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2011

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High Performance Geospatial Analysis On Emerging Parallel Architectures, Seth Warn Dec 2011

High Performance Geospatial Analysis On Emerging Parallel Architectures, Seth Warn

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Geographic information systems (GIS) are performing increasingly sophisticated analyses on growing data sets. These analyses demand high performance. At the same time, modern computing platforms increasingly derive their performance from several forms of parallelism. This dissertation explores the available parallelism in several GIS-applied algorithms: viewshed calculation, image feature transform, and feature analysis. It presents implementations of these algorithms that exploit parallel processing to reduce execution time, and analyzes the effectiveness of the implementations in their use of parallel processing.

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Analyzing Spring Freeze Impacts On Deciduous Forest Productivity Using Modis Satellite Imagery, Karl Lintvedt Dec 2011

Analyzing Spring Freeze Impacts On Deciduous Forest Productivity Using Modis Satellite Imagery, Karl Lintvedt

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The impacts of an April 2007 spring freeze event on the productivity of deciduous broadleaf forest were analyzed using geographic information system (GIS) tools. Forest productivity was modeled using the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), as recorded by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite sensor. Measures of spatial autocorrelation were used to quantify the degree of spatial congruence between a map depicting the severity of the freeze event, and maps modeling forest productivity throughout the year. The results show a geographic correlation between the unseasonably low minimum temperatures sustained during the freeze and the unusually low forest productivity that followed. …

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Fathers And Their Views On Discussing Sex And Sexuality With Their Daughters, Kindann M. Stone Dec 2011

Fathers And Their Views On Discussing Sex And Sexuality With Their Daughters, Kindann M. Stone

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research project was to identify characteristics and perceptions of fathers associated with discussions about sex and sexuality with their daughters. Parental communication, education, and value sharing reduces the risk of STD's and teen pregnancy. Participants were fathers (N=108) who were recruited by their daughters who were attending a Southeastern University. Demographics were utilized and researcher developed modified scales used in previous studies (citation). The newly developed scales were the Sexual Knowledge Inventory (SKI), Value of Self-Efficacy of Sexuality Communication (VSESC), Safe Sex of Self Efficacy of Sexuality Communication (SSSESC), Father's Role as Sex Educators Outcome Expectancy …

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Fabrication Of Composite Nanomaterials For Thin Film Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells, Benjamin Seth Newton Dec 2011

Fabrication Of Composite Nanomaterials For Thin Film Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells, Benjamin Seth Newton

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A material with the precise combination of amorphous silicon and polycrystalline silicon would be able to take advantage of the high absorption capabilities of amorphous silicon and the electron transport capabilities of polycrystalline silicon. Polycrystalline nanostructures in the form of wires can also take advantage of other properties of light absorption, trapping and scattering inherent in nanowire structures. These properties of high absorption and electron transport in one device would lead to advances in the search for highly efficient low cost solar cells and sensors. In this work a thin film material composed of an array of polycrystalline silicon nanostructures …

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Hospitality Students Perceptions About High Risk Behaviors In Relation To Destructive Behaviors And Decision Making, Boris A. Roslov Dec 2011

Hospitality Students Perceptions About High Risk Behaviors In Relation To Destructive Behaviors And Decision Making, Boris A. Roslov

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated hospitality students' perceptions regarding alcohol consumption and personal actions related to high risk behaviors. Those behaviors included: sexual encounters and binge drinking, and their effect on academic tasks and performance. The study investigated whether the hospitality student who is employed full time consumes alcohol at a higher level than a hospitality student does that is not employed full time.

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A Multiple Case Study Of Principals' Instructional Leadership In "Level 5" Schools Of Excellence For Improvement, Janice V. Mccoy Dec 2011

A Multiple Case Study Of Principals' Instructional Leadership In "Level 5" Schools Of Excellence For Improvement, Janice V. Mccoy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

After 28 years of federal and state policy development, regional and local initiatives and various budgetary appropriations, the status of American schools continues to decline. Lyne (2001) reported that Finland, Japan and Korea had the world's highest literacy in reading, math, and science, while the United States ranked 15 in reading literacy, 19 in mathematical literacy, and 14 in scientific literacy. Many factors may contribute to the decline in America's schools. However, with the prevailing economic decline in the United States schools continue to struggle with student achievement, especially students with who are low socio-economic. In addition, to meeting the …

