Digital Commons Network^™

An Investigation Into Digital Media: Characteristics Of Learning Objects Which K-12 Teachers Determine Meet Their Instructional Needs, Patricia Ann Guthrie Edd

Dissertations

In recent years, learning objects have emerged as an instructional tool for teachers. Digital libraries and collections provide teachers with free or fee-base access to a variety of learning objects from photos and famous speeches to Flash animations and interactive Java Applets. Learning objects offer opportunities for students to interact with digital media in ways that can bring concepts and ideas to life. Students can visualize what changes in matter might look like and practice math skills like multiplying decimals. They can even receive instant feedback and interact with tutorials as many times as needed. The purpose of this mixed …

Can Retributivism Be Progressive?: A Reply To Professor Gray And Jonathan Huber, Chad Flanders

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Do Judges Cherry Pick Precedents To Justify Extra- Legal Decisions?: A Statistical Examination, Anthony Niblett

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Optimization Of Inductively Coupled Plasma Dry Etching For Planar Waveguide Fabrication., Lim Weng Hong

Student Works (2010-2019)

Optimization of the Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) dry etching process parameters has been carried out. Seven main etching characteristics were considered in order to produce good etching quality. These characteristics are glass etching rates, selectivity of chromium to glass etching rate, channel side wall roughness, channel side wall vertical profile, channel cleanliness, critical dimension and resolution. Several ICP parameters that are affecting the etching characteristic were optimized in this work. These optimised ICP parameters obtained from this work are ICP power (880 W), bias power (45 W), operating chamber pressure (10 mtorr), reactant gas composition, reactant gas flow rate (35sccm …

The Study Of Radio Frequency Interference (Rfi) For Radio Astronomy In Some Remote Locations In Peninsular Malaysia., Syed Bahari Ramadzan Syed Adnan

Student Works (2010-2019)

Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) is the main parameter to find the best site for radio astronomy research development. The increasing levels of RFI will pose a big problem for researchers in the radio astronomy field. The radio astronomers are encouraged to choose sites as free as possible from interference. In this research we aimed to survey the RFI at frequency 1 MHz-2000MHz to look the overview of the RFI profile and at frequency 1419 MHz-1421 MHz to monitor the RFI profile at Hydrogen line frequency (1420.4 MHz). We chose Peninsular Malaysia as the research area for RFI observation. We have …

Visitors Pass: The Story Of A Group Of Pakistani Immigrant Students At Sawyer High School, Melissa Gersh Fischer

Dissertations

New immigrant populations are shaped in significant ways by globalization. The phenomenon of transnationalism has changed the localized sense of "home" and "local cultures" on a global scale. In fact, "Globalization lies at the core of current sociocultural experiences, especially in processes of identity construction, communal practices, subject positioning, and agency" (Santiago-Irizarry, 2008). This ethnographic study focuses on the question of how agency and institutional structures, in a global society, impact the lived experiences of Pakistani immigrant students at an urban public high school. A review of literature on identity formation, globalization, and institutional structures is essential to answering this …

Ethnomathematics For Capacity Building In Mathematics Education, Catherine P. Vistro-Yu

Mathematics Faculty Publications

The Mathematics Framework for Philippine Basic Education (MATHTED and SEI, in press), a document that aims to guide the development of curricular contents in mathematics, identifies cultural-rootedness as one of the cognitive values that mathematics education in the Philippines must inculcate. Cultural-rootedness is defined as ?appreciating the cultural value of mathematics and its origins in many cultures, its rich history and how it has grown and continues to evolve?. Ethnomathematics, described as the ?mathematics which is practiced among identifiable cultural groups, such as national tribal societies, labor groups, children of a certain age bracket, professional classes and so on? (D?Ambrosio, …

Upper Limits On A Possible Gluon Mass, Shmuel Nussinov, Robert Shrock

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

We analyze upper limits on a possible gluon mass, mg. We first discuss various ways to modify quantum chromodynamics to include m(g) not equal 0, including a bare mass, a Higgs mechanism, and dynamical breaking of color SU(3)(c). From an examination of experimental data, we infer an upper limit m(g) < O(1) MeV. As part of our analysis, we show that a claim, hitherto unrefuted in the literature, of a much stronger upper limit on m(g), is invalid. We discuss subtleties in interpreting gluon mass limits in view of the fact that at scales below Lambda(QCD), quantum chromodynamics is strongly coupled, perturbation theory is not reliable, and the physics is not accurately described in terms of the Lagrangian degrees of freedom, including gluons. We also point out a fundamental difference in the behavior of quantum chromodynamics with a nonzero gluon mass and a weakly coupled gauge theory with a gauge boson mass.

