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Social and Behavioral Sciences

Theses/Dissertations

2020

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Articles 241 - 270 of 270

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Geomorphology And Chronology Of Sand Stringer Deposition Beyond The Ice Margin: Southeastern Minnesota And Western Wisconsin, Usa, Richard J. Mataitis Jan 2020

Geomorphology And Chronology Of Sand Stringer Deposition Beyond The Ice Margin: Southeastern Minnesota And Western Wisconsin, Usa, Richard J. Mataitis

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to investigate linear, aeolian deposits termed “sand stringers” located within western Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota. Previous research has investigated their spatial distribution, and to a minor extent, their composition and absolute age. However, further sedimentological and absolute age data are needed from a greater distribution of sand stringers to understand their formation and depositional chronology. To build on previous research we 1) remotely mapped the spatial distribution and orientation of sand stringers in western Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota, 2) collected absolute age data using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) from four stringers in western …

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A Photometric Study Of The South Polar Terrain Of Enceladus, Bereket Daniel Mamo Jan 2020

A Photometric Study Of The South Polar Terrain Of Enceladus, Bereket Daniel Mamo

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Saturn's moon, Enceladus, is a unique body in the Solar System. It is an icy world with ongoing geologic activity that spews out jets of ice particles, water vapor, and other gases from active tectonic fractures (called sulci) near its south pole. Emission from these jets is the dominant source of particles for Saturn's diffuse E ring, which envelops other icy satellites. The south polar fractures are also sources of tidally generated high heat flow. Accurate determination of this endogenic thermal output requires knowledge of the thermophysical properties of the surface, which are reliably estimated by modeling the photometric behavior …

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Exploring Artificial Intelligence-Mediated Communication (Aimc) As A Sub-Field Of Communication Studies. A Textual Examination, Md Nurul Karim Bhuiyan Jan 2020

Exploring Artificial Intelligence-Mediated Communication (Aimc) As A Sub-Field Of Communication Studies. A Textual Examination, Md Nurul Karim Bhuiyan

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

From the book "Speaking into the Air: A History of the Idea of Communication," written by John Durham Peters, we understand a notion about developing one’s destiny; people have the freedom to choose multiple paths to follow (Peters, 2012). If we reject this idea, it is also easy for people to come up with distinct explanations. Even though the meaning of the same issues might vary subject to who is interpreting them, the primary concepts can be interpreted as more or less the same. If we study these two--"artificial intelligence" and "communication"- simultaneously, we can assume some characteristics. Thus, this …

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Unix Administrator Information Security Policy Compliance: The Influence Of A Focused Seta Workshop And Interactive Security Challenges On Heuristics And Biases, John Palmer Mcconnell Jan 2020

Unix Administrator Information Security Policy Compliance: The Influence Of A Focused Seta Workshop And Interactive Security Challenges On Heuristics And Biases, John Palmer Mcconnell

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Information Security Policy (ISP) compliance is crucial to the success of healthcare organizations due to security threats and the potential for security breaches. UNIX Administrators (UXAs) in healthcare Information Technology (IT) maintain critical servers that house Protected Health Information (PHI). Their compliance with ISP is crucial to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of PHI data housed or accessed by their servers. The use of cognitive heuristics and biases may negatively influence threat appraisal, coping appraisal, and ultimately ISP compliance behavior. These failures may result in insufficiently protected servers and put organizations at greater risk of data breaches and financial loss. …

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Three Essays On Model Selection, Fangning Li Jan 2020

Three Essays On Model Selection, Fangning Li

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In empirical research, we often need to address the issue of what model to use given a collection of candidate models. Conventionally, we use model selection to choose one best model from the collection of candidate models based on some model selection criteria. Model averaging is a generalization of model selection in the sense that it assigns weights to candidate models and uses a weighted average to construct an aggregated model. Usually model averaging provides better performance than model selection which chooses a single candidate model based on AIC or BIC.

