Digital Commons Network^™

Success In One High-Poverty, Urban Elementary School: A Case Study, Shavonna L. Holman

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the efforts implemented in a high-poverty, urban elementary school in order to increase academic achievement. The central research question was:

1. How do teachers and administrators in a high-poverty, urban school describe the strategies they use to achieve academic success?

The sub-questions were:

1. What are the aspects of the instructional program that assure student success for all students?
2. What changes occurred in the school to achieve its current status?
3. How have the changes been implemented to assure student success?
4. What resources have been instrumental to achieve student success in the school? …

A Novel Telecommunications-Based Approach To Mathematical Modeling Of Hiv Infection, Aaron T. Sharp

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

It is well known that biological systems utilize communication in some form, one prolific example of this is the propagation of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) in the human body. By modeling HIV infection as a communication system, we hope to gain a unique insight into HIV and biological communication systems in general. Such a model would provide researchers a platform for experimenting and simulating various biological communication systems. We have previously developed a layered communication protocol for interpreting biological communication systems using telecommunications paradigms and will apply said model to HIV proliferation. We will also demonstrate the effectiveness of the …

Hydrologic Evaluation Of Established Rain Gardens In Lincoln, Nebraska Using A Storm Runoff Simulator, Andrew R. Anderson

Department of Environmental Engineering: Theses and Other Student Research

Increased urbanization has resulted in water quality and flooding problems for many receiving waters in the United States. Bioretention, or rain gardens, is one of the most widely popular and effective best management practices in low impact development (LID), which strives to return a watershed to a predevelopment hydrologic regime. Many studies have evaluated large bioretention cells in research settings. There is little information on the effectiveness of homeowner-maintained rain gardens that rely on deep percolation as the method for water exfiltration. Additionally, few studies address rain garden performance in cold, arid, or semi-arid climates found in the Midwest U.S. …

A Comparison Of The Effectiveness Of Scent Lures On Attracting Mesopredators, Tom Batter

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

A mesopredator is a medium-sized middle trophic level predator such as a raccoon (Procyon lotor), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis), or coyote (Canis latrans; Crooks and Soule 1999). Mesopredators have long been trapped for recreational, economic, or academic reasons. Throughout human history trapping has been used to capture animals for food and skins, as well as to prevent personal harm and property damage from predators. In order to increase the probability of success, scent lures are often used as an attractant (Geary 1984, Mills et al. 2010, Schlexer 2008).

Mapping Potential Crp Land And Determining Crp Profitability In Lancaster County, Jamie Pesek

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Annually 17 tons of soil is lost due to the erosion of agriculture land. A majority of the soil lost is fertile topsoil, which can render the land unproductive. The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) was enacted to reduce the high erosion rates on agriculture land by giving landowners a monetary incentive to let their land lay idle and allow the soil to regenerate. Although there is awareness of the benefits of CRP, little effort has been put toward delineating CRP eligible land. In this project, Geographical Information Systems were used to map CRP eligible land in Lancaster County, Nebraska based …

Assessing Flood Inundation Mapping With The Use Of A Dem And Gis Along The Missouri River At Sioux City, Iowa, Kathryn A. Pfaffle

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

There are various methods that are used to predict flood inundation. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers provided inundation maps for the 2011 Missouri River flood event that did not utilized aerial photo imagery. This study assesses the suitability of using a digital elevation model (DEM) in combination with aerial photo imagery within a geographic information system to predict flood inundation mapping along the Missouri River in Sioux City, Iowa. GPS data was collected during the height of this flood event in order to validate the positional accuracy of the DEM. Using the GPS receiver’s accuracy standards to determine the …

The Urban Fabric Of The Great Plains, Andrew Becker

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

To most Americans the Great Plains region of North America is mysterious place. There are disagreements when defining its limits, and some people just refer to it as the Midwest. The Great Plains has been a place under an ocean, a place under glaciers, and a place on fire. It was once dubbed “the Great American Desert,” but is now known for its agricultural viability. The Great Plains sparks imagination because it is so massive and was one of the final frontiers for Euro-American settlement. The Great Plains is seen as a rural place but the majority of the region’s …

Prey Selection By The Northern Watersnake, Nerodia Sipedon, Kyle O' Connell

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Prey selection and composition of the northern waternake, Nerodia sipedon was investigated between 8/2010 and 3/2011 by palpation of stomach contents in the field and conducting laboratory trials. 41 snakes were captured, five yielded prey contents. Fish parts, freshwater mussels, and an insect exoskeleton were found. No amphibians were found despite availability at study sites. Snakes in the laboratory underwent 22 trials, feeding on 11 occasions. Snakes fed on an equal number of both fish species, revealing no selection. Further research is needed to determine the rate of digestion of N. sipedon.

