Digital Commons Network^™

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 …

Influence Of Gender And Race On Self-Objectification, Kaylee M. Trottier

Theses and Dissertations

The current study examined how men's expectations and references in women's body type (the study attempts to examine the effects of men's expectations by manipulating the gender and race of the present research assistant) may affect how heterosexual women value and judge themselves. This was explored through a manipulation of the experimenter's race and gender. The researcher manipulated the experimenter's race and gender; assuming that the participants have a stereotypical expectation of what men prefer (a more slender body type) in feminine body types. The experimenters interviewed the participants on their confidence, self-esteem, and body-image. The research is important to …

The Impact Of Continuous Prenatal And Early Postpartum Maternal Vitamin D Supplementation On The Vitamin D Status Of Exclusively Breastfed Infants, Doria K. Thiele

Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, at least 50% of breastfeeding mothers are vitamin D deficient, increasing risk for vitamin D deficiency in exclusively breastfed infants. A gap in knowledge exists regarding best practices in maternal vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy and lactation that will yield adequate infant vitamin D levels. The objective of this study was to identify the combined effect of maternal prenatal and postnatal vitamin D supplementation on vitamin D transfer to exclusively breastfed infants. Additionally, due to the immune modulating effects of vitamin D, maternal pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines were measured across pregnancy and the postpartum. A double-blind, …

Is There A Disconnect? Comparing North Dakota And National Geography Standards, Lori Jean Young

Theses and Dissertations

In 1994, Geography for Life was published. From this publication the national geography and state geography standards were developed. These national standards were the basis of the state standards.

North Dakota Studies is a Grade 9-12 course offered in North Dakota high schools. This course is offered under mandate in North Dakota high schools, so a broad range of data could be obtained by contacting those teachers.

Prior research has shown that students exposed to 3-D geographic technologies have better spatial abilities than students without a technologic background. A recent study showed that adults wanted to know more about geography …

Efficient Regeneration Of Chemical Solvents For Carbon Dioxide Capture By Polymeric Membrane Contactors, Xuefei Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

Although extensive research attention has been drawn to using membranes for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture from flue gas, the use of membranes for stripping CO2 solvents has rarely been studied. The technical feasibility of using polymeric membrane based separation technology to recover CO2 from CO2 saturated chemical solvents such as monoethanolamine is investigated in the present research. A membrane system was built to study the performance of several common polymeric porous membranes for the recovery of CO2 from saturated aqueous MEA solution by the thermal swing process. The stripped CO2 gas was swept by mass flow controlled N2 reference gas …

Synthesis And Catalytic Studies Of Zinc Complexes Of Amido-Oxazolinate Ligands, Srinivas Abbina

Theses and Dissertations

This current work primarily focuses on the fundamental study of zinc complexes of amido-oxazolinate ligands that have shown a great deal of promise in their ability to catalyze various polymerization reactions. A family of new C1-symmetric, monoanionic, amido-oxazolinate ligands containing oxazoline moiety has been synthesized in moderate to high yields (typically 30-95%) via a Pd-catalyzed amination reaction of chiral oxazolines with primary amines and amides. The obtained ligands were treated with Zn[N(SiMe3)2]2 to generate the corresponding C1-symmetric, monometallic zinc complexes. Single-crystal X-ray crystallographic studies confirm that most of the complexes are three-coordinate and mononuclear in nature. These complexes are viable …

The Influence Of Brief Mindfulness Exercise On Encoding Of Novel Words, Kristin Bonamo

Theses and Dissertations

Based on research associating mindfulness with improvements in well-being, attention, and memory processes, brief mindfulness exercises may be helpful in enhancing the encoding of novel semantic information. A Swahili-English word pair association task was used to examine whether engaging in a brief mindfulness exercise enhanced the encoding of Swahili-English word pairs, thus improving long-term recall. Participants recruited from the undergraduate population at a Midwestern university were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: engaging in a 20 minute body scan meditation, a 45 minute body scan meditation, or a control group prior to learning Swahili-English word pairs. Separate analyses of …

Characterization Of Phosphorus, Nitrogen, And Sulfur Concentrations In A Paired Disturbed And Natural Wetland In Northwest Minnesota, Nicolas Buer

Theses and Dissertations

A degraded wetland with a history of human-induced hydrologic alterations lies within northwestern Minnesota's Skull Lake Wildlife Management Area (WMA). Although conservation practices have been enacted by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MNDNR), there remains interest in the wetland's potential for ecological restoration. Restoration should not be undertaken without an understanding of underlying factors leading to degradation. A paired study between the disturbed wetland at Skull Lake WMA and the relatively natural wetland in the nearby Caribou WMA was designed to help understand near surface pore water geochemistry in an effort to determine causes of degradation and the potential …

