Digital Commons Network^™

A Case Study Of Evaluating The Impact Of Cost Of Quality For Civil Engineering Design Services In A Small Corporation, Isaac Pearson

Student Projects for Graduate Degrees

This case study evaluated the cost of quality (CoQ) for Civil Engineering Design Services (CEDS) in an Alaska based firm. The firm currently lacks a mature Quality Management System (QMS), which is needed to control and measure CoQ. As a means to justify the implementation of a QMS Feigenbaum quality costs were captured from historical job data and used to develop a Juran and Gryna Optimum Quality Cost Model. During the model development non-parametric testing was performed to determine the following; does the overall job budget size have an effect on quality cost, is there a correlation between appraisal and …

Project Management Methodology Applied To Dall's Sheep Herd Heath Assessments, Jeffrey Johnson

Student Projects for Graduate Degrees

Assessing Dali's sheep herd health is the first step to monitoring and management. Currently Alaska does not have a baseline disease presence and prevalence data set; therefore, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game will conduct health testing to develop a baseline of wildlife diseases within south-central Alaska. This project consists of three to seven years of work where 30-40 sheep are sampled annually. These samples will be analyzed to determine what types of disease, bacterial and viral, currently exist in the population. This knowledge base will build a foundation for study of Alaska's Dali’s sheep population. If there is …

Alaska Majestic Lodge Project, Kelvin Goode

Student Projects for Graduate Degrees

The Alaska Majestic Lodge Project proposed to deliver a remote wilderness fishing lodge business plan. The project proposal was derived from a business opportunity that entailed capitalizing on a niche in a sport fishing market in the Becharof National Wildlife Refuge. When in operation, the business is expected to be the only 100% Alaskan Native owned lodge in the region and shall provide services for up to two hundred people seasonally from May to October. The significance of the project can be demonstrated in reviewing the summer visitor year of 2011. Nearly 1.2 million Alaskan tourists spent an estimated $1.5 …

The Copper Mountain Project: Financial Analysis And Sustainability Plan For The Copper Mountain Foundation A 501(C), Angela Totemoff

Student Projects for Graduate Degrees

The Copper Mountain Foundation (herein referred to as CMF) is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit that is fully funded, fully operated, and established by The Tatitlek Corporation (herein referred to as TTC). CMF currently has a program that provides scholarships and career grants for original enrollees and descendants of original enrollees of TTC. To be eligible to receive funding, a student must be an original enrollee of TTC or a lineal descendant of an original enrollee (by birth or adoption). Original enrollees of TTC either resided in the Native Village of Tatitlek or their families resided in Tatitlek at the …

Free2play, Corey Lee Wilson

Computer Engineering

Free2Play is a website based upon the wildly popular PC video game League of Legends created by Riot Gaming. The website contains helpful information for new and old players of the game, such as articles containing the latest League of Legends new, a rune calculator, and recommended item builds for characters. The website uses HTML5, jquery, node.js, MySQL, and PHP to pull data from Riot’s web API and Champion.gg’s website.

Hands-Free Computer Interaction Using A Sip/Puff Sensor As A Mouse, Daniel Williams

Computer Engineering

No abstract provided.

Real-Time Digital Effects Processing Using Ios, Jonah W. Clinard

Computer Engineering

In today’s society, we are seeing incredible improvements in terms of creating smaller technological devices that behave more and more like the personal computers of yesterday. Mobile “Smart” devices, in particular, are becoming incredibly powerful not just in terms of processing power, but in the fact that they are able to provide assistance to users in their everyday lives. Application developers are now able utilize the power and size of these devices, to create and realize ideas that would have been previously viewed as impossible. This project applies the fields of digital signal processing, music, and mobile application development, to …

Effects Of Medications On Pupillometry Measurements Of Sedation In The Intensive Care Unit, Johlee Schinetsky

XULAneXUS

No abstract provided.

