Digital Commons Network^™

Wangari Maathai The Educator: Straddling Tradition And Modernity, Namulundah Florence

Journal of Global Education and Research

Wangari Muta Mary Jo Maathai’s (April 1, 1940 – September 25, 2011) public image highlights her nationality, her education both in and outside Kenya, her establishment of the Green Belt Movement (GBM) for which she received a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, and her political activism. Advocates for female empowerment take solace in success stories like Maathai’s rise from a village girl to become a global icon of leadership. Yet, her mobility was more circumstantial than it was deliberate, and is inseparable from the uneasy compromise between the traditional gender roles of her youth with the critical consciousness nurtured in …

Recidivism And Juvenile Justice Youth: A Study On Recidivism Rates For Youth Awaiting Adjudication, Whitney L. Hunt

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses - Archive

The United States incarcerates more youth than any other country in the world (Justice Policy Institute, 2009). Previous research has focused on recidivism rates of juvenile justice youth post-adjudication. However, a gap in literature exists concerning the relationship of recidivism rates for youth awaiting adjudication. This study seeks to determine what factors correlate with recidivism for youths in detention compared with youths who receive detention alternatives while awaiting adjudication in an urban area in the Southern United States. It is hypothesized that, based on previous research and theory, youth who receive detention while awaiting adjudication are more likely to recidivate …

Board Level Solder Joint Reliability Assessment Study Of Megtron 6 Vs Fr-4 Under Power Cycling And Thermal Cycling, Jyotirmoy Denria

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

High frequency laminates like Nelco N4000-13, Isola FR408 and Panasonic Megtron 6 packages gained popularity among the industry due to better and improved electrical performances, Improved impedance control, low moisture absorption, good thermal management. High speed laminates are extensively used in high-speed system-level interconnects like high speed network equipment, mainframes, IC testers and high frequency measuring instruments. When an electronic device is turned off and then turned on multiple times, it creates a loading condition called power cycling. The die is the only heat source causing non-uniform temperature distribution. In this paper, the solder joint reliability assessment of Megtron 6 …

Some New Results For Equilibria Of N-Person Games, Ahmad Nahhas

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

In this dissertation, we present four journal articles in the area of game theory. In the first article, we define a generalized equilibrium for n-person normal form games. We prove that the Nash equilibrium and the mixed Berge equilibrium are special cases of the generalized equilibrium. In the second article, we study the computational complexity of finding a mixed Berge equilibrium in n-person normal form games. In particular, we prove that the problem is an NP-complete problem for n >= 3. In the third article, we give an interpretation of mixed strategies via resource allocation. Finally, in the fourth article, …

Automated Multistep Classifier Sizing And Training For Deep Learner, Kanishka Tyagi

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Training algorithms for deep learning have recently been proposed with notable success, beating the start-of-the-art in certain areas like audio, speech and language processing. The key role is played by learning multiple levels of abstractions in a deep architecture. However, searching the parameters space in a deep architecture is a difficult task. By exploiting the greedy layer-wise unsupervised training strategy of deep architecture, the network parameters are initialized near a good local minima. However, many existing deep learning algorithms require tuning a number of hyperparameters including learning factors and the number of hidden units in each layer. Apart from this, …

Nearest Neighbor Classifiers With Improved Accuracy And Efficiency, Sinchan Bhattacharya

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

Nearest Neighbor algorithms are non-parametric algorithms that use distance measure techniques for classification and regressions. This thesis uses the method of pruning to improve accuracy and efficiency of a nearest neighbor classifier and also states the different stages the pruning algorithm can be applied and shows the best stage for pruning which gives the maximum accuracy. The performance of the classifier is shown to be better than other improved nearest neighbor classifiers. A fast method of finding the optimal k in a k-nearest neighbor classifier is proposed in the thesis. A method of optimizing the distance measure using a second …

Analytical Technique To Evaluate Impact Of Mutual Coupling On Transmission Line Protection Schemes, Azade Brahman

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

While there are numerous literatures that have addressed the impact of mutual coupling on the reliability and security of protection schemes and have provided possible mitigation solutions, there has not been adequate research and documentation presenting a comprehensive analytical approach to 1) estimate the magnitude of mutual coupling and 2) quantify the adverse impact of mutual coupling in real-life scenarios under several system faults across various types of protective elements. This should be considered as the first stage of any mutual coupling related study preceding the second stage in which the mitigation against mutual coupling is to be developed. The …

Bit-Rate Reduction Using Superpixel For 360-Degree Videos - Vr Application, Swaroop Krishna Rao

