Digital Commons Network^™

Panic Development Mechanisms And Preventive Methods Analysis, Inga Wuerges

Theses and Dissertations

Panic Development (PD) is one of the most important areas of Human Factors research due to its debilitating effects during high stress operating conditions in extreme environments. High levels of anxiety and panic evoke incidents that are a real threat to mission success and may result in fatalities. A delicate balance of crew selection, training, and systems' design is critical for mission success and human survival.

This research investigates possible panic development profiles and methods for preventing panic through realistic training. This research focuses on realistic training scenarios during the intense military flying exercise Red-Flag Alaska at Eielson AFB, AK. …

Application And Prospect Of Orthogonal On-Off Keying As An Error Control Coding In Laser Communication, Tasbirun Nahian Upal

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis work, a bandwidth efficient coded modulation technique has been proposed for LASER based communication. It offers reliable error correction and bandwidth optimization for free space connectivity. Laser communication has been emerging as a potential alternative of Radio Frequency (RF) communication for long-haul connectivity. It provides several advantages over RF systems. Some of specific advantages are its high speed data transfer, higher bandwidth, robust security, immunity to electromagnetic interference, lower implementation cost. However, as any other communication system, it requires an error control system that detects and corrects error in the data transmission. The proposed technique blends well …

Agricultural Drought Monitoring And Prediction Using Soil Moisture Deficit Index, Jiexia Wu

Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this study are: 1) to evaluate the performance of an agricultural drought index, Soil Moisture Deficit Index (SMDI) at continental scale; 2) to develop an agricultural drought prediction method based on precipitation, evapotranspiration and terrestrial water storage.

This study applied multiple linear regression (MLR) with the inputs of precipitation from Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM), evapotranspiration from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) MOD 16 and terrestrial water storage (TWS) derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) to predict soil moisture and SMDI. The inputs of the MLR model were chosen based on the …

Promoting Self-Determined Motivation For Exercise In Stroke Rehabilitation: The Role Of Autonomy Support, Emmanuel Afawuah Akowuah

Theses and Dissertations

Rehabilitation Interventionists (RIs) usually spend a great deal of time and effort trying to improve the functional abilities of stroke patients. Stroke rehabilitation through current studies has been recognized as an important and effective modality in the treatment of stroke. Despite the known benefits of SR to stroke patients, a number of them drop out resulting in a decline the benefits from the program.

Objective: To examine the predictive relationship between perceived autonomy support provided by Stroke Rehabilitation Interventionists, and the participants' subsequent stroke rehabilitation program attendance rate. The study also examines the predictive relationship between participants' perceived autonomy support …

A Comparative Study Of Spectrum Sensing Methods For Cognitive Radio Systems, Mohammad Shakib Apu

Theses and Dissertations

With the increase of portable devices utilization and ever-growing demand for greater data rates in wireless transmission, an increasing demand for spectrum channels was observed since last decade. Conventionally, licensed spectrum channels are assigned for comparatively long time spans to the license holders who may not over time continuously use these channels, which creates an under-utilized spectrum. The inefficient utilization of inadequate wireless spectrum resources has motivated researchers to look for advanced and innovative technologies that enable an efficient use of the spectrum resources in a smart and efficient manner.

The notion of Cognitive Radio technology was proposed to address …

Does Attractiveness Matter For Sex Offenders? An Examination Of Defendant Attractiveness, Defendant Gender, And Crime Severity, Adam Charles Austin

Theses and Dissertations

There has been an abundance of research showcasing an attraction-leniency bias that benefits attractive defendants of various crimes. However, this bias tends to diminish if the crime is deemed serious or if the defendant uses his or her attractiveness to commit the crime (i.e., swindle). The purpose of the current study is to investigate judgments made about a defendant being accused of a sexual offense. The study represents a 2 (gender of defendant) x 3 (attractiveness of defendant: attractive, unattractive, no picture) x 3 (crime severity: low, medium, high) factorial design. Participants (N = 686) were asked to report their …

Actualizing The Seventh Generation Prophecy In Teacher Education: A Case Study Of Preparing Teachers At A Tribal College, Lisa Jo Azure

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this case study was to conduct a descriptive analysis of a teacher education professional educator licensure program for American Indian pre-service teachers at a tribal college. The professional educator was generally defined as one who completed a state-approved teacher education program and met state licensure requirements, including standardized testing requirements. The case study describes the context of a tribal college teacher education program and the dimensions of the program. Included are an analysis of documents, processes, and, most important, perspectives from the program graduates of the dimensions that contributed to their successful completion of the program, and …

