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Assessing The Impact Of A Constructed Wetland Biome On The Ecosystem Health Of Cedar Run, Thomas Vasilopoulos, Casey Lee

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

A wetlands ecosystem is defined as “an area saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency or duration sufficient to support...a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions” (Batzer and Sharitz, 2007). Wetlands serve as biofilters and thus have been used to treat sewage and wastewater, as well as to restore the health of polluted water systems. Solly Walker and Lorinda Palin, owners of a certified natural and biodynamic farm called Avalon Acres located in Broadway, Virginia, constructed a wetland two years ago, using the stream, Cedar Run, that flows through their property. Pollution from agricultural …

2016 Fall Commencement, Harding University

Commencement Programs

Program for the Harding University Commencement on December 17.

Commencement Speaker: Errica Rivera

A Framework For Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment Of Road Salt Used In Winter Maintenance Operations, Na Cui, Ning Xie, Xianming Shi

CESTiCC Project Reports

It is important to assess from a holistic perspective the sustainability of road salt widely used in winter road maintenance (WRM) operations. The importance becomes increasingly apparent in light of competing priorities faced by roadway agencies, the need for collaborative decision-making, and growing concerns over the risks that road salt poses for motor vehicles, transportation infrastructure, and the natural environment. This project introduces the concept of Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA), which combines Life Cycle Costing, Environmental Life Cycle Assessment, and Social Life Cycle Assessment. The combination captures the features of three pillars in sustainability: economic development, environmental preservation, and …

Analysis Of Unfrozen Water In Cation-Treated, Fine-Grained Soils Using The Pulse Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (P-Nmr) Method, Aaron M. Kruse

Engineering

Unfrozen water within frozen soils is a key component that determines a soil's thermophysical response to changing physical and environmental conditions. This research focuses on the use of pulse nuclear magnetic resonance (P-NMR) for measuring unfrozen water content within frozen soils. The research is divided into two components: 1) improvements made to the P-NMR testing method, including refinements in the laboratory set up and testing procedure, and experimental validation of the normalization method; and 2) determination of unfrozen water content of fine-grained, cation-treated samples at various sub-freezing temperatures using the improved P-NMR methodology. Previous P-NMR testing used the first return …

Compositional Characteristics And Ages Of Plutons In The Central Ruby Batholith, Alaska: Implications For Rare-Earth-Element Resources, Amy L. Tuzzolino

Geosciences

The central Ruby batholith, comprising much of the Ray Mountains in central Alaska, consists of at least ten, largely monzogranitic plutons, some of which have been defined as a result of this thesis. The general age of the batholith is estimated at 111 Ma, yet recent ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar muscovite and ²³⁸U/²⁰⁶Pb zircon data suggests greater variability in ages than previously known, with ages now spanning 90 to 112 Ma. Initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios for the area show a general increase from northeast (minimum of 0.706) to southwest (maximum of 0.727). There are two characteristic mineral assemblages distinguishing the plutons: The northern plutons …

Curricular Analytics In Higher Education, Ahmad Slim 3589498

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

The dissertation addresses different aspects of student success in higher education. Numerous factors may impact a student's ability to succeed and ultimately graduate, including pre-university preparation, as well as the student support services provided by a university. However, even the best efforts to improve in these areas may fail if other institutional factors overwhelm their ability to facilitate student progress. This dissertation addresses this issue from the perspective of curriculum structure. The structural properties of individual curricula are studied, and the extent to which this structure impacts student progress is explored. The structure of curricula are studied using actual university …

Factors Influencing The Timing And Frequency Of Moose-Vehicle Collisions At Urban-Wildland Interfaces In Subarctic Alaska, Jacobus Cornelis Noordeloos

Natural Resources

Wildlife-vehicle collisions concern road engineers, wildlife biologists, and the motoring public. In Alaska, moose-vehicle collisions (MVCs) are the most commonly reported type of wildlife-vehicle collisions. Each year an average of 101 MVCs were reported in the Fairbanks North Star Borough (FNSB), resulting in damages amounting to $3,000,000/yr. This thesis describes the spatial and temporal patterns of MVCs in the FNSB and uses these patterns to infer the interactions between human and moose behavior that cause them. The analytical approach used combined spatial and temporal records of MVCs collected by the Alaska Department of Transportation with spatially explicit data describing topography, …

Speciation, Transport And Mobility Of Metals In Pristine Watersheds And Contaminated Soil Systems In Alaska, Amanda J. Barker

