Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of Accented English On Speech Comprehension, Benigno Valles

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT

In the context of shifting demographics in the United States and with an increasing multicultural workforce, the verbal exchange of information is vital especially between health care providers and patients. Although English is the official language in the United States, many individuals from different national origins speak English with some degree of accent. Before we can address health care provider/patient communication, it is necessary to investigate the potential impact of accented English on speech comprehension and its implications on basic communicative interactions. The verbal exchange of information between health care providers and patients is important in diagnostics, treatment, patient …

Effective Number Of Parties And Mass Political Behavior In Europe, Jakub Pawel Zajakala

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Participation is perhaps the most essential component of democracy, as its humane facet, people, is indispensable for it to occur. However, some aspects of this phenomenon have been disregarded in the existing literature. A discernible decrease in the quality and quantity of democratic participation is deemed to endanger the representative capacity of democracy, and consequently, stability of parliamentary and presidential regimes. Using Prais-Winsten regression, the condition of democratic institutions, with an emphasis on the number of parties, is examined by looking at all the European democracies between 1946 and 2014. This Thesis posits that the number of effective actors on …

A Heterogeneous Multiscale Method For Poroelasticity, Paul M. Delgado

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In this Thesis, we develop and analyze a heterogeneous multiscale model for coupled fluid flow and solid deformation in porous media based on operator splitting and finite volume method. The splitting method results in two elliptic multiscale PDE's in the form of a reaction diffusion equation and a linear elasticity equation. We extend our previous multiscale method from 1D to higher dimensions and develop new approaches for the inclusion of mixed boundary conditions and source terms. We derive an error estimate for our multiscale method and analyze the stability of our splitting method. We also test the effectiveness of our …

Modeling Of The Response Of A Memcapacitor For An Impulse, Step, Ramp, And Sinusiodal Inputs, Ghassan Khalil Kachmar

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems, or MEMS, is a technology of very small scale devices. The dimensions of MEMS can vary from below one micron to several millimeters. MEMS have some mechanical functionalities such as the moving plate of a parallel plate capacitor (memcapacitor). MEMS researchers and developers have demonstrated an extremely large number of microsensors for almost every possible sensing modality including temperature, pressure, inertial forces, and chemical species. The equation of motion of the moving plate of a memcapacitor is governed by a non-linear differential equation with no known exact solution. Most research into determining the theoretical response of a memcapacitor …

The Moderating Effects Of Religious Commitment On The Link Between Pornography Use And Negative Outcomes., Timothy R. King Dr.

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Pornography use is widespread and may be associated with maladaptive outcomes, such as unhealthy attitudes toward women and unhealthy attitudes about sex. The links between pornography use and maladaptive outcomes may be particularly strong among individuals who adopt an identity that is opposed to the viewing of pornography, such as a faith-based identity. Couched in the context of cascade development theory, the present study examined associations between the age of onset of adolescent pornography use and maladaptive outcomes. Participants included males between the ages of 18 and 25 years recruited through Amazon.com’s Mechanical Turk interface. Participants completed a battery …

The Economic Worth Of Cloud Computing Adoption: A Financial Analysis, Aurelia Nicholas-Donald

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Using resource based view theory and efficient market hypotheses as a basis, this study examined the impact of cloud computing adoption on the market value of the firm using an event study perspective and firm performance perspective. The study's population was chosen based on their participation on a US stock exchange. Using a sample of 139 cloud computing adoption

announcements, I found that the announcement of cloud computing adoption is associated with negative abnormal market returns however the effect is not statistically significant. The trading volume showed a significant increase but this increase was not statistically significant. The risk, â, …

Low Power Design Techniques For Data Acquisition, Praveen Kumar Palakurthi

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Semiconductor technology advancement continues to lead to smaller device geometries. Digital circuits have benefited from the technology scaling whereas analog circuits often suffer in terms of performance and noise immunity. As functionality continues to be integrated onto systems-on-chips, analog circuits consume increasingly more power than digital circuits and the objective of this Dissertation is to explore low power techniques in the context of both digital and analog circuits residing on the same silicon real estate.