Politics In The Non-Political Branch, Justin L. Swanson

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

Across the country there exists a patchwork of legal systems by which judges are appointed retained. In some states, like Illinois, it is a fully political process where judges actively campaign for election to the bench. But a majority of states, including Nebraska, have adopted the Merit Selection System, which attempts to remove politics from these processes. Nevertheless, politics can enter into the retention votes. And when they do, it can be extremely difficult for judges to overcome.

Economic Analysis Of Continuous Monitoring Of Commercial Truck Tire Pressure Using Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (Tpms) And Rfid Technologies, Afolabi A. Ogunwemimo

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The trucking industry is a major contributor to the US economy. By providing the essential services of transportation and distribution needed in today’s dynamic industry, the transportation industry has evolved into an integral player in various supply chains. The trucking industry is the largest transportation provider for other industries and employs 10.1 million workers in the United States (ATA, 2003).

This research is an analysis of the economic impact of maintaining proper air pressure in the tires of commercial trucks. Various studies have been carried out on understanding the relationship between tire pressure and fuel consumption (National Research Council, 2006). …

Mariners All Access: An Inside Look At The Role Of A Producer At Root SportsTm, Carrie S. Tachiyama

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

The experience of producing a full episode and several segments of Mariners All Access provides an in-depth look at the inner workings of a production at a regional sports network. Examining the role of the producer, what lessons are learned and discovering more effective ways to produce Mariners All Access.

The producer in this instance is a manager of a small staff, a researcher and a creator of storylines. From previous experience an assumption is made that sports networks and news stations operate the same way. After the author’s experience in producing Mariners All Access it is shown this …

Feasibility Analysis And Concept Development Of A Crash Cushion Diaphragm Structure For High-Speed Race Tracks, Curt Lee Meyer

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A new diaphragm and dual guide rail system was designed for use in a crash cushion for high-speed race tracks. These structural components were designed to provide sufficient lateral support to redirect impacting vehicles and compress the energy-absorbing elements of the crash cushion. The primary design criteria stated that the diaphragm/guide rail system should be capable of withstanding a 100-kip lateral impact load. The guide rail was to be configured in order to not require replacement after a design impact event. Initial design and modeling resulted in two candidates for guide rail sections which were evaluated during physical testing. The …

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, …

The Good Life In Psychotherapy: Implicit And Influential, Emily Lonas Morris

Theses and Dissertations

The good life, or a flourishing life, is a vision of how people ought to best live their lives. Though this vision is vital to the conduct of psychotherapy, it is generally overlooked, and thus unexamined. The therapist's vision of the good life for the client guides his or her implicit and explicit interventions. Despite this, there is relatively little discussion about this vital topic, and relatively little training into the various approaches to the good life. In this thesis, I argue that this relative lack of examination and training is due to the lack of perceived options regarding conceptions …

Optimization Of Concentrator Gaas Photovoltaic Devices With Inas Quantum Dots Through Substrate Misorientation And Electroplating, Chelsea Mackos

Theses

Optimization of InAs critical coverage is important to realizing controlled growth in quantum dot devices. Substrate misorientation can change the value of critical coverage but also creates more uniform quantum dots in both size and distribution. Uniform quantum dots are advantageous in concentrator photovoltaic devices due to increases in sub bandgap response. Concentration photovoltaic devices are designed to compete on a cost per watt basis with other terrestrial photovoltaic devices. This benefit can only be utilized if the fabrication process is also cost effective. Concentration devices rely on dense thick Au grid finger design to reduce series resistance, which can …

Gendered Livelihoods And The Politics Of Socio-Environmental Identity: Women’S Participation In Conservation Projects In Calakmul, Mexico, Claudia Radel

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

A livelihoods approach positions individuals, situated within households, as active agents within processes occurring at various scales. Environmental conservation efforts represent one such process with direct implications for local sustainable livelihoods and the gendered nature of livelihood strategies. In this article, I examine collective processes of socio-environmental identity construction as gendered sustainable livelihood strategies, articulated in and through the activities of women's agricultural organizations in communities bordering the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in rural southern Mexico. I present group histories and visual evidence from group activities – adapted from participatory rural appraisal (PRA) methodology – to highlight two important concepts. These …

Corporate Philanthropy And Corporate Financial Performance: The Roles Of Social Response And Political Access, Heli Wang, Cuili Qian

