Digital Commons Network^™

Student-Teacher Interaction Through Online Reflective Journals In A High School Science Classroom: What Have We Learned?, Megan Elizabeth Ehlers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Three challenges in current secondary school science classrooms are (a) meaningful integration of technology, (b) integration of reading and writing in content courses, and (c) differentiation of instruction to meet individual student needs in courses. This is an exploratory study of an urban, high school marine science course in which a teacher added communication with her students via asynchronous online journals. This intervention was intended to enable the teacher to understand how students were constructing knowledge and their understanding of marine science topics. Data included journal postings from all students and the teacher throughout the semester, as well as the …

Low Dimensionality Effects In Complex Magnetic Oxides, Paula J. Lampen Kelley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Complex magnetic oxides represent a unique intersection of immense technological importance and fascinating physical phenomena originating from interwoven structural, electronic and magnetic degrees of freedom. The resulting energetically close competing orders can be controllably selected through external fields. Competing interactions and disorder represent an additional opportunity to systematically manipulate the properties of pure magnetic systems, leading to frustration, glassiness, and other novel phenomena while finite sample dimension plays a similar role in systems with long-range cooperative effects or large correlation lengths. A rigorous understanding of these effects in strongly correlated oxides is key to manipulating their functionality and device performance, …

The Action Cycle/Structural Context Framework: A Fisheries Application, D. G. Webster

Dartmouth Scholarship

There is a growing consensus that environmental governance is a wicked problem that requires understanding of the many linkages and feedbacks between human and natural systems. Here, I propose an action cycle/structural context (AC/SC) framework that is based on the concept of responsive governance, in which individuals and decision makers respond to problems rather than working to prevent them. By linking agency and structure, the AC/SC framework points out two key problems in the realm of environmental governance: the profit disconnect, whereby economic signals of environmental harm are dampened by endogenous or exogenous forces, and the power disconnect, whereby those …

Nonlinear Analysis And Digital Pre-Distortion Of The Sc-Fdma Signals In Lte Uplink System, Changwen Zhu

Dissertations and Theses

Single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) has become a popular alternative to orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDM) in multi-user communication on LTE uplink systems. This is primarily due to the low peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of SC-FDMA compared to that of OFDM. Long-term evolution (LTE) uses SC-FDMA on the uplink to exploit this PAPR advantage to reduce transmit power amplifier (PA) back-off in mobile user terminals. However, the latest generation of communication systems requires high power efficiency and a large quantity of capacity in transmitting mobile data, bringing out some other critical problems: 1) the nonlinearity of Radio Frequency …

Theatre Safety In Louisiana Secondary Schools: A Survey Study, Christopher Pyfrom

LSU Master's Theses

Participation in secondary school theatre can have many benefits including the development of improved reading comprehension, self-concept, and empathy. In the world of professional theatre, each design area has its own department head and several levels of assistants and workers below them. Yet in the world of secondary school theatre, we expect one person to assume all of those roles in addition to the regular responsibilities of teaching. Not many people see theatre as being dangerous when compared to sports, science labs, or vocational education. However, it can contain many of the same risks. This study investigated several factors that …

Using Trace Fossils To Determine The Role Of Oceanic Anoxic Event Ii On The Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway Paleoenvironment, Jacob Frederick Grosskopf

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Did well-oxygenated benthic conditions exist in all parts of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway (CWIS) during the deposition of Bed 63 at the onset Oceanic Anoxic Event II (OAE II), as suggested by findings from two cores from the central portion of the CWIS? This problem was approached by categorizing the bioturbation that is prevalent through Bed 63 into oxygen-related ichnofabrics (ORI) in order to describe benthic oxygen conditions. These data were collected from outcrop and core among seven different sites along West–East and North–South transects that traversed portions of the CWIS with differing depositional settings and proximities to the …

Measuring Social Vulnerability To Environmental Hazards In The Dutch Province Of Zeeland, Ryan Hamilton Kirby

