Digital Commons Network^™

The Changing Patterns Of Internet Usage, Christopher S. Yoo

Federal Communications Law Journal

Symposium: Essays from Time Warner Cable's Research Program on Digital Communications.

The Challenge Of Increasing Broadband Capacity, Dale N. Hatfield

Federal Communications Law Journal

Symposium: Essays from Time Warner Cable's Research Program on Digital Communications.

Efficient Separation And Sensitive Detection Of Listeria Monocytogenes Using Magnetic Nanoparticles, Microfluidics And Interdigitated Microelectrode Based Impedance Immunosensor, Damira Ashimkhanovna Kanayeva

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Listeria monocytogenes continues to be a major foodborne pathogen that causes food poisoning and sometimes death in immunosuppressed people and abortion in pregnant women. Nanoparticles have recently drawn attentions for use in immunomagnetic separation techniques due to their greater surface area/volume ratio and better stability against sedimentation in the absence of a magnetic field. Interdigitated microelectrodes and microfluidics make material transfer more efficient and biological/chemical interaction between the surface and solution phase much quicker. Magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4) with a 30 nm diameter were functionalized with rabbit anti-L. monocytogenes antibodies via biotin-streptavidin bonds and then amalgamated with target bacterial cells …

Coercivity And Exchange Bias Of Mn0.25ti1.1s2 In The Cluster-Glass State, P. M. Shand, T. Rash, M. Streicher, T. E. Kidd, K. R. Boyle, Laura Strauss

Faculty Work

Magnetic measurements have been carried out on the Mn-intercalated transition-metal dichalcogenide Mn_0.25Ti_1+yS₂. The material, which contained a concentration y≈0.1 of excess intercalated Ti, exhibited paramagnetic behavior at high temperatures with an effective moment per Mn ion of µ_eff=6.07 ± 0.23 µ_B, which shows that the system comprises localized Mn²⁺ moments. A Curie-Weiss temperature Θ_CW=-26 ± 1 K indicated that antiferromagnetic interactions were dominant. Deviation from Curie-Weiss behavior below 100 K signaled the formation of antiferromagnetically correlated clusters. Bifurcation of the zero-fieldcooled and field-cooled magnetizations below 20 K …

A Test-Bed For Secure Hierarchical Data Aggregation In Wireless Sensor Networks, Vimal Kumar, Joshua Mccarville-Schueths, Sanjay Madria

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Data aggregation is a technique used to conserve battery power in wireless sensor networks (WSN). When securing such a network, it is important that we minimize the number of computationally expensive security operations without compromising on the security. This paper deals with the test-bed implementation of our end-to-end secure data aggregation algorithm. Unlike previous algorithms which required separate phases for secure aggregation and integrity verification, ours does not require an additional phase for verification. This saves energy by avoiding additional transmissions and computation overhead on the sensor nodes. We have implemented our secure data aggregation algorithms on mica2 motes. ©2010 …

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 …

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 …

Perceptions Of Middle School Teachers Regarding The Use Of Standardized Testing Data, Darrell Lamar Stephens

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Principals and teachers are under continuous pressure to improve student learning. The ability to analyze standardized testing data provides a tool for educators to use in their effort to combat students' deficiency in learning. The researcher conducted the study in four middle schools in a Georgia school district located outside of metropolitan Atlanta, which is in the beginning stages of providing training to teachers, and administrators on how to use standardized test results to improve student learning. To accomplish the purpose of this study, the researcher analyzed the surveyed responses of 242 participants, all middle school teachers. The method for …

Reframing Antitrust In Light Of Scientific Revolution: Accounting For Transaction Costs In Rule Of Reason Analysis, Alan J. Meese

UC Law Journal

This Article contends that modern rule of reason analysis, informed by workable competition’s partial equilibrium trade-off paradigm, is suitable for evaluating only a subset of agreements that may reduce transaction costs. The Article distinguishes between “technological” and “non-technological” transaction costs. Technological transaction costs entail the bargaining and information costs first emphasized by Ronald Coase, while non-technological transaction costs result from more fundamental departures from perfect competition, departures creating a risk of opportunism that accompanies relationship-specific investments. Modern law does accurately assess restraints that may reduce technological transaction costs—costs that are analogous to the sort of production costs recognized by the …

