Digital Commons Network^™

Nonprofit Leadership Articles (All)

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

No abstract provided.

The Ability To Classify Patients Based On Gene-Expression Data Varies By Algorithm And Performance Metric, Stephen Piccolo, Avery Mecham, Nathan P. Golightly, Jérémie L. Johnson, Dustin B. Miller

Faculty Publications

By classifying patients into subgroups, clinicians can provide more effective care than using a uniform approach for all patients. Such subgroups might include patients with a particular disease subtype, patients with a good (or poor) prognosis, or patients most (or least) likely to respond to a particular therapy. Transcriptomic measurements reflect the downstream effects of genomic and epigenomic variations. However, high-throughput technologies generate thousands of measurements per patient, and complex dependencies exist among genes, so it may be infeasible to classify patients using traditional statistical models. Machine-learning classification algorithms can help with this problem. However, hundreds of classification algorithms exist—and …

Detecting Rainbow Trout Introgression In Bonneville Cutthroat Trout Of The Bear River Basin Using Field-Based Phenotypic Characteristics, Kevin A. Meyer, Ryan W. Hillyard, Matthew R. Campbell

Western North American Naturalist

Cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarkii × rainbow trout O. mykiss hybrids (hereafter hybrids) are difficult to visually distinguish from parental taxa, yet identifying phenotypic traits to separate hybrids from cutthroat trout is needed for conservation and management purposes. We compared phenotypic characteristics against genotype (using 34 species-diagnostic single nucleotide polymorphism loci) for 316 Bonneville cutthroat trout O. clarkii utah, rainbow trout and hybrids in Bear River tributaries. Our phenotypic classifications of fish were 91% accurate for Bonneville cutthroat trout but only 68% accurate for rainbow trout and hybrids combined. Classification errors based on phenotype were observed between parental taxa and …

Evaluation Of A High School Wellness Center, Malka S. Moya

Theses and Dissertations

High school students are often burdened with academic, home, and peer stressors. With adolescent mental health issues and suicide on the rise, administrators have worked with nonprofits and the community to solve these problems. School-based wellness centers are tranquil rooms for students to decompress for up to 20 minutes during the school day with various sensory activities, calming nature scenes, and sounds for relaxation purposes. Wellness centers are meant to be a haven for self-regulation so students can come back to class with a calmer frame of mind. So far, there has not been a formal evaluation of school-based wellness …

The New Bride’S Guide To Overcoming “Post-Wedding Depression”, Sierra Livermore

Family Perspectives

It can be confusing and discouraging to feel depressed after marrying the love of your life. Here are four tips to help.

Managing Radio Frequency Interference In Vehicular Multi-Antenna Transceivers, Jakob W. Kunzler

Theses and Dissertations

Radio frequency interference is an ever growing problem in the wireless community. This dissertation presents methods to reduce interference for vehicular multi-antenna devices. This document is organized into two parts: the main chapters and the appendices. The main chapters present research conducted primarily by the author. These deserve the reader's primary attention. The appendices showcase contributions made by the author serving in a supporting role to projects led by others and/or do not fit the vehicular theme. These should receive secondary attention. The main chapter contributions are summarized as follows. A device was created that provides over 105 dB of …

Seasonal Phenology And Colony Longevity Patterns In A Predatory Social Wasp, David T. Rankin, Kevin J. Loope, Erin E. Wilson-Rankin

Western North American Naturalist

Social wasps play critical ecological roles in an ecosystem, providing a diversity of services and some disservices. Yellowjacket wasps (Vespula spp.) in particular are well known for shaping arthropod communities via predation and competition for resources. In part due to their sociality and large colony sizes, Vespula can have a profound ecological impact on local communities. Such effects can be magnified when colonies exhibit a perennial life history, in which a colony will overwinter, persist for more than one year, and become orders of magnitude larger in size compared to typical annual colonies. Despite growing interest in the factors …

Genes Critical For Flagellar Motility In Agrobacterium Fabrum, Audrey Memmott, Joel Griffitts

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2022

The flagellum contains 24 structural proteins that are vital for bacterial motility and virulence (Liu). Additionally, these structural proteins must be assembled in the correct order and orientation for a bacterium to be motile via its flagellum (Armitage). Our current knowledge regarding the flagellum is limited, however, because the majority of it comes from studies focused on Escherichia coli. To increase existing knowledge regarding the flagellum and the genes vital for its functionality, we attempted to define all the genes vital for flagellar motility in A. fabrum by analyzing motility when specific genes are disrupted.

