Digital Commons Network^™

Novel Control Technique For Cadmium Sulfide, Rafael Ordonez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Cadmium sulfide Chemical-Bath-Deposition parameters are modified to allow, for the first time, real time monitoring of cadmium ion molarity using a commercially available cadmium ion Ion-Selective-Electreode at 60°C. This modification involves alterations to typical deposition parameters that eliminate the formation of cadmium hydroxide and keep cadmium ion molarity above 10-7M. The new or atypical parameters developed are pH values below 8.9 and lower moralities for all chemicals. In order to have complexation of cadmium ion driven mainly by ammonia, parameters that minimized complexation by other chemicals are found. Cadmium acetate concentration below 2mM and ammonium acetate concentration below 10mM minimize …

A Comparison Of Career Technical Education - 16 Career Pathway High School Participants With Non-Participants On Academic Achievement, School Engagement, And Development Of Technical Skills, Edith Aimee Orozco

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The objective of this research was to compare Career Technical Education- 16 Career Pathway high school participants with non-participants on academic achievement, development of technical skills and school engagement. Academic achievement was measured by Exit Level Math and English Language Arts Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) 2008-2009 scale scores. Development of technical skills and school engagement was examined through a developed survey using the High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE) as a reference. TAKS scale scores employed to measure academic achievement was obtained from secondary data and perceptions regarding development of skills and school engagement were obtained …

Structural And Electronic Properties Of Aluminum Nano Clusters By Dft, Mrudula Raparla

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The electronic properties of Al clusters containing up to 60 atoms are investigated using an all electron density functional theory using large polarized Gaussian basis sets with 39 Gaussians per atom (NRLMOL basis). We have performed an extensive search for the lowest energy isomers for clusters up to Al 21. We build a database of candidate structures for the ground state using different strategies. First, a few structures are randomly generated and fully relaxed using plane wave pseudo potential method. We also performed simulated annealing runs using ab initio molecular dynamics for clusters up to Al20. In three sets of …

Information Sharing Across Private Databases, Swapnil Suresh Samant

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

While the explosion of availability of information has become invaluable in modern society, it has also raised valid concerns about erosion of privacy. More and more, different entities are encouraged to share information in order to discover potential security risks, health pattern, or social behavior trends. However, some of this information is sensitive. Owners of information may be unwilling to share their whole databases with other entities, either to protect the privacy of the records, or because of the proprietary nature of the information.

We consider the following problem. How can we compute the intersection and the equijoin of databases …

Combustion Characteristics Of Alh3 Flame, Sudipa Sarker

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The combustion characteristics of Al hydride and Al were compared using a combustion chamber. Burning rate, ignition energy and temperature at atmospheric temperature and pressure in carbon dioxide and O2 were tested with a volumetric flow rate that ranged from 10 to 50% in Ar. A spark ignition system was used to ignite the Alane and Aluminum. The combustion rate was measured using a high speed camera. Results showed the combustion rate of Alane and Aluminum decreases with increasing volumetric flow rate of oxidizer. And the combustion rate of Alane is higher than that of Aluminum. Alane needs more ignition …

Computer Aided Drug Design Methods & Quantitative Structure-Activity/Property Relationships, Suman Sirimulla

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The first part of dissertation consists of development of a QSAR model for 229 mutagenic aromatic amines and a QSPR model of partial molar volumes of amino acids. A common procedure for QSAR analysis consist of data selection (generally sets of homologous series of compounds and their corresponding biological activities), tabulation of trial physicochemical or molecular structural descriptors, followed by a multilinear statistical analysis to derive a statistically valid QSAR correlation of the activity data making use of a subset of the trial descriptors. A final important step is cross-validation to assess the putative predictive (rather than just correlative) capabilities …

Use Of Cognitive Constructs In Linear Algebra, Azucena Zamora

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Thesis analyzed the presence of two cognitive entities-- modes of thinking and metonymies and metaphors- in the reasoning of three students enrolled in a first year matrix algebra course at a southwest university via the responses given to a set of eight questions asked during one-on-one interviews. The findings of our analysis shed light on the cognitive constructs that students employ to form their understanding of linear algebra concepts. Furthermore, our findings provide clues about the ways in which students move from one mode of thinking to another in the context of varying levels of exposure to graphical, algebraic, and …

