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2014

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Education System Of Tajikistan During The Civil War: Student Perspectives Of Hardships, Muhabbat Makhbudovna Yakubova Jan 2014

Education System Of Tajikistan During The Civil War: Student Perspectives Of Hardships, Muhabbat Makhbudovna Yakubova

Sociology and Anthropology

Civil wars have devastating consequences for people who witness them. Wars collapse states' economies, ruin infrastructures, and result in death of people. The goal of this study is to examine the multiple perspectives of students about the effects of the civil war in Tajikistan on the education system. The study uses secondary data collected by the "Oral History of Independent Tajikistan Project" of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Academy. 107 interviews with participants representing all regions of the country, who were in school or university during war in Tajikistan, were selected translated, transcribed and coded. Coding …

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Modeling Change In The Presence Of Non-Randomly Missing Data: Evaluating A Shared Parameter Mixture Model, Scott A. Baldwin, Nisha C. Gottfredson, Daniel J. Bauer Jan 2014

Modeling Change In The Presence Of Non-Randomly Missing Data: Evaluating A Shared Parameter Mixture Model, Scott A. Baldwin, Nisha C. Gottfredson, Daniel J. Bauer

Faculty Publications

In longitudinal research, interest often centers on individual trajectories of change over time. When there is missing data, a concern is whether data are systematically missing as a function of the individual trajectories. Such a missing data process, termed random coefficient-dependent missingness, is statistically non-ignorable and can bias parameter estimates obtained from conventional growth models that assume missing data are missing at random. This paper describes a shared-parameter mixture model (SPMM) for testing the sensitivity of growth model parameter estimates to a random coefficient-dependent missingness mechanism. Simulations show that the SPMM recovers trajectory estimates as well as or better than …

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Healing Garden For Survivors Of Domestic Violence And Sexual Assault, Audrey June Putz Jan 2014

Healing Garden For Survivors Of Domestic Violence And Sexual Assault, Audrey June Putz

Sociology and Anthropology

The development and impacts of participation in a healing garden group for survivors of interpersonal violence were studied. The healing garden group focused on reconnection with self, others, and community as outlined in Judith Herman’s Trauma and Recovery. Using Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) methodology, a healing garden group was developed with four survivors, including the author as a participant-researcher. The participants met weekly throughout the summer of 2012 with meetings audio recorded and field notes kept. Data was analyzed using constant comparison analysis (CCA). The gardening group was found to be beneficial to the participants as survivor group for …

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Meaningful Materials: Revitalizing History And Heritage Through Hands On Experiences, Amanda Asselin Nordick Jan 2014

Meaningful Materials: Revitalizing History And Heritage Through Hands On Experiences, Amanda Asselin Nordick

Sociology and Anthropology

The Fargo Theatre Material Heritage Mitigation and Preservation Project form the case study for this paper. This project used participant observation and interviews with the undergraduate anthropology students that worked on the Fargo Theatre project and interviews with local practitioners in the fields of public history, archival practice and anthropology. The results produced an understanding of how historical materials can affect participants. An increased trend of community involvement, renewed historical interest, and new identity within the community were some of the personal connections that that students made with the historical materials. Working with the Fargo Theatre materials not only presented …

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Understanding Grower And Producer Motivations For Participation In Farm To School Programs, Jennie Annabel Lazarus Jan 2014

Understanding Grower And Producer Motivations For Participation In Farm To School Programs, Jennie Annabel Lazarus

Sociology and Anthropology

This thesis examined small-crop producers’ motivations for current and future participation in Farm-to-School programs within the region of Becker, Clay, Otter Tail, and Wilkin counties in Western Minnesota and Cass County in North Dakota. A quantitative approach was employed and utilized secondary data from the Growers’ Motivation Survey of 2013. The purpose of this study was to identify possible contextual characteristics that influence motivations; determine whether there were significant differences in the motivations of farmers who identified as currently participating; and to investigate significant differences in the motivations of farmers who identified as being at least somewhat likely to participate …

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The Use Of Sediment Removal To Reduce Phosphorus Levels In Wetland Soils And The Distribution Of Plant-Available Phosphorus In Wetland Soils And Its Potential Use As A Metric In Wetland Assessment Methods, Skye Gabel Jan 2014

