Digital Commons Network^™

An In Between Study: The Usage Of Cross-Sectional Sem And Raman Spectroscopy To Map The Surface Interfacing Of A Mastodon Tusk And Its Lacquers, Katherine Plotzke

Mastodon Tusk Project Posters

A microscopy study utilizing a DXR2 SmartRaman and Evex Mini-Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was done on the UNI Museum’s Mammut americanum (American Mastodon) tusk. A map of the surface interfacing was generated and provided information about the elemental composition and layer interconnectedness. Additionally, this project will also aid in the future restoration work on the tusk funded by the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust.

Sem Topology Of Enamel, Tami Wallin

Mastodon Tusk Project Posters

The topology of the enamel is an important topic to study how, on a microscopic level, the surface of the tusk is rough or smooth so that the correct restoration material and method are applied to the tusk. The method of study to find this information will be the SEM; which with the back scattered electrons will tell me the topography and chemical composition on the surface of the mastodon tusk fragment that will be tested, shown in the image below. SEM has better spacial resolution than optical microscopes do with the measuring tool provided by the program and the …

Aermod Modeling Of Air Pollutant Emissions From Backup Generator Use In Lagos, Nigeria, Temitope Abayomi

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Generator emissions contribute to increase in air pollution. In developing countries with inadequate electricity supply, many people rely on back-up generators for long-term electricity supply. Nigeria is the second biggest importer of generators in Africa. As of 2009, it was estimated that 60 million people in Nigeria owned and operated small to medium size generators to provide electricity for their daily use. The sheer number of generators in use suggests that generator emissions are a significant source of air pollution in the country, particularly in urban cities. In this work, the concentrations of pollutants emitted from 50 generators in a …

Global Marine Carbon Export Production During Eocene Hyperthermal Events, Angela Ruth Lewis

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

Early Eocene hyperthermal events can be an analog for global warming. Pelagic marine barite in deep sea sediment is a proxy for marine export production of organic matter into the deep ocean. Pelagic marine barite accumulation rates (BAR) were reconstructed over the Paleocene – Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; ~55.5 million years ago), Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM2; ~53.7 Ma) and ETM3 (~52.4 Ma) from ODP Sites 1209, 1215 and 1263. Northern Atlantic samples (with high detrital content) were acid digested and analyzed to reconstruct biogenic Ba (Ba/Al, Ba/Ti) and compare with elemental data from high resolution X-ray fluorescence. This data …

Application Of Time Series Models (Arima, Garch, And Arma-Garch) For Stock Market Forecasting, Oleg Y. Grachev

Honors Capstones

This paper examines efficacy and limitations of time series models, namely ARIMA, GARCH, and ARMA-GARCH for stock market returns forecasting. First, the paper assesses the unique features of financial data, particularly volatility clustering and fat-tails of the return distribution, and addresses the limitations of using autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models in financial economics. Secondly, it examines the application of ARMA-GARCH models for forecasting of both conditional means as well as the conditional variance of the returns. Finally, using the standard model selection criteria such as AIC, BIC, SIC, and HQIC the forecasting performance of various candidate ARMA-GARCH models was …

The Wright Message, 2017-2018, University Of Northern Iowa. Department Of Mathematics.

The Wright Message

Inside this issue:

-- New Faculty
--Faculty Spotlight
--Around Wright Hall
--Interview
--Alumni Spotlight
--Hari Shankar Lecture
--Wright Hall Centenary
--News from the CTLM
--Student Spotlights
--Mathematical Ideas Conference
--Donor Spotlight
--Retiring Faculty
--Classrooms Named in Honor of Faculty
--Contributions to an Account – Recognition
--Department Funds

Nurturing Student Scientists As People Of Faith, Nicole C. Bouvier-Brown

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

The Loyola Marymount University (LMU) campus community fosters the interplay between religious faith and scientific reason. Not only is this evident by honoring scientists in the stained-glass windows of Sacred Heart Chapel, but the culture invigorates a disproportionate number of science students to actively engage with the faith community. This integration might seem counter to society’s norms, but it is well aligned with the teachings of the Catholic Church and Jesuit tradition. Jesuit universities, in particular, have a unique role to play in fostering the mutual enrichment between faith and scientific reason. Education should be used to bridge the misunderstandings …

