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Orsp Research Newsletter - Fall 2012, Office Of Research And Sponsored Programs

ORSP Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Modeling Photosynthesis Of Spartina Alterniflora (Smooth Cordgrass) Impacted By The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Using Bayesian Inference, Wei Wu, Patrick D. Biber, Mark S. Peterson, Chongfeng Gong

Faculty Publications

To study the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on photosynthesis of coastal salt marsh plants in Mississippi, we developed a hierarchical Bayesian (HB) model based on field measurements collected from July 2010 to November 2011. We sampled three locations in Davis Bayou, Mississippi (30.375 degrees N, 88.790 degrees W) representative of a range of oil spill impacts. Measured photosynthesis was negative (respiration only) at the heavily oiled location in July 2010 only, and rates started to increase by August 2010. Photosynthesis at the medium oiling location was lower than at the control location in July 2010 and it …

Comparative Analyses Of Mathematics Teachers' Efficacy Using Factor Analysis And The Rasch Model, Catherine F. Head

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

Self-efficacy is a key piece of Bandura’s (1984) social cognitive theory and has been shown in previous studies to be a strong predictor of student achievement, motivation, collaboration, and teacher leadership. Teacher efficacy, in particular, is the belief a teacher holds about the capability to reach all students in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity and reliability of the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2000) and the Mathematics Teacher Efficacy Beliefs Inventory (Enochs, 2001) using both Classical Test Theory and Rasch Measurement analyses. Secondly, the study sought to compare the efficacy …

Two Essays On The Degree Of Globalization Of A Firm: Measurement, Antecedents, And Consequences, Victor B. Marshall

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

In this research I address the question: how global should a firm be? Answering this question requires addressing several related questions. First, what is a global firm, and how does one measure how global a firm is? Second, which firm capabilities are antecedents to firm globalization? And finally, what is the relationship between firm globalization and performance?

I begin by examining Rugman’s (2003, 2005) and Asmussen’s (2009) measures for the globalization of a firm and develop a new, simplified, enhanced measure, the Degree of Globalization (DOG). DOG is an easy to interpret continuous ratio variable that is mathematically and empirically …

The Influence Of Auxiliary Ligands On The Photophysical Characteristics Of A Series Of Ruthenium (Ii) Polypyridyl Complexes, Luke O'Neill, Laura Perdisatt, Christine O'Connor

Articles

A series of ruthenium polypyridyl complexes were studied using UV/Vis absorption and luminescence spectroscopy as well as luminescence lifetime determination by time correlated single photon counting (TCSPC). The complexes were characterised with regard to the variation in the electronic band-gap as a result of the sequential variation of the auxiliary ligand 2,2’-bipyridine (bpy), 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) and 2,2’-biquinoline (biq) ligands while the main ligand remained constant for three different main ligand types. Luminescence yields were calculated and correlated with structural and electronic variation. It was found that both the absorption and emission characteristics could be tailored through the systematic variation of …

Mcnair Messenger- Fall 2012, Mcnair Staff

McNair Messenger

McNair Scholars Program

Benefits And Barriers In Mining The Healthcare Industry Data, John Wang, Bin Zhou, Ruiliang Yan

Faculty Publications

The authors’ paper addresses the applications of data mining within the healthcare industry. Healthcare data are seen as one of the more rewarding and most difficult of all data to analyze. Proper data mining techniques provide the methodology and technology to transform the voluminous amounts of data into useful information for decision making. Data mining can be utilized to help find cures for existing diseases, uncovering patterns for genetic diseases and the causes of new diseases across the globe. By implementing data mining techniques the industry is finally gaining control over the inadequacy of readily available records. Data mining has …

Competition Between Conjugation And M13 Phage Infection In Escherichia Coli In The Absence Of Selection Pressure: A Kinetic Study, Zhenmao Wan, Noel L. Goddard

