to further diferentiate their education systems and reinforces the initial pattern of comparative advantage. Specifically, the Nash equilibrium choice of education systems by two countries interacting strategically are necessarily more divergent than their autarky choices, although the difference is still less than …

Keillor To Host "A Prairie Home Companion" At Morris In February 2011, University Relations

Campus News Archive

No abstract provided.

Chosen-Ciphertext Secure Bidirectional Proxy Re-Encryption Schemes Without Pairings, Jian Weng, Huijie, Robert Deng, Shengli Liu, Kefei Chen

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Proxy re-encryption realizes delegation of decryption rights, enabling a proxy holding a re-encryption key to convert a ciphertext originally intended for Alice into an encryption of the same message for Bob. Proxy re-encryption is a very useful primitive, having many applications in distributed file systems, outsourced filtering of encrypted spam, access control over network storage, and so on. Lately, Weng et al. proposed the first unidirectional proxy re-encryption scheme without using bilinear pairs. However, Weng et al.'s construction does not possess collusion resilience, in the sense that a coalition of the proxy and the delegatee can recover the delegator's private …

December Soup & Substance Discussion On Budget Cuts And Education, University Relations

Campus News Archive

The monthly event pairs a free meal with meaningful discussion.

Morris Students Participate In Art For Our Children Project, University Relations

Campus News Archive

The service-learning project benefits the Morris Public Library and the Stevens County Human Services Youth Fund.

An Investigation And Analysis Of U.S. Restaurant Tipping Practices And The Relationship To Service Quality With Recommendations For Field Application, Lei Wang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between tipping and service quality in restaurants. The central question is to find out whether tipping and service quality is correlated through literature review. The purpose of this study is to answer the research question and make recommendations for field practice accordingly.

Energy Efficient Led Displays, John Mani Kumar Jupalli

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this research work, an innovative pixel architecture RGBW, consisting of red (R), green (G), blue (B), and white (W) LEDs, is designed and implemented for color generation. Energy consumption of new pixel architecture consisting of RGBW LEDs is compared to standard architecture consisting of RGB LEDs. Human perception experiments are conducted to study the differences in perception between the two architectures when the same colors are generated using RGBW vs. RGB. Measurements of power for a 32inch x 16inch LED display has proved up to 18% power savings for low saturated colors, up to 8% for high saturated colors …

From ‘Baggage’ To Not ‘Non-Persons’: Levy V. Louisiana And The Struggle For Equal Rights For ‘Illegitimate’ Children, Sherrie Anne Bakelar

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study focuses on "illegitimate" children, who are more visible
than other children within the historical record because of the many laws
related to their existence. By examining this group of children, it is
possible to improve upon the framework that shapes our understanding
of childhood and provide a starting point for future studies that will
continue to illuminate children's history. Although illegitimacy laws are
as ancient as Western civilization, the key moment for the United States'
laws related to nonmarital children came in the spring of 1968 and the
pivotal decision of Levy v. Louisiana, 391 U.S. 68 (1968). …

Design Decisions Under Risk And Uncertainty, Sravya Thoomu

All Theses

In the contemporary world of engineering, engineers strive towards designing reliable and robust artifacts while considering and attempting to control manufacturing costs. In due course they have to deal with some sort of uncertainty. Many aspects of the design are the result of properties that are defined within some tolerances, of measurements that are appropriate, and of circumstances and environmental conditions that are out of their control. This uncertainty was typically handled by using factors of safety, and resulted in designs that may have been overly conservative. Therefore, understanding and handling the uncertainties is critical in improving the design, controlling …

The Determinants Of Entrepreneurial Income In South Carolina, Devin Swindall

All Theses

Supporters claim that entrepreneurship is critical to building and sustaining the economy of urban and rural areas across the nation. Proponents argue that economic development practices that enhance and support entrepreneurship are essential because they cultivate innovation which, in turn, provides the area with new jobs, new wealth, and a better quality of life. However, self-employment income growth in South Carolina in particular and in the United States in general has lagged growth in income from other sources. This fact raises the need to study the determinants of self-employed income. Using the literature as a guide, a conceptual model was …