Digital Commons Network^™

An Investigation Of Climate Patterns On Earth-Like Planets Using The Nasa Giss Global Climate Model Ii, Robert Mark Elowitz

Theses and Dissertations

To determine the capability of NASA's GISS GCM-II global climate model, the user-friendly EdGCM interface to the 3-D climate model code was evaluated by simulating global climate patterns that Earth-like planets may experience. The simulation scenarios involved different greenhouse gas emissions trends, planetary orbital parameters, and solar irradiance variations. It is found that the EdGCM interface to the GCM-II 3-D climate model is capable of studying climate patterns on hypothetical Earth-like planets, with some limitations involved. Studying extreme climate patterns on Earth-like planets as a function of planetary obliquity, orbital eccentricity, atmospheric composition, solar irradiance variations, and location with the …

Rural North Dakota's Oil Boom, The Impact On Social Services, And The Implications For The Social Work Profession, Julia C. Geigle

Theses and Dissertations

Technological developments within the oil and gas industry (namely horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking") combined with record-high average oil prices have propelled North Dakota into the midst of the nation's largest oil boom in decades. Information about the boom has been dominated by the media, while scholarly attention--especially about the social impacts--has been unfortunately limited. Accordingly, the author (an MSW student) and two professors with the Department of Social Work at the University of North Dakota conducted a focus group with the state's county social service directors to explore the pressures and challenges faced by the social service …

"Oh, Must We Dream Our Dreams And Have Them Too?": Transformation Through Reading In Elizabeth Bishop's "Questions Of Travel," Carol Shields' Swann, And Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck's The Lives Of Others, Carissa Anne Green

Theses and Dissertations

Literary scholars study how readers interpret texts. Louise Rosenblatt, Wolfgang Iser, and Wayne Booth analyze how readers interact with texts transactionally, as a phenomenology, and as an ethical exchange. This grounding gives a foundation on which to analyze and define the interpretive acts demonstrated by readers. Poststructuralist critics Roland Barthes and Jacques Derrida open up the idea of "text," allowing us to apply our phenomenology of reading beyond words on paper. I apply the work of these and other critics not to the readers of texts but to characters depicted within texts who are readers. These characters confront unfamiliar texts, …

A Country Of Giants, Benjamin Mace Greenlee

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis, A Country of Giants, consists of four short stories which explore the borderland between youthful innocence and adult understanding. This borderland is often considered in "coming of age" tales, a literary genre that investigates the growth of youthful characters. Through my four stories I examine themes including a loss of innocence, claiming one's identity, independence, and sexual understanding. In addition to those themes I present situations where adults lose their experiential understanding, digressing into a more innocent and uninformed state. I tend to write realistic stories, and it is my hope this use of realism develops well-rounded characters …

A Sustainable Bio-Solids Management For The Grand Forks Wastewater Treatment Plant, Hasibul Hasan

Theses and Dissertations

The Grand Forks Waste Water Treatment Plant (GFWWTP) is currently sending its waste activated sludge (WAS) from the activated sludge treatment process to an existing on-site wastewater treatment lagoon which has been in operation since 2003. The plant produces approximately 65,000 gallons of WAS per day. Because of this high level of loading, the existing lagoon system is likely to get replaced by a more sustainable treatment option. Several methods were considered and studied thoroughly for this research, and - on site land application shows some potential. After surveying the Municipal Waste Water Treatment Facilities of the five neighboring states …

A Framework For The Integration Of Technology Into Curricula Development And Student Assessment, Washington Helps

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this work is to amalgamate technology and education in a manner which will prove to be beneficial to all stakeholders involved and which will allow for an improvement in the ubiquitous process of curriculum development in the teaching and learning sphere. The primary motivation surrounds the issue of limited human resources in terms of teachers and expert knowledge as well as available physical resources such as computer equipment or other classroom artifacts. It should be duly noted that it is in many developing countries where the student-teacher ratio is very high and where such a framework will …

The Experience Of Family Resilience Through Severe Traumatic Brain Injury, Shanda C.E. Hochstetler

