Digital Commons Network^™

A Hierarchical Image Processing Approach For Diagnostic Analysis Of Microcirculation Videos, Nazanin Mirshahi

Theses and Dissertations

Knowledge of the microcirculatory system has added significant value to the analysis of tissue oxygenation and perfusion. While developments in videomicroscopy technology have enabled medical researchers and physicians to observe the microvascular system, the available software tools are limited in their capabilities to determine quantitative features of microcirculation, either automatically or accurately. In particular, microvessel density has been a critical diagnostic measure in evaluating disease progression and a prognostic indicator in various clinical conditions. As a result, automated analysis of the microcirculatory system can be substantially beneficial in various real-time and off-line therapeutic medical applications, such as optimization of resuscitation. …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Highly Porous Borazine-Linked Polymers Via Dehydrogenation/Dehydrocoupling Of Borane-Amine Adducts And Their Applications To Gas Storage, Karl Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

A new class of porous polymers has been designed and successfully synthesized by thermal dehydrogenation of several polytopic arylamine-borane adducts and has been designated Borazine-Linked Polymers (BLPs). The polymers reported are constructed of linear, triangular, and tetrahedral amine building units to form 2D and 3D frameworks. The boron sites of the pores are aligned with hydrogen atoms contrasted with the recently reported halogenated BLPs which consist of pore channels aligned with bromine or chlorine atoms. One of the reported BLPs, BLP-2(H), was proven to be crystalline by PXRD, matching the experimental pattern to theoretical patterns calculated from modeled structures. BLPs …

Developing Occupational Programs: A Case Study Of Four Arkansas Community Colleges, Duane Edward Doyle

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how differences in the environmental conditions and organizational factors facing each community college contribute to the development of occupational and technical education programs. This study was driven by one primary research question: What environmental conditions and organizational factors influence the nature of the strategic response in the form of technical education program development within community colleges? To answer this question, a qualitative study of four community colleges in the state of Arkansas was conducted. The organizations studied were: University of Arkansas Community College at Hope, Pulaski Technical College, National Park Community College, and Mid South Community College. …

An Integrated Geophysical And Geologic Study Of The Paleogene-Age Volcanic Body And Possible Landslide Deposit On The South Slope Of The Traverse Mountains, Utah, John C. Hoopes

Theses and Dissertations

Development of homes, roads, and commercial buildings in northern Utah has grown significantly during the last several decades. Construction has expanded from the valley floor to higher elevations of benches, foothills, and other elevated regions of the Wasatch Mountain Front. Construction in the higher elevation areas are a concern due to potential for landslides, both new and reactivated. Landslides have been identified in this region and are dated as Pleistocene to historical in age. A possible landslide of about 0.5 km2 on the south slope of Traverse Mountain has been mapped by the Utah Geological Survey in 2005. Its surface …

Regulation Of High Light Responses In Synechocystis Sp. Pcc6803, Waqar Majeed

Theses and Dissertations

Cyanobacteria have evolved various acclimation mechanisms to enable them to thrive under harsh environmental conditions. There are a total of more than 80 sensory kinases and response regulators on the genome of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, which coordinate the molecular responses to changes in environmental conditions. However, it is not clearly understood how these regulators control the stress-responsive genes. This dissertation focuses on analysis of the functions of two regulators, RpaA and DspA, by targeted mutagenesis. Upon deletion of RpaA, a significant reduction in chlorophyll fluorescence from photosystem I at 77K was observed in whole cells and the …

Investigation Of Selected Complexes And Alloys For Use In Hydrogen Storage And Related Applications, Michael Joseph Wolverton

Theses and Dissertations

The storage of hydrogen in adequate amounts limits its practical application as a fuel. This is especially important for automotive applications. Metal hydride based storage systems may yet be able to meet these storage parameters. However, no ideal hydride system has yet been identified. This work explores methods of increasing the feasibility of metal hydride based hydrogen storage by: (1) improvement of hydrogen uptake/release in known hydrides through catalysis, and (2) characterization of new hydrides and hydrogen storage materials. Catalysis work concerns primarily borohydrides due to their large hydrogen content. Catalysis and destabilization of borohydrides by addition of bulk alloy …

Otter Realm, December 8, 2011, California State University, Monterey Bay

The Otter Realm

Getting to Zero: Thirty Years and Still Fighting -- What You Otter Be Doing! November 8 - December 18 -- Alive and Growing -- An Update On The Ord -- OCCUPY EVERYTHING-CURRENTLY OCCUPYING A TOWN NEAR YOU -- Ocupar Aqui y Alla -- Town Hall Meeting: Otter Style -- Dropping the Debt: Education on a Dime -- Hope for the Homeless: "Voices of the Street" Speaks Up and Helps Out -- Obstruction and Construction at CSUMB: Out With the Old, and In With the New -- Too Little, Too Late? CSUMB Students and Faculty Question the Placement of Fall Break …