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Corporate philanthropy is expected to positively affect firm financial performance because it helps firms gain sociopolitical legitimacy, which enables them to elicit positive stakeholder responses and to gain political access. The positive philanthropy-performance relationship is stronger for firms with greater public visibility and for those with better past performance, as philanthropy by these firms gains more positive stakeholder responses. Firms that are not government-owned or politically well connected were shown to benefit more from philanthropy, as gaining political resources is more critical for such firms. Empirical analyses using data on Chinese firms listed on stock exchanges from 2001 to 2006 …

Stochastic Capacity Investment And Flexible Vs. Dedicated Technology Choice In Imperfect Capital Markets, Onur Boyabatli, L. Bertil Toktay

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper analyzes the impact of endogenous credit terms under capital market imperfections in a capacity investment setting. We model a monopolist firm that decides on its technology choice (flexible versus dedicated) and capacity level under demand uncertainty. Differing from the majority of the stochastic capacity investment literature, we assume that the firm is budget constrained and can relax its budget constraint by borrowing from a creditor. The creditor offers technology-specific loan contracts to the firm, after which the firm makes its technology choice and subsequent decisions. Capital market imperfections impose financing frictions on the firm. Our analysis contributes to …

Longevity Risk Management In Singapore's National Pension System, Joelle H. Y. Fong, Olivia S. Mitchell, Benedict S. K. Koh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Although annuities are a theoretically appealing way to manage longevity risk, in the real world relatively few consumers purchase them at retirement. To counteract the possibility of retirees outliving their assets, Singapore’s Central Provident Fund, a national defined contribution pension scheme, has recently mandated annuitization of workers’ retirement assets. More significantly, the government has entered the insurance market as a public sector provider for such annuities. This article evaluates the money’s worth of life annuities and discusses the impact of the government mandate and its role as an annuity provider on the insurance market.

Social Networks And The Desire To Save Face: A Case From Singapore, Michael A. Netzley, Akanksha Rath

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

For five years, corporate communication undergraduates have maintained a wiki as a final course and community service project. Using Web 2.0 platforms to crowdsource and curate content, they learn to employ online communications for work purposes. When the course was launched in 2007, the dominant social media narrative invited educators to embrace a technological optimism with sub-themes of open communication, sharing, and co-creation. By 2011, student feedback had compelled the instructor to consider the limits of technological optimism and revise the course. Specifically, Singaporean students have displayed a need to save face online, which has led to a localized teaching …

Differential Effects Of Various African Nightshade Species On The Fecundity And Movement Of Tetranychus Evansi (Acari: Tetranychidae), L. K. Murungi, M. Knapp, D. Salifu, J. Wesonga, A. Nyende, P. Masinde, B. Torto

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The tomato red spider mite Tetranychus evansi Baker & Pritchard is a serious pest of solanaceous plants worldwide. Management of this oligophagous pest in African nightshades has been a challenge to smallholder African farmers due to its high reproductive rate and rapid development of resistance to synthetic pesticides. The aim of the present study was to determine the influence of leaf trichomes on T. evansi by comparing its fecundity and movement on the leaf surfaces of five African nightshade species, namely Solanum sarrachoides Sendter, S. villosum Miller, S. tarderemotum Bitter, S. americanum Miller and S. scabrum Miller. Data were recorded …

The Structure Of Energy Production And Redistribution Among Tsimane' Forager-Horticulturalists, Paul L. Hooper

Anthropology ETDs

This dissertation constitutes an integrated analysis of the Tsimane' economic subsistence system. Its analyses are guided by a body of evolutionary theory which posits that life history traits, the structure of social relationships, and nature of economic production co-evolve in patterned and predictable ways. This theory specifically suggests that, for humans, the returns to embodied capital development and declines in reproductive efficiency late in life interact to produce: prolonged development, extended lifespan, menopause, and a predominantly downward three-generational system of energetic provisioning. The current analyses of Tsimane' work effort, production, and transfers are consistent with this theory in the following …

Increasing Profitability Of Small Scale Cocoa Farmers Through Optimizing Replacement Rate, Mahrizal

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study is to empirically estimate the optimum annual replacement rate and age of replacement of cocoa trees in order to maximize the net present value of four production practices over time. The study examines the costs and returns of four common cocoa production systems in Ghana associated with changes in cocoa prices, fertilizer prices, inflation rates, and labor prices. While this study focuses on cocoa, the method is applicable to any tree crop industry. This study uses empirical yield curves and cost of production data from Ghana to determine when and what percentage of a cocoa …

