Digital Commons Network^™

The Effect Of Racial Distribution On Environmental Education In Two Rural Elementary Schools: A Case Study, Jimmy J. Simpson Jr

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

The purpose of this research is to help identify whether or not race plays a role in how much Environmental Education (EE) is being taught in elementary schools throughout the region. This study takes place in two rural elementary schools, less than 20 miles apart, in Northeast Nebraska; one with a mostly white population and the other mostly Native American. The researcher interviewed 7 teachers total at both schools in order to gain information about EE in the classroom and the extent to which it is being taught. Results indicated that race did not play a role in the amount …

"Good. Fresh. Local." An Examination Of Local Food Initiatives In College Systems In Lincoln, Ne, Jennifer Simons

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

In September of 2005, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln University Dining Services/University Housing set out to try an innovation at the cutting edge for this region’s universities. The Good. Fresh. Local. (GFL) initiative was the product of a team of people and organizations looking to implement a program integrating the local food movement at the university level. The program has since grown in scale and prominence within the UNL setting. Students living in the dorms were surveyed to acquire an inside look at students’ definitions of “local,” measures of its value, awareness of the GFL program, and desire for more locally …

Three-Dimensional Indoor Rfid Localization System, Jiaqing Wu

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

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an information exchange technology based on radio waves communication. It is also a possible solution to indoor localization. Due to multipath propagation and anisotropic interference in the indoor environment, theoretical propagation models are generally not sufficient for RFID-based localization. In fact, the radio frequency (RF) signal distribution may not even be monotonic and this makes range-based localization algorithms less accurate. On the other hand, range free localization algorithms, such as k Nearest-Neighbor (kNN), require reference tags to be spread throughout the whole three-dimensional (3D) space which is simply not practical. In this work, a hybrid …

Use Of Rss Feeds To Push The Online Content To Users, Dan Ma

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Many websites use Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds to actively push their online content to users rather than waiting for users to pull the content passively. In this paper, I construct a theoretical game model to study the profitability of an RSS-PUSH delivery mechanism. The model assumes a general profit structure for websites and heterogeneous users. To access valuable online content, users incur a variety of costs. They choose either to visit the website in the conventional way (the PULL model) or, if it is supported by the website, to use RSS (the PUSH model). Interestingly, I show that although …

A Survey Of Recommender Systems In Twitter, Su Mon Kywe, Ee Peng Lim, Feida Zhu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Twitter is a social information network where short messages or tweets are shared among a large number of users through a very simple messaging mechanism. With a population of more than 100M users generating more than 300M tweets each day, Twitter users can be easily overwhelmed by the massive amount of information available and the huge number of people they can interact with. To overcome the above information overload problem, recommender systems can be introduced to help users make the appropriate selection. Researchers have began to study recommendation problems in Twitter but their works usually address individual recommendation tasks. There …

Extracting And Normalizing Entity-Actions From Users' Comments, Swapna Gottipati, Jing Jiang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

With the growing popularity of opinion-rich resources on the Web, new opportunities and challenges arise and aid people in actively using such information to understand the opinions of others. Opinion mining process currently focuses on extracting the sentiments of the users on products, social, political and economical issues. In many instances, users not only express their sentiments but also contribute their ideas, requests and suggestions through comments. Such comments are useful for domain experts and are referred to as actionable content. Extracting actionable knowledge from online social media has attracted a growing interest from both academia and the industry. We …

An All-In-One Nlp Stock Market Backtester, Shaochen Zhong, Jiaqi Yu, Mocun Ye

Intersections Fall 2020

Despite the popularity, we noticed that it is rather hard to verify a NLP/text-mining like stock prediction model's performance due to the amount of "groundwork" needed. It is very typical a researcher will have to gather the plain text data, the company info, the stock market data, and categorize them in a way that is communicable with each other and the model; then the researcher will need to build a virtual trading platform that keeps track of all the trading signals generated by the model, log the activities in a certain way, then do some kinds of visualization for evaluations. …

Grid Modernization Using Simulated Communication Networks And Distribution Systems, Trey Minnich, Anna Jaskoviak, Austin Subler

Intersections Fall 2020

The installation of a widespread readily available power system in the United States has been one of the number one engineering achievements of the 20th century. Now that a strong structure is in place to supply distribution electrification across the country, the next step is the modernization of these systems. Many distribution systems have not been modernized due to high costs associated with changes to the system. Modernization in the 21st century revolves around a high demand for clean energy as well as real time voltage/power flow analysis of these systems. In this project we will provide simulated models of …

Administrative Law, Martin M. Wilson, Jennifer A. Blackburn, Courtney E. Ferrell

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys cases from the Georgia Supreme Court and the Georgia Court of Appeals from June 1, 2011 through May 31, 2012, during which principles of administrative law were either illuminated or formed an important piece of the decision making. For a change, the Authors observed a significant increase in the number of reported cases during the survey period, but that increase does not necessarily indicate a trend. No attempt has been made to survey cases that properly would fall under categories of more specific articles in this issue, although some degree of overlap is inevitable because of shared …

Local Government Law, Kirk Fjelstul, James E. Elliott Jr.