Physical And Biochemical Assessment Of Mexican Palo Verde Response To Chromium Toxicity, Yong Zhao

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the United States, about 1/3 of the 1400 superfund sites have been reported to be chromium contaminated, making chromium the second most common metal found in superfund chemical contamination sites. Chromium removal from soil has commonly been carried out via chemical, physical, and thermal processes. However, these methods are expensive and/or invasive to local ecosystems. In contrast to these techniques, phytoremediation (the use of plants to remove toxic substances from areas containing contamination at low or medium levels) appears to be a cost-effective and environmentally friendly process for chromium removal. However, most reports on chromium phytoremediation suggest that this …

Database Security: What Students Need To Know, Meg C. Murray

Faculty Articles

Database security is a growing concern evidenced by an increase in the number of reported incidents of loss of or unauthorized exposure to sensitive data. As the amount of data collected, retained and shared electronically expands, so does the need to understand database security. The Defense Information Systems Agency of the US Department of Defense (2004), in its Database Security Technical Implementation Guide, states that database security should provide controlled, protected access to the contents of a database as well as preserve the integrity, consistency, and overall quality of the data. Students in the computing disciplines must develop an …

The Genetic Basis Of Familial Hypercholesterolemia In The United Arab Emirates, Shaikha Saif Mohamed Al Mazrooei

Theses

No abstract provided.

Teaching Species, Mark W. Ellis, Paul G. Wolf

Biology Faculty Publications

A clear understanding of the term "species" is fundamental to the subject of evolution. However, introductory textbooks often fail to address this topic until one of the later chapters, after having used the term species in all preceding chapters. Furthermore, definitions of terms critical to a clear understanding of this subject are often vague or absent in chapters on species concepts. We feel the popular notion of a "species problem" has been unnecessarily inflated by this less-than-effective educational approach. Clearly addressing this essential subject at the beginning of a course on evolution will prepare students to learn the details and …

Resonant Mie Scattering (Rmies) Correction Of Infrared Spectra From Highly Scattering Biological Samples Analyst, Paul Bassan, Achim Kohler, Harald Martens, Joe Lee, Hugh Byrne, Paul Dumas, Ehsan Gazi, Michael Brown, Noel Clarke, Peter Gardner

Articles

Infrared spectra of single biological cells often exhibit the “dispersion artefact” observed as a sharp decrease in intensity on the high wavenumber side of absorption bands, in particular the Amide I band at ~1655 cm-1, causing a downward shift of the true peak position. The presence of this effect makes any biochemical interpretation of the spectra unreliable. Recent theory has shed light on the origins of the ‘dispersion artefact’ which has been attributed to resonant Mie scattering (RMieS). In this paper a preliminary algorithm for correcting RMieS is presented and evaluated using simulated data. Results show that the ‘dispersion artefact’ …

A Systematic Study Of The Dispersion Of Swnts In Organic Solvents, Qiaohuan Cheng, Sourabhi Debnath, Luke O'Neill, Theresa Hedderman, Elizabeth Gregan

Articles

Dispersions of as-produced HiPco single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in a series of organic solvents were prepared by dilution with the aid of tip sonication. Mild centrifugation (945 g) was carried out to remove large bundles. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies revealed that the bundle size decreased as the dispersion was diluted. By measuring the UV−vis−NIR absorption before and after centrifugation as a function of the concentration, the dispersion limit of SWNTs in each solvent can be determined. Correlations between the dispersion limit and solvent solubility parameters, including the Hildebrand solubility parameter and three-dimensional Hansen solubility parameters, are explored, demonstrating that …

Cover And Contents

Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

No abstract provided.

General Flips And The Cd-Index, Daniel J. Wells

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

We generalize bistellar operations (often called flips) on simplicial manifolds to a notion of general flips on PL-spheres. We provide methods for computing the cd-index of these general flips, which is the change in the cd-index of any sphere to which the flip is applied. We provide formulas and relations among flips in certain classes, paying special attention to the classic case of bistellar flips. We also consider questions of "flip-connecticity", that is, we show that any two polytopes in certain classes can be connected via a sequence of flips in an appropriate class.

