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Introducing Extension/Outreach Education In Tajikistan, Julie A. Albrecht, Kathleen Prochaska-Cue, S Kay Rockwell, Pulat A. Pulatov

Journal of Extension

University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and Khujand branch of the Technological University of Tajikistan (KbTUT) collaborated on the development of an Extension/outreach program in Tajikistan. Fifteen KbTUT administrators, faculty, and students from textiles, food science, and management engaged in training sessions at UNL on entrepreneurship, adult education techniques, and up-to-date teaching methods. Extension philosophy was integrated into each individualized learning plan. Through the newly established KbTUT Entrepreneur Center and Textile Museum, UNL faculty introduced and illustrated a community outreach model. KbTUT faculty taught Extension/outreach workshops and used their new knowledge to revise or develop new university courses with up-to-date teaching methods.

A New Extension Model: The Memorial Middle School Agricultural Extension And Education Center, Peter Skelton, Brenda Seevers

Journal of Extension

The Memorial Middle School Agricultural Extension and Education Center is a new model for Extension. The center applies the Cooperative Extension Service System philosophy and mission to developing public education-based programs. Programming primarily serves middle school students and teachers through agricultural and natural resource science education. Programming efforts provide students with knowledge-based information that is high in content, context, and engagement. This approach serves center goals to cultivate young scientists through hands-on activities, improve student performance through research, and develop a center relevant to the local community agriculture and natural resource needs.

Mapping Food Stores & People At Risk For Food Insecurity In Lewiston, Maine, David E. Harris, Ahouel-Makarim Aboueissa, Michelle Vazquez Jacobus, Jigna Dharod, Kirsten Walter

Journal of Extension

Food insecurity threatens health. To understand how food store location contributes to food insecurity in Lewiston, Maine, we visited all city food stores, determined availability and cost of healthy food in each, and mapped the stores against residence locations of at-risk groups (households with a single-parent, without a car, or with income

An Analysis Of Local District Initiatives To Reduce Student Absence Rates Subsequent To Passage Of The No Child Left Behind Act, Lori Myles

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Absence rates in school districts have been a concern for educational stakeholders before the passage of NCLB act. The state of Georgia along with the United States has had to face the effects of this law in the area of attendance. Attendance as Georgia's second indicator requires school districts to become accountable for their absence rates within their districts by changing their attendance policies. The overarching question for this research was, "Have absence rates differed since the implementation of the NCLB Act and the subsequent changes in attendance policies?" The following sub-questions guided the over-arching research question. 1. What were …

Army Continuing Education System: The Role Of Emotional Intelligence In Army Education Leadership As It Pertains To Team Performance, Olivia Marie Penrod

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if the level of emotional intelligence of Education Services Officers and Education Services Specialists plays a role in team performance of Counselors while taking into consideration organizational climate and job satisfaction. All 208 Education Services Officers, Education Services Specialists, and Counselors around the world were asked to participate in this study. The Education Services Officers and Education Services Specialists were asked to complete the Emotional Quotient-inventory: Short (EQ-i: S) online. Army Education Counselors were asked to complete a newly constructed survey, Team Performance, Job Satisfaction, and Organizational Climate in ACES, which was …

Leadership Practices That Influence Teacher Attendance In A Low And High Teacher Absentee School, Allison Taylor Owen

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The impact of teacher absenteeism is all encompassing. Teacher absenteeism affects student achievement and behavior as well as the morale of other teachers. It strains an already overburdened school budget and poorly trained substitute teachers are with students for as much as one whole year of the time that students are in school from kindergarten to twelfth grade. The primary purpose of this study was to determine what leadership practices affect teacher attendance at school. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to conduct this study. A school culture survey, which included items addressing three major areas, tasks, processes and …

A Study Of The Perceptions Of Stakeholders Regarding Commercial Fundraising In Georgia's Public Schools, Ronald Edwin Main

