Digital Commons Network^™

Misencounters, Francisco J. Besa

Theses and Dissertations

We are immersed in an era of supermodernity, an age defined by excesses: of information—the acceleration of historical time—spatial overabundance—the nullification of distance by electronic media and transportation—and an excess of self-reflexive individuality. In this context, the idea of place is giving way to non-places: designed spaces in which social relations are tangential and the boundary between the individual and the group is increasingly mediated. Media plays an important role in the creation of non-places, by favoring a removed form of communication made pervasive and extensive through mobile devices. The blurring of the line between media and actuality …

Yi, Observational Documentary Aesthetics, And The Identity Politics Of Transcultural Migrancy, Jiacheng Xu 4159187

Theses and Dissertations

There is a moment in Edward Yang’s acclaimed film Yi Yi (2000) in which a young boy in a conversation with his father observes that he cannot see what his father sees and that his father cannot see what he sees, prompting two questions: “How can I know what you see?” and “Can we only know half of the truth?” Unable to provide adequate answers, his father instead offers his son a camera. Later in the film, the same boy presents his uncle with a picture he took of the back of his head. When asked why, the boy responds …

Relocations Of The 'Outraged Slave': Transatlantic Reform Conversations Through Douglass's Periodical Fiction, Nikki D. Fernandes

Theses and Dissertations

Through their editorial arrangements of African-American, Euro-American and European poetry, fiction and news, Frederick Douglass’s anti-slavery periodicals (The North Star and Frederick Douglass’ Paper) imagine a cosmopolitan discourse that predates the segregated realities of the antebellum United States. In spite of Southern blockades against the infiltration of Northern texts, Douglass’s material space uniquely capitalized on the limited restrictions of his reprinting culture to relocate the voice of the ‘outraged slave’ onto a global stage. From the poems of Phillis Wheatley and William Cowper to Charles Dickens’s Bleak House and Douglass’s own novella “The Heroic Slave,” this project considers how …

Quantitative Analysis And Process Of High Speed Live Cell Interferometry Measurements, Daniel Guest

Theses and Dissertations

The application of auto focus, using an optical beam deflection technique, to existing live cell interferometry measurements was developed and examined. The benefit to relevant experiments, currently being performed, is shown as well as its performance across various magnifications. Enough information is given so that the system can be reproduced to fit any end users needs.

Evaluating Stock-Trading Practices And Their Regulation, Merritt B. Fox, Kevin S. Haeberle

Faculty Scholarship

High-frequency trading, dark pools, and the practices associated with them have come under tremendous scrutiny lately, giving rise to much hot rhetoric. Missing from the discussion, however, is a principled, comprehensive standard for evaluating such practices and the law that governs them. This Article fills that gap by providing a general framework for making serious normative judgments about stock-trading behavior and its regulation. In particular, we argue that such practices and laws should be evaluated with an eye to the secondary trading market’s impact on four main aspects of our economy: the use of existing productive capacity, the allocation of …

April 11, 2017 Finance And Facilities (F&F) Committee Meeting, Senior Vice President For Finance And Administration

Finance and Facilities Committee

Documents related to the April 11, 2017 Board of Regents' Finance and Facilities Committee Meeting. (Agenda, Minutes, eBook, Notice)

Report Of The Faculty Senate General Education Task Force, Faculty Senate

UNM HLC 2018-19 Assurance Argument Evidence

Among other things, this Faculty Senate GE Task force report includes the task force's recommendation that GE assessment should happen on the program level (pg. 22). In general, this document shows one broad example of faculty involvement in concerns of curriculum.

Economics Ba, Degree/Certificate Program Assessment Report, Office Of Assessment And The Academic Program Review Office

UNM HLC 2018-19 Assurance Argument Evidence

An example of a typical Degree/Certificate Program Assessment Report from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Use Of Instructional Videos In Remediation To Enhance Dental Hygiene Students’ Restorative Skills, Cristina Lu

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Purpose: Performing restorative procedures is one of the scopes of practice for dental hygienists in Washington State. To ensure dental hygiene students are clinically competent with their skills upon graduation, remediation is inevitable. However, with current challenges faculty face with traditional remedial interventions such as heavy workload and faculty availability, an alternative effective method of providing restorative remediation for dental hygiene students would be beneficial. This study investigated whether the use of instructional videos in remediation enhanced dental hygiene students’ restorative skills. Methods: This mixed-method study used a convenience sample of senior dental hygiene students. In this counterbalanced experimental design, …

