Digital Commons Network^™

The Origin Of Amino Acids In Lunar Regolith Samples, Jamie E. Elsila, Michael P. Callahan, Jason P. Dworkin, Daniel P. Glavin, Hannah L. Mclain, Sarah K. Noble, Everett K. Gibson Jr.

Michael Callahan

We analyzed the amino acid content of seven lunar regolith samples returned by the Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 missions and stored under NASA curation since collection using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection and time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Consistent with results from initial analyses shortly after collection in the 1970s, we observed amino acids at low concentrations in all of the curated samples, ranging from 0.2 parts-per-billion (ppb) to 42.7 ppb in hot-water extracts and 14.5–651.1 ppb in 6 M HCl acid-vapor-hydrolyzed, hot-water extracts. Amino acids identified in the Apollo soil extracts include glycine, d- and l-alanine, d- and l-aspartic …

Specific Exceptions Driving Variation: The Case Of Spirantization In Modern Hebrew, Michal Temkin Martinez, Ivana Müllner

Michal Temkin Martinez

Spirantization in Modern Hebrew has high levels of variation in its acquisition and production largely due to the high frequency of exceptions (Adam 2002). In this paper, we report the results of an experiment examining variation in the production of Modern Hebrew Spirantization (MHS) in real and nonce verb paradigms, linking the patterns of variation to specific exceptions that are encoded in the orthography. Spirantization in Modern Hebrew is characterized by the alternation of the stops [p], [b], and [k] with [f], [v], and [χ], respectively. Fricatives generally occur in post-vocalic position and stops occur elsewhere. This alternation is especially …

Welcoming Our Newest Neighbors – Idaho's Refugees, Elizabeth Ramsey, Kamal Rizal

Elizabeth Ramsey

Each year more than 1,000 refugees from nations all over the world are resettled in Boise and Twin Falls. This presentation looks at who these refugees are, how they came to Idaho, and the challenges they face in their new life. Through increased awareness of these new community members, we might better position ourselves and our libraries to assist them with their transitions to life as American citizens.

Universal Design For Learning Online: A Case Study And Roadmap, Kelley Connor, Betty Miller

Kelley Connor

No abstract provided.

Reproductive Decision-Making In Transitional Contexts, Kristin Snopkowski

Kristin Snopkowski

Over the past two hundred years, most societies around the world have experienced fertility transitions, defined as a dramatic decline in reproductive rates through time. The conscious decision to reduce fertility to very low levels appears maladaptive and poses a theoretical challenge to human behavioral ecologists who expect humans to maximize long term fitness. I develop a theoretical model to explain currently low fertility rates that incorporates both cultural and economic hypotheses of fertility decline and test these using data from San Borja, Bolivia, a society currently undergoing a fertility transition. Results show that both economic and cultural information are …

Caspase-Cleaved Tau Co-Localizes With Early Tangle Markers In The Human Vascular Dementia Brain, Ryan J. Day, Maria J. Mason, Chloe Thomas, Wayne W. Poon, Troy T. Rohn

Troy T. Rohn

Vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common form of dementia in the United States and is characterized as a cerebral vessel vascular disease that leads to ischemic episodes. Whereas the relationship between caspase-cleaved tau and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been previously described, whether caspase activation and cleavage of tau occurs in VaD is presently unknown. To investigate a potential role for caspase-cleaved tau in VaD, we analyzed seven confirmed cases of VaD by immunohistochemistry utilizing a well-characterized antibody that specifically detects caspase-cleaved tau truncated at Asp⁴²¹. Application of this antibody (TauC3) revealed consistent …

Intergenerational Effects Of Disability Benefits: Evidence From Canadian Social Assistance Programs, Kelly Chen, Lars Osberg, Shelley Phipps

Kelly Chen

Individuals with disabilities face greater challenges in the labor market than able-bodied individuals, and a growing body of research is finding that their children also tend to have more developmental problems than the children of able-bodied parents. Can transfer payments help reduce this gap? In this paper, we present the first evidence on how parental disability benefits affect the well-being of children. Using changes in real benefits under ten disability benefit programs in Canada as an identification strategy and Statistics Canada’s National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) as the data source on child outcomes, we find strong evidence …

Channel Estimation And Optimal Training Design For Correlated Mimo Two-Way Relay Systems In Colored Environment, Rui Wang, Meixia Tao, Hani Mehrpouyan, Yingbo Hua

Hani Mehrpouyan

In this paper, while considering the impact of the antenna correlation and the interference from neighboring users, we analyze channel estimation and training sequence design for multi-input multi-output (MIMO) two-way relay systems. To this end, we propose to decompose the bidirectional transmission links into two phases, i.e., the multiple access (MAC) phase and the broadcast (BC) phase. By considering the Kronecker-structured channel model, we derive the optimal linear minimum mean-square-error (LMMSE) channel estimators. The corresponding training designs for the MAC phase and the BC phase are then formulated and solved to improve channel estimation accuracy. For the general scenario of …