The Communicator, Volume 6, Issue 2, December 2010

The Communicator: News from the Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit

New and Changing Faces: Chris Chizinski, Corinne Kolm, Natalie Luben, Nick Smeenk, and Dan Uden

Publications: Adaptive Management of Natural Resources in the Journal of Environment Management

New Research: Scenarios of Climate Change and Land Use Change and Biological Invasions in the High Plains
Platte River Watershed Ecosystems Services in Native Restored Grasslands

Research Highlight: Angler Behavior in Response to Management Actions on Nebraska Reservoirs

ANNUAL MEETING

Conferences/Meetings/Workshops:
The Wildlife Society meeting, February 26 in Norfolk, NE.
Nebraska Chapter of the American Fisheries Society conference in Ponca, NE.
Dakota Chapter of the American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting in Spearfish, SD …

Hybrid Nanomanufacturing Process For High-Rate Polymer Nanofiber Production, Chad T. Peterson

Department of Engineering Mechanics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Nanotechnology and nanomaterials have the potential to revolutionize existing and create entirely new industries. Unique physical, mechanical, chemical, and biological properties of nanomaterials have been extensively documented in the last two decades. However, most nanomaterials are discontinuous in nature, creating problems with their processing and manipulation into devices and raising health concerns. Continuous nanofibers represent an emerging class of nanomaterials with critical advantages to applications. Continuous nanofibers are readily produced by electrospinning process comprising spinning polymer solutions in high electric fields. Electrospinning is a very economic top-down nanomanufacturing process that has been used to produce ultrafine continuous nanofibers from several …

Economic Writing On The Pressing Problems Of The Day: The Roles Of Moral Intuition And Methodological Confusion, Julie A. Nelson

Economics Faculty Publication Series

Economists are often called on to help address pressing problems of the day, yet many economists are uncomfortable about disclosing the values that they bring to this work. This essay explores how an inadequate understanding of the role of methodology, as related to ethics and human emotions of concern, underlies this reluctance and compromises the quality of economic advice. The tension between caring about the problems, on the one hand, and writing within the existing culture of the discipline, on the other, are illustrated with examples from U.S. policymaking, behavioral economics, and the economics of climate change and global poverty. …

A Brief History And Research Of The Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A, Michelle Wilbur

Physics

No abstract provided.

Exoplanet Transit Detection With Terrestrial Amateur Equipment: Using The Cal Poly Observatory, San Luis Obispo, Joshua Thompson

Physics

Using amateur level equipment and freeware analysis tools, the Cal Poly Observatory (CPO) wished to test whether or not it could actually observe the astronomical phenomena called exoplanetary transits. Using a variety of equipment and tests, the CPO was able to confirm it could clearly observe the transits of several well-known transiting planets, including HD189733b and HAT-P-6. With these tests and observations completed, future student researchers can continue Cal Poly’s transit search and contribute to the global pursuit for exoplanets.

Could Alice Find The Elusive Higgs?, Tyler Williams

Physics

The Higgs boson is the theoretical mechanism for creating the mass of particles.  Although it has never been seen, the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the most likely place for it to be created in the laboratory.  The ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) detector is focused on the study of heavy ion collisions at the LHC and was not designed to find the Higgs boson; however, there is a chance it could be detected there. Although the luminosity (collision rate) for PbPb collisions is much lower than that for pp collisions, PbPb collisions have a higher probability to …

Using High-Powered, Frequency-Narrowed Lasers For Rb/129xe And Cs/129xe Spin-Exchange Optical Pumping To Achieve Improved Production Of Highly Spin-Polarized Xenon For Use In Magnetic Resonance Applications, Nicholas Whiting

