Digital Commons Network^™

Integrating Custom Mapping And Structure Preplanning With Gis For Emergency Responders, Zachary M. Hittie

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Accurate information can mean the difference between life and death for emergency responders and the people they serve. At the Harrisonburg Fire Department, laptops with customized databases for street maps and building preplans are one source of information for first responders. Another available resource is a Geographic Information System for the City of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. However, ESRI’s ArcGIS® software is far from user-friendly in a mobile atmosphere. The objective of this research is to develop new software that integrates the ArcGIS® tool suite with custom street map files and structure preplan databases into a single application on a …

A Comparative Social, Economic And Environmental Study Of How Malta Could Best Achieve Its 2020 “20-20-20” Goals, Charles G. Sinn

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The European Union has recognized the need for an action plan to facilitate the gradual transition to a dominant, renewable energy production base for the myriad of benefits that renewable over non-renewable production brings. Malta, as a member of the EU, is obliged to achieve nationwide goals as specified in the Renewable Energy Directive with regards to electrical efficiency, carbon emissions and renewable energy production share. The goals for Malta include an achievement by 2020 of a 10 % renewable production base, a 10 % electrical efficiency improvement and an allowance for a 5 % increase in carbon emissions as …

Molecular Evidence Suggests Multiple Evolutionary Origins Of Sociality In The Polyphenic Spider Anelosimus Studiosus (Araneae: Theridiidae)., Nathaniel O. Weber

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Anelosimus studiosus exhibits two behavioral phenotypes: subsocial and social. This is the only documented spider inhabiting a temperate climate exhibiting social behavior. While the subsocial phenotype is most common throughout the range, the social behavior occurs in isolated pockets in northern latitudes. This study examines the origins of the social phenotype within a segment of the spider's range. Two hypotheses are tested: 1) pockets of social behavior represent a single origin or 2) pockets of social behavior represent local evolutions, thus leading to multiple origins of evolution. Microsatellite loci were used to determine genetic structure of the population and to …

Wrongful Convictions As A Result Of Public Defender Representation., Annie Elizabeth Ross

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Our criminal justice system works very hard to prevent criminals from harming other individuals; however, unfortunately mistakes happen. One wrongful conviction is one too many. There are multiple factors that can be assumed to be the cause of wrongful convictions. However, due to the lack of directly related research, the determents are not well established. The following research addresses wrongful convictions as a result of public defender representation. Through the process of theory construction, the research uses critical race theory and social disorganization theory to show the relationship between court appointed representation and wrongful convictions. A new theory is also …

Fatherhood And Fatherland In Chimamanda Adichie's "Purple Hibiscus"., Audrey D. Peters

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purple Hibiscus, a novel by third-generation Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie, appears at first glance to be a simple work of adolescent fiction, a bildungsroman in which a pair of siblings navigate the typical challenges of incipient adulthood: social ostracism, an abusive parent, emerging desire. However, the novel's setting-a revolutionary-era Nigeria-is clearly intended to evoke post-Biafra Nigeria, itself the setting of Adichie's other major work, Half of a Yellow Sun. This setting takes Purple Hibiscus beyond the scope of most modern adolescent fiction, creating a complex allegory in which the emergence of self and struggle for identity of the …

Government Speech And Online Forums: First Amendment Limitations On Moderating Public Discourse On Government Websites, David S. Ardia

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Good Grapes - Good Wine., Meilin Chung Curtis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Good grapes are required to make good wine. Quality wines start in quality vineyards. Vineyard design, installation, and operation, including site location, trellis options, vine selection, and canopy management, along with when to harvest are discussed. While winemaking is the final phase in the pursuit of the winemaker's passion, it is but a simple formula. The beginning of a good wine is in a good vineyard. This study includes a financial projection for a 10-acre vineyard as well as for starting an onsite, complementary sized winery. Even though many small-to-medium vineyards-to-wineries have started over the last decade, the reason to …

A Profile Of Rural Southern Appalachian Hiv Patients: Vamc Versus Com., Lauren Brooks

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Although the AIDS epidemic in America began approximately three decades ago, much remains to be learned about the epidemiology of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections in rural America. This study compared profiles of HIV patients at the James H. Quillen Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in Mountain Home, TN to those seen at a university-based community HIV care clinic (COM) in Johnson City, TN.