The Use Of Sediment Removal To Reduce Phosphorus Levels In Wetland Soils And The Distribution Of Plant-Available Phosphorus In Wetland Soils And Its Potential Use As A Metric In Wetland Assessment Methods, Skye Gabel

Soil Science

Plant-available phosphorus (P) in wetland soils and its relationship with wetland communities and condition is somewhat unknown in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) in North America. Research objectives were to determine if 1) sediment removal reduced P in seasonal wetlands; 2) P could be used as an indicator in wetland condition assessments; 3) a gradient in P amount and wetland elevation existed; and 4) differences of sampling and extraction methods change Olsen P results as a metric in assessments. Soil samples from North Dakota wetlands were collected from two depths (0-15 and 15-30 cm) and analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity …

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Sodic Soil Swelling And Dispersion And Their Implications For Water Movement And Management, Yangbo He Jan 2014

Sodic Soil Swelling And Dispersion And Their Implications For Water Movement And Management, Yangbo He

Soil Science

North Dakota has over 1.9 million ha of sodium-affected soils, influencing water movement and crop production. This dissertation consists of four studies examining different aspects of sodic soils. The first study surveys sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) methods to determine which is the most reliable. The second and third studies investigate the dispersion and swelling functions of sodic soils. The final study examines field spatial distribution of Na in order to propose management strategies. Analytical approaches for converting alternative to standard approaches are needed. The SAR was determined from many non-standard techniques. One hundred soils were used, SARe and 1:5 soil/water …

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Mother–Infant Interactions In Free-Ranging Rhesus Macaques: Relationships Between Physiological And Behavioral Variables, Dario Maestripieri, Christy L. Hoffman, George M. Anderson, C. Sue Carter, J. Dee Higley Jan 2014

Mother–Infant Interactions In Free-Ranging Rhesus Macaques: Relationships Between Physiological And Behavioral Variables, Dario Maestripieri, Christy L. Hoffman, George M. Anderson, C. Sue Carter, J. Dee Higley

Faculty Publications

Studies of mother–infant relationships in nonhuman primates have increasingly attempted to understand the neuroendocrine bases of interindividual variation in mothering styles and the mechanisms through which early exposure to variable mothering styles affects infant behavioral development. In this study of free-ranging rhesus macaques on Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico, we aimed to: 1) compare lactating and nonlactating females to investigate whether lactation is associated with changes in plasma cortisol, prolactin and oxytocin, as well as changes in CSF levels of serotonin and dopamine metabolites (5-HIAA and HVA); 2) examine the extent to which interindividual variation in maternal physiology is associated with …

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Gem: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, Leticia Camacho Jan 2014

Gem: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, Leticia Camacho

Faculty Publications

GEM houses the results of research conducted by the Global Entrepreneurship Research Association (GERA) on the level of entrepreneurship around the world. This research, which involves annual surveys and interviews, was initiated in 1999 by Babson College and the London Business School. Data are collected and harmonized by GERA staff. The project started with 10 participating countries and has expanded to include more than 69 countries.

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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Leticia Camacho Jan 2014

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Leticia Camacho

Faculty Publications

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was launched in 2011 by Congress through the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The CFPB site, available in English and Spanish, is updated daily and provides information about a wide range of financial products and services, including paying for college, foreclosure prevention, loan discrimination, credit reporting and scores, credit card agreements, and mortgage disclosures.

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Ds-Optimal Design For Model Discrimination In A Probit Model, Ruifeng Liu Jan 2014

Ds-Optimal Design For Model Discrimination In A Probit Model, Ruifeng Liu

Statistics

In toxicology studies, dose response functions with a downturn at higher doses are often observed. For such response functions, researchers often want to see if the downturn of the response is signifcant. A probit model with a quadratic term is adopted to demonstrate the dose response with a downturn. Under the probit model, we obtain optimal designs to study the signifcance of the downturn and their efficiencies are compared. Our approach identites the upper bound of the number of optimal design points and searches for the optimal design numerically based on the upper bound.