Literary Laughter And Lewdness: Bakhtin's Theory Of The Carnivalesque In Shakespeare's As You Like It, Cheyenne Deshields

XULAneXUS

No abstract provided.

Examining Patterns In Second Graders’ Use Of Virtual Manipulative Mathematics Apps Through Heatmap Analysis, Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham, Stephen Isaac Tucker, Arla Westenskow, Jurgen Symanzik

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This study examined 32 second-grade children’s interactions with six virtual manipulative mathematics apps on the iPad using a novel analysis approach called heatmap analysis. Mathematical topics of the six apps focused on understanding skip counting and place value concepts. Children interacted individually with the apps under the guidance of an interviewer during 30-40 minute clinical interviews. The heatmap analysis revealed patterns in children’s performance on the tasks and suggested individual cases for further analysis. For example, clusters of children showed high or low performance during the skip counting sequence. In the high-performing cluster, one child still struggled to monitor the …

Manual Anchoring Biases In Slant Estimation Affect Matches Even For Near Surfaces, D. M. Shaffer, E. Mcmanama, Frank H. Durgin

Psychology Faculty Works

People verbally overestimate hill slant by ~15°–25°, whereas manual estimates (e.g., palm board measures) are thought to be more accurate. The relative accuracy of palm boards has contributed to the widely cited theoretical claim that they tap into an accurate, but unconscious, motor representation of locomotor space. Recently, it was shown that a bias that stems from anchoring the hand at horizontal prior to the estimate can quantitatively account for the difference between manual and verbal estimates of hill slant. The present work extends this observation to manual estimates of near-surface slant, to test whether the bias derives from manual …

The Validation Of An Instrument For Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Professional Development Program On Teaching Online, Jui-Long Hung, Dazhi Yang

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Attending professional development (PD) on teaching online is becoming popular for teachers in today’s K-12 online education. Due to the unique characteristics of the online instructional environments, surveys become the most feasible approach to evaluate the effectiveness of PD programs. However, there is no validated, open-access instrument available to satisfy the needs. Purpose of this study is to conduct construct validity, content validity, concurrent validity, and reliability tests on an open-access instrument for K–12 PD for online teaching. With the exception of a few items that have minor issues on content and construct validity, results show that the survey is, …

Distinguishing Softwoods From Hardwoods, Terry Conners

Agriculture and Natural Resources Publications

Softwood and hardwood trees are made up of different types of cells. With just a little magnification, it’s easy to see that softwood growth rings look different from hardwood growth rings. Additionally, growth rings don’t look the same for all of the trees, and the growth ring appearance is one of the things we will look at to identify wood.

First Steps In Identifying Wood, Terry Conners

Agriculture and Natural Resources Publications

Wood samples need to be identified for all sorts of reasons, and they come in all shapes, sizes and conditions. I’ve received samples that were sound, samples that were waterlogged, samples that were rotted or otherwise degraded, painted samples, furniture samples, even samples containing wood preservatives. Most of the samples I receive have a North American origin, but I also receive pieces from art museums and antique dealers that can originate from just about anywhere. This sometimes means that identifying the sample by a common name alone doesn’t provide enough information.

Properties Of Pan Fibers Solution Spun Into A Chilled Coagulation Bath At High Solvent Compositions, E. Ashley Morris, Matthew C. Weisenberger, Gregory Wilson Rice

Center for Applied Energy Research Faculty and Staff Publications

In this work, multifilament, continuous polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fiber tow was solution spun mimicking industrial processing at the small pilot scale (0.5 k tow), while carefully altering the composition of the coagulation bath, in order to determine the effect on the resulting fiber shape, density, orientation, and tensile properties at varying points in the spinning process. Novel here are the abnormally high coagulation bath solvent compositions investigated, which surpass those often reported in the literature. In addition, the coagulation bath was maintained at a slightly chilled temperature, contrary to reported methods to produce round fibers. Further, by altering the composition of …