LSU Master's Theses

The Netherlands is a kingdom known for resisting the perils of natural disaster and keeping records of how these great feats were accomplished. The Dutch have measured physical risk through methods such as the intricate VNK models to predict flood scenarios, but little research has been conducted to examine how the people living in affected areas could be impacted from a natural disaster event. This study employs fine-scale data to construct a social vulnerability index for the 164 districts of the low-lying delta province of Zeeland. The methodology used to measure social vulnerability is built on recent social vulnerability and …

Early Horizon Community Organization And Neighborhoods As Seen Through The Spatial Analysis Of Residential Architecture At The Urban Center Of Caylán, Peru, Ashley Nichols Whitten

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis focuses on the spatial analysis of monumental, residential compounds at the Early Horizon urban center of Caylán (800-1 B.C.), Nepeña Valley, Peru. The utilization of space parallels the economic, social political and ideological aspects of human cultures. Hence, through the study of architectural space, aspects of the culture such as social organization can be deduced. This thesis focuses on the residential compounds with the objective of reconstructing patterns of social and community organization at Caylán. The monumental, residential compounds located at Caylán are organized into a dense urban core. The enclosures abut one another through a complex system …

Reynolds Reconsidered, Luis Fuentes-Rohwer, Guy-Uriel E. Charles

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Using Fault Kinematics To Evaluate The Relationship Between Cenozoic Fault Activity, Sedimentation Rates And Salt Movement In The Gulf Of Mexico - A Comparison Between Southwest Louisiana And Southeast Louisiana, Abah Philip Omale

LSU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT Fault initiation and reactivation across south Louisiana during the Cenozoic was driven by either clastic sediment progradation mobilizing underlying salt or by sediment progradation inducing tensional bending stresses during lithospheric flexure. Climate and tectonics within the North American continent during the Cenozoic created differences in the source location, amount of sediments transported, as well as the spatial and temporal distribution of sediments transported into the Gulf of Mexico. This study analyzes 140 fault intercepts along 11 regional cross sections containing well log data in south Louisiana. Cumulative throw, incremental throw, and fault slip rates indicate fault activity punctuated by …

Sub-Marine Sediment Instability Near Southwest Pass Of The Mississippi River: Evidence Of Mass Movements From Raciochemistry And Other Proxies, Gregory Paul Keller

LSU Master's Theses

Mass wasting events are an important geomorphic control on the Mississippi River Delta Front. Short multicores (<50cm) and longer gravity cores (<3m) were collected seaward of the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River Delta and were analyzed to assess the frequency, extent, and potential causes of submarine mass wasting events. Cores were analyzed for radionuclide activity, grain size, and density at 2cm resolution. Short-term sedimentation rates calculated from 7-Be are 2-16cm/y, while longer-term accumulation from 210-Pb are only 1.3-7.3 cm/y. In most cores, 210-Pb activity steadily decreases downcore without displaying a “stairstep” nature. However, seven cores have layers of low 210-Pb activity stratigraphically above layers with higher activity. In a gravity core from a mudflow gully, 210-Pb steadily decreases for the upper 70 cm before stabilizing for the remaining 150 cm. Clay content generally ranges between 25-40% and sand ranges between 5-15% with silt making up the rest of each sample. Sediment accumulation rates derived from 210-Pb in the short cores indicate that proximity to the river mouth has stronger influence than depositional environment (mudflow gully, depositional lobe, prodelta). This finding may be explained by rapid sedimentation rates coupled with a reduced tropical cyclone activity over the delta in the last seven years (2006-2013) which is a known cause of mass wasting events. The regions of decreased 210-Pb activity may be evidence of scavenging effects of plume sedimentation because they do not correspond with decreases in clay fraction. The layer of homogenized activity below 70cm in the gully core corresponds with a layer of decreased density. This layer occurs at a depth equivalent to 9-18 years, indicating mixing on a decadal scale from mudflows. These results may be explained by a lack of recent mass failures corresponding with lulls in tropical cyclone activity over the delta, preceded by a period of more active hurricane-driven mudflow activity.

