Digital Commons Network^™

Solar Stand-Alone System With Storage And Dc Bus Control, Sandeep Reddy Lethakula

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Now-a-days people are busy in finding the replacement for fossil fuels, because fossil fuels are at a stage of extinction. As the demand for energy requirement is high, the fossil fuels alone cannot meet the energy requirements. Some kind of clean, efficient, cheap and self-sustainable energy sources should be used, few of them are solar, wind, geothermal and hydro-power. As of now, it's a global mission to use the renewable energy sources, which can control the global warming and many other ecological imbalances. Many governments are encouraging and supporting for new researches in this field.;Among all energy sources, solar energy …

Quantifying The Spatial Variability Of Fractures And Fracture Network Properties, John Robert Hanke

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Fracture networks can have a significant impact on the performance of subsurface reservoirs, and therefore have a wide variety of industrial applications (e.g., oil and gas, economic ore deposits, hydrogeology, environmental science). Collectively, these industries make multi-trillion dollar decisions based on information gathered from geological models. As a result, these industries are faced with the ongoing risk that unreliable models lead to costly mistakes.;The reliability of all rock fracture models is coupled with the spatial variability (e.g., spatial heterogeneity and anisotropy) of fracture network characteristics. This study provides a foundation for developing a new generation of mechanical and stochastic fracture …

Tracking The Gap : A Closer Look At Student- And School-Level Characteristics, Aundrea R.J. Lane

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The goals of this study were to evaluate achievement gaps between varying sub-group populations (i.e., ethnicity, gender, and socio-economic status) as well as estimate which student-level and or school-level characteristics account for variance in reading growth over time. This longitudinal study followed a cohort of 2,077 students (1st -- 5th grade) nested within one school district's 21 elementary schools. The participant's early literacy (Letter Sound Fluency), reading-curriculum based measure (R-CBM), and Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) scores were analyzed utilizing univariate and multivariate analyses of variance (ANOVAs and MANOVAs). School-level characteristics were entered into hierarchical linear models to evaluate variance …

Tri-Axis Modified Helmholtz Coil System For Magnetometer Characterization And Calibration, Kristen Marie Allen

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis, the design of a tri-axis magnetometer characterization and calibration system is realized through the use of three pairs of modified Helmholtz Coils. These three pairs of coils, with each pair separated by their shared diameter and placed along the three orthogonal directions, will, when supplied with a current, produce a known magnetic field in the surrounding environment that will serve to excite a magnetometer, a sensor that serves to measure magnetic fields, placed at the center of the system. Commercially available magnetometers, the HMC5843 and HMC5883L, will be employed to test the functionality of the coil system …

The Mirage Of Curriculum Decentralization : A Case Study Of Local Stakeholders' Involvement In School-Based Curriculum Development (Sbcd) Policy Implementation In Indonesia, Muhamad Ali Akrom

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study examined local stakeholders' involvement in the School-Based Curriculum Development (SBCD) policy implementation in five elementary schools in a city in the southeastern region of Indonesia. An interpretive qualitative case study design was applied. Participants in the study consisted of principals, teachers, parents/School Committee members, and key officials from the local education authority. Four data collection strategies were employed in this study: semi-structured interviews, focus groups, observations, and document analysis. The data obtained were analyzed qualitatively using a constant comparative method. Nvivo 10 was also used to facilitate the analysis process.;Findings of the study indicated that the local stakeholders …

Factors That Affect The Development Of Writing Competence In Fifth-Grade Students, Ellen D. Weinstein-Blackman

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores writing instruction in fifth-grade classrooms, focusing on the attitudes and behaviors of student writers of differing abilities and their teachers' activities during written language instruction. Assessment of student writing, classroom observations, and interviews with students and teachers showed that above-average, average, and struggling writers have different perceptions about the skills necessary to master the writing process and that their views differed from those of their teachers. While teachers attempted to model composing, editing, revising, and publishing for their students, it was challenging for fifth-grade students to integrate these skills to create high-quality writing products. Writers of different …

First Clear The Way, Then Press Forward : Implementation Intentions And Job Search Behaviors, Christopher Joseph Budnick

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Boredom is an aversive internal state that increases task-irrelevant thinking, decreases task-directed concentration, and hinders task performance. Job seekers often struggle with boredom while completing job search tasks. Implementation intentions -- goal-directed action plans -- might prove an effective means of coping with boredom during task completion. Prior research has incorporated various forms of implementation intentions but has not yet examined which forms are most effective during the job search. Using a laboratory experiment, I randomly assigned 151 undergraduate student participants to one of four conditions: (1) a superordinate goal only, (2) an implementation intention to reduce distraction, (3) an …