Theses and Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability. Of these injuries, severe TBI (STBI) causes the most profound and long-term disabilities. The experience of STBI has been shown to affect the entire family. Social work professionals need to be aware of the experience of STBI and must be prepared support families through this trauma. The objective in this research was to explore how families experience STBI through the lens of family resilience. A mixed method approach, focused predominantly on the qualitative, was used to draw out the experience of five families wherein a child sustained an …

Microwave Tomography Using Stochastic Optimization And High Performance Computing, Michael William Holman

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses the application of parallel computing in microwave tomography for detection and imaging of dielectric objects. The main focus is on microwave tomography with the use of a parallelized Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) forward solver in conjunction with non-linear stochastic optimization based inverse solvers. Because such solvers require very heavy computation, their investigation has been limited in favour of deterministic inverse solvers that make use of assumptions and approximations of the imaging target. Without the use of linearization assumptions, a non-linear stochastic microwave tomography system is able to resolve targets of arbitrary permittivity contrast profiles while avoiding …

The Influence Of Television And Film On Interest In Space And Science, Katrina Marie Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

Entertainment media has the great potential to inspire interest in the topics it presents. The purpose of this study is to better understand how entertainment media contributes to people's interests in space and science. There is a huge variety of science communication topics in previous literature, some of which deals with television and film, but very little that specifically study how television and film can inspire interest. A historical review of pioneers in the space industry shows that many were inspired by entertainment media, which at the time consisted of science fiction novels and magazines. In order to explore the …

The Impact Of Positive Thinking, Optimism, Empathy, And Just World Beliefs On Social Perceptions Of Cancer, Kelly Marie Jones

Theses and Dissertations

When witnessing a difficult event, such as a health crisis, a common initial response is to ask why it happened. The answer to this question then influences the observers' reaction, in that their attitudes and beliefs influence how they respond to the person who suffered the health crisis. In this way, social perceptions of cancer can have a tremendous influence on a patient's illness experience and that influence can be either beneficial or unintentionally detrimental. Within the current study an attribution-based theoretical framework was applied and the social phenomena of positive thinking (PT) was considered, in an attempt to understand …

The Role Of Individual Differences In Young Adults' Responses To Graphic Health Harms Anti-Tobacco Media, Harpa Lind Jonsdottir

Theses and Dissertations

Tobacco use is the most preventable cause of overall mortality. The highest smoking rate, about 30%, in the U.S. is among young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 years. Anti-tobacco media campaigns appear to be effective in preventing and reducing tobacco use, although little is known about how individual differences affect responses to anti-tobacco media. Participants were 144 students at the University of North Dakota. They watched six anti-tobacco advertisements that contained fear messages but varied in levels of graphic imagery. The following was measured: tobacco experience, self-control, locus of control, depression, stress, affect, arousal, valence, and effectiveness. …

The Effect Of Masculinity On Post-Deployment Veterans' Help-Seeking Behaviors And Mental Health Outcomes, Nils-Erik Juhani Juanto Laver

Theses and Dissertations

While the current literature has investigated various barriers to reintegration for male veterans of the Armed Forces of the United States, few have investigated how internal processes such as attitudes and beliefs impact reintegration outcomes. Civilian literature has indicated that men who adhere to traditional masculine ideals tend to have a lower quality of life, less help-seeking behaviors, and more mental and physical health problems. This study set out to investigate how traditional masculine values, age, combat exposure, and relative normative male alexithymia may affect mental health, quality of life, and help-seeking behaviors in veterans who were deployed to combat …

Sex Offenders' Perceptions Of North Dakota's Sex Offender Policies, Mariah Dawn Laver Juanto

Theses and Dissertations

Registered sex offenders in North Dakota were interviewed regarding their experiences with being on the registry. Results from the coded transcripts indicate that offenders felt the registry made finding housing and employment more difficult. Additionally, participants reported feeling the registry negatively impacted their ability to be involved in community organizations and impacted how they interacted with others, including forming supportive relationships. Participants also completed surveys, assessing general psychological symptoms, general stress levels, and demographic information, including registration requirement information. No significant relationships between sex offenders' registry requirements and psychological symptoms were found. Conclusions and implications for future research are discussed.