A Comparison Of Solar Prominence Data Between Hα And Euv (He Ii-304Å), Jonathan Schiralli

Theses and Dissertations

Two spectral lines are often used to observe solar prominences: Hα and He II 304 Å. Both emission lines capture the same prominence structure but at vastly different temperatures: Hα is visible at ~10,000K while He II 304 Å. at ~80,000K. The He II 304 Å images provide the ability to identify the relatively hotter outer region of a prominence, although they lack the details seen in the cooler lower regions. Hα conversely shows great detail in the cooler lower regions of a prominence but lack any detail in the hotter outer region of a prominence. Two prominences will be …

P300, Steady State Visual Evoked Potentials, And Hybrid Paradigms For A Brain Computer Interface Speller, Setare Amiri

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research was to evaluate and compare two types of brain computer interface (BCI) systems, P300 and steady state visually evoked potentials (SSVEP), as spelling paradigms and combine them as a hybrid approach. There were pilot experiments performed for designing the parameters of the SSVEP spelling paradigm including peak detection for different range of frequencies, placement of LEDs, design of the SSVEP stimulus board, and window time for the SSVEP peak detection processing. The next experiment was to evaluate the SSVEP spelling paradigm. Six subjects participated in the task. The accuracy of each frequency and average accuracy …

Statistical Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of The 'You're Hired!' Program At Changing Students' Attitudes Towards Engineering, Kristin Michelle Brevik

Theses and Dissertations

With the growing need for qualified employees in STEM-based careers, it is critical to develop activities for middle and high school students to increase their awareness of opportunities in these areas. With proper design, increasing awareness of STEM-based careers in conjunction with overcoming current stereotypes can lead to a change in attitudes towards these various careers. As part of this research project I have developed `You're Hired!', a program providing middle and high school students a hands-on, authentic experience in various engineering roles while assessing the change in a student's attitude towards the engineering profession. Project design also incorporates an …

Sense Of Place, Place Attachment, And Rootedness In Four West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana Bars, John Winsor Mcewen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores place and the relationships that people have with place: sense of place, place attachment, and rootedness. These three concepts have each been researched and discussed on their own in journal articles, books, and book chapters, but the terms rarely appear in the same sentence let alone the same research article. In the United States, places of drink are historically linked to community and social interactions, and such establishments often possess a solid core of loyal patrons for whom going to their bar is a natural and routine part of their daily and weekly life. This research brings …

Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Factors That Affect The Acceptance Of Unmanned Aircraft Usage Within The United States National Airspace System, Eric Cameron

Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned aircraft have been around since before the Wright brothers took flight in 1903. Even though unmanned aircraft have had a history that well exceeds the century of manned aviation, they were primarily used by the military, and were mostly outside the public's purview. In recent years unmanned aircraft have made a giant leap from military use to commercial use within the United States and around the world. While pilots and operators flying these aircraft may have accepted the technology and its future potential; the public might have a different point of view on utilization over their home, town, state, …

Minnesota Paraeducators' Perceptions Of The Barriers To Becoming Licensed Special Education Teachers, Joni Burris

Theses and Dissertations

Public schools across the country are facing a critical shortage of licensed special education teachers. For many reasons, paraeducators have been considered strong teacher candidates and have been recruited into the teaching profession intermittently for decades. Paraeducators who decide to obtain their teaching license often experience obstacles to this endeavor: money, time, family obligations, navigating the university system, and academics.

This research study examined and analyzed Minnesota paraeducators' perceptions of the barriers to obtaining their special education teaching license. It also assessed the perceptional differences between Minnesota paraeducators who have completed at least a bachelor's degree and those who have …

Restoration, Presence And Computer Use: How Computer Displays Incorporating Restorative Environments Effect Users' Sense Of Restoration And Presence, Jacob Bell

Theses and Dissertations

Recent technological advances provide opportunities for computer users to replace

desktop pictures with dynamic, audio-visual recordings. Such advances provide researchers with opportunities to better understand how specific video content may effect users' sense of restoration and presence. As described within Attention Restoration Theory, those perceiving restorative environments, which are found primarily within nature-based environments, experience a sense of restoration. Yet, prior research has largely focused on singular, and to an extent, non-interactive displays of restorative environments. The current research further investigated the restorative potential of environments having incorporated interactive, computer-based displays, with animated audio-visual environments. Participants were assigned to either …