Electrolyte Incorporation Into Composite Electrodes For Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells And Lithium-Ion Batteries, Jung Oh

All Dissertations

This dissertation describes research on the preparation and characterization of composite electrodes for use in proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells and lithium ion batteries. The general focus of the research was on high-surface-area carbon supports for platinum catalysts in fuel cells, and integration of electrolytes, particularly fluoropolymer electrolytes, into composite electrodes both batteries and fuel cells. Results are described for work in the following three specific topical areas.
1. Carbon nanofibers for use as platinum (Pt) catalyst supports in fuel cells were prepared by carbonization of electrospun acrylic fibers. The resulting carbon nanofibers were found to contain mainly micropores. Following …

Effect Of Relative Humidity And Temperature Control On In-Cabin Thermal Comfort State, Ali Alahmer

All Dissertations

This dissertation discusses the effect of manipulating the relative humidity RH levels inside vehicular cabins on the thermal comfort and human occupants' thermal sensation. Three different techniques are used to investigate this effect. Firstly, thermodynamic and psychometric analyses are used to incorporate the effect of changing RH along with the dry bulb temperature on the human comfort window. Specifically, the study computes the effect of changing the relative humidity on the amount of heat rejected from the passenger compartment and the effect on occupants comfort zone. A practical system implementation is also discussed in terms of an evaporative cooler design. …

Fabrication Of Grooved Hollow Fiber Membrane For Nerve Regeneration: Process Modeling And Performance Evaluation, Jun Yin

All Dissertations

Nerve injury is a general but intractable disease in traumatic injuries, leading to a significant reduction of functions in the nervous system. Extensive efforts are made on nerve injury rehabilitation. Since the appropriate connections between neurons and their targets are necessary, guiding axonal outgrowth is an essential step for neuron outgrowth in nervous system development, functioning, and regeneration. Besides the direct surgical nerve connection, an artificial means of guiding nerve regeneration called nerve conduits is widely applied in nerve injury rehabilitation. The main function of nerve conduits is to bridge the nerve gap, to help regenerating axons across damaged regions …

Highly Conductive Carbon Nanotube Fibers For Biomedical Applications, Vijoya Sa

All Dissertations

We developed a wet spinning process for the formation of polymeric fibers with high loading of single walled carbon nanotubes. The dissertation consists of five chapters. In the first chapter, the research goals were formulated and the art and technologies of fiber spinning from carbon nanotubes were critically analyzed. The next three chapters report the original results. Last chapter summarizes all the findings.
In the second chapter, we describe a surfactant based method of stabilization of carbon nanotube dispersions. The conditions of stability of nanotube dispersions in aqueous solutions of sodium dodecyl sulfate were analyzed. Using surface tension isotherms, the …

Fatty Acids And Lipogenesis In Ruminant Adipocytes, Taber Burns

All Dissertations

Obsesity, the excess deposition of white adipose tissue, is a growing problem in the U.S. and other developed countries. Formerly thought to be inert, adipose tissue is now recognized as a dynamic endocrine organ with its secretion of adipokines and a newly proposed class hormone class 'lipokine'. Adipocytes are the functional unit of adipose tissue and can influence the tissue through hyperplasic and hypertrophic growth. In order to investigate the mechanisms involved in adipogenesis and lipogenesis of adipose tissue, stromal vascular cultures were isolated from adipose tissue of finishing cattle for use in experiments.
There is a positive relationship between …

Time-Interval Analysis For Radiation Monitoring, Peng Luo

All Dissertations

On-line radiation monitoring is essential to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Environmental Management Science Program for assessing the impact of contaminated media at DOE sites. The goal of on-line radiation monitoring is to quickly detect small or abrupt changes in activity levels in the presence of a significant ambient background. The focus of this research is on developing effective statistical algorithms to meet the goal of on-line monitoring based on time-interval (time-difference between two consecutive radiation pulses) data. Compared to the more commonly used count data which are registered in a fixed count time, time-interval data possess the potential …

It-Business Strategic Alignment: Essays Examining Types Of Alignment And Their Relationship With Firm Performance, Jennifer Gerow

All Dissertations

While Information-Technology (IT)-Business Strategic Alignment (hereafter referred to as alignment) continues to be a topic of great concern to both researchers and practitioners alike, it is often misunderstood and, as such, many organizations find alignment difficult to achieve. In particular, alignment is often defined in many different ways, its operational measures are used inconsistently, and it is unclear how it can be attained. In this dissertation, we assert that researchers should include explicit references to the type of alignment under study, that adequate and consistent operational measures of each alignment type are necessary, and that we need a better understanding …