Selfies: Witnessing And Participatory Journalism With A Point Of View, Michael Koliska, Jessica Roberts

Jessica Roberts

Selfies, as the word implies, are visual presentations of one’s self and as such can be understood as photographic representations and formations of identity (Barthes, 1981; Sontag, 2005; van Dijck, 2008). They are a “new visual genre—a type of self-portrait formally distinct from all others in history” because they are frequently shared online (Saltz, 2014). Selfies often serve to claim, “I’m here!” (Myers, 2010, p. 274) and “reflect the view of ourselves that we want to project out into world” (Gye, 2007, p. 282). Taking and sharing digital photographs is increasingly understood as a form of communication and social currency …

What New Writing Teachers Talk About When They Talk About Teaching, Heidi Estrem, E. Shelley Reid

Heidi Estrem

As a discipline with academic roots in pedagogy (Harris 1996), composition studies has fostered increasingly visible and structured programs to mentor new writing instructors. Several recent essay collections compile examples of programs, thoughtfully theorized approaches, and careful explorations of how to best support and nurture new instructors of first-year writing (see, for example, Pytlik and Liggett 2002; Ward and Perry 2002). It is now common that new college writing teaching assistants (TAs) participate in at least one pedagogy seminar designed to guide them through their initial teaching experience and provide an introduction to composition studies (see Dobrin 2005). Additionally, individual …

Transforming The Legal Studies Classroom: Clickers And Engagement, Susan Park J.D., Denise Farag J.D.

Susan Park

Teaching is not just delivering lectures but anything we might do that helps and encourages students to learn.¹

Envision your typical business law or legal environment of business classroom, filled with students. As class begins, most students are alert and attentive to the instructor. However, after class is under way, some students have diverted their attention elsewhere. A few are looking intently at their laptop screens, which contain material that may (or may not) be related to business law. Others are looking at their phones. While many are still listening to the instructor, a few might be whispering to …

Innovation, Collaboration And Models: Proceedings Of The Clir Cataloging Hidden Special Collections And Archives Symposium, March 2015, Cheryl Oestreicher

Cheryl Oestreicher

This volume documents the capstone event to the seven-year Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives program, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The two-day symposium and unconference brought together more than 180 participants, including many past and current grant recipients. In the proceedings, more than 20 symposium presenters examine inter-institutional collaboration, student and faculty involvement, cataloging, arrangement and description, audiovisual collections, science collections, and outreach.

Serving The Needs Of The Latina Community For Health Information, R. A. Yaros, J. Roberts, E. Powers, L. Steiner

Jessica Roberts

Latinos remain the largest US population with limited health literacy (Andrulis D.P. & Brach, 2007). Concerned with how local media can meet the information needs of underserved audiences, we interviewed Latinas who were pregnant or mothers of young children living in a Spanish speaking community, and surveyed 33 local health professionals. Findings are that Latina women’s most common source of health information was family and friends. They said they tune to Spanish television and radio programs, but gave low grades to news media for health information. Medical professionals agreed that Latinas generally get their health information through friends and family, …

Young In Class: Implications For Inattentive/Hyperactive Behavior Of Canadian Boys And Girls, Kelly Chen, Nicole Fortin, Shelley Phipps

Kelly Chen

Using data from the Statistics Canada National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), this paper investigates the impact of school entry age on inattentive/hyperactive behaviours. We employ both a cross-provinces-time differences-in-differences approach, and a within-province regression discontinuity design. We find that being young in class causes greater inattentive/hyperactive behaviour, exacerbating any inattentive/hyperactive behavior exhibited prior to school entry. These results also hold in sibling fixed effect models. Though we do not find gender differences in the effects, because boys are more likely to be inattentive/hyperactive at school entry, they are more affected. These effects persist into early adolescence. Sommaire …

Simmering In Exchanges, Uxue Alberdi, Nere Lete

Nere Lete

“Su txikian” [“Simmering”] by Uxue Alberdi was published in 2013 as one of the stories in her book Euli Giro [A Sense of Chagrin]. As Alberdi states, “The source of inspiration for this story was an article I had read about an eighty-year-old married couple from Pamplona who had been found in their car parked in the garage after having committed suicide. "Simmering” is a response to the shock the news provoked in me […]. On the one hand, I wanted to hold onto the stereotype of the Basque grandmother. It is not typical to imagine an eighty-year-old Basque woman …

High Rate Space-Time Codes For Millimeter-Wave Systems With Reconfigurable Antennas, Vida Vakilian, Hani Mehrpouyan, Yingbo Hua