Linear Stochastic State Space Theory In The White Noise Space Setting, Daniel Alpay, David Levanony, Ariel Pinhas

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

We study state space equations within the white noise space setting. A commutative ring of power series in a countable number of variables plays an important role. Transfer functions are rational functions with coefficients in this commutative ring, and are characterized in a number of ways. A major feature in our approach is the observation that key characteristics of a linear, time invariant, stochastic system are determined by the corresponding characteristics associated with the deterministic part of the system, namely its average behavior.

College Instructors’ Implicit Theories About Teaching Skills And Their Relationship To Professional Development Choices, Vandana Thadani, Jacqueline Dewar, William Breland

Psychological Science Faculty Works

Implicit theories about the malleability of skills/abilities have been shown to predict learners’ willingness to participate in learning opportunities. The authors examined whether college professors’ implicit theories about the malleability of teaching skills predicted their willingness to engage in professional development (PD) related to teaching. One hundred thirty faculty members completed a questionnaire measuring implicit theories about teaching skills and interest in several PD opportunities. Implicit theory of teaching scores predicted faculty members’ interest in PD and their PD choices. The findings have implications for colleges/universities, which face increased pressure to engage faculty in PD in order to meet goals …

Situating Sotl Within The Disciplines: Mathematics In The United States As A Case Study, Jacqueline Dewar, Curtis Bennett

Mathematics, Statistics and Data Science Faculty Works

After two decades of work, many in the SoTL community are pondering the future of the SoTL movement. Will it sustain its influence? Will it continue to attract new participants? What role should the disciplines play? From the perspective of mathematics, this paper examines efforts by the Carnegie Academy and individuals within the mathematical community to build disciplinary support for the scholarship of teaching and learning. The authors, both mathematicians and Carnegie scholars, restrict their observations to the efforts undertaken in the United States during the last decade and examine the situation in mathematics in greater depth than has heretofore …

On The Construction Of Explicit Solutions To The Matrix Equation X2ax = Axa, Ed Mosteig, Aihua Li

Mathematics, Statistics and Data Science Faculty Works

In a previous article by Aihua Li and Duane Randall, the existence of solutions to certain matrix equations is demonstrated via nonconstructive methods. A recurring example appears in that work, namely the matrix equation AXA=X2AX, where A is a fixed, square matrix with real entries and X is an unknown square matrix. In this paper, the solution space is explicitly constructed for all 2×2 complex matrices using Gr ̈obner basis techniques. When A is a 2×2 matrix, the equation AXA=X2AXis equivalent to a system of four polynomial equations. The solution space then is the variety defined by the polynomials involved. …

Intonation And Compensation Of Fretted String Instruments, Gabriele U. Varieschi, Christina M. Gower

Physics Faculty Works

We discuss theoretical and physical models that are useful for analyzing the intonation of musical instruments such as guitars and mandolins and can be used to improve the tuning on these instruments. The placement of frets on the fingerboard is designed according to mathematical rules and the assumption of an ideal string. The analysis becomes more complicated when we include the effects of deformation of the string and inharmonicity due to other string characteristics. As a consequence, perfect intonation of all the notes on the instrument cannot be achieved, but complex compensation procedures can be introduced to minimize the problem. …

Compiling An Array Language To A Graphics Processor, Bradford Larsen

Master's Theses and Capstones

Graphics processors are significantly faster than traditional processors, particularly for numerical code, and in recent years have become flexible enough to permit general-purpose use, rather than just graphics use. NVIDIA's CUDA makes general-purpose graphics processor computing feasible, but it still requires significant programmer effort.