Staying On Track: Air Pollution & Exercise On Campus, Selah Willis, Sabina Williams, Nicole Lyons, Karly Anderson, Haley Mcbride, Jim Johnston

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2022

Which exercise location on campus has the lowest levels of PM_2.5 & PM₁₀? What time of day is the lowest concentration of pollutants?

Air Pollution In The Jfsb Parking Garage, Kara Law, Nathan Winward, Lucas Pettit, Emma Montague

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2022

The purpose of this study was to characterize PM2.5 concentration in the JFSB parking garage compared to outdoor air on the JFSB’s balcony.

Seeking Collaborative Instruction Models Beyond The Pandemic: Lessons Learned From The Japanknowledge Workshop Series Hosted By The Plains To Pacific Alliance, Michiko Ito, Tokiko Y. Bazzell, Tsuyoshi Harada, Adam H. Lisbon, Kevin Mcdowell, Mitsutaka Nakamura

Journal of East Asian Libraries

As the Pandemic disrupted normal communication patterns and networking opportunities, videoconferencing, usually using the Zoom platform, became the preferred method for academic institutions to continue providing instruction to students and supporting researchers. In 2021, the Plains to Pacific Alliance (PPA) developed plans to use this technology to present a workshop series on the JapanKnowledge database that would be open to Japanese studies researchers and students in North America and beyond. This entailed deciding on content, developing instructional materials, promoting the workshops in collaboration with the North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources, creating a registration system, presenting the workshops …

Recommendations For Infection Control In Congregate Shelters Following A Natural Disaster, Megan Schultz, Blaine Winters

Student Works

Infection control is at the forefront of nurses’ minds, particularly following a natural disaster. Natural disasters often displace people from their homes, requiring them to stay in congregate shelters for a short period of time. The risk of infection is significantly increased in shelters environments. The purpose of this literature review is to determine the appropriate strategies to mitigate the spread of infection in congregate shelters following a natural disaster. Implications for practice are identified.

Material Characterization Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Giovanna Marcella Pope

Theses and Dissertations

Nuclear magnetic resonance techniques can provide highly accurate information about the local environment of both liquid and solid samples. In the first half of this dissertation research, solid state NMR has provided experimental evidence for turbostratic disorder in layered covalent organic solids. Additionally, comparison with candidate structures allowed a proposed correction to the accepted structure of Covalent Organic Framework-5. The second half of the dissertation work emphasized liquid NMR spectroscopy applied to doped iron oxides (IOs). In particular, the effect of IOs on water proton T2 relaxation times were determined as a measure of contrast agent efficacy. Both types of …

Outvoice: Bringing Transparency To Healthcare, Autumn Clark

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Industries are not incentivized to price reasonably and spend responsibly if consumers do not have the ability to shop around within that industry, and shopping around is not possible without pricing transparency (knowing how much a good or service costs before purchasing it). But in the healthcare industry, we typically default to whichever clinic or hospital is closest, with no prior knowledge of what costs we can expect to incur at that particular institution. According to a poll published by Harvard University, nine out of ten Americans feel the healthcare industry is too opaque and greater transparency is needed.

