Digital Commons Network^™

A Conceptual Model Of Exploration Wayfinding: An Integrated Theoretical Framework And Computational Methodology, Matthew Lee Tenney

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an attempt to integrate contending cognitive approaches to modeling wayfinding behavior. The primary goal is to create a plausible model for exploration tasks within indoor environments. This conceptual model can be extended for practical applications in the design, planning, and Social sciences. Using empirical evidence a cognitive schema is designed that accounts for perceptual and behavioral preferences in pedestrian navigation. Using this created schema, as a guiding framework, the use of network analysis and space syntax act as a computational methods to simulate human exploration wayfinding in unfamiliar indoor environments. The conceptual model provided is then implemented …

Feet In The South, Eyes To The West: Fort Smith Enters The Sunbelt, Adam Morrison Carson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the political realignment of Fort Smith, Arkansas and argues that the standard historiographical argument about the process of realignment does not explain what occurred in this city. Much of the historiography of political realignment currently revolves around the belief in a white backlash against the federal government and the national Democratic Party for their support of African American civil rights. Though historians have moved toward a "suburban synthesis" that downplays the backlash thesis, historians still argues that many white southerners moved to the suburbs to avoid integration.

I argue that this process did not occur in the …

The History Of Nusayris ('Alawis) In Ottoman Syria, 1831-1876, Ali Capar

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Syrian provinces of the Ottoman Empire experienced significant events, such as the Egyptian invasion, the Tanzimat Reforms and the increasing activities of Protestant missionaries between 1831 and 1876. In this thesis, I tried to analyze the course of the Ottoman-Nusayri relationship between 1831 and 1876, the treatment of the Ottoman government toward the Nusayris, outcomes of the Egyptians and the Ottoman reforms in the region and among the Nusayris, the reaction of the Nusayris to these reform policies, and the activities of the Protestant missionaries among the Nusayri community.

Development Of A Predictive Modeling System For Validation Of The Cumulative Mirobial Inactivation Of The Salmonellae In Pepperoni Utilizing A Non-Pathogenic Surrogate Microorganism (Enterococcus Faecalis), Scott Donald Stillwell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Salmonellosis is the most frequently occurring bacterial foodborne illness in the United States and the human case rate has not improved for the past two decades. The federal agency responsible for oversight of meat and poultry processors has announced the intent to extend existing pathogen reduction performance standards for Salmonella spp. to cover all classes of products including fermented sausages that are currently produced under HACCP plans that are validated for control of Escherichia coli O157:H7. The proposed regulatory modifications will require processors to revalidate HACCP plan controls to achieve either a 6.5 or a 7.0 log10 inactivation of the …

Reading War : Modern Warfare In The Age Of Terror And Recent American Literature, Kyle Anthony Kovacs

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of Chipped Stone From Two Middle Holocene Archaeological Sites In The East Central Great Plains, Christine A. Nycz

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

This study examines aspects of movement and mobility of hunter-gatherer groups in the east central Great Plains during the Middle Holocene, between 8500 cal and 5000 cal B.P. Few published reports detail archaeological assemblages or address features of prehistoric mobility in this subregion of the Great Plains. Current research on the Great Plains emphasizes bison procurement and low regional bison mobility. This thesis presents interpretations of hunter-gatherer mobility based on examination of chipped stone assemblages from two Middle Holocene archaeological deposits (the Hill and Simonsen sites) in western Iowa. The resulting analysis demonstrates restricted hunter-gatherer mobility within this subregion, with …

Traditional Media Seen From Social Media, Jisun An, Daniele Quercia, Meeyoung Cha, Krishna Gummadi, Jon Crowcroft

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

With the advent of social media services, media outlets have started reaching audiences on social-networking sites. On Twitter, users actively follow a wide set of media sources, form interpersonal networks, and propagate interesting stories to their peers. These media subscription and interaction patterns, which had previously been hidden behind media corporations' databases, offer new opportunities to understand media supply and demand on a large scale. Through a map that connects 77 media outlets based on Twitter subscription patterns, we are able to answer a variety of questions: to what extent New York Times and the Wall Street Journal readers overlap? …