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Can Trait Emotional Intelligence Variables Of Well-Being, Self-Control, Emotionality, And Sociability Individually Or Collectively Predict A Software Development Engineer's Creativity?, Mwoyondishe Jonathan Mvududu Jan 2020

Can Trait Emotional Intelligence Variables Of Well-Being, Self-Control, Emotionality, And Sociability Individually Or Collectively Predict A Software Development Engineer's Creativity?, Mwoyondishe Jonathan Mvududu

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

This quantitative research study was carried out as a partial requirement for earning a Doctor of Business Administration degree from George Fox University. The main goal of the research study was to investigate whether trait emotional intelligence variables of well-being, self-control, emotionality, and sociability can individually or collectively predict a software development engineer’s creativity or creativeness potential. Employee innovativeness is the primary focus of many organizations in today’s turbulent business environment whereby employees are increasingly gaining autonomy in self-managed teams. The study discusses the theoretical frameworks of creativity and trait emotional intelligence (Trait EI), an extension of the emotional intelligence …

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Who Performs Pro-Environmental Behaviors (Pebs) And Why? Examining The Impacts Of Motivation, Environmental Attitudes, Identity, And Climate Change Concerns On Intended And Actual Pebs, Roberta Sofia Molokandov Jan 2020

Who Performs Pro-Environmental Behaviors (Pebs) And Why? Examining The Impacts Of Motivation, Environmental Attitudes, Identity, And Climate Change Concerns On Intended And Actual Pebs, Roberta Sofia Molokandov

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

In 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that the world only has until 2030 to prevent global temperatures from rising an additional .5 degrees Celsius from greenhouse gas emissions to thwart the catastrophic damage that could follow such warming. To reduce the concentration of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere and alleviate human pressure on the natural environment, collective action must occur across the globe by consumers and producers. However, not everyone feels concerned about climate change, identifies as an environmentalist, or believes they can make an impact and that it is their responsibility to do so. Environmental …

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Habitat Use And Prey Selection By Mountain Lions In An Altered Sagebrush Steppe Environment, Jonathan Ewanyk Jan 2020

Habitat Use And Prey Selection By Mountain Lions In An Altered Sagebrush Steppe Environment, Jonathan Ewanyk

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Throughout the American West there is an increasing trend of encroachment of woody vegetation on previously open sagebrush steppe habitat. The Modoc Plateau in northeastern California has not been excluded from this encroachment trend and has seen an increase in western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) densities, likely as a result of long-term fire suppression. Mountain lions (Puma concolor) have not previously been studied on the Modoc Plateau, and there is potential for an increase in cover due to juniper encroachment to benefit the hunting behavior of lions. To better understand if the presence of cover is being …

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Burning With Potential: Understanding The Relationship Between Biochar And Agriculture Of The Northern Glaciated Plains Ecoregion, Kaitlyn Abrahamson Jan 2020

Burning With Potential: Understanding The Relationship Between Biochar And Agriculture Of The Northern Glaciated Plains Ecoregion, Kaitlyn Abrahamson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Achieving global sustainable agriculture is one of the most incredible challenges of this century, yet many continue to try to solve this problem through the development of precision technologies. Biotechnologies, such as biochar, can perform like a precision technology while protecting agricultural land from soil erosion and fertility loss. The Northern Glaciated Plains ecoregion of the United States is little researched in the benefits from the use of biochar through improved soil nutrient capture and water retention, crop health improvements, and yield increases. The study plot has four sections of corn stover biochar and eight sections of control sections. This …

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Understanding South Dakota Farmers’ Intentions To And Adoption Of Conservation Practices: An Examination Of The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Edem Avemegah Jan 2020