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Proposed Nonparametric Tests For The Simple Tree Alternative In A Mixed Design, Susan Olet Jan 2014

Proposed Nonparametric Tests For The Simple Tree Alternative In A Mixed Design, Susan Olet

Statistics

For the general alternative, many test statistics exist for the dependent and independent variables. However, no documented test statistics exist for simple tree alternative for the dependent variables, independent variables, and mixed designs that consider both dependent and independent variables. This research proposes six nonparametric test statistics when we have a mixed design that consists of observations from a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). A simulation was conducted to compare the proposed test statistics under five conditions: changing number of treatments, varying the underlying distribution, increasing the variance between the RCBD and CRD, changing …

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Bracketing The Ncaa Women's Basketball Tournament, Wenting Wang Jan 2014

Bracketing The Ncaa Women's Basketball Tournament, Wenting Wang

Statistics

This paper presents a bracketing method for all the 63 games in NCAA Division I Women's basketball tournament. Least squares models and logistic regression models for Round 1, Round 2 and Rounds 3-6 were developed, to predict winners of basketball games in each of those rounds for the NCAA Women's Basketball tournament. For the first round, three-point goals, free throws, blocks and seed were found to be significant; For the second round, field goals and average points were found to be significant; For the third and higher rounds, assists, steals and seed were found to be significant. A complete bracket …

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Comparison Of Classification Rates Among Logistic Regression, Neural Network And Support Vector Machines In The Presence Of Missing Data, Sudhi Upadhyaya Jan 2014

Comparison Of Classification Rates Among Logistic Regression, Neural Network And Support Vector Machines In The Presence Of Missing Data, Sudhi Upadhyaya

Statistics

Statistical models such as Logistic Regression (LR), Neural Network (NN) and Support Vector Machines (SVM) often use datasets with missing values while making inferences regarding the population. When inferences are made based on the data set used, the presence of missing data can severely skew the results and distort the efficiency of the model. Our objective was to identify a robust model among LR, NN, SVM in the presence of missing data. The study was conducted by simulating observations based on Monte Carlo methods and missing data was introduced randomly at 10% level. Single mode imputation was used to impute …

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Identification Of Differentially Expressed Genes And Gene Sets Using A Modified Q-Value, Ekua Fesuwa Bentil Jan 2014

Identification Of Differentially Expressed Genes And Gene Sets Using A Modified Q-Value, Ekua Fesuwa Bentil

Statistics

Gene expression technologies allow expression levels to be compared across treatments for thousands of genes simultaneously. Statistical methods exist for identifying differentially expressed (DE) genes and gene sets while controlling multiple testing error. Most methods do not take into account the distribution of effect sizes or the overrepresentation of observed patterns. This paper compares a recently proposed modified q-value method that takes into account such patterns to a traditional q-value method for experiments with three treatments. The results of simulation studies performed suggest that the proposed methods improve upon the traditional method in the identification of DE genes in certain …

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Nonparametric Tests For The Non-Decreasing And Alternative Hypotheses For The Incomplete Block And Completely Randomized Mixed Design, Alfred Mungai Ndungu Jan 2014

Nonparametric Tests For The Non-Decreasing And Alternative Hypotheses For The Incomplete Block And Completely Randomized Mixed Design, Alfred Mungai Ndungu

Statistics

This research study proposes a solution to deal with missing observations which is a common problem in real world datasets. A nonparametric approach is used because of its ease of use relative to the parametric approach that beleaguer the user with firm assumptions. The study assumes data is in an Incomplete Block (IBD) and Completely Randomized (CRD) Mixed Design. The scope of this research was limited to three, four and five treatments. Mersenne - Twister (2014) simulations were used to vary the design and to estimate the test statistic powers. Two test statistics are proposed if the user expects a …

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T-Optimal Designs For Model Discrimination In Probit Models, Yue Ming Jan 2014

T-Optimal Designs For Model Discrimination In Probit Models, Yue Ming

Statistics

When dose-response functions have a downturn, one interesting feature to study is the significance of the downturn. The interesting feature can be studied using model discrimination between two rival models (model describing dose-response functions with a downturn versus model describing only increasing part of the response functions). In this article, we study T-optimal designs that can best discriminate between these two rival models. Three different sets of model parameter values are considered to demonstrate various shapes of dose-response functions. Under the different sets of the parameter values, the T-optimal designs are obtained, and their performances are compared to two other …