Publications and Research

Inter- and intraspecies horizontal gene transfer enabled by bacterial secretion systems is a powerful mechanism for bacterial genome plasticity. The type IV secretion system of Escherichia coli, encoded by the F plasmid, enables cell-to-cell contact and subsequent DNA transfer known as conjugation. Conjugation is compromised by phage infection that specifically targets the secretion machinery. Hence, the use of phages to regulate the spread of genes, such as acquired antibiotic resistance or as general biosanitation agents, has gained interest. To predict the potential efficacy, the competition kinetics must first be understood. Using quantitative PCR to enumerate genomic loci in a resource-limited …

Instructor Use Of Tablet Pcs In A College Pre-Calculus Course: Implementation & Assessment, Julianna Connelly Stockton, Peter Gregory

Mathematics Faculty Publications

A group of six math instructors used tablet PCs to teach their individual sections of a high enrollment gateway Pre-Calculus course in a diverse urban four-year college. Student performance in the experimental sections were compared to those in 31 other sections in terms of student retention, pass rates, and score on the department-wide standardized final exam. Student performance was higher in Tablet PC sections across all three measures, although in some cases the improvement was not substantial enough to improve students’ overall course grades. Surveys of students and faculty in classes using a Tablet PC reflected overall positive impressions of …

One Day, It'll Pay Off, Valeria Pereira

First To Go Program

Change has an unsettling power that can scare most individuals. For those who commute between different environments on a daily basis, change may ranges from “seeing a pregnant mother pushing a stroller with a five year old by her side, [to seeing] a white lady jogging, with a white, well-groomed poodle by her side.” Change means difference, and for author Valeria Pereira, change comes in the form of different socio-economic environments. Between attending an expensive private school and living in Lennox, CA, Pereira learned the significance of dissimilarity. It was that experience, however, that aided her in overcoming her educational …

The Update, October 2012, University Of Northern Iowa. College Of Humanities, Arts And Sciences.

Update

Inside this issue:

-- UNI Alum Receives Presidential Early Career Award
-- Department News
-- UNI Forensics News & Results
-- Featured Organization: Beta Beta Beta National Honor Society
-- Save the Date: Iowa Supreme Court Justices are Coming to UNI
-- Student Spotlight: Department of Earth Science: Alison Schell
-- Strayer-Wood Theatre Fall Productions: Lysistrata & November
-- Featured Organization: APO-TAP
-- School of Music Events
--Stay Connected

Technologies-That-Must-Not-Be-Named: Understanding And Implementing Advanced Search Technologies In E-Discovery, Jacob Tingen

Law Student Publications

Even for those who are aware of the existence of advanced search and review tactics beyond keyword search, many questions remain for attorneys and judges alike. First, what are the new and emerging technologies? While courts and commentators mention the existence of the technologies, there is not much guidance with regard to what the new technologies are and what they accomplish. Second, are the new technologies superior to the manual review process? Understandably, attorneys are hesitant to use an unfamiliar e-discovery product that may not work better than the e-discovery process to which they are already accustomed. Third, if attorneys …

A Day At Filastrocca Preschool, Pistoia, Italy: Meaning Making Through Literacy And Creative Experience, Keely D. Cline, Carolyn Pope Edwards, Algo Giacomelli, Lella Gandini, Donatella Giovannini, Annalia Galardini

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

In this article,1 we explore how the library teacher of an Italian preschool with a special mission focused on books, stories, and the imagination uses group literacy activities as a context for encouraging shared meaning making through creative experiences. We take readers inside one day at the Italian Preschool, Filastrocca, providing detailed descriptions and analysis of interactions and activities. We suggest that elaborate extended dialogue among children and the teacher, promotion of empathy through opportunities to take others’ perspectives (including book characters’), and group engagement in shared and multi-faceted creativity are important characteristics related to meaning making in the context …

Dark Current Modeling With A Moving Depletion Edge, Justin Charles Dunlap, Morley M. Blouke, Erik Bodegom, Ralf Widenhorn

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Within a pixel in a digital imager, generally either a chargecoupled device or complementary metal oxide semiconductor device, doping of the semiconductor substrate and application of gate voltages create a region free of mobile carriers called the depletion region. This region fills with charge after incoming photons or thermal energy raise the charges from the valence to the conduction energy band. As the signal charge fills the depletion region, the electric field generating the region is altered, and the size of the region is reduced. We present a model that describes how this dynamic depletion region, along with the location …

Composite Memories, Stephanie E. August

STEAMroller

No abstract provided.