Understanding South Dakota Farmers’ Intentions To And Adoption Of Conservation Practices: An Examination Of The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Edem Avemegah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conservation agriculture practice is a sustainable farming method based on three principle: crop diversification, minimal soil disturbance or movement and permanent or semi-permanent of soil cover. Government and stakeholders within the agricultural sector in the United States are promoting conservation farming practices but limited voluntary adoption still exists among producers at the farm level. This research study investigated the factors that influence the adoption of conservation practices among producers in the eastern and central parts of South Dakota (SD). A modified theory of planned behavior (TPB) is used as a framework alongside socioeconomic and demographic indicators to understand farmers’ current …

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Biophysical And Socioeconomic Impacts Of Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration In Burkina Faso, Basnewende Brice Fulgence Zoungrana Jan 2020

Biophysical And Socioeconomic Impacts Of Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration In Burkina Faso, Basnewende Brice Fulgence Zoungrana

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human actions such as overgrazing, the development of cities at the expense of forests, high intensity and poor agricultural management, and so forth, reduce the resources available for future generations. Because Earth has limited resources, it is important to judiciously use and manage natural resources. Human actions towards nature are the focus of my research in Africa. Increased demands for grazing, agriculture, and ecosystem services led some farmers in developing countries to use unsustainable practices, which may lead to low incomes and poor food nutrition for households. Farmer managed natural regeneration (FMNR) may be a solution to these issues. FMNR …

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A Multinational Study Of The Etiology And Clinical Teleology Of Moral Evaluations Of Patient Behaviors, Anna Yu Lee Jan 2020

A Multinational Study Of The Etiology And Clinical Teleology Of Moral Evaluations Of Patient Behaviors, Anna Yu Lee

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation is a collection of four studies which collectively explore a hypothesized construct of ‘moral evaluation of patient behaviors’ (MEPB) as a driver of health professionals’ readiness to interact humanistically with their patients. In these studies, ‘humanistic interactions’ refer to the non-technical, intangible skills and factors of clinical competence; the factors specifically explored in these studies were compassion toward patients, self-efficacy for treating patients, and optimism toward patient treatment. For the purpose of specificity, all factors were examined as they pertained to patients with substance use disorders. Survey data from a convenience sample of 524 health professionals (i.e. physicians, …

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Understanding The Challenges Child Welfare Workers Encounter Related To Promoting The Online Safety Of Foster Youth, Denielle Kirk L. Abaquita Jan 2020

Understanding The Challenges Child Welfare Workers Encounter Related To Promoting The Online Safety Of Foster Youth, Denielle Kirk L. Abaquita

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Foster care case managers are responsible for the wellbeing of foster youth in the foster care system. Teens (ages 13-17) in foster care are most vulnerable to serious risks, such as sex trafficking. Such risks have been heightened by the advent of internet-based technologies that connect foster youth with unsafe others at unprecedented frequency and speed. This thesis examines how case managers tackle the challenge of online safety as it relates to adolescents in the foster care system in the United States. I conducted 32 semi-structured interviews with case managers who worked with foster teens (ages 13-17) within the past …

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Predictive Geohazard Mapping Using Lidar And Satellite Imagery In Missouri And Oklahoma, Usa, Olufeyisayo B. Ilesanmi Jan 2020

Predictive Geohazard Mapping Using Lidar And Satellite Imagery In Missouri And Oklahoma, Usa, Olufeyisayo B. Ilesanmi

Doctoral Dissertations

”Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and satellite imagery have become the most utilized remote sensing technologies for compiling inventories of surficial geologic conditions. Point cloud data obtained from multi-spectral remote sensing methods provide a detailed characterization of the surface features, in particular, the detailed surface manifestations of underlying geologic structures. When combined, point clouds eliminate bias from visual inconsistencies and/or statistical values. This research explores the competence of point clouds derived from LiDAR and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) as a predictive tool in evaluating various geohazards. It combines these data sets with other remote sensing techniques to evaluate the sensitivity …

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Estimating Value-At-Risk Of An Unconventional Portfolio, Elizabeth N. Mejía-Ricart Jan 2020

Estimating Value-At-Risk Of An Unconventional Portfolio, Elizabeth N. Mejía-Ricart