My thesis is that array programming can be an effective way to program graphics processors, and that a restricted, functionally pure array language coupled with simple optimizations can have performance competitive with handwritten GPU programs. I support this thesis through the research language Barracuda, an array language embedded within Haskell that generates optimized CUDA code.

The 5'-7-Methylguanosine Cap On Eukaryotic Mrnas Serves Both To Stimulate Canonical Translation Initiation And To Block An Alternative Pathway, Sarah F. Mitchell

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Works

Translational control is frequently exerted at the stage of mRNA recruitment to the initiating ribosome. We have reconstituted mRNA recruitment to the 43S preinitiation complex (PIC) using purified S. cerevisiae components. We show that eIF3 and the eIF4 factors not only stabilize binding of mRNA to the PIC, they also dramatically increase the rate of recruitment. Although capped mRNAs require eIF3 and the eIF4 factors for efficient recruitment to the PIC, uncapped mRNAs can be recruited in the presence of eIF3 alone. The cap strongly inhibits this alternative recruitment pathway, imposing a requirement for the eIF4 factors for rapid and …

Ribosome Recycling Step In Yeast Cytoplasmic Protein Synthesis Is Catalyzed By Eef3 And Atp, Sarah F. Mitchell

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Works

After each round of protein biosynthesis, the posttermination complex (PoTC) consisting of a ribosome, mRNA, and tRNA must be disassembled into its components for a newround of translation. Here, we show that a Saccharomyces cerevisiae model PoTC was disassembled by ATP and eukaryotic elongation factor 3 (eEF3). GTP or ITP functioned with less efficiency and adenosine 5γ′-(β,γ-imido)triphosphate did not function at all. The kcat of eEF3 was 1.12 min-1, which is comparable to that of the in vitro initiation step. The disassembly reaction was inhibited by aminoglycosides and cycloheximide. The subunits formed from the yeast model PoTC remained separated under …

Observations Of Elevated Formaldehyde Over A Forest Canopy Suggest Missing Sources From Rapid Oxidation Of Arboreal Hydrocarbons, Nicole Bouvier-Brown

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Works

To better understand the processing of biogenic VOCs (BVOCs) in the pine forests of the US Sierra Nevada, we measured HCHO at Blodgett Research Station using Quantum Cascade Laser Spectroscopy (QCLS) during the Biosphere Effects on Aerosols and Photochemistry Experiment (BEARPEX) of late summer 2007. Four days of the experiment exhibited particularly copious HCHO, with midday peaks between 15–20 ppbv, while the other days developed delayed maxima between 8–14 ppbv in the early evening. From the expansive photochemical data set, we attempt to explain the observed HCHO concentrations by quantifying the various known photochemical production and loss terms in its …

Consistency Of Projected Drought Over The Sahel With Changes In The Monsoon Circulation And Extremes In A Regional Climate Model Projections, M. B. Sylla, A. T. Gaye, G. S. Jenkins, Jeremy S. Pal, F. Giorgi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Works

As a step toward an increased understanding of climate change over West Africa, in this paper we analyze the relationship between rainfall changes and monsoon dynamics in high-resolution regional climate model experiments performed using the Regional Climate Model (RegCM3). Multidecadal simulations are carried out for present-day and future climate conditions under increased greenhouse gas forcing driven by the global climate model European Center/Hamburg 5 (ECHAM5). Compared to the present day, the future scenario simulation produces drier conditions over the Sahel and wetter conditions over orographic areas. The Sahel drying is accompanied by a weaker monsoon flow, a southward migration and …

Derived Categories And The Analytic Approach To General Reciprocity Laws. Part Iii, Michael Berg

Mathematics, Statistics and Data Science Faculty Works

Building on the scaffolding constructed in the first two articles in this series, we now proceed to the geometric phase of our sheaf (-complex) theoretic quasidualization of Kubota's formalism for n-Hilbert reciprocity. Employing recent work by Bridgeland on stability conditions, we extend our yoga of t-structures situated above diagrams of specifically designed derived categories to arrangements of metric spaces or complex manifolds. This prepares the way for proving n-Hilbert reciprocity by means of singularity analysis.

