Digital Commons Network^™

Cross-Layer Modeling And Algorithm Design For Mimo Ad Hoc Networks, Shan Chu

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

With the fast progress of MIMO technology and its growing applications in networks, it is important to develop techniques to enable more efficient MIMO network communications. However, in a dynamic ad hoc network with changing channel conditions and topology, it is very challenging to coordinate channel evaluations and data transmissions as well as fully exploit the advantages of MIMO technology. Having observed that most of the literature works lack realistic model of the interaction between physical layer and the upper layers, we are trying to model the realistic physical layer characteristics and constraints to assist the design of algorithms and …

Religion And Spirituality In Late 20th Century Music: Arvo Part, Jonathan Harvey, And John Coltrane, Steven Wayne Gehring

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

In this dissertation I focus on significant trends in music and spirituality in the latter half of the twentieth century as a legacy of dramatic transformations in religion and society. During this era, especially in the 1960s, a growing disaffection with traditional religion - as well as with traditional society in general - led many individuals to explore spirituality, either as a replacement for or as a byproduct of religion. I examine these trends in spirituality as a way of bringing to light the different ways composers and musicians have used their music to communicate a sense of spirituality. My …

Disorders Of Schizophrenic Embodiment: A Phenomenological Investigation, Krisztina Sajber

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The bodily manifestations of schizophrenia are not commonly in the forefront of scientific research. An investigation of the disorders of schizophrenic embodiment is nevertheless instructive not only for psychotherapeutic advances in the treatment of the schizophrenic condition, but because it offers unusual access to the pre-reflective experience of the body, a topic of great significance in contemporary phenomenology. This dissertation proposes a methodological framework for the systematic analysis of the various disorders of embodiment in schizophrenia, such as the schizophrenic modality of bodily self-alienation, the distortions of the body image experienced by schizophrenics, the processes that drive the conceptualization of …

Interplay Between Francisella Tularensis And Hepatocytes, Huaixin Zheng

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Francisella tularensis is the bacterial cause of tularemia and has been designated as a potential bioweapon due to its high infectivity and virulence. F. tularensis infects the liver of its mammalian hosts and replicates in hepatocytes, the major cells of the liver, both in vivo and in vitro. However, the factors that govern adaptation of F. tularensis to the intra-hepatocytic niche have not been identified. Using cDNA microarrays, we determined the transcriptional profile of the live vaccine strain (LVS) of F. tularensis growing in the FL83B murine hepatocytic cell line. Expression of 53 genes was up-regulated more than 2-fold compared …

Songs From A Distant Memory: A Study Of Bright Sheng's Four Movement For Piano Trio And Tibetan Dance, Angela On Yee Wong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Bright Sheng (1955-) is a contemporary Chinese composer whose music spans Chinese and Western culture. The two piano trios chosen for this project, Four Movements for Piano Trio and Tibetan Dance, have not been thoroughly discussed and analyzed. Sheng's chamber music deserves academic attention because of his creative integration of Chinese and Western culture in his compositions. He fuses Chinese musical elements such as heterophony, pentatonic scales, and Chinese folksongs within the Western genres and structure. He vividly captures the spirit of Chinese music with a contemporary flavor, thus creating his own musical language. This paper will begin with an …

Classroom Practices And Perspective Transformation In An Adult Elementary Spanish Classroom, Stacey Margaret Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The purpose of this research was to explore students' experiences of perspective transformation and the classroom practices contributing to that transformation in a first-semester, college Spanish class. Purposeful sampling was used to choose a college-level Elementary Spanish I class to study. The qualitative case study design required the collection of three kinds of data: 1) participant observation in the classroom, 2) student learning journals, and 3) one-on-one interviews conducted with eight students purposefully sampled from the class. The criterion for selecting interview participants was evidence in the participant observation and learning journal data of the early stages of perspective transformation. …

Perceptions And Use Of Cooperative Learning By Community College Faculty Members, Marcia Fay Hunter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The researcher of this study examined the perceptions and use of cooperative learning by community college faculty members. The researcher used the survey method as part of a quantitative, descriptive research. The participants for the study were 148 faculty members who taught at least one face-to-face class during the spring semester of 2011 at a southern urban community college. Cooperative learning brings students together to work in small groups to enhance their own learning and that of their peers. Research identifies it as a pedagogical and andragogical approach that increases the academic and social gains of students. There is limited …

Bouncing Back: The Viability And Sustainability Of A School-Based Therapeutic Summer Camp For Adolescents Exposed To Violence, Darcus Fayetta Greene

