Digital Commons Network^™

Modeling Threats To Honey Bees In North Dakota From Land-Use Change And Pesticide Applications, Daniel Dixon

Theses and Dissertations

North Dakota supports the highest number of honey bee colonies in the US due to its abundance of floral resources, but threats from land-use change and pesticide applications have altered the quantity and quality of those resources in recent years. This thesis explored landscape scale pesticide use trends from both spray applied and seed treated insecticides on lands within 1.6km of ~13,000 registered apiaries North Dakota from 2001 to 2015. The regional application of five spray applied insecticides was collectively modeled using InVEST’s Habitat Quality Model during years of heightened land-use change. In these models, regional application rates were converted …

Scale-Up Feasibility And Novel Method Of Separation Of Carbon From An Oxygen Carrier, Nicholas A. Dyrstad-Cincotta

Theses and Dissertations

This project targets the development of a technology for segregating fuel-based contaminants (char/carbon) from oxygen carrier material in the context of chemical looping combustion applications. In chemical looping, the well-mixed solids that flow from the fuel reactor consisting of char, ash, and oxygen carrier particles cannot be completely separated into their constituents before they enter the air reactor. The slip of carbon leads to char oxidation in the wrong reactor and poor carbon dioxide separation efficiency. The buildup of ash that is not rejected necessitates rejection of larger quantities of oxygen carrier material, resulting in a high operating cost penalty. …

A Mixed Method Study Of The Impact Of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, And Dual Enrollment Courses On College Transition And Success, Kazimir Bartley Gazdzik

Theses and Dissertations

In an educational environment that has limited resources, and greater pressures for increased academic standards, what is the best option to help prepare high school students for college academics? This research study: A Mixed Method Study of the Impact of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and Dual Enrollment Courses on College Transition and Success attempted to investigate the impact of advanced courses on college transition.

The results of this research showed no statistical difference in academic success or transition to college between students who had taken advanced classes and those who had not. There were also no statistical differences between students …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Novel Bioplastics By Innovative 3d Printing Approaches, Kathryn Marie Hall

Theses and Dissertations

This work describes the synthesis and characterization of novel bioplastic composites by using novel additive manufacturing (AM) approaches. As a background, global plastic consumption has become a problem with the accumulation of plastics in landfills and the ocean. Recently, bioplastics have emerged as a viable option to petrochemicals. Currently, there are some issues like biodegradability, property optimization with bioplastics etc. In thesis, novel methods and engineering of composition of bioplastics are being reported. In Chapter II, the addition of lignin to the PLA polymer matrix by using solvent mixing will be reported. During this study, liquid ink mixture was successfully …

Autonomous Localization Of A Uav In A 3d Cad Model, Akkas Haque

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a novel method of indoor localization and autonomous navigation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAVs) within a building, given a prebuilt Computer Aided Design(CAD) model of the building. The proposed system is novel in that it leverages the support of machine learning and traditional computer vision techniques to provide a robust method of localizing and navigating a drone autonomously in indoor and GPS denied environments leveraging preexisting knowledge of the environment. The goal of this work is to devise a method to enable a UAV to deduce its current pose within a CAD model that is fast and accurate …

International Freshmen Student Satisfaction With Campus Environments At U. S. Institutions Through The Lens Of The National Survey Of Student Engagement (Nsse), Ludmi Herath

Theses and Dissertations

International students’ enrollment has continuously increased over the past decade. According to the Open Doors Annual Report, published and distributed by Institute for International Education (IIE, 2016), more than one million international students studied in the United States from 2015-2016; according to the same report, international students generated more than $36 billion to the United Stated (U.S.) economy making international students the fourth largest import sector to the U.S. economy. As U.S. institutions more aggressively recruit and retain international students, it is critical to learn how to serve this growing population—to learn of their needs and offer corresponding tools, programs …

Smartphone Dependence: Relation To Text-Message Dependence, Personality, And Loneliness, Alex James Holte

Theses and Dissertations

Given the ubiquity of smartphones, research has examined its impact on human behavior. Through prior studies have examined smartphones through the addiction framework, resulting in controversy of if habitual smartphone use is an addiction disorder, prior works have not examined the framework of how reliant someone is to their smartphone in their daily life. Additionally, prior works have not examined how smartphone dependence is related to texting dependence, state anxiety, trait anxiety, depression, neuroticism, extroversion, and loneliness. The literature has also not examined the method of communication that an individual prefers and how that relates to loneliness. We had 237 …

Seperation Of Fuel-Based Contaminents From Oxygen Carriers In Chemical Looping Combustion, Benjamin Robert Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