A Model-Based Framework To Control The Crystal Size Distribution, Navid Ghadipasha

LSU Master's Theses

Crystallization is an old unit operation in the industry which is widely used as a separation process due to its ability to produce highly valued chemical with high purity. Despite the long history of batch crystallization, industry still relies on rule of- thumb techniques for their crystallization processes. Thus, any method to improve the products characteristics such as size and morphology will be highly valued. Advances in robustness and accuracy of automated in situ sensors give the possibility to move towards an engineering based approach by implementing the real-time monitoring and control of the process. The research undertaken here investigates …

Should Sports Drinks Be Given To Children And Adolescents Engaged In Athletics As An Effective Source Of Hydration?, Zeev W. Rubinson

The Science Journal of the Lander College of Arts and Sciences

Dehydration in children and adolescents is a major concern for caretakers. Often children are not drinking enough, particularly while participating in physical activity. Utilizing data drawn from pediatricians, nutritionists, and bio-scientists, this paper will examine whether sports drinks are a good source of fluids for the exercising child. The results of the research indicate that the advantages generally associated with sports drinks, to achieve higher body water absorption levels, prevent electrolyte deficits, and maintain proper electrolyte/water concentrations, are reserved for unique circumstances. Sports drink intake should be encouraged only when the child is participating in prolonged physical activity, in intense …

The Neurological Underpinnings Of Hypnosis And Its Clinical Applications, Raizy Leizerowski

The Science Journal of the Lander College of Arts and Sciences

The brain is so complex that it is almost impossible to select one variable as the reason for a specific observation. This paper will discuss the neurological basis of hypnosis, and how hypnosis has made unique contributions to the refinement and development of cognitive neuroscience. In addition, hypnosis has been proven to cure many psychological and neurologically based diseases. Due to in-depth study of the neurological underpinnings of hypnosis, much advancement has been made in elucidating the relationship between the complex neural circuitry of the brain, its direct correlation to consciousness, and both the efferent and afferent neurological systems. New …

Consumer Cloud Robotics And The Fair Information Practice Principles: Recognizing The Challenges And Opportunities Ahead, Andrew Proia, Drew Simshaw, Kris Hauser

Scholarly Works

Rapid technological innovation has made commercially accessible consumer robotics a reality. At the same time, individuals and organizations are turning to "the cloud" for more convenient and cost-effective data storage and management. It seemed only inevitable that these two technologies would merge to create cloud robotics, "a new approach to robotics that takes advantage of the Internet as a resource for massively parallel computation and sharing of vast data resources." By making robots lighter, cheaper, and more efficient, cloud robotics could be the catalyst for a mainstream consumer robotics marketplace. However, this new industry would join a host of modern …

Query From Examples: An Iterative, Data-Driven Approach To Query Construction, Hao Li, Chee-Yong Chan, David Maier

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this paper, we propose a new approach, called Query from Examples (QFE), to help non-expert database users construct SQL queries. Our approach, which is designed for users who might be unfamiliar with SQL, only requires that the user is able to determine whether a given output table is the result of his or her intended query on a given input database. To kick-start the construction of a target query Q, the user first provides a pair of inputs: a sample database D and an output table R which is the result of Q on D. As there will be …

Linear Regression Analysis On Net Income Of An Agrochemical Company In Thailand, Supichaya Sunthornjittanon

University Honors Theses

The purpose of this research is to analyze the ABC Company’s data and verify whether the regression analysis methods and models would work effectively in the ABC Company based in Bangkok, Thailand. After the data are collected, models are created to examine the contribution of each of the company's financial factors to the net income of the company. The final model is selected using Stepwise Regression Methods. A linear regression line and equation for the model are generated to help observe and predict future trends. The model also shows which variables play the most important roles in the company's net …

Fostering Critical Thought Alongside The Common Core State Standards, Bianca Arias

University Honors Theses

This thesis evaluates a segment of the second grade English language arts and literacy (ELA) curriculum presently utilized in Portland Public Schools (PPS) school district in Portland, Oregon, using five principles for evaluation. These principles address the extent to which lessons are hands-on, engage home life, integrate the academic disciplines, encourage student autonomy, and are relevant to society today. These criteria were established following a review of John Dewey’s ideas and philosophies, and of two practices that model Deweyan principles: Project-Based Learning (PBL) and progettazione in the Municipal Infant/Toddler Centers and Preschools of Reggio-Emilia, Italy. This analysis of the ELA …