Hani Mehrpouyan

In this paper, we propose a high-rate space-time block code (STBC) for millimeter-wave wireless communication systems that are equipped with reconfigurable multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas. We assume that each reconfigurable antenna element has the capability of forming its beam and can independently change the characteristics of its radiation pattern1. We exploit this feature of the antenna elements to construct the proposed space-time block code where each coded symbol is sent over independent beams. As a result, the received coded symbols at different receive antennas will have different power levels, a desired property that can be used in data detection. We …

Hybrid Millimeter-Wave Systems: A Novel Paradigm For Hetnets, Hani Mehrpouyan, Michail Matthaiou, Rui Wang, George K. Karagiannidis, Yingbo Hua

Hani Mehrpouyan

Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) are known to enhance the bandwidth efficiency and throughput of wireless networks by more effectively utilizing the network resources. However, the higher density of users and access points in HetNets introduces significant inter-user interference that needs to be mitigated through complex and sophisticated interference cancellation schemes. Moreover, due to significant channel attenuation and presence of hardware impairments, e.g., phase noise and amplifier nonlinearities, the vast bandwidth in the millimeter-wave band has not been fully utilized to date. In order to enable the development of multi-Gigabit per second wireless networks, we introduce a novel millimeter-wave HetNet paradigm, termed …

Bandwidth Efficient Channel Estimation For Full Duplex Communication Systems, Abbas Koohian, Hani Mehrpouyan, Mahmoud Ahmadian, Mohammad Azarbad

Hani Mehrpouyan

In this paper, the channel estimation problem in full duplex (FD) point-to-point wireless communication systems is investigated. Because of the existence of two interfering and communication channels, this problem is fundamentally different from the conventional channel estimation problems in half duplex (HD) communication systems. Here, we propose a blind channel estimator that simultaneously estimates the channel parameters of the FD system without requiring time division duplex. A major problem for blind estimators is the identifiability of the parameters. Therefore, thorough analysis is presented to determine the identifiable parameters in this estimation problem. It will be shown that a completely blind …

Measuring News Media Literacy, Adam Maksi, Seth Ashley, Stephanie Craft

Seth Ashley

News media literacy refers to the knowledge and motivations needed to identify and engage with journalism. This study measured levels of news media literacy among 500 teenagers using a new scale measure based on Potter’s model of media literacy and adapted to news media specifically. The adapted model posits that news media literate individuals think deeply about media experiences, believe they are in control of media’s influence, and have high levels of basic knowledge about media content, industries and effects. Based on measures developed to assess news media literacy, highly news literate teens were found to be more intrinsically motivated …

Channel, Phase Noise, And Frequency Offset In Ofdm Systems: Joint Estimation, Data Detection, And Hybrid Cramér-Rao Lower Bound, Omar Hazim Salim, Ali A. Nasir, Hani Mehrpouyan, Wei Xiang, Salman Durrani, Rodney A. Kennedy

Hani Mehrpouyan

Oscillator phase noise (PHN) and carrier frequency offset (CFO) can adversely impact the performance of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, since they can result in inter carrier interference and rotation of the signal constellation. In this paper, we propose an expectation conditional maximization (ECM) based algorithm for joint estimation of channel, PHN, and CFO in OFDM systems. We present the signal model for the estimation problem and derive the hybrid Cramér-Rao lower bound (HCRB) for the joint estimation problem. Next, we propose an iterative receiver based on an extended Kalman filter for joint data detection and PHN tracking. Numerical …

Tensile Gaas(111) Quantum Dashes With Tunable Luminescence Below The Bulk Bandgap, Paul J. Simmonds

Paul J. Simmonds

Strain-based band engineering in quantum dots and dashes has been predominantly limited to compressively strained systems. However, tensile strain strongly reduces the bandgaps of nanostructures, enabling nanostructures to emit light at lower energies than they could under compressive strain. We demonstrate the self-assembled growth of dislocation-free GaAs quantum dashes on an InP(111)B substrate, using a 3.8% tensile lattice-mismatch. Due to the high tensile strain, the GaAs quantum dashes luminesce at 110–240 meV below the bandgap of bulk GaAs. The emission energy is readily tuned by adjusting the size of the quantum dashes via deposition thickness. Tensile self-assembly creates new opportunities …

Catching Their Attention: Slide Shows As Outreach, Elizabeth Ramsey

Elizabeth Ramsey

Albertsons Library at Boise State University has found slide shows to be an essential and easy to manage component in its outreach efforts and branding strategy. The slide shows run continually on a TV monitor in the library lobby as well as on all the computers in the library labs. This presentation focuses on the strategies used in the selection of topics, images and text, presenting examples of some of the most popular slides used at Albertsons Libraries categorized under recommended best practices.