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Rearing Children In Love And Righteousness: Latitude, Limits, And Love, Craig H. Hart Jan 2014

Rearing Children In Love And Righteousness: Latitude, Limits, And Love, Craig H. Hart

Faculty Publications

The First Presidency (1999) counsels parents to “devote their best efforts to the teaching and rearing of their children in gospel principles which will keep them close to the Church,” and further states that “no other instrumentality can take [the home’s] place or fulfill its essential functions in carrying forward this God-given responsibility.” The proclamation on the family supports parents in magnifying their divinely designed responsibilities in the Father’s great plan of happiness (see Alma 42:8) by specifically identifying the principles that ultimately will make the most difference in their efforts.

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Analysis Of Salary For Major League Baseball Players, Michael Glenn Hoffman Jan 2014

Analysis Of Salary For Major League Baseball Players, Michael Glenn Hoffman

Statistics

This thesis examines the salary of Major League Baseball (MLB) players and whether players are paid based on their on-the-field performance. Each salary was examined on both the yearly production and the overall career production of the player. Several different production statistics were collected for the 2010-2012 MLB seasons. A random sample of players was selected from each season and separate models were created for position players and pitchers. Significant production statistics that were helpful in predicting salary were selected for each different model. These models were deemed to be good models having a predictive r-squared value of at least …

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Heavy Vehicle Impact On Rural Two Lane Highway Segments Operating Under Various Levels Of Service Conditions, Zijian Zheng Jan 2014

Heavy Vehicle Impact On Rural Two Lane Highway Segments Operating Under Various Levels Of Service Conditions, Zijian Zheng

Transportation Logistics and Finance

Oil boom in Western North Dakota State brings increasing number of oil trucks. The distinct characteristics of heavy vehicles such as oil trucks: low speed, large size, and slow accelerate and decelerate results in inaccuracy in traffic capacity forecasting and safety analysis. In this research, to calculate passenger car equivalent (PCE) factor of heavy vehicles, such as oil trucks, on two-lane rural highway, an improved analytical method based on headway and delay is introduced. It considers several elements that have effect on PCE factor: vehicle speed, safety passing time, headway distribution, level of service (LOS), and delay to downstream traffic. …

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Blended Learning In Higher Education: Institutional Adoption And Implementation, Wendy W. Porter, Charles R. Graham, Kristian A. Spring, Kyle R. Welch Jan 2014

Blended Learning In Higher Education: Institutional Adoption And Implementation, Wendy W. Porter, Charles R. Graham, Kristian A. Spring, Kyle R. Welch

Faculty Publications

Relatively little of the current research on blended learning (BL) addresses institutional adoption issues. Additional research is needed to guide institutions of higher education in strategically adopting and implementing blended learning on campus. The authors conducted a prior study in which they proposed a framework for institutional BL adoption (Graham, Woodfield, & Harrison, 2012), identifying three stages: (1) awareness/exploration, (2) adoption/early implementation, and (3) mature implementation/ growth. The framework also identified key strategy, structure, and support issues universities may address at each stage. The current study applies this adoption framework to 11 U. S. institutions participating in a Next Generation …

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The Nature Of Teacher Engagement At An Online High School, Jered Borup, Charles R. Graham, Jeffrey S. Drysdale Jan 2014

The Nature Of Teacher Engagement At An Online High School, Jered Borup, Charles R. Graham, Jeffrey S. Drysdale

Faculty Publications

Little research has examined the critical components of successful K-12 online schools, due in part to the theoretical focus of current frameworks on higher education rather than characteristics of K-12 online learners and environments. Using K-12 online research, this paper examined teaching presence as explained by the Community of Inquiry framework and identified additional teacher roles that needed stronger emphasis. We termed the new construct teacher engagement. Teacher engagement was shown to be helpful in describing and identifying effective teacher practices at the Open High School of Utah (OHSU), a successful online charter school. Through a series of 22 interviews …

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An Online High School “Shepherding” Program: Teacher Roles And Experiences Mentoring Online Students, Jeffrey S. Drysdale, Charles R. Graham, Jered Borup Jan 2014