Chemistry and Biochemistry

The fate of metal(loid)s in the environment depends on a variety of physical and geochemical factors. Assessing metal(loid) transport in soil solution and surface water requires detailed knowledge of the speciation, which can often control mobility, toxicity and bioavailability of a given element. The present study details the geochemical analyses of two end member types of systems: a 'pristine' Arctic watershed and a military shooting range with an overall focus on understanding lead (Pb) and antimony (Sb) mobility in shooting range soils. The project uses bulk speciation analyses coupled with micro-scale methods to quantify variations in metal(loid) concentration as a …

Highlighting School Of Education Successes To Build Community, V. Janene Mcmahan

Education

The project is a WordPress site to showcase faculty and students. This site is a companion piece to the redesigned University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Education website. It is intended to provide a visual resource to be used by faculty and staff to promote the uniqueness of current and recent developments in the School o f Education. The site should serve as a space where staff and faculty may promote opportunities for current and recent graduates. It will also include graduate students’ experiences via research, projects, career stories and testimonials provided by students. These materials will be linked in …

Elementary Stem: Integrated Lessons, John Sassman

Education

The primary purpose of this project was to increase elementary students’ STEM literacy and interest in STEM-related fields. The secondary purpose of this project was to improve educator self-efficacy to teach STEM in their own classroom. To do this, I created, tested, and revised a series of STEM lessons and kits appropriate for Intermediate elementary students. Participants in this project included: eight through twelve year-old elementary students, three “Highly Qualified” certified elementary teachers from the FNSBSD, and other teacher collaborators from California and New Jersey. This project also enlisted the help of several expert students and faculty from the University …

The Application Of Local And Traditional Knowledge For Disaster Mitigation In Flood-Prone Areas Of Rural Thailand, Lacey L. Shoemaker

Rural Development

This project focuses around the development of a workshop on disaster preparedness and response for a village in rural Thailand. The workshop goals were concentrated around the investigation of solutions to alleviate or lessen the vulnerability of the village toward reoccurring flood events. The objectives were completed through inclusion of stakeholders and outside experts and focused on bringing a conversation to community leaders in regard to their implementation of pre- and post-disaster strategies. The primary audience for this research project is those working within rural communities that are prone to annual or frequent natural disasters. The tools and knowledge gained …

Sagavanirktok River Spring Breakup Observations 2016, H. Toniolo, K.D. Tape, T. Tschetter, J.W. Homan, E.K. Youcha, D. Vas, R.E. Gieck, J. Keech, G. Upton

WERC Project Reports

In 2015, spring breakup on the Sagavanirktok River near Deadhorse was characterized by high flows that destroyed extensive sections of the Dalton Highway, closing the road for nearly 3 weeks. This unprecedented flood also damaged infrastructure that supports the trans-Alaska pipeline, though the pipeline itself was not damaged. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (ADOT&PF) and the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company made emergency repairs to their respective infrastructure. In December 2015, aufeis accumulation was observed by ADOT&PF personnel. In January 2016, a research team with the University of Alaska Fairbanks began monitoring and researching the aufeis and local …

Tobacco Use, Cessation, And Locus Of Control Among College Students, Bernard Ambe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to (a) determine the locus of control among American college students (b) determine if tobacco use or cessation correlate with any demographic variables to better understand the efficacy of tobacco interventions and help design an intervention most effective in the prominent LOC of college students.

The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) was modified for the purposes of this study and used to determine demographic factors and tobacco usage status. The modified GATS survey also included the LOC questionnaire which yielded the data. Seventy-four responses were recorded. The mean locus of control scores were …

Current State Of Alaska's Glaciers And Evolution Of Black Rapids Glacier Constrained By Observations And Modeling, Christian Kienholz

Geosciences

Glaciological studies rely on a wide range of input data, the most basic of which, accurate glacier extents, were not available on an Alaska wide scale prior to this work. We thus compiled a glacier database for Alaska and neighboring Canada using multi-sensor satellite data from 2000 to 2011. The inventory yielded a glacierized area of 86,720 km², which corresponds to ~12% of the global glacierized area outside the ice sheets. For each of the ~27,100 glaciers, we derived outlines and 51 variables, including centerline lengths, outline types, and debris cover, which provide key input for observational and modeling studies …

Aerodynamics Of Gurney Flaps On A Wing In Ground Effect, Xuan Zhang, Ramesh K. Agarwal

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

My independent study will focus on the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation of the ground effect of a Gurney flap on its lift enhancement. The commercial flow solver ANSYS ICEM will be used for generating the mesh and ANSYS FLUENT will be employed to solve the airfoil lift and drag coefficient under low speed turbulent flow conditions. The boundary conditions for the CFD models will be implemented such that they correspond to the experimental conditions. The CFD simulation results will be compared to the experimental data. It is expected that the successful simulation results should compare well with the experimental …

