Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Teaching Fractions, Natalie Miles

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Because fractions are a vital part of mathematics instruction in schools and can be found in real life, it is important that all students understand and be able to utilize them. Teachers should choose strategies that will work best for their individual students, taking into account the various ways their students learn and the fraction knowledge students already possess. To effectively teach fractions, teachers must find ways to prompt student interest. Teachers can accomplish this through the use of technology. games. and manipulatives. Effective teachers must take into account the cultural diversity of their students. Teachers must be able to …

Context-Specific Preference Learning Of One Dimensional Quantitative Geospatial Attributes Using A Neuro-Fuzzy Approach, Georgios Mountrakis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Change detection is a topic of great importance for modern geospatial information systems. Digital aerial imagery provides an excellent medium to capture geospatial information. Rapidly evolving environments, and the availability of increasing amounts of diverse, multiresolutional imagery bring forward the need for frequent updates of these datasets. Analysis and query of spatial data using potentially outdated data may yield results that are sometimes invalid. Due to measurement errors (systematic, random) and incomplete knowledge of information (uncertainty) it is ambiguous if a change in a spatial dataset has really occurred. Therefore we need to develop reliable, fast, and automated procedures that …

Wetland And Nest Scale Habitat Use By The Four-Toed Salamander (Hemidactylium Scutatum) In Maine, And A Comparison Of Survey Methods, Rebecca J. Chalmers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conserving amphibian populations requires knowledge of a species and its habitat relationships. The four-toed salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum) is listed as Special Concern in Maine and 11 additional states and provinces, Threatened in Illinois, and Endangered in Indiana (Appendix A). Little is known of H. scutatum ecology despite the species' extensive range. Infrequent sightings of H. scutatum throughout its range may indicate either low numbers or that the species' behavior make detection difficult. Records for H. scutatum in Maine existed from only 32 sites before my study, and the total number of occurrences of this species in Maine is …

Diel Foraging Behavior Of American White Pelicans ()Pelecanus Erythrorhynchos) On Experimental Aquaculture Ponds , Scott J. Werner

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Videography and night vision equipment were used to observe the diurnal and nocturnal activities of American white pelicans (Pe1ecanus erythrorhynchos) (N= 6) foraging on three experimental (0.04 ha) channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) aquaculture ponds in March 2001. Captive pelicans spent most time foraging per hour from 1700 through 2300 h (CST). No foraging was observed from 0700 through 0800 h. Fish captures per hour were greatest from 1700 through 1900 h. On average, captive pelicans (N = 5) consumed 1.0 ± 0.2 kg of catfish per bird per day during the 10-d foraging …

Genetic Methods Improve Accuracy Of Gender Determination In Beavers, Christen Lenney Williams, Stewart W. Breck, Bruce W. Baker

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Gender identification of sexually monomorphic mammals can be difficult. We used analysis of zinc-finger protein (Zfx and Zfy) DNA regions to determine gender of 96 beavers (Castor canadensis) from 3 areas and used these results to verify gender determined in the field. Gender was correctly determined for 86 (89.6%) beavers. Incorrect assignments were not attributed to errors in any one age or sex class. Although methods that can be used in the field (such as morphological methods) can provide reasonably accurate gender assignments in beavers, the genetic method might be preferred in certain situations.

Temporal Variability Of Satellite-Derived Chlorophyll And Sea Suface Temperature In The California Current, Kasey Legaard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Physical forcing and biological response within the California Current coastal upwelling system are highly variable over a wide range of scales. Satellite remote sensing offers the only feasible means of quantifying this variability over the full extent of this current system. Here we quantify and compare patterns of physical and biological variability acting over seasonal, interannual and dominant intraseasonal time scales throughout the California Current System using more than five years (1997-2003) of daily SeaWiFS chlorophyll and NOAA/NASA AVHRR Oceans Pathfinder SST imagery. Mean seasonal cycles were modeled as the sum of annual and semiannual harmonics. Interannual variability was estimated …

