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Characterization Of The Native Microbial Communities In The Karst Aquifer Of Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, Anni Moore

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The karst aquifer in Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, serves the population as their only drinking water source, and is extremely vulnerable to pollution from sewage and agricultural practices. Because the native microbes are expected to handle this organic pollution load, this study was conducted in order to characterize the phylogenetic and metagenomic composition of these communities as well as microbe-mineral interaction in this virtually metal-free water. Three karst sinkholes and an abandoned drinking water well at a hotel territory were sampled at fresh, saline, and fresh-saline water interface during dry and rainy seasons. The phylogenetic analysis showed an overall high microbial …

The Games Men Play : How Community College Men Use Video Games To Construct Masculinity, Eric J. Niemi

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Employing a critical discourse analysis as a methodology, the study provides information into the intersection of male student development, video games, and two-year higher education institutions. Using a sample of 13 participants, this research study examines how male students at two year higher education instructions use video games to construct their masculinity. This study provides evidence that college men construct multiple definitions of masculinity by playing video games. Further, the benefits explored include academic and workplace strategies for success. Finally, opportunities for two year institutions to further engage this student population is included.

Integrating Spirituality And Religion With Counselors-In-Training In Practicum : A Look At Competence And Comfort Level, Nikki Renee Ruffin

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In the past 20 years, the counseling profession has increased the amount of research and focus on integrating spirituality and religion into applied practice, curriculum, and supervision. In the last few years, some have argued that spirituality is the fifth force in the counseling field. The purpose of this study was to (a) explore counseling students' exposure to religious and spiritual issues in counseling (SRIC) practica and their comfort with addressing SRIC with clients, (b) explore counseling students' exposure to an intervention of SRIC practica and their perceived competence with addressing SRIC with clients, and (c) assess the impact of …

Sensing And Analysis Of Angular Vibrations Of Tremor, Divya Uppuluri

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Tremor is defined as the unintentional involuntary muscle movements involving rhythmic oscillations of any part of body like legs, hands, arms and limbs. This thesis deals with the most common tremor that occurs in hands. Tremor is not life threatening but greatly affects quality of life. The main purpose of this research is to identify a feedback control technique for the suppression of Essential Tremor. Tremor can be defined as the nonlinear and non stationary phenomenon which is the most common movement disorder affecting more than 4% of elderly people. In this research, a tremor is simulated using a stepper …

Using Sample Validation In Auditing, A. Ochigbo

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

A state government agency wants to determine if a sample verification procedure, used in auditing accounts to detect fraudulent charges, reduces the error of estimating the unknown mean amount of fraud per transaction. The procedure consists of checking whether the covariates of an audit variable, whose mean is known, is within a 100(1-alpha) % confidence interval computed on the observed sample. In this study we use computer based simulations to explore the effect that the procedure has on the error in estimating the mean. We concentrate on the bivariate normal distribution and on a normal bivariate normal mixture. Numerical results …

Reforming Consumer-Insurer Dispute Resolution In The Auto Insurance Industry, Cassandra Roeder

Student Award Winning Papers

No abstract provided.

A Gut Gone To Pot: A Case Of Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome Due To K2, A Synthetic Cannabinoid., Anene Ukaigwe, Paras Karmacharya, Anthony A. Donato

Reading Hospital Internal Medicine Residency

Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS) was first described in 2004. Due to its novelty, CHS is often unrecognized by clinicians leading to expensive workup of these patients with cyclical symptoms. It may take up to 9 years to diagnose CHS. CHS is characterized by cyclical nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, and an unusual compulsion to take hot showers in the presence of chronic use of cannabinoids. Cannabicyclohexanol is a synthetic cannabinoid, popularly known as K2 spice. It is a popular marijuana alternative among teenagers and young adults since it is readily available as herbal incense. Unlike marijuana, many users know that …

Inorganic/Organic Hybrid Nanocomposite Coating Applications : Formulation, Characterization, And Evaluation, Tsehaye Eyassu