Sonolytic Degradation Of Parathion And The Formation Of Byproducts, Juan Juan Yao, Nai Yun Gao, Yang Deng, Yan Ma, Hai Jun Li, Bin Xu, Lei Li

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Ultrasonic degradation of parathion has been investigated in this study. At a neutral condition, 99.7% of 2.9 μM parathion could be decomposed within 30 min under 600 kHz ultrasonic irradiation at ultrasonic intensity of 0.69 W/cm2. The degradation rate increased proportionally with the increasing ultrasonic intensity from 0.10 to 0.69 W/cm2. The parathion degradation was enhanced in the presence of dissolved oxygen due to formation of more {radical dot}OH, but was inhibited in the presence of nitrogen gas owning to the free radical scavenging effect in vapor phase within the cavitational bubbles. CO32 -, HCO3-, and Cl- exhibited the inhibiting …

Recommending An Apportionment Formula For The European Union's Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base, Michael K. Mahoney

Seton Hall Journal of Legislation and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Notes On Subdominal Roots And Eigenvalues, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. (2010, March 6). Data summary and analysis from eigenvalUS 1047to72.xls comparing A-matrix and H-matrix data from 1947 to 1972, referencing Shaikh and Tonak (2010). Unpublished manuscript.

• Shaikh, A. (2010). Empirical path of average subdominant root (1972 IO): Notes on standard aggregation and subdominant roots [Unpublished handwritten notes].

• Shaikh, A. (2010, February 12). Output from a Matlab file for standard aggregation of the 1972 IO matrix, including chart showing average subdominant eigenvalue by level of aggregation. Unpublished manuscript.

• Shaikh, A. (2010, February 8). Subdominant roots: Basic empirical finding for standard aggregation [Unpublished handwritten notes with sticky …

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Introducing Stem Majors To The Teaching Profession Through Authentic Experiences As Tutors, Grinell Smith

Faculty Publications

Recruiting people with rich backgrounds in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) into the teaching profession has historically been difficult and remains so today. In this bounded instrumental case study, undergraduate STEM majors were trained and placed as science and math tutors in grades 9-12, with an overarching goal of encouraging them to consider teaching as a possible career path. Several themes emerged from the tutors’ experiences as significant in their willingness to consider a career in teaching, including altruism from helping others, satisfaction from tutees’ improved academic performance, and a more nuanced understanding of the complex nature of teaching.

The Contributors, Marites Tiongco

DLSU Business & Economics Review

No abstract provided.

Using Matching Methods From Both Fisher's Experimental Design And Rubin's Causal Model To Compare Between Two Medical Facilities With Extremely Skewed Number Of Subjects, Gideon D. Bahn

Dissertations

The present study deals with the problem of comparison between a two medical facilities' with extremely skewed sample sizes from non-experimental study. The data came from a study of rehabilitation interventions with patients diagnosed with cardiac and pulmonary issues who received treatment either in inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) or in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Due to inclusion and exclusion criteria, however, the study had failed to recruit sufficient number of participants between two comparison groups: 319 from IRFs and 27 from SNFs. As a result, the main hypothesis of the study was not tested due to the disparity of the …

E-Carrel: An Environment For Collaborative Textual Scholarship, George K. Thiruvathukal, Steven E. Jones, Peter Shillingsburg

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The E-Carrel project aims to address the preservation of, access to, and re-uses of humanities electronic text files. It enables dynamic, growing resource projects as repositories for new knowledge. It provides for on-line distributed data and tools that are open to new scholarly enhancement through a user friendly tagging tool, sophisticated use of stand-off markup and annotation (leveraging RDF capabilities), and a browsing system anyone can use. It creates a secure system of text preparation and dissemination that encourages collaboration and participation by anyone interested in the texts. To insure the endurance of authenticated texts, multiple copies are distributed on …

The Effect Of Urban Hassles On The Subjective Well-Being Of Low-Income Urban Adolescents, Kimberly Vacek

Dissertations

Low income urban youth have been identified as an understudied and important population to explore. The psychological effects of stress on the well-being of children and adolescents are of particular interest, and the stressors faced by low income urban adolescents are unique in that they are more chronic in nature and due to adverse environmental circumstances. While researchers have examined the effect of stress on the subjective well-being of low income urban adolescents, none have done so utilizing a measure of stress developed specifically to assess the unique stressors experienced by such populations. The Urban Hassles Index (UHI) is a …

Student Access To Advanced Placement (Ap) Coursework: Principals' Beliefs And Practices, Steve Wood

Dissertations

Advanced Placement® (AP®) courses provide high school students an opportunity to be exposed to the rigors of college while they are still in high school. Since school policies play a role in the opportunities for students to pursue these courses, educational leaders must be aware of the ways in which their personal beliefs and school practices influence the course-taking patterns in their students.