Viscoelastic Transition And Yield Strain Of The Folded Protein, Yong Wang, Giovanni Zocchi

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

For proteins, the mechanical properties of the folded state are directly related to function, which generally entails conformational motion. Through sub-Angstrom resolution measurements of the AC mechanical susceptibility of a globular protein we describe a new fundamental materials property of the folded state. For increasing amplitude of the forcing, there is a reversible transition from elastic to viscoelastic response. At fixed frequency, the amplitude of the deformation is piecewise linear in the force, with different slopes in the elastic and viscoelastic regimes. Effectively, the protein softens beyond a yield point defined by this transition. We propose that ligand induced conformational …

Screening Designs That Minimize Model Dependence, Kenneth P. Fairchild

Theses and Dissertations

When approaching a new research problem, we often use screening designs to determine which factors are worth exploring in more detail. Before exploring a problem, we don't know which factors are important. When examining a large number of factors, it is likely that only a handful are significant and that even fewer two-factor interactions will be significant. If there are important interactions, it is likely that they are connected with the handful of significant main effects. Since we don't know beforehand which factors are significant, we want to choose a design that gives us the highest probability a priori of …

Active Learning Through Community Outreach: A Case Study Of Service-Learning In A Natural Hazard, Vulnerability And Risk Class, Brittany Brand, Margaret Sass, Kara Brascia

Higher Learning Research Communications

The popularity of service-learning is increasing, especially at a time where college students want to make a greater impact in their communities. One place we found that students can make a meaningful impact in their communities is promoting community resiliency to natural hazard events through a community outreach project. This article provides a case study of how incorporating service-learning through a community outreach project can increase student engagement, enhance the depth of understanding of a given topic, build communication and teamwork skills, and contribute meaningfully to the students’ community. This article shares how the instructor of a Natural Hazards, Vulnerability …

Returns To The Introduction Of New Sorghum Cultivars Into The Dairy Industry Of El Salvador, Alexis H. Villacís, John H. Sanders

INTSORMIL Presentations

The driver of agricultural development is the introduction of new technology. Sensitive sorghums have long been a critical component of hillside Central American agriculture providing a reserve or insurance policy when the principal staple of maize falters. The insensitive sorghums have been more recently introduced since the ‘70s for planting in the valleys in the second season. In the last thirty years the introduction of new insensitive cultivars has accelerated initially for poultry and in the previous two decades for dairy production. This growth has been facilitated by strategic investments in research by CENTA and the Ministry of Agriculture.

As …

December 7, 2011 Cal Poly Report, Public Affairs Office

Cal Poly Report

No abstract provided.

The Fierce Green Fire: Vol. 2 Issue 13, Wofford College Environmental Studies Program

The Fierce Green Fire

No abstract provided.

12-07-2011 Swosu Announces Graduates For Fall Semester, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

THE BARK ARCHIVE 2011

Approximately 301 students from Southwestern Oklahoma State University at Weatherford will complete requirements for either associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degrees after the current Fall 2011 semester.

Volume 103 Issue 11, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

The Southwestern - Archive

No abstract provided.

A High-Eccentricity Component In The Double-Planet System Around Hd 163607 And A Planet Around Hd 164509*, Matthew J. Giguere, Debra A. Fischer, Andrew W. Howard, John A. Johnson, Gregory W. Henry, Jason T. Wright, Geoffrey W. Marcy, Howard Isaacson, Fengji Hou, Julien Spronck

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

We report the detection of three new exoplanets from Keck Observatory. HD 163607 is a metal-rich G5IV star with two planets. The inner planet has an observed orbital period of 75.29 ± 0.02 days, a semi-amplitude of 51.1 ± 1.4 m s−1, an eccentricity of 0.73 ± 0.02, and a derived minimum mass of MPsin i = 0.77 ± 0.02 MJup. This is the largest eccentricity of any known planet in a multi-planet system. The argument of periastron passage is 78.7 ± 2fdg0; consequently, the planet's closest approach to its parent star is very near the line of sight, leading …

Governors State To Admit First Freshman Class, Office Of Public Affairs

Press Releases

Yesterday the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) voted to approve the proposal by Governors State University’s Board of Trustees to add lower division programming to the university’s upper division and graduate offerings. GSU will enroll its first freshman class in August 2014.

Outstanding Educational Performance Awards: Highlighting High Achieving Arkansas Schools, 2011, Alexandra Boyd, Greg Michel, Misty Newcomb, Gary Ritter

Arkansas Education Reports

So, in this Arkansas Education Report (AER) we aim to highlight excellent performance and give our congratulations. To that end, we are happy to highlight many high performing schools around the state in our now-annual AER entitled the Outstanding Educational Performance Awards.