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Nanotechnology applications in coatings have shown significant growth in recent years. Systematic incorporation of nano-sized inorganic materials into polymer coating enhances optical, electrical, thermal and mechanical properties significantly. The present dissertation will focus on formulation, characterization and evaluation of inorganic/organic hybrid nanocomposite coatings for heat dissipation, corrosion inhibition and ultraviolet (UV) and near infrared (NIR) cut applications. In addition, the dissertation will cover synthesis, characterization and dispersion of functional inorganic fillers.||In the first project, we investigated factors that can affect the "Molecular Fan" cooling performance and efficiency. The investigated factors and conditions include types of nanomaterials, size, loading amount, coating …

Examination Of Middle School Students' Perceptions Of Including Democratic Practices In An Environmental Service-Learning Project, Eileen Anne Stocco

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to gather data on middle school students' perceptions of including democratic practices in an environmental service-learning project. The study explored students' perceptions of their inclusion in helping plan curriculum and student participation in civic engagement. Seventh grade students' perceptions of the personal benefits gained due to their participation in the environmental service-learning project were explored. Additionally, the study investigated students' perceptions of benefits to the local community due to students' participation in the project.||Utilizing democratic practices in the classroom plays a critical role in supporting a democratic education; therefore, students were provided with …

Lagrangian Approach To Minimize Makespan Of Non-Identical Parallel Batch Processing Machines, Nurul Mubinah Binti Suhaimi

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Batch Processing Machines (BPMs) are commonly used in electronics manufacturing, semi-conductor manufacturing, and metal-working - to name a few. Scheduling these machines are not an easy task; practical considerations and the exponential number of decision variables involved impede schedulers (or decision makers) from making good decisions. This research focuses on minimizing the makespan of a set of non-identical parallel batch processing machines. In order to schedule jobs on these machines, two decisions are to be made. The first decision is to group jobs to form batches such that the machine capacity is not exceeded. The second decision is to sequence …

Measuring Efficiencies In U.S. Hospital Mergers, Sandhya Radhakrishnan

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Using non-parametric approaches, this study investigates the technical efficiencies of U.S. hospitals that have undergone horizontal mergers. Past studies have shown that hospital prices, hospital costs, quality of care provided, and consumer welfare are affected by these mergers. Theoretical studies on mergers propose potential gains from mergers. The results from these studies provide conflicting reports on the efficiencies of the merged hospitals. Hospitals merge in the anticipation of increasing market power by reducing operational expenses and expansion of services. However, many of these merged hospitals have filed for bankruptcy and have shut down in the years following the merger. This …

Mindfulness Meditation In First-Year Composition : Effects On Attention, Metacognition, And Apprehension, Kristin Demint

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Amid ever-growing interest in cognition and learning and demands for pedagogy that channels the attention of increasingly distracted and disengaged learners, this thesis explored the effects of a mindfulness meditation practice on students' attentional control, metacognition, and writing apprehension. Students practiced the instructor-led meditation as a class for five minutes each class session, completing periodic surveys about their experiences and writing weekly timed essays. The repeated mindfulness practice allowed students to become familiar with their mental habits and challenged students to work through mental frustrations as they arose. The weekly writing session following the mindfulness practice allowed them to both …

Addressing Public Health Risks Of Persistent Pollutants Through Nutritional Modulation And Biomimetic Nanocomposite Remediation Platforms, Bradley J. Newsome

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Due to their relative chemical stability and ubiquity in the environment, chlorinated organic contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) pose significant health risks and enduring remediation challenges. Engineered nanoparticles (NPs) provide a novel platform for sensing/remediation of these toxicants, in addition to the growing use of NPs in many industrial and biomedical applications, but there remains concern for their potential long-term health effects. Research highlighted herein also represents a transdisciplinary approach to address human health challenges associated with exposure to PCBs and NPs. The objectives of this dissertation research are two-fold, 1) to develop effective methods for capture/sensing and remediation …

One-Directional Normally-On Vertical Silicon Carbide (3c-Sic) Mesfet On Silicon (Si) Substrate, Ramana Thakkallapally