Probing The Role Of Asn 152 In The Class C Β-Lactamase Ampc, Brianne Docter, Mujahid Anwar, David Leonard, Rachel Powers, Bradley Wallar

Student Summer Scholars Manuscripts

AmpC, a class C β-lactamase, is a main cause of antibiotic resistance to cephalosporins in many species of bacteria. The current proposed mechanism of action involves an acyl-intermediate, where the enzyme becomes covalently attached to the drug at serine-64, before an activated water hydrolyzes the bond and regenerates the enzyme. Although this mechanism is generally accepted, the exact roles that the other active site residues play in recognition and breakdown of the substrate are not fully understood. Here, we investigate the role of the active site residue asparagine-152 (Asn152) in E. coli AmpC by mutating it to a glycine, serine, …

Mcnair Scholars Research Journal Volume V, St. Mary's University

McNair Scholars Research Journal

This is the fifth journal for the McNair Scholars Program at St. Mary's University.

"In October of 2007, St. Mary’s University received the very happy news that we had been awarded our first Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program grant- and the world changed just a bit for St. Mary’s undergraduate students. The McNair Program was funded with the charge to facilitate the pursuit of graduate degrees among students traditionally underrepresented in graduate education. St. Mary’s program would be unique in that it would include students from Humanities & Social Sciences, the Bill Greehey School of Business and the school …

Spectral Characterization Of Cytochromes P450 Active Site And Catalytic Intermediates, Daniel Kaluka

Dissertations (1934 -)

Cytochromes P450 (P450s) have been the subject of intense research for over six decades. Though it is widely accepted that a highly reactive Fe(IV)=O π-cation radical, or the so called compound I, facilitates the oxidation of relatively inert hydrocarbons, spectroscopic characterization of this putative intermediate has eluded detection under turnover conditions, presumably due to its very short lifetime. In this work, chemically inert substrates of P450s have been utilized in a new approach to capture and stabilize this transient intermediate and characterize it with resonance Raman (RR) spectroscopy, which is a well established tool for studying heme proteins. Specifically, perfluorodecanoic …

Vol 57 #2, Judy Zelenski

MPLA Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Experimental Validation Of Phase Using Nomarski Microscopy With An Extended Fried Algorithm, Scott A. Prahl, Amanda Dayton, Kyle Juedes, Erik J. Sánchez, Rafael Paez López, Donald D. Duncan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reconstruction of an image (or shape or wavefront) from measurements of the derivatives of the image in two orthogonal directions is a common problem. We demonstrate how a particular reconstructor, commonly referred to as the Fried algorithm, can be used with megapixel derivative images to recover the original image. Large datasets are handled by breaking the derivative images into smaller tiles, applying the Fried algorithm and stitching the tiles back together. The performance of the algorithm is demonstrated using differential interference contrast microscopy on a known test object.

Credit Card Program Value Maximization With Promotion Density For Product Discounts In Shopping Malls, Rae M. Chang, Robert John Kauffman, Kwansoo Kim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We model value maximization of credit card programs for shopping malls, when card customerscan obtain product discounts of different percentages in the presence of promotion density andcompetition. Our results suggest strategies for quantitatively evaluating the trade-offs in valueoutcomes when consumer sensitivity to product discounting varies.

Sensor Openflow: Enabling Software-Defined Wireless Sensor Networks, Tie Luo, Hwee-Pink Tan, Tony Q. S. Quek

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

While it has been a belief for over a decade that wireless sensor networks (WSN) are application-specific, we argue that it can lead to resource underutilization and counter-productivity. We also identify two other main problems with WSN: rigidity to policy changes and difficulty to manage. In this paper, we take a radical, yet backward and peer compatible, approach to tackle these problems inherent to WSN. We propose a Software-Defined WSN architecture and address key technical challenges for its core component, Sensor OpenFlow. This work represents the first effort that synergizes software-defined networking and WSN.