Honors Theses

Since the 2008 financial crisis, interest rates and bond yields have been low all through the recovery and expansion that followed, and they are still low. As a result, more investors have been attracted to US equities, a space of possibly higher returns. However, these returns come with a potential downside: risk of loss. One of the methods to assess this potential downside is value-at-risk (VaR), which gained momentum in the late 1990s. At the time, the market risk amendment to the 1988 Basle Capital Accord required commercial banks with significant trading activities to put aside capital to cover market …

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Internal Migration Of Foreign-Born In Us: Impacts Of Population Concentration And Risk Aversion, Thin Yee Mon Su Jan 2020

Internal Migration Of Foreign-Born In Us: Impacts Of Population Concentration And Risk Aversion, Thin Yee Mon Su

Honors Theses

Internal migration in the US has been declining since the 1990s and research has mostly focused on labor market dynamics and aging population to explain the migration trends. This paper analyzes migration patterns of foreign-born groups in the US from 2000 to 2019. Along with the migration determinants such as education and employment, the paper focuses on population concentration as a factor that shapes foreign-born decisions to relocate in the US. Population concertation is defined to be a measure of how geographically concentrated each foreign-born group is across the US. I find that the likelihood of migrating to another state …

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Asset Pricing Under Randomized Solvable Diffusions, Hiromichi Kato Jan 2020

Asset Pricing Under Randomized Solvable Diffusions, Hiromichi Kato

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

By employing a randomization procedure on the geometric Brownian motion (GBM) model, we construct our new pricing models with stochastic volatility exhibiting symmetric smiles in the log-forward moneyness, and admitting simple closed-form analytical expressions for European-style option prices. We assume that there are no infinitesimal correlations between the underlying asset prices and their volatility, and the integrated squared volatility processes are random variables with well-known probability density functions. Under some regularity conditions, closed-form expressions are obtained by taking the expectation of option prices under diffusion models over the integrated squared volatility process, which relate to the Bayesian framework in the …

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Sampling The Local Fare: Fishes At The Sam Israel House Pit (45gr76), Soap Lake, Washington, Adam Fruge Jan 2020

Sampling The Local Fare: Fishes At The Sam Israel House Pit (45gr76), Soap Lake, Washington, Adam Fruge

All Master's Theses

The Sam Israel site is a precontact archaeological complex with numerous fish bones at the north end of Soap Lake, Washington. Excavated in 1976, the fish remains recovered from there were never fully analyzed prior to this research. Since this inland Columbia Plateau site had thousands of fish bones, it contained untapped potential for our understanding of ancient local fish procurement. As such, I conducted a detailed analysis of 2,862 fish bone specimens from the Sam Israel House Pit locus to: study a larger sample of fish bones in greater detail than was done before; compare the distribution of fishes …

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Recovering Lost Information From Avocational Projectile Point Collections, Mackenzie Hughes Jan 2020

Recovering Lost Information From Avocational Projectile Point Collections, Mackenzie Hughes

All Master's Theses

Human prehistory in North America has sparked the interest of private citizens for decades, sometimes leading to an accumulation of avocational artifact collections that lack site-level provenience. The Wild/Clymer artifacts (n = 1,371) are one such collection where precise site provenience was lost. The analysis aims to recover regional provenience by using morphology, raw material sourcing, and typology to create a data set. The avocational collection data set was analyzed by comparing it to the professionally recorded archaeological data sets from within 100 miles of Frenchglen, Oregon. A paradigmatic classification approach identified 606 typeable points in the avocational collection, in …

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Web Content Management System And Accessibility Awareness: A Comparative Study Of Novice Users And Accessibility Outcomes, Fatima Artiba Diaz Jan 2020

Web Content Management System And Accessibility Awareness: A Comparative Study Of Novice Users And Accessibility Outcomes, Fatima Artiba Diaz