Does Time Matter? An Examination Of Sentence Length, Time Served And Probation Outcomes, Michael P. Mcgrath

Theses and Dissertations

There remains some uncertainty as to whether or not probation supervision can influence the behaviour of offenders as intended and thereby protect the public. Within the growing body of probation literature is support for a number of theoretically relevant variables and probation outcomes (Morgan, 1993; Gendreau, Little & Goggin, 1996). Some of the probation studies include a measure of time (Sims & Jones, 1997; Green & Winik, 2010), although it has never been exclusively studied in probation research. In the studies that do include a time measure, sentence length is the most frequently used and is often related to failure …

Exploring The Impact Of Zebra Mussels (Dreissena Polymorpha) On Residental Lakeshore Property Values In Otter Tail And Becker Counties, Minnesota, Spencer Crowley Mcgrew

Theses and Dissertations

Aquatic invasive species are a major problem in Minnesota. Aquatic invasive species disrupt ecosystems, limit lake recreation, and reduce lakeshore property values. They are expensive to manage, and often impossible to eradicate once established. In this study, I am asking this question: What is the economic impact, in terms of residential shoreline property values, of the introduction of the invasive zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) into large and popular freshwater lakes in west central Minnesota?

Past studies comparing lakeshore property values based on environmental factors such as water quality, clarity, lake size, and depth have shown that these environmental amenities are …

Tanzania Higher Education-Fifty Years After Independence, Godfrey Magoti Mnubi

Theses and Dissertations

As Tanzania celebrates fifty years of independence at the crossroads of globalization, the country has experienced a changing landscape and a major transformation in higher learning education with spectacular expansion in student enrollment rates. This requires its higher education institutions, particularly universities, to function effectively as a source of knowledge and to serve as an important partner in sustainable development by promoting effective teaching, research and service in Tanzania.

To understand the pace of globalization and the multitude of social challenges that have faced Tanzania higher education since 1961, how the policies and practices of higher education have evolved over …

Aerosol Optical Depth And Its Relationship To Radar Derived Precipitation In Mali, West Africa, David Benham Keith

Theses and Dissertations

The research goal is to determine if a relationship exists between Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and radar-derived precipitation in Mali, a country located in West Africa. Precipitation parameters derived from 2006, 2007 and 2008 C-band radar measurements are compared against Noon to 2 p.m. averaged AOD measurements. The AOD and Angstrom Exponent (AE) are from an Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) site located 240 km northeast of Bamako, and radar cell (20 dBZ threshold) tracks are generated using the Thunderstorm Identification, Tracking, Analysis and Nowcasting radar software (TITAN). Only isolated TITAN cells are used in the analysis. In addition, environmental filters …

Utilization Of Emotional Freedom Techniques (Eft) To Reduce Test Anxiety In High Stakes Testing, Marie Elaine Mohler

Theses and Dissertations

There are many reasons a person may fail a high stakes test such as the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN®). Sleep deprivation, illness, life stressors, knowledge deficit, and test anxiety are some of the common explanations. A student with test anxiety may feel threatened by this evaluation process. This reaction causes the students to become self-absorbed with altered cognitive abilities such as reduced ability: to concentrate, to remember, and/or to retrieve information, thus lowering the students' performance. This research study explored the correlation among factors such as stress, test anxiety, and student expectations that may be predictive …

A Mass Spectrometry-Based Method For Quantification Of Human Metallothionein Isoforms And Usefulness In Biomarker Detection Of Cancers And Metal Toxicity, Aaron Andrew Mehus

Theses and Dissertations

Current methods for detecting metallothionein (MT) protein expression lack the specificity to distinguish between all twelve human isoforms. Each, however, can be distinguished by the masses of their acetylated, cysteine-rich, hydrophilic N-terminal tryptic peptides. These properties were exploited to develop a mass spectrometry-based method for their simultaneous quantification.