Translation Of Aadl To Pnml To Ensure The Utilization Of Petri Nets, Amrita Chatterjee

Theses and Dissertations

Architecture Analysis and Design Language (AADL), which is used to design and analyze software and hardware architectures of embedded and real-time systems, has proven to be a very efficient way of expressing the non-functional properties of safety-critical systems and architectural modeling. Petri nets are the graphical and mathematical modeling tools used to describe and study information processing systems characterized as concurrent and distributed. As AADL lacks the formal semantics needed to show the functional properties of such systems, the objective of this research was to extend AADL to enable other Petri nets to be incorporated into Petri Net Markup Language …

Synthesis, Characterization, And Theoretical Studies Of Fluorescent Gumbos And Nanogumbos, Chengfei Lu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, novel fluorescent materials, which are referred to as a group of uniform materials based on organic salts (GUMBOS) are synthesized, characterized, and studied for different applications. GUMBOS are solid state organic salts having melting points from 25°C to 250°C. Similar to ionic liquids, GUMBOS are highly tunable and can be designed for specific applications by incorporating multiple-functions into a single ion pair by selection of cation-anion combinations. Chapter 2 is a discussion of the synthesis and characterization of a PEGylated IR786 GUMBOS. These GUMBOS are prepared by a two-step synthesis procedure followed by a facile anion exchange …

Staging The Voice : Towards A Critical Vocal Performance Pedagogy, Derek Mudd

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Until the late twentieth century, courses in voice and diction were a staple of the field of communication studies. Increasingly these classes are disappearing from departments around the country, largely over concerns regarding the prescription of strict speech standards. At the same time, an interest in vocal training has increased in BFA and MFA actor training programs. This study looks to the shared history of voice training between the fields of communication studies and theatre instruction to provide a critical pedagogy for vocal performance, specifically for the area of performance studies, but also for use in other disciplines. Informed by …

Web-Based Computational Tools For Studying Plant Biodiversity, Timothy Mark Jones

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Large scale plant biodiversity bioinformatics projects are now making taxonomic datasets available at a frenetic pace via the World Wide Web (WWW). While these new resources provide the fundamental textual and visual backbone of expert level knowledge, their information structure often impedes the development of derivative works for identification. But when this information is rearranged from a traditional format, questions can be asked of the data that were previously thought to be unanswerable. The difficulty in transforming this ‘big-data’ is manifold: how to deliver it rapidly to researchers across the world while providing visualizations of data that encompass these large …

Liminal Encounters And The Missionary Position: New England's Sexual Colonization Of The Hawaiian Islands, 1778-1840, Anatole Brown Ma

All Student Scholarship

This study on New England’s early contact with the Hawaiian Islands examines the sexual liminality of the initial encounter. Late eighteenth century navigators from Boston recorded what could be described as “intimate encounters” with Native Hawaiian women and men.

Admissions Viewbook, 2014-2015, Illinois State University, Office Of Admissions

Admissions Viewbook

Recruitment booklet created by Illinois State University's Office of Admissions

Beyond One Voice, David H. Moore

Faculty Scholarship

The one-voice doctrine, a mainstay of U.S. foreign relations jurisprudence, maintains that in its external relations the United States must be able to speak with one voice. The doctrine has been used to answer critical questions about the foreign affairs powers of the President, Congress, the courts, and U.S. states. Notwithstanding its prominence, the one-voice doctrine has received relatively little sustained attention. This Article offers the first comprehensive assessment of the doctrine. The assessment proves fatal.

Despite broad use and value in certain contexts, the one-voice doctrine is fundamentally flawed. The doctrine not only is used to address divergent questions …

Laboratory Schools Annual Report, 2013-2014, Laboratory Schools, Illinois State University

Annual Reports – Laboratory Schools

Illinois State University Laboratory Schools annual report

A National Investigation Of Pre-Activity Health Screening Procedures In Fitness Facilities: Perspectives From American College Of Sports Medicine Certified Health Fitness Specialists, Aaron C. Craig

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is well established in the literature that the morbidity and mortality rates due to chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, hypertension, and diabetes in the U.S are alarmingly high. Likewise, there is ample data which demonstrates that participating in physical activity can help prevent and control many types of chronic diseases. Though the benefits outweigh the risks of participation in physical activity, the risks must be acknowledged.