Reinstating The Soul In Engineering Laboratory Work: Direct Observation Assessment Method, A.B. Aishah

Research Publications (2011 to 2015)

This paper explores a case on the implementation of a new assessment procedure in a second year undergraduate soil mechanics laboratory. This new method emerged as a result of an attempt to constructively align assessment to intended learning outcome when Outcome-based Education is implemented. The new method involves the introduction of direct observation as part of assessment as well the usual assessment via laboratory report. Constructive alignment between assessment and learning outcomes with embedded formative assessment were used as a strategy to ensure active learning to occur. Assessing the learning process of laboratory activities rather than the end product increases …

Overcoming Barriers To Assist Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities Obtain Employment Outcomes, Cassandra A. Payne

Research Papers

No abstract provided.

Three Degree-Of-Freedom Parallel Actuator Telescope Mount, Garrett Daniel Gudgel

Master's Theses

This thesis contains the design, implementation, and testing of an original, small-scaled two degree-of-freedom telescope mount and a medium-scaled three degree-of-freedom telescope mount inspired by the six degree-of-freedom Stewart-Gough platform telescope mount. The end product is intended to achieve research-standard resolution of targeted sky coverage for binary star research. The scaled prototype was carried through concept design, manufacturing, software development, and testing. The mount software development and electronic design is applicable to a full-scale mount as the drivers have been designed to be easily adapted to different actuator configurations. It is recommended that this design be implemented into a telescope …

Ergonomics Analysis Of Touchscreen Utilization As A Function Of Preferred Hand And Gender, Jordan E. Odell

Master's Theses

The growth of touchscreen technology has changed the way users interface with a wide range of computing and communication products and systems. Examples range from personal tablets and laptops to industrial applications such as process control, point-of-sales, and ticketing kiosk systems. An important area of application is the automobile industry which is designing cars with touchscreen control panels to replace the previously designed mechanical knobs and buttons. However, interacting with touchscreens does not provide the same tactile feedback as physical mechanisms, therefore they require more precise movement and visual attention, which distracts the user from the primary task.

The purpose …

Inductive Monitoring Systems: A Cubesat Ground-Based Prototype, Michelle Haddock

Master's Theses

Inductive Monitoring Systems (IMS) are the newest form of health monitoring available to the aerospace industry. IMS is a program that builds a knowledge base of nominal state vectors from a nominal data set using data mining techniques. The nominal knowledge base is then used to monitor new data vectors for off-nominal conditions within the system. IMS is designed to replace the current health monitoring process, referred to as model-based reasoning, by automating the process of classifying healthy states and anomaly detection. An IMS prototype was designed and implemented in MATLAB. A verification analysis then determined if the IMS program …

Two-Phase Anaerobic Digestion To Reduce The Nox Emission Potential Of Biogas, Nathaniel Manuel Olivas

Master's Theses

Anaerobic digestion can be used to decrease the mass of organic wastes to be disposed of while producing useful biogas (CH₄ and CO₂) for heat or power production, but in air basins with strict emissions limits, biogas combustion is difficult to implement due to the high costs of controlling NOx emissions. NOx production can be minimized by blending H₂ gas with CH₄ at a volume ratio of 15:85 H₂:CH₄, which allows burning at ultra-lean air-to-fuel ratios. For biogas systems, a potential low-cost NOx control strategy is to produce H₂-CH …

Process Development For Compression Molding Of Hybrid Continuous And Chopped Carbon Fiber Prepreg For Production Of Functionally Graded Composite Structures, Corinne Marie Warnock

Master's Theses

Composite materials offer a high strength-to-weight ratio and directional load bearing capabilities. Compression molding of composite materials yields a superior surface finish and good dimensional stability between component lots with faster processing compared to traditional manufacturing methods. This experimental compression molding capability was developed for the ME composites lab using unidirectional carbon fiber prepreg composites. A direct comparison was drawn between autoclave and compression molding methods to validate compression molding as an alternative manufacturing method in that lab. A method of manufacturing chopped fiber from existing unidirectional prepreg materials was developed and evaluated using destructive testing methods. The results from …