Contested Grounds, Carly Drew

All Theses

My drawings reference the American landscape tradition and Regionalism to comment on contemporary rural experience and highlight our interactions with nature. I do this through utilizing personal and family history to develop imagery that documents the economic changes taking place. I discuss why the American landscape tradition is important for a cultural understanding of my work, how industrial language impacts our understanding of these spaces and finally how my work visually encapsulates the contrast between objective forms of mapping and the subjectivity of personal experience. These contexts help discuss some of the larger issues of land ownership and use by …

Trip Report: A Few Lessons In Love, Jason Adams

All Theses

Can a work of art care for someone? Can it address a need for comfort or love? My research focuses on simple gestures and actions that seek to fulfill these questions. This research spans a wide array of sculptural and performative strategies in order to give breadth to these goals and to access a multitude of audiences in different contexts. The work importantly bridges both traditional art venues as well as more public venues in order to participate in multiple conversations pertaining to the role of socially engaged art practices. By utilizing both ends of the locational spectrum for the …

Incorporating Personality Trait Pyschology Into Economic Decision Making Models, Sohaib Hasan

All Theses

In this thesis, we compare the abilities of Big Five locus of personality traits, religiosity, risk aversion, contextual, and historical variables in explaining behavior in the Trust Game, the Minimum Effort Game, and a Cheap Talk Game. We find that that behavior in the games is largely explained by contextual and historical variables, with some influence from personality traits. This suggests that, while there is a role for personality traits in explaining behavior in economic settings, most variation is explained by the context of economic interactions and the results of previous interactions.

Determinants Of Contraceptives Use Amongst Youth: An Exploratory Study With Family Planning Service Providers In Karachi Pakistan, Noureen Aleem Nishtar, Neelofar Sami, Sabina Alim, Nousheen Pradhan, Farid Ul Hasnain

Community Health Sciences

Introduction: In Pakistan, Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) among married female youth is 17.4% and even lower in rural and slum areas leading to rapid population growth on one hand and poor health consequences on the other. The study was conducted to explore family planning service providers' perceptions regarding use of different contraceptive methods and to identify factors that are influencing their use amongst currently married youth aged 18-24 years in slum areas of Karachi.METHOD: Qualitative exploratory study design was adopted and a total of ten in-depth interviews were conducted with family planning service providers of the area. For content analysis …

Finding The Limitations Of The Expanded Equivalent Fluid Approximation For Simulating Acoustic Interactions With The Ocean Bottom, Steven J. Kirkup

Honors Theses

Equivalent fluids use complex densities in place of realistic seafloor conditions to simplify simulations of acoustic interaction with the seafloor. This eliminates the computationally intensive attempts to simulate realistic seafloor interactions that include shear waves. A previous method used such equivalent fluids and was found to be accurate only for interaction with low grazing angles and low shear speeds. The current method expands by also parameterizing the speed of sound in the fluid, allowing higher grazing angles and shear speeds to be modeled with equivalent fluids. For a particular window of grazing angle, there are several approaches to determining the …

The Spatial Injustice Of Crisis-Driven Neoliberal Urban Restructuring In Detroit, Daniel Clement

Open Access Theses

Struggling to provide basic services due to a dwindling tax base and confronted with significant pockets of vacant land, Detroit has proposed a radical urban restructuring. The Detroit Future City framework aims to reappropriate large swaths of land in order to concentrate people and services in select locations throughout the city. Characterizing this plan as typical of the contemporary trends of neoliberal urban governance, this research examines the basis for and proposed results of this crisis-driven urban restructuring. Using comparative statistics of populations within proposed future land uses, this research suggests that the most severe spatial injustices will be leveled …

Diversification And Coexistence In The Madagascar Olive (Noronhia, Oleaceae), Cynthia Hong-Wa

