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2016

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The Almost-Invariant Halfspace Problem, Ben Wallis Jan 2016

The Almost-Invariant Halfspace Problem, Ben Wallis

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Let X be a complex, infinite-dimensional Banach space and T : X → X a continuous linear operator. A closed subspace Y of X such that Y and X/Y both have infinite dimension is called a halfspace. We say that Y is almost-invariant under T if there is a finite-rank linear operator F : X → X such that (T + F)Y ⊆ Y; in this case, the minimum possible rank of F is called the defect. If (T +K)Y ⊆ Y for some compact linear operator K : X → X then we say that Y is essentially-invariant under …

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The Associations Among Relational Victimization, Social Support, Depression, And Academic Achievement In Early Adolescence, Sonia Nowakowska Cooper Jan 2016

The Associations Among Relational Victimization, Social Support, Depression, And Academic Achievement In Early Adolescence, Sonia Nowakowska Cooper

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The current study examined the associations among peer victimization, psychological distress, social support, and academic achievement outcomes in a middle school sample. Specifically, the current study investigated how social support and depression influence the association between relational aggression and academic achievement. These findings aimed to address a significant gap in our understanding of how peer victimization interferes with students' academic achievement. Analyses were conducted utilizing a total sample of 471 middle school students that were part of an all-school evaluation that occurred in May, 2014. Results indicated that depression and social support mediated the association between relational victimization and academic …

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The Effect Of #Blacklivesmatter : The Relevance Of Communities And Collective Identity, Stephanie D. Jones Jan 2016

The Effect Of #Blacklivesmatter : The Relevance Of Communities And Collective Identity, Stephanie D. Jones

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In this paper I analyze the impact that the social movement #BlackLivesMatter (#BLM) has on how communities frame the issue of police brutality within protests. Protests that occurred before the #BLM movement focused on policing issues only within their own communities, while the protests that occurred after #BLM make connections from local cases to a national problem. I examine YouTube videos of protesting the police after incidents of police brutality for three different cases. The first case is the murder of Oscar Grant in Oakland, California, which was before the #BLM movement emerged. The second case was the choking of …

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Investigating The Determinants Of Mobile Learning Acceptance In Higher Education In Saudi Arabia, Hamed Al-Shahrani Jan 2016

Investigating The Determinants Of Mobile Learning Acceptance In Higher Education In Saudi Arabia, Hamed Al-Shahrani

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Higher education appears to be changing in Saudi Arabia, which has made considerable progress in the adoption of more student-centered learning approaches as a reaction to the global pedagogical shift. Saudi Arabia has prioritized instructional technology integration in its educational system. The proliferation and popularity of mobile handheld devices, particularly among young students, will significantly make the future of Mobile learning, or M-learning in higher education bright and promising. However, M-learning in higher education is still in its embryonic stage of implementation, especially in developing countries such as Saudi Arabia; therefore, an in-depth study of each aspect of this issue …

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Investigation Of Pretreating Methods To Activate Carbon Electrode For Alkaline Alcohol Fuel Cell, Deva Harsha Perugupalli Jan 2016

Investigation Of Pretreating Methods To Activate Carbon Electrode For Alkaline Alcohol Fuel Cell, Deva Harsha Perugupalli

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Alcoholic fuel cells have been developed intensively over decades for portable applications, but the full application was limited due to the issues such as high system cost, low performance, and durability. The main focus of this research is to replace the expensive platinum catalyst with cheap carbon material to solve one of key challenging issues, the system cost. Alkaline system was utilized, while most of related research has been conducted in acidic condition, due to benefits of fast kinetics, low alcohol/water crossover rate, and low cost of anion exchange membrane which is order of magnitude cheaper than Nafion membrane in …

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Is Legal Action The Right 'Idea' : An Examination Of Client-Based Legal Action And Its Effects On Organizational Responses To The Individuals With Disablities Education Act Of 2004 (Idea), Maureen A. Lowry-Fritz Jan 2016