Cloud Live Video Transfer, Ryan Babcock

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

As multimedia content continues to grow, considerations for more effective storage options, like cloud technologies, become apparent. While video has become a mainstream media source on the web, live video streaming is growing as a prominent player in the modern marketplace for both businesses and individuals. For instance, a business owner may want to oversee operations while he or she is away, or an individual may want to surveillance their property. In this work, we propose Cloud Live Video Streaming (CLVS) - a very efficient method to stream live video that creates a separate pricing model from modern video streaming …

Reading The Romance: Throught The Eyes Of A Millennial Feminist, Jessica English

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

The consumption of romance novels is vast, far leading the literary industry, with millennial readers being the second largest consumer group. Similarly, we continue to see an ever-increasing embrace of feminist ideology, even if that does not always translate to self-identifying as feminists. This paper seeks to examine the interrelationship between these two popular parts of American culture, with particular regard to the millennial generation. This research is a quantitative analysis of participants that either identify as feminists or have, either in the past or currently, read romance novels, and their thoughts on the intersection of these two things. The …

Hard Apple Cider In The New York Hudson Valley Region: A Tourism Study, Meghann Smith, Pankaj Lal

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Hard apple cider production is an emerging industry in apple-growing regions of the United States due to the growing popularity of local craft products in the alcoholic beverage industry. This study strives to understand how hard cideries may affect local product promotion, rural tourism, and agriculture’s economic viability in the Hudson Valley region of New York. Tourism is evolving towards travelling for experiential value; the hard cider industry can offer an authentic environmentally and historically significant experience. By identifying the consumers and their expectations, the possibilities for building tourism specifically surrounding products with regional significance expand significantly. In this study, …

Determination Of Significant Parameters That Drive Fracture Optimization In The Glauconite Formation, Southern Chile, Ghassan Saleh Mahdi Alqatrani

Masters Theses

"The Glauconite Formation in the Magallanes Basin of Southern Chile is a clay- and silica-rich formation with low permeability. As with many of the unconventional resources, the Glauconite Formation requires a hydraulic fracturing operation to enhance the productivity of the wells in this area.

Data and pertinent information of fracturing, completion, and reservoir quality parameters along with post-fracture production data were collected to initiate a database of nearly 70 wells, to be used to develop a better understanding of the fracturing behavior, optimize the well stimulation, and overcome the major barriers in the hydraulic fracturing of the Glauconite Formation. The …

Spectrum Analyzer Based Phase Measurement For Emi Scanning Applications, Shubhankar Marathe

Masters Theses

"Often Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) scanning applications require phase and magnitude information for the creation of equivalent radiation models and for far-field predictions. Magnitude information can be obtained using a spectrum analyzer (SA), which is relatively inexpensive compared to phase resolving instruments such as oscilloscopes (scope) and vector network analyzers (VNA). The study focusses on the development of a near-field scanning method using a SA to measure the phase of the device under test (DUT) signals.

The first part deals with the development of the method in software simulation tools and testing it under standard test conditions. The second part deals …

A Review Of Random Matrix Theory With An Application To Biological Data, Jesse Aaron Marks

Masters Theses

"Random matrix theory (RMT) is an area of study that has applications in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. The foundation of RMT is based on the analysis of the eigenvalue behavior of matrices. The eigenvalues of a random matrix (a matrix with stochastic entries) will behave differently than the eigenvalues from a matrix with non-random properties. Studying this bifurcation of the eigenvalue behavior provides the means to which system-specific signals can be distinguished from randomness. In particular, RMT provides an algorithmic approach to objectively remove noise from matrices with embedded signals.

Major advances in data acquisition capabilities have changed …

Hydraulic Conductivity Testing Of Cement-Bentonite Mixes For Use In Annular Well Seals, Amy Lynn Norval

Masters Theses

"Grout is the material used in the annulus of water supply and monitoring wells to prevent movement of water from adjacent formations or from the land surface into the well. Grout is critical for preventing cross-contamination of aquifers through a borehole when a single well penetrates multiple aquifers and for protecting aquifers from surface contamination. The composition and emplacement of grout is regulated in most states, with standard mixes of bentonite and cement being the most widely used types of grout. Despite widespread adoption of grout regulations, surprisingly little literature is available to describe the effectiveness of different grout mixtures. …