Determining Best Method For Estimating Observed Level Of Maximum Convective Detrainment Based On Radar Reflectivity, Nicholas Daniel Carletta

Theses and Dissertations

Convective mass transport is the transport of mass from near the surface up to the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) by a deep convective updraft. This transport can alter the chemical makeup and water vapor balance of the UTLS, which can affect cloud formation and the radiative properties of the atmosphere. It is therefore important to understand the exact altitudes at which mass is detrained from convection. The purpose of this study is to improve upon previously published methodologies for estimating the level of maximum detrainment (LMD) within convection using data from individual radars. Three methods were used to …

The Epidemiology Of Taekwondo Injuries In Youth And Adult Competitors, Matthew Felix Carlson

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: To study the nature and incidence rate of injuries affecting young and adult taekwondo competitors during training and competition and to examine the relationship between injury rates and specific injury risk factors.

Background: Taekwondo is becoming an increasingly popular sport among youth and adult populations. With this increase in popularity, the epidemiology of injury in taekwondo is becoming an increasingly important area of investigation. There has been little research investigating the incidence and distribution of injuries affecting taekwondo athletes, and the research that does exist lacks consistency in research methods. Analytical studies are limited to those which have examined …

Effects Of Parental Support On Physical Activity Levels In Children, Julie Ann Caspers

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: The literature is mixed regarding behavioral methods that may effectively motivate children to increase physical activity levels. Because some research has shown parental influence can affect children's behavior, it is hypothesized that trained parental support may increase children's physical activity.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of parental support on children's physical activity. Pender's Health Promotion Model (HPM) served as a guide. The theoretical underpinnings of this model are based on the assumption that individuals are influenced by interpersonal factors such as parental support.

Design and Sample: For this pre-test/post-test interventional study, 30 children …

Perceptions Of Legal Policy And Sex Offender Treatment, Kirsten Sierra Engel

Theses and Dissertations

Sex offender policy, treatment, and public perception are greatly intertwined in the numerous policies in place regarding sex offenders. These policies tend to reflect the underlying perceptions and myths about sex offenders than the reality of sexual offenses and treatment. These perceptions have also had a role in shaping psychological treatment of sex offenders through enacted policies and public support, or dissent, for community treatment centers, half-way houses, or residency restriction laws. With the sizeable potential impact of the public's perceptions of these issues, examination of their perceptions of sex offenders, sex offender policies, and sex offender treatment, and whether …

Targeted Overexpression Of Metallothionein In Endothelial Cells Mitigates Pulmonary Alveolar Basement Membrane Thickening In Transgenic Diabetic Ove Mice: An Unbiased Tem Morphometric Analysis, Holly M. Hewitt

Theses and Dissertations

Damage to small blood vessels in diabetes mellitus (DM) is largely the result of hyperglycemia-driven oxidative stress. This is manifested morphologically by capillary basement membrane (BM) thickening, the hallmark feature of chronic complications of DM. In an effort to demonstrate pulmonary alveolar BM (PABM) thickness increase in DM and to demonstrate for the first time, mitigation of the increase utilizing antioxidant therapy, we crossed the severely diabetic transgenic mouse (OVE) with Jtmt, our recently developed transgenic animal model that overexpresses the antioxidant metallothionein (MT) in endothelial cells. Unbiased TEM morphometry demonstrated that PABM widths in diabetic (OVE) mice were significantly …

Theoretical Studies Of Oxides Relevant To The Combustion Of Fossil Fuels, Jason Hicks

Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic pollution has greatly increased since the industrial revolution and continues to increase as more of the world becomes dependent upon fossil fuels for important applications like transportation and power production. In a general case, whenever a fossil fuel is consumed, a primary product of a complete combustion reaction is carbon dioxide. In a more specific case, the collection, processing and combustion of coal for power production are one of the primary ways by which trace elements, such as arsenic and selenium, are released into the environment. All of these pollutants are known to have harmful effects, whether on the …

Cultural Hybridization: Bicultural Self-Efficacy And Resilience In Northern Plains American Indians, Kyle Xavier Hill

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined bicultural self-efficacy and its relationship to resilience in Northern Plains American Indians. American Indians in the Northern Plains, like many tribes in the United States, experienced a calamitous history marked by interactions with the federal government that were often fatal to the Indigenous peoples of North America, and found to contribute to a conflicted individual and collective well-being of these people within the Northern Plains region. As such, the investigation sought to identify the relationships between that of cultural identity, resilience, and negative life events, or risk, to measures of psychopathology. To that end, efforts involved …