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Factors Influencing Teaching Efficacy Among Kansas Career And Technical Education Faculty, Douglas Lee Younger Dec 2011

Factors Influencing Teaching Efficacy Among Kansas Career And Technical Education Faculty, Douglas Lee Younger

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the levels of teaching efficacy among postsecondary career and technical education faculty at Kansas technical and community colleges. Postsecondary career and technical education faculty at Kansas technical and community colleges were asked to complete an instrument designed to measure their levels of teaching efficacy based upon a modified version of the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale, originally developed by Woolfolk and Hoy (1998). The entire population of postsecondary career and technical education faculty from Kansas technical and community colleges (N=726) were surveyed and a total of n=181 (24.9%) completed the instrument. Data …

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The Ins And Outs Of Prostitution: A Moral Analysis, Kathryn Alice Zawisza Dec 2011

The Ins And Outs Of Prostitution: A Moral Analysis, Kathryn Alice Zawisza

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prostitution is illegal in almost all parts of the United States. Regardless of whether one considers this to be positive or negative, prostitution is still a booming business and thrives despite the legal ramifications of the practice. The pervasiveness of prostitution despite its prohibition may lead one to question the point of the legislation if enforcement is so costly and ineffective. Is prostitution illegal because it harms the well being of society as a whole and the prostitute in particular? Or perhaps it is simply distasteful or worse, immoral and must be forbidden by the law. This, however, leads to …

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Army Transformation: What Does It Mean?, David Jerome Dec 2011

Army Transformation: What Does It Mean?, David Jerome

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The way in which senior U.S. Army leaders such as the chiefs of staff define transformative change is important, especially if the meaning of that term is to be interpreted as originally intended by Army field grade officers. An Army chief of staff is responsible for creating a vision and establishing goals for the future, and field grade officers are responsible for pursuing that vision and those goals by implementing objectives that endeavor to arrive at the desired ends. By using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this research analyzes what each of the three chiefs of staff, who have served …

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Detection Of Two Pathogens Of High Importance To The National Poultry Improvement Plan: Salmonella Spp. And Mycoplasma Spp., Robin Levi Jarquin Dec 2011

Detection Of Two Pathogens Of High Importance To The National Poultry Improvement Plan: Salmonella Spp. And Mycoplasma Spp., Robin Levi Jarquin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 1935, the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) was created to control Salmonella gallinarum and Salmonella pullorum . These two pathogens were devastating economically for poultry producers. Through cooperative efforts using vaccination and strict biosecurity, these two pathogens were eradicated from the United States. Currently, the NPIP program is targeting two other poultry pathogens, Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis and Mycoplasma . In the broiler industry it targets 2 specific Mycoplasma species (synoviae, gallisepticum). Vaccinations for these bacteria are available, but are not fully effective at controlling all strains and serovars. Thus, constant monitoring systems and strict biosecurity measures are necessary …

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Design And Implementation Of Metamaterial Based Strain Sensor Using Aperture Coupled Antenna, Michael Brandon Buscher Dec 2011

Design And Implementation Of Metamaterial Based Strain Sensor Using Aperture Coupled Antenna, Michael Brandon Buscher

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Strain sensors are used to convert the physical measured quantity of strain into an electrical signal suitable for processing by electronic equipment. Traditional strain sensors are comprised of a thin flexible film with a resistive pattern traced on the surface. As the sensor is deformed, the electrical resistance changes proportionally, giving a direct measure of the strain incurred. Metamaterials, particularly split ring resonators (SRR), lend themselves as a valuable tool for sensing applications due to their highly resonant nature and their very narrow bandwidth (high Q-factor). Due to very high field localization effects, they are extremely sensitive to both the …

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Virtual Communities As Egalitarian Societies: Why Contributions Matter And What They Mean, Kristen E. Rodgers Dec 2011

Virtual Communities As Egalitarian Societies: Why Contributions Matter And What They Mean, Kristen E. Rodgers