Dissertations

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has been extensively used to investigate numerous systems of interest, ranging from collections of molecules to living organisms. However, NMR suffers from one key drawback: an inherent lack of detection sensitivity, as compared to other common forms of spectroscopy. This is due to the minute nuclear magnetic moments and low nuclear spin polarization levels at thermal equilibrium (~10-5 to 10-6), and thus necessitates the use of relatively large sample volumes. One way to overcome this low detection sensitivity is to introduce a species with highly non-equilibrium nuclear spin polarization, such as `hyperpolarized' xenon-129. Hyperpolarized xenon …

Christian Students' Worldviewsand Propensity For Missionteaching, Richard Patrick Dolan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The research conducted sought to find evidence to answer the following questions: Do students in teacher preparation programs who feel called to enter the Christian mission field as general education teachers have a worldview that is more closely aligned with biblical principles than other teacher groups? Is there a correlation between the worldview of mission general education teachers and propensity to volunteer for the field? What do students consider as influence in their decisions to commit to the Christian mission service profession? The data gathered indicated that participants who intended to volunteer at mission schools had significantly higher scores in …

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 …

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.

Encircled By Sisterhood: Mentoring Experiences Of African American Women In Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Francene Amaris Breakfield

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Research suggests that African American women are minorities by race and gender and the intersectionality of these constructs poses obstacles for African American women seeking to attain positions of power. Mentoring can aid African American women in overcoming these barriers. The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to explore the mentoring experiences of five African American women, the researcher and her sorority sister circle, who are members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and how their experiences have contributed to their identity and educational, career, and psychosocial success. This study focused on mentoring as a support system for African American women …

Imperfect Alternatives: Networks, Salience, And Institutional Design In Financial Crises, Robert B. Ahdieh

Faculty Scholarship

With the benefit of hindsight — and some aspiration to foresight — it is useful to consider the type of regulatory regime that might best address financial crises. What could policymakers have done to prevent the recent crisis? And once the crisis started, what interventions might have alleviated it? These questions have been widely debated, with an eye to both substantive policy and the design of effective regulatory institutions. This Article speaks to the latter project — one of comparative institutional analysis — though with a framework that implicates our substantive policy choices as well. It begins with an account …

Conceptual Model Testing And Development For Neptunium And Radium Sorption To Srs Sediments, Todd Miller

All Theses

Models which can estimate environmental transport of contaminants are required to ensure minimal risk to the public. These models require accurate transport parameters in order to correctly predict how these contaminants will move in the subsurface. This work aimed to determine more accurately the distribution coefficients for neptunium, strontium, and radium for the Savannah River Site (SRS) Performance Assessment (PA). All neptunium sorption studies were performed at a pH value of 5.50 and an ionic strength of 0.01M as NaCl with neptunium concentrations ranging from 0.01 to 50 ppb. Two different sediments were examined, SRS Subsurface Clayey and SRS Subsurface …

The Geometric Field Of View And Speed Perception In A Driving Simulator, Richard Goodenough

All Theses

Particularly in the health and rehabilitation sector where cost and space are constraints, practitioners need smaller driving simulators. Because these small-footprint driving simulators have a limited projected field of view (PFOV) it is desirable to extend the virtual or geometric field of view (GFOV) beyond that natively afforded by the PFOV. Changing the PFOV/GFOV ratio has been shown to alter perceived speed. In order for driving simulation to produce realistic experiences, drivers‟ perception of speed should correspond with real world experiences. The purpose of the current research was to better understand the relationship between speed perception and the GFOV/PFOV ratio …

Fuor And Exor Variables: A Nir High-Resolution Spectroscopic Survey, Joseph Liskowsky

All Theses

To better understand the labyrinth of heating and cooling processes in YSOs (young stellar objects), we study systems where there exists a large variability in the heating of this gas due to accretion. This research project focuses on several classes of early young eruptable T-Tauri stars, namely the FUors, the EXors and the so-called FU Ori-like, which all have the property of large amplitude oscillations in accretion rate. Each of these categories may well represent specific stages in early low-mass stellar evolution. While these objects have specific spectroscopic and circumstellar diagnostics (as means of identification) our research suggests that there …

Using Nestling Bald Eagles To Assess Spatial And Temporal Trends Of Environmental Contaminants, Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota, Henry Pittman