An Online High School “Shepherding” Program: Teacher Roles And Experiences Mentoring Online Students, Jeffrey S. Drysdale, Charles R. Graham, Jered Borup

Faculty Publications

Several online programs use on-site facilitators to create a stronger sense of community and reduce student dropout. However, little research addresses how programs that are fully online can provide their students with comparable support. This case study analyzed a “shepherding program” at Mountain Heights Academy, a fully online high school. We found that the shepherding program enabled fully online teachers to provide their students with many of the services typical of on-site facilitators. The roles of the shepherding program included building caring relationships, facilitating content interaction, and providing students with the communication links they needed to be successful. In addition, …

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2014 Weed Science Research Report – Blue Section, Ndsu Weed Science, Dept. Of Plant Sciences Jan 2014

2014 Weed Science Research Report – Blue Section, Ndsu Weed Science, Dept. Of Plant Sciences

Plant Sciences Weed Science Reports

The Weed Science team at North Dakota State University conduct field research in the State of North Dakota. This specific document reports on field research conducted in 2014. It includes work on corn, soybean and the management of several weeds in North Dakota.

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2014 Weed Science Research Report – Gold Section, Ndsu Weed Science, Dept. Of Plant Sciences Jan 2014

2014 Weed Science Research Report – Gold Section, Ndsu Weed Science, Dept. Of Plant Sciences

Plant Sciences Weed Science Reports

The Weed Science team at North Dakota State University conduct field research in the State of North Dakota. This specific document reports on field research conducted in 2014. It includes work on sugarbeet and the management of several weeds in North Dakota.

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2014 Weed Science Research Report – Green Section, Ndsu Weed Science, Dept. Of Plant Sciences Jan 2014

2014 Weed Science Research Report – Green Section, Ndsu Weed Science, Dept. Of Plant Sciences

Plant Sciences Weed Science Reports

The Weed Science team at North Dakota State University conduct field research in the State of North Dakota. This specific document reports on field research conducted in 2014. It includes work on small grains and the management of several weeds in North Dakota.

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2014 Weed Science Research Report – Pink Section, Ndsu Weed Science, Dept. Of Plant Sciences Jan 2014

2014 Weed Science Research Report – Pink Section, Ndsu Weed Science, Dept. Of Plant Sciences

Plant Sciences Weed Science Reports

The Weed Science team at North Dakota State University conduct field research in the State of North Dakota. This specific document reports on field research conducted in 2014 It includes work on absinth wormwood, common cottonwood, common milkweed and prairie dogbane in North Dakota.

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2014 Weed Science Research Report – Yellow Section, Ndsu Weed Science, Dept. Of Plant Sciences Jan 2014

2014 Weed Science Research Report – Yellow Section, Ndsu Weed Science, Dept. Of Plant Sciences

Plant Sciences Weed Science Reports

The Weed Science team at North Dakota State University conduct field research in the State of North Dakota. This specific document reports on field research conducted in 2014. It includes work on several minor crops and the management of several weeds in North Dakota.

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2014 Weed Science Research Report – White Section, Ndsu Weed Science, Dept. Of Plant Sciences Jan 2014

2014 Weed Science Research Report – White Section, Ndsu Weed Science, Dept. Of Plant Sciences

Plant Sciences Weed Science Reports

The Weed Science team at North Dakota State University conduct field research in the State of North Dakota. This specific document provides environmental, indexes, abbreviations and collaborators in 2014.

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Accounting Education Research: Ranking Institutions And Individual Scholars, D. Kip Holderness Jr., Noah M. Myers, Scott L. Summers, David A. Wood Jan 2014

Accounting Education Research: Ranking Institutions And Individual Scholars, D. Kip Holderness Jr., Noah M. Myers, Scott L. Summers, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

Previous rankings of accounting literature have largely ignored the subtopic of accounting education research. Given the important role that rankings play in creating incentives and benchmarks, ranking education research may improve both the quality and quantity of research in this subtopic. This paper ranks academic institutions and individual accounting researchers based on their production of accounting education research. We show that the correlation between education research rankings and singular, non-education research rankings is very low (i.e., ranges from 0.20 to 0.31), emphasizing the importance of considering education rankings separately from other topical areas in accounting research. We also provide evidence …

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