The Effects Of Ambient Media: What Unplugging Reveals About Being Plugged In, Jessica Roberts, Michael Koliska

Jessica Roberts

An ever-increasing number of us live in a world rich in information and media that provide us with constant access to that information. Besides television, radio, newspapers, and computers, we now carry communication devices with us. Mobile devices with digital content — phones, iPods, PDAs — have become ubiquitous around the world, creating an information environment with as yet unknown consequences for the way we function and the way we think and feel. This study examines responses from students at 12 universities from 10 nations who tried to avoid all “media” for 24 hours and reflect on their experience, and …

A Test Of The Intergenerational Conflict Model In Indonesia Shows No Evidence Of Earlier Menopause In Female-Dispersing Groups, Kristin Snopkowski, Cristina Moya, Rebecca Sear

Kristin Snopkowski

Menopause remains an evolutionary puzzle, as humans are unique among primates in having a long post-fertile lifespan. One model proposes that intergenerational conflict in patrilocal populations favours female reproductive cessation. This model predicts that women should experience menopause earlier in groups with an evolutionary history of patrilocality compared with matrilocal groups. Using data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey, we test this model at multiple timescales: deep historical time, comparing age at menopause in ancestrally patrilocal Chinese Indonesians with ancestrally matrilocal Austronesian Indonesians; more recent historical time, comparing age at menopause in ethnic groups with differing postmarital residence within Indonesia …

Reasoning & Proof In The Hs Common Core, Laurie O. Cavey

Laurie O. Cavey

No abstract provided.

A Synthetic Biosocial Model Of Fertility Transition: Testing The Relative Contribution Of Embodied Capital Theory, Changing Cultural Norms, And Women's Labor Force Participation, Kristin Snopkowski, Hillard Kaplan

Kristin Snopkowski

This article presents a biosocial model of fertility decline, which integrates ecological-economic and informational-cultural hypotheses of fertility transition in a unified theoretical framework. The model is then applied to empirical data collected among 500 women from San Borja, Bolivia, a population undergoing fertility transition. Using a combination of event history analysis, multiple regression, and structural equation modeling, we examine the pathways by which education responds to birth cohort, parental education and network ties, and how age at first birth and total fertility, in turn, respond to birth cohort, social network ties, education, expectations about parental investment, work, and contraceptive use. …

Father Absence And Reproduction-Related Outcomes In Malaysia, A Transitional Fertility Population, Paula Sheppard, Kristin Snopkowski, Rebecca Sear

Kristin Snopkowski

Father absence is consistently associated with children’s reproductive outcomes in industrialized countries. It has been suggested that father absence acts as a cue to particular environmental conditions that influence life history strategies. Much less is known, however, about the effects of father absence on such outcomes in lower-income countries. Using data from the 1988 Malaysian Family Life Survey (n=567), we tested the effect of father absence on daughters’ age at menarche, first marriage, and first birth; parity progression rates; and desired completed family size in Malaysia, a country undergoing an economic and fertility transition. Father absence during later …

Child Health And Parental Paid Work, Peter Burton, Kelly Chen, Lynn Lethbridge, Shelley Phipps

Kelly Chen

We ask how the paid work of Canadian married mothers and fathers is affected when a child has a physical/mental condition or health problem that leads to restrictions in daily activities. Using the Statistics Canada National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, we find that married mothers of children with disabilities are less likely to engage in paid work and/or work fewer paid hours per week. No statistically significant changes in paid work participation or hours are apparent for fathers of the same children. We find, moreover, evidence that the degree of specialization within families increases when there is a …

Joint Phase Noise Estimation And Data Detection In Coded Mimo Systems, Arif O. Isikman, Hani Mehrpouyan, Ali A. Nasir, Alexander G. Amat, Rodney A. Kennedy

Hani Mehrpouyan

In this paper, the problem of joint oscillator phase noise (PHN) estimation and data detection for multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems using bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) is analyzed. A new MIMO receiver that iterates between the estimator and the detector, based on the expectation-maximization (EM) framework, is proposed. It is shown that at high signal-to-noise ratios, a maximum a posteriori estimator (MAP) can be used to carry out the maximization step of the EM algorithm. Moreover, to reduce the computational complexity of the proposed EM algorithm, a soft decision-directed extended Kalman filter-smoother (EKFS) is applied instead of the MAP estimator to …

Goal Setting And Rewards For Addressing Nonresponse To Empirical Intervention, Jeremy W. Ford

Jeremy W. Ford

Reread-Adapt and Answer-Comprehend (RAAC) is an intervention targeting difficulties with reading fluency and comprehension. Previous research has demonstrated RAAC to be effective for students with and without disabilities. This study extended research using RAAC by using goal setting and rewards. Participants will learn how to use these strategies to implement less intrusive changes for when a student does not respond to an empirically-based intervention prior to more intrusive changes (e.g., duration, frequency, different intervention).