Digital Commons Network^™

Designing Fiction-Based Close Reading Experiences For The High School English Language Arts Classroom, Aubrey Jean Mcnary

Theses and Dissertations

The Common Core State Standards are forcing educational professional to develop high-level literacy skills and habits in a student population that is indisputable diverse and generally ill prepared for the demands of the secondary classroom. The practice of close reading is a means of literacy instruction that continually pushes students back into the text to answer text-dependent questions of varying, yet higher, levels of thinking. A variety of lesson plans and text-dependent questions were generated for three pivotal novels to demonstrate close reading as a means of achieving CCSS-level reading and thinking in the general secondary ELA classroom.

Influence Of A Physical Activity Intervention On Perceived Barriers And Benefits In Women, Kathryn Elizabeth Lundberg

Theses and Dissertations

Young adults face the opportunity to make an abundance of behavior choices when entering college. One important decision is to regularly participate in physical activity. Common barriers to physical activity may hinder an individual’s decision to make healthy behavior choices, such as physical activity. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a women’s physical activity intervention on perceived benefits and barriers, body composition, and energy expenditure. This study took place at the University of North Dakota in the fall of 2014 using a non-randomized experimental design between two groups (n=50) of college-aged women. The first group …

Observing Range Of Motion (Rom) In Baseball Athletes During An Off-Season Resistance Training Program And Practice, Jimmy Justin Morin

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to observe possible changes in ROM of the shoulder and the hip after an off-season resistance training program and practice. The participants engaged in their normal off-season fall ball practice and off-season training regimen. Participants (N=20) were recruited from The University of North Dakota Baseball team. Before the athletes began their off-season training, a pre-test measurement was taken on shoulder Internal Rotation (IR), External Rotation (ER), Horizontal Adduction (HAdd), and hip and knee flexion. Resistance training took place three days a week for twelve weeks, and fall ball practice was four days a week …

Developing Novel 3d Antennas Using Advanced Additive Manufacturing Technology, Milad Mirzaee

Theses and Dissertations

In today’s world of wireless communication systems, antenna engineering is rapidly advancing as the wireless services continue to expand in support of emerging commercial applications. Antennas play a key role in the performance of advanced transceiver systems where they serve to convert electric power to electromagnetic waves and vice versa. Researchers have held significant interest in developing this crucial component for wireless communication systems by employing a variety of design techniques. In the past few years, demands for electrically small antennas continues to increase, particularly among portable and mobile wireless devices, medical electronics and aerospace systems.

This trend toward smaller …

Turn That Frown Upside Down: The Experience Of Higher Education Faculty Moving From Disillusionment To Vitality, Robert J. Martin

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study examined the journey of six higher education faculty

members who encountered a state of professional disillusionment in their careers but later

moved to a professional sense of vitality in the professoriate. Building on the extant

literature, this study investigated this phenomenon of moving from professional

disillusionment to vitality in the professoriate through the lenses of life course, agency,

and job satisfaction. These components provided the structure for the study’s conceptual

framework. Employing interpretative phenomenological analysis based on semistructured

interviews, the study traced the journey of these professors to understand how

the key encounters of their lived experiences …

Radiation Shielding Approaches For Planetary Surface Exploration: A Mars Case Study For Und Concepts, Arturo Ortiz

Theses and Dissertations

Surface stays on Mars may expose astronauts to high radiation doses from solar flares and galactic cosmic radiation (GCR). We estimated shielding required for a surface habitat, and assessed environments inside a planetary rover and space suit, under historically severe solar flare and GCR conditions, using the HZETRN radiation computer code. A 1m layer of Mars regolith can protect the habitat up to 30 km surface elevation. Polyethylene at 5, 10, and 15 g/cm2 can protect up to 0, 10, and 20 km, respectively. The rover protects from acute exposure up to -0.7 km while a space suit protects up …

Secondary Social Studies Teachers’ Perceptions Of Special Education, Kelli Ann Odden

Theses and Dissertations

Through educational reform and federal mandates, general and special education teachers’ responsibilities are designed to intersect. Focusing on secondary social studies teachers, the purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the teachers’ perceptions of special education and how this influences the implementation of special education services in the classroom. From data collected through interviews and analyzed through Moustakas’ phenomenological design, two textural themes emerged (expertise and communication) in addition to three structural themes (placement, Individual Education Plan (IEP)-Reader’s Digest Version, and time). Findings indicate that social studies teachers appreciated the role of special education, but their perception was focused …

Risk Factors For Cholelithiasis (Gallstones) Among Female Veterans, Mila Pak

Theses and Dissertations

Background and Purpose: Gallstones affect up to 15% of the U.S. adult population. Women are at greater risk for cholelithiasis, especially if they are overweight, over forty years of age, or have had children. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) performed 114,653 cholecystectomy surgeries with 107,975 patients diagnosed with cholelithiasis from 2008 to 2013. Female veterans may be at even greater risk for cholelithiasis. However, research with this vulnerable population is sparse. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine physiological and environmental risk factors that may be associated with cholelithiasis among female veterans.