Dissertations

The long-isolated island of Madagascar provides a suitable setting for studying species diversification, with most groups of organisms there both radiating and showing a high level of endemism. Noronhia is one of these groups and represents the most successful radiation of the olive family (Oleaceae) in Madagascar, with ca. 80 species. In this study, using plastid and nuclear DNA sequences obtained from a comprehensive sampling both within Noronhia and the family, I show that Noronhia, together with Indian Ocean species of Chionanthus, form a monophyletic clade sister to African Chionanthus. The diversification of Noronhia followed a likely Cenozoic dispersal from …

Differing Perspectives On Biofuels: Analysis Of National, Regional, And State Newspaper Coverage, Janice C. Dyer, Brajesh Singh, Conner Bailey

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

We examined national, regional, and Alabama newspaper coverage of biofuels development to observe variation in coverage and to understand the role of media on controversial issues of national importance. The years covered, 2007-2009, coincided with peak media interest in biofuels. Our focus on Alabama and the South is justified by the potential for biofuels development present in that state and region. We hypothesized that sources quoted would vary by topics, that article tone would vary depending on biofuel type and associated feedstock, and that tone would vary depending on whether the focus was on local economic impacts or broader issues …

April 30, 2013 General Faculty Minutes, University Of South Carolina

Faculty Senate

No abstract provided.

The Daily Egyptian, April 30, 2013, Daily Egyptian Staff

April 2013

No abstract provided.

Land Grab Or Development Planning Strategy: An Analysis Of Agricultural Development Led Industrialization Planning In Ethiopia., Nathan Teklemariam

Theses and Dissertations

Observing the current wave of large scale land acquisitions in Sub-Saharan Africa, many have found it easy to call the situation land grab, the new form of neo colonialism in Africa. In Ethiopia, few underlining socio-economic and political currents have shaped the leasing of its arable land to both national and international investors in recent years. The Agricultural Development Led Industrialization strategy the country adopted in the early 1990s, followed with consecutive short-term strategic plans focused primarily on agriculture as the driver for the nation’s economic growth and structural transformation, have acted as the main underpinnings in the commercialization of …

Are Rural People More Anti-Immigrant Than Urban People? A Comparison Of Attitudes Toward Immigration In The United States, Carlos Garcia, Theresa Davidson

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Immigration to the United States has increased markedly in the past two decades, including significant growth in rural areas. Using General Social Survey data we compare rural and urban attitudes toward immigration in the United States. Our analyses reveal that, first, overall opposition is more pronounced in rural areas. Second, notions of a distinct American identity matter for urban, but not rural, residents. Third, beliefs about immigration are salient predictors in both regions. Fourth, political ideology is a determinant exclusively among rural residents, whereas political affiliation is a determinant solely among urban residents. Fifth, race and education level are significant …

The Geographic Distribution Of The Mortgage Interest Deduction, Andrew R. Hanson, Ike Brannon, Zackary Hawley

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

The mortgage interest deduction is one of the largest tax expenditures in the U.S. tax code but the rate at which it is claimed and the average amount deducted vary widely across and within states.

With changes to tax expenditures under consideration, data showing the current distribution of the mortgage interest deduction are key to understanding how federal tax decisions would affect the states.

Class Notes, Georgia Southern University

Arts & Humanities: News & Publications (2009-2023)

No abstract provided.

“This I Say Not As One Doubting”: Traditions Of The Apostle Thomas From The Beginning Of The Common Era Through 800 Ce, Janna Y. Strain

Honors Projects

Historically, Thomas has a rich identity. Much of the apocrypha was named for the "doubting" disciple, such as The Gospel of Thomas, The Book of Thomas the Contender, and The Acts of the Apostle Thomas, yet these traditions do not address Thomas's story from The Gospel of John. In fact, Thomas becomes the favored disciple in The Book of Thomas the Contender and logion 13 of The Gospel of Thomas. In The Acts of the Apostle Thomas the disciple leaves Rome to evangelize in India where he is eventually martyred. Today, he is still revered in South India …

Medusahead Invasion Along Unimproved Roads, Animal Trails, And Random Transects, Kirk W. Davies, Aleta M. Nafus, Matthew D. Madsen