As natural signals are in analog form, a necessity exists to convert these into digital form and then back again in order to exploit the …

The Effects Of Baby Sign Training On Child Development, Bethany Iris Urquidi

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Introduction: Baby sign has gained the attention of many researchers and parents. Relatively little is known about the use of baby sign and the impact it has on the development of children. As the use of baby sign increases in popularity, research studies have had limited and inconsistent results regarding its influence. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to measure the effects of baby sign training on the overall development of normally hearing children while improving on the limitations of current studies (between group study). Methods: Participants in the study included 22 children, ages 6 months to 2 years; …

Control Of Synchrotron Radiation Effects During Recirculation With Bunch Compression, D. R. Douglas, S. V. Benson, R. Li, Y. Roblin, C. D. Tennant, Geoffrey A. Krafft, Balŝa Terzić, C. -Y. Tsai

Physics Faculty Publications

Studies of beam quality preservation during recirculation * have been extended to generate a design of a compact arc providing bunch compression with positive momentum compaction ** and control of both incoherent and coherent synchrotron radiation (ISR and CSR) effects using the optics balance methods of diMitri et al.***. In addition, the arc/compressor generates very little micro-bunching gain. We detail the beam dynamical basis for the design, discuss the design process, give an example solution, and provide simulations of ISR and CSR effects. Reference will be made to a complete analysis of micro-bunching effects ****.

Progress On A Compact Accelerator Design For A Compton Light Source, K. Deitrick, J. R. Delayen, B.R.P. Gamage, Geoffrey A. Krafft, T. Satogata

Physics Faculty Publications

A compact Compton light source using an electron linear accelerator is in design at the Center for Accelerator Science at Old Dominion University and Jefferson Lab. We report on the current design, including beam properties through the entire system based on a full end-to-end simulation, compare current specifications to design goals, and target areas for improvement.

Progress On The Design Of The Polarized Medium Energy Electron Ion Collider At Jlab, F. Lin, S. A. Bogacz, P. D. Brindza, A Camsonne, E. Daly, Y. S. Derbenev, D. Douglas, R. Ent, D. Gaskell, R. L. Geng, A. Castilla, J. R. Delayen, C. E. Hyde, K. Park

Physics Faculty Publications

The Medium-energy Electron Ion Collider (MEIC) at JLab is designed to provide high luminosity and high polarization needed to reach new frontiers in the exploration of nuclear structure. The luminosity, exceeding 10³³ cm^-2s⁻¹ in a broad range of the center-of-mass (CM) energy and maximum luminosity above 10³⁴ cm^-2s⁻¹, is achieved by high-rate collisions of short small-emittance low-charge bunches made possible by high-energy electron cooling of the ion beam and synchrotron radiation damping of the electron beam. The polarization of light ion species (p, d, ³He) can be easily preserved and …

Probing Dynamics And Pinning Of Single Vortices In Superconductors At Nanometer Scales, L. Embon, Y. Anahory, A Suhov, D. Halbertal, J. Cuppens, A. Yakovenko, A. Uri, Y. Myasoedov, M. L. Rappaport, M. E. Huber, A. Gurevich, E. Zeldov

Physics Faculty Publications

The dynamics of quantized magnetic vortices and their pinning by materials defects determine electromagnetic properties of superconductors, particularly their ability to carry non-dissipative currents. Despite recent advances in the understanding of the complex physics of vortex matter, the behavior of vortices driven by current through a multi-scale potential of the actual materials defects is still not well understood, mostly due to the scarcity of appropriate experimental tools capable of tracing vortex trajectories on nanometer scales. Using a novel scanning superconducting quantum interference microscope we report here an investigation of controlled dynamics of vortices in lead films with sub-Angstrom spatial resolution …