Study Design and Theoretical Framework: This …

Empirical Investigation Of The Laminar Thermal Entrance Region And Turbulent Flow Heat Transfer For Non-Newtonian Silica Nanofluid In Hexagonal Tubes, Emeke Kevin Opute

Theses and Dissertations

This research seeks to determine for the flow of stable dispersion of 9.58% silicon-oxide (SiO2) nanoparticles by volume in water through three hexagonal tubes of hydraulic diameters 1.67 mm, 2.42 mm and 3.26 mm, the pressure drops across the length of the tubes with and without the application of constant heat flux to the test section. Constant heat flux was applied on the wall of each test section (by electric resistance method). The operating temperature range of 15-63°C was maintained for the experiments. Data were analyzed using conventional hydrodynamic and thermal correlations. The test sections were selected and set up …

Influence Of High-Intensity Turbulence On Laminar Boundary Layer Development On A Cylindrical Leading Edge: Enhancement To Eddy Diffusivity, Juli Pearson

Theses and Dissertations

The growing demand for increased efficiency in turbine engine designs has sparked a growing interest for research of air flow around curved surfaces. The turbine’s operating conditions result in material property constraints, especially in the first stage turbine vanes and blades. These turbine vane components experience extreme loading conditions of both high temperature and high turbulence intensities exiting the combustor. The surface of the turbine blades has cylindrical leading edges that promote stabilizing flow accelerations. These convex surfaces can cause a reduced eddy diffusivity across the boundary layer.

This thesis reviews measurements of velocity and turbulence intensities taken just shy …

Reconceptualizing Privacy: An Examination Of The Developing Regulatory Regime For Facial Recognition Technology, David James Potter

Theses and Dissertations

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration have convened a series of meetings to create a voluntary code of conduct for the commercial use of facial recognition technology. This research asks and answers three questions related to the creation of the voluntary code of conduct: 1) How is the regulatory regime of FRT emerging in the U.S.? 2) What are the roles of the various stakeholders in shaping the commercial regulation of FRT? 3) How does FRT challenge our current conceptions of privacy? Data has been gathered to answer these questions using participant observation and semi-structured interviews. The data was analyzed …

The Effects Of An Active Study Break Intervention In College Students: An Observational Study, Kathryn Joann Southard

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Sedentary lifestyles are a major public health concern. Research has shown that frequent active breaks are beneficial to productivity, mental and physical health, and may prevent obesity.

Purpose: This study examined the effectiveness of a signage intervention in a university library to promote the use of physically active (AB) compared to inactive (IB) study breaks.

Methods: College students were observed over three weeks: pre-intervention (PRE); signage intervention (SIGN); and post-intervention (POST). Each week of observation consisted of 12 hours, (6, 2-hour segments) on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday (36 hours total). SIGN consisted of table tents and signs posted in …

The Relationships Among Imagery Use, Imagery Ability And Mental Toughness In Adolescent Figure Skaters, Michele Marie Sullivan

Theses and Dissertations

Coaches and athletes have requested strategies that develop and maintain mental toughness because they find it to be an essential part of performance (Clough, Earle, & Sewell, 2002). Yet, little research has been conducted to examine psychological skills that contribute to gain and maintain mental toughness. This study examines imagery and mental toughness in adolescent figure skaters. Imagery use was assessed by the Sport Imagery Questionnaire- Children (Hall, Munroe-Chandler, & Fishburne, 2009) and imagery ability with the Movement Imagery Questionnaire-Children (Martini, Carter, Yoxon, Cumming, & Ste-Marie, submitted December 2014). Mental toughness was assessed using the Mental Toughness Index (Gucciardi, Hanton, …

The Impact Of A Brief Mindfulness Exercise On Autobiographical Memory Specificity In Trauma-Exposed College Students, Katie Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

When comparing performance on the Autobiographical Memory Task (AMT) between individuals who have been exposed to traumatic events and those who have not, individuals exposed to traumatic events tend to provide autobiographical memories that are more often characterized as being overgeneral with relatively fewer memories that reference a particular date or time. Studies have found that post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) may be particularly responsible for this effect. Researchers have posited that this effect may be due to cognitive overload from avoiding negative memories, or from shallow retrieval of the memory in order to avoid further emotional discomfort. Mindfulness training, which …

Prediction Of Aircraft Fuselage Vibration, Rohan Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

Modern unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are made of lightweight structures, owing to the demand for longer ranges and heavier payloads. These lightweight aircraft are more susceptible to vibrations caused by atmospheric turbulence transmitted to the fuselage from the wings. These vibrations, which can cause damage to the payload or on board avionics present a serious problem, since air turbulence is expected to increase over the next few decades, due to climate change.