Sentiment Analytics: Lexicons Construction And Analysis, Bo Yuan

Masters Theses

"With the increasing amount of text data, sentiment analysis (SA) is becoming more and more important. An automated approach is needed to parse the online reviews and comments, and analyze their sentiments. Since lexicon is the most important component in SA, enhancing the quality of lexicons will improve the efficiency and accuracy of sentiment analysis. In this research, the effect of coupling a general lexicon with a specialized lexicon (for a specific domain) and its impact on sentiment analysis was presented. Two special domains and one general domain were studied. The two special domains are the petroleum domain and the …

Mining Asteroids For Volatile Resources: An Experimental Demonstration Of Extraction And Recovery, Egboche Christopher Unobe

Masters Theses

"Gaseous compounds trapped within carbonaceous asteroids may prove to be important targets for prospective space miners in the near-term. Volatile release is from hydrated, hydroxylated and carbonated phases present, making such bodies attractive as feedstock for the production of H₂O, CO₂ and simple organic compounds. A source of these species in orbit provides an opportunity to locally produce space-craft propellant and other life-support gases through the application of In-situ Resource Utilization (ISRU).

For this study, an experimental vacuum system was modified and used to test the technical validity of radiatively heating asteroid simulants to extract contained gaseous …

Facebook And Value Congruence, Andrew James Eyberg

Masters Theses

"The current discussion on the use of social networking sites (SNS) in personnel selection is mixed at best. The present research utilized participant's Facebook profiles to determine if raters can correctly - and accurately evaluate work value dimensions as a measure of person-organization fit. Similar research was successful in capturing personality dimensions via SNS (Buffardi & Campbell, 2009). Additionally, the value dimensions of the current measure used -- the Organizational Culture Profile (OCP) (O'Reilly et al., 1991) has been correlated with aspects of personality. Rater participants (N=105). Every five raters were randomly assigned five profiles to rate, for a total …

Depth Determination Method For A Trailer-Truck Test-Bed, Aditya Thakur

Masters Theses

"A camera is considered as a good sensing device to obtain visual information from its surrounding environment. In a three dimensional space, a camera has a two dimensional plane. Projection of an object on this plane creates a two dimensional projection and loses information of the third dimension. A single projection is not enough to retrieve the lost third dimensional information about the object. Thus it makes it difficult to use a single camera as a sensing instrument. In this project, we have developed a method that determines the three dimensional information using a single camera. The method utilizes an …

Detection Of Mine Roof Failure Using Inexpensive Lidar Technology, Ali Abdullah M. Alzahrani

Masters Theses

"Slope, Roof, and mine wall stability problems are some of the main reasons for deaths at U.S. surface or underground mining. The safety instruments were not enough to prevent that failure or even predict it before it occurs. However, the cost of such a tool that can be helpful in detecting roof failures is very high and not reachable in most instances.

The present study investigates the feasibility of using the M16 Leddar Evaluation Kit to detect the roof failure in mines. The M16 Leddar Evaluation kit cost is between 300$-800$, so it is the reachable price if it provides …

Multiple Security Domain Nondeducibility Air Traffic Surveillance Systems, Anusha Thudimilla

Masters Theses

"Traditional security models partition the security universe into two distinct and completely separate worlds: high and low level. However, this partition is absolute and complete. The partition of security domains into high and low is too simplistic for more complex cyber-physical systems (CPS). Absolute divisions are conceptually clean, but they do not reflect the real world. Security partitions often overlap, frequently provide for the high level to have complete access to the low level, and are more complex than an impervious wall. The traditional models that handle situations where the security domains are complex or the threat space is ill …

Sparse Emission Source Microscopy For Rapid Emission Source Imaging, Ling Zhang

Masters Theses

"In Paper I, Sparse Emission Source Microscopy (ESM) methodology will be introduced and discussed for the localization of major EMI radiation sources in complex and large systems. Traditional ESM method takes abundant and uniformly-distributed scanning points on the scanning plane using a robotic system, which can provide high-quality source images but consumes too much time. This section presents a sparse and nonuniform sampling technique for ESM, which is more time-efficient in identifying major radiation sources, even though the image quality is sacrificed. The feasibility of sparse sampling is mathematically proved, and it is shown that increasing number of points increases …

Uface: Your Universal Password No One Can See, Nicholas Steven Hilbert

Masters Theses

"With the advantage of not having to memorize long passwords, facial authentication has become a topic of interest among researchers. However, since many users store images containing their face on social networking sites, a new challenge emerges in preventing attackers from impersonating these users by using these online photos. Another problem with most current facial authentication protocols is that they require an unencrypted image of each registered user's face to compare against. Moreover, they might require the user's device to execute computationally expensive multiparty protocols which presents a problem for mobile devices with limited processing power. Finally, these authentication protocols …