We …

“Truth Is The Only Ground”: How Journalism Contributes To Good Government, Edward L. Carter

Faculty Publications

Now, after twenty years of teaching journalism as a college professor and fifteen years of periodically representing journalists as a lawyer, I believe the viability of our system of government at local, state, and national levels depends more than ever on good journalism. But amid rapid and unsettling social and technological change, journalism and government are degenerating. Journalists and public officials need to do better, and I believe informed community members should influence reforms and innovations while insisting on adherence to core values. Doing so will require community members to set aside some selfish interests and ask the same of …

Effects Of Positive And Negative Emotion On Picture Naming For People With Mild To Moderate Aphasia: A Preliminary Investigation, Tyson G. Harmon, Courtney Nielsen, Corinne Loveridge, Camille Williams

Faculty Publications

Purpose: To investigate how emotional arousal and valence affect confrontational naming accuracy and response time in people with mild to moderate aphasia compared with adults without aphasia. We hypothesized that negative and positive emotions would facilitate naming for people with aphasia but lead to slower responses for adults with no aphasia.

Method: Eight participants with mild to moderate aphasia, 15 older adults, and 17 young adults completed a confrontational naming task across three conditions (positive, negative, neutral) in an ABA case series design. Immediately following each naming condition, participants self-reported their perceived arousal and pleasure. Accuracy and response time were …

Flowering By Dioecious Rhamnus Ilicifolia (Rhamnaceae) And Pollen Transport To Female Flowers By Flies And Bees, William D. Wiesenborn

Western North American Naturalist

Rhamnus ilicifolia (Rhamnaceae) is a large shrub found in a range of habitats from southern Oregon south to Baja California and east into Arizona. During spring, the plant produces clusters of unisexual flowers, each with a 5–6-mm-diameter, open perianth of green or yellowish-green sepals. I investigated the pollination of R. ilicifolia in western Arizona during 27 April to 21 May 2020 by examining the distribution and phenology of male and female flowers on shrubs, collecting insects from female flowers, and determining the proportions of conspecific pollen on insects to estimate floral constancy. Shrubs were dioecious, and individual male and female …

Swiss Heritage Preserved At New Glarus Museum, Duane H. Freitag

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Born of Depression-era nostalgia, the Swiss Historical

Village at New Glarus, Wisconsin, continues to be among the state’s

most well-known ethnic heritage sites.

Its development over many years was accomplished by a mix

of descendants of the colonists from Canton Glarus who founded the

community in 1845, later immigrants from Switzerland, and now non-

Swiss who have moved to New Glarus and have embraced its history.

Today the museum complex consists of 14 buildings focusing on

various aspects of the community’s past. Visitors can tour the buildings

on their own or with a guide who provides additional interpretation.

The Battle Of Dornach 1499: A Contest Between Two Early Tactical Infantries, Albert Winkler

Swiss American Historical Society Review

In July of 1499, two well-trained tactical infantries fought

at the Battle of Dornach when the Swiss peasants and Swabian

mercenaries or Landsknechte met in a major engagement for the first

time. The Swiss infantry had been dominating battlefields in many

parts of Europe for decades, but the Battle of Dornach was a close

contest demonstrating that Swiss dominance might be over and a new

age of infantries was soon to begin. While tactical infantries had been

deployed on the field of battle for centuries, this was one of the few

times in the Middle Ages that two of them …

Full Issue

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Annual Reports Of The Swiss American Historical Society

Swiss American Historical Society Review

It is a pleasure to greet everyone and to wish you good fortune

in all that you do. I deeply appreciate your interest in and continued

support for the Swiss American Historical Society.