Is Legal Action The Right 'Idea' : An Examination Of Client-Based Legal Action And Its Effects On Organizational Responses To The Individuals With Disablities Education Act Of 2004 (Idea), Maureen A. Lowry-Fritz

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA) is a piece of federal legislation that directs schools and districts to provide students with disabilities a "free appropriate public education." It contains numerous legal tools that parents can use to compel schools to develop appropriate educational programming for their children. But does parent-initiated legal action actually cause schools and districts to change their behavior? And if so, does the change in behavior affect the educational outcomes of students with disabilities? This dissertation attempts to answer those questions and determine whether law influences organizational behavior and if it does, whether it …

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Jane Austen Uncensored : A Critical And Pedagogical Study Of Austen's Letters For The College Classroom, Amanda Smothers Jan 2016

Jane Austen Uncensored : A Critical And Pedagogical Study Of Austen's Letters For The College Classroom, Amanda Smothers

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

A vast amount of literary critical and scholarly work on Jane Austen's writing, including her juvenilia, has been published. However, insufficient attention has been paid to her extant letters and their significance. This dissertation redresses the imbalance and is the first extensive critical, scholarly discussion of Jane Austen's correspondence and their pedagogical applications. In order to rectify the disparity, this dissertation examines Jane Austen's surviving letters to determine how to contextualize them historically and biographically and in relation to her fiction for college composition and undergraduate literature courses. Background information on letter writing in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century …

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John Dos Passos And The Individual, Michael K. Yetter Jan 2016

John Dos Passos And The Individual, Michael K. Yetter

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The career of John Dos Passos, twentieth-century modernist, American fiction writer, can be separated into two distinct phases: the early liberal political writer and the late-in-life conservative Republican political writer. The entirety of Dos Passos's fiction is devoted to two topics: America and the individual. Due to the author's dramatic change in political philosophy, critics are troubled when reconciling these two phases; however, the critical consensus is that the one constant between early and later novels is his devotion to the plight of the individual. Dos Passos himself echoes this assessment. Closer examination of Dos Passos's fiction reflects that this …

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Jumping In The Snow : An Exploration Of Early Childhood Educator Career Commitment, Tara Mathien Jan 2016

Jumping In The Snow : An Exploration Of Early Childhood Educator Career Commitment, Tara Mathien

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study examined the experiences of early childhood educators that had chosen to make teaching a career. Little research exists that examines resiliency and persistence factors in association with career commitment ideals of early childhood educators. Work experiences in early childhood programs have been researched extensively yet without the focus on those that have stayed in the field for at least five years or more. Questions addressed by this study involve how educators describe and perceive their role and overall careers. Additionally, background experiences, life experiences, personality factors, and resiliency were deeply explored. The study involved a three-part interview series …

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Robbed : Exploring The Role Of The Dcs In Spatial And Temporal Processing, Philip A. Blankenship Jan 2016

Robbed : Exploring The Role Of The Dcs In Spatial And Temporal Processing, Philip A. Blankenship

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Spatial orientation, or an animal's ability to navigate through space, is dependent on multiple specialized neural processes. Spatial disorientation, or loss of the ability to navigate through one's environment, often stems from damage to one or more of the neural systems that sustain these processes. Limited research has investigated the role of the dorsocentral striatum (DCS) in relation to spatial orientation. The current study evaluated the role of the DCS in egocentric processing (processing information relative to the self). Long-Evans rats received unilateral NMDA lesions of the DCS followed by testing in the food protection task. Performance in this task …

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Simulation Analysis Model For Magnetic Drug Delivery To The Targeted Tumor Using External Magnetic Field, Vishnu Priyanka Kadiriboina Jan 2016

Simulation Analysis Model For Magnetic Drug Delivery To The Targeted Tumor Using External Magnetic Field, Vishnu Priyanka Kadiriboina