Epimorphisms And Boundary Slopes Of 2–Bridge Knots, Jim Hoste, Patrick D. Shanahan

Mathematics, Statistics and Data Science Faculty Works

In this article we study a partial ordering on knots in S³ where K₁≥K₂ if there is an epimorphism from the knot group of K₁ onto the knot group of K₂ which preserves peripheral structure. If K₁ is a 2–bridge knot and K₁≥K₂, then it is known that K₂ must also be 2–bridge. Furthermore, Ohtsuki, Riley and Sakuma give a construction which, for a given 2–bridge knot K_p∕q, produces infinitely many 2–bridge knots K_p′/q′ with K_p′∕q′≥K_p∕q. After characterizing all 2–bridge knots …

Symmetry Of Nonparametric Statistical Tests On Three Samples, Anna E. Bargagliotti, Donald G. Saari

Mathematics, Statistics and Data Science Faculty Works

Problem statement: Many different nonparametric statistical procedures can be used to analyze ranked data. Inconsistencies among the outcomes of such procedures can occur when analyzing the same ranked data set. Understanding why these peculiarities can occur is imperative to providing an accurate analysis of the ranking data. In this context, this study addressed why inconsistent outcomes can occur and which types of data structures cause the different procedures to yield different outcomes. Approach: Appropriate properties were identified and developed to explain why different methods can define different rankings of three samples with the same data. The approach identifies certain symmetry …

Spark-Induced Sparks As A Mechanism Of Intracellular Calcium Alternans In Cardiac Myocytes, Robert J. Rovetti, Xiaohua Cui, Alan Garfinkel, James N. Weiss, Zhilin Qu

Mathematics, Statistics and Data Science Faculty Works

Rationale: Intracellular calcium (Ca) alternans has been widely studied in cardiac myocytes and tissue, yet the underlying mechanism remains controversial.

Objective: In this study, we used computational modeling and simulation to study how randomly occurring Ca sparks interact collectively to result in whole-cell Ca alternans.

Methods and Results: We developed a spatially-distributed intracellular Ca cycling model in which Ca release units (CRUs) are locally coupled by Ca diffusion throughout the myoplasm and sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) network. Ca sparks occur randomly in the CRU network when periodically paced with a clamped voltage waveform, but Ca alternans develops as the pacing speeds …

Synthesis, Characterization And Biological Activity Of Copper (Ii) And Zinc (Ii) Complexes Of Thiosemicarbazones And Their N(4)-Substituted Derivatives Derived From 2,4-Dihydroxybenzaldehyde., Tan Kong Wai

Student Works (2010-2019)

Four thiosemicarbazones ligands (1-4) have been prepared with good yield by refluxing 2,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde with thiosemicarbazide or N(4)-substituted thiosemicarbazide in ethanol or methanol. From these four ligands, 16 new ternary metal complexes (5-20) with the general formulation of M(B)L have been prepared from the reactions of metal acetates with 2,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde N(4)-substituted thiosemicarbazone in the presence of N,N-heterocyclic base (M2+ = Zn2+ or Cu2+; B = 2,2'-bipyridine, (bpy); 1,10-phenanthroline, (phen); L2- = doubly deprotonated thiosemicarbazones = 2,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde thiosemicarbazonato, (HT); 2,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde 4-methylthiosemicarbazonato, (HM); 2,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde 4-ethylthiosemicarbazonato, (HE) and 2,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde 4-phenylthiosemicarbazonato, (HP)) These compounds have been characterized by elemental analyses, IR, UV-Vis, NMR and magnetic …

Image Edge Detection Using Ant Colony Optimization, Carlos M. Oppus, Anna Veronica Baterina

Department of Information Systems & Computer Science Faculty Publications

Ant colony optimization (ACO) is a population-based metaheuristic that mimics the foraging behavior of ants to find approximate solutions to difficult optimization problems. It can be used to find good solutions to combinatorial optimization problems that can be transformed into the problem of finding good paths through a weighted construction graph. In this paper, an edge detection technique that is based on ACO is presented. The proposed method establishes a pheromone matrix that represents the edge information at each pixel based on the routes formed by the ants dispatched on the image. The movement of the ants is guided by …