This study investigated the relationship between principals' personal beliefs and perceptions of school practices, and the opportunities for students to successfully complete rigorous Advanced Placement coursework. The study utilized a questionnaire distributed to eight-eight principals of schools …

A Comparative Study Of Year-Round And Traditional Calendar Schools In Chicago, Andrea Therese Winkelmann

Dissertations

Restructuring the school calendar has been investigated by school districts as a possible way to increase student achievement in order to meet the standards of higher accountability. In order for districts to make sound and informed decisions about year-round schools and to evaluate the effectiveness of calendar differences; educators and administrators need to review the research on this subject. However, the research on year-round schools (YRS) can be misleading, biased, and inconclusive. While increased student achievement would arguably be of importance when researching YRS; demonstrating and reporting student achievement can be challenging.

This study will investigate the academic achievement in …

First-Year College Students And Faculty: A Comparison Of Expectations For Success, Jodi Ellen Koslow Martin

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study is to identify and explore academic, social, and career-related expectations that first-year college students believe lead to their collegiate success as defined by their perception of persisting in higher education. Further investigation determines how these expectations align with faculty expectations of student success. Eight first-year college students and eight college instructors were interviewed about their expectations at a small, private college. Criteria for first-year students include residing on campus and graduating from high school within the last year. Eligible faculty teach at least one class at the first-year level.

The data from student interviews …

School Factors That Promote Academic Resilience In Urban Latino High School Students, Christine Michelle Fallon

Dissertations

The purpose of this ex post facto quantitative study was to examine the relationship between the academic optimism of schools and academic resilience in urban Latino high school students attending those schools. This study sought to address three research ideas. First, it was hypothesized that, consistent with previous research, student achievement is related to the level of academic optimism of schools. A second purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between academic achievement with academic resilience for students with multiple risk factors, specifically, Latino students from low SES backgrounds attending an urban high school. Thirdly, it was hypothesized …

Turmoil, Tirades And Transformation: The Wars For The National History Standards 1991-2004, Phyllis Margaret Henry

Dissertations

This document presents a research project in the format of an historical narrative that chronicles the issues, process of consensus, and the impact of the National History Standards Project (NHSP) on local policies and curricula in history education. The influence of the voluntary national history standards movement is chronicled with the local development of social science standards-based curricula with the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and the Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

This dissertation is a case study that utilizes multiple sources of research such as archival primary sources, oral history interviews and participant observations to corroborate the evidence. The …

The Impact Of Tracking On Student Achievement: A Multilevel Growth Model, Carrie Christine Livingston

Dissertations

Tracking is the process of sorting students into different curriculum tracks, such as academic, general or vocational, based on student's abilities, interests, and needs. Ability grouping pertains to academic subjects and is the process of placing students with similar skills and abilities into levels, such as an honors level course or a regular level course. This study defines a track as the course level in which a student is enrolled within an academic subject, such as remedial, regular, or honors. The purpose of this research study is to further explore the relationship between academic tracks and student achievement and to …

Exploring The Relationship Between Teacher Personality Traits And Teachers' Attitudes And Practices Towards Family-School Partnerships, Anna Rawlings Hamilton

Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study is to determine if there is a relationship between teacher personality traits and teachers' reported attitudes and behaviors towards family-school partnerships. A secondary purpose of this study was to: 1) explore how various teacher demographic impacted attitudes and practices towards partnership, 2) examine if a cultural match between teachers' and students' backgrounds impacts teachers' reported attitudes and practices, and 3) to compare the personality profile of teachers as measured by the Five Factor Model (FFM) to that of the general population.

The participants were 243 practicing teachers in the state of Illinois who completed …