The Bald Eagle Nests: The United States Role In State-Building: Germany, Kosovo, And Iraq, Visar Xhambazi

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) This paper aims to explain and analyze the role and the commitment of the United States in state-building, looking at three case studies coming from different regions and periods of time – from Germany to Iraq and Kosovo. The objective is to answer some critical questions such as how successful was the transition of state-building when it comes to security, economy, and institutions; what was the U.S. commitment; what happened for the better and for the worse; why in some countries was the state-building successful and in some countries not; and last but not least, how important is …

Antitrust Via Rulemaking: Competition Catalysts, Tim Wu

Faculty Scholarship

In its March 26, 2016 issue, The Economist magazine announced that "America needs a giant dose of competition." Its study of industry concentration and profits suggested that, after decades of consolidation, competition had decreased across a broad range of the American economy. An April 2016 issue brief by the Council of Economic Advisors reached similar conclusions, stating that "competition appears to be declining" due to "increasing industry concentration, increasing rents accruing to a few firms, and lower levels of firm entry and labor market mobility."

The promotion of competition in the American economy is a task that has traditionally fallen …

Euro-Yearnings? Moving Toward A "Substantive" Registration-Based Trademark Regime, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

In Alan Jay Lerner’s lyric, Professor Henry Higgins laments: "Why can’t a woman be more like a man?" Professor Rebecca Tushnet’s provocative article in effect urges that a U.S. trademark should be more like a European Union trademark, at least with respect to the relationship of registration to substantive protection. The article convincingly exposes the current incoherence in U.S. trademark law – a hybrid between “procedural” and “substantive” registration regimes, in which the traditional emphasis on use-based trademark rights undermines the business-planning benefits that flow from registration.

Before elaborating on the similarities between Tushnet’s suggested reforms of U.S. trademark law …

Stock Market Futurism, Merritt B. Fox, Gabriel Rauterberg

Faculty Scholarship

The U.S. stock market is undergoing extraordinary upheaval. The approval of the application of the Investors Exchange (IEX) to become the nation’s newest stock exchange, including its famous “speed bump,” was one of the SEC’s most controversial decisions in decades. Other exchanges have proposed a raft of new innovations in its wake. This evolving equity market is a critical piece of national infrastructure, but the regulatory scheme for its institutions is increasingly frayed. In particular, current regulation draws sharp distinctions among different kinds of markets for trading stocks, treating stock exchanges as self-regulatory organizations immune from private civil litigation, while …

Complete Mouth Rehabilitation And Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease: Conventional And Contemporary Treatment Approaches, Vasilios Chronopoulos, Georgios Maroulakos, Konstantinos Tsoutis, Panagiota Stathopoulou, William W. Nagy

School of Dentistry Faculty Research and Publications

This report describes the diagnosis and prosthodontic management of 2 patients with a history of chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease and worn dentition. Different treatment approaches were used for oral rehabilitation. Use of conventional and contemporary restorative materials resulted in functional and esthetic prosthodontic rehabilitation with a favorable prognosis.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a “condition which develops when the reflux of stomach contents causes troublesome symptoms and/or complications." Reflux episodes can be intensified by dietary habits, smoking, physical exercise, and obstructive sleep apnea.Complications of GERD are regurgitation, chest pain, esophagitis, Barrett’s esophagus, esophageal adenocarcinoma, cough, asthma, and dental erosion.GERD is …

A Current Overview Of Materials And Strategies For Potential Use In Maxillofacial Tissue Regeneration, Hossein E. Jazayeri, Mohammadreza Tahriri, Mehdi Razavi, Kimia Khoshroo, Farahnaz Fahimipour, Erfan Dashtimoghadam, Luis Eduardo Almeida, Lobat Tayebi

School of Dentistry Faculty Research and Publications

Tissue regeneration is rapidly evolving to treat anomalies in the entire human body. The production of biodegradable, customizable scaffolds to achieve this clinical aim is dependent on the interdisciplinary collaboration among clinicians, bioengineers and materials scientists. While bone grafts and varying reconstructive procedures have been traditionally used for maxillofacial defects, the goal of this review is to provide insight on all materials involved in the progressing utilization of the tissue engineering approach to yield successful treatment outcomes for both hard and soft tissues. In vitro and in vivo studies that have demonstrated the restoration of bone and cartilage tissue with …