Spatial Analysis Of Motor Vehicle Accidents In Johnson City, Tennessee, As Reported To Washington County Emergency Communications District (911)., Katharine D. Bennett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study spatially analyzes emergency 911 call-for-service records from January 1, 2000 through December 31, 2009 for motor vehicle accidents inside the corporate limits of Johnson City, Tennessee. Records were compared according to the land use classification for adjacent properties, roadway type, and traffic signal proximity. Data were evaluated through ArcGIS software using proximity analysis, point pattern analysis, and hotspot analysis.

Motor vehicle accidents evaluated during this study consist of accident locations reported to the Washington County Emergency Communications District concerning property damage, personal injury, and fatalities. Results indicate localized areas with the highest number of traffic accidents contain the …

Illinois State University, One Hundred And Fifty-First Annual Commencement, December 18, 2010, Illinois State University

Commencement Programs

Normal, Illinois
Illinois State University
One Hundred and Fifty-First Annual Commencement
December 18, 2010

Water Resources Criteria And Indicators, Ethan Timothy Smith

Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education

No abstract provided.

Water Resources Sustainability: An Ecological Economics Perspective, Christopher Lant

Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education

No abstract provided.

Allocating Water: Economics And The Environment (2004 Ucowr Conference Program)

Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education

No abstract provided.

Technical Assistance Needs And Research Priorities For Small Community Water Systems, Ben Dziegielewski, Tom Bik

Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education

No abstract provided.

The History Of Atlantic Science: Collective Reflections From The 2009 Harvard Seminar On Atlantic History, Marcelo Aranda, Katherine Arner, Lina Del Castillo, Helen Cowie, Matthew Crawford, Joseph Cullon, Marcelo Figueroa, Claire Gherini, Melissa Grafe, Sarah Irving, Ryan Kashanipour, Carla Lois, Adrian Lopez-Denis, Bertie Mandelblatt, Iris Montero Sobrevilla, Kathleen S. Murphy, Eric Otremba, Christoper Parsons, Heather Peterson, Emily Senior, Teresa Vergara, Kelly Wisecup, Anya Zilberstein

History

No abstract provided.

Ua35/11 Arête December 2010, Honors College

Arête: Honors College at WKU Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Racial Disparities In Healthcare: Challenges Faced By Hispanic Populations, Kaitlin Mcdowell

Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Entropy In Two American Road Narratives, Sean Deskin

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Tony Tanner's book City of Words analyzes American literature from 1950-1970; in the chapter entitled "Everything Running Down" the theme of entropy, the second law of thermodynamics, is explored and revealed to be a common motif within many works of American literature. Tanner's analysis does not specifically address the presence of entropy within the genre of the American road narrative; when considering his analysis presented in "Everything Running Down" with Kris Lackey's analysis of American road narratives presented in his book RoadFrames, the presence of entropy and how it is applied within the American road narrative becomes apparent. Although Jack …

A Framework Supporting Development Of Ontology-Based Web Applications, Shireesha Tankashala

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

We have developed a framework to support development of ontology based Web applications. This framework is composed of a tree-view browser, an attribute selector, the ontology persistence module, an ontology query module, and a utility class that allows the users, to plug-in their own customized functions. The framework supports SPARQL-DL query language. The purpose of this framework is to shield the complexity of ontology from the users and thereby ease the development of ontology based Web applications. Having high quality ontology and using this framework, the end-users can develop Web applications in many domains. For example, a professor can create …

Chancellor's Report 2010-12, John Pugh

Chancellor's Report

No abstract provided.

University Of Nebraska At Omaha, December Commencement 2 0 1 0, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Albert Baldwin Wood, The Screw Pump, And The Modernization Of New Orleans, Nicole Romagossa

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Albert Baldwin Wood and his screw pumps modernized New Orleans by bringing flood-free streets and cleaner water to the city while providing the potential for growth by pumping swamp lands dry. While Wood was never part of the local Progressive movement, his work with the pumps fit with Progressive initiatives for modernization. At first, the screw pumps removed rain water from the streets. Then New Orleans expanded the drainage to include sewerage removal and water purification. The pumps successfully drained thousands of acres of land once considered uninhabitable swamp land. This additional land extended New Orleans city limits but also …

Place Matters: An Evolutionary Approach To Annie Proulx's "The Half-Skinned Steer"And "Wamsutter Wolf", Erin Walker

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In Annie Proulx's interview with Charlie Rose, she states that her stories come "from place." Ecocriticism has been the predominant lens with which to understand Proulx's work; however, ecocriticism's nebulous tenets and theoretical deficiencies perpetuate sentimental pastoralism of geographical determinism. The shaping impact of Wyoming's environment in Proulx's work lends itself to an evolutionary perspective. Proulx's fiction, like evolutionary theory, examines humanity's unique, reciprocal relationship with nature. The evolutionary approach provides readers with a framework to understand the human relationship to our environment, a theme Proulx's work examines. This approach also augments current criticism that notes the importance of place …