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

Superpixels are applied on the side views of the 2D projected video. Then the video is partitioned into Coding Tree Units (CTUs). The CTUs and the superpixels positions will be compared within the frame of video. During comparison, the following cases will be considered: Case-1: If two or more CTUs are covered by the same superpixel, then the CTUs will be merged into one large coding tree unit. This merged CTU will be called as Intra CTU. Case-2: If one CTU is covered by two or more superpixels, then it will be referred to as Boundary CTU. After finding the …

Implementation And Comparison Of Serial And Parallel Algorithms Of Sao In Hevc, Harsha Nagathihalli Jagadish

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

The High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard is the latest video coding project developed by the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC) which involves the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T) Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) and the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) standardization organizations. HEVC also known as H.265 supports encoding videos with wide range of resolutions, starting from low resolution to beyond High Definition i.e. 4k or 8k. The HEVC standard is an optimization of the previous standard H.264/AVC (Advanced Video coding) which is a very well established and widely used standard in industry and finds its applications …

Steerable Antenna Array For Uav Applications, Varsha Vijaykumar

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

An antenna array system design, demonstrating the possible application on an unmanned aerial vehicle platform using a full wave electromagnetic simulation software is presented. Linear array of patches in E plane and H plane are designed consisting of 4 elements with a beam steering ability of ±40 degree from the broadside direction with a peak gain of 12.23dB. Further an arrangement illustrating four such linear arrays, that can switch between each other to cover the entire azimuth scanning is shown. After a series of modified patch antenna designs with an attempt to increase the gain, an inset fed microstrip patch …

Development Of Qualitative And Quantitative Applications In Energy Industry Using Gas Chromatography- Vacuum Ultraviolet Spectroscopy, Ling Bai

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations - Archive

Characterization and evaluation of hydrocarbon assets, including content of linear and branched alkanes, cycloalkanes, aromatics, olefins, and naphthenes, among others, during production and distribution are very crucial in oil and gas industries. Quantification and qualification of bulk composition of hydrocarbon groups in complex samples like gasoline, diesel, and other high value refinery products is very challenging. Gas chromatography (GC) is the most popular technique among the petrochemical industry and many of the EPA and ASTM methods have been established based on GC for analyzing hydrocarbons in complex mixtures. Though there are many methods available, there are still limitations on the …

Microhabitat Influences Morphospecies Richness On Costa Rican Rocky Reefs, December 2017, Brooke Hawkins, Eric Medina

Monteverde Institute: Tropical Ecology and Conservation

Microhabitat can be important in understanding small-scale habitat use of marine populations. This study examines the role of microhabitat, defined as a combination of substrate feature, as well as spatial heterogeneity on the biodiversity of rocky reefs off the coast of Cuajiniquil, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. We surveyed twenty quadrats from three sites, recording the benthic animal morphospecies we observed, the microhabitats they occupied, and measured physical attributes of each habitat. We found that stony caves harbor more morphospecies in a given area than other microhabitats, but that rocky flats and stony pools host more unique morphospecies in total. We also …

The Effects Of Reforestation On Mammal Diversity And Abundance In Monteverde, Costa Rica, December 2017, Noelle Pruett

Monteverde Institute: Tropical Ecology and Conservation

Reforestation is an important mechanism in helping previously deforested landscapes recover. However, reforested areas tend to have less diversity in vegetation, due to the fact that humans are not able to replicate the same diversity or pattern of regeneration that would occur naturally. I investigated whether or not these changes in forest types and vegetation affect the diversity and abundance of mammals that inhabit these areas. I used both camera traps and Sherman traps to survey mammals from areas with reforestation and with natural regeneration. I observed a total of 72 mammals from five species in the camera traps. I …

Relating Wing Loading And Ear Size To Bat Diet Types, December 2017, Shilah Mcguinness

Monteverde Institute: Tropical Ecology and Conservation

Bats have one of the widest diet varieties in the animal kingdom. With these varying diet niches, each bat species experiences a different set of evolutionary pressures from its ecological interactions. This study assessed the variation in wing and ear morphology in bats and how these values compare with their varying diet types, in order to assess the ecological specificity that these species have evolved. I set up mist nets over a series of two weeks and captured a total of 17 bats from 9 species, conducting a series of measurements to calculate the total wing area and ear/weight ratio …

Synchronized Male Cricket Calls In Choruses Of The Cricket Anaxipha Sp., December 2017, Michael Morales

Monteverde Institute: Tropical Ecology and Conservation

In Monteverde, there is a species of cricket within the Genus Anaxipha where males sing in loud choruses at night. I wanted to explore the purpose of this behavior by looking at the call and response activity between individual males. In this experiment, I looked at male responses to manipulations of the species male song, which is composed of two elements. I conducted a series of playback experiments on captive crickets. Responses of test subjects were documented while presenting playbacks of manipulated songs. Each playback treatment had a unique response from the crickets being tested. However, overall, it appears that …