That Mysterious, Remisse Knot: Katherine Philips's Unincorporated Fraternity, Rene Kramer

University Honors Theses

Recent critics in early modern poetry, women’s literature, and queer studies have attempted to factor Katherine Philips’s friendship poetry into a history of homoerotic suspicion. Her metaphysical poems have been offered as a publically significant, potential erotics of textual, rather than physical, embodiment. This thesis responds by returning to the significance of the in-significance of textual representations of feminine erotics, as well as to earlier criticism of Philips as a poet of non-public life and chastity. An examination of notions of innocence in Philips’s configurations of friendship highlights an excess of innocence and a passion predicated on exception, restraint, and …

Analyzing Riboswitches As A Function Of Genome Size And Genus Ancestry In Gammaproteobacteria, Robyn Reid

University Honors Theses

Riboswitches are RNA molecules that regulate gene expression, without the need for protein factors, at the mRNA level in the bacterial kingdom. This paper focuses on nine riboswitches: TPP, FMN, SAM, Lysine, Cobalamine, Glycine, Molybdenum, Mg, and SAH, and whether or not there exists a relationship between genome size and riboswitch existence. The hypothesis of this paper is that there does exist a direct relationship because it is assumed that the more basepairs (bp) in a genome, the higher the chance that an old characteristic, such as a riboswitch, is conserved. Three hundred twenty members of the gammaproteobacteria class were …

On The Role Of Probability In Hume's Imagination And Associationism: A Bayesian Response To Fodor's Hume Variations, Jason Krivo Flores

University Honors Theses

In his 2003 book Hume Variations, Jerry Fodor argues the Computational Theory of Mind (CTM) has obviated the need for Hume's associationism and faculty of imagination. Contrary to Fodor, in this paper I argue that contemporary Bayesian models of cognitive science suggest that Hume’s account continues to comprise a viable theory of mental operations. I propose a Bayesian interpretation of Hume's associationism wherein the "liberty of the imagination to transpose and change its ideas" is accounted for by the contributions of randomness, noise, or stochasticity--i.e., probability.

If my analysis is on track, Fodor has misconstrued the Humean mind by interpreting …

Differentiability Of Correlations In Realistic Quantum Mechanics, Alejandro Cabrera, Edson De Faria, Enrique Pujals, Charles Tresser

Publications and Research

We prove a version of Bell’s theorem in which the locality assumption is weakened. We start by assuming theoretical quantum mechanics and weak forms of relativistic causality and of realism (essentially the fact that observable values are well defined independently of whether or not they are measured). Under these hypotheses, we show that only one of the correlation functions that can be formulated in the framework of the usual Bell theorem is unknown. We prove that this unknown function must be differentiable at certain angular configuration points that include the origin. We also prove that, if this correlation is assumed …

Matrix Multiplication, Trilinear Decompositions, Apa Algorithms, And Summation, Victor Pan

Publications and Research

Matrix multiplication (hereafter we use the acronym MM) is among the most fundamental operations of modern computations. The efficiency of its performance depends on various factors, in particular vectorization, data movement and arithmetic complexity of the computations, but here we focus just on the study of the arithmetic cost and the impact of this study on other areas of modern computing. In the early 1970s it was expected that the straightforward cubic time algorithm for MM will soon be accelerated to enable MM in nearly quadratic arithmetic time, with some far fetched implications. While pursuing this goal the mainstream research …

Imperatives In Informal Organizational Resource Exchange In Central Europe, David Jancsics

Publications and Research

This paper challenges the mainstream social scientific approach that emphasizes “moral inferiority” in corruption and bribery in Central and Eastern Europe. We argue that in many cases, people participate in informal organizational resource exchanges not because of immorality or greed but rather because of powerful external forces. By using the case of contemporary Hungary to support this argument, this paper provides a systematic analysis of such imperatives. The findings of 50 in-depth qualitative interviews suggest that two main imperatives can be distinguished; macro-level social and meso-level organizational forces. Macro-level forces may be linked to historical paths, Hungary's socialist and pre- …

Non-Planar On-Shell Diagrams, Sebastían Franco, Daniele Galloni, Brenda Penante, Congkao Wen