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The main objective of this thesis is to design a one-directional normally-on vertical 3C-SiC MESFET on silicon substrate. The 3C-SiC material has higher carrier mobility, high saturation velocity and high critical breakdown field compared to traditional silicon devices. Epitaxial layer of 3C-SiC can be easily grown on the large area of silicon wafer. Vertical MESFET occupies less than 33% of the area compared to lateral MESFET with same dimensions, and this increases the integration density and reduces the cost. The drain current of vertical 3C-SiC MESFET is 100% higher than lateral structure MESFET with same dimensions. Vertical 3C-SiC MESFETs can …

Outside University Walls : Alexandra David-Neel's Influence In Developing The Field Of Buddhist Studies, Mary Michele

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Alexandra David-Neel (1868-1969) was a Frenchwoman who is known primarily as an adventurer, explorer, and travel writer because she walked across the Himalayan Mountains into the city of Lhasa in 1924 when foreigners were prohibited from entering Tibet. She returned to Europe to write about her experiences in two famous books: My Journey to Lhasa (1993) and Magic and Mystery in Tibet (1971).||David-Neel wrote twenty more books about mystical, philosophical, sociological, political, and historical themes (published on five continents) that reflect discourses that changed over time within different cultures. The discourses about Orientalism and colonialism along with feminist and gender …

Parental And Adolescent Characteristics Predicting Adolescent Disclosure To Parents Across Various Social Domains, Michael Patrick Flores

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The current study examined associations between adolescents' externalizing problem behaviors (EPBs), maternal and paternal parenting characteristics (i.e., parental warmth), and adolescents' disclosure of behavior to their mother- and father-figures across several specific social domains (i.e., personal, multifaceted, moral/conventional, electronic) in order to provide a better understanding of the forces behind adolescent's decisions to disclose. Complete data were collected from 170 ninth and tenth-grade students from a suburban Chicago high school. Based on actual reported experiences disclosing to parents, three social domains that have been previously considered were identified as was an unexpected social domain which was labeled the "electronic" domain. …

Putting Your Car Where Your Mouth Is: Diets And Carbon Emissions, Sarah Rehkamp, Azzeddine Azzam, Christopher Rand Gustafson

Cornhusker Economics

In an effort to broaden the focus of sustainability research from work on sustainable production that aims to influence farmer decisions when producing food, to research about sustainable consumption that aims to influence consumer decisions when buying food, we embarked on a research project that looks at environmental and health impacts of dietary choices. In this article, results from some initial work on the environmental impact are reported. Specifically, the energy efficiencies and consequent carbon emissions of the average United States, Japanese, Mediterranean, French and Nordic diets are compared. To put the results in perspective, the carbon emissions were converted …

For-Profit Public Enforcement, Margaret H. Lemos, Max Minzner

Faculty Scholarship

This Article investigates an important yet undertheorized phenomenon: financial incentives in public enforcement. Each year, public enforcers assess billions of dollars in penalties and other financial sanctions for violations of state and federal law. Why? If the awards in question were the result of private lawsuits, the answer would be obvious. We expect that private enforcers—the victims of law violations and their fee-seeking attorneys—will attempt to maximize financial recoveries. Record recoveries come as no surprise in private class actions, for example. But dollar signs are harder to explain in the context of public enforcement. Unlike private attorneys, public enforcers are …

The Southeastern Librarian V. 61, No. 4 (Winter 2014) Complete Issue

The Southeastern Librarian

The complete issue of The Southeastern Librarian v. 61, no. 4 (Winter 2014).

Sela News

The Southeastern Librarian

Recent Activities from the Southeastern Library Association. Details on New Voices Program Call for Submissions/Papers

Hbcu News

The Southeastern Librarian

Recent Activities from the Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Details on HBCU Library Alliance Receives New Grant.

People News

The Southeastern Librarian

Recent Professional Developments from SELA Members.