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

This study involves a content analysis of participation and contributions within a virtual community message board. Research focuses on evaluating virtual communities as egalitarian societies and determining what benefits group members receive from participating in and contributing to these communities. Two message board virtual communities were selected for analysis using the methodological approach of netnography. Though many past studies have labeled virtual communities as egalitarian, no clear application of the social structure theory has been applied and analyzed against such a community; this study aims to fix that and identifies key components of egalitarian societies present in virtual communities. Furthermore, …

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Neither Rules Nor Standards, Steven A. Dean Dec 2011

Neither Rules Nor Standards, Steven A. Dean

Notre Dame Law Review

The article discusses the issue of international tax regime and the problems associated with the enforcing of corporate and individual income taxes. It also discusses the impact of corporate income shifting and individual tax evasion. It explains the importance of legitimacy and describes the dynamic that produces legitimacy traps. It suggests the checking of principle in order to solve the problem associated with international tax regime.

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The Law And Economics Of The Exclusionary Rule, Tonja Jacobi Dec 2011

The Law And Economics Of The Exclusionary Rule, Tonja Jacobi

Notre Dame Law Review

The article presents information on the legal and economic implications of the exclusionary rule. It explains that exclusionary rule does not work for defendants or non-defendants and harms defendants through juror resistance, juror error and a preserve screening effect. It overviews the drawbacks of solutions that were proposed to solve problems associated with jury instructions and civil remedies.

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Circuit Court Interpretations Of Garcetti V. Ceballos And The Development Of Public Employee Speech, Thomas Keenan Dec 2011

Circuit Court Interpretations Of Garcetti V. Ceballos And The Development Of Public Employee Speech, Thomas Keenan

Notre Dame Law Review

The article presents an analysis on the advancement of public employee speech and interpretations of the U.S. Supreme Court on Garcetti v. Ceballos. It discusses the similarities and error that exists among the federal circuit courts. It overviews the factors shared by circuits different to certain courts. It reflects on the First Amendment jurisprudence related to public employee speech. It also put forwards the defenses and criticisms of Garcetti.

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Extrapolating Strategies For The Scientific And Technological Development Of Underdeveloped Societies From The Examples Of South Korea, Slovenia And Serbia, Vuk Uskoković, Dragan Uskoković Dec 2011

Extrapolating Strategies For The Scientific And Technological Development Of Underdeveloped Societies From The Examples Of South Korea, Slovenia And Serbia, Vuk Uskoković, Dragan Uskoković

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

The recent history of scientific excellence of a society could be used as an indicator of its economic, cultural and communal prosperity. In this work, two examples of countries that successfully arose from the remnants of comparative poverty and established themselves as scientifically thriving societies, South Korea and Slovenia, are compared with the case of Serbia, a country that is presumably on the doorsteps of a similarly explosive developmental path. Guidelines for social progress in the direction of greater scientific and social prominence are outlined in the course of the discourse. It is concluded that the ideal model of growth …

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The Exploration Of The Relationship Between Guessing And Latent Ability In Irt Models, Song Gao Dec 2011

The Exploration Of The Relationship Between Guessing And Latent Ability In Irt Models, Song Gao

Dissertations

This study explored the relationship between successful guessing and latent ability in IRT models. A new IRT model was developed with a guessing function integrating probability of guessing an item correctly with the examinee's ability and the item parameters. The conventional 3PL IRT model was compared with the new 2PL-Guessing model on parameter estimation using the Monte Carlo method. SAS program was used to implement the data simulation and the maximum likelihood estimation. Compared with the traditional 3PL model, the new model should reflect: a) the maximum probability of guessing should not be more than 0.5, even for the highest …

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Identifying Competencies Of Aoda Clinical Supervisors For Integration Into Rehabilitation Counselor Training Curriculum: A Delphi Study, Marissa Mckee Dec 2011

Identifying Competencies Of Aoda Clinical Supervisors For Integration Into Rehabilitation Counselor Training Curriculum: A Delphi Study, Marissa Mckee

Dissertations

This study preliminarily identified clinical supervision competencies needed for alcohol and other drug abuse (AODA) clinical supervisors for integration into rehabilitation counselor training (RCT) curriculum. The Delphi method via LimeSurvey® was utilized to identify competencies specific to AODA clinical supervision. A panel of six experts in RCT and AODA clinical supervision completed five rounds of data collection beginning with an open-ended question. Consensus and stability of responses were calculated following Rounds 2-5 of data collection. Panelist fatigue resulted in data collection being discontinued after Round 5, prior to a consensus or stability of responses being reached. A total of 115 …