Publications and Research

We initiate a systematic study of non-planar on-shell diagrams in N = 4 SYM and develop powerful technology for doing so. We introduce canonical variables generalizing face variables, which make the d log form of the on-shell form explicit. We make significant progress towards a general classification of arbitrary on-shell diagrams by means of two classes of combinatorial objects: generalized matching and matroid polytopes. We propose a boundary measurement that connects general on-shell diagrams to the Grassmannian. Our proposal exhibits two important and non-trivial properties: positivity in the planar case and it matches the combinatorial description of the diagrams in …

Effect Of Deregulation And Off-Balance Sheet Activities On The X-Efficiency Of U.S. Credit Unions, Md Daulat Hossain

Agribusiness and Applied Economics

The 1998 Credit Union Membership Access Act resulted in the active dissolution of the common bond requirement. Now credit unions are able to include more geographic area into their member base. However, over the years the total number of credit unions have been reduced, but the average size of total assets escalated severely along with the increase in total number of members. Amid the economic recession in 2002 and the financial crisis during 2008-2009, credit unions had to struggle in minimizing costs of operation to stay competitive with the commercial finance institutions. In this study, X-efficiency scores (with and without …

Importance Of Contract Attributes On Conservation Reserve Program Enrollment Decisions In The Prairie Pothole Region, Neeraj Dhingra

Agribusiness and Applied Economics

U.S. farmers’ interest in CRP has waned. Enrollment for 2015 was targeted at 26 million acres but as of the end of February, actual enrollment had declined to 24.6 million acres (USDA, 2015). Available studies point to recent fluctuations in commodity prices as a predominant factor in this enrollment gap. Other potentially influencing factors remain understudied, including farmer preferences for contract design. A choice experiment survey was conducted in the Prairie Pothole region to assess these preferences. An exploded logit model was used to evaluate the preference heterogeneity among program attributes. Results indicate that an increase in the maximum payment, …

Costs And Risks Of Testing And Blending For Eaa In Soybeans, David Jorgen Hertsgaard

Agribusiness and Applied Economics

Soybean quality is typically measured by protein values. Essential Amino Acids (EAA) and Critical Amino Acid Value (CAAV) provide alternative measures of valuing soybeans. The following thesis analyzes the effects of testing soybeans for specific quality traits. A dual-marketing system is developed to analyze the costs and risks that may arise for grain handlers to segregate soybeans into high-quality and low-quality grain flows based on various importer purchasing strategies. A stochastic optimization model is used to determine the optimal testing locations within the dual-marketing system in order to minimize costs and risks to grain handlers. The model includes a blending …

Solid Microneedles For Transdermal Delivery Of Amantadine Hydrochloride And Pramipexole Dihydrochloride, Mylien T. Hoang, Kevin B. Ita, Daniel A. Bair

Faculty Publications & Research of the TUC College of Pharmacy

The aim of this project was to study the influence of microneedles on transdermal delivery of amantadine hydrochloride and pramipexole dihydrochloride across porcine ear skin in vitro. Microchannel visualization studies were carried out and characterization of the microchannel depth was performed using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) to demonstrate microchannel formation following microneedle roller application. We also report, for the first time, the use of TA.XT Plus Texture Analyzer to characterize burst force in pig skin for transdermal drug delivery experiments. This is the force required to rupture pig skin. The mean passive flux of amantadine hydrochloride, determined using a …

Infrared Radiography: Modeling X-Ray Imaging Without Harmful Radiation, Otto Zietz, Elliot E. Mylott, Ralf Widenhorn

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Planar x-ray imaging is a ubiquitous diagnostic tool and is routinely performed to diagnose conditions as varied as bone fractures and pneumonia. The underlying principle is that the varying attenuation coefficients of air, water, tissue, bone, or metal implants within the body result in non-uniform transmission of x-ray radiation. Through the detection of transmitted radiation, the spatial organization and composition of materials in the body can be ascertained. In this paper, we describe an original apparatus that teaches these concepts by utilizing near infrared radiation and an up-converting phosphorescent screen to safely probe the contents of an opaque enclosure.