Mapping The Reactivity Surface Of Metal-Olefin Reactions, Joshua Davis, Stephen A. Matchett

Student Summer Scholars Manuscripts

Our overall goal of our project was to map susceptibility for nucleophilic attack on a series of metal-olefin compounds as a function of their geometry. The scope of this paper, however, is directed toward stabilizing our reactants in solution and the developing methods to test the reaction. In order to measure the susceptibility on the series we must know three things: the initial concentration of the nucleophile and the metal-olefin as well as a way measure the rate of reaction. In order to take these measurements, the solvent used must not interact with either reactant, must not interfere with the …

Selected Studies Of Orbital Stability And Habitability In Star-Planet Systems, William Jason Eberle

Physics Dissertations - Archive

The study of planets remaining in orbit around one star with another starinterfering is an important topic of orbital mechanics and astrobiology. The onset of instability for a planet which is part of a stellar binary system is investigated by performing numerical simulations of the circular restricted three body problem. Synodic velocity phase space portraits are used with the hodograph in order to obtain a new criterion for determining planetary stability. The stability limits obtained via these methods agree with previous methods that were obtained based on simulations over much longer time intervals. In addition, the timely case of a …

Synthesis Of Cdte And Pbs Semiconductor Quantum Dots And Their Biological And Photochemical Applications, Xing Zhang

Physics Theses - Archive

Semiconductor quantum dots are inorganic nanoparticles with unique photophysical properties. In particular, water soluble quantum dots which have been synthesized by colloidal chemistry in aqueous environment are highly luminescent. Their huge absorption cross sections, tunable, narrow emission bands and effectiveness of surface functionality have stimulated these luminescent probes in various applications like biological sensors as well as imaging contrast agents. In this paper we will discuss several aspects about the synthesize processes of the water soluble, highly luminescent type of CdTe quantum dots and its near infrared counterpart HgxCd1-xTe, the extremely crystallized PbS quantum dots with the application of the …

Search For Standard Model Higgs In Two Photon Final State At Atlas, Hyeon Jin Kim

Physics Dissertations - Archive

The Standard Model of particle physics describes very precisely the nuclear strong and weak forces and the eletromagnetic interaction, by the exchange of vector bosons. It also describes all matter as composed of quarks and leptons and predicts their interactions. The Higgs boson is the last missing piece of the Standard Model, yet to be observed. The search for the Higgs particle is one of the most important goals of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The ATLAS electromagnetic (EM) calorimeter is a crucial subdetector system of the ATLAS detector in searching for the Higgs boson, in …

The Role Of The Y-Component Of The Interplanetary Magnetic Field In Transpolar Saturation And Ring Current Response As Found In Data And Simulation, Elizabeth Joy Mitchell

Physics Dissertations - Archive

Energy is transferred into the magnetosphere of Earth through merging of magnetic fields (Dungey cycle and lobe cell convection) and through momentum transfer across the magnetopause (viscous interactions). These processes cause enhanced plasma convection in the inner magnetosphere and ionosphere, which in turn form the ring current and the transpolar potential, respectively. These processes have been studied extensively with regard to the role of the north-south component of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). The role of the dawn-dusk IMF is less well known.We use the LFM global MHD simulation, the CRCM, and data to quantify the transpolar potential and ring …

Global Behavior Of Difference Equations, Ann M. Brett

Open Access Dissertations

In my first manuscript, I investigate the global stability character of the equilibrium points and the period-two solutions of [special characters omitted] with positive parameters and nonnegative initial conditions. I show that every solution of the equation in the title converges to either the zero equilibrium, the positive equilibrium or the period-two solution, for all values of parameters outside of a specific set defined in the paper. In the case when the equilibrium points and period-two solution coexist I give a precise description of the basins of attraction of all points. My results give an affirmative answer to Conjecture 9.5.6 …