Flexible Modeling Of Competing Risks And Cure Rate In Survival Analysis, Qi Jiang

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Advancement in medical sciences has produced therapies with curative potential for some diseases regarded as terminal in the past. Yet, patients may simultaneously be subject to multiple diseases, not all of which can be cured. When there is only disease in the context and that disease has a cure possibility, a rich class of cure models can be built by taking into consideration the underlying mechanisms leading to cure and relapse. We propose a class of flexible cure models that accounts for uncertainties in such mechanisms. Our proposed model includes many existing cure models as special cases and can be …

Fusion Rings With Degrees 1 And 4, Tyler Lewis Mitchell

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Fusion rings are a class of table algebras that generalize group rings with basis the group and character rings of a finite group with basis the irreducible characters. Examples are the Grothendieck rings of fusion categories, algebraic structures that are related to conformal field theory. When considering the character ring of a group as a fusion ring, the usual degree of a character coincides with the value assigned by the degree map. Hence classifying fusion rings based on the degree set is a generalization of classifying groups based on the degrees of the irreducible characters. The main theorem classifies real …

Gifted Learners' Motivational Outcomes In Cluster Versus Ability-Grouped Reading Instruction : An Ex-Post Facto Study, Julie Esparza

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This post hoc study focused on gifted programming in language arts for students in fourth through eighth grades in one large (n=12,229) diverse school district. One group of gifted students experienced cluster grouping, while the other group of gifted students experienced ability grouping for language arts instruction. The study examined whether motivational processes reported by gifted students differed by gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic level. The study also investigated whether gifted students who were ability grouped for reading instruction differed in self-efficacy, achievement goal orientation, achievement, and challenge seeking in language arts when compared to gifted students who were cluster grouped. …

Illinois' Performance Evaluation Reform Act (Pera) Examined Within The Context Of The Federal Government's Expanding Role In Public Education, Hillary A. Nasso

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study examines the ever-expanding role of the federal government's involvement in the American public education system to put the 2010 Illinois Performance Evaluation Act (PERA) into context. Understanding the history of federal education policy and the federal government's involvement in public education (historically the domain of the states) helps illuminate the current situation in Illinois. The 2010 Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA) changed the method of evaluating the performance of public school teachers. This alteration incorporated student academic growth data into the evaluation calculation. This is the first time Illinois teacher performance evaluations will be based in part on …

Image Quality Measures In Proton Computed Tomography, Saroj Rai

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Proton therapy is an external beam radiotherapy that uses proton beam as ionizing radiation to treat localized tumor cells within the human body. The calculated proton beam range is used to locate and damage the DNA of cancerous tissue, thus, leading to cell death. Due to the Bragg peak characteristic of protons, the range of proton beam in matter can be calculated accordingly which offers greater degree of conformal dose delivery than conventional X-ray beam therapy. Currently, the treatment planning of proton therapy is based on the X-ray computed tomography (CT) scans of the patient anatomy. The images reconstructed from …

Liquid Level Measurement Using Non-Contact Radar, Kaushik Bukka

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The present research is related to liquid level measurement using a non-contact radar. For this purpose we employ a Mono-Doppler transceiver whose function is to transmit and receive electromagnetic waves. The primary objective of the research is to estimate the height of water level in a tank and to build an efficient measuring device.;"Mono-Doppler transceiver operates as a pulse radar device. It emits pulses of microwaves in a duration of nanoseconds. For this reason the transceiver has high repetition rate. Within very short duration, a received signal is observed, the time delay of the received signal is used to evaluate …

Mathematics Beliefs And Teaching Practices Of Preschool Teachers, Kristine L. Black

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine preschool teachers' beliefs about teaching mathematics to preschool students and how teachers help preschool students acquire math skills and knowledge in the classroom. The research was conducted in two parts: focus groups and classroom observations. The focus groups occurred over two sessions. The sessions focused on building a sense of teachers' beliefs about which mathematics skills should be taught to preschool children and which teaching strategies, if any, were currently used to teach the skills. The researcher recorded the focus groups and transcribed them. Coding was done to identify themes. The second …

Meta-Raps For A Bi-Objective Unrelated Parallel Machine Scheduling Problem, Nixon Dcoutho

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis discusses the capability and effectiveness of a meta-heuristic for Randomized Priority Search to solve multi-objective problems. The multi-objective problem of unrelated parallel machine scheduling is considered in the thesis. The two objectives to minimize are total weighted tardiness and total weighted completion time. Two approaches are suggested to solve the problem. The first approach uses an existing construction rule in the literature named Apparent Tardiness Cost-bi heuristic, which is used as the basis for the meta-heuristic construction phase in Meta-RaPS to generate non-dominated solutions. The computational results obtained are promising when results of the meta-heuristic approach proposed are …