This project involved the development of a technology for segregating fuel-based contaminants (char) from oxygen carrier material in the context of chemical looping combustion (CLC) application. In chemical looping, the well-mixed solids that flow from the fuel reactor consisting of char and oxygen carrier particles cannot be completely separated into their constituents before they enter the air reactor. The slip of carbon leads to char oxidation in the wrong reactor and poor carbon dioxide separation efficiency. An efficient method to separate char from oxygen carrier material is critical for the deployment of chemical looping technology. This segregation system consists of …

Examining Cultural Identification And Alcohol Use Among College Students, Lynn Martell

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has found American Indians (AI) to demonstrate higher levels of alcohol use than Caucasians (CA); however, recent research has found that AI may be drinking at similar or lower rates than CA. Cultural identification (i.e., degree to which an individual associate with, and represents themselves as a member of a specific cultural group) may be a factor contributing to the level of alcohol use among AI. The current study examined cultural identification and alcohol use among University of North Dakota (UND) AI (n=56) and CA (n=88) college students. Results indicated non-significant differences in alcohol use between cultural identification …

Developing A New Storage Format And A Warp-Based Spmv Kernel For Configuration Interaction Sparse Matrices On The Gpu, Mohammed Mahmoud

Theses and Dissertations

Configuration interaction (CI) is a post Hartree–Fock method that is commonly used for solving the nonrelativistic Schrödinger equation for quantum many-electron systems of molecular scale. CI includes instantaneous electron correlation and it can deal with the ground state as well as multiple excited states.

The CI matrix is a sparse matrix, and the bigger the CI matrix, the more electron correlation can be captured. However, due to the large size of the CI sparse matrix that is involved in CI computations, a good amount of the time spent on the eigenvalue computations is associated with the multiplication of the CI …

Juror Perceptions Of Child Witness Testimonial Aids, Rachael Sophia Mickelson Hendrickson

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of the present study is to assess the affect testimonial supports have on mock jurors’ perceptions of child witnesses in a sexual abuse case. In general jurors’ perceptions operate on a two-factor model. The two factors are child competency and honesty. Jurors perceive children’s competency and honesty differently based on the child’s age and the mock juror’s gender. Testimonial supports have been suggested as a way to relieve some of the stress that a trial brings on a child. However, this seems to exacerbate the negative perceptions jurors already hold of child witnesses. The current juror perceptions of …

Genomic Regulation Of Abiotic Stress Response In The Soil Nematode Oscheius Tipulae, Riley Mcglynn

Theses and Dissertations

Oscheius tipulae is a species of free-living soil nematode that can be found in ecosystems worldwide. Because of this, individuals must be able to respond to heat, freezing, and desiccation stresses in order to survive. They do this by producing a suite of cellular responses, some of which are necessary to survive multiple stresses, and some are stress-specific. While these cellular responses are well known, the ways in which they are regulated in a genome-wide context are not. In this project, multiple high throughput sequencing and bioinformatics analyses were utilized to answer this question. First, the O. tipulae genome was …

Neural-Vascular Interactions In An In Vitro Model Of Cortical Forebrain Development, Kayla Michelson

Theses and Dissertations

Progressive restriction of neural stem and progenitor cell fates in the cortex has been linked to a clearly defined sequence of transcription factors that regulate neurogenesis and gliogenesis in the developing cortex. In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the epigenetic regulatory mechanisms contributing to cell fate choice, largely focusing on intrinsic properties of the neural stem cells (NSCs), themselves, rather than microenvironmental influences such as vascular investment. To investigate the influence of vascular cells on cortical NSC fate choice, we developed a novel coculture system that utilizes Transwell® membranes and primary cultures that include an enriched NSC …

Wayward Girls, Amanda Susan Osgood Jonientz

Theses and Dissertations

Wayward Girls represents a culmination of my creative and critical work at the

University of North Dakota. The dissertation includes a critical introduction, a collection of short stories, and a pedagogical article. In my critical introduction, I explain ways in which I manipulate narrative and time, the decisions I make about levels of discourse, my use and experimentation with conventional forms of plot, and my work in the short-story cycle genre. My collection of six short stories includes works about women at crucial turning points in their lives. Set in the Pacific Northwest, the stories range in time period from …

Stroop And Mindfulness: An Experimental Multi-Group Comparison, Anna Lauren Schimmelpfennig