Air Circulation Under Reduced Atmospheric Pressures, Lendell E. Hillhouse

Theses and Dissertations

The control of heat exchange is vital for plant life in off-world, low pressure,

greenhouses. The ability to control this process was limited by methodology and

technology. Mathematical models, based on classical mechanics are created to enhance

our control capabilities. Data is collected using various sensors placed inside the Low

Pressure Test Bed (LPTB) Chamber at Kennedy Space Center. Data from those sensors

became non-linear at various pressures below 25 kPa. We introduced mathematical

calibration corrections and found that sensor data linearity could be extended to a greater

range of pressures. These calibration corrections allow for sensor calibration corrections

in …

An Investigation Of Sub-Pixel Cloud/Clear-Sky Contamination Using Hyper-Spectral Aviris Data, Celil Kaplan

Theses and Dissertations

Cloud and clear sky contamination due to sub-pixel clouds remains as a troubling issue for scientific applications that rely on remotely sensed data. Sub-pixel level clouds may not be detected by a standard cloud filtering process, and thus can cause uncertainties in satellite-based meteorological property retrievals. In this study, using collocated data from Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) data, sub-pixel cloud and clear-sky contamination were studied over the west coast of Northern California. The hyper-spectral data from AVIRIS have a spatial resolution on the order of 11.5 m for the study case, thus can …

Mobile Vehicle Road And Weather Observation Quality Check Methods, Daniel Raymond Koller

Theses and Dissertations

Today State Departments of Transportation rely more and more on road weather data to make maintenance decisions. Inaccurate data can result in wrong treatment applications or inadequate staffing levels to maintain the roadway at the desired level of service.

Previous methods of road condition data reporting have been limited to static in situ sensor stations. These road weather information systems (RWIS) provide varied data about precipitation, winds, temperature, and more, but their siting does not always provide an accurate representation of weather and road conditions along the roadway. The use of mobile data collection from vehicles travelling the highway corridors …

Should Girls Play Hockey With Boys? Perspectives From The Usa Women's Olympic Hockey Team, Jocelyne Nicole Lamoureux

Theses and Dissertations

An exploratory descriptive analysis on USA Women's Olympic hockey team player's perspectives on playing with boys during their developmental years was conducted. Fifteen elite women American hockey players completed a questionnaire about their experiences playing on boys' teams, making the transition to girls' hockey, and how they thought playing with boys effected their physical and psychological development. Data analysis included both qualitative and quantitative data. Results showed that all participants had played with both boys and girls. They all started playing on boys' teams and transitioned to girls' teams mainly for safety reasons. Participants reported positive effects from playing with …

Design And Construction Of A Fluidized Bed, Robert Ryan Mota

Theses and Dissertations

Coal combustion is responsible for the majority of electricity production in the United States. It is however, also the primary cause for carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute to global warming. With oil reaching its peak production in the near future, alternative fuel sources will be needed to meet the worlds growing energy demands. Coal is an abundant resource that has the potential to meet those demands. In contrast to coal combustion, coal gasification only partially oxidizes the coal to produce a syngas containing of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which means less carbon dioxide emissions. Utilizing coal in gasification technologies is …

Heat Transfer Measurements On An Incidence-Tolerant Low Pressure Turbine Blade In A High Speed Linear Cascade At Low To Moderate Reynolds Numbers, Leolein Patrick Gouemeni Moualeu

Theses and Dissertations

Runway-independent aircraft are expected to be the future for short-haul flights by improving

air transportation and reducing area congestion encountered in airports. The Vehicle

Systems Program of NASA identified a Large Civil Tilt-Rotor, equipped with variable-speed

power-turbine engines, as the best concept. At cruise altitude, the engine rotor-speed will

be reduced by as much as the 50% of take-off speed. The large incidence variation in the

low pressure turbine associated with the change in speed can be detrimental to the engine

performance. Low pressure turbine blades in cruise altitude are more predisposed to develop

regions of boundary layer separation. Typical …

A Broad-Based Decision-Making Assessment Of College Women With Bulimia And Binge-Eating Disorder, Erin Murtha-Berg

Theses and Dissertations

Using a broad-based test battery (i.e., the IGT, GDT, BART, and select A-DMC subtests), the current study comprehensively assessed decision-making performance in different situations (e.g., where contingencies were and were not explicit, where the task was administered via computer and pencil-and-paper, where higher quality decision making was reflected by low risk-taking and where higher-quality decision making was reflected by higher risk-taking) in groups with BN and BED compared to each other and to controls in a sample of primarily female college students (N=111). Analyses were run to explore whether these difference could possibly be explained by differences in measures of …