The Petrochemical Industrial Complex Of The St. Charles Parish Industrial Corridor And Its Influence On Urbanization Patterns, Darin Acosta

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the impact that the petrochemical industry has had on the built environment of Norco, St. Charles Parish, Louisiana. Previous scholars have suggested that heavy industry in Norco consumes a majority of the Mississippi River's natural levee, which is the most elevated and flood resistant land in the town. In order to test these observations, the author of this thesis has collected parcel-level land use data in Norco to determine the flood hazard and topographical characteristics of these various land uses. Spatial calculations, run using Geographic Information System software, have determined that heavy industrial land uses in Norco …

Eulalie De Mandeville: An Ethnohistorical Investigation Challenging Notions Of Placage In New Orleans As Revealed Through The Lived Experiences Of A Free Woman Of Color, Penny Johnson

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This ethnohistorical work investigates plaçage through the case of Eulalie de Mandeville, a free woman of color and both the daughter of Pierre de Marigny de Mandeville, one of the largest land owners in New Orleans, and the sister of Bernard Marigny, land owner and founder of the Faubourg Marigny, a historic neighborhood in New Orleans. Eulalie's connection to the de Marigny de Mandeville family led to gifts of money and real estate from Pierre, Bernard, and her grandmother, Madame de Mandeville. She used these gifts to not only secure financing for a successful retail business, but also to finance …

Winter Commencement: December 17, 2010, University Of North Dakota

UND Commencement Programs

UND Winter Commencement program from December 17, 2010.

American Ethni/Cities: Critical Geography, Subject Formation, And The Urban Representations Of Abraham Cahan, Richard Wright, And James Baldwin, Joshua S. Stone

Open Access Dissertations

By drawing upon aspects of critical geography to explore three writers' representations of urban space and subject formation, American Ethni/Cities develops and advocates for a new methodological approach to the study of literature. Predicated on theories devised by Henri Lefebvre, David Harvey, Edward Soja, Gil Valentine and other geographically-minded thinkers, this spatially conscious literary practice has the potential to enhance one's understanding of literary texts, power dynamics, identity construction, and the spaces one inhabits. Each of the chapters comprising this study aims to demonstrate what this interdisciplinary partnership between geography and literature can reveal. By focusing on Cahan's representation of …

Integrating Climate Information Into Water Resource Decision-Making In South Florida, Jessica A. Bolson

Open Access Dissertations

Water resource decision making in South Florida is characterized by complexity. Factors including climate variability and change, population, land use, and shifting water demands contribute to this complexity. Integrated approaches are suggested as mechanisms to observe and manage complex management challenges, but the practical role of integrated models in environmental decision-making has not been thoroughly evaluated. This research evaluates the potential role for an integrated water model by applying an end-to-end research design in the context of South Florida water management stakeholders. Scenarios for future drivers of water demand and the integrated system dynamics water model, the SFIWM, which were …

Chemical And Acoustic Emission Evaluation Studies Of Concrete Bridge In Marine Environment, Alexander Boudewijn Suma

Open Access Dissertations

A field investigation of the Fair Isle Bridge, Miami, Florida consists of a nondestructive evaluation program including physical and acoustic emission (AE) assessment. The bridge is situated in a marine environment and its deck consists of PC and RC sections. Chemical evaluation is performed prior to strengthening with CFRP laminates and consists of visual inspection, carbonation, pH evaluation, chloride content, and steel corrosion detection by half-cell potential. After repair, three additional physical assessments are performed: crack mapping, thermography, and AE. These combined techniques provide sufficient information to create layered maps to evaluate the condition of the bridge structure. Within the …

Building Transnational Media Spaces: Immigrant Journalism In South Florida, Moses A. Shumow

Open Access Dissertations

Since the election of Hugo Chávez in 1999 and the subsequent rapid growth of Venezuelan immigration to the United States, there has been an explosion of Venezuelan community media in South Florida. While focused on local issues, the mediated communication being produced and distributed among members of this community remains distinctly transnational in scope, informed primarily by events taking place in Venezuela as the country is being transformed politically, socially, and economically under the controversial leadership of President Hugo Chávez. This study presents an empirical, qualitative investigation into the practices of Venezuelan media producers in South Florida through a series …