Theses and Dissertations

Mindfulness has been associated with various benefits, including enhanced cognitive performance and disengagement from problematic emotions. Previous research has indicated that engaging in a brief mindfulness exercise may enhance performance on the Color Word Stroop, neutral Stroop, and emotional Stroop. Participants in the current study were 201 students (139 female), mean age 19.7 years (SD=1.4) from a Midwestern university, who were randomly assigned to listen to a 9- minute mindfulness exercise, progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) exercise, or interview control condition before completing the Color-Word Stroop, Neutral Stroop, and Emotional Stroop. Preliminary analysis reveal that participants generally had positive attitudes toward …

Mitigating Environmental Impacts Of Terminal Lake Flooding: A Case Study Of Devils Lake, North Dakota, Afshin Shabani

Theses and Dissertations

Devils Lake is an endorheic lake in the Red River of the North basin in northeastern North Dakota. During the last two decades, the lake water level has risen by nearly 10 m, causing floods that have cost more than 1 billion USD in mitigation measures. Another increase of approximately 3.0 m in the lake water level would cause spillage into the Sheyenne River. To alleviate this potentially catastrophic spillage, two artificial outlets were constructed. However, the artificial drainage of water into the Sheyenne River raises water quality concerns because the Devils Lake water contains significantly higher concentrations of dissolved …

The Mobility Of Semi-Volatile Trace Elements From Size Segregated Fly Ash Particles Generated During Pulverized Coal Combustion, Prasanna Seshadri

Theses and Dissertations

Fly ash generated from pulverized coal (PC) combustion has a wide size range, including some fine aerosols. Of particular concern is the abundance and mobility of elements present in the smaller size fractions of the ash, commonly referred to as PM2.5. These particles are usually enriched with toxic trace species which are classified as hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) under the amended clean air act (CAA). Interest in the control of PM2.5 is motivated mainly by health considerations and also due to their role impacting the performance of air pollution control devices such as selective catalytic reducers (SCRs).

The three trace …

Examination Of The Depositional History Of The Lower Tyler Formation (Pennsylvanian) And Source Rock Analysis In Mckenzie County, North Dakota, Dilyn Stevenson

Theses and Dissertations

Results from source rock analysis and sequence stratigraphy techniques suggest the lower Tyler Formation in McKenzie County, North Dakota is a deltaic dominated environmental system. There is a complex relationship between marine and terrestrial deposition. The source rock analysis performed on seven key wells showed a majority of the samples consist of type III terrestrial kerogen. Five of those wells also indicated a type II marine kerogen. The sequence stratigraphy techniques applied showed the three high gamma ray shales marked high stand system tracts. The two paleosol facies present in the lower Tyler Formation overlie marine shales suggesting rapid sea …

A Study Of Two-Phase Flow Regime And Pressure Drop In Vertical Pipe, Yanbo Wang

Theses and Dissertations

In the oil industry, after the wellbore is drilled into a reservoir, oil and gas will flow into the bore hole and can be transported to the earth’s surface through tubing. Multiphase flow will take place in the pipe. Flow regime has a significant influence on production. For example, the slug flow will cause a huge pressure-drop in the surface system and can even cause a shut-down of the well.Therefore, it is important to test two-phase upwards flow in the pipe.

Different kinds of characteristics are used to distinguish between different kinds of flow patterns. I introduce the development of …

The Role Of A Principal In Establishing And Maintaining Positive Behavioral Interventions And Supports (Pbis): An Ethnographic Case Study, Angela Wanzek

Theses and Dissertations

An ethnographic case study was used to examine roles of a principal in implementing and maintaining positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) in one North Dakota elementary school. Observations, school documents, and semi-structured interviews were analyzed to identify the role of a principal. Skinner’s reinforcement theory and Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory served as

theoretical frameworks.

Research indicates a trend in the increase of PBIS in schools across the country. A

need remains to identify the role of elementary principals utilizing PBIS in North Dakota

elementary schools. Certified and classified staff were interviewed to examine their

perspectives on the role of …

Analysis Of Pressure Distribution Along Pipeline Blockage Based On The Cfd Simulation, Lu Yang

Theses and Dissertations

Pipeline blockage, which results from solid and hydrocarbon deposition caused by changes in pressure, temperature, or composition, is a critical issue in oil & gas production and transportation systems. Sometimes blockage, which extends several miles in the long-distance pipeline, can be assumed as a new pipe with a smaller diameter. Therefore, it is imperative to detect the location and size of blockage in pipelines more accurately and efficiently to reduce the number of pipeline accidents.

This paper explores the distribution of pressure and pressure gradient through the pipeline without/with single blockage under different operating conditions. 3-dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamic …

Digital Rock Analysis On Berea Sandstone And An Eor Study On Middle Bakken, Barco N. Yolo

Theses and Dissertations

Oil production from tight formations such as the Bakken Formation has experienced a boom in the last decade with recent breakthroughs in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. However, despite the technological progress, the oil recovery is still less than 10 percent, leaving a considerable amount of potentially recoverable oil. While miscible flooding is well understood in the conventional reservoir, it is not fully explored in unconventional reservoirs. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate different enhanced oil recovery techniques potential in tight shale plays.