Family Factors And Perceived Coworker Support And Supervisor Support, Sara Narveson

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how aspects of family formation relate to coworker support and supervisor support. Studying both coworker support and supervisor support is valuable because they can give us a glimpse of how different people feel about the workplace. Using the theoretical perspective of homophily, which focuses on how people prefer to interact with others who are similar to themselves, it was hypothesized that people who are married or who have children will perceive more coworker support and supervisor support than others. The data set of the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce was used. It contained 3,368 cases …

An Investigation Of Gender's Role In Three- And Four-Year-Old Children's Musical Play, Kari Jo O'Keefe

Theses and Dissertations

Young children engage in many activities, with play being the most prominent. Musical play occurs when children freely investigate sound through vocal, instrumental, or other means. Identifying the extent of musical play - and the role that gender plays in musical play - may provide important information about children's natural tendencies.

The purpose of this study was to investigate gender's role in three- and four-year-old children's musical play, and to investigate further the general nature of musical play. A grounded theory methodology was used, and data was gathered from field and individual child observations, and parent and preschool teacher surveys. …

Financial Development And Human Development In The European Union, Sasa Ostojic

Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between finance and economic growth is often studied using GDP per capita growth. This paper aims to focus on the richness of human life, not the richness of the economy. Thus, the Human Development Index is used to test the relationship between financial development and human development. By focusing on a sample limited to the European Union, the many criticisms associated with the use of an index can be mitigated. At this moment there is not a universally accepted measure of financial development. Use of measures from past literature allowed for consistency with past works. The results show …

Effects Of The Seed Bank And Interseeding In Reconstructed Tallgrass Prairies, Stephen C. Rossiter

Theses and Dissertations

Disturbances such as fire and mowing temporarily increase available resources for plants, opening a window of opportunity for establishment. During the recovery of vegetation after disturbance in remnant prairies, seedling establishment is often negligible compared to vegetative regrowth. It is unclear if this is the case in reconstructions. I tested the contribution of seedlings to diversity after disturbance in two, 25-year-old, low diversity reconstructed prairies by removing seedlings, allowing seedlings, and adding seed in 1 m2 plots. Disturbance frequency effects were tested by clipping each treatment zero, one, or multiple times. After two growing seasons, in the wetter field site, …

Grassland Songbird Response To Landscape Composition And Vegetation In Northeastern And East-Central North Dakota, Dustin James Vanthuyne

Theses and Dissertations

Grassland songbirds are declining faster and more consistently than other avifauna of North America. This has resulted in many species being placed on state and federal lists as species of concern. These declines can be linked to former and current land use practices which have resulted in an extensive loss of habitat. Natural resource agencies are trying to offset these habitat losses by reconstructing grasslands formerly cropped areas and protecting remaining grassland tracts. Few studies have addressed how the location in the landscape and vegetation composition of these reconstructions affects grassland birds. This thesis describes data collected from 32 locations …

Mennonite Music Education In Southern Manitoba: A Descriptive Study Of Mennonite Collegiate Institute And Steinbach Christian High School, Troy Landon Toavs

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe and compare the music programs at Mennonite Collegiate Institute (MCI) founded in 1889 and Steinbach Christian High School (SCHS) which has its origins in Steinbach Bible College founded in 1936. The Kanadier, Mennonites who came to Manitoba in 1874 (e.g., Kleine Gemeinde and Bergthaler), had previously rejected part-singing in Russia. However, they became more open to part-singing after they came to Manitoba. The Bergthaler in Gretna helped establish MCI. The Mennonite Brethren (MB) and Evangelical Mennonite Brethren (EMB) were influential in promoting choral music among the Kleine Gemeinde in Steinbach. Steinbach Bible …

Hydraulic Fracturing Design For Horizontal Wells In The Bakken Formation, Williston Basin, Hadi Jabbari

Theses and Dissertations

Unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs have proved to be challenging in terms of reservoir characterization, predicting production potential, estimating ultimate recovery, and optimizing hydraulic fracture stimulations. The methods by which these resources are extracted use progressive, or unconventional, technologies. Today, through the use of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, extraordinary amounts of oil and natural gas from deep shale formations across the United States and around the world are being safely produced.

Performing a hydraulic fracture design requires modeling of fracture propagation and tracking the fluid front in the created fracture. In this dissertation, the roles of all effective parameters and properties …