Toward A Definitive History Of Griggs V. Duke Power Co., David J. Garrow

Vanderbilt Law Review

When Griggs v. Duke Power Co. was unanimously handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court on March 8, 1971, the decision did not draw prominent headlines. The New York Times accorded the ruling only a two-sentence summary on page twenty-one, and the Wall Street Journal gave it modest attention on page four. The Washington Post did give the decision front-page coverage, but Gillette v. United States, a Selective Service Act case, was awarded a prominent, top-of-the-page, two-column headline while Griggs received secondary attention. Notwithstanding how modest the contemporaneous news coverage was, knowledgeable judges, scholars, and litigators quickly acknowledged how Griggs …

The Granite, 2014, University Of New Hampshire

The Granite – Yearbook

The yearbook of the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, 1909-1922, the University of New Hampshire, 1923-

Hist 340: American Legal History: A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Katrina Jagodinsky

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Because I am teaching HIST 340: U.S. Legal History for the first time and plan to make it a signature course of mine, I am using the course portfolio and peer review teaching workshop to carefully chart effective teaching strategies for this course. My goals are threefold: 1) to more deeply consider the constituency and position of this course as an important component of the Pre-Law Program and imagine ways to strengthen the History Department’s presence in that area; 2) to ensure the efficacy of teaching strategies and assessments in giving students the opportunities they need to meet course objectives; …

Ento 403/803: Management Of Horticultural Crop Pests—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Thomas J. Weissling

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

ENTO 403/803, management of horticultural crop pests, is an important class for many students. It is required by undergraduate horticulture majors at UNL, but because it is offered online, it is also of interest to entomology and horticulture graduate students across the U.S. and globally. I chose this class for the peer review process because I find it challenging due to online course delivery, and the breadth of knowledge of students that are enrolled. I feel I need to take this course to a higher level where I can engage students of all backgrounds, and ensure that each of them …

Alec 397: Media Literacy And Popular Portrayals Of Agriculture—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Annie R. Specht

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

My goal is to disseminate this portfolio as a guide for other instructors who are interested in using media literacy as a guiding pedagogical principle for new courses as well as those who wish to incorporate popular media in existing curricula. My objectives for this Peer Review of Teaching benchmark portfolio are:

1. To produce a detailed overview of ALEC 397-001: Media Literacy and Popular Portrayals of Agriculture with extensive attention paid to text selection (identifying and choosing the proper materials to best enhance student learning outcomes).
2. To assist future instructors interested in media literacy with designing and implementing assessments. Assignment …

Goal-Subgoal Conflict As The Core Feature Of Delay Of Gratification, Violet Cheung-Blunden, Jennifer L. Zahm

Archives of Assessment Psychology

While delay of gratification is a well-established individual difference, its assessment is limited by the original delay paradigm, which is only valid in the age range of four to 11 years. If delay of gratification were to be construed as a competence of resolving goal-subgoal conflicts, a specific type of puzzle games, with a feature called ambiguous subgoal ordering, can be used as an alternative assessment tool. While the child version of this type of puzzle, the Dog-Cat-Mouse task (DCM), is available; an adult version, the Dog-Cat-Mouse-Rabbit task (DCMR), had to be developed. Two studies were conducted to establish the …

The Factor Structure And Psychometric Properties Of The Greek Version Of Career Motivational Types (Cmt-Q): Cross-Cultural Comparison In Greece And Bulgaria, Vaitsa Giannouli, Stanislava Stoyanova

Archives of Assessment Psychology

The psychometric properties of a Career Motivational Types Questionnaire based on Moses (2003) typology of major career motivators were studied in a Greek sample of 123 subjects (workers and unemployed people) in 2013. The results were compared with those coming from a Bulgarian sample of 132 subjects (workers, unemployed people and students) studied in 2013. A cohort comparison was performed on major Bulgarian career motivational types between the years 2007 and 2013. The similarities in the major motivators in both countries concerned prevalence of Personal developers, Stability seekers and Authenticity seekers as career motivational types and more diverse career motivators …

Room For A (Sacred) View? American Indian Tribes Confront Visual Desecration Caused By Wind Energy Projects, Allison M. Dussias

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.