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of principals, teachers, and parents regarding the use of commercial fundraising methods in Georgia's public schools. It was the researcher's purpose to fill a void in the literature regarding the perceptions of school stakeholders, in terms of their perceptions regarding the nature, scope, and general acceptability of commercial fundraising in Georgia's public schools. Accordingly, the researcher used a random sample of principal, teacher, and parent members of school councils of elementary, middle, and high schools across the state. Following a review of literature, the researcher created, tested, and validated a …

An Assessment Of The Practices And Strategies That Contribute To The Success Of High School Service-Learning Programs, James E. Taylor

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Service-learning is widely recognized as a form of experiential learning that positively impacts students. Studies have supported academic and inter-personal growth as a result of student involvement in an organized service-learning program. While some educators report that student participation is all that is required, this research demonstrates that the teaching practices implemented and strategies employed are the foundational elements necessary for a successful service-learning program. A successful service-learning project should be intentionally selected and developed with built-in opportunities for preparation activities prior to the service-learning event, a thoroughly planned service-learning opportunity, and planned debrief to solidify student comprehension and application …

A Multi-User Steganographic File System On Untrusted Shared Storage, Jin Han, Meng Pan, Debin Gao, Hwee Hwa Pang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Existing steganographic file systems enable a user to hide the existence of his secret data by claiming that they are (static) dummy data created during disk initialization. Such a claim is plausible if the adversary only sees the disk content at the point of attack. In a multi-user computing environment that employs untrusted shared storage, however, the adversary could have taken multiple snapshots of the disk content over time. Since the dummy data are static, the differences across snapshots thus disclose the locations of user data, and could even reveal the user passwords. In this paper, we introduce a Dummy-Relocatable …

Multi-Species On-Road Remote Sensing Of Vehicle Emissions In Van Nuys, California – August 2010, Gary A. Bishop, Brent G. Schuchmann, Donald H. Stedman

Fuel Efficiency Automobile Test Publications

No abstract provided.

Transient Fluid Flow Phenomena During Continuous Casting: Part I-Cast Start, Yufeng Wang, Lifeng Zhang

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This work presents a three-dimensional numerical simulation of transient fluid flow phenomena during continuous casting of steel. in the Part I, the process of cast start was investigated. Cast start involved the filling process and the caster start process. in the filling process, molten steel was continuously filled into the mold cavity with surrounding mold walls and a dummy bar head at the bottom. to simulate the interface between the molten steel and the air, an algorithm of volume of fluid has been employed. in the cast start process, the dummy bar was gradually dragged out with a low casting …

A Novel Impedance Definition Of A Parallel Plate Pair For An Intrinsic Via Circuit Model, Yaojiang Zhang, Gang Feng, Jun Fan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Rigorous analysis of via-plate-pair interactions requires the impedance of a plate pair to be defined in terms of radial transmission lines on perfect magnetic conductor (PMC) ports. the plate domain is not a solid plate pair but one with multiple PMC holes where conventional impedance definitions are not suitable. a new impedance definition is proposed where port voltages and currents are expressed in terms of the inward and outward zero-order modes of a radial transmission line. Radial scattering parameters among multiple radial ports are then introduced and the transforms between the radial scattering and impedance matrices are given. an analytical …

3-D Virtual World Education: An Empirical Comparison With Face-To-Face Classroom, Xiaofeng Chen, Keng Siau, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

3-D virtual worlds are increasing in popularity as a means of pedagogical delivery in higher education. In this research, we assess the relative effectiveness of a 3-D virtual world learning environment, Second Life, and traditional face-to-face learning environment. We also assess the efficacy of instructional strategies in these two learning environments and their effects on interactivity, perceived learning, and satisfaction. Our findings suggest that there is an interaction effect of learning environment and instructional strategy. Pair-wise comparisons indicate that when interactive instructional strategy is used, there is no significant difference for perceived learning and satisfaction between 3-D virtual world and …