In this thesis, the research studies CO2 and ethane interactions with oil at reservoir conditions through laboratory …

Outsmart Moore’S Law With Machine Learning, Dustin Tanksley, Donald C. Wunsch

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Over the last half century, computing has transformed most aspects of society due to a rapid increase in computation power. With the possible end of Moore’s Law in sight, much of this growth could come to an end. This paper will discuss why machine learning will continue growing even after Moore’s Law, and demonstrate why it is a great time to enter the field.

"To Verify From The Records Every Statement Of Fact Given": The Story Of The Creation Of The Personal Memoirs Of Ulysses S. Grant: The Complete Annotated Edition, David S. Nolen, Louie P. Gallo

Publications

No abstract provided.

Mandatory Quotas For Women On Boards Of Directors In The European Union: Harmful To Or Good For Company Performance?, Monika Leszczynska

Faculty Scholarship

Impact assessments are an important component of a better regulation programme—an initiative of the European Commission launched to improve the quality and transparency of the EU (European Union) law-making process. In the current article, I take a closer look at the Impact Assessment (IA) issued by the European Commission together with a Directive proposing a 40% obligatory female representation on the boards of directors in European public companies. In the IA, the Commission defined an improvement of corporate governance as one of the objectives to be achieved by the Directive. The Commission claimed that the more gender-diverse a corporate board …

Intensity Inhomogeneity Correction Of Sd-Oct Data Using Macular Flatspace, Andrew Lang, Aaron Carass, Bruno M. Jedynak, Sharon D. Solomon, Peter A. Calabresi, Jerry L. Prince

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Images of the retina acquired using optical coherence tomography (OCT) often suffer from intensity inhomogeneity problems that degrade both the quality of the images and the performance of automated algorithms utilized to measure structural changes. This intensity variation has many causes, including off-axis acquisition, signal attenuation, multi-frame averaging, and vignetting, making it difficult to correct the data in a fundamental way. This paper presents a method for inhomogeneity correction by acting to reduce the variability of intensities within each layer. In particular, the N3 algorithm, which is popular in neuroimage analysis, is adapted to work for OCT data. N3 works …

On The Girth And Diameter Of Generalized Johnson Graphs, Louis Anthony Agong, Carmen Amarra, John Caughman, Ari J. Herman, Taiyo S. Terada

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Let v > k > i be non-negative integers. The generalized Johnson graph, J(v,k,i), is the graph whose vertices are the k-subsets of a v-set, where vertices A and B are adjacent whenever |A∩B|= i. In this article, we derive general formulas for the girth and diameter of J(v,k,i). Additionally, we provide a formula for the distance between any two vertices A and B in terms of the cardinality of their intersection.

Bootcmatch: A Software Package For Bootstrap Amg Based On Graphweighted Matching, Pasqua D'Ambra, Salvatore Filipone, Panayot S. Vassilevski

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article has two main objectives: one is to describe some extensions of an adaptive Algebraic Multigrid (AMG) method of the form previously proposed by the first and third authors, and a second one is to present a new software framework, named BootCMatch, which implements all the components needed to build and apply the described adaptive AMG both as a stand-alone solver and as a preconditioner in a Krylov method. The adaptive AMG presented is meant to handle general symmetric and positive definite (SPD) sparse linear systems, without assuming any a priori information of the problem and its origin; the …

Clustering And Multifacility Location With Constraints Via Distance Function Penalty Methods And Dc Programming, Mau Nam Nguyen, Thai An Nguyen, Sam Reynolds, Tuyen Tran

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper is a continuation of our effort in using mathematical optimization involving DC programming in clustering and multifacility location. We study a penalty method based on distance functions and apply it particularly to a number of problems in clustering and multifacility location in which the centers to be found must lie in some given set constraints. We also provide different numerical examples to test our method.

Political Norms, Constitutional Conventions, And President Donald Trump, Neil S. Siegel

Faculty Scholarship

This symposium Essay argues that what is most troubling about the conduct of President Trump during and since the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign is not any potential violations of the U.S. Constitution or federal law. There likely have been some such violations, and there may be more. But what is most troubling about President Trump is his disregard of political norms that had previously constrained presidential candidates and Presidents, and his flouting of nonlegal but obligatory “constitutional conventions” that had previously guided and disciplined occupants of the White House. These norms and conventions, although not “in” the Constitution, play a …