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Detection-Assisted Object Tracking By Mobile Cameras, Li He Dec 2011

Detection-Assisted Object Tracking By Mobile Cameras, Li He

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Tracking-by-detection is a class of new tracking approaches that utilizes recent development of object detection algorithms. This type of approach performs object detection for each frame and uses data association algorithms to associate new observations to existing targets. Inspired by the core idea of the tracking-by-detection framework, we propose a new framework called detection-assisted tracking where object detection algorithm provides help to the tracking algorithm when such help is necessary; thus object detection, a very time consuming task, is performed only when needed. The proposed framework is also able to handle complicated scenarios where cameras are allowed to move, and …

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Adaptation And Validation Of Food Product Specific Analytical Methods For Monitoring Prebiotics Present In Different Types Of Processed Food Matrices, Rebbeca M. Duar Dec 2011

Adaptation And Validation Of Food Product Specific Analytical Methods For Monitoring Prebiotics Present In Different Types Of Processed Food Matrices, Rebbeca M. Duar

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Prebiotic carbohydrates are now added to a variety of processed foods to beneficially affect the gut microbial composition and activities. However, published data remain limited on the stability of prebiotics during food processes, such as baking, extrusion, pasteurization, high temperature heating, low pH condition, etc. As the complexity of the food matrix may also affect the ability to test for prebiotics, product specific analytical methods, including UV-vis spectroscopy, GC and HPLC, were developed and validated to monitor the stability of FOS, inulin and GOS in different types of processed food (breakfast cereal, cookie, muffin, sports drink and a nutritional bar). …

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Effect Of Environmental Conditions On Perceived Psychological Restorativeness Of Coastal Parks, J. Aaron Hipp, Oladele A. Ogunseitan Dec 2011

Effect Of Environmental Conditions On Perceived Psychological Restorativeness Of Coastal Parks, J. Aaron Hipp, Oladele A. Ogunseitan

Brown School Faculty Publications

We investigated the hypothesis that perception of psychological restorativeness during visits to coastal parks is modified by objective and perceived environmental conditions. Visitors (n=1,153) to California beaches completed a survey on perceived weather, environmental quality, and perceived restorativeness. We used generalized ordinal logistic models to estimate the association between environmental parameters and odds of perceiving higher levels of restorativeness. Visitors perceived greater restorativeness at beaches when ambient temperatures were at or below mean monthly temperatures and during low tides. The odds of perceiving the environment as more psychologically restorative were three times greater when visiting on days defined by government …

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Diffusion Tensor Imaging Data Reveals Grm3 Polymorphism's Association With White Matter Integrity In Schizophrenia, Joanna Mounce Dec 2011

Diffusion Tensor Imaging Data Reveals Grm3 Polymorphism's Association With White Matter Integrity In Schizophrenia, Joanna Mounce

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

While the functional disconnectivity hypothesis of schizophrenia has been the subject of much study, very little is known about the contribution of individual genotypes to connectivity between brain regions in either schizophrenia patients or in healthy controls. In this study, we obtained diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) maps and genome-wide SNP data from 74 cases and 87 age- and gender-matched controls. Correlations were performed between loading coefficients obtained from fractional anisotropy (FA) values in networks of regions representing 6 maximally independent components and 134 SNPs in genes that have been found to be important in myelination and/or schizophrenia. By using independent …

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Spatiotemporal Dynamics Of Transport In The Squid Giant Axon: Competition Between Cargo Motor Receptors, Jip-1, App-C, And Negative Charge, Pamela E. Seamster Dec 2011

Spatiotemporal Dynamics Of Transport In The Squid Giant Axon: Competition Between Cargo Motor Receptors, Jip-1, App-C, And Negative Charge, Pamela E. Seamster