A Structure First Image Inpainting Approach Based On Self-Organizing Map (Som), Bo Chen, Zhaoxia Wang, Ming Bai, Quan Wang, Zhen Sun

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper presents a structure first image inpainting method based on self-organizing map (SOM). SOM is employed to find the useful structure information of the damaged image. The useful structure information which includes relevant edges of the image is used to simulate the structure information of the lost or damaged area in the image. The structure information is described by distinct or indistinct curves in an image in this paper. The obtained target curves separate the damaged area of the image into several parts. As soon as each part of the damaged image is restored respectively, the damaged image is …

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 …

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 …

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 …

"Daily Planet" Vs. "Daily Bugle": The Changing Depiction Of Journalism In American Comic Books, Andrew Alan Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Journalists and journalism have always been popular vehicles for storytelling in comic books, as they are in other pop culture media. The more than 70 years of comic books in America have provided thousands of fictional journalists, especially in the superhero genre. Primary among these are the staffs of the Daily Planet at DCComics and the Daily Bugle at Marvel Comics. This content analysis -- utilizing hundreds of the original texts but also historical research and a questionnaire to significant creators -- shines a spotlight on a quantum shift in the depiction of journalists in comics. Until the introduction of …

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 …

Stochastic Simulation Of Human Pulmonary Blood Flow Based On Anatomic And Elasticity Data, Jun Shi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

In order to fully understand the function of the lungs, it is important to determine the transit time of the pulmonary circulation. However, a practical model to estimate the transit time is difficult to be found in literature, because of the high complexity of the whole pulmonary circulation system. This study developed a computing model of steady blood flow in human lungs based on detailed morphology and elasticity data by Huang et al (1996) [5], which incorporated a Diameter-Defined Strahler System to simulate a human lung branching system. A stochastic simulation approach was introduced. Considering Huang’s connectivity data between different …

Finite Horizon Markov Control With One-Step Variance Penalties, Abhijit Gosavi

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Variance-penalized Markov decision processes (MDPs) for an infinite time horizon have been studied in the literature for asymptotic and one-step variance; in these models, the objective function is generally the expected long-run reward minus a constant time the variance, where variance is used as a measure of risk. for the finite time horizon, asymptotic variance has been considered in Collins [1], but this model accounts for only a terminal reward, i.e., reward is earned at the end of the time horizon. in this paper, we seek to develop a framework for one-step variance in the finite time horizon in which …

Geophysics At The Interface: Response Of Geophysical Properties To Solid-Fluid, Fluid-Fluid, And Solid-Solid Interfaces, Rosemary Knight, Laura J. Pyrak-Nolte, Lee D. Slater, Estella A. Atekwana, Anthony L. Endres, Jil T. Geller, David P. Lesmes, Seiji Nakagawa, Andre Revil, Mukul M. Sharma, Christian Straley

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Laboratory studies reveal the sensitivity of measured geophysical properties to solid-fluid, fluid-fluid, and solid-solid interfaces in granular and fractured materials. In granular materials, electrical properties and nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation times exhibit a strong dependence on the size and properties of the solid-fluid interface. The electrical and seismic properties of granular materials and the seismic properties of fractured materials reveal a dependence on the size or geometry of fluid-fluid interfaces. Seismic properties of granular and fractured materials are affected by the effective stress and cementing material at solid-solid interfaces. There have been some recent studies demonstrating the use of field-scale …

Decentralized State Feedback And Near Optimal Adaptive Neural Network Control Of Interconnected Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems, Shahab Mehraeen, Jagannathan Sarangapani, Mariesa Crow

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, first a novel decentralized state feedback stabilization controller is introduced for a class of nonlinear interconnected discrete-time systems in affine form with unknown subsystem dynamics, control gain matrix, and interconnection dynamics by employing neural networks (NNs). Subsequently, the optimal control problem of decentralized nonlinear discrete-time system is considered with unknown internal subsystem and interconnection dynamics while assuming that the control gain matrix is known. For the near optimal controller development, the direct neural dynamic programming technique is utilized to solve the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation forward-in-time. The decentralized optimal controller design for each subsystem utilizes the critic-actor structure …