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The scholarship on exposure to violence suggests that traumatic and violent experiences place students at risk for exhibiting externalizing and internalizing behaviors that may impede academic performance. Moreover, the lack of effective programs and services has perpetuated the problem of unmet or underserved mental health needs. The purpose of the present study was to understand mental health clinicians' perspectives of best practices within the context of a two-week, school-based summer camp designed to provide therapeutic services to middle school students who have been exposed to violence. Bronfenbrenner's ecology of human development and Vygotsky's principle of the zone of proximal development …

Do Reflective Responses By The Therapist Improve The Outcome Of Psychotherapy, Catherine Marie Reich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Although reflective listening is a technique used by a number of therapeutic orientations, there is little empiricial evidence of its causal impact on psychotherapy outcome. This randomized clinical trial examined whether reflective listening by therapists influences perceptions of empathy or therapeutic outcome. In the study, therapists at a university counseling center were trained to use either a greater or lesser number of reflective responses with clients they treated. Both clients and therapists then completed empathy and outcome measures after each of the first four sessions of treatment. Analyses failed to suggest that therapist reflection actually occurred more frequently in one …

States Of Science: A Comparative Analysis Of Germany And Turkey, Sera Elizabeth Babakus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This study explores the nature of science in Germany and Turkey. Specifically, Iwant to know what science looks like in different settings, and how it interacts with other institutions of the state. Science is assessed within the two contexts at both an individual-societal and institutional level. Indicators of knowledge and attitudes are analyzed to identify individual orientations towards science. Discourse analysis is used to evaluate the nature of science within legislatures and national academies, as well as the overall state scientific bureaucracy. Iexpect observed patterns to translate into policy and, as such, apply my findings to an explanation of German …

Educational Policies Committee Agenda, December 1, 2011, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

• Subcommittee Reports
• Curriculum Subcommittee
• Course Approvals
• Academic Standards Subcommittee
• General Education Subcommittee

Toward An Inter-American Philosophy: Pragmatism And The Philosophy Of Liberation, Alexander V. Stehn

Philosophy Faculty Publications

This essay suggests that the U.S.-American Pragmatist tradition could be fruitfully reconstructed by way of a dialogue with Latin American Liberation Philosophy. More specifically, I work to establish a common ground for future comparative work by: 1) gathering and interpreting Enrique Dussel’s scattered comments on Pragmatism, 2) showing how the concept of liberation already functions in John Dewey’s Pragmatism, and 3) suggesting reasons for further developing this inter-American philosophical dialogue and debate.

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En este ensayo se sugiere que la tradición del pragmatismo estadounidense podría ser reconstruida de forma fructífera en un diálogo con la filosofía de la liberación latinoamericana. …

The Valuation Of User-Generated Content: A Structural, Stylistic And Semantic Analysis Of Online Reviews, Noi Sian Koh

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The ability and ease for users to create and publish content has provided vast amount of online product reviews. However, the amount of data is overwhelmingly large and unstructured, making information difficult to quantify. This creates challenge in understanding how online reviews affect consumers’ purchase decisions. In my dissertation, I explore the structural, stylistic and semantic content of online reviews. Firstly, I present a measurement that quantifies sentiments with respect to a multi-point scale and conduct a systematic study on the impact of online reviews on product sales. Using the sentiment metrics generated, I estimate the weight that customers place …

Grain Boundary Behavior In An Ultrafine-Grained Aluminum Alloy, P. S. De, R. S. Mishra

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The low-angle grain boundary (LAGB) stability in an ultrafine-grained (UFG) Al alloy during monotonic loading was investigated by orientation imaging microscopy (OIM). the experiments show that boundaries with misorientation below ∼2.5 deg are stable, while boundaries with misorientation between 2.5 and 15 deg are unstable. Similar results were observed during cyclic loading of UFG Al alloy. This behavior was rationalized using the nonequilibrium thermodynamics concept. on the other hand, it is postulated that the grain boundary behavior in microcrystalline alloy is different because of the larger dislocation mean free path. © 2011 the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and ASM …

Fabrication Of Mineralized Collagen From Bovine Waste Materials By Hydrothermal Method As Promised Biomaterials, Faheem A. Sheikh, M. A. Kanjwal, Javier Macossay-Torres, Muneeb A. Muhammad, Travis Cantu, Ioannis S. Chronakis, N. A. M. Barakat, Hak Yong Kim

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Chemistry)

In the present study, we aimed to produce mineralized-collagen by hydrothermal process. A simple method not depending on additional foreign chemicals has been employed to isolate the mineralized-collagen fibers from bovine waste. The process of extraction involves the use of hydrothermal method from available bovine bones. The structural and morphological properties of the collagen fibers were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. These results indicated well received collagen fibers, having a diameter less than 1 μm and with established mineral content in the individual fibers. The X-ray diffraction showed the crystalline feature of the obtained nano-compounds. …

Singapore Consumer’S Inflation Expectations And Creation Of Singapore Index Of Inflation Expectations, Aurobindo Ghosh, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

The aim of this report is to highlight a broad spectrum of issues that brings about the measurement of the disagreement and the uncertainity and the formation of inflation expectations among economic agents in Singapore.

