Digital Commons Network^™

Breeding Bird Census To Compare Long-Term Changes In The Avifauna Of The Spruce-Fir Forest On Mount Guyot, Great Smoky Mountains National Park 1967-2015, Kevin C. Brooks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The high-elevation forests of the Southern Appalachian Mountains have been impacted and rearranged by a tiny introduced pest from Europe, known as the Balsam Woolly Adelgid (Adelges piceaea), creating a concern for conservation. Breeding bird censuses, along with botanical surveys, have been conducted periodically on an established 60-acre plot since 1967 on the virgin forested slopes of Mount Guyot, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with the last census being completed in 2015. Breeding bird populations are shown to rise and fall in response to the forest’s changes over the last 48 years. Comparisons are made between all studies in order …

Commencement Program 2015 December: College Of Liberal Arts, The University Of Texas At Arlington

Commencement Programs, Photos, and Video

No abstract provided.

Current Status And Long-Term Trends In Water Quality And Living Resources In The Virginia Tributaries And Chesapeake Bay Mainstem From 1985 Through 2014, Daniel M. Dauer, Todd A. Egerton, John R. Donat, Michael F. Lane, Suzanne C. Doughten, Cindy Johnson, Monika Arora

Status and Trends for Virginia Chesapeake Bay

The period prior to the implementation of the Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Program was characterized by a marked decline in the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay. The disappearance of submerged aquatic vegetation in certain regions of the Bay, declines in the abundance of some commercially and recreationally important species, increases in the incidence of low dissolved oxygen events, changes in the Bay's food web, and other ecological problems have been related to the deteriorating water quality (e.g. USEPA, 1982,1983;Officer et al.,1984; Orth and Moore, 1984). The results of concerted research efforts in the late 1970s and early 1980s stimulated the …

Attitudes Of Employers Toward Exceptional Students (Ages 14-17) In Vocational Education Programs, Eunice A. Ervin

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The purpose of this study was to evaluate attitudes towards exceptional education students participating in vocational employment internships within Prince William County public high schools.

Availability Of Tuition Assistance Funding Effects On Educational Pursuits, Geneva M. Dooley

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The problem of this study was to investigate how the availability of tuition assistance funding effects the educational pursuits of marines stationed at Marine Corps Base Quantico during fiscal years 2013 and 2014.

Front Matter (Opening Essay: Ejournal Of Public Affairs, Volume 4, Issue 3), Marc Cooper

eJournal of Public Affairs

No abstract provided.

Stewards Of Place: The Role Of Dialogue And Deliberation In Strengthening Colleges And Universities, Windy Y. Lawrence, Zach Justus, Leah A. Murray, Barbara A. Brown

eJournal of Public Affairs

In 2014, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) produced a sequel monograph, Stewards of Place II, which followed up on and extended the learnings about community engagement from the preceding report— Stepping Forward as Stewards of Place—published over a decade earlier. This article examines some of AASCU’s learnings over the past 10 years about the important role of colleges and universities as stewards of place. Specifically, the authors contend that dialogue and deliberation are key approaches for strengthening the position of colleges and universities as stewards of place. The article defines dialogue and deliberation, discusses five main …

The Impact Of Service-Learning Classes On Teacher Education Candidates’ Views Of Diversity, Jason D. Fruth, Anna F. Lyon, Alan Avila-John

eJournal of Public Affairs

This study examined the impact that a service-learning component in a disability and culture course had on the views of diversity for teacher candidates at a Midwestern university. A group of 96 students took either a treatment course with an additional service-learning component or a control course without the additional component. Diversity scales and qualitative accounts were used as preand post-measures to determine the impact of the students’ service-learning experience. The study found substantial differences in the changes in views on diversity between the two groups, especially in relation to views on gender opportunity and teacher expectations.