Thermal-Fluid Dynamic Model Of Luge Steels, Brandon Stell

Master's Theses

Luge is an Olympic sport in which athletes ride feet-first on sleds down an ice-covered track. Competitors spring from the starting position and accelerate their sled by paddling with spiked gloves against the ice surface. Once the Luger leaves the starting section, their downhill motion is solely propelled by the effects of gravity. Athletes compete, one after the other, for the fastest time. Runs can differ by as little as a thousandth of a second, meaning that every minor sled adjustment, change of line choice, and shift of body position is critical. In the past, the sport of Luge has …

Numerical Analysis Of Downhole Heat Exchanger Designed For Geothermal Energy Production, I. Akhmadullin, M. Tyagi

Faculty Publications

A traditional way of geothermal energy production implies hot brine extraction from the reservoir to a surface facility. This method is economically profitable only for high enthalpy reservoirs associated with shallow depths and high temperatures. The low enthalpy geothermal (LEG) projects are out of consideration due to the high cost of produced electric power related to expensive drilling, cost of the binary cycle system, and long term installation cost. This paper presents a new zero mass extraction method utilizing downhole heat exchanger (DHE) with no geo-fluid production to the surface. The well design stays as a single horizontal well with …

The Warning On Saturated Fat: From Defective Experiments To Defective Guidelines, Fabian M. Dayrit

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Coconut oil has been adversely affected by the current dietary guidelines that advocate a lowering of total fat and the replacement of saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat. This recommendation has its origins in the saturated fat-cholesterol-heart disease hypothesis that Ancel Keys first proposed in 1957. This hypothesis became an official recommendation with the publication of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans in 1980 and has been adopted by many other countries and international agencies. The dietary recommendations also warn against coconut oil. Recently, the American Heart Association re-issued this warning in its 2017 Presidential Advisory. However, a critical review of the …

A Change Plan For Underachieving Gifted Children, Jason Major

Dissertations

There exists a population of gifted and talented students for whom the educational system does not service. These children are often either from poverty or minority backgrounds, or sometimes so profoundly smart that schools simply do not know what to do with them or where they fit in. This change plan explores the opportunity for a school just for these students, where they can study free of hindrances of standards and acceleration. After research and interviews with members of the field of gifted, there may not currently be such a model anywhere in our country. Schools do exist for gifted …

Tennessee Community College Reconnect Grant Program, Conclusions And Policy Considerations, Tennessee. Comptroller Of The Treasury.

Office of Research and Education Accountability

No abstract provided.

Cover Front

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

No abstract provided.

Varying Instructional Approaches To Physical Extraction Of Mobile Device Memory, Joan Runs Through, Gary D. Cantrell

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Digital forensics is a multidisciplinary field encompassing both computer science and criminal justice. This action research compared demonstrated skill levels of university students enrolled in a semester course in small device forensics with 54 hours of instruction in mobile forensics with an emphasis on physical techniques such as JTAG and Chip-Off extraction against the skill levels of industry professionals who have completed an accelerated 40 hour advanced mobile forensics training covering much of the same material to include JTAG and Chip-Off extraction. Participant backgrounds were also examined to determine if those participants with a background in computer science had an …

Digital Forensic Readiness In Organizations: Issues And Challenges, Nickson Menza Karie, Simon Maina Karume Dr.