The continued problems with COVID-19 virus has forced

changes in how the Swiss American Historical Society (SAHS)

operates. Even though many attempts have been made to return to

normal operations in 2021, there remain challenges; but I am very

pleased to report that many functions of the SAHS have been stellar in

2021. Please note the following.

Variation In Trophic Niches Of Fish In Lake Powell Prior To Full Colonization By Quagga Mussel (Dreissena Rostriformis Bugensis), Joshua A. Verde, Nathan R. St. Andre, Mark C. Belk

Western North American Naturalist

Invasive species can cause disruption of the trophic niche of resident species such that patterns of energy flow through ecological systems are altered. Quagga mussel Dreissena rostriformis bugensis Andrusov, 1897, a notorious invasive species, was introduced to Lake Powell (Utah and Arizona, USA) in 2012 and colonized the entire reservoir by 2017. To help understand potential effects of this invasive species on the trophic niche of fishes in Lake Powell, we characterized trophic niche of fishes and other organisms, as well as sources of variation in trophic niche, using stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen prior to full colonization …

Optimization Of A Smart Sensor Wearable Knee Sleeve For Measuring Skin Strain To Determine Joint Biomechanics, David Steven Wood

Theses and Dissertations

This work addresses three objectives related to the design and modeling of an instrumented knee sleeve and its high deflection strain gauges for at-home knee rehabilitation. First, a multi-objective Bayesian approach was developed to economically optimize a high deflection strain gauge's mechanical and electrical behavior. Four objective functions were simultaneously optimized with two design variables in seven iterations; 90% faster than a grid search approach. The presented algorithm adjusts variables in the manufacturing process of high deflection strain gauges and produces a sensor with optimized properties for a predetermined purpose. Second, an algorithm was created to accurately approximate the dynamic …

Why Good Grammar Remains Relevant (& Why The Workforce Needs Better Writers), Bryn Greenhalgh

Marriott Student Review

No abstract provided.

Man Vs Robot: Weapons Against Automation, Talmage Lamb

Marriott Student Review

No abstract provided.

Your Competitor's Supply Chains Are Changing: How Ai Can Transform Your Business, Taylor Thompson

Marriott Student Review

No abstract provided.

Vulnerable Leadership: Breaking Down Walls To Build Up Firms, Gabrielle E. Gordon

Marriott Student Review

No abstract provided.

Gibbs–Duhem Relation For Phase-Field Models Of Polymeric Mixtures, Rami Alhasan, Douglas R. Tree

Faculty Publications

Phase-field models are relatively inexpensive field-based models capable of capturing the nonequilibrium multiphase behavior of polymers and other soft materials. With their rise in popularity over the past several years, questions have arisen concerning the thermodynamic consistency of some model formulations. In doing so, researchers have employed several different forms of the Gibbs–Duhem equation─a classical thermodynamic relationship used to assess consistency─leading to questions about the correct form of this expression for inhomogeneous mixtures. In this paper, we derive a generalized Gibbs–Duhem relation that is valid for phase-field models. The key to the derivation is the recognition that the functional derivatives …

Flood Warning: A Generalized Approach To Forecast The Impacts Of Flooding Events Using Arcgis Pro, Qgis, And Python, Robert Evan Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Floods are the most common global natural disaster, and 1 billion people live in floodplains worldwide adding to the impactful damage that inundation causes. Disaster managers strive to mitigate damages to their communities but need to know what the impact of a potential flood may be. GEOGloWS ECMWF Streamflow Services estimates forecasted streamflow around the world. These forecasted streamflow's can be used to create predicted flood extent maps using Height Above Nearest Drainage (HAND) or Sedimentation and River Hydraulics - Two Dimension (SRH-2D). Another method to obtain a flood map is using Setinel-1 satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery. Flood …

Postsecondary Education Achievement And Employment Outcomes In Adults With Self-Reported Autism Diagnosis, So Yeon Park

Theses and Dissertations

More autistic adults are entering into the work force and enrolling in postsecondary schools. However, overall, autistic adults experience a more difficult time than neurotypical peers completing postsecondary education, obtaining employment, and maintaining employment. Less is known about outcomes for subgroups of autistic adults who have typical or elevated intellectual and verbal abilities. The present study looks at the significance of self-reported autistic traits, camouflaging, and mental health (anxiety, depression, intolerance of uncertainty) factors for predicting educational and employment outcomes in a sample of 148 adults with an autism diagnosis and no co-occurring intellectual disability. Of the total sample, 118 …