Published standards and guidelines in the health fitness field have been established to address operational practices of fitness facilities, increase safety of participants and mitigate these risks. The present study was …

Human - Animal Interaction And The Benefits To Mental Health: A Phenomenological Study, Jasmin Jau

Theses : Honours

The prevalence of mental illness is a major concern in Australia and worldwide. It is one of the leading causes of disability in Australia and it is estimated that globally one in four people will experience a mental illness at some point in their life. One of the lesser known therapies and activities in the mental health field are animal assisted interventions that incorporate animals as part of the therapeutic or ameliorative process. Although emerging research literature shows that interaction with animals has positive effects on mental health and wellbeing, it is not clearly understood how and why there are …

Indigenous Parenting Support In The Dampier Peninsula: July – December 2013 Participatory Action Research Evaluation Report, Andrew Guilfoyle, Sasha Botsis

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

We assessed the activities / events run by the Indigenous Parenting Support (IPS) program in the Dampier Peninsula, from July – December 2013. We evaluated their impact against the Communities for Children – IPS Program Guideline Deliverables, and include the strengths, challenges, and recommendations for each deliverable; along with our general observations and recommendations, and recommendations for activities and methods for the first 6 months of 2014.

• Continue with Current Activities: The IPS has overcome major risks and engaged the communities in a range of community bound diverse activities. We observed a diverse range of activities which have …

Performance Evaluation Of A Technology Independent Security Gateway For Next Generation Networks, Fudong Li, Nathan Clarke, Steven Furnell, Is-Mkwawa Mkwawa

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

With the all IP based Next Generation Networks being deployed around the world, the use of real-time multimedia service applications is being extended from normal daily communications to emergency situations. However, currently different emergency providers utilise differing networks and different technologies. As such, conversations could be terminated at the setup phase or data could be transmitted in plaintext should incompatibility issues exit between terminals. To this end, a novel security gateway that can provide the necessary security support for incompatible terminals was proposed, developed and implemented to ensure the successful establishment of secure real-time multimedia conversations. A series of experiments …

Day Occupation Is Associated With Psychopathology For Adolescents And Young Adults With Down Syndrome, Kitty-Rose R. Foley, Peter Jacoby, Stewart Einfeld, Sonya Girdler, Jenny Bourke, Vivienne Riches, Helen Leonard

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background: Young adults with Down syndrome experience increased rates of emotional and behavioural problems compared with the general population. Most adolescents with Down syndrome living in Western Australia participate in sheltered employment as their main day occupation. Relationship between day occupation and changes in behaviour has not been examined. Therefore, the aim of this research was to explore any relationship between post school day occupations and changes in the young person's behaviour.Methods: The Down syndrome Needs Opinion Wishes database was used for case ascertainment of young adults aged 15 to 32 years with Down syndrome. Families of 118 young people …

Identification Of Plasma Lipid Biomarkers In Alzheimer's Disease, Rhona Creegan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the commonest form of dementia, is a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative disease which manifests clinically as a slow global decline in cognitive function, including deterioration of memory, reasoning, abstraction, language and emotional stability, culminating in a patient with end-stage disease, totally dependent on custodial care. With an ageing population, there is predicted to be a marked increase in the number of people diagnosed with AD in the coming decades, making this a significant challenge to socio-economic policy and aged care. Currently there is no cure for AD and while current therapies may temporarily ameliorate symptoms, death usually occurs …

Developing Effective Hospital Management Information Systems: A Technology Ecosystem Perspective, Christopher Bain

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis presents the results of the program of research performed in the completion of a Doctor of Philosophy (Business) entitled: Developing Effective Hospital Management Information Systems: A Technology Ecosystem Perspective.

The central contention of this thesis is that the current ecosystem models in the information technology (IT) and information systems (IS) literature can be extended and improved. In turn they can be better applied to the field of IS and the development and implementation of information systems. This research seeks to highlight an example of how these models can be extended, through an analysis of the specific context of …

Western Australian Graduate Diploma Of Education (Primary) Students' Perceptions Of Sustainability, Judith Clare Odgaard

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In late 2011, the researcher investigated a cohort of Western Australian (WA) Graduate Diploma of Education Primary (GDE-P) students’ perceptions of Sustainability across a broad range of biophysical/natural, social and cultural, economic and political spheres. The study occurred during the seventh year of UNESCO’s Decade of Education for Sustainability Development, and when Sustainability Education became one of three cross-curriculum priorities of the new Australian Curriculum. Importantly, the students’ perceptions were interpreted during the context of the Post Global Financial Crisis and after Julia Gillard replaced Kevin Rudd as the Labor Prime Minister. The intense political context was often supported by …