Vireo@Trecvid 2011: Instance Search, Semantic Indexing, Multimedia Event Detection And Known-Item Search, Chong-Wah Ngo, Shi-Ai Zhu, Wei Zhang, Chun-Chet Tan, Ting Yao, Lei Pang, Hung-Khoon Tan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The vireo group participated in four tasks: instance search, semantic indexing, multimedia event detection and known-item search. In this paper,we will present our approaches and discuss the evaluation results.

One Mandarin Benefits The Whole Clan: Hometown Infrastructure And Nepotism In An Autocracy, Kieu-Trang Nguyen, Quoc-Anh Do, Anh Tran

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper studies nepotism by government officials in an authoritarian regime. We collect a unique dataset of political promotions of officials in Vietnam and estimate their impact on public infrastructure in their hometowns. We find strong positive effects on several outcomes, some with lags, including roads to villages, marketplaces, clean water access, preschools, irrigation, and local radio broadcasters, as well as the hometown’s propensity to benefit from the State’s “poor commune support program”. Nepotism is not limited to only top-level officials, pervasive even among those without direct authority over hometown budgets, stronger when the hometown chairperson’s and promoted official’s ages …

A Simple And Robust Method Of Inference For Spatial Lag Dependence, Zhenlin Yang, Yan Shen

Research Collection School Of Economics

A simple and reliable method of inference for the spatial parameter in spatial autoregressive models is introduced, based on a statistic obtained by centering and rescaling the numerator of the concentrated Gaussian score function. The resulted tests and confidence intervals are robust against the distributional misspecifications and are insensitive to the spatial layouts and the error standard deviation. In contrast, the standard methods based on Gaussian score and information matrix may lead to inconsistent inference when errors are non normal, and can be quite sensitive to the spatial layouts and the error standard deviation even when errors are normally distributed. …

Perceptions Of The Online Learning Experience, Michelle Burow

Honors Program Theses

Online education is a relatively new phenomenon that has been developing over the past decade. While the implementation and popularity of online classes have expanded immensely, there is still some debate on whether it is a superior or inferior teaching method when compared to the traditional classroom. Due to society's mixed views on this topic, I had the desire to explore students' perceptions of the online learning experience and find ways to measure its ability to be effective.

The purpose of my thesis was to conduct research that examined the effectiveness of online courses offered at the college level. Furthermore, …

Effects Of Implementing A Formative Assessment Initiative, Thomas A. Stewart

Dissertations

This dissertation supports the work of Black and Wiliam (1998), who demonstrated that when teachers effectively utilize formative assessment strategies, student learning increases significantly. However, the researchers also found a “poverty of practice” among teachers, in that few fully understood how to effectively implement formative assessment in the classroom. This qualitative case study examined a series of voluntary workshops offered at one public middle school designed to address this poverty of practice. Data were gathered via semi-structured interviews. The researcher used constant comparative analysis to discover patterns in the data for the following four research questions: (1) What role did …

An Analysis Of Burmese And Iraqi Resettlement Location And Assimilation In A Midsized City: Implications For Educational And Other Community Leaders, Donna Schiess Renaud

Dissertations

Refugees face different circumstances than other immigrants regarding housing in initial resettlement in the U.S. Refugees have no choice of their initial residence as this is determined in advance by the resettlement agency. Refugees who belong to minority ethnic groups and who have little education or skills may experience discrimination and hostility from local citizens. Resettlement areas that are high in population density, rental units, minorities, crime, unemployment, inadequate transportation, and low income may present additional barriers to cultural and economic assimilation.

This mixed-method study had a twofold purpose. The first was to describe quantitatively how the initial resettlement address …

The Information Battlefield: Al-Qaeda's Use Of Advanced Media Technologies For Framed Messaging, Jessica Marie Martin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Through a descriptive and qualitative content analysis of Al-Qaeda videos from 2001 to 2010, this thesis describes how the organization's video production has undergone a surge in production quality by using modern technology and skilled recruits. This thesis also provides background on the Islamic culture and the history of Al-Qaeda in order to put into perspective the goals of the organization's framed messages that are incorporated into their videos. The study also draws on parallels of propaganda use throughout history to highlight how regimes from all over the world understand the importance of communication during a time of war.