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

With the evolution in digital technologies, organizations have been forced to change the way they plan, develop, and enact their information technology strategies. This is because modern digital technologies do not only present new opportunities to business organizations but also a different set of issues and challenges that need to be resolved. With the rising threats of cybercrimes, for example, which have been accelerated by the emergence of new digital technologies, many organizations as well as law enforcement agencies globally are now erecting proactive measures as a way to increase their ability to respond to security incidents as well as …

Broadband Router Security: History, Challenges And Future Implications, Patryk Szewczyk, Rose Macdonald

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Consumer grade broadband routers are integral to accessing the Internet and are primarily responsible for the reliable routing of data between networks. Despite the importance of broadband routers, security has never been at the forefront of their evolution. Consumers are often in possession of broadband routers that are rich in consumer-orientated features yet riddled with vulnerabilities that make the routers susceptible to exploitation. This amalgamation of theoretical research examines consumer grade broadband routers from the perspective of how they evolved, what makes them vulnerable, how they are targeted and the challenges concerning the application of security. The research further explores …

A Data Hiding Scheme Based On Chaotic Map And Pixel Pairs, Sengul Dogan Sd

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Information security is one of the most common areas of study today. In the literature, there are many algorithms developed in the information security. The Least Significant Bit (LSB) method is the most known of these algorithms. LSB method is easy to apply however it is not effective on providing data privacy and robustness. In spite of all its disadvantages, LSB is the most frequently used algorithm in literature due to providing high visual quality. In this study, an effective data hiding scheme alternative to LSB, 2LSBs, 3LSBs and 4LSBs algorithms (known as xLSBs), is proposed. In this method, random …

Research Proposal: Present A New Method For Energy Efficient Routing For Wireless Body Area Networks, Farshid Bagheri Saravi

Student Scholarship

This is the research proposal for the Master's Thesis. Problem statement and research approach: How can routing be optimized in wireless body area networks to improve energy consumption? 1. What methods are available to reduce energy consumption in routing wireless body area networks, and which approach is better? 2. How can we provide a suitable solution for optimizing energy-efficient routing in wireless body area networks? 3. How can the proposed solution be compared and evaluated with state-of-the-art methods? Goals: 1. Examining the current methods to reduce energy consumption in optimizing the routing of wireless body networks and selecting the best …

Generalized Ellipsometry On Complex Nanostructures And Low-Symmetry Materials, Alyssa Mock

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this thesis, complex anisotropic materials are investigated and characterized by generalized ellipsometry. In recent years, anisotropic materials have gained considerable interest for novel applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices, mostly due to unique properties that originate from reduced crystal symmetry. Examples include white solid-state lighting devices which have become ubiquitous just recently, and the emergence of high-power, high-voltage electronic transistors and switches in all-electric vehicles. The incorporation of single crystalline material with low crystal symmetry into novel device structures requires reconsideration of existing optical characterization approaches. Here, the generalized ellipsometry concept is extended to include applications for materials with …

An Unmanned Aerial System For Prescribed Fires, Evan M. Beachly

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Prescribed fires can lessen wildfire severity and control invasive species, but some terrains may be difficult, dangerous, or costly to burn with existing tools. This thesis presents the design of an unmanned aerial system that can ignite prescribed fires from the air, with less cost and risk than with aerial ignition from a manned aircraft. The prototype was evaluated in-lab and successfully used to ignite interior areas of two prescribed fires. Additionally, we introduce an approach that integrates a lightweight fire simulation to autonomously plan safe flight trajectories and suggest effective fire lines. Both components are unique in that they …

Cover Back

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

No abstract provided.

Lindenwood Magazine, Winter 2017, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Magazine (2017- )

Lindenwood University alumni magazine.

Thresholds Of Sea-Level Rise Rate And Sea-Level Rise Acceleration Rate In A Vulnerable Coastal Wetland, Wei Wu, Patrick D. Biber, Matthew Bethel

Faculty Publications

Feedbacks among inundation, sediment trapping, and vegetation productivity help maintain coastal wetlands facing sea-level rise (SLR). However, when the SLR rate exceeds a threshold, coastal wetlands can collapse. Understanding the threshold helps address key challenges in ecology—nonlinear response of ecosystems to environmental change, promotes communication between ecologists and resource managers, and facilitates decision-making in climate change policies. We studied the threshold of SLR rate and developed a new threshold of SLR acceleration rate on sustainability of coastal wetlands as SLR is likely to accelerate due to enhanced anthropogenic forces. Deriving these two thresholds depends on the temporal scale, the interaction …