Precision Measurements Of Aⁿ1 In The Deep Inelastic Regime, D. S. Parno, D. Flay, M. Posik, M. Canan, C. Hyde, The Jefferson Lab Hall A Collaboration

Physics Faculty Publications

We have performed precision measurements of the double-spin virtual-photon asymmetry A₁ on the neutron in the deep inelastic scattering regime, using an open-geometry, large-acceptance spectrometer and a longitudinally and transversely polarized ³He target. Our data cover a wide kinematic range 0.277 <= x <= 0.548 at an average Q² value of 3.078(GeV/c)², doubling the available high-precision neutron data in this xrange. We have combined our results with world data on proton targets to make a leading-order extraction of the ratio of polarized-to-unpolarized parton distribution functions for up quarks and for down quarks in the same kinematic range. Our data are consistent with …

Spectroscopy Of Li-9 (Lambda) By Electroproduction, G. M. Urciuoli, D. Hayes, C. E. Hyde, H. F. Ibrahim, P.E. Ulmer, Jefferson Lab Hall A Collaboration

Physics Faculty Publications

Background: In the absence of accurate data on the free two-body hyperon-nucleon interaction, the spectra of hypernuclei provides information on the details of the effective hyperon-nucleon interaction.

Purpose: To obtain a high-resolution binding-energy spectrum for the ⁹Be(e, e' K⁺)⁹_ΛLi reaction.

Method: Electroproduction of the hypernucleus ⁹_ΛLi has been studied for the first time with sub-MeV energy resolution in Hall A at Jefferson Lab on a ⁹Be target. In order to increase the counting rate and to provide unambiguous kaon identification, two superconducting septum magnets and a ring imaging Cherenkov detector were …

Conway Lake, Cooperative Extension

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Horn Pond, Cooperative Extension

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Lake Kanasatka, Cooperative Extension

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Lake Winnipesaukee Station 25 Alton Bay, Cooperative Extension

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Newfound Lake Site 2 Mayhew, Cooperative Extension

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Newfound Lake Site 5 Cockermouth, Cooperative Extension

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Northeast Pond, Cooperative Extension

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Specific Causes Of Death In Patients With Bullous Pemphigoid As Measured By Death Certificate Data: A Retrospective Cohort Study, Benjamin Barrick, Christine Lohse, Julia Lehman

Student Publications

Background: Mortality rates in patients with bullous pemphigoid (BP) are higher than those in age-matched counterparts. However, the specific causes of death in BP subjects have not been evaluated systematically.

Objectives: We sought to characterize the causes of death in patients with BP as recorded by death certificate and to compare these with death data for age- and location-matched control subjects.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort analysis conducted in a large tertiary referral center. Twenty-seven participants who had a confirmed antemortem diagnosis of BP, were residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota, and had died between January 1, 1999, and January …

Evaluation Of Pediatric Manual Wheelchair Mobility Using Advanced Biomechanical Methods, Brooke A. Slavens, Alyssa J. Schnorenberg, Christine M. Aurit, Adam Graf, Joseph J. Krzak, Kathryn Reiners, Lawrence C. Vogel, Gerald F. Harris

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

There is minimal research of upper extremity joint dynamics during pediatric wheelchair mobility despite the large number of children using manual wheelchairs. Special concern arises with the pediatric population, particularly in regard to the longer duration of wheelchair use, joint integrity, participation and community integration, and transitional care into adulthood. This study seeks to provide evaluation methods for characterizing the biomechanics of wheelchair use by children with spinal cord injury (SCI). Twelve subjects with SCI underwent motion analysis while they propelled their wheelchair at a self-selected speed and propulsion pattern. Upper extremity joint kinematics, forces, and moments were computed using …

Guest Editorial: The 2014 Capstone Design Conference, Steven Beyerlein, Jay R. Goldberg, Susannah Howe, Scott Palo, Renee Rogge, R. Keith Stanfill