Middle School Girls And One Stem Ost Program, Andrea Holba

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines motivation in middle school girls involved in one STEM OST program. Specifically, motivation is examined through four distinct components. These components are attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction. Although these components are unique, they cumulatively create a holistic picture of motivation in program design. The middle school girl participants were observed at program workshops and personal interviews. Exploring program design elements through this lens of motivation was a qualitative effort to both understand how participants respond to design elements, and what might encourage future participation in STEM activities.

Mosfet Parameter Extraction And Spice Modeling, Sai Subhash Sripada

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This paper proposes a simple extraction technique which can be used to extract device parameters of any power MOSFET easily. It only requires the use of transfer and output characteristic graphs to extract threshold voltage and transconductance and a few formulas to extract the parasitic capacitances of the power device. The extraction technique is presented in an easy to understand step by step procedure. The parameters extracted using this process are used to develop a spice model. Transient analysis is done for the extracted model and the resistive switching performance is compared with the datasheet in order to prove the …

Numerical And Experimental Study Of Bauschinger Effect On Aa5182 Sheets, Abhinav Talla

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

For stamping process, most of the sheet metal elements undergo a complicated deformation process that may comprise a sequence of stretching, bending, unbending and reverse bending processes. For this kind of deformation, the Bauschinger effect must be considered in order to calculate the internal stress within the parts before springback. To understand the Bauschinger effect phenomenon on AA5182-O temper, a fixture for cyclic double-shear test has been designed and manufactured. This test can induce cyclic shear loading on the specimen during experiment. LS-Dyna has also been used to simulate this experiment.

Plasma Treated Mesoporous Tio2 Thin Films For Energy Storage Applications, Allen D. Reed

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Mesoporous TiO₂ films treated with N₂/argon plasma or H₂ plasma were studied for use in photoelectrochemical water splitting and electrochemical supercapacitors, respectively. Cubic-ordered mesoporous thin films were prepared by a templated sol-gel method. UV-Vis absorbance spectra indicated that nitrogen plasma treatment significantly reduced the band gap of the TiO₂. XPS analysis showed that nitrogen atoms are incorporated into substitutional sites, rather than interstitial. Photocatalytic activity of nitrogen-doped TiO₂ films was evaluated by chronoamperometry and linear sweep voltammetry. Compared to pristine TiO₂, plasma-treated films showed remarkable photocurrent enhancement (up to 240 times) …

Investigation Into The Competitive Partitioning Of Dissociated H2 And D2 On Activated Fischer-Tropsch Catalysts, Wilson D. Shafer

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

The Fischer-Tropsch process, discovered in the early to mid-1920s, still has researchers disputing the C₁ monomer, and the rate-determining step. A tremendous amount of work, over the years, has focused on how hydrogen plays a role in the pseudo-polymerization of chain initiation and propagation, in an attempt to reveal the mechanism. These investigations attempted to elucidate the debated issues through studying the kinetic isotopic effect (KIE) for CO hydrogenation by switching the syngas from CO/H₂ to CO/D₂ during a steady-state period. Applying this switching step could result in a deviation in the rate of CO hydrogenation, indicating …

Pedagogical Beliefs Of Bilingual Teachers About Technology Integration, Manuel Cuauhtemoc Martinez Castro

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the pedagogical beliefs of a group of bilingual teachers, and how those beliefs shape their decisions regarding the extent to which they will integrate technology in their academic work. It also explores how unfavorable conditions affect such efforts. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) include clear expectations for students, teachers, and K-12 schools regarding technology skills and use, as well as hardware and infrastructure requirements. However, many barriers to technology integration persist in schools serving low-income communities and make those goals difficult to accomplish. Some of those barriers are related to teachers' pedagogical beliefs. Ten bilingual teachers …

Pem Fuel Cell With High-Performance Bipolar Plates, Sathwik Singari

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The consumption of electricity has drastically increased over the last decade and the need for cheap energy efficient sources has augmented. Fuel cells have been proposed as possible power sources to address issues that involve energy production and the environment. A proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is a likely alternative as a zero-emission source due to its high efficiency, low temperature operation and high power density. The Bipolar plate is a vital element of PEM fuel cell, which supplies fuel and oxidant to reactive sites, removes reaction products, collects produced current and increases the effective contact area for higher …

Performance Analysis Of Adaptive Algorithms And Enhancement Using Kalman Filter, Anusha Ravva