Creation, Negotiation, Equality: Empowering Young Women Through Dance Improvisation, Marlene Catherine Strang

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore whether a dance improvisation curriculum could help young women strengthen their negotiating skills. Research identifies skills such as confidence, problem solving, creativity, listening, and collaboration as necessary to successful negotiation. This project examined whether students could learn these critical negotiation skills through dance improvisation. More broadly, it assessed the benefits of a dance improvisation practice and how those benefits can apply to everyday life outside of the dance classroom. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to analyze data in this study. The following instrumentation resulted in data that were analyzed qualitatively: …

Eco-Justice Reformation: Re-Imagining Ecumenical Witness In The Context Of Climate Injustice, George Zachariah

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Transcriptome-Based Gene Networks For Systems-Level Analysis Of Plant Gene Functions, Chirag Gupta

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Present day genomic technologies are evolving at an unprecedented rate, allowing interrogation of

cellular activities with increasing breadth and depth. However, we know very little about how the

genome functions and what the identified genes do. The lack of functional annotations of genes

greatly limits the post-analytical interpretation of new high throughput genomic datasets. For plant

biologists, the problem is much severe. Less than 50% of all the identified genes in the model plant

Arabidopsis thaliana, and only about 20% of all genes in the crop model Oryza sativa have some

aspects of their functions assigned. Therefore, there is an …

Piglet Gut Microbiota Responses To Exposure To Outdoor Simulated Environment And Formula Feeding, Nguyen Vo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Several lines of evidence suggest that early-life gut microbiota composition is a crucial determinant of the susceptibility to diseases later in life. Understanding the evolution of early-life gut microbiota and critical factors that can modify this microbial community will espouse the prevention or reversion of health risk originating from dysbiosis of the gut microbiota in the early stage. In this research, we hypothesized that alterations in the environment (simulation of rural conditions by soil exposure) and feeding mode (breastmilk versus formula milk) will have significant impacts on the establishment of the gut microbiota in early life. At first, in literature …

Systematic Review For Water Network Failure Models And Cases, Yufei Gao

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As estimated in the American Society of Civil Engineers 2017 report, in the United States, there are approximately 240,000 water main pipe breaks each year. To help estimate pipe breaks and maintenance frequency, a number of physically-based and statistically-based water main failure prediction models have been developed in the last 30 years. Precious review papers focused more on the evolution of failure models rather than modeling results. However, the modeling results of different models applied in case studies are worth reviewing as well.

In this review, we focus on research papers after Year 2008 and collect latest cases without repetition. …

A Biotic Survey Of Outcroppings And Pinctada Longisquamosa In Oyster Pond, San Salvador Island, Bahamas, One Year After Hurricane Joaquin, Ashton Selah Mitchell

Honors Theses

Oyster Pond is one of the marine inland ponds located on San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Oyster Pond has connections to the ocean through a series of conduits in the pond, which cause the salinity of the pond to be marine pond, except after a hurricane and during a drought. Oyster Pond has a variety of marine life such as algae, small fish, and invertebrates occurring in mangroves, flocculent, conduits, and biotic outcroppings. The focus of this research was to evaluate the impact of the 2015 Hurricane Joaquin (17 months later) on water chemistry and the marine life of the biotic …

Effectiveness Of Conservation Education At The Chattanooga Zoo, Luke Allen Black

Honors Theses

Conservation is the central focus of many modern zoos and aquariums. These zoos incorporate guest education to facilitate a connection between zoo guests and animal conservation. I conducted a study at the Chattanooga Zoo and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga which examined two modern zoo education approaches. The two approaches utilized in the study are currently used in keeper chats at the Chattanooga Zoo. The first approach is an emotional appeal (an appeal to the personalities of the chimps at the zoo) and the second approach is a utilization of a take-action initiative (recycling cell phones to reduce mining …