A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Software Comparison And Between Control Subjects And Subjects With Known Anatomical Diagnosis, Michael C. Moore

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method that produces in vivo images of biological tissues weighted with the local micro-structural characteristics of water diffusion. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a form of DWI, is useful when a tissue, such as the neural axons of white matter in the brain, has an internal fibrous structure that allows water to diffuse more rapidly in alignment with the fibers. Changes in the water diffusion pattern indicate changes in the fiber structure which can result from damage to the fibers. Measurements of the water diffusion patterns include overall diffusivity, Apparent Diffusion …

The Effect Of Pre-Collaborative Activity Instruction On Self-Efficacy, Robert Ray Mattson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Collaborative learning is increasing in popularity in education. This collaborative pedagogy is based on a significant body of research that shows positive learning gains. Additionally, given the nature of much of the information-age work, it is thought that such collaborative activity in school helps develop knowledge, skills and attitudes that will be beneficial to students in their post-college lives.

In spite of collaborative learning's increasing use and popularity, there is only limited research on how students feel about such methods and their level of confidence in their collaborative knowledge, skills and attitudes. Based on the current theories about self-efficacy, delineated …

The Relationship Between The Functions Of School Refusal Behavior And Family Environment, Rachel Marie Schafer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The current study examined the relationship between the functions of school refusal behavior and family environment characteristics in a community sample of youth. The primary aim was to determine the family environments most strongly associated with each function of school refusal behavior in an ethnically diverse, community-based sample of youths referred to the legal process for absenteeism. Hypotheses for the current study were based on the premise that family environment characteristics of the community sample of youths with problematic absenteeism would generally resemble those identified in previous clinical samples. The first hypothesis was that youth who refuse school primarily to …

The American Homophilic School Of Composition, Rik Noyce

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A small enclave of gay composers in New York, led by Aaron Copland (1900-1990) and Virgil Thomson (1896-1989), established a distinct twentieth-century musical sound that became synonymous with America. Copland and Thomson were prominent among a group of gifted gay musicians and conductors in New York in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. While perhaps not self-identifying as gay, as the term had not yet been coined, they did however acknowledge, honor, and support one another's lives as being homosexual. Is it possible that something as seemingly unrelated as sexual preference could, in fact, impact a musical style?

In this document, …

Faktor-Faktor Yang Mempengaruhi Perilaku Nelayan Artisanal Dalam Pemanfaatan Sumberdaya Perikanan Di Pantai Utara Provinsi Jawa Barat, Prihandoko Prihandoko, Amri Jahi, Darwis S. Gani, I Gusti Putu Purnaba, Luky Adrianto, Iwan Tjitradjaja

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

This study aims to estimate accurately the behavior using the Theory of Planned Behavior perspective of artisanal fishermen in Indonesia, in the midst of life with the condition of degradation of marine resources are declining, absolute poverty faced by artisanal fishermen and the more complex issues of coastal resource use in Indonesia with a more diversity of stakeholders utilizing these resources. The population of artisanal fishermen in the northern coast of West Java Province 10,404. Techniques for sampling by cluster random sampling clusters with the number of household sample of 400 artisanal fishermen. Data was collected using a questionnaire interview …

Intergroup Bias Among Jakarta's Road Users, Amarina Ariyanto, Nurlyta Hafiyah, Sri Rochani Soesetio

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

The goal of this study is to examine intergroup bias among people who use roads in Jakarta. Intergroup bias refers to the tendency to prioritize, treat and perceive in-group members more favorable than out-groups. Three different groups of road users participated in this study: private drivers, motor riders, and public transportation drivers. Intergroup bias is measured as perception bias and attribution bias. The findings show that both forms of bias occur among the road users. Intergroup attribution bias that is found among the three groups are more in-group than out-group attribution bias. The private car drivers, motor riders, and public …

Determining A Relationship Between Design Characteristics And The End-Of-Life Disposition Of Cellular Phones, Ashley Devierno

Theses

In recent years, the consumption of consumer electronics has increased rapidly in the United States and across the world. As the consumer electronics industry continues to innovate and turn over new products, older products become obsolete and enter the ever growing electronics waste stream, which was 2.3 million tons in 2007.The increasing volume of electronic waste (e-Waste) has gained the attention of consumers, media outlets, and policy makers across the world. This has put pressure on original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of consumer electronics to manage their products in an environmentally responsible way at the end of their product lifetimes. It …