Mercer Law Review

This was another active year of litigation by, for, against, within, and between local governments. The Article that follows includes appellate decisions with unique, new, or instructive issues.

Workers' Compensation, H. Michael Bagley, J. Benson Ward

Mercer Law Review

The 2011-2012 survey period featured decisions of the appellate courts in areas ranging from medical privacy to diligent job searches, with only minor legislation impacting the Workers' Compensation Act.

Influence Of Nitrogen And Phosphorus On Ecosystem Co2 Exchange In A Restored Temperate Grassland, Lynn M. Socha

Biology Theses

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) affect the structure and function of grasslands by altering plant competitive interactions, shifting patterns of above- and belowground biomass allocation, and by increasing net primary production. However, the influence of N and P on net ecosystem productivity is poorly understood. In the context of a field-based factorial N- and P-addition experiment, I measured soil moisture, leaf area index and component fluxes of ecosystem CO₂ exchange throughout the growing season in a restored temperate grassland near Buffalo, New York. I predicted that N-addition would enhance ecosystem CO₂ uptake (GEE) while P-addition would stimulate ecosystem …

Message From The State: Uncovering Effects Of Public Policy On Women's Movements In Chile And The Czech Republic, Petra Hejnova

Political Science - Dissertations

This study relies on the cases of the Czech Republic and Chile to examine the ways in which state policies affect women's movements' emergence under both authoritarian and democratic political regimes. As such, this dissertation provides some important clues into how citizens' experience with certain policies enhances or delimits their future political action, and how it affects their beliefs and attitudes. Gaining a better understanding about the relationship between policies and civic participation is particularly important in the case of young democracies, which are trying to overcome their authoritarian past, and whose new democratic political regimes are in some instances …

Lesbians And Their Mothers: A Taiwanese Experience, Meng-Ning Wang

Marriage and Family Therapy - Dissertations

Many studies, both in the United States and in Taiwan, have explored how the coming-out experience influenced LGBT individuals and their families, and some studies have also addressed how their familial relationships have been shaped because of the experience. As a Taiwanese who has studied family therapy in the United States, my personal experience as well as research and professional interest brought me to conduct this qualitative study focusing on the experience of coming out in mother-daughter relationships in Taiwan. Nine dyads of mothers and daughters were interviewed and provided their retrospective accounts of their experience of disclosure and how …

Facebook Ruined My Marriage: Digital Intimacy Interference On Social Networking Sites, Lynessa Marie Williams

Media Studies - Theses

This study employed a mixed method approach to understand how Facebook interferes with romantic relationships. The methods included a qualitative textual analysis of 53 Facebook interest groups about marriage dissolution as a result of Facebook. The text consisted primarily of wall comments. However, images, links, and Facebook likes were also analyzed. Concepts were organized into themes that detailed how Facebook contributes to computer-mediated relationship dissolution, a concept dubbed digital intimacy interference (DII). The textual analysis also unveiled how and why individuals use Facebook groups to discuss DII. The textual analysis was then used to inform a quantitative study of individuals' …

Parenting Blog Coverage Of The Autism-Vaccine Controversy, Aidan Bryant

Media Studies - Theses

This study examines source type, citation accuracy, and anecdotal reliance in parenting blog articles about the autism/vaccine controversy. Existing literature on common errors and shortcomings of traditional health journalism, in conjunction with existing guidelines and suggestions for optimal health journalism practices, were used to synthesize a content analysis code structure. The code structure was used to examine 122 parenting blog posts from 18 different blogs, spanning a time period from June 22, 2005 to January 9, 2012, for details including the following:

• author demographics (gender, profession, parenthood, vaccination patterns)

• type of blog the article appeared in

• author stance of the …

Pocket Full Of Jesus: Evangelical Christians' Use Of Religious Iphone Applications, Wendi R. Bellar

Media Studies - Theses

Mobile phone applications are providing users many different choices in how they go about their everyday lives, including their spiritual lives. This research explores the factors Evangelical Christians consider when choosing an app, how they actually use the app, and how their app expectations compare with their app experience. Modified diary reports, using the iPhone Voice Memo app, and in-depth interviews were used in order to examine the research questions. The Uses and Gratifications theory, as well as the Religious Social Shaping of Technology theory, were used as lenses for the study. After navigating the process of finding an appropriate …

Nationalism On The Net: Exploring The Ideology Of India's Bharatiya Janata Party, Adrienne Lee Atterberry

Media Studies - Theses

India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) created the first political website in India during the year 1998 and continues to maintain an active online presence. The two most popular places for computer and Internet usage are college campuses and offices--places frequented by members of India’s growing middle class. As the BJP’s supporters have traditionally come from middle-class, upper-caste social backgrounds, this group has particular importance to the BJP’s political success, thus the BJP’s online publications may establish hegemony of the middle class and its ideals. For these reasons, studying the BJP’s online group-identity and political message has salience.