Seismic Anisotropy Beneath The Afar Depression And Adjacent Areas: Implications For Mantle Flow, Stephen S. Gao, Kelly H. Liu, Mohammed G. Abdel Salam

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Shear wave splitting is a robust tool to infer the direction and strength of seismic anisotropy in the lithosphere and underlying asthenosphere. Previous shear wave splitting studies in the Afar Depression and adjacent areas concluded that either Precambrian sutures or vertical magmatic dikes are mostly responsible for the observed anisotropy. Here we report results of a systematic analysis of teleseismic shear wave splitting using all the available broadband seismic data recorded in the Afar Depression, Main Ethiopian Rift (MER), and Ethiopian Plateau. We found that while the ~450 measurements on the Ethiopian Plateau and in the MER show insignificant azimuthal …

Momentum-Space Engineering Of Gaseous Bose-Einstein Condensates, Mark Edwards, Brandon Benton, Jeffrey Heward, Charles W. Clark

Physics & Astronomy: Faculty Publications

We show how the momentum distribution of gaseous Bose-Einstein condensates can be shaped by applying a sequence of standing-wave laser pulses. We present a theory, whose validity was demonstrated in an earlier experiment [L. Denget al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 5407 (1999)], of the effect of a two-pulse sequence on the condensate wavefunction in momentum space. We generalize the previous result to the case of N pulses of arbitrary intensity separated by arbitrary intervals and show how these parameters can be engineered to produce a desired final momentum distribution. We find that several momentum distributions, important in …

A Simple Model To Calculate Dendrite Growth Rate During Steel Continuous Casting Process, Mujun Long, Lifeng Zhang, Fei Lu

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In the current paper, the relationship between the casting speed and the dendrite growth during steel continuous casting process was studied; and a simple mathematical model to calculate the primary dendrite growth rate according to the casting speed was developed. the model was used to predict the distribution of the dendrite growth rate along width direction and casting direction during a continuous casting process, indicating a dendrite growth rate of 0.1-3.0 mm/s, which is much higher than that in regular ingot casting. the dendrite growth rate fluctuates along casting direction because of the different cooling intensity in each zone of …

Influence Of Sex On Long-Term Outcomes After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With The Paclitaxel-Eluting Coronary Stent: Results Of The "Taxus Woman" Analysis, Ghada W. Mikhail Md, Robert T. Gerber Md, Phd, David A. Cox Md, Stephen G. Ellis Md, John M. Lasala Md, Phd, John A. Ormiston Mbchb, Gregg W. Stone Md, Mark A. Turco Md, Anita A. Joshi Phd, Donald S. Baim Md, Antonio Colombo Md

Department of Medicine

No abstract provided.

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 …

Perceptions Of Male Versus Female Students Enrolled In Science, Technology, Engineering And Mathematics Courses Regarding Peer Tutoring, A Component For Student Retention, Cheryl D. Kingsbury

Theses and Dissertations

Academic departments in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, strive to develop in students the ability to problem solve, analyze, and to critically think about solutions to problems. Academic departments are committed to success, yet retention rates are lower than would be expected for females in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields of study, where female students are underrepresented.

The purpose of the study was to explore the perceptions of male and female traditional and nontraditional students who participated in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics STEM course during the spring 2010 semester regarding peer tutoring, and to …

Review Of Multi-Scale Electromagnetic Modeling, W. C. Chew, Lijun Jiang, H. Y. Chao, A. J. Hesford, M. K. Li, Z. G. Qian, Y. G. Liu, Y. P. Chen, Z. H. Ma, L. E. Sun, M. S. Tong, C. Davis, W. E.I. Sha

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper reviews various methods to solve multiscale problems ranging from low-frequency methods to very high-frequency methods. ©2010 IEEE.