TIMS data applications in Nebraska

A total of 172 flight-line miles of Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner (TIMS) data were acquired in the state of Nebraska; and an additional mission is planned for August of this year. Data collected by the scanner were generally applied to investigations in four general areas: hydrology, geology, soils, and vegetation analysis. Relatively simple manipulations of these thermal-emittance data led to excellent classifications of vegetation communities established along topographic gradients in the Nebraska Sandhills. Similar procedures were used to study variations in soil parameters along those same routes. Proposed geologic applications include mapping of the surficial geology along a portion of the Platte River and the delineation of a segment of the Cambridge Arch, a structural feature in central Nebraska

Skin Cancer: Causes, Prevention, and Treatment

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the causes, prevention, and treatment of skin cancer. Skin cancers are defined as either malignant or benign cells that typically arise from excessive exposure to UV radiation. Arguably, skin cancer is a type of cancer that can most easily be prevented; prevention of skin cancer is relatively simple, but often ignored. An important aspect in discussing the epidemiology of skin cancer is understanding the treatments that are available, as well as the prevention methods that can be implemented in every day practice. It is estimated that one in five Americans will develop skin cancer during his or her lifetime, and that one person will die from melanoma every hour of the day. To an epidemiologist and health promotion advocate, these figures are daunting for a disease, especially for a disease that has ample means of prevention. However, even with sufficient prevention methods, a lack of education and promotion of a practice will not lead to favorable results. This thesis will aim to uncover the causes and treatments associated with skin cancer, the disease, distribution, and determinants of the disease, and finally, how the promotion of the practice of prevention of this disease can be furthered

Theological Research Toward Church Growth: A Denominational Model

This is a theological investigation into Southern Baptist evangelism

Studies on pyrrole derivatives

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Investigating public disengagement from planning for major infrastructure projects: A high voltage powerline case study

Public disengagement from consultation is a real-world problem affecting areas of the public sphere, such as land use planning, where democracy is a key requirement. The ethos of engaging the public in decision-making has long been accepted as an important objective in the UK planning system in order to protect and serve the public interest. However, there is limited research into why the public frequently appear to disengage from the consultation process for major engineering projects such as energy infrastructure. Public disengagement can result in a lack of representation and legitimate speech in the discourse of decision-making and my research challenges the effectiveness of the current system. Drawing on human geography, planning theory, sociology and my professional experience of working as an Environmental Planner on Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, the research moves away from the current perceptions of an instrumental approach to public consultation for infrastructure. A novel approach to conceptualising disengagement is proposed through a Bourdieusian lens, which could enable a deeper understanding of the reasons for both voluntary and involuntary disengagement. By introducing a place dimension to the conceptual framework, the research is better able to understand the cognitive, affective and behavioural dimensions that reflect the ways in which communities of place choose to engage with, or disengage from, the public consultation process for infrastructure. The research contributes conceptually, methodologically and empirically to addressing the research problem through a high voltage overhead powerline case study research design in Cumbria. Primary data has been collected through semi-structured interviews, participant observation and event ethnography. Secondary data, including local media, project documents, planning policy and best practice guidance, was also collected for contextual purposes. Qualitative methods allowed greater flexibility without a dependence on language, literacy or assumptions based on cultural norms and thematic analysis was selected as the method of analysis due to its accessibility and theoretically flexible approach to analysis which could be used with a case study research design. The credibility of the analysis was established through data collection triangulation using the secondary data to verify the emerging themes. The primary contribution to knowledge from this research has been to expand the understanding of disengagement, using the novel conceptual approach that combines the Bourdieusian conceptual framework with aspects of place, and which also has policy and practice implications. Factors affecting engagement in the case study include an underlying thread of symbolic violence and perceptions of stigma which have been shown to be partly place-based and partly resulting from community experiences of legacy planning applications for energy. There are also underlying factors of marginalisation and peripherality, with small communities frequently perceived to be without power or voice in the process. An examination of the relationship between habitus and place has suggested that disengagement can be explained by both communities of practice and of place and an analysis of the public’s relationship with place through the varieties of people-place relations can bring additional insight to understanding the problem. The empirical output of the research includes a Typology of Engagement which disrupts the existing binary approach to engagement and disengagement. The typology incorporates degrees of engagement and, more significantly, degrees of disengagement which, once identified, can be used to inform public engagement strategies, taking into account the wider characteristics of locally affected publics. The findings of the case study offer a new understanding of aspects of disengagement and the findings support the argument that the conceptual approach of a Bourdieusian toolkit combined with a place dimension, can help to better understand the factors leading to disengagement. This opens up new opportunities for research in areas beyond planning, such as climate change, where public engagement could be key to the implementation of future adaptation strategies

SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF MAGNETIC SOLIDS CONTAINING PERIODIC ARRAYS OF TRANSITION METAL OXIDE NANOSTRUCTURES

The ultimate goal of the research presented in this dissertation was to explore new systems containing low–dimensional magnetic nanostructures in hopes of finding new extended solids exhibiting novel magnetic properties due to the confined magnetic lattices. The scope of this research is threefold: 1) to explore new solids containing low–dimensional magnetic nanostructures in the A–M–X–O system, where A is an alkali or alkalinendash;earth metal cation, M is a first–row transition metal cation, and X is P, As, or V, 2) to characterize these new materials and, through chemical substitution, fine tune (and optimize) magnetic and electronic properties of solids that exhibit confined magnetic nanostructures, and 3) to perform structure/property correlation studies to seek the origins of any unusual physical phenomena associated with the size, shape, and geometry of the magnetic nanostructures. Throughout this study, diamagnetic oxyanions XOmn− were utilized to structurally insulate and electronically confine the transition metal oxide lattices. Typical reactions included various transition metal oxides, main group oxides such as P4O10 or As2O5, and alkali/alkaline–earth metal oxides. Most of these starting materials have high melting points and low solubility. As a result, highndash;temperature solid state methods are utilized. In the solid state, single crystal growth sometimes suffers because of slow diffusion across the crystalline interface. In order to alleviate this problem, alkali and alkaline–earth metal halides are employed as a high–temperature flux. These salts have much lower melting points than covalent metal oxides and can aid in the synthesis and crystal growth of materials that cannot be achieved in other solvent media. There are additional advantages to using molten halide fluxes, for they can also act as reactants in the synthetic systems. First, it was considered that, like the aforementioned diamagnetic oxyanions, ionic salt could also be utilized to reduce the dimensionality of the TM–oxide magnetic lattices. The difference between these two diamagnetic insulators is found in their bonding interactions with respect to the transition metal oxide nanostructures. The oxyanions are covalent in nature, while the salt is more ionic in nature and therefore is less likely to function as a pathway for superexchange. As a result, it was thought that this salt could further aid in the confinement of the magnetic TM–oxide lattices, hence, many of the reactions were carried out in a huge excess of salt. This was done not only to increase the reaction kinetics, but also in hopes of obtaining interesting phase formations such as metal oxide nanostructures engulfed in a sea of salt. In this study, diamagnetic oxyanions XOmn− and/or salt, utilized to terminate the propagation of the transition metal oxide lattices, allowed the formation of structures with 2–D sheets, 1–D chains, and 0–D clusters. Exploratory synthesis in this mixed polyhedral system consisting of the tetrahedral oxyanions and the transition metal oxide with varying coordination environments, has proven to be extremely rich and has rendered many new compounds of magnetic and catalytic interest. The new discoveries are grouped into chapters according to their lattice types, where Chapter 3 and Chapter 5 present two extensive compound families that contain two dimensional metal oxide sheets, Chapter 6 presents a lattice with 1–D [MO4Cl]∞ chains, and Chapters 4, 7, and 8 all present materials containing 0–D magnetic metal oxide clusters

Effect of cooperative learning and traditional strategies on academic performance in middle school language arts

Research indicates that the use of cooperative learning techniques fosters higher order thinking and problem solving skills in students. However additional information is needed to determine how cooperative learning affects various groups of learners. Based in constructivist theory, this quasi-experimental study examined the effects of cooperative learning verses traditional teaching strategies on the academic performance of 216 6th grade language arts students in north central Georgia. The single stage convenience sample was divided into a control group that was instructed using traditional strategies; and a treatment group that was instructed using cooperative learning strategies. Pre and posttest scores from a standardized 73-item language arts benchmark test was used to assess the overall impact of instructional techniques across student use of conventions, literary elements, sentence structure, context clues, and vocabulary. ANOVA results indicated that the cooperative learning group made significantly greater gains than were observed for the traditional instruction group; however segmented subgroup analyses revealed no effect among economically disadvantaged students. It is recommended that educators pay added attention to the differential effects of teaching methods and strategies for specific student groups. The study contributes to positive social change by informing research-based selection of educational practices and techniques as tools for enhancing student achievement through strategic teacher training