Generating Linear Orders Of Events For Geospatial Domains, Suzannah Hall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Events in the world do not occur in neat chronological order, but may take place, for example, during or overlapping each other, or as simultaneous events. Efficient summaries of real-world events are important in many disciplines and require events to be modeled in a linear fashion. This thesis focuses on modeling events as intervals and using relations between the events to derive linear orders from more complex partially ordered sets. A method is developed for mapping Allen's thirteen temporal relations to only two relations, before and equals, which allow a linear ordering of all events present in the set. This …

Using Linear Features For Aerial Image Sequence Mosaiking, Caixia Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With recent advances in sensor technology and digital image processing techniques, automatic image mosaicking has received increased attention in a variety of geospatial applications, ranging from panorama generation and video surveillance to image based rendering. The geometric transformation used to link images in a mosaic is the subject of image orientation, a fundamental photogrammetric task that represents a major research area in digital image analysis. It involves the determination of the parameters that express the location and pose of a camera at the time it captured an image. In aerial applications the typical parameters comprise two translations (along the x …

Topology Control Of Ad Hoc Wireless Networks For Energy Efficiency, Maggie Xiaoyan Cheng, Mihaela Cardei, Jinhua Sun, Xiaochun Cheng, Lusheng Wang, Yinfeng Xu, Ding-Zhu Du

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

In ad hoc wireless networks, to compute the transmission power of each wireless node such that the resulting network is connected and the total energy consumption is minimized is defined as a Minimum Energy Network Connectivity (MENC) problem, which is an NP-complete problem. In this paper, we consider the approximated solutions for the MENC problem in ad hoc wireless networks. We present a theorem that reveals the relation between the energy consumption of an optimal solution and that of a spanning tree and propose an optimization algorithm that can improve the result of any spanning tree-based topology. Two polynomial time …

Phase Coherent Effects In The Speckle Correlation Of Light Scattered Fromvolume Disordered Media And Randomly Rough Surfaces, Bogdan Danila

Dissertations

We present a study of the statistics of the intensity patterns produced when coherent light is scattered by random media (volume disorder) or randomly rough surfaces. Such a random, granular interference pattern is called speckle. Particular emphasis is on the statistical correlations arising between thefluctuations of the intensities corresponding to distinct scattering paths; which are quantified by the speckle correlation function. In the first part, we present results for the correlation function computed for volume-disordered media by means of numerical simulation. Our focus is on the sensitivity of the correlationfunction to statistical parameters characterizing the volume distribution of the refraction …

Interferences In Electron Emission Spectra For H+ Impact On H2, Sabbir Hossain

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

An Investigation Of Secondary Teachers’ Knowledge Of Rate Of Change In The Context Of Teaching A Standards-Based Curriculum, Jihwa Noh

Dissertations

This study investigated teachers' mathematical content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge with respect to rate of change in the context of teaching a Standards-based high school mathematics curriculum that emphasizes rate of change as a central theme, the Core-Plus Mathematics Project (CPMP) materials. A framework was designed to provide a comprehensive guide for analyzing different aspects of rate of change knowledge incorporating existing frameworks relative to rate of change, NCTM recommendations described in Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics andPrinciples and Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM, 2000), and research related to pedagogical understanding of rate of change.

Data …

Two High School Teachers’ Initial Use Of Geometers Sketchpad: Issues Of Implementation, Kathryn G. Shafer

Dissertations

This study documents two teachers' instructional practices as they learn and incorporate Geometer's Sketchpad (GSP) activities into their curriculum. The researcher (as a mentor) worked closely with two high school geometry teachers following a case study methodology. As a secondary goal, this study examined the use of a mentor as a professional development model to assist classroom teachers in the learning and implementation of Geometer'sSketchpad. Data were gathered through interviews, surveys, observations, classroom videotape, participant journal entries, as well as researcher field notes.