Human kidney HK-2 epithelial cells expressing recombinant MT-3 were grown in the presence or absence of cadmium. Cytosolic proteins were alkylated with 14N- or 15N-iodoacetamide and digested with trypsin. The N-terminal MT peptides were enriched by two-dimensional liquid chromatography and analyzed by MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry. Relative expression was measured by combining 14N-labeled …

A Model Of Nontraditional College Student Motivation And Success, Masela Anyango Obade

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the increase in their college enrollment, nontraditional students in U.S. postsecondary institutions are less likely to stay in college until they earn their degree. What could explain nontraditional student high attrition rates and overall success beyond what their demographic characteristics reveal? The purpose of this study was to examine the role of achievement motivation in predicting nontraditional student college success using the expectancy-value theory (Eccles et al., 1983) and achievement goals theory (Dweck, 1986; Maehr, 1989; Nicholls, 1984). A Model of Nontraditional College Student Motivation and Success was tested using a sample of undergraduate students enrolled in various majors …

Application Of Composite Polymeric Membranes For Efficient Regeneration Of Physical Solvents, Alireza Pesaran

Theses and Dissertations

The most dominant CO2 capture technology used for pre-combustion capture involves the application of physical solvents. Despite the low energy required to regenerate physical solvents and their high capacity for capturing and separating acid gases from the syngas produced in a gasification plant, physical solvents have some disadvantages including CO2 pressure loss and the energy required to pump the solvent to the high pressure absorber.

The primary objective of this work is to evaluate the use of composite polymeric membranes for the recovery of CO2 from CO2-rich solvent streams. To achieve this purpose, an experimental bench-scale setup was built to …

Life History Strategy And The Role Of Self-Regulation In Cheating Behavior, Joshua Reynolds

Theses and Dissertations

The current study examined cheating behavior, the role of self-regulation, and if the distal causal framework of life history theory could illuminate the relationships between self-regulation and cheating behavior. Participants in the experimental condition had their state self-regulation taxed (compared to the control condition); participants had an opportunity to cheat, which was recorded unbeknownst to participants. Additionally, participants completed questionnaires and tasks assessing individuals' life history strategy, trait self-regulation, and mood. It was hypothesized taxed state self-regulation, lower trait self-regulation, and a faster life history strategy would increase cheating behavior and a faster life history strategy would predict lower trait …

Cultural Identity And Behavioral Health Risk In Northern Plains American Indian Adolescents, Wanmdiwi Jessi Rose

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if Northern Plains AI adolescents identifying oneself as being "traditional' or "non-traditional" as measured by the Northern Plains Bicultural Inventory III (NPBI-III) would affect health-risk behavior scores as measured by the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). It was hypothesized that American Indian adolescents identifying as traditional would have lower health- risk behaviors and that cultural identification would influence health-risk behaviors between males and females.

Northern Plains AI adolescents (N=60, age 14 to 19) were administered the YRBS and NPBI-III during the 2012 UNDIA Time out Wacipi Powwow in Grand Forks, ND. Results …

Spirituality And Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Kara Ann Richardson-Cline

Theses and Dissertations

Problem: The positive relationship between spirituality and physical, psychological, and social well-being has been well established. However, beyond quality of life measures, this construct has yet to be more deeply studied in a sample of individuals diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). Furthermore, relational spirituality has yet to be studied in a chronically ill population. Meeting these gaps in the literature, this study compared the explicit domains and latent constructs measured by a relational spirituality instrument and examined their associations with a measure of biopsychosocial-spiritual well-being and quality of life measure.