Material Characterization Of Alaskan Asphalt Mixtures Containing Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (Rap), Beaux M. Kemp

Engineering

Recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) material has been combined with hot-mix asphalt (HMA) paving for several decades to reduce construction costs and environmental impacts. In Alaska, the HMA specification allows up to 15% RAP for Type-II A mixes (typically used in wearing courses) and 25% for Type II-B mixes (used in wearing or base courses). Highway construction projects statewide are expected to see an increase in the use of RAP in future mix designs. Pavement engineers use mechanistic procedures (e.g. Alaska Flexible Pavement Design software and Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide) to develop flexible pavement design alternatives. These procedures require material engineering …

Evaluation Of Crack Sealing Techniques In Alaska's Asphalt Concrete Pavements, Anthony P. Mullin

Engineering

Thermal cracking is one of the most prevalent asphalt concrete (AC) pavement distresses in northern states and countries. Every year in Alaska, a substantial amount of funding is spent on sealing cracks according to the practices of the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (ADOT&PF) Maintenance and Operations (M&O) division. However, to date there are no specific guidelines available that clearly outline the best timing for crack sealing or even what conditions necessitate crack sealing in a consistent manner. There is a need to evaluate the effectiveness and best practices for using the crack sealing techniques on AC pavements …

Using Superdarn To Predict Polar Irregularities That Cause Gps Scintillation, Michelle R. Simon

Engineering

High levels of scintillation caused by strong magnetic storms can cause GPS devices to lose connection with the necessary satellites. Current research has shown a correlation between major magnetic storms and higher levels of the recorded Total Electron Content (TEC) seen in GPS receivers. The research presented in this thesis examines the idea that observations from the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) can be used to predict scintillation levels in GPS receivers at polar latitudes by using GPS scintillation values σφ and S4 that were collected from January, 2013 till November, 2015. These values were gathered from Poker Flat, …

Event Based Modeling Studying Three Sub-Basins In The Kenai River Watershed, Brett M. Wells

Engineering

Streams in the Kenai River watershed are characterized by a fish-rich environment, with competing interests between commercial industry and recreational users. Resource managers strive to balance the needs of both these user groups while maintaining the sustainability of the resource. The ability to estimate future river conditions could help maintain the resource, and a strong, sustainable economy on the Kenai Peninsula. This research used the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Hydrological Modeling System (HMS), which transforms rainfall to river discharge. The main goal was to define a set of parameters that were calibrated using an event based strategy, and concurrent …

Launch Environment Data Logger Design And Implementation For Cubesats, Morgan Johnson

Engineering

Designing to the CubeSat standard has allowed many universities the ability to launch satellites missions to space. These small satellites are secondary, or even tertiary, payloads on launch vehicles. In fact, these ride-share payloads are frequently used as ballast for weight and balance of the launch vehicle and are often mounted near the engines. The environment experienced by these CubeSats is not well known. The Launch Environment Data Logger was designed to measure temperature and vibrations of the launch vehicle to better understand what kind of environment these small satellites must survive on their ride to space. Through this thesis …

Recovery Of Rare Earth Elements From Alaskan Coal And Coal Combustion Products, Tushar Gupta

Engineering

Owing to the monopolistic supply and rapid demand growth of Rare Earth Elements (REEs), cost effective and eco-friendly technologies for extraction of REEs from coal and coal byproducts are being widely explored. Physical separation tests, like magnetic separation, float-sink and froth flotation, were conducted at a laboratory scale, for identification and characterization of REEs in two Alaskan coal samples. The studies revealed that the samples are enriched in critical REEs, and have elevated REE concentrations as compared to average world coal estimates. The selected coal samples from Healy and Wishbone Hill regions were found to possess an overall concentration of …

Experimental Investigation Of The Influence Of Various Nanoparticles On Water-Based Mud, Paritosh Dhiman

Engineering

In the oil and gas industry, drilling fluids play an important role in the success of drilling operations. Hence, it is vital to predict accurately and maintain drilling fluid properties. Drilling fluids have multitude of functions, including but not limited to balancing the formation pressure, transporting cuttings, lubricating the bit, minimizing formation damage and maintaining well stability. Efficient completion of any drilling operation is governed by the selection of the proper drilling fluid. Growing hydrocarbon demand is driving the industry to explore unconventional resources such as shale formations and deep water and ultra-deep water areas where high temperature high pressure …

Unmanned Aircraft System Assessments Of Landslide Safety For Transportation Corridors, Keith Cunningham, Michael J. Olsen, Matt O'Banion, Joseph Wartman, Claire Rault