All Theses

Bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) are a avian species used to monitor environmental contaminants such as mercury (Hg), methylmercury (MeHg), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and organochlorine pesticides (OCs) in North America. Populations of bald eagles nesting along the Great Lakes were very slow to recover after the ban of PCBs and OCs because these compounds were very persistent. Bald eagles at Voyageurs National Park (VNP) have been monitored since 1973 and provide an opportunity to assess temporal and spatial trends of persistent environmental contaminants. Nestling bald eagle feathers were analyzed for Hg concentrations for the past 12 years. Nestling bald …

A Synthetic Analysis Of Integrated Data Fusion: Combining Hydrologic And Geophysical Data Collected During A Tracer Test To Estimate Aquifer Flow And Transport Parameters, Dylan Fowler

All Theses

Integrated data fusion (IDF), also known as coupled inversion, is becoming a more widely used method for estimating hydrologic parameters from geophysical data. IDF is being used in this research as an approach to inversion that couples mathematical models of groundwater flow, solute transport, and electrical resistivity for the direct estimation of hydraulic conductivity, porosity, and dispersivity from transient resistivity data collected during a tracer test. In this work, synthetic field resistivity data are generated using only a single current electrode pair and many potential electrodes. This data is then used within the IDF framework to a) estimate hydraulic conductivity …

Evaluation Of Spotlight Surveys For Monitoring Mink Populations In Coastal South Carolina, Michael Waller

All Theses

Annual commercial fur harvest data suggests a decline in South Carolina's mink (Mustela vison) populations over the past century (Butfiloski and Baker 2005). In 1990, DNR began conducting assessments of South Carolina's coastal marshes, revealing mink populations to be scarce to absent in the northern coastal regions (Baker 1999). Since 1999, restoration efforts have re-established mink populations in the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge and additional areas in the northern coastal marshes of South Carolina. Because mink are a species of high conservation priority throughout the coastal zone of South Carolina, it is important to develop and implement a reliable …

Effects Of Varying Field Conditions On Potential Painted Bunting Habitat In Coastal South Carolina, Kelly Campbell

All Theses

Daily point counts were conducted during the summer seasons of 2006, 2007 and 2008 in randomly selected agricultural plots at two field sites in coastal South Carolina to examine habitat use by painted buntings, indigo buntings, blue grosbeaks and brown-headed cowbirds. Plots were selected based on their original condition, such as planted, fallow or old field, in 2006. The two sites, James A. Webb Wildlife Management Area and Nemours Plantation, are areas managed in methods similar to those described in several Conservation Reserve Programs (CRPs), and CP33 - Habitat Buffers for Upland Birds - in particular. I propose the management …

Correcting Liquefaction Resistance Of Partially Saturated Soil Using Compression Wave Velocity, Md Hossain

All Theses

Empirical relationships for correcting liquefaction resistance of partially saturated soil using longitudinal (P-) wave velocity (V_P) and shear (S-) wave velocity (V_S) are developed and evaluated in this thesis. The relationships are based on the laboratory test results for four different types of sands and one silt published by other investigators. The data used to develop the relationship with V_P exhibit less scatter than the data used to develop the relationship with V_P/V_S. For this reason, the V_P based relationship is recommended for correcting liquefaction resistance of partially saturated soil. …

Evaluation Of A Pilot-Scale Constructed Wetland Treatment System For Renovation Of A Specific Oilfield Produced Water For Beneficial Use, Jennifer Horner

All Theses

Oilfield produced waters (OPWs) are brought to the surface when oil reservoirs contained in water-bearing geologic units are extracted. Large volumes of OPW present environmental challenges concerning disposal, as well as potential opportunities for beneficial use if constituents posing risk can be remediated. In this study a pilot-scale constructed wetland treatment system (CWTS) was specifically designed to treat an OPW from sub-Saharan Africa for use in irrigation and livestock watering. Three major objectives were to: characterize and identify constituents of concern in the OPW in terms of beneficial use, evaluate treatment performance of a pilot-scale constructed wetland treatment system for …