Results: Utilizing nonrandom online surveys, this study included 305 …

A Case Study Of Elementary Teachers' Conceptions Of Environmental Literacy In Relationship To A Tall Grass Prairie Restoration Project, Teresa Jayne Shume

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe seven elementary teachers' conceptions of environmental literacy in relationship to a tall grass prairie restoration project and to explore ways in which the tall grass prairie restoration project for third grade contributed to enhancing educational learning experiences. The research questions were: 1. What are teachers' conceptions of environmental literacy for third grade students? 2. How does the prairie restoration trip contribute to teachers' capacity to teach for environmental literacy of third grade students? 3. What is the pedagogical value of the prairie restoration project? The theoretical frameworks underpinning this study …

Breast Cancer, Genetic Testing And Attribution Of Responsibility, Lona Parsons Smith

Theses and Dissertations

In this study I research how the refusal of genetic testing shapes people's perceptions of responsibility or attribution for a friend's breast cancer diagnosis, emotions, and willingness to help. Bernard Weiner's theory of attribution and emotion is useful for understanding how blame and causation shape one's willingness to help. Weiner's theory suggests that perceived attributions influence one's emotional state, which in turn shapes their willingness to help others. Most studies using Weiner's attribution theory examine highly stigmatized illnesses, such as HIV/AIDS, drug abuse and mental illness, but few analyses consider breast cancer and even fewer have assessed how the availability …

Wendell Berry's Philosophy Of Education: Lessons From Port William, Jane Margaret Schreck

Theses and Dissertations

In the midst of a proclaimed crisis in higher education, in the clamor and clamber to leverage technology for such innovations as mass open online courses and differentiated learning modules, in the speculative frenzy of preparing students for the careers of a fantasy future, and in the swirl of angst about funding accountability and economic relevance, Wendell Berry's philosophy of education declares that the essential element missing from most current discussions and considerations of education is love. As explained in his essays and revealed in his fiction and poetry, Berry's philosophy centers on love as the best animator of learning: …

Communication Channels For Cancer Survivorship: Addressing Information Dissemination, Clinical Trial Recruitment And Social Networking, Carly Elizabeth Steen

Theses and Dissertations

More people are surviving cancer than ever before due to early detection and advances in treatment (Kazanjian, Smillie, Howard, Ward and Doll, 2009). With a growing group of cancer survivors, a group expected to grow to 18 million by 2020, additional informational resources must be put in place (Cancer Survivorship Training, 2013). This study seeks to better understand 1) where cancer patients and survivors are finding cancer resources, 2) what computer-mediated communication channels they use and prefer and 3) who they trust the most to educate and recruit them for clinical trials. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted and analyzed with …

Diatom Proteomics Reveals Unique Acclimation Strategies To Mitigate Fe Limitation, Brook L. Nunn, Jessica F. Faux, Anna A. Hippman, Maria T. Maldonado, H. Rodger Harvey, David R. Goodlett, Philip W. Boyd, Robert F. Strzepek

OES Faculty Publications

Phytoplankton growth rates are limited by the supply of iron (Fe) in approximately one third of the open ocean, with major implications for carbon dioxide sequestration and carbon (C) biogeochemistry. To date, understanding how alteration of Fe supply changes phytoplankton physiology has focused on traditional metrics such as growth rate, elemental composition, and biophysical measurements such as photosynthetic competence (Fv/Fm). Researchers have subsequently employed transcriptomics to probe relationships between changes in Fe supply and phytoplankton physiology. Recently, studies have investigated longer-term (i.e. following acclimation) responses of phytoplankton to various Fe conditions. In the present study, the coastal diatom, Thalassiosira pseudonana, …

Dinitrogen Fixation In Aphotic Oxygenated Marine Environments, Eyal Rahav, Edo Bar-Zeev, Sarah Ohayon, Hila Elifantz, Natalia Belkin, Barak Herut, Margaret R. Mulholland, Iiana Berman-Frank

OES Faculty Publications

We measured N₂ fixation rates from oceanic zones that have traditionally been ignored as sources of biological N₂fixation; the aphotic, fully oxygenated, nitrate (NO¯₃)-rich, waters of the oligotrophic Levantine Basin (LB) and the Gulf of Aqaba (GA). N₂ fixation rates measured from pelagic aphotic waters to depths up to 720 m, during the mixed and stratified periods, ranged from 0.01 nmol N L^-1 d^-1 to 0.38 nmol N L^-1 d^-1. N₂ fixation rates correlated significantly with bacterial productivity and heterotrophic diazotrophs were identified from aphotic as well as …