Bit By Bit: Using Design-Based Research To Improve The Health Literacy Of Adolescents, Mega Subramaniam, Beth St. Jean, Natalie Greene Taylor, Christie Kodama, Rebecca Follman, Dana Casciotti

School of Information Faculty Publications

Background: Although a low health literacy level has been found to be among the most powerful predictors of poor health outcomes, there is very little research focused on assessing and improving the health literacy skills of adolescents, particularly those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. The vast majority of existing research focuses solely on reading comprehension, despite the fact that health literacy is actually a multifaceted concept, which entails many different types of skills.

Objective: The aim of this paper is to first mine existing literature to identify the many different skills that have been posited to constitute health literacy, and then, …

Bragging Rights Restored: The Third Circuit Allows Attorneys To Quote Complimentary Remarks From Judicial Opinions For Advertising In Dwyer V. Cappell, Nicole Holden

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Arbitration Agreement Arbitrage?: Statutory Discrepancy Leads To Third Circuit Victory For Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Defendants In Khazin V. Td Ameritrade Holding Corp., John K. Lisman

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Borges's Postmodern Landscape, Mario Vrbančić

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Borges's Postmodern Landscape" Mario Vrbančić examines specific constructs of space -- among them heterotopia (Michel Foucault) and hyperreality (Jean Baudrillard) -- and applies them to narration and narrative strategies in Jorge Luis Borges's texts. Vrbančić posits that postmodern mapping undermines our known familiar geography and that authors like Borges who experimented with different spaces and connections in their texts, represent postmodernism avant la lettre.

Volume 35, Number 4, December 2015 Olac Newsletter, Marcy Strong, Autumn H. Faulkner, Richard N. Leigh, Jan Mayo, T.J. Kao, Jay Weitz, Lisa Romano

OLAC Newsletters

Digitized December 2015 issue of the OLAC Newsletter.

Reinventing The Medical Request Process In A Correctional Healthcare Setting, Leah Murphy

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project was developed as part of a Clinical Nurse Leader course of study with the goal of gathering and evaluating microsystem data, and the creation and implementation of a process improvement project. The project was conducted in a correctional setting which houses male and female detainees with a wide variety of medical needs. The project addressed long wait times for detainees who have submitted a request for services from the medical department. The goal of this project was to reduce wait times for medical requests, and provide service for a greater number of patients. This project is needed because …

Modeling Arbitrarily Interval-Censored Survival Data With External Time-Dependent Covariates, Wei Fang

Dissertations

Arbitrarily interval-censored survival data refer to the situation where the exact time of the occurrence of an event of interest is only known to have occurred within some two consecutive examinations. External time-dependent covariates refer to those whose values change during the periodic follow-up, and whose value at a particular time does not require individuals to be under direct observation. Regression modeling of survival data usually either handles arbitrarily interval-censored data alone (Farrington, 1996) or external time-dependent covariates alone (Cox, 1972; Therneau & Grambsch, 2000). In the current research, an adjustment has been made to the data augmentation used in …

The Art Of Multiphonics: A Progressive Method For Trombone, Matthew William Haislet

Dissertations

The Art of Multiphonics serves as a resource for trombone players and teachers wanting to develop multiphonic technique in order to approach the literature for which this technique is required. Its further aims are to provide accurate and relevant information regarding (1) subjective tones and beats, (2) the tuning of multiphonic intervals, and (3) vocal technique. Designed to be accessible to players of intermediate to advanced abilities, this method contains progressively arranged exercises for vocal and split-tone multiphonics. The first five chapters of the method are devoted to vocal multiphonics and contain individual subchapters that focus on one aspect of …