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The difference between success and failure of chemotherapy depends on not only on the drug itself but also how it is delivered to its target. In current research Magnetic Drug Targeting (MDT) plays an important role in effective drug delivery. Super para-magnetic Nano-particles filled with drug are used as a delivery system for anti-cancer agents in loco regional tumor therapy called magnetic drug targeting. The cancer loco regional tumors are identified and super paramagnetic particles are applied intra arterially close to the tumor region and focused to the tumor by a strong external magnetic field. With the injection of the …

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Simulation Analysis Of Blood Flow And Selective Drug Particle Delivery To The Targeted Tumors Cerebral Artery-Tissue Region, Sravanthi Patibandla Jan 2016

Simulation Analysis Of Blood Flow And Selective Drug Particle Delivery To The Targeted Tumors Cerebral Artery-Tissue Region, Sravanthi Patibandla

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Brain is the most intricate organ of human body. The development of new therapeutic techniques for Brain tumor diseases is a difficult task, yet these treatments are not effective for almost all the brain diseases. Presence of Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) is the main challenge in development of drugs to treat brain diseases in most of the cases. Among several brain diseases, brain tumors often have poor prognosis, which depends and changes according to the type of the tumor. In this study a three-dimensional computational simulation model for analyzing multifunctional drug distribution through the cerebral artery and adjacent tissue region …

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Simulations In Multiphasic Nanosolids And Superconducting Nanostructures, Ivan Viti Jan 2016

Simulations In Multiphasic Nanosolids And Superconducting Nanostructures, Ivan Viti

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

There are many condensed matter problems which are too complicated for analytical solutions. Complex functions such as the Ginzburg-Landau equation for superconductors can not be studied analytically for mesoscopic phenomena. Similarly, a thorough understanding of variable range hopping in electrons requires a new Monte-Carlo algorithm. With this in mind we computationally study two cases of condensed matter physics, pinning vortices in superconductors and thermoelectrics in artificial nanosolids. Vortex-vortex interactions and vortex-inclusion interactions are not fully understood analytically. These analytical calculations become near-impossible when taken to mesoscopic scales. Applied temperature, magnetic field, or currents only serve to complicate the system. Yet …

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Situating The Humanistic Paradigm In Clinical Dental Hygiene : Empathic Understanding, Thoughtfulness And Tact, And Pedagogical Influence, Mary B. Jacobs Jan 2016

Situating The Humanistic Paradigm In Clinical Dental Hygiene : Empathic Understanding, Thoughtfulness And Tact, And Pedagogical Influence, Mary B. Jacobs

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Humanistic teaching endeavors are gaining a renewed focus in dental education as a result of the sustained number of oral health disparities in the United States. The accrediting body for dental education calls for institutions to provide a humanistic environment characterized by respect, tolerance, understanding, and concern for others: one fostered by mentoring, advising, and small group interaction. The voices of dental educators are absent from the literature on humanistic pedagogy; therefore, dental educators are unable to share or access teaching knowledge regarding what humanistic pedagogy looks like. The central research question of this study is, "In what ways do …

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Skeletal Indicators Of Hyperpronation In Australopithecus Sediba And Extant Primates, Deanna Goldstein Jan 2016

Skeletal Indicators Of Hyperpronation In Australopithecus Sediba And Extant Primates, Deanna Goldstein

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Habitual bipedal striding locomotion is a distinctive feature of hominins. The human fossil record, however, shows diversity in lower limb anatomy suggesting functional-mechanical differences in locomotion across these fossil taxa. Different forms of bipedality appear in the skeleton of australopithecines such as Australopithecus africanus, Australopithecus afarensis, and Australopithecus sediba. This study seeks to test the hypothesis that australopithecine lower limbs exhibit a mechanically different form of bipedality relative to modern humans, a character that is evident in lower limb flexibility; it is likely that leg flexibility allowed australopithecines to climb trees as well as walk bipedally. In order to test …