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Transport of membrane-bound organelles is critical to neuronal cell function yet mechanisms hitching vesicles to transport machinery remain elusive. Here we test whether jun-kinase interacting protein (JIP-1), a peripheral membrane scaffolding protein that binds kinesin light chain, is sufficient to mediate cargo transport in axons and study its competition with amyloid precursor protein cytoplasmic domain (APP-) and negative charge, also known motor receptors. Fluorescent beads (100 nm diameter) exhibit sequence-specific fast anterograde transport (0.46μm/s instantaneous velocity) in the squid giant axon when conjugated to a 14- amino acid synthetic peptide derived from the carboxyl terminus of JIP-1. JIP-1- beads have …

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Practical, Scalable Algorithms For Byzantine Agreement, Olumuyiwa Oluwasanmi Dec 2011

Practical, Scalable Algorithms For Byzantine Agreement, Olumuyiwa Oluwasanmi

Computer Science ETDs

With the growth of the Internet, there has been a push toward designing reliable algorithms that scale effectively in terms of latency, bandwidth and other computational resources. Scalability has been a serious problem especially with peer-to-peer (p2p) networks which may have sizes of more than a million nodes. An important problem in designing reliable algorithms is Byzantine agreement. For reasons of scalability, message complexity is a critical resource for this problem. Unfortunately, previous solutions to Byzantine agreement require each processor to send $O(n)$ messages, where $n$ is the total number of processors in the network. In this dissertation, we show …

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Keeping Checkpoint/Restart Viable For Exascale Systems, Kurt Ferreira Dec 2011

Keeping Checkpoint/Restart Viable For Exascale Systems, Kurt Ferreira

Computer Science ETDs

Next-generation exascale systems, those capable of performing a quintillion operations per second, are expected to be delivered in the next 8-10 years. These systems, which will be 1,000 times faster than current systems, will be of unprecedented scale. As these systems continue to grow in size, faults will become increasingly common, even over the course of small calculations. Therefore, issues such as fault tolerance and reliability will limit application scalability. Current techniques to ensure progress across faults like checkpoint/restart, the dominant fault tolerance mechanism for the last 25 years, are increasingly problematic at the scales of future systems due to …

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Let The Beauty We Love Be What We Do: A Case Study In Communication-Centered Leadership, Jo Carter Dec 2011

Let The Beauty We Love Be What We Do: A Case Study In Communication-Centered Leadership, Jo Carter

Communication ETDs

While leadership research is widespread, much of it represents leadership psychology assumptions that leaders are singular individuals, different from the body that they are leading. This dissertation provides a close reading of a different approach to leadership, one arising from the cultural community around the Diana's Grove retreat center. This philosophy holds cultural norms of the Cornerstones of Community (choice, thinking well of the group, thinking well of one's self, stewardship of self, and sacred wound) as overt rules that are the foundation of sustainable community interactions. It discusses how service to the idea of community is the primary motivating …

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Infectious Disease And The Worldwide Distribution Of Iq, Christopher Guiles Eppig Dec 2011

Infectious Disease And The Worldwide Distribution Of Iq, Christopher Guiles Eppig

Biology ETDs

We show that infectious disease is a major contributor to the worldwide distribution of human cognitive ability, as measured by psychometric IQ. In areas where infectious disease is high, average human intelligence tends to be lower, and in areas where infectious disease is low, average human intelligence tends to be higher. In separate studies, we tested this across world nations (chapter 2) and across states of the USA (chapter 3). In efforts to disseminate our research to wider audiences, I reviewed the findings contained in chapters 2 and 3 using language that is accessible to non-biologists (chapter 4). Although it …

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Colonia Population And Housing Estimation [Dataset], Daren Ruiz Dec 2011

Colonia Population And Housing Estimation [Dataset], Daren Ruiz

BBER Publications

Colonias are small, under-represented communities often characterized by poor socioeconomic conditions. There are 142 HUD-designated colonias in southern New Mexico. There is a great need for information on colonias: government agencies and community planners want to improve infrastructure and allocate resources to serve colonia populations. As part of the effort to compile information about colonias, the UNM Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) developed a technique for tabulating U.S. Census Bureau data for colonia geography. This article explains the technique, demonstrated by an estimated population and household count for the Rancho Grande colonia in Catron County. Location coordinates for …

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4.223 Termination Of Employment Nov 2011

4.223 Termination Of Employment

4.200 Employment (Human Resources)

No abstract provided.

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Book Review, Thomas H. Olbricht Nov 2011

Book Review, Thomas H. Olbricht

Leaven

No abstract provided.

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