Committee On Academic Standing Minutes December 7, 2011, Bronx Community College Committee On Academic Standing

BCC Governance Archives

Minutes for the meeting of the Committee on Academic Standing on December 7, 2011.

Telling It Like It Is: A Proposal To Improve Transparency In Biomedical Research, John Hadley

Between the Species

Recent proposals to improve public communication about animal-based biomedical research have been narrowly focused on reforming biomedical journal submission guidelines. My suggestion for communication reform is broader in scope reaching beyond the research community to healthcare communicators and ultimately the general public. The suggestion is for researchers to provide journalists and public relations practitioners with concise summaries of their ‘animal use data’. Animal use data is collected by researchers and intended for the public record but is rarely, if ever, given significant media exposure. By providing healthcare communicators with specific details about their animal use, researchers can play a role …

The Murray Ledger And Times, December 7, 2011, The Murray Ledger And Times

The Murray Ledger & Times

No abstract provided.

Claims And Enthymemes: The Rudiments Of Argument, Adam Kotlarczyk

Writing Bootcamp Unit

In Rhetoric, Aristotle called the enthymeme the syllogism of persuasion. More recently, philosopher Stephen Toulmin used a similar structure to form “practical arguments” in his Model of Argument in The Uses of Argument (1958). Essentially, such an argument consists of three components: claim, evidence, warrant. The claim is an arguable conclusion, for example “Edward Hopper is a famous painter.” The evidence provides a reason to support this claim, for example “because his work is at the Art Institute in Chicago.” The warrant is an assumption inherent in an argument, usually unstated, in this case, that famous artists have work …

Writing A Professional Email: Netiquette, Adam Kotlarczyk

Writing Bootcamp Unit

This lesson instructs students on the basic of Internet etiquette, and allows them to practice writing a professional email, such as the type they would send to teachers, professors, or employers.

This lesson can take 40-70 minutes, depending on the size of your class.

December 7, 2011 Faculty Senate Minutes, University Of South Carolina

Faculty Senate

No abstract provided.

The Antelope, University Of Nebraska At Kearney

The Antelope

No abstract provided.

Quantification Of Glacier Melt Volume In The Indus River Watershed, Maria Nicole Asay

Theses and Dissertations

Quantifying the contribution of glaciers to water resources is particularly important in locations where glaciers may provide a large percentage of total river discharge. In some remote locations, direct field measurements of melt rates are difficult to acquire, so alternate approaches are needed. Positive degree-day modeling (PDD) of glacier melt is a valuable tool to making first order approximations of the volume of melt coming from glaciers. In this study, a PDD-melt model is applied to glaciers in the Indus River watershed located in Afghanistan, China, India, and Pakistan. Here, millions of people rely on the water from the Indus …

Teachers' Perception Of Computer Use And Technical Support In A Rural Virginia School Division: A Case Study, Rodney Berry

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher perceptions of computer-based technology and technology support provided by a rural school division; the extent of teachers’ self reported computer skills, comfort levels, perception of obstacles; and the amount of support, time, and training available to them to accomplish the integration during the course of instruction. This research was conducted during the 2010-2011 school term as a case study of a small rural K-12 school division in southern Virginia, consisting of teachers from each core curriculum from each of the three schools, selected deliberately. The study was divided into three phases: …

Quality Selection For Dynamic Adaptive Streaming Over Http With Scalable Video Coding, Travis L. Andelin

Theses and Dissertations

Video streaming on the Internet is increasingly using Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH), in which the video is converted into various quality levels and divided into two-second segments. A client can then adjust its video quality over time by choosing to download the appropriate quality level for a given segment using standard HTTP. Scalable Video Coding (SVC) is a promising enhancement to the DASH protocol. With SVC, segments are divided into subset bitstream blocks. At playback, blocks received for a given segment are combined to additively increase the current quality. Unlike traditional DASH, which downloads segments serially, this encoding …

Factors That Promote Transformative Learning Experiences Of International Graduat-Level Learners, Alex Kumi Yeboah

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

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Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 87, No. 26, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

• Stephens, Brad. ESPN: WKU Did Everything They Could for Bowl – Football
• Koch, Cameron. Student Group Helps Kelly Autism Program - $100 Solution
• Koch, Cameron. WKU Students Go to Class with Incarcerated Persons
• Justice, Maciena. Local Gift Shop Supports Kentucky – Meo’s Collection
• Burton, Cooper. A Thousand Words – Michael Caporale
• Bratcher, Nick. WKU Works to Control Spam Emails Students Receive – Information Technology
• Hayden, Natalie. WKU & Housing Authority Receive $200,000 Grant – Family Resource Program
• Vogt, Darren. Editorial Cartoon re: Big Red’s Christmas
• Our Gifts to You …