Possible Effects Of Long-Term Weather Changes And Extreme Weather Events On Mice Population Abundances In Monteverde, Costa Rica, December 2017, Emily S. Parker

Monteverde Institute: Tropical Ecology and Conservation

Mice and rat abundance is determined by a multitude of factors, including, but not limited to: climate change, predation, and food availability. In this study, I analyzed the effects of daily and long-term weather on rodent populations to understand a possible decrease in abundance from 2016 to 2017 in Monteverde, Puntarenas, Costa Rica. I took observations of individuals from four different sites: Santa Elena, Bajo del Tigre, Dwight and Rachel Crandell Memorial Reserve, and the Estación Biológica Monteverde. While a considerable number of specimens were captured in Bajo del Tigre, I observed the total abundance of rodents to be significantly …

Building An Albanian Knowledge Graph From Unstructured Text, Hakan Shehu

Theses and Dissertations

We live in the golden area of information. The World Wide web contains a vast amount of unstructured text in different digital formats, including newswire, blogs, email communications, governmental documents, chat logs, and so on. Some of the biggest companies and organizations have created knowledge bases which represent a semantic network of facts, entities and relations between them. Even though this area has been well researched for a considerable time, there is a lack of implementation of such a knowledge extraction for Albanian language. In this thesis we will try to create an Albanian general knowledge graph from unstructured text. …

2018 Calendar: Animals In The Archives: Images From The C. L. Sonnichsen Special Collections Department, Special Collections Staff

Annual Calendars

This calendar features photographs of wild and farm animals, pets, and military service dogs.

Frameworks, Algorithms, And Systems For Efficient Discovery Of Data-Backed Facts, Gensheng Zhang

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

This thesis studies the problem of finding facts from semi-structured and structured data. The amount of data in our world is exploding, and the proliferation of data is making them increasingly inaccessible. It is now more challenging than ever how to efficiently identify useful information where a vast amount of data is available. This thesis first studies the problem of finding facts in semi-structured data, specifically, in knowledge graphs. We built Maverick, a general, extensible framework that discovers exceptional facts about entities in knowledge graphs. We model an exceptional fact about an entity of interest as a context-subspace pair, in …

Acoustic Intensity Of Narrowband Signals In Free-Field Environments, Kelli Fredrickson Succo

Theses and Dissertations

The phase and amplitude gradient estimator (PAGE) method has proven successful in improving the accuracy of measured energy quantities over the p-p method, which has traditionally been used, in several applications. One advantage of the PAGE method is the use of phase unwrapping, which allows for increased measurement bandwidth above the spatial Nyquist frequency. However, phase unwrapping works best for broadband sources in free-field environments with high coherence. Narrowband sources often do not have coherent phase information over a sufficient bandwidth for a phase unwrapping algorithm to unwrap properly. In fact, phase unwrapping processing can cause significant error when there …

Gendered Ecologies And Black Feminist Futures In Ibi Zoboi’S “The Farming Of Gods,” Wanuri Kahiu’S Pumzi, And Wangechi Mutu’S The End Of Eating Everything, Amanda Renee Rico

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

This paper addresses how the works of three female authors and artists from various parts of Africa and the Diaspora — Pumzi by Wanuri Kahiu, The End of eating Everything by Wangechi Mutu, and “The Farming of the Gods” by Ibi Zoboi — imagine a black feminist future through ecological imagery. My argument is twofold: first, I take my cue from Mutu’s assertion that imaginative forms of world-building must connect systemic corruption to consumptive practices. Second, I claim such Afrofuturist works use geographical spaces marked by ecological abuse (poisonous spores, pustules, desert landscapes), displacement (discarded objects) and violence (human limbs) …

White Male Privilege: An Intersectional Deconstruction, Matthew J. Etchells, Elizabeth Deuermeyer, Vanessa M. Liles, Samantha M. Meister, Mario Itzel Suárez, Warren L. Chalklen

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This research saliently deconstructs the philosophical writing of a white, privileged male by five diverse academic peers by using a methodology of deconstruction to analyze the initial author's writing. Their reflects on his nascent perspectives address the stages of racism, mea culpa, the relationship between privilege, oppression, and classism, a feminist perspective, binary, and intersectionality. Further analysis connote for the need to deconstruct privilege in a literary context and to develop an autoethnography to fully delve into privilege beyond a superficial and neglectful narrative.

Uni Grad Student News, V16n2, December 2017, University Of Northern Iowa. Graduate College.