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Survivor Memory, Collective Narrative : Producing The "Remembering The Killing Fields" Exhibit At The National Cambodian Heritage Museum And Memorial In Chicago, Illinois, Alexxandra E.A. Salazar Jan 2016

Survivor Memory, Collective Narrative : Producing The "Remembering The Killing Fields" Exhibit At The National Cambodian Heritage Museum And Memorial In Chicago, Illinois, Alexxandra E.A. Salazar

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In 2011, the National Cambodian Heritage Museum and Killing Fields Memorial (NCHM) opened an exhibition titled, Remembering the Killing Fields (RKF). The exhibit was formed from the collection and curation of survivor memory in the form of life history interviews and documentary objects representing the period of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia (1975-1979). This research examines the development process of the RKF exhibit, looking particularly at the negotiations, challenges, and decisions that occurred behind-the-scenes between multiple groups involved in the exhibit's design, including first-generation Cambodian survivors, 1.5/2.0-generation Cambodian Americans, as well as non-Khmer museum professionals and scholars. How did …

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Synthesis And Characterization Of Nanoalloys And Non-Precious Metal Catalysts For Energy And Environmental Applications, Heather Marie Barkholtz Jan 2016

Synthesis And Characterization Of Nanoalloys And Non-Precious Metal Catalysts For Energy And Environmental Applications, Heather Marie Barkholtz

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Two major project areas are reported in this work. First, a new lithium-assisted dissolution-alloying nanoalloy synthesis technique will be introduced. The development of a new nanoalloy synthesis method is desirable to circumvent issues with traditional co-reduction of metal salt methodology. Co-reduction of metal salts can result in unintended core-shell formation due to different metal ion reduction potentials, as well as oxidation of one component resulting in dealloying of the material when it is exposed to air. In order to best address these issues with a new technique, Pd₃Ag, PdPt, and PdZn systems were studied because Pd₃Ag and PdPt tend to …

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Social Support Compensation And Internalizing Symptoms During Adolescence, Kelly Marie Lyell Jan 2016

Social Support Compensation And Internalizing Symptoms During Adolescence, Kelly Marie Lyell

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The current study sought to add to the social support literature by examining the relationship between adolescent perceptions of social support from different support sources and internalizing symptoms. More specifically, the present study investigated stress-buffering and compensation effects of social support from mothers, fathers, classmates, and close friends related to internalizing symptoms at the middle school level. The primary question guiding this study was: Does social support from one source moderate support from another source when predicting internalizing symptoms? The results were examined specifically to determine if support from one source can compensate for a lack of support from another …

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Solar Photovoltaic (Pv) Array Under Partial Shading Conditions, Belqasem Aljafari Jan 2016

Solar Photovoltaic (Pv) Array Under Partial Shading Conditions, Belqasem Aljafari

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The need for renewable energy sources is growing day by day because of the severe energy crisis in the world today. Renewable energy sources play a significant role in electricity generation. Several renewable energy sources (like solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass) can be used for generation of electricity and for meeting our daily energy demands. Solar energy is the most viable option for electricity generation because it is available everywhere and is free to utilize. Solar Photovoltaic (PV) arrays convert the solar energy into electrical energy. With the current concentration on greener and cleaner sources of power, PV arrays are …

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Social Support And Academic Engagement : Perceptions Of Students With A Disability, Melissa Nordstrom Terry Jan 2016

Social Support And Academic Engagement : Perceptions Of Students With A Disability, Melissa Nordstrom Terry

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Social support and academic engagement are effective in promoting the resilience and school completion of many at-risk student groups. For students with disabilities, a paucity of research in these areas leaves the influence of and relationships between these factors less clear. The current study used data gathered from a Midwestern elementary district to examine students' perceptions of social support and academic engagement and how those variables may be related to the disability severity of students receiving special education. Additional analyses were conducted to examine potential differences between the general education and special education groups within the sample. Although no moderating …