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The goal of the 2014 Capstone Design Conference held in Columbus, OH was to build upon the success of three previous conferences (2007 and 2010 in Boulder, CO, and 2012 in Champaign, IL) and expand the community of educators, students, and industry members engaged in discussing, analyzing, and improving capstone design education. Sessions at the 2014 Capstone Design Conference were designed for vibrant sharing of ideas and experiences across the capstone community via interactive panel sessions, poster session socials, and hands-on workshops. This editorial discusses conference planning, structure, and feedback. Technical papers that follow in this issue document scholarship surrounding …

Large-Scale Spatiotemporal Spike Patterning Consistent With Wave Propagation In Motor Cortex, Kazutaka Takahashi, Sanggyun Kim, Todd P. Coleman, Kevin A. Brown, Aaron J. Suminski, Matthew D. Best, Nicholas G. Hatsopoulos

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Aggregate signals in cortex are known to be spatiotemporally organized as propagating waves across the cortical surface, but it remains unclear whether the same is true for spiking activity in individual neurons. Furthermore, the functional interactions between cortical neurons are well documented but their spatial arrangement on the cortical surface has been largely ignored. Here we use a functional network analysis to demonstrate that a subset of motor cortical neurons in non-human primates spatially coordinate their spiking activity in a manner that closely matches wave propagation measured in the beta oscillatory band of the local field potential. We also demonstrate …

Hollywood Deals: Soft Contracts For Hard Markets, Jonathan M. Barnett

Duke Law Journal

Hollywood film projects involving significant capital investments regularly proceed on the basis of unsigned "deal memos" and draft agreements with uncertain legal enforceability. These "soft contracts" constitute a hybrid instrument adapted to the transactional hazards of an environment in which neither formal contract nor reputation effects can adequately specify and enforce parties' commitments at any reasonable cost. Uncertainly enforceable contracts embed an implicit termination-and-renegotiation option that provides flexibility to respond to changed circumstances while maintaining a threat of legal liability that provides some transactional security. Evidence collected from litigation records, trade-press coverage, and field interviews shows that parties select "softer" …

Journal Staff

Duke Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Laboratories For Inequality: State Experimentation And Educational Access For English-Language Learners, Matthew P. O'Sullivan

Duke Law Journal

Given increased state hostility to minority-language use and states' ever-changing, though at times inadequate, methods of accommodating English-language learners, federal intervention is necessary to protect vulnerable linguistic minorities. But, fueled by the Supreme Court and Congress since the early 2000s, the federal government has increasingly accorded greater deference to state legislatures and local school districts in the area of English-language learner (ELL) education. This growing acceptance of "deference not deserved" ignores evidence of state failure in education of ELLs and irresponsible state experimentation with the rights of students with limited English proficiency. It also marks a decided departure from historical …

Territorial Annexation As A “Great Power”, Daniel Rice

Duke Law Journal

The Roberts Court has recently begun reviving a long-latent structural constitutional principle—that some unenumerated powers are too important to be inferred through the Necessary and Proper Clause. Under this abstractly sensible theory, some powers are too "great" to have been conferred by implication alone. This structural logic seems poised to command majority holdings in the Supreme Court. But it is largely unclear what results so undertheorized a concept might dictate. Now is the time to survey the domain of "great powers" in service of developing an appropriately modest and judicially enforceable great-powers doctrine.

This Note argues that a power to …

Rumination: Cognitive Consequences Of Training To Inhibit The Negative, Shimrit Daches, Nilly Mor, Paula T. Hertel

Psychology Faculty Research

Background and Objectives: To explore cognitive factors in ruminative thinking, we assessed the effect of a single-session of inhibition training on subsequent biases in attention and interpretation.

Methods: We randomly assigned participants to either inhibit or attend to negative stimuli. Inhibition was assessed by using assessment trials embedded throughout the training, and interpretation bias was assessed following the training.

Results: Trait rumination moderated training effects on both measures. Low ruminators in the inhibition-training condition maintained their level of inhibition of negative stimuli, but those in the attention-training condition showed a non-significant trend for decreased inhibition. Participants also …