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Since its creation, the Web has progressively developed and become a vital source of information in every domain and for almost all people. It is crucial to guarantee that the information contained on the Web is available for everyone, especially for people with special needs. Removing accessibility barriers is fundamentally based on tools, skills and support of all contributors, particularly the content creators, to ensure information is navigable and usable in the context of the end users experience. Web Content Management Systems play a significant role in structuring, storing and provision content to the Web and have evolved to address …

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Monitoring Environmental Change Using A Participatory Modified Photovoice Approach With Indigenous Knowledge Holders In Kakisa, Northwest Territories, Kaitlin Kok Jan 2020

Monitoring Environmental Change Using A Participatory Modified Photovoice Approach With Indigenous Knowledge Holders In Kakisa, Northwest Territories, Kaitlin Kok

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In response to growing pressures from climate change and the lack of a monitoring strategy for food security at a local and regional level in the Northwest Territories, there is an urgency for residents to record their own images of change in relation to harvester safety. This thesis explores the connection between geographic information systems, sustainable food systems, indigenous knowledge and the importance of place. The objective of this study is two-fold: (a) to develop a monitoring system in conjunction with the community of Kakisa and (b) to increase the resilience of the local food system. The methods used derive …

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Filling In The Gaps: Applications Of Deep Learning, Satellite Imagery, And High Performance Computing For The Estimation And Distribution Of Geospatial Data, Seth Goodman Jan 2020

Filling In The Gaps: Applications Of Deep Learning, Satellite Imagery, And High Performance Computing For The Estimation And Distribution Of Geospatial Data, Seth Goodman

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Many regions around the world suffer from a lack of authoritatively-collected data on factors critical to understanding human well-being. This challenges our ability to understand the progress society is making towards reducing poverty, improving lifespans, or otherwise improving livelihoods. A growing body of research is exploring how deep learning algorithms can be used to produce novel estimates of sparse development data, and how access to such data can impact development efforts. This dissertation contributes to this literature in three parts. First, using Landsat 8 satellite imagery and data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, convolutional neural networks …

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Fast Decision-Making Under Time And Resource Constraints, Kyle Gabriel Lassak Jan 2020

Fast Decision-Making Under Time And Resource Constraints, Kyle Gabriel Lassak

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Practical decision makers are inherently limited by computational and memory resources as well as the time available in which to make decisions. To cope with these limitations, humans actively seek methods which limit their resource demands by exploiting structure within the environment and exploiting a coupling between their sensing and actuation to form heuristics for fast decision-making. To date, such behavior has not been replicated in artificial agents. This research explores how heuristics may be incorporated into the decision-making process to quickly make high-quality decisions through the analysis of a prominent case study: the outfielder problem. In the outfielder problem, …

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Remote Sensing Approaches To Predict Forest Characteristics In Northwest Montana, Ryan P. Rock Jan 2020

Remote Sensing Approaches To Predict Forest Characteristics In Northwest Montana, Ryan P. Rock

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Remote sensing can be utilized by land management organizations to save money and time. Mapping vegetation using either aerial photographs or satellite imagery and the applications for forest management are of particular interest to the Montana Department of Natural Resources. In 2018, the organization began a pilot program to test the incorporation of raster analysis of remotely sensed data into their inventory program and had limited success. This analysis identified two areas of improvement: the selection method of inventory plots and the imagery used for classification and metrics. This study found that selecting inventory plots using a generalized random tessellation …

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Water For Fish And Farms: An Examination Of Instream Flow Programs In Montana Using Spatially-Explicit Water Rights Data, Anna Leigh Crockett Jan 2020

Water For Fish And Farms: An Examination Of Instream Flow Programs In Montana Using Spatially-Explicit Water Rights Data, Anna Leigh Crockett

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The state-level institutions governing water use in the western United States have increasingly come under pressure and scrutiny related to their inability to navigate water use conflicts in recent decades. Rapid population growth and shifting public values towards leaving water instream for recreational and environmental purposes pose challenges to Montana water supplies which are predominantly allocated for irrigated agriculture. Additionally, while water scarcity and unpredictable availability are not new dilemmas in Montana, the rate at which climate change is driving shifts in the distribution, timing, and availability of water supplies is unprecedented. Current water policies may not be nimble enough …