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Teacher Perceptions Of Performance Evaluation And Teacher Self Efficacy In Illinois Public Elementary And Middle Schools, Amy Marks Jan 2016

Teacher Perceptions Of Performance Evaluation And Teacher Self Efficacy In Illinois Public Elementary And Middle Schools, Amy Marks

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This quantitative dissertation explored the association between teacher self-efficacy and teacher perceptions of the Illinois teacher performance evaluation process. It also examined how the teacher evaluation system's procedures, the evaluative feedback received by the teacher, and the context of the evaluation process related to teacher self-efficacy in the areas of student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management. Teachers from two different Illinois suburban public elementary school districts were surveyed. One school district employed the Charlotte Danielson Model and the other a more traditional evaluation model. The study results showed teachers who reported using a high quality teacher evaluation process also …

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Teacher Beliefs About Factors That Influence Student Dropout, Implicit Theories Of Intelligence And Self Efficacy, Robin Lenart Jan 2016

Teacher Beliefs About Factors That Influence Student Dropout, Implicit Theories Of Intelligence And Self Efficacy, Robin Lenart

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study was an exploratory study examining teacher beliefs about the factors that influence student dropout, their implicit theory of intelligence beliefs, and their self-efficacy beliefs. A three part survey was used in this study. The first part of the survey, an instrument developed for this study, was based on Rumberger's 2011 Framework for Understanding Dropout. The second instrument was the Theories of Intelligence Scale (TIS; Dweck, 1995) and the third instrument was the Teacher Self Efficacy Scale (TSES; Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001). Participants were 276 secondary teachers. Results indicated that participants placed a higher importance on individual factors than …

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Teacher Perceptions Of Usefulness Of Mobile Learning Devices In Rural Secondary Science Classrooms, Lisa Tighe Jan 2016

Teacher Perceptions Of Usefulness Of Mobile Learning Devices In Rural Secondary Science Classrooms, Lisa Tighe

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The internet and easy accessibility to a wide range of digital content has created the necessity for teachers to embrace and integrate digitial media in their curriculums. Although there is a call for digital media integration in curriculum by current learning standards, rural schools continue to have access to fewer resources due to limited budgets, potentially preventing teachers from having access to the most current technology and science instructional materials. This dissertation identifies the perceptions rural secondary science teachers have on the usefulness of mobile learning devices in the science classroom. The successes and challenges in using mobile learning devices …

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Task Specificity And Multiple Document Integration, Karyn Paula Higgs Jan 2016

Task Specificity And Multiple Document Integration, Karyn Paula Higgs

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Readers must often construct an understanding of a complex process (e.g. climate change) from multiple documents. This is challenging because the documents are typically written for different purposes by different authors. In this context, readers must engage different reading strategies, because information that is important to the meaning of an individual text (i.e. text-based importance) may not be relevant to the reader's purpose (i.e. task-based relevance). Readers may have a default processing strategy based on attending to textual importance (i.e. importance-based processing), but when they have a goal or a task, they may switch to a processing strategy based on …

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Reconciling Naturalism And Theology In The Political Thought Of Bernard Mandeville, Lewis Hoss Jan 2016

Reconciling Naturalism And Theology In The Political Thought Of Bernard Mandeville, Lewis Hoss

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The paradoxical nature of Bernard Mandeville's The Fable of the Bees has led a number of scholars to offer competing interpretations of his social and political thought. In particular, his rigoristic definition of moral virtue, which juxtaposes a version of Christian asceticism with Enlightenment rationalism, has allowed for competing portrayals of Mandeville as either a Christian moralist or a Hobbesian empiricist. Contributing to this perplexity is the fact that his writings are also characterized by repeated appeals to Christian ethics, despite the fact that he is making a case for the benefits to be derived from vice. In this paper, …

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Examining K-8 Teachers' Perceptions Of Mandated Curriculum Change, Sarah Marie Cacciatore Jan 2016