Western North American Naturalist

Medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae [L.] Nevski), an exotic annual grass, is rapidly spreading and causing ecological damage across the western United States. Because this exotic plant occupies vast areas and because management resources are limited, it is critical that land managers prioritize where they direct treatment and monitoring efforts. Identifying where and by what means medusahead is spreading could provide valuable information to assist in determining where prevention and control efforts should be applied. We compared medusahead invasion levels along unimproved roads, animal trails, and random transects at 6 sites in southeastern Oregon to determine where medusahead was more common …

Cseas Weekly Bulletin (April 29, 2013), Center For Southeast Asian Studies

CSEAS Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Cwu General Education Committee Minutes - 04/29/13, Janet Shields

All Faculty Committee Minutes

These are the official Central Washington University General Education Committee minutes for the 04/29/13 meeting.

Measuring Sprawl Across The Urban Rural Continuum Using An Amalgamated Sprawl Index, Barry Kew, Brian D. Lee

Landscape Architecture Faculty Publications

Urban sprawl is rapidly transforming the landscape of Kentucky’s prime farmland from a dominant agricultural land use pattern to a patchwork of dispersed and loosely defined parcels. This state, located in the east central portion of the U.S., is not unlike many states considered rural, nor is it unlike many rural regions found throughout the world where urban sprawl is concentrated in metropolitan areas that are often encroaching into these rural areas. Authors have argued for and against urbanization patterns generally understood to be sprawl on the basis of social, economic, and biophysical opportunities and constraints. Finding consensus in the …

Investigating The Behaviour Of Natural Slopes And Man Made Structures By Terrestrial Sar Interferometry, Paolo Mazzanti

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

Remote sensing techniques for the monitoring of deformation are opening new opportunities in the field of geotechnical engineering and geology. Terrestrial SAR interferometry (TInSAR) is one of the most innovative technique and it promises to be a very effective solution which will be extensively used in the near future. TInSAR is characterized by several interesting features such as: i) high density of information; ii) fully remote capability; iii) long range capability; iv) widespread view; v) spatially continuous efficacy and vi) high accuracy. Thanks to these features TInSAR has been used for investigation and diagnostic purposes (i.e. landslide and structural instability …

Refining Environmental Satellite Data Using A Statistical Approach, Md Zahidur Rahman, Leonid Roytman, Abdelhamid Kadik

Publications and Research

The proposed approach in this article applies an efficient and novel statistical technique to accurately describe radiometric data measured by Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometers (AVHRR) onboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES). The corrected data set will then be applied to improve the strength of NOAA Global Vegetation Index (GVI) data set for the 1982- 2003 period produced from AVHRR. The GVI is used extensively for studying and monitoring land surface, atmosphere and recently for analyzing climate and environmental changes. The POES AVHRR data, though useful, cannot be directly used in climate change …

Drug Trafficking Related Violence And Corruption Among Specific Populations In Mexico, Matthew B. Courtney

Honors Theses

The trade of illegal narcotics through Mexico has resulted in the rise of powerful and organized criminal businesses that are not afraid to bribe, or kill, any who cross them. This has caused a dramatic increase in violent crime and government official corruption. This document will begin by defining these organizations and examining their creation. Next the violence caused by these organizations will be analytically categorized in order to better understand the criminal's motivations and tactics. This study will examine current data to determine which populations are more prone to violent crime or corruption by looking at the victims relationship …

Using Geographic Information Systems To Select Suitable Columbian Sharp-Tailed Grouse Habitat In Northern Idaho, Jennifer Grew

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

The Columbian sharp-tailed grouse was once the most abundant game bird in the Inland Northwest area. The main reason for their loss was the conversion of their habitat into agricultural lands and timber forests. Several variables were incorporated into a weighted sum tool in ArcGIS using public raster layers for each of three seasons. The results layers were analyzed using the same tool to find the most suitable habitat. Six locations in the county had 50% or better suitability. One location showed 80% or better. The grouse historic range appears to coincide with Palouse prairielands in Benewah County. Further research …