Automatic License Plate Recognition Using Deep Learning Techniques, Naga Surya Sandeep Angara

Electrical Engineering Theses

Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) systems capture a vehicles license plate and recognize the license number and other required information from the captured image. ALPR systems have number of significant applications: law enforcement, public safety agencies, toll gate systems, etc. The goal of these systems is to recognize the characters and state on the license plate with high accuracy. ALPR has been implemented using various techniques. Traditional recognition methods use handcrafted features for obtaining features from the image. Unlike conventional methods, deep learning techniques automatically select features and are one of the game changing technologies in the field of computer …

Virtual Electronics Laboratory For Visualized Education And Training, Sreelatha Aihloor Subramanyam

Electrical Engineering Theses

On-line education is utilized extensively and has been found to be effective in a multitude of subject areas, including engineering education. However, for on-line education to be fully effective in engineering education, a means must be developed to provide on-line students with laboratory experiences that achieve the same learning outcomes as face-to-face laboratories. To address this need, a pilot computer program, Project VELVET (Virtual Electronics Laboratory for Visualized Education and Training), for a virtual electronics laboratory is being developed. VELVET operates on Windows-based computers in a real-time environment. It presents to its user a virtual breadboard into which components may …

Evolving Efficient Foraging Behavior In Biologically-Inspired Robot Swarms, Joshua Peter Hecker

Computer Science ETDs

Human beings are driven to explore distant new worlds as we seek to better understand our place in the Universe. Because of the inherent dangers of human spaceflight, we often send robots as surrogate explorers, controlled from millions of miles away by teams of capable rover drivers here on Earth. As technology continues to advance, scientists and engineers aspire to build low-cost, durable, fully autonomous rovers to succeed today's tele-operated extraplanetary explorers. Here we aim to advance this goal by designing and programming robots that can successfully navigate unknown and variable environments. We present a swarm robotics system that mimics …

Effect Of Genotype, Environment, And Production Packages On Yield, Agronomic Characteristics, And End-Use Quality Of Winter Wheat, Madhav Bhatta

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Grain yield and end-use quality are the most important characteristics for hard red winter wheat (Triticum aestivium L.). Improvement of grain quality characteristics of grain from a given growing season and location requires systematic understanding of the genotype chosen, the production environment, and also knowing the consequence of rate and time of individual production packages such as seed treatment, seed rate, nitrogen (N) fertilization, and foliar fungicide applications. The objectives of this study were to: identify the effects of seed rate, genotype, and N top-dressed on yield, agronomic characteristics, and end-use quality of winter wheat; and to determine …

Rear-Flank Outflow Dynamics And Thermodynamics In The 10 June 2010 Last Chance, Colorado Supercell, Curtis J. Riganti

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

On 10 June 2010, the second Verification of the Origins of Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX2) armada observed the non-tornadic phase of a supercell thunderstorm near Last Chance, Colorado. Tempest unmanned aircraft system (UAS) data collected in the rear-flank outflow revealed what appeared to be an elevated outflow head, turbulent wake, and a cold secondary outflow surge. Surface thermodynamic and kinematic data collected by StickNets and mobile mesonets suggested that the outflow wake may have extended to or very near the surface, perhaps cutting off the leading edge of the outflow at times. Single-Doppler data collected by the NOAA X-Pol Mobile Polarimetric …

Sequence Stratigraphic Framework Of Carbonate Diagenesis Within Neogene Glaciomarine Sandstones Of The Victoria Land Basin, Antarctica: Insights Into Reservoir Quality In Polar Settings, Daniel P. Dunham

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The controls on reservoir quality of most clastic sedimentary deposits are well-documented and understood. However, comparatively little is known about the reservoir potential of glaciogenic and glaciomarine deposits. This study investigates the Neogene strata of the AND-2A core recovered by the ANDRILL-Southern McMurdo Sound Project in the Victoria Land Basin, Antarctica, as an analog for assessing controls on reservoir quality in glaciomarine deposits. A petrographic analysis was conducted on 60 sandstone samples from various depths throughout the core, and carbonate diagenetic phases and morphologies were documented. Four sequences were examined in detail. Point counting on all samples was done to …

Estimation Of Deep Drainage Differences Between Till And No-Till Irrigated Agriculture, Justin P. Gibson

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Deep drainage was monitored under two center pivot irrigation sites located in south-central Nebraska during the 2013, and part of the 2014, growing seasons. Both fields underwent similar land management except for tillage practice: no-till in one and disk till in the other. Long term deep drainage rates were also estimated from chemical analysis of extracted soil cores, with the aid of the chloride mass balance equation. Mechanisms underpinning differences in deep drainage between the two fields were investigated through the use of unsaturated zone numerical modeling.