Examining K-8 Teachers' Perceptions Of Mandated Curriculum Change, Sarah Marie Cacciatore

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-method study was to examine elementary teacher perceptions of mandated curriculum change. In the spring and fall of 2015, Illinois elementary school teachers in a north suburban school district participated in a focus group, an online survey, and follow-up interviews to gather data about teachers' perceptions of the mandated curriculum change process in implementing the Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics. The study also sought to find any differences between the perceptions of teachers in kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms and those who taught in sixth- through eighth-grade classrooms. This study was …

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Examining Self-Efficacy As A Mediator On The Relation Between Bullying Role Behaviors And Academic Success In Early Adolescence, Christina L. Piccirillo Jan 2016

Examining Self-Efficacy As A Mediator On The Relation Between Bullying Role Behaviors And Academic Success In Early Adolescence, Christina L. Piccirillo

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to explore the mediating effects of social and academic self-efficacy on the relations between bullying role behaviors and academic achievement. Research has primarily focused on the bully and the victim in bullying situations, which neglects to examine the experiences of those who witness or are involved in the aggressive act, including assisting bullies, defending victims, and ignoring others. As a result, research has overlooked how other bullying roles relate to academic performance. However, research has explored how various bullying role behaviors relate to self-efficacy. Additionally, self-efficacy has been associated with academic performance, such as …

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Examining The Effect Of Inquiry-Based Learning Vs. Traditional Lecture-Based Learning On Critical Thinking Skills And Students' Achievement In College Algebra, Elaina M. Khasawneh Jan 2016

Examining The Effect Of Inquiry-Based Learning Vs. Traditional Lecture-Based Learning On Critical Thinking Skills And Students' Achievement In College Algebra, Elaina M. Khasawneh

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The main aim of this study is to examine the effect of teaching based on inquiry- based learning (IBL) versus traditional learning (TL) on critical thinking skills and math achievement score of undergraduate students enrolled in a college algebra class in a university classified as a Predominantly Black Institution (PBI). The study was a quasi experiment with pre-test and post-test. The sample was 41 students were chosen by a convenience sample. Quantitative analyses were used to determine the effect of the instructional pedagogy on overall critical thinking skills scores, the five critical thinking sub-scales (analysis, inference, evaluation, inductive and deductive …

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Radiative And Convective Properties Of 316l Stainless Steel Fabricated Using The Laser Engineered Net Shaping Process, Jonathan Knopp Jan 2016

Radiative And Convective Properties Of 316l Stainless Steel Fabricated Using The Laser Engineered Net Shaping Process, Jonathan Knopp

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Temperature evolution of metallic materials during the additive manufacturing process has direct influence in determining the materials microstructure and resultant characteristics. Through the power of Infrared (IR) thermography it is now possible to monitor thermal trends in a build structure, giving the power to adjust building parameters in real time. The IR camera views radiation in the IR wavelengths and determines temperature of an object by the amount of radiation emitted from the object in those wavelengths. Determining the amount of radiation emitted from the material, known as a materials emissivity, can be difficult in that emissivity is affected by …

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Spatiotemporal Analysis Of Residential Flood Exposure In The Atlanta, Georgia Metropolitan Area, 1990-2010, Alex Page Ferguson Jan 2016

Spatiotemporal Analysis Of Residential Flood Exposure In The Atlanta, Georgia Metropolitan Area, 1990-2010, Alex Page Ferguson

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Financial losses due to flooding have increased substantially over the past several decades. Previous research implies that flood losses are rising due to changes in precipitation and increases in exposure. While prior research has explored changes in floodplain exposure at the county level, few efforts have examined patterns across an entire metropolitan area. This thesis examines changes in residential built-environment flood exposure within the current boundaries of the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan statistical area by estimating the number of housing units that are located within the floodplains of the region. Housing unit data at the block level from the 1990-2010 decennial …

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