A Feasibility Study Of Crowdsourcing And Google Street View To Determine Sidewalk Accessibility, Kotaro Hara, Victoria Le, Jon Froehlich

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We explore the feasibility of using crowd workers from Amazon Mechanical Turk to identify and rank sidewalk accessibility issues from a manually curated database of 100 Google Street View images. We examine the effect of three different interactive labeling interfaces (Point, Rectangle, and Outline) on task accuracy and duration. We close the paper by discussing limitations and opportunities for future work.

A Flexible Mixed Integer Programming Framework For Nurse Scheduling, Murphy Choy, Michelle L. F. Cheong

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, a nurse-scheduling model is developed using mixed integer programming model. It is deployed to a general care ward to replace and automate the current manual approach for scheduling. The developed model differs from other similar studies in that it optimizes both hospitals requirement as well as nurse preferences by allowing flexibility in the transfer of nurses from different duties. The model also incorporated additional policies which are part of the hospitals requirement but not part of the legislations. Hospitals key primary mission is to ensure continuous ward care service with appropriate number of nursing staffs and the …

Focus, 2012, Fall, Andrews University

Focus

FOCUS (ISSN 1077-9345) is published quarterly, free of charge, for alumni and friends of Andrews University, an institution owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Fall 2012: What Dreams May Come, St. Norbert College

St. Norbert College Magazine 2007-2012

Seizing the bright years ahead

At St. Norbert College, we’re in the business of realizing dreams – the dreams that brought the college into existence; the dreams that have refined its mission since; the dreams that we welcome along with each new crop of students. And each fall, as the academic year unfolds, we are reminded afresh of the many paths of possibility and promise that lie open before us.

On the cover: As the year turns, all seasons are beautiful at St. Norbert. But autumn in particular is both lovely and impressive for those of us who live, work …

Planning For Sea Level Rise In Portland, Maine Using Robust Decision Making As A Guide, Sadie Lloyd

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

This paper evaluates the potential for Robust Decision Making (RDM) to guide communities preparing for the impacts of climate change, using sea level rise planning in Portland, Maine as a case study. RDM is a problem solving process that considers multiple outcomes and an uncertain future, and focuses on decisions that provide benefits regardless of which future scenarios develop, allowing for the adjustment of decisions over time to accommodate changes in the future. The flexibility of RDM makes it an appropriate model for decision makers and stakeholders unsure how to address impacts of climate change, an issue complicated by numerous …

Unmanned Signatures, Brian Macaskill

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

UNMANNED SIGNATURES? In addition to its more common significations, “unmanned” is used also in the ‘sport’ of falconry, where it means “not broken in”; the term will in falconry be applied to a hawk or kestrel not (yet?) broken into obedience. “Unwomanned” is similarly linked to deviation from control and controlled norms, but is more likely to appear as a reflexive verb (“to unwoman [herself]”) than as an adjective, and is more likely to be tightly tied in gendered fashion to ‘degeneracy.’ As phrase, title and incipit, “Unmanned Signatures” is in all sorts of ways an oddly descended, perhaps even …

Statistical Measures For Workload Capacity Analysis, Joseph W. Houpt, James T. Townsend

Psychology Faculty Publications

A critical component of how we understand a mental process is given by measuring the effect of varying the workload. The capacity coefficient (Townsend and Nozawa, 1995 and Townsend and Wenger, 2004) is a measure on response times for quantifying changes in performance due to workload. Despite its precise mathematical foundation, until now rigorous statistical tests have been lacking. In this paper, we demonstrate statistical properties of the components of the capacity measure and propose a significance test for comparing the capacity coefficient to a baseline measure or two capacity coefficients to each other.

Compelling Orthodoxy: Myth And Mystique In The Marketing Of Legal Education, Kenneth Lasson

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “In many ways, the story of modern legal education reads like a grim fairy tale, whose moral dénouement is no less compelling, and perhaps more consequential, than its fabulist forbearers. In this regard the marketing of legal education may aptly be illustrated by fable, such as that of The Trees and the Bramble Bush, which concerns the folly of electing a king. When some beautiful trees decide to look for a leader, they offer the throne to the olive, the fig and the vine; each in turn refuses, preferring to keep to its own fruitful role. The bramble steps …