Deep drainage estimates from field monitoring indicated that a greater amount of deep …

Lest I Forget: Case Studies In Listening To High School Students Struggling With Academic Literacy, Lois M. Todd-Meyer

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Adolescents who struggle with the academic literacy demands of high school have often experienced years of frustration and even failure with literacy learning. School districts are now accountable for making sure all students achieve a prescribed level of proficiency as measured by standardized and performance assessments. How can educators best help adolescents who struggle with literacy reach a level of proficiency that will facilitate their success not only on standardized tests, but will also help them become engaged citizens of our democracy? The purpose of this study was to listen closely to high school students who were identified as struggling …

Latina/O First Generation College Students And College Adjustment: An Examination Of Family Support Processes, Patricia R. Cerda-Lizarraga

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

First generation Latina/o college students are at a higher risk for not completing their college degrees when compared to other ethnic minorities due to added barriers and challenges of being the first to go to college. Researchers reported that poor college adjustment is one of the factors contributing to the lack of college completion among Latina/o college students. A few studies exist on the role that family support has on the college adjustment of Latina/o students and these yielded mixed findings. The central role of the family among Latina/o students and their support during the college adjustment period merits attention. …

Mechanisms By Which Dietary Ellagic Acid Attenuates Obesity And Obesity-Mediated Metabolic Complications, Inhae Kang

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Ellagic acid (EA) is a polyphenol found in various fruits and plants, such as berries, pomegranates, muscadine grapes, nuts and bark of oak tree. EA has been known to exhibit anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative effects in various types of cancer. However, little is known about the effects of EA on obesity. Herein, 1) the lipid-lowering role of EA was identified in primary human adipose stem cells (hASCs) and human hepatoma Huh7 cells; 2) the molecular mechanisms by which EA attenuates adipogenesis by epigenetic modification were identified; 3) the effects of EA on high fat and high sucrose-mediated obesity was …

Evaluating Count Outcomes In Synthesized Single-Case Designs With Multilevel Modeling: A Simulation Study, Kirstie L. Bash

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Complex statistical techniques such as multilevel modeling (MLM) ideally require substantial sample sizes in order to avoid assumption violations. Unfortunately, large between-subjects sample sizes can be impractical and, in some cases, impossible in real-world applications. The use of single-case designs (SCD) allow researchers to overcome this issue. The ability to handle non-normal outcomes appropriately in such single-case designs, however, remains unclear, especially when the outcome reflects recurrent event (count) data.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the utility of MLM for evaluating recurrent event outcomes in synthesized single-case designs. More specifically, this study seeks to determine the effects …

Discomfort Glare From Small, High Luminance Light Sources In Outdoor Nighttime Environments, Yulia I. Tyukhova

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The overarching goal of this research was to examine humans’ subjective and physiological responses to small, high luminance light sources in outdoor nighttime environments. Currently, discomfort glare is rarely calculated in lighting practice (Remaking Cities Institute (RCI) 2011), partly, because it is not known which metric predicts glare most accurately in the given application.

This dissertation describes a parametric experiment evaluating the effects of three glare source luminances (20,000; 205,000; 750,000 cd/m²), two source positions (0°, 10°), two source sizes (10^-5, 10^-4 sr), and three background luminances (0.03; 0.3; 1 cd/m²) on the …

Making Marital Rape Visible: A History Of American Legal And Social Movements Criminalizing Rape In Marriage, Joann M. Ross

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study examines the history of marital rape and related topics in the United States within the broader context of women’s legal and political rights. The project demonstrates the interplay between women’s activists, legislators, the criminal justice system, and an involved public necessary to change both societal and legal views on spousal rape, and eventually its criminalization in all fifty states.

Concentrating on approaches to criminalizing marital rape in three of the fifty states, this dissertation provides a reasonable representation of the existence of the marital rape exemption in America, arguments used to maintain the exemption, and various methods used …

Identification Of Color Properties Of Mangos Using Image Analysis, Md Towfqur Rahman

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this project work carried out the application of a simple machine vision system was used to measure the different color properties of mango fruit surface for grading operation. In the context of agricultural post-harvest activity, labor shortage and timeliness of operation, manual grading of fruits and other agricultural products are laborious and costly. Now-a-days non-destructive machine vision technology is used to process various post harvest operation of biological products according size, shape, defects, etc. A CCD camera with fluorescent lighting system is used to capture the mango images into the visible light region. Then the images were analyzed by …