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

A new platform for designing robust adaptive filter is introduced. An adaptive filter is a filter that adjusts its transfer function according to an optimizing adaptive algorithm. The efficiency of the adaptive algorithm being used plays a key role in the working of the adaptive filter. The Least Mean square (LMS) and the Normalized Least Mean square (NLMS) adaptive algorithms are studied. The core part of this research is to use the theory of Kalman filter and use it in adaptive filtering process. The adaptive filtering problem can be updated to a new theory of state estimation problem. The main …

Portable Responsive Instructional Materials 1957 To 1982 : A Historical Content Analysis Using Failure Mode And Effect Analysis, Bettylynne F. Gregg

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This historical content analysis study examined portable responsive instructional materials used by United States teachers and students in primary, secondary, and higher education instructional settings for the period of 1957 through 1982---the beginning of the space race with the stimulus of educational funding from the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) to the introduction of classroom computers into the mainstream education population. During this period, a plethora of instructional materials was implemented in classrooms, which supported the audiovisual movement to improve performance and knowledge. This study focused on the pedagogical and functional uses of instructional materials from the specified period of …

Preparing Elementary Pre-Service Teachers To Integrate Stem : A Mixed-Methods Study, Erin Marie Evans

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This mixed-methods study longitudinally examined 12 elementary pre-service teachers' perceptions, attitudes, confidence, and abilities to integrate STEM into their instruction. In three phases spanning two semesters, the pre-service teachers from a small, private, Midwestern university were studied as they completed a combined science and social studies methods course, during which they designed and implemented an Integrated STEM Unit at a local elementary school. Phases I and II of this three-phase study took place before the methods course and after the methods course, while Phase III of this study took place during the final student teaching semester in order to gain …

Arab 102: First-Year Arabic Language—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Abla Hasan

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Goals of the class are derived from goals nationally recognized and agreed upon for low intermediate Arabic learners .This systematic consistency with the nationally recognized standards -albeit can be more challenging- insures students' ability to pursue national major programs in Arabic or their ability to compete for national grants, scholarships and study abroad programs. The standers adopted by ACTFL and STARTALK equally consider the linguistic as well as the cultural content of teaching Arabic. These standers known as the five C's are: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Community. The cultural content of learning Arabic is part of the international and …

Msym 109: Physical Principles In Agriculture And Life Sciences—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, David Mabie

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This benchmark course portfolio was developed for MSYM 109 - Physical Principles in Agriculture and Life Sciences. The class is a general service course taken by majors as a prerequisite for future coursework along with several other CASNR majors to fulfill their physics course requirement. MSYM 109 is a high enrollment course, with 115 students in lecture, along with four separate 30 person recitation sections. This portfolio was developed to assess the following objectives: 1. Identify, evaluate, and justify the course objectives 2. Assess and evaluate the course pedagogy and assessment methodology 3. Analyze the historical students assessment results against …

Phys 231: Electric And Electronic Circuits—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Xiaoshan Xu

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

In this portfolio, I employed a backward design teaching approach on the course PHY231 (Electric and Electronic circuit). I first decide the course objectives and choose the teaching strategies and activities emphasizing student engagement and feedbacks. The effectiveness of the teaching strategies and activities are assessed throughout the course; the adjustments are made accordingly. The results are analyzed at the end of the semester. The assessments indicate that the course objectives are fundamentally achieved and the teaching strategies are effective.

The objectives of the course are:

1. Students will reinforce their understanding in electricity and magnetism.
2. Students will learn theory of …

Edps 859: Statistical Methods—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Matthew S. Fritz

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The key goal of creating this benchmark teaching portfolio is identifying what my course objectives for EDPS 859 really are and to revise my current course materials, activities, and evaluations to emphasize what I consider to be important in the class in order to better meet the course objectives. I would like this portfolio to serve primarily as a way for me to identify and address issues with my particular section of EDPS 859. The secondary purpose of this portfolio is to provide information regarding the purpose and placement of EDPS 859 as a service course within CEHS and the …

Teac 315: Teaching Science In The Elementary School—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Krista Adams

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Teaching Science in the Elementary School (TEAC 315) is an upper-division course taken by elementary education majors as a requirement for the Bachelor of Science (BS) in Education. The peer review of teaching project had me identify concerns for teaching the elementary methods course. The concerns I wanted to address focused on eliciting teacher candidate’s views and experiences with teaching science as well as my ability to identify evidence of growth. The first area focuses on my needing to understand if I need to develop more instructional strategies to support teacher candidate growth. This involves both in terms of specific …