UNI Grad Student News

Inside this Issue:

--Alumni Profile
--Student Profile
--Conference Information
--Winter Break Activities
--Brown Bag Lectures
--Faculty Profile
--Professional Development
--Student Accolades

Effects Of Early Childhood Education On Reading Preparedness In Third Grade Of Elementary School, Kimberly A. Williams

Dissertations

Reading has been found to not only build student motivation but to increase community involvement in education (Hudson & Williams, 2015). Children who grow into lifelong readers were less likely to be incarcerated, became more successful members of society, and created greater futures for themselves and their families (Obama, 2013). With exposure to early childhood education opportunities, children found a greater propensity to attain foundational reading skills; therefore, positive habits for education lead to thriving outcomes in the future (DeHaan & Leuven, 2016). This study analyzed variations in preschool programs in order to detect curricular, facility, and instructor distinctions (DeHaan …

What Is The Influence Of Form-Focused Instruction Of Copula And Auxiliary (Be) On Esl Learners?, Abdulaziz Ibrahim Alraddadi

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the influence of form-focused instruction (FFI) in teaching English copula and auxiliary (be) to English as a second language (ESL) learners. Following the noticing hypothesis, FFI, and the basic principles of curriculum and instruction theory, this study investigates if ESL learners make omission, misuse, or misjudgment errors while acquiring English as a second language. Also, the study examined whether ESL learners show significant improvement in their knowledge of English copula and auxiliary (be) after receiving FFI. Previous copula and auxiliary (be) research (Jishvithaa, Tabitha, & Kalajahi, 2013; Muftah & Eng, 2011; Unlu & Hatipoglu, 2012) has shown …

Examining Techniques Of Teaching Mathematics To Visually Impaired Pupils In Inclusive Classroom: The Case Of Juakali Primary School In West Nile Region, Uganda., Dranduga Augustus

Master of Education

The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of techniques of teaching mathematics to visually impaired pupils in inclusive classroom. Basing on the findings of the study recommendations have been forwarded to stake holders of schools including mathematics teachers, the school administration, the district education officers, teacher training colleges and curriculum developers. The study employed qualitative case study design. The data collection methods were interviews, focus group discussion and observation. Purposive sampling techniques was used to sample the 13 participants of the study. Qualitative data were coded, the codes were collapsed basing on emerging concepts so as to …

Investigation Of Procedures Of Assessment Used For Preprimary Children - Moshi Municipality, Tanzania, Laurent Festo Manyono

Master of Education

Assessment in preprimary school is one of the most important components in education to promote teaching and learning in schools. This study focuses on procedures of assessment used for preprimary children in Moshi municipality. In chapter one there is background, rationale, research questions, statement of the problem, delimitation, limitation and conclusion. However, the study was guided by the three research questions which were reflected throughout the literature review. Qualitative method was employed to collect data in three preprimary classes under primary schools in Moshi municipality where semi-structured interview and document analysis were the main instruments complemented by observation. Thus, data …

Use Of Multimedia In The Teaching And Learning Of Poetry In English In A Public Secondary, School In Migori County, Kenya: An Action Research, Monica A. Odhiambo

Master of Education

The modern technological innovations are reshaping the educational landscape, influencing the pedagogical practices in today’s classrooms. In the 21st century, it is irrelevant to insist on conventional methods of teaching, which perpetuate teacher-centered pedagogy and use of print-based materials as the primary resources to facilitate the teaching and learning process. Consequently, teachers are rethinking the way they should teach vis-a-vis the way their students should learn. Multimedia has become one of the popular technological tools used to improve the teaching and learning process. The use of multimedia presentations offer students differentiated avenues to access curriculum content in their own preferred …

Exploring Mathematics Teachers’ Perceptions Of Professional Development In Tanzanian Secondary Schools: A Case Study Of Two Public Secondary Schools In Ilala Municipality In Dar Es Salaam, Tatu Selemani Irunde

Master of Education

This study focused on mathematics teachers’ perceptions of professional development (PD) in Tanzanian secondary schools. The study was conducted in two public secondary schools in Ilala Municipality, in Dar es Salaam. The schools were selected purposively. The participants of this study were head teachers, academic teachers, heads of mathematics departments, and mathematics teachers. The data collection methods used in this study included interviews, surveys, focus group discussion (FGD), and document analysis. The findings of this study were analyzed qualitatively through thematic analysis. The study found out that, teachers perceived professional development as programs to improve teaching as well as continuous …

Teacher Leadership In Upholding Professional Ethics In Primary Schools In Abim District – Uganda, Aupe Steven Biko

Master of Education

The impetus for this qualitative research project was sought to explore how teacher leadership upholds professional ethics (PEs) in government primary schools in Abim district – Uganda. The study involved 18 respondents who were mainly classroom teachers and headteachers. Overall study findings revealed that teachers understood the concept of PEs and operated within their confines to enhance the professional ethics in their duty of teaching-learning in the school environment and out in the community. The study also found out that teachers received support supervision from the headteacher, centre coordinating tutor (CCT), district inspector of schools (DIS), and district education officer …