Effects Of Wind Turbine Noise On Male Greater Prairie-Chicken Vocalizations And Chorus, Cara E. Whalen

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Wind energy facilities are constructed without full knowledge of their effects on birds, and the noise generated by wind turbines is a particular concern. I investigated the effects of wind turbine noise on male Greater Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus) vocalizations and chorus near Ainsworth, NE, USA in 2013 and 2014. I studied 14 leks located in the area surrounding a 36-turbine wind energy facility. I used two main approaches in this study. First, I recorded Greater Prairie-Chicken boom, cackle, whine, and whoop vocalizations at each of the study leks and measured the duration, sound pressure level, peak frequency, …

Occupancy Analysis And Density Estimation Of Kori Bustards (Ardeotis Kori) And Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida Meleagris) For Use In Landscape Conservation Planning In The Northern Tuli Game Reserve, Botswana, Kathryn R. Mccollum

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

For understudied species, more informed conservation planning and decision-making on both the local and landscape levels may be attained through the use of occupancy and abundance estimations. Here, we focus on two iconic bird species in eastern Botswana, kori bustards (Ardeotis kori) and helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris). The overall goal of this project was to better understand the hierarchy of factors that influence occupancy (ψ) and density of kori bustard and helmeted guineafowl populations within the Northern Tuli Game Reserve and how these factors may interact to affect landscape conservation and usage. We performed distance sampling …

Network Support Variation For Black Women In The United States: A Mobility Study Of Immigrant And Non-Immigrant Black Women, Lesa Annette Johnson

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Connections between socioeconomic status, social capital, and social support have been quite prominent in sociological research. However, such research still largely ignores the experiences of recently arrived African immigrants, particularly those who arrive as refugees. Black immigrants who arrived in the United States since 1965 have included an increasing number of refugees from war-torn, sub-Saharan African countries, such as the recently independent South Sudan. The numbers of women in these refugee roles has steadily increased since 1990. Black refugee women, many with children, bring diverse forms of social capital that influence their social networks and economic mobility, distinguishing them from …

Toward The Probing Of Dhqs Activity By Protein Engineering Through The Introduction Of Unnatural Amino Acids And The Selection Of Trna/Trna Synthetase Pairs, Shaina E. Ives

Department of Chemistry: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Protein engineering is a valuable tool that allows scientist to explore how an enzyme works by mutation of key residues. This method has been used to improve function or stability of enzymes, thus allowing their use in both the lab and in industry to be expanded. Genetic incorporation of unnatural amino acids (unAA) can be used with protein engineering to exceed the current limitations, due to the limited number of functional groups of the 20 common amino acids.

The majority of this thesis will discuss the progress on incorporating the various unAA into the active site of the enzyme, Dehydroquinate …

An Evaluation And Exploration Of Nutrition Education In Elementary Schools, Elisha M. Hall

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Childhood obesity is a significant problem in the United States. Obese children suffer from a variety of physical, emotional, and social consequences. To curb or reduce this problem, school-based nutrition education interventions have become more common. However, little research has been conducted concerning nutrition-related socioeconomic disparities in behavior change constructs for low and high income children, which is integral to forming appropriate theory-based interventions and allocating resources appropriately. Research into classroom teachers’ perspectives is also an area in need of strengthening to better inform interventions. Finally, the School Enrichment Kit Program (SEKP), a current interactive, classroom-based, nutrition and physical activity …

Assessing The Sociocultural Impact Of Special Events In The Context Of Germanfest In Nebraska, Usa, Yanli Wang

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The present study examined the sociocultural impact of special events based on the cultural festival of GermanFest in Syracuse, Nebraska. A total of 143 (71.5%) local residents responded to the self-administered survey. The dimensions of the sociocultural impact, the important reasons for celebrating the festival, the relationship among festival stakeholders, the levels of community involvement, and the improvement of the quality of life in the community as impacts of the festival and demographic information were investigated separately.

The Festival Social Impact Attitude Scale (FSIAS) was utilized to identify the dimensions of the sociocultural impact of GermanFest. Three dimensions were identified …

About The Journal

The Prairie Light Review

No abstract provided.

Dirt, Lauren Laws

The Prairie Light Review

No abstract provided.