INE Project Reports

An assessment of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) concluded that current, off-the-shelf UAS aircraft and cameras can be effective for creating the digital surface models used to evaluate rock-slope stability and landslide risk along transportation corridors. The imagery collected with UAS can be processed using a photogrammetry technique called Structure-from-Motion (SfM) which generates a point cloud and surface model, similar to terrestrial laser scanning (TLS). We treated the TLS data as our control, or “truth,” because it is a mature and well-proven technology. The comparisons of the TLS surfaces and the SFM surfaces were impressive – if not comparable is many …

Book Clubs In The Esl Classroom: A Microinteractional Analysis Of Literacy Development In Adult Esl Students, Sharon E. Johnson

English

This study uses conversation analysis to identify literacy development in adult ESL classroom book club discussions. The investigation focuses on the interactions of three university students participating in a six-week book club about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The longitudinal microethnographic analysis reveals the students' development of interactional routines for enacting topic transitions. Two student strategies are examined: (a) the development of a group routine for reading discussion questions aloud; and (b) the use of the transition markers okay and next. The students' establishment of these strategies during the six meetings provides evidence of literacy development during classroom book …

African Dreams Of America: Diaspora Experience In The Writing Of Aidoo, Adichie And Cole, Gbenga Frederick Olorunsiwa

American Studies ETDs

This study explores four African diasporic texts against a backdrop of the African dream of America, diasporic experience, post-colonialism and racism in the U.S. as portrayed in the writings of Ama Ata Aidoo’s The Dilemma of a Ghost (1971), Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah (2014), and Teju Cole’s Open City (2012) and Every Day Is for the Thief (2014). I argue that the African dream of America is different but also exemplary of the American experience and therefore a privileged lens for understanding “America.” During the course of this research project, I found that while the writings of Adichie and Aidoo are …

Russian Capacity To Develop Its Offshore Hydrocarbon Resources In The Kara Sea: Arctic And Global Implications, Jon A. Skinner

Interdisciplinary Studies

Increasing seasonal ice free Arctic waters and market demand to expand hydrocarbon extraction to previously undeveloped offshore regions has accelerated an Arctic priority in national strategies and international forums. It is proposed that geo-strategically, the sheer size of the Kara Sea hydrocarbon fields is of a predictive magnitude great enough to impact the progression or regression of the Russian economy; and thereby have a predictive value on the capacity for Russian unilateral foreign policy decisions. Rosneft has released figures of a potential 30 to 40 billion barrels of recoverable undiscovered oil reserves in the South Kara Sea basin and significantly …

A Visual Velocity Impedance Controller, Victor Nevarez

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

Successful object insertion systems allow the object to translate and rotate to accommodate contact forces. Compliant controllers are used in robotics to provide this accommodation. The impedance compliant controller is one of the more researched and well known compliant controllers used for assembly. The velocity filtered visual impedance controller is introduced as a compliant controller to improve upon the impedance controller. The velocity filtered impedance controller introduces a filter of the velocity impedance and a gain from the stiffness. The velocity impedance controller was found to be more stable over larger ranges of stiffness values than the position based impedance …

Drag And Shape Analysis Of Fiberglass Particles, Cody Williams

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

Settling tests were performed on particles of NUKON fiberglass to relate the drag coefficient of the particles to the Reynolds number of the particles. A new method was developed to measure fiberglass particles. The projected area, projected perimeter, and average height of the particles are measured using this method. The measurements are used to calculate the measured drag coefficient and measured Reynolds number for the particles. Data collected was compared to previous studies that focused on the settling of sand grains. A predictive correlation that was developed for sand grains was applied towards the particles of fiberglass. Tests were run …

Efficient And Robust Methods For Quantum Tomography, Charles Baldwin

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

The development of large-scale platforms that implement quantum information processing protocols requires new methods for verification and validation of quantum behavior. Quantum tomography (QT) is the standard tool for diagnosing quantum states, process, and readout devices by providing complete information about each. However, QT is limited since it is expensive to not only implement experimentally, but also requires heavy classical post-processing of experimental data. In this dissertation, we introduce new methods for QT that are more efficient to implement and robust to noise and errors, thereby making QT a more widely practical tool for current quantum information experiments. The crucial …

On Frequency Variation Of Dynamic Resting-State Functional Brain Network Activation And Connectivity With Applications To Both Healthy And Clinical Populations, Maziar Yaesoubi

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

One of the earliest and fundamental observation in scientific study of the brain was discovering the relation between activities in different local regions of brain and some core functions of the brain. This was later followed by observing that not only local activities of regions but also synchronous activities between distributed brain regions play a key role in high-level brain functions. Synchronous activity related to the functions of the brain is commonly referred to as functional connectivity (FC) and is studied in the form of connectivity states of the brain which measure degree of interactions between distributed parts of the …