The objective of this thesis is to predict the vibration of an aircraft fuselage by establishing a relationship between wing and fuselage vibration. A combination of ANSYS® and …

An Investigation Of Six Poorly Described Close Visual Double Stars Using Speckle Interferometry, Daniel B. Wallace

Theses and Dissertations

Continued observation of double stars is necessary for confirmation of binarity and to provide updates to astrometric data used to compute accurate binary orbital parameters, thereby more accurately informing stellar mass estimations – the critical parameter from which stellar models are derived. In October of 2013, six double stars from the Washington Double Star (WDS) catalog exhibiting close separations, as well as significant deviations from previously published orbits, were observed and imaged using the speckle interferometric technique on the 2.1-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) in Arizona. The observations of the six double stars occurred as part of …

Marine Boundary Layer Cloud And Drizzle Properties Over Arm Azores Site, Peng Wu

Theses and Dissertations

In this study, a new method has been developed to retrieve the marine boundary layer (MBL) cloud microphysical properties, which provides a complete diurnal variation of MBL cloud properties for 19-month dataset at the Azores. All nighttime monthly means of cloud liquid water path (LWP) exceed their daytime counterparts with an annual mean LWP of 140 g m-2, which is ~30.9 g m-2 larger than the daytime mean. The seasonal and diurnal variations of cloud LWC and optical depth basically follow the variation of LWP. There are, however, no significant day-night differences and diurnal variations in cloud-droplet effective radius (re) …

Changing Bike Mode Share Between Time Periods For Suffolk County, Ma, David Wiosna

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis looks at the impact of new bikeways on the rate of bicycle commuting among census tracts in the city of Boston, MA. Data from 2000 and averages from 2009-2013 are compared. Bikeways are negligible in the year 2000, but many were built after implementation of new policy in 2007. Data for 2009-2013 is interpolated into a common zonal scheme using 2000 census tract boundaries. Regression analysis is performed on socio-demographic and new bikeway variables. Results indicate that new bikeways are likely not cause of greater bike mode share in city of Boston.

Powwow As Spaces Of Public: Circulated Meanings Of A Native Practice For Non-Natives, Joshua Eugene Young

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the status of the relationship between Natives and non-Natives utilizing powwow as the representative anecdote of the intercultural space of interaction between these two groups. Where most scholars ask how Native Americans use powwow to reclaim Native identity, I shift the focus to non-Natives, whose relationship to powwow has gone largely unexamined. I argue that powwow serves as a public space for staging diversity for non-Natives, a fact that has wide-ranging implications for Natives, too. Utilizing rhetorical theories of ritual communication and publicity as a way to interrogate this relationship, I argue that the publics attending to …

Identifying Data Exchange Congestion Through Real-Time Monitoring Of Beowulf Cluster Infiniband Networks, Michael James Aguilar

Theses and Dissertations

The ability to gather data from many types of new information sources has grown quickly using new technologies. The ability to store and retrieve large quantities of data from these new sources has created a need for computing platforms that are able to process the data for information. High Performance Computing Cluster systems have been developed to fulfill a role required for fast processing of large amounts of data for many difficult types of computing applications.

Beowulf Clusters use many separate compute nodes to create a tightly coupled parallel HPCC system. The ability for a Beowulf Cluster HPCC system to …

The Effect Of Skydiver Experience On High-Performance Landing Fatalities, Gregory Bodensteiner

Theses and Dissertations

Skydiving fatalities upon landing, especially during high-performance landings, have

overwhelmed the sport as one of the largest categories of fatalities. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of an experienced skydiver on high-performance landing fatalities since the introduction of high-performance canopies. In addition, the study determined if experts in the field see factors of experience as contributors to fatalities. The United States Parachute Association fatality database published online was used to analyze the effect between skydiver experience and high-performance landing fatalities. Five interviews were conducted with industry experts. No statistically significant result was found relating experience to …

Development Of A High Performance Mosaicing And Super-Resolution Algorithm, Debabrata Ghosh

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, a high-performance mosaicing and super-resolution algorithm is described. The scale invariant feature transform (SIFT)-based mosaicing algorithm builds an initial mosaic which is iteratively updated by the robust super resolution algorithm to achieve the final high-resolution mosaic. Two different types of datasets are used for testing: high altitude balloon data and unmanned aerial vehicle data. To evaluate our algorithm, five performance metrics are employed: mean square error, peak signal to noise ratio, singular value decomposition, slope of reciprocal singular value curve, and cumulative probability of blur detection. Extensive testing shows that the proposed algorithm is effective in improving …

Study About Petrophysical And Geomechanical Properties Of Bakken Formation, Jun He

Theses and Dissertations

The objectives of this research are to measure the petrophysical and geomechanical properties of the Bakken Formation in North Dakota Williston Basin in to increase the success rate of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing so as to improve the ultimate recovery of this unconventional crude oil resource from the current 3% to a higher level.

Horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing is a required well completion technique for economic exploitation of crude oil from Bakken Formation in the North Dakota Williston Basin due to its low porosity and low permeability. The success of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing depends on knowing …

The Evolution Of Outer Space Law: An Economic Analysis Of Rule Formation, Christopher Michael Hearsey

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis comprises a study of those socio-economic dynamics that establish and influence the existence, distribution, and evolution of rules for the outer space environment. In particular, this thesis analyzes how the initial State practice of launching objects into outer space led to the genesis of rules for the outer space environment. The presentation of this thesis includes an introduction, a methodology section, three studies, and a conclusion. The first study considers the formation of initial rules for the outer space environment as a consequence of State practice using historical analysis and game theory. The second study considers how States …

Hybrid Enhanced Epidermal Spacesuit Design Approaches, Joseph M. Jessup

Theses and Dissertations

A Space suit that does not rely on gas pressurization is a multi-faceted problem

that requires major stability controls to be incorporated during design and construction.The concept of Hybrid Epidermal Enhancement space suit

integrates evolved human anthropomorphic and physiological adaptations into its functionality, using commercially available bio-medical technologies to address shortcomings of conventional gas pressure suits, and the impracticalities of MCP suits. The prototype HEE Space Suit explored

integumentary homeostasis, thermal control and mobility using advanced bio-medical materials technology and construction concepts. The goal was a space suit that functions as an enhanced, multi-functional bio-mimic of the human epidermal layer …

International Service Learning: Occupational Therapists' Perceptions Of Their Experiences In Guatemala, Jason C. Lawson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the perspectives of occupational therapy practitioners who engaged in international service learning (ISL) as occupational therapy students. This study included transcribed interviews and observations from nine practicing occupational therapists who all graduated from the same occupational therapy program and participated in a two-week long ISL project in Guatemala.

Case study approaches were utilized to identify the specific phenomenon being studied, and phenomenological methods were utilized to analyze the interviews and observational data into codes, categories, themes and an assertion. Following were the three themes supported by the data collected:

1. …

Biogenesis And Redox Transition Of Iron-Sulfur Clusters In Proteins, Aaron Paul Landry

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Iron-sulfur proteins comprise one of the most ubiquitous and conserved classes of proteins in biology. The diverse functions of iron-sulfur clusters in proteins range from electron transfer to redox signaling. The assembly of iron-sulfur clusters in cells requires a complex protein system and acquisition of sulfur and iron. While the sulfur source for iron-sulfur cluster assembly is well-established, the iron source remains elusive. The first part of this work provides new evidence for the hypothesis that the conserved iron-sulfur cluster assembly protein IscA may act as the iron donor for iron-sulfur cluster assembly. Iron-sulfur clusters in proteins are also vulnerable …

Fish Assemblage Structure, Distribution, And Trophic Ecology At Northwestern Gulf Of Mexico Banks, Todd Langland

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The northwest Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) shelf-edge banks both provide unique hard bottom habitat and support the northernmost coral reefs on the North American continental shelf in a region that is generally characterized by low relief, soft sediments. The habitat value of many of these banks has led to their designation as Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (HAPC) and the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS). However, little is known about the fisheries resources and dynamics of the banks outside the FGBNMS. This study had three main objectives: 1) define reef fish assemblages at northwestern Gulf shelf-edge banks and …

Computational Studies On Bimetallic Catalysis And X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy, Sayakkarage R. G. Fernando

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Computational studies are very important to gain an insight into reaction mechanisms and in interpreting and understanding complicated experimental observations. This report contains a discussion on computational studies performed on bimetallic catalysis and on X-ray absorption spectroscopy of insulators. The viability of a bimetallic rhodium and cobalt catalysts for industrially important hydroformylation and aldehyde-water shift catalysis (AWS) is discussed. Density functional theory (DFT) studies were used for bimetallic catalysis and time-dependent DFT studies were used for excited state dynamics. These studies were performed using Gaussian 09 package and NWChem. Hydroformylation is experimentally performed in acetone and 30% water/acetone systems and …

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Dynamics In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Puspa Lal Adhikari

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are introduced into the marine environment via oil seeps/spills, riverine discharges, continental runoff, coastal erosion, and atmospheric deposition. An estimated 2.1 x 1010g of PAHs entered into the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) during the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill in 2010. It became evident following the oil spill that accurate quantification of ultimate fate of these potentially carcinogenic and/or mutagenic organic pollutants is extremely challenging. In general, very little is known about PAHs fate, distribution and accumulation in the open ocean ecosystems. This study determines the upper ocean vertical fluxes and sedimentary PAHs accumulation rates …