May 2004 to …

Efficacy Of An Expectancy Challenge To Reduce Non-Prescribed Use Of Stimulant Medications Among College Students, Allison Kathryn Labbe

Psychology - Dissertations

Non-prescribed use of stimulant medications among college students, such as Ritalin®, and Adderall®, has become a public health concern. Expectancies, which are beliefs that individuals hold regarding the consequences of engaging in a particular behavior, are known to play a prominent role in the initiation and maintenance of alcohol and drug use. This study had two aims: (1) to determine if an expectancy challenge could reduce participants' academic performance expectancies related to non-prescribed use of stimulant mediations, and (2) to determine if change in expectancies mediates consumption of the drug. Seventy-eight undergraduate students were randomized to either the expectancy challenge …

The Rhetoric Of Mom Blogs: A Study Of Mothering Made Public, Madeline Yonker

Writing Program – Dissertations

This dissertation examines the phenomenon of mom blogs to determine their handling of conventional motherhood and the rhetorical nature of their discourse. Unlike other prior studies of blogs and specifically of mom blogs, the dissertation examines both the blog entries themselves and the many comments such entries generate from readers.

In addition, it seeks to determine the values and rhetorical practices of any community that might be established through such blog commenting. To accomplish these aims, the dissertation focuses on the entries and comments from three particular blogs chosen to represent the network of mom bloggers.

The commonplaces or ideals …

The Effect Of Design Teams On Preservice Teachers' Technology Integration, Laurene Johnson

Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation - Dissertations

This study examined the effect of a specific instructional approach called design teams on preservice teachers' attitudes toward technology, their technology skills, and their Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). In a design teams approach, participants work in collaborative teams to design solutions to solve real-world problems. This quasi-experimental study explored the efficacy of an educational technology course implemented with a design teams approach compared to the same course that utilized a standard instructional approach. The sample included 53 preservice teachers from one university majoring in either Early Childhood Inclusive or Elementary Inclusive Education. Preservice teachers in the treatment condition worked …

Dynamic Thermal Management For Microprocessors, Yang Ge

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - Dissertations

In deep submicron era, thermal hot spots and large temperature gradients significantly impact system reliability, performance, cost and leakage power. Dynamic thermal management techniques are designed to tackle the problems and control the chip temperature as well as power consumption. They refer to those techniques which enable the chip to autonomously modify the task execution and power dissipation characteristics so that lower-cost cooling solutions could be adopted while still guaranteeing safe temperature regulation. As long as the temperature is regulated, the system reliability can be improved, leakage power can be reduced and cooling system lifetime can be extended significantly.

Multimedia …

From Practice To Theory: An Exploratory Research Study Of The Relevance Of Museum Studies Curriculum To Museum Professionals, Redell Renetta Hearn

Dissertations - Open Access

This exploratory study provides a comprehensive description of the museum profession and focuses particularly on museum studies curriculum. The purpose of this research is to investigate museum studies curriculum and its relevance to the museum profession in order to determine whether or not museum studies curriculum is capable of providing the foundation of a standard academic discipline for museum professionals. A survey of museum professionals assessed their attitudes about museum studies curriculum and the extent to which museum studies curriculum "matters" to continuing education for current museum professionals and as an academic discipline for prospective museum professionals.

Title Page, North Carolina Law Review

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Gps Tracking Out Of Fourth Amendment Dead Ends: United States V. Jones And The Katz Conundrum, Fabio Arcila Jr.

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Women's Use Of Violence: An Ecological Systems Model, Sara Byczek

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Does Inconsistent-Handedness Lead To A Better Memory Or Does A Better Memory Lead To Inconsistent-Handedness?, Emily K. Carris

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

The purpose of the study is measure the effect of handedness and hand use on memory for how specific tasks were performed. The hypothesis of the present study is that inconsistent-handers will have better memory than consistent-handers for the hand or hands they used to perform tasks. Data analysis was preformed on 30 inconsistent-handers and 45 consistent-handers, as classified by the modified Edinburg Handedness Inventory. Tasks were performed in five different hand-use conditions: always left, usually left, no preference, usually right, and always right. The results were that both consistency of handedness and hand use had an effect on memory. …

The Deaf Catholic, Winter 2012

ICDA The Deaf Catholic

A newsletter published for Deaf Catholics in USA

ICDA The Deaf CatholicFinding Aid

Library Education And Development Newsletter, Volume 6, Issue 2, Uno Library Science Education

Library Education and Development (L.E.A.D.)

This issue of the Library Education and Development Newsletter features Advice from the Frontlines from Crystal Schneekloth, a Student Spotlight of EmiLee Paul, Announcements, Professional Development, a Tri-Conference Collage, and Things to Consider: "A Match Well Made: The standards’ emphasis on information aligns with librarians’ skills," by Paige Jaeger.

Robert Browning: Separating Author From Narrator, Brian C. Rich

English Education Theses

In 1833, John Stuart Mill criticized Browning’s very first poem, Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession, because he claimed that it overexposed the author. What Mill meant by this was that he thought Browning was self-obsessed and depressed. This criticism affected Browning’s writings throughout the middle of his career by provoking him to formulate dramatic monologues in an attempt to distance himself from the narrators he created. But even though Browning was careful not to overexpose himself, his self-consciousness still made its way through to the reader. Browning exposes himself through his narrators in “My Last Duchess,” “Porphyria’s Lover,” and …