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Prioritizing Parcels For Conservation Easements Using Least-Cost Path Analyses Of Land Ownership: Case Study Within Theorized Grizzly Bear Migration Corridors Of Western Montana, Joseph H. Offer Jan 2020

Prioritizing Parcels For Conservation Easements Using Least-Cost Path Analyses Of Land Ownership: Case Study Within Theorized Grizzly Bear Migration Corridors Of Western Montana, Joseph H. Offer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As the world’s human population has grown and converted large natural habitats to human dominated landscapes, the planet’s biodiversity has decreased. To combat the loss of biodiversity from human development, many conservation professionals champion the concept of conservation corridors between intact habitats. Conservation corridors, made up of protected land, serve as a connection for wildlife populations to intermix genetics and, subsequently, help reduce the risk of extinction. The ideal geographic location of corridors is generally determined through geographic information system modeling using biophysical conditions and theorized animal movement. However, the resulting corridors are often expansive and protecting entire corridors is …

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Comparing Fence Modeling And Mapping Approaches To Support Wildlife Management And Research In Southwest Montana, Simon Albert Buzzard Jan 2020

Comparing Fence Modeling And Mapping Approaches To Support Wildlife Management And Research In Southwest Montana, Simon Albert Buzzard

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Fences pose significant challenges to wildlife movement, but their effects are difficult to quantify because fence location and fence type data are lacking on a global scale. We developed a fence location and density model in southwest Montana, USA to provide data to researchers and managers, and test whether previous models could be applied to a new region and retain suitable levels of statistical accuracy. Our model used local expert opinion to inform how road, land cover, and ownership spatial layers interacted to predict fence locations. We validated the model against fence data collected on random 3.2 km road transects …

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Understanding And Measuring Net Positive Business Strategies, Luke Ruffner Robinson Jan 2020

Understanding And Measuring Net Positive Business Strategies, Luke Ruffner Robinson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Despite their attempts to mitigate ecological impacts through sustainability initiatives, businesses are a major cause of the world's ecological problems. Some progressive businesses are attempting to move beyond “net zero” in terms of achieving neutral environmental impacts and instead are now pursuing a goal of net positive. Net positive refers to the idea that business activities could contribute value-added benefits to earth’s ecological systems, for example, by using technologies that sequester and store carbon. However, except for a handful of high-profile corporate case studies, little is known about how companies are developing their strategies to become net positive and …

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Interactions Between Humans, Virtual Agent Characters And Virtual Avatars, Tamara Griffith Jan 2020

Interactions Between Humans, Virtual Agent Characters And Virtual Avatars, Tamara Griffith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Simulations allow people to experience events as if they were happening in the real world in a way that is safer and less expensive than live training. Despite improvements in realism in simulated environments, one area that still presents a challenge is interpersonal interactions. The subtleties of what makes an interaction rich are difficult to define. We may never fully understand the complexity of human interchanges, however there is value in building on existing research into how individuals react to virtual characters to inform future investments. Virtual characters can either be automated through computational processes, referred to as agents, or …

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Public Perception Of Different Planting Techniques Using Augmented Reality, Sultana Quader Tania Jan 2020

Public Perception Of Different Planting Techniques Using Augmented Reality, Sultana Quader Tania

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to measure public perception of the different planting techniques (block and matrix), which are used at visitor information centers (VICs) and other rights of way (ROW) areas. The main factors that affect public perception of planting techniques were identified through an extensive literature review and qualitative survey from four welcome centers in the state of Georgia. The ranking of those indicators, based on public preferences, was discovered through a quantitative survey. During the first phase of the quantitative survey, images of block and matrix were used. An iOS-based user-friendly and cost-effective augmented reality (AR) …

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