Results are reported in the areas of goals of instruction, method of instruction, role of the teacher, …

Origin Of The Central Kalamazoo River Valley, Southwestern Michigan, Usa, Andrew Kozlowski

Dissertations

Chapter I

Introduction

Southern Michigan's geomorphology is a testament to the glacial processes that buried and sculpted the landscape during the last glaciation. Many glacial landforms in southwestern Michigan, including the Kalamazoo River Valley, provide evidence that aids in understanding the chronology, ice dynamics and glacial processes that occurred in Michigan during the last ice age.

As the climate began to warm about 20,000 yr B.P. (Larson and Schaetzl, 2001) the extensive Laurentide Ice Sheet began to recede from its maximum southern position reached during the Late Wisconsinan (Figure 1). It was at this point that modem surficial drainage systems …

The Glacial Geology Of Southern St. Joseph County, Michigan, Linda Nicks

Dissertations

The objective of the dissertation was to map the glacial geology in southern St. Joseph County, Michigan. The surficial geology was divided into three distinct land systems which are moraine, outwash and fan deposits. The Sturgis Moraine is the most prominent feature transecting the study area from east to west. The topography is further dissected by southwest-trending channels interpreted as tunnel channels.

Thick accumulations of sand and gravel in the study area indicate that glacial meltwater deposition played a dominant role in shaping the landscape. Based on the relative size of the channels and outwash deposits, the largest contribution from …

Rayleigh-Lidar Observations Of Mesospheric Mid-Latitude Density Climatology Above Utah State University, Eric M. Lundell, Vincent B. Wickwar

Posters

Data from Rayleigh lidars have been used extensively to derive temperatures in the mesospheric region of the atmosphere. However, these data have not been used extensively in a similar way to derive neutral densities. We report on one such mid-latitude, density climatology between 45 and ~90 km, based on nearly 600 good nights of observations carried out since 1993 at the Atmospheric Lidar Observatory (ALO) at Utah State University (41.7°N 111.8°W). They produce relative density profiles that are then normalized at 45 km to an empirical model, in this case the MSISe00 model. Despite this normalization, significant differences are found …

Slope Stability Analysis Of A Lake Michigan Coastal Bluff, Gregory Carlton Young

Masters Theses

Bluff failure along the Lake Michigan coast can be produced primarily by increased pore pressure from perched water tables above lacustrine clay deposits. To test this theory, a site in Allegan County, Michigan with alternating layers of sand, clay and glacial till was chosen for bluff failure monitoring. Historically, the site experiences sporadic massive failures as opposed to neighboring sites that show more regular and uniform displacements. Four pole and cable monitoring lines were measured bi-weekly from December 2001 to October 2003. Lake levels were low and no erosion of material at the base of the slope occurred. Slumps above …

Synthesis And Characterization Of A Recombinant Thrombin Inhibitor, Joel Lwande

Masters Theses

The final step of the blood coagulation cascade is catalyzed by thrombin, a serine protease. Like most enzyme activities, thrombin activity encounters inhibition from both direct and indirect inhibitors. A new thrombin inhibitor peptide named theromin was recently isolated from the leech Theromyzon tessulatum, and it is the most potent thrombin inhibitor isolated to date. Theromin is made up of 67 amino acid residues, out of which 16 are cysteines engaged in 8-disulfide bridges.

We synthesized the theromin gene and expressed the protein in Eschericia coli. We purified the recombinant protein and carried out thrombin inhibition assays that …

Alligators As West Nile Virus Amplifiers, Kaci Klenk, Jamie Snow, Katrina Morgan, Richard Bowen, Michael Stephens, Falacia Foster, Paul Gordy, Susan Beckett, Nicholas Komar, Duane Gubler, Michael Bunning

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Recent evidence suggests that American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) may be capable of transmitting West Nile virus (WNV) to other alligators. We experimentally exposed 24 juvenile alligators to WNV parenterally or orally. All became infected, and all but three sustained viremia titers >5.0 log₁₀ PFU/mL (a threshold considered infectious for Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes) for 1 to 8 days. Noninoculated tankmates also became infected. The viremia profiles and multiple routes of infection suggest alligators may play an important role in WNV transmission in areas with high population densities of juvenile alligators.

Hydrologic And Geochemical Cycling Within Karst Versus Non-Karst Basins Within The Interior Low Plateau Province Of South-Central Kentucky, David Ek

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis summarizes my research in which I investigated differences and characteristics in hydrologic, nutrient and geochemical cycling between karst versus nonkarst basins within the Interior Low Plateau Province. Field data including stream discharge, evapotranspiration, and dissolved major ion concentrations were collected for a period of one year for two basins within Mammoth Cave National Park. Twelve percent carbonate rocks underlie one basin, while the other consists of 48 percent carbonate rocks. The carbonate rock exposures within both basins exhibit karstification. The hydrologic and geochemical differences between these basins were compared to determine to what extent that cycles are modified …

Initial-Value Problem For Three-Dimensional Disturbances In A Hypersonic Boundary Layer, Eric Forgoston, Anatoli Tumin

Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

An initial-value problem is formulated for a threedimensional wave packet in a hypersonic boundary layer flow. The problem is solved using a Laplace transform with respect to time and Fourier transforms with respect to the streamwise and spanwise coordinates. The solution can be presented as a sum of modes consisting of continuous and discrete spectra of temporal stability theory. Two discrete modes, known as Mode S and Mode F, are of interest since they may be involved in a laminar-turbulent transition scenario. The continuous and discrete spectrum are analyzed numerically, and the following features are revealed: (1) the synchronism of …

Using Fine-Grained Cycle Stealing To Improve Throughput, Efficiency And Response Time On A Dedicated Cluster While Maintaining Quality Of Service, Gary Stiehr

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

For various reasons, a dedicated cluster is not always fully utilized even when all of its processors are allocated to jobs. This occurs any time that a running job does not use 100% of each of the processors allocated to it. Keeping in mind the needs of both the cluster’s system administrators and its users, we would like to increase the throughput and efficiency of the cluster while maintaining or improving the average turnaround time of the jobs and the quality of service of the “primary” jobs originally scheduled on the cluster. To increase the throughput and efficiency of the …

Unconformities And Age Relationships, Tongue River And Older Members Of The Fort Union Formation (Paleocene), Western Williston Basin, U.S.A., Edward S. Belt, Joseph H. Hartman, John A. Diemer, Timothy J. Kroeger, Neil E. Tibert, H. Allen Curran

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

An unconformable relationship is observed within the Paleocene Fort Union Formation in the western Williston Basin at the contact between the Tongue River Member and the underlying Lebo and Ludlow Members. Isotopic dates and pollen biozone data reported here are integrated with previously published data. A new correlation of these facies results in a revised history of localized depositional and tectonic events. One unconformity occurs at this lithological contact in the Pine Hills (PH), Terry Badlands (TB), and Ekalaka (E) areas west of the Cedar Creek anticline (CCA), and another unconformity occurs at the same lithological contact in the Little …

Spatial Distribution Of Competing Ions Around Dna In Solution, Kurt Andresen, R. Das, Hye Yoon Park, H. Smith, Lisa W. Kwok, Jessica S. Lamb, E. J. Kirkland, D. Herschlag, K. D. Finkelstein, Lois Pollack

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

The competition of monovalent and divalent cations for proximity to negatively charged DNA is of biological importance and can provide strong constraints for theoretical treatments of polyelectrolytes. Resonant x-ray scattering experiments have allowed us to monitor the number and distribution of each cation in a mixed ion cloud around DNA. These measurements provide experimental evidence to support a general theoretical prediction: the normalized distribution of each ion around polyelectrolytes remains constant when ions are mixed at different ratios. In addition, the amplitudes of the scattering signals throughout the competition provide a measurement of the surface concentration parameter that predicts the …

The Meyer-Neldel Rule For Diodes In Forward Bias, Ralf Widenhorn, Michael Fitzgibbons, Erik Bodegom

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We analyzed the temperature dependence of the forward current of a silicon diode. Instead of representing the data in the ordinarily used current versus voltage graph, the currents are plotted for different voltages as a function of the inverse temperature. The constant voltage curves can be fitted linearly and the extrapolations of the fits seem to merge to one common focal point. Hence, we demonstrate that a real diode follows the Meyer-Neldel rule (MNR). It is shown that the MNR is due to a shift of the current from ideal-diode to high-injection-diode behavior. We will argue that the merging of …

Estimating The Economic Recreational Value Of Paracas National Reserve In Ica Peru: A Fair Fee Implementation Approach, Jaqueline Garcia-Yi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Paracas National Reserve (PNR) is one of the fifty-seven protected areas that belong to the National System of Protected Areas (SINANPE) of Peru. Located in Ica Department, on the Pacific coast of Peru, it is the only coastal-marine ecosystem currently protected by the Peruvian government. PNR has been internationally recognized, principally as a wintering area for bird migrations. It has been designated as a Regional Shorebird Reserve by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (1991), a Ramsar site by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat (1992), and a Particular Sensitive Sea Area by the …

Ir Studies Of The Interaction Of Surfactants And Polyelectrolytes Adsorbed On Tio2 Particles, Haiyan Li

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Polymers/surfactants are used to control and modify the interfacial properties of particulate suspensions. The resulting properties are dependent on the amount of adsorbed surfactants/polymers on the surface as well as the nature of the aggregated structures. Often these interactions are complex and not well understood. In this thesis we have used Attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) to identify surfactant, mixed surfactant, polyelectrolyte and mixed polyelectrolyte surfactant structures formed on charged Ti0₂ particles. In addition, the change occurring to the structure of an adsorbed polymer layer on Ti0₂ to flowing suspension of silica particles was studied. A …

The Prairie Naturalist Volume 36, No.4 December 2004

The Prairie Naturalist

ROADSIDE BIAS IN POINT COUNT SURVEYS AT ARROWWOOD NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, NORTH DAKOTA ▪ J. S. Dieni and P. Scherr

HISTORY OF GREATER SAGE-GROUSE IN THE DAKOTAS: DISTRIBUTION AND POPULATION TRENDS ▪ . J. T. Smith, L. D. Flake, K. F. Higgins, and G. D. Kobriger

PATCH USE BY A MONOPHAGOUS HERBIVORE IN FRAGMENTED PRAIRIE LANDSCAPES ▪ . M. J. St. Pierre and S. D. Hendrix

SNOWSHOE HARE OCCURRENCE AND WINTER HABITAT ON THE MISSOURI COTEAU IN NORTH DAKOTA ▪ R. K. Murphy 243

HIGH ABUNDANCE OF NESTING LONG-EARED OWLS IN NORTH DAKOTA ▪ R. K. Murphy, L. J. Rosenfield, …

The Effect Of Naocl, Ca(Oh)2, Mta And Mtad On Root Dentin Fracture Resistance, Sunil Ilapogu

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Various materials are used for the treatment of immature teeth that have been subjected to trauma or decay. It is not well established what effect these materials may have on the immature root dentin. A concern would be the resistance to fracture of the remaining root dentin. The purpose of this study was to compare the resistance of fracture of bovine teeth treated with sodium hypochlorite, calcium hydroxide, gray MTA and gray MTA in conjunction with MTAD after certain periods of time. One hundred and ninety five freshly extracted, intact bovine incisors were prepared using a modified Haapasalo and Orstavik …

Laboratory Experiments Of Entrainment In Dry Convective Boundary Layers, Harm J.J. Jonker, Thijs Heus, Esther Hagen, Han Van Dop

Physics Faculty Publications

Entrainment in dry convective boundary layers was studied. A saline convection tank set-up was used as a laboratory model for a dry convective atmospheric boundary layer. The entrainment flux was measured using planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF). It was found that the entrainment flux